Thing(s) of the Day: Blogs Part II, and "Regular People"

First things first. Two of my nearest and dearest friends and roommates have started their own blogs! Although this has sparked a lot of BBM questioning on how to make things bold and linked and colorful and et cetera, I couldn't be happier to help them and encourage you all to check them out. Alex of ArtsyVille is blogging about (duh) the arts in her favorite cities of residence: Nashville, New York, and Miami and gracing the blogosphere with her book, movie, and food reviews, while Kelley of Kelley+Kanon is running a photo blog with pictures of her many travels--she is much cooler than me and sailed all over the world from Europe to Asia to Africa this past semester, and has been entertaining our roommates by snapping really artsy and gorgeous photos of us over the past few weeks. The picture above (in Mauritius, Africa) and those of the Music City Barbeque and Beer Festival in my past post were taken with her super sweet Canon.

Although it's kind of creepy/voyueristic that half of our suite now puts things on the internet for all to see, and I really don't want others to start thinking of us as "those girls that REAALLLY like the internet," I am so excited to be sharing this with two of my best friends! Has anyone seen the Julie+Julia preview (I say preview in leiu of movie because the movie looked so boring/chick-flickish that I don't expect any of my fine-tasted friends to have viewed it) where Amy Adams' obnoxious-friend-with-drinking-problem-character (life goal if being Chelsea Handler fails: star as obnoxious-best-friend-with-drinking-problem-character in B list movies. Fine, I'll take C list) says "Oh my god! Showtime bought my blog for a mini-series!"? (Excuse that horrid punctuation. I really don't know how to work the ! " " ? trifecta). Anyway-Showtime. If you're listening. ALEX NIKKI AND KELLEY ARE AVAILABLE FOR MINI-SERIES. We do really funny things, are less trashy than the Kardashian sisters, are now 21 so can legally be documented binge drinking, and have varied interests we would like to talk about on camera. We adore both Weeds and Californication, and even have a Dexter poster (can we talk Dexter with BABY please?!) in our living/dining room. Put us on TV. ASAP.

That being said, can we talk about this picture?


The above photograph of a "model" with an ab roll was featured in September's Glamour and the media and bloggers alike are freaking out about how awesome it is that a "regular" person was featured in the fashion section of a major U.S magazine. No offense, regular people, but I for one am not pleased. I get to see regular people every single day. Whether I like it or not, regular people accompany me on subways and buses, in restuarants and bars, libraries and doctor's offices, and in mirrors throughout the world. The world is suffering from a widespread epidemic of normal-sized, ordinary, not-that-attractive regular people, which we come into contact with all the time. When I pay $3.99 to flip through the pages of a glossy magazine (I know, I know...I should just get a subscription and save 80% off cover price blah blah blah but I don't, so...) I do not want to see regular people. I want to see bronzed, skinny Amazon women who inspire me to put down that candy bar and get my ass to spin, pronto. If I wanted to see "ab flab" I would simply look out my window. We shouldn't have to suffer because some women are so insecure with their own bodies that they demand imperfect humans like themselves to be featured in magazines just so they feel better about their self-esteem. What's next? Shitty actors being picked over good ones in movies so that struggling thespians stop cutting themselves? Clumsy ballerinas to inspire all us klutzes out there? Half-frozen restaurant meals because you can't cook? No thank you, world. I am not perfect. I would like for my entertainment to be.

Another note about my friends' blogs--they are both much nicer human beings than I, so even if you are offended and flabbergasted by my opinions, you probably won't be by theirs.

Things I am looking forward to this week: free dinner (thanks, expert Jewery in acquiring coupons) at Zumi followed by the Weeds finale tonight, my first day at Universal Music tomorrow, Shakespeare in Centennial Park (because I didn't make it to Shakespeare in Central Park in Manhattan) on Thursday, the Wine to Five event ($5 wines and appetizers for ladiez) at The Wine Loft also on Thursday, and the FIRST TAILGATE, ahem, football game of senior year on Saturday. I couldn't find Western Carolina University on a map, nor do I know if it is in North or South Carolina or some new Carolina colony called West Carolina, but I will very gladly drink to their large bulky men playing ours.

