Impulse Shopping

Dammit, Miss Tea has gone and done it again. After swearing off spending due to her upcoming trip to Cancun with Rocky, she decided her one-piece was just not good enough for the scattered T-storms predicted by The Weather Channel. It's all about the positive thinking to change that storm to sun...so Miss Tea went out and made a totally unnecessary purchase of a second mix-and-match tankini halter (in coral blue) and black bottoms. So now Miss Tea has two swimsuits for a four-day vacation. Lovely.

Unfotunately, Miss Tea (much like many women) can't just buy one thing when shopping. And what does Miss Tea like to buy every time? Cocktail rings and shoes. This time, it was shoes. Yes, Miss Tea responded to the call of that shoe siren herself, Jessica Simpson, drawing closer to the leopard-print, fabric-covered pumps. Actually, Miss Tea was also looking at the horse hair, leopard-printed pumps by Cole Haan, but it just looked so been-there-done-that. Anyhoo, Jess' heels have platforms. Let's face it, we all could use a couple of inches. :o)

Of course, Miss Tea went throught the questions. You know, the questions one asks herself to help decide whether she should splurge or save before vacation (hence the reason women take so long to shop). Picture Miss Tea asking these questions while looking at these shoes:

Does this look good on me?

What could I wear with this?

Where could I wear this? Work or upcoming party?

Do these shoes make my feet look fat or scrunched up?

Does the color suit my skin tone?

Do they feel comfortable?

Do they look good from the front, back, left side, right side?
Can I walk further than three yards in these shoes?

Let me tell you, Miss Tea answered all of the above questions with just two words:

fuck it.

Miss Tea's impulse buy is now your lesson in shopportunity.

Sexy, sexy!

Godmother? Miss Tea can do that.

Miss Tea received some good news recently: she is going to be a godmother – her first time! BFF Wyatt said, “We weren’t sure if you would be a good influence (what?! me?!) but we need someone to talk to our son in the future about the girls.” Don’t worry, Miss Tea will make sure her godson knows how to treat the ladies well. Promise.

So you know what this means...PER-O-JECT! Now that Miss Tea is officially a godmother, she followed her instincts straight to AC Moore to create a sample line of onesies for the little tyke. After all, Miss Tea's godson has to carry her quirky sense of style and humor. Let's see...the boy is roughly 2 1/2 months old now...but the 6 month-sized onesies give more space to work with for the designs...so...the larger size it is! Whatever - he'll deal.

Miss Tea thought she did a pretty good job of creating designs for her new fashion line. BTW, thank you to Lala and Rocky for repeatedly telling Miss Tea these outfits are called "onesies", not "premies" - oops!

Apparently, it's been awhile since Miss Tea used one of these contraptions called an IRON. Miss Tea plugged it in, waiting for the iron to heat up while she prepared her design placement on the first onesie. Then she began to iron the design onto the fabric. After ironing for 5 minutes and wondering why the design wasn't sticking to the fabric, she realized that the iron she had is child-proof and Miss Tea-proof...because she forgot to turn it ON. Not only that, but Miss Tea had to find the "cotton" setting so that the design didn't sear onto the fabric with a crisp, burnt coloring. And she had to turn off the "steam" option so that the design would stay on the fabric, and not on the iron (which Miss Tea grudgingly scraped off later). SIGH - this was waaaaay too much work! Miss Tea will never again doubt the price she pays for bringing her clothes to the dry cleaner.

To all the potential husbands out there, Miss Tea doesn't do ironing. Do it yourself or suffer the consequences.

Anyway, Miss Tea thought her designs came out rather well, even if they are a tad wrinkled. If there's a demand out there, Miss Tea may have to actually learn how to iron...regularly.

My dear readers are probably thinking, "But Miss Tea, there's more to being a godmother than teaching your hip sense of style." Miss Tea concurs. And when she learns what that is, on her path of godmother enlightenment, she will share. Miss Tea just learned how to iron - give her a break!

