My online shopping habits have only increased over the past few months. The good news for you (maybe) is that I’ve found some amazing Amazon finds this month and wanted to share them.

Lululemon-like Workout Tank – This is probably a top Amazon find over the past few months, I am obsessed with this tank/sports bra that fits and feels just like Lululemon’s align tank. It comes in 12 colors and sizes range from XS to XXL. It does have padding, which I didn’t like, but it was easy to remove. It’s a crop version of a tank or a sports bra, so you probably have to like showing a bit of your abs to love this like I do. Get this lulu-like tank for $22.99 compared to $58 at lululemon. Buy a few colors trust me.

Cell Phone or iPad Stand – I love this mostly so I don’t have to hold my phone during FaceTime calls, but still gives me a good angle! I am also excited to use this in the kitchen when I cook, instead of always looking down at screenshots for recipes. This way I’ll just open up my favorite Pinterest recipes and get to cooking (with wine in hand, duh).

Vintage Oversized Cat Eye Sunglasses – I almost always buy brand-new sunglasses, but wanted to try these Sungait vintage glasses and am in love with them. Not only are they under $17, use code jaymelamm30 to get an extra 30% off.

Atomic Habits Book – I am always looking for new books either along the lines of self help or entrepreneurship, so I got this one after it was recommended by quite a few friends. Haven’t read it yet, because I have to finish my current book, but then I will start and report back.

One 1 Brand Protein Bars – My friend Ashlee got me hooked on these, and after trying 2-3 grocery stores in Denver and not finding these protein bars, I just went to Amazon, which has them for the same price (i.e. no markup). The flavor is Fruity Cereal and it tastes just like Fruit Loops. The only bad thing is these are apparently a limited edition flavor, and I always tend to fall hard for flavors that disappear, so stock up while you can.

Check out last month’s top Amazon finds, including French Bulldog cuteness and vitamins you can get to help fight off COVID and other illnesses.

This post may contain affiliate links, but all opinions are true and my own opinions. Shopping my affiliate links is an awesome way to support me, so thank you kindly.

The Blonde Side’s Jayme Lamm interviewing former Eagle Donovan McNabb. Photo: Roshan Moayed

Houston gets high marks from celebs on the red carpet at ESPN The Party

The 13th annual ESPN The Party hit Houston Friday night, which featured a lit-up performance by DJ Khaled as guests entered the tricked up warehouse, followed by the main set by eight-time Grammy Award-winning artist Fergie, who also made a splash on the red carpet.

With every square inch of the 65,000 square foot warehouse – inside and out – primed for the perfect photo opp, the VIP crowd had a ton to check out. The warehouse and its “construction chic” design were ESPN-branded with signs, posters, LED lights — even the restroom sign was designed with the ESPN font.

The building was split up with different areas for fans to sit, mingle and dance the night away with sponsors scattered throughout, like a heavily guarded Alfa Romeo sports car for fans to pose with and drool over. There were roped-off areas in the center of the room and another one upstairs to give VIPs a bird’s eye view of the Houston crowd.

From the live performances on stage, the star-studded list of celebrities mingling about and most easily accessible, free drinks that came in ESPN-branded Yeticups (that you could keep!), to the brand new ESPN The Magazine’s Super Bowl Preview Issue scattered about, fans were delighted every step of the way.

With tickets for sale on the secondary market for $375 and above, the crowd was dominated by men. The vibe was warehouse chic, and like typical Houston style, the dress code was as varied as one could possibly imagine.

Marcedes Lewis. Photo: Roshan Moayed

Before the night’s festivities began, some of the biggest names to grace Houston during Super Bowl week hit the fairly subdued red carpet. With so many parties and events going on, you could tell the celebs in attendance were either ready to party or exhausted. We had a chance to talk with some of the big names walking down the red carpet, and asked them what they loved about Houston (hint: food) and the Big Game and here’s what they had to say:

“I think it’s great for the City of Houston, having the Super Bowl here and giving people a chance to experience Texas. I love Houston.” – Eric Dickerson, NFL Hall of Famer

“If DJ Khaled did the halftime Show, it’d be the biggest halftime show in history, because it would be DJ Khaled and Friends because I’d bring everybody out. Everybody. So whoever’s in charge of the Halftime Show, if you want the biggest performance ever in history, call me.” – DJ Khaled, award-winning recording artist and producer (as he Snapchatted his way down the festive red carpet)

“I haven’t been to Houston other than for work, this is actually a really dope city. I’m having a good time and looking forward to a good game on Sunday. The people are really cool, the food is great and there haven’t been any issues yet – you know what I mean, how it can get when you get a ton of celebrities in one place and a hometown crowd. Stuff can get messed up and it hasn’t been that way. Everything’s been smooth.” – Marcedes Lewis, Jacksonville Jaguars

“When you bring in great weather, it makes everything great. The hospitality has been great – the people, the volunteers. It’s been easy to navigate, which to me, makes a great Super Bowl. For all these people to be able to navigate and get from place to place, it’s been great. I haven’t seen as many cowboy hats and cowboy boots as I had expected, being here in Texas.” – Kurt Warner, NFL Hall of Famer

