boo this woman

all week i've been looking forward to having dinner with my peeps tomorrow night at mojave grille. one of my co-workers has raved about this place and i've been wanting to try it forever. so i sent out the evite and got the responses. i called today to make a reservation and all their big tables are booked. i have to do call ahead seating tomorrow and they'll add an extra seat to a four-top (is that restaurant speak?).

i'm sure to any normal person this isn't a big deal. but now i'm scrambling to find a back-up restaurant in case they can't accommodate us. and i had my mouth FIXED for a chorizo & chicken empanada.

but yeah basically i fkd up. i should've called the restaurant earlier but who knew this place was poppin like that? i mean it's byob for goodness' sake. there are four other ppl with their mouths fixed for mojave too and i let them down!

already preparing for next year

i bought four boxes of this stuff over the weekend and they don't expire until 2010 so that gives me plenty o time to come up with something new for madness part 8 (oh em gee!).

so yeah like back in 2002 i had my first ever margarita madness party. i don't remember what inspired it or even when i fell in love with margaritas (my roomie used to always try to get me to do tequila shots and i'd be like nah b i'm good) but i do remember the first madness being a sausage party almost (thank goodness for fa!) with real margarita glasses and salt and paper umbrellas. i made food too...fajitas i think.

anyways, this somehow became an annual tradition for me and part 7 took place a few weeks ago. it's better to me now that i have a proper yard. last year it was more bbq like with the grill and everything but this year i went the catering route and was all the better for it. it was nice to actually enjoy the party instead of running back and forth with the food. the featured margarita flavors this year were mango and pineapple (i liked the mango best...last year pineapple was the hit). of course there was f r a l s a © jamal. and new this year was a dj and a photo booth. i think everyone enjoyed themselves.


i can't believe it's been 7 years. i'm in a long-term relationship with a party. lol :o(

i'm on the beach!

© peaches

i couldn't possibly let july go by without posting at least one entry. especially since certain people have been on my back about blogging. trust me when i say a lot has been going on this month...it's all good stuff though.

like for instance, my homies and i took a mental health day a couple of weeks ago and headed down to the beach. it was the most awesome day of the summer so far (yes, awesomer than madness which i'll post abt another day) and i'm so glad i decided to go. we got down there a little before noon and stayed until early evening. with the beach being less than an hour away from home we were back in no time.



it's funny because as a child i HATED the beach. i had bad memories of sandy crotch and seagulls. i didn't like it at all until we had a family reunion picnic on american beach in florida. i got the best tan ever and collected some really nice seashells. ever since then i've tried to recreate that beach experience and i hadn't been successful until now. we all had so much fun we're thinking of renting a beach house for a week next summer. i wonder what all that entails. but yeah, hopefully we'll get to go back again before the summer is over.

they're all gone

this photo was taken after my grad school commencement ceremony. the three people pictured here with me were my closest friends during college and beyond -- our little jersey crew. they have all passed away.

i met warren and kyle my freshman year of college. one of my roommates was dating their friend and we'd all hang out on the wknds. warren was the oldest friend i'd had at that point so i used to call him "uncle warren" just to annoy him. kyle was really skinny and fond of singing/rapping along loudly to whatever warren was playing in his bronco.

i first met kira the summer before ninth grade. we were in a summer science program together at at&t. we would go on to be friends in high school since we had a lot of classes together and we ended up going to the same college and grad school. we weren't really close until college where i became her unofficial roommate first semester sophomore year (she had a single and i lived off campus) and official roommates from junior year through grad school.

we experienced a lot together -- all of us. good times and bad times. good relationships and bad relationships. a whole lot of fun though. even as each of us branched off into our own things we still all kept in touch.

kyle died first. i can't even remember what year...i wanna say 2001. it was cancer. i remember the last time i spoke to him on the phone we joked about his chemo. i asked him if he still had hair on his ass and he said he did...lol. it was kira who called to tell me he had passed. i didn't make it to his funeral.

warren had a heart attack in 2003. kyle's girlfriend called to tell me and i had to call kira. it was too much for her so she didn't make the service. i had to go though...it was my very first funeral. out of all of them i was probably closest to warren. he was like a brother to me and i could talk to him about anything. he used to clown my boyfriends and wash my car for free at his detailing spot. i still miss him so much.

kira passed two weeks ago. two days after giving birth to her first child. i blogged about attending her wedding last year and her baby shower in april. i'm still not exactly sure how it happened but i was devastated by the news. her funeral was harder than i thought it would be. seeing her family grieving was so heartbreaking because i know firsthand how close they all are. i just can't believe she's gone.

i feel some kind of way about all of them being gone. i never imagined they wouldn't be here with me. i can't even wrap up this entry with some they'll always be with me cliche because i'm still processing.

i really do miss them all.

i told y'all!

it really is baby year. remember the wedding i attended last october? well, the baby shower is next month. i'm so excited for her :)

so yeah i think i'm gonna shoot for my own baby in 2010.

let's do this, sean!

