It is crucial to invest in those who have helped you shape into the person you are now. Spend time, because that is the only currency that will suffice for your friendship. With that being said, today I want to celebrate an extraordinary person to me. Happy birthday to my best friend from college, I love you and get ready to feel sappy.
I hated myself for letting us get distant in your last year at DePaul. Especially when you have always been one of the best friends I have ever had in my entire life. So you bet your pet biscuit, that I was beyond honored spend a whole day a half with you, just like old times. I wanted to thank you, with every fiber in me for that time, where we got to celebrate Cruzmus early.
Thank you for texting me right away when you got back to town. Thank you for coming to meet me at House of Vans, for the #30DaysInChicago Red Bull Sound Select Series. (Thank you universe for allowing him to see the spot when I had told him back in March when House of Vans opened, that I would take him there.) Thank you for letting me get you inside so we could take a branded House of Vans photobooth picture. Thank you for treating my friends and I, at Soho House. Thank you for taking more photo-booth pictures with me that night. Thank you for buying both our waitress and me, tequila shots at Moneygun. Thank you for sleeping over on my couch on a week-night, just like you said you would.
Thank you for coming back over in the afternoon, and signing my legendary kitchen wall. Thank you for showing me what it’s like to play the latest Mario Kart on the Nintendo Switch. Thank you for getting us massages at Massage Envy. That was my first professional massage, and it was awesome. Thank you for making us take the Brown Line to Belmont, instead of a Lyft. Thank you for allowing me to pick out part of your sister’s thank you gift. Which was Super Smash Bros for the N64, a $55 game, the most expensive N64 game in the store! But you told me it was more than that, it was a collector’s item. Thank you for protecting me against Stevie Wonder’s schizo cousin’s nasty ass feet. Thank you for taking me into Belmont Army, and trusting me to help you pick out a dope jacket. Made me realize I need to locate the men that shop there. Oh wait, I have, and that’s you. Knee slapper.
Thank you for allowing me to take you to dinner at Strings. Thank you for trying my VERY spicy ramen, because I knew you’d like it. Thank you for caring for my brother. Thank you for taking me to finally meet your sister. Thank you for letting us all play What Do You Meme. Thank you for sharing your hysterical secret stories with me. Thank you for helping me home after one too many Mezcal shots. You I know I only partook in taking shots on a week-night, was because of this rare occasion. Thank you for all the Ubers.
Words cannot express the amount of gratitude I have for you, in my life. Thank you for always showing me with your respect and actions, the way I should always be treated. Thank you for still keeping your word, and staying true to yourself. Thank you for always grounding me, and putting me in my place. Thank you for making me feel like you never left.
You know, who even needs a boyfriend when you have a best friend like Joe Cruz.
Happy birthday I love you!!!! Do some push-ups for me, I’ll drink a beer for you. 🙃
It deeply saddens me to see London’s iconic staple, Fabric, shut down. When I read the news, I immediately burst out into tears. I was so fortunate to have had two unforgettable experiences there, during its 15 years of running. One of those nights, which is highly important in my life, is a story where I demonstrate the core principles behind The Secret without even realizing it.
You can decide for yourself if fate, luck, or The Secret landed me backstage on my sixth night in London at Fabric.
Flashback to the beginning of 2014, I am spending my semester abroad at The University of Westminster in London, England. Before my arrival, I was all over Bandsintown to see who was coming to London during my stay. One of the first few artists I encountered happened to be London’s Foreign Beggars, who were scheduled to play at Fabric. I was sold; I had always wanted to see Foreign Beggars. (They’re an iconic hip-hop/dubstep group who had been listening to since 2009.) I immediately began tweeting about the show, expressing my gratitude and excitement to see Foreign Beggars at Fabric.
Surprisingly enough they were interacting back with me! At first, they were just favoriting and retweeting my tweets, which fueled my excitement and imagination even more; so of course, I began to tweet that I had to meet them. To which they replied and told me, to bring a glow stick to their show so they could find me!
The vision was clear and present in my head; somehow, someway, I was going to meet Foreign Beggars at Fabric that Friday; I felt it coming.
I have always been the type of person who willingly goes out to a show alone because if I want to see an artist, there is nothing stopping me from doing so. I couldn’t find anyone to go with me, especially since none of my new friends knew of Foreign Beggars, but I was stoked nonetheless. I got ready, had my flatmates snap this photo of me, and I was off to complete my mission.
