The Red Coquette

Potato, Po-tahto, Shiseido, Chicago!

I’m in a bit of a kooky mood, if you couldn’t tell.  I think the hours of staring at stretches of road may have had a strange effect on me…

Currently we are headed towards Boston, home of the Boston Bruins, who just won the Stanley Cup!  Which has been 39 years in the making!  I am not a huge sports fan, but I am from Massachusetts, so of course I am proud!  Boston is also our last stop on tour, and I get to see my mom and my dad and maybe even my sister!  So I am pumped!

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though.  We haven’t talked about Chicago yet!  The last time I was here was in ‘05, maybe ‘04 when I did the National Tour of “Grease” starring Frankie Avalon (he was the dreamy teen angel in the movie).   

Here was our marquee at The Chicago Theatre:

Here’s a production photo from the show.  That’s Frankie in the middle, but can you spot me?  Here’s a hint, I’m blonde!

Every time you perform at a theatre when you are on tour, the entire cast will sign the walls as sort of an “I was here” kind of thing.   The Chicago opened in 1921, so the walls were covered with hundreds of famous performers.  It was such an honor to be able to put my name on that wall too!  Here’s a picture of me by just a part of those famous walls:

(I’m kissing Paul Anka).

My time in Chicago was a bit different this time.  When I am home back in New York, I usually work out 4-6 times a week, which has been impossible to keep up with our schedule.  So I was SO excited when I found out our hotel was a mile away from basically the best gym I have ever seen in my life!  It’s appropriately named Lifetime Fitness.  This place is amazing.  It has two indoor pools, two outdoor pools WITH water slides, two huge hot tubs, steam room, a rock wall room, a SALON, a restaurant, leather couches and flat screen TV’s in the dressing room, and everything other gyms have, just fives times as many machines.  Needless to say, I spent my entire day off here.  I took a spinning and yoga class, sat in the steam room, and ate a healthy lunch and dinner at their restaurant.  Overall, a great day off!  On my walk home, I saw this in the sky:

I thought that was pretty cool.  After our (rainy) activation day in Chicago, Nicole took us to dinner at the coolest little place!  It was called Maude’s Liquor Bar.  It was very cute and very french, and I LOVE all things french! There were chandeliers and velvet couches and looked kind of like my bedroom at home.  We started with a yummy bottle of syrah, and chatted up some people sitting at the bar next to us.  We, of course, gave them samples of Shiseido’s Bio-performance serum!  Dinner included a french onion fondue to start and ended with chocolate and tea.  It was delicious and would be a really cute date spot for those Chicagoans reading!

Next stop, BOSTON!

Sleepless In Seattle.

“Now that was when people KNEW how to be in love. They knew it! Time, distance… nothing could separate them because they knew. It was right. It was real. It was… “ 

-“Annie”, Sleepless in Seattle.

How could you NOT love a city that hosts such a famously romantic movie?  I, for one, am a true sucker for romance.  I may be a tough, strong, independent New York lady, but I love flowers, love letters, romantic comedies, cheesy love songs, poems, you name it.  (Don’t worry, I won’t make you ill, the romance stops there!)

We get to Seattle and take one guess what we did first?  That’s right, SHOPPING!  Well, to be perfectly honest, we really went to have breakfast, but it felt like shopping because it was at Whole Foods (surprised, aren’t you).  I had a yummy bowl of oatmeal with fresh fruit and a latte made with almond milk. (Can’t get THAT at Starbucks!).

(That’s me and my friend Seattle).

 It was a beautiful day so Maria and I walked to Pike Place Market!  The famous place where they throw giant fish at each other!

We didn’t see giant fish fly, but we did eat some, and really, that’s more fun, isn’t it?  And I had this yummy beer with lunch called Whistling Pig Beer! 

(Don’t worry, the beer is vegetarian.) 

Even the fruit has a sense of humor in Seattle!  Check out the “Super Freakin Sweet Strawberries”!

Along with food in the market there are local artists selling their crafts.  I got very excited to see a woman selling handmade, recycled leather cuffs.  The one I got was made out of two old belts and a piece of a bullet!  She said she goes to old vintage, thrift stores, and estate sales and buys old belts and old “ugly” purses and makes some of the coolest jewelry I have ever seen.  Here’s mine:

How cool is that?  I kind of wish I had gotten more than one!

I spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of shops and stores.  I may or may not have bought a new adorable peach sundress… I also handed out samples of Shiseido’s Bio-Performance Super Corrective Serum to all the ladies that helped me with my shopping!  

Now, I must get some beauty rest. It is almost 2 a.m. on the West coast.  Maybe there is something about Seattle that makes everyone sleepless…

Obsessed with the West!

I love the West coast!  I am having the best time exploring!  While in San Francisco I got to meet up with one of my best friends, David. We have known each other for years.  Here’s a picture of David and I doing a show together a few years ago:

I sing and dance too! Didn’t I tell you?  This was a show called “All Shook Up”.  It’s a musical loosely based on Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” with music by Elvis Presley.  David plays a character who is desperately in love with me, and I am desperately in love with someone else.  Art imitating life?  Maybe…

His family owns a great deli and David has worked there since he was about 13 years old!  I really wanted a chance to visit but it was only open while we had work, so he opened it up JUST for me!

