!i$@ bee™: Randomness

Showing posts with label Randomness. Show all posts

7/27/11

Bohemian = a classy hippie

This is a real live convo I recently had with my physical therapist:

CJ: So what school do you go to?

Me: I went to Brown... It's a hippie school.

CJ: One of my clients called herself a hippie the other day. She doesn't wear shoes.

Me: Wow.

CJ: So are you calling yourself a hippie?

Me: No. I'm more of a bohemian.

CJ: What's the difference?

Me: A bohemian is a classy hippie. I also wear shoes and bathe regularly.

CJ: ::chuckles::

Taylor Gang, snitches. Chucks are my shoe of choice for physical therapy and general gallivanting.

According to CJ, Chucks are a "hippie shoe." I gave him one of these looks for that: rolling eyes

To me, they've just always been a classic sneaker, much like Nike Dunks and Jordans. I think Toms has the hippie shoe market of today down pat though. Not that I'm up on that or anything...

A Toms shoe. Hippie feet optional.

4/21/11

There's an ever-growing list of polishes I've been lemming that a recent windfall has allowed me to shorten. The latest addition to my stash of lovelies is OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavender, a real stunner from OPI's 2010 Hong Kong Collection.

I wasn't able to get a great picture of it under artificial light, but you can get a good idea of the color of the polish in any case--a lavender-tinged soft pink. It's a very flattering color, and I see it working well on a range of skin tones. If you're a bit tan the color pops even more, making it a great shade to sport for spring/summer.

The quality of the polish is excellent, as if we'd expect anything less from OPI. The formula applies smoothly and dries to an über-shiny finish, so shiny that I didn't use a top coat for this mani. It's lasted about 4 days on my nails so far with minimal wear, which is rather impressive for not using a top coat.

Here, I've photographed the polish under natural light. It gives a better idea of the tinge of purple apparent in the color and also showcases Lucky Lucky Lavender's subtle brightness.

A salon favorite, OPI has a wide range of colors to choose from and they regularly intrigue and impress me with their seasonal collections. The color selection is so varied, you could easily find a shade to match whatever color suits your mood, as I did with Lucky Lucky Lavender
--for instance, this shade perfectly matches my current pillowcase (random, I know).

Anywhoevers, I'm definitely looking forward to adding more OPIs to my collection soon

-------

This post contains affiliate links. If you want to help support lisa-bee.com, when you click on one of the affiliate links and make a purchase, the site receives a small percentage (usually 2-5%) of your purchase total. Thanks for reading and happy buying!

-------

4/7/11

The Color Purple

Is it wrong to have so much love for one color? Looking down from the glare of my TV the other night, I noticed I have a lot of purple in my life: my favorite hoodie, my nails, my statement ring, my iPhone case, my water bottle, my blanket. I like to say purple's my favorite color because it combines the tranquility of blue with the passion of red--a pretty accurate description of my temperament, if I do say so myself

Purple is the color of royalty according to human color psychology. It became associated with royalty and nobility from Greco-Roman times, when Tyrian Purple was only affordable to the elites. The color is even said to have been a favorite of Egyptian pharaoh Cleopatra. It's also said that a purple room can boost a child's imagination or an artist's creativity.

I must be onto something with my purple love, as Pantone selected the color Blue Iris (PANTONE 18-3943) as the 2008 Color of the Year, saying:

"Combining the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple, Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement."

There's even a purple language, so to speak. There's more than a few phrases out there incorporating the color in terms both positive and negative. A "purple cow," for instance, is something remarkable, eye-catching, or unusual. "Purple prose," which describes exaggerated or highly imaginative writing, tends to be used negatively. "Purple speech" is profane language, and "purple haze" describes a drug-induced state of confusion or euphoria--a strain of potent marijuana and a type of LSD are the usual culprits.

Believe it or not, there's a word for fear of the color: porphyrophobia. Yet, nothing in the modern English language rhymes with purple (or orange for that matter). Unique!