I arrived at Fabric right on time to catch the opening. I was too excited and needed to obtain my front-row spot. I actually got there so early I was able to get an early entry ticket at the door, there was no line, and I went through security reasonably fast. What threw me off about security was how hard they searched for me. Coming from America, I had never been thoroughly patted down at the venue, while every pocket in my purse was checked, as well as my wallet pockets! I was even given a note card that read something like ‘beware of cellphone stealers.’
Fabric was HUGE, with so many rooms, and so many stairs, I was so confused. I followed some kids down to a room and started to scope out the place. It was empty because Fabric had just opened, and I couldn’t tell which was the main room. So I went up to a security guard and asked him which was the main room. Right off the bat, he could hear my thick American accent and asked me where I was from, to which I responded Chicago. He smiled, told me that this was the main room, and asked if I was alone; I said yes. I explained how I just arrived in London to study abroad, how I loved Foreign Beggars, and how I was here for the music strictly. I remember him saying in a thick Jamaican-like accent, “OOOh, you a good girl.” LOL, you know I am. He encouraged me to go check out the other rooms and told me he’d be right there if I needed anything.
Having just befriended the security guard, I went on to explore the other rooms. I was in drum and bass heaven, that accurate UK grimy bass, and with a British MC; it was DnB heaven, I tell you. Feeling the bass beating faster and my heart dancing along, I look at the time and decide to go back to the main room.
As I walked back into the main room, to my relief, it was merely empty. There was killer liquid drum and bass being played by some house resident DJ. I went to the middle front and began to again dance my heart out. Slowly but surely, the crowd started to pack in like sardines. By the time UZ was about to start, I was being touched, bumped, and elbowed into by nearby attendees. Which does annoy me; I don’t want someone’s gross sweaty skin touching mine; it’s an uncomfortable situation for me. Annoyed, now folding my arms, standing there with a resting bitch face. My security guard friend comes up to me and says, “you can go back to the other rooms; I’ll save your spot!!” I politely decline his offer and explain how I must stay in the front row for Foreign Beggars. He shrugged and walked back to his security post.
The next thing I know, he comes back up to me, and he says, “would you like to go on stage?” My face lit up, was that even a real question… of course, I would like to go on stage. I said back to him, “I WOULD LOVE TO GO ON STAGE!” He smiled at my reply and told me to follow him. He guided me across the crowd to the right, opened a door, walked me up a few steps, put a wristband on me, and just like that, I was on stage.
Immediately UZ’s tour manager started chatting me up, saying,”I don’t really know what that security guard was trying to say, but he was ranting about a girl from Chicago, and I said Chicago, well I am from LA bring her up here!” I was in utter shock and joy; this was the happiest moment of my life so far. On my 6th day in London, Friday, January 10th, I go out by myself to see Foreign Beggars and wind up in this situation. WHAT!?
Back to the story, I begin to tell Dominick UZ’s old tour manager about how I am out alone, studying abroad by myself; I remember asking him for a Red Bull because I wasn’t drinking. Meanwhile, UZ is still playing, and I happen to see some of my peers in my abroad program. Absolutely incredible; that’s how to describe that moment in time.
Next thing we know, tons of fog came into the main room, and I realized UZ’s set was also coming to a close. The moment we were all waiting for. Finally, Foreign Beggars was finally coming on, it was late, past 1:00 A.M., and I was ready! Dominick was still grabbing a Red Bull for me when the stage crew said even with a wristband, I couldn’t be on stage. The security guard I had befriended then quickly escorted me back to where I stood in the crowd front row dead center.
Ugh. This was fun, but not so fun because sweaty kids were now moshing against me. Dominick finally came back out and saw me in the crowd, mouthed w-t-f, and slid me a Red Bull. Classic. I did not want to be in the middle of that, realistically. But nonetheless, I made it and took videos! Maybe I will be able to link up here for you to see.
I couldn’t take the crowd after a few songs, though; I was out of the front to the back soon enough. My security bud saw me, though, and gave me thumbs up, lol. I knew in my heart that after the Foreign Beggars set, I was going to be able to get backstage. So I went back to dancing in the back of the crowd, admiring all the young British kids and their rad styles. Fully embracing this iconic British nightlife experience, and might I add, it had been an all-time dream of mine to attend a show at THE legendary Fabric.
Foreign Beggar’s set ended, and I pushed back through the swarm of sweaty kids to my security friend, who then led me back to Dominick. Dominick apologized for the mishap and explained that he couldn’t do anything. Nonetheless, it was fine. He then led me into the green room. It was poppin’ back there. Literally, bottles of champagne were being popped simultaneously.
