"The Only Time People In LA Are Nice To Me Is When They're On Drugs!" And What Else Happened at Bright Lights

If anyone remembers, or chooses to, or doesn't give a shit (I still love you), V and I went to the Bright Lights Fashion Show at the Regent/Safari Sam's downtown last Wednesday. Holy complicated run-on sentence Batman.

Due to some personal confusion (on my personal part), we got there two hours before it actually started. Because of this, I suggested we make a Hipster Bingo card. It was sweet. And we got to see Mossy Stone play. They were really good. I liked them a lot and the guy we deemed the Alt/Xavier hipster played in it. We found that to be pretty alt of him.

Then there was this girl, who was not only totally Missbehave, but a model and from afar, V thought she looked like Sarah Morrison. We then assessed that that was because she was hanging around the DJ booth. But she was badass. On the runway, homegirl started break dancing!


















I forgot to mention, the DJ was kinda not good. Like sort of too into his music to think about what he was playing. V drew a line chart describing this phenomenon. It kinda went like this:












Sorry guy. Better luck next time?

Then Ellei J came by and took our pictures. She asked me if I was going to blog about this. I said, excitedly, "Yes!" I looked like I was on X (-stacy, not -anax):

















Here's V. I think I can put her picture up. It might be creepy/illegal since I didn't ask her first. Oh well, I love lawsuits!
















And there was actual fashion too! Once the show started, things got better. Kaviar & Cigarettes was my favorite line that night. I mean, how cute are cigarette earrings? We found our favorite Alt Model (we, btw, used the word "alt" about 2438984038 times that night. We described everything with it. By probably misusing the word to an extreme level, we were pretty alt.), then there was this guy (when he came out I screamed, Is that Steve Aoki?!) and then an X-ed up guy gave us a hug on the street corner.

I said, "The only time people in LA are nice to me is when they're on drugs!"

Then the dudes from Saint Motel caught us walking away from the Regent/Safari Sam's/building and talked to us. Um, yeah, I'm not at liberty to disclose anything that followed. Because it was weird and creepy and it's best if only V and I know what happened.

Finally, after trying to find the alt model, and failing, we went to Pinkberry. Not really. I was trying to convince V to hit the strip club, but she said the club was sketchy on a Wednesday night. I countered by saying, "No, that's when they bring out their A game!"

E

Party Time '08!

Uhhh whoa. Cat. On. A. Cactus. There are so many bomb.com parties coming up! I'm pretty sure I'll still be in town on December 10th, and by then, I'll probably be fully moved into my new townhouse, so someone totally has to come with me to this! Afterwards, you can totally crash at my place and we'll drink all the liquor we siphoned! Fashion show! Party time! DJ! Shadowscene! Ellei J! Safari Sam's! Hol-la!

Oh sorry about that. I was starting to set the words to a rhythm in my head. Shit was bumpin'.

E

Cat On A Cactus!

So the pics from the CD x Revolve party are up! Here's the whole album, but I picked a few photos of the people I knew, so you know, I could say I knew them and you guys would know I'm not crazy. Even though I'm crazy.

Oh and I totes need to work on my party pic faces. I don't get it. I stand in front of the mirror for at least 45 min before every party I go to, making faces and expressions and I always look stupid in every picture I take a said party. It's a vicious cycle.

Alright, here's me and Ellei. What is going on? Why am I waving? Where I am looking to? Why the hell did I cover up my POP sweater with my free scarf? I look like I was Photoshopped into this picture. I wasn't though, swearz.

Here's Skye. She was jammin' in the DJ booth. I think she told me she knew Posso. She showed me this pair of sequined leggings which were beyond the beyond.

This dude was the shiznat. As soon as I walked into Revolve he took me aside, told me I was the cutest thing ever, and said that I could have anything I wanted and needed, as long as I stuck with him. He introduced me to Skye, actually. Then he started getting pretty tipsy and asked me if I could tell he was drunk. I said no, obvi.

Alright. That's it. Just so you know I'm not crazy. Just un-photogenic. Oh and cat on a cactus is totes my new catchphrase. It's thebomb.com, basically.

E

Last Night A DJ Saved My Life

Holy cat on a cactus you guyz, last night was too much fun! After being unfairly and stupidly stood up by this dude who asked ME to go to the bike shop with him, I was thoroughly miffed but determined to have an awesome sauce day nonetheless.

