2 words: deep dish

holidays? smolidays! not really in christmas spirit, but i'm very happy as i've been (actually) relaxing these past few days!

however now i'm a bit irritable b/c after seeing adam richman do a challenge in chicago & watching the ever so luscious deep dish pizza i wanted some...with anchovies & extra cheese. But curses, my plans to attain this tasty treat have failed!

why does domino's, pizza hut & uno close sooooo early??? guess i'll just slepp it off :(

in other news just finished the super entertaining squee's wonderful big giant book of unspeakable horrors (by jhonen vasquez) per smoe's insistence...onto second book now: american lion. next must read outliers per smoe's folks christmas gift for us...

duuuuuuuuck!....flying shoes at bush

wow! just saw the tape of an iraqi tv reporter throwing his shoes (size 10) at bush during a farewell news conference! the outgoing pres has pretty good reflexes, but why didn't he just duck when he saw the man stand up w/ something in his hand?? what about after the 1st shoe was thrown and the guy went for his other one??

he screams "this is a farewell kiss you dawg" before throwing the pair... why shoes? b/c apparently the sole of the shoe is considered an insult in arab culture.

please note pm al maliki offers his right hand to block the 2nd shoe...a brave brave man! :)

the video: when the shoes hit the fan

song o the day: still will (50 feat akon) ... heard this song over the weekend & its in my head now.

go red knight!!!!

medieval times was amaaaaaazing last nite. me likey the blue knight. though we sat in the red knight section (aka. dolly parton's "jolene") and he lost, it was still worth a visit.... UNLESS you don't eat meat! the vegetarian menu is garbage, so i recommend you eat before.

before dinner we went to warner theater to see the nutcracker. i'm no ballet aficionado but the performance was ok... probably bc it was put on by young adults. but the little kids were adorable.

ended the nite by surprising smoe with a pre-birthday get together with his friends at a very unlikely place (hee hee)...

just mistakenly found this video featuring clipart & its very amusing. reminds me of the days my brother & i used to make flip books: check it out here (only a minute)

lastly, very pleased with myself for doing well in the jingle all the way 10k, it started off very rough, but had a strong finish. plus, there were a lot of fun folks, elves & santas out this am to help me keep my mind off of the cold.

song o the day: jolene (dolly) ... think her slow soulful songs are better than her faster-folksy ones. another good version of this song is (surprisingly) by the white stripes

i'm baaaaaaaaaack...

it's been a long time, shouldnt've left you...

so i'm finally back on track & back to blogging about randomness. life's been good: working very hard, just got back from ft lauderdale (glad to have a job after the staggering unemployment rates); smoe is still dating me (poor boy doesn't know what he's in for); friends & fam bam are all well.

excited b/c i have a busy day before me: going to see the nutcracker at the warner theater, then off to medieval times (vegetarian menu for me, no huge turkey legs)

song o the day: it's been a long time (rakim)... a great song. my eldest brother would be proud of this pick.

let the games begin, oh, i mean festivities!

let the games begin... ok more like festivities begin for eden. not crazy about the name, but i've never been on homecoming committee so can't talk; i'm mad the video on the homecoming site is so serious!!!!

we went to mccxxiii (1223) for the fashion show after party last nite... met my friends in the super long line (apparently they were there for almost an hour), went in & realized there were more folks in line than in the actual place (hate when places do that so it can look like it's the place to be)... everyone was on the 3rd floor & ended up running into some folks i knew. coolest part is that i knew the dj (he was my year at hu). it's cool to see someone doing well & achieving their dream...

next stop on the partay train is loooooooooooooooooooooooooove!!!!!!!!!!! (can you hear the faint "chu chu" in the distance)? ha, i crack myself up!

election coverage-
don't really feel like talking about last debate b/c everyone's torn it apart & the subject feels a bit hackneyed now... plus though it's my blog i like staying neutral on most topics.

with this said, i burst out laughing when smoe said it looks like obama's been, smoking everything under the sun b/c of the color of his lips. i loved mccain's antics (body language, smirk, sly remarks)... i'm sure this was 1 of the most popular pics on the web yesterday & me likey so i had to include it:


and now it's time for his close up (classic)







was sent the following video this am & it's amazing that some people believe barack is an arab & did being arab become a kiss of death after sept 11, or has it always been like that?? i personally like arabs. i was telling someone every other time some news channel is reporting on a bomb or suicide attack & there's a group of mugshots i often think 1 of the guys is cute... think whoever i was talking to called me "sick" or agreed, cant remember :)

in other news-
also, as bbc is 1 of my 5 homepages that pops up when i get on the internet, i saw a super interesting story. it was all about peter norman. he's the other guy that was on the olympics award podium when tommie smith and john carlos threw up the black power fist... (b/c bbc is amazing) in addition to having eye opening stories such as that, they also have really essential news such as "the leggy blonde" being pregnant w/ a calf turns out it not about a hot chic & bestiality, but the 1st asian pachyderm (hence leggy) to be artificially inseminated (hence preggers); it also has tufts of blonde hair (hence blonde)!

