I know it only took me a decade but here are some of the pics from my 5:30AM appearance on WGN as one of the 2010 Loop Rock Girl Sweet 16 Finalist! .. You will soon see I am not a morning person ..hence the dazed and confused look on my face. Lol. Good times!

Hey all!

Sorry I have been MIA the past couple days, please forgive me! I have been playing and enjoying life …bought some new toys too! (Not those kind of toys either. Yeaaa I know what some of you are thinking.)

First of all I got this awesome 23″ Monitor for my MacBook instead of dropping $2k on an iMac right now. I must say it is amazing ..I don’t want to stop working and go to sleep! Lol. I have so much space and I can see everything. Working with dual monitors is sooooo nice! I definitely love it ..I think I want 10 more!!! Lol.I have also been super focused on my music writing & being super focused on shaping my vocals. I plan to have some stuff for you all to listen to very very soon.

I had an awesome shoot with KAIZEN Photo on Friday. I will post pics soon & unveil my NEW LOOK!!!  … hopefully you weren’t too attached to my red hair .. :-/

Well, just wanted to catch up & let you al know I still love you & you will forever & always be the best fans ever!!!

Much Love,

Amanda

xoxoxo

Okay ladies, I’m going to let you in on a little secret I like to call Smart Vintage Shopping. This guide will help you be the girl with the awesome ‘80s clutch that everyone gushes over, as opposed to the lady who thought it would be acceptable to wear an orange jumpsuit to the first day of class. I’m not trying to bash orange jumpsuits, I’m just saying. Vintage shopping is one of those things that sounds awesome but can ultimately be pretty intimidating. After reading this guide, though, even your mom will want to raid your closet—and you’d think she would be the one with the awesome wardrobe from 1980!

First things first: why buy vintage?
Vintage is technically defined as any piece of clothing that is twenty years or older—which means theoretically, all your t-shirts from 1990 count as vintage now! Danielle Mandel, NYU student and vintage-shopper extraordinaire points out that not only is vintage clothing accessible, but it’s also usually cheaper than stuff you can find in any retail store. Also, it’s durable. Sara Ryer, another NYU student and sales employee at well-known Manhattan vintage boutique Zachary’s Smile , says, “Vintage garments hold up a lot better than contemporary clothing. They’ve remained in good shape for up to thirty years—what’s going to make them fall apart now?”

How do you get started?
Sammy Davis, founder of “the H&M of vintage,” Sammy Davis Vintage has a mission: to “help women achieve feel-good fashion through do-good practices.” For the lady who has never shopped vintage before and needs some inspiration, she suggests checking out WhatIWore.com a daily fashion blog created and maintained by Jessica Schroeder, a particularly stylish vintage goddess. She champions the internet at large to find actual stores: “You just have to use Google,” she says. “FIND the Goodwill, the church stores, the Salvation Army—you can go on their site and go to their store locator, just like you would with a supermarket!” Mandel also suggests making lists: “I made lists of all the stores I wanted to explore, and I just went. That way, I got a feel for prices, quality, and styles.”

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Many of us believe that we will achieve happiness only through great effort, and we spend a lifetime seeking it. But unending joy is actually closer to us than our own skin, and there’s nothing we have to do or get or be to experience it. All we have to do is stop driving it away. And the principal way in which we drive happiness away is with “if/then” thinking—believing, “If this happens, then I will be happy.” The truth is, you have everything it takes to be happy right now.

Here are ten tips that will help you change your thinking about happiness and open wellsprings of motivation, resilience, and joy you never knew existed.

* Accept What Is and Learn from It *
Life is a university that you never graduate from. Accept that whatever happens to you, no matter how terrible, is there to teach you. Your job is to learn and do what you have to. It is not so difficult to move on if you focus on learning the lesson, rather than on lamenting your misfortune. It also does not mean you are callous or heartless. On the contrary, you will become much more caring and empathetic when you are not wallowing in your misery.

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