The Den

Happy Saturday!

This Cougar den just cracked me up. Facebook Break! And a thick pamphlet, with all those chapters? Ha! Check it out here: http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/cougar-den/1018781/

Happy Birthday to Joyce at A Perfect Beginning. A Perfect way to start your day! You can check Joyce out here and spread some birthday cheer!

Hope you're having a great weekend.

Best,

Kwana

I'm Smitten

What's Jack up to? Jack has been busy wandering around sneaking up to the kids room every chance he gets to see what trouble he can get into. Unfortunately with the Dear Twins messy rooms. It's usually a lot.

Wow! I had so much fun reading the comments from yesterday's Whats Your Number post. It was so interesting. Very telling to me about how secure some of us are in our weight and it clearly depends on where you are in your relationship with your weight. We'll have to do more of that type of polling here.

I'm happy to announce that the winner of the Barnes and Noble Gift card for making a comment on my interview over at Romance Writers on The Journey was Hope! We did the drawing at knitting the other day. The winning name was pulled by the lovely PVE. And, Yep, I resisted all those sweets. Notice Jack's no sneaking gate in the corner.

Now, I'm sure it's no secret here, but I am positively smitten with Michelle Obama. Cut to me with the silly school girl grin each time she shows up at some high powered Washington function looking like the coolest cucumber in the room.


I'll be picking up this week's People magazine for sure. I have to say although I was/am no fan of Mr. Bush, surprise, surprise, I always liked Mrs. Bush and admired her class and grace. Hey there's no accounting for who you fall in Love with.

But in Michelle I see an every woman, some of me, some of my friends and it just makes me smile. Such a modern woman, perfect for this time.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Best,

Kwana

What's Your Number?

What's Jack up to? Right now Jack chilling, soundly asleep, as if he spent all day working ever so hard. Oh a dogs life. If only we all had it as good as Jack.



So I'm at knitting and posed this question: "Would you tell your husband your number?" No, not that number. I know where your minds are going. Your weight. Your REAL weight. Just hopped off the scale that minute weight.



Well, there are 5 of us in knitting and I was shocked. SHOCKED. That 3 of the woman said, "sure why not?" They would tell their husbands their weight. And, yeah ,they are all in great shape. But still. Wow. Only one other woman was with me with the No Way. It doesn't matter that we have complete opposite backgrounds. I call her my twin separated at birth. She's Jill and I'm NeNe.




















This all came about with the whole Lent giving up sugar thing (BTW day 1 was tough) and the DH is giving up red meat. He thought that we should weigh ourselves. Now of course I know my weight. I have my scale. Go to WW. I pretty much know my weight daily. He's a man he doesn't think of these things much. So I was like fine. I go weight myself and clam up.


The DH asks am I going to tell him. I'm like, "Uh, no." Are you going to tell me. He's like, " sure." I said, "great."He tells. I don't.

Some things just don't need to be said. Now, I'm a tall woman just about the same height as my DH, but nobody wants to be too close in weight to their hubby not unless their nickname is Octomom and they are still pregnant.


I think that most men have a false ideal of what a woman should weigh and if they hear a number of say over 150-160 (ha what I would gave for that) they think it's too large. No matter the actual size or body type. What do you think?


So a little survey today. Would you tell your number?

Best,
Kwana

Top Finale- Spoiler Alert!!

Warning there are spoilers all up in here. If you don’t want to know close your eyes now…

Top Chef starts out on a River Boat with coffee and beignets so sweet. Oh Sweet beignets. Sigh…
Stefan is missing Fabio. Poor thing. Carla is humble and Hosea is Hosea.

Tom tells the Chefs the final challenge is cook the best three course meal of your life and you don’t have to make a dessert if you don’t want which means you’d better make a dessert.
The Helpers this season are Richard, Casey and Marcel from season past.

Hosea chooses Richard,
Stefan Picks Marcel. Think there will be enough cockiness on that team?

And Carla gets Casey and gracious as usual and says she wanted her.

They go to the Audubon Tea Room to prep.

Hosea Starts out by snatching all the frois gras and he and Stefan are about to fight it out.
Then Stefan sees Hosea took all the caviar he may burn down their station.

Casey is talking to Carla about cooking in a bag. I sure hope it works. I mean that’s something I’ve done so it worries me. Remember Carla. She didn’t win. Watch out.

