Sunshine Makes You Smile?

Dear Caroline Sunshine (of Disney Channel fame),

You live up to the brightness that your last name emanates.

~ SK

Okay, okay… I know most of my readers don’t watch “Shake It Up” (or Disney for that matter),  so I won’t write about how awesome Caroline is, how much she loves shoes, or how well-put together she is (though she is all of those things.)

In this case, I will write about myself, as it pertains to my hangout with the REAL Little Miss Sunshine (yes, that title just now came into my head and I figured I had to type it out. It will likely be the title of this blog post now.)

Sometimes when tweens get fame early, they get an ego.

However, when it came to Caroline Sunshine, it was ME with the ego (yes, I can admit my faults.)

Why? Well, because she told me she watched me online, and that she was a fan of…me. Usually, it’s the interviewer telling the interviewee such a thing. But no, not this day. This day… was my day.

So I took advantage of it. Yes, the interview was in her dressing room. However, for that hour, it was MY dressing room as well. I used her bathroom. I used her mirror to do my makeup. I even delayed the interview so that I could attempt to wear fake eyelashes (total fail. My lashes looked like spiderlegs or something.)

We chatted. We bonded. We took photos. She taught (or well, tried to teach) me how to imitate her European accent on the show. We tweeted “at” eachother. And then we parted ways…only for her to become my new favorite 15-year-old.

The moral of this story? Compliment me, tell me you love me, share your resources, and you will also become a fave of mine.

You can watch our interview below:

Debby Ryan is the next  _______. Whether you fill in the blank with Miley, Demi, or Selena, the point is she’s Disney’s next “it” girl (though I hope for Debby’s sake that “blank” is filled with ‘Selena’ because well, we know what happened with Miley and Demi.)

Anyway.  I went shoe shopping with the “Suite Life” star – and discovered she’s super… sweet (pun totally intended.)

So here’s the deal. I say the word “eeek” a lot. I even have a signature ‘eeek’ face that constitutes a slant of my lip in a way that would make my face look like the emoticon I use in chat, text and like every other tweet:

:-/

Sometimes, when something is really “eeek” worthy, it becomes a double eeek face where both sides of the mouth go down in opposite directions, essentially looking like an exaggerated sad/scared face.

However, calling it “exaggerated sad/scared face” is difficult and long. Thankfully, I had an epiphany while watching a different shoe shopping segment with the no-longer-airing “Glory Daze” actress Natalie Dreyfuss – turns out, I did this “exaggerated sad/scared face” on camera – and realized that I, indeed, looked like a… GOOMBA.

Now, if you’re an 80′s baby or a late-70′s baby or anyone that played NES/SNES, you know what a goomba is. For anyone who doesn’t? Well… here’s a photo.

So why is this relevant? How does this relate to Debby Ryan in any way? Um…. It t turns out, Debby and I BOTH make awkward faces that give props to the Nintendo enemy. Check it:

So aside from Debby just being cool because she’s the next  ________ (hopefully Selena) , or because she compares shoes to boys, or anything fun like that, she’s cool because she appreciates the power of the Nintendo-inspired Goomba face.

Inspired.

Not usually the term I’d use when describing the feeling after a work-related shoot (keep in mind I cover fashion and celebs for a living) but… for this first time since my days as a local news reporter covering things like death, war, disease, fires, fairs, and the like, I’ve actually been affected.

Now, don’t get me wrong…this story still involves a celebrity or two (they always do) – but this time, I’m gonna try to drop the sarcastic tone….at least a notch.

So here’s the deal. Maksim Chmer-I-cant-even-spell-his-last-name-ovskiy from Dancing With the Stars, along with actors Liam Hemsworth (former flame to Miley may be his claim to fame), Jayson Blair,  Donald Faison (yes, Turk from Scrubs) and gf Cacee Cobb (spokesperson for Soles4Souls) were the famous faces reppin’ Souls4Soles charity and the Creative Recreation brand at a homeless shoe drive at the LA Mission.  (Sidenote: I was at a Creative Rec party a few weeks earlier in Vegas. That event, however did not inspire me or bring me near tears. Conclusion: Creative Rec lives a balanced lifestyle of party and charity. Well done.)