Cheers!

Thing of the Day: Birthdays

I really like this picture, and would definitely like to meet this guy if ever I made it to NYC speed dating...but that aside:

I am 21 (!!!!!) Technically, I have been 21 ever since I was about 17, but now I am legally and fully and finally 21 (despite bouncers, bartenders, and waiters having failed to ask me for proof of this since I turned it on Saturday). I had the best birthday weekend I could possibly imagine, starting with a cool (albeit debacle-infused) LMFAO concert (for those who don't know LFMAO, they sound a little bit like Girl Talk meets Shwayze--in other words, great) and some casual drinking on a boat on Thursday, progressing to a much needed day off and subsequent shopping (enter oxfords, cage heels, and little summer dresses), followed by the most awesome birthday party ever ever ever (hi, friends who cook me dinner, supply my party guests with cheeses and dips and crackers, bake me cakes from scratch or buy them from delicious cupcake eateries and provide bottle after bottle of vodka, wine and champagne) on Friday, peaking at a phenomenal dinner with my parents at Tom Colicchio's Craft and a late night of casual wine-sipping with my favorite people at beautiful B-Bar and our go-to-live-music-cheap-drink venue, Red Lion on Saturday, and ending with a dinner party full of crazy/beautiful Russian family friends and relatives actively encouraging me to take shots of Grey Goose at 5pm on a Sunday afternoon (I politely declined) and beyond-words awesome Sunday night HBO. Longest run on sentence ever but--True Blood. What. The. Hell.

This week is going to be excellent for a number of reasons, which I will list here:

1)It is the last week of my internship. I learned so much this summer and was so glad to have gotten this opportunity but I can't wait to lay on the beach and do absolutely nothing but eat, tan, sleep and shop for 10 days.
2)Shakespeare in the Park starts again tomorrow. I can't wait to try to see The Bacchae. Dionysus is kind of an asshole. For more reasons why, please refer to last nights' True Blood.
3)Sex and the City at Hudson River Flicks on Wednesday
4)End of summer sales. NYC End of summer sales are phenomenal, and I am on the lookout for a jumper, a (new) perfect purse, ripped leggings, oxford flats, boyfriend jeans and new sunglasses.
5)Emiliana Torrini & Anya Maria at the Highline Ballroom on Friday. I kind of hate the Highline Ballroom, but I fully love indie chicks with guitars.
6)Possible trips to Long Island. I love the LIRR (trains with cushioned seats and bathrooms > trains with little Hispanic boys who sit next to you and ask if they can "listen to yo Ipod wichu, miss...just one headphone, cmon!"), and the friends on the other side of it.
7)Everyone Hates Katherine Heigl. There are actually 71,600 Google hits for the search terms "Everyone+Hates+Katherine+Heigl." The one I was really looking for was one I read earlier today, which was this.
8)On that note, there are 362 Google hits for me. Considering that I have never actually done anything of note and there is no chance there is another Nikki Bogo on the planet (Seriously. None. I once tried to Facebook all the people with my last name and got my cousin, my sister,and a girl named Natasha who goes to Claremont McKenna that I now sometimes exhange "are we related" and "how are you" messages with), that's pretty impressive.
9)Reservations at Le Cirque.
10)I can't really think of a 10th reason, but odd numbered lists bother me unless they are in increments of 5, so I will say the fact that the Yankees won last night, despite the fact that I consider myself much more of an aesthete than athlete and that I asked my friend Julie what the term "sweep" meant today because I was confused by happy New Yorkers' Facebook statii.