If you've been following my blog for a while, you may remember my Chakra Khan post. There, I mentioned how the color purple correlates to the Crown chakra at the top of one's head. This chakra is often pictured as a lotus flower (the symbol of which I have tatted on my wrist... #winning), opening to allow spiritual awakening in an individual. The Crown chakra is also considered the well that intuitive knowing is drawn from. In other words, the Crown chakra--and its correlated color, purple--is a tool used to communicate with one's deeper spiritual nature.

Purpleness is next to godliness, as they say

Purple also has sexual connotations. I first became aware of this back when Teletubbies was popular. Everyone said the purple one was supposed to be gay because of his coloring, the triangle shape on top of his head (a gay pride symbol), and because he clearly spoke with a male voice but carried a purse.* A little Wiki searching helped me figure out how all that purple = gayness stuff came about:

The purple hand is a Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) symbol that derives from an incident which occurred on Halloween night, 1969, when sixty members of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Society for Individual Rights (SIR) staged a protest at the San Francisco Examiner in response to a series of news articles disparaging LGBT people in San Francisco's gay bars and clubs.

Wow. How did people instantly learn random facts before the internet again?

Anyhoo, that's the extent of my interesting purple facts, so my ode to the color ends here. Well, after this quick shoutout:

♥ I can't get enough of you, boo! Mama loves you in all your shades and variations ♥

*A little murse (male + purse) action never hurt anyone! I'd totally carry one if I were a dude... or at the very least, some kind of messenger bag. Cue that Beyonce song:

3/7/11

Facebook Pepsi Family Bizness

Five more days til mah birfday!!! ::Happy dance:: I'm still tryna figure out exactly how I wanna celebrate... so much desire, so little time. Anyhoo, thought I'd kick off the week with a recent revelation: The Social Network guy & the Pepsi Girl from waaaay back are related! The resemblance is uncanny, can't believe it's taken me this long to connect the two.

Hallie & Jesse Eisenberg

Even though I rolled my eyes whenever she appeared on my TV screen, it's funny to me that old Pepsi Girl and new Facebook Movie Guy share some DNA.

Speaking of familial relations, it's also funny to me that out of all the Sheens, Emilio is the "sane" one now. I mean, dude starred in Mighty Ducks (kids hockey is brutal) AND was married to Paula Abdul (::glug glug glug::). That's a recipe for disaster right there, it's a wonder he didn't turn to The Sheen to get him through.

11/23/10

Rocky Phresh

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of listening to this random song by a rapper named Rockie Fresh and I thought, "What a great name for a little dog!"

Add a "ph-" for flair, a denim vest to cool off his little doggie pits, and some bangin' sunglasses, and what do you have?

A fresh a$$ dog, that's what.

Everywhere he goes bishes be doin' the Rocky Phresh bark:

Ruff RUFF

Act like you know.

11/2/10

10 Thngs I H8 Abt Txtng

There are few things I dislike more in the world than text messaging. I recently paid an astronomical amount on my cell phone bill not only from the few texts I send, but the many I receive as well. Up until this month, I didn't have unlimited texting because I felt I could stay safely within the 1500 texts a month I was alotted and really didn't see a point in paying an additional $5 a month on top of an already high bill. Since more than a few folks are still totally *confusedface* as to how and why someone could be so vehemently against text messaging, I present to you my list:

I'm now paying $20 a month for a service I don't even use often enough to justify that amount for unlimited texting. I'm basically paying to avoid overage charges
Why can't you just pick up the phone and call? It's easier and faster to speak than to type out an entire convo
Wtf happened to GChat, iChat, AIM, etc.?! That shizz is free.99 and serves the exact same purpose as a text
Texting distracts too many drivers on the road
A lot of walkers, too. I've seen more than one person narrowly avoid walking into a tree, street sign, or another person while engrossed in a text
I love the advances in technology us regular peeps are able to enjoy, but really. It's draining to be constantly "connected" like that
Which brings me to another point: if you can't reach me by text or calling, LEAVE A MESSAGE. That's what the voicemail is there for. If you don't leave a message and I don't recognize the number, I'm gonna assume it's not important and proceed with my day
Texting is cool for short, quick messages or if it's inconvenient to talk at the moment, but you still need to relay/receive some crucial info. But if you're texting paragraphs upon paragraphs to me about some minor shizz or something we could TALK or EMAIL about, I'm gonna explode. Seriously
Chain letter text messages: Just don't do it.
Everything in moderation. I'm not totally against texting; I see where it's quite useful and convenient in many situations. But if that's your sole method of communication, 1. Grow up and 2. You can forget about getting a response back from me cuz Lisa don't play dat.