1300 boxes of Creative Recs

Anyway. Homeless people affect me. They make me sad. They make me feel fortunate. They make me feel blessed, two-fold. One because I have a roof over my head and food and clothing and whatnot. And two, because I have my sanity. A lot of people don’t realize that many of the homeless out there actually have mental health issues. Whether it’s a split personality or something else, they’re affected in such a way that even if they wanted to be in a better place, circumstantially, they just cant. So when one homeless man named Ernest told me he was “blessed” after getting a pair of Creative Recreation shoes, I got super reflective, almost-teary-eyed (I say “almost” not because I’m heartless, but rather because I am equally concerned about my eyeliner.)

Blurry iPhone photo

Anyway, enough of the “real” talk, I’ll save the emotions for like, Oprah or something. I just wanted to update the blog about this so that ten years from now, I remember that there were moments of “depth” when it came to my job.

PS Fun facts from the shoot? Turk aka Donald Faison started off the interview asking if he had boogers in his nose (this, sadly, didn’t make the cut into the edited piece.) Maksim C (no, I’m not gonna even try to spell his last name again) wears Creative Recs on the regular, and finds them to be fab. Cacee Cobb is legitimately really cool (many of you may know her from the days of Nick and Jessica as “NewlyWeds” – don’t judge her on her reality show past!) And the Creative Rec crew makes you want to quit your job and somehow figure out a way to work for them…or at least well, go out and buy a pair of their shoes.

In case you want to feel inspired, watch this:

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And yes, we still ask people about shoes they’re wearing…EVEN at charity events. See:

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So, I interviewed Snooki. Yes, THE Nicole Polizzi (Fun fact: people in her inner circle refer to her as “Nicole” – because well, when she’s out and about and the fans are screaming “Snooki”,  the important people can be differentiated. So stalkers/fans, take note…)

I’ve never watched Jersey Shore…willingly, at least. I have a friend named Sahil who once made me watch two episodes. I was entertained, but not enough to start giving up my Thursday nights at 10 pm to be one of the 8+ million people setting records and watching (side note, I had a dream about The Situation and I being BFFs few weeks ago. Still trying to figure out why…maybe it’s a sign of reality show stardom?? TBD.)

Anyway. I was at the fashion tradeshow MAGIC in Las Vegas to cover shoes (because well, that’s what I get paid to do), and of course when I found out Snooki (or um, Nicole) would be debuting her new slipper line, I of course had to discuss this.

Snooks and Slips

I was wearing 4.5 inch heels. Snooki… was in slippers. She’s already short. I’m already average height. It was an awkward conversation. But I’ll admit it. I was jealous of Snooki. Yes, JEALOUS. Why? She was in comfy slippers, and I was in not-so-comfy heels (dear Sam Edelman, some of your heels hurt, some don’t – please be consistent.)

SK = Jealous of Snooki

So after we bantered about her slipper line and how it came about (STORY: she wore Happy Feet slippers on the show, the guys at Happy Feet saw this, and thus, a relationship flourished. She started designing Snooki-like slippers…. they now come in cheetah print, sparkles, pink, purple, and other Snooki-ish styles), Snooki gave me her slippers.

How Snooki Saved my Life…or um, Feet.

Obviously, once you’ve given someone slippers, you’re at BFF-status. Slippers, you know, are a household look and well, that’s pretty personal if you ask me.

So once we were on that sorta intimate wave-length, she gave me top secret info on the Guido-style slippers she’s trying to design… one’s that would of course be…Orange (FYI that’s a reference to the the T part of GTL… TAN.) Props to her for taking ownership of the stereotype.

Anyway. We part ways, she suggests I wear the slippers the rest of the day, and I comply. Because well, rockin’ large pink slippers at a fashion tradeshow ALWAYS stands out (people expect fancy heels. They stare when you wear Snooki Slippers.)

What's hot for Fall 2011…

PS If you’re jealous of me and my super cool Snooki Slipper look (slippers that you can even wear outside – Snooks suggested wearing them to get gas or go to the grocery store) you can get your very own at http://www.snookislippers.com

PPS for full video/story, watch below:

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Taboo Likes Shoes.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Is asking Taboo if he’s Taboo a taboo thing to do?

So here’s the deal. We’re late to a “Taboo Shows Off His New Sneaker Line” event at Mandalay Bay in Vegas. But, as someone who doesn’t give up (or well, I’d like to believe  that) we go anyway. (Side note: the “we” in this story is myself and Katie Colleton, same Katie who was referenced in the last post from Vegas about 90′s-fave, Coolio.)

We roll up, stepped out of our fancy limo, and who’s in the car behind us? Mr Black Eyed Pea himself, Taboo. And his lady.

