Currently... Easing back into Regular Life Again

We just came back from a week of spring break. We didn't do much and I'm glad about that - I was so looking forward to doing nothing.  There were a few highlights. Hubby and I went to NYC to see Raisin in the Sun, (Denzel Washington, great play, and a great date) then we spent the rest of the week at the beach with the kids.  It was too cold to go anywhere near the water - I love the beach, but have really had enough of the cold.  We went to the movies (Captain America & Rio2), ate ice cream, and went swimming.  I caught up on reading, almost finished a crocheted shawl, and started a knitted scarf (because why wait 'til a project is finished to start a new one.)  We finished up the week with early church service and a delicious Easter dinner. And of course, dying eggs and the Easter egg hunt.  Whew.  Now what am I up to? Easing my way back into our regular life, while at the same time preparing for a month of a whirlwind of activities.

 

Laundry, laundry & more laundry. Washing, folding, and putting away everything in the suitcases. I have however, come up with a packing system that makes this a little easier. Packing for the return home, I put all the dirty clothes in one suitcase and any remaining clean clothes in another. When I get home, I can just drag the dirty clothes suitcase to the washing machine and put away everything in the other.

Making Chocolate Overnight Oats for a busy week.  Even if you think you don't like oatmeal (like me), these are yummy, filling, portable breakfasts: layers of Greek yogurt, mixed with chocolate powder, oatmeal, strawberries, and nuts.   I made one when I was testing out the recipe for Food52; next morning, threw it in my bag to go to my daughter's basketball game.  Perfect on-the-go breakfast.

 

Packing - or at least thinking about packing - for the sorority conference I'll be heading to on this weekend. This year, I celebrate  the 25th year of my membership, our "Silver" year and I'm quite excited! 

 

Catching up on all the organization stuff - PTA and my sorority - I didn't do over the break because I purposely let myself not do stuff and rest.

   

Working out.  Again.  2 words: skirt season. Oh, wait, 2 more: short sleeves. 

What are you up to this week?

 

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Currently...Looking forward to Spring!

I was up late, finishing reading "On The Come Up," thus now benefitting from the full pot of coffee as I go through my to-do list for the day.  What else am I currently up to? 

Watching... the sky for the forecasted snow - tomorrow! Can you believe it? More snow, post-vernal equinox. Is that really allowed?

 

Shopping for... silver shoes and dresses to celebrate my upcoming 25th anniversary in my sorority.  Doesn't it always seem impossible to find the perfect dress when you need it? Any other time, there's great silver shoes all over the place. What milestones or special events are you celebrating?

 

Planning... spring break. It's coming soon and we're debating on a way down south where it's warm trip (and thinking about the price of 6 airplane tickets), a road trip (but anywhere far & drivable is still cold), or a relaxing, low-frills eastern shore trip (a couple hours drive & we can take the dog).  In the meantime, I'm piling up books to read and a crochet project.

 

Selling... the last of these Girl Scout cookies! Do-Si-Dos anyone? Whatever's left, I can always bake into these yummy brownies.

 

Hoping... that the DC Police or somebody find this missing 8-year old girl, alive and well.  And that someone have a serious sit-down with her mother about grown men who befriend your daughter and offer to let them stay at their home, without you.  And that this be a lesson to other mothers who don't see the blaring, flashing red flags when a grown man you barely know brings your young child gifts. It's a scary thought, I know, that you can't accept everyone's generosity at face value as genuine and sincere. Unfortunately, there are sick people out there who prey on the defenseless and vulnerable. It is our duty as parents to protect our children, even if that means being a little over-protective sometimes.

 

What are you currently up to? 

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Are you part of the 80% or 20%? #GivingTuesday

What will you give on #GivingTuesday?

I am what some have termed a “professional volunteer.” I’m an active PTA mom, I help out with the summer swim team, I’m a Girl Scout troop leader, I crochet scarves for homeless women, I assist with my sorority conferences. Yes, I’m busy. But here’s the thing, between you and I, a quietly kept secret. I don’t volunteer for everything. There are some “signup to volunteer” messages that I hit “delete.” Guiltily so, but I do.

I believe in the 80/20 rule. I accept it – 80% of the work is done by 20% of the people.  I know that often, I am part of the 20%.  I’m now telling myself that I don’t always have to be part of 20%, sometimes I can be part of the crowd of folks that sits back and enjoys the fruits of everyone else’s volunteer efforts.  That’s fair, right?

I’ve never heard of the 100/100 rule, meaning that all of the work is shared equally among all of the people. In fact, I’ve never been involved in an organization where that has been true. Never.  I will thus conclude that this is an improbability of human nature.

