Goodbye Summer: Part 1

Labor Day has passed and a new school year starts. Though the weather lingers, summer is pretty much over. Even though I look forward to Sweater Season like it’s a holiday, it’s so hard to say goodbye to lazy days and shorts. And I can’t let the summer end without writing about the many amazing things I got to do. From concerts to hours spent at museums and yummy restaurants; I want to take this week to share my favorite moments from the summer of 2010.

Getting My Culture On: Museum Visits with Dave and Jesus

I feel no shame in admitting how lonely I am in New York City without my friends. People can live in one of the most exciting places in the world but if they don’t have partners in crime to share it with, they might as well live in Nowhere, USA.

So my roommate and his boyfriend took pity on me (or I guilt-tripped them) and let me tag along on some of their excursions this summer. Some of my favorite moments from this summer have been with them, going to the American Woman exhibit at the Brooklyn museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, checking out the Brooklyn Pride festival or just having dinner and talking.

With Dave and Jesus moving in together in October, I'll have to content myself with many visits to their sweet digs in Prospect park.

I can live with that.

Buh bye.

I said goodbye to a lot of good people this week as I made my move to New York. I considered staying but I just didn't want to so away I went.

So this a proper shout out to my loved ones: you guys are too special to forget: )

That's me and my hairstylist/confidante/mentor Yolanda. She's a Betty, right?

The other pic is of me and Brandon; one of the best people I know.

Anyway, I'm back to blogging from New York. I hope you'll stick it out with me as I transition from student to badass _______

I haven't found a job yet so that part's blank.

Stay tuned...

New York, I Barely Knew You

Readers, this past summer has been one of the best of my life and leaving New York was one of the most unnatural things I’ve ever had to do. Sorry for the dramatics but it just felt wrong.

Sigh.

I’m going to miss taking the subway everywhere and walking everywhere else. I’m going to miss hearing about nine different languages being spoken as I make my way to midtown. I’m going to miss passing the New York Times offices and the Parsons School of Design. I’m going to miss talking to random people who always surprise me with the kindness that is stereotypically not New York.

I’m going to miss the mariachi bands that would come in the subway cars and entertain the passengers. I’m going to miss coming home from a night out when everyone else is going to work. I’m going to miss all the vegan restaurants.
I’m going to miss laughing to the point of tears with my sister; I’m going to miss her awesome friends. I’m going to miss feeling at home when I’m surrounded by thousands of strangers.

Looking back at this summer, I realize all those moments of complete panic and sleep deprivation were cushioned with these amazing moments of satisfaction with the work I was doing. The summer I once felt I was wasting away on my sister’s couch with my laptop was actually filled with these great little excursions.

My last day in New York was spent writing posts for Lovelyish.com. It almost feels wrong to say I was working when I enjoy what I do so much. I’m really blessed that "work" happens to be something that encompasses so much of what I love. So yeah, I blogged most of the day away, baked some chocolate chip cookies, got in the shower about an hour late, loaded up some bags with the goodies Amber put together and took the R and D trains into the city.

While it was fun going to Times Square and doing all the other “touristy” things, my favorite moments in New York were spent just chilling and enjoying my surroundings. So it was fitting that I spent my last night eating some vegan cookies, enjoying the perfect summer weather and watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind on a big screen in Bryant Park.
It was awesome; the perfect way to end a perfect trip people. We got to the park about three hours before the movie even started and there were already shitloads of people sprawled out everywhere. So we took our blanket, found a pretty good spot, spread that baby out and chatted as we waited for my sister and the moon.

The movie is a favorite from childhood so there were no surprises there but watching it again with a bunch of people who all had the same appreciation for it was just nice.

After the move and a tinkle, we headed to a bar called Hell’s Kitchen (in Hell’s Kitchen) for a few late night drinks before heading back to Brooklyn.

And that my friends, was my last night in New York.

I know this is the part where I say it’s been an incredible journey and thank everyone for coming along for the ride. Puhleeeaaaasssseeee, I didn’t get to blog about half the stuff I did this summer. There are loads of experiences that I wrote about in my journal that I will be sharing with you all in the next week. Not to mention the fact that I am still working for the boss lady.

That’s right, my internship has been extended into the fall peeps! My story isn’t close to being over : )

Click here for more pics.

I Solemnly Swear That I Am Up To No Good

Have you guys seen Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yet? Wasn't it bananas?!?!?

