The Sweet Spot Festival is a FREE family friendly event series, bringing Harlem’s increasingly diverse community together to celebrate it’s rich historical legacy. Its purpose is to promote music, culture, art, and commerce. Here you will find an eclectic range of musicians, DJ’s, performance & visual artists, a mouth watering array of food & dessert vendors, kids activities, workshops and to-die-for vintage & jewelry selections.
Sponsor Jet Blue will be raffling 8 free flights to anywhere in the world that Jet Blue flies.
Rock The Vote will be hosting a voter registration drive to ensure Harlem comes out strong and VOTES this year!
Old School classics, soulful disco and dance hall tunes provided by celebrity DJ D-Nice, Herbert Holler of the infamous Freedom Party & reggae DJ Max Glazer
The market of vendors will have a great selection of yummy and unique finds.
Reserve a picnic table online, bring your good spirits & Dance! Music! Shop! Relax!
The most (Fill with synonym for terrible) activity that will wear on your self esteem is interviewing. The #1 question asked is "Why did you leave teaching?" The truthful answer is not one you tell a potential employer you are trying to woo into seeing your fabulousness, and the politicly correct version of the answer isn't one I have perfected yet. My usual answer is "I'm looking for a paster paced, dynamic position that allows me to utilize my project management skills and allows me room to grow." Which is very true. I hit the ceiling teaching in more ways then one and I had no interest in becoming a Vice Principal or Principal at all.
Here are my current Goals:
1. Find a job that oils my creative juices and lets me blast through the roof. (see #2)
2. Get license to become a nail technician and find an agency to hire me (or freelance)
3. Go back to school for photography
4. By my 31st Birthday have all this done.
Ambitious? Maybe.
To check out my own nail art look at my Tumblr page and follow or click the link at the header of the page. I also pin tons of ideas on my Pinterest page ;-)
As I'm sitting at the computer doing my usual morning work with my cup of coffee, I suddenly feel it..... FALL!! She's blowing through my window, finally!! Blazers, jeans, long-sleeves, layers.... I feel it just around the corner. I'm not a fan of winter but I adore New York City in autumn. The end of summer is always bittersweet but not this year. With record highs in July, I will not miss melting in my apartment with the A/C on at all. Thoughts of fall usually remind me of "back to school" but I no longer have that problem. This year, I can actually plan what I would like to do for Fashion's Night Out and hop around like I did 2 years ago.
I didn't get to go last year because I was stuck at work and then came home to do more work! This year It will be me and my Rebel (and maybe a friend or two) taking on Manhattan.
I really wish there was a way I could get paid for being at FNO this year. I want to somehow save money to get a better camera lens, but I will make sure with my 50mm and my 35mm lenses. My goal is to really get a feel for the fall trends and use my existing wardrobe to reflect what's going on as much as possible. I want style but on a budget. I can sit for hours on end and look things up online, but I rather see it and experience it for myself. I am a visual/tactile person, so most of my inspiration comes from what I can see and touch.
Here are a few shots from my last experience. Did the Columbus Circle area and the Upper East Side. Had a blast meeting up with old and new friends and grabbing freebees where ever we could.
I was blessed to be a part of my very great friend's bridal party in May and I was honored when she asked me to shoot her bridal shower. Here are just a few pictures of the event. We definitely had a blast and the wedding was an amazing event!!
I am a big boxing fan but unfortunately never got 100% into Rocky movies. I don't think they were a constant replay in my house growing up despite the fact that my dad loved Rambo. My memories can pretty much be summed up to the typical scenes from all the movies in one big mental montage. But the point of this post isn't to discuss boxing at all (Gasp). I was feeling silly and YouTubed one of my favorite motivational 80's songs that always makes me laugh Eye of the Tiger by Survivor. Well I found this montage of clips from Rocky movies as #1 on the search results so I clicked. I had a grueling morning job hunting and figuring out the ins and outs of this new blogger set-up and needed a pick-me-up (not to mention this diet I'm on is kicking my ass).
