Saturday, I woke up feeling alright until I took a sip of water.  Then all H broke loose.  My tummy was greatly angry at me!  I eventually narrowed it down to Ultimate Pizza, the random street pizza that I had Friday night at like 2am.  It already looked pretty old, but I thought I could still do it.  WRONG!  I should have known my sensitive stomach well enough to know that he is not please with bad ingredients.  However, at the time I didn’t know it was food poisoning and we all still went to the famous Phillips Seafood Express to begin the day.  That was right before this pic…

And let me tell you, you don’t even want to know what happened 5 minutes after this picture!  Sparing the details, we headed over to Fells Pointwhere there were a lot of little cute shops.  Since I was feeling superbad (and not in a good way), I went back to the hotel while the rest of the crew was out.

Saturday night, I was back in the game!  While waiting on them to return from dinner, I started crying while watching Trouble The Water, a black documentary about Hurricane Katrina.  <Check it out if you can>  We all got dressed and walked over to Power Plant and hung out in Mosaic.  After a little dancing to “Baltimore style” music, we continued to Watch out for the big girls on our way back to the hotel.  Sunday, we spent a little more time with friends at Bahama Breeze, and Jes’ family before hitting the road again.  I got back home around midnight and went straight to sleep before having to go to work Monday morning.  Baltimore was a lot of fun and gave me a chance to get out of Indy since I had been here for three straight weekends.  It was nothing like I had imagined and next time I’ll try to go to the National Aquarium and do more tourist stuff and NOT get sick!

Random Link of the Day: Big Meech

Since I’ve moved to Indy, I’ve gone to a total of 5 different churches: Emmanuel Missionary Baptist Church, Eastern Star Church-Main Campus, Eastern Star Church-Northeast Campus, Phillips Temple CME Church,  and St. Luke Baptist Church.  Eastern Star is the mega church of Indy that is working on its 4th location.  And the pastor goes to all 3– 8:30am at Main Campus, 9:30am at Northeast, 10:45am at Northwest, and back to the Main Campus for noon service.  I have no clue how he does it all, but it just seems pretty ridiculous to me.  He just pops in for the sermon and dips out right after to head to the next location.  One of my girls, a native Hoosier was brought up in Phillips Temple.  It was my first time going to a CME church.  Nothing was too different from normal, I just didn’t feel like I belonged there.  Emmanuel is the first church I went to out here and has stuck as my favorite.  Initially, my coworker invited me to tutor after work with her and then I was convinced to stay for bible study, and then I was invited to come to Sunday service.  I really enjoy the pastor and the casual vibe, but they are on their job of helping the community.  They even started a partnership with NASA and I’m all for it!  Yesterday, I was intending to go to EMBC and when I get there at 10:30am, nobody was in the parking lot <I figured they went to another location or were having a special service> so I went right down the street to Eastern Star to find out they didn’t start service until noon.  Between the two is St. Luke Baptist Church that had a marquee to celebrate the 27th pastoral anniversary.  I knew this meant  a long service, but it started at 10 so I parked and went in.  Of course, I was right and they had a guest preacher so I had to dip out when they were giving more gifts to the pastor and first lady.  I may come back another Sunday to hear the preacher, who can allegedly sang very well.

Also, this weekend I spent all day Saturday doing my hair in a full sew-in weave.  I’ve never worn my hair this long, but I wanted a different look.  It took the most time to do the closure so that it looked somewhat real.  I combined a regular closure method with a sew-in invisible part method because I am not for glue in my hair.  It took extremely long to close the weave and make it look okay.  I took it down 3 times before it was tolerable.  I may take it down and redo it one last time before the weekend.  It really just take practice.

