WELCOME SUMMER 2013

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Gigi in My Life, Well-Being Comments Off

summertime

South of France

SUMMER is my favorite season, perhaps it is because I’m a girl of summer, my birthday is July 28, and July 23 is my wedding anniversary. Growing up summer was associated with “school is OUT!” , and it was a time to do whatever…so different from the kids of today, every moment scheduled with sports camp, SAT prep, travel teams, dance, gymnastics, swimming, community service, deb balls, scouts the list goes on and on. I am guilty of all the above, especially with my daughter, she was in everything!

Maybe it is the second child syndrome, but I am so much more relaxed with my son. After years of observing so many children, so many scenarios everything from “tiger moms” to kids scrambling for themselves, I’ve come to the conclusion that we can only do so much-our children need to fall into the safety net, they will be OK, if they don’t have any failures how will they ever appreciate success? It is OK to make a mistake here and there, sometimes our attempt to prepare them for everything backfires.

kids…

I’ve learned to accept my children and their shortcomings, which I don’t dwell on, just concentrating on their strengths. I know there are thousands of colleges out there, not just the 10 or so that come to mind. I want them to be independent and confidence in their decisions and that comes with backing off and letting them face the consequences of some of their choices. My husband always shares with my kids how he got a “F” in chemistry when he was in high school, and how that contributed to his academic success later in life.

This summer is going to be pretty low key, my son is doing a little math review, and studying Italian. He sleeps in on the days he does not have class, wakes up and chills. I thought about a SAT prep for a minute and decided next summer would be soon enough. Poor Amani started taking the SAT in the 6th grade, I know-I was a hot mess. We’ll do some spontaneous outings, a few that he may actually enjoy and I will go to a few movies-the kind that are targeted for 16 year old boy demographic. We’ll have casual days by the pool, informal gatherings of friends and family.

I’ll work on me, tweaking a few things, physically and mentally, working on constantly staying ahead of settling into that “comfort” zone of mediocrity that is so easy to do at my age.

Gigi

So take time this summer to enjoy the simple things. Pack a lunch, and go to the beach, or local park, roller skate, ride a bike-it’s OK not to be scheduled every waking moment.

Let the sun warm you soul, and the water cool your body…

XOXO,

GIGI

CHAOS

Posted on January 17, 2013 by Gigi in My Life, Uncategorized 2 Comments

cha·os

)

1. A condition or place of great disorder or confusion.

2. A disorderly mass; a jumble: The desk was a chaos of papers and unopened letters.

3. often Chaos The disordered state of unformed matter and infinite space supposed in some cosmogonic views to have existed before the ordered universe.

4. Mathematics A dynamical system that has a sensitive dependence on its initial conditions.

5. Obsolete An abyss; a chasm.

Originally I had a different post planned for today, something light and “happy”, but as I was driving home chatting with my girlfriend, our call was interrupted by another call from her sister, of course we quickly released the line as we were talking about frivolous things. Within seconds my phone rang again and my friend screamed “MY BROTHER DIED” and before I could respond the call dropped. I immediately thought about when I lost my own brother a little over 3 years ago, and all the complexities of losing a family member suddenly, a complete state of chaos. Death brings out so many emotions in all of us, relationships are compromised, you learn a lot about your family, sometimes you see a side you don’t even recognize.

Tomorrow I will be back, with a “happy” post. I know everyone says this, but don’t take your family and friends for granted, our lives are so fragile and anything can happen to us at any moment. Take time to tell your loved ones how you feel about them, if you are having a conflict try and resolve it.

Thank you for taking a moment out of your day to stop by my blog, and I love all of you…

Xoxo,

Gigi

TO EAT OR NOT TO EAT…

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Gigi in Dining, My Life, Well-Being Comments Off

