dare to flare

this was interview week galore! I did 3 interviews accompanied by mini photo shoot. first up is brooklyn store Fred Flare located at 131 Meserole Ave. my behind went to 131 Meserole STREET and gots lost. so that meant lots of exploring for me. i LOVES brooklyn. it's all so artsy fartsy! any who, i finally made it to my destination and was greeted by the lovely Bilgin who's the manager and dear friends of the flare boys.

Fred Flare has the cutest 'stuff' ever. and of course i made some silly purchases. but check out the interview at Pirates & Pilots

lots of post a comin'. but now i head to work :)

new york peeps

these two jobs leave me little personal time. and the little time i do have i'm spending that with the hubs and pup. but enough excuses. it is way too easy to get sucked into the money machine that is the night life. however when you're not working, the night life is essential to meeting peeps. i'm finally meeting like minded New York artist which I get to collaborate with! so exciting!!! soon enough i'll have blog worthy news and be back to my artistic self.

Meet Jules, the mastermind behind: http://bijulesnyc.com/

girlfriend is so dope! check out here site. celebrities rock her jewelry and Urban Outfitters sells her work too!

and Michele Varian: http://www.michelevarian.com/

I have yet to meet Michele but both ladies will be interviewed for Pirate&Pilots

sleepy update

i am so sorry for not keeping up with my promised weekly blogging. this week has been insanity for me. i now have 2 jobs since my first cocktailing job is STILL training me and not bringing in the funds. so job number 2 is also swank and VERY busy. i am extremely fortunate to know a few key people in this city who keep hookin' me up. it is unheard of to work the night scene especially at these spots without previous NY experience and not to mention zero cocktail experience. besides getting little sleep and standing on my feet all night, i've also i've been cooking up a storm:

walking and training the vicious beast:

on the prowl for shoes in a city that's too big, therefore turning to my online resources...6PM love you!

booking my first voice gig, continuing to do the voice audition thing all while being the good wife :) now i gotta run to work. i need to figure out some sort of system to get this all done while maintaining my insanity. only a few more months of this :)

food mood

me and the hubby have been cooking a variation of the same thing over and over again. it's kinda boring so i went online to skype it up with my cousin and he introduced me to the amazingness that is FOOD GAWKER. my love for cooking has been re-awoken. i was drooling on my video cam over all the marvelous imagery. today i made the hubby some pad thai and he loved it. it took a few attempts and some slight variations but it came out great! tomorrow i'll try my hand at sweet and sour chicken or orange chicken. oh and of course dessert. i bought the ingredients for frozen banana bites covered in coconut goodness. i want to explode! i advise everyone to check this site out!!! foodgawker.com

pirates & pilots

my list of "things i do" keeps getting longer and longer. i'm part of the new blog http://piratesnpilots.com/ and will be photographing the random and fashionably hip peeps of NY

beyond frugal

to be quite honest this right now is the most tight budgeted i've ever been and for this long. but that is OK cause money isn't everything and my brain is working in ways it normally wouldn't have. as you know i'm cocktail waitressing and just found out yesterday that we MUST wear closed toed shoes. the problem...i don't have a dressy pair of closed toed shoes nor the finances to buy a comfy pair of hot pumps which i eyed at Geox. so instead of buying a pair of cheap $30 shoes that will kill my feet i had to improvise and fast. i love my cute kitten heels but they have a peek-a-boo open toe. one of the managers noticed them quick fast and told me i couldn't rock them. "well go ahead and buy me a new pair of shoes" as i threw water in their face, is what i thought as i said "i'll see what i can do". so i got home rattling my brain. "think Maya, think". i found my old satin shirt that i rock with a high waisted skirt so it spared me the couple inches i needed. i can now add cobbler to my list of credits :)

about a dollar

being still new to NYC i've been able to observed plenty. what's really stood out is the hustle to make $1. yes $1. the drive in this city is ridonkulous! when it rains people are on the street hustling selling umbrellas, when it's hot they're selling ice water, or my fav coquitos (spanish ice cream) and of course the fruit stand guys. all for 1 dollar! this city sells it all! and it doesn't stop. NYC literally doesn't sleep they're so busy earning bills. as you know i'll be working my cocktail job in a few weeks and the money these girls make is insane! $300-$1000 a night?! shut up! but of course what happens when you make that? you spend. ALL of it! NYC is instant gratification at it's finest. you go shopping, eat out, go clubbing, rent, more shopping. and it's dang cheap out here. why not spend? it's like this vicious cycle and it's easy to fall into that rhythm.

i guess you could say this frugal artist is observing the rules of the money game so she can come out on top :)
RULE #1 SAVE!!!!