holleration!
Thanks to a friend who had a friend, I went to a Mary J. Blidge concert last night! Mary was so inspirational, shouting things like, "Put your hands up if you know you can follow your dreams!" And, "Ladies, I've been where you are. Hold your heads up high and know that you can't keep a good woman down." Pharrell was there too, and as adorable as ever, at this Pepsi-sponsored, radio-promoted concert in the lovely park beneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

Yesterday morning I went to Mexican and Polish grocery stores with "my host family." It felt strangely familiar to be the only white girl in the Mexican grocery. They have good snacks there! Hot pepper dried mango slices and plantain chips!

Also yesterday, for the sake of straight-up, diary-style reporting, I went to "Full Frontal Fall Fashions," a girls-only clothing exchange party; turned down an invitation to an apple orchard; was bought a tequila shot at a tiny Mexican restaurant; danced and snuck free drinks from a private party at a club on the Lower East Side (because I said I knew "Dennis"); watched a little bit of Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit; and chilled with the songwriter/producers behind Jessica Simpson's TRL hits.