Capiche? Good.

10/12/10

Taste the ~rainbow~

Being a word nerd, I love finding new & different ways to say things. Isn't describing your kicks or cute bag as aubergine or viridian waaaay better than saying it's just purple or green? Below is a list of alternative color names I looked up, in the traditional ROYGBIV format.

vermilion
ocher
xanthous
chartreuse, verdigris, viridian
cerulean
gentian
aubergine
hoar << Haha. Your mom has her own color ::zing::

*This post is dedicated to my gay friends! It gets better y'all.

8/18/10

Old a$$ geezers saying whatever the f*ck they want

You tell 'em, granny

I recently engaged in a conversation on Twitter about Dr. Laura and her unfortunate use of the n-word on her radio show. The friend I was talking to reasoned that Dr. Laura has her 1st Amendment rights to protect what she says, and that it's dumb of her to become a pariah for using a word, as derogatory as it is, that many public & non-public figures say or think outright. I called PUBLICITY STUNT on the whole situation and reasoned Dr. Laura just caused a commotion to draw attention to her impending (and much welcomed) retirement.

The convo eventually led to us pinpointing the age at which we'd both say "F*CK IT" and unleash our every thought, concern, annoyance and/or displeasure onto the world. We all know at LEAST one elderly person who stopped giving a f*ck what you or anyone else thinks around 1978, and isn't ashamed to say it either.

My age was originally 55-60... or whenever my boobs hit my waistband. Mi amigo's age was 35-40 ("Hell, why wait"), but to me, that's still fighting/shanking age. I personally would have no problem tearing a middle-aged muhfugga UP (j/k, peace & love y'all), but if sh*t's sagging off your body and ish... well damn, gravity already did half the a$$whupping for me, you dig?

Anyways, the whole convo got me to thinking about this one time I was on the Metro and it was rush hour, so it was super crowded. As the doors opened at one stop, I almost got trampled by the crowd of people both trying to get on the train and come out of it. Some 350-lb grandpa in a wheelchair trying to get off the train looks dead in my face and screams, "MOVE OUT THE WAY, FAT ASS!"

Literally everyone just stopped and stared. Not only was the comment weird--this guy had more than 200-lbs on me--it was so unexpected and rude, like who says that sh*t for real? You already know the answer folks: Old a$$ geezers. And possibly NYers.

And there wasn't sh*t I could say to the guy! Not only was he old, he was in a wheelchair. Didn't stop me from coming up with something though. As I recall, I told him to go f*ck himself (knee-jerk reaction y'all). He was already off the train at that point but he heard me and his face turned bright red like he was about to explode. Not my brightest moment, pissing off a rotund old muhfugga in a wheelchair, but hey, you win some you lose some.

Guess I shouldn't have shared that story since it shows that regardless of age (and handicap... terrible, I know), not everyone's going to tolerate your old person rants just because you're old. Yes, the wisdom that comes with age should accompany the respect of those younger than you, but only if you extend that same respect to them.

At one point during our Twitter convo I asked my friend, "Do people even realize what they say/do anymore?" He replied yes, but after a certain age, why censor yourself?

I guess. And I personally cannot wait until the day where I can say whatever I want to whoever I want and have little to no repercussions because, hey, I'm old, but really. Drumming up negative attention for myself as a "last hurrah" before my retirement? Being all hostile on public transportation on the off chance that some equally as bold mofo won't tell dat a$$ off? Or, to a greater extreme, alienating friends and family with constant negativity?

Choose your battles wisely old folks!