The chefs come in the next morning and there is a twist. A big old Alligator on a table. One chef gets crab, one fish, and one alligator. They have to choose by the king cake. Hosea wins. Drats.
Hosea takes the fish. Gives Carla the crab and his nemesis Stefan the alligator.
Poor gator. This is awful. Stefan is ruthless.
The crab bites back.
They are talking menus and I’m nervous as all get out with Carla listening to Casey so much. I hope this works. She has always listened to her own voice.

Richard has got some of Hosea’s food smocking. I can see his influence.
Stefan-Alligator soup-Well done
Crab-good dish
Hosea didn’t pop.
Stefan- so- so.
Carla real personality

2nd course
Carla too refined.
Hosea good
Stefan- good.
3rd course. Carla’s soufflés is a disaster. I knew she should not have gone off course. Ugh.

Stefan was dated
Hosea dish was good
Fabio felt Hosea had the better meal. Will the friend ship be over?

Judges table. Toby is back along with Gail on the opposite end of the table.
Why should you win? Question
Stefan- because he deserves it
Hosea-delicious food. I am not feeling good. It’s a Hosea love fest even without any dessert.
Carla-Because she puts her heart in it and even brings the heart out of Stefan.

The judges break my heart and says we can all agree that Carla is out of the running ugh!! They stink. Casey stinks with her ideas. Why does a good heart and niceness never win?!!!

I’m so glad Carla won that car last week and no matter her restaurant will be packed.

That said, unbelievable, but true the winner is… Hosea. I cannot believe it. I think my head is going to pop off.
Still, I can’t wait for the reunion show next week. The Hosea/Leah clip looks crazy.

Best,

Kwana

Next Stop... Crazy Town

Today is the start of Lent. A time of refection, prayer and sacrifice. Reflection, introspection, prayer, cool. I can do that all day. But sacrifice? Hold it. Slow it down there a bit, baby. You all know me, I'm pretty faithful, maybe a bit corny for some of you, but, oh well to that. Just this sacrifice thing is a little daunting.

Nevertheless, I’ve been thinking long and hard about what would be a true Sacrifice for this Lent season and what would truly help me mind, body and spirit and unfortunately for me I keep coming back to Sugar.

I know, I know, it stinks right? Why couldn’t it be something easy like um, water or, um... air? But no. Sugar keeps popping into my head. So I’m going with it and am going to try to seriously eliminate the Sugar and the white products. This here blog might get a little bit scary over the next few weeks. Hold onto your hats!

Now back to your normally scheduled programming: Anybody watching The Not So Real Housewives of the NYC? I sure am. Yay to the hot messery. I didn’t realize how much I missed Alex and Simon. Not. But I love it anyways. Love the fast talking New York women. My peeps!

And don't forget tonight is the season finale for Top Chef. Fingers crossed for Carla!

Best,
Kwana

Tagged 6 by 6

First I wanted to say thank you to all who were so kind to check out my interview over at Romance Writers on The Journey yesterday. I'm so grateful. There is still time to make a comment today and win a Barnes and Nobel Gift card if you didn't get a change yesterday. You can check it out here and make your comment.

Next I've been tagged by Ms. Kristen by the 6 by 6 game. The mission, should you choose to accept it, is to find the sixth image in your sixth image folder, and then tag another six people to do the same.

Ok here goes. Sorry, but I had to go with the 5th photo as the 6th was of the dear teen twins and I promised not to post them on this here blog. Maybe one day. So you're stuck once again with Jack acting like, well, Jack. Here he is trying to escape his play yard as we all do garden work.

As for tagging, I'll just say play along if you like but please let me know so I can check out your pic!

Best,

Kwana

balloon photo from Flickr

Do You Really Wanna Know, Kwana?

What’s Jack up to? Well the wild vacation week is over so it's back to what’s supposed to count for normal with just Jack and I at home for a big hunk of the day. I think he’ll be spending the day enjoying a bit of quiet. At least for a little while.

I hope you all had a good weekend. Anyone have a fine time with The Oscars last night? I’m amazed at how much fun I had on twitter with The Oscars last night. Seriously, it was a little party that I didn’t have to dress up for. The DH was so not getting it, but I was having a grand time with my tweets.