new word-
learned it after eading the comments section on the peter norman storyquotes
(n.) chuff- A rude, insensitive person; a boor; (adj.) chuffed- very pleased; "I'm chuffed to have won"

learned a new word yesterday too: septuagenarian (a person who is 70 years old or between the ages of 70 & 80)... yeaa for learning! too bad i feel like my spelling is getting worse b/c there are systems to finish my texts & spell check & abbreviations, o well...

songs o the day:

i can't go for that (no can do) & maneater (both hall & oates)...so soulful. they always look like they have so much fun, plus no matter your musical tastes you can't fake on Daryl Hall (the blonde, who's aged quite well) & John Oates (dark hair & porn mustache)!! 1 of my fav duos ever

the b-e-s-t!

so smoe (aka bun; aka toilet seat face, aka babe ruth; aka babu, aka mf moe dean!, etc) is the b-e-s-t, best!!!

why you ask?? b/c on our way to metro this am he saw an ant. (big whoop, right?) but b/c he loves ants he was super excited & like "oh, this is a queen ant"..."wow, she's tearing off her wings b/c she's about to make a nest"! so we eventually get to metro & he sets her free so she can plant all her babies next to a tree :) the best right??...

ok, after rereading the above text, re-realized i'm a dork so maybe other women wouldn't find that as amazing as i do?!... guess that's a good thing though bc it means he's mine, all mine (hee hee hee)! wish i could give him the same assurance, but some guys are so disrespectful. almost every time we're out there's some guy who blatantly ignores him & tries to talk to me or asks who he is :(

in other news yesterday while tweeting (fav thing in the world) i came across a group called waffles & falafels... after checking out their book of face page further solidified that i like this apparel company!! between the bright colors, musical references, trashy meets punk meets kiddie designs, me likey. put on my to do list buy a "waffle girls don't die shirt"...

song o the day:

my boyfriend's back (angels)... for some reason that song reminds me of the monster mash (bobby 'boris' pickett & the cryptkickers)

equatorial guinea!!!!!!

why was i up at 5am?? why am i up at 5am blogging?? i actually woke up b/c i had a burst of energy, so figured i'd do work (i.e. looking up community org ncbw can work w/... as i'm part of a 3-woman team who's trying to re energize the membership & our chapter of the organization). but clearly i'm using the time to blog...

so yesterday evening went to a reception honoring the independence of equatorial guinea from spain (oct 12, 1968). a friend of mine who works in the embassy invited me, & i'm glad he did! had the chance to bashfully say "hi, nice to meet" to ambassador (Purification Angue Ondo)... per my friend's translations she asked me if i spoke spanish & if i ate meat. the latter question caught me off guard, but my friend & i agreed she wasn't callin me fat, just asking if i ate meat b/c she actually cooked all of the food that was being served at the reception! what ambassador does that?? what a woman!

i also saw the ambassador of angola (Josefina Pitra Diakité)... didn't say hi, but from what i could tell she was very happy & her hair was dope! it was like twisted & pinned up in an intricate way...

i did, however, speak with the ambassador of equatorial guinea's massage therapist!!! apparently he's kind of a big deal & has high calibre clients (i.e. 1 day some lawyer ) he's from Côte d'Ivoire & was telling me about his experience going back to his country after a decade & seeing how much it's changed (not necessarily for the good)... after talking to him for a bit longer he offered me a free/trial body massage- score! i looooooooooooooooooove getting massages so should be great! (when i told smoe about my latest & greatest appointment he made a face)...

lastly, so my throat has been sketchy all week, but after tasting the homemade ginger beer (literally homemade like in recycles water bottles) it burned so much that my throat felt all better!

we were on a rooftop on constitution ave on a very clear, still nite & had an gorgeous view of downtown dc, took a (touristy) pic w/ the capital in the backdrop. me & this lady from the state department were talking about how we had to wait until the crowd dwindled b/c it's just distasteful to take such a pics on the roof!

in conclusion i've always had an affinity for the middle east, but the past year or 2 i've been checkin out the lovely countries of the motherland... especially uganda & ghana (only b/c my roomies' people are from there)...

song o the day
home is where the hatred is (gil scott heron)... this song is so great, he's great & i feel like this has been a song o the day before. oh, well

it's the most wonderful time of the year....

why is it the most wonderful time of the year???

b/c it's (the real) hu's homecoming, silly :) i wasn't that excited b/c i'm getting old & i know i'm going to end up spending a lot of money, but i get to see all the pretty bison faces i haven't seen in a while so it's all worth it... friday plans are confirmed so it should be a whopper of a weekend...

in other news, at smoe's house waiting for him to clean dishes so i can sleep. just finished watching harold & kumar go to white castle which is actually much funnier than i thought it would be... best part was when kumar day dreams about marrying a bag of weed, then next scene cuts to this guy they call jackson being racially profiled though he's already in jail, sitting & reading a book... ok guess you'd have to see it to understand...

another great part is when they're in a car & they play wilson phillips' hold on instantly got flashbacks to childhood b/c my brother's used to play that song at least twice a day!!! good times had by all on whichever army base we were residing at the time:)

happy 50th bday paddington bear!

