greenlight district

Are there vegetarian buffets in Vegas?

I guess I'll find out.

Here's a really fabulous scenario: my job is sending me to Las Vegas for a few days!! As excited as I am, I can't imagine how effing thrilled someone else would be -- like, maybe someone who:
a) drinks more than 3 margaritas a year
b) knows how to count cards (or at least can play poker with them)
c) can enjoy all of the meaty treats on the many buffet lines

This summer has been a mix of trips, some more greenlight district than others (faux cheesesteaks in Philly, wild strawberries along the side of the road in Alaska -- but more on those later...) and I wonder what this work vacay will hold in terms of fake meats and locavore-friendly options. Rest assured, visions of seitan smorgasboards and vegan treat tables will be dancing in my head. As I sleep peacefully in my king size bed in the Wynn Encore Resort...

Bagging it up: Gym Bag Beauty!

This post could also be titled, "hey, read the stuff that I write for Shecky's!" no shame in MY game, but for reals - here's a fun article on the essentials for your workout routine aka: fun versions of all of the crap that you lug to the gym with you. I'm really into all of this right now (although I've always been a big fan of miniature beauty products) because I spend a lot of time at my love's apartment since his living quarters now trump mine. Also, I'm a multi tasker to the billionth degree and have a big purse. This yellow American Apparel bag that you see here is actually in memory of one that I bought once long, long ago to use as a gym bag. Yet somehow it has become my roommate's personal mantote, accompanying him on many a drunken adventure - sometimes involving Chicken McNuggets buried in its sleek nylon design - not very, "greenlight district" of him. Anyways, enjoy Gym Bag Beauty! And, as always, look out for the select eco products I threw in the mix!

Below, a picture of roommate Joe with said stolen bag:

Me and my Pop Culture Addictive Personality Disorder take on Twilight (and lose)

"Oh shit," I thought when I finally watched Twilight - when I realized exactly why I had been avoiding cracking open the book or Googling "Robert Pattinson." It's because I can't just simply enjoy such a sweet brand of cultural phenomenon and move on, if I fall for it then I live and die for it. My name is Lisa, I have Pop Culture Addictive Personality Disorder, and Twilight is my new drug of choice.

I'm like those alcoholics that can't hang out at a bar without funneling a bottle of tequila and lighting themselves on fire. I put some of the blame on the enablers I call my "friends" who should have known this before exposing me to Stephenie Meyers' trite teen drama and Robert Pattinson's chiseled (LIKE OUT OF MARBLE) gloomy gaze. Look at the facts: when I was 11 every girl my age was into Hanson or NSYNC or BSB or whatevs, but they all got over it. I'm the one that carries the torch a decade later (and cough cough, fucking met them and interviewed them no big deal cough cough) I've had similar relationships with others: Degrassi/The N, many a TV show that I've watched in its entireity over a weekend, JT , BritBrit - but quite possibly my lovelust for Twilight is even more potent. (KINDOFLIKETHELOVETHATEXISTSBETWEENBELLAANDEDWARDTHETRUESTLOVEINALLTHEWORLD)

So eff all of you for letting me watch the movie and read the books. I'm a few pages away from the end of New Moon, and I'm already clammy (or "palpy" as they say) for Eclipse. I sped through Moon just so (SPOILER ALERT) I could sleep at night knowing that Edward and Bella reunite. Although, I'm savoring the last 100 pages or so and don't know how the story ends so don't blow it for me. This is because I won't be able to handle it if something bad happens and they aren't together anymore. Um, no joke. Scary, I know. Help.

It's cool, Robert Pattinson, you can just keep staring at me like that, it's no big deal. It's not like my hands burn with a hundred fucking suns of passion to run my fingers through your impossibly beautiful locks. And your stubble is, like, whatevs, it's not like I die inside imagining what it would feel like to scrape against my cheek while you were whispering sweet nothings into my ear, you asshole.

It's cool, I just know Hanson

To mark my last day at E-Dubs, I'd like to take a moment of MMMBopping to celebrate my true entry into the world of freelance (unemployment!!) This week, as a really kick ass "goodbye" from my frenemies at Time Inc. I got to interview Hanson. Oh, sure, to you that may not be awesome, but let me try to explain it to you so that you'll understand: please think up your ultimate number one DREAM career goal ever in the world, then think of your childhood dream, then think of the thing that would mean the most to you personally, then imagine it involving your first real crush and/or your favorite band, then combine all of those ingredients and wait 11 years (or half of your life). Okay? NOW? LIVE.THAT.DREAM. Then try to make a joke about my meeting with Hanson. I dare you.

Anyways, Hanson was playing a concert at Nokia Theater in Times Square. This I knew and had already gotten tickets for. Then their publicist contacted Entertainment Weekly to get some roving reporters on the scene and of course I was like yeahokaysureyouwantmetointerviewHansonsurelikeyeahthatwouldbefineIguessIcouldfitthatintomyscheduleorsomethingandlikemakethatworksureyeahicandothat.

And, because Hanson is awesome like that and were so totally on the same page in life, their cause is more than appropriate to write about here as it involves both Africa and vegan footwear, two things I lurve. I knew Hanson was doing the Africa thang when I was also in Africa (I drop that a lot, my love of Ghana as well as my love of Hawai'i - two of the very few places I've traveled in my life besides Wildwood, NJ and the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame). Since their initial journey to the Motherland in 2006, they have been working to get fans and friends to donate and be aware of HIV and poverty in Africa, first through teaming up with TOMS and donating a pair of shoes for each pair bought, then with their single "The Great Divide" where the proceeds for each download go towards AIDS treatment and research, and NOW they're doing "The Walk." In each city, before their concert they go for a barefoot walk and donate $1 for each fan and bystander that follows along. You can read more about it on their site, TaketheWalk.net and find a walk (and a Hanson fan) near you!! Or you can just donate anonymously online so you don't embarass yourself in front of all of your lame indie friends with your deep-rooted but closeted love for the brothers Hanson.

In a nutshell, because I could write a novel about my hour(ish) with Hanson, here are the top ten highlights in no particular order:
1. I got to interview them in their dressing room.
2. They made funny jokes-
3. -and I was actually able to contain my giggles and maintained some level of professionalism.
4. They loved that I went to Africa.
5. Hanson took off their shoes in front of me.
6. There was a camera crew there filming the interview for an upcoming documentary AND Isaac was also filming the interview personally.
7. They took me seriously as a journalist AND humored me as a fan. They even asked me to come back after the walk through Times Square so that I could ask more questions including some that I promised were from my 11-year-old self.
8. They were ridiculously passionate about The Walk and about spreading awareness and such about the issues, which made me fall in love with them all over again for all new reasons.
9. When they offered me a picture (see below) with them, Zac moved out of the way so that I could stand in between him and Taylor.

10. Then me and my H-loving BFFle got to sit VIP at the concert that night, NO BIG DEAL.

Read the article and join me in saying goodbye to the world of journalism "internships." For now ever