OY! Yesterday was a very long day … since I only got 4 hours sleep the night before, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to make it thru the day … but fortunately there was enough exciting stuff to take care of to keep me going. At long last, I finally took possession of my new 2009 VW Tiguan crossover! All my life I’ve only had small, sporty cars so this time around I wanted to get something a bit bigger but still sleek and cool. I was looking for a crossover (SUV coupe) and was very happy to learn that VW *just* came out with their own crossover model. I am a big VW fan, I can’t bear to part with my VW Beetle (which is back home in Detroit) so I was very happy that I had a new VW option this time around. I placed the order in May and the car arrived from Wolfsburg, Germany Thursday … and I got to bring my baby home yesterday:

I am so happy … the car is sharp as hell :) I didn’t have much time to play with it cuz last night a bunch of us got together for Mike’s birthday dinner at Bella and party at Paul and Corey’s … here are a few pics:

The night was very chill, very fun. Mike’s friends Blair, Adam and Eric (along with his sister Jill and brother Jeff) joined us for the festivities as did Darion’s friend Cameron. A great time was had by all.

Today, I’m keeping holed up in my apartment … I have to pack for NY/London/Paris and take care of a million other things before I fly out tomorrow. I feel so fortunate to have great friends in my life. I’m looking forward to traveling with David and seeing Steph and Alek in France. I gotta say, I life is good …

So, yesterday was my birthday and I really wanted to keep the day as low-key as possible, spending it with some friends and some food. After I discovered a few months ago that I was within driving distance of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant in Redondo Beach, CA I’ve made it a habit of gettin’ down there for eats as much as I can. The very kind owners of the Chick-Fil-A inside the South Bay Galleria Mall in Redondo contacted me with an extremely generous offer to host a party for me and my friends … I figured my birthday would be the best time to have such a party so that’s what we did. I hadn’t anticipated that Bob and Michelle Sun, the restaurant owners, would go all out for me and my friends … they really gave me a superfun and very delicious birthday party. Here are a few pics from yesterday’s fun:

Yes, that is the official Chick-Fil-A cow mascot at my party with me and my friends. I cannot express enough gratitude for Bob and Michelle’s kind generosity. My friends and I were treated with all the Chick-Fil-A we could eat and then some … I really felt like I was on top of the world. I have to send out much, much love to the Suns for taking such amazing care of me and my friends. Much love also goes out to Darion, Mike, Jill, Paul, Corey, Jim, Derek, Jordan (and his friends Mike and Aaron) and of course David for coming out to my dinner party :)

After the jump, check out a bunch more pics from the second part of last night’s fun — our Rock Band party at Darion’s apartment …

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Woot! Happy Independence Day, y’all!! As you can prolly surmise, I’m treating today like a weekend … that is, I allowed myself to sleep in and the the day’s post count my be a touch shorter than usual but I’m pretty sure that a great many of you, here in the US at least, are out enjoying your various days off and aren’t prolly chained to a computer … er, like I am. But, we do what we must to get thru the day …

… in whatever way we can ;)

Last night, Kirsten, Darion and I got together for a little anniversary dinner together (we met just about a year ago this week) and we decided to convene at a new place in the Century City shopping center called Rock Sugar. Other members of Le Gang^TM have already frequented this place before but I had, thus far, been unable to attend … last night was my night and it was deffo worth the wait. The atmosphere is really swank and the food was really good but, for me, it’s always about the company you’re with. I really feel very lucky to have Kirsten and Darion in my life … they are really amazing friends.

After dinner, the 3 of us decided to go see the new Will Smith movie, Hancock. And for the record, it was Darion’s pick:

In all honesty, I didn’t really hate the movie right off the bat. It had a great start and looked like it was going to turn out to be a decent film … but as it continued, it got worse and worse and worse. By the time that the movie revealed [CAREFUL THIS MIGHT BE A SPOILER SO LOOK AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW] another “superhero” character and the history between the two of them, well, I was ready to commit hara-kiri (unfortch, I was short one samurai sword). I can’t, for the life of me, understand why Charlize Theron would choose to be in a movie like this? The plot is just stupid! The overall premise was interesting but once you found out what was going on … ugh, it’s just insanely dumb. My guess is that Charlize has already won two Academy Awards and is prolly trying to win two Razzie Awards in one fell swoop with this movie. I will say, it was a nice try … but the movie was just bad — not the worst thing ever but not good at all.

Anyways … here is the anniversary dinner picture that we took at Rock Sugar last night and a pic we snapped after the movie showing our displeasure in front of a giant Hancock banner (which you can’t really see very well):

We had a blast tho, no question. I think we’re getting together again today … not sure what is going on … we’re treating today as a lazy day … so …. yeah. Happy 4th!

I have to send out much love and a very Happy Anniversary to my good friends Kirsten and Darion who I had the extreme fortune to meet one year ago today. Kiki, D and I met at the LA Film Festival screening of Once More with Feeling: The Buffy the Vampire Slayer Musical episode in Westwood, CA and have been practically insuperable since. Here is the very first pic that the 3 of us took together one year ago today:

Look at how young Darion looks! He looks like a baby in this pic … and my fauxhawk looks harsh, I’m glad I retired it (thanks Josh). Kirsten and Darion have become two of my best LA friends and I love them dearly. They always come as a set and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Kiki and Darion are among the founding members of The Gang^TM (along with Mike and Paul) and I love them both very much. We’re planning a big anniversary dinner when I get back to LA.