thanks to google i've learned that on oct 13, 1958 "A Bear Called Paddington" was first published.

not only is paddington cute, cuddly & courteous, but he taught me what marmalade was... he loves marmalade sandwiches as much as pooh loves honey- such greedy little bears... ok off to lunch!

weekend in review...

fri- after going home & scarfing down dinner in like 5 minutes i was back out. original plans were to go to josephine lounge for a friend's bday. instead we went to lima (good mixed crowd, good techno music, good mojitos w/ a twist). next i get the text that the celebration's been moved from josephine's to modern (don't think they have a website). i used to go to modern quite frequently, prob b/c i used to work in georgetown... i forgot how fun it was. i had a great time & got to see some of my boys i haven't seen in months! best part: 1st time i heard kanye's love lockdown when out! (fyi here's the love lockdown vid).

sat-my rambunctious lil cousin came over in the afternoon! ok, she's 20 but she'll always be my lil cousin, plus we're always loud & giggly when we get together (with a sprinkle of rudeness & a splash of disrespect for anyone in our path we don't know). we went to bmore to the blacks in wax (BLACKS, BLACKS, BLACKS, BLACKS..IN.......WAAAAAAAAAX), inside joke, as we're always singing or making up songs about a person, place or situation. the museum was really cool & think all kids in dmv should make a trip there it just needs to be updated (i.e. kwesi is no long pres/ceo of naacp). it was also very very very stuffy... prob why my throat is scratchy today.

next we went to a spot call the crackpot. name? sucks. food? grrreat! after that i drowsily drove home. she took a nap, i returned some calls then we were off again as i took her to love... though it was 18 & up these kids were def dressed to impress. me? no. partially b/c i didn't really feel like going & partially b/c didn't wanna waste an outfit :) all in all good day/nite felt accomplished, except for the fact that i forgot to get my dry cleaning...

sun- shrinking violet came into town again. so ofcourse the ritual was thrifting. to further acclimate her w/ black people smoe & 1 of my girl's came (ok, ok, so smoe wanted to hang out /w us anyway & my friend's been trying to look for vintage stuff for months, so it was a good opportunity to kill a lot of birds w/ 1 stone)- random, but that's quite a graphic expression!

guess when i go to the cleaners for a pickup, i'll drop off my new stuff- an endless vicious cycle :)

song o the day:
oye como va (carlos santana) ... think this is before he started designing shoes :)
also, it's the most wonderful time of the year (andy williams) ... i'll explain in next post (tee hee)

do it yourself suicide workshop & online shopping?

is it just me or are these the baddest (in a good way) shoes ever? i love the laces & pink & black part... hence why nike remains my fav shoe company (i do love my chucks & vans but nike's so innovative)..

from shoes to "for shame"- this am i heard something which made me realize (as i do about every 10min) how strange the world really is! so there's an australian dr named philip nitschke. my point? his nickname is dr death and he's the founder of a pro-euthanasia group called exit. apparently he's hosting his first do-it-yourself suicide workshop (that just made my tummy hurt... the equivalence of normal folks getting a chill down their spine) in the UK... as is imaginable, not everyone is down w/ this death 101 course

from death to dinner- last nite went to madam's organ w/ a buddy of mine & it was great! we ate on the rooftop, but as we walked up the narrow wooden stair cases we passed... (are you ready for this)... a lady doing karaoke to prince!!! i don't think i've ever done karaoke, but that's change next thursday!! plus it was lady's nite so chics got in for free (this obviously made mi amigo happy as well)! we talked about the debates, guacamole, catfish, running, the correct way to say red wine en espanol (vino tinto) & eventually we got to attraction between men & women. after trying to convince me that my mentor would most likely get at me if he had a chance, i shook my head & said he's know me since 10 (or 11th) grade, he doesn't see me like that; "... yea, and you're a woman now" he replied... this back & forth lasted for a while until i changed the subject. now this is going to be in the back of my mind as i meet up w/ my mentor & his wife later on this month...

from attraction to npr- random, but i think the term i just heard on npr, "how financial crisis moves from wall street to your street", is much much better than the "main street" metaphor others use. has anyone ever apologized to us?? i know it may not mean much to most who are struggling w/ funds, but for me if bush, paulson, pelosi, bernanke even greenspan came out & apologized to the american people about other american people not having their crap together i'd feel like i'm not being completed taken advantage of! it's like at least they got my last name/took me out to medieval times before they took me home and tried to screw me! (side note: was going to reference hank's oyster bar but i already went there, so medieval times is the next spot on our going out list)...

from food to the weekend- looking forward to my weekend b/c it's only been 2 weekends, but it feels like i haven't partied in months!!! kinda wanna check out bmore to see what's going on over there, but we'll see how i feel about making that trek tomorrow

lastly, in addition to going out i'm going to shop online! what happened to the days of the delia's or alloy catalogs?? i can count on 1 hand how many times i've ordered apparel from the internet (last time was this tshirt). i was all about it since i saw it at the rock the bells concert (it's so 90s), but apparently no one else liked it as much! my roomate dared me to wear it somewhere where there'd be a lot of rowdy guys & see what happens, i'll pause on that... it's also a line in a nas song, which i think is prettay prettay cool! but again i reallly think i'm the only 1 who loves this shirt...

