unspoken rule

so i have recently realized that there is a definite unspoken rule that has been established between our nook of apartments on the first floor. we are on the corner and in the middle of two apts. Dedon is to the right and Sara on the left. sara and dedon are a couple. we are between them.

the rule is: play music as loud as you want and as late or early as pleases your lifestyle.

i think it is a good unspoken rule honestly. i am totally ok with them blasting their music at 1am even if i am going to sleep. (because i sleep through ANYTHING) and that means that when i wake up in the am and no one is asleep in our apt we can play our music loud enough to hear in the shower. or saturday mornings making pancakes (a common occurrence)
they play reggae. we play country. good thing we don't live by a baby.

this is a random thought.

book suggestions

novels specifically.
please post or email me with your novel suggestions. some books i have read and enjoyed in the past are:
"the year of magical thinking" joan didion
"the glass castle" jeanette walls
"the kite runner" Khaled Hosseini
"the hiding place" corrie ten boom
"redeeming love" francine rivers

i have never been much of a reader. i am only 1/5 of the way through "a tree grows in brooklyn" i had high hopes for that book, and i just cant get into it.

so do you know of a book that will catch my attention? please respond to help me as i embark upon my new life as a commuting reader.

thanks.

fabulous friday fashion frenzy

its funny that my last blog was about cultural experiences. i knew last friday night would be blog worthy. i took my camera not for my sake, but for the sake of my readers.

We were at the African Collective for 2009 hosted by Arise magazine. There were some famous models there, one guy model Tyson Beckford, and Grace Jones some crazy superstar. and i got an awesome compliment on my vintage red coat from the photographer I sat next to. not surprising.

if you find yourself wondering what this was really like, all you need to know is it is just like the movies and the magazines. it was awesome.

there aren't enough words to do this experience any real justice. here are the pictures. i might have more and better pictures coming later.










oh and the after party was at the plaza hotel. have you been there before? i hadn't. it was thrilling.

culture darling

so today i experienced culture overload. i walked through the heart of soho around 4:30 this afternoon. people of all kinds walking around. especially the weird kinds. the kind of people who would stick out like a sore thumb in texas. also there are models walking all around with fashion week coming up. so i am walking to the train taking it all in. oh and it is beautiful weather. just my little red cotton jacket. everyone was talking about how great today's weather was. really just a perfect day in the city. walking through soho is truly the place where all the fashion happens. everything that is hip is in soho. people that are hip are in soho. it is where you walk around realizing wow i really do live in the fashion capital of the world. so i was walking through all this today. then i got on the train, and i come up. i come up to Nostrand. off the C train. i enter a different world. I could have come up in another country and not known the difference. compared to soho it really is a different world getting up from the train and entering into my "hood". jamaicans, haitians, and all the other carribean islanders fill the streets. here i stand out not because of my lack of fashionista, but because of my dishwater blond locks, and ultra pasty skin. so i walk home through the dirty streets, past the old men with dreads standing around talking the day away, and past the tables of carribean goods and incense. it is a real cultural experience. ya know i have lived here for six months this week, and there is still so much to see and learn about where i am living.

today i was invited into my neighbors apartment to smoke trees and do her dishes. i declined the trees, but helped her with the dishes. it was a small milestone in building a relationship with our Sara the girl next door. she is a vegan so it is kinda hard to have her over for dinner. i am working on that. another cultural difference. nikki and i had a burger for dinner. mmmm...red meat. :)

blast from the past...

whew! this week is taking me back to the '50's. poodle skirts, saddle shoes, white tees. oh wait. fifty degrees is a little different than the nineteen fifties. ;) but these fifties are just as nice as the good ole days. dont worry i know my puffer isn't back in the closet for good, but at least for this week. so nice.

we had community group at our house tonight. it was so fun to have our friends in our home. it actually worked out nicely, because it was my week for snacks. since hospitality is one of my fortes, it was very nice to get to bless some friends with some yummy food and good coffee. if you are close by or far away remember you are always welcome in my home.

this week

so after my strenuous first week of work, my roommate Nikki just had to get out of the city and to the mall for a weekend gettaway in Jersey. ironic.

but here we are peanut M&Ms in hand, in a hotel just across the street from a big mall, AMC movie theater, and the one and only Chili's Bar and Grill (the classic american restaurant nowhere to be found in NYC). we are vegging out watching trashy tv and sleeping late in the morning.

well i didnt have to start working in jersey yet. basically what is happening is that i am getting this job because they are moving this laser printing dept to Jersey from the Soho store. so the offices are not actually finished with all the construction so that we can move. sometime within the next 2-3 weeks they will actually be doing the move and then we will get to set up our new office out in jersey. this should be interesting.

i did meet my immediate upper this week. her name is michelle, she is 40, divorced, 3 kids, 11 yr old boy, 9 and 7 yr old girls. She is very nice with alot of design experience, and she lives in jersey. i am really looking forward to working with her. they have not hired another person yet, because things are so slow right now after the holidays, and they are wanting to get us settled out there. so thats that.

things have been going well. i have had a very easy week working about 10:30-3 with an hour lunch. so not much more work this week, but maybe next week. i have been able to jump right into to InDesign the program we use, and printing invitations and stationary has begun. i am excited about the job now that it has started, so now i am just wondering how this commute is really going to work out.

well thats all i got for now i have to get back to my relaxing friday night.

quality quotes

gladys said, "well honey i just have to be honest with ya, I love Jesus, but I do drink a little."

patti said, "being a matchmaker is basically like working for god."

these were my top laughs of the week. thought i would share.