There are two major music festivals in Philadelphia this weekend. Tons of open air markets. Plenty of art festivals, food truck meet ups, movies outdoors and much much more.
oh! Do not forget the national urban league is in town as well. This will add a little spice to the nightlife scene for the weekend.
Too bad I have to work tomorrow and need to be in bed at a decent time. Sighhhhhh
If you live in Philly and you need to know what is going on. You should definitely ALWAYS check out. Uwishunu. The best blog in philly.
Today I must admit that I was feeling a little worn out and in need of some comfort. I was also having the urge to find someone to go out to eat with. I decided after laying across my bed for a while... go run and then buy some food to cook. I have to ration my calories appropriately. I wanted to save them for the weekend ;) While running home I decided to make a quick pizza and get some ingredients from Trader's Joe's.
This quick little recipe never lets me down. Grab a pizza crust, brush crust with a little olive oil. Put on top whatever you like. I went with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, green peppers, olives, basil. Once it cooks drizzle with a little balsamic vinaigrette, salt and pepper. Done.
Delicious.
Day 1 with no facebook update. I typed in facebook 3 times on accident before realizing I deactivated. Cray cray. Still deciding whether I am giving up instagram.. I feel like I might as well do it all the way.. Go hard or go home..
Now about this cake my roomie made. Whew. It may deserve its own post its so good.
Well folks. As always. I have to pose an occasional question.
Could you give up Facebook forever? What about ALL social media? No twitter, no instagram flexing, no facebook, no pinterest. Nothing.
What would your life be like?? Would it be better.. ? In what ways? Or maybe you would just have more time to actually enjoy life instead of watching the lives and updates of others. This is a serious question... because people are making careers out of being "personal social media management personnel.." hey... whatever gets you your gucci bag.. I'm not hating.
So why am I asking these questions.
First of all... I KNOW that I am distracted by Facebook. I check it ALL the darn time. when I wake up in the morning, before I go to bed, during the day, I don't think there is a day that goes by where I don't check Facebook. If I had all those minutes back and put it into something meaningful.... maybe I could have baked a few more cakes, read a few more books and exercised more. I don't even open my Bible as much as I check Facebook.
Second.... I've always found that Facebook can cause me to compare myself to others in a not so healthy way. I feel like we often want to portray these perfect, happy, spontaneous lives on Facebook. But is this really the case? Often I find myself reading depressing posts. After reading I feel equally depressed and could do without the anxiety of someone else's situation.. probably a stranger really... being cast onto me.
Third. And the fact of the matter is.. I'm praying for big things for myself. And something has to go to make room for these blessings. Facebook is just the first of many. It's time for me to go get some of these things. I need ALL of my minutes. 2 minutes here, 10 minutes here, 5 minutes there. I also need my spirit to be strong. Resilient. Clear. I'd also rather use this extra time to be out in philly. living my life in reality.
So then there is the question.. How will people keep up with you? If you need me you will find me.
This is just temporary. My plan is one year. No Facebook. Still debating about instagram. I do enjoy seeing people's pictures without significant commentary... Although I will say the occasional.. .boo text message convo pic and I love my this and that and here i am exercising for the 10th time this week.... gets a little "chante's got a man" braggadocios for me. But what can you do. This is our culture. If know one else knows you have it.. Then you might as well not have it. Men included. SMH.
SOOOO SAVE MY BLOG ADDRESS. IF you enjoy to keep up with my Philadelphia adventures. Because... tomorrow. I'm signing off. For good. I'm so done.. and need a break.
If you missed her... You missed out. Yes my mother always tries to drive me a little bit crazy.. But goodness do I love her.
As most of my friends know my mother is funny and full of quotes. Memorable moments from the past weekend... "You got to use your qualities hun." "You can't take your girls everywhere." :0
Mama B is definitely on team get briana scooped up. When we went shopping... If it wasn't flattering.. It was not going into the cart. And of course folks know my mom is fly too. She plays no games.
Apparently these were the pants my dad was scooped in.
The thing I admire most about my mother is how loving she is. She came to my apt.. and got to work. She cooked, cleaned, organized and just made things better. Drove 12 hours to bring my car and STILL did things around my apartment. I was too tired to even clean appropriately before she came. SMH.
I hope one day I can be just a little bit as nurturing and loving as my mother is.
I took mama b to the brooklyn flea
enjoying the flea
enjoying the flea
my mom is hilarious. operation get briana scooped :)
I wish my mom still had this outfit. I would kill it.
