04.13.12: Take a CHa Cha Chance and Dance, My 30th birthday!

It may look like I’m moving but I’m standing still. – BOB DYLAN

On Thursday, April the 12th, I turned 30. Yes, I am now three decades old and do I feel any different? Hardly…maybe now it’s just that I don’t look in the mirror and think I am 15 any longer and or that when my friends and I speak of the 80s, we actually realize that it was in fact, 30 years ago. I am confident in my age and besides that, I know I happen to look young and healthy. I owe this all to my vegan diet, by the way.

So how did I celebrate my the evening of my actual birthday? I celebrated with someone special and it was perfect, I couldn’t have asked for more and this will indeed be a memory I won’t ever forget.

I woke up the following morning, still basking in the delight from the beautiful evening the night before and had to get ready for my ever-so-large scheduled birthday party that evening at the Yippie Cafe.

I ran some errands and went shopping a bit and then went to get my hair done at Styles on B. We chose the style carefully to match my dress and ended up with a cute and classic half up-do with a side ponytail. Part calendar girl and part 50s housewife, just lovely…

Styles on B...

Once I arrived at the cafe: I had to calm myself down because I had to make sure everything was in order for the sound system and asking myself questions like “Will anyone show?” “How many will?” “Music..” “Food..” “Drinks….”. Honestly, I decided to sneak away for a bit and to one of my current favorite bars: Tom & Jerrys, where the bartender poured me a bottle of Prescucco, and I sipped it, nonchalantly and relaxed. I ran next door to order dinner from Rice (I frequent this spot quite a bit!), which unfortunately I didn’t eat much of and returned to the cafe and chaos of my birthday.

At about 7:15 (No one likes to be first!), friends started pouring in and the party soon started as I plugged in my iPod and turned down the lights.

My friends who were scheduled to play(sing or have a band perform) were amazing, the cupcakes that Vegan Bun Buns brought were delicious and the dancing was energizing. I hadn’t had a chance to sit down all night: over 70 people at once were there and over 100 at different times. Kate Wolf roasted me and then turned on everyone else in the crowd. By the next day; new friends were made within the party and Facebook had benefited from quite a few new friend requests. 🙂 I have so many pictures so I will just post them up! and here is a video of Kristy singing for the crowd:
(lots more videos from the night, including Michelle singing happy birthday with Kristy, Elizabeth & Diana but they are up on Facebook!)

My dress is from one of my favorite private vintage stores: Stache.

Styles on B…

Yippie dad…

My sissy, Diana

I had such an amazing time, with so many friends and some family that I love. Thank you all for coming!

Special Thanks to:

The Dwellers, Elizabeth Brucia, Kristy M, HERE, Vegan Bun Buns, Derek Goodwin & Shoshana & Michelle Hill & Duke, as well as the legendary David Peel.  for standing up there and performing and or singing. And of course, Kate Wolff, for her roast and comedic antics 🙂

Weekend Update on 3.8.12: New York City Vegetarian Food Festival

From my Chocolate Bar to my heart:

The greatest love letters ever given.

Bar Fly Not Yet- Thomas Moore….

Fly not yet, ’tis just the hour,

When pleasure, like the midnight flower

That scorns the eye of vulgar light,

Begins to bloom for sons of night,

And maids who love the moon.

‘Twas but to bless these hours of shade

That beauty and the moon were made;

‘Tis then their soft attractions glowing

Set the tides …

Must I even point out that last weekend I possibly ended up eating  the equivalent of my weight in chocolate? It seems to bring me so much happiness: I can’t deny the love I have for it, at least it’s there when I need it the most.

Chocolate is a true lover.

Last weekend was the New York Vegetarian Food Festival, as I had previously mentioned. I woke up with a start as I made sure to get up early and get ready for the day ahead full of treats and friends.

I chose to wear my “brand new” 60s red vintage dress that I had bought at Beacon’s closet in Brooklyn and paired it with a vintage scarf I had received as a gift, I think.

The line was long when I arrived but this year I was prepared and bought my ticket in advance so I was able to skip right to the front and inside in a matter of seconds.

I excitedly walked in and bumped right into several of my friends and spent some time hanging in the front areas near Daiya & Coconut Bliss (a favorite vegan ice cream of mine!) until our eyes pulled us in several directions and distractions ensued…

Chocolate Coconut Bliss meaning: yes, I am in bliss.

I ran right over to the Mercy For Animals table giving hugs and left my jacket there while I ran to the For The Animals Sanctuary table:

All day this happened while I ate samples of all sorts of things. I ran right over to my friend Sara’s table to say hi and give her a hug, she is the genius behind the incredible vegan marshmallows, Sweet & Sara:

❤

I had to buy a container of Teese, a vegan cheez that tends to be quite hard to order in New York City (Perelandra will carry it soon!) and they gave me a total of 3 bags of Dandies Marshmallows over the weekend as gift! Mm Mmm…I realized that most of the samples I was waiting on-line for I had previously bought and or tried as I am a vegan “foodie”, I try everything at least once just to see if I like it or not.

