Excercising My Mynd with BK "I Am Art" Adams

Last Friday was a terrific day and thus far, this has been an amazing semester. I have grown and been so inspired. My artistic fire has been rekindled and I look forward to being able to take advantage of free time (whenever and where ever I can find it.)

Ever since I moved to Washington two years ago I have been haunted by stickers and posters all over the neighborhoods I frequent and where I currently reside. Black and white stickers with a bearded man with the words "I AM ART" emblazoned along the bottom. If you've spent anytime at a bus stop, a stop sign, on the metro, on U Street, in Eastern Market, or Chinatown you've seen BK. You may have been like me and not known who he was or what the stickers symbolized but whether you like it or not, BK Adams IS art.

Last Friday, I took a friend who is enrolled as an Exhibition Design masters student at the Corcoran College of Art and Design with me to Anacostia to see the "Excercise your Mynd" exhibit. I had only heard a few details about the show but figured it was something worth looking into. Whether a 12 foot canvas to honor his kindred spirit, renowned artist, Sam Gilliam, coffee cups, fully functional bicycles the exhibition was a feast for the eyes, mind and soul.  I was all at once enveloped in beauty and magic and mystery and color. Some pieces were reminiscent of Basquiat, others like "Throwing Biscuits" reminded me of Jackson Pollock.

From flipping through the program I recognized the director of the museum in the gallery and immediately introduced myself. I gushed about how taken I was by the exhibit and she informed me that the artist had run home to grab something but that he would be coming back soon if I would like to met him. I did and he was as warm and inviting as inviting could be. I interviewed him informally and he answered each one of my questions without hesitation. He couldn't have been any nicer or more gracious. More exhaustive in his fascinating breakdowns of his work, his thought process, his creative process and "the seasons" that inspired each and every piece he creates.

As a third generation artist, he sees fun as his primary concern.He is fascinated by flight and plans on taking monthly hang gliding trips with fellow artists and kindred spirits in the coming weeks to experience true freedom. The number 3 is present in nearly all his work symbolizing the three generations of artists in his family, also resembling his initials when viewed in reverse, 3 legs on the easels he sometimes works on and also his visual concept of balance and perfection.

When asked about his "I AM ART" he replied simply that we are ALL art. Art is expression, beauty, majesty and truth. Art is in every fiber of our being, from the way we turn our heads to the way we speak. There is beauty everywhere we look and the more we free ourselves from negative thinking and push positivity the happier we will be.

This is a link to a fabulous article on the artist as it appeared in Worn Magazine late last year: Throwing Biscuits with BK Adams : Worn Magazine : Fashion, Art, and Style in Washington, DC http://shar.es/HPNn2

Swap in the Name of Love

Last Wednesday was one of those magical evenings that just kind of came together and could only be described as kismet. After forwarding a half-glanced over mid-week email to my girls from DC Scout...I circled back around to it only after a sangria-induced early evening slumber that had me waking up in the wee hours of the next morning. The sleep was great but the sangria the night before with my girls was even better. :-)

But back to the matter at hand----I generally only glance over the emails from DC Scout--but after last night that will all change FOREVER! I had always assumed from the last few half-glances that many of the events posted on DC Scout (Washington Post) were boutiquey exorbitantly expensive affairs---au contraire! The admission last night was a mere 10 smackers (after a twitter-tip for the 50%off discount) and only after I had purchased my ticket...not being able to pay for anyone else's ticket or knowing that any of my friends would actually be up or interested in going...only after buying my ticket did I find a tweet related to the Swap---a Twitter account (@dcgf aka the DC Goodwill Fashionista, please follow her!)  that promised a free pair of tickets to the swap for simply retweeting the information---it only took a simple mouse click so I thought--'Why not.' And with that the cosmic kismet ball was set into motion.

After a long day at work, on my feet, countless customer service issues and a newly acquired aversion to Starbucks I went in search of dinner---but to no avail...my day was NOT looking good until I checked Twitter only to be told that I had won the tickets to the swap! I was #siced (DC slang) to say the least. My day WAS beginning to look up although it was almost over. After a quick call to my girl Sakinah Mae at least one of my comps was spoken for.