anywho, so def not a fan of online shopping bc i thrift so it's part of the fun going to a store & finding something worthwhile. but i wanna check out (& support) my friend's murai.vintage & eclectiques site.

wow! just heard the original (x rated) a clockwork orange is on dvd. per my bro's suggestion, i saw it a while ago & every time i hear "singing in the rain" i get flashbacks :)

song o the day:

dragostea din tei (o zone) ... wait like 50 seconds for song to start & it's cool. made more popular by that stupid "numa numa" you tube video & probably by t.i.'s new single (rihanna's great)

d-o-m-o... domo!!

so it all started last year when i was in chicago for mid-year meetings for work. after our board meeting i walked around the lovely place that is downtown chicago!! saw some cool stores, 1 of which was urban; uban outfitter that is, i like to shorten popular retail spots, i.e. "banana" instead of banana republic, "bloomies" instead of bloomingdales, "gap" instead of well you get the idea :). (sorry about that huge tangent, back on track) so walked in & looked around (ended up buying a super cute peach colored dress w/ ruffles)... as i was looking around i saw this brown square thing... later i will come to call it domo!!!

it caught my eye bc all the other toys in urban were a bit more complex & this was a simple adorable square. it also caught my eye b/c i'm a fat girl & it looked like a hunk of chocolate, or a double fudge brownie, or a (fat) chocolate graham cracker, or a chocolate marshmallow, etc... in actuality he's none of the aforementioned, but the mascot of Japan's NHK television station. he's a mysterious creature hatched from an egg, who loves to watch tv & daydream. apparently you have to be careful not to disturb him b/c "he sometimes farts when he's upset"!!! (side note- found a domo nation site which was cool until i saw a political advert at the bottom of the page...just doesn't seem like a banner ad would be a smart buy for either party, but may there's something i don't know about the members of domo nation, swing voters? independents?)...

after checkin out domo's wikipedia page, i learned that nickelodeon began airing domo shorts in early 2008. have you seen any?? don't watch nick anymore, but now i will now :), wonder if the animated shorts are on demand?... also, apparently tarjay (target) is using him this year for halloween promos!!! i shall run to my neighborhood tarjay sometime this weekend to check it out (i want a huge stuffed domo, like the width of a twin mattress)! omg i wonder if they have domo costumes for halloween?? it'd probably be hot! not sure if we'll be dancing on halloween, but suit doesn't seem like it has much movement & it seems hot

song o the day:

mr roboto (styx).... maybe it's me bc i'm such an 80s baby but this song rooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooocks!!! & the composition is great, a fine piece of mucsic. watch the video, it's quite an experience, like a mini play!! ok maybe i'm "cisin" this too much but it's an awesome song/video!

bobby (dis)may

so bobby may is the McCain campaign's chair in Buchanan County, Virginia (& treasurer & former correspondence secretary of the Buchanan County Republican Party). i'm super late but just got wind of his editorial in va's voice, which was apparently picked up in sunday's la times. below are just a few quotes from the racist article:

"Obama would hire the rapper Ludacris to paint the White House black”

"Democrat's administration would divert more foreign aid to Africa so the Obama family there can skim enough to allow them to free their goats and live the American Dream"

May also joked that Obama would replace the 50 stars on the U.S. flag "with a star and crescent logo," an Islamic symbol, and that his policy on drugs would be to "raise taxes to pay for Obama's inner-city political base."

"Mandatory Black Liberation Theology classes taught in all churches - raise taxes to pay for this mandate. Put Rev. Jeremiah Wright in charge...."

"Appoint Rev. Al Sharpton as Secretary of State, Jesse Jackson as UN Representative, and let Bill Clinton handle all other "foreign relations" ... As long as Hillary doesn't find out...!"

read full article here; kinda hard to see, but worth it...

why are ludacris & 50 cent (also referrenced in editorial) always pegged as examples as the epitome of all things bad in rap?? think it was pepsi who dropped luda bc they said he had a "gangsta rap" image (from what i've heard he's a nice kid), then turn around & hire the osbournes for the same campaign? the osbournes are no brady's (do they have a foundation to help people b/c luda does).

on another note, let's say 2 guys do the same act on the same day w/in the same span of a couple of hours. both are arrested, but a grand jury voted to indict 1 on 3 counts, and a different grand jury voted to dismiss all criminal charges against the other b/c he was deemed a professional stunt man... sketchy huh? & these are the realities conspiracy theorist thrive in! but seriously folks, over the summer 2 men scaled the times building, reaching the roof before being arrested. The first was Alain Robert, a 45-year-old French stuntman known for climbing tall buildings; the second was Renaldo Clarke, 32, of Brooklyn, who said he wanted to draw attention to the problem of malaria... the latter was indicted... oh the disparities live on.

