Globetrotting and Girl Time

I've been on a major hiatus from the blog due to my crazy work and travel schedule this year, but I'm back with some updates. I've had two destination bachelorette parties in Nicaragua and Santa Barbara, where we rode horses on the beach and went wine tasting in the valley.

I also had work trips to Palm Springs and Miami, so it felt like I hadn't gotten to see some of my friends here in NYC very much. That's why I was psyched when SheKnows hosted a special screening of Hot Pursuit, in theaters today. I gathered some of my NYC girlfriends for a fun movie night.

I always love a night at the movies, but this was especially awesome since they had a popcorn bar, candy bar and an open bar with specialty themed cocktails.

The movie stars Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara as a modern day Thelma and Louise and is the perfect girls' night out for your BFFs.

Thanks to SheKnows for hosting such a great event and my friends for joining me! Next Sunday, May 17, I'll be on Fox & Friends for a fun segment so set your DVR or tune in you're up that early on the weekend.

Follow me on Instagram @cristinablairgibson and Twitter @cristinagibson

Fashion Week Highlights

So long, summer! 

Labor Day Weekend and Fashion Week came and went so quickly and now it officially feels like fall back in the Big Apple. 

Over the past two weeks, I've been running all over town covering shows and parties, doing interviews and even trying my hand at StreetStyle photography. 

One of the coolest parties I covered was the Versus Versace show after party. From Rihanna to Naomi Campbell and Nicki Minaj, all of the big names came out to see the latest collection from Donatella herself and Anthony Vaccarello. St. Vincent performed and guests enjoyed custom Versace chocolate bars, dessert pops and of course, endless flutes of champagne. 

I was there on behalf of InStyle and got to speak with Nicki, Naomi, Jennifer Hudson and Allegra Versace.

I also covered the Diesel Black Gold runway show last week, where Rita Ora sat front row and wearable tech was a trend.

On the very same day Apple announced their new smart watch, in addition to the embellished pants and star spangled dresses on the runway, many models sported customized, curved Gear S smart watches by Samsung.

The 2-inch device, which was making it's debut on the Diesel runway, can make calls, send texts and take photos all from your wrist.

I'm not sure if smart watches will be new black, but it's interesting to see how fashion and tech are colliding these days.

In between catching shows and covering parties, I was hanging at the tents at Lincoln Center on StreetStyle duty for SheKnows. Instead of chatting up celebs, I was on the hunt for well-dressed attendees to the fashion shows and found a ton of stylish girls to shoot. You can see all of my StreetStyle series here, here and here but I think Xenia Tchoumitcheva's look, blogger at ChicOverdose, was one of my favorites. I like how she dressed up her casual tee by adding the skirt and heels.

On Tuesday, Juicy launched their latest perfume, Viva la Juicy Gold Couture, during NYFW with a glamorous #CoutureOverdose fete at Gold Bar, which was the perfect venue to celebrate their new fragrance. Guests enjoyed a spritz bar where they could try the new scent, an ice cream sundae bar and gift bags full of Juicy beauty products.

 My roommate Lindsay and I had fun in the photo fun booth and it was great to catch up with the other SheKnows experts and staffers who were all there. That same evening, Mexican designer PinkMAGNOLIA presented their SS15 collection and threw an afterparty with DJ David Katz and artist Jeremy Penn.

I always like learning about new designers in addition to ones I already love during Fashion Week. Now that  NYFW is over, I'm ready to go shopping and update my fall wardrobe. What trends are you looking forward to trying this season? Until next time, have a fashionable fall!

Follow me on Twitter @cristinagibson and Instagram @cristinablairgibson

How I Spent My Summer: One Direction to Montauk and more!

Happy September to everyone and sincere apologies for my lack of updates! Last December 2012, I started freelancing full-time and things got really busy really quickly. Because I was writing and reporting so much for so many other outlets, I totally neglected this blog but I'm back for good...I promise!

Here's some of my highlights from this summer, both professionally and personally.

In May, I traveled to Las Vegas to cover the Billboard music awards for Cambio, where I got to talk to Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, Ke$ha and so many more.

It was a super quick trip (one night only) because I had to be back in NYC bright and early Monday to interview Jaden Smith for Cambio as well. You can watch our interview below...we took user questions live from Twitter and Jaden gave some really insightful answers. He was so mature for his age!

