happy birthday fantasia!

I'm so glad dlisted informed me that it was fantasia's birthday as it led me to find this video which just made my morning.

I've known about this song for a while and it's been a favorite since the first time I heard Jennifer say, "expecially", but this is the first time I've seen a video of them doing it live.  They are both so ridiculously fun to watch, and I love how they feed off each other's energy.  I also just think its fun that they can be friends after their history.  I guess they were probably always friends, I'm sure they've never been resentful of the others success.

Of course that's just me projecting the life I want them to have on to them.  Who knows what celebrities are really like.  All I know is I want to see more videos like the one above.

Lemony Chickpea Stir-fry

I am liking this new arrangement already.  Meghan is always finding delicious recipes online so I suggested she send me the ones she is unsure of but wants to try and I would experiment on my family with them.

So tonight I made the recipe you can see here for a really simple vegan stir fry.  It was super simple; onions, chickpeas, kale, zucchini, tofu, and lemon.  I was going to do it over quinoa but forgot to get it at the store, so then I was going to do it over brown rice but couldn't find any, so I ended up doing it over wild rice which was good.

I was pleased with this recipe for many reasons.  Mostly just because it was actually delicious, and super easy to make.  But also because it gave me the opportunity to work with ingredients that I love but am not familiar with, like kale.  I've really only prepared kale raw, this was the first time I'd cooked it and it was so so good.

I wish my picture had come out as good as the one on the recipe but it seemed like my tofu fell apart more than his/hers.  Tofu is another ingredient that i'm not terribly familiar with so maybe it's a work in progress.  The important thing is that this recipe met the main requirement that I gave to Meghan; I want a recipe that I can remember after I'm done making it.  I mean this couldn't have been simpler, I don't think I'll ever forget how to whip up this masterpiece at the drop of a hat.

my favorite aisle at target

I love cat accessories.  I was expecting more rhinestone encrusted collars and/or bedazzled jackets but what I did find was well worth it.

Kitty has a serious catnip problem so it's hard for me to find toys that will give him just the right amount of catnip without overwhelming him.  I think he likes the compressed catnip ball that I found him.

He just gets too excited and forgets about what he is doing.  I like the part where he just rolls over and over and over for no reason.  : (

jealous?

I had to run errands on the other side of town which meant an excuse to get lunch here.

It was everything I'd hoped it would be.

nice guys

I passed these two on my way to the gym this morning, they were completely unphased by me being so close to them.

They are pretty big birds and when they stand all the way up it's kind of freaky.  I was only brave because I was walking, whenever I have to drive through a flock of them on the road I have to roll up my windows.  Sitting in my car makes my head right at prime pecking level, and I've seen the murderous glint in their eyes when they realize that.

But standing in front of them I'm not as scared, they are very pretty birds.  I just wish they didn't make such terrifying honking noises when they fly right over your head.

a test in patience

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I love my father, I do, but it's the way he starts talking as soon as I wake up in the morning and doesn't stop until he passes out at some point in the evening.

I mean, even when I'm not around he is still sending me so many texts that I usually can't even respond to them.

I appreciate it and it makes me feel very wanted and loved but it is also a bit overwhelming.  To think there were days in NYC when I didn't even hear another human voice (except maybe mariah) seems ridiculous compared to my life when I'm down here.  Just constant chatter.

Of course once my father finally does go to sleep he is replaced by that OBNOXIOUS cat who has been stomping all over my head all night and then yelling in my face.

I need a life.

my heart (and car) only runs on supreme

which means that filling up is a painful experience.  I guess there is no better time to do it than when you just get back from not driving for a week.  Though I cringed as each number flipped over I forgot all about it when I got back out on the open road.

I wish there were a way I could justify driving my car up to ny.  It would be so fun to cruise around the city, top down windows up, that's the way you pretty much have to drive around any city in my car unless you want every person on the street peering in at you in your most vulnerable position.

At least once I get the green light I can be gone in a flash.

I'm going to go up to St. Pete today to get new flip flops.  Mostly I just want to drive my car, but I do need new flip flops.  I can justify it...

home sweet home

After an exhausting day of sitting at JFK I am finally home and back in the arms of this handsome guy.