“One thing I have loved about Houston this week is A) the hospitality, B) the food, and C) the food. I had gumbo at the Goode Seafood Company; it looks like a little train. Everyone is extremely nice; they are very welcoming.” – Finesse Mitchell, Actor/Comedian

“There’s a lot of energy here right now in this city. ” – Charles Woodson, Former NFL, 9-time Pro Bowler

DJ Khaled. Photo: Roshan Moayed

“Just being a Houstonian, the fact that Houston is on the grand stage, the biggest stage of all, and we are absolutely killing it. Have you heard any complaints thus far? No. No one is complaining about the potholes – they are having fun; everything is going the way things are supposed to be done. I think because of that, Houston is going to find a way to get another Super Bowl.” – Chester Pitts, Original Texan

“The people have been great, but I’ve been working the whole time so I really haven’t been out. I run by Houston all the time. I’m incredibly familiar with the city of Houston. The people have always been great to me. It’s a gorgeous mosaic with people from all walks of life; it’s a great town. I follow James Harden and the Rockets because he’s a superstar.” – Stephen A. Smith, ESPN

“The fans ride so hard – I love Rockets twitter. Shout out to Rockets twitter, they go hard. We wanna play spades with The Wilforks. They’re a team; they’re a unit.” – Jemele Hill and Michael Smith, ESPN’s new show SC6, debuting February 6

“The restaurants and food. We’re down south so you get your gumbo, some southern food.” – Donovan McNabb, Former NFL

“I’m a Tom Brady fan, but I think the Falcons are going to take it.” – Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros

“I think Houston’s done a phenomenal job with the Super Bowl. There’s a lot of fun events and the city is buzzing. I always say y’all – I’m from Oklahoma.” – Rex Ryan, NFL Coach

When asked about her favorite Houston Twitter follow: “JJ Watt can be a little bit vanilla but I still think he seems like a good dude.” – Sarah Spain, ESPN

“Houston is great, it’s kind of a big town, everything is so spread out. I have seen a lot of cowboy boots. I saw a couple bulls at the Patriots welcoming party. I’ve seen a lot of things I’ve never seen before.”-  Eli Apple, New York Giants

This article originally ran on Culture Map Houston for Super Bowl 51 coverage. 

Bonnie Bernstein is the real deal in sports

Bonnie Bernstein is the real deal.

Bonnie Bernstein is proof you don’t just see veterans onthe field; you see them on the sidelines as well. She’s also proof she’s had to work just as hard, albeit a different kind of hard, to gain that same veteran status as say Joe Montana.

Bernstein comes to the table with class, grace, experience, and raw attitude not to mention mature emotion. And accolades. Boy does she come to the table with accolades, most notably being recognized by the American Sportscasters Association as one of the most accomplished female journalists in her field. She’s spent 17+ years covering some of the nation’s most prestigious sporting events on-air for ESPN and CBS, but recently she moved to a slightly different field. Now she’s using her business smarts outside of sports to help build a network as the “face” and Vice President, Content and Brand Development, of Campus Insiders.

“I’ve always had this entrepreneur spirit but no place to do anything with it. And when Campus Insiders initially came to me and approached me about being the face of the network, I was able to parlay that into the position I have now and they were really open to it and supportive,” Bernstein says of her new role.

When asked to describe herself in a few words, Bernstein opts for words like seasoned, diverse, resilient, passionate, and prepared. All things she very much is. But rare, genuine and honest are words I’d add.

One of the best things about Bernstein is her brutal honesty — even when it comes to her own past fashion fauxs, and she’s got jokes. For instance, when I asked the journalist/entrepreneur how important looks were in her field, she simply responded, “Well I’ve been around for 23 years so obviously they are not that important.”

She’s also modest, did I mention that?

“When I got my first network job (ESPN hired me when I was 24), I was so obsessed with building my credibility that if you went back and looked at some of the outfits I wore you would understand that it was certainly not my mission to be a fasionista,” she explains.

“It was important for me to have fans focus on the words I was disseminating than providing commentary on my outfits. I really tried to down play anything aesthetic. That said, I’m smart enough to realize there’s a lot of attractive women on TV and in the media and some of them might not be as qualified for those jobs as somebody who might not be quite as attractive but the reality is we create our own opportunity and if you’re ambitious enough to leverage your looks to get a job, then far be it for me to judge.

“My personal philosophy is the way I gradually built my brand–I down played the looks until I felt I had the credibility and that was a gradual metamorphous. My emphasis was helping people understand that my purpose for being there was to be the very best sports journalist I could be,” she concludes still laughing at her ghosts of wardrobes past.

There’s a quote I fell in love with not long ago by Madeleine Albright that says, “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.” Too often successful women, or just women in general, are in competition with one another. Bernstein is not one of those women. She’s around to help. Check her Twitter feed every so often — she’s always sharing tips and responding to inquiring minds. Her biggest tip for up and coming journalists, especially in this new world of social media is to always double source. This is what the world needs more of — not just on social media, but in life. We need more Bonnie Bernsteins.

