Multiplicity

No...I'm not dead. I just haven't blogged lately...

I am not sure whether to be flattered or offended (the pants are HIDEOUS!!!) by the fact that Ann at work decided to dress as me for Halloween :) OK...I just decided I'd be flattered. I mean come on! Most people choose to dress up as celebrities or something famous. I guess that means I am worth trying to look like (ego inflating as we speak) ;) Hahaha!!



She is so observant...not only do I wear leggings with stirrup bottoms but I also have a pair with zippers on the side. Way to capture 2 great looks all at once. The only thing really missing is another inch or so on the heels...maybe next year.


(here Ann is seen laughing so hard she can's even open her eyes!) I love the fact that she thought to put on a hat... I love my hats :)

I guess now all she needs is a pink Vespa to putz around on!! But otherwise, way to hit the nail on the head!



Happy Halloween!!

CLARIFICATION...

EXCITEMENT: noun
living in the city and interacting with crack addicts, homeless people and gang members

Antonyms:
SERENITY: noun
living in the suburbs at the Tshibaka's ;)

"Steal my kisses from you"...

Brief update on the block...
My good buddy James is looking into the reason why ONE (yes, there is only one) block resident/loiterer does not like me...Haha...James thinks everyone should like me and I concur ;)
I also woke up this morning bright and early at 5am (Thank you Lord for a Gorgeous morning!) to hear a voicemail from one of my block friends...He sang "I always have to steal my kisses from you" into my voicemail. LOL! That was hilarious. This also serves as a prime reason why the corner stores in 501 should ban the sales of 40oz. singles :) hahaha! But it made for a good laugh.

The search for a house is still on going!

In other news:
I have been sponsoring Vinoria Nampemba through World Vision for a little over a year now. I just got a new picture of her and an update on her health status, grades, activities, et al. She looks completely different! She just celebrated her 8th birthday and is a healthy little girl. I will post the pictures once I've had a chance to scan them...In the mean time I am super excited to say that there is a way I can donate more money to World Vision. Every time I mention HotelsCombined on my blog, they will donate 20$ towards the charity of my choice. This is a pretty ingenious idea. Rather than spend thousands of dollars on advertising, they are using word of mouth and charity donations. What that means is, they are donating to a charity of my choice when I advertise for them :)The basis summary of who they are: "Hotelscombined is the world's leading accommodation meta-search engine in terms of inventory and prices. We index the most hotels out of any other hotel price comparison website, and find the best price listed across more than 30 major websites. Using us, you don't need to visit different websites one by one to compare rates. We do it for you"

IF you have a charity you would like for them to donate to as well please check out their facebook page for more information...or their website.

Have a WONDERFUL day my dear bloggies :)

Granny rap star on the 80 bus...

Helloooo to my loyal blog fan base...all 7 of you ;) I find that living in the suburbs doesn't give me much excitement and thus topics to blog about. However, I recently (meaning yesterday) went back to my neighborhood for a sleep over with some friends (yes, you're never to old for a sleepover) and now I have a few things to share. The bus ride home this morning was by far the most hilarious part of my visit...only on N. Capital people!!...



Ok...I planned a women's night for all the ladies in my church (we do this once a month) and invited a lot of other friends who brought their friends. Normally we do this at someones house or at the church and we have good food, an occasional bottle or two of wine, and a guest speaker. This month we decided to take advantage of the free jazz music in the sculpture garden. Great turnout, good music, good sangria and oops!! I forgot I don't own a car and really don't have a way to get home with Kelly Brooke isn't there to drive me ;) LOL. I was going to take the metro out to Huntington and one of the Kelly's or Niki would come and get me. So instead, at the end of the night Chirine asked me to come stay with her. Chirine, Jacquette and Jaclyn walked back to the hood (picking up falafal wraps at busboys on the way).

I felt like a little kid going to activity day at school. I was soooo excited to see everyone. As we round the corner I can hear kids playing. I got to see my precious God daughter Britney...she's 13 now and is too cool to make a scene in front of all of her Jr. High friends...so I made a scene for her :) after that I saw Simone and Janice. Nice times. I walked around the corner to the B&V market and saw one of my favorite Friends...James. He wheeled over and gave me a huge hug! Brioni and Teddy were also so cute when I walked in. They really do all call me Jenny (which I hate) and they were so funny; talking about what houses in the neighborhood I can buy to get back here. All in all I saw SOOO many old faces and it was so nice that (almost) each persons face lite up and came and gave me a hug!



