Friday, January 30, 2009

I like 'em... BUT ...

I had dinner and drinks one Sunday with a new friend, and the conversation of settling came up. You know settling for someone who you otherwise wouldn’t date if you had other (better) prospects on the bench, but since he or she is the only one in the line up, you still give the relationship a chance. He informed me that women always seem to date men who are "but's." You know when your friends bring him/her up, you say “I like him/her BUT ” or “He/She’s cool BUT .” There’s that ONE THING you just can’t seem to get over. The latest from one of my girls that has me dying is, “He’s cool BUT he’s an IOTA.” Some may find it to be superficial but one has to wonder why does a young man opt to pledge Iota. (There were other characteristics that my girl used to figure out that he was a total lame).

I’ve encountered just about all: he’s not cute, he’s got 2 kids, he’s short, he’s got hips, he’s got man boobs, he’s not trying to do anything with his life, his no-good daddy lives with him, he can’t hold a decent conversation, he doesn’t have a job. And even after finding out about these “issues” on the 1st or 2nd date, I would continue to give it a chance thinking just perhaps things would turn around or the better qualities will overrule those I don’t care for. NOPE! You end up wasting your time, realizing that it could and would never work. I now result in either a) letting the relationship fade out or b) letting him know he’s cool as the fan and he can be the friend. There have been cases where I was very honest in letting the guy know why we could no longer date and there are those where I gave him the BS excuse (I know, wrong, but I didn’t want to bruise the man’s ego any further).

Who were your “but’s” from past relationships? Did it end up working out in the end? Or did you end up just wasting time? Were you ever direct in why you could no longer date?

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Body Rockin' All Night Long!

So this Throwback Thursday edition is dedicated to my homegirl from back home, Tisha and to the memory of lead singer Dino of H-town. Some of you may or may not know but Dino (gov't is Keven Connor) and his girlfriend died in a hit and run car accident on January 28, 2003. Yesterday was the anniversary so I'll go ahead and bless you all with an H-town classic. (R.IP. Dino)

So we're going to zip back in time and the year is like '93 and Mr. Nasty, 2 Live Crew frontman, Luke has discovered 3 young bucks out of Houston, to sing about sexing & loving, loving and sexing. First single, "Knockin' Da Boots." I believe the phrase went on to be used in a Martin episode, and to describe anytime a group of folks got it on (I truly hope no one under the age of 35 is using this phrase). I was all of 11 years old in the sixth grade, and remember singing this song on the bus to and from school, grinding it out to this at school dances and making up dance moves to this song for the talent show. Bad business I tell you!


Video Moments: 1) Luke explaining the meaning of "knockin' da boots" to the reporter, hilarious! 2) Was I the only girl who wanted a baseball jersey? 3) And who is the brotha with the speaking parts? I seriously have no clue! 4) The dance moves - that really slow pump is killing me.

Go ahead and get ya reminscinse on!


Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Dunks

I like to refer to myself as a girly girl.  Love make-up, heels, jewelry.  However, I now want a pair of Nike Dunks. I've seen other ladies rock them and think they're cute on them.  For example, Teyana Taylor.    I think I'm going to head over to Niketown to try on a pair and see if they're fitting. I've been eyeing the ones below for about a month or so.  Especially, the pair on the right and am thinking about heading over to Niketown to try on to see if I can get away with them.  

What say you?  Fellas, what do you think about ladies rocking Dunks (every now and again)?  Ladies, would you wear?

Monday, January 26, 2009

Dim Sum? Get Some!

So as of January 16, after living in the Chi for four years I have never once ate in Chinatown. Like where have I been and why have I been sleeping on Chinatown!??

My girl Kel and I hit 8am service Sunday and she has a lunch date with one of her colleagues and her associates. I am starving after service so she invites me along for Dim Sum in Chinatown. I am down.. I have yet to eat in Chinatown nor have I tried Dim Sum. Like I've heard of it, but had no clue what it was. It means "Touch of Heart" and is similar to that of Spanish style tapas, where's Chinese appetizers including rolls, dumplings and noodles are served daily during brunch times.

First, can I say that Sunday mornings in Chinatown are the jump off? It took us at least 20 minutes to find a park. People were walking down the street, stopped in the street... I guess Dim Sum on Sunday morning is that deal.

