Tokyo Tea in N.Y.C.

Okay, so last weekend I went out for my friend's 26th birthday and had a FABULOUS time at B. B. King's in Times Square, NYC. I always have a good time in the city (for those of you who aren't familiar with how wack Long Island can be, just take my word for it. A short drive into Manhattan is very necessary for me most weekends.) But this past weekend proved to be especially enlightening!

Well, it's not all that serious, but I did learn something. For one, I met Day 26 and Dawn Richards of Danity Kane fame in the club. I'll mention breifly that they're all nice and good-looking in person, for those who are wondering. Their section was next to ours and at the request of my birthday buddy, they took time out take pics with her, which was very cool of them. I opted to stand aside for the pics, lest I look like a groupie (hahaha!) :)

Anyway, that wasn't the enlighting part. I've adopted a new staple cocktail!! This awesome, AWESOME drink is called the TOKYO TEA :) It's actually a modified Long Island Iced Tea. I was so excited to discover this, as I personally think LI Iced Teas taste gross.

I owe this to my friend J-Dash, whose neon-green glass prompted me to ask what he was sipping on. He told me that it was a Long Island, but he replaced the Coke with Midori Liqueur. Since I don't like rum, and I thought that half-a-pint-glass of Midori would've been too cloying, I decided to tweak mine a bit when I ordered it...

Equal parts:

• tequila


• gin


• vodka


• triple sec


• Midori (instead of the rum component)

...and instead of filling the glass with Coke, I had the bartender fill it with pineapple juice (that's the Trinidadian in me) with a splash of Coke and a splash of sour mix. SOOOO delish!!! Not to mention this fits right in with my predilection for Japanese-inspired things! Drink responsibly and enjoy!!! :)

Better Late Than Never!!

Yeeaaaaa...so I haven't posted anything since July. I know, I suck, I'm sorry! :) But remember that job I had just gotten? Yeaaaa...mucho stressful. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, but it is an almost constant anxiety attack in a cubicle, and to make matters worse, I got paired up with an incompetent attorney who ended up getting fired about two months after I was hired because his files were so fucked up. And guess who's problem the fucked up files are now. DING DING DING!! All mine. In addition, there's been school issues (started a bad habit of staying at work late and started missing classes), finance issues (but who doesn't have that issue these days?), family issues, and I guess you could say relationship issues...Hova and I are not together anymore. It was my decision and we're still very close (I don't think that will ever change), but it still wasn't the easiest thing to deal with. I'll probably go into more detail about the last four months at another time. For now, I just wanted to resurface and get into the groove of posting again!

Also, I'm toying with the idea of doing vlogs. I've become something of a YouTube fanatic in the last few weeks. I might take a dip in that pool. We'll see what happens.

LASTLY!: Do you Twitter? I do!! Well, I just started. Follow me! And if following me led you to my blog, thanks for coming! Much appreciated! :)

Peace & Love,
-Barbie

Recession, Sheshmession

With all this talk about how bad the economy is and about how we’re sinking into a recession faster than Rick Ross’ street credibility is going down the tubes, I’ve got exceptionally good news. I’ve got a new job!!! As a paralegal!!! Hova’s best friend’s wife - who I’ll call Posh (like the Spice Girl, because she comes off as being uptight at times and looks like she could be mean, but she’s actually pretty cool. And she’s got great fashion sense!) - works for the law firm and she gave them my resume. They called me almost immediately for an interview. This is especially good for me because I’ve recently decided to switch my major from bioscience (I was considering doing nursing, dentistry, or veterinary science) to social work, and when I start grad school I’m considering doing a joint MSW/JD program (meaning I’ll graduate with a Masters in Social Work and a Juris Doctorate law degree). Ultimately, I’d like to be an adoption social worker or adoption attorney. Not sure yet how that’ll pan out, but those are the options on my horizon at the moment (until I have another epiphany that leads me to be a rodeo clown or some shit).

So let me tell you about how I went into my interview and kicked ass yesterday. Well, before I started kicking ass, I showed up five (ok, maybe ten) minutes late - a big no-no when going for an interview that you’re taking seriously. The first thing the human resources manager said when I sat down in his office was, “First thing I have to mention…you were late. That’s kinda not so good.” Oops. I apologized profusely, and said that it was so not like me to be late (which is the BIGGEST lie I think I’ve ever told in my LIFE since being late is what I’m known for), but he said he’d “look the other way” about it since I know Posh.

So then we get into the interview, and I’m acing all his questions with the best answers possible. He asked how I would handle a difficult situation at work, I gave him a spiel about how every situation in life is a chance to learn a lesson, blah blah. I did some research on the firm and found out that the partners are big on philanthropy, so when he asked me about why I felt I’d be a good fit at the firm, I mentioned all my philanthropic efforts, how I like to “bring out my inner Girl Scout,” and other favorable things (none of which were lies, by the way.) He asked about high school (I’m not sure why since I graduated six years ago, but whatever) and I talked about my 18 billion extracurriculars like orchestra, color guard, the swim team, kickline and cheerleading (which he called “the magic word”, since apparently there’s a lot of ex-cheerleaders at the firm. He said cheerleader-types are great for office moral. Yea, I bet.) He asked about my hobbies and I gave him the edited list: swimming, boating, my dog, reading, music and concerts, art (I purposely left out the fact that my weekends usually involve alcohol, and other things I probably shouldn’t mention on an interview)…he loved me! About fifteen minutes in, he grins and says, “Ok, I’m so over the fact that you were late! Most people come in here late and their interview is all downhill from there. But I‘m getting excited…I have some people I want you to meet…” Then he brings me into another office to meet the financial manager and the lead litigation paralegal. I interviewed with them and they loved me too! They were “intrigued” (the FM’s word, not mine) by the fact that I was going to do social work and wanted a law background to supplement that, since usually what they hear from paralegal applicants is that they want to go to law school. They were impressed by my previous hospital job as a clerical specialist in ambulatory surgery’s coding unit also. I guess the way I described the responsibilities made it seem more complex than it really was.