I’ve always been a foodie, I loooooove decadent, flavorful, preferably ethnic vegan food. Growing up, my earliest memories are of both my parents in the kitchen cooking. We never had convenience food, which at the time would have been something like frozen TV dinners. At that time I had no dietary restrictions, I ate everything, meat, chicken, seafood etc.. As time passed and I became a young adult, I denounced all red meat and existed on seafood and chicken. My husband was raised vegetarian, but he too had converted to the seafood/ chicken plan. Shortly after my son was born, I gave up chicken and became a “fishatarion” , sushi, salmon, crab, shrimp, and my favorite ahi tuna became the mainstay of my diet. I ate so much seafood that four years ago, I was diagnosed with mercury poisoning. So I gave up seafood overnight and became a vegetarian/vegan. At the time I had a friend who was a raw vegan and she shared with me the benefits of a raw vegan lifestyle and helped me make the transition. I felt great and enjoyed learning about and making gourmet raw vegan food. Currently my diet consists of lots of raw vegan food and some cooked vegan food. I find that adding some vegan food works for our lifestyle, especially when traveling. I love all the raw vegan restaurants in my area, Au Luc, Cafe Gratitude, M.A.K.E., and Planet Raw to name a few but I did not want to restrict my dining options to a few spots. So I have become a master at tweaking menus at main stream restaurants to fit my needs. I’m amazed at how chefs are happy to come up with interesting vegan alternatives other than green salads. This past weekend we went to the Lazy Ox, the name alone made me think this was going to be problematic. What a surprise!

Husband & I At Lazy Ox

Our Delicious Dinner

We had grits with curry oil, mushrooms and kale,- blistered shishito peppers & lime, -caramelized cauliflower, chili flakes and toasted almonds,- beet salad with white balsamic & hazelnuts,- Black tuscan kale salad with preserved lemons and apples, and not pictured a green salad and a mushroom risotto, everything was delicious and full of amazing flavors.

What type of diet do you follow?

Xoxo,

Gigi

Lazy Ox Canteen, 241 South San Pedro Street, Los Angeles, 213 626 5299 Reservations a Must (it’s a tiny place only seats about 50)

HUSBAND’S BIRTHDAY

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Gigi in My Life Comments Off

It’s Husband’s Birthday Today!

Husband’s Birthday

We have been celebrating all weekend! Today I’m going to pick up a jacket from SAND his favorite store and a few more goodies. Of course he said he didn’t need anything…don’t spend any money. Oh Well.

SAND Sunset Plaza

Last year we had a dinner party at Au Luc, a raw vegan restaurant in Orange County, it was a fun evening and we introduced a lot of our friends to fine vegan dining. We continued the celebration at Cap Maison a beautiful resort in St. Lucia with a few friends.

Cap Maison

This year we will have a quiet evening together, reflecting on the past year and making plans for 2013. Birthdays are special and I always do something for everybody’s birthday. Growing up I had a party when I was 6, a slumber party at 12, and that was the extent of my partying and I have been making up ever since! I love entertaining and a birthday is a perfect excuse.

What is your favorite way to celebrate birthdays?

Xoxo,

Gigi

Why Did I Go to My High School Reunion, When I Had No Memories?

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Gigi in My Life 23 Comments

A few weeks ago I attended my 35th High School Reunion from Pius X, a coed catholic high school in Downey. I spent an evening celebrating in a room where only a sprinkling of the faces were familiar. As I sat in the room smiling and exchanging small talk, I wondered why don’t I remember many of these people who I spent four years with? I watched as they laughed, embraced one another, and squealed with delight as they shared familiar stories.

Gigi High School Reunion

I had a few close friends, none that attended the reunion. At one point in the program they called up various clubs, teams, cheerleaders, etc. for photos, I realized that I was in nothing. I did go up when they called for those who were not nominated for anything, no prom queen or homecoming court. I do recall trying out for the cheerleading squad, but I didn’t make the cut. My class had a little over 200 students, there was plenty opportunity to participate in a variety of activities. I was a member of the Umoja club, Pius’s Black Student Union, but I only recognized a few faces in that group.

What I do remember is that I was in an abusive relationship with a psychopath that no one knew about. I was a withdrawn frightened 16 year-old that was fearful of everything. A walking zombie that did just enough work to stay afloat and keep my parents happy. Fast forward 35 years, I am so different from that terrorized girl. I felt the need to return to a part of my life that should have been special, to see those classmates who had no clue who this scared girl was. I realized by going to my reunion that I went to school with some awesome people, I reget that I did not create any fond memories.

Freshman at Pius X

Freddie, Geri & Gigi

Gigi, Robert, Becky & Geri

The Girls

The Guys

Gigi, Geri & Rebecca

Gigi & Classmate

Gigi & Guys

Well I’m sure my class will most likely have a 40th reunion and now that I have “met” some of my classmates, I will put on a cute dress and go again. I have to think that our earlier experiences were for a reason they created the person we are today.

