Last night I went to Stoli Hotel on West Street for the style battle finale of House of Deihl's Style Wars. I haven't been out to a party like this in AGES. So it was a great night out for me and I got to hang with my cousin who I rarely see these days.  I hadn't heard of the show before, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. This was part of the invite I received:

CALL IT THE "8-MILE' OF STYLE: STYLE BATTLING is fresh, accessible, pulse-racing design. Invented by House of Diehl, and inspired by MC battling and haute couture, Style Battling is a hot new art form and the next new nightlife sensation.Following a sold out 5-city tour that garnered rave reviews, STYLE WARS: The Style Battle Championship Grand Finale brings the together the winners of the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago regional battles to face off in the final battle for the crown.Come witness America's most inventive young designers face off in knock-out rounds of rapid design - ”working against the clock, on models, live on stage. Cut, tape, burn, drape - ”competitors innovate to dominate this runway, using recycled garments and household objects to make bold new fashions in less than 5 minutes! It's DESIGN OR DIE as the crowd and a celebrity panel of Style judges choose which battler stays in the game, and which bites the dust. House of Diehl's MJ Diehl and Roman Milisic will MC. Plus live performance and a very special guest DJ.

Sounds interesting right? The show was CRAZY! Basically two designers go head to head on stage and create an outfit on a model from materials found behind them. It's no holds barred. Bubble wrap, outdoor lighting, cutting their own clothes off to incorporate into the design - everyone was shocked to see how far these guys would go to win.The models came out in underwear and the designers got to work using the time allotted. The audience watches the outfit get put together piece by piece. It was really interesting and WILD at the same time. I took some pictures so you can see what final looks walked the runway.

In the middle of the show, we headed over to the Stoli Vanilla Room to take a break and met up with some nice people from the Soho Journal. who were also covering the event. I asked for their card as I wanted to check out their site this morning and gave them mine in return. Here is what happened next:

Them: Oh, you write for INO? I love that site.

Me: No, I am INO.

Them: This is your site?

Me: Yes

Them: OMG! Dlisted links to you and I love your site!

I should offer up Michael my first born child because whenever someone knows of my site and I happen to meet them, they always throw his name in too. ALWAYS. It's happened on the three different occasions where someone actually heard of INO. So that was good fun. We chatted about blogging for a while which I have no problem doing. I could literally talk about blogs all day.

Fast forward a few hours and now it's just me and my cousin sitting in the room. All of a sudden security comes running in, attacks a guy who manages to squirm free and run out of the VIP area (but not before spilling all the drinks on his way out). We were SHOCKED. So the next 20 minutes became "WHAT WAS THAT? WHAT HAPPENED?" After he was arrested, the bodyguards came back and told us he was doing coke in the corner and going through some people's bags.

That's when I realized that I was too old for the party and my time out had ended.  If you have the opportunity to check out Style Wars, be sure to do so. It's really a funky new way of looking at design.

Click on the thumbnails to see pictures of some of the outfits made on stage and my cousin in the Stoli Vanilla room.

BEST NIGHT EVER. I have so many videos and pictures to upload that I don't even know where to begin. Thank goodness for Twitter because I was updating the whole night through my phone. I LOVE that tool!I was invited to cover "Be Cointreauversial" with Dita Von Teese and what a night it was. She hosted a party to celebrate French liqueur Cointreau and launched her new cocktail The Cointreau Teese. In honor of it all, she debuted her new burlesque performance at the Angel Orensanz Foundation. Bear with me on this one. There is a lot to cover!

(Here we are testing the camera and freaking out.)FIRST I have to tell you about the press line. There were five of us. Are you ready to hear who was there? People Magazine, In Touch Magazine, Ok! Magazine, Vanity Fair (online) and ME! We were all talking and I couldn't believe I got thrown in that mix. I had a little complex about it to be honest with you. But then I just let it all go and had fun with the group. (Thanks to Yaa for the press invite.)The photo area was TIGHT and the press pit was jam packed. So I decided to not try to get entrance photos and to just focus on the actual interview area with the rest of the magazines. Everyone was VERY nice and approachable. My best friend Jennifer (who writes for FitCeleb) came with me 9 months pregnant and was a trooper. She took care of all the video footage.

Basically, here is a quick run down of what Dita Von Teese said:

• She is happily in love at the moment but is keeping it private.
• She has no specific type in men and has always jumped from different personalities.
• As far as SPF goes, nothing specific. She just puts on what ever woman should.
• Dita would consider doing her own makeup line. But not right now as she is focusing on her work with MAC.
• The costume she wears on stage is 70 pounds!

Then MR JASON LEWIS came in and I fell on the floor. S-E-X-Y. I swallowed my wedding rings and fixed my hair. Here is a quick rundown of his interview:

• No truth whatsoever to the Jennifer Aniston rumor! I was SHOCKED. I thought there was something there - guess not.
• When asked if he would date Kim, he said that she is his type, but that she is taken.Politically correct answer.
• Look out for him on House. He plays a sick man and had a blast doing it.
• He is up for a second SATC movie so perhaps he isn't the one who dies.

Now onto the performance. Unbelievable. At first I was thinking, "What's the big deal?". But then she made her way into the enlarged martini glass and started to splash around and I had to take my jacket off. It was really sensual. The crowd was going nuts! What an experience. I wasn't allowed to take pictures during the performance. So I will look out to see if one of the agencies I use has them and post them when I get the rights to do so.More pictures tomorrow!!UPDATE: Here is the link to more pictures of Dita Von Teese and Jason Lewis! I also added a video on her performance. Lots to see.

I know the press coverage is a bit of overkill the last few days. So PLEASE let me take this opportunity to thank YOU from the BOTTOM OF MY HEART for being part of the INO family. You all have become such an important part of my life and I am so happy to have this outlet to be connected to you. Being a stay at home mom can sometimes be so isolating (as so many of you probably know). This is my way of combating that. Hopefully as time passes, we can all get to know one another better.

I LOVE these people! A local Long Island business newspaper that featured me a few month ago just wrote a follow up on I'm Not Obsessed. They are the paper that started the ball rolling for me and I can't thank them enough! To see what they wrote, click here.