Then I was led back to the HR manager’s office, where he told me they’d like to offer me the job. And THEN proceeded to offer me more money than I was asking for! Holla!!! Oh I was SO on cloud nine yesterday. I think I owe 80% my confidence yesterday to my outfit…I wore my hair pulled back in a bun, a crisp winter white pencil skirt suit with a black blouse, gold knot stud earrings, a black and muted gold pearl necklace with lace accents that matched my black and muted gold snakeskin pumps. Fashionably conservative with a hint of sexy fun. Fieeerce. (I'll try upload a pic of it later.) I went shopping at Lord and Taylor to celebrate afterward and got tons of compliments from strangers on it!

Such a great day yesterday. I start work on Monday…I never expected the process to move so fast. Posh told me that I would have to do at least two separate interviews, and if they offered me the job, they’d call me back for a third. I knocked it all out in about two hours! I won’t allow myself to start over-analyzing and freaking out about how complicated and difficult this new endeavor might turn out to be. At least not until Sunday night…

Suzie Homemaker

That's what my boyfriend likes to call me when I cook. And that happens less than I'd like to admit. My New Year's resolution was to learn to cook one new dish a week. We're now in the 28th week (or something close to that) of the year and I think I've cooked, like, five new things so far. We don't live together or anything so please don't think I'm starving him. He's just fine, trust.

sidebar: I don't think I'll be disclosing names on this blog, due to the candid nature I intend for this blog to have. I think it might be more fun to devise nicknames for real people in my life anyway (Flavor of Love style.) So, here on A.D.D. Barbie, I'll affectionately refer to my sweetie as Hova -- his favorite rapper. And coincidentally, if Jay-Z had a fraternal twin that slightly resembled him but was cuter and had hazel eyes, he'd probably look like my boyfriend :)

Anywho, back to Suzie Homemaker. I brought my alter-ego out of hibernation yesterday to bake cupcakes for Hova's employees at work (he manages the office...the "E"s are for the name of the company). I opened my good intentioned mouth a while ago and half-jokingly said I'd bake them cupcakes and brownies one day, and they never let me forget it. Yesterday was Hov's favorite employee's last day, so I decided to make good on my promise. Someone joked when I brought them in that it felt like Birthday Day in grade school, when the "class mom" brings in treats for the whole class in honor of one child's birthday. It was cool though...they loved the cupcakes, it made Hov look good and I inadvertently shut off Suzie's snooze button. It feels good to do nice things for no particular reason. Yay for altruism!

Any closet cooks out there? If you've got a fave recipe - for anything, ordinary or exotic - feel free to share! Maybe I'll start putting together a recipe section. Ciao for now!

My Cherry's Been Popped!!!

My blogging cherry, that is. This is my first blog entry, on my first blog, ever. I've entitled this A.D.D. Barbie because I intend for this to be my diary of sorts: an outlet for me to gush, rant, rave, bitch, moan, reminisce or any other verb I please about whatever I please. A medium through which I'll share things I adore and things I abhor, and things I have lukewarm feelings for. Very random thoughts from a very random chick. I'll try my best to make this as cohesive as possible :)

So I guess this is as good a time as any to let you (whoever "you" are, HELLO! Thanks for reading! lol) know a little about moi. Well, I am:

• 24 years old as of two weeks ago
• Trinidadian by blood, but am 1st generation American. Born and raised in LawnGuyland, New Yoawk (or for those of you not from here, it's better known as Long Island, New York).
• A girly girl (but not sickeningly so). A fly Black Barbie, not in the fake-and-plasticky sense, but in the I-believe-I-can-do-anything-while-wearing-pink-stilettos-and-looking-fierce sense. And yes, pink is my favorite color.
• a (quasi-perpetual) college student, now finishing my degree in social work (after switching my major about 27 times)
• A Buddha-groupie. Not exactly a practicing Buddhist, but I appreciate the philosophy.

A little more, you say? OK, then! Let's see...I have:

• 2 tattoos, strategically placed so that they're only seen when I want them to be seen ;-)
• 7 piercings (in my ears, tongue, belly, and "lovebutton", hehe)
• an awesome pomeranian named Christian Dior (the name was meant to be tongue-in-cheek as I love fashion and he cost me a pretty penny!)
• A.D.D. Yes, really.
• love for all types of music. I mean ALL types. My Ipod has bits of rock, hip-hop, R&B, folk, country, classical, pop, techno, reggae, soca and latin music on it. I don't discriminate...good music is good music.

Some things I can't live without are:

• my dog
• my Ipod (my life's soundtrack!!)
• Family Guy. Giggity.
• mascara (it's funny how something so simple can make a girl feel so different!)
• The Wendy Williams Experience! How you doin?! Ok, so maybe I can live without her, but she's so fabulous! Love her!

Some stuff that really grinds my gears are:

• people who switch lanes without signaling
• mosquitoes. Leave me and my blood alone, thank you.
• close-minded individuals (think OUTSIDE of your box. You might enjoy it.)
• boys that spit (so NOT sexy)
• (anyone, but especially) Black people that try to trip up Barack Obama. YEA, I'm talking to YOU, Jesse Jackson and Jeremiah Wright. (Hi haters!) Don't you see what this man is trying to do? Fall the eff back.

Someone once told me I should write a book about my life, because of all the funny/chaotic/sad/inspiring/crazy things that go on. Maybe this will turn into a blueprint for that book. Maybe not. For now, I just need an active outlet for my overactive mind. We'll see how this pans out. Ciao for now!