Fly

Link of the Day

Check out my guest blog post for today on Tam+Sam.

What I Like Right Now

Here's another edition of what I like right now.

1. Classic Sisal handbag from Kenya - I really want this bag!

2. Committed - I'm loving Elizabth Gilbert's exploration on the institution of marriage.

3. Beautiful Curls Leave in Conditioner for Curly to Kinky Hair - I think I finally found a leave-in conditioner I really like. It's rich and creamy but still light and perfect for my coils. This brand is also certified Fair Trade.

4. Elle UK - the smaller size, the accessories spreads and the fashion features are so great in this Elle. I pick it up whenever I can splurge a little.

5. John McCann's Steel Cut Oatmeal - I don't typically like oatmeal. Then I realized why, it's the instant oatmeal that makes me gag. This brand requires slow cooking to get the oats just right, and when you do they are so delicious.

6. Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - Ever have a favorite thing and forgot about it? That happened to me last night. I was in the mood for ice-cream and bought a flavor from B&J that I used to eat all the time. After the first spoonful I couldn't imagine why I had taken a break in the first place. Yum!

7. Knock Knock's 5 Days a Week Mousepad - I love mutl-functional items. This pad works as a pad to jot down notes and things to do for the week and also functions as a mousepad. Love it!

8. Eco-Styler Gel Olive Oil - with the leave-in conditioner mentioned above, this gel works nicely for two-strand twisting my hair.

Mataano Spring/Summer 2011

Great looks from Mataano's Spring/Summer 2011 collection. See the entire preview on Uptown Magazine.

Leadership Quilt

As mentioned before, I am guest blogging on Tam+Sam all this week.

A long time ago (about three years ago) I asked Fly readers to tell me what came to mind when they thought of the word leadership, it was a survey for a grad school project (read about it here). Well, the quilt shown above is the result of the leadership themed design, which was inspired by the girls who attend the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy in South Africa. I'm sharing a behind-the-scenes look of how the project came to be on Tam+Sam. Check it out!

Benetton's It's My Time

You can always expect beautiful photography and a diverse group of models from Benetton, but this recent campaign (called It's My Time) featuring models from a casting competition is especially exquisite.

Shop Beklina

Pretty printed pieces from Beklina. Very cute tote!

Link of the Day

Great videos about the creative scene in Detroit and what they're doing to re-develop the city.

FGOTW

Who? Patrice Williams, 28 years old

Where? New York City

What do you? Child of God. Freelance writer and reporter. After being laid off from a fashion magazine, I started my own blog, Living Fly on a Dime, where I give readers tips and tricks to live a fly life, while being financially responsible.

What inspires me? Pretty much anything. From Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao to conversations with my little cousins to riding the subway in NYC. Inspiration is all around, sometimes we just have to open our eyes.

Why are you fly? I describe myself as fly because I refuse to make apologies for who I am.

Advice: Always know that an ending isn't always a bad thing. Some of the best things in life are born out of an "ending." And never measure your self worth based on how someone else feels about you, whether it's good or bad.

Mural at Metropolitan Campus

LOVE this pair of murals for a New York City school by Pentagram's Paula Scher (Temple alumna, go cherry and white!). Using her map painting style Scher incorporates the geography of the area as an informative and decorative element in the atrium and commons area of the school.

Scher's environmental graphics are amazing, check out the inspiring designs she created for Achievement First Endeavor Middle School. Creating designs for schools would be an amazing job opportunity. I would love to work on such projects, especially since our schools are in desparate need to be visiually updated.

Speaking of which I'm working on a new project designing a mural for a commercial space. Check out what is inspiring me for this project on my guest blog post for the uber-fabulous Tam+Sam blog. I will be posting behind-the-scenes looks of some of my favorite projects as well as images that have inpired my work. More here.

Pillows from Uzbek Alive

Inexpensive silk ikat pillow covers from the Fergana Valley of Uzbekistan. See more here. Thanks to Anahata for the fab link!

Giles Deacon Looks

Guess what? I didn't sleep last night — at all. I pulled an all-nighter. This is unacceptable. I'm not in school, nor am I a sprite young whipper-snapper partying it up at the club, so I should have taken myself to bed. But I didn't. No, I had a busy weekend and didn't do any work so I had tons to catch up with. So please bare with me today :).

This morning I share with you some lovely looks from British designer Giles Deacon's SS 2011 collection. I adore these pieces. Neon brights paired with polka dots and other bold patterns always makes me happy. Images from NY Mag.

Link of the Day

a friend of mine worked on this trailer for Raheem DeVaughn's new music video. perfect for music Friday.

Music Friday: Les Nubians + Free Download

When I first heard Les Nubians back in 1998 I instantly became a fan. I played their first album Princesses Nubiennes to death! So you can imagine how devastated I was when I came out to my car one morning on my way to class only to discover that 1. my car had been broken into (oh the joy of living in Philly) and 2. ALL of my CDs were gone — including Princesses Nubiennes. Forget that I had to spend a money I didn't have to get my window repaired, I was more upset about the music I had just lost.

Years later that collection has been replaced and this morning I was jamming to Princesses Nubiennes once again. It's an album that I truly love, their global sound and style is so pure.

Browsing around on the net I came across their latest single, "Liberté," off their new album called Nü Revolution. You can download the beautiful track for free here. So glad to see them still doing their thing.

(I still need to pick up their sophomore album, did you? If so what did you think?)

Fly 10 Questions with Ernessa T. Carter

Last week I just finished a fun and slightly twisted story about a young woman's journey through life challenges and falling in love. This story is called 32 Candles, the first novel by Ernessa T. Carter. Although Ernessa has a cool resume with a wide range of work experience (she worked as an ESL teacher in Japan, a music journalist, and L.A. Derby Doll, among many other fun jobs) I'm excited that she is now pursuing a career as a novelist. I enjoy her writing style, and it's wonderful to have a story featuring a contemporary character rocking a fierce 'fro. (Learn more about 32 Candles here and check out Ernessa's blog Fierce and Nerdy here).

1. What was your favorite book as a child?
If it were up to me, the Anne of Green Gables series would be required reading. I just adored that character growing up.

2. What was the funniest, craziest, or most inspiring response to 32 Candles?
A woman who'd actually been abused by her mother wrote me. That touched me to my very core.

3. What author would you love to have dinner with and what would you serve/or where would you go?
I don't make folks food unless they ask me too specifically, which they never do — for whatever reason I don't come off as the kind of chyck that people outside of my husband feel they can trust with their dinner or their children (I've never been asked to babysit, I mean not even once). But I would love to take fellow Missourian Mark Twain out for Korean Barbecue. I think he'd really like it and I have quite a few questions about The Mysterious Stranger.

4. You have a diverse resume of job experiences, if you weren't writing right now what would you be doing?
There is no parallel life where I'm not writing. I'm either writing or I'm doing time in a looney bin. But if I could do anything else, I would love to work in marketing. [read on]

Link of the Day

My internet was down most of the day which left me feeling like a fiend. I couldn't upload my Fly 10 Questions feature :( or research inspiration for a project I'm working on. Scratching my arms and swatting invisible bugs I kept checking the various sites to if the issues have been fixed. Yes I'm that dependent on this darn thing. So finally everything is up and running and I will post the feature tomorrow.

Meanwhile check out this fantastic project from Street Etiquette called The Black Ivy. I LOVE IT!!! And you will too, I promise.