I was looking at this at the flea. talking to the lady who made it. My mother comes up and says.. "You can get your dad to make that." Can't take folks anywhere.. lol.
My brother, My trayvon. So thankful for the moments we have shared and the opportunities in life we have been blessed/lucky to enjoy.
Like so many, I have been doing quite a bit of thinking today. The life of an innocent young man holding a bag of skittles has left me contemplating and asking deeper questions. Moments like these leave many of us feeling bitter, distant and reassuring the already deep emotions that we have about the country we live in. I will admit that after this year of being an intern... my emotions are even harder to stir and I find myself searching for them in pivotal moments like yesterday. When I have trouble finding my emotions or coping I turn to my forefathers.
Today I turned to Martin Luther King Jr. Yes I know.. he was not a perfect man but he was a wise one. And I believe he was gifted with helping the black community channel anger and bitterness into action and love. And today... before I go to work tomorrow to face another day as a black female american physician I needed to regain my strength to love. Today I read MLK's speech Love in Action which was written while MLK was in a Georgia jail.
"The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever recurring song of retaliation." Basically the lesson from the first part of the sermon is that when Jesus was crucified, his most desperate time of despair he asked his father to forgive them for they no not what they do. As MLK said, " He chose to aggressively Love." Forgiveness... that's deep right. I can't even forgive the nurse who had an attitude with me last week..
I guess.. I could go to work angry, look at all my white friends like they are out to get me.. be more distant at work tomorrow as I deal with my own anger over where history has left this country. It still wouldn't bring Trayvon back or change the fact that I worry about my brother's life on a daily basis. I guess that is why my heart is even more deeply saddened..... I know that one man going to prison will not help the children out here struggling to rise above their circumstance, it won't change that Trayvon's mother will never enjoy his laugh or the fact that sooo many black men already think that America has no desire to improve their life or circumstance. Am I jaded from my job? Am I carrying the burdens of black America on my heart too deeply? When I'm at work and I see the 45 yr old homeless man with HIV who has 8 kids somewhere in the community... is it too deep that my heart aches for those essentially fatherless children just as bad as it does for trayvon. And this is everyday...
I say all this to say... I hope we find the strength to love. To continue to love. To forgive. I will continue to hope that one day our men will feel valued in their own community and the community of others. I will be hopeful that one day America will really decide to invest in our young men. Until then.. I will invest. My energy, My love, my hopefulness.
Today I'm going to choose love. Or at least try my best :)
"How often are our lives characterized by a high blood pressure of creeds and an anemia of deeds!" MLK
Luke 23:34
Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." And they divided His garments and cast lots."
** All quotes are from the book Strength to Love by Martin Luther King Jr. The sermon I read today is titled Love in Action.
To start things off. I still love summertime :) I'm also starting to love philly. Just a little bit ;)
I am starting to wonder if my life motto "Work Hard Play Hard" has been a little too much play and not enough work lately... I really do wish I could just travel the world, work part time, have all of my med school debt magically paid off and know everything in medicine all in the same moment.
Highlight of the WeeK: The barnes museum with quest love. Yep. You heard me. Thanks to a new friend I was able to dance the night away.. A Wednesday night I might add, in the Barnes museum with quest love.
Thanks to Heineken beer.
One of my oldest and dearest friends also showed up in Philadelphia ready to have a good time.
I will say at work today I struggled because of my mid week outing. I really do need my rest :0 The constant battle to be balanced, excel at work, be respected in the work place, enjoy the best things in life, enjoy friends, stay fit, stay grounded, meet people and be THANKFUL for life is always a daily struggle. Medicine always leaves me feeling guilty when I do what regular people do.. smh. I do realize that this summertime pace I'm keeping up... can't last forever.. But for a few more weeks... I'll enjoy it while i can ;0 Eventually I have to buckle down. Get my life together. Maybe do some research... Although I really just want to be a cardiologist in the hood somewhere with my people. Fighting obesity and heart disease one grandma or uncle ray at a time :) this is to be continued....
For now.
Rest. Night yall!
roof top. top of the tower
Decatur's finest. with the homies :)
My philly homie! Ryan! Sad she is going to nyc but beaming with pride! that MBA program better watch out :0
I love summer. If I haven't said this already in my last ten posts :)
July 4th is another summer holiday that I LOVE. sooo no I wasnt at work!! i wasn't in new orleans at the essence fest like originally planned.. But I had a much needed SUPER FUN weekend!!
