*Note: I know the huge story right now is Sandra Bullock and the cheating Jesse James. But I don’t even want to go there and just want to say WE LOVE YOU SANDRA BULLOCK!

So instead I just wanted to share these pics of the gorgeous Amber Rose that is in the latest issue of Tandem Magazine (see issue here: intandemmagazine.com). For those of you who aren’t familiar with Amber Rose, she came onto the scene as the new beau of Kanye West. She is half Italian and half Cape Verdean, and a former exotic dancer.

In fact, word is that one place she stripped at was Delilah’s in PA, which coincidentally is the same place Chris Brown’s new “lady friend” Draya Michele got her start as a stripper too. Not encouraging ladies to strip or anything (not knocking it either) but hey… looks like Delilah’s might be the “place to be” for your ladies that are into that sorta thing… LOL.

Amber Rose is definitely doing her thing now and is signed to the popular modeling agency Ford Models. I love seeing her photos, I think her look is absolute perfection. The whole models having the body of a prepubescent boy has gotten old for me, and it’s great seeing women with curves representing in the industry (regardless of their past)

More Amber Rose photos below..

I watched the movie “One Hot Summer” by Maya Entertainment yesterday, it is a comedy that touched on the real life dilemmas that everyone, especially women, can relate to. The film stars the very talented (and gorgeous) actresses Vanessa Marcil, Tessie Santiago, Jacqueline Piñol and actors Jon Seda and Casper Van Dien. It navigates through the lives of three friends: Margarita (Vanessa Marcil), Anabel (Tessie Santiago) and Viviana (Jacqueline Piñol) and the issues they face being career women, wives – and Latina.

The story takes place in Miami and revolves around the life of a successful, Cuban-American lawyer Margarita who was just promoted to partner of a well established law firm. She is happily married to Ariel (Jon Seda), who believes they are ready to start a family and begins pressuring Margarita to put her career aside in order to take their marriage to the next level. In the meantime, Margarita’s ex flame Luther (Casper Van Dien) returns to Miami and tries to win her back. (Check out the trailer below!)

Margarita’s best friends are going through issues of their own as well. Anabel is married with children and like many mothers, often lose themselves after putting their husband and children before them. Viviana, on the other hand, is a successful career woman who has found that it is more difficult being a Latina in the work place due to stereotypes and discrimination – which is why she is bleach blonde and goes by the name Vivian instead of her Latina-sounding name Viviana. She insists this is the reason she is successful, and why make it more difficult on herself when she can just try to fit in with her American counterparts?

Although this movie is a comedy that really had me laughing, it brings up serious issues that modern women everywhere can relate to. For the modern day woman, we do have to decide between a career and a family these days, it is something that I am facing myself! There are also the obstacles that Latinos (and any other “minority”) go through in the workplace. One Hot Summer also brings up love affairs and the struggles of married couples dealing with infidelity.

I really enjoyed One Hot Summer and felt that the characters in the film were very easy to relate to. There were twists in the film that I really did NOT expect! Which was a pleasant surprise because a majority of movies coming out are very predictable. Women should definitely check out this movie and will be able to relate to at least one of the friends in one way or the other. Men should check it out too – so you all can see what the heck we deal with and what you all put us through! Lol! Jokes aside, it is a very good film that was funny, relatable and full of surprises. You can get One Hot Summer on DVD.

Link: Maya Entertainment

Model / Video Vixen Draya Michele @DrayaFace (who might be dating Chris? Who knows..) tweeted a while back that Chris Brown was considering getting back on Twitter. After releasing a statement begging his fans to fight to have radio stations start playing his music again, Chris Brown has reportedly joined Twitter again under the name…. well, @ChrisBrown of course (no more MechanicalDummy).

I’m not advocating for Chris Brown in any way. Everything happens for a reason and what he did was terrible. He should be grateful that he still has fans period, in my opinion.

