Miss Moon's Musing About: Curly Pool Party 2011 NYC

This Saturday, I had the pleasure of attending the Curly Pool Party at the beautiful Grace Hotel here in NYC, and I had a TOTAL BLAST!!! I hardly know where to begin!!

I guess the best place to start is with the Grace Hotel and the Pool area where the party was being held. The hotel, in New York's Time Square, was absolutely beautiful, surrounded by shops, theatres and a couple thousand tourists!!! LOL

The pool area boasted two saunas, a float up bar, a lounge area, and oodles of lush, lavish places to sit down, recline, and chat.

I was invited by NaturallyCurly.com to avoid the lines and come early to the reception designed for bloggers and press, when I arrived, I met briefly with the organizers of the event, received my HUGE goodie bag (PACKED with sweet treats from sponsors Jane Carter Solution, Hair Rules, Shea Moisture and Ouidad!) and arrived at the bar area that was complete an army of tiny tables, each topped with yummy treats as far as the eyes can see!

Cheese platters, cold cuts, veggie platters, and the one item that made me go "Ooooh!!!"....

SUSHI!!!!!!!

I walked into the pool area and was greeted by my girls Sudana of Creative Urbanista and Miss EmpressRi herself, y'all (it was AMAZING to finally meet her in person after knowing her for years online!!)

I also had the pleasure of meeting Chanel of Boutique De Bandeaux, whom I've admired for a long time and missed the opportunity to meet her at the recent Chic and Kinky's Naturals Night Out.

Sudana and I

The Empress Herself, Chanel, and Sudana all looking lovely and ready to hit the pool!!

During the first few moments, we had the opportunity to see a presentation of NaturallyCurly.com's new Mobile App, Curls on the Go, for iPhones and Android devices. It's dope, Y'all!!! I am very seriously thinking of bidding farewell to my BlackBerry to get an Android, JUST to download this app! LOL

Chai from Back to Curly surrounded by two lovely friends... I am so bummed I didn't get a chance to chat with her, aside from yelling hi across the room! We must meet up for coffee soon, Chai!

Chanel and I

After a gracious welcome from organizers Cassidy Blackwell (of Natural Selection) and Michelle Breyer (Co-founder & President of NaturallyCurly.com)... it was time to HIT the pool! After all, it's a Pool Party, and as the tagline of the event says, "Curls and Water DO Mix!"

I admit I spent waaaay too much time in the pool and not enough time chatting and networking (which I suck at!), but the water was definitely seductive to me. So much so, I was hesitant to get out the pool to get a drink! LOL Luckily, my girl Stephanie, arrived just in the nick of time with a glass of wine just for me! (Thanks, girl!!!)

After finishing my wine (in the pool...decadence!), I decided to venture off to the spa area with Sudana, Chanel and Stephanie. The Spa, hosted by Shea Moisture, had scrubs and other goodies for us to lavish our skins with before hitting the sauna.

This curly cutie from Shea Moisture was so sweet in giving us instructions on how to best use the Sugar Scrub!!

She and the Sugar Scrub, get a BIG thumbs up from me!!

Time to rinse!!!!!!!!!!! (I love this picture!)

Stephanie, all smiles and looking lovely as always!!!!!

Hanging with Steff in the sauna... I will be investing on a Hair Steamer in the next few months, because I've learned my hair is IN LOVE with steam!!!!

After our steam, we went over to the Sponsor's area, where the wonderful people of Jane Carter Solutions, Hair Rules and Ouidad were doing demonstrations and having one-on-one chats with curlies on how to use their products.

This curly cutie was kind enough to sit for a photo... I loved her hair!!

Carolina from Ouidad, showing Stephanie how to use their famous "rake and shake" technique for super happy curls!

Ouidad's newest spokesmodel!! :)

I had such a good time at the event!! Thanks so much to Alicia from NaturallyCurly.com for being so awesome and inviting me. Thanks Sudana and EmpressRi for the amazing hang (and for photo sharing!).. And thank you Stephanie for this...

I am proud to announce that I have finally got a new camera, so hopefully there will be much more (and much better quality) photos coming from me soon! Cheers!

