Anonymodel on Jezebel

My friend Julia told me that "Tatiana," Jezebel's wondrous Fashion Week anonymodel, reminded her of Violet, and I could not be more flattered.Judging by her first post, Tatiana is awesome. As the girls from J-bel says, "She's smart! She's thin! And she's BEHOLDEN TO NO ONE." Read this entry and enter her monitor-my-measurements, "very vain," tortured hair world. You know you love it. PS-Lancome/Violet party photos soon. It was F-U-N! Thanks to everyone who came. I'll be giving away a couple gift bags on Wednesday.

Friday Fondness for Mortified

V. excited about this weekend's parties, but I've said enough about those! Oh, I'm also happy about that big football game on Sunday, which I think of as an excuse to eat a ton of my friend Phil's gourmet food.But what I can't hold in any longer is my love for Mortified, and I'm so glad that I can share it in video form now that they've got these thrilling performances up: // The Mortified Shoebox Show //
Watch it, love it, laugh at it, and if you can get to a show, live it. I may even post some of my own mortifying diary entries on this blog one day, a la Megan McCafferty's retroblog. Sweet. PS-My favorite video might be "I Hate Drake" -- warning: curse word alert! PPS-Yes, Fashion Week has begun, but let's not forget that Newsweek is predicting The Rise of the Real People. Yay!

Win-It Wednesday: Newsletter and the Lancome party!

Last week's winners (all of whom graciously signed up for my soon-to-be-sent-out newsletter) are going to be named by part of their email addresses (since I didn't ask for names--oops!). They are: yellowcardrox, manda keener, redslinky, flayla14 and skoolsux697. You know who you are, so email me your addresses and you'll get your Juicy Tubes and books (let me know if you want Violet on the Runway OR Violet by Design!).And for this week, the contest will take place in person. I know it's not fair if you don't live nearby, but I promise to have a contest for everyone next week! NJ-ites and close people, see below for details and RSVP notes--hope to see you Friday night.

You Can't Make This Stuff Up: The Writers' Strike

Today, as I watch my DVR list dwindle, I'm taking a look on the bright side of the writers' strike.We're all missing Dwight and Michael's antics on The Office and Jack and Lemon's witty banter over at 30 Rock, but I'm in search of a silver lining. Here are 8: 1. Soap operas disappear. Unless some writer's long-lost evil twin brother comes back from the grave to pen new episodes of Days of Our Lives. 2. More time for YouTube otters holding hands and Diet Coke + Mentos videos. 3. American Gladiators returns on NBC -- and now it's prime time. I'm so into spandex-clad muscles and the pain of Powerball that I liveblogged the first episode! 4. Self-help reality shows are like free life coaches. With financial whiz Suze Orman, the trainers from The Biggest Loser and fashion guru Tim Gunn on my side, I'll never sign on for an adjustable rate mortgage that I don't understand, gain 100 pounds or hang onto ugly mom jeans. 5. Hmm... maybe I'll finally finish that last dauntingly long Harry Potter book. 6. I can catch up on the best shows I missed with DVDs of Dexter, Monk, Weeds and Lost. (Yes, I'm a late bloomer.) 7. Kirk Cameron is now an intensely devout Christian with his own kooky avatar at wayofthemaster.com, which is way more exciting than his scripted, vanilla Growing Pains character, Mike Seaver. Get the man a camera crew and start filming VH1's "Born-Again Teen Idol." Stat. 8. If all else fails, I may just go out and try to meet the neighbors. Got more? Writers, we miss you!

Marketing Monday: Author Love

There are so many authors out there who have fantastic blogs, and it's fun to show love for each others' books and posts. After all, readers wanna hear about new titles, so it's kind of a win-win.Big thanks to these authors who've been sweet about Violet on the Runway (they have cool sites and smart, funny things to say, plus contests -- yay! -- and when I figure out how to work a blogroll on Movable Type, they're so on mine). Sarah Dessen Ally Carter Elizabeth Scott Sarah Disgrace (Sarah Grace McCandless) the hopeful Jolene Siana YA Fresh (Kelly Parra and Tina Ferraro) Laura Bowers on the writer's road less traveled... (Alyssa Goodnight) Sarah Hantz The Urban Muse (Susan Johnston) Beth Kephart Cosmos and Chat (Marianne Mancusi) Westerblog (Scott Westerfeld) The Idea Boutique (Heather Waters) What's your favorite author blog? PS-Those sparkly bats? Nothing to do with anything. I just like them and their Mickey Mouse ears.