7/29/10

Stuff I've been into lately

MUSIC: Curren$y

Not only have I had Pilot Talk on repeat, but also Spitta's past albums--especially Higher Than 30,000 Feet and Jet Files. Notice a theme here? #JETLIFE

MOVIES: Experimental film

A still scene from the very disturbing A Serbian Film

As soon as someone describes a movie as "notorious," (A Serbian Film) "at once horrifying and mesmerizing," (Gummo) or just plain "odd," (Dogtooth) I MUST see it and judge for myself. These are the reviews/synopses of some recent films I've seen:

DRINK: McD's Frappes & smoothies

I try to avoid McDonald's as much as possible, but the Golden Arches' latest offerings of ice cold Frappes and smoothies have drawn me back in. I LOVE iced coffee and chai lattes in the summer time (hell, even in the dead of winter) so the caramel Frappe is right up my alley. I've tried both versions of the smoothies--Mixed Berry & Strawberry Banana--and while they are both tasty, I'm partial to the Mixed Berry myself. I got free coupons for these in the mail, so check yours or scour the internet for some free deals on the Frappes and smoothies this week.

DYING TO: Go to the pool! Haven't been in or near one all summer and it's blowin' me man.

4/14/10

Mo'nique's hairy legs...

... are causing quite the stir. There's even a NYT article on them. I don't know if I can get behind this trend. Yeah shaving is a pain, but I always figured it was better than having two koalas growing at my calves. And my anti-hirsuteness extends to men as well; trim that sh*t up!

Mo'nique has said before that not shaving your legs is a "black woman thing"... ::cricket chirps:: Guess I missed THAT memo. So dudes that read my blog, would you get jiggy with a chick with hairy legs? Does it even matter? SHOULD it matter? Inquiring minds (and legs/armpits/and for some broads, upper lips & chests) want to know.

I'll supplement this with some funny ish I've heard about shaving (or not):

It'll grow back thicker if you do
That only old school prostitutes used to shave to prove they weren't harboring lice (eww)
It's a "black thang" to let it grow
Not shaving is for the Euros. And hippies.
Not shaving is unprofessional*

*Actually, for this one it depends. For chicks, if you're sitting at a desk all day, who cares what your legs look like. But if you're giving a presentation where your pits are on display, it's best to NOT have Buckwheat in a headlock. For dudes, I don't see the prahlem with a nice goatee. But showing up looking like a caveman is definitely unprofesh.

3/28/10

Today's nail theme is... Blue Lagoon

I received green nail art polish for my birthday. There aren't too many nail polish colors I have that go with green or need green accents, or so I thought.

I dug out my turquoise polish and glittery silver nail art polish and made this happen...

Sparkly AND shiny

Sidenote: My esthetician once told me that a French manicure done with colors is called an American manicure. I think she just pulled that out of her a$$ but

~*now you know*~

3/1/10

College-educated rappers (no, it's not an oxymoron)

This is the look of a college-educated mofo.

Kanye West ain't the only college dropout in hip hop. Here are some of his fellow college-edumacated rappers, some of whom I was really REALLY surprised to find out went to university ::cough cough... PLIES... FLAVA FLAV... cough cough::

Cam'ron - Navarro Junior College in TX

Common - Florida A&M University (Business)

David Banner - Southern University (Business); Univ. of MD to pursue a Master's in education

Flava Flav - Adelphi University (Radio Communications/Business)

Ice Cube - University of Phoenix (Architectural Drafting)

Lil Jon - Tougaloo College

Lil Wayne - University of Houston (Sports Management)

Ludacris - Georgia State University (Music Management)

Paul Wall - University of Houston (Mass Communications)

Plies - University of South Florida (Nursing)

Rich Boy - Tuskegee University (Mechanical Engineering)

Rick Ross - Albany State University

Sean Paul - University of Technology in Jamaica

Talib Kweli - NYU (Experimental Theater)

2/23/10

This made me LOL

The tag says "DONT H8"

I haven't seen too many Hummers on the road lately. They are serious gas guzzlers and are also bad for the environment. I guess the driver of this one knows wassup.

--- Posted from my iPhone ---

2/12/10

Outside my window

I woke up this morning to the sound of birdies outside my window.

So close yet so far away:

Then I looked downward and saw my next-door neighbor looking dead at me.

[via Al Larson Photography]

CREEPER STATUS.

