Happy 50th Birthday President Barack Obama

If Fashiona could sing...she would sing Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder style) to President Obama in honor of his 50th Birthday. 

Alas she cannot sing (well) so she decided to share with her readers (mwah) her favorite Obama pictures over the years.  She fully agrees with Obama when he said last week "Michelle still thinks I am cute". 

 

Sir...a lot of us do too.

 Barack Obama in college...he has been smoking a loonnnnng time.  He is killing the hat though !! Love it! 

 Obama while  attending Columbia in New York

Obama shirtless in Hawaii

Michelle (wearing Jason Wu) and Barack at the Inaugural Ball.  Fashiona loves the love you can see in their eyes....Aww. Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America)

 President Barack Obama's Official White House Portrait

44th President of the United States.

Social Sunday: The White House crashers

Fashiona is a daring soul and unapologetically opportunistic but crash the White House for any event let alone a major one like an official State Dinner...she frankly has too much respect for the Obamas and herself.

Photo Credit: AP   Michaele (L) and Tareq Salahi

At first glance, this story seemed innocent enough.  The couple dressed up, she in a beautiful red sari, and crashed the best party in  the DC Metro area.  The Mrs. is an aspiring reality star...sound familiar....Balloon boy's  parents were on a similar quest. We all know how that ended...certainly not in a TV series.  

Fashiona has two main thoughts on the matter.  Her first is the motive...aspiring reality star.  Isn't that an oxymoron?  Isn't the whole premise of  "Reality TV"...uhh reality?  To invent reality is to create fiction...certainly a notable genre but fiction is fictional none the less.  Fiction, unlike real life, can be more dramatic, or more tragic or more perfect  and wrapped up in  a 2 hour movie or a novel. This is one of the reasons that Alicia writes as "Fashiona"...it allows her to  embellish or delete details at will for greater dramatic value.

Photo Credit: Reuters

Fashiona does understand the curiosity aspect, she kept up her " All things Obama watch" by following the night's action on Twitter and the Huffington Post. Who wouldn't want to meet the Obamas at such a swanky affair; even staunt Republicans whose politics  vastly differ from theirs, do like them as people.  Aside from the obvious security risk, there is the notion of privacy.  The State Dinner was still a private affair with Desirée Rogers, the fashionable White House Social Secretary carefully screening and reviewing the invitations with the final sanction by the President and his lovely wife. 

Point number two... now the deed is done and the Salahis are reportedly shopping around their interview.  Seriously...they want money now...for breaking all sorts of laws, bragging about it on Facebook of all places and getting caught?  

There isn't any story left and certainly not anything worth  paying a dollar for...this is it...the end...right?

*UPDATE December 1*

Apparently no such luck...and their 15 minutes of fame resets.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Isn't Mrs. Obama lovely at the First State Dinner?

The Obamas  are hosting their first State Dinner for India and the virtual world is literally atwitter.  If you go to the Huffingpost site, you can follow the tweeter of your choice that can be your eyes for the evening.


So Fashiona isn't on the White House short list just yet but she is still keeping up her All things Obama vigil...not quite on the level of  Michelle voyeur Mary Tomer, creator of Mrs-O.org, but Fashiona is dedicated nonetheless.

Photo  Credit: The arrival ceremony/Getty

Mrs. Obama looked beautiful in her orange Isaac Mizrahi dress earlier today as she greeted India's First Lady Mrs. Gursharan Kaur.  The Huffington Post says that her outfit  was:

Inspired by India

Official White House Photo by Samantha Appleton

Hmm...with Mrs. Obama seated next to Ms. Kaur who  is wearing a traditional Indian sari, the  supposed influence is a bit of a stretch but whatever the influence, the bright color looks lovely against her rich skin tone.

Now Michelle's gown that she is wearing for the formal dinner...that does indeed look Indian inspired...as it should since it was designed by Indian born designer Naeem Khan.  

Photo Credit: Nicolas Kamm / Getty Images

Social Sunday: Demi, Oprah and Sarah Palin, Jay-Z

Fashiona took a 24 break from writing yesterday to clear her head to make room for new ideas. One idea she came up with was Social Sunday.  In this weekly series, she will focus on the week's hot topics as relates to social issues.

First up Oprah...she has announced that this next season is her last and 25 is a good number for her to end on.   Fashiona wishes her well and hopes that 35 is a good number for her, being that she will be 35 next year.

When Sarah Palin quit her office as governor earlier this year...Fashiona resisted the urge to comment prematurely.  Now it appears that she resigned her office to better peddle her book, Going Rogue.  Note to  Ms. Palin, many people have kept their current jobs and written and sold books at the same time...including our current Commander in Chief, Barack Obama.  Having that said her book is on Fashiona's Must Miss list.

Demi Moore's infamous photoshopped cover...

Fashiona is no stranger to Photoshop, she uses it all the time. Demi swears she is on the thin side and wasn't altered on the cover.  Fashiona does agree that Demi is a beautiful woman, albeit a bit on the thin side, who is well preserved for her age but  unless, Demi's hips are concave...she has  been altered with Photoshop somewhere between her picture being taken and the final cover hitting newstands.

Finally, if Fashiona were to get a ringtone for her new toy otherwise known as her BlackBerry, it would be be Jay-Z's Empire Stare of Mind. Wherever she lives...Fashiona is a New Yorker at heart.

