RHOC Recap

Most times RHOC makes me think about deeper, more serious issues regarding motherhood, marriage, friendship - but last night was just funny. Here’s a quick recap:

Simon and Tamra
As you may know by now, Simon and Tamra are in fact getting a divorce after 12 years of marriage. The tension between these two has been quite thick this season and as I’ve expressed before, I hope they can work it out amicably for the kids. But, my impression has always been that Simon is just too controlling and last night’s episode proved it. Unapologetically Simon said “I’m not the type of person to control somebody. And if I didn’t control my wife, could you imagine how she would be?” and he also said “I let her get away with a lot of things.” News flash Simon, she’s your wife, not your child.

Gretchen’s business venture
Go Gretchen for trying to start your own business, but I felt so sorry for her at her debut. How much did she spend? Who swindled her into believing that there would be 10,000 people there? She needs a manager, whose name isn’t Slade.

Alexis and mom
Alexis brought her mom into town to get plastic surgery. I think her mom looks pretty good for almost 60 and I think Alexis should have left her alone. Clearly Alexis’ obsession with beauty (as Lynne’s) has clouded her ability to reason. I was disappointed that her mom wasn’t there to see her grandkids, but I guess that’s irrelevant in Alexis’ world. Above all other things, what irked me throughout the entire plastic surgery process was that Alexis took her mom from the surgeon’s office to an after care facility. She should have taken her home to recover; sometimes having too much money makes you forget the human side of things.

Lynn and Frank
I’m soooo over them!


Here are a couple sound bites that had me ROTFL!

Vicki ~ If you call me in the middle of a weekday what do you think I’m doing? Working!!!

Tamra ~ “What better way to celebrate my birthday than gettings together with my hos and mos”

Lynne ~ In response to whether Frank has ever cheated on her “He is germaphobic, he would never cheat on me”

Simon ~ “Hitler had a good side!”

Next Thursday is the season finale at 10pm and then the season premiere for RHONY at 11. See you then!

Get Your Beef On: It's a Giveaway!

There's a running joke in our family; whenever my mom and I are out dining somewhere together and someone politely asks "is there anything you don't eat?" we both laugh and say "unfortunately, no!" It's true - we love food. And that love includes beef. Some of my favorite foods are beef dishes: steak frites, minute steak, hamburgers, spaghetti bolognese, french onion soup {with beef stock}, did I mention hamburgers?? I'm a firm believer that while chicken, fish and pork are all great sources of protein, nothing compares to beef.

I have a diverse background. My parents are from the Caribbean and I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and Miami, Florida. The combination of experiences led me to appreciate an array of foods, including some to-die-for beef dishes. Here are some of my all-time faves:

photo credit: apt316.ca

Beef Roti

Roti is a traditional Trinidadian dish, made with your choice of meat, potatoes and curry wrapped in a light pastry dough, after which the dish is named. The original recipe is, of course, made with chunks of beef (or goat). My memories of this dish range from tagging along with my Dad to his favorite roti shop in Miami, to hanging out with friends and listening to the latest soca jam in front of the best roti shop in Montreal. Both scenarios ended the same way: with me licking the curry off of my fingers after devouring a hot beef roti. To this day, when my sister and I reminisce about our favorite foods, roti is probably the first one that comes to mind.

Also from my "Growing Up Caribbean Files:" Beef Patties, Beef Pelau, and Oh Lord, Vaca Frita! I could eat this EVERY DAY.

Steak Frites

This past Saturday, I met with my Junior League group for lunch at a french restaurant. Well, I skipped breakfast (a no-no, I know) because I just knew what I was going to order before I even stepped foot inside the place: Steak Frites. Done right, this dish takes no prisoners. A perfectly cooked cut of steak, prepared with a choice of sauce (from butter to bernaise to red wine to blue cheese) and topped with crispy fries. Delicieuse! As a matter of fact, I was several bites into my steak before I remembered to take a picture for this post! LOL.

Other notables from my days in Montreal: Poutine {made with beef stock}, Smoked Meat Sandwiches, and Tortiere {French-Canadian meat pie}.

So you see, beef has been an integral part of my upbringing and I try to continue to expose my family to tasty beef recipes. Make sure to check my "What's for Dinner" menu plan on our sidebar for ideas every now and then.