During this hair stuff, I had to track down the cable man to freggin fix my cable cord that Cooli O. just decided to eat one day.  That same day, he ate my window blinds, and eyeglasses.  I found the lens on the ground and he found my hand on his rump!  The cable would go out whenever anybody would go by the cord, which is right next to the door.  And it also affected the internet.  Good thing I had some dvds on deck that I needed to watch.  I watched Following (by the writer of Inception), The Final Cut with Robin Williams, Adaptation with Nicolas Cage and School Daze A Spike Lee Joint that was spoofed by Alicia Keys.  Oh yeah, Friday I also went back to Morty’s and saw the comedian Mike Britt.  I really love it when comedians can freestyle based on the audience like he did.  All in all, it was a pretty bland weekend, but I made it sound somewhat fun, huh?

Random Link of the Day: Download my boy’s CD for free!

Before I have another exciting weekend, I need to catch up on the past two!  Two weeks ago, my brother was still here visiting.  We went downtown and a lot of different places so I could show him how we get down in Indy.  We spent most of the weekend downtown.  Friday night, my twin made a surpise visit to see me!!!  He’s the male version of me and he’s super great.  A small group of us went to Adobo for First Fridays.  Saturday, during the day my brother, twin, homegirl and I took a walk around Broad Ripple (a bar district near me).   That night, we thought we were high class and went to a lovely dinner at St. Elmo’s Steakhouse.  It was actually affordable due to Devour Downtown where many of the expensive restaurants have set menus for $30 for 3 courses and some relatively inexpensive restaurants have 2 people for $30.  Following that, we went to Jillian’s and played a couple of games before heading to the club.

Last weekend seemed like it was going to be a very lonely one.  Although I did stay at home a lot, I also finally got out and did Zumba TWICE.  The second instructor was much better than the first and I may eventually make it my regular gym because I love taking classes.  That night I met a few friends out at a club, but it was a pretty bland evening.  Sunday, I went to a cookout and another Indianapolis Indians baseball game with tickets that I won at work.

Monday, I went to the Indiana State Fair.  It made me think back to the times where everyone far and wide would go to the State Fair in Detroit.  Then, it was by far the highlight of the summer.  The rides, elephant ears, caramel apples and most of all the pirate ship and surrounding macking and foolishness.  With my dance school, I would dance at the fair every summer too! {RIP Michigan State Fair}  At this one I ate a polish sausage, deep-fried mac and cheese, a liter of fresh squeezed lemonade, and deep-fried Pepsi <delish>.  We saw a couple chickens and cows and watched cowboys at a rodeo.  It was really crazy when a rider had to pop his shoulder back into place after falling off a bucking bronco!

Basically, my weekends are great, but I’m still doing fun stuff through the week.  I work 9 hours per day not including lunch nor driving, so I need something to keep me going.  I’m constantly striving to make new moves and get to the place wher I can enjoy every hour of everyday.

Quote of the Day: Should’s can turn into should have’s in less than a day. Carpe diem!  Feel free to list your should-should’ves below

To be clear, it has been 1 year today August 18, 2009 that I officially graduated from the University of Michigan.  I walked across the stage December 14, 2008.  I knew that I was going to study abroad in Hong Kong for my final semester and knew that I would not being back for the Spring graduation.  Upon returning, I took one final math class that summer to complete my Aerospace Engineering degree and minor in Mathematics.  It also gave enough time for HKUST to transfer my credits back and put them on my transcript.

When I was first thinking about this blog I was a little nervous because it almost seemed like I haven’t done much in a year.  Most of it was composed of moving to Indianapolis, which is a big feat in itself since I didn’t know ANYONE here.  But I’ve done that before with living in Cincinnati OH, Greenville SC, San Diego CA, and Hong Kong, but it is definitely scary at first and I always have a taste of regret during the first week.

One huge thing that I am happy about is that my 2 best friends are STILL my 2 best friends!  We frequently communicate with each other although we all live in different locations.  I also must say that I have made 23 look graceful ::pats self on back::  I still love to change up my hairstyles.  This was shown by me doing my big chop right before my last final exam!  I never thought that I’d go natural, but moving away from your hairdresser is a good incentive.