Now… D’Angelo, D’Angelo, D’Angelo. What can I say? If you haven’t heard, D’Angelo was arrested this week for offering to pay an undercover female police officer $40 for a sexual favor He picked her up on the streets, probably thinking that she was a prostitute and has recently plead Not Guilty (good luck with that one, D). He is planning a “come back” album by the way. Just be patient D’Angelo, the groupies will return. Smh.

Source : NY Daily News

I’ve been on Twitter for a few years now, and while I know that there are many great apps out there I always use the mobile Twitter site on my N95. The old Twitter mobile site was really… bad. There was no convenient way to reply to someone, retweet or even check your direct messages. Fortunately, Twitter came out with a new and improved mobile Twitter site last year. It is a great improvement but how does it stand up against other free mobile Twitter sites? Not too well.

The updated mobile Twitter site at http://mobile.twitter.com shows your timeline with the ability to reply, retweet (the official Twitter RT, it is not editable) and favorite any tweet. You can also view the trending topics and search Twitter. The site still has @ replies so you can see who has replied to you and thankfully, they added direct messages. You can view your inbox, sent dms, reply to and trash dms. You can even view the conversation between you and a particular person which I think is pretty neat.

When you view people’s profile you can see their information (following/followers, bio, website) and do the usual follow/unfollow tasks. But there is ONE thing (and seriously it’s the only thing) that you can do on the official Twitter mobile site that you can’t do on others and that is Turn On/Off Mobile Text Alerts of people you follow. That is pretty much one of the only reasons I would get on this mobile site when I am away from the computer.

Direct Messages, Public Timelines, Replies and Retweets

Now the other Twitter mobile sites I am going to mention have all of the above features and more! For instance, Dabr (http://dabr.co.uk), Slandr (http://m.slandr.net), and Tweete (Beta) (http://m.tweete.net *SCROLL down to click on the link to use their BETA version) gives you the “direct message” option in your friends tweets which makes it more convenient to send them a dm on the spot. Tweete (Beta) and Twitstat (http://m.twitstat.com) lets you REPLY to ALL people mentioned in a particular tweet. Which is super convenient when you are talking to many people, you don’t have to @reply to one and manually type in the other usernames. Dabr, Slandr and Tweete also lets you view the public Twitter timeline.

Other differences are the retweet options. When it comes to retweets Dabr, Slandr, Tweete (Beta) and Twitstat give you the old style/ editable retweet option, which is great because many of us want to include our response to a RT at times. Dabr gives you the option of either doing an official (non-editable) or editable RT for every RT you do which I love! Tweete (Beta) lets you choose one or the other in their settings page. Slandr and Twitstat lets you do editable retweets only. But Twitstat has an additional RT feature that no other mobile site has – tweet reach.

When you are going to RT something, Twitstat shows you the percent (%) increase of the reach of that tweet to those who have not seen that tweet yet, and the percentage of people who are following you who have (most likely) already seen the tweet. It even gives you the exact number of new tweeps it will reach! I think this is a useful tool if you want to make sure you aren’t echoing another person’s tweets. If you and most of your followers are following Demi Moore for instance, it would show how it is pretty pointless to RT her tweets since most of your followers have probably seen the tweet anyways.

Twitter Lists

The new Twitter List feature is definitely something lacking on the official Twitter mobile site. All of the other sites (Dabr, Slandr, Tweete Beta, Twitstat) at the very least show the Twitter lists of users on Twitter. Dabr, Tweete (Beta) and Twitstat take it a step further and display the lists you (and others) follow and the lists you (and others) are in. Twitstat also shows you the number of list subscribers, lets you create a list, add users to a list and even lets you COPY someone’s entire list into one of your lists.

Twitter Photos

The integration of Twitter photos is something that is also missing from the official Twitter mobile site. Dabr, Slandr, Tweete (Beta) and Twitstat all give you the option to view thumbnails from popular sites like Twitpic in Twitter timelines. For example, Tweete (Beta) can display thumbnails in all timelines with photos from Twitpic, Twitgoo, YFrog, Post.ly, Img.ly, and TweetPhoto. Some sites even let you upload a photo and caption to tweet along with it like Tweete (Beta), Dabr (Twitpic) and Slandr (Mobypicture, Twitpic and YFrog). Twitstat does not offer an upload pic option.