Now it's your turn!

In celebration of "I Heart Beef Month," you can enter to win a $100 gift card to Omaha Steaks! {Can't you just hear Kelly Ripa's voice in the back of your head?} All you have to do is the following:

1. Visit the Beef, It's What's for Dinner website. It's chock-full of helpful preparation tips, meal ideas and even video demos on how you can get your beef on.

2. Share your favorite memories of making everyday occasions special with beef. The person who leaves the most heartfelt and fun comment wins. Please include in your comment something that you found helpful on the BIWFD website.

3. Tweet this post using the #IHeartBeef hashtag.

4. Follow this blog {check out the Followers widget on our sidebar}.

But wait! There's more. Chef David Zino, executive chef of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association will be answering your questions about beef preparation and cooking. If you have a question for an expert, now's your chance. Just leave it in the comments and I'll submit it on your behalf or you can post them here.

Bon Appetit!

FYI: I wrote this review while working on a "I Heart Beef" campaign with TheMotherhood.com on behalf of The National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

#GIT for mommy and princess

Don't shoot me because I'm pretty sure I've written this post before, but I pause every time it happens, so I must share. I took off from work a little early today (4pm to be exact) and got princess from school. It was a completely different afternoon - one that I haven't had in a long time.

First, I didn't face much traffic trying to get out of downtown DC. Usually if I have to pick her up from school I leave the office at 5pm and rush to get to her school in time. This afternoon, was a more like driving through the city on a Saturday. There were lots of cars on the road but we weren't gridlocked. When I got to school, princess asked if we could stay a little while longer because she was in the midst of playing with play dough. And, because I got there about 4:30, I had the luxury of being able to wait with her and watch her play and watch her interact with the other kids. I had an opportunity to be in her world for a few minutes without having any pressure to be anywhere or do anything.

Then we went out for dinner (I know, I know, I should've cooked but I wanted to unwind tonight). We had dinner at a local Ledo's Pizzeria and talked a little about her day and she actually asked me about mine (although she didn't really wait for an answer I appreciated her question).

By the time we got home it was 6:30 and I couldn't believe it. On a normal day, I would have still been on my way home; not usually making it in for another 15 or 20 minutes. I was amazed that we had done so much together by 6:30.

It's 9:06 and she's in bed. Because we had time to do things together tonight I think she settled in much easier than she normally would have if I was rushing in the door at 7:00.

I appreciate our time together this afternoon and I think this smile indicates that she did too.

Princess, I promise that I'm going to get it together soon to allow us to have more days like today!

The Scary Fairy Deal

Chatterbox lost her first tooth last week! It was a big deal in our house. It was loose for a loooong time and she even asked Hubby to try to pull it out {before it was really ready} and that didn't go over so well! It eventually fell out on its own last Wednesday - when I wasn't home of course. I felt a slight pang in my chest when I got the text message from Hubby. My baby is getting older every day.

Most kids would be excited at the prospect of the tooth fairy coming. But not my Chatterbox. Much like her apprehension about Santa Claus - a big stranger sneaking into our house at night while we're sleeping - she was not too thrilled about the idea of a Tooth Fairy flying into her room at night and going underneath her pillow. So we struck a deal. She would put her tooth under my pillow and that way the Tooth Fairy could still make her pick up and drop off without stressing out Chatterbox. It worked like a charm. The Tooth Fairy didn't even wake me up last night. This morning Chatterbox ran into my room and dug under my pillow for her gift. It's so wonderful seeing the wonder in their eyes in these kinds of situations.

And then she proceeded to grill me about how the Tooth Fairy actually entered the house; where she took the teeth to; etc. What is it that they say? A lie begets a lie? Never was it truer than this morning :)

Here's a pic of her posing with her tooth fairy card from Grandma D. You can barely tell that she lost the tooth because her adult one is already almost fully in! We call that precocious, yes? The girl and the tooth.