Being in a relationship, I sacrificed a lot of myself and that has taught me the biggest lesson of the year: Do not lose sight of myself and my gifts.  I have found a church that I enjoy, and God aligned it so that I can tutor there.  The kids are all really great and range from about 4 years old to seniors in high school.  I think I was put on this earth to share my blessing of understanding math to anyone that finds it difficult and frustrating.  I plan to continue doing this, but possibly on a larger scale in the future.  I still dance and even made it to the semi-finals to be an Indianapolis Colts cheerleader.  Of course, I can’t forget about Cooli.  He gives me reason to enjoy going home everyday and it has been a great decision to be a mommy of a puppy.

I’ve also done two things that I’ve always wanted to do: Walk in the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk, and go to New York City!  I have wanted to do the breast cancer walk since I was in college in honor of my mother who test after test finds benign cists.  It scares us every time and I can imagine how many have gone through the same experience ending with a different result.  New York was even more than I have ever imagined.  I love it, but I could never live there.  Over this next year, I plan to continue my mental growth by learning Spanish and taking Yoga.  I am also become more conservative with my body in regards to nutrition.  My long term goal is to compete in a half-marathon! Wish me luck

Random Link of the Day: You aren’t a real model

Last weekend I went home again to celebrate Allyson, my best friend’s birthday.  After shopping in Canada at Windsor Crossing (expensive for no reason) and Devonshire Mall (fantabulous!), I returned with her gift and hurried right down to MGM Casino for Ultimate Ballrooming.  All the girls (and a few guys) sang happy birthday and danced the night away with lots o’ line hustles aka line dances.  We sang happy bday and popped some champagne.  It was a lot of fun.  The next day we had a leisurely stroll downtown and a nice lunch at Starter’s Downtown (never get the peach lemonade, eww).

Then, I was on the road to Cinci.  My line sister Kristen and I  hung out for a little while before going to a Cincinnati Reds baseball game (clearly I enjoy baseball).  It was a lot of fun and a really good game that went to the 10th inning!  Afterwards, we watched the beautiful fireworks.  Also, that night at 1am, we took Cooli to the 24-hour emergency Vet   They said he had a cold and gave him a shot and some medicine to take every 8 hours <difficult when you are running around a city on vacation>.

Saturday, we ran a couple errands around the city and ate a very cute brunch place named First Watch.  We went home and rested = nap after playing with Cooli.  We had plans to attend a day party, but got dressed in enough time to meet Kristen’s friend Allison before heading into the Macy’s Music Festival. We barely walked in on K’Jon (Detroit), we got food and drinks during EnVogue (old and sweaty), and sat enjoying Raheem DeVaughn (my boo), Erykah Badu (weird but love her) and finally Frankie Beverly and Maze (jamming).  After leaving around 1am, we strolled through an after party where I saw a couple of people that I randomly knew.  It was super cramped and uncomfy.  We headed home to sleep the night/morning away.

Sunday, we again went to brunch at Indigo Cafe with Cooli O. where I got to make my own fabulous pasta and Cooli got to enjoy the shade on the patio.  I met up with my long-time friend Darnell for some mango sorbet at Graeter’s.  After just walking around and telling stories, I lost my phone out there!!!  Thankfully, the gas station attendant helped me out before I got too far away.

The weekend was super fun times and helped to keep me distracted from all the foolywang that was happening in other aspects of my life.

Random Link of the Day: Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.  Oscar Wilde

Of course it was another great weekend with my boyfriend except this one was extra special because his birthday is next week, but I won’t be able to be with him… So, we celebrated this weekend (when his boyz wouldn’t be able to take him away).  Friday night when I arrived, I gave him a golf-inspired greeting card and a golf glove (and popcorn, he just loves popcorn).  We then went to Hooters (delishis wings) and the movies to see Inception.  The movie was fantastic.  I’m really into learning about the human mind and how people put mind over matter, especially in ways that are perceived as negative or giving them a disorder.  Other movies that do this is are Shutter Island (also staring Leo) and Identity.

