Spring Fling

This past weekend NYC got its first taste of spring and I couldn't have been more excited!!!! In addition to being happy that there was a break in cold weather (it was short-lived as I'm freezing today), it was a totally indulgent weekend for me. Indulgent because instead of doing something productive before playtime, I opted to play all weekend!
 
Friday night: 
In search of sheets at Century 21, I came up empty handed. That was in the home department...In ladies' shoes on the other hand, I scored these babies which I gladly broke out on Saturday...

 Me waiting to get my brows done at Bloomies Sat. afternoon

Saturday:
I had every intention of going to the laundromat and possibly prepping the bedroom for painting, but never happened. I ended up meeting with The Stormy One and heading down to the Meatpacking District where we had a blast.

First, we went over to the Hotel Gansevoort for afternoon cocktails and snacks where we were met by a couple of The Stormy One's friends.

We even ran into a beautiful bride and groom and a random bouquet of airborne balloons.

Then it was off to check out some contemporary/pop art at French artist Mr. Brainwash's "Icons" exhibit. The work is Warhol-inspired and completely crazy!!!! I sooo enjoyed walking through the gallery space.

Healthcare Hero!

After my eyes had been visually stimulated, it was time to tempt my tummy with some grub from The Standard Grill, a restaurant of the Standard Hotel. I ordered the Organic Berkshire Pork Chop with Crispy Brussels Sprouts, Shallots, and Bacon (yummy tummy oh yeah). The Stormy One had the Creekstone Farm New York Strip with Crispy Potatoes with Smoked Paprika Aioli (she seemed to be pleased te he he).

With our hungry satiated, we headed uptown to meet up with Miss Scorsese at Cafe Lalo for dessert. We laughed while The Stormy caused trouble for the clearly flustered waitress.

S

Per usual, Cafe Lalo had a packed house

Sunday:
After church, Chi-Town Stepper and I made the now traditional Sunday stop at Tonnie's in Harlem for cupcakes. But this time, not for myself (Ok I bought and ate 2 before making it down the block). The main purpose of my stop was to pick up a couple of cupcakes for a friend's bday.

The 3 of us headed to the Upper Westside to check out "Our Family Wedding" (trust me, you can wait until the dvd comes out) and then grabbed burgers (turkey w/ mushrooms for me, beef for them) at a spot on Columbus Ave.

And that my friends, was my weekend void of anything remotely responsible in terms of productivity. But I welcomed in spring with open arms!!!!!

Dear Mr. Tyler Perry,

It is widely known that I have not been a fan of your creative endeavors. While I respect and applaud your business savvy, as well as your dogged determination, I had very little, extremely low regard for your talent. I believe that as a Black person with influence in the media, you cannot waste it on projects that aren't of substance and quality. I felt in examining the craft from a technical standpoint, you needed to step it up a bit. But who am I?

Taste and quality are highly subjective. These things are learned. Taught to us over time by gatekeepers who want us to buy into what they believe a good story to be. But you, you Mr. Perry, you eschew the machine and do things your way. And I'm finally thankful you did.

Continue ruminating...

Up In The Air

Last Friday, The Chi-Town Stepper and I caught a showing of George Clooney's Oscar nominated movie "Up In The Air." I hadn't expected any part of the movie to resonate with my own life. Clooney plays a professional downsizer. In other words, he flies across the country firing people for a living. He is also a motivational speaker. Although, his particular brand of motivation advises people not to get too close to things and other people. He is estranged from his family and hasn't had any meaningful romantic relationships. He lives a lonely and isolated life.

In a rare moment of being in his Omaha apartment, we see that he has never taken the time to put any personal touches to the place. The apartment is drab, cold, void of personality, and thereby, detached and void of life. It is clear that he doesn't like spending time there. It does not appear to be the home of anyone enjoying their life. This was the part that resonated with me. Sad but true:-(

Continue ruminating...

What I Got For Christmas

This Christmas I was set free. Free to pursue the things that really matter. Free to determine who will be in the inner and outer courts of my life. Free to imagine and manifest the type of life I was created to have. And most importantly, free to be the woman I was created to be. In truth, this process of liberation started quite some time ago.