That very moment and several more like it remind me of how we all have very different friends for a variety of reasons...I have club night friends who are often VERY different from my chill time, walking around Georgetown on my day off friends. You get the idea,  but saying all this to say, the friends I thrift with or who I like to thrift with...I couldn't get ahold of a single one of them...but I knew to hold off on promising the ticket to a complete and total stranger over Twitter, because I knew good and well my roommate, Kham would KILL me....but dammit if she wasn't answering her phone! So with that I headed home and started preparing my belongings, gathering up sweaters, dresses many still with the tags still on them...Sorry Mommy! There were many more things that I had always been meaning to consign but I am STILL in search of the best spot...

I tried to plan out my Thursday evening as best I could---I would be covering a different store the next day, in a mall I had never been to, managing staff I had never met. I knew I could do it but that didn't mean that it wasn't  a daunting thought at the very least. And after a rocky start my day picked up when Kham finally got back to me and just as I had thought---she promised bodily harm if I had given away HER ticket. She had already claimed if after retrieving my repeated voicemails from the night before. #ParForTheCourse

I hightailed it from Springfield to Clarendon and met up with Kham and Sakinah Mae and headed over to the Swapaholics shindig at the beautiful Clarendon Ballroom...As far as first impressions go I was struck by how many people were in attendance! And I could definitely tell that these women were pros! They had those freakishly monstrous Ikea shopping bags...(SMART, SMART women). I did heed a few of the Swapaholics' tips for instance, dress in layers...I wore my shapewear bottoms so that I could try on pants, skirts and dresses alike without the fear of flashing everyone and exposing where I work and what I do for a living.

Me with Amy Chase, co-founder of The Swapaholics and one of our hostesses for the evening.

Sakinah Mae

Sister Swappers

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many other black women! :-) It made me very happy actually!
Found it a little odd that food and beverages would be served at an event where speed, agility and discernment were key...just a thought! LOL. Soooo you meant to tell me that you're serving food that might fatten us up and slow us down and wine and drinks that might put us down for the count? ;-) CLEVERRRR!

Early on I was identified as the woman to get ahead of --- one woman told me that I looked like I meant BUSINESS and that she would be jockeying to get as close to me as possible. We were similarly sized and she said she liked my style. I took both as a compliment.

Kham, Sakinah and I were asked to volunteer and got a sneak peek! We sorted pants, denim, skirts, dresses and accessories. Oh what fun!

When everything started we didn't even have to push, pull, tug or shove to get what we wanted, everyone was surprisingly and pleasantly calm, clearheaded and rational! Kham and I found some steals and even a few nice things for Sakinah who was CONVINCED that she wouldn't be able to find a THING in her size..FALSE! We found SEVERAL nice things and even a few things for her sister!

Early in the swap, Kham ran over to show me a dress she had scored that she was in love with. "Hey Vicki! Check this out! Don't you just love it?" My response? "I brought that dress! LOL" To which Kham responded, "The hell?! You mean I coulda just gone in your closet and gotten this? You coulda saved us both some time and just given this to me weeks ago!" LOL.

LOVED this burnt orange dress! And it was my size!

But the lucky lady who scored it already had plans to cut 

it down to fit herself :-/

That's what friends are for :-)

She was WORKIN' this jacket, honey!

The Zulu Gypsy Lookin' oh so chic!

This mother/daughter team meant business! 

Never got their names but these two friends found the MOST AMAZING pieces!

They took NO prisoners and walked away with dresses, shoes and purses that were 

TO DIE FOR! And they were both just so doggone ADORABLE! :-)

"Try on this dress, Sakinah Mae" *in my best Ike Turner voice* LOL

Kham LOVED this dress, but we weren't quite sure...

How CUTE is this blue on Sakinah? As soon as we chop off the bottom...

U Street here we come!

Kham, "the Negotiator" trying her best to swipe a bag from another swapper,

she's also a fellow blogger, I'll have to find her info and post it. Although

Kham never got that bag, we did get the name of some great vintage and

consignment shops from her! 

This red dress fit her so well! Kham was sick about it,

but we were all in agreement that this dress was made for her!

Jen, the style maven behind Sew Frugal and Fashionable spotted us

(photo courtesy of Sew Frugal and Fashionable)

Cute pic, but those shoes?...