I'm scared for the repercussions of my leaving, I know they are coming.  I figure it will happen in the dead of night when I'm most vulnerable.

Suddenly I'm not feeling so tired anymore...

meghan gave me permission

This picture is too good not to share and since Meghan doesn't believe in facebook I had nowhere else to post it but here so she gave me permission to use her face on my blog.

I try not to use people's faces because I don't want to presume that anybody would want to be affiliated with my blog but Meghan assured me that she definitely wants to be affiliated with my blog, so enjoy her beautiful face, and the 3D werewolf looming behind her.

We both concluded that we wanted this in our respective bedrooms.

Meghan took me to the Ace bar yesterday afternoon for beers and skee ball.  Apparently the group of guys behind us were playing a tournament which I learned when they all started cheering for me after I played my first game.  Apparently I managed to beat all of their high score on my first try.  It was definitely beginners luck though as every game I played after I only managed to score ten points per ball.

We ended up having a better time watching a real life sharp shooter playing big buck hunter anyways.

After leaving the bar we went to Barnyard for sandwiches, but on the way there stopped at this magical garden that was somewhere between the bar and the sandwiches.

After getting to Meghans and filling our bellies with delicious turkey clubs and pasta salad we played a scrabble tournament to end all scrabble tournaments.  There were many highlights from the evening, but my favorite was when my board randomly spelled out the best airline name ever:

Talk about flying the friendly skies.  I feel like Jon needs to transfer from JetBlue to PedoAir.  I think it would be a better fit for him.

I want to live on meghan's air mattress forever.

one last time

It truly is the end of an era as Dan is moving out of this apt that he's been in for the past several years.  Even though I "know" all of the people who are living there now, Dan is the last of the originals that is leaving and I have to say I was not prepared to be so sad about it.

I mean, when I say I've had some good times at this apt I mean I have had some good times.  And I felt that we touched on all of the classic activities at the party the other night.

Right down to disturbing all of the neighbors by misleading my friend Chris in to setting of the alarm that was recently installed on the door to the roof.  It was actually pretty horrible, but at the same time reminiscent of when we pissed off the downstairs neighbors by doing the single ladies dance for like 3 hours straight.

Before we had to evacuate the roof it was really nice.  We managed to be up there for the final hours of daylight and the beginning of dusk.  And because we snuck up the back way it was only those of us in the know; Dan, Amy, Patrick, Jerry, and me.  I couldn't have asked for a better group.

Once we made our way back down to the apartment though we got to do one of our other favorite activities; dancing to ridiculous pop music.  I can always count on Dan to dance with me, and I will miss it very much.

I do find some comfort in the knowledge that there is a little piece of me that will stay in this apartment at least for a while.  When I moved away from NY in December I gave my plants away to my most trusted friends.  Dan has done an incredible job keeping them this long but now he's going to have to gift them to the apt.  I hope that they will bring the new tenants as much happiness as they brought me.

And I hope that I will get to come back and visit them soon.  Like maybe if there is a 4th of July party or something...hint hint...

porkslap!

Meghan encouraged me to get this last night at Motorino because she said the image on the can was well worth it.  And she was right.

The beer was good too.  Had a nice honey flavor to it.  And the pizza, oh the pizza.  I'm going to have to take Jon here the next time he's in new york cause it was mad good.

this is what you're looking to have happen

Right as I was crossing 1st avenue I suddenly felt a newfound freedom from my flip flops as they had apparently fallen apart.

I feel like this is why we weren't allowed to wear flip flops at school.  I mean, once they had broken I didn't have much else of an option besides slowly shuffling my way back to Meghan's apt.  Thankfully I hadn't gotten too far so it wasn't too painful of a walk back.  I was thinking how horrible it would have been if I had to ride the subway.  I guess I would have just had to go and find some new shoes to buy or something.

Consequently all I have left now are my sneakers which have given me horrible blisters.  I am missing driving everywhere, my feet have gotten used to it, all this walking is not as easy as it used to be.

peeking

This guy was patiently waiting for his owner outside 9th St. Espresso the other day.  