Xoxo,

Gigi

Facebook: The High School Reunion Party Pooper

Gigi and Friends-Red Rooster Harlem

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Gigi in Dining, My Life 4 Comments

Friday night I met up with my ski bunny friend Starla. She was a fabulous host and we had a memorable evening at Marcus Samuelsson‘s restaurant Red Rooster in Harlem. Amani and I started our trek deciding how to get from SoHo to the upper west side, of course she wanted to take the train and I wanted to take a cab. I still have not figured out how to get around with heels on etc. We were meeting Starla at 6:30 and of course everyone in New York must of been going somewhere, cabs were all taken. We were finally picked up by a renegade cab that negotiated a fee which was way to much according to Amani.

Red Rooster

Starla & Gigi at Red Rooster

I have always been a fan of Chef Marcus Samuelsson, one of my favorite cookbooks is The soul of a new cuisine: A discovery of the foods and flavors of Africa. I ordered the coconut rice & curry peas which was delightful. Most of the menu is an interesting take of traditional soul food with the Samuelsson touch. Every table was taken. I wore a red Prada dress I picked up last summer at the outlet. After dinner a couple of Starla’s friends joined us and we went downstairs to Ginny’s for drinks, dancing and good company.

“Cat” , Gigi, Starla & Judith aka “Fashion Crone”

“Cat” and fellow blogger Judith joined us for drinks and dancing downstairs at Ginny’s. Judith has a fabulous blog called Style Crone, she was in NYC for a fashion show, read more about it here. When she walked in with that pink hat on, I knew I found a new friend. After our evening was over our transportation back to Starla’s was graciously assisted by “Cat” . BTW way the fellow that joined our picture, I have no clue who he is…

Gigi & Starla

Starla and I met at Jackson Hole last ski season and have become fast friends, already planning our 2013 ski trip to Aspen.

Gigi

Xoxo,

Gigi

Marcus Samuelsson’s 6 Best Things to Do in Harlem

Fall To Do List…

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Gigi in My Life, Uncategorized 6 Comments

Sunflowers

I work really well when I make lists. There is something satisfying about checking off an accomplished task. Here is my Fall to do list.

1) Host Moroccan theme soiree for my club, with all the trimmings.

2) Be consistent with my site and post daily.

3) Plan my holiday card and figure out my concept early.

4) Plan a natural hair curly/kinky girl get together-product swap party.

5) Start a movie club, since I can’t seem to commit to book club, and I LOVE films.

6) Clean our garage so we can park one car inside.

7) Ride my bike.

8) Eat Raw Vegan at least 5 times per week.

9) Work on a few small interior projects ie. find a bench to redo for my entry way.

and last but not least…

10) Drop those 10 or so pounds that can interfere with the difference from feeling great to fabulous!

xoxo,

Gigi

It’s Officially Fall!

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Gigi in My Life, Uncategorized 4 Comments

Fall

It’s officially Fall! I’ve been MIA for the past month, lots of interference, between my internet problem (now fixed via my new router), 95 plus degree days, and a social calendar on overdrive, it has been a real challenge.

My life is constantly evolving. My daughter Amani moved to New York, and I am helping her navigate the apartment hunting race, by being a reluctant guarantor. My son Reggie is settling into his sophomore year at Cate and has promised me that he will eat in the cafeteria and stop ordering pizza. Reggie senior is running, biking, playing basketball daily and still finding time to work.

I started photography school two weeks ago. I have always loved taking pictures, and had become a master of my Canon point and shoot. Prior to our South Africa trip I purchased a Nikon D7000 and was overwhelmed with all the options on this camera. (BTW South Africa pics coming soon) A big difference from my little point and shoot… The classes are interesting and I have lots of assignments to keep me busy. I am taking a variety of courses, everything from How to pose, ambient lighting, photo shop to boudoir photography. I had one mishap so far, in my attempt to upload photo shop to my mac, I decided to transfer some pictures to my external drive, in the process I deleted my entire library! Let’s just say every picture since 2002, 12 years worth of memories, which for me translated to about 19,000 pictures. I was numb, fortunately I found a place on the web Crown City Computer that was able to retrieve all my pictures. It was expensive (300.00), but worth every penny. Moving forward I will secure some sort of cloud storage in addition to another external drive to be stored at another location. I will be sharing a lot of my work soon.

xoxo,

Gigi

What are you Passionate about?