Ok, the cheesy part over....Here's to the bus ride. I was walking north on N. Capital going with the girls to the junk shop on R street when the 80 bus came...so I took off running back down the street to catch it. I am wearing my back brace (yes, I am a XX year old trapped in a 90 year old body) with yesterdays clothes, I have my bag of blankets, the suitcase I call a purse, and my huge umbrella (all from last night). I make the bus and get my seat. Some guy sitting across the isle from me says "nice running to catch the bus lady..." with which I reply "THANKS!! I've been training for months"... he laughs and starts to talk to me...by now we are pulling up at the stop in front of B&V where a large amount of people get on the bus. This old lady who apparently love the color purple gets on and sits in the front....The bus starts to drive.

Next thing I know Granny Purple starts banging her cane against the floor and yelling: "Let's RAP!! C'mon y'all let's rap!!" And rap she did. She was rapping about the PO'leece picking her up and 'resting her for something she didn't do, all the while she's telling the PO'leece to arrest the other girl (as she points to other passengers on the bus). The bus driver starts waving his hands in the air and trying to "beat box", a few people are laughing and most are trying not to stare. I am smiling and watching the show because obviously she loves to entertain. By the time we get to Mass Ave. She is done and the entire bus starts cheering and clapping. Granny Purple proceeded to tell everyone she's 79 years old and she "don't drink no wine...this all natural"...whatever that means ;) So I candidly snapped a picture of her. I really regret that I wasn't fast enough to get out the phone and record the show...Good stuff WMATA...The bus driver announced that if he had a turn table he would've "spun" for her...and he kept yelling out "WORD". Oh...and do you think the girl in the white glasses even cracked a smile or acknowledged that something was going on...nope :)

I LOVE DC!!

Top 10 things I loved about living in the city...more specifically on "the block"

10. watching raccoons go through trash cans in the ally...

9. This guy (Andrew) talking to me about his job in the CIA and FBI (he works for both) as a special operative...the cops know it and leave him alone ;) wink, wink...8. Saying "HEY-eeee" to my friends /security guards at the ATF building on a daily basis to and from the metro...They always ask about my day :)

7. Being called "jenny from the block" even though I loathe the name jenny (for myself...it seems to innocent for me).

6. The sun setting over houses that are over 100 years old (disclaimer: the rest of #7 is pretty cheesy). I like to make up stories about exciting untold stories these houses would have if they could talk...these houses have such amazing architecture and have had multiple demographics occupy them over the decades! If only walls could talk :D


(I know the ATF building isn't old...but the contrast of blue and orange is so striking...and I bet their walls would have good stories also). Absolutely magnificent sunsets! side story...I was walking home when I saw how beautiful the sunset was...so I RAN home, grabbed my camera and RAN back up the ally to O street to get shot shown first (I missed the best shot). 3 guys and a lady where walking up O street when I came running out of the ally and as I was taking the shot I heard them say "white lady running out of the ally on O street with a camera in her hands! Let's get the #@*% out of here!"...LOL

5. 20 minute commute to work

4. being able to walk anywhere I want to go.

3. Saturday morning pastries at Catina's bakery and vanilla latte's at Big Bear.

2. The sound of the metro bus...my all time favorite sound of the city is the "chon choon choooon" sequence the bus makes as it is changing gears or slowing down! I know, I know...some people would think it's the sound of urine hitting the ground or a house...but alas, it is not that ;)

Drum roll please....

1. Walking down N. Capital and getting asked on a weekly basis: "Scuuuz me ma'am...you lost?...you need some d'rections?"


THE ONLY REASON I LOVE LIVING IN THE SUBURBS...
**I get to see the Tshibaka's every day (except when they are on vacation!)

My life has resorted to top 10 lists.