(don't judge me) but was watching newt on hannity & colmes (which happens like every other day) & the hosts got off on a tangent, and alan asks sean what he would do if a fam member came to him confessing they're a liberal, sean replied, "i'll lay hands & hannatize them!" now greta van susteren's on interviewing palin (who advised her to let her hair down?), b/c both of their voices are annoying i'm finding it hard to concentrate. greta just seriously jumped from title 9, basketball to bill ayers to rev wright. she took "a pass" on rev wright question & said she'd "let john handle that one". are vps the only folks privy to these passes when they dont wanna answer hard questions?.. next up, an interview w/ laura bush. should be interesting!

ps- when/why did cindi mccain get some fire in the belly?? doggoneit, betcha that barracuda is rubbing off on the heiress, rise above it cindi, your husband calls you names, but don't let em bring you into the mud slinging...

ne me quitte pas

i had a case of the mondays today :( partially b/c i had yesterday off so it felt like a monday & partially bc i was tired/grumpy... highlights of my day included: seeing our revamped website go live, launching our island on second life, sending out a multimedia press release (wonder how big web numbers are gonna increase), hearing a coworker page "mr mcdreamy" after accidentally hitting the page button (which carries it on speaker phone around the office), shedding lite on the "do white people's hair smell like wet dog when wet" stereotype, laughing at the fall intern's tough stand on recycle bins & parking spaces in her neighborhood... also eating at my desk. let it be known i looooove trail mix, chex mix, pretty much all mixes; maybe it was b/c i was hungry or maybe i've possibly found the best mix eveeeeer: utz poker (club) mix!!! find it buy it eat it!!

just got off the phone w/ mrs. smoe to let her know smoe left his phone over here, she said he realized it sometime this am. now my options are: (a) drop it off to him at work (b) drive to his house now & drop it off there (c) wait until he gets off & he can come over here to pick it up... think i'll go w/ (d) roll over & continue to eat candy & watch hardball b/c it's not my phone or problemo :)

is it just me or is chris mathews much more frazzled these days than he used to be?? he's always cutting folks off , talking over them for minutes at a time & tripping over his words. i'm always drained by the end of his show (thankfully, i'm rarely home early enough to see all of it), actually these days i'm drained after watching most msnbc shows (except olbermann)! random, but rep cummings (md!) looks like he hasn't gotten sleep in years!!

on top of everything else, i have a rack of imitation crab meat from our sushi project last week! lookin for a good recipe to use it up before it goes bad...

songs o the day:

as the title suggest it's: ne me quitte pas (jacques brel); an amazing song & i appreciate him for creating such a beautiful song, but...

think i like nina's version a lil bit more though: ne me quitte pas (nina simone)

army 10-miler recap

so this past sunday was the army 10 miler!! my folks were staying at a hotel in dc, so wanted to spend the nite w/ them so i could commute w/ my dad...
but earlier we were at my mom's friend's house, then i dropped them off at the hotel where smoe met us. by the time smoe & i got back to my apt i was tired & told him to wake me up in 30min so i could take a nap (bad idea)... i woke up at 1am, then 3am, then 5:22am , then 6:12 (originally told my dad i'd meet him at metro at 6:30, clearly plans had to be changed)... told smoe not to drive me to pentagon as they start closing streets off early. hopped on metro (along w/ most of the 26,000 other runners) & was off. this year the water didn't run out (last year it was short around mile 6 or 7), & it wasn't as hot.

my dad & i made a better time this year, (last year 1hr 59min, this time 1hr 44min)! which is crazy bc i def didn't train as well as i should've... afterward my dad agreed he'd do it again next year (as it's the 25th anniversary). i'm not a huuuuuge fan of running but there's something about finishing a race (whether it's 5k or 10 miles) that's great!! think i'm going to run a half marathon (13.1mi) next year. i'd be really proud of myself & i know i can do it's just a matter of me taking training much more seriously...

anywho, after such a race best thing to do is go home & rest. thankfully smoe wasn't working so he came to meet us afterward & took us back (yea for not having to ride metro sweaty)... later we went back to my folk's hotel to hang out w/ them... quickly turned into us watching hbo for hours. apparently they watch a show called true blood, then there were a series of sketch comedy shows that come on after entourage

(just noticed smoe's hand was behind me, looks scary)

my big (little) day off!!!

woo hoo! so it's 6ish & i've been off all day!!! just needed to take a "me day" to center myself & try this foreign concept called "relaxation"... stayed late at work yesterday to ensure i'd check my work email as less as possible today...after work got a good talking to on the way home from smoe b/c didn't feel like going to his folk's house to celebrate his daddy's birth... but guess i should have clearly stated the reason i didn't feel like going so he wouldnt've assume i didn't wanna be bothered w/ his folks. we talked it out & all is well... i also caught up w/ some friends i haven't spoken w/ in a while so that was cool (the fact that my phone hasn't konked out in days!)...

