My Twitter

I'm only talking about this because clearly I need to carry a notebook with me to write my blog topics in. I remember lying awake last night thinking of the most brilliant blog ever, but now, now that I'm actually at the computer and about to blog, I am drawing a blank. But I remember how great it was and how easily it flowed in my head last night. Sigh. Alas, it is gone and all I have to talk about is how bad I am at twitter.

For those of you who don't have twitter, twitter is fun at first, but quickly gets old. But I assume...Oh my God! I just remembered what I wanted to talk about!!! Twitter reminded me because I follow Lil Wayne and it's been boring ever since he went to jail. Ding ding ding! I wanted to talk about celebrities who go to prison and what it's like for them on the inside. Man, sometimes if you just talk it out, you will get to where you need to be.

My question is this: When celebrities go to prison, what is the setup? Is Lil Wayne just in the mix with all of the other criminals, or is he somewhere like Martha Stewart was? Does Lil Wayne have protection or is he just exposed and in trouble if he drops the soap? Am I the only person who wonders these kinds of things? I was just thinking about that. A lot of rappers go to jail and I was just wondering what the situation is for them. Perhaps they come out more "hardened" than before, or maybe it's just a publicity stunt. Maybe they don't even go to jail, but if the public thinks that you did, then you sale more records.

In conclusion, hurry back Lil Wayne, twitter needs you.

The Warrior

Today marks the first day of the fourth week of working out. That is right folks, I have been working out religiously since March 1st, with the exception of Saturdays and Sundays. I decided this weekend that my body is probably getting used to my Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs DVDs, and that I should mix it up. Well, coincidentally, there is a treadmill in my house. So today I woke up, put on the workout gear, and hopped on the treadmill. I started off with a "brisk" walk and quickly worked my way up to a jog. Mind you, I hadn't jogged in I don't know how long and I've never been one to do long distances. Today, however, with my Jay-Z CD playing and my pure determination, I breezed my way through a mile and a half. It was effortless and it left me feeling invincible! Mid run, I started to think about everything that had been bothering me and I just felt all of it falling off. I didn't have a care in the world. I'm thinking that jogging may be the way to go, and I'm excited to incorporate jogging into my weekly regiment.

Have you seen this?

I'm a little late on this one, but you'll just have to forgive me. This happened earlier this week and I'm sure you've all heard about it by now.

Apparently there is a 600 pound woman in NJ who is striving to acheive the title of "World's Fattest Woman". She already holds the title for "World's Fattest Mother". Now, I know you guys know that I am a huge advocate for people following their dreams, but this takes it to a whole new level. In my mind, this is just a slow suicide. She claims that she isn't hurting anyone, but obviously she failed to take her two children into consideration. Dear Donna Simpson, if/when you eat yourself to death, your children will be motherless. Is this the kind of future that you envisioned for them? Do you want your children to grow up thinking that it is okay to consume 12,000 calories a day?

So, Donna, while I appreciate you having goals, I must admit that I don't buy yours. I think that your goal is more of way out and that are clearly some deeper issues at play here. Maybe you see 600 pounds as an obstacle and decided to make lemonade out of your lemon situation. So instead of deciding to lose 400 pounds, you've opted to gain instead. I don't mind that my tax payer money is being used to provide medical assistance to a growing epidimic, after all, I have to pay taxes and the money has to go somewhere.

Donna is 42 years old and fully capable of making her own decisions and suffering the consequences. I do have a problem with bad parents and there is no telling how these actions will affect her children. It's a head shaking, heart hurting situation and the worst part is that someone will see her story and try to top it.

If you haven't seen the article, then please use the link below to check it out. It's really sad that this is what our world is coming to. Have we really run out of options and the only thing left is to out fat each other?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/03/16/donna-simpson-nj-woman-ea_n_501245.html

Our Family Wedding

On Saturday, my cousin asked me if I wanted to go to a movie. Of course I wanted to go to a movie. I love going to movies, so I went. I had seen a quick preview of "Our Family Wedding", but I hadn't made in plans to go see it. You know how you see previews and think, "Man, I can't wait to see that"? Well, this was not one of those times, but like I said, I love movies.