All in all, you have to try each one to find which site is right for you. For instance, I’m not of huge fan of Slandr even though it is one of the most popular Twitter mobile sites. Although it has cool additional features like “Geo friends” where you can update your location and see local tweets, it really isn’t for me. It is slow to load on my cell at times and has annoying ads in the timeline (last I checked there were 4 on one page).

Two of my favorites are Dabr and Tweete (Beta). They have the most Twitter features and just have a cleaner look. Dabr (and Twitstat) gives you the ability to block users, and Dabr lets you report spam as well. Dabr and Tweete (Beta) are both starting to put ads but they are unobtrusive so I really don’t mind it. What surprised me is Tweete (Beta) didn’t have a character countdown when you type your updates like the other sites. Maybe they forgot it, because that feature is on their (very basic) Tweete version mobile site. However they make up for it on Tweete (Beta) with the option to split long tweets (over 140 characters) into 2 tweets. You can set this up in their settings page which gives you tons of options to customize your Tweete Twitter experience.

Now onto Twitstat. When I first (briefly) checked it out, I was not impressed. It did not boast all of the features the other mobile sites had. But when I started using it I saw that what it lacked in some features, Twitstat made up for in other features that other mobile Twitter sites did not have. I have already mentioned some of their cool features (retweet tweet reach, Twitter list options) but there are more. Twitstat lets you MUTE users in your timeline (lol), you can email a tweet to someone (it includes a link to that tweet status) and there’s even a VIP where you can add your “Tweethearts” (I don’t use it, seems stalkerish to me). It also shows your “Exes” (people who stopped following you). Not only that but when viewing people you are following, you can choose to view only those who are not following you back, or only those who are following back. You can do the same with your followers (view those who you are or aren’t following). Even when you are viewing someone’s profile they let you know if you two are following each other (in a pretty cool way, too…)

And finally, Twitstat shows the Tweet Rate (per hour) of users and the % of replies. They also provide an easy way to type in a username to view a person’s Twitter profile. You could integrate your Foursquare account on Twitstat and the newest feature is that they have integrated the Bit.ly url shortener so that when you enter a link in your Twitter update, all you have to do is click on “shorten with bit.ly” and VOILA – your url is automatically shortened! (Click here to see it in action.) These are all of the reasons why I still have Twitstat bookmarked on my phone.

But like I said, only you know which site is right for you. If you’re a Twitter-aholic like me, the sites with more features would probably be ideal. But if you like to keep it simple, the new Twitter mobile site will suit you just fine.

Happy tweeting!

Twitter Mobile Sites:
Official Twitter Mobile site: http://mobile.twitter.com
Dabr: http://dabr.co.uk
Slandr: http://m.slandr.net
Tweete: http://m.tweete.net (scroll all the way down to click on the link to use their BETA version)
Twitstat: http://m.twitstat.com

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you are all enjoying the holidays – I know I am, I’m on vacation! Lazy, lazy days. But I wanted to blog today to let you all know about a website that is an online city guide to great year round Latino events in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, New York and San Francisco!

Tomorrow is New Years Eve, do you know what you’re going to be doing? Don’t just sit at home and watch the re-run of the ball dropping in Times Square! There are tons of great events out there, you just need to know where to look

I recommend Remezcla.com! I’m checking out some New Years Eve events going on in my area tomorrow and there’s a party with producer and DJ Chico Sonido over at Verdugo Bar in LA. There’s another party at Rhythm Lounge in Long Beach that’ll be playing South American rhythms like cumbia, vallenato, bolero and bossa nova!

Or if you’re in the mood for a concert/performance, you can check out the lovely Sheila E. and the E. Family over at the Conga Room in LA. In between sets DJs Eddie and Miguel will be scratching the top hits, reggaeton, salsa and more… sweetness!

