The End of an Era.

NC to NYC transplants.

The other week I went to a Chiddy Bang concert in Brooklyn. Excellent Show, freakin fun night, but that's not the point, What was so super awesome was when this girl rolls in.

Um. YAY. BKE finally made her way North and is taking up residence in Brooklyn. It was def. one of those funny moments because my memories of bke are all Raleigh, Pi Phi related, but it was bad ass to see her in New York and obviously we plan to rendezvous again, asap.

Shotgun Friday.

 

Ladies & Gentlemen, they don't get much classier than this. Bud Light (so right) and a bathtub. The only person I knew who could take a shot gun to the face with all guts was RSJ... until Tommy and K.Beau, on probably the most boring Friday Night ever, decide to go in. I'm a huge 'gine and can't shoot for shit, but I was proud of these two! (And secretly hope to master it before the summer is over....) Can someone please remind me that I'm not in undergrad anymore?

Twenty-fourth.

Click to Enlarge.

Junior Mafia's the Clique.

Tip for Glasses Wearers.

My good friend Tony, (aka Tone-Town, Tony-Bologna, Tones) is a fellow glasses wearer. I spotted him strolling into one of our classes last semester doing the sunglasses-over-the-glasses thing. At first I thought that was only for old people who wear those glaucoma or cataracts blacked out frames over theirs. But hey, I'm no hater. So since I am an 80%-20% glasses-to-contact wearer I thought I could give it a try...
I got new big shade over spring break, and indeed they are big enough to go around my glasses frames. Not gonna lie, Tone-Town, I like your style, darling!

What I wore: Vegas.

That's me, SM and RSJ in Vegas. I don't have many pictures from the trip, but I'll post the others as soon as I'm back to New York. I love these 3 pictures of us. Each night we went out our individual style was obvious, and our personalities are too! But we still make the best of friends and I'm so glad we've remained close after college.

Party Pics.

my Best-guy-friend-Karl was in town this past weekend. Interestingly enough, Morgs (my bestie up here) has a best guy friend too. She met him in college at UNC and his name is Chase. Weirdly enough, Chase is Karls Brother. smallest world on earth. My girl from College LA also lives in NYC, so we all went to Marquee on Saturday night... here are a few highlights...

click to enlarge....

Party Pictures.

02.13.10-- k.beau's 24th.

friends.

This silly girl is my lady Grace. I've been thinking a lot about this past semester, this past year really. SO much has gone on, you know the usual highs and lows of life... but today I found myself really missing Grace. I was flipping through the 400-some missed tumbles and saw this pictures. So, tomorrow I'm dropping by her job (my old job) specifically to see her (although, she will read this before I get there and the surprise will be ruined but, what the hell....) I just miss her, more than I think I even realized. I don't want to become the person who moves away and says " oooh ya, girl, i'll be home in the spring!" then I come home, camp out at my parents for 3 days, and run back to New York. I don't want to loose the friends I have here because I am positive that I couldn't make it up there without them.... So, while Grace is the star of the photo, this post is in reference to pretty much every friend I have not in New York.... I miss my friends, y'all. All day, e'ery day.


I really am very fortunate to have some amazing friends in my life. And, in 2010 one thing I want to do is make sure I let them know how loved they are.


mush, mush, mush. gah, enough!

Back at Home, and impromptu High School reunion...

I am really enjoying being in NC! So nice. Just me and my old pal Bud Light watching music videos and Degrassi The Next Generation. I'm at home totally regressing. Haha. I LOVE watching videos, haha and the channel MTV hits is the shit, but they don't have it in NY for some freak reason. Degrassi comes on Friday at 8pm I think, and I am never there to watch it, so somehow there are 7 episodes on demand to watch--and I eating it up.

Tonight I'm going to Bex house for her annual friday-after-thanksgiving party. She's the only local who hasn't left CH and doesn't live with her parents, so her house is pretty choice. I'm a little blah about going tonight. Like Bex is my buddy and some of the other girls who will be there I'm still cool with, but honestly? I sorta haven't tried to keep in touch with anyone from HS. It's like, at the time when I was running track and stuff, my team mates became my best friends, but 4 years of college and now 2 more years tacked on has made that gap between us seem enormous. I'm curious to see how it will all play out tonight. I mean, it's not like anything ended badly, but I was a little surprised when I was looking through my phone and realized that I don't even have 4 of my old friends phone numbers in my phone anymore. I don't think I've changed at all... And I just hope we all get together tonight and it's like no time has passed between us all. So we'll see. I'm excited to reminisce none the less.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Venus vs Mars: on Communication.

