Snuggies All Around

Tapping into the Snuggie craze of 2009, I thought of a great Christmas party--egg nog and "trimming" your Snuggie!

So instead of trimming the tree, or decorating pine cones to hang on your tree, or any of the old school Xmas activities, how about Trim that Snuggie!


What you will need:
- A Snuggie
- Felt (...to cut into Santa, Angel, or Xmas tree shapes!)
- Glitter
- Sewing needle and/or safety pins
- Fabric paint
- Scissors
- A Bedazzler
- Spiked Eggnog

Enjoy.

Agmac

D.I.Y Birthday Ideas

Hello Hello...

My friend Lauren just celebrated her 30th birthday with a lovely party at a wine bar on Friday night.

She booked the space herself and ordered some appetizers ahead of time. So to add to her special night, a few of her friends and I decorated the space.

I also made a Birthday Book. What's a birthday book?

It's a book with fun photos of the birthday person with friends with lots of empty pages where guests can sign it with birthday wishes or other anecdotes!


I made mine from a cool free notebook I had from Getty Images, with different colors of paper and stock photos throughout. Then I customized the cover with a fun collage and the letter "L" for Lauren. I customized the back too and printed out lots of pictures and pasted them throughout the book.

I bought a pack of glitter gel pens in different colors and Viola! Masterpiece.

Additionally, I wrapped Lauren's present in fun tissue paper and taped a cool photo on top--DIY wrapping paper!


If you aren't lucky enough to be an Art Producer who gets lots of free cool stuff, you can use photos from magazines for a wrapping paper idea and you can buy cheap notebooks like these and customize the cover with magazine clippings and a glue stick.

D.I.Y...Why? Because I love you.

XOXO
Agmac

Birthday Wish List

So this comes a little early this year, but I'm just so dang excited to turn 30! ;-) Here's my Birthday Wish List...

1. For Pete, Greg & Mike to stop smoking cigarettes
2. A Holga (in white)
3. A Cannon DX
4. A Snuggie
5. A dress from this place
6. Those Reebok shoes that work out your butt and thighs while you walk!!
7. BIG ass dangly earrings
8. The "Brooklyn Gang" photo book by Bruce Davidson, full of hotties from the 50s
9. A Nooka Watch
10. The Amy Sedaris Entertaining book (second year in a row)
11. A sexy corsett
12. Nanette Lepore perfume
13. Polaroid film!!
14. She Ra DVDs

XOXO
agmac

Winter Drink Recipes

Sorry for the lack of insightful posts--maybe it's the impending 30th birthday that's slowing me down ;-)

But here are some great recipes for your Holiday Parties for yummy drinks!

From NY Times

From NY Mag

My favorite of all of these has to be the Berry Punch ;-)

XOXO
agmac

'Tis the Season...

...For really "bad" Christmas movies!!!

Sadly I don't have cable this year, but am going to take my bff up on her offer to watch some at her house and take advantage of the ones on Netflix.

A list of this year's best.

Enjoy!

Agatha

Tardy Tardy Tardy!

Sorry I've been so absent lately, work has picked up (Yay!) and I've been quite busy.

But I plan to be up and running again soon, so long as I keep getting inspired!

Stay tuned for Sunday's "New Moon" outing with the ladies, and numerous successful holiday parties to report on.


Here is a picture that my friends Pete and Abby drew last night at a bar. Enjoy.

xoxo
Agmac

**Fine Art Friday** (A day early)

Maybe it's my recent interest and intrigue with the 70s punk scene or my penchant for retro looking imagery, but I LOVE this guy's work...


Niall O'Brien is a London-based photographer who I was introduced to when his reps D+V Management came to do a mini portfolio review.

He has a series of images where he has been following London punks for the past 4 years. Here is one of my favorite images from that series...


I love his color palette, and the way in which he captures street scenes without a posed quality. His Punk project work is reminiscent of Anton Corbin's young U2 and other musician portraits. But his fashion and editorial work is retro without being trendy.



Happy November Fine Art Friday.


XOXO
Agmac

*Snapshot Wednesday*

Another great year volunteering at the NYC Marathon. Thanks to Martha and Abby for another inspiring and amazing year!!