i woke up around 7:51am (yea yea the 1st thing i do when i wake up is turn on the news so saw the time). turned around & became jealous b/c smoe looked too peaceful so i started talking to him to wake him up :) (yea yea i'm a jerk)... checked my work email then looked up airline prices, as i was thinkin about going to atl for a friend's baby shower. after watchin a lil tv (mostly saved by the bell & fresh prince) i decided to kick in the productive part of my day off! went through some clothes & picked out what needed to be dry cleaned & what needed to be altered, then we went to the cleaners. the old lady who usually does my alterations said i had beautiful skirts/dresses, yet commented every time i lifted up the bottom to let her know i wanted it to be shorter! "are you sure? this is going to be short" she'd say; "i know" i'd reply as she proceeded to safety pin it up & mark it w/ chalk... my fav piece is a tex mex themed moomoo i bought (you guessed it) from a thrift store over the summer- don't judge me b/c my wardrobe rotation's so great it takes a while to incorporate new clothes : ) it's like easter green shapeless, but has a super colorful collar area. my vision for it is a baby doll dress, so we'll see how it comes out next week when i get alterations back (if i remember i'll take a pic)...

while i was in the back trying on clothes, smoe was across the street waiting for our food from the diner. he then started blowing up my phone bc he didn't see me in the cleaners & saw my car was abandoned & saw a condom in the parking lot so thought the worst... probably something in the neighborhood of kidnapping & rape (oh that smoe & his creative thinking, did most english majors have such thinking??)... i eventually called him back & told him to chill out as i'm in good hands w/ the little old alterations lady! we went home & watched little china, big trouble. kim cattrall looks the exact same! i imagine she's had work done b/c that's absurd for her to age so well... after that we went to sleep again. thus kicking in the relaxation part of the day (does sleep count as relaxing??) smoe had to go to his spanish class (brushing up on it for grad school). i was trying to catch up w/ a friend who's in town but he's staying at the mandarin oriental hotel which is in sw, dc so in addition to traffic, don't feel like looking for parking... we agreed to do lunch & /or happy hour tomorrow.

i'm about to kick in the proactive part of my day & go downstairs to run... speaking of which forgot to do a post, post army 10 miler (stay tuned)

song of the day:
school's out for summer (alice cooper) ... yeaaaaaaaah! this is what my day felt like :)

welcome back welome back welcome back!

welcome back supreme court! now throw on your robes & get to your life's work...

"on the docket" there is: guantanamo detainees; crack-powder cocaine disparity; lethal injections; voter id; child pornography; Investor lawsuits; tabacco & whales...fun fun fun

Song o the day:

theme from welcome back kotter ... think i heard there's going to be a remake of this show into a movie & ice cube's gonna be the main character, random yes, but kudos to him for branching out so much since nwa!

saturday= history & discovery channel

for those who are stalking me, guess you've figured by now, if i'm actually at home on saturday afternoon, you can find me in bed (sweats & hoodies yeaaaaaaaaaah!) & watchin the channels listed in title... so far i've learned about freeak shows in the wild west & that the military is def hiding aliens in ohio :)

now i'm watchin man vs wild to see how to survive if i was ever stranded in Ireland's "rugged western coast"...

song o the day
do it, do it (cherish) ... i heard it this am in the car & it made me wanna go to ATL :( this song is great & don't think cherish gets enough credit..

vp debate & sushi!

watchin debate... gwen ifill is doin a great job! i was volunteering at an event where i got to say "hi" in passing and she seemed like a really sweet lady b/c she brought her mom... that color looks good on her too :)

oh, the folks on stage?? yea so palin's doin better than i expected... biden's debate prep is paying off as his answers are under 30min! random, but did he get botox? why do his eyes/area around his eyes look like that??

ok back to twitter, gotta see what hilarious tweets are there... 2 best tweets i've seen:
- "palin's tan looks great"
- "joe biden's sighs make me want to have relations"
- "there's a lot of mentally ill people right now that think Palin just communicated to them via a series of winks & smiles"

i'd love to have an alarm w/ soundbites from this debate... no no not of the back & forth, but just of biden's deep sighs into the mic! yea i think that'll creep me out & force me to wake up... palin is doing better than i thought she would but she's not answering any questions!! where's the beef (in which case i mean substance & such)... lastly who is the "folksy" language targeting? is it work for those target populations??

on to the real event of the nite... makin sushi! no not picking it up from wasabi, but yes, yes making it from scratch:

joe 6pack & the media cycle

am i a nerd b/c i was literally glued to the tv watchin live covered of the senate on cspan?? yea, probably but don't judge me :)

after almost falling asleep, decided to go pay the landlord. he franchises a robecks up the street from our apt, so very convenient; plus i loooove smoothies (2nd fav beverage, after water) so it's great when he makes me a free 1... when i told him it was good chattin w/ him but must get back to watch the news b/c senate approved $700 bill (no longer called a bail out, but a "rescue plan"). he then shook his head & said politics is politics and it's not going to benefit "us" anyway, i agreed, but was tempted to (jokingly) say that palin claims she's here for the average joe 6 packs, so maybe hope isn't lost for "us"... heard some commentator say at the rate the economy's going joe 6 pack may only be able to afford 3, ha!