Or just check out ALL Latin Los Angeles New Years Eve events by clicking here

Touch choices to make… I know. But now you know where all the hotspots are with the help of Remezcla.com. It has the listings and coverage of both major and less-publicized Latin concerts, parties, art exhibits, conferences, festivals, films, and literary events in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.

Have a fun and safe New Years everybody. Don’t drink and drive! And I will see you all again in 2010 HAPPY NEW YEAR, let’s all make it the best year ever!

This morning I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak with celebrity fashion stylist, image consultant and founder of Trendy Inc. Irma Martinez. Not only has Irma worked with countless celebrities (including Shakira, Chayanne, Thalia and Enrique Iglesias among others) but she has also been the person in charge of overall styling in TV productions like the Latin Grammy’s, Univision’s Premios Lo Nuestro and Premios Juventud and the Latin Billboards.

Irma was kind enough to take some time out of her busy schedule to speak with me and answer my questions. I knew that she was born in Colombia and has 7 siblings so I was curious and asked her if her siblings ever call her and ask for fashion tips or advice (I know I would)! Surprisingly, she said no! At least not as much as they should she said. Sometimes she sees them and asks “Why didn’t you call me?” because, after all… it is her specialty. When asked who she would like to work with that she hasn’t worked with already she said there were many people she would love to work with, but named both Jennifer Lopez and Madonna as two people who top her list.

I also asked her who she had the most fun working with and of course, I should have known it would be Paulina Rubio. “Paulina is a risk taker” Irma stated, adding that Paulina knows the fashion world and isn’t afraid to try the latest clothing and accessories. As for the men she enjoyed working with Chayanne and Luis Fonsi. They have the “coolest personal style” which makes working with them easier and fun since they know their own style.

After getting my celebrity curiosity questions out of the way, I started asking Irma for shopping tips!

So, first things first: I was given a $25 gift card (from an employer) to Target over a week ago and HELLO… it’s not everyday you get to talk to a successful fashion stylist… so of course I asked her “What should I get?”

Irma admitted that it’s hard to decide because Target is full of high quality designer brand items with low prices, but she recommended the makeup collection by Sonia Kashuk. Sonia Kashuk offers quality makeup brushes and makeup for a cheap price. Irma knows quite a few people who use and love Sonia Kashuk’s products and they make great gifts as well since they come in beautiful silver and gold boxes and packaging.

Don’t worry though, I wasn’t just thinking of myself when speaking with Irma. I also asked if if she has any advice for men who are shopping for women but more specifically… Latinas!

She said it can be very hard to shop for Latinas but remember that we like details. Put some thought into the gift because what you ultimately buy shows that you were thinking about us. Latinas like gifts that are “sweet and sexy” at the same time. For example she mentioned the Anna Sheffield jewelry collection (that will only be available for a limited time guys!) The jewelry is beautiful and Target also has many cards that could add a more personalized touch and be a great addition to any gift. (And I agree – take notes, guys!)

Finally, I asked what are the other must-haves that are out there this season.

There is something for everyone at Target and what makes it even better is that it is affordable. Irma mentioned that she has a 15 year old and gifts she liked for teens were the Remington Printed Straightener and Hair Dryer and makeup kits for just $9.99. There’s also the Carlos Falchi bags, which usually can cost up to $4,000 but you can also shop his line at Target at affordable prices for about $29.99 to $39.99! Just like this Faux-Snakeskin Collage Flap Hobo in Gray for $39.99…

For men she mentioned boxers, toolboxes and or games like Guitar Hero, the Wii or any of the appliances and gadgets they have at Target. They even have an electric guitar custom designed by Adam Levine of Maroon 5!

One gift idea I absolutely loved for young girls (or even collectors) is the 7-Pack Ultimate Disney Princess Collection that is available only at Target!

There are also great, intricately designed ornaments and table sets by Marcel Wanders that I happen to love!

Irma also recommended the Target gift card. With her busy schedule what she does is just get on the computer at the end of the day and order everything. She loves the convenience and how everything you need is right there online, available all the time! I couldn’t agree more.