Tonight I fly off to Detroit to see my family and friends … but things are all great for me. I think I lost my wallet on Wednesday night and am stressin’ out hardcore. All of my credit cards, my ID and one of my Liz Phair ticket stubs were in there (along with some cash) and I fear I’ll never get any of it back. There’s still a chance it’s here in David’s apartment but thus far, no luck. Blah. I will have to spend sometime pulling together funds for my travels so I won’t have time to get much more work done today :(

Anyways, I’ll be comin’ atcha for the rest of the weekend from Detroit rock city … have a great Friday!!

Woot! We are well into Day 2 of the Pink is the new Blog relaunch and things have been coming along so smoothly I can barely believe it. I am so happy with the way the site looks and has been functioning. Thanks to a few comments from readers, little tweaks and changes have already been implemented. I still have a bit of a learning curve to get over as I work with Word Press but I’m sure I’ll get into the swing of things in no time. David has been amazing about helping me with every little question I have. I thank the Gods that he’s been here with me this week.

So, Jamalia David, who goes by and will henceforth be referred to as Jazzy, was the lucky winner in the Pink is the new Blog Relaunch Party contest (sponsored by Nestea and Nikon COOLPIX) … she took a bunch of great pics on her new Nikon COOLPIX camera and has already blogged about her experience here in LA and at my party Wednesday night. Head on over to PinkVIPblogger.com to check out the page where her blogpost will be uploaded some time today. Here are a few of Jazzy’s fun party pics:

Additionally … I have a couple pics of some of the Pink readers who came out to my party as well as a bunch of kickass professional photos (courtesy of Wireimage) from the party …

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Yesterday turned out to be a whole lot more fun than I thought it would … Le Gang^TM decided that we needed to take a family portrait together so (after a bunch of scheduling conflicts) we finally decided that yesterday would be our photo session at the Sears Portrait Studio. We decided to wear different color American Apparel track jackets as our outfits and convened en masse in Santa Monica for the shoot. Without further ado, here are some of the pics that we took:

There was a bit of stress getting everything coordinated but once we got in front of the cameras we had a blast! The pics came out so well, I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome. We ordered all of these pics in various configurations so I can’t wait to see the final products.

In between shoots, some of us sneaked away to take our own fun pics around the Sears Portrait Studio:

If you can believe it, I ordered one of the group shots (the one with the paint buckets and brush) be made into a full-size, knit throw blanket! Ha! I can’t wait for it to be made :)

After the shoot, Paul had to jet off to meet up with Corey but the rest of us went out to dinner at Baja Cantina in Venice, CA for dinner:

Yes, that monstrously large coconut margarita was all mine for the drinking … and it was well worth the numerous brain freezes to get to the bottom of that massive tub o’ booze.

After dinner, Kirsten ran off to meet up with some boys (hopefully to smooch on) and Mike peaced out for home … then the rest of us went over to Darion’s place to play a little Rock Band …

… cut to 4 hours later, I’m still shrieking on the mic, David was kicking ass on the drums and Darion was rawkin’ out on the guitar. Poor Steph and Alek … they looked like they wanted to shove sharpened pencils into their ears with every song we did. We had a blast tho, as these pics can attest.

This afternoon, David and I are hoping to head over to Adriana’s place for her birthday shindig and then we’re thinking about meeting up with some of the guys to see a movie. David hasn’t seen Sex and the City yet … and I know that we’d be happy to see it again with him :) I hope all y’alls weekend is going well … we are having a blast!!!

Yesterday afternoon, I met up with Darion, Steph and Alek so that we could all head out en masse to the Armani Exchange store on Sunset Blvd. in West Hollywood, CA for a Pride event sponsored by Out magazine and LOGO, benefiting the LA Gay and Lesbian Center’s Young Professionals Council which was hosted by A|X Underwear model and insane hottie Ryan Barry. Here are a few pics (taken by Steph & Alek and Darion) from last night’s affair:

All proceeds from last night’s sales benefited the Young Professionals Council so the 4 of us all bought A|X Underwear to help the cause … we’re gays that care. The event was very fun — with good food, drink and tunes … oh yeah, and a bunch of super hawt models in their skivvies. The boys in the window were spelling out PRIDE … I was partial to the I and the E myself ;) We got to chat with Ryan Barry and Reichen Lehmkuhl at last night’s event … their combined hotness was a bit much to handle close up but I think I did my best to keep my composure. It really is great seeing them happily together :)

After the event, we made our way to The Grove because I needed some help servicing my Mac Book. The battery kinda died and even tho it is 2 years old, the fine gentleman at the Genius Bar installed a brand new battery for me to have. I will never tire of singing the praises of the amazing customer service that I always enjoy from the folks at Apple … you just do not get this kind of service with any PC machine. I am toying with making the switch back to Mac after many, many years as a PC user. With the relaunch, I have the opportunity to make the switch and see how it goes. I’m getting schooled on using Photoshop with my Mac so … I guess we’ll see :)

David arrives tonight … lots to do. I hope all y’all have a fab weekend.