You can’t be in the industry as long as Bernstein has and not have seen some of the nasty criticism and personal attacks prevalent in today’s world, which come quickly in the form of fast-typing social media haters. And of course, she’s got some serious thoughts on that.

“Jemele Hill and Richard Deitsch were tweeting yesterday and Jemele had put some stuff out there about stuff she’s seen on her timeline and it’s just vile. I applaud Curt Schilling for taking legal action against the trolls who went after his daughter, because what social media does is it gives nameless faceless cowards a voice. I feel really fortunate I don’t get a ton of that. I feel like my content is relatively benign–I have passionate opinions but I also make it very clear I enjoy healthy discussion. If you want to engage with me that way that’s cool. If you want to diss me it kind of depends on the mood I’m in but I will never resort to name-calling.

“On a rare occasion I’ll click on their profile and see what their information says. One time somebody was really disrespectful and he had the name of his employer–he worked for a school, I believe he was a lacrosse coach–he was so disrespectful that my response to him was “I’m sure and I put the name of the school handle would be thrilled to see one of their employees tweeting like this.” I don’t feel the need to do that in abundance but every once in awhile I’m ok just checking somebody and saying look, slow your roll, show me your face–don’t show me an egg avatar–give me your name, tell me where you work and then let me know if your have the audacity to tweet the way you do,” she says bluntly.

Throughout her career, Bernstein has covered some of the nation’s most esteemed events, such as the Super Bowl, NBA Finals (including the Bulls’ second historic three-peat), and NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships, but her favorite is the 2002 NCAA Championship. “I was working with Jim Nantz and Billy Packer. We had the good fortune of covering every single one of Maryland’s games and the run of the championship and that’s my alma mater,” she recalls fondly.

Speaking of March Madness her obvious favorite (early-on) is Kentucky. “There’s a really special feel to the tournament because everybody has a chance,” she says of her impending 90-hour workweeks.

As for March Madness, be sure to check out one of Bernstein’s projects with her team. “One of the cool things we’re doing for Campus Insiders for our second year is a segment called 68-60, and basically we create an interactive bracket. Once the brackets are released you can roll over any of the teams and we do a 60-second video preview, married with an editorial component so for people who may be casual basketball fans or a diehard basketball fan, it would give you all the information you need to put your brackets together. It’s one of the series we do and are really proud–our team literally pulls an all-nighter as soon as the brackets come out,” she says.

To check out the 68:60 project and more of what Bernstein is working on, follow her on Twitter and Facebook, and visit her official website, BonnieBernstein.com

To see this original article, which ran on CBS Man Cave Daily in the sports section, click here.

Houston sports + love Graphic by Running Game Clothing

It’s Time to Fall in LOVE with Houston Sports

All of us should strive to learn, embrace and love everything about our city – it’s our city! Learn to love the arts, the food, the businesses, the taco trucks, and you guessed it – the teams.

Houston is one of about 15 cities to boast four pro sports teams. It’s an honor actually. Whether you love football, basketball, baseball or soccer, we’ve got it all. If you grew up here, you probably love the teams because of your roots. You likely grew up watching the greats and have memories to support your unwavering love, but our city is filled with so many transplants, sometimes it’s hard to be a homer.

In honor of the month of love, here are some reasons to fall in love with Houston sports:

• JJ Watt. This needn’t explanation.
• Our stadiums have convertible status. Both Minute Maid Park (1 of only 6 MLB) and NRG Stadium (1 of only 4 NFL) have retractable roofs, making weather excuses a non-issue.
• The 34’s: Campbell, Ryan and Olajuwon.
• The Rockets 1994 – 1995 back-to-back championships.
• Orbit, the Astros mascot, was named 2014 Best Mascot by com. He is from outer space, and if that’s not reason enough, he doesn’t wear pants. And if you need another reason, how about he trolls, antagonizes and imitates the opposing players in a hilarious fashion. Orbit is great.
• The Dynamo set a MLS record with a 36-game unbeaten streak at home that lasted parts of three seasons and two calendar years (June 2011-May 2013).
• The Astros are a team on the rise having finished the 2014 season 70-92 – a 19-win improvement over their 2013 record. The 19-win improvement was second-best in the Majors and second-best turnaround in franchise history.
• Nolan Ryan’s back. Many know the impact #34 had on the Astros for nine seasons, so fans are eager to see if he can bring it back.
• The Dynamo have been successful in their first nine years, reaching the playoffs 7 of 9 years and advancing to the MLS Cup Final four times and the Conference Championship six times.
• Texans Tailgating – consistently top 5 in the NFL.
• Astros outfielder George Springer, who appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated (June 30 issue), joining Joe Morgan, Sonny Jackson, J.R. Richard, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Brad Lidge as Astros SI cover boys since the ‘60’s.
• The Rockets have two superstars in Dwight Howard and James Harden. Harden is constantly improving, has a killer beard (Fear the Beard!) and the healthy Howard has been sticking it to Laker fans for two years.

 This article originally ran in the February 2015 print issue of Local Houston Magazine (formerly 002), which is a free magazine all around Houston for the past two decades. Click here to see it online.