From the mind of Annie, Part 2

Food
I am not a cook - in fact, I hate it. But there is a great summer pasta dish that I feel compelled to share (and I made it the other day!)

Cheese Tortellini
Fresh Tomato
Cucumber
Red Onion
Olive Oil
Cilantro

Cook the Tortellini then throw it into a bowl of freezing cold ice water. Dice the veggies, mince the cilantro, then drain the pasta. Place the pasta into a bowl (no water this time) and sprinkle with the olive oil, then add the diced and minced ingredients. TA DA! cold pasta salad with no mayo :)

You can eat it as a side, a salad, or add chicken to make it an entre.

Books
I finished "The Virgin's Lover" a couple weeks ago, and it was ok. It is historical fiction and it is a little bit frustrating because the inner struggle of the Queen is quite a bit drawn out. I'd say it is a 'meh' book if we were using a 'Tina Scale.'

I've moved on to "A Bed for the Night." Sounds intriguing, right? It isn't. It is about the crisis of humanitarianism. A very informative book, and I think I'll learn a lot, but it is far from captivating (I think the copy I have was purchased as a used text book).

I'm going to the beach next week and there I'll try to read two books; "Love the One You're With" of the "Something Blue" author, and "The Beach House" with comes highly Tina recommended. These are both vapid chicklit so I should be able to get through them fairly quickly.

Massage

There is a place called Massage Envy and they have been running a $50 special for a one hour massage for first time customers. I highly recommend it, it is certainly worth the $50+tip you will spend.

http://www.massageenvy.com/get-started.aspx

It is good for you to get a good massage as often as you can afford it. They can help with posture, stress, and pain. So go for it!

Not sure what to make of this...I’m at the point in my life where I hear about a new pregnancy every couple of weeks. This is often exciting and fun and can sometimes lead to things like baby showers. A couple of weeks ago I co-hostessed my first baby shower for a wonderful mama-to-be in my small group at church. It was a really nice shower with a great group of women, but the weirdest thing happened to me that day and that is what I really want to talk about.

I was tasked with various things in preparation for the shower, as were the other hostesses. The last thing on my list was ice so I planned to stop at a gas station near the shower location on my way to set up for the day. That’s what I did, I stopped at a gas station for ice and I don’t know if I’ll ever forget it. I asked the man in the garage area if he could help me, “I’d like to buy a couple bags of ice, please.” He smiled and walked into the store to ring up my ice and take my money, all the while being very friendly. We went outside to get the ice and he asked if I was headed to the beach, I told him “no, I’m helping to throw a baby shower” and I mentioned that I had gotten to go to the beach the weekend before. As this conversation continued he asked, and I answered that we had gone to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. He then told me that he was from Raleigh, NC and then I said that I was originally from Spartanburg, SC and had gone to college in Winston-Salem, NC – then it happened. He said “Oh, well then you’re used to seeing a bunch of old ugly black people!” with a big smile on his black freckled face.

So many things ran through my head; you’re not ugly. you’re handsome. you’re nice. why would you say that? is this a trick? I don’t understand. do black people think other black people are ugly? are you biased against other southern black people? do I come across as someone who thinks that? do you think I think that?

“I wouldn’t say ugly” with a smile, is what eventually came out of my mouth.

I haven’t forgotten that exchange yet, and I still don’t understand it. I’m sure it was an innocuous statement from his point of view, but it sure knocked my socks off. It was like I was the first white girl to not shudder at his appearance or to enter willingly into friendly conversation. It makes me curious about how other 20 something white girls have reacted to him. He was a nice man, and I’ll gladly buy ice from him again if I’m ever in that neighborhood and in need of a bag of ice.

There isn’t a moral here, and I can’t say I learned anything from it, I just still get a little befuddled when I remember that exchange.


Truancy Report
The people working at Theodore Roosevelt High School are incredibly rude. I shouldn’t know this, but unfortunately I do. They were not helpful with the following situation:

Some kid at Theodore Roosevelt High School gave my boss’ office number as his ‘home’ number, and let me tell you – Reggie will not be receiving the ‘Perfect Attendance” award this year. Dude stopped going to school a few months ago and he gave you a fake number for his mama.