It should be a National Holiday!

For those of you that are semi-obsessed with cheesecake like me (pumpkin..oh how i love ya), you will be happy to know that today is National Cheesecake Day! And in celebration of their 30 years on this planet The Cheesecake Factory is selling all cheesecake slices for the 1978 price of $1.50! Can't beat that. I'll be heading down to the Clarendon location at some point today.

Woo Hoo!

Cellar Dwellers

And so you have dragged me here
Only to abandon me???
Happy in my own existence
I didn't ask to come
But now it is clear
You leave me neither water nor light
Only the ability to hear
the ever so faint sounds
Of your laughter.

-asabi

Scenes from the Courthouse metro

It's 10:20 p.m. I'm walking thru the station on my way home.

stalkerguy: Excuse me miss..don't I know you?
me: no.

(I start picking up my pace down the escalator. And so does he.)

stalkerguy: Hey, wait I do know you. I never forget a beautiful face. We met here before. I gave you my number. you never called.
me: No, you forced your card on me and I told you then that I wasn't interested. Then you stared me down on the train. I'm still not interested. So leave me alone..please.

(I walk further down the platform nervously awaiting the train. He follows.)

stalkerguy: Hey, I was just being friendly BITCH! Maybe you should try it sometime.

(I swallow the progressing anger and fear I'm feeling inside as I try to ignore him and fiddle with my ipod. There are just a few people around. They look more amused than concerned. I can hear the train coming thru the tunnel. And not soon enough.)

stalkerguy: It's not like I wont see you again.

(Shivers go up and down my spine when he says that. A few moments later I hurry on the train hoping he wont follow)

Thank God he doesn't. This time.

Freaks come out at Knight

So I went to see The Dark Knight last night. I don't normally get involved in blockbuster first night madness. Well except for Sex and the City. But I was coerced into going. I haven't experienced anything like the juggernaut that is this movie. The lines were around the corner. People were pushing for available seats and acting straight foolish. Despite the insanity I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Award winning? Nah. But entertaining nonetheless. I think Heath would be proud.

I'm free bitches!

Wow. What a week. I’ve had the emotional sensations equivalent of being squashed like a bug. But like anything else you dust yourself off, keep your head up and add a lil more hair to the voodoo dolls. To clear my head I decided to take a much needed day off to visit with my fabulous cousin Lisa who was in town from NYC.

With only a couple hours to hang we went to lunch and caught up on our family, careers, men and the like. I’ve always admired Lisa, even as a little girl. I love that she travels to foreign countries by herself, has turned into this quintessential stylish but tough new yorker while still maintaining her L.A. joie de vivre and "valley gurl" accent.

On a whim we went to visit the African American Civil War museum on U Street and I’m so glad we did. Just so happen that this week was the 10th Anniversary Celebration of the Unveiling of the Spirit of Freedom Memorial, designed by sculptor, Ed Hamilton. It’s now a national monument located at 10th & U Streets, NW, Washington, DC. The memorial is also surrounded by a Wall of Honor which list the names of 209,145 troops who served in the “United States Colored Troops” during the Civil War.

We also checked out the museum a couple blocks away, located at 12th and U Street, and was met by the museum’s Curator and Assistant Director, Hari Jones. Mr. Jones was a passionate, engaging and articulate speaker. He spoke on the inaccuracies of what we all know as Juneteenth. The term is a contraction for June 19th, the date in 1865 when Major General Gordon Granger landed at Galveston, Texas, and announced that slavery in that former Confederate state had ended and that all African Americans were free. Despite the fact that Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation became official January 1, 1863. The popular belief was that African Americans not only did very little to ensure their own freedom but didn’t have the wherewithal to know they were actually freed until over two years later. The reality is that the Proclamation didn’t really free any slaves immediately but did in fact open the doors for over 200,000 black soldiers to join the military and help to courageously earn their own freedom.

In any case we learned a great deal yesterday about our history and each other and it made me feel so very grateful for the daily freedoms we all take for granted. It was a good day. I needed that.

If you forget about me

I want you to know
one thing.