after switching back & forth from msnbc to fox (i like the differing biases)... a lot of speculation about palin's performance tomorrow nite & showing (good) clips of debates she had running for gov & (not so good) clips from katie couric interview- i.e. she couldn't name a supreme court ruling she disagreed w/; she reads every paper ever; she'll be back right after these messages w/ examples of her running; lastly & possibly most appalling she'd "counsel" girls who are victims of rape and/or incest to choose life, that just doesn't make since to me...

in other news, watchin comedy central now & realized a new season of south park comes on next wednesday!! when did the colbert report get so funny?? if you saw it tonite you'd get the following hilarious quotes: "campbell's gonna make me mmm mmm rich!"; "sarah palin gutted joe biden & wore him like a pants suit"; "one nation under gay-baby"

lastly, for the the 1st time in vibe's history (15 yrs) they're endorsing a candidate: john mccain, ha! jkjk they endorsed obama... ok enough blogging. off to go look over a powerpoint for work. yeaaaaaa for presentations?! surprisingly yea b/c i like practicing my public speaking in front of different audiences. goodnite & goodluck :)

laugh now, cry later... the daily show

laugh now, cry later, not just a tattoo on an ex's arm but a relevant phrase. courtesy of ED, just got the following clip from the daily show about black women's butts! ok ok false advert, the whoooole thing isn't about the tuckus, it's a clip discussing mccain & obama in an old folks home. at 3 min & 40 sec a woman makes a comment about michelle obama's butt being big, and the guy's like don't all black women have big butts to which the lady replies "depends on which tribe they're from"! it's kinda funny, but very very sad. check it out here

argh, i feel blah today. maybe waking up early to work out isn't good for me... ok just looking for a way to get out of that routine, i prob feel frazzled b/c i need to take a break from everything/everybody & try to relax. plus feels weird to be w/o my padgekins (cell phone)...

random, but just heard the risk of being in a car crash goes up on election day, so choose to vote not die & drive safely kids!!!

song o the day:
love of my life (erykah badu ... pretty song, grrrreat video.
you got me (roots feat erykah) ... such a classic song! love questlove's drum semi-solo towards the end.

paying for good grades??

where was this "capital gains" pilot program when i was in middle school???

i agree w/ Mr. Fryer something needs to be done to close the academic gap between white & minority kids, but don't think monetary incentives are the answer... and how did suntrust get the contract to be the bank for the kids' accounts??

also read on my lunch break about the shooting on sunday :( it's crazy b/c we road past it a little after it happened... scary stuff

there should be more than 24hrs in a day... or more than 1 me

so took a look at my handy dandy planner this am- my memory isn't as good as it should be, plus i always have 20 diff things to do on any given day! noticed my last college roomie was coming into town today (yeaaaaaaaaah), but in my mind thought it was tomorrow (o, dear).

just spoke w/ her, smoe, & chic-fil-a to coordinate how i'm going to meet everyone's needs. after 5 minutes of stress, a proposition, a happy greeting from an employee at the chic-fil-a in silver spring, a quick internet search, some chuckles, some giggles, confusion, best buy making a great decision, i've arrived at a plan.

here it goes: i'll meet smoe at metro at 4:30 to get his phone (my cell has been out of commission for weeks!); then he'll go to his spanish class until 9pm... meanwhile i'm not going to my historymakers volunteer meeting at 7:30 (i'll go to the one next week). instead of the meeting i'll run w/ the pg running club at 7, and leave at 8:30ish... meanwhile, roomie's flight gets in from ny around 8, b/c she has a hankering for chic-fil-a she's determined to land, take metro straight to chi-fil-a.... here's the kicker there's 1 me, 1 bobbi (car) & 2 lovely folks which need to be picked up from their designated areas.

songs o' the day:
mother, mother (tracy bonham) ... forgot about this song till i saw it on my bro's book of face profile... gotta love the 90s!
mmm mmm mmm mmm (crash test dummies) ... another great 90s song

Banned Books Week 2008 (Sept 27-Oct 4)

so want to go to lunch, but can't leave my desk until 2 (i always listen to bbc's world have your say at 1). they're talking about a super controversial book called the jewel of medina. apparently it's a fake account about Muhammad's child bride. random house was supposed to to publish it, but canceled due to warnings that it would provoke terrorist actions from "radical muslims". gibson square agreed to publish next month, yet the publisher's home was targeted in a firebomb attack on Saturday. w/ all this hoopla i kind of want to read it now (depending on how many pages though)...

i do want to read 1 on the books off of the list of top 10 banned books in '07 though.