So we go to a restaurant called The Phoenix. Let's just say the wait was extremely long, but since we were late, we were able to sit down immediately with our party. And to top it off, there's no waiting to eat. The ladies are moving through the tables with their carts of dim sum, and since a few of the ladies at the table were natives, they start grabbing dishes off the cart and passing them around explaining what each dish was, what it contained, and if we would like it. I tried fried squid (basically calamari), steamed shrimp dumplings, shomai, veggie pastries, fried pork dumplings, Chinese broccoli, and some other items I really can't recall. The Jasmine tea was pure goodness and I think I got full in a matter of minutes. It was wonderful! Forget Yolk on Sunday morning... I think Dim Sum might have to be a ritual. Plus, who knew that Chinese food could give you the 'itis??!

So I definitely recommend getting Dim Sum in Chinatown. It's fairly cheap (appetizers range from $3-10; for a table of 8, we only spent $20) and filling!

Inauguration Update

Okay, so after weeks of not updating the blog, going to DC, barely getting back, getting sick and finally feeling life is back to normal, I can update you all on my trip to DC for Inauguration. Can I say simply AMAAAAZING! I have to say it is definitely a trip for the books, but outside of that to be on the national mall on Tuesday, January 20 at 12 noon EST and witness the swearing in of the first Black president! PRICELESS! So below is my recount of my 5 day/4 night trip to the District.

Friday:
Day: I get and chill at my neo's spot in the city to chill until T gets in. We meet my BFF, Scott at
Alero on U Street for happy hour. Great margaritas, horrible food and service. Get a slight buzz and ready to get the evening popping. Meet some cool folks who worked on the Obama campaign and went to 'house with BFF.

8:00pm: T gets to my neo's place where we decide that Park will be the party of choice for the night.

10:00pm:
Park is cool. However, we pull up for valet, and we notice that there are alot of folks from the other persuasion in line. Our girl makes note of this and T questions if we are coming on the right night. We hear Common is supposed to be giving a performance (he did not) and hear our homies from HU have a table, so decide to give up the $40 to get in.

The crowd is definitely one for the movies... all races, ages, sexualities. It's interesting. We find that the crowd is liver on the 2nd floor and head to the bar for a drink. (T and I decide that since we have a 45 min ride to B-more, that we won't be getting tipsy). Run into the HU homies, where we find that the pre-game with Guitar Hero was real. These cats are OOC drunk and it's still the beginning of the night. And to top it off, they are ordering bottles of Cuervo. Who does this? If I could only put into words the kind of madness that these guys were on, you wouldn't believe, so therefore I will just say that designer drugs are not what's up.

We catch glimpses of Common, Will.i.am and
Lance Gross fine self. He's just sexy, but he's shorter than I thought he would be. Congrats to him and Eva though. We try to avoid the thirsty ones, you know the guys who just aren't taking "no" as an answer.

Saturday:
Day: T and I go to Columbia Mall to try to find shoes for my formal dress (I was not able to get the tik to the YP4O Gala but was hoping I could come up on one or another gala/ball).

Evening: We ride an hour in the dark to Montogomery Cty, MD to pregame with my BFF. Only to find there's not much drank, and folks are just really chilling. We find out that we were 45 minutes from DC and decide to be out.

Night: We hit
Posh and meet up with our Chi-town homie, Cam. It's free and they're playing old school R&B with the hits. Cool! It's also a restaurant, and the food here looked absolutely delicious. I seriously have to try next time I'm in the District. Downfall: It was crowded, too crowded. There was no where to sit or stand. However, I did meet a cutie pie from NYC/Jersey who was cooler than cool.

Late Night: Hit
Busboys and Poets for food, where the wait is long but it's one of the only 3 spots that is open late night. Plus, I have to do something that is DC right? As T and I are waiting for our table, and waiting on the rest of our party to arrive, a drunk man falls into me, causing me to stumble. We think that he was struck by someone and fear that a fight is about to break out only to find that he's just extremely drunk. (It's really one of those moments you just had to be there, LOL!) Shaken up, we go to our table only to be waited by the worst server in life. Took her forever to get our orders, she forgot she took our order, forgot folks' meals and tooks over 30 minutes to get our check. Busboys was open for 24 hours inauguration weekend and obviously either wasn't ready for the crowd, or didn't pull their best servers on deck.