I mentioned that in my brief time away, I would randomly think of things I wanted to write on my blog, I'd start the post, then just save it as a draft. Well, all of those stories/snippets/I'm sorry for partying/life lessons, have turned in to a lil somethin' somethin' I'm going to call "Venus vs Mars." Why? a) When Jay-z's Blueprint 3 came out, banker and I heard that song, resolved it was written about is and geeked out about it for about 2 weeks. b) over the weeks, I have had numerous "oh, word??" moments with the Banker. You know what I'm talking about.... like, something happens that is good for the gander (read: NOT good for the goose) and ALL I can think is "Oh, wooorrrddd????" Like, this is so not gonna work. For like... me. At all.

As these little situations have come and gone, I have had time to reflect on them, on me, on girls in general. You know, all that "self-awareness" that I am learning at school (see how applicable it all is??) Figured I would share them because really as far as you know, all I do in New York is stand around taking pictures of myself in clothes/whine about being busy/listen to songs with awkward love undertones. Not (completely) true. I just hit my 100th post the other day, and figure anyone who still reads should be privy to a little more inside information. Lets see how many of you are left when I get to the 200th post.... so, here goes:

In the inaugural post of this nature, I'll hit you with the most recent.

Venus vs Mars--- Communication.


Allow me to set up the scene:

[End of September]

Me: Banker, my schedule in November is totally erratic. I'm going home the first weekend for a wedding, my mom's gonna come up for like a week, You know, I'll leave for Thanksgiving....
Banker: How do you fill up your whole November when it's September?
Me: I don't know... but we're like, never gonna see each other.
Banker: It will be fine, I usually go on Vacation in November, this year I'm thinking Barbados, maybe Cabo.
Me: What.
Banker: I'm not going to forget about you because I'm going on vacation.

Whats wrong here?? In theory, nothing at all. In fact, I'll give the boy snaps for picking up on the mini freak out I had when he mentioned "Cabo" (in my defense, I think it was a reflex! Seriously, though...who the eff is like, "hey, boy-I-wanna-date, please, run as fast as you can to Sodom and Gamorrah-- no worries here." Please.) In the conversation above, indeed: Whats Good for the Goose, is Good for the Gander.

Lets come back to this little scenario: [last week]
sidebar: This is about day 12 of mess. Schedules are all over the place, he's doing ~60hrs a week, I'm waking at 5:00am and going to bed at 1:00am. It's an all around sucky crap-tastic time.

Me: Banker, I'm gonna be up for another couple of hours, you wanna call me here now in a few so I can take a break. (a text, obviously)
Banker: Can we talk tomorrow?? I'm half way to being asleep..... I'm sorry, Goodnight babe.

[here is the 10 minute window of angry silence that translates as "no text back"]

Banker: ?? hello?
Me: well, you know I'm going home on Thursday, and when I get back my mom is here for the week. I have no clue when we're gonna hang out, what, in December? [this is the blog-better version of my text back. the REAL one was full brat mode. but, for self-preservation, I've edited it. At least I admitted it though....]
Banker: I'm going to Barbados next week.

And: I promptly call SM, which is crazy because I don't like talking on the phone. Mid-SOS phone call the Banker Beeps in.

We talked, we mended. All is well. But let me break it down:

*Boys and Girls are different. Very different. Not the same at all. And sometimes, no matter how wonderful everything else is, the fundamentals can get a little messy. Take communication: Banker figured I remembered he took vacation in November. Yea, I remember him saying it, but I had no clue in real life. Me, I wanna know things like "Hey, I'm thinking of going on holiday, ________ week" or "I just got tickets for vacation!" Little update are nice. Being in the loop is GOOD FOR THE GOOSE. If the Goose is happy, the Gander is happy! Isn't this a basic concept?


The only way this is even remotely tolerable, aside from my ride-or-die girls, is the Banker himself. I am fortunate to have a nice boy like the banker. The little (and not so little) hiccups are made that much easier because he isn't a jackass. In fact, most of the time when these Venus vs. Mars differences occur, I am ready to peace out. I'm a quitter sometimes, I'll confess. My friends (who are all "team Banker" as they so readily remind me) are quick to give me some perspective: Good guys are few and far between. Banker is no angel-- but he always tries. I means, lets be honest, I'm not Sandra Dee. I'm more of a Rizzo. And that can be a lot of fun, until it's not fun anymore more, I'm sure. Basically, the only way to fight is to fight fair, and, a lot of the time, all a girl needs to here is "I'm sorry." It seriously wins 1/2 the battle. So, take that little pearl (little brother of mine, I know you're reading...)