2/5/10

Happy Delurker Day

DC is anticipating a huge snowstorm starting today through tomorrow. I'll be snowed in (24+ inches of snow! Noooo) with little to no contact with the outside world... except through my blog! To help ward off cabin fever and get to know you lovelies better, I've decided to make today my personal Delurker Day. Show yourselves, fools! I know you're out there, lurking and not whatnot. This site averages about 50 unique hits a day, surely you have SOMETHING to say... and I'd like to hear it in the comments*. Who are you? Where are you from? How'd you find my site? Don't be shy y'all

*Not sure how to comment? Peep this post.

1/23/10

All eyez on me

I will probably lose guy readers over this post (except for the trannies... love y'all). But anyways, I decided to experiment with a golden smoky eye last night:

I think I did an OK job for someone who rarely wears makeup in the first place. Here's what I used:

1st row: CoverGirl "Shimmering Onyx;"
Maybelline Great Lash Mascara
2nd row: L'Oréal "Chocolat;" CoverGirl "Golddust;"
Smashbox "Smashing Sensory"

I also lined my eyes beforehand with
Maybelline Define-A-Line eyeliner in "Soft Black."

Drug store makeup ftw.

For those who are interested, a step-by-step:

Lined my eyes with the eyeliner
Softened the line with the soft spongy end of the Define-A-Line
Using an eyeshadow brush, swept CG "Shimmering Onyx" over my entire lid
Swept Smashbox "Smashing Sensory" over my brow bone
Took L'Oréal "Chocolat" and swept that on in the crease of my eye, blending it with the "Shimmering Onyx" and "Smashing Sensory" (these names!)
Using an eyeliner brush, I went over the eyeliner again with CG "Shimmering Onyx" to re-emphasize the smokiness and create a more defined "cat eye" look in the outside corners of my eyes.
Still using the eyeliner brush (I ran it over the palm of my hand to get rid of some of the leftover eyeshadow), I traced the inside corners of my eyes with CG "Golddust"
Finished it off with 2 coats of Great Lash Mascara

See? Easiness. You can do it too, young love.

12/22/09

Date #4: The Christmas lights show & the 24-hr. grocery store

Up in ur woodz, snackin on ur soulz @ nite

Date #4 finds me and Date at a local park for its drive-thru Christmas lights show. I hadn't been to one of those since I was a little !i$@, so I was kinda siced. Lights! Colors! Sparkly things! I'm a sucker for all of that

Of course, a date with me wouldn't be "A Date with !i$@" without some sort of strange twist. Once we paid the $5 entrance fee and began our little drive-thru, man, the Christmas show was surprisingly... eerie.

I don't know what it was, the darkness, the creepy shadows playing off the trees, the random un-seasonal lights (a bear fishing? Flamingos? Clowns? Those don't scream "holiday season" to me...) or what, but this light show had a decidedly sinister air to it.

"They probably come alive at night and snack on people's souls," I casually suggested to Date, referring to the lights.

"Nice. Not going to sleep tonight!" he says. Haha, mission accomplished.

It was a pretty big park where the light show was being held; we were there driving around for maybe 40 minutes (granted, we were going 5 miles an hour). Needless to say, after all that driving around and whatnot, being simultaneously confused and petrified of the lights and everything, a sista was hungry. So was Date, so on the way to drop him off we stopped at the 24-hour grocery store.

The 24-hour grocery is one of my favorite places, btw. Missing that perfect compliment to your midnight snack? Pick it up at the 24-hour grocery store! Feelin' ashy at 3 am? Moisturize your situation at the 24-hour grocery store! You meet the most interesting people there late at night too, but that's another post.

Anyways. I was really in the mood for a cheese danish (random), which Date had never tried before.

"It sounds like it would taste nasty," says Date.

Then I made an inappropriate joke which I won't type here, but it was pretty funny.

Just kidding!

I said, "Lots of things sound like they wouldn't taste good together: pretzels and chocolate, peanut butter and bananas, and, uh... some other stuff [Sidenote: I drew a blank here, y'all. It was all about securing that cheese danish at this point, lol. ONE TRACK MIND].

"But trust, cheese danishes are oh-so-tasty. Plus, you already know I have great taste in everything--that also includes danishes

." I sure have a way with words.