Sunday:
Day: Since we got in at 7am, we decided to sleep in until 2. We were supposed to transfer places to stay (from B-more to Montogomery Cty.), we had to take the rental back and figure out a way to get to my girl's crib. Well, we ran into some issues, since we found out that streets were blocked off due to the "We Are One" concert and decided to change at T's girl's spot and go to the new digs later.

Night: Since we don't have to worry about driving, T and I get it started with the pre-game with wine (who knew that DC does not sell liquor on Sundays, and do not sell it in their grocery stores - I want them to do better) and decide tonight is about getting it popping! LOL! We get to our friend's party at
Coco Sala, with no wait, no fuss and start partying away! My #7 and her brother are there. The music is hitting and the cuties are all around, plus the Chi-town homies are in the building. What more can you ask for? I have a moment where I lose my camera, however my linesister's brother picks it up and saves the night. We also find out that the girl we were suppose to stay with flakes out on us and we are able to stay with our boy (I absolutely love him...he forever looks out).

Monday:
Day: Another lazy day...and pretty much nothing.

Night: We stay at my neo's. T gets prepped for the gala. Neo and I try to hit Lotus. We stand in line for 20 minutes and it does not move. Did I mention that it was 0 degrees all weekend? I'm impatient, my neo is cold, sowe decide to hit my boy's party at
Midtown. It's a light crowd, which is okay with me. It's the last night so I'm okay with it. A new homie buys me a drink and I had already pregamed on the way... however I was coming down with a cold, not enough sleep, not eating right = my body shuts down on me. I get too drunk and have to leave the club and end the night. (Theres more to this story, but details will stay b/w parties involved. I will forever love my neo and be bonded to my new homie).

Tuesday:
8:00am: I wake up to find out that my my phone is now in the hands of the new homie (I was happy it wasn't lost, because I always manager to lose phones) and manage to pull it together to put on 3 layers to stand on the mall for the swearing in. We get to the train station to find that the line to get on, looks like you'd thought they were giving away free money (I know there was an extra 2 million people in the city but don't think DC properly prepared). We take the train one stop to find out that we will have to walk the rest of the way. The amount of people we see on our way to the mall is unreal!

10:30am:
We make it to the mall and we are by the National Monument. But we have a clear view of the jumbotron. We find out that we are standing near
Clifton Davis, brotha from Amen. The energy is amazing. People are chanting, holding up their "Arrest Bush" signs, and rocking their Barack-a-wear. We boo when Bush comes up on the screen and chear when they flash to Obama. It's amazing... we're cold, but we try not to let it faze us. And then the moment comes... Chief Justice Roberts asks the Senator if he's ready to take the oath. The moment President Obama raised his hand and said the words "I Barack Hussein Obama" I start crying. Everyone starts cheering. I look over and see T is crying and we hug each other. It is now complete! His speech was amazing.. he told Bush about himself and told the American people what he plans to do. The minute the helicopter whisked Bush away everyone cheered and waved good-bye. Everyone was on cloud 9.

12:30pm: We walk from the mall to the train station. It took us 2 hours to do this.

3:00pm: We get food, T looks for memorabilia, and we venture back to get packed up and to the airport. We missed our flights but figured we would be able to get out that night and back to work Wednesday.

7:00pm: We get to the airport to find out our flights were practically the last flights out that day and would have to leave out in the morning. T was able to get the last seat on a US Airways flight that had a layover in Philly. United basically tells me I'm S.O.L. However, since my flight was on US Airways to NYC and then my connect put me on United, I talk to US. I was at the counter for over an hour but brotha man worked it out so that I had a seat on the flight from Philly to Chicago but had to fly standby on the flight out of BWI to Philly.

Talk about being on an emotional rollercoaster when you fly standby. You can only hope someone didn't set their alarm or got lost on the way to the airport so you can snatch up their seat... and it happened. I was able to snatch up 1 of 2 seats that were available. Yes! God definitely answers prayers.

Like I said, a trip for the books. Good times all around! The crazy things we encountered in addition to the swearing in are unimaginable. However, I only wish I'd known that if I was going to miss our flights and not leave out until Wednesday that I had gone to the Neighborhood Ball. I had gotten asked by my boy's boy on Monday to go..ah well! Next time maybe.

I will close with saying it feels great to be an American :)