I share this story specifically because I know how to do a lot of things, and the things I can't do, I can fake it til I make it. Except for dating. I don't do it. It's like, pointless and annoying and I can't stay still long enough to bother with it all. So I've just played the game my own way for the past 4 years or so. I'm Boss Bitch at being single, complete 5th grader at dating. I remember before I moved, good ole Grace told me that as soon as I met a guy that was worth it I'd give in a little. And, as my friend Kells would say "You're little ice box is more of a slushie now." I think about one of the final scenes in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and how his heart great 3x bigger after hearing the people of Who-ville sing. Not comparing myself to the Grinch, obviously I'm not out dicking people over, left and right.... I guess I wanna find the happy medium between Boss Bitch and Stupid Girls, and I suppose now is a good time to figure it out.

back from the dead.

Midterms are finally fucking over. Wow. big bomb there, but I had to drop it because that's just how crucial things were for the past couple of weeks.

I just got home from my first visit to NC. My apologies to everyone I wanted to see and didn't get to. The point of the trip was specifically to go to my friends wedding, and that became my priority over the weekend-- and rightfully so, as it was the most amazing wedding I have been to. CD (or I guess she should be CDW now...) and her boo DW are 2 of my favorite people on earth, everyone knows that. So, no worries, I'll be home for 5 full nights at the end of the month and promise to make the rounds.

I plan to post about the wedding as well as some new lil "features" or whatever--- that I thought of during the times I was procrastinating from my work.

Mid term madness

I mentioned earlier that it's midterm time at Columbia. We don't have tests here, exactly... more papers, lab packets, and all around a ton of stuff due. I'm a little pressed, not gonna lie because my school work is one thing, and my work at CAB is overwhelming too. On Tuesday Doug was like "Oh, hay, could you just write me up a reflection of[this meeting he took me too]? you know, 3-4 pages, whatever." Hum... sure Doug. Can't wait to just reflect for 3-4 pages. So, here I am, Thursday night, 9:45. I need to be up at 5:30 and I also need to email Doug my reflection and my process recording before 8am. Can someone PLEASE remind we why I decided to go to grad school? and a hard grad school at that?! Haha, Nah, I wouldn't have it any other way. I am actually overjoyed with where my life is at the moment. I so HAPPY right now. My friends, new and old, are great people, I adore NY and CUSSW. I have a supportive family with parents and siblings who make my world go around. So, as much as a joke and go on and on in my monotone way, bitching and moaning about the weather, the dirt, other people, whatever--- at the end of the day, my gratitude for my life and the blessing I receive every day grows and grows.

In keeping in step with the self-reflective nature of my program and with how my life is shaping up as 2009 draws to an end (Um, it's almost November?) I want to make it a point to consider these kinds of things more....the "who am I?" and "Where am I going" questions that float around in my head from time to time.


As for the outfit, the rain cleared, the sun shone. There is a nice fall breeze in the air and my boots are broken in, and I am having a good time trying out color (SM, are you proud?)



Blouse-- Liz Claiborne
Cardigan-- American Apparel
Jeans--Joes
Boots-- Sam Edelman

Miss you too, G.

I was checking my all-but-abandoned Tumblr today and came across this. As confusing as everything in life can get, one of the constants I can rely on are my good friends. I'm so ready to go home and see everyone.... I can't wait!

E's birthday and the pictures to prove it.

My sister, E turned 27 on Tuesday. She's also in the SSW, and so we're both super busy. I decided to throw E a surprise birthday party last Saturday. What I decided to do was enlist my friend Morg, and E's friend Bekah to help me pull it off. Morgan helped me plan and came early to help me set up, and Bekah occupied E long enough to surprise her. Here are some pictures.

Here is the kitchen counter as I was setting up. A little bit of food, and the blender is pulled out because I decided to blend up some dank margies.
The amazing flowers my family sent E. I helped my Mom pick them out and the Florist, located in Harlem, hooked it up.
E came back from dinner in Little Italy around 11:0pm. This is when she first turned the lights on.
And Here is the Birthday girl when everyone jumped up and surprised her!

We had an amazing night, 12 or so girls came over, we hung out (until my crazy effing neighbor came up here, tryin to buck.... she was out of line) Then we went to this local spot called Moca Lounge. We got in there, promptly got a booth and some guy pourin up mad shots. The DJ must have known we were coming because he played club banger after club banger, like all the best of the southern rap. At one point they were playin Damn! by young bloodz.

Imagine this scene: 12 girls wildin out at this like sit down sort of lounge.... The song breaks and there is a part where the lyrics go "Don't start no Shit, won't be no Shit!!" and that repeats for a bunch of counts. So we're there, getting redic. and next thing you know, it's Knuck time. Like, somehow these female bouncers tried to flex on us, told us to stop missbehaving... next thing... we're in the street. And here is a tiny bit of the evidence, post removal. They don't even tell the full story, but all I can say is the next morning we were all sorry for partying, E had an amazing birthday, and we probably can't show our faces at the neighborhood spot for a little while....

