Mariann Aalda's Open Salon Blog

Just Short of Vajazzling the Va-jay-jay...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:01:34 -0500

When I got this email from my friend, Adria Dawn...

Will this be me when I'm older? I can only hope so!!

lol- Adria

...I was excited! But watching this video she sent me from ADVANCED STYLE , I became less so.

I'm an "old hippie chick," so while I was impressed with the undeniable beauty and joie de vivre of all the women in the video, their style was a little too "Friends of Bernie Madoff" for my taste. Even with lotsa $$$, "less" would still be more for me.

Some of the over-the-top adornment felt like a plea not be overlooked or ignored just because they were old. I wondered if a few of them weren't even "vajazzled!"

So, I did a little research, and came across a 2009 Huntington Post essay that offered some mature fashion icons I could really grooved with. I want to share them because maybe you'll grove with them to ;) Btw, this is not meant to diss or take anything away from the women in the video. Those broads are fierce!! This is just to offer some alternatives.

Click on the photo of Gloria Steinem and enjoy!

Don Cheadle: Sweet Cheeks & Balls to the Wall!

Mon, 9 Jan 2012 12:01:19 -0500

Don Cheadle's new showtime comedy, House of Lies is aggressively raunchy but also agressively funny in its indictment of the "One Percent."

Saw the promos and was hoping to like it. Five minutes into the first episode, I thought: "ugh...I hate it!" But I watched it all the way through and I think maybe I'm gonna like it. Although it's kinda like buying Playboy...for the articles. Boyfriend's got "back!"

Reinvention: Necessity is a Mother ------!

Thu, 5 Jan 2012 12:01:56 -0500

Leaving for NC to visit the g-kids next week and then on to NYC to do some pre-production on M.O.I.S.T.! -- and since NYC is the stand-up comedy capitol of the world, I'll be working on that, as well...with lotsa new material!

Also working on a two-month deadline to finish the proposal for Too Jewish & Not Black Enough -- the hilarious (with heart :) book I'm co-writing with Annie Korzen. Literary agent, Julia Lord, wants it asap!

With so much going on -- and with this being the start of a New Year and all, filled with hope and promise and...(blah...blah...blah) -- I felt it was a good time to do a "blog makeover" that more accurately reflects where I am in my life now.

Coaching with Hashim Warren, I'm learning how to become a more effective communicator via social media...making sure that my "message" syncs up with my personal POV via my experiences as a mother, daughter, "career woman," wife, ex-wife, single mom, empty-nester, "nana" and now as a baby-boomer revivalist of "drugs, sex & rock 'n roll!"

The drugs may be by presecription and purposed to combat some kinda ailment but as long as they further the cause of keepin' hope alive, then I say "right on...right on!"

I may no longer be a card-carrying member of "The Youth Movement" (which we baby-boomers ushered in!) but that doesn't mean I'm ready to join the "old fart" brigade, either. AND I've got a lot to say about it, so stay tuned...

Comedy Makes Strange Political Bedfellows

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:12:01 -0500

Well, I suppose a girl could think “I’ve made it!” as a stand-up when a seemingly innocuous bit of social commentary generates enough heat to land her on Rush Limbaugh's Exposed! watch list. Then, again, one could think (as I do): “Hunh?!?”

Click on "Watch This" to view the video on Rush's site.

It gets curiouser and curiouser. That same bit also earned me a top spot on the Urban Stand-up Gallery in FIRST POST -- an international news website out of India. (link, below)

FIRST POST.

My friends -- who don't think of me as particularly "urban," much less a threat to U.S. democracy -- think this is hysterical. In some way, though, I think it speaks more to the pen (and/or the mic) being "mightier than the sword."

Either way, I'm gettin' the last laugh...LOLROTF!!!

I Used To Be Black...

Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:10:44 -0400

Here I am with my stand-up comedy crew performing at Chicago's Lincoln Lodge. Click on the photo to catch my 5-minute set...which will also explain the title of this blog entry!

LL is a very popular comedy club...click on the link below to see what SNL cast member also recently graced this stage