Fine Art Friday, The Halloween Edition

Happy Halloween Fine Art Friday'ers.



These images are SPOOOOOOOKKKKYYYYYYY yet so freakin' awesome.



Apparently there's a huge movie/cinema production scene in Africa, similar to Bollywood. Who knew?


At any rate, photograher Pieter Hugo has taken some haunting portraits of some of the "characters" in these films.

"The tableaux of the series depict situations clearly surreal but that could be real on a set; furthermore, they are rooted in the local symbolic imaginary. The boundaries between documentary and fiction become very fluid, and we are left wondering whether our perceptions of the real world are indeed real." --Federica Angelucci


His other portraits are equally as haunting and equally as powerful (check out "Looking Aside"). He captures the uncomfortable, the familiar, the irregular and the strange with an exquisite tenderness not seen in many photographers.





XOXOBOOOXOXOXO
Agmac

*Snapshot Wednesday*

Elise and my new neighbor Paw.
AWWWW....

Ask Agmac

What to do..what to do!

A close family member blatantly job networks (business cards and all) at important friend and family functions such as weddings, parties and even more intimate gatherings.
Feeling uncomfortable for my guests (who at times seem taken aback) I asked that she not do this.
I know times are tough but I believe these events are not the right places for this sort of behavior.
She believes people should seize any opportunity, at any time, to speak with and connect with the right people. We have discussed this at length and can’t seem to agree.
I have a big function coming up and am tempted not to invite her but know this will cause all kinds of family strife.
What to do....what to do?

Signed,
WTD
************

Dear WTD,

That's quite a pickle! On the one hand, you want to help your friends and family members out who are struggling right now, but on the other hand, you want to be a good hostess and make your guests feel comfortable.

Here's what I'd do, I'd invite her so as not to cause additional drama to an already touchy situation. But I'd ask that instead of job networking that she try to make social contacts with people she doesn't know by inviting them to be a Facebook or LinkedIn pal, but ask her to leave it at that.

If the person doesn't seem interested or change the subject, advise her to let the situation drop. But if they agree, she can tell them that she'll get their contact info from you later.

That way, the family member can follow up AFTER the party, and save the networking for the Internet!

This seems like a great compromise that she can't refuse.

Yours Truly,

Agmac

Fine Art Friday

Today's FAF artist comes recommended by one of his fans, his wife Dana. Dana is a photo agent whom I work with and she sent me some samples of her husband Michael's work. I absolutely love it.

His most recent work, "Palindromes," juxtaposes scenes with mirror images of each other, using vibrant color and pattern to illustrate mood.

Apparently, the last work in this series, titled “blue shift, red shift/red shift blue” is based on a Slim Aarons photograph, which was the subject of a previous Fine Art Friday!


His other paintings are equally as vivid--a mix of pop art and early American art, his subjects range from the traditional (sailboat) to the mundane (typewriter).


Both are equally as compelling and the timelessness of the subjects and colors would make any of these a great addition to your home.



I've met Michael once before with he and Dana's lovely children and I can say that not only does he make beautiful paintings, but he's got some beautiful children as well!! ;-)

XOXO
agmac

Snapshot Thursday

Yeah, I know, it's supposed to be Snapshot Wednesday. But whatever, deal.

Here's a freaky deeky funny photo by Smallz & Raskind

Wedding Wednesdays

I know the wedding of the year is over, but it's still Wednesday.

AND I have a friend who's newly engaged, so I'll try to keep these up every so often.

I just came across this website from a colleague in the photo industry, it's such a smart idea that my friend Celeste and I were like "we wish we came up with this!"

It's a wedding resource collective, where you can find a photographer, hair/make up person, or invitations!

Check the site out if you are planning a wedding!

(The above photo is my friend Pete giving his best man speech into a fork).


XOXO Agmac

"THE" Wedding

So I realize I overuse "best ever" when referring to parties and such. Thus I will refrain from calling Lo and Alex's wedding the "best wedding ever," but it came pretty damn close.

First of all, Lauren looked amazing. Secondly, I was her MOH, so nuff said.