My cousin and I got our snacks and our seats and the movie began. Within the first ten, or maybe five minutes of the movie, I knew that I wasn't going to like it. The acting was immediately painful and the plot didn't seem to make any attempts to carry the movie. 30 minutes later my cousin asked me if I wanted to leave. Maybe it was me being an optimist or maybe it was me being naive, but I couldn't help but think that the movie would turn around. Clearly, I was mistaken. Always trust your instincts.

It's true what they say, you can't make up lost time. I wasted almost two hours of my life on Saturday. I looked at my cousin in the middle of the movie and said, "I don't love you anymore." Yeah, the movie was that bad. I also told her that if this was a first date, I would have refused to see her again after this movie because she picked it and it spoke volumes about her character and judgment. Of course I realized that taking back my love for her and "breaking up" with her was harsh, so I just told her that she was no longer allowed to pick movies for us anymore.

I hope that I have spared you guys the pain that my cousin and I had to endure, by saving you from seeing that movie. The crazy thing is that there were people in there who were really laughing. Amber, my cousin, was looking around the theater and asked me, "Are they watching the same movie we're watching?" I said, "Apparently not."

Who do you think you are?

Have you guys seen the preview for this show? Well, I saw one the other day and it was of Sarah Jessica Parker finding out that her great grandma, or someone, was accused of being a witch in the Salem witch trials. In the preview, she says, "This changes everything about who I thought I was." As I watched that, I thought, "How?" How does finding out that someone you didn't even know was accused of being a witch change things? I could see if she found out that she was a quarter Asian or something that was actually persona altering.

I can remember the day that I found out that I was part European. I was shocked. SHOCKED. I know that you are reading this and thinking, "Have you seen yourself? You couldn't have thought that you were a full blooded African." Well, in my defense, I was 10 when my granddaddy told me that the slave owner had procreated with my great great grandmother, and that the little white boy that I played with all the time was actually my cousin. When I got to school the next day, I couldn't wait to tell him. "Ben, did you know that we're cousins?!" In my mind, I couldn't figure out what could be better than finding out you were related to someone you were already such good friends with. But reality set in with his response, "Yeah I know, but I can't claim you." I just stared at him. Even at the age of 10, I knew what that meant.

I'm not trying to say that SJP couldn't have been profoundly impacted by finding out that her ancestor was accused of being a witch. I'm not in the belittling people's experiences business; I'm just saying that I expected more. Brooke Shields found out that she stemmed from royalty. I will agree that that has an impact on who you thought you were.

Inspired by watching Oprah today, I set out to find out more about myself. I always knew that I was part European on my mom's side and part Native American on my dad's. I guess it was just a few years ago that I found out that I was also part European on my dad's side. French and English, to be exact. But even with these genealogical discoveries, I'm still left empty. For starters, I only have pieces of information about my mom's mother's side of the family and my dad's mother's side. I don't know anything about either of my grandfather's sides. There is no telling what I could find there. But more importantly than all of that, I would just like to know the story. What kind of strength do I come from? What kind of passions?

As an African American, I think that it's easy to have some sort of sense of where you came from. Not geologically, but capability wise. When you look back at the history of African Americans, you see a group of people who were strong beyond all belief. To be taken from your home, your country, your family, only to end up thousands of miles away in the worst conditions imaginable, and to rise up from that. I think that it is great to have that sort of motivation behind you, behind me. Anything that I am going through is not nearly as bad as what my ancestors suffered, and rose up from. They paved the way for me and I refuse to let their efforts be in vain. I look at my Native American ancestors and I see fighters and lovers of nature and life. I look at my English roots and see people who didn't want to stay in England and live under the king's rule anymore, and decided to leave to make a better life for themselves. No wonder I'm such a nomad; it's in my blood, I'm always looking for the best conditions. And to my French roots: I understand where I get my love for food, especially pastries. Yummy!