Perfect scenario, right?! We’re late to an event, we have no idea where the event is being held in the massive resort, and the “event” steps out in front of us!!

So…we follow him. No, not stalk (though the stopping every time he stops and appearing to look elsewhere while staring at him out of the corner of our eye is pretty stalkerish.) He stops, we stop. He talks to people… we… talk to eachother.

Taking pics of someone's shoes isn't creepy…

…But taking pics of them might be?

After 5-10 minutes, we decide this is awkward, and before I can do anything… my lovely co-worker Katie stops and goes: “Excuse me, are you Taboo??” (yes we already know its him, but she asks anyway… because there may be more than one person dressed in flashy attire with fun looking shoes that say “Taboo” on them in Vegas at Mandalay at the same time Taboo is scheduled to appear…)

You can see/hear this moment in this iPhone video documentation of it:

At this point, we confess how we’re lost and that we were, indeed, following him.

What’s funny is that a lot of people I talk to consider Taboo to be the “scary” one of the BEP. Which, sure, if you dont talk to him, may appear that way (he has long hair. Maybe it’s intimidating?)

But…he wasn’t scary. He wasn’t awkward. He wasn’t mean. He was actually quite the opposite. He was nice. Friendly. He introduced us to his wife. He invited us to follow. I asked him if the shoes he was wearing was part of his line. He said they were (Taboo Deltah by JUMP for those interested) – he said those were custom made. They were very “custom” – pink. I told him about how certain individuals in my life are big into the sneaker game. He remembered and brought it up in our interview later (good memory = good person. Fact of life. When you forget things about people, you come off as full of yourself. Conclusion? Taboo is humble and cares.)

Updated iPhone video documentation:

Funny moment? We’re walking and a lady stops him and chats for a second.  I think it’s cause she’s a fan and wants an autograph. Turns out she’s Norwegian and is simply giving away $50 gift cards to buy fancy-schmancy jumpsuits.

Anyway. We eventually get to our destination. I interview. I check out the sneaker line. Super fun colors, super affordable. He’s not just a celeb face/name for the product, he’s actually helping design the shoes. He’s even given the other Peas (Will.i.am, Apl.de.ap, Fergie) pairs. It all started when he excessively bought shoes while touring the world…he owns like 600 pairs, all on display in a shoe room designed like a shoe store – shout-outs to the wife for helping design it. He figured if he liked shoes so much, he may as well make em and throw his name on them (my thoughts? If your name is on a shoe, you don’t have to pay for them…)

Not so stalkerish now

Afterwards, Katie and I chat with Mrs Taboo (AKA Jaymie.) She’s pregnant. She explains how everyone in their family’s name starts with “J” – no, Taboo isn’t his real name – It’s Jaime Gomez. Yes, they’re Jaime and Jaymie. At this point, combined with stalking and interviewing, we’ve spent a good 30 minutes together… meaning we were close enough to talk pregnancy and baby names (cause that’s how us ladies roll.) Name of choice for the new baby? Journey Jameson. I’ll be honest, I thought I got the exclusive… I was like, “Wow, she likes us so much she doesn’t care that we’re here as media! And giving out baby names?! America eats up celebrity pregnancies and babies! We’re SO in!” – I then went on Twitter, and discovered @TabBEP announced the name 5 days before :-/

I wasn't first :-/

So even though I didn’t get an exclusive, I did get a blog post…and an answer to our question:

ANSWER: Asking Taboo if he’s Taboo is not taboo… it’s actually advantageous.

Pretty people are supposed to be bitchy – it’s just a fact of life. The prettier/hotter you are, the meaner you’re allowed to be.

However, I recently encountered someone who threw this whole concept off, and now I’m questioning all  of my life theories…

The culprit? Supermodel Kathy Ireland. Um, with decades of modeling and a multi-million dollar branding company (not to mention she’s super pretty, even at 48), you’d think she’d have “diva” on lock. However, she was absurdly nice. Every question got an answer. She went out of her way to say it was nice to meet ME! (Aren’t I supposed to say that post-interview?! The non-supermodel asking the questions?)

Ugh. As you can see, I’m very distraught by all of this. If pretty people are nice, what are the less attractive going to do for leverage?!?! Seriously, what if she was pretty AND nice AND funny?! You just can’t have all the qualities in one, God’s gotta test ya somehow, right?

So…in conclusion…Kathy, you’re super awesome and all but, um, watch out. Something bad is bound to happen. It’s only fair.

Pretty Girls Rock?

I interview a lot of people. Famous people, in fact (which, I’m assuming you know, since well…you’re reading this blog.)

