Too Cute

Thoughts on Chrianna?

You See Me Rollin...

The really cute ones are quite expensive.
But you know you want one.

Too bad summer's almost over here, even though the woman in the last photo rocked it.

Obama Keeps It Real

Don't worry this isn't another 'I love Obama' post (even though....Obama08! Obama 08!), this is about Michelle Obama who has become a fashion standout in the months she has been on the campaign trail. I've been watching her for some time now, an I must say, I like her style. Many have said she is bringing fashion back to the white house, where it has been absent since the days of Jackie O. Loving called "Miche" by her family, they wondered if their strong headed girl would find a husband tough enough to hold his own. Then Barack came around.

Both had graduated from Ivy League colleges (Michelle from Princeton and Barack from Columbia) and then from Harvard Law (Michelle in 1988 and Barack in 1991, though he is three years older than she). Both are tall (Michelle is 5 feet 11 and Barack is six feet two). And the couple had met through another serendipitous coincidence: In 1988, when Michelle was a first-year associate at the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin (now Sidley Austin Brown & Wood), Barack arrived as a summer associate, an internship between his first and second years of law school. Michelle was assigned to be Barack's mentor and a month later he asked her out.

"Barack is very straightforward! He said, ‘I think we ought to go on a date.

After putting it off for a while because she worried that it would be inappropriate, the two spent a day touring the Art Institute, lunching at the museum's outdoor café, and then walking along Michigan Avenue before taking in a movie, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. Three years later, they married.

Michelle Obama, 40, grew up on Chicago's South Side. Michelle showed her aptitude early. She skipped second grade, graduating second in her class at Bryn Mawr Elementary, and, according to her mother, Marian, "she would practice the piano for so long you'd have to tell her to stop." Michelle later attended Whitney Young High School; her friends there included Rev. Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita, now godmother to the Obamas' older daughter. During her junior year in high school, Michelle visited Craig at Princeton University, which had recruited him to play basketball (at 6 feet 7, he became the school's fourth-leading scorer in its history). She set her sights on following Craig, also an excellent student, and remembers thinking, perhaps only half jokingly, "I'm smarter than he is!"

After Princeton, she went to Harvard Law, then took the job at Sidley, back in Chicago. Three years into her career as a corporate attorney, Michelle was devastated when her father died from MS complications.

"That's when I started analyzing my life, sitting in a firm."

She left the firm to work for the city. She is now the executive director of community affairs for University of Chicago Hospitals.

Today, as a windstorm of anticipation gathers around them, Michelle is Barack's confidante. "She's gorgeous. She's strong and smart and grounded," he says. "[And] she's brutally honest, which is good for keeping my head on straight." When not making the occasional campaign appearance, she maintains a normal routine: rising at 4:30 a.m.; exercising with a personal trainer; working full-time; caring for their two young daughters (Malia, six, and Natasha, three), who attend the university's Lab School; and staying close to home, the bottom floor of a Hyde Park brownstone where the Obamas have lived for more than a decade.

She also manages to carve out time for friends and family, often visiting her mother, who lives nearby, and making dates with brother Craig and his two kids.

Asked what political wife she admires, she cites Hillary Rodham Clinton. "She is smart and gracious and everything she appears to be in public-someone who's managed to raise what appears to be a solid, grounded child." Would she ever consider running for political office herself? "No," she says, firmly, not pausing a beat. "Absolutely not."

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Ahhh......... Model Television

These days everyone and their grandma has a reality show in Hollywood. From the Lohans, to Danny Bonaduce, and celebrity fit clubs to celebrity competitive cooking, reality T.V. comes in all shapes and genres. But the one that holds my attention, (always!) are the modeling/fashion reality shows. You know the ones! Now that Project Runway US AND Australia has started up, it's only a matter of time before my boyfriend can't take the neglect anymore and my work blocks my computer from Youtube. To go through all of my favorites would be quite a long list, but here's to some of my favorite modeling shows past and present:

The Top Model Family

AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL
As annoying as Tyra is each season, she never fails to CRACK ME UP! The girls get worse and worse each season, no lie. I'm scared that next season they're gonna bounce in sayin 'NUH UH hunny Flav is MY MAN!'

