Get Your Girl On

Yesterday I got to take Ironflower to an awesome event sponsored by Kidzvuz, the safe online community for tweens. It was called "FashionTweenstas" and it was for tween girls (which they counted as 7+, how is is possible that I have a tween?) and their moms to "get your girl on".

As you know, I don't review a lot of stuff on this blog. I don't go to very many blogger events and I don't do many giveaways or anything like that. Mostly I vent on my blog. But. This event was for girls into fashion, and trust me when I say that Ironflower is very into fashion. Plus, one of the brands that was going to be there was The Children's Place, which is a brand I happen to already love. So we went. And we loved it.

The girls got to dress and accessorize the mannequins with Children's Place clothes. 

Ironflower did that activity like four times. 

The first thing we did after signing in was get a glitter tattoo. Well, Ironflower got one. I didn't. Though I kind of wanted to. But other little girls were waiting, so I do not have a glitter flower on my arm right now. I wonder if the artist from Glitter Tattoo New York would make a house call to New Jersey? She was very sweet. 

Ironflower got a dolphin. 

We also spent a lot of time with the Fashion Angels stuff. There was a table for doing crafts like decorating with funky tapes and drawing fashionable outfits. They also had someone using their Hair Chox products, which are temporary dyes that kids can use on their hair. Ironflower and I were both in love. 

Apparently I am a tween girl at heart. 

Cool, huh? 

Fashion Angels also brought in this wonderful hair stylist. She gave the girls wonderful hair styles and pronounced all of us much easier to deal with than the models she usually works with. The only problem was that every girl wanted an awesome hairdo, so some of us spent a lot of time waiting in line so our girls could get one. Next time I will remember to wear comfortable shoes and to bring my business cards. I did get to meet Jennifer from Mommy Day By Day, Kristen from Barista Kids,  Beth from Life in the Bat Cave and Sherry from Babypop, they definitely made the line a lot more bearable. 

Deciding upon the hairdo. 

Ironflower checked out Microsoft's Surface tablets, Just Dance 4 for xBox and ate way too many cake pops at the Audible.com table while I waited in line. I did get a chance to talk to the people at Audible and I will be talking more about that when the reading blog launches. Which will be before Christmas. Somehow. 

Anyway, in addition to a glitter tattoo, hair streaks and a hair do, Ironflower also tried this slightly glittery lotion from Sparklehearts. They make hair and body products without nasty cancer-causing chemicals like parabens. Their stuff smelled great without being overpowering. Again, I want. 

If I'm not careful, I'm going to start liking One Direction or Justin Bieber. <shudders>

I will probably post about the day again, because I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff. And I have a lot more pictures. But just let me say this, if you ever get invited to an event sponsored by KidzVuz? GO. 

Jerseygirl Takes Manhattan*, Part 1

*Uh, not really.

Yesterday I went to the city BY MYSELF. And as I settled back into my seat on the train, I reflected on prior trips to the city. Because even though I live less than 15 miles from New York, I hardly ever go there anymore. And I realized that I hadn't been to the city alone since I was in college.

That sort of doubled my excitement. I was already excited because the trip to NYC was for a blogger event by the SV Moms group and it was the first time I'd ever actually gone to a blogger event. So I was practically bouncing in my seat on the way into the city.

I say practically because as soon as I left my house I started hating my outfit (skirt, t-shirt, cardigan, chiffon scarf - it sounds okay on the internet, but they were all from the non-designer section of Target and I am not one of those people who wears clothes so well that everything looks designer) and I felt dorky in my socks and sneakers (cute sandals were in my bag). I think it's a testimony to my maturity that I wore the socks and sneakers at all, because on my last solo trip to NYC I wouldn't have been caught dead in Working Girl attire. However, I was planning on doing a lot of walking (because A, I hate the subway and B, who doesn't want to walk through Greenwich Village, Soho and Tribeca on a sunny Sunday?) and I didn't want to wind up hobbling on the way back. Or possibly crawling. My feet do not like heels.

Also, I left the house without the 4 blogger business cards I have left. Fortunately 2 kids who looked like they were auditioning for the meth version of Glee spent the whole train ride singing and making odd musical references, so I was quickly able to get over myself and embrace the  journey.

My walk downtown was great, even if some gay couple sniffed "Jersey!" at me as they walked past. I almost turned around and yelled, "You need more Botox!" but then I realized that pretty much anyone on the street might think I was talking to them. And some of those women looked like they did a lot of kickboxing.

The greatest challenge was changing my shoes across the street from the theater. I couldn't see anywhere to sit (after I got closer I realized that there was a park - with cleanish benches - nearby, but oh well) so I just stood on the corner and did it. A wandering vagrant was fascinated, but I think he only wanted my socks.

So I arrived at the event, clad in cute shoes and a vague sock outline around my ankle. It was at Tribeca Cinema - where they hold the Tribeca film festival - with the moms who write for the New Jersey Moms Blog, the New York City Moms Blog and the Philadelphia Moms Blog. Every last one of them is adorable and friendly and stylish. Oh yeah, and I don't really know any of them. To be more accurate, none of them know me because I've only been writing with them for a month and I haven't left very many comments on very many  of their blogs because we all know I've been a total reading/commenting slacker lately.

To be continued. . . .