Rat race

The cleaning lady at my office told me today "You look tired" and really, I'm not! So ... I must be looking really bad. I thought for a second, here is this sweetheart of a lady who gets to work by 7 am and works a full shift on her feet all day long and then maybe goes to a second job afterward. Surely her life is much harder than mine - I work a 9-5 sitting in an office. Why do I feel and look this way then? Probably because I've had it with this freaking rat race. I thought I saw an exit strategy a few months ago, but now I wonder. It doesn't seem to be as clear as it seemed then and I'm just tired. I feel like I no longer have the stamina to do 9-5 and then come home and work on everything MMG, Blogalicious, B-Link, My Blogalicious. When is the rat race going to end? When am I going to be able to do something that I actually love?

Addendum: I know I'm b!tching and I don't mean to whine, but I'm pretty frustrated by what seems to be lack of control of my life. Today is payday, so I was reminded why I have to keep my day job; but on the other hand, why am I rushing my child to bed at night, after only spending about 2 hours with her, so that I can get back to work? I feel like there's just so much to do and so little time and that this 9-5 is kinda getting in the way. It's time to go out on our own! If you've made that leap, please share how you did it.

Blissdom Conference Recap

Life has gotten away from me once again dear friends. It's been over 2 weeks since I've been back from Blissdom and I'm just now getting a chance to post my recap!

This was my first time attending Blissdom. I was anxious about going because I had heard that the attendance at Blissdom wasn't very diverse and I wasn't sure how I would fit in or how comfortable I would feel. I also was going to be flying solo since Ny and Jonesie weren't coming along. That said, I really wanted to go, not only to hang out with and meet new blogging buddies, but also to support Barbara Jones who has been a supporter of Blogalicious since the beginning. Also, Blogalicious was going to be a sponsor of the Blissful + Bubbles party hosted by The Clever Girls, and I wanted to be there for the event. And so, I went. And my trip didn't disappoint!

Everything was well done. The hotel was spectacular; the agenda had just the right mix of educational and topical discussions; the parties were fun; and the vibe was warm.

For me, the highlights of the weekend were:

- The Opening Keynote by Kevin Carroll of Katalyst. He was phenomenal. Why haven't I heard of this guy before?

- The "Striking a Balance" panel. It's not often that you sit in on a breakout session that touches you and resonates on such a personal level. All of the ladies on the panel were awesome, but I have to say that this was the moment when I knew I had to meet Carmen of Mom to the Screaming Masses in person.

- And I did. Which leads me to another highlight: watching hilarious YouTube videos with Carmen and Shannon of MomReinvented. Love those gals!

- Lunch with Isabel Kallman of Alpha Mom, Kim Moldofsky of Mom Impact; and Jennifer James of Mom Bloggers Club. As if I wasn't already impressed with Isabel and all that's she's done, at lunch I learned that on top of everything, she used to be an SVP and Solomon Smith Barney AND a dancer in Salt n' Pepa videos!! Loves it.

- The Final Showdown of the U.S. Potato Board's Tastemaker Challenge. OMG this was so much fun. A mashed potato bar; potato vodka; cheering on some of my fave bloggers including ModernMami; an impromptu cheerleading routine from Jessica Knows; WHOOMP! There It Is blasting over the speakers - I'm telling you, it was a ball.

- And last, but not least, my absolute most favorite moment of Blissdom was girls night out with Carrie of Bilingual in the Boonies; Modern Mami; Yoly of Cuponeando; Jennifer James; and Lizzie of LizzieB TV. These girls are the definition of "good peoples." We laughed, shared, laughed, dished, laughed, drank and dined. Then Carrie took us on a personal tour of downtown Nashville. What a fun evening.

The Closing Session of the conference was moving as well. MckMama recounted her experience of almost losing her son and how her blogging community helped get her through those difficult times. Top that off with a video montage of attendees giving their well wishes to Anissa Mayhew who is recovering (and finally home!) and it was no wonder that boxes of tissues were on each table.

All in all, it was a good trip. The level of diversity was still pretty sad, but I was expecting that so it didn't really bother me. Things got a little stressful towards the end because Snowmageddon hit the D.C. area and I learned that I would not be flying home as scheduled. But all's well that ends well and I got to hang out with Amy from Resourceful Mommy, Cecily from Uppercase Woman, and Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife. Eventually, I made it home safe and sound, with a weekend of new and strengthened relationships in my pocket.