AUSTRALIA'S NEXT TOP MODEL
Best show by FAR from the top model family! All of the girls look like real working models, the judges make sense as well as entertain, and the photo's produced are amazing. Last season's winner Damelza is a personal favourite (the girl on the right) and even though she's only sixteen (yup, you read right, sixteen!) she was more level-headed and focused then a lot of her competition. If you want to check out her season check it out on youtube. Australis is beeuuuutiful by the way.

CANADA'S NEXT TOP MODEL
I mean just look how Jay Manuel, the host, works it in this ad. How can you not watch it. *snicker*
Actually this show was my guilty pleasure for awhile. Sure sometimes it was extremely lame and disgraced Toronto (they made the city look like a low security prison) but for the most part the lack of insane characters saying 'FIERCE' every five minutes was refreshing.

GERMANY'S NEXT TOP MODEL
Also one I watch on Youtube, almost purely for Heidi though. Lord knows those subtitle give me headache sometimes.

8th & OCEAN
I have a confession, even though this show was only a brief season long, I've watched every episode at least twice. I can't help it! It was pretty good in depicting what it was like to be a working model....in the world of MTV anyway. Brianna, Brit and Taleesha (three gorgeous girls on the left) were my favorites.

"Want to know what the high-stakes, competitive world of modeling is really like? You're invited to drop by 8th & Ocean. Deep in the heart of Miami's hot South Beach, ten professional models live together in a beachfront apartment complex, each trying to make their way in a glamorous yet very demanding industry. From the fading star afraid her time has passed to the naïve newbie testing her moral limits to the party boy searching for true love, 8th & Ocean shows you the hard work and human drama behind the glossy fashion spreads."

Hooked already eh? Check out mtv.com.

A MODEL LIFE

TLC surprised me awhile back running their own version were Petra Nemcova mentored six girls from all around the world on how to make it in the industry. I felt this show was really insightful and showed more of the struggle of New York (those subways are crazy!! no souped-up limos for these girls). Check out photo galleries and more here.

THE JANICE DICKENSON AGENCY
Who can forget the ever lovable Janice! She left Top Model long ago to start .....this. Is this show even still running? Are models still trying to make it into an agency that shouts "GET NAKED" as soon as you enter through the door, and has is pretty much known to have the prestige of a brothel? If so, then that's LA for you. Janice also has a show with runner up from Britain's Next Top Model Abigail Clancy....love them both but hate the show.

MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL

This was a really great show, and a little different from the others because America got to vote who could stay and eventually win the $100,000 and contract with New York Model Management. From the beginning I knew Holly was going to win. She is not only stunning but she lived and breathed modeling. Dammit she probably dreams of posing positions at night! Good luck to her, she really deserved it. But I stayed to tuned to see the sexiness of not only Tyson Beckford, but for the second-runner up and Tyson's young prodigy Perry (shown in second picture). He was an incredible model, smart, funny, calculated yet caring and, can I just say, seeing Tyson and him on screen together was MY PLEASURE Bravo, thanks.

& now a tribute to the future:

Has anyone been watching Britain's Missing Top Model?

Stylish, sassy, chic ... disabled?

Eight young disabled women discover what it takes to be a model - but which of them will win a photo shoot and appear in a top fashion magazine?

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Hmmm.. Has anyone been watching? Saw a few episodes personally, and it was really interesting, but I'm honestly not sure when I'll be seeing a wheelchair on the catwalk. I mean we're still struggling trying to get non-whites on the runway and in the magazines........damn. We still have a long way to go...

But in the meantime feast your eyes on what Tyra has in store to embarrass...er... enlighten (?) the industry:

Aw geez. Prepare for the foolishness Fall '08!

Tyra Pays Tribute In Harper's Bazaar

Short Break, Chill For Now Homies