are there really certain issues we should never tackle in print? religion? racism? sexuality? sould books be rated? if yes, how/who regulates books? people are silly & are always going to have a problem w/ something. i've wanted to buy my niece the and tango makes three book for a minute, but not sure if my brother think she may be too young (she's 5 or 6?). in addition to exposing kids to homosexuality, it's dope bc it's based on a true story! think i may just buy it for her for christmas & see what happens :)

sad, but true

as a woman looking forward to adopting a son (I call him "carmicheal" for now), i find it very very disheartening when i hear about neglect & abuse of kids. a story out of lusby, md has particularly blown me away. apparently, some loser adopts 3 girls. two of the girls have been dead & in her freezer since february! this went unnoticed, except when the surviving 7 year old jumped out of the window of the room she was locked in (def don't blame her)... apparently she "appeared to be extremely abused & neglected". (click here for full story)


quite horrific i know, so naturally you think where does responsibility lie?? schools to check in? where they even enrolled in school? couldn't the "mom" just say she transferred them out? neighbors/neighbors kids?? the "mom"'s friends/family?? did the girls slip through "the system", another blow for the D.C. Child & Family Services as they are still rebounding from the case of 4 dead girls in southeast earlier this year (from the lil bit i know about the agency, their budget is tight & the folks have like 1,000 cases each)!


too many questions not enough answers! all i know is i'm tired of seeing children suffer b/c adults can't get their crap together. not sure if the problem in dc is funds, resources, regulation, etc but come fenty let's get it together & ind the root (i know it's easier said than done, so i apologize for my over simplification)...


on another note, forgot to post this on friday. a story by kathleen parker, a "conservative columnists" suggesting palin step down, as she is "out of her league" .... your thoughts?

my neck, my back...

my neck, my back... ok more like my right knee & my back.... still sore. it's a beautiful day though so i'll limp and be happy.

sad to report i had a nightmare last nite! didn't know grown ups could still get these... if it makes it any better it was a grown up nightmare though. no, no it wasn't about me not getting a loan for school or my 401k & 1 cent being left in the retirement plan! it was about work though.

had a dream i was at a board meeting for work (i imagine this was december's) & i was presenting survey results when an associate starts freestyling! startled, trustees at the table turn around to find an audience sitting behind us! her rap had good, clean, informative lines b/c the board wasn't upset at all. next a friend of mine from high school gets in on the act & they're going back and forth as the board's eating it up, and i'm left stuck like "huh"? afterward the treasurer of our board comes over to me & says "see, that's what the board wants, to be entertained." i reply "um, that's great but i have 3 more items i want to cover. shall i report them or just write it into the minutes?" to this day i still don't know the answer b/c she made another comment then walked away and i woke up soon after. not sure what that means at all b/c don't have anything planned for monday, so wouldn't be stressed about work... before i went to bed was watching something on tv about fig wasps (nematodes look cool for half a second b/c they're clear but all in all they're disgusting).

random thought o' the day: why do off-brand lucky charms (think they're called magic stars or something) have like a 1:13 marshmallow to oat ratio?? think next time i'll pay more & buy the real thing :)

songs o' the day:

hotel california (eagles) ... regardless of what genre of music you're into think you can agree this song is great! maybe?
my neck (khia) ... raunchy? yes, very! but this song is timeless

10k day!

so today was my 10k (6.2 mi) race... let's just say, um glad it's over! started off going up hill immediately which i didn't expect (didn't bother reviewing the race route), then it was drizzling a bit, worst of all my ipod konked out so i was left to run majority of the way fighting thoughts of me wanting to walk & singing songs in my head (actually glad it happened b/c can't bring ipod to 10miler). smoe went to the run w/ me so he saw me off & was there to meet me afterward... no no not at the finish line... but in the car, sleeping :)

lessons learned: (1)train, train, train; (2) stretch, stretch, stretch; (3) don't go out before a race over 3.2 miles! def shoulda went to bed earlier, but glad i saw smoe's friends, then went to (stood outside) layla lounge & stopped by redhead's bday get together b/c ran into folks i haven't seen in a while. i absolutely adore my friends, they're always up to something fascinating. i.e. redhead's gonna have his name in lights 1 day :); my buddy pedro who works for an embassy in dc was in new york last week for un meetings. i was super jealous until he told me he spent majority of his time in his country's embassy up there, but did have a chance to hear his president speak... apparently some journalists stopped in the lobby & wanted to talk to the president & he replied, you're attractive, africans like attractive females so you should have no problems getting to him... but aparently she never got to speak w/ him.

anywho, the rest of my day flew by as i ran some errands & finally went home bc had a blazing headache.

later met up w/ the 1 & only shrinking violet (her blog). after i picked her up we deemed it "no rules, just right" sunday & were off! i wanted to stop by adams morgan to get something fatty & chocolatey but decided to go thrifting instead, on our way we saw commotion in an alley off of u street (per request we just had to look into the situation)- apparently there was a shooting :(

on our way to the thrift store that didn't exist we passed another 1 & decided to stop there... along the way we had one of our whenever-in town-deep-elitist-mature convos covering essential topics, such as: "why georgia ave looks shady"; "who says 'honky'"; "why 'black parties' run out of liquor, but 'white parties' don't"; "reasons why she shouldn't dress up like a black lady to fit into a halloween party", etc.

my headache from this am is finally gone... probably due in part to the chunky monkey oreo shake i had from silver diner 2 hours ago. goodnite & good luck...

songs o' the day:
romeo (Basement Jaxx) ... another great song is broken dreams (Basement Jaxx) thanks to 1 of my bro's i discovered how awesome this song was and still is years later!!