When a traditional pedicure won’t do, you start considering other “edgy” and “cool” alternatives. In my case, I tried getting a mani-pedi before embarking on my trip to Denmark but couldn’t squeeze in the time. The moment I set foot in Copenhagen, I summed up the courage to try the flesh eating fish called Garra Rufa!

The fish, also called “Doctor Fish” originates from Turkey. They live & breed in outdoor pools in Turkish spas and are known in the wellness treatment circles for their exceptional ability to cure peeling feet. It’s a practice that has been around for more than 400 years! They don’t have any teeth, they suck and nibble away dead skins which causes the tickling feeling while exfoliating the feet. The fish separate enzymes called Diathanol from their mouth cavity that stimulates the nervous system, increase blood circulation & cures the skin.

If you can’t stand being ticklish then you might want to opt out, but if you’re able to stomach it like I managed to do…eventually, then you’re in for a treat. So, brace yourself and get ready to watch me humiliate myself publicly at the fish tank salon in Denmark in the video footage below! Dare I say it was one hell of a pedicure!

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

With the world now closely watching the pending World Cup after Germany clinically massacred the ever so proud Brazilians with an astounding 7-1. Obviously, the blame will point towards Neymar’s absence due to a back injury inflicted by a Colombian during a match. The Brazilian star striker was taken out of the game to the hospital and is still yet to recover! I just pray that the guy who injured him is smart enough to have skipped the continent entirely by now. Forget skipping town. He needs to put an ocean between him and Latin America until the dust settles. Brazilians do not joke around when they loose a match! Shortly after the historical match, riots and flag burning already began! The Brazilians were “Germanly Klosed & Kroosed” brutally to say the least!

The Daily Beast writer Tunku Varadarajan took the words out of my mouth by summing up the match so well:

It is the devil’s own task to review a game on a night when the world is speechless. How does one make sense of the disarray at Belo Horizonte, where Germany routed Brazil 7-1 in a semifinal that was supposed to hoist the host nation to yet another World Cup final?

One has to believe that Brazil was at the receiving end of some great celestial wrath. In the days before the game, there was talk of nothing else but Neymar, Brazil’s key striker and talisman, who was to miss the semifinal due to an injury inflicted on him in the quarters. The team and its management wallowed in self-pity, dwelling more on his loss—and the loss, also, of captain Thiago Silva, owing to an accumulation of yellow cards—than on the Germans. In being so wrapped in resentment over the absent Neymar, they paid the Germans scant respect. There has been a palpable hubris in Brazil these last weeks, hubris as thick as the local feijoada. Brazilians have felt entitled to this World Cup, forgetting the truth that this Brazil team is probably the worst to have taken the field for the country.

Brazilian strategy, from the start of the cup, was four-pronged: Make teams play you on reputation, not on true ability; let Neymar score the goals (since nobody else can); let Thiago Silva marshal a semblance of defense; and let the crowd do the rest. That strategy unraveled completely Tuesday night, in the face of a massacre.

First, Germany is the last side to pay blind respect to anyone’s reputation. Second and third: Neymar and Thiago Silva were absent, so Brazil had neither a goal-scorer on the night nor a notion of defense. And finally the crowd, which was to have been Brazil’s trump card, was reduced to demoralized silence by a German performance that attained clinical perfection.

The “crowd” is a potent force, and also a mercurial one. Elias Canetti has written memorably of its nature, and its effects. One wonders what he would have made Tuesday night of the mass at Belo Horizonte. At first it was raucous, trembling with patriotism, a sea of seething yellow. Then Germany scored first, in the 11th minute, through the irrepressible Thomas Müller. The decibel levels fell a fraction, but we were still in the heart of a crowd that believed in Brazil.

In years to come, Brazil will refer to July 8, 2014, as among the blackest days in its history.

Then Germany scored again, and again, and again, and again, four more goals in the space of six minutes (or, counting that first goal, five in the space of 18): Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos, Kroos once more, then Sami Khedira. After Klose’s goal in the 23rd minute, one saw the Brazilian players go limp. After Kroos’ goal in the 25th, one heard the crowd go silent: the silence of disbelief. After Kroos’ second, a minute later, the crowd’s silence grew thicker, more complex: the silence of indignation. And after Khedira’s goal in the 29th, the silence took on a different timbre: that of devastation, of death. The cameras didn’t have to search hard for weeping faces: boys, men, women, tears streaming down cheeks painted with Brazil’s colors, now irreparably defaced.

The play was so one-sided that it does not merit detailed description. To do so would be to catalog a series of Brazilian defensive horrors, each of which was castigated by the Germans. And in the second half, one saw the bizarre sight of a coach—Germany’s Joachim Loew—subbing off key players to allow them some more rest before Sunday’s finals. This, in a World Cup semifinal game…

Germany appeared to show some very un-Germanic pity in the second half, scoring only twice more when it could have had five or six, and letting the Brazilians steal a goal—no one would call it a consolation—in the 91st minute, in time added on. After he let in that last goal, Manuel Neuer, the German ’keeper, pounded the turf in anger. His clean sheet, the proudest badge a keeper can flaunt, was ruined: 7-0, in his unforgiving eyes, would have been so much sweeter than 7-1.

As for Brazil, 7-1 was just as humiliating as being blanked. In years to come, the country will refer to July 8, 2014, as among the blackest days in its history. And since this is Brazil, we’re not limiting our notion of history to football.