Photo Friday: Juicy Tubes, meet Christopher Kane

Pretty! British designer Christopher Kane sketched the designs for Lancome's soon-to-be-released new Juicy Tube colors. I'll be signing Violet by Design at the Fashion Week Juicy Tube launch parties on 2/1 and 2/2, so go here to get details about attending parties in NYC, NJ and Dallas (I won't be in Texas, but autographed copies of Violet by Design will!). At each event, you can get your makeup done in the style of a different designer's runway show -- 2/1 is Proenza Schouler, 2/2 is Christopher Kane, of course. Runway makeup walks the crazy-beautiful line, but who doesn't like to have fun with this stuff, right? After all, most of you are in favor of rainbow mascara.

Sigh.

I'm late on this, but I wasn't sure what to write and I'm having these River Phoenix flashbacks. For some reason, maybe because Heath lived close by in Brooklyn for a while and seemed like a happy-go-lucky brownstone-lovin' dad, I'm a little speechless. Not like if my best friend died, but maybe like a distant cousin? Anyway, I don't know why we feel close to celebrities, but we do. Don't we? Tell me I'm not the only crazy one. And my friend Anne told me about this nice Heath moment, so I looked it up, liked it, and wanted to post. He's so smiley. Sigh.

Win-It Wednesday: Violet and Juicy Tubes

In the last contest for Jolene's brilliant Go Ask Ogre, I asked you to name your favorite album of 2007. And I wound up with a big shopping list for iTunes. Thank you! I think my favorite is Cease to Begin by Band of Horses, which just came out in October. I really love it, but I promise to change my myspace profile song soon to give other musical types some play.In any case, without further ado, let's get to the winner of last week's contest. Out of 52 entries, our random number generator has chosen.... Krissy the Jonas Brothers fan! Krissy, email me your address and I'll get your prize to you! Now, this week, the contest is a little different. You may have noticed that I have a newsletter sign up box on my website these days (it's the little purple one on the left that says, "I want updates from Melissa!"). Your mission is to, well, sign up for my newsletter. I promise it'll come out like 5 times a year--to tell you when a book is on sale or if there's a party/signing near you. So sign up! Out of everyone who signs up between now and next Wednesday, January 30th, I'll chose five winners at random to win a copy of Violet on the Runway (or Violet by Design if you already have Violet on the Runway), PLUS a Lancome Juicy Tube. Sound good? Sign up now so it won't be just me and my boyfriend on the newsletter list. That is incredibly lame. Oh, and I'd love it if you guys would post comments of other contests you know about this week (especially from other authors). I'll post some if I see them, too! Let's enter to win like crazy!

Little Willow and the DC Goodwill Fashion Blog

I did two fun interviews in the past week, one with high school student Ren from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and one with the famed Little Willow, who asked me questions about teenagers and body image (something that comes up a lot in my soon-to-be-released second book, Violet by Design). Our interview is here, and the related ELLEgirl story that I'm still proud of, "Love Your Body," is here.I also want to call attention to the fabulous post by DC Goodwill Fashion Blogger Em yesterday, highlighting the dearth of black models on runways and in editorial pages. She posted some gorgeous photos of Alek Wek, Beverly Johnson, Chanel Iman and Veronica Webb, too. I'll just add one of my favorite models, Ajuma Nasenyana (pictured here), who's from Kenya. Question for you guys (Little Willow asked me this and I kind of hemmed and hawed, as you'll see in the interview): What do you think of the BMI (Body Mass Index) policies for models which are being put into place in some countries (where models have to meet a certain minimum BMI to work--that means they can't be too skinny)? Do you think America should follow suit? PS-Two more days to win Jolene's awesome book. Comment Here!

Photo Friday: Fiber One Bars

I just have to say it. I love Fiber One bars, especially the oats & chocolate variety. Can I get a witness?I mean, I eat one of these with a glass of milk and it's a total dessert experience. Bonus: They are Bob Greene approved. One caveat: My friend Anne, who writes the Oh Oprah blog with me, cannot handle the amount of fiber in these bars. Do you mind me saying that publicly, Anne? I'm just warning other people. Got a favorite health food that passes for delicious? Share! And Happy weekend!