I waited patiently online for my friends shop, Vegan Bodega and then made my way over to Sun in Bloom’s booth, my favorite brunch stop in Brooklyn so I can grab a mini gluten-free cookie!

Bumping into Ashley, from the PETA table, who I happen to always be happy to see because she’s one of my close friends. (Thank you for always being there for me, Ashley).

I ran over to the raw ice cream table and waited patiently with Jen & Chris, who were running the Humane League Table between PETA and VSpot. (Thanks Danny for the Quinoa!)

After running around most of the day and watching  a few panelists speak and some cooking demos, I ended up having a delicious and healthy lunch with a friend of mine at JivaMukTea, my favorite cafe in the Union Square Area. I ordered the Spicy Tempeh Caesar Salad and had a Green Machine Juice. After spending time enjoying lunch with my friend, I had to run across town and head to see my father……

Day 2, New York City Vegetarian Food Festival.

Taken and posted in The Village Voice Online…

The second day of the Vegetarian Food Festival proved to be even better than the first and I chose one of my favorite vintage floral dresses I bought at The Vintage Warehouse, pairing it with a black cardigan with bows. (I love bows!)

I still couldn’t wait to arrive some new tasty treats that I knew would be at the festival on Sunday: Vegan Sushi, my new favorite to start with. I grabbed several other samples, bought a bunch of items and received a lovely “mod” ring as a gift that had Black Beans inside of it from:  Wired up Creations(post coming soon!).

Kristy and I made plans to run around together so of course, we bumped into one another with plenty of kisses:

And ran over to try some hot sauce placing tattoo’s on us stating what we strive to be (but may never actually achieve):

Badass!

We hung with our friends; Robyn(momma to be) & Sarah, one of the head organizers for this tasty event!

Running into a few more of our friends….

Elizabeth & John-Flor ❤

While waiting on the line for The Vegan Bodega, I bumped into the owner of one of the brightest smiles I have ever seen: Annie Shannon.

Who mentioned that I should make my way to meet Michelle, the designer of Herbivore clothing. A table that I was trying to slightly, stay away from just because I knew there wouldn’t be much to persuade me to buy this cardigan, that of course: I did end up buying.  🙂 (A Happy lady, this did indeed make me..)

Herbivore Cardigan..with an Anchor. Cardigan with a vintage flavor...

Annie snapped this photo of Kristy & I:

Vegans are smart & stylish! 🙂 <-- Thanks Annie Shannon for the photo 🙂

We relaxed quite a bit more: snacking and munching away and indeed, basking in quite a bit of sugar high euphoria. We ended up being some of the last people at the festival, staying back to help a little bi and hang with my good friend, Melissa.

Volunteering for a minute to answer some questions about The Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary for The Sensual Vegetable who snapped this photo:

With Trista & David K.

That night I had made plans with Diana (Sissy!) & Kneel & Alicia who came in for the festival and was visiting from Texas.  Of course, I somehow made sure we end up at Sacred Chow for dinner!

I ordered the same dish I have been ordering recently which is the power bowl that has “Mama’s Meatballs”, Brown Rice & Collard Greens and brocoli.  Diana had brought in some special treats as she usually does: Cupcakes and Tea! Ah, my sissy knows how to really make me smile amongst plenty of other joys! Though I had indulged during the day in chocolate,  raw ice cream & marshmallows I couldn’t resist the temptation to eat any treat she brings me.

The night turned out to be such a treat as we all giggled away over our delicious dishes and it was sad to bid Alicia another farewell till the next time she is visiting here in New York City. At least Kneel gave me a few songs to sing and some advice I will never forget.

The weekend was a mix of emotions from having a great lunch with a new friend that I am glad to have gotten to know better  to seeing my close friends  and making new ones. This is what life is about: experience….

I truly had not been able to post for a while due to something personal coming up but I do need to mention a special thank you to my friends & people I care about who had rung my phone at all hours, sent text messages and brought me cupcakes(Sissy!) & just made sure I slept well for the few days that I needed them the most.

Wednesday

The day turned out to be better than the last few ones and the weather was nice as my friend Tod & I strolled on over to the NY Dosa Man, where we are regulars and gorge ourselves on delicious vegan dosa’s & Faux Chick’n drumsticks with sugarcane centers.

As we passed Cafe Wha, the cafe & Bar that Jimi Hendrix made famous, or is it the other way around? I had to get a shot of me in front of it: like a true NYC Tourist.

The rest of the night, I made sure to get home and relax, talk to some friends and take it easy…..

And nibble on high quantities of chocolate, because I can always rely on it….

Photo from The New York City Vegetarian Food Festival

 

Vegans are smart & stylish! 🙂

http://yfrog.com/page/addthis?server=616&filename=ktxom.jpg&yfrog_url=http://yfrog.com/h4ktxomj&is_photo=true&screen_name=sweetsereniteee.

Quick Preview…More to come soon with a long post!

(Thanks to Annie Shannon for the photo!)

03.02.12:Cheer up, sleepy Jean……

Oh I could hide ‘neath the wings of the bluebird as she sings
The six o’clock alarm would never ring
But it rings and I rise, wipe the sleep out of my eyes
My shaving razor’s cold and it stings….