My god, talk about information overload; by the time I watched the midnight showing, I was swimming in wizardry. To prepare for the 6th movie me and my temp roomie (who is a HUGE fan) had a Harry Potter marathon. It was insane but so much fun; a great way to spend a Tuesday. Amber decorated the living room and made butter beer.

Then we got dressed up - cuz that's how we roll- and went to see the movie. We were scared of missing the previews so we were pretty much jogging. The theaters in New York, btw, are huge. Our theater was on the NINTH floor. Is this weird? Maybe not to you but I'm not used to having to run a marathon just to watch a movie!

Click here for more pics.
What did you guys think of the movie? Yay or nay?

A 4th of July Freakshow

Hola amigos! How did everyone enjoy their fourth of July festivities? Did you go to the beach or bbq at home? Did you blow something up? Oh the great American way...

I usually don't do much for the 4th of July but decided I wasn't staying home. I'm in New York bitches! What the hell am I going to stay home for?

No, I went out in the hot weather and walked my ass off (literally, I do believe I dropped a size on Saturday). While this great, magical place we call NYC offered up such entertainment as Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest 2009 and fireworks, I opted for the unbeaten path and went to the International African Arts Festival with my sister Shola and her awesome friend Shuf. It was a lot of fun; I haven't laughed that hard in public in a long time! And the pieces (jewelry, clothing etc) were incredibly authentic. I'll be featuring a lot of the artists in future blogs so keep your eyes open for that. I also had amazing food (it is me); vegan red velvet cake, vegan meat pies.

It was an all around good time and I'm glad I had a chance to go.

On Sunday, I met up with a friend at Coney Island. The first thing we did was attend the Coney Island Circus Sideshow. It was really entertaining in that campy way and I think they were going for that so mission accomplished.

The highlight of the show was definitely Heather Holliday. The cute as a button chick swallows swords and breathes fire; every guy's dream girl right? Serpentina's set was a snoozefest! She came out on stage looking wasted and proceeded to walk around with her disinterested snake.

Moving on to the rest of the day; am I the only one who didn't realize Coney Island was on the beach? The place was packed but it was beautiful out; great 4th of July weekend weather. People were even fishing and they were catching everything from crabs to cat fish to empty bear cans. But they weren't throwing these poor animals back which made me think: are they actually going to eat what they caught? I mean cool... I guess. Why not? Ignore the third eye that fish has, it probably has nothing to do with toxic chemicals. I actually saw one man using a chicken lap as bait because that's normal. Let's forget evolution and the food chain and feed a chicken's carcass to a fish. Yep, makes sense. I'm sorry, I know I'm getting all "tree hugger" on you guys. It's a free country.

You couldn't pay me to put a toe in that murky water though.

P.S. Here are some pictures if you'd like to sneak a peek

My Neighbor’s either kind of hot or I need a new prescription.

So I didn’t sleep last night (which looking back now didn’t do me any good). I’m tired, I’m sweaty and I have a workload that doesn’t ever get smaller. So I go the kitchen to refuel with some water.
I’m chilling, filling up my cup, humming Smooth Criminal to myself (shout out to the music man). I look out the window and there he is, just standing on his roof.
He’s buff, he’s shirtless, he has tattoos, from far away he looks attractive and I have a camera. What would you do in my situation?

I’m a writer, I document everything.

I Think I Have Hepatitis

You know how I’m having this crazy love affair with NYC? Well, we had our first fight. People, this place SUCKS when it rains. I got home last night (after heading to Midtown then back to Brooklyn then JFK) and all I wanted to do was take a shower. With bleach. I think I may have hepatitis. There are things in my hair that I’m afraid to even touch and I just straightened it yesterday! So now I look like a black Carrot Top; not a good look. Surely, there’s a better way to get around the city when it’s raining. What’s that? Drive? Yeah, that makes sense... I still hate driving.

Anyway, now that the venting is over, what’s up? I know I know; what happened to once a week right? Well, I’ve been so busy blogging for the other internships that I haven’t had time to write anything on mine. Ch-ch-check for yourself.

But I’m here now! What’s good? What’s poppin’ lockin’ yo? I heard about the Magic... Bummer. So are they completely out now or do they get to play again? Is there a second place prize like they do when you’re in elementary or primary school?

