i like my clothes crisp and clean, i like my dough krispy kreme

Little things that have made me smile this week:

1. listening to the au revoir simone cd
2. sweet emails from the people i love
3. 1/2 price vegan chocolate chip cookies from birdbath, and i just read in town&country that this is mary louise parker's favorite little shop =)
4. my meditation class and last night's prasad, and what a beautiful karmic being my teacher is. i'm so lucky to get to spend two hours of my week with such lovely beings.
5. coffee and chitty chat with kristina
6. cafe americano's and getting a table everyday at starbucks on my lunch break and being able to read
7. my ballet class begins tonight
8. being able to do things i didn't think i could do
9. finding a discount bookstore, i didn't smile when i saw all the books that i paid full price for at barnes and noble though
10. compliments--being given and received
11. love
12. giggles

I love it....

http://barackobamaisyournewbicycle.com/

The best part of growing up....

is being able to eat whatever I want for dinner. Last night I had peanut butter m&ms, swedish fish, a rice krispie treat, and a cafe au lait. I got my new french cd's and books because I am going to start learning French again because I need something to do with my time and my brain. And I ate my goodies and did lessons in my book at Starbucks until my meditation class. I was surprised at how much I remembered! The worst part of growing up, or not going home for Easter, is not getting a visit from the Easter bunny. But I am getting a new ballet outfit this weekend for the ballet classes I am going to start taking so Happy Easter to me! I also got the au revoir simone cd last night and it is magical. It made me dance around my room the same way I did in 1992 when I got the MC Hammer cassette. I listened to it on my iPod this morning on my way to work and it made me want to dance all the way up to 56th street, but I refrained as people would have thought I had fallen off my rocker. On another happy note, I'm wearing fairy princess shoes today at work!

Hands Down BEST Cupcake in NYC

So I have a friend who has been doing what I shall call "cupcake research" recentl, and I have had the privilege of visiting lots of cupcake shops in nyc! And last weekend we went to what I believe to be the best one! It's called Sugar Sweet Sunshine in the Lower East Side and is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Not only were the cupcakes amazing, but it has fabulous 70's neon wallpaper and mish-mash furniture. I got the pumpkin spice and pistachio cupcakes. The pistachio one was the best thing I have ever eaten! It was so different from any other cupcake I've had thus far on our "cupcake research" rendevous'. This place also serves banana pudding, a southern favorite of mine which I will hopefully get to try this weekend!!

Does being a Mom come with a superhero gene?

I sure hope so! Because if not, I am doomed. This weekend I bought a carton of squash soup to bring to work for lunch this week. Since I didn't want to lug the whole carton here I decided I would pack my portion for today in a thermos. This is first time in my life I have ever put a hot liquid into a thermos, and it's harder than you think. And it made me think of all those times when I was little how my Mom would pack me chicken noodle soup in my Sesame Street thermos for lunch. It was hard enough for me to pour the creamy thick squash soup into the thermos, and I can't imagine pouring chicken noodle soup and every time a noodle flops in the broth would splash out the side. Unless you're using a funnel, which I never recall my Mom using. How did she do it everyday? And wouldn't that get annoying? Yet she never told me I couldn't pack it. She packed my lunch everyday in my Sesame Street lunch box which she puffy painted with my name and whatever little hearts, stars, and rainbows that I wanted on there. She would make me cute little jumpers and paint bunnies and giraffes and miss piggy's on my bows, and I loved those little things. But I don't think I could ever do that, I can barely draw a stick figure, how would I ever paint a little bunny in a field of flowers on a dress and have it look cute?

And how can Mom's always make little girl's hair look so pretty? I was a picky kid and could never have any lumps in my hair, and my Mom would redo it until I deemed it suitable for school. I never realized until I've tried to do my neices hair how HARD it is to make a little girl's hair look cute! It's impossible to not have lumps. And she would always make me cute bouncy pigtails and french braids! And I can't french braid and I can't make even pigtails. I guess my kids will just always have crappy hairdos. My mom took all that time to make my hair look pretty and comb out all the tangles and put pretty bows in it, and what would I do but go in my room and cut it all off.

I hope being a Mom also comes with a pancake making gene! I would love when my Mom would cook pancakes in the mornings, what a yummy breakfast! But I can't make pancakes without setting the fire alarm off and having the kitchen filled with smoke, and then they're black on the outside and gooey in the middle. How do Mom's know how to make perfect pancakes?

For Halloween when I was little I wanted to be Miss Piggy and my Mom made me the most beautiful Miss Piggy costume ever and a Kermit one for herself. I can barely sew a button on much less make a costume for a kid!

It amazes me how Moms can always put their kids desires first. From wanting the last cookie or the biggest piece of meatloaf, to voting for a candidate they might really disagree with or giving up meat because it means something to their children, it's because they have a superhero gene I'm convinced! I mean how else could they do all that 365 days a year and never complain?! Not once!

To everyone else she might just be a regular person, but to me she's the greatest superhero there is!!

I had a dream I can buy my way to heaven When I awoke, I spent that on a necklace.