I hope you all found this information useful, especially for you last minute shoppers out there! You can’t go wrong with Target.

Also check out TrendyInc.net for the latest projects and more information about Irma Martinez!

This blog post is long overdue! I love long eyelashes, that is why I hardly ever leave home without putting mascara on. I have always been curious to try on fake lashes because I see girls wear them all the time, but I have always been too chicken to because I know you have to glue them on and I’m afraid that they’ll pull out my real lashes! I don’t want that! But then I heard about Revlon Fantasy Lengths fake eyelashes. They have two types: the Maximum Wear Glue On Lashes and…. the *gasps* eyelashes with Self Adhesive Strips! No glue required!

So I did my research and saw all positive reviews on the product. The only complaint I saw a few times were that the base of the lashes were too long and so people had to trim it to fit their eye. Revlon also mentions this on the box to cut it if it is too long. So I’m all prepared to trim it, but I try it on and… it is actually not long enough for me! I took the pic up top without eyeliner so you can see where it stops. I have come to the conclusion that I have huge eyeballs (no wonder strangers have told me I have ojos tapatíos which I thought was funny because my Mom is from Guadalajara, Jalisco). Anyways, the length was fine for me since I put liquid eyeliner on the top eyelid so you can’t tell where the eyelash starts and ends. I personally loved how easy it was to put the lashes on. The first time I was a little shakey and had to redo it but it was easier after that.

Revlon Fantasy Lengths comes in a great variety of really cute styles. They are very natural looking which would be perfect for those who not only want to wear them for a night out but on a daily basis as well. I recommend these lashes for girls who have no luck with mascara and or eyelash curlers.

Which reminds me… I had a friend’s teen daughter try it because she accidentally CUT OFF some of her eyelashes on one eye because of her terrible eyelash curler. She put the Revlon Fantasy Lengths lashes on and she looked fine, it looked like natural eyelashes and the length was perfect by the way she did not have to trim anything off. Another friend tried them on and the length was perfect as well. This particular lady was older and commented that she liked how the lashes covered her sagging eyelids. It made her eyes stand out more and she felt it gave her a more youthful appearance because it covered her eyelids.

When I tweeted that I got Revlon Fantasy Lengths I received this message: “These eyelashes work great! I am a member of the Sun Devil Dance Team at ASU and I have used these lashes for every game. After a long night of performing in front of thousands of sun devil football fans in the Arizona heat, I don’t have to worry because I know my lashes will stay on the entire night while making my eyes stand out to the crowd.”

All in all, I like Revlon Fantasy Lengths. If you want natural long looking lashes and mascara and eyelash curlers aren’t working for you – this is the way to go! Even if you want to change things up a bit with your look you could just wear their different eyelash styles.

I personally feel braver now with fake lashes since I’ve tried Revlon, and now I want to try lashes that are far more dramatic and longgggg.

I’ll just wait until Revlon comes out with those as well

When I saw these videos by Head and Shoulders, I couldn’t help but giggle. [click here to see 3 funny Head & Shoulders videos] The idea of putting stuff like tomato juice, mayonnaise, avocado/guacamole in your hair is something I am very familiar with! It is something I have heard about through family and friends who have tried these “hair treatments” themselves or know someone who has.

And, I also have a confession to make… I put vinegar in my hair! LOL. I know, I know, let me explain! There was a time when I kept dying my hair every week because I was not happy with the results. I dyed it a different reddish color, hated it, dyed it again the next week because I couldn’t stand it, hated it, and finally just wanted to get rid of the red altogether! But as most of you already know, red is one of the hardest colors to get out. So I went to a friend’s hair stylist and she said that my hair was too damaged to do anything at that moment. So she told me to put VINEGAR in my hair daily for a few weeks and then go back to see her. So I did! She even uses vinegar in the salon — it’s crazy! But it’s supposed to be good for your hair.

So I did some quick research and here’s some info I found:

Vinegar (mixed with water) supposedly removes excess product build up from your hair. Others say it calms itching of the hair and scalp and can remove dandruff.