I’m still enjoying my stay in New York despite the bipolar weather. Here’s the gist on what’s been up:

Work:
You know when you mess up big time and it’s made worse because you have absolutely no one to blame but yourself? No? I guess that’s just my story. Well, it’s been a week since I royally screwed up at my internship. Some of you were asking what I did. Well amigos, I missed a really important meeting. I didn’t oversleep; I was actually awake writing a post for the blog. I had no excuse whatsoever. If I could beat the crap out of myself, I totally would because that was beyond dumb of me. And then when I was sent on an errand, I left a very important package with the receptionist without having him sign something. MY bad again. It was a very crappy week.

But I wallowed in pity about it and now I’m just working harder and being smarter about things. I started my second internship at Xanga.com; the offices are right across from the New York Times offices so that’s cool. Boss Lady 2 is really nice and I’m learning a lot from that one as well.

Boss Lady 1 sent me to represent the mag at a blog bash to celebrate Zandile Blay and her blog The Blay Report Thursday night. Zandile is a Ghana beauty who just happens to work as a writer and stylist. And she's so very nice. Her party took me to SoHo for a shindig at Bjorn Borg; an underwear shop. I walked over and found myself pleasantly surprised by the male models with their model bodies and model faces. : ) : ) : ) : ) : )
C’mon, that’ll put a smile on anyone’s face. I have never seen so many good looking men in one place in my whole life and they were only wearing BOXERS; I kid you not. I also got a chance to meet some really cool people; editors, writers, models, actors, people who work in PR and Marketing and just fashion people in general. I'm quickly learning that networking is a big part of this industry. Eeeeek. Thank you to Danica and Lola for letting me tag along for most of the night; attending parties solo can be daunting. Here’s a pic of the ladies and me.

Jaslene from ANTM was there and she is as skinny as she looks on t.v.; she’s also very pretty. I met Jason from the first season of Stylista and his amazingly cool boyfriend, also named Jason whose an actor and is actually from Florida. Jason and I had a great time talking about UCF of all things. Go Knights.

Excursions, Run Ins and Everything Else I do when I’m not Working:
So on a personal note, I saw my sister Yemi graduate last Friday! Yemi’s going to medical school to be a surgeon and help save lives. She gave a speech in front of her graduating class that was AWESOME! And I’m not just saying that. I was literally in tears when she practiced earlier in the morning. All the siblings were there and the mama; it was a nice time. I’m so proud of my family.

So I experienced my first “what the fuckity fuck” (excuse the language but get used to it) moment! Here’s the short version because I don’t want to bore you with details; I’m broke like you wouldn’t believe so I was on my way to a job interview and this guy grabbed me from behind. Many people assume that I’m very gentle (ha) and flighty (true) because I’m nice but mama don’t play that. I may not be a New Yorker but my survival instincts are strong and intact. If you attack me, I’m going to protect myself (duh). So I elbowed the grabber and stepped on his foot (thank you very much kickboxing classes) and yelled something at the top of my lungs that I wouldn’t usually say in front of a stranger, turned around - the guy dropped his arms strangely enough- and said “excuse me” when I saw grandpa in front of me. No, not my grandpa. The older fella said “Wha – we were headed in the same direction. We must have bumped into each other.” No, I was walking straight ahead not backward; how do you bump into someone from behind? The guy scared the crap out of me but what am I going to do? Beat up a senior citizen? I respect the elderly and I actually felt bad. I walked away, checked my purse and prayed because I was pretty shaken.

What else… I found vegan cake!!!! Thank you God; I thought I was going to die. Shola took me to the Tea Lounge in Park Slope, a tea shop/bar (cute bartenders) and I figured it was a long shot but I asked if they had any vegan desserts and they had not one but two vegan cakes. I ordered the macaroon one and it was really good. I’ll definitely be going back for the cake (not the cute bartender with the dimples).

It's sunny outside and I'm not working. I should be outside. Any suggestions? What would you do if you had the weekend to explore this city a bit?

Oh What a Week

You know, I started this blog with the intention of posting something new every day. I would love to say that’s going to happen but I just don’t know. This week was INSANE. Insane, but in a good way. In a “wow I can’t believe I get to write every day man I’m tired yay the sun is out and my mommy’s here I’m going to take a walk omg it’s fleet week hello sailor yes $35 for a crapload of organic and vegan food god I love this country whoa that dress is supercute aww cute babies everywhere central park is so not overrated and David Moon is awesome I’ve never seen that before and they have a Indian restaurant in this neighborhood too” kind of way. Like I said, it’s been a long week. I'm gonna do the bullet thing. I can't communicate any other way right now.

