A Little Vacay

If you've been following this blog, I think you know that I've taken a long vacation from blogging. I've got no apologies for my absence, I wasn't doing anything fun and there certainly wasn't anything going on that I should have blogged about, but I'm feeling more like myself again.  So I'll be back to infrequently blogging. :)

On Friday I went down to D.C. for my high school's Alumni Reception. I won't spend much time on it, except to say that it was a good event.  There were current teachers and alumni spanning many decades there.  The food was delicious, I mingled and circulated, and had some good conversations.

After the reception, I just went back to my hotel and chilled.  Per usual, I dozed to T.V. I talked to Maya and she said that I seemed to like these weekend vacations and you know, I do!  I find that on these weekend trips I'm able to explore a city and do whatever I want.  So my D.C. mini-vacay on Saturday went like this:

• Went the fitness center...used the hotel's complimentary headphones (which I saved for later use at my own gym), ate complimentary fruit that was left for fitness center users
• Showered and didn't have to worry about strategically placing towels on the floor because the tiles were heated
• Got a complimentary cup of tea from the lobby
• Took the Metro and then enjoyed a walk to see the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial

The memorial is cool, though not as large as I expected.  However, the strength of the memorial is the quotations from King that line the walls that surround it.

• Hopped on the metro again and went to get some cupcakes (and macaroons) from Food Network's Cupcake Wars Winner, The Sweet Lobby. 

By this point it was getting close to 12pm (check out time) and I was feeling hungry. So I...

• Got back on the Metro to return to the hotel to check out and enjoy some complimentary brunch...I got a voucher!
• Checked my bags, had some tea, potato leek soup, a salad and some bread at the hotel's restaurant.
• Jumped back on the Metro do to some shopping, my ideal Saturday activity...checked out Anthro and bought a shirt (see below) and a belt. I looked at Macy's and Ann Taylor Loft too, but didn't find anything.

• Hopped back on the Metro to pick up my bags from the hotel then I went to Union station.
• With 30 minutes to spare, I got a snack for the train from Potbelly sandwiches and then ignored the long line of people waiting to get on the train and merged in and got a seat in the quiet car.
• The train left on time and for the 4 hour ride, I napped and read and napped and ultimately finished the latest book in the Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley, I Am Half Sick of Shadows.
• I arrived in New Ro on time and daddy was there to greet me with two slices of pizza for dinner!

That was my mini-vacation...a day of doing the things that I enjoy most...exploring, eating and shopping, followed by naps. I find that lately my weekends are spent, working or volunteering, so a weekend away doing "nothing" is really exciting.

Balance

It's Saturday night, I'm at home and I'm thinking about playing the Wii. The last time I played I seriously spent over 35 minutes playing a Wii Fit balance game called Balance Bubble Plus.  Unless you've played one of these games, you have no idea what it's like to see yourself as a Mii, a digital avatar, hang your head in shame after you lose. Even though my astrological sign is Libra, representing scales and balance, each time I play a balance game, I realize that this sign apparently means NOTHING for my physical capabilities. 

In Bubble Plus, my Mii is in a Bubble going down a waterway and there are crags to avoid and bees that could come down and pop my bubble. I can't even count the number of times I had to start, lose and restart the game.  I would go few yards, hit an edge of a rock and pop my bubble.  Then the sad music would play, I would see my rank, and yardage. Often my results would be so poor that I would be un-ranked, then I'm called "Unbalanced" and get one star.  And what did I do then? Play again and again and again...because I was determined to get to the end without popping the bubble.  So 35 minutes later...I finally made it to the end.  I believe I got two stars and was called an "Amateur." YES! No longer unbalanced. 