I also began working with HealthiNation, hosting video content and covering Madison Square Eats, an NYC pop up food fest, which was lots of fun. So much good food in one place! Check it out next time you're in NYC. At the end of June and early July, I spent 10 days out in Montauk, a beachside town at the very end of the Hamptons. A bunch of us rented a house and celebrated the 4th of July out there. There was lots of beaching, relaxing and lobster eating. 

Being freelance allowed me to stay out there all week and work remotely, which is an amazing perk of being freelance...you can write from anywhere as long as there's wifi. One of my favorite places in Montauk is Surf Lodge, a hotel, restaurant and bar right on the water with gorgeous sunsets and live music. Definitely stop by for a sunset cocktail if you're ever in the area!

St. Lucia playing at Surf Lodge

August was another busy month! I sat down with Kendall and Kylie Jenner for Wonderwall and did a segment for Fox & Friends on behalf of SheKnows. On one particularly crazy Sunday, I sat down with the boys from One Direction in the afternoon and covered the MTV VMAs that night. Our interview is below:

I'd never met these guys before and let me say: their accents are all adorable! Despite all of their success, they were extremely down to earth, very nice and also pretty darn funny. They walked into the room singing out loud and gave me a standing ovation for some reason (do they do that for everyone who interviews them?). Oh and yes, girls: Harry Styles' hair really is that awesome up close. Fact.

All in all, it's been a great summer but now it's already September and you know what that means: Fashion Week is here! Time flies when you're having fun, but I really will update this more frequently. No excuses...after all:

And she updates her blog often! What was your favorite part of summer? Leave it in the comments below!

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All Set for Sundance!

Happy 2013! One of my New Year's resolutions is to update this bad boy more. I'm currently en route to Park City, UT today for the Sundance film festival. I've gone once before during my E! days when I lived in LA but this time, we have a huge crew from all over the country and our very own house complete with a hot tub, sauna and steam room, so I'm pretty excited.

But before I caught my flight (which was supposed to be yesterday, long story), I caught up with Nikki Reed, who was in NYC for Gillette's Kiss and Tell event. The Twilight actress was super sweet and told me all about the special gift Kristen Stewart gave her from the set and what she loves most about being married to her hubby Paul McDonald. Check out the first part from our interview here!

I'll be working for SheKnows.com and Vibe TV/Blackbook magazine at Sundance, and one of my assignments for SheKnows includes interviewing James Franco about Kink, the BDSM porn documentary he produced. Seriously. Fifty Shades of Franco, anyone? I have the screener in my carry-on but something tells me it's probably not appropriate to watch in public on the plane ride to Salt Lake City.

It should be an interesting trip...check back for more updates!
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Art Basel Bound and Bicoastal Besties

Hello from the friendly skies! This is my very first time blogging from 30,000 feet high...gotta love technology. I'm currently en route to Miami for Art Basel. I've been to Miami many times but this is my first time going for Art Basel, which is a huge contemporary art fair. I'm super excited to ditch NYC's freezing temps for some fun in the sun and get some culture, of course. In addition to lots of exhibits and shows, there's also tons of parties happening this weekend in South Beach. My friend Rhiannon Ally, who anchors CBS4 Morning News in Miami, is graciously hosting me for the weekend so I'm excited to catch up with her and hit the town. Diddy, Demi Moore and Lenny Kravitz are already down there so I'm sure I'll be in good company.

Speaking of good company, I also got to catch up with another one of my best friends Whitney English this week in NYC. Whitney and I first met in LA, when we both worked at E!, and now we still get to work together at SheKnows.com. Whit, who also has her own blog, was out here to interview Jenny McCarthy. During her downtime, we hit Washington Square Park together, attend designer Monika Chiang's 1 year anniversary party, did dinner at Fig and Olive with another one of our LA-turned-NY BFFs Katie and check out Kristin Cavallari's Chinese Laundry shoe launch party at Avenue. All in a day's work!

I can't believe it's already December! Our Movember party at Southside last week was a big success and raised more than $2,000 for charity. Thank you to everyone who attended and donated! Big thank to you Roberto DePalo, who took a ton of great pics for us, too.

Credit: DePalo Photography

I'm signing off for now but I'll try to post more this weekend. Miami, here I come!

Get all the action in real time on Twitter @cristinagibson and Instagram @cristinablairgibson