July 4th, 2009

Yay for Independence day as a National holiday and yay for taking an extra day off from work...National holiday + vacation day = 4 day weekend!! Kelly Brooke and I drove up to my aunt and uncles lake house (Lake Mohawk, Sussex County New Jersey...The GARDEN state people!) late Thursday night and I rode back with Chris and Becky (and Abby) on Monday afternoon. What a relaxing weekend! The weekend consisted of boating, eating, sleeping (ie. hammock napping) and more eating! Here's a pretty short weekend photo documentary

Friday morning we slept in, ate a big brunch and went for a boat ride. We were stopped/floating talking to this guy from Brooklyn (known Mafia connections) about his 4th party (say this with a Brooklyn accent...a thick Brooklyn accent) "320 sausages, 30 racks of lamb, 30 racks of ribs, 50 pounds of ice cream (he had a name for this special ice cream and it was not gelato). You know, the works. We got four guys working the whole thing" ... we look over and a HUGE black bear is walking through the little yard next door. of course I am surrounded by idiots and everyone ran towards the bear to get a better picture. Everyone on our boat (non-idiots) stayed ON the boat. I tried to get a good pic from my (crappy) camera phone as the bear literally BROKE the fence by barely pushing on it to escape the moron's chasing him. VERY EXCITING :) sorry I didn't actually get the bear standing up pushing the fence...instead you can see the fence broken and the faint outline of the bears rump as he ran away...Beautiful creature!
We took off down to the boardwalk and putzed around for a while on the beach and the little town. Kelly had never been.


Abby, Chris and Becky arrived and Abby spent the rest of the weekend letting us all know who and what was hers (ie. my aunt jj...my mommy, my juice, my boat, etc...) and trying to feed me because I obviously looked emaciated from only eating 3 times a day ;)


Kelly isn't a huge fan of tubing so we zipped across the lake at a speed of about 5...5 miles per hour ;) She was paranoid I would do something devious to throw her out...I wouldn't do that...to her

This guy on the other hand I would totally throw out of the tube if given the chance. My uncle drove much faster on this trip. We were in the Ski Nautique, so he was whipping around corners and stirring up some huge waves. I have a huge bruise on my left hip/back (literally about 6 inches in diameter) from this tube ride. Chris (my older brother) tried numerous times to throw me out...here we are fighting over the middle handle coming up on a wicked turn.

Abby loved the tube. she was a little apprehensive at first and held on tight. When my brother would let go to wave to the camera she would say "hold on daddy"...but she finally loosened up and started waving while the tube was going; and when they hit some waves Abby would laugh and yell "again, again!!". When we stopped the boat she stood up and yelled "yay!!" and clapped!! She is soooo precious!!

She wanted to lay like Jj on the back of the boat...the life jacket was hilarious. She looked like a sumo wrestler trying to maneuver her way around!

Abby loved going on the boat. She wanted me to take her in the canoe for supper on Sunday night..we opted to just take the deck boat instead ;) She absolutely hated her life jacket and said "jj, take off! peas take off" We talked her into keeping it on anytime she go on a boat, moving or not.

This was taken with my crappy camera phone on the way home from supper Sunday night and it cracks me up...it's so elongated for some reason and it looks like the end of an old 70's Western!


The long ride home (6 hours...it's a 4.5 hour trip! LOL)! Thanks Debbie and Will for an awesome weekend!!

In other news: I must have turned 90 this year and someone forgot to tell me. I managed to pull my lower back muscle somehow over the course of the last 48 hours (lifting the canoe, planks, tubing, or stretching before my run...take your pick) and it somehow caught up with me yesterday mid morning... I am now in a back brace (a very discreet one though...you can't tell. It's more like a girdle!! LOL) I'm on steroids and muscle relaxers and I'm in 4 weeks of PT... I'm going to go ahead and register for my AARP card so I can start getting better discounts ;)

MY half BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

Dear loyal blog readers!! Please mark your calendars!! My half birthday is tomorrow, July 2nd. All to often I suffer from the 2-in-1 gifting since my birthday is so close to Christmas and that just sucks!! So about 4 years ago I started celebrating my half birthday. Do I get a party this year...? Kinda! I'll be at the lake so that will be party in itself. I do love attention :D
Gifts are not necessary, but I will take note if you do not give me one ;) (just kidding...or am I?!)

I've come a long way from the little trouble maker I used to be :)