Happy Saturday

Here are a few images of our first lady....she's just so smart, strong, loyal, down to earth and extremely fabulous. I want to be just like her when I grow up. Here's to you FLOTUS!

The Week When Time Stood Still

Those of us living in the DC area received a little gift from Mother Nature called Snowmaggedon 2010. I say gift because, unless you were in one of the areas that experienced power outages - and I feel for those who were, you probably got several unexpected days off from work and your kids got several days off from school. In total, most DMV residents got about 10 days off! For a period of about 4 days, everything was shut down. While some people grumbled about it, I loved it. Once I got back home from being stranded in Nashville a day longer than planned, I was happy as a lark. No commuting an hour back and forth to work in the freezing temps, trekking to and from the metro. No going into the office working on some project that I really could care less about. No rushing home in the evenings, exhausted and slapping together a quick dinner before herding the masses off to bed. None of it! Just a leisurely week of downtime, laughter, and quality time with my family.

We painted a ceramic caterpillar piggy bank; we made a bread pudding just for Dad; we played "bowling" in the family room; we made stuffed friends at Build-a-Bear; we went out for lunch; we made a chocolate ice cream "Mud Pie;" we made candy bead necklaces; we watched movies; we even did "school" one day. It was great.

I think what I appreciated most was the lack of time constraints. The rushing that my day-to-day life involves really wears on my soul. We had no deadlines, no worries of being late anywhere, no real need to adhere to a strict bedtime. For a whole week, time stood still.

And now I'm late again.

The guilt and sadness of work

It's just about 10pm on President's Day Monday night and I'm very sad thinking about going to work tomorrow (almost as sad as I was when I started working after being laid off for a couple months). We've been home for the past 11 days because of the sno-pocalypse that we just endured here in the DC region; and as much as I was tired of the snow, I quickly became very accustomed being home with my family with nothing to do and nowhere to go. Because the roads were bad and most places were closed, there wasn't the pressure of doing something. It was all about hanging out with each other, watching tv and talking. Both hubby and I actually worked a lot from home, but with the ease of not having to go out there and face the stress of everyday life. I realized once again, that hubby and I make a good team and that I really like my princess. We cooked, and watched movies and shoveled snow - all together. It was a memorable time. This is what I want to be able to do with my life. I want to work from home and spend time (and I mean real time) with the people I love; not just see them for 2 hours a night and one day a weekend - there's no fairness in that; there's so much sadness in work.

It Shouldn't Be This Hard

I give up. Call me weak. Call me a failure. Call me what you want, but don't call me crazy. I know, I know that signing your daughters up for dance classes should not be this hard. I have spent, collectively, at least 5 hours researching, calling and pulling out my hair trying to find a reasonable extracurricular activity for my girls.

Apparent Hurdle No. 1:
The classes need to be on the weekend. I work during the week. Sue me! I swear when I call and talk to these people, they make me feel like I am committing a crime by not being available to drive my 3 year-old to Twirly Twos class at 10am on a Tuesday. Is it so unfathomable that in 2010 a mother actually goes to work?

Apparent Hurdle No. 2:
The classes need to be around the same time. This is one of those rare situations when having twins would be so much easier. I have 2 daughters that are, GASP!, 2 different ages. And so they most likely need to be in 2 separate classes based on their age. Is it so unreasonable not to want to make the trip to the same place twice in one day? Or one 2 different days? I'm willing to hang around and wait an hour, but more than that is tough. I'll have whichever child not dancing at the moment staring through the glass watching her sibling twirl and tap away and getting cranky and miserable. But that's manageable as long as her class is coming up soon. If I have to drive one for a 9am class and the other for a 3pm class, well, in addition to the 'afternooner' being upset, I'll have spent my entire Saturday driving to and fro from the dance studio. No thanks.

Apparent Hurdle No. 3:
I need to be independently wealthy. "Independent" so I can make the mid-week class and just generally "wealthy" so I can afford to PAY for these doggone classes. The average going rate is about $150 - $200 for an 8-week class. Multiply that by 2 and you've got $400 for 2 children. Add in the "1-time registration fee," the cost of the shoes and whathaveyou and you're looking at about $500 or so for a once-a-week class for 2 months. Sheesh. And forget The Little Gym. Honey, that came to over $900 for the 20-week seesion. Yes, it's 20 classes. But still, who has $900+ to drop on a preschool gymnastics class? And YES you CAN pay in installments, but that'll cost ya. One ballet studio was going to charge $730 for Chatterbox to take ballet because she will be 6 this year and would be required to take their formal Ballet Studio Curriculum. Can't she just dance? I've already put down my deposit for what will be a $976 2-week summer camp for them, and that was painful enough.