It's 3am. Yup. I have a beer in the street. Nope, it's not legal here.

Flashback: Going Away Party

CD just sent me the pictures from my going away party back in August. I laughed so hard looking through them-- what an insane SFP type of night.

(click to enlarge)

Top Weekend

Well, another weekend has come and gone. This was an amazing one because SM was here to visit me! I haven't seen her in over a month and, for us, thats a terrible stretch. We had jam packed days of meeting friends, running around the city, Canal street, Top Shop, braving the rain, and a Drag Show. I had a wonderfully fun weekend and all in all it made me miss home even more. I am so excited to fly down in October for my cousins wedding. The above picture is of SM and I with 3 of my CUSSW friends.

Oh... and yes, SM met the banker. He hung out on Friday night for a long while and again on Saturday. He had nothing but positives to say about her (but who could have anything negative to say?!) and I certainly hope she liked him too, but if she didn't I know she will tell me. Thats the beauty of real friends, you know how big a deal it is to introduce them to a boy because the real friends will keep it funky with you and have no problem saying "Girl don't date that guy" if they get red flags, whether they are superficial or deep rooted problems, your homegirls always know. I'm not sweatin over here though. He has won E's approval and all of my city friends can't get enough of him... so, we'll see, right?

I can't believe it's Monday already... I'm still exhausted from last week :( I'll be back to blogging this week now that I've got myself on an excellent schedule (I think)

Homesickness?

So I know I haven't updated in a minute, and that sucks. It's mainly because,

a) I don't have anything new to say. ya'll know I am broke, you know I need to shop, you know I need to decorate, you know I like a boy.

b) my schedule is so whack right now. Like, I'm still not sure what it is that I'm doing in New York. The School if Social Work is effing amazing, they are starting us off very slowly because in a week my whole life is will be played when I am running around the Bronx 3 times a week with my clients and trying to balance a social life (which CUSSW promotes) and my school work. I guess I should relish in this slow start and all the down time....

The other side of it is this weird thing that is happening to me from time to time. When I left home I literally thought I was going to die at the airport. SM and RSJ took E and I and me (a complete non-crier) absolutely could not lock it up. However, by the time we got to our gate I was more or less cleaned up. When I got to New York the first week I was shocked that I wasn't melting down left and right. Everything was SO confusing, couldn't figure out how to get anywhere, or where to even go. It was hot, I was over walking, etc, etc. That passed too.

The thing is there are times I find myself the most homesick. It has happened 3 times here so far and it happens directly after something uncomfortable and unhappy happens here. Example: E and I got into our first fight about 10 days in (surprised we made it that long??) By the time the evening came around and I got on the phone with my dad all I could do was revert back to the 11 year old girl of yester-year-- unable to process anything, so I went crying to Daddy "I just want to come home." Luckily Frank is a no nonsense type and the "Seshie, I can't understand you if you choose to cry instead of speak" will always snap me out of it. I suspect it's that phrase that is the underlying motivator for my insistence on maintaining emotional control.... but I digress.

Truth is, North Carolina has grown to represent a lot more than my hometown, college town and where all my friends are. It's more of a creature comfort. So much that during my first "fight" with the banker I BBM SM (who was in Charlotte) and instead of initially explaining what was wrong or asking advice I just type to her "SM, I want to come home" and that like SOS, 911, ASAP code for "old girl isn't doing to good"

So, while it may seem that I am in heaven-on-earth for a 23 year old (which, I am) There are still times it sucks. The real test for me will be knowing that I can't run home and hid out on my parents couch like I could in college. It's going to be looking whatever the discomfort is, as there will be MANY more (esp. when it gets cold here), right in the face, putting on big girl pants and kicking ass.

A little housekeeping

I've had all this free time on my hands this week since we're in the city and E lost her license. School hasn't started yet, and I've been posting a ton lately. I'm not sure if I'll keep up as much when school starts, but I'd imagine I will at least try, since I enjoy posting, it's fun, and I know people with jobs, and who are also in grad school who are great at regular postings.

With that being said, I was thinking of turning OFF the email alerts that some of you are receiving. I know how much it sucks to be in the middle of texting or bbming and your blackberry/iphone buzzes and--- Oh Hey, surprise! It's nothing but another effing blog post.

I haven't had anyone complain thus far, in fact it seems to be a little convenient for those of you who don't use google reader or follow Statelylady on twitter, but who knows.... Anyways, Leave me a comment and let me know if you still want them, (or, if you're not getting them, I guess let me know if you do want them??). I know housekeeping is lame, but I want to KEEP my friends, not become some a-hole spammer.

thats all! OK, bye.