And…I don’t get star struck. But every once in a while, I can become a little…“fan-like.” This usually happens whenever the person is from the 90’s, or related to music or basketball. Why? Because I grew up in the 90s, and it was during this period that I was obsessed with music and basketball, and well… anything from the formative years helps with nostalgia (Note: I still like those things, I just don’t read the Billboard charts daily or keep up on points/rebounds/assists like I used to.)

So now that I’ve given that disclaimer, I can write about my chat with Keri Hilson without holding back.

Most people first heard Keri Hilson on the Timbaland track “The Way I Are” (yes, I know that’s a grammatically incorrect phrase, but look… you can’t correct the hip-hop world. If you try, someone will call you out – perhaps in grammatically incorrect form – on a future track. It’s an uphill battle guys.)

Fast-forward four years, Keri has had a number of top 40 hits and, MORE IMPORTANTLY, she’s affected my life personally.

You see, in June 2009, there was a little song called “Knock You Down” featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo that happened to be all the rage. And by “all the rage” I mean you could be driving in LA and at one point, have the same song playing on three different stations (yes I’m talking to you 97.1, 102.7, and 105.9… aka AMP, KIIS, and POWER106!)

I’m the kind of person that tried to make every song I listen to lyrically apply to my life in some sort of way, either past or present (you can imagine what this new Taylor Swift record’s got me feelin. I actually wrote the phrase “Dear John” on a John’s wall yesterday.)

Anyway, it just so happens that I felt “knocked down” or whatever and everything from the Caspers and NASA that Kanye was talking to the idea of being “shot out of the sky” as Ne-Yo put it seemed to be relatable.

So when I got to chattin’ with Keri, even though per-work orders I had to chat shoes and fashion (which in case you care: She thinks Louboutins hurt and are overrated, loves Velvet Angels, didn’t wear a designer pair of shoes til she was in the industry, and still will shop at Ross/Marshalls/Macys whatever)…. I had to obviously talk music and the effects of lyrics as well.

So now you’re probably wondering, “WTF- why did Samia waste my time giving that disclaimer about being a fan? That story doesn’t sound bad…” Well, um. You haven’t watched this next clip. Even though I may not have blatantly appeared “fan-like” or mobbed her, this video says something else…specifically, the goofy grin on my face THE ENTIRE VIDEO! :-/

Yes, the guy who starred in a VH1 reality series about women competing to be with him thought I was worthy enough of being classy (though I hope that’s not a “relative” thing. Like, ‘I’m Ray-J, I surround myself with whores, therefore, since you are not a whore, you must be the opposite: classy!’ type of thing.)

Now you’re probably wondering how this even came about. Obviously I’m not chillin wih Ray-J on my day-to-day. Instead, I get paid to talk to celebrities about…Shoes. Fashion. Entertainment. World Affairs. (Ok maybe not the last thing, but I felt kind of shallow listing the other three.) Anyway, sometimes… it ends up being funny. Or awkward. Or… awkwardly funny?

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Greg Finley. Six feet tall, New England-born, basketball-loving, Hanes wearing (yes I saw them), Simply Orange-drinking actor most known for his role on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.”

As for his secret life? Well… I hung out with him for a few hours as he posed for the Fall 2010 Michael Wright Collection, so I think I have at least a few “secrets” uncovered.

First off, maybe it’s no secret, but he’s super sweet. Surprisingly. Most attractive people, at least in my opinion, are entitled to be self-involved and fake nice. He was the real deal.

He loves his hip-hop.  When you’re doing a photo shoot, ya gotta be in the mood. His mood-setting tunes?  Lots of Jay-Z, Kanye’s “Amazing”, Rihanna’s “G4L” and more. I suggested Britney. I don’t think he was having it. He actually told me that he “really vibes with rappers.” Maybe it’s the whole struggle thing? (Fun… ok well, not-so-fun fact? He lived outta his car when he first moved out to LA. Cliché, sure. Inspiring moreso.) I tried to relate. “I love the Drake line, ‘Everybody got a deal I did it without one.’” He agreed. Later in the day, “Big Poppa” came on. He got excited. Which prompted me to ask his thoughts on Diddy rapping. He paused. Said he can’t hate, and that he’s a good producer (Obviously, he doesn’t follow him on Twitter.)