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Gigi in My Life 8 Comments

Came across this article about passion written by Amy Spencer, in the July/August issue of Health magazine. I was intrigued by this list of five signs that you have found that “special thing”.

You’d do it for free…and, uh, probably do.
You’ve lost track of time while doing it and only noticed when you smelled dinner burning.
At a party you could talk about it until the hosts are sweeping up at the end of the night.
You don’t mind if you aren’t good at it…
…but the more you do it , the better you get at it–because you enjoy it so much.

Read the entire article here.

When I read this article I could not help but, reflect on my own life and ask myself what am I passionate about.

Relaxing on the beach (Photo credit: virtualphotographystudio)

Of course we are passionate about our families and loved ones, but I am referring to what gives your life purpose? My passions have been varied and most have been really simple. I have to be passionate about something, it is what keeps life fulfilling and interesting.

Here is my list of passions past and present. To make the list I have had to stay up all night, do it for free, talk to strangers about it–facebook counts, not necessarily be good at it and eventually get better at it because I keep doing it .

Yoga-I have not been practicing that long, and I am not one of the “gumby” girls in the class, but I love it and I keep going back even though there are days where I feel I am regressing. I get a rush from going to class and I feel at peace when I am done. I know there are asanas I may never do, but the desire or the thought that one day I may keeps me going back for another back bend.

Music-In another life I know I was a DJ. I can stay up all night searching for music and listening to random bands. In our living trust I have a provision that states, if something should happen to me and it appears that I am not aware of my surroundings I want to have the latest “ipod” or listening device attached, so that I can listen to music.

ipod shuffle loja online leilao (Photo credit: sucelloleiloes)

Shoes-I have always had a facination with shoes, perhaps it is because I had to wear corrective shoes as a child. I can enter a shoe department and feel my heart start to flutter. I love looking at beautiful shoes, wearing them, and nothing gives me greater pleasure than finding a “dream” shoe on the sale rack with an additional mark down. Right when I think I am content and happy with my collection I see something else that makes me drool. This is the current shoe I’m lusting for:

Brian Atwood

Traveling-I love going places. It does not have to be an exotic destination, it can be an exit off a freeway that I have never taken. I love going places near and far. I can enjoy a beach thirty minutes from my house or one around the world. I love planning trips and finding off the beaten path things to do.

Travel Guides (Photo credit: Vanessa (EY))

Blogging-It’s 3:00 am, no explanation needed. Oh and when I’m not blogging I’m reading other blogs.

English: Monkeys Blogging Español: Simios bloggeando (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Past and reoccuring passions: knitting (I go on binges where I knit nonstop), triathlon-ing (becoming obsessed with everything connected with the sport joining clubs etc.), raw veganism (embarrassing my kids when ordering in non-vegan restaurants), natural hair (always searching for the holy grail of products), photography (the need to take pictures of every and anything), and skiing (planning my winter around snow reports and justifying another jacket).

What are you passonate about? What makes you stay up like a fiend?

xoxo,

Gigi

Commencement

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Gigi in My Life Comments Off

Amani Graduates

Com-mence-ment

1. an act or instance of commencing; beginning

2. the ceremony of conferring degrees or granting diplomas at the end of the academic year.

3. the day on which this ceremony takes place.

This past Memorial weekend my daughter Amani graduated from Wesleyan University. Of course there was all the pomp and circumstance one would expect, but what moved me most was the community of friends my daughter had amassed. At times I was overcome with emotion, the feeling one has when with each breath a tear begins to form a puddle, only to have a heavy wink quickly swallow it back.

Kennedy Odede ’12 addressed the class with a moving story of his against all odds journey from the Kibera slums of Kenya to Wesleyan. My discomfort of sitting in the beaming sun for two hours were minor compared to the obstacles Kennedy overcame.

By now most of the tears have been dried, suitcases unpacked, and those of us whose graduates have decided to return to the family nest are settling in.

The commencement of my blog parallels my daughter’s graduation. As she ponders on what her next step will be, I too will stumble here and there as I discover my “blog” voice.

GIGI

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