I love Whole Foods Market. Mostly for the fact that they have an amazing vegetarian/vegan/organic selection and everything is always super yummy! They also stand for a lot of the things that I believe in so I always choose to support them. So last night after work I went to get some stuff for the Mexicana dinner that I am preparing tonight. And I needed to get mayonnaise for my dip, and I found myself standing in the condiment section looking at all the vegan and vegetarian and canola free mayos, and thought to myself "geez, I wish I could just grab a jar of Duke's Mayo!". I never thought in a million years that thought would pop into my head! But there I was staring at the selection that I always want when I go into Whole Foods, endless options of health, and would probably not shop there had their shelves been stocked with Miracle Whip, Hellman's, Duke's, etc. because I go there specifically for those options. But for a fleeting moment yesterday I just wanted fluffy blindingly white Duke's Mayonnaise in a jar with a yellow lid, but instead I grabbed my eggless and canola free squeeze bottle of beige mayo and trekked homeward.

We, the people, in order to form a more perfect Union

I can still recite the entire Preamble to the tune of that old School House Rocks video! And I'm proud of it. So basically a lot has been said about this whole Eliot Spitzer deal and my whole thing is who are we to judge? As my sister would say "who died and made us boss?!". But seriously, I was not put on this earth to judge other people, and until we have walked everyday of our lives in his shoes we have no right to judge what he did or why he did it. Now, I am by no means saying it is okay or right, but I personally believe that one's morals don't necessarily equate to their ability to run a state/nation. I think a person can have not so top-notch morals and still do a darn good job at running things. I mean let's look at JFK and Clinton, both had not so great morals in the monogamy department but were still good at what they were elected to do. And then let's look at George Dubya who has the morals of a saint and then let's look at the state of our union....case in point! Once again, I do no think cheating on your spouse is okay but I don't think it impairs one's ability to perform their job. Even people like Angelina Jolie might not have the greatest morals in some people's opinions, but she does a lot of good for the entire world and for that I have respect. In all honesty, I had never even heard the name Eliot Spitzer until this all came about (sad, I know) so I don't really know whether he's doing any good for this fine state, but I don't think this scandal says anything about his ability to do his job. Gauging by the amount of taxes this state rapes me of every two weeks, as my grandpa would say "I don't think he's doin' me nary bit o' good".

Get money!

So I don't really have much to write about except for the fact that the past few days have been absolutely amazing aside from the fact that I'm still sick. On friday night, Kristina and I had a sleepover and got food from Spice and ate ice cream and gossiped and watched goofy televisions shows. It was so much fun to just relax for a night with good food and good company, I am really going to miss her when she leaves *tear*. On saturday, we went and got cookies and goodies from the farmer's market in the rain. I was so looking forward to getting some dried thistles and edible flowers but because of the icky weather a lot of vendors weren't there. Hopefully I can score some this weekend. We also had brunch at 7A, and it was quite possibly the best brunch I've had thus far in the city--definitely the best spinach and feta omelette thus far! Since Saturday was so gross I didn't feel guilty for spending most of it inside and after the past few weekends of spending my entire days outside, I was happy to rent movies and curl up in bed! I finally rented Capote which I have been wanting to see for a long time and I was very pleased. Sunday, I felt like crap again and went to yoga and then had granola and a smoothie at Liquiteria which was amazing! I also went to Tinsel Trading Co. (the cutest little place ever!!) and got some glass glitter letters to hang on my wall and some peacock feather trim which I made into the cutest headband for my date Monday night with Mr. Guiseppe Quattraleone, the most handsome boy I know. It was a fabulous night with thai food and cupcakes and a trip to Home Depot (score!). The lady at Home Depot said she loved my headband and that made my night! We got cupcakes from CRUMBS bakery, which I have been wanting to try for a long time. But of course as always I pick the one with too many flavors and it always ends up being gross. I can never get chocolate or oreo, no, I have to get chocolate peanut butter with peanuts and cream cheese icing and chocolate chips and wow, it was an overload. You would think by now I would have learned my lesson with things like this, but no, I always always get the overload and am always always disappointed. Speaking of chocolates, yesterday when I was in Duane Reede I was looking at the Easter selection when I saw something fabulous-what the Easter Bunny MUST bring me this year (Mom, I hope you're reading this). Dude da' bunny!* It was a big chocolate bunny dressed in baggy sweats with a candy chain with a D on the end, bling bling! I laughed so hard when I saw Dude da' bunny, seriously, who thinks of these things? Whoever it is, I'm glad they do!!

*I tried to find a picture of Dude da' bunny, but all I could find was Diva da' bunny and Leonarda da' bunny--which is an artist bunny, I am not really sure why he is in "da bunny" collection. I don't get it.

How you gon' act like my rims ain't clean? How you gon' act like my neck don't bling?

Things I'm really in love with right now....

1. vegetarian split pea soup from whole foods
2. farmer's market cookies every saturday morning
3. brunch and yoga every weekend with Xtina
4. thai dinners with Jess...mmmm
5. rediscovering clothes in my closet
6. blankies
7. my mother for always supporting any idea/opinion that i might have....her love always reminds me of this line from Gibran's the prophet about children "You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.". It means more to me than she will ever know.
8. cupcakes
9.discovering the most fabulous little market last weekend in Chelsea with Kristina
10. my roommate's baking skills