Miss Moon's Musing About: Summer Concert Season in NYC!!!

I love music, I love concerts and most important.. I like paying a small amount of money (or not paying anything!!) to go to them! LOL

One of the best things about living in NYC is the ample supply of free or low cost concerts that happen during the summer!!!



So if you live in NYC or plan on visiting this summer, be sure to check out the concerts Irm really excited about seeing (You may run into me!)



Living Colour, Ebony Bones!, Pillow Theory and CX KiDTRONiK
Saturday, June 5, 2010 3:00PM

Rumsey Playfield, Central Park

Classic BRC legends Living Colour usher in a new generation of African-American rock stars.



Celebrate Emancipation Day with CODY CHESNUTT
Saturday, July 3, 2010 6:00 PM (doors open @ 4)
$5.00 Suggested Donation

Weeksville Heritage Center
Historic Hunterfly Road Houses
1698 Bergen Street
(between Buffalo Avenue and Rochester Avenue)
Brooklyn, NY 11213

Celebrate the day enslaved Africans were freed in New York with the return of celebrated rocker Cody ChesnuTT. (Though freed on July 4, 1827, because of threats of violence, African-Americans in New York City celebrated this important holiday outdoors on July 5th) This year’s celebration will include a discussion on Haiti @ 4pm, music by Cody ChesnuTT @ 6pm (in his FIRST NY performance in 4 Years!) and the film Secondhand (Pepe) screening @ 8pm. The vendors for this event are NY Dosa & Wafels and Dinges.



Celebrate Brooklyn! Presents OkayAfrica with The Roots and Talib Kweli
Sunday, July 11, 2010 7:30 PM
$3.00 Suggested Donation

Prospect Park Bandshell
The Bandshell is located inside the Park at Prospect Park West and 9th Street.

The Roots headline the OkayAfrica World Cup 2010 Finals party to celebrate the first time in its 80-year history the tournament will take place on African soil. With a kick-off by Sahr Ngaujah, the star of the hit Broadway musical Fela!, the show features performances by artists from all corners of the Diaspora, including host Talib Kweli (Brooklyn), Bajah + The Dry Eye Crew (Sierra Leone), Blitz the Ambassador (Ghana), and many others to be announced. Musically omnivorous hip-hop icons The Roots honor the fresh music of Africa jamming throughout the day with surprise guests and capping it all off with a closing set.



Raphael Saadiq, Aloe Blacc, and Special Guests
Saturday, July 17, 2010 3:00PM

Rumsey Playfield, Central Park

Award-winning songwriting/producer/performer Raphael Saadiq brings new meaning to old soul.

Raphael Saadiq is a standard bearer for ’old school’ soul, a contemporary artist continuing the time-honored American tradition rooted in the sounds of ’60s and ’70s. From his early days as a member of the groundbreaking ’80s group Tony! Toni! Toné!, through his work as an award-winning producer for Joss Stone, The Roots, Snoop Dogg, and John Legend, and in his own perfectly crafted solo albums, the multi-talented Saadiq has kept the faith. His latest release, the three-time Grammy-nominated The Way I See It, was named the Album of the Year by iTunes. While other contemporary artists may attempt to emulate the sound and flavor of soul, Saadiq brings real emotion and production values that are simply “right on.”



Celebrate Brooklyn! Presents Daptone Review: Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
with Budos Band
Saturday, August 7, 7:30 PM
$3.00 Suggested Donation

Prospect Park Bandshell
The Bandshell is located inside the Park at Prospect Park West and 9th Street.

The Bushwick label Daptone Records, long committed to bringing you the finest soul, funk, gospel and afrobeat sounds to be found on analog tape, trots out the family. With the unstoppable Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings headlining and the hard-hitting Budos Band and Charles Bradley also on the bill, an epochal moment of the great Brooklyn soul revival is clearly at hand.

Another great place to find terrific in Brooklyn is the Martin Luther King Concert Series in Wingate Field... past years Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and Lauryn Hill performed!!! The 2010 lineup in scheduled to be announced in a few weeks, so check this blog out in a few weeks... I might have added a few more shows!!

Peace (And Music) from Brooklyn!!!