Brown: A Love Affair

It all started with a reunion with Audrey that happened in the autumn. Audrey and I reminisced of times' past and we ate at the Cheesecake Factory, a tradition a decade in the making....

Providence. I went, I saw, I fell in love. I went for one night only and discovered the glory of Fire water, GCB and sexy Scrabble, the board game of love.

Then, I randomly met Audrey's friends. Her fellow medical students. Take comfort in knowing that all the people that I've posed with in this blog are going to be doctors.

These were not your average bunch of medical students. Bigger (not really, actually they're pretty tiny), bolder (only in laughter), and better than ever (seriously), friends of Audrey's are friends of mine. Now, I'm no med student, but I do know how to have fun. So did they. Work hard, but play as well. My dears - that is my modus operandi.

Almost immediately after I left, Audrey and I planned for another meeting. Our schedules have been tight and still, it worked!

I arrived on Friday night and made future friends with Axel, then proceeded to have a rolicking good times with the ladies, who incidentally, while I was away, had discovered the power of the CHI.

This, plus two instances of Brunch (...which are always signs of a good time! Think about it, do you eat brunch all the time? Nope, only on special occasions),

GCB games, Eddie Izzard, all a good weekend make.

Hello laaaaaaaaadies. ;)

After this most delightful brunch, Audrey and I attended a little thing called Roller Derby on Sunday, Bloody, Opening weekend, Sunday. At first we didn't understand...

 

Butch ladies in fishnets beating on each other? WHO WOULDN'T want to be apart of that? Evidently, many people agreed with us. Including...

 YES. EVERYONE came!

Not necessarily our friends, exactly.. but..  Seriously. I have a crush on Sky Rocket.

If every life brings to you a roller derby, please go. Brown, I love you.

The Commonalities of Love & Economics

Here are some amazing insights from the NYTimes. Thanks, Katie for finding this!

"Stay with high-quality human beings. And once you find that you are in a junk relationship, sell immediately. Junk situations can look appealing and seductive, but junk is junk. Be wary of it unless you control the market...

...To coin a phrase: Fall in love in haste, repent at leisure.
•

Thanks, Philip Anderson from NYTimes. See link above!

Gossip Girl is rather beautiful

As I was scanning screenshots of last night's GG, I came upon this shot.

Serena and Carter Baizen are kissing in some deserted glade after she's ridden off on Nacho's horse. Instead of starting the Vanderbilt's polo match, she's decided to make a run for it, a la Runaway Bride style and Carter Baizen in all his shameless glory has come after her. He's caught up with her and here, Serena can no longer deny her lust for Carter. [Why would she?]

Cheesy and delicious, all at the same time. What is GG, if not indulgent pleasure?

Terms of Endearment: A Critique

In the history of its uses for me, terms of endearment have come and gone. I admit, I've used darling in the recent past, as well as baby, for the occasional man.

Now, my issues with terms of endearment come when girls call other girls excessive terms of endearment. Including but not limited to: baby, babe, sweetie, honey, sweetheart, hun, all in one conversation. When I receive these endearments, instead of feeling closer to the person - I feel slightly dirty, cheap and way awkward.

There are only 2 real occasions for using the term baby, other than referring to an infant. One is sassy, like.. "NO one puts baby in a corner" or "Baby didn't know who she was talking to". The other is more condescending like.. "Ooo, baby, I'm sorry you didn't know any better." The acceptable use of baby is of course, when talking about your significant other, who you're probably sleeping with. If you sleep in the same bed, baby is fine.

The term sweetheart, when not used sincerely, such as: "What a sweetheart for ordering me that Edible Arrangement!", can normally be replaced with the word, BITCH. For example, "Sweetheart...what do you think you're doing?" - replace sweetheart with bitch, and you get what the person is really trying to say, which is "Bitch, wtf do you think you're doing?"

As for the other terms, honey, sweetie, babe - those can be used sometimes but the problem is the over-usage. An occasional, "What's wrong, sweetie?" is always appreciated, but when overused, it's just plain creepy. I stopped using babe in middle school, but perhaps that was just a personal preference. I've heard it used before satisfactorily.

Terms of endearment should be used in cases of warm comfort and a heightened sense of feeling close to your close friend, but constant use - my blog is here to warn you against just that. Please calm that shit down. I cannot handle being called several terms of endearment at once because it frankly freaks me out.

Thanks, my dear. I appreciate your time.

Eminem: Mariah (according to her) as Me: Anthropologie

Get it?

Hint: Mariah's new single.

Anyway - if buying this is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Tell me you don't love this Grecian Gardens dress! PS. In case you haven't noticed, I have obsessive tendencies. I've already called and placed this dress on hold, the second I try this on, it might as well be mine.

My Littlest Pony

Images courtesy of dailymail.co.uk

I can barely type in complete sentences, because I can't think in complete thoughts right now. This. baby pony of a pony is so cute, I just want to give it a hug/cradle it in my arms!!

My littlest pony! It looks not real and super sassy!

It fits in the car!

Miniature horse that happened to be a dwarf. It is hardly bigger than a cat! OMG.

OMG. I'm in love! For full details go HERE.

Banquet in Beijing

Dining in Beijing is best done in groups. I learned this the hard way when I was alone for the first two days of my trip. Meals of one are hard already, but in China where the style of eating is banquet style makes things extra lonely!

Fortunately, soon thereafter, my friends Fei and Auggie came into town, then I met up with Hayes who was already here. Them combined with new friends Annie and Greg, who ended up meeting us in Hong Kong made for some big meals that really brought back what it was like to be a students with masses of friends in Beijing.

Together we went to a restaurant that we refer to in Chinese as 漂亮杯子, otherwise known as Beautiful Cup. I have no idea what the actual restaurant name is, which makes it hard when you're trying to give people directions on how to get there.

Ordering more than 10 entrees in a private room combined with 3 750mL beers each will always remind me of Beijing. Good times :)

The summer after I left Beijing in 2007, all of my friends that stayed in the city discovered this restaurant - Alameda. Alameda is Brazilian cuisine with a 60 kuai business lunch special that was truly a delight!

Here's a peek at our dishes!

I'm glad to see that it was still there two years later. Clockwise from the Left: Pumpkin soup, Peking Duck, Filet with Gorgonzola sauce, Risotto.

There were plenty of missed restaurants that I didn't get to go to: 123, the Hunan place with the spicy fish, Dog Meat City, the French place, the German Tankstelle next to the Saudi Arabian embassy, Che - the "Spanish" restaurant that had Destiny's Child songs playing on projector in the background - the songs were so good I couldn't concentrate on hanging out with friends, Pure Lotus.... that Beijing doesn't even exist anymore I think.

On a separate note, some people have voiced their incredulous opinion that they do not understand why I post pictures of food on my blog. THIS is a food and travel blog, not that they will ever read this.