You know how this is:

if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me

Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.

If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.

If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners
that passes through my life,
and you decide
to leave me at the shore
of the heart where I have roots,
remember
that on that day,
at that hour,
I shall lift my arms
and my roots will set off
to seek another land.

if each day,
each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me
with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower
climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine

by Pablo Neruda

silent noir

waiting for you
is reminiscent
of watching
a old black and white movie
pretending
its in technicolor
pretending
i haven't seen this ending
a hundred times before
pretending
it hadn't made me cry
every time

-asabi

A great song for my Emo' Mondays

Right under my feet there's air made of bricks
Pulls me down turns me weak for you
I find myself repeating like a broken tune
And I'm forever excusing your intentions
And I give in to my pretendings
Which forgive you each time
Without me knowing
They melt my heart to stone

And I hear your words that I made up
You say my name like there could be an us
I best tidy up my head I'm the only one in love
I'm the only one in love

Each and every time I turn around to leave
I feel my heart begin to burst and bleed
So desperately I try to link it with my head
But instead I fall back to my knees
As you tear your way right through me
I forgive you once again
Without me knowing
You've burnt my heart to stone

And I hear your words that I made up
You say my name like there could be an us
I best tidy up my head I'm the only one in love
I'm the only one in love

Why do you steal my hand
Whenever I'm standing my own ground
You build me up, then leave me dead

Well I hear your words you made up
So I say your name like there could be an us
I best tidy up my head I'm the only one in love
I'm the only one in love

You think your job is bad?

Just when I was busy hating the humdrum existence that is my job, this man reminded me that things could be a lot worse. I'm sure this unsuspecting fellow didn't appreciate me snapping shots of him washing my office windows but that's what the "easily amused" do.

I found out that window cleaners on average make about $18,790 a year. In my mind that amount of money is not worth potentially losing your life for. I guess I'm pretty lucky that my biggest work injury risk is a severe paper cut.

Count your blessings.

Great Great News!!!

My sister n' law has gotten her visa approved and is on her way home from Mexico as I type this!!!! I can't thank you guys enough for the letters, well wishes and prayers you sent our way. There wouldn't have been a happy ending with out them!!!!

Flintstone or Fab???

And since we are on the subject of feet I will confess a long time concern regarding my own. As the previous post’s pledge #10 clearly states: one shall not let one's friend wear sandals with creepy feet. So I'm counting on you all to tell me the truth.

I personally do not think my toes look like fingers but just the other day someone at work mentioned how long my toes were and I felt a old twinge of childhood insecurity creep up.

It all started several years ago with my uncle Marcus telling me that I had flintstone feet and there was something extremely weird about my 2^nd toe being longer than my big toe. He unmercifully cracked on me every time I had on sandals. And since then I've had several people make jokes about my feet.

"I bet you can type 90 wpm....with your feet"
"When you are driving do you talk on the phone and use your feet to steer?"

And my all time favorite joke was when my ex would grab my ankles and ask me to "high five" him.

Now of course when I go to get pedicures the nice Asian lady always tells me I have pretty feet and hands like royalty. And of course I believe her even though there was that time she held up my foot to show the lady next to her, said something in Korean and started laughing. In my mind I assumed she was laughing with the joy one gets with seeing something so extraordinarily beautiful. OK..maybe not.

But the point is so what? After many years of closed toe summers I finally decided that I am completely happy with my finger-toes. If for no other reason than to have extra digits to type this here blog.

The Open Toe Shoe Pledge

It's officially summertime in the city so I figured I'd post a favorite pledge of mine. So my sisters, PLEASE, raise your big toes and repeat after me below...


As a member of the Cute Girl Sisterhood, I pledge to follow the Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

1) I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

2) I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free.

3) I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

4) I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow.

5) I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

6) I won't wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there. If a strap breaks, I won't duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

7) I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl's if my feet need him.

8) I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids' sizes. This is out of concern fo r my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

9) I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

10) I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

11) I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.
I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $15 or $20 and worth EVERY penny).

12) I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show sign s of wear... nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.