Dominick started introducing me to everyone; I was now meeting Foreign Beggar’s whole family; it was insane. I even met Jack Beats and told him how he was the first act I saw when I walked into Ultra Music Festival in March 2012. LOL. The only person I didn’t meet was UZ, who returned to his hotel room after his set. Which was ironic because I was hanging with his tour manager.
I partied in the green room for the rest of the night but did not drink! Didn’t have a single drop of alcohol that night! I could have, for free, but I didn’t care. I only wanted Red Bull. Before I knew it, Fabric was closing; it was now about 6 AM the sun was rising. Promoters were standing outside of Fabric trying to solicit the club-goers to another after-after-hours club “Egg.” I walked back with Dominick to his nearby hotel, and we continued to chat about our lives. At the time, my biggest dream was to work for The Windish Agency. I remember Dominick telling me this solid piece of advice, “If you want something, go for it because the days that you spend slacking are the days that someone else who wants it more than you are going to get it.” That always stuck with me because we all know it is very real.
Our conversations finally came to a halt when Dominick had to go to the airport, and I had to go on a double-decker bus tour with my program. LOL, after this all-nighter… We said goodbye, Dominick put me in an Uber, and that, ladies and gentlemen, was my sixth night in London.
Picture Above: Ebow Graham of Foreign Beggars & I.
So did you know, there is a monthly makeup and beauty subscription service that ships out 5 deluxe and full-size products, in a cool makeup bag for only $10!?
Mhmm this is correct. Ten dollars flat includes 5 products, a makeup bag, and shipping!
I, myself, wanted to get into makeup more, but I didn’t know where to start or how to even go about it. One day while surfing social media, an ad for Ipsy popped up. I had heard of FabFitFun and various other subscriptions, but none that actually fit my budget or really quite interested me before. When I read what Ipsy provided to their subscribers, for again only $10(!), I immediately signed up. Who doesn’t want to receive a beauty package by surprise, once a month through the old snail mail?
Let me tell you it has been the BEST investment of my life so far.
Once you sign up for Ipsy, you don’t go back.
Once you sign up, you are prompted to choose your skin tone, eye color, how comfortable you are with makeup, what brands you like/wish to try [I chose them all], the type of makeup products you love, the other type of beauty products you love, and a few other questions of that nature. They ask these, so they can pair you with one of their stylists who will be associated with the products you will be matched with/receiving.
In fear of not knowing how to use a product? Fear no more, Ipsy has detailed descriptions and instructions on how to use each and every product you will receive. How neat is that! In addition, you may review the items that you receive. Reviewing your items improves your next month’s bag and earns points, which are redeemed for free products.
In this post, I am going to include what I received for the month of November, and give you a personal review of my items. Mind you the package that is delivered to my door is a shiny pink bubbly envelope, that I have already recycled. 🙂
Above is my five free items, the makeup bag for this month’s was themed Rockstarlet.
item #1 FORMULA X’s Nail Polish in Huntress (the nail polish): I am wearing on my nails as I type this, I love it & I have received a ton of compliments from it! Drys faster than any other nail polish I have ever used before, color is electric and eye-catching.
item #2 LUXIE’s ROSE GOLD SMALL DUO FIBRE BRUSH 524 (the makeup brush): I actually have not used this one yet. I received an amazing angel brush from Ipsy two months ago that I have been using for my blush, so that is why I haven’t used this yet. Also I am not a full foundation counter type of girl either.
item #3 Verb’s Ghost Oil (the hair oil): I absolutely love this product. Having extremely curly hair oils are very beneficial to my hair. A simple drop rubbed between my hands on to my hair from the roots down, tames the frizz and incredibly increases the shine in my hair. Double thumbs up for this one.
item #4 The Balm’s MadLash Mascara (the mascara): The wand is long and curvy, which helps with reaching those inner lashes. I like this mascara, but I received the best mascara that I have ever used in my life, a few months ago from Ipsy. It was by Tarte. I just bought a full-size tube, because my deluxe version had just ran out I only used it, practically every day. So that’s why I am a little biased, still a great product, but I am now Tarte loyal. Thanks to Ipsy!!
item #5 Elizabeth Mott’s Color is Bae Lip Lacquer in Red Chili (the liquid lipstick): I have always wanted to own something matted, lip-wise, and now I do thanks to this item. Hot and electric, is what I feel when I am wearing this bold lipstick. Definitely one of my favorite items I have received.
That is it for the month of November. Now it’s December and YOU need your own Ipsy subscription. Check out Ipsy and obtain your own subscription here!
Archives from the life of DK 