Hello lovelies!
I’ve been a fairly busy woman the last few days. Thursday night, I went with some friends to see Mary Wilson and the Spinners at a free concert in Coney Island. A local politician dreamed up the free concerts around 30 years ago and they’ve been held every year since then. Not only are they at Coney Island, they’re also at another venue closer to my house, at Wingate Field. I totally heart them. The Coney Island ones are more pop oriented and the Wingate Field are mainly R&B oriented. I’ve seen some incredible acts over the years-The Time, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Teena Marie and Hall & Oates to name a few. The concerts at Coney Island were held at a park near the New York Aquarium until this year, where they’ve moved to what appears to be a lot near the Brooklyn Cyclones stadium. The park venue was kind of small and people were on top of you. This new venue is bigger and way more comfortable. You can even rent chairs for $5, something that never happened before. Usually people have to bring their own chairs to these things. You can still bring your chair, but nice to have the option of renting one if you don’t feel like schlepping it around. Here’s my wash and go from Thursday, using Jane Carter’s Curl Defining Cream:
The concert itself was pretty good. These pictures aren’t the greatest quality since we were sitting pretty far back, but they were the best I could do. Luckily, they had screens there.
I did have plans on Friday night where I was supposed to meet some people at an outdoor bar for drinks. It was at a relatively new venue at Brooklyn Bridge Park. I’d never actually been to Brooklyn Bridge Park, so I was excited to check it out. Alas, Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. As soon as I was a block away from the venue at the appointed time for the event, the sky opened up and a torrential downpour ensued. I took shelter in a lobby of a condo or co-op (whatever it was) that was across the street from the park. I had no idea what was happening with the event. I don’t have a smart phone, only a simple flip phone which doesn’t always allow me to check my e-mail. That night, my phone was acting up and I wasn’t able to access my e-mail. When the rain let up, I presumed that the event was cancelled and went home. It was only after I got home and checked my e-mail from my computer did I find out that they switched the event to an indoor venue at the last night. Dang! Even though my contract isn’t up until December, I’m actually allowed to upgrade my phone now and I’m so ready to. I just haven’t had the time to drop by the store.
Saturday, I went to a bar in Brighton Beach and then the beach with some other friends. I can’t remember the name of the bar now, but it was about a block from the beach and they sold mostly imported beer from the Czech Republic, Germany and a couple of other places I don’t remember right now. I’m not a huge beer drinker, but when I do drink it, it has to be fairly light. Dark beer is too bitter for me. The beer I ordered was fairly sweet and was really good. I’ve been to the beaches throughout the Caribbean and after experiencing the blue water where you could see through to the bottom and clear white or pink sand, none of the beaches in New York City compare. Many of them are crowded and filthy. However, I like the water, so most of the time, I take what I can get. We went to Brighton Beach, which has a lot less filth than some other beaches and while it can get somewhat crowded, people aren’t on top of you like at other beaches either. I wore my hair in the same wash and go I had from Thursday. I even got in the water and floated for a little bit. Yes, the salt water got in my hair. But unlike with relaxed hair, I don’t freak out. I don’t undo two hours of a stylist’s work diving into the water. I still had curls when I got out of the water. I’m not a great swimmer by any stretch of the imagination. I didn’t even learn how to swim until a few years ago, actually, although I’d wanted to learn since childhood. It just wasn’t deemed important in our house growing up and I don’t think it was just because we feared messing up our hair. I think my folks thought that beaches and pools were only for white people. I don’t constrain my life today by doing only what other people who look like me do. You limit yourself that way and it keeps you from learning new things and growing as a person. We’d have more open minded and well rounded people if everyone did what they felt like doing regardless of what others think. So anyway, when we left the beach, my friends and I had some drinks and got some food at Tatiana, which had tables on the boardwalk overlooking the ocean. It was heavenly. It was a heavily Russian restaurant but they also had some standard American fare. I had this lamb and mashed potato concoction. I liked the mashed potatoes. A lot of restaurants overdo them with garlic, sour cream and other crap, but this place made them plain. One thing about me and food is that the plainer and simpler the dish, the more I like it. To me, a lot of cheese, sauces and other garnish is just too overwhelming. I didn’t care for the sauce they had for the lamb dish. I can’t remember what the sauce was exactly, but it had a tart flavor to it that I didn’t care for. All in all it was a fairly relaxing day.
Then yesterday, I went to the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with yet another friend. He’s a designer who committed suicide last year. His company also designed Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. Some other people have told me about the exhibit and remarked on how incredible it was. I initially thought that would last until October for some reason, but when I went to the museum’s website last week, it turned out that August 7 was the last day, so if I really wanted to see it, I kind of had to do it immediately. The crowds were insane. There was a 2-3 hour wait to get inside the exhibit, but it was well worth it. They didn’t allow pictures, sorry. And they were strict about it too. All I can say is that the designs were amazing. The exhibit featured pants called “bummers” that hung so low, your butt cheeks would show. There was also a frilly white dress that was spray painted on. There was a lot of great stuff. I’m glad I got to go to it. After the beach Saturday, my hair had to be washed and deep conditioned. I used Trader Joe’s Tea Tree Tingle shampoo. It’s a low poo that doesn’t have the harsh sulfates that strip all the oils from curly and kinky hair. It really does tingle! Then I used Suave Naturals Conditioner and then the Curl Junkie H&B Moisturizing Conditioner as a deep treatment. Since it was a fail as a leave-in, I figure it would be best to use this product as a deep conditioner only. Then I decided to twist my hair in preparation of a twist out, to semi-stretch my hair. This is how my hair was yesterday as well as today:
Not bad. I used the Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie and the ORS Twist and Loc gel. Neither product has a lot of humectants in them, so even though it’s been hot the last few days, my hair didn’t get puffy or frizzy.
Hope everyone else’s weekend was as good as mine was.
confessionsofladyv69 