I’m a newbie to the whole social networking thing. Fact is, I really don’t consider myself all that social. Just a big faker. So how social are you? Are you Linked in? Do you tweet? Do you follow me? (um, over to the right) Are you Faced out? Or do you like to hang back and stay off the grid? Who needs Big Brother watching all that much, eh?

Now, in the ultimate outing, I’m extremely honored to have been interviewed by Keli Gwyn over at her blog Romance Writers on The Journey. It’s my first blog interview so I’d love it if you stopped on by. You can check it out here. Thanks Keli!

Best,
Kwana

Sail Away

Happy Saturday!

Today sailing away is on my mind. It must be the longing for spring, warm weather and a much needed vacation. The temperature has decided to take a sudden nosedive these past few days going back to Brrr here in New York.

So last night I'm flipping channels and came across one of my not secret favorite movies: Joe Verses The Volcano. Loved Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in this. Yep, even more than Sleepless In Seattle. My DH so doesn't get my admiration of this sweet movie. I so get Joe and his "brain cloud" excuse to check out on his everyday life to sail away into his own crazy adventure.

So, what are some of your not so secret favorite movies?

Best,

Kwana

Meditative Work

What’s Jack up to? As I write this Jack is chilling on his perch on the back of the couch. Yep, King of the castle that’s him.

Last night as I was watching Survivor the DH confiscated my Laptop to do some work of his own so my fingers were left idle. Oh no, what to do? I looked around and saw my lonely knitting bag on my closet doorknob.

I’m embarrassed to say I have fallen out of the habit of knitting outside of my weekly group. Remember casting on? Well, that darn sock still is not done! Lately, at home it seems that all my time is on the computer, in the kitchen, laundry room, car or nose in a book, thoughts jumping from one task to the next. My mind and body never resting. So much that even when I’m asleep, it’s broken with a mind going at a rate that I can’t shut off. It’s been all work, work, work and I find pleasure for myself slipping lower and lower on my priority list.

It was so enjoyable to pick up my needles and just let the stitches add up. With each wrap of the yarn I found a small bit of tension ease. “In, wrap, slip through, pull off.” “ In, wrap, slip through, pull off.” “ In, wrap, slip through, pull off.” The stitches lining up like little solders and my brain slowly coming to rest. No room for any other thoughts but, “in, wrap, slip through, pull off. "
What sort of meditative work do you do when you need to slow it down?

Best,

Kwana

Fabulous Me?

What's Jack up to? Jack's been enjoying being a wild dog. Having the twins at home this week has been exciting for him. He was full of energy as the wind whipped through his now too long hair on our afternoon walk yesterday.

I want to give a big thanks to Product Junkie Diva for ever so kindly honoring me with a Your Blog is Fabulous Award. Isn't this lady with her dog so chic? Please go and check her fab blog out here where she discusses her wonderful beauty product obsession. Thanks so much PJD! I'm quite humbled and so grateful to all my blog friends who stop by daily.

I now have the pleasure of passing the award on to 5 other bloggers that I think are fab. This is tough as I admire so many of you, but here goes in no particular order:

High-Heeled Foot In the Door- For her fab style and outlook on home decor.

Babbling about Books-Katie knows books and loves to talk about them.

Harlem Loves- Miss Stylishly cool. She helps to keep me hip from London or at least make me think I am sort of hip.

I Pick Pretty- Because she's pretty and snarky and I like that.

Ina J. Offret- Who knew Alaska could be so hot or have such cool peeps? Did you know they drink champagne there every Thursday just because it's Thursday? Loves that!

Ladies please follow the rules and pass on the love to 5 blogs that you think are fab too.

Please be sure to check these fab blogs out. You won't be disappointed.

Best,

Kwana

Top Big Easy- Spoilers Ahead!

Top Chef in the Big Easy- Warning please don't read if you don't want to know...

Ok I warned you. Small admission first. I still have to watch my DVR's Not So Real Housewives. What did Bravo think putting the premiere on at 11:oo? Crazy. I needed a disco power nap to get ready for that thing. Now to Top Chefery...

Chefs arrive in New Orleans and Carla is all blown out and ready to rumble. Stefan is pumped up. Fabio has a Mohawk. And Hosea is… Hosea.