And I'm a Believer...

Wednesday morning came and I was still laying in bed as the alarm went off at 10 a.m. That’s right, I did not go to work on Wednesday.

I turned on iTunes and decided I’d listen to some Monkees, especially “Daydream Believer” because, well…I have certain songs I listen to every morning and this just so happens to be one of them. And, listening to Davy Jones voice first thing in the morning makes it so that the rest of the day turns out to be a delight. Just the day before I had posted on twitter how much I adore Davy Jones, my fellow Monkees fans and Davy fans cheered in on that twitter post and we all giggled in unison. I really do not live in modern times per say, do I? I just seem to fit into the 60s rather than …the present. And like my music taste & clothes, I take joy in my love for relics….

Suddenly around noon, my phone started going off with text messages and as I opened the first one from my father, it simply said “Davy jones died”. All I could reply was: “nonono” the next couple of texts from friends and even my brother followed.

When I was 3 years old, they had a reunion tour and my father had brought me to the show where I sat in the front row and threw a beach ball up on stage and Davy had kicked it back and this kept happening throughout the show where then each of the Monkees would kick the ball back to me. I know this was one of those profound moments in my life because even at that age, I loved them and knew all the songs though I can barely understand what was being sang about. (Love, girls) They just made me the coolest 3-4 year old ever! (rolling my eyes.)

I would watch “The Monkees” TV show whenever it was on and yes, I do own the first full season now. I want the other season (ahem birthday! heh). One time I even woke up at 3 a.m. just to catch Davy doing a guest appearance.

I may be crazy, but a good crazy….:)

Cheer up, sleepy Jean, oh what can it mean
To a daydream believer and a homecoming queen?

That night, my friend Leanne (Sunshine!) had a party to open her new boutique in Williamsburg for her darling clothing line, Vaute Couture. I didn’t make it because I chose to take it easy and relax but I heard the party was fantastic.

Check out her store at:

234 Grand Street, Williamsburg

(L to Bedford, G to Lorimer)

The night turned out to be special for me….

Daydream believer.

Thursday.

I awoke to another beautiful morning and watched as a Seagull flew over the East River. This was indeed a lovely way to start the day….

I got back to work and caught up on emails & projects and realized I had a hair appointment that night with Stacy, of StylesOnB. I LOVE Stacy and have been going to her for about 4 1/2 years.  Not only is she the ONLY person I’d ever trust with my hair but also a friend of mine who I always look forward to seeing. She knows my unique and dramatic style and we decided to go with a “baby fringe” ala 1961.

60s m'inspire ...

After hanging at StylesOnB, I took a little leisurely walk to Kate’s Joint on Ave B, which happens to be one of my main hot spots for a quick dinner or even brunch with my mates. They now serve many gluten-free alternatives which makes this lady right here, very pleased.

I ordered the Vegan Mac & Cheese (Gluten-free!) and sautéed spinach and hung out as long as I can before running over to Lula’s to meet Kristy for a sweet treat. Taking in some East Village memories as I passed the garden on East 6th and Ave B. Since I grew up in this part of town, there are always memories as I pass a certain corner or building, a street sign even.

Arriving at Lula’s Sweet Apothecary and taking in the tunes of the 20s as I entered.  I marveled at all my choices and tasted three flavors: Peanut Butter Fudge, Maple Almond & Pistachio. I ended up dancing a little with the couple that was there eating a sundae as I waited patiently for Kristy to arrive. Patience in Lula’s is a hard task to follow, by the way.

Obviously, I ended up ordering a Virgil’s Root Beer float that I couldn’t finish and ended up handing over to Kristy to savor the last bit..mm mm.

We strolled on down to Club Ella where I was about to see a friend’s show and received an important text message…..

Good luck dad and feel better.

I love you…

Friday.

60s m’inspire …Mod Pop of Yellow! Striped vintage shirt: Auh2O Thriftique, Skirt: Beacon’s Closet.

I wasn’t able to sleep very well last night but I did wake up to some funny texts from my sissy in crime, Diana. ❤ And Daydream believer came on my iPod on the way to work…my heart skipped.

So far so good…

Tomorrow & Sunday are the days of the 2nd year of The Vegetarian Food Festival. This year I made sure to get V.I.P. tickets in advance as last year there just so happened to be a 3 hour wait in line and I didn’t end up getting in. I am so excited to sample a bunch of different new vegan foods as well as hear some of my friends speak on panels and of course, bump into friends as I manage to navigate through the crowds of people anxious to grab treats!

If you haven’t bought your ticket in advance, it will be $5.00 at the door but if I were you: buy a ticket now to join in on the fun.

The event will be taking place from: 10AM to 5PM (Saturday & Sunday) at:

The Metropolitan Pavillion

125 West 18th Street (Between 6th & 7th), New York City

Happy Friday & Cheers to making it an enjoyable one. Happy March….

You once thought of me as a white knight on a steed
Now you know how happy I can be
Oh, and our good time starts and ends
With a dollar one to spend
But how much baby do we really need?….