As for Tomato Juice, some say it restores pH balance to your hair, making it shiny, more manageable, and beautiful. One person said that it removes unusual hair odor that usually occurs with children.

Mayonnaise is said to condition severely dry hair since it has natural oils and vitamins that leaves your hair soft and shiny.

Avocado (or Guacamole) apparently could be another hair treatment since it is rich in natural oils as well as Vitamin B-6 and E. I also read elsewhere that avocado pulp can stimulate hair growth.

So what is the truth? Who knows, different people say different things. But Head & Shoulders makes a very good point – why go through all the trouble with messy (and sometimes smelly) hair treatments when there are great products out there that treat all of your hair problem areas. Head & Shoulders for instance fights dryness, calms itching, relieves irritation, reduces redness, controls oiliness, removes flakes and gives you beautiful hair.

Easy peasy

Watch the 3 hilarious Head & Shoulders episodes by clicking here!

It has been about 1 year since I was first introduced to P90x… and I have yet to blog about the P90x Nutrition Plan! My diet has always been an issue for me. It’s really hard when you are constantly surrounded by delicious (yet fattening) Mexican and Puerto Rican food! Not only that, I’ve been frequenting fast food joints regularly because of my hectic schedule.

Which is why today I am going to blog about P90x’s Quick Options. P90x’s Nutrition Guide contains tons of detailed information on how you should approach your nutrition during their intense 90 day program. What I like about their Quick Options section is that they list some quick dishes that you could make at home. They also recommend a variety of convenient frozen foods such as Amy’s Kitchen, Cedarlane Natural Foods, and the usual (obvious) choices like Healthy Choice, Lean Cuisine, etc.

But what I have found to be completely useful are their smart fast food options! P90x says that you should NOT exceed one fast food meal per day and only a few times a week. Also, for those of you familiar with the 3 Phases, P90x has some guidelines. Throughout all 3 phases you must always avoid high-fat dressings on salads! During Phase 1 Fat Shredder you can eat chicken, turkey or beef without the bun or bread. For Phase 2 Energy Booster you can eat chicken, turkey or beef with half the bun or bread. And finally for Phase 3 Endurance Maximizer you can eat chicken, turkey or beef with the whole bun or bread. The P90x Nutrition Plan also has specific limits on how much calories, fat, and sodium you should consume for each meal based on your nutrition level. (The book explains how to calculate your nutrition level.)

The following are some smart fast food choices from the P90x Nutrition Plan. (Some food options are outdated so I’m putting possible alternatives in parenthesis. Note that some of these alternatives have more calories, fat, carbs and or protein.)

Burger King
- BK Veggie
- Chicken Caesar Salad (Tender Grill Garden Salad or Side Garden Salad – no dressing)

Carl’s Jr.
- Hamburger (Kid’s Hamburger)
- Charbroiled BBQ Chicken Sandwich
- Charbroiled Chicken Salad-To-Go (Charbroiled Chicken Salad)
- Garden Salad-To-Go (Side Salad)

Jack-In-The-Box
- Chicken Fajita Pita

McDonald’s
- Chicken McGrill (Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich)
- Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad -No Dressing (Premium Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken)
- Fruit ‘N Yogurt Parfait

I’ve been venting a lot on Twitter, BrightKite, etc. lately and sometimes I feel like I want to tweet-vent (twent?) more when I have other things on my mind but I don’t. So I just thought… maybe I should just start blogging this stuff! And not only that, password protect some.

It’s no biggie. Not some *exclusive* type stuff but these posts just won’t be readily available to those who wander onto my site. What I’m going to do is… when I password protect these particular posts I’ll just announce the new blog (like I always do) on Twitter, BrightKite, Plurk, etc. and mention what the password is. See? No biggie.

That way a majority of the people reading it will at the very least be people who know me / kinda know me / think they know me. (I guess that includes the stalkers who don’t follow me or subscribe but read my tweets… you know who you are!)

But either way, it will make me feel a bit better… it’s out there, but it’s not, you know? Make any sense to you? *crickets chirping*…