So well behaved!  I love him.  

just like old times

Last night I went to see the incredible and amazing Tayisha Busay perform in Brooklyn at Glasslands.  Unfortunately my phone was dying so the only pictures I managed to take were while they were setting up, for some reason ariel is the only one not shrouding herself in a glitter cape.

The show was really awesome, especially because I got to hear a bunch of their new songs that I haven't heard before.  It's really silly that they aren't wildly famous yet.

I think the thing I like the most about them and their music is that it's obvious how much work and thought they put in to their group.  Like any great musicians their songs are catchy and fun right off the bat, but then when you actually start paying attention to the lyrics you realize they are just as brilliant as the melody.

I just love how tongue in cheek the Tayisha songs are.  So many layers and double entendres that half the time it wouldn't be until the song was over that I even really got the joke.

I'm super excited now for their cd to come out.  I have had the five tracks from their demo on my ipod since day 1 and know them all by heart now.  I am literally looking forward to their new stuff the way I look forward to new Britney or Mariah.

Of course what makes it even better is that I'm lucky enough to be friends with them too.  There's nothing like yelling "take off your shirt" at somebody on stage and having them immediately smile and remove their shirt.

Friendship.

one of the best things i've ever tasted

At the new location of this store they have the signage for this tea but they never actually have any of it.  I have been eyeballing the ingredients and thinking how good it must be so today I went the extra mile down to 1st and 1st where their other location is so I could get a coconut milk with banana and some of this ginger hibiscus tea.

And it was not a mistake.  I can't even tell you how good this stuff is, and how much it is helping my hangover.

I was going to do a whole hooplah of a post about how today is the one year anniversary of me starting my blog but I don't even have the energy to figure out how to do it so I'm not going to.  This is it, yay, hooray, congratulations me, time for year number two to start.

It does seem kind of unbelievable, especially as I browse through some of my posts from last summer.  My life is so different now.

how i feel right now

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I have so many things I want to post and talk about but I am still too hungover from last night to function.

Meghan, please bring me soup.  Thanks.  xoxo.

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE

Ok, so this morning I saw two different people post this video on facebook with disparaging comments about Britney.  I didn't pay it any mind because I wasn't really concerned with the opinions of the people.

Then I went to dlisted and saw that he too had posted this video with disparaging comments.

Ummmm hello, this video is amazing.

First of all I would just like to say that Britney has earned the right to do whatever she wants in her videos.  You know that part in Dreamgirls where Danny Glover tells Jennifer Hudson that she's going to have to start proving it just like everybody else.  Well Britney proved it with this:

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and this:

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and this:

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And she made it clear that she doesn't give a crap what you think when she did this:

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So to think that she made this music video without putting any energy in to it is ridiculous.  Just because she isn't gyrating around on the floor like she used to do doesn't mean she isn't trying in this video just like she does with everything.  I mean, there are so many hilarious subtle jokes in that video that I love, like the fact that she's wearing a mickey mouse shirt at one point, or how many references to other music videos from her rivals she does.  

And to go back to my point from before, Britney has earned the right to do whatever kind of video she wants.  It annoys me when people like Gaga try to be dismissive of Britney just because she doesn't do all the spectacles that she used to.  She doesn't do them anymore because she already did all that...10 years ago, of course she isn't going to do the same things she did when she was 15.  That's not to say that she isn't still giving it her Britney all, but it's like, she doesn't need to be obnoxious and show up to events in ridiculous outfits...because she already did that...10 years ago.

  In fact, that's part of what I love about when she lip synchs.  It's like, why are we still pretending that some singer/dancers don't lip synch?  Everyone knows that she is going to lip synch while she's dancing so stop fixating on her mouth and pay attention to the fact that she can still put on an amazing show.  

I guess the point is that Chris Crocker said it best.  Why can't we just let Britney be great?!

I need a new pair of these

I'm still worn out from yesterdays adventures.  Gonna have to take it easy today if I'm going to make it to the show tonight.

Furthermore, I was confused, the one year anniversary of my blog will be tomorrow, so for now, enjoy all these mannequins:

3:00pm, 4:00pm, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 7:00pm, 8:00pm

Colin walked me back to Meghan's and we had grand intentions of doing fun things, but instead just sat on the couch talking which was lovely.  It was also overcast earlier in the day so I was trying to seek refuge, but as you can see here the sky had opened up again by three so I decided it was time to head back out in to the world.