(hahahaha)

a wake & a wedding

during this recent phase of my dance life i've been fortunate enough to cross paths with some wonderful people. this past saturday one was laid to rest while another started a new life.

normally, i don't do death. i've only ever been to one funeral in my life and i don't look forward to having to attend more. but i felt compelled to attend miss v's wake, not only to accompany my sister but to show my appreciation for who she was - a woman dedicated to helping others. she was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year - too late for much to be done about - and was only 31. the many lives she touched during her time was made apparent by the long, winding queue outside the funeral home.

later in the day, the receptionist at the dance school got married. only 19! she left for florida the day after to live and attend school. i'm going to miss her being around but i wish her all the best with her new life.

sittin' on blades like kristi yamaguchi

the feet of a champion

a friend of mine asked me to help chaperone his youth group on a day trip to the city this past saturday. since i love the kids i happily obliged. our excursion included brunch at maroons, ice skating at chelsea piers, and crowd navigation at rockefeller center.

maroons is still yummy as ever and they've increased their portion sizes since the last time i was there (over a year ago). the waffle entree comes with four waffles which no one in our group was able to finish. and i don't know how they make their grits but they are the creamiest i've ever had.

now, i hadn't been ice skating since 1990 maybe so i am proud to say i didn't fall once. i'll even venture to say that i had FUN. i still don't know how to stop so i did a lot of skating to the wall, but i was able to take the curves and i managed to turn a couple of times too (purely by accident since i was trying not to fall). i only wish the rink had been a little less crowded with small children. i really wanna go again in the near future.

i hate crowds immensely so i'm not even gonna talk about rockefeller center. here are a couple of photos instead.

rah rah rah

i have to give a presentation on sunday.

yep. sunday.

i might've mentioned previously that i'm chairing my alumnae chapter's annual benefit this year. well, sunday is our holiday mixer/membership drive and this is where we kick off the push for the benefit. it's my job to get these ladies excited about selling tickets. so i'm taking it back to 8th grade book reports for mrs. reed. this basically boils down to putting my best foot forward.

the only way these women will be excited is if i'm excited too. so i'm pulling out all the stops. i've written my speech and i'm working on accompanying visual aids. i've developed a ticket-selling strategy that seems simple. i'm going to be a ppl person!

bleh...to know me is to know that i am not a ppl person. however, i am the same girl who cried on the stand for mock trial while i testified about killing my unborn child with cigarettes and alcohol, so i might be able to pull off "ppl person" for a couple of hours.

in other news, i have a much needed hair appt tomorrow. i wanna cut it some more but i'm gonna have wait until i can afford regular maintenance. tomorrow is also game/fight night at my bff's house. i'm looking forward to playing taboo and eating chicken!

mc eat-a-lot

my friends and i decided to participate in a weight loss challenge amongst ourselves. the challenge is to see who can lose the highest percentage of their body weight in ten weeks. you have to lose it by diet & exercise but there is no set regimen for the challenge. we all put in $20 and who ever wins gets the money.

it officially started last week when we turned in our weights and measurements. i'm all hyped...i've cut out my usual vices save for the once a week treat, upped my exercise from once a week to three times a week, started snacking between meals...y'know, taking it serious. these other hookers are eating bacon and eggs and potatoes, chinese food, bread with copious amounts of olive oil. i'm like hello?? what are you doing?? my bff will not come to cardio with me...i ask her everytime if she wants to go and she keeps turning me down.

oh well.

i'm about to take ALL their money.

i'll finally be able to buy my duvet cover & pillow shams from west elm.

over the wknd

i had lunch with The Ex
went to drea's opening
sipped pomegranate mojitos
cried over the hogans' impending divorce
spent some quality time with my sis
had no idea how to comfort my mom's grief
watched the first hour and 15min of harry potter and the goblet of fire

the wknd before i played spades with the ladies
met some of my morehouse brothers in the area
whipped up on one of them in scrabble (i was 2nd place)
visited my newly married friend and his family
fell asleep on their couch watching martin season 2
had a lovely sunday brunch

i've been meaning to expound on a number of these topics but eh. if i'm thinking more clearly maybe i will soon.

wedding bells

yesterday i received a save the date card informing me that my college roommate is getting married in the fall. after screaming omg for a few minutes (out of both shock and excitement) i logged on to check out their wedding website. it's a really cute site but i couldn't help but feel sad after viewing it. there's a quiz on there about the couple and there are well wishes from ppl who know them as a couple. i don't know them as a couple. i have no idea where they met, what they like to do, how good they are for each other. i dunno, i guess mostly i'm sad that i'm not a part of her life like that anymore.

anyway, this makes wedding number 3 that i'll be attending this year: one in june, one in august, and this one in october. i'll finally be able to put those dresses in my closet to good use!