And so, I give up. It looks like our weekends this Spring will not involve organized activities. It will be up to mama to come up with something fun for them to do.

In the meantime, I'm looking into opening up my own kids' classes studio. I'll make out like bandit!

RHOC Recap - Take control of your own destiny

Tonight's episode was steaming hot. There were so many issues: Lynne's eviction, Brianna's cancer scare, Alexis' psychotic dependent marriage, which one do I focus on??? Since we've shared our thoughts about Alexis and let's pray that Brianna's situation is only a scare, I want to share a few thoughts about Lynne's eviction and shear mismanagement of money and lack of being in touch with reality.

My first question is how could she not know what was going on with the family's finances? There's no way that I would not know what's going on with the financial situation in my household, but I understand that there are some women that do not play an active role in the management of the family's finances. I totally accept and understand that. However, wake up Lynne! Have you read the paper or watched the news in 2008 or 2009? Regardless of how much money you have, we're all suffering in this recession - for some, that means downgrading from a Maserati to a Benz, while for others it means more dramatic curtailing of spending. My point is that it's affected everyone. Lynne, you are not immune from the recession. You already "downsized" this season because things were tough, so wouldn't that have been the signal that money was tight.

Second, Frank mentioned that Lynne couldn't handle the truth and was living in a bubble. I agree with him 100%. How selfish, inconsiderate, irresponsible and plain ol' ignorant of your actions could she have acted? Why would you proceed to go on a shopping trip to another city after just getting an eviction notice? Did she believe that everything would be okay when she returned? To further exacerbate the situation, she actually purchased items while on the trip - a $1200 jacket, was that really necessary?

Last, I feel like she neglected her kids in this situation. They are almost grown women, but if she was as concerned about them as she professed, she should have stayed with them to make sure they were okay.

Lynne has totally lost her mind and is too caught up with living in the OC. She needs to look at Gina and Laurie and back away from the show to care care of her family. Her daughters are crying out for help, her marriage is on the rocks and now her finances are in a mess. Get it together Lynne - take better charge of your destiny.

I think the take-away from this episode is that women have to get more involved in their family's financial destiny. Even if you're not the accountant in the relationship, be at least aware of what's going on - are you a few dollars away from becoming a millionaire or being homeless.

Scene + Heard

Watching television this morning with princess for the 7th day in a row and Playtex 24-hour bra ad comes on:

Princess: Mom you have one of those.
Me: Yes, I do.
Princess: Yes, you have one of those to hold the two round things on your chest.
Me: Yes, that's it!

I've always wondered what she thought about ... now I know!

Valentine's Day plans

As if you needed another reason to stress this week, Valentine's Day is quickly approaching and you have no idea what you're getting your loved ones. Here are a couple tips based on my extensive research (read...four days in front of the tv). Check out The Today Show for a few good tips.

If you're anything like me - you'll not be stressing at all because you don't plan on doing anything. Hubby and I don't ever do anything for Valentine's Day and we don't exchange gifts either (well, unless you count the "gifts" purchased on Valentine's Day on his way home in the evening from either the back of a truck parked along a busy intersection or the exhibitor booth in the municipal building; AND, they're surprisingly always wrapped in cellophane). I don't really care too much about the gift-giving aspect, but I think I want to make something - well really it's for me!

I'm taking a huge leap and venturing into the kitchen to bake. I'm a little intimidated. not only because I don't bake (I barely cook) but because I want to try a Paul Deen recipe. Imagine - red velvet bread pudding. Ooooooh, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

And...I plan on making a couple floral arrangements. I like working with flowers so I hope I can get it together to get fresh flowers on Saturday or Sunday morning.

What are your plans for the big V-Day?