If only I got rewarded for my other pursuits and was so easily excited by simple recognition.  I think the use of gold stars needs to be brought back as a merit system for adults.  Going on a second date...three gold stars - professional. Remembered your boss's birthday...two gold stars - amateur. Bought a card for the boss...three gold stars - professional. Made Dinner...four stars - ?? I've never gotten four stars on Wii...I don't know what you're called then. Ahahaha anyway, I might just start giving myself gold stars. It's clearly a motivator for me.  

Thanksgiving Cupcake Disaster

It's Thanksgiving and I'm at my parents place.  I just took the Mac and Cheese out of the oven and we're going to sit down to our family Thanksgiving meal at 2pm.

But I was up and at it early this morning.  I woke early because after reading through recipes, I decided last night that I was going to make Almond Cupcakes.  I love almond-flavored items.  In fact, my favorite drink is the amaretto sour.  So I took myself to Fairway last night, which surprisingly wasn't very crowded because I needed to get ground almonds/almond flour/almond meal and I just wasn't sure that Stop and Shop would have it.  Let me just say, almond meal is crazy expensive.  I paid close to $10 for a 16 oz. bag of the stuff.  As I saw it ring up, I thought, these cupcakes better be good.

Back to today...the butter was soft, my baking utensils were prepped and ready, the muffin pan was lined and the oven was pre-heated.  I followed the directions to the letter...cream butter and sugar, beat in eggs, add cream and almond extract. By the way, Fairway doesn't have regular extracts i.e. McCormick, so I had to get some organic and all-natural extract.  You would think that would mean the extract would be at its strongest because it's without impurities etc. But it simply smelled less potent.  Give me unnatural and inorganic extract! ahaha Then I sifted in the flour and folded in the almond meal.  After doing this final step, I could see and feel that the batter was very heavy.  Usually when I spoon batter into a pan, it's more liquid, but this batter had a more solid quality.  Then when I tasted it, it wasn't particularly sweet.  But I thought, it'll all work out, I'm sure it'll be fine.

Well, it wasn't fine.  I'll admit, I'm not quite in sync with my oven...it's big, it's old, it's gas powered and I think it gets and stays hotter than any other oven I've ever used.  So I had already decided not to leave the cupcakes in the oven for as long as the recipe stated, but even taking them out early couldn't save this batch of cupcakes.  They were hard, dry and damn near flavorless.

I called my mom and said, "these cupcakes are bad, I can't bring them over to have as dessert."  Thankfully, mommy said not to worry about it, because she had pie.

So on this Thanksgiving, I'm thankful that mommy has been cooking and making desserts much longer than I and that mommy and daddy did enjoy my dinner contribution.  Happy Thanksgiving!

DONE!

Since I'm 31 there are few things that I'm checking off as being done with:

DONE with Thongs
Last week I thought I was packing a certain pair of undies in my gym bag.  After working out, I took my shower and then got the rudest shock when I realized that I had packed a thong.  ARGH!  I don't need to walk around all day with a wedgie for the sake of have no panty lines.  If I have on something super tight, which happens rarely, I will wear seamless undies or a g-string. G-strings, which according to wikipedia are a type of thong, use an elastic string, instead of a piece of fabric that is 3/4" wide and gets stuck in my booty.  So I'm done...

DONE with Tattoos
These days it seems like tattoos are all the rage.  Men (and women) are covering themselves with tattoos.  Well-known folks like Lil Wayne and Kat Von D, chefs on Top Chef and Hell's Kitchen, a lot of basketball players, and so on, are covered nearly head to toe with tattoos. Average men and women are doing the same thing. I appreciate the craft and skill shown by the tattoo artist, but more often than not, if someone has more than one visible tattoo, it's distracting.  So I'm done...  I'm going on record as saying that I don't find excessive tattoos cool or beautiful, and if you have a lot of tattoos and I'm having a hard time staying focused when talking to you, or if I'm looking away, now you know why.