Emeril Lagasse is the guest judge in New Orleans. Surprise. Not. The quick fire is confusing. They bring back Jamie, Jeff and Leah for a chance to get back into the competition. What?! Nobody is happy. The three of them compete against each other in a crawfish challenge for a place back in the competition.

Leah talks about being bitter about being kicked out. I think some will be bitter if she’s kicked back in.
Jamie’s messing with poached an egg which worries me. But I like her haircut.
Jeff is seasoning like crazy. He must have come with the Bam sauce.

Emeril picks the winner and it’s Jeff. I’m actually happy for him. But his victory is snatched as Padma tells him he has to win the elimination challenge to stay in the game. Oh snap.

The Chefs go to Mardi Gras World (bit of trivia: the DH and I had dinner there when in the Big Easy it was quite fun) and are given instruction and shown a new car like on The Price Is Right. The winner of this challenge gets the car. Nice.
Chefs must do 2 dishes and one must be Creole plus a drink.
Best comment of the night I think came from Hosea who said it would have been the first Top Chef without a Mohawk to Fabio who showed up with it in New Orleans! That was funny.
Stefan goes for a smoke and doesn’t make sausage from scratch? Way to sweat Stefan.
Carla said she’s going to have to MacGyver it. I hear ya.
Carla doesn’t drink and she’s going for it with Non-Alcoholic in New Orleans. Risky but cool.

We find out that Gail is back and Carla cheers. I want to cheer too. Toby the sour puss won’t be missed by the chefs or Tom I suspect.

The masqueraders come into the ball and Carla thinks it beautiful and Fabio is reminded of an old porno movie. He just kills me.
Jeff- Gets good reviews.
Stefan-ok, but rue is not dark enough.
Fabio-a parade in the mouth. Nuff said.
Carla-Hootie Hoo!
Hosea-did good on the gumbo.
I have no clue who is going home.

Judges table too funny. Why was Fabio giving Hosea that funny stare? What?! I laughed so hard. Tom’s face at Stefan’s comment also priceless.
Decision time. Judges say there was a clear winner and it was…Carla!!! Thanks for telling me judges.
Carla won the challenge and a new car!! I’m so happy.

Sorry to Jeff. Buh-buy.
Hosea is in.

It’s down to the dynamic duo. Stefan and Fabio.

And Fabio has to pack his knives and go. I’m not happy about it. Of course it’s all based on attitude since I can’t taste the food but Stefan’s attitude should have sent him home.

I’m for Carla all the way. Hootie Hoo!!

Best,

Kwana

Sophomoric Reading

Thankfully Mr. Electric came by with his silent partner and saved the day. Fixing the faulty plug and quickly pointing out that we had a potential fire hazard in the ancient wiring. Whew. Just call me grateful.

To celebrate I took the kids to the not so free movie night to see Coraline. Yep, they were the oldest kids in the movie and the DS made a good show of protesting, saying he wanted to see Friday the 13th, but admitted to enjoying it all the same. The DD liked it plenty since Coraline was one of her favorite books a few years back and she was actually looking forward to seeing the movie. Especially since she has a creepy painted over crawl space in the back of her closet that we have never been able to open. It’s all very Coraline.

Before the movie the Dear Twins and I went to Barnes and Nobel they both had to pick up books for literary circles they are in for their English classes.

Check out what counts for 10 grade reading these days:
This is what the DS is reading. The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Synopsis
Each morning, Bhima, a domestic servant in contemporary Bombay, leaves her own small shanty in the slums to tend to another woman's house. In Sera Dubash's home, Bhima scrubs the floors of a house in which she remains an outsider. She cleans furniture she is not permitted to sit on. She washes glasses from which she is not allowed to drink. Yet despite being separated from each other by blood and class, she and Sera find themselves bound by gender and shared life experiences.
Sera is an upper-middle-class Parsi housewife whose opulent surroundings hide the shame and disappointment of her abusive marriage. A widow, she devotes herself to her family, spending much of her time caring for her pregnant daughter, Dinaz, a kindhearted, educated professional, and her charming and successful son-in-law, Viraf.
Bhima, a stoic illiterate hardened by a life of despair and loss, has worked in the Dubash household for more than twenty years. Cursed by fate, she sacrifices all for her beautiful, headstrong granddaughter, Maya, a university student whose education -- paid for by Sera -- will enable them to escape the slums. But when an unwed Maya becomes pregnant by a man whose identity she refuses to reveal, Bhima's dreams of a better life for her granddaughter, as well as for herself, may be shattered forever.
Poignant and compelling, evocative and unforgettable, The Space Between Us is an intimate portrait of a distant yet familiar world. Set in modern-day India and witnessed through two compelling and achingly real women, the novel shows how the lives of the rich and the poor are intrinsically connected yet vastly removed from each other, and vividly captures how the bonds of womanhood are pitted against the divisions of class and culture.

