*Today I am participating in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop by answering the prompt: 1.) Your childhood neighborhood.

I moved a lot as a child, so in reality I don’t have one childhood neighborhood, but I do identify with one neighborhood in particular, Stonebridge, in Hazel Crest, Illinois.   We moved there from Chicago the summer that I turned 10.

It was a big move.  We lived in an older home in Chicago in a more established neighborhood, but Stonebridge was in the suburbs;  everything was new and shiny–including our house and all the furniture in it.   There was an attached garage, family room, den, separate dining and living rooms, a huge eat-in kitchen, swanky new appliances, an office for my dad and a big back yard, perfect for my new puppy.

It looked like a neighborhood on television.  The houses weren’t cookie cutter, but there were only about 6 variations.  They were laid out differently, painted different colors and tweaked a little here and there, but it looked like a cohesive neighborhood.   All the lawns were green and freshly mowed.  Our parents belonged to the Stonebridge Neighborhood Association, which I supposed made sure that residents took care of their property, but really I think that it was just an excuse to drink and play cards together.

My family can’t remember the house number, but at least I found the street on Google Maps.

But then I “walked” down the street and found my old house!  I love Google Maps! Wow, the house and neighborhood still look great.

It was a neighborhood full of kids and I had many friends.  I lived there for only 3 years before moving to Minnesota, but I made some great memories.  Here are a few: (more…)

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Jeans.  They are one of my least favorite things to shop for, along with swimsuits and bras.  So many brands, so many different fits!   I know that I’m not alone in my angst.  I’m sure that you do what I do when I find a brand of jeans that fits me well–stick with it.  I have friends that swear by Joe’s Jeans (they don’t fit me) or True Religion (they don’t fit me).  My friend Luxetips loves Hudson Jeans, while I love G-Star Raw.  We’ve both tried each other’s brands, but nope, they didn’t work for us.  She stayed with Hudson and I stayed with G-Star.

Did you notice that the brands I mentioned are trendy, boutique brands?  Luxetips and I, both fashionistas, wouldn’t be caught dead in “mom jeans”.  You know the ones: non-descript, ill-fitting, off-color with oddly placed pockets.  So honestly we approached the jean table at Getting Gorgeous NYC 2010 with some trepidation.  Miraclebody Jeans?  Hmm…we hadn’t heard of them, but we were willing to give them a try.

We retreated to a corner, tried on the jeans (stretch leggings for both of us) and instantly fell in love! The dark wash leggings were heavy without being stiff and just tight enough.  We felt hip, but still comfortable (these things don’t normally go together) due to the ample amount of spandex in the leggings.  We both agreed that we will live in these jeans come fall!   The dark wash and quality denim will allow us to wear these jeans dressed up or dressed down.   These were not “mom jeans!”

But, here’s the best part: the jeans are made to make you look 10 pounds lighter.  The tag on my jeans reads:

Miraclebody by Miraclesuit is handcrafted to shape and firm the body without using bulky linings or girdles.  Miracle Body supersoft fabric has twice as much spandex as the averave jean, our exclusive Miratex fabric as triple the holding power as assuring as a beautiful fit as well as a trendy style.  Look 10 lbs lighter in 10 seconds.

Now, as awesome as this sounds, I wouldn’t wear them if they didn’t look good.  And neither would Luxetips.  We’ve got reps to protect LOL!

Here I am, modeling my jeans for the family.  Yeah, I could get all sexy with some heels, but I rock Converse on a daily basis, so this is how I’ll be wearing the jeans most of the time.

I am wearing leggings, but there are several different kinds of jeans available.  At $88, these jeans are very affordable, but right now Miraclebody is offering my readers 10% off all jeans as well as free shipping and returns from 8/15-9/15.  Just enter the code “Take Ten” at checkout.

Look good and feel good, that’s what a good pair jeans ought to do, and Miraclebody does just that.

*Full Disclosure: I received a pair of Miraclebody Jeans as part of Getting Gorgeous NYC 2010, an invite-only event during Blogher 2010 weekend.  I was not asked to write this review and all opinions expressed are entirely my own.

© 2010 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*I don’t get paid for my opinions in any way; this is just me sharing stuff that I like and I think you will too.

During my recent trip to Manhattan for Blogher 2010, I didn’t have much time to explore my favorite city, so I had to prioritize.   Out of all the things that I love to see and do in Manhattan, these 3 things are at the top of the list: visit a museum (the Matisse exhibit at the MoMA was fantastic), hang out in Central Park, and browse (okay, shop) at Henri Bendel.