DONE with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too
Miss Maude's is a soul food restaurant up the street from where I work.  I've eaten there a few times and the food, when they have what is on menu, is pretty good. But my issue with the establishment is that they DO NOT always have menu items, namely the chicken salad sandwich, available. I've had their chicken salad sandwich twice in the two years since I've worked in Harlem, and I like it because it tastes like my mom's. The sandwich when paired with some fresh french fries...yum!...really is a lovely lunch. I've called the restaurant about 8 other times to order the sandwich for lunch and they NEVER have it. Here is the dialogue:

Me: Hi! Do you have the chicken salad sandwich today?
Spoonbread Lady Behind the Counter: No. We do not.
Me: [sigh] Ok...bye.   

There are two things that bother me:

1. Why doesn't Spoonbread have chicken salad? Fried chicken, BBQ Chicken, Smothered Chicken, Jerk Chicken...all kinds of chicken...are on the menu. Cole slaw is served as a side, which means they have mayo. So why can't the chef chop up some of the chicken, add mayo and MAKE CHICKEN SALAD?!? 
2. Why is chicken salad sandwich a menu item? Spoonbread rarely has it, so just take it off the menu. Make it a chalkboard special!

So I'm done with Miss Maude's Spoonbread Too...there are no shortage of soul food restaurants, I'll go somewhere else and I'll make my own chicken salad or ask mommy to make some for me.  :)

I'm 31!...Recap of my birthday festivities

Well my friends, I'm 31!  On Friday night, October 21st, I went out with a small group of friends on my birthday eve.  There's Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, so I thought, I will have a Birthday Eve.  It's Monday now and I can't keep stop thinking about how much fun I had.

The evening started at B.B. Kings with a concert by one of my favorite groups from the 90s...En Vogue.  Yes, EN VOGUE.  All four of them performed...Dawn, Cindy, Terry and Maxine...Nicole helped me remember their names.  Four of my friends came with me...Nic, Court, Marsha and James. Nic, Court and James and I stood semi-close to the stage on the main floor and we JAMMED!  En Vogue still had that great sound.  All four of the women can sing, or shall I say...sang.  They did their hits, a medley of oldies and ended with some more of their hits.

I loved how well En Vogue performed, but what I loved most was being around my friends as we collectively rocked and sang along to the music. Courtney got down to "Don't Let Go", Nicole and I relived our college days through "Giving Him Something He Can Feel" and  I even heard James singing along throughout the night. He has made it very clear that he won't sing when we do karaoke and even though he sings in his church choir, he claims he isn't good.  So it was a shock to actually HEAR him.

After the concert we went to Katwalk Bar & Lounge where we were later joined by Mia, Maya, Danielle, Jinyoung and Jeanette.  It was free to get in, the music was pretty good and best of all, I had my friends with me. One of the things I love about my friends is that, for the most part, they don't have difficulty getting along with each other. I don't have to spend time making the rounds to drum up conversation between everyone...it just happens organically.

So we talked, didn't get food because the kitchen was closed (grrrrr), danced, complained about a throw up smell that was emanating from a certain section, purchased and got drinks for others using power hour (all the well drinks you can get from 10 - 11pm) bracelets and of course, we took pictures.  I was already having a fantastic time, but then James surprised me with a bottle of champagne for a Ladies Night, which sadly meant that he was leaving, but the gesture was really sweet and hanging with my girls was nice.  The drinks continued and we danced the rest of the night away.  I stayed out until 1, which is a big deal for me.  I usually put myself on a train and go home, but this time I took the last train out of NYC back to Mt. V and was happy I made that decision.

Nicole said that there is something about the 31st birthday that leads to a good time. Don't get me wrong, I loved my 30th birthday because it was my chance to celebrate with so many friends from all stages of my life and to treat them to good food and dessert.  But for my 31st, all "pressure" was gone. I kept it small, didn't worry about having the perfect outfit and partied the Shay Shay way.  Much love to everyone who celebrated with me and wished me well.  I'm looking forward to 32!

What can you do on a Saturday night, alone?