Thing of the Day: The PS1 Warmup

Does anyone remember that episode of Friends when someone at work eats Ross's sandwich? In summary, Monica makes Ross this awesome sandwich, which he brings to work and labels "Knock knock. Who's there? Ross's sandwich--please don't eat me, okay?" His boss ignores the rather witty note and eats the sandwich anyway, leading to very understandable fury.

Well. Around 11:30AM this morning at work, I decided to go upstairs to the communal kitchen area and eat one of the low-fat mozarella string cheese sticks I had left in the fridge. These sticks came in a bag of 12, neatly had "Nikki" written on them in permanent marker, and as of Friday numbered around 5 or 6. Imagine my feelings when I trekked upstairs to find ZERO string cheese sticks remained. Not one. Apparently someone decided my string cheese was a free for all and proceeded to hand them out to friends and coworkers. How to win friends and influence people: free food. Namely, mine.

It's taken me all morning and most of the afternoon to finish mourning the loss, and although I am fairly sure I am not fully over it, I can bring myself to talk about something else, if only for a little while.

This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Summer Warmup at the PS1 Contemporary Art Center in Long Island City. PS1 used to be a shitty New York public school, and about 10 years ago the MoMa bought it and it was somehow turned into an art museum. The exhibits themselves are ridiculously cool, they consist of really contemporary art pieces ranging from sculpture to painting to audio and video, but what makes it really unique is that many of the elements of a disintegrating NYC public school are preserved in building, from the graying staircases to the classrooms. (I haven't been keeping up with NYC Prep but something tells me Jessi would faint from disgust if she ever stepped foot in such an educational venue, and it really made me appreciate Stuyvesant's glass bridge and marbled hallways). To add to the really sweet museum itself (our favorite was the Jonathan Horowitz political And/Or exhibit), the Summer Warmup features up and coming bands, a beer and wine bar, and really attractive Hipster McYuppies imported straight from Williamsburg and the Lower East Side. The band plays by the sculpture in the featured picture above, which is basically this 30 foot tall fuzzy...thing...which sprays everyone around it with a fine mist. We goth there around 3pm, and by 4pm, everyone was raging. I have never seen people so blatantly trashed/tweaked during the day (disclaimer: real adult people, because Vanderbilt tailgate, duhhhh). There was a man in purple Ray-Bans and skinny jeans who I swear beat-boxed and break-danced for two hours straight, a couple decked out in matching fluorescent iridescent mermaid costumes, and a plethora of Vneck McWayfarer couples grinding more aggressively than I have seen in any club at 3am. This place was so amazing and I would highly recommend it to any New Yorker or visiting friend--future Warmups on August 1st, 8th (but you won't be there because you will be celebrating my 21st birthday. Duh), 22th, 29th and September 5th.

After a great day at the Warmup, we went to Battery Gardens, where an employee friend treated us to extra full glasses of Chardonnay, delicious tuna tartare, succulent crab cakes and a massive platter of chocolate, cheesecake and mousse dessert. Further culinary adventures this week include Daniel Boulud's most recent eatery, DBGB, the Vanderbilt Summer Sendoff Party at Cipriani 42nd Street (what's up, open bar?), and the Hudson Square Food and Wine Festival. In non-food-and drink-related activities (surprise)!, I plan on seeing Billy Elliot with the best friend on Wednesday and checking out candle-lit yoga at YTTP Sunday.

My New York summer is quickly drawing to a close and there are so many things I have yet to do (speed date, see Shakespeare in the Park, go to a SummerStage concert, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, explore Williamsburg, visit the Brooklyn Yard, shop at the Chelsea Flea, see In The Heights, have the all-you-can-drink brunch at Garage, see a Hudson River Flick, bike to work, student rush the Ballet, and eat at a growing list of potential eateries. I think if I up my after-work/happy hour dates from two to three a week, I can squeeze it all in. Who wants to eat, drink, and be cultured?

I think I'm going to go steal some peanut butter from the work fridge. Sorry, co-workers. Karma's a bitch.