Bendel and I are old friends; we go way back.  While living in New Jersey for several years, I often visited Bendel’s after having afternoon tea at the St. Regis or Plaza hotels.  It’s been a few years since I’ve been there and I practically wept tears of joy as I opened the door.  Pausing outside and snapping this photo, I tweeted: “Somebody save me from myself!”

The first floor is always buzzing with the latest and most fashionable make-up and accessories.  More than 10 years ago I bought a supercool necklace at Bendel’s that spells “Superstar”; I still wear it practically everyday.  I always expect to find something fun and new and this time was no exception.

I am a watch person; I have six watches and I am not ashamed to buy more.  I think of them as bracelets that tell time.   So when I walked into Bendel’s, the TKO Watch display–bright, funki watches–really caught my eye.   So cute!

The watches I loved, the Slappers, were more than cute, they were also fun to wear–you slap them on your wrist like the slap bracelets back in the day.  But you haven’t even heard the best part yet:  the watch, strap and capsule around the watch are interchangeable.  How cool is THAT?  I was sold.  Kevin, the art director for TKO Watches who was manning the display that day, and I had fun putting together a watch especially for my Funkidivagirl style.  You know that I had to get some pink in there somewhere!

Turns out that TKO Watches were on Oprah’s O List in O Magazine. I’ve always liked her; she’s got good taste.  I bet she likes Bendel’s too!

I love my watch.  Everyone at the Blogher conference loved my watch.  Everyone back here in Atlanta loves my watch.  My daughter can’t stop slapping it on my wrist and we are already planning to buy an accessory pack so that we can mix and mingle the parts into a few more watches.

So, that’s two things I like: TKO Watches and Henri Bendel.  I would say that was time well spent.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

This story is in honor of World Breastfeeding Week. Even though I haven’t breastfed in a long time, I am still a huge supporter of breastfeeding women and causes.

I call myself a pseudo-hippie and even though it was a latent tendency that was sure to erupt at any time despite my Midwestern upbringing, the hippiness emerged when I became pregnant with my first child. I started eating organic food and while reading everything that I could about childbirth and raising a child, I was drawn to “Attachment Parenting”. Childbirth with minimum intervention, co-sleeping, baby-wearing and breastfeeding all made sense to me.

I had a drama-free birth (if you can call being in the worst pain of my life drama-free) and my son took to breastfeeding right away. So while breastfeeding was not difficult for me, it was still awkward and new. I was certainly not adept at breastfeeding in public yet. That would come with time…I would become a breastfeeding pro who could be deep in conversation, discreetly whip out a boob, feed my kid and not miss a beat–while talking to my pastor, no less. But not yet.

Nevertheless, a few weeks after giving birth I found myself accompanying my husband to Will Smith’s house. My husband’s friend DJ Jazzy Jeff was there and invited him to a Playstation gaming tournament. My husband was a big gamer and wanted to go, but didn’t want to leave his wife and new son at home. So he brought us along.

I can hear you gasping now: “She went to Will Smith’s house a few weeks after giving birth? Sleep-deprived, still carrying baby weight and boobs so milk-sensitive that she could leak all over his (presumably) expensive sofa?” Yeah, those were my thoughts too.

But there I was, nestled on a big sofa with Will’s friends–all guys–holding my newborn son. After the initial hellos, pounds and whatssups, everyone forgot about me and the baby as they got deep into the Playstation tournament. And that was fine with me because now my baby was hungry and I had to figure out how to breastfeed him without calling attention to myself. Asking Will–who I really didn’t know–for a private room would be calling attention to myself. Moving off the sofa would be calling attention to myself. Trying to send brainwaves to my husband wasn’t working; he was in gamer-guy heaven and oblivious to my dilemma.

I had no choice; my son was starting to fuss. I put a blanket over my shoulder (I had never done that before; at home I nursed with my shirt open), unbuttoned my shirt and thankfully my son latched on immediately and silently.

Duane Martin, sitting next to me, noticed the silence and the blanket. “Wow, he stopped crying because you put a blanket over his head?” he asked.

“No,” I said, “He’s stopped crying because he was hungry and I now I am feeding him.”

He looked confused for a minute and then I could see the lightbulb go off. “Oh!”

And that was that. The baby was fed, it wasn’t a big deal and none was the wiser except for Duane Martin (who went right back to gaming).

I learned that if I could do it there, with a newborn baby, the only woman in Will Smith’s house during a Playstation gaming tournament, I could breastfeed anywhere. And for the next several years, that’s just what I did.

© 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.