I basically wasted my day making useless phone calls and standing in front of the mirror, looking at my outfit from different angles, until about 5:00 pm, when I swung by the Costume Dept/Revolveclothing party.

It was...um amazing. Posso killed it and I basically stood around looking sad and lonely and awkward until this dude named Jeremy (uh I think? Or maybe Brandon?) took me under his wing and introduced me to the dudes running shit. I met the designer and owner of the store. Then I ran into Skye Ferreira who was saying that there was another girl named Erika who was on Missbehave, when I said, "I'm that girl!" And then there were wide eyes and hugging and she proceeded to introduce me to a few more people. And then I had some of her champagne sno-cone. And it was delicious.

Oh yeah, did I mention they were popping bottles all night? Por serio. Champagne was coming out of the woodwork. And they were screenprinting scarves. Mine's kinda cool. And the sno-cones were amazing. People were mixing them with champagne and it was fantastic.

After that I headed over to the clothing area of the store when someone put a camera in my face and took a picture. That's when I ran into Ellei J! She looked super familiar so I said, "What's your name?"

She said, "Ellei."

I said, "I'm Erika from Missbehave."

Then we hugged and bounced around for awhile and she introduced me to a few more people. Then we exchanged numbers and she hopped around taking pictures.

I was on the dance floor, live-texting and bopping around to the awesome music mix, when this chick named Carol and this dude named Tay started talking to me. It turns out Carol is a big proponent of underage drinking because she thinks, "21 is too old." She then proceeded to give me extensive tips on how and where to get drinks. Oh and then Tay gave me a flyer for his band's gig at the Bordello downtown.

I dipped out around 7:30 after saying goodbye to everyone and then went to Amoeba and bought another Bikini Kill album, prompting the clerk and I to have an extensively awesome conversation about Kathleen Hanna, Bikini Kill, and L7.

I had a camera with me but I was sorta afraid to use the flash (at the risk of looking tourist-y) so I don't have pictures. But that's okay because Ellei took a ton of them so when they're up I link to those. Oh! And I took a picture with Ellei. She's so bouncy, it's really rad. When we hugged goodbye, we hooked ears and I said, "That's never happened to me before."

And she said, "I think I have big ears."

I think I can now say I am acclimated to LA!

E

It's Halloween. Do You Know Where Your Kids Are?

OMG people, Halloween is coming up in only three weeks! That's kind of awesome. The only thing remotely shitty about Halloween is coming up with an uber original costume that will practically make people implode with rage and envy upon seeing it. At least that's what I'm going for every year. Last Halloween I went as Twiggy, the model, but that didn't really matter since my friends were sooooo lame and decided it would be more fun to get pizza and drive around a little bit instead of going to the wayyyyy awesome party my college friends were throwing. But it's whatevs. The year before I went as a sailor girl. I made my own costume and it was so shitty that it actually was funny. I don't even know where that heap of cloth is now...anyway, even though I still need to come up with a badass costume, I know I'm going to be having tons of fun on Halloween. Why, you ask? Because I'm going to this:

That's right bitches. October 31st the HARD Haunted Mansion is coming to town. I was so jelz when the last HARD Festival rolled around because it had so many awesome people playing, but that was nothing compared to this lineup:

Justice
Crystal Castles
Crookers
Simian Mobile Disco
DJ AM
Um, and more!

Obvi it's going to be the most orgasmic electro party on the coast. Will you be there? I will be there. Maybe I'll see you. Probs not.

HARD Haunted Mansion
Friday, October 31, 2008
Shrine Expo Hall
8 pm - 4 am
Doors open at 8 pm
$55

Deuces,
Erika

Happy Birthday Jewels!

As everyone knows, Jewels is amazing. She's up on the dopest, flyest, most Missbehave shit out there. Plus she makes I Love NY totes that are a must have and she makes videos from her basement! This girl goes to all the bomb parties and still remembers enough of them to tell us (her excited and loyal readers) about them. Plus she's wise like nobody's business and incredible kind. So here's to Jewels' 26th birthday! May she have 26 more!