And here is the DD's is Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat

Synopsis

What would you give up to protect your loved ones? Your life?
In her heartbreaking, triumphant, and elegantly written memoir, Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat tells the heart-pounding story of her life as a young girl in Iran during the early days of Ayatollah Khomeini's brutal Islamic Revolution.
In January 1982, Marina Nemat, then just sixteen years old, was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to death for political crimes. Until then, her life in Tehran had centered around school, summer parties at the lake, and her crush on Andre, the young man she had met at church. But when math and history were subordinated to the study of the Koran and political propaganda, Marina protested. Her teacher replied, "If you don't like it, leave." She did, and, to her surprise, other students followed.
Soon she was arrested with hundreds of other youths who had dared to speak out, and they were taken to the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Two guards interrogated her. One beat her into unconsciousness; the other, Ali, fell in love with her.
Sentenced to death for refusing to give up the names of her friends, she was minutes from being executed when Ali, using his family connections to Ayatollah Khomeini, plucked her from the firing squad and had her sentence reduced to life in prison. But he exacted a shocking price for saving her life -- with a dizzying combination of terror and tenderness, he asked her to marry him and abandon her Christian faith for Islam. If she didn't, he would see to it that her family was harmed. She spent the next two years as a prisoner of the state, and of the man who held her life, and her family's lives, in his hands.
Lyrical, passionate, and suffused throughout with grace and sensitivity, Marina Nemat's memoir is like no other. Her search for emotional redemption envelops her jailers, her husband and his family, and the country of her birth -- each of whom she grants the greatest gift of all: forgiveness.

Both look delicious and I want dive into them too. I think I will.

Best,
Kwana

Let There Be Light.... please.

Hello Tuesday. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments on Jack’s Obamicon yesterday. I hope you all had a nice President’s Day holiday.

I got to spend a few hours alone with the DH while the Dear Teen Twins went their own ways. Sadly, it was not bliss, as on Saturday night, in the “now what else can go wrong?” category, our electricity went out in the kitchen and dining room. No, I don’t know why there is an ancient plug upstairs in the DD’s room that controls my kitchen's power. Ask them.

No, the electrician does not work on Sunday or a holiday. And no, I do not want to pay extra for an emergency worker that I don’t know and who does not know my old 1940's house.

And Yes, all I thought when I first saw it was "aww pretty," smart huh?

illustration by pve design

Cut to me on Sunday throwing out bags and bags of now spoiled food. Sigh. And No, I didn’t remember there was a carton of Chocolate ice cream back there in the freezer. Eww.
Today, I hope Mr. Electric comes by and doesn’t break the bank or a wall. All this in time for vacation week with the kids. Grrrr… way to keep it stress free.

In another funny but really not so funny moment, cut to me again, in the neurologist office as she tells me how I'll feel so much better and less stressed if I got in more exercise. It works for her getting it done at 5am before her children are up. Yeah, like turning over works for me at that hour. Where do these pod people come from?

In the “keeping it light” category. Remember way back when how I was going to try and stay positive? Snort. The new Vogue comes out today with First Lady Michelle Obama. I can’t wait to get a look see! I know she will at least look calmer and way more put together than I feel today. Love her style.

Best,

Kwana

Happy President's Day!

What's Jack up to? Jack's wishing you all a Happy President's Day.

Sure there is plenty to be down about with this economy, but so many more reasons to hope. So what do you all think? Jack for Commerce Secretary?

Best,

Kwana

P.S.

Anybody checking out reality tv? Survivor is back with the early crazy along with The Amazing Race. And I'm so excited to say The Not So Real Housewives of the NYC premiers tomorrow. I really wasn't into the OC, but you know I'm all about New York. I'll be watching. If only for Alex and Simon on the beach.

P.P.S. make your own Obamicon here