Saturday morning, I gave him a baseball-inspired card where the punchline was “chalk up another one” as the guy on the front of the card was chalking the baseball diamond.  Attached to the card were 2 baseball tickets to see the Detroit Tigers that night.  He had been talking about going to a game all season (and even made it his facebook status, lol).  The Tigers ended up losing the game, but it was really worth staying through the end.  That was my first time in Comerica Park.  It was quite different from the Indianapolis Indians’.  It was huge and a lot more people.  Earlier in the day we made a random stop at Pizza Kitchen while on our way to Hood-Mart (the rat-tastic WalMart).  He later made me a Salmon feast before the game! 

Sunday, we were going to go golfing at 8am, but it was still raining/wet, so we just went to breakfast.  Before church, I gave him a third card with fortune cookies on it.  It’s an inside joke and I wanted to throw him off the scent for the big gift.  I got him a watch to replace his that got “mysteriously lost” in the mail.  [After he left it in Indy, I mailed it to him and our thought is that it was stolen along the route, O_o.]  He loved it!  We then trotted happily to church.  We visited Second Ebenezer Church at the 10am service.  We didn’t get there until 10:45ish, just in time for the A&B selections.  The sermon was really good by Bishop Vann (although more drawn out than it should have been) and he was finished by noon!  Oh, until… he did the call to worship and wouldn’t stop calling, nor singing until 25 people (and counted them) came to the alter to give their lives to Christ.  I’m not sure if he ever made 25, but it was 17 when I stopped listening.  He then had 3 people in particular tell their stories, at about 10 minutes each.  We were ready to leave as the clock neared 1pm.  He kind of guilt-tripped people into staying saying that this was a test of “spiritual endurance”.  False!!  Right before offering, I left my donation and we dipped!  As the dip was occurring, he also felt the need to shout out “Where yall goin?” in front of a church of at least 1,000 and many more at home or online.  LMAO!!  If we ever go back, it will be for a conference like I had been to previously, but I would recommend to stream that faith so you can leave as you please.

Random Link of the day: http://www.thedirtyartist.com/dirtywomen.html

I googled “Secret Shopper” and popped up a bunch of sites asking me to do it, and 1 that stood out with “Secret-Shopping Scam” by MSNBC.  That article talks about one secret shopper’s experience that led to a scam.  Basically, 1. The Company sends him a check for $2,500.  2. He cashes the check at his bank.  3. He keeps $250 and sends back $2,250 to secret shop and evaluate the local MoneyGram.  4. After the check has been sent to The Company, the check to your bank account bounces.  5. The Company has your money and you must repay your bank from your own pockets!  Sucks right?!

After seeing that stuff, there was a link on the page talking about Working From Home using your computer.  I went to their page where there is a great story by a beautiful woman holding a baby with a caption about her losing her job (with which of us can relate).  There is a big banner of their “accreditations” about being seen on NBC, Reader’s Digest, Good Morning America, and The New York Times.  Their site connects to their main web page with even more references.  Of course, being a good blogger, I wanted to do a little research so you guys don’t have to   I found these 2 failed searches on The New York Times and MSNBC before I got to a very good news report on the work at home scam.  The embedded video shows the same “mom” in a Buffalo news report.  There still is nothing that tells the actual detail of the scam, but that was enough for me.

I have actually been scammed before with Primerica, an insurance company.  Don’t feel bad or embarrassed if you’ve been hustled.  I ended up getting all of my money back, but it wasn’t without hassle.  I thought because I went to high school with the guy that invited me, and it is approved by the Better Business Bureau, I was golden.  It was indeed a pyramid scheme from which I would get little to no profit.

In conclusion, there’s no job bandwagon that you can just jump onto.  If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.  I think the only companies that you can really guarantee won’t scam you are ones that you start on you own in a highly desired field!