Not gonna work! LOL

Kham, or "The Negotiator" as I like to call her was in RARE form last night, she tried her very best to pry a nice tweed-like work purse from a very nice girl who despite Kham's best efforts WASN'T having it. LOL. I'll give my girl an A for effort though because she really did try. Bless her heart! :-) But in the end she ended up getting the best prize of all---a door prize of $50 to go shopping at the Goodwill store of her choice! Lucky Duck! I told her as the one who provided her with the ticket for the evening a 20% finders fee was in order---and I was only half joking ;-)

It's door prize tiiiiime!

Kham & Lisa Rowan of QuarterLife202

Us with @Lisatella

All in all, the evening was a success I was so inspired after meeting so many other bloggers, artists, fashionistas, up-and-coming saleswomen and entrepreneurs. My girls and I had so much fun that we might try and set up our own swap sometime soon! Be on the lookout!

The Inimitable Sade

After months of anticipation, the moment of truth came last Thursday when Sade Adu, or simply, Sade came to the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore setting off her North American tour. The air was thick with anticipation. As Frankie Beverly and MAZE boomed throughout the venue between John Legend's set and the main event, I could hear people trading stories back and forth about how much they loved the enigmatic woman with the perfect ponytail. These folks were fanatic. They knew about her childhood, her career, had read every liner note, every interview, seen every video and kept the flame of their fandom alive for the last 14 years: the last time she had performed in the U.S. on tour. My brother, was among them. Having revealed to me on the two-hour bumper-to-bumper drive from D.C. that he had fallen for Sade when his ex had fallen out of love with him. He continued that her voice soothed his wounds and he was able to relate to the lyrics of loss and love in a way he would never have previously imagined. This one more example of the bonding my brother and I had been able to do during his week-long visit. As a bonafide 22-year old adult now, he could accompany to places like the Hookah bar and Patty Boom Boom, etc. and that evening  was no different. We had a BALL. Sade SANG HER FACE OFF! It was an amazing show. As a thespian, the videography on the jumbotrons wasn't just a running display of what those of us in the cheap seats couldn't see from way up in the crow's nest it was a mini-movie. There had to be AT LEAST a thousand lighting cues. The stage raised, lowered, tilted, opened, there were gobos galore, screens that draped down and transported us all to a proper English road in the countryside. From beginning to end it was a COMEBACK of epic proportions. And with that said, I will allow you to enjoy a few shots from the show. 

Soldier of Love

Get em' girl!

Let em' know what love'll do to you!

"No need to ask, he's a SMOOOOOOTH OPERATORRRR..."

"The Moon and the Sky"

"Thanks for coming out, God bless you and goodnight!"

Family, Home, Tulips & Mint Juleps

Home is where the heart is undoubtedly. And although my heart has grown quite fond (perhaps fonder than fond of DC) I still hanker for bits and pieces of home. But as of last week I no longer had a need to hanker, my mother and godmother and a few days later, my father came to visit me in Chocolate City. To say that I was thrilled beyond compare is a SERIOUS understatement. I was ECSTATIC to see my mother for the first time since last May approaching June. I'm not sure if I was more excited to show her my first grown up apartment, introduce her to my friends or to show her where I spend her (I mean MY money) ;-)

There were brunches, happy hours, dinners and lunches to be had, the Harbor to visit and shopping to do. Her visit REALLY reminded me that although we have been apart for 10 approaching 11 months---because we have communicated on a daily basis the distance was no problem, it only made our reunion that much more special. It also reminded me that although I am a Kentuckian born and bred, I am moving forward and striking out on my own, doing things my own way and stretching my wings. Unlike Icarus, I know not to fly too close to the literal sun. But as for the figurative sun, I am still trying to figure that part out.

Before MommyHamilton left town she hatched a brilliant plan for me to host my very first Derby party. Replete with big hats, sundresses and mint julep and betting pools :-) Since that time I have been scouring blogs in search of bourbon ball and mint julep-like recipes, floral arrangements, party favors and activities for this party. I am SOOOO #SICED about it.

Bourbon Ball Recipe

Mint Julep Cupcakes, How Cute!

Jockey Helmet Decorations