• My mom flew in for my sister’s graduation so Shola (one of my other sisters) and I got to spend some time with her. Well, Shola spent time with her. I was busy, frantically rewriting blog posts. My mom managed to take me away from my laptop long enough for us to get lunch in the hood. This place Las Pollitos is a very yummy Mexican restaurant across the street from the apartment. I don’t know what I ordered but it was vegan and it was good. Yes, I’m behaving again.
• So I usually shop at Whole Foods and Publix for groceries. Shola took me to Trader Joes, a cheaper version of Whole Foods. While they didn’t have the biggest vegan selection, they did have the basics and I only spent $35 for groceries that will last me about three weeks. Yay!
• It’s really beautiful outside and it has been for the past few days. And I’ve been inside for most of it. So when Friday came, I didn’t care that the sun was already down for the day. I was just excited about going anywhere, let alone some fancy schmancy party. Cocody Productions hosted a party with Nollywood NYC at Le Cirque and the boss lady sent me to cover it for the magazine. With Shola as my plus one we took a taxi to the Upper East Side. The party was fun; I was a little nervous about getting enough photos for my review but I think I did okay at the end. The yellow cab ride back home was even better. Who knew a person could check people.com while waiting in traffic?
• Saturday was jam packed with stuff. With Shola leading the way, I did my laundry, saw a postal worker delivering mail door to door, made a key for the apartment, stopped at the bank, came home, headed to Manhattan , met up with Shola’s friend Amber and her boyfriend Dave at their friend Dave Moon’s AMAZING apartment across the street from Central Park, headed to the park, chatted a bit, got ready to leave, got on a very busy train to head back to Brooklyn, saw some sailors, ordered some Indian food, bought some wine, watched a depressing French film and passed the hell out. I feel very accomplished.

Stay tuned for a post this week about Dave Moon, the artist who lives in the coolest apartment I’ve ever seen.

Some stereotypical tidbits about the city

I’ve been here for less than three days and I’ve already learned a lot. For example, a lot of those stereotypes about New York are true:

Small bedrooms – My sister’s room is ridiculously small. Not Orlando small, when you have trouble practicing feng shui because of the big screen TV, desk and king size bed in your room. No, it’s small like I can’t cross the room without climbing over a twin size bed. I’ve heard about claustrophobic NY bedrooms before but I always thought it was an exaggeration. And I was so wrong. But the bedroom can’t take away from the rest of the apartment. The living room and kitchen are spacious, a lot of light comes in and the neighborhood is in an awesome part of Brooklyn. Who needs a car when the bar is across the street?

Tap water that doesn’t taste like ass – New York tap water is drinkable. It actually tastes good. As a former employee of a water treatment company I used simple facts to lure people into buying water filters. Fact: NY has the best water in the nation; Florida: not so much (we’re second to last). I won’t drink tap water in Florida unless it goes through my Brita first. When I got to my sister’s Brooklyn apartment, I had some water and it tasted ass free so I’m sold.

NY pizza is amazing – Yep, it sure is. Really good. I’m not supposed to eat pizza. I gave up animal products more than a year ago. Dairy = Big no-no. But I’ve never had NY pizza before so I gave in. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but I remember the ricotta and spinach slice I ordered. That’s the culprit in the photo above. I’ve been paying for that slice since I ate it but I can’t say it wasn’t worth it.

They really do sell everything here – You can buy an iPhone on the side of the road or have your shoes shined while you wait for the train. You can even buy porn in bars and on trains. Yep, my sister’s roommate was approached by a sweet old lady who walked into the bar offering “cigarette , porn, cigarette, porn” the way a vendor would yell “hot dog, beer, hot dog, beer.” Once you agree to buy something she asks “man- woman, woman- woman, man -man?” and apparently she goes to the different trains to offer her goods as well. Wow…

Everyone looks so put together – I feel strangely underdressed every time I leave my sister’s apartment. You have the hipsters in their fedoras, plaid and leather and you have the Blair Waldorf wannabes (or the inspiration behind the character) toting around their Chanel 2.5 quilted bags. Everyone has some semblance of style. I love it; it makes “people watching” feel like an impromptu fashion show.

There hasn’t been a dull moment and I’m completely enamored right now. It could be the change of scenery or the exciting internship or the 10 different restaurants down the street or all of the above. I even enjoy taking the subway! I’m going into the city on Monday to research an article. Hey, maybe this time I won’t get lost…