Laverne Cox from Orange Is The New Black hit TV show served as this year’s Grand Marshall. Naturally, we took a selfie. She once waited on me at the Union Square Coffee Shop. And now look at her, a world renowned celebrity in her own right. Stay blessed Laverne! Not to be out done, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio donned on his very own rainbow tie complete with a flag in hand. He marched the entire parade route with his lovely wife  Chirlane McCray and daughter in super hot pants. This would be the Mayor’s first Pride March. I have been covering this event for quite sometime now and I must say he would be the first Mayor that would leave is usually heavy security group to reach out to spectators standing by to say hello, get a few high fives and take selfies! A true people’s mayor that I hope would one day consider running for the highest office of the land in Washington DC. Lord knows, I would certainly vote for him!

As expected, the event had no shortage of corporate sponsors on huge floats which included Citibank, Wholefoods, Delta, Yahoo, Google, Macy’s, and all manner of banks, just to name a few. It just keeps getting bigger and bigger each year! Some people also made it a family affair by bringing their kids to take in the show. This year, the event went over by an hour which resulted in me loosing my VIP press pass to attend the after party, Dance On The Pier to see Demi Lovato perform. Media check in was closed by 630 and I got there shortly after 7 when the parade ended. Oh well, I guess until next year. Needless to say, I had a great time making new friends and capturing the images featured below. Click on the images to see a larger version. For a more comprehensive and “explicit” coverage, follow my Facebook page where they will start to appear throughout the week.

PS: Do not mistake the fine looking police officer shown below for a person in costume. His name is Dominic, one of New York’s finest who worked long hard hours getting the streets ready from 7am till midnight after cleanup! He does look hot though…wink! Ladies, you’re welcome! 🙂

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

Also check out photos from 2012 and 2013

Summer is here and what better way to celebrate it than in breezy easy strapless drape dress and chunky pearl necklace! You too can get the look!

to get the dress, or another

Click here to get the chunky pearl necklace.

for the bracelet

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

Well, well, well…look whose hand got caught in the chocolate cookie jar again! It’s the disgraced infamous racist Donald Sterling with yet another black girl. You know what they say, once you go black you never go back. Oh dear oh dear. Let’s hope he’s learned his lesson this time to keep his mouth shut! He obviously likes them a little mocha, mixed, light skinned. So, out with V.Stiviano and in comes…

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

All you pot heads can now rejoice…well almost!

According to Time magazine:

New York was on the cusp of becoming the latest state to legalize marijuana for medical purposes Friday.

The state Senate passed a bill that would limit consumption to edibles, pills, and oils—prohibiting the smoking or sale of actual marijuana plants. Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to sign the bill, which passed the Senate 49 to 10 after state leaders announced a legislative compromise Thursday.

“This legislation strikes the right balance,” Cuomo said in statement Thursday when the compromise was first reached. “Medical marijuana has the capacity to do a lot of good for a lot of people who are in pain and suffering, and are in desperate need of a treatment that will provide some relief. At the same time, medical marijuana is a difficult issue because there are risks to public health and safety that have to be averted. I believe this bill is the right balance, and I commend the members of the Legislature who worked so hard on this measure.”

New York will be the 23rd state to legalize medical marijuana, according to the New York Daily News.

The state Department of Health will be charged with the regulation and licensing of medical marijuana manufacturers and distributors. The bill will place a seven-cent tax on marijuana sales.

New York has been rallying and protesting for this action to take place for years now. I myself even covered such protest this year and last despite not being a user but simply for the cause. Well, I guess this is a step in the right direction to just get on with it!

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar famously declared to cancel her Vogue magazine subscription when Kim Kardashian graced the cover of the fashion bible few months ago. I guess it’s safe to say she can resume her subscription now that Hollywood’s current reigning star Lupita Nyong’o has landed the July cover, her first! Coming to think of it, that makes Lupita the first Muslim to land Vogue and become the first woman of color for Lancome! All of these coming in just in time for Ramadan which starts end of June. Matzoltov Lupita! This is your time! Live it! 🙂

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

There’s no better way to spend a Monday night than in the company of good people and great laughs. Fashion Editor Chong Cha and I attended the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) Eco Rock annual charity event hosted by Chris Noth (Sex & The City, The Good Wife) for Shoeholics magazine. The magazine was a proud co-sponsor. One of the owners of The Cutting Room was kind enough to give us a grand tour of the breathtaking venue. The event was a success! Judging by the series of pictures below, we had loads of fun taking it easy with Venue owners Steve Walter & Ken Pliska, Actors Holt McCallany, Jim Gaffigan & Chris Noth. You can learn more about RAN at Ran.org

Visit Shoeholics for full coverage.

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

Fashionably taking one for the team today. In a full World Cup spirit. All dolled up to take in the much anticipated match between Iran and Nigeria at the World Cup today. Yes, they’re worth the effort. Now I’m starting to regret why I didn’t just board the plane to see it live in Brazil. I was there 3 years ago. Oh well, the local pub will do for now. Of course, you can tell which team I’m rooting for by the green and white color hint in my attire! Fingers crossed. 🙂

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!

Just about every religion and groups organizes parades and festivals in New York and the Hare Krishnas were no exception today. I was just on 5th Avenue by chance when I heard the hypnotic chanting and it didn’t take me long before I too started dancing, snapping pictures with my smartphone and following the parade procession. I do love their music! Namaste! 🙂

Sign up for my newsletter on the right side of the site. You never know what might come through your email. Follow on Facebook and Instagram!