Continue ruminating....

Feed Your Passions

This week I had the pleasure of visiting the Ana Tzarev Gallery on West 57th Street (between 5th and 6th Ave) to check out her Grace of Africa exhibit. The gallery itself was a two level beauty. Visitors to the gallery are greeted by two golden Buddha statues. A little less than halfway into the room, you encounter the grand gold, marble, and glass sprial staircase that takes you to the second floor which gives you a magnificent view onto 57th Street. The painting featured on the main wall seen in the above photo of a young girl in Africa is one of my favorites. But truthfully, there were so many things to focus my eyes on I could hardly keep still.

Above is a broad view of many of the paintings featured. The bold use of color and texture don't come across in these pictures, but take my word for it when I say you missed a great treat if you didn't get a chance to check it out. The exhibit leave tomorrow.

I was astonished to learn that Ms. Tzarev is a 72 year old Croatian woman living in Europe. Looking at the passion and compassion for her subjects left me with the assumption that Ms. Tzarev was a person of African descent and much younger. That'll learn me for making assumptions. The artist leads a disciplined life where she paints daily. I can't find the time to make daily blog posts, but this woman more than double my age finds the time to feed her passions.

Ms. Tzarev is an inspiring woman indeed. I have long been a novice art lover. One of my goals for the new year is to become more advanced in my knowledge of art (theater, dance, visual, musical, literary, etc.). I'll feed my passion for the things that add beauty and understanding to our lives. I implore you to do the same. To learn more about the Ana Tzarev Gallery, please visit her site http://www.anatzarev.com/Default.asp

The bookstore (so stylishly designed in its simplicity, I almost thought it was another exhibit) contains many affordable books and reprints. I will be back. It just might be one of the most beautiful places in New York City (I can't believe I've passed it for years and never knew it was there)! Oh, and how much cooler did she become when I learned she uses the gallery space to host events for various artistic and civic organizations to raise cultural and social awareness??!!!

Witnessing an ARK

While I sometimes believe that general customer service is dead, I like to think that simple kindness and service to our fellow human beings is still alive and kicking. Unfortunately, I rarely get to witness many Acts of Random Kindness (ARK). I haven't lost hope and faith that as a society we want to be nice to one another, I just wonder at times if we know how to be of service. But this morning, I witnessed joyful service and 2 hours later, I'm still smiling about it.

A very pregnant woman got on the train and just as I was about to offer up my seat to her, an older lady jumped up before I could. But as she was getting up, a young man was trying to signal to the pregnant woman that she could have his seat. She ended up taking the seat from the older woman, but then the young man gave his seat to the older lady and he then sat next to me. All of this fuss was made for one woman who got off at the next stop. I had never seen such acts of kindness during a rush hour train ride in New York City (if you live in NYC, you know how coveted those rush hour seats are). It was a kind and comical scene of musical chairs.

While I can't be certain that the gestures made any huge difference in the woman's outlook for the day, I do know at least for that moment, she was provided an opportunity to smile and be thankful. We never know what any stranger is thinking (heck a lot of times we don't know what those close to us are thinking), but we can always give people a reason to smile and feel more valued if we practice building ARKs. What's a small, but meaningful gesture you can make today to make someone smile and feel valued?

Love Is Hard

For anyone who says love is easy, I'm going to assume you are either not offering REAL love or you are young and don't know any better. I have fallen into both categories in my 30 years. However, with age hopefully comes wisdom and new perspectives. But what is love exactly? Lauryn Hill (pre- Jamaican baby daddy) told us, but how many really took the time to listen to the lyrics or refer back to the original text of the song? "Let me patient. Let me be kind. Make me unselfish without being blind. Though I may suffer, I'll envy it not. And endure what comes cause He's all that I got." She was laying out the definition of love. Otherwise found in 1 Corinthians 13 and is the following: patient, kind, does not envy or boast, is not proud, is not rude, is not self-seeking (apparently no reality tv show exhibits love), is not easily angered, keeps no records of wrongs (yep it forgives!), does not delight in evil (most blogs would fail the test right here), rejoices at the truth (maybe Maury's mission is love - You are NOT the father), always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, and lastly, it NEVER FAILS!