Instead, I think that everybody can do something. I have friends who pay their PTA dues and then leave everything else to people like me.  And in turn, I do nothing more than show up and cheer at my daughter’s basketball games, while other parents man the clock and keep the statistics and blow up basketballs.  I manage the ticket sales of our sorority’s fundraising event to support our scholarship program, but I don’t tutor at the high school.  This balance seems fair in the overall cosmos of volunteering, right?

No-one should be dragged into volunteering.  It’s like the Bible says about tithing, you should do it willingly and happily, not grudgingly.  You should consider what you have to offer and where you can make a contribution.  We all do have something to offer, we all can make a difference, we all have value.  And there’s the perfect spot for everyone to share their gifts.  If we each give somewhere, then we all can rest sometine, too.  If we all take turns being part of the 20%, 100% of the work will get done.

What will you give?

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Pack Your Bags: Entertain Yourself

Whether vacation, a meeting, a conference, or hanging out with kids, I make sure that I have something to do, to entertain myself, I guess is a pretty good term.  On those occasions when I have run out the house and forgot, I feel almost jittery that I’m sitting around with nothing to do. I’m amazed by people on the Metro, a long flight or waiting for something (kids, a doctor’s appointment, a flight, whatever) who sit there empty-handed, just looking around, or more often, piddlin' on their phones.

I probably think about what I’m taking on a trip the most because I’m going to be away from home, the thing I take with me has to last the duration.  Almost always, my carry-on bag for a flight, or sits-up-front bag for a car trip, is packed with:

• a book or two; e-readers are making this easier and I don’t have to stress as much about what to bring because I can always get more
• a crochet project; usually something simple, that I can pick up and put down easily, without getting to confused by where I left off
• a small notebook because I’m always writing something down, copying a recipe, jotting down an idea, just random stuff
• snacks because I am a snacker. I'm trying to be a healthy snacker, so I usually am carrying a bag of trail mix or nuts. But don't be surprised by the bag of M&Ms.

And sometimes, I carry along a puzzle book; you know, the ones with the Crostic and logic puzzles and all that. I used to buy them from the grocery store as a kid, but I don’t see them as often now, so usually if I have one, it's because I lucked up, found one (usually an airport magazine stand), and have squirreled it away until my next trip.

I'm packing up for a sorority conference (hello, Philadelphia!)  And yes, I will have all of the above (except the puzzle book) with me. 

I am reading "When She Woke" by Hillary Jordan. My review will come soon, but already I can tell you it's good. If you like a religious/moral tale and a crime novel - yeah, right, all wrapped in one.  I am carrying two yarn projects.

A crocheted scarf and a knit shawl, both in different variegated pink and green yarns. I'll probably be done the crochet project before the first train stop.  The knit project is my third (?) one and I've finally moved on to a "fancy" stitch - fishnet lace.

As far as I can remember, I’ve always been this way.  I don’t like being empty-handed, twiddling my thumbs.

What do you carry for those slow, quiet, relaxing, or waiting times?  Or are you one of those people who can sit still and enjoy relaxing?

Secrets, Memories, and History - A Selection of Books

There were award-winning, established authors as well as first time authors at our sorority conference; they were there at booths in our vendor area, along with our beautiful pink & green paraphernalia, and as presenters for some of our workshops and forums. In between going to our business sessions and eating my way across San Francisco, I had a chance to talk with a few of them.

ReShonda Tate Billingsley, a bestselling and award winning author, was a attending as a presenter in the forum on the entertainment business and promoting her new book, The Secret She Kept. We spoke about her first book and the efforts of getting it published. As any aspiring writer knows, once you've written your next best novel and contribution to literature, you've got to get it published. She explained the challenge of getting through the slush pile, when an editor may have months- worth of reading piled up in manuscripts. There are some advantages of self-publishing, as she had done with her first novel, which really requires you to put in the work to market it and get the book in the hands of your audience. Once she established commercial success with that, she was noticed and picked up by a publisher. Look for her on tour with her latest.

On the other end of their writing career was Antoinette Lawrence and Terry Lewis. They have just published their first children's book, I Remember, a sweet book about a girl remembering the things she's done with her grandmother.  The pictures are bright and well-drawn and the type is a fun, bouncy lettering that is easy to read and kids will enjoy; it's about a K or 1st grade reading level. The appeal for African-American parents is having a fun, early level reading book with characters that look like your child. The authors are also working on another book about a boy and girl who travel around the world - and no, the authors are not siblings, but yes, they have themselves traveled globally and their experiences will be the basis for some of the adventures. They are from Maryland and will be presenting again at the Baltimore Book Festival in September. (I'm putting it on my calendar to make this annual literary event.)

