my kind of town

I just got back from a look for less shoot in chicago and I am here to say chicago is my new favorite city. not only did they have great vintage and boutique shops in wicker park, like casa del sol and una mae's freak boutique, but the weather was beautiful and the food divine. jill, yoanna's maekup artist, let me where one of her dope jewelery designs, made of wax and covered in silver that read ghetto blaster. it's too cool for skool. my sister happened to be in town from switzerland and stayed the night with me in the hip chic hotel, the james. we got mani/pedis, sipped starbux (for free from some nice guy who bought them for us) and had a fab dinner with the thaler crew at rosebud. this is my favie crew to work with and it made this trip one of the best! on my last night, I got to have dinner with cait and her beau and his family, the royal von durings which is always good for some international flavor. I am back in l.a. to kick off the fourth of july week of fun.

notes from the fashion field

leaving JFK right now, posting from my schmancy new cingular pocket pc. was in town shooting the look for less on long island which is my hometown, homie, so I was super psyched to do this one. flew in on tuesday for a wednesday shoot. stayed with the 'rents in farmingville. had a p/u wednesday morning at 8am from lindy's taxi service. within fifteen minutes, I knew the drivers whole life story including his credit problems and his plans to move to boca with the wife after the son sells his bakery in patchogue. the bad toupee and even worse long island accent were just the icing on the cake. only in new yawk. got to set and said hello to my bestest usual suspects on crew (courtney, chris, james, jill, deanna, yohanna, kelly). jetted to starbux for my new favie, an iced nonfat green tea latte (u can take the girl out of l.a. but you can't dot dot dot). started in on looking for a less pricey dvf wrap dress for our contestant, gayle. ended up picking up a pair of seven jeans and a knock off marc jacobs bag at dalia's on main street in huntington. had lunch with yohanna at some greek joint and ran to the local army/navy store to pick up a huntington sweatshirt for mariah carey. what? yup. she is on kimmel 2nite and david is writing her segment. he asked me to pick something up for mariah in huntington since it is her hometown and I happened to be there. mission accomplished and it was back to work. the next day I did a radio interview with phathead on island 94.3 went shopping at the riverhead outlets with my mum and got a ton of new digs on the cheap. I can spend hours at that place and especially enjoy my favie shop, off fifth for sax. so now its on the fly fly where I'm going to kimmel tonite and chicago next week for another look for less shoot. bon voyage.

not another day at the derby

try this trend on for size -- an emerging summer style is a big, floppy hat. they actually have fun, inexpensive ones at the local drug store like rite-aid or whatever. you can step it up a bit and p/u the very fun and flirty juicy couture beach hat. not only does it protect you from the harmful rays of the sun but it will make you look like you are ready for a summer's eve gatsby party in east egg. match with white rimmed sunglasses, grecian sandals, eyelet dresses and a copy of the latest beach read.

día del padre feliz

since its dad's dad, I figured I would shout out the original gangsta trendster, my dad, richard j. zaino. my father laid the sub-pop culture foundation for which I now stand upon. back in the day, he would rock the lacoste with the collar up. my sister and I would make fun him for being such a dork but it turns out that is a fashion staple for me now. he loved the sperry top-siders before they were retro hip and always had a bright shiny penny in his loafers. the fatherly smell of ralph lauren's polo in its fatherly hunter green glass bottle will forever be etched in my mind, memory and scent(ses). he taught (and coached) me how to throw a softball and a basketball and drive stick-shift. my dad was a vegetarian waaay before it was cool and truly birthed my love of music with his art garfunkel type voice, ability to pick up a guitar or sit at a piano and play any tune and introduce his kid daughter to the smooth sounds of wynton marsalis, dave brubeck, simon and garfunkel and the beatles. he continues to support me three decades into a crazy dream of entertainment success and forever amazes me with his eye for culture-forward articles in the sunday new york times. I thank my dad for being such a great (and trendy) dad and wish you all a happy fathers day!

miss marple says...