So anyway, I watched about a minute of the video, when I realized I am without a doubt Robert "Rocky" Balboa at this time in my life. Yes I'm a boxer getting my ass beat a few times by big bad-ass dudes but right now I'm fighting back!!
I was getting my ass beat up for 5 years and super unhappy with what I was doing professionally. I completely lost touch with my inner creative goddess and just went through the motions of my work life. I made a few attempts here and there to hold on to what little creative juices I had left. I tried salsa classes, Horton technique classes, photography classes, vision board making, interior decorating.... the list goes on but it was all short lived because work always took over the majority of my time. Yes even my summers!
In a recent survey I conducted on my closest friends, the main word used to describe was creative. But it didn't make sense because I wasn't dong anything remotely close to creative. They also all agreed I should be working with clothes (I'm still nervous about uttering the word Fashion). I was very, very, very boring. Making up projects with kids was not cutting it for me, sorry. I felt like a caged bird. I did my job very well because of my family motto: "Si vas hacer algo, hazlo bien o no hagas nada" Yea translation, if you are going to do something, do it right or don't do it at all. SO I did my job right to the point that I know it inside out but I wasn't even content.
I got to the point where I had had enough of doing things right but not feeling right about it. I gave my job a KO and dropped the mic. Only thing is, I don't really have a set plan. Go ahead shake your head and say "bad idea, Nifty." But this is the most liberating experience I have ever had!! BAM, I'm gonna kick ass at the next project, but I want to do it because I love it, not because I have to. I am at my element when I have projects where I get to beautify things, people, places and give my opinion on things even when not asked. I love dancing til my legs collaps, but I have no desire to be on ABDC or any of those ridiculous TV shows. Give me gadgets (especially a camera) and I'm busy for hours. In essence I need to be kept busy at all times with several different things because thats when I shine.....
This Not-So-Italian-Stalion is signing off because I now have to fold laundry and handle this house. I am still someone's wife you know!
But before I go, here's a Nifty video that I love! I'm a cliche 80s music lover all day everyday:
I should preface this by saying its my 3rd blog in seven years. I been back and forth between a journal, blogging, and nothing for a long time. What's different this time? A lot and nothing at the same time:
I'm still pretty random and weird.
I'm older and married.
I just resigned from my job and I have nothing in place.
I still searching for the essence of ME
Nothing out of the ordinary, but I want tis to be a place where I can post my inner most thoughts and feelings for the world to read. I feel I'm going through some pretty interesting life transitions all in one year, so why not write and share.
I just turned 30 a little over 2 months ago. I'm possibly suffering from the traumatic effects of "I'm in a new decade" crisis or I just lost the last bit of my marbles. Nonetheless, I'm pushing through it on the avenue of self expression! (I feel so cliche right now accidentally listening to Jazz as I write my third-first post... Back to my crisis). In the past 60something days I have tried the following and succeed at some - in no particular order- most taking place within the 16 days of August:
Enrolling in Nail technician school - doing it myself with friends at home
Planned to start yet a 3rd and final blog - Vuala!
Applied for a job(s) - had my heart set on one but it wasn't for me so just call me a little engine
Dog grooming -Disaster but my pup is still alive
Starting a styling business - working on a name (wipe sweat from brow)
Connect with 547 strangers on LinkedIn - Internet accidents that make me mad
Break the world record for number of hours infront of a computer - Fail due to my limited attention span
Pick up my camera and shoot - looking for volunteers email me ;)
Make some new friends - Establishing deeper relationships with the people I already know
Did I mention I love bullet points?? I have also had several realizations and "break throughs" in this 16 day soul search.
Don't fight who you are - "There's enough of everyone else, and only one you"
Misery is not an option - figuring out what makes me happy
I refuse to live my life in mediocrity just because I made a wrong turn along the way.
I miss Me and all the craziness that is packaged inside this 4'11"1/2 sized body
I will continue to post on a daily basis until I am employed, so come along and hang out on Nify's Corner....
