Oh hi Reggie Bush! Sure, you can come up to the house and spin records for a bit. Until 5am you say? Why no, I can’t say that I mind at all.

I spent this past week in Aspen at the X Games. Of course, I never actually made it to said games for all the awesome that was happening around me. One of my jobs is to manage a group of DJ’s who are so cool and sweet and fantastic that its not really like a job at all.

The best night of the bunch (and believe me when I say that every night was in contention for “best”) was the impromptu house party afterhours that we hosted at our chalet. Tina T taught Miami Dolphin, Reggie Bush, how to scratch earlier that evening. We convinced him to return to our little slice of heaven in the hills and practice later. It was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long time. And Reggie is actually getting pretty good on the ones and twos. He’s got a partner who wants to DJ with him who call themselves the Black House Junkies. I think they should work on the name, but the logo is a cute little monkey with a black eye.

I’m not going to lie, I love my job. And I’m sorry if I come off as sounding like one of those sickening tweet-holes who is constantly saying they love their life. But…I kind of do. Reggie Bush is a humble, intelligent, handsome, good-natured, easy-going guy. It was a real privilege to hang out and get to know him.

I’m a Steelers fan for life, but I think I’ll make an exception for just one Miami Dolphin.

I heart Instagam. For those of you who don’t have this app yet..get it. You need to have an iphone or an ipod touch. I purchased an ipod touch for this reason and this reason alone. Seriously. If you have discovered, much to your dismay, that you actually not only see the purpose in twitter, but that you actually enjoy it. Instagram is like tweats for visual people. Instead of 140 characters of wit and wisdom you can just post a cool picture, treated with a cool filter, and have it speak volumes.

If you have the app, I strongly encourage you to use it. Its such an easy and delightful way to chronicle your day, in a visually inspired way. Follow me @ChinaShop and let me know so I can follow you back!

If your car is in the front yard, and you’re sleeping with your clothes on, then you know what I’m talking about when I say its time to get LIT.

Although they may be known for being their own worst enemies, the guys from Lit have teamed up with the notorious Producer/Singer/Songwriter Butch Walker to complete their latest opus, as yet untitled. I dropped in on the boys at Walker’s studio in Santa Monica to have a listen and catch up.

I asked A.Jay Popoff what his inspiration is for the new songs? His reply – “It’s therapeutic if anything. This record is a lot more introspective.” And that’s saying a lot. It’s been 7 years since their last album release and the band has had multiple divorces, a wedding, family trauma, and of course the worst of it was losing beloved drummer, Allen Shellenberger to brain cancer in August of 2009.

The thing about Lit is that they really never stopped being a band. Although it was incredibly difficult to say goodbye to Allen, he passed the torch and his blessing onto current drummer, Nathan Walker. Nathan has been a long time friend to both Allen and the entire band, so when they say its really more of a brotherhood than a band, you honestly feel that. They also added guitarist and songwriter Ryan Gillmor into the mix to help with a big bold sound.

Read the entire article at ChinaShopMag.com.

Last night I got to meet one of my all time favorite designers, Jonathan Adler. You may recognize him from such television reality series as Top Design (which sadly won’t be coming back). But well before “See You Later Decorator” fame, he was, is and always has been a talented and gifted potter, designer, and entrepreneur.

With 16 actual stores, and an amazing online store you have no excuse to not buy yourself or your loved one something with a bit of whimsy this year. Each year I end up dropping vast amounts of money in his shop on Melrose and I thought I would share with you all my 5 favorite Jonathan Adler finds this year for the holiday season! Trust me, when you give a gift as sharp and fresh as these, no one could possibly be disappointed!

Read the entire article at ChinaShopMag.com.

This past Saturday the seminal band, The Pixies, played a little venue in Hollywood called the Music Box. If you are saying to yourself right now, “I didn’t even know the Pixies were playing”, you are not alone. They opened up tickets to their fans alone and sold out in minutes. It was a very cool way to gather the faithful to pay homage to these alt rock icons.

Read entire article at ChinaShopMag.com.

The Bouncing Souls completed an amazing series of shows recently in Hollywood. They played 8 albums, 2 albums each night, 4 nights in a row, in 4 different cities. That’s something like 106 songs. I mean, sure they have been around now 20 years. And sure they are on the road constantly. And sure, they are great at what they do. But keeping all those songs straight…its kind of an epic achievement even for the consummate professional.

I spent the day hanging out with bassist Bryan Kienlen and he filled me in on the challenges of this adventure. For example, on night number 4 they play the Gold Record, my personal favorite by the way (“The Pizza Song” has horns on it). They don’t normally travel with a horn player, let alone bringing one out for just one song on one night. So they reached out to their fans in each city and asked if anyone wanted to come up and play this one song with them. How incredible for the guys who responded. You never thought that trumpet you learned in high school would get you on stage at the Troubadour playing with a punk band did you?

Read the rest of the article on ChinaShopMag.com.

No matter how you slice it, the Foo Fighters have earned their reputations as the nicest guys in rock n roll. Currently on tour in the US, but heading to Australia later this year, I caught up with them in both Columbus and my hometown of Pittsburgh PA. They threw down a 2 hour and 40 minute set of the loudest, proudest rock from the past 15 years. In a word…EPIC!

Lead singer (as if I have to introduce him), Dave Grohl told me that its like hosting a cocktail party every day at your office. Everyone is there to party and its his job to show them a good time. I can only imagine it being exhausting, but that’s why I’m an Editor, and he’s a Rock Star.