Friday Night in NYC

Miss Tea received an invitation to attend the first in a series of “Cultural Pairings in NYC” last night (4/24/09). Not knowing fully what this event entailed, Miss Tea seized the opportunity to snag Rocky Stillwell (colleague and confidante) as her date for the evening – woo hoo!

First stop was Pranna for their Weekday Warm-up Menu. Rocky and Miss Tea needed to prep up, in case there were no appies or alcohol at the event. Rocky sipped on the Emerald Bay cocktail (Sonnema Herb Vodka and St. Germain elderflower liquor, green tea, fresh lemon juice) while Miss Tea had her soon-to-be-usual Muscadet Cuve St Vincent Michel Delhommeau 2007. Both of us also tried the Penang Chicken Spring Roll with Tamarind Mustard and Paneer and Potato Croquettes with Homemade Banana Ketchup….both were sooooo good (ok, Miss Tea will tone down the gushing of food…soon). Seeing Pranna for the first time, Rocky thought it was a gorgeous restaurant and asked the servers about the crowd and ambience in the PM. Miss Tea informed Rocky of all the hidden spaces for private parties within the venue – even Condé Nast Traveler hosted their Hot List Party at Pranna last week (Natasha 98 and Miss Tea noticed them setting up).

Next stop was the Agatha Ruiz de la Prada NY Store, the venue for the “Culturing Pairings”. After walking around the wrong way because of wrong directions (Miss Tea still gets confused in the Village area), we finally found the cute and colorful store. Agatha Ruiz de la Prada is a Spanish fashion designer, known for her whimsical and colorful styles. Rocky and Miss Tea loved the cute clothing and creative designs. This soiree had a DJ and acoustic band in the front of the elongated store, painted all white with a few colorful stripes here and there.

On the tables were mini brochures promoting the designer and co-sponsor Global Events, a worldwide special events management company (www.global-events.com). Miss Tea was glad to see this party also promoted Vibrant Rioja, celebrating the wines of Spain. Check out www.VibrantRioja.com to learn about Rioja Restaurant Week in NYC (April 29th to May 2nd). While we checked out the crowd, Rocky shared a rather endearing line: “Food is the way to my heart, wine is the way to my bed.” Sigh. I can see it now: Greeting Cards by Rocky Stillwell.

After sampling the Rioja and a few passed appetizers (the chicken cups and tuna tartar on a fried wonton crisp were pretty good), Rocky and Miss Tea mingled towards Señor CL, my host for the party. An incredibly nice Spaniard, Señor CL told us about the concept of the Cultural Pairings – this event was the pairing of art and fashion. He told us how popular Agatha’s clothes are in Spain and this NYC store served as the perfect venue for exhibiting the works of four NYC photographers:

Jon Smith - www.jonathansmithphotography.com
Michael Creagh - www.michaelcreagh.com
Andrew Hetherington - www.ahetherington.com
Benjamin Lowy www.benlowy.com

After thanking Señor CL for the invitation, Rocky and I moseyed on to Pangea Restaurant for dinner, another favorite haunt of Miss Tea. Imagine my delight to greet owner Arnoldo, still looking fabulous and flaunty, and Douglas and Marek still serving it up! Rocky had a pear cocktail special (so delish!) as well as fried calamari, roasted bistro chicken and spinach and ricotta ravioli. Miss Tea LOVES Pangea because of the Meditrerranean-esque menu, the incredibly decent prices, and of course, for the friendly faces who welcome you back with open arms after months of absence. After dinner, Miss Tea showed Rocky the private party room in the back. Rocky’s planning a birthday party for Mama Stillwell so in hanging out with Miss Tea, Rocky got to see two potential venues – Pranna and Pangea. :o)

Finally Rocky and Miss Tea headed off to subway land. Kiss kiss, huuuuug, goodnight.

http://www.prannarestaurant.com/
79 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10016
212 696 5700

http://www.pangeanyc.com/
178 2nd Avenue (between 11 & 12 Sts)
New York, NY 10003
212 995 0900

http://agatharuizdelaprada-com.blogspot.com/
135 Wooster Street (at Prince)
New York, NY 10012
212 598 4078