Greg’s a sneaker head. In fact, his shoes actually sparked conversation when I first got there (I noticed a few boxes and had to ask.) He brought a couple pairs of Nikes and a pair of Creative Recs to the shoot. Had he brought his whole collection? Um…he has over 100 pairs of shoes, so that would be a lot of boxes. We talk about shoe faves, like the Jordan 11s (as he refers to them, the Oreos) and the Easter egg Nikes (not gonna lie, I didn’t know what he was talking about here. But, I played along.)

Chicago Bulls colors!

Basketball is his life.  I try to test this claim, and thus ask him if he’s been to the Basketball Hall of Fame. His response? “In Springfield, Mass?” So yeah, he’s been there many times. However, not since they put up the new Michael Jordan exhibit (which I checked out last year) so I think that means I’m ahead.

So far, he sounds like another JTimberlake, at least in terms of interests. Then, I see the tattoos . Obviously we’re at a photo shoot. Thus, clothes were removed. As a result (sigh) I checked out his tats. One to note? Fair haired warrior on his upper left arm – (it’s what his last name “Finley” means.)

Hopefully this isn't a "secret"

However, we were at a photo shoot for a clothing line, so let’s cut the “shirtless” talk and address the reason we were there in the first place – the Michael Wright Collection.  The look? “Bring your grandma to the modern day” with yarn-inspired shirts and hoodies.  I totally wanted to steal the grey hoodie below.

If you’re old and boring and live in LA, you’re probably thinking of the mall right off the 101 freeway.

However if you’re young and cool and hip and watched TGIF (like me), you obviously thought of Cory Matthews love interest on the greatest show ever — “Boy Meets World.”

(There’s also Urban Dictionary’s definition here.)

Admit it. You loved "Boy Meets World" too.

Perhaps now, she’s best known to Style Network and FUSE fans as Danielle Fishel, the TV host. But for me? She’ll always be Topanga. And since I didn’t want to come off as some uber-geek fan, I didn’t tell her that. In fact, I didn’t even mention “Boy Meets World,” or the fact that I relate many of life’s lessons back to that show (there’s this episode where Cory is torn between love-of-his-life Topanga, and newcomer-Mountain-Girl Lauren. He uses jellybeans to decide who to go for before having the epiphany that he can’t see his life without Lauren. I’ve always like that episode.) Anyway. We simply had a chat about fashion. Starbucks. Met her boyfriend. Introduced her to my BFF. Exchanged numbers (alright I lied about that last part.) You get the picture.

Anyway. Topanga (yes I will refer to her interchangeably as both her character’s name and her real name) is now getting a full-time student, getting her Psych degree in Orange County. (I wonder if she misses Mr. Feeny?) Her plan B is working in marriage and family therapy, assuming this whole TV thing doesn’t pan out.

So far? TV’s working. Since she has this whole Style Network gig, of course we talk fashion. She helped dress her boyfriend that night.  Oh and speaking of boyfriend…. her must-have item? The boyfriend blazer.

Danielle (see I told you I’d interchange names) is a huge fan of the Kim Kardashian look. “She doesn’t look like she’s starving. I try to follow that curvy girl’s mentality.” So how does she do it? Um…eating.  Fave foods? Breakfast: pancakes. Lunch: Chicken wraps. Dinner: Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse. Dessert: Frozen yogurt, cheesecake, maybe pie.

Since she likes consuming calories…she’s in luck! Her boyfriend’s a barista at Starbucks…meaning, all-she-can-drink! Thus, we talk about drink orders. She’s a skinny caramel latte kinda girl. Extra pump. Extra shot. Mixes nonfat and soy milk (that’s a lot of writing on one cup.) Me? Depends. If it’s holiday season, a peppermint mocha. What they don’t tell you is that it’s actually on the menu ALL YEAR LONG! (Topanga didn’t know this fun fact. She told me i was like the secret menu at In-N-Out.) I, however, am weird, and can only drink holiday beverages in the red holiday cups, therefore I only get that drink between November and January. The rest of the year? Tall, soy, extra-hot sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte, thank you.

Somehow this Starbucks talk gets us to literature (I recently read a book called “How Starbucks Saved my Life.” No, it’s not about excessive caffeine intake.)  She starts talking about her Kindle, and how she’s reading Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol.” BFF Priya gets excited, and those two get all intellectual and begin to talk about their favorite Dan Brown books.

As for me and the barista boyfriend? …We continue talking about Starbucks drinks.

So even though I may not be able to discuss Dan Brown novels with the best of them… I can at least guarantee me a free drink at an Orange County Starbucks. And perhaps another run in with Topanga.