Oh wait, that makes her 52. So 26 more! And then like 40 after that! So 66 more birthdays! Yeah, we'll go with that.

So happy birthday girl! Pop bottles, buy up Brooklyn, or eat your weight at that cheese bar, whatever makes you happy, because you deserve it! And no birthday is complete without a wonderful and joyful seal photo! So here you go:

Cop the I Love NY totes here and peep the amazingness that is Jewels here and here.

Let's all be dope bitches till we die!

Deuces,
Erika

I Feel Mixed.

So, for me, much of last night, and a good portion of this morning was spent with everyone's favorite Savage Sunshine girl, V. It was probably the longest night/morning of my life. Here is what happened over the course of 10 1/2 hrs we were together.

First, we met up on Hollywood and Vine. "Hello!"s ensued. We both admitted to not really have any knowledge of where were or were going, although Sunset Blvd was supposed to be the end result. Everything started off well enough. We walked down Hollywood Blvd past Normandie, past Little Armenia, and through Thai Town. That's when we started getting really hungry. So we kept walking in search of edibles.

We became more and more lost, so we sat down and laid my map of Metropolitan LA on the ground. We tried to pick out our streets respectively, and then just became resigned to sitting on the sidewalk. That's when this guy walked up with his cowdog. We asked him how to get to Sunset and he pointed us in the direction of straight. He was some kind of art teacher at UCLA and then signaled to Barnsdall Park and Vermont St and Prospect Ave, promising fun and good food, and all-ages type events, since he obvi took us to be younger than we are. There were smiles and "thank you"s and the like, then we pressed on.

After walking for some time, we stumbled upon Pinkberry. Sadly lame and internet obsessed, we agreed that we had to go there last, in order to say, "And then we went to Pinkberry." We moved past it, and stumbled onto some al fresco-ish restaurant where we saw the dudes in the Plain White T's eating and such. The lead singer was all smiles. I didn't recognize him at first, but after some verification with V, it was evident we needed to see them again. And then we walked past a drug deal.

V and I got some delicious Mexican food at Machos Tacos (I got a fish taco, shrimp taco, and mini quesadilla for about 7.00) and then we went to the block directly across from the Plain White T's and their dining area. V tried to get a super stealth picture. Then some assholes drove up in a nice car. We heckled them.

The PWT's soon after left and V and I were soon after hot on their trail. Sadly we lost them, and thus walked and walked and walked and...erm, walked. We walked ourselves all the way to the Los Feliz Village. It seemed pretty nifty. We even saw a million adorable clothing shops and a super hawt tranny wear shop with mannequins with penises and even one that was David Bowie themed. Scary thing was, we both agreed that we would each rock some of the looks we saw. Oh yeah, and then we found the American Apparel, which looked so self absorbed it was practically narcissistic. Oh yeah, and then we stumbled upon a black widow spider, which I totally deducted with some general investigating. I don't know about how prevalent they are in your neck of the woods, but it's pretty fucking cool to see one up close and in the...flesh?

After window shopping, we kept walking until we reached Silverlake. We gawked at the skinny jeaned boys and the cute tiny bakeries. And then we went to Tang's Donuts, Sandwiches, and Ice Cream, where there was a heated battle of chess going on between old people. The donuts were only .65 so I got two and V got three. We like donuts over here.

Then we walked past a bridge that looked just like the one from the Sophomore NYC lookbook, and realized that for as long as we walked, we just weren't getting to the super cool/fun part of Sunset Blvd. It was just getting sketchier. We sat on a wall, pulled out the map, and realized we were just walking into oblivion. We cursed the happy man with the cowdog who talked us into walking all that way. We were tired and our feet hurt and we had to walk all the way back to Hollywood and Vine.

About two or so hours later, we found ourselves very close to where we started. On the way, a homeless man stopped us and was ungrateful/irritated that we gave him 1.60 when we didn't really have a lot of money left. Can you imagine?? And then we walked past some weirdness involving a dude and a box of bras...finally we got back to Hollywood and Vine and not only were we drop dead tired, but our feet felt awful. I'd spent a bit of time just going barefoot out of sheer un-comfort from my shoes, but my feet and legs felt like they were going to vomit, if that makes sense.