dear God,
I pray for world peace, health and happiness amongst men and a pair of size 8 christian louboutin miss marples in black. Amen. or as andre 3000 says "ahhh, lady".

yeah, I don't want to be a murderer either

have u heard this rihanna song, unfaithful? it has the most awful lyrics, the chorus being the piece de resistance with "I don't want to be a murderer" explaining breaking some dude's heart. ummmm, kids listen to this song and now the word murderer is going to be watered down and taken lightly in people's eyes. sort of like n*gga in the rippity-rap songs. it has gone to #1 on the trl list annnnd the girl sang it at a hurricane relief fund concert?!? where people actually died!?!?! I think its really irresponsible and a bit scary for all involved to have put this song out. you may be murderers after giving me a heart attack from listening to this ish.

thursday thoughts on a sunday night

last thursday was good. lots to do. got up at 4:30am to get to a studio in the valley to shoot a satellite media tour for promotion of the style network's 21 day wedding something or other. I should've probably been more up on what I was promotin' but it was 4:30 in the morning. can't fault a girl for those early morning memory losses. coffee bean doesn't even open until 6:30am, so p'scuse me. bought a very cute dress on melrose for 40 bux to rock for the day. me and claudia and kim bradford from whose wedding is it anyway? were "wedding experts" on said media tour and appeared on over a dozen morning shows promoting this style network wedding month. after make-up (and coffee), the three of us got along swimmingly and quickly got down a niche of our own nuptual tips -- I was the go-to girl for the wedding dresses (if you see a wedding dress you like, i.e. jessica simpsons, etc.), rip out the picture and take it to a local tailor. you can get the same look without the celebrity price tag after a couple of hours of this, claudia and I headed over to see jane who was sub-hosting for leeza gibbons on leeza live. it was waaay fun. claudia is also being followed for a reality show on her boyfriend, olympian maurice green, so there was a double crew of two two two shows in one. with the modern girls shooting schedule over, its really nice to have a busy day now and again. I've been chillin with my man, but he starts kimmel tomorrow so its bye bye bye baby in the daytime for now. I made us a nice good luck dinner tonite of chicken kebob, kale and rice...with wine. lots of wine. that's why I'm blabbering at the mouth/fingers here in the front of the computer on a sunday night cheers.

jackie jewels

if you are looking for a piece that truly stands out, look no further than jackie jewels. her designs are customized, funky and ironic making them one of a kind. a true conversation piece. plus, she rocks so its always fun to support a sister. xo.

golden door spa at the boulders

if someone asked me what I liked to do in my spare time, aside from shopping, it is 100% rest and relaxation time in a spa. this weekend I had the luxury of accompanying my cuz barbara down to arizona to spend a few days at the boulders. this spa is incredible. one of the most incredible I've been to in the world. if you've been to the golden door in puerto rico, this one trumps that and that one is heaven on earth. great food, beautiful desert scenery, fun yoga and stretch classes, endless amounts of potassium or as I like to call them, dried apricots and mango that I was smuggling into the pockets of my golden door robe like my grandma with sweet n' low. I had the lymphatic massage, dead sea mud wrap and vitmain C facial and a weird biocscan that told me I have unusually low levels of antioxidants in my body which made me panic slightly. the panic came while I was being rubbed down with exotic oils in a room lit by candles and gilded buddhas so it wasn't that bad. go if you can. its a must-see if you're a spa fan.

kari feinstein's style lounge

last week marked another faaaaab style event hosted by cutie kari feinstein for the mtv movie awards. it was held in an unbelievable manse in the hollywood hills that apparently claudia shot her charlie wilson video in. lots of great gets this time around, namely a chic cashmere sweater by alexander wang, a flirty top by my new favie, laROK, great denim from the myth of jade, a soft cotton tee and camo army hat by kinetix, the cutest hand printed vintage stationary outta SF from hello ducky, D-I-Y hipster tees from moon girl and a creamy white weekender bag from leaders in leather that I literally had to pull a sopranos-style move to walk away with. all in all, a great day of hanging with the modern gals, drinking champers and making some new fashion friends.