"So what can you do on a Saturday night, alone?

Who needs a view on a Saturday night, alone?

If it's a Saturday night and you are single,

You sit with a paper and fight the urge to mingle.

And home is a place where you gotta go back, alone.

Home is a place where the future looks black, alone.

I like the Sunday Times all right, but not in bed.

Alive and alone on a Saturday night is dead!"

It's Sunday morning right now, but as I was driving back home last night from the gym, this song popped into my head.  I first heard it on a compilation CD called "Marry Me A Little." The CD featured songs Stephen Sondheim musicals, some of which been cut out of musicals.  The lyrics were were written in the 1950s, but the plight of single people is clearly timeless.

Usually my Saturday daytime is packed with activity.  I'm either working the front desk at MTC, volunteering at Dress for Success or doing something else.  So yesterday, a day with nothing scheduled, was a rare treat for me.  I slept late, did some shopping, napped, then went to the gym.  But whether I'm busy during the day or not, my Saturday nights are usually pretty "dead."

I don't really have friends in Westchester and really don't know of any "spots" to frequent.  I do know the City well enough, but after I've been downtown five days of the week, my interest in hanging out down there in the evening is low. I'm young and single...shouldn't I be out mingling? The fact is, I'm not bothered by staying in on Saturday nights.  I like my new house and after a week of seemingly endless work, errands and responsibilities, a night at home is nice...so what that it's on a Saturday.  But I do like activity and probably would enjoy being out on Saturday night, if, I was out and about with someone.  So that means I have to find someone, other than my friends to go out with, which means, drum roll please...I'm going to online date again.  Maya and I have discussed this and Matthew says I just need to go out more, and both of them are right. but I think, if I online date, I'll go out more...both problems solved!

So stay tuned...I've done Match and OkCupid before, so this time I think I'm going to sign up for How About We, since their focus seems to be about going ON the date.  Let me know if you recommend any other online dating sites, and I'm sure I'll start having some dating stories to share.

Wigs and Braids and Weaves...Oh My!

School is back in session and a smile came to my face a few days ago as I saw two little girls sitting on the bus with their mothers.  Yes, it was sweet to see them eager to head to school, but I was smiling because of their hair.  They had cornrows without extensions  and it reminded me of how my mother would do my hair.  The pattern wasn't too elaborate, but it wasn't going straight back and the ends had been curled. Sure, their hair wasn't long, nor was it super full, but it was nice nonetheless.  I've grown tired of seeing little black girls with yarn-like or plasticky extensions, looking ridiculous on their little heads and necks, tightly pulling their hair and likely setting them up for a lifetime with thin or bald edges that they'll spend all their life trying to grown in by using braids and weaves -- it's a vicious cycle.

Working up in Harlem, I am in awe of the array of hairstyles on the women and men on the street.  I'm assaulted by the African ladies who scream "BRAID?!? Braid Miss?" and I'm enticed by the Asian-owned black hair supply stores selling creams, gels and human hair on practically every block.  Hair, hair and more hair.

The one thing I find most crazy when I'm in Harlem (or any primarily black neighborhood) is the number of people walking around with bad weaves.  What is a bad weave?  A bad weave looks like a wig, or like plastic hair, or it's too long or ratty or it doesn't blend with the person's real hair.  Every time I see someone walking around with a bad weave I think, "Do you want long hair so badly that you would rather walk around looking how you look, rather than show your own hair?"  It fascinates me.

I saw Chris Rock's movie, Good Hair which skimmed this issue. I know it was a comedic documentary, but I wish that he had just interviewed women wearing wigs, (which doesn't really bother me), and with weaves and just said..."Why? Why?"

People should do what they want with their hair whether keeping it natural, relaxing it, braiding it, wigging it, locking it or weaving it, and if these women with bad weaves think their hair looks good, we all would be better to have their confidence.  Let's just say I'll take an order of extreme confidence, hold the bad weave.