Falling Asleep on the Subway, Turkish hair care and other fun things.

My roots finally reached the tip of my ears (hopeful slight exaggeration?) and so I decided this weekend that it was time to get that fixed. This necessity became more pressured after a close up camera shot of the not blonde strands in a recent segment on the Wall Street Journal. I woke up late that day of the segment, and decided a shower wouldn’t be necessary to jumpstart my day. Little did I know my hair would be broadcasted to publics everywhere and high end stylist Oscar Blandi would point out that I have an oily scalp on air. Fab. At least he saved the “your hair color is so harsh” for moments beyond filming?

Ugh, interns.

The short segment was for Off Duty, a section on the Wall Street Journal’s website, and that day my hair was made over into curls to represent a hairstyle appropriate for the 2012 Oscars. I was told to smile at the camera while Blandi styled my hair, and if you watch the segment I think an awkward grimace would more accurately describe my facial expression. Smiling while your hair is being pulled is just weird anyway. Regardless, hair model on the resume. Check. And the chic, sophisticated salon enclosed by glass windows overlooking the city streets made for quite a nice ambience. The fruit infused water, foamy lattes, and shiny everything added to the glam.

This weekend, I decided to stray from my Aveda promise to never have my hair done anywhere else, and turned to lifebooker.com. ChicHighlights Salon sounded nice, I’d like some chic highlights? But when I was walking on the block of the salon passing the Hot n Crusty Pizza Parlor and 24 hour Duane Reed THAT’S the moment I began to feel uneasy. The salon was cute, quaint, small and run by a Turkish man who is apparently internationally talented in hair care. I sat in the chair, had a glass of red wine, and the stylist went to work while I talked Spanish culture with his assistant. By went to work, I mean throwing out all methodology and throwing in random aluminum foils. While he did an good job with adding gloss and conditioning treatment times three, I left the salon with some spots and stripes and roots that are forcing me to make a second appearance tomorrow (taking my roommate for moral support). To make matters worse I temporarily strayed from what is socially acceptable and decided I wanted bangs. Bangs. Bangs are for three types of people: thirteen-year-old girls trying to grow them out, high-end fashion models, and soccer moms. Since I fit into none of those categories, I made a new pact with myself to not only stick with Aveda, but to never use the sentence “Oh, why not?” because at the first step out of the salon all of the reasons are made clear to “not.”

At Alison Brod, Jodi, the vice president, had a meeting with all of the interns and opened with the line, “Stop quitting, just don’t do it” now that three interns have quit. We discussed what can be done to improve our internship experience, and all I had to say was more beauty samples because I really am learning a lot, and unpacking boxes is really just part of the job, I know this. Jodi’s awesome. She’s very real, very lively, and even painted my nails at work last week because some gals were playing with the polishes of a new client ABPR just landed. Jodi is now going to meet with the interns a day each week and go through the magazines that are published weekly to point out various PR efforts. Example: Source gives info about Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush’s date at this restaurant, and eight pages later that same restaurant is featured as a new hotspot. Gossip is money in PR. I’ll trade this info, you feature my restaurant. And those “who wore it best” features? Don’t even think those are coincidental. Jodi also talked to us about various pitching strategies to land publicity for different products. Example: ABPR client Sky Vodka released Dragonfruit, so how do we show the public that Dragonfruit is totally a trending fruit? Yes, even fruits trend. Sometimes stories are generated from nothing, sometimes it takes a google search or a posed “candid shot” of a paid celeb on the street to launch the trending of a product.

"Your biggest smile, Jess!" Grilled Kanga.

So because Australia is on my potential next place to live list, last night I went to an Australian restaurant, Public. There were chili-infused margaritas, and they had a delicious biting kick. Since my roommate, Audrey and I had already eaten dinner (cereal for dinner anyone?) we split a grilled kangaroo appetizer. Despite feeling bad for eating the probably once cute animal, it was SO good and much enjoyed. We ended up going out dancing afterwards, and Audrey and I fell asleep standing up leaning on each other on the subway on the way home. We dance hard? Chris was there for protection and the usual 3 am mac n cheese.

Jill and Lisa, my girlfriends from high school came to visit the last weekend. We were mainly night creatures, but did take some time out in the daylight for a museum that featured Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, and some interesting costumes. We also took the ferry to Staten Island, passing the Statue of Liberty. While she was BEAUTIFUL and I felt so much pride looking at her, she was a bit on the small side? I do wish tourists could climb to the top of the statue, but since 9/11 that’s no longer an option. While Lisa is moving to Aruba in the summer for a while, Jill and I are becoming bogged down with anxiety about the job search. I gotta get a move on if I'm going to live in a foreign country. My goal really is just to get some experience somewhere first. The first two years of my career are most likely not going to be the highlights of it. I just need experience, build trust, skills and a resume, then on to bigger and better things...

If you're reading this....hire me?