My first stop on Saturday evening was to an art gallery show on the Lower East Side featuring work by the mother of a friend. While there, I was talking to sisters from Canada and I told them about my trip last summer to Montreal. I don’t speak French, but while in Montreal I threw out a few French phrases when talking. Well, my few words of French was like a cock tease to the Quebecois as they mistook me for being fluent in their language. I quickly learned that it was best to speak English.

Later, I went with two friends to a house party in Williamsburg. It was kinda like a salon with a BYOB situation. The smell of marijuana wafted through the room. There was a French girl with a bob singing songs with an electric guitar. The singer was good. She wore electric blue leggings, a Doc Martens and big wool coat. In another room, there was a pair of red velvet sofas where a group of people were gathered. My friend Mike said hi to this girl. She wore a big hat and wide legged pants. At first, she did not respond. He thought she might be French or something. He greeted her again in French, but she didn’t respond. She just looked at us with her hand near her mouth. Finally, she starts talking to us. I asked what she did for a living. She told me that she doesn’t have a job. She wants to writes movies and her parents don’t give her money but she has friends who have that do. I joked that this party felt like a scene from ‘Girls’ and I would be photoshopped out of it. [Cause I'm Black]. The Girl asked us if we had a coke connection. If I had on pearls, I would have clutched them. It wasn’t because she ask about cocaine, but surprised because she came across a little rude. She’s twenty four. In my day, people butter you up before asking favors from strangers. BTW, I don’t have a connection to illegal substances. So the conversation trailed off, and my friends and I decided to leave. As we left, I overheard her hitting up a guy for whiskey.

Today I watched “Tiny Furniture”, the indie film Lena Dunham wrote and directed. So much of it seems familiar to me. It is set in New York, cupcakes are “googled”, there’s a chef and Bushwick is mentioned. However, many parts of it feels foreign like French. It is not the New York life that I live. Since this city has about 8 million stories, my story is just one of many.

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Tuesday, I went to a Microsoft part at the lovely Park Avenue Armory.  I was one of the lucky people to get a Zune HD for free. It’s a great media player, but I still need to figure out how it all works.  Now, I can listen to radio again, so I hear Jay-Z’s “Empire State Of Mind” anytime I scroll over to Hot 97.

DJ Tiesto performed at the party, and though I am not a big fan of club music, I danced my ass off. Plus the carpet on the floor made it easy to jump around.

Afterward, the Boy and I went to Rodeo Bar for dinner and saw this group, The Ukeladies. They were fun!

The dog days of summer are here. I thought the social activity would slow down but no!
Monday, I attended the Dachis Group meetup at the Church Lounge of the Tribeca Grand.

Tuesday, I stopped by the Agency Spy party and then went to see Carolyn’s show at 59E59. Read a great review.

Wednesday, I ate beef brisket and hung out with friends at Buddy Media’s event at Hill Country which they announced the launch of their very cool and comprehensive Twitter analytics product.

Thursday, I sauntered down to Soho to the  Peek party. I met Peek Founder Amol Sarva and chatted with Greg Gallant about Muckrack’s new one line press release service.

Saturday, I was a guest at the lovely morning wedding of Colette and Sean. The reception was at Brooklyn Botanical Garden. In the afternoon, I went up to Harlem for another of Matt’s BBQs.

TWITTERERZ 4 LIFE @niche and @mcaldecutt

Me, Nichelle Gainer and Nichelle Pace of Stylemom.net at a 140 conference party at Touch.

Photo by Diana Levine
taken at the Webutante Ball.
Wednesday, I went to IWantMedia’s The Future of Media panel discussion. Carmina recapped it excellently.

Friday, I attended PSFK’s Good Ideas Salon on Collaboration. Met some very cool people including Andrew Cherwenka of Trapeze and Sam Nelson of Formed With Art.

Friday night, I partied at the Webutante Ball. Fun, crowded and not like my prom since people actually stayed there long after they took their pictures which is amazing since the drinks were expensive.

This week was about all the ladies which is very appropriate since it is the end of Women’s History Month.

Wednesday, I attended the book party for The Lazy Environmentalist.  Spotted Top Chef’s Gail Simmons there.  Kelly Samardak from MediaPost covered the event and took pictures.  It was great to see Alexis Tirado, Caroline Waxler and the girls from Morris+King, Katie Smith-Adair and Jen Moses.

Thursday was a night of Reinvention at SAKs.  Alyson Campbell from AMP3PR told me about her inspiring client Elline Surianello last summer, but it was like a real-live Oprah show to see Elline speak about women and hair loss. Editors from Betty Confidential were there, and I met the wonderful Annette Moore of Crowned Regal.

Saturday, I went to BAM Cafe to see Erin and Her Cello, and the show was packed. The show was enhanced by a horn section and a tap dancer, Danny Gardner. Then the boy and I headed out to Fort Greene for the monthly Dig Deeper show at the Five Spot Soul Food Supper Club.  Each month,  Dig Deeper features a live performance. Many of the artists haven’t played NYC in decades, making every show a once-in-a-lifetime affair. Delia “Dee Dee” Gartrell was the singer who threw down Saturday night. Her soulful voice filled the room. The Sweet Divines and The Divine Soul Rhythm Band backed Miss Gartrell.

PB249059, originally uploaded by Logged Hours.

Since I am all about pre-gaming for my birthday, my friends and I stopped by the Thrillist party after the Agency Spy party last night. When we got there, the line outside was almost around the block, but luckily Flavie, Thrillist’s wonderful Director of Communications, got us in quickly. It was good to see old friends and a new one, Marlo from Sweet Revenge. She was there because her delicious cupcakes were there. I just wish that the were not displayed in plastic cups, but the party people were probably too busy dancing  and/or hooking up to notice. The party was crazy crowded which facilitated a cameo appearance by us before dashing out to grab dinner at Mr. Dennehy’s. The server there was nice and the food was pretty tasty. Carmine Street is quickly becoming one of my new favorite places in the Village.

decline of men by guy garcia, originally uploaded by nichellest.

Last Friday, I stopped by the book party for Guy Garcia’s new book, The Decline of Men: How The American Male is Tuning Out, Giving Up, and Flipping Off His Future.

This book is really interesting with a mix of anecdotes, biology, statistics, and recent pop culture references. It is a critical of men in America today. I hope the Y-chromosome survives. Even though, I sometimes suffer from manesia, I think men are kinda super.

Frugal is the New Black, originally uploaded by nichellest.

I had a fantastic time at the Budget Fashionista’s 5th anniversary party.
Bloggers, friends, celebrities were there to celebrate Kathryn Finney.
I got a free pair of jeans! I ate cupcakes! The DJ spun some fun music!

Check out my Flickr set.

peekskill backyard, originally uploaded by nichellest.

Saturday after the torrential downpour where some of my carrot cupcakes got wet, I took the train up to Peekskill for a party. I have friends who live in Manhattan that won’t even go to East Williamsburg for a party so the fact that I took Metro North means I am a real trooper.

Derek Hartley, who used to be my neighbor in Harlem, hosted. There were hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill and plenty of cute guys, but they were all gay. It was just my luck that I was the only woman there other than Derek’s neighbor who loves Bud Lime as much I do. I also played Rock Band with the neighbor’s kid and his friend downstairs in the rec room. The boys told me about their Boy Scout badges. I told them about the Montauk Monster. [ I am not often around 8-year old boys] Around 10PM, the Peekskill fireworks started. The fireworks were great especially there’s no light pollution up there. I had a good time, and I felt like I was in America for five hours. I need to leave New York City more often.