Back in the tourist trap this is Hollywood Blvd, we walked over some grates that were blowing hot air. I informed V that I felt...mixed. Both happy and unhappy about the feeling of hot air blowing under me. That happened a lot more that night. As we walked to Hollywood and Ivar, we spotted a group of people doing pot on the corner and begged for a contact high. Then we climbed all the way up Ivar and sat in my car for about twenty minutes.

To make this increasingly long story shorter, we got completely lost trying to get to Pomona and about three hours later, around 5 am, V and I finally made it to her school. Then I got lost briefly and made it home around 6:30-ish am, where I was unable to go to sleep for about an hour and a half due to a delicious and nutritious breakfast of Red Bull and a Butterfinger.

Oh, and now it's about 4 pm and I just woke up. La la la, life is sadfunny sometimes. This Butterfinger still tastes good. Pics and slight proofs of evidence are now up on V's blog for your perusal. Oh, except that wonderfully skilled photograph of the Sunset Junction sign. Enjoy!

Deuces,
Erika

TGIF!

Ahhh thank God it's FINALLY Fri-motherfucking-day!

Let's recap, shall we?

This week I started classes, bought a bike, bought textbooks, skipped classes, made new friends, skyrocketed my phone bill by talking endlessly to my boyfriend, got my school ID made, unpacked, paid my utilities, and got locked out of my apartment.

You know, fun stuff!

How was everyone else's week?

In celebration of the big F-day, Valentina (of Savage Sunshine notoriety) and I are heading over to W. Hollywood for some good ol' fashioned debauchery. More on that later, naturally. And in other crizazy news, McCain has picked a VP. Drumroll please...I give you Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska. Yep...a woman. How long can Hillary keep these feelings inside before she just goes postal?

Now I bid you adieu. Divorce Court beckons.

Banzai bitches! And happy birthday Olivia, the red-headiest Missbehave girl ever! Seal hugs! Wow, Sarah Morrison is good with keeping up with birthdays!

Deuces,
Erika

Easy Like Sunday Morning

Boo, It's Sunday. When I was younger, I used to hate Sundays because it meant I had to go to church. Don't get me wrong, I like church, I just hated having to get up so early when I stayed up so late on Saturday. Then, when I got a little older, I hated Sundays because I had to go to work all day. Now I hate Sundays because they're so boring, but here's some shit to look forward to today:

New episode of Mad Men
Miss Viviane's sex column on Single Scoop

This is what my weekend in the A looked like:

Thursday was Chris's 21st birthday. Since I dipped out around 2:15-ish, I didn't stay with him for the excitement that was him stumbling home so completely faded that he vomited all over his porch and tried to break his roommate's bed. None of which, of course, he remembers. I love that kid.

Friday was a little more relaxed. I picked up a new Zune since my other one was gone when my car was returned and, to my utter amazement, even with no makeup and barely doing my hair, the dude at Best Buy still tried to pick me up. Don't worry, I totes rebuffed him.

Saturday was the shit. First I went shopping at H&M (cluster. fuck.) and Urban and then my bf and I met up with our friend Clint to go eat at the EARL, which I got kicked out of (whoa! surprise!) because you can't even fucking EAT at that place after 9 if you're not 21. I think I'm going for some kind of record for the most 21+ places I can get kicked out of. I'm at 3 already. After that denial, we got some kind of lowbrow Mexican food and then headed back to Clint's house where everyone proceeded to get drunk and fairly stoned before we lit the fireworks I'd picked up from my trip to Tennessee. The first one was fucking badass, and went okay (read:no trees were lit on fire) but the second one was a beast. We noticed the rounds starting to get closer to us until one was literally right over our head. Has anyone ever been IN the fireworks before? All you could hear was me yelling "Holy Fuck!"

(Sidenote: I will be expecting a check from Holy F*ck for that brief free press. Thx. Lovely Allen!)

Resume: So after that we did some sparklers which were awesome and then we sat around in the driveway talking about things...uh, just miscellaneous things, really. I dunno, 2/4 of the group was stoned anyway. It was fun. I think.

I wonder if I'll ever turn 21. If, by some magic, I do, I'll dedicate my whole life to sneaking in under 21 kids into 21+ events, bars, and restaurants. Until I'm 23. And then I just gotta start hanging out with bitches my own age, right?