My fourth of July weekend was surprisingly filled with sooo many old friends, hilarious stories, glorious exchanges of horrible dating stories and laughs for days.
I had to of course share my wackest dating stories of the year....... highlights being the tea and futon story. Summary.. If you're older than 30, lived in your place for at least 3 years.... and actually talk about how nice your place is..... you may want to reconsider the futon, posters on the wall and lack of glassware. :)
I digress.....
I will say I wish someone could have recorded the brunch I had with a few of my lovely friends. This was a conversation that could not have been scripted it was so good. it was filled with a few "amens"... "where you meet him at?", "I blocked him on ALL social media websites" and whatever else we could come up with.
Reoccurring conversations/ themes of the weekend: of course the state of dating in america.. work/life balance and how i should change my blog title to "the year of the 25.. actually pushing on 30" :0
And even when I thought my weekend was wrapped up I was hilariously schooled on how black women always want the Raheems and not the Ellingtons.. smh. Yes ladies.. Apparently we always want the dude with no job, lives with his mama but has swag. And the less confident, never heard of swag brotha with a degree is getting passed up and scooped up by others.. Of course I offered a counter argument. The few Ellingtons that we meet have either lost their minds or we just don't meet the Ellingtons at all.
Overall... I had a wonderful weekend. My spirit was rejuvenated by the energy that I felt from my friends, I was encouraged by the hopefulness of all the beautiful black queens as dwade calls gabby that I luckily call my friends!! I was encouraged by the fact that God always provides friends that are at a similar place in the journey of life.
A few posts coming to a blog near you :)
Everything I DO NOT need to see on instagram, facebook, twitter...
My MLK reflection... You know occasionally I have to get serious.
Updates on the get right plan :)
Marvin s in DC
Look who we found! Portia!
Candice laughing out loud. Literally
I think this is when Portia said something hilarious..
Fourth of July cookout with my co workers/philly fam! # funtimes!!!
after atleast 4 miles in the sun. #lincoln memorial. thank God he freed the slaves!
MLK monument. Most folks know my fav MLK speech. (A tough mind and a tender heart ) google it.
Stuntin.
wheeewww its real out here...
no he didnt... whewwww Lord.
Portia: I just hope to educate these girls on facebook.. they need help.
Philly crew! the humidity was real :) we are shiny!
Renae!!! so proud of her!
definitely had a blast with my LS, and we are still glistening.. that humidity.. :)
Philly is growing on me by the week. I'm still working too hard and playing a little harder.
Since we last spoke... I started my eat right, get right plan, watched Charlie Wilson shut it down on the BET awards ;), tried a few new recipes and had some friends over for dinner.
It's amazing how a little time to reflect and reset really helps the soul. Although I technically have not had a vacation I have been able to squeeze some me time in the midst of the clinic calls, notes, lab results and plain old fashion work. It did help my roomie was gone for almost 2 weeks. I was burning candles and listening to erykah badu like nobody's business. I'm really starting to realize that I have to keep filling my life with things that bring joy, laughter and restore my soul... because residency will not do it. Enjoying the journey versus the final destination has never been truer.
Side Note: Has anyone seen being Mary Jane. The new Gabrielle Union series on BET??
I was actually very pleased with the overall caliber of the show... I wasn't sure if it would be tyler perry quality... or even worse. I was for the most part impressed. It seems as though they actually paid for quality.. all the way from the cameras, wardrobe to editing. Strange thing is... they give us a taste in July.. and then it does not come back on until January. I really do not understand BET. At All. I digress..
The show was almost too real. It showed Mary Jane coming home from work night after night alone, dealing with trifling brothers, getting hit on by married men... and overall wondering where her happy ending is. This is the story of so many. I really do hope BET continues to approach the topic with dignity and sensitivity. Cause... its hard out here in these streets :) The last thing we need is a horrible depiction of a hard working black woman.
Wellllllll Today is the FOURTH OF JULY!!!! THANK THE GOOD LORD I'm OFF!!!
I hope everyone enjoys the day. I am!! I am so glad i'm off. I couldn't say it enough. I got my run in this AM. got my lounge on. Now its time to bbq and chill :) Holla!
SONG OF THE DAY!! I'm in full out cookout mode and miss my fam :)
Philly from 1717 Arch St 51st floor!
My table for my gathering :)
My chicken veggie kabobs that I cant get over
Apparently I can't ride a bike. Blog post about this coming soon.
Trying to be urban.. Then almost lost my life..
Yeah that's me :) I roasted that chicken right there!
