Hella & Mad

Houston was beginning to rub off on me...or at least up against me in a good way. My first paycheck is a comer, so I did what comes naturally to me this evening...I shopped online. I hit up all my favorite sites and browsed through to get an idea of what I might want to purchase for Spring. Then I realized that it had been over a month since I got a refreshing hit of my favorite store...H&M. The perfect balance of economic pricing and smart fashion.

I logged onto their website to see where the nearest store in Houston is...

...and imagine my surprise...

There are NO H&M stores in the state of Texas.

Get me the fuck out of here!

The Rihanna and Chris Beat Down...

TMZ posted the above flick of Rihanna's face post beat down, which aside from distasteful (I know that's hypocritical) it's also VERY shocking. I mean DAYUM...Chris put a hurting on little Miss RiRi.

I thought this was a pretty hot couple, but every couple has their little demons. I think it's pretty fucked up that Chris Brown, someone who has so much success and fortune and obviously a woman on his arm who loves him decides to act so cruelly.

I hope she finds strength enough to press charges to the very fullest, and that he gets locked up and surrounded by a bunch of real men who beat his ass so he knows what it feels like to have his ass beat by someone bigger than him.

I never was a Chris Brown fan or anything, but this should put a pretty big damper on his career, which I think he so fully deserves.

The Lizard Has Departeth...

About a week ago while I was basking in the light of unemployment, watching a few pre-recorded episodes of my guilty pleasure (which I shall never reveal), I gazed casually toward the corner of our the room to admire the new ficus D and I bought from Home Depot to accent our living room...

So this lizard ran down the trunk of the tree which caused me to jump, then squeal, then run upstairs while grabbing the phone to call D at work. After he got done chuckling and re-regulated his breathing he told me not to panic and just get out of the house for a while.

A while? Ha..! I threw on some clothes and hit up the closest mall determined to kill the 4 remaining hours before I had to pick D up from work.

Long story short the ficus stayed outside for a week.

Finally, yesterday morning I asked D to bring the tree back in since I didn't think there could possibly be a lizard that would be so determined to hang on to a ficus that it would endure a rough shaking, a lengthy hosing and my shrieking screams. But as soon as the tree came back inside and I turned on the dining room light (and a very high powered flashlight) I saw a tiny and VERY still little head. Again, of course I began screaming.

D drug the tree back outside and shook the tree and hit it with the broom stick until the lizard finally jumped out and onto the back patio (again i screamed from the other side of the door).

After D hosed the lizard away and convinced me that it was gone I was finally able to relax.

The lizard had left the building.

Also, my emergency mall trip resulted in a silk blouse and a new dress, so who can really complain?

Valentine's Day....

D and I have missed out on spending some holidays with each other because of our year long hiatus, but the one holiday we never seem to miss is V-Day. This time around with all the new house expenses and me not working yet, I wasn't expecting for Valentine's Day to be over the top. I knew D was planning to take me out somewhere that involved "tickets" so I figured it was either to see Mike Epps perform, or to see the Tyler Perry play. Either would have been fine, although neither was quite my style. They were the only things I heard about on the radio and D dropped what I took as a hint as he waved his hand over toward the impulse-buy rack at the check out line in Target.

"Look, is that Tyler Perry?" He said pointing to the newest issue of Essence.

When we got home from Target (and multiple other stores), and I was putting away groceries I heard D sigh loudly. He was sitting on our blood-red couch tapping away at his Mac Book.

"Well I guess if I want you to be able to dress properly, I should tell you where we're going tonight." My eyes lit up.

"Where???" He waved his hand for me to come there and as I walked up behind him he pointed to his laptop screen. I squinted and bent down to see what it was and there was not the crackish jokster, Mr. Epps; nor the mildly spiritual morals of Tyler Perry but the very classically perfect ballet. D was taking me to see Swan Lake. Again, I was alit.

D, the man's man that he is, sat with me through 4 acts of women (and men) in tights hopping around on stage to classical music and actually seemed to take it in. It was refreshing to see that D could be so open minded. Almost as refreshing as knowing that Houston offered more culture than 200 variations of barbaque. It rained, and the streets were wet when we came outside. I found myself silently challenging Houston to make me like it as I looked around at the downtown scene. There weren't thousands of people crowding the streets, bussling around against the curtain of noise and taxi cabs like in New York. But there was another kind of charm. The tall buidlings that didn't come close to shutting out a very big sky, the sculptures that stood outside the theatre and a low rumble of thunder. D had no idea that he had given me exactly what I needed for Valentine's Day.

Un-Mobile

I am at home. Stuck. D took the car for his doctor's appointment. I am here, alone, with nothing to do and no car to get anywhere. No train to take. Just miles and miles of identical houses as far as the eye can see.

Today....I hate Houston.

"Steeeeeely" Gray

One of the perks of living in a suburban neighborhood is the ability to jog without worrying about getting hit by a town-car or falling on your face because of severely uneven pavement.  D and I woke up Saturday morning and jogged through our neighborhood and out towards the new developments.  I was trying to figure out what deluded glue-sniffer thought it necessary to name two parallel streets "Camby Park" and "Damby Park", when  we rounded the corner and passed the neighborhood playground.  On the way back we decided to go to Home Depot when we got home, to pick up some paint.  We (meaning "I") had decided it would be a good contrast to our blood-red leather couch to accent our living room and dining room walls with a "steely gray" or as D says (over and over...) "Steeeeeeely Graaayy".  Off to the Depot to get supplies for our many "projects" we had listed for the weekend.

