Clarity

"The will to blog is a complicated thing, somewhere between inspiration and compulsion. It can feel almost like a biological impulse. You see something, or an idea occurs to you, and you have to share it with the Internet as soon as possible. What I didn’t realize was that those ideas and that urgency — and the sense of self-importance that made me think anyone would be interested in hearing what went on in my head — could just disappear." -- Emily Gould

WHATEV!

Uploaded on Flickr on May 21, 2007 by Slice

I would love to jump on the bandwagon and proclaim like everyone else that the best pizza in the world is Brooklyn's own Di Fara, which is a stone throw's away from where I grew up, in my old neighborhood of Midwood.

But I can't. After 20 years of of refusing to step foot into the pizzeria again (a bad experience with an extra cheese slice which led me to see my pizza slice in reverse), I finally decided to give in to the madness and go there for a Friday night meal with most of my familia. (Rafa, sis, Roman, Liam and Mia.) Roman is adamant that this is the BEST PIZZA EVER! Well I have to say to Roman, and to everyone else that thinks the same way, WHATEV!!!

This pizza is NOT the best pizza ever. It's not even close to being the best OK pizza ever. It's gross! The pie is too salty with parmesan cheese, too oily with all that olive oil smeared on the top, too much trouble to bother with having to wait close to an hour and a half for a pie. I'll say it again, I DON'T GET IT! There are so many amazing Brooklyn joints for pizza; why single this one out, especially when it's not even that good. Ah, I give up!

Four Dresses and a Wedding

Rafa and I are forces to be reckoned with whenever we enter a shopping mall. The other day, we entered the Jersey Gardens outlet mall with every intention of buying one (1) dress for myself and one (1) white dress shirt for him. It's for my cousin's daughter's wedding that we are attending next month.

I came out with four dresses, not all for the wedding mind you (I'm not going to do wardrobe changes a la Madonna circa Blonde Ambition Tour), and Rafa came out with said dress shirt, plus a $45 tie from Brooks Brothers. Oh, my gorgeous metrosexual. He also got a Ben Sherman wallet, a Ben Sherman newsboy cap (my little Brad Pitt!), and loads of other things he didn't need... but I really didn't need three out of the four dresses either, but they are fabulous!

Dress 1:

BCBG Max Azria -- kind of gypsy-ish meets bohemian sexy number with a 'scarf'?? I believe a 'scarf' is what the crazy kids are calling that flap of fabric that kind of flaps around -- erm, Rafa thought it distracting. I thought it fabulous. BTW, THIS is the dress for the wedding. Here's an Ebay pic of the same dress. NB: It's priced over $200 on Ebay and in retail. I got it for $60. Yeah!

Dress 2:

Bebe Outlet -- kind of crochet sweater dress with short sleeves - funky turquoise which I don't usually do, but why not?! It has pockets too at the bottom, which I just love. In the fitting room, it didn't seem see-through, but now logic proves since the friggin' dress is actually entirely knitted, it is indeed see-through. I wore it to work today, but was very discreet in my underthings. ;) At least the holes in the dress will be good for those hot summer days. LOL. Here's another Ebay pic - FYI, I do not look like a hoochie mama like this woman does.. sheesh! Push-up bra much?! The seller on Ebay is selling it for a starting bid of $60. I got the dress for $20 at Bebe itself. Yeah x2!

Dress 3:

I'm really excited about this one. I think the brand is Velvet Torch, which I haven't heard of before, but for $20, I'm not one to complain. It's a double V neck dress! Fabulous. It covers up the parts you don't want people seeing, and emphasizes the ones you don't mind people seeing. I got mine in black, but here are similar pics of the back and front. I don't believe mine has a tie at the back, but I'm blanking now.

Dress 4:

This is a simple summer dress from Abercrombie & Fitch. It was an impulse purchase because it's A&F and it was only $20. I have a thing about Abercrombie. When I was a teenager, it was the coolest brand to wear. Of course, not having my own money, I could never afford it. I remember going to a store, though, once, and finding a really marked down white peasant shirt. I loved it. I wore it all the time knowing I'M wearing Abercrombie & Fitch. A&F is still kind of costly, but you could get really good deals at an oulet. The dress I got is similar to the below, but it was blue... Very soft cotton. The dress I will probably be wearing the most this summer. The kind that looks great at work and equally great at Sunday brunch 'in the city'. :) Sort of like my pink madras shoes.

Would you pass the baby, please?

There is a strange phenomenon that occurs each time a new baby comes into the world and my small family surrounds him or her. The baby becomes totally inaccessible. And it's not so much with my side of the family -- hint, hint -- but I literally get two seconds to look at Mia before someone snatches her up, and it's bye, bye baby.

Mia is just over two weeks old now.. and I have literally seen her, awake, maybe once or twice. I tried to spend some one-on-one time with her the other day after I got back from being out of town for work, but Mia, alas, was sleeping. And then the two minutes she was awake, my sister's friend took her in her arms, so that was that.

I just don't get it! I feel a certain right to have access to the baby the most because she is my sister's baby. My sister is my blood, Mia is my sister's blood. I don't think I've ever accepted the fact that I'm married and my sister is married and we have to be content with all the other people that have come into our lives and disrupted our perfect world. Get the f*** away from my niece, please. I have never said it. But I'd love to say it.

It's hard to get to know babies. That is my conclusion. They sleep, they nurse, they poop, they don't really look you in the eye. Unless you're a boob capable of giving them milk, they pretty much don't care that you exist. But I'm willing to live with that. Liam used to be like that, and now we're BFFs. Well, he's my BFF. Not so sure if he feels the same way. The other day he blurted out that I was like my mom, which is, by the way, the biggest compliment I could get from him because he ADORES her, and I am also the undefeated Lego champion in his eyes, but he has his moments too where he couldn't give a f*** that I am there, and I'm cool with that too.

I guess I'm experiencing the bridesmaid thing -- always an aunt, never a mother. But my time will come, and when it does, I could be really REALLY selfish of keeping the baby all to myself. And that's my deep thought for the day.


Yup -- this moment lasted two seconds...


Liam obviously takes after me in the appreciation of food sense -- go, pizza, go!