Guys,

This last week was tough…

I’ve got the winter blues.

:(

I know Spring is right around the corner, but it’s just been SO cold here the last month that I’ve become a hermit.

I officially have cabin fever.

Another thing about winter is that it’s not conducive to working out. It’s too cold to go on a run outside, and the last thing I want to do is walk across town through snow and ice to go to the gym.

So I’ve been staying indoors, watching Family Guy, getting food delivery, being a bum.

It’s tough getting back on the exercise/health horse when I’ve had only a little bit of physical activity the last few months. My muscles are gone, my gym clothes are tight, and that little voice telling me “What’s the use,” is at a full scream now.

But last week I tried to re-energize myself and I went on a short run outside when it was a warm 25 degrees Fahrenheit.

I’m trying to take a stand against that voice. My body looks untoned and squishy to me. But instead of getting upset, I’m trying to get excited about gaining back all the muscle tone I lost over the winter.

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE CONQUERS ALL!!!!

Do you have any tips for getting back into exercising after so long of not doing it? How do you get motivated?

Remember, this is exercising for a healthy body and mind, not to lose weight.

Because of the weather, I have little to report during the week, other than me trying to break free of Winter’s freezing and depressing clutches.

But my weekend?

It was

AMAZING!!!

On Friday night I was invited to see the SmartGlamour Style For All Fashion Show.

Because I don’t agree with Fashion Week or the current state of the fashion industry, this was the one and only NYC Fashion Week event that I went to.

And I went specifically because SmartGlamour is a clothing line in NYC for women of all shapes, sizes, ages, and heights. They make plus size clothing, straight size clothing and everything in between.

From their website:

SmartGlamour has three main very broad goals: to empower women through clothing and help them on a road to body acceptance, to make good quality clothing that is sold at affordable prices, and to cut away at women on women hate that stems from insecurity and the belief that beauty and brains can not go hand in hand.

Change your thinking. Don’t let your insecurities create negativity between you and other women. And don’t let other people tell you your insecurities are not valid.

We are all born different – embrace that. Own your body – and dress it accordingly.

:)

I went to the show with my girlfriend Ryan.

The show started late (because LOL fashion), so we goofed off and took a bunch of selfies before the show started…

Although the clothing isn’t my style, these women look HAPPY, SEXY AND CONFIDENT on the runway, and that’s all I care about.

Because seeing women that look like this in fashion…is pretty much nonexistent.

There were black women, white women, tall women, short women, fat women, skinny women, red headed women, women with afros, even a pregnant woman!!!!!!

You guys should have seen the smile on my face the whole show :)

Good job SmartGlamour!

You have earned the Hotpants stamp of Body Positivity Approval!

On Saturday afternoon Spree and I went to the Brooklyn Museum to see Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic.

On our walk to the museum :)

Before I show you my photos of the exhibit, please read the below excerpt from the Brooklyn Museum’s website. It will give you insight into Kehinde Wiley’s process as well as the deeper meaning of his work:

The works presented in Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic, raise questions about race, gender, and the politics of representation by portraying contemporary African American men and women using the conventions of traditional European portraiture. The exhibition includes an overview of the artist’s prolific fourteen-year career and features sixty paintings and sculptures.

Wiley’s signature portraits of everyday men and women riff on specific paintings by Old Masters, replacing the European aristocrats depicted in those paintings with contemporary black subjects, drawing attention to the absence of African Americans from historical and cultural narratives.

The subjects in Wiley’s paintings often wear sneakers, hoodies, and baseball caps, gear associated with hip-hop culture, and are set against contrasting ornate decorative backgrounds that evoke earlier eras and a range of cultures.

Through the process of “street casting,” Wiley invites individuals, often strangers he encounters on the street, to sit for portraits. In this collaborative process, the model chooses a reproduction of a painting from a book and reenacts the pose of the painting’s figure. By inviting the subjects to select a work of art, Wiley gives them a measure of control over the way they’re portrayed.

Now here are my iPhone pics that don’t do any of the pieces justice, but you get the idea!

A father and a daughter seated in front of the painting to give you scale on just how massive each piece is.

Michael Jackson.

The last room was Wiley’s art of Black Women.

It was mesmerizing.

This is a copy of a classical painting featuring a black woman instead of the original white woman.

Amazing how changing the skin color gives this painting a whole new meaning.

This video piece made me cry.

It was a loop of black men being forced to smile for a camera until their faces couldn’t hold the smile anymore.

I thought I’d have a hard time explaining why it effected me so much, so I took a photo of the text excerpt next to the piece.

I’ll let you come to your own conclusions.

Read below:

After such a heavy but beautiful experience at the museum, I needed to chill out, both figuratively and literally.

So I went outside and tried to make snow angels!!!!

But there was a problem!!!

Although it was snowing, not a lot of snow had accumulated on the ground. So the hard, dirty pavement was only an inch below the fresh snow.

And unfortunately I learned that the hard way,

By jumping in, ass first.

Spree and I walking home from the museum.

Exactly one year ago on Saturday, Spree and I had our first kiss at a BBQ place in Williamsburg.

So we went back there for dinner to celebrate and had a waiter take our photo.

On the drive home from dinner I looked at the photo and said to Spree,

“My eyes look like Satan.”

He goes,

“Well…a photo doesn’t lie!”

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is true love.

………………………

Sunday was errand day and I had to go to the Apple Store to fix a cord.

My “Genius” had THIS Keith Haring drawing tattooed on his arm!!

tattoo swooooooooon!!!

The weekend went by quickly.

And last night while about to go to sleep, my cat made this face at me.

She’s pissed the weekend’s over too.

LATER DUDES,

XX-HOTPANTS