#StrandedAtBlissdom

It's Sunday night and the Blissdom '10 conference has officially been over for 24 hours. Yet, somehow I am still in Nashville, Tennessee, in my hotel room, at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. There's a contingent of about 8 of us that are stuck here, unable to fly home because of DC Snowpocalypse 2010. Normally, I would jump at the chance to sleep in a hotel bed, alone and without interruption, watch grownup programming on TV and eat out without having to worry if the restaurant serves apple juice, but not this time. I've been away since Thursday night and I miss my family!

I'm imagining them doing all sorts of warm and cozy family things like playing board games, drinking hot chocolate and watching movies by the fireplace. I could be catching up on a ton of things that I've been meaning to do for and with them, like sort out their closets and let them brush my hair. When will I ever get the chance to be cooped up in the house with my gang for 72 hours straight?

In know that in reality, they are probably tearing up the house, running roughshod over everything and generally driving each other and Hubby nuts with their hooting and hollering. It's a long way from the peaceful silence of my hotel room.

And I miss it.

Sno-verkill 2010 in DC!

RHOC - Who do you talk to about your marriage

Vicki and Simon’s conflict was the focus of this week’s episode and it is an important and pressing issue that I often struggle with. Who do I talk to about issues in my marriage and how much should I share? I have found that the line between support and intrusion/judgment is very fine and extremely risky.

During Tamra’s conversation with Vicki, Tamra said that she was “venting in confidence as a girlfriend” and didn’t expect Vicki to throw it back in Simon’s face. That statement hit the nail on the head because I think we quite often feel the need to talk with our friends or family members about our marriage’s downs, but what we miss is that we never talk about the ups. We all go through hills and valleys in our relationships and when you vent only during your time in the valley that (mis)shapes other people’s opinions of your partner and your relationship. What amplifies the situation is that by the time you and your partner are back on a high, your friends and family are still judging your relationship based on the information shared while you weren’t doing so well. Sometimes it’s easy to mend what’s going on within the relationship, but those negative feelings will linger for your family and friends. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way suggesting not to lean on friends and family for support, but just remember that you’ve got to bring them along as you climb out of the rut as well otherwise you’ll have a Vicki-Simon situation.

Tamra made this mistake and I can’t fault Vicki for trying to support her friend. All the drama is really because there is little spoken of the good things that have occurred in Tamra’s life and her marriage and all Vicki sees in Simon is that he’s the “bad guy”. In the same manner that Tamra spoke to Vicki about her marriage woes, she should have also shared with her that she and Simon were trying to mend their issues. Does Tamra owe Vicki that conversation – I think not! But I think Tamra owes her marriage that conversation.

Thoughts?

Altitude Design Summit

{Jyl from MomItForward, Me and Rachel from Today's Mama getting our 1920's sultry on.}

Boy these blog conference sure do have me traveling to places that I would never have had the chance to visit on my own! Week before last I had the pleasure of attending the Altitude Design Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah where I spoke on one of the panels. Before the fly girls of Kirtsy (the masterminds behind ALT) reached out to me for about speaking, I had no idea that there was an entire conference especially for design bloggers.

And I quickly found that these were clearly my people.

{The panel I spoke on called "Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due." YES, I am paying attention. Ahem.}

I was a little uncertain about what a "design blogger" was at first. The early bird lecture on "How to Find the Best Design Sites" was very helpful in shedding some light on that question for me. Basically, I learned that design bloggers are those that find beauty in the everyday and post about it. That's it. Whether it be fashion, decorating, crafting, art, food, graphic design, or lifestyle, or a combination of all of those and more, those blogs are considered design blogs. All of the attendees were very stylish (myself excluded, ha ha) - I told myself that the conference looked like a giant ad for Anthropologie. The blogs I discovered were equally as breathtaking including some that have become my fast favorites: Mrs. Lilien and DesignSponge, among tons of others.

{Ok, so I might have a slight obsession with my MacBookPro. Cut me some slack, it's new!}

The speakers were great. The hotel was fabulous. The events were fun. And all very laid back and welcoming. Thanks Alt Summit for opening my eyes to a whole new side of the blogosphere! Something tells me I'll be joining you very soon...

{Me and Gabrielle of DesignMom on the red carpet. Let's ignore the fact that she is still smaller than I am even though she is pregnant with her SIXTH child.}

{Cheers!}