So we picked up this foot-long tray of cheese danish, made our way to the dairy section to get some 1% milk--I'm a 2% girl myself, but they were all out

--got us a 24-pack of plastic utensils, and went to the check out line.

Here, an incident similar to what happened at the McD's drive-thru occurred. Except instead of being short of change, we were so preoccupied with chowing down on this cheese danish that, yep, we forgot exactly what it was we came in there to buy at the checkout counter.

We were walking out of the store with our bag, totally anticipating this cheese danish, when the cashier runs out behind us yelling, "Hey! Hey! You forgot a bag!"

The bag that had the danish in it.

D'oh.

Ah well. We ate the danish in the car with our 24-pack of utensils and washed it down with our quart of 1% milk. Yummers.

We managed to finish about half of the danish and ALL of the milk; I asked Date to save some for me, but as it got closer and closer to being finished, Date drank the rest of that mess on the sly, like it was a dare or something. Seriously, it was as if I had said, "Betcha can't finish all. this. MILK." And he did. DUDES ::sigh::

Afterwords, Date said he'd never been on so many fun and random a$$ adventure-dates, with his boys OR with other chicks he's dated. Everyday is an adventure for me--what can I say, I'm a fun and random a$$ kinda gal--but I dug what he was sayin'. I've never semi-blown a first date and been asked out on subsequent 2nd, 3rd and 4th dates and had a blast. I wasn't even looking to date someone exclusively right now, but [CLICHÉ ALERT, CLICHÉ ALERT] sometimes it just feels "right," you know?

Anyhoo, that was the night we decided to make it official.

I think it was the cheese danish. Mmmm.

12/19/09

This made me LOL

Youngin's Towing though? Ridic

For the uninitiated: Youngin - (noun) A term of address commonly used in the DMV area (DC, MD and VA). May be used to address a younger person, female, or friend. Derivative of Young'un or Young one.

12/9/09

This made me LOL

I drive past this station everyday and they have yet to fix the S light

11/30/09

Ever noticed... 4 distinct "female sitcom character" personalties

A friend and I were talking about our respective obsessions with the TV shows Sex and the City (me) and Desperate Housewives (her).

"Have you ever noticed," I asked her, "how, in every sitcom with women cast as the main characters, there are ALWAYS four distinct personalities?"

"OMG," my friend exclaimed. "Every 'girly' show we've watched since Golden Girls is basically descended from that concept."

It's true folks! There’s the “everywoman,” the one everyone can relate to and thinks of as herself; the sexy one who gets all the guys; the naïve or kinda dumb one; and then the bitchy practical one.

Starting with the original, Golden Girls:

The everywoman: Dorothy
The sexy one: Blanche
The naïve one: Rose
The practical/bitchy one: Sofia

Sex and the City:

The everywoman: Carrie
The sexy one: Samantha
The naïve one: Charlotte
The practical/bitchy one: Miranda

Imma be honest with y'all, I don't watch Desperate Housewives. But I can still apply this little finding based on what little I do know of the show:

The everywoman: The blonde one to the right
The sexy one: Eva Longoria's character
The naïve one: I'm gonna go with Teri Hatcher
The practical/bitchy one: The redhead

Living Single:

The everywoman: Khadijah
The sexy one: Regine
The naïve one: Sinclair
The practical/bitchy one: Maxine

Girlfriends:

The everywoman: Joan
The sexy one: Lynn
The naïve one: Maya
The practical/bitchy one: Toni

Nothing's new under the sun, especially on television where it seems every idea is recycled and reused. Though each of these shows follows the same character formula, I still recognize each show and each character on that show as unique and entertaining in their own right.

For example, Blanche from Golden Girls and Samantha from SATC are both the "sluts" of the show. But Blanche's sluttiness is endearing when paired with her age and charming Southern accent, while Samantha's sluttiness is more edgy, shocking, and... dare I say, empowering? Especially when taking into account her age (Samantha's the oldest of the SATC girls).

While the "everywoman/sexy/naïve/practical and sometimes downright bitchy" female sitcom character is a tried (and true?) formula, it's a formula that works, I guess...