One of which was kindly "asking" D to clean out the kitchen drawers he had filled with all of his man-tools.  The drawer I had designated for my cookbooks and ladles had become the junk-drawer equivalent of a tool box.  So I made him a deal; I would buy him a toolbox and he would put his shit away.  

Sunday night, after the gray paint dried and my cookbooks were safely in their proper place D and I laid back and enjoyed a job well done.  Sprawled out on the couch with D's eyes fixed on the TV while mine looked around the first floor of our house plotting over what could be painted next.

Put Up a Parking Lot....

Well today was a new adventure in many ways. I sat in D's Acura trying to escape the concrete jungle that was the Super Target parking lot. I simply went to get lemons and Fettuccine for the fabulous meal I was going to cook for my boyfriend...and ended up crying all over his leather steering wheel. I called Tia, "I'm lost in a concrete maze and the evil puppeteer is Target..!" I exclaimed. She laughed and we talked for about an hour, catching up and chatting away the commute back to the house.

By the time we got off the phone I was almost to D's job. He got in the car, kissed me hello and we drive back to the house engaging in the friendly but snide banter that is our chemical romance.

Now the house is quiet, except for (of course) the sounds of Law & Order SVU, a faint reminder of the city I love. D is upstairs in the shower and the rest of the night and weekend lay before us like an inflatable slip and slide.

I got lost in a supermarket parking lot today, cried into my favorite sweater and found refuge in a good friend. It all resulted in shrimp fettuccine and white wine, so well worth the mission.

Houston, I shall conquer thee.

Drinking & Driving in Houston

Well it's been about 4 days now and Houston, still feels much like a vacation although it's beginning to feel like home. Being able to go to sleep at night next to D and wake up with him in the morning is a treat we haven't felt in almost a year. We get to have our little drinking-buddy nights and get smashed on Vodka and Grapefruit juice or Rum and Coke, like the old days in California. I've been waking up and taking him to work which was something I feared at first only because I hadn't driven a car on the freeway since February of 2008. But after I was headed back to the house alone, I realized that driving a car is a lot like riding a bike, it comes back to you without much effort. I opened up the sunroof and enjoyed the insanely good weather that was shining down on me, and it sure felt good to feel warm again.

Another perk about being in Houston...this amazing house we live in now. he kitchen is warm and inviting, the living room is comfy and our bedroom is gigantic. Only of course the best part is.......The enormous closet!!!

Ok, so this is a situation a girl like me could get used to. Sex whenever I want it, a giant closet o fill and an entirely new city to discover. Getting lost on the freeway and being looked at strangely for my outfit choices seem to be just the icing on a very BIG cake.

The Fresh Air Fund Wants You!

The Fresh Air Fund is opening it's camp doors once again and accepting applications for camp counselors. Requirements? Must be 18 by June 20th, 2009, and have at least one year of college completed and of course...must love kids! This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to give back all while having a blast this summer. For more information click HERE!!

Goodbye Lover, Goodbye New York

D was cold. Freezing in fact as we stood at the bus stop waiting for the B46. It was Thursday, move day and count down to out flight out. We had a list of things to do; pick up the van, drop the boxes off at the Post Office, drop the bed and dresser at Etienne's and the rest at Salvation Army. In the moment of silence, I took a second to look around. Atlantic ave, where I got my first bunch of groceries with the room mate from hell. Brooklyn was looking a lot like it did when I first met her, cold, windy but deceivingly sunny. I secretly wished the day would drift by slowly, as D prayed for a heat-wave.

Saying goodbye to New York was like saying goodbye to a forbidden lover...it was quiet and very private. I took in the buildings and the streets and even the smells I used to despise. I even closed my eyes and breathed in the same winter winds that once stung my nostrils. It was like a friendly hug that I wished could last longer.

Friday, Tia and her boyfriend Anthony came out with D and I. We started our night at Black Betty's in Williamsburg, where I proudly stuck to my vegetarian resolution and ordered the shrimp and cous cous. As we all sat drinking and laughing I took mental pictures of the four of us, saying goodbyes and hellos and generally making memories I'd sit back and recall in days to come.

Later that night, something I never expected happened. Tia and I had a moment of sentimental indulgence. We cried and said the girly things girls say when they're sad to see a friend go. She told me the things I needed to hear, the things only a friend like Tia could say knowing that I needed to hear them. I'll be forever grateful to her for telling me what she did, and it sealed the friendship for me; she will always be in my life.

The next morning, D and I woke up and shuffled around trying to wrap up the things we'd left for the last moment. I kept reminding him that we were almost there. Almost to the post office (long story), almost to the airport, almost through security, almost set to board. I closed my eyes for a second before the plane took off, then I did what Tia said I should do. I left everything unresolved, everything lingering on the air strip just as gravity left us. I looked over at D, who was now fast asleep and leaning on my shoulder, and everything made sense.

I hate to be sentimental but the truth of it is, I'll miss the hell out of New York. The times we had, the amazing summer and the friendships that will never be duplicated. I know less and less thoughts of the city will enter my mind, and slowly I'll unmemorize the entire MTA subway map and forget the names of the streets that surround Carroll and Eastern Parkway. I also know I left at the right time.

They say if you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere. I'm ready to test that theory out on the next phase in my life. Houston, home ownership, and being D's better half.

And I'll always have New York.