Valerie Jarrett speaks at NABJ Hall of Fame Lunch

Photo Credit: Huffington Post.com



Valerie Jarrett in her signature white, talking and walking with President Barack Obama

It is Day 2 for Fashiona at the National Association of Black Journalist conference and she was given a ticket to the Hall of Fame Luncheon. She and the other attendees were looking forward to hearing Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration, who had graciously accepted NABJ's invitation to speak.

Photo Credit: Tom Maday

From left to right: Valerie Jarrett, Desirée Rogers, Linda Johnson Rice; in The Sisterhood from the August 2000 issue of Chicago magazine

Partial to wearing white, Ms. Jarrett looked lovely in diamond earrings, a multi strand pearl necklace, a two piece white top, and an A line skirt with a bow detail on the waist. In her remarks, she revealed while that SHE pays some attention to the fashion world, that President Obama pays no attention to the "Washington Chatter".

Valerie Jarrett (L) and Desirée Rogers (R) BEFORE they took office.


Fashiona

Fashiona on Desirée Rogers and Brand Obama

Fashiona's friend Miss A. admitted to her a few weeks ago, that she wanted Desirée Rogers' job and... according to her research Miss A certainly has a point.

Desirée Rogers, the White House Social Secretary is a triple threat: with beauty, brains and that elusive but all important attribute...class.

Photo By Courtesy Photo

White House Social Secretary Desirée Rogers on the cover of WSJ. magazine.

Desirée's Pedigree:

• Beauty ~ Fashiona attributes that to the man upstairs and her parents of course.
  
• Brains ~ Desirée went to Wellesley for undergrad and is a Harvard MBA. Michelle and Barack are both Harvard Law Grads.
  
• Class ~ Fashiona says Desirée was born with it and just fine tuned her brand of urban chic through her life experiences. Ms. Rogers hails from New Orleans and has been on the Chicago social scene for years. She was also noted in Vogue in 2004 as being an chic executive.
  

Desirée's White House Social Secretary Job Description:

• Arranging events ranging from British Style Tea for the First Lady to the dinners with Heads of State
• Produces official invitations from the White House to events
• Coordinates non-political functions of the presidency
• In general coordinates political events for the President, the First Lady, and senior political staff.
• Creates a visual for the Obama brand and leaves no detail unturned.
  

Fashiona is wondering if Ms. Rogers needs an Social Networking Secretary...

Fashiona

Fashiona's Easter and Welcome to Bo~the First Dog

Easter...this year in New York was absolutely beautiful...a bit on the chilly side but sunny and bright. Fashiona went to church today, braving the crowds and the windy conditions and was blessed by her efforts. Fashiona, the Southern girl that she is, has been wearing hats on Easter... well since her beginning.

Noted she usually opts for brighter colors on Easter as she JUST explained to Sis...but Mr. Numbers has Miss Fashiona on a basics only budget. The "new" dress was purchased prior to her credit cards being put on ice....literally.


The First Lady went for florals this year for Easter...no hat in sight.




Traditionally, Easter gifts include rosaries, crosses, colorfully dyed eggs, chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs and other ditties in artfully arranged Easter baskets. What did the Obamas get?...a new doggie courtesy of Senator and Mrs. Kennedy.

Meet Bo, a six -month old Portuguese water dog. What a cutie he is?


Photo Credit:Pete Souza~ White House photos



While Mrs. Obama dazzled the world on her recent European tour, as the host of this year's Easter Egg roll on the White House lawn...she has adopted a "come as you are policy." We will see tomorrow just how that pans out... until then Fashiona wanted to share this photo from 1898's Easter Roll.


Photo Credit: White House Easter Egg Roll 1898
Photo © Library of Congress


Fashiona

Fashiona's Big Move

As Fashiona is documenting her last few weeks as a New York City tax paying resident...she decided to take the plunge and blog on her very own after some chiding from her bloggy friends. Her first blog Fashiona~Musings of Stylish Girl is still with Today.com and is still intact but all future Fashiona shenanigans will be here.

Fashiona is busy these days packing her last 10+ years into boxes. She is a neat-noid but also very sentimental. She has magazines(ok just one) from 1999 with Halle Berry on the cover; it was around the time that Introducing Dorothy Dandridge debuted on HBO.



Fashiona's vast collection of ticket stubs, books and fashion mags is a time capsule to her mind at that very moment. A few things will fall off the truck as they say but for the most part all those memories and the new ones that she is anticipating in Atlanta will be lovely material for her upcoming hopefully bestselling novel.

Fashiona, always double-tasking, has been very tuned to the Obamas' first official trip across the pond. Yes the first lady actually touched the Queen and Fashiona just had to chuckle at the uproar. What really got Fashiona's attention was the JCrew sweater that sold out after Michelle Obama was pictured wearing it.

(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)



Fashiona LOVES that the First Lady has worn American designers as of late: Tracey Reese(a black designer), Michael Kors, Jason Wu, Isabel Toledo, Thankoon and of course her favorite designer Maria Pinto.

Seventh Ave wants Michelle to "step it up" and wear some Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein. Sounds like THEY should be asking rather than judging since Michelle knows her own mind.

Will she or won't she change her style as First Lady?...either way, Fashiona will continue her running commentary.


So here is to new beginnings,
Fashiona