Aja believed it was okay for the Iron Pigs to get one free run, but then they just took off and I continued to blame her, lol.  After singing <wonderfully>, we weren’t budging.  After the 8th inning the score was 7-8.  The two supertall (6’5″ and 6’6″) brothas Domonic Brown and John Mayberry get on base.   Bases are loaded after “we” intentionally walk.  2 outs, 2 balls, and 2 strikes later Brian Bocock hits a triple bringing 3 guys in!  Everybody was sooooo outdone!  We still had the bottom of the 9th for us, which led to nothing…  Folks were just standing in the bleachers with the straight face like when Michigan lost ::reserves mean words::.  The girls and I were pretty unfazed (a real word) and left our graveyard of hot dogs, pops, peanuts, popcorn, and an elephant ear with full bellies and smiles on our faces.

We arrived Saturday and went straight to get some BBQ!  I had a delish pulled pork sandwich and Corbin being on his anti-swine tip got the “Beer Can chicken”= Bizzomb!  Then we went to a little cookout hosted by Playdate Charlotte at Marshall Park.  There’s also a chapter in Detroit that I went to last year.  It’s usually a lot of fun with board games and musical chairs or hula hooping.  After that, we had fun at Wet Willie’s and walked the streets of downtown until we found a fabulous Polish Sausage to accompany our walk back to the car.

Sunday morning, we drove 4 hours to Myrtle Beach.  By the time we got there we spent about 30 minutes on the beach, and then 30 minutes on food before going back to the hotel to change clothes.  Next, we drove another 30 minutes to “The Boat“.  I spent most of my time hanging out and watching the boys play blackjack.  I spent none of my money on that foolywang.  The ship sails for an hour to get to international waters and we sit for about 3 hours to gamble before and hour trip back.

Monday, we ate at the worst IHOP ever then after the 4 hour trip back, I needed to take a dip in the pool to satisfy my water/sun intake for the weekend.  We then went to the FAB Cheesecake Factory before bidding adieu and checking into the BEST HOTEL I’VE EVER BEEN TO, Aloft Hotels.  Of course my romantic bf got us a corner room on the 12th floor because he knows I love views!!  It was really amazing!!  {let’s just say happy tears were involved}

Tuesday, we just took a cute stroll around downtown and stopped for a bite to eat where the tuna salad sandwich was really good.  [Okay, I love food, geez]  The boys spent some time at the driving range, and I was enhancing my tan and reading… until we all broke out in a full sweat because it was over 90 degrees!  We then got cleaned up before heading to the airport.  In summary, Charlotte is great with some really good eats.  I’m still partial to San Diego, “America’s Finest City”, but it’s definitely on my Top Ten so far.

I think I know music pretty well and honestly, I wasn’t that impressed with the lead singer Bashiri… It was good to see the sets live, but his voice was a little to monotone for my taste.  I was telling my friend, that his voice definitely has a market for something, ie. waiting rooms, elevators, studying or a social mixer.  But when it comes to me listening to a cd or popping it in the car for a long drive, it’s not gonna happen.

As far as the food, I had the crab cakes last time I was there, delish, but of course never filling.  My friend had the bbq chicken pizza this time, good if that’s your thing.  I’m way too much a tomato sauce fan for that.  The brownie dessert is BOMB and enough to share with 4 people.  I got the White Chocolate Blueberry Bread Pudding this time.  #stayaway.  I kept crunching and getting little strawberry seeds in my teeth.  Who knows where those came from.  The outside was pretty firm and the inside wasn’t soft and delish.  Just stay away from it!

I really like music, mainly R&B/Soul vibe.  Favs are John Legend, Musiq Soulchild, Dwele, and can’t forget Jamie Foxx.  I guess I really like that culture kind of stuff.  I plan to go to the art museum around here, and the DIA when I’m at home.  I love plays and musicals, and love ballets and just dancing concerts (duh).  Challenge: Try to do 1 artsy-fartsy thing this month!