Stretching into a different direction, non-fiction, there was Anne Pruitt-Logan  who was presenting, Faithful to the Task at Hand, an autobiography of Lucy Diggs Slowe, one of our sorority founders. She was there with her son and they explained the interesting way she came upon this project. The original author,  Carroll Miller, was a student of Slowe and inspired by her achievements in educations and sports, wanted to memorialize her in an autobiography.  During the writing of the manuscript, he became ill, and asked Ms. Pruitt-Nelson to assist him in editing the book. She edited his portions and then did more research in Slowe's life and history, and added more to the story.  During this writing process, the first author passed away and Ms. Pruitt-Nelson was left with completing the book. And now, after years of research and writing, we have our first biography of one of our organization founders, an African-American pioneer in many arenas - an educator, college administrator, and a title-winning tennis player (one of my favorite sports). This book is available thru SUNY Press and Amazon.  

Thanks to the authors for taking a few moments from their busy booths to talk to me about their books.  Enjoy! 

Sonoma Wine Tour

Grapevines in wine country - Jacuzzi Vineyard

Today I headed out on a tour of wine country. I don't usually do the organized tour thing, but I'm on too tight a schedule to figure out how to get up the valley on my own. This one was conveniently organized by Alpha Girl, a paraphernalia company.

We drove about an hour outside of San Francisco, crossing the famous Golden Gate Bridge (which is red?) with a view of Alcatraz. Loved the movie (it's the older Sean Connery, how could you not?) but I don't see how anyone could think they were getting out of that place - it's out in the middle of the water!

Our first stop was the Jacuzzi Family Vineyard - yes, "Jacuzzi" as in the jet spray water spas. This family has made relaxing and enjoying yourself into a fortune. Talk about having a career you can enjoy. They've had the winery since 1997, though this vineyard location has been built only a few years. Passing through the shop area, you walk out onto a beautiful stone patio and then into a courtyard that overlooks the vineyard and the valleys and hills all around. There was a wine bar set up with bartenders, or wine pourers, waiting for us.

Patio at Jacuzzi Vineyard

Now - here's my disclaimer. I'm not any kind of wine expert, but I do like wine. I tend to prefer whites, the sweeter the better. But at a wine tasting, I like to try a variety - who knows, maybe I'll find something new. I filled my glass with a couple reds and a few whites.

Sharese & Jamilla from Ohio tasting wine

The reds: Barbera, with berries and a "vanilla cocoa powder finish" (you know it was the chocolate that got me), their best selling red wine; and the Late Harvest Aleatico, a dessert wine. I also tried this in a chocolate shot - it's just as it sounds, a shot "glass" made from milk chocolate, filled with this wine - delicious! Adding to my list - figure out how to make chocolate shot glasses.

A chocolate shot - as in drinking wine from a chocolate "glass"

The whites: Tocai Friulano, a dry wine with a "vigorous citrus finish", surprisingly wasn't as dry as I expected, it was nice; the Moscato, which was mildly sweet; and the Giuseppina, a Chardonnay, which I usually don't really care for, but this one was good, this one has been aged in oak, with "vanilla, apple, and pear flavors". It was just enough sweet.

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Can't go wrong with dessert

After an early morning swim meet and a cross-country flight, I was ready for a good meal. The hotel concierge recommended a few spots, gave me directions to catch the cable car to Fisherman's Wharf and to walk to Chinatown. I picked famed Chinatown. At the risk of upsetting some folks - or maybe some will enlighten me as to what I missed - I mainly found discount shops filled with Chinese imports - silk (or silk-ish) Chinese-style dresses, slippers, paper parasols and fans, jade cat figurines.

I went 0 for 2 trying to find a good bite to eat. First, the bean-filled pancake from the bakery was more glutinous than I preferred and not enough bean- filling; at least it was only a 75 cent investment. Then the tofu seafood clay pot soup at the dim sum restaurant wasn't served in a clay-pot, was too thick, not flavorful, had too much tofu (and I like tofu), and like 2 shrimp. So much for a good Chinese meal.

I ended up back at the restaurant connected to my hotel - the upscale, seafood restaurant, the Farralon - and took a seat at the bar. When all else fails - a drink and dessert. Perfect!

I had a glass of Araku, a coffee liqueur from Venezuela. This was new to me - its similar to Kahlua, but it's rum based and a little thicker, but very smooth. This accompanied my chocolate sampler - a mini s'more, peanut butter chocolate bites, a sesame covered truffle, and chocolate drizzles caramel corn. I might be putting in a standing order for the week.