The pre-show warm-up starts in a specially designated dressing room known to the lucky all access crowd as the Rock Box. Out comes a specific brand of whiskey that a friend of Grohl’s makes in his garage. Let’s call it what it is, moonshine. Everyone does a shot to be social, and the stories commence. Grohl can charm the pants off a retired nun and his charismatic antidotes win the day. Tales of childhood mischief, old friends, and mishaps make everyone present feel like they are in cahoots. Ten minutes later, its time for shot number 2.

Read the rest of the article at ChinaShopMag.com.

I live in a magical city of fashion possibilities. Los Angeles has a plethora of second hand shops where the diligent and persistent label whore can dress herself  like the rich and fabulous of Beverly Hills. I mean, talk about your trickle down theories…where do you think all those uppity BH snobs discard their “only worn once” finery?

You should start your search at the bottom…the Good Will / Thrift shop. Most are shockingly robust with name brands complete with tags intact. If you are prepared to do a little digging, sometimes a gem will present itself for insanely low prices. Like $5 for a $200 pair of G Star jeans. Or a Juicy Couture dress for $8. The inside secret about thrift shopping is that most of these establishments are non-profit and you can actually haggle them down even further if you have the nerve, the time and the tenacity to argue money out of the pocket of someone trying to do something good.

Perhaps head a notch up the Fashion Food Chain to the hipster outlets such as the Wasteland or SLOW. The prices go up, as they are more in touch with what they have and their collections tend to be a bit more curated. But you can still score a Herve Leger nearly new bandage dress for $350 (as opposed to the sticker price or $1100). Of course you have to suffer the suspiciously daring clientele who make me sprain my eyes from rolling at their fashion choices. This weekend I set my eyes on a woman in clunky brown hiking sandals, khaki cargo shorts, a tank top and a full length peach silk Asian robe over top. Really? She looked like she just escaped from the hippy mental institution. OR…just in from Silverlake more likely. My friend, an expert bargain shopper extraordinaire, pulled out a full length Herve Leger bandage dress in, supposedly, my size and said, “oh my god this is like a $3,000 dress retail.” “But it’s ugly,” was my reply. A concept she could not grasp. Apparently taste goes out the window with such a “good deal.”

The creme de la creme in vintage is a fine establishment called Decades. They have a truly high-end selection of amazing dresses, shoes and purses. You could easily find a vintage de la Renta, Dior, Versace or Pucci gown in perfect condition for a fraction of the cost of something couture. If you need that one of kind red carpet dress, Decades is a fine alternative to the retail shops merely down the street.

However, and here’s my complaint, you actually have to be under a size 4. Preferably a 2 or 0. The entire shop looks like a sample sale. Now granted, in days of yore ladies were more petite. Our Grandma’s, Aunts and even Mothers all had tiny waists, and delicate features. I have come to realize the word “vintage” actually translates to “not for you.” I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a size 8. I’m damn near 5′10″, I’m 40 years old. This is respectable people. I’m an average girl. There is nothing for me in these places. Even if I am lucky enough to find a size 8 among the waifish offerings, its generally a disappointment. Here, I am a “big” girl. How disheartening.

Vintage fashion is for the small and starving. And lately I’ve come to dislike the entire process of the second hand shop. If I have to put up with the hipsters (a group of the young and tragically ironic), the penny pinching prowlers, and the fashion blind label whores,  I think I’d rather just pay full price.

Nothing makes me smile quite as much as things that look like other things but are actually something else entirely. Take for example these deliciously clever MP3 speakers that look like yummy lollipops from Molla Space.

You can plug them directly into your ipad or ipod devise and they play for 6 hours. They also come with a charger so you can plug them into your computer to charge up their internal batteries when you aren’t using them.

They come in 5 playful colors and the sound quality is actually quite good for such little spheres. Plus for only a $20 investment you can give them away to all your friends. I literally bought one in each color and have given 3 out of 5 away so far.

In a few hours I’m jumping on a plane and heading to Dallas Texas to meet my best friend Paula. Now…allow me to unpack that sentence. In general I do not enjoy flying much anymore, but seeing as I live in LA and she lives in PA…well TX seemed like a fair “meet in the middle” situation. I also could care less about Texas…I have been in or through Texas many times and I have to say that I leave unimpressed with both the attitude and the politics of most of the state. However, I can live through a weekend in a nice hotel. I have a handful of women I consider my “best friends” – which is a literal deluge of good luck and love on my part. The women in my life mean the world to me and I don’t feel like I should narrow down the “best” distinction to only one of them. And that leaves me with Paula…she has known me since I was 16 years old and we are kindred spirits. All week I have felt like a teen, exchanging texts about simply being excited to see her.

This is us at my sisters wedding, 1993 I believe. Hilarious as this image is, I remember convincing my sister that Paula needed to come to video tape her wedding. She didn’t do the job half bad either. She has always been my saving grace.  Without her I think that many an event would have left me unhinged. Are you seeing this hair?

This is us 5 years ago at my own rehearsal dinner, which we held at Paula’s beautiful house. She was, after all, my matron of honor. (As an aside here can I just say that I hate that term…”matron” as in once you are married you become “matronly”…eff that!)

Paula currently acts as the Creative Director, Designer, Marketer, Sales person for Rolf Glass. She is headed to Dallas to work a trade show and I get to lounge around in a beautiful old hotel getting massages while she slaves away on the show room floor. But at night we get to turn into little girls at a slumber party, giggling and telling stories, too excited to sleep. I know we’re grown ass women, but with your best friends you get to let your guard down. You get to say all the things floating around inside your head and they won’t judge you. You get to bounce your insecurities off of them and somehow they land back on you as strength. You get to be free and have fun and play.

Make time to see your friends. One day, we’re all gonna be food for worms and I gotta tell you the time spend laughing with the ones you love will be some of your best time spent.