5 Things To Do This Weekend & Beyond

Yikes! Summer is quickly coming to an end. It just hit me like a ton of bricks this past weekend and I immediately got the blues. I love the summer and it always just seems so short. It made me want to analyze why I really, really loved the summer so much. Yes, I love that the weather is great but that wasn’t the only reason. When I pondered the situation I thought that the summer time, unlike the fall and spring when the weather is still nice enough, the summer is the only time I feel like I can use my Get Outta Jail Card. It’s a time where I can frolic in flip flops and be fancy free. In high school we would earn something called an excused cut and as you advanced you would earn more cuts –from one for the entire year as a freshman to like three a semester for seniors. It was great because of the obvious—we could cut class without any repercussions or stress of avoiding being caught. It was also a lovely system because of the greater, less obvious benefits. By giving us the choice to go to class or to hang out made us valuate our leisure time and become better managers of our fun time. (Don't you think so Kysha, Tahana and Chris?) Yes we often sat around completing papers for other classes during those breaks but me and my grrrls would also go to Orva’s, or go to Central Park, catch a flick or grab a burger a Rambo’s and talk about boys, college, music and other classmates. It was summer break for an afternoon. Now that I’m older I think my mind has been conditioned to see summer as my only chance to use my excused cut. Even though the Whitney, Lincoln Center, and the Public are open year round, it seems like it's only in the summer that I make time to check them out. And how wrong is that? Talk about mind games. It’s crazy how after Labor Day I, and a number of my peeps, get into this back to school grind, which has become synonymous with this crazy work ethic that is devoid of culture and fun. So with this realization comes change, no? In my attempt to consistently invest in Leisure, here are five things I hope to do even after I retire my white capris.

1. Have a drink and/ or break bread with a friend or two or five every week (especially with my grrrls!): Yesterday I had drinks with a compadre I used to work with and we had so much fun just laughing about old times in the office and our new career plans. As we licked the tequila from our lips we both declared-- almost at the same time-- how we should do this more often. Yeah, yeah I say this all the time but from now on I am going to make more time for cocktails and calamari even if only for an hour. Last month my four friends and I had a Grrrls Night Out and I know all them will back me up when I say it was Gnarls Barkley crazy fun! They dang near had to kick us out of Ocean Grill or did they? We are surely not going to wait until next summer for Part 2.

NOTE:
- See Heading South with the ladies this weekend.
- Schedule our next Grrrls Night Out around the premiere of Dreamgirls in December (I LOVE Dreamgirls-- saw it on Bway and like a real groupie waited to meet Lilias White afterwards who took pity of my wannabe-an-actress booty and treated me to dinner; then there's Cathy & I playing "And I Am Telling You" over and over in our dorm rooms like we were on Effie crack; singing "I Am Changing" as my audition song for gospel choir-- that was funny now that I look back and consider the lyrics I was singing to be an alto for a Christian chorus--LOL!)
- Tracee Ellis Ross hurt that Jill Marie Jones didn't say goodbye to her Girlfriends in person (Bittervibes)

2. Go to a new place you’ve never been before – Last night I went out with my new hanging bud-- KB. Our plan was to hit Lotus to check out Questlove on the ones but by the time we got there the door was bananas and the line was not moving. As soon as KB said, “I don’t do lines,” I knew we could roll anywhere anytime. Being that we were already on 14th Street and looking quite cute, we weren’t about to head home. At first we were going to get a drink at Hotel Gansevoort but then at the last minute I said what’s up with Buddah Bar. Just like that we decided to roll there instead. KB had been to the one in Paris and I had two of their cd’s so we were familiar with the double-B. It was a mad cool experience to enjoy a new place in an old town. The drinks were good especially the Wings of Fire with rum, ginger syrup and limes. Yummy! Other new places I’ve been to this summer and liked: Sapa, Hotel Gansevoort & Kelley & Ping (east side outpost-- their duck is slammin!).

NOTE:
- I should check out Baton Rouge in Harlem, Kemia in midtown & this place I always pass on 23rd street (cause I love me some shrimp dumplings!)

3. Go to a concert, museum or theater. This summer I didn’t go to too many concerts, which is quite odd for me (but also just reflective of how dull the music scene is here lately), but I did see The Lion King and The Color Purple. I enjoyed them both (for very different reasons) and came away both times feeling lifted. In terms of art gazing, I only went to the Studio Museum, but I will use this autumn to venture to the Whitney, MOMA and MET.

Note:
- Saturday August 19 - 1st Annual Hamptons HipHop Festival
- Sunday, August 20 - Imagenation's FREE screening of Favela Rising in Harlem at 8pm in St.Nicholas Park
- Monday, August 21 - Meshell at the Annex (Okayplayer)
- Wednesday, August 23 - Skye of Morcheeba at Irving Plaza
- Saturday August 26 - Imani Uzuri at Lincoln Center Out of Doors.
- MoMA & DADA
- And if you are in Tokyo, you need to get your genki on and run to see Africa Remixed


4. Get a hobby, play a sport or explore whatever creative mojo you’re blessed with and have fun with it: For me that can be anything from fishing, writing, sewing clothes, painting or making cd’s. It’s just a great outlet for stress and a way to get those artistic, athletic juices flowin. It really takes me back to the days when I used to focus on my love for dirt by making mud pies or later it was jumping double dutch, in high school it was crocheting and in college it was deejaying and playing squash.

Note:
- Time to buy myself an Uglystick (the first person to post what this is wins a FREE Hotness T-Shirt—post your answer in the Comments Section)

5. Travel – Physically discover a new destination or revisit an old one. I can’t tell you how cathartic it is for me to get out of NYC. And sometimes I just don’t have the time or money to travel far but even my weekend jaunts to the Hamptons adds so much energy and calm to my life. Emotionally it’s also the bomb when we can get out of our comfort zones and do something or deal with someone that probably gives us a sure fire challenge. I got the former down pat although by the time November rolls around, I’m always on the ropes in need of a hit—some ocean, some sunshine, something organically inspiring. The latter, which is equivalent to using my excused cut to meet with my Guidance Counselor is harder for me. Granted it’s not as fun as going to St. Maarteen or Brazil, but it does help to get that stank from outta your mind and spirit. On my to do list: Go to London for this and to Williamstown to see the amazing fall foliage, clean out my walk-in junk closet and maybe have a talk with someone from my not so distant past.

NOTE:
- Turks & Caicos Film Festival; Bermuda Music Festival & The Container Store and their free 'Plan a Space' process