How was your weekend? College in GA starts in a week. I can't even take it. I'm still laughing at all those kids because I don't have to be in school until the 25th. So suck it Atlanta! V! I'm so stoked to see you out in LA!

Deuces,
Erika

Last Night, She Said, Oh Baby I Feel So Down

This is the cake we baked for Chris last night. It was my idea. In case you can't tell, it's in the shape of a can of PBR, the grossest beer ever, but Chris's favorite.

Last night was my friend Chris's 21st birthday. When I left him he was anywhere between beer number 11-13. This is the debauchery that went down, ATL style.

First we went to the bowling alley. By the time we got there Chris was already on beer 7-9. He's a pretty fast guy. Bowling shoes were 8.00 to rent, but apparently you don't need them, because they don't really give a shit if you bowl in your regular sneaks. Yay! 16.00 saved!

After everyone ate cake and the bowling alley played all of their Lil Wayne songs, we headed out to this bar called The Local, which I very quickly got kicked out of. LAME. FAIL. But Chris and his friends were so cool, they all decided to leave since I couldn't stay. So then we stood in front of the bar while Chris did flaming shots and a crackhead gave me and this really nice girl Amanda some flowers.

Then we walked to Fellini's for some pizza around 1 am and that's when this dude named Pat showed up. We'd seen him at The Local when he was buying shots, but were all very surprised to see that he'd followed us to the pizza parlor. He sat with us and everyone got a little drunker. Chris was having trouble standing up.

That's when we all decided to go to the Clermont Lounge...the worst strip club in Atlanta. No, no, wait. Maybe the Pink Pony or Folly's might be worse...noooooo...the Clermont wins. You're looking at very old women who don't really give a shit about their bodies while they gyrate indescribably in front of you. It ain't pretty folks. Just ain't pretty.

Around 2 am, on the way back to the car, we stopped by Fuck Yesss, which as everyone knows, is the crazaziest indie dance party in the A. Christ, people. That shit was the physical definition of Hipster Runoff. It was ridic. I could've played Blackout on my Hipster Bingo card and won immediately.

After that we dipped out and I came home and collapsed in my bed. But it was a good night. I'm stoked to turn 21 in LA. Yay party!

Deuces,
Erika

4th Of July '08: The Aftermath

My final 4th of July stats:

Headache (but no hangover, suhweet)
Two scratches: one really long one going up the back of my thigh, one going down my shin
The dirtiest feet you've seen since slavery
A chipped mani
Awful pictures

The day starts off nice enough. We head out to Piedmont Park but every black person in the city of Atlanta has claimed a grill. It's like a fucking Johnson Family Reunion every you go. We manage to negotiate use of a grill from some Europeans. The burgers are really good, the shrimp is undercooked, and Chris has too many High Lifes.
Andrew's girlfriend is crazy and they really love wine. We all have too much wine.
Then Andrew and Co. ditch us to go makeout/feed the ducks and the rest of us play Frisbee. Occasionally (when I throw it), it wanders into the Europeans area. They seem mildly annoyed.

Afterwards, my bf, Chris, and I head out to The Ditches (this abandoned skate ramp), which requires we trek through a jungle-like path of vines and ant hills, jump a few Restricted Zone gates, and walk through sand. I do all of this in a minidress and flats, cos I am a rough and tumble chick. Before we get to The Ditches, we stop in the sandy part and take the time to explore it. It's actually an abandoned construction zone so we all lose our shoes and run around. Some Safety Dancing is done. Fun ensues. I feel like a ten year old all over again.

The Ditches smell like rotten water and shit. It is now a water runoff area. I have to pop a nasty squat, one way worse than any pissing outside a club. Oh well. Sometimes I am like one of the boys.

Then we head out to the Mattress Factory Lofts and watch the fireworks at Turner Fields and Six Flags. Everyone on the rooftop is crazy drunk. We meet back up with Andrew and his gf. They have more wine. Chris gets propositioned by a lady cop, whom I like to call The Vadge With A Badge. He tells her not tonight. Pictures are taken.Then we light some bottle rockets. After the fireworks, we all head our separate ways and that is that.

End of 4th of July.

Too bad everyone got really pissy with each other by the end of the night, 'cos I had a kinda good time.

Deuces,
Erika