But what impressed me the most about the wedding, was how Lo managed to make it so unique to her and Alex, without spending an arm and a leg.


I'm not going to admit how much they spent, because I really have no idea, but I do know that Lauren did a lot of things on her own or DIY with the help of some friends.

Here are some great things she did to cut down on costs and personalize her wedding:

- Centerpieces--her and her mother-in-law rounded up some nice vintage looking vases and bought flowers that were in season the night before the wedding. This saves on costs and allows you full contrcol over the tables.

- Favors--Lo ordered pretty votives with a design that matched her invitations, matchbooks with the wedding date, and bought tea lights--put all three together with cellophane and ribbon (as we did in her living room) and viola!


- Make-up--She did all of the bridesmaids' make up and her own! Now, this is strictly for professional make-up hobbyists like Lo (http://lflynn.mymarkstore.com/), but she was cool under pressure and made us all look good.

- DJs--Have your fun and boisterous friends sound off on the mic and give them a few playlists. This way you get to hear your favorite music AND you give the showboats something fun to do ;-)

- Decorations--Lo's friends Jaime and Deirdre did a great job decorating the church railing AND the reception hall. It's great to ask good friends of yours who aren't in the bridal party to do some pre game stuff for you--they get recognition and love from you in return.

- Food--Do it up buffet style with recyclable plates (I recommend bamboo) and forget about pesky waitstaff spilling thigns all over your guests.

Lauren didn't skimp on the fun stuff, which was the booze, the clothes and the food. It was a beautiful and amazing wedding!

XOXO
agmac

Ripped from...

I've been feeling kind of uninspired lately as to the whole social gathering/party/art posts. So I'm going to try and vary things up a bit.

Whenever I think something is cool that I read in a magazine or something from a blog that contributes to the art world or magazine world, I'm going to post it.

Here's the first installment...



Here's something that combines art with that wonderful thing we now refer to as "snail mail." Cute concept. Wish it would help out the printing/advertising/magazine world in this awful economic downturn, but at least it's making mail pretty.


Art As Mail

**Fine Art Friday**

Today's Fine Art Friday artist is Miss Van (what a great name)! She is from France, but currently resides in Barcelona (my favorite city next to NY). She apparently got her start doing graffiti art, in what was then a man's world.


Her "infamous sultry female characters," are called ‘Poupes’, which is reminiscent of the Russian name for doll (Poupchin) and seems totally appropriate for these child-like scandalous ladies.



The Poupes are a little bit naughty, a little bit erotic, and have seemed to mature over time. (It's said they are self portraits). Either way, the F'you gaze of the characters show they own their sexuality--they are like petulant little girls whose path you don't want to cross!

Check out Miss Van's site and she has an upcoming show called "Love Stain" in the UK.


And she uses piggies in her art, and I love piggies!!

Best Bachelorette Weekend Ever

So I know I use the qualifiers "best" and "ever" quite a bit, but hey, it fits. Last weekend WAS the best of the best!!!

We took our B2B (bride to be) to Atlantic City for a luxurious stay at the Borgata. (I highly recommend it for anyone who wants nice decor and class, over cheese and schtick).

Our guest of honor won $550 at the slot machines!


We didn't know until we showed up that one of our fave bands, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, were playing. While we didn't go to the show, we met the band and B2B got her picture taken with Karen O!!


We also went to a yummy fancy restaurant, Buddakan. And karaoked our night away at Planet Rose at the Quarter at Tropicana.

When we were ready to leave, instead of all 11 of us taking 3 cabs back to our hotel, we scored a limo for the same amount of money!

It really was a night blessed with good luck and awesome times.


The only tips I have is Bachelorette Parties in AC are these:
- Don't expect special treatment, e.g. to get in free at clubs. They see the likes of you all the time and the cover is usually $15 - $20 per person, so warn everyone and pick one club you want to stay at.
- For pre partying in the hotel room, buy booze before you check in because they can be expensive at the hotel.
- Get to Planet Rose early so you can actually hear your songs, the wait is LONG once you sign up.
- Stock up on snacks before you go out drinking :-)

Love as always,
Agmac