Ancestry.com costs about $30 a month if you sign up for the worldwide one. I think that with the little bit that I know about my ancestors, it would be dumb for me to think that I only needed to trace back in the US. I'm looking forward to finding out more about me, and learning about what makes me who I am. Of course, it would be a lot easier if some tv show would just fund it and do all the research for me.

A Slow Week

There's not a lot going on with me, but I'm so very back in the mood to blog on a daily basis, so you'll just have to be bored along with me. :)

The only bit of excitement I have in life these days is eating and working out, and I think that we can all agree that hearing about what someone ate is more exciting than hearing about someone's exercise. With that being said, I will promptly take you on a guided tour of my meals for the day...or maybe not...that is a tad bit excessive...I'll just tell you about dinner. It was an Edrei original that was inspired by an old favorite. I had my version of a taco salad; Tada! I can tell that you are all intrigued but not sure if you should be; trust me, you should be.

What I did was: I made regular taco meat; you know, the ground beef and packet kind. I placed a whole bunch of mixed greens on a plate, topped it with salsa (yum), placed the ground beef on top of that, then I took fat free cottage cheese...I know I lost some of you, but I beg you to come back. I promise that it's not bad. The purpose of the cottage cheese is that it kills to healthy birds with one stone; you get the cheese and sour cream effect without the fat. Yep, your girl's a thinker. I thought that up all by myself! Then I topped it off with some diced tomatoes and onions. It was comfort food but with a healthy twist. I loved it and will certainly eat it again.

Hopefully tomorrow I will have more to talk about than just food....

Yummy

How do I love to eat? Let me count the ways! Allow me to tell you about the delicious, yet healthy food that I gorged on today. I'm thinking that I may just go ahead and share great recipes with you as I continue on my healthy eating adventure.

Today, I was about to work out and my cousin called and asked if I wanted to have lunch at Joe's Crabshack. Ummm...yeah. She said that she would ready to go in about an hour and a half, which was perfect, because it still gave me enough time to work out first. I did my 20 minute cardio video and my 20 minute ab video. She picked me up, and then we headed off to seafood bliss. We both ordered those seafood steamers that you see advertised in the commercial. Mine was snow crab, dungenous crab and shrimp. I subbed out the sausage for more shrimp and the corn and potatoes were subbed out for a side salad with oil and vinegar dressing. Eh, eh, you like the healthy? We "split" a pound of crawfish too. (What I really mean was that my cousin had about five and I tore up the rest.) My food was SO good that I couldn't help but dance along to the music as I muscled my way through hard exteriors. Stupid crustaceans and their protective gear. "Best day ever," we agreed as we ate with smiles on our faces.

I returned home and spent some time walking the puppies and applying for jobs, and then it was time to start dinner. What you don't know is that last night I began to marinate my chicken breasts for dinner tonight. Being healthy takes a lot of preparation, but lucky for me, I have all the time in the world. Needless to say, my dinner was so good, that I felt the need to share it with you. I panned fried some okra and reheated some brown rice from yesterday and ate the chicken with it. Check out the recipe and please feel free to make it. Delicious!

Ingredients
2 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves, minced
2/3 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 tablespoons white wine (optional)
1 1/3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Instructions
Rinse the chicken and pat dry. Combine the rosemary, garlic, pepper, and salt in a small bowl and mix well. Place the chicken in a large bowl. Drizzle with the oil, and rub with the spice mixture. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Spray a heavy roasting pan or iron skillet with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over. If the drippings begin to stick to the pan, stir in 3-4 tablespoons water or white wine (if using).

Bake about 10 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in the thickest portion registers 160°F and the juices run clear. If the pan is dry, stir in another 1-2 tablespoons of water or white wine to loosen the drippings. Drizzle the vinegar over the chicken in the pan.

Transfer the chicken to plates. Stir the liquid in the pan and drizzle over the chicken.

Nutritional Information:
183 calories
6 total fat (1 g sat)
65 mg cholesterol
4 g carbohydrate
26 g protein
0 g fiber
270 mg sodium