 

That’s a pickle that I am holding and so happy about.  It’s one of my favorite snacks!  He also introduced me to something called a sour tomato.  Tomatoes are only one of my favorite foods in the entire world, so I was curious.  It’s a green tomato that they put into pickle brine, and it is one of the best, most sour things I’ve ever tasted.  If you like pickles you will LOVE sour tomatoes!

Time for my last night’s sleep at Hotel Diva (yes you read that correctly), then off to Seattle, home of Starbucks! (It’s a little coffee shop.  Maybe you’ve heard of it?)

Where are you?

I know, I know. Where have I been?  Well, I wrote a blog while we were in LA, but just I was about to post it, it deleted.  I have no idea why, and I am not super tech-savvy, so it is lost in cyber-land forever.  

So, now we are in San Francisco, and I think I am in love!  This town has such a great mix of city and hippie California.  There is a really good public transportation system too, so you can get around without a car which, as a New Yorker, I love.

We got in yesterday mid-afternoon and we were treated by Shiseido with mani/pedi’s!  How nice!  It was so relaxing and such a nice welcoming to a new city.  I highly recommend running to the nearest spa whenever possible.  My very good friend David lives in San Francisco, so I got a quick little tour of the city and got to spend a night with his family!  Oh, how I missed a house with an actual kitchen!  Today I spent the day shopping on Haight Ashbury, basically the greatest place to vintage shop EVER.  I spent a good four or five hours here!  My favorite spot, by far, is Buffalo Exchange.  If you live in any major city, chances are there is a Buffalo Exchange there.  It’s different because they are super picky of the quality of clothing that can be donated.  I have never gone to a Buffalo Exchange and not walked out with something amazing.  Today was no exception.  I scored and awesome white blazer (a must-have for summer), a really pretty, yellow, strappy dress by Laundry, and amazing espadrilles.  Haight Ashbury also has great shops with vintage taffeta 50’s gowns, and funky hippie gear.  Basically, every type of vintage you could want.  They also had a shop called Bettie Page Clothing,  with styles dedicated to the 1950s vamp!

(Inside one of the vintage shops.  How could you NOT leave with something?)

Later I met up with Maria and we took the trolly to Fisherman’s Wharf, where we ate yummy fresh crab and watched lazy sea lions bark at each other!  We also found some yummy vegetarian food (naturally). 

(Yummy crab!)

So, now I am back at my fabulous hotel getting ready for tomorrow’s big day; our first activation day in San Francisco!  Goodnight everyone, this girl needs her beauty rest!

Where are we? Are we there yet?

I’m not going to lie.  I have no idea where in the world we are.  That’s a lie.  I know we are in America, down where it’s really warm and humid… somewhere.  Have you ever noticed that all rest stops looks alike?  I have done a lot of traveling in my time, so I can safely say they ALL look alike!  We just stopped at one with the typical fast food connected to a convenience store/gas station, and I actually thought, “oh, we’ve been here!”  False.  

As you have probably gathered, it’s another travel day.  It is rainy and gloomy out and I keep looking out at the sky for tornadoes.  I know the chances are slim, but wouldn’t that just be the icing on the cake?  Mmmmmmm, caaaaaaaake.

I think the biggest worry for me while on the road is “what in the heck am I going to eat?”  Luckily, we plan ahead and make many stops at grocery stores and Whole Foods when we can find one.  This morning for breakfast I had some amazing organic grapes that Maria and I found at the Publix in Miami before we left, and a big bottle of FIJI water.  I’m finding it hard to stay hydrated while on the road, and when I am not hydrated I look puffy!  Ew. 

We have a whole lot of driving ahead of us today, so on my agenda is to finish “Bossypants” and start “Water for Elephants”.  I also have loads of tv series on my MacBook, so I may start some of those. Catch-a later! 

Welcome to Miami!

Hello again fellow beauty product lovers!  We have made it to our third stop on the Discover Shiseido Mobile Tour , Miami, Fl.  Today was our first day off, so Aminat and I decided to head to the beach!  It was the PERFECT day! 

And this fair-haired beauty slathered herself in sunscreen!  I used Shiseido’s Extra Smooth Sun Protection Lotion.  As I sit here at the end of the day after a shower, I have NO sunburn! Tomorrow we have a full day at  The Dadeland Mall here in Miami from 12-8 where we’ll be giving free facial services and hand massages, and a chance to win $1,000 in Shiseido products!  

So, what does one do while driving hundreds of miles from Washington to Miami?  I spent most of my time reading Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants.  I ordered it on my fancy new Kindle that I bought just for this trip!  It is such a great book for a long car ride!  It is written like she is your best friend just hanging out with you, talking about her life.  She even gives beauty advice!  ”As you age, you may want to pay someone to shoot lasers at your face”.  Thanks for the advice Tina!  I have just about finished it.  Up next is “Water for Elephants”,  because my mother has told me about ten times that I need to read it.