Over the past few months, I've tried to use the above criteria as a sort of litmus test to see if I'm acting in true love at all times. Most of us get about 25% of that list correct on a daily basis and on some Sundays and Christmas we might even get 50% of it right. The greatest of the commandments are boiled down to one word: L-O-V-E. It's really that simple. Don't believe me? Let's see...

If you operate in true love you can easily overlook the offense of another because you understand that their actions may be motivated by something internal that has nothing to do with you. When a person is dealt a blow in life you aren't joyful because of it, rather you try to help them back up. When you see injustice and deception being promoted and lived out around you, you do your best to inject the truth. When you have a really rough period of life and you can't see a better day coming, you keep hope and faith that even though you can't SEE it, you KNOW it's coming (I don't see oxygen but I KNOW I breath it.). When someone you are supposed to love is being an obnoxious crawdad making it hard to even like them, you be patient with them cause you know all they need is a little understanding. When disagreements happen, you aren't too prideful to admit you are wrong or work towards a resolution because you know that a prideful heart will get you the very thing you don't want. I could go on and on. Trust me I could.

Yes, I've learned that we are to love everyone, not just the cute fun people in our lives who always agree with us. So the next time you toss about the word love, make sure you are willing to uphold those qualities because without them, you are just in strong liking. Now, I admit it's a lot of work to do this love thing and we are generally a society of lazy narcissist, but just as with any other muscle, the more you work it the stronger it'll get! Love you dolls!!!

Thankful For The Bad Things

Last week a friend sent a group of us an email titled "Thank You Cards." She was planning to send thank you cards to all the guys she dated in the past who didn't treat her right because they have made her all the more appreciative of the man she now has. It got me thinking about what "bad" things am I thankful for? For everything has a season and yes, there is a season of turmoil just as there is a season of rest. Here's some of the turmoil I'm thankful for and why: 

1. I'm thankful that I spent years of my life depressed because now I can appreciate joy and peace. Also, because I know the battle firsthand I can speak from experience when I tell people it doesn't have to be that way forever. 
2. I'm thankful that I had a broken heart (several times) because if the happiness experienced with the wrong guy could've made me feel such loss, I'm confident that the joy and happiness brought on by the right guy will be mind blowing. 
3. I'm thankful that I experienced the death of a person close to me because I made memories with them while they were alive that will stay with me forever and their impression on my life is truly unforgettable. Those memories are what make me smile instead of cry when I think of them.  
4. I'm glad that my big ideas for my life didn't pan out exactly as I planned because now I've made room for God to show me His plans which are always better than any I could've come up with personally. 
5. I'm thankful that I spend a lot of time underground on the train because each time I come above ground I'm thankful for the simple pleasure of being able to see the sky and breath semi-fresh air. 
6. I'm thankful that the church I attend is so far out in West Nowhere Brooklyn because I get to spend time on the ride hanging with some pretty awesome friends. 
7. I'm thankful that I fell into a job I would've never picked on my own because it has made me all the more thankful of knowing my purpose and moving towards it. It's also taught me things I'm unsure how I would've learned any place else. 
8. I'm thankful that I've disagreed with family and friends because the fact that we still speak afterwards and still show love tells me that the strength of our bonds are super glue tight. 
9. I'm glad that I can witness friends and family be honest about their struggles in life because I can gain wisdom from their experiences. 
10. I'm thankful that I've experienced deception because knowing it was deception means I now know the truth. 

Life After The NFL

When I came across this article I almost didn't recognize Ricky Williams without his previously signature dreds and I most certainly didn't expect to find out that he was training to be an acupuncturist. It seems Mr. Williams has given consideration to my Facebook status post from yesterday and is a man concerned about the legacy that will walk away from the grave with his mourners. His desire to care for the whole athlete (physical, spiritual, and mental) is to be applauded. I'm glad there are athletes out there who desire to do good for society and make a lasting impact other than the Hall of Fame notoriety. Check out the article here.

NY Times Ricky Williams is Hoping to Heal