By four we found ourselves in Union Square looking for food:

What we found was delicious sandwiches.  Nothing is a better chaser for a green juice lunch than a blt.  Mmmm, now my mouth is watering.

At this point Colin and I parted ways, he headed to his church, me headed to meet esha, and meghan at her work when she got out at five:

and even though I got THOROUGHLY chastised for sneaking these pictures of the McQueen exhibit I just couldn't resist because it was SO INCREDIBLY INCREDIBLE!!!

Pictures really don't do it justice.  I don't know how else to say it.  You really need to find your way here to see it for yourself before it goes away in August.

After our immersion in culture we found our way to Central Park for the six o'clock hour:

I really love this specific spot, I think because it's the entrance that I would have used the most when I first lived in the city.  I've also had many a good picnic on that hill.

Esha and Meghan and I walked through the park and enjoyed each others company before separating shortly before seven so Meghan could go feed the cat she is cat sitting for.  I was all excited to take a picture of this precious precious angel cat but when we arrived we found that the people had come home from vacation early, making for a very awkward exchange when we opened their front door.  I felt like the situation was weird enough without me asking if I could take a picture of their cat so unfortunately my seven o'clock picture is of the hallway outside their apt:

I feel like this happens every year.  I try really hard to be somewhere interesting at the top of the hour but inevitably there are one or two pictures of the most random and mundane thing.  Like the year we had to put the camera in the cheese case at the grocery store and take a picture of us with the sandwich artists making our lunch at noon.

So yeah, not exciting but that was 7:00 and by this point I was (and still am) EXHAUSTED.  But oh god, it was still daylight.  So bright!

I had to come back to the apt because I needed water and a change of shoes and to not be wandering around anymore so Meghan took me down to the Bette Midler garden for some H2O and evening conversation.  I thought I could make it to nine but surprisingly eight o'clock was the final hour of daylight, and I am pleased that I spent it in the garden that Bette built:

And I am secretly pleased that this day is FINALLY over.  Omg, talk about the longest day of the year.  It was like, really long.

So goodbye, enjoy, and I hope you all congratulate me tomorrow on my one year anniversary tomorrow.

12:00pm, 1:00pm, 2:00pm

I really miss juice.  I want to live here again for the juice.

I had lunch today at this new place that is just opening down the street from Meghan's apt.  It was super cute and fun and reminded me of the good old days when I used to open juice bars.

And the veggie juice I had was extremely good, and made me fit right in as I meandered around the lower east side.

I stopped off at a few of my favorite clothing stores but was unsure about the things I saw.  I need to go back with somebody else to help me decide if things are worth getting or not.

One thing that needed no thought regarding its worth was this swimsuit I found at topshop at 1:00

unfortunately they were not my size and they were the only ones.  I can only assume because they are couture.

In the spirit of me running in to everybody from my past on the streets of new york I met up with Colin and we have been meandering.  2:00 we found ourselves here, shading from the harsh UV light:

I love them, they are nice.

We also made our way back to the park because I had to come back to the apt to go to the bathroom, upload these pictures, and change out of my now extremely sweaty shirt.

Then it's on to the next activity.

11:00am

Hanging out with Sam at the apt, still waiting for my phone to finish charging.

I appreciate that these are the only dvds that they have displayed on their bookshelf.  Only the classics really.

They both emphatically told me what a good dvd the cheese one is.

10:00am

I can feel Bette's presence with me even now.

I'm still at Meghan's, enjoying the last of my coffee, waiting for my phone to charge a bit more.

Meghan told me that the spider plant I had given to her was dropping babies in to Bette Midler's garden so I've been trying to lean out and spy on them but I've yet to see any.  I may have to actually venture in to the garden to see them up close and personal.

OOH sam is awake now, time for a second trip to get coffee : )

7:00am, 8:00am, 9:00am

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I can only assume that this man is appealing to verizon and motorola in regards to my JANKY cell phone that never works and is always letting me down at the worst possible time.

Like today.  Oh today, how long have I been waiting for today.

Not only is today the longest day of the year, thusly one of my favorite days of the year, it's also the first full day that i'm in NY this week, AND today will be the final day of posting for the first year of my blog!

So you can imagine I had a lot planned for today, and you can also imagine that I am pissed off that my phone died yesterday afternoon and WILL NOT TURN BACK ON!!!

I think I finally got it charging for now, we shall see if it fully comes back to life.

In the meantime, I've had a fun three hours of daylight so far already.  Meghan and I went for coffee at 9th St. Espresso before I walked her to Union Square so she could catch her train, then I meandered back through the east village and pretended like I was a new yorker again.

Now I'm freshly showered, feeling better, and I have 40 minutes to charge my phone before I have to do something interesting...

goodbye beach

We got home last night from father's day dinner and the sun was still high enough in the sky that I knew I had to go out to the beach one last time before heading up to NY.  I especially feel like it's sad that I'm going to miss the sunset tomorrow, but I'm excited for the city sunset even if I will miss this beauty.

Speaking of beauty, there was a lot of it at the beach yesterday.  It was one of those nights when you feel like you've definitely made the right decision about how to spend your time.

And now I sit here at the airport getting ready to head up to new york, and I'm leaving wanting more Florida.  That's the best way to leave things I think.

close enough

I just noticed how she wrote my name on the cup this morning.  It's pretty similar to my own signature.  I do the 'b' pretty good but everything after that is hit or miss depending on how much energy I have.  Similar to her, I usually try to make a show of it by throwing the 'j' in there so it's not all just obvious scribbles, but beyond that it's pretty much just obvious scribbles.

I give her an 'A' for effort.

I had to wonder

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First of all, let it be known that I found this after doing a google image search for the phrase, "I had to wonder".  I was hoping for a picture of Carrie Bradshaw looking wrought with angst but when my eyes fell on this I knew there could be no other picture for me.  I'm a little unclear about what is going on here.  Is it raining tubes of lipstick and slices of watermelon on them?

Regardless, while that picture is worth enjoying, it is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is about my blog and how I'm fast approaching my 1 year anniversary.  I'm sitting here at starbucks, working on my mac, feeling very cliche, not unlike this:




wondering when I became this person.  This blogging person.  I get it Carrie, it's not just that I'm wondering these things, it's that I have to wonder.

Anyways, as the one year anniversary of my blog comes up I find myself looking at the stats and things about my blog and trying to figure out what direction I should be going in.  I feel like I still don't understand what you people want.

For example, apparently there were two things that people searched for and found my blog as a result of this week.  Two questions actually.  What are those questions you ask?

1)  What does tinkerbell need to stay alive?

  -now this is strange.  I mean, I get it, I did that post about tayisha busay with the reference to peter pan, but I just wonder who was searching for that, and why they ended up coming to my blog.  I don't think they got the answer to their question in my post, unless the answer they were looking for was songs about strange things being in people's mouths.

2)  Where is ms. cleo?

  -I think this is just a testament to there not being enough information available about ms. cleo.  There needs to be some kind of resource people can turn to for their ms. cleo news.  I don't think I'm prepared to be that resource, but it sure seems like people find my blog in their search for ms. cleo a lot.  And I only did like two posts about her.  Well now it's three, sorry to disappoint though, I still don't know the answer to your question.  If somebody finds out where ms. cleo is please email me and I will post it here to put everyone's minds at ease.

As you can see I can make neither heads nor tails of this information.  What's worse, for all my obnoxious advertisements all over my blog I haven't really made any significant money in months.  There was a time when I was averaging like a nickel a day, but at some point it just tapered off.  Now i'm lucky if I see a penny increase.

Which brings me back to my point, I feel like my one year anniversary is a good excuse to shake things up.  I had talked about switching over to my own .com address, I just don't really know how to go about doing it.  I need some kind of internet advisor.

In the meantime, I'll try to keep giving the people what they want.

he's goin' places

I love that my car is the perfect size for him.  I want to get a charicature done of him in my car.

"No no, he needs to look a little angrier"

"That's getting better but if you could try to capture how he is a precious precious angel a little more that would be nice"

"Perfect!"