Music: Esperanza Spalding at Miller Outdoor Theater

"Charismatic and Soulful, a Maturing Star of Jazz" says the New York Times.

Look it's me and Xander jazzin' out at Miller Outdoor Theater courtesy of the great stylings of Esperanza Spalding!

Read the whole review here http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/30/arts/music/30summer.html

We, being me, my bestest friend Yvonne and my Godson Xander, had the pleasure of seeing Esperanza Spalding at Miller Outdoor Theater in May. The performance was put on by The Society for the Performing Arts.

*RITMO LATINOMay 29, 8:00 pm Widely held as a child prodigy on the double bass within months of first cradling the imposing instrument a a 15-year old, Esperanza Spalding has hardly stopped to catch her breath in the years since. Blessed with uncanny instrumental chops, a multi-lingual voice that is part angel and part siren, and a natural beauty that borers on hypnotic, the 23-year old prodigy-turned pro might well be the hope for the future of jazz and instrumental music.

Esperanza's website http://esperanzaspalding.com/site.html?lang=en

You tube videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8gynGy8pSg I know you know

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDxVz476VxQ Precious

Yvonne Taylor's website (my oldest and best friend) http://www.yvonnewrites.com/

It was amazing. Below is a snippet of the concert. She was fun, intense, energetic, personable and very cool. She is categorized as alternative jazz but if you like jazz or neuvo soul or samba try her out and she may be your new fav!

Theater: 42nd Street performed at Miller Outdoor Theater

"Come and meet those dancing feet,On the avenue I'm taking you to,Forty-Second Street.Hear the beat of dancing feet,It's the song I love the melody of,Forty-Second Street."

Tonight begins Miller Outdoor Theater's 3 day run of 42nd Street. I am so excited. If you live in the Houston area or are visiting be sure to check out their website to and maybe you can catch one of their free live performances. http://www.milleroutdoortheatre.com/schedule/calendarfull.asp?monthview=3 Next Friday is a BeeGee's musical which I am unfortunately going to miss. Then starts the Shakespeare festival. This year is Twelfth night and Pericles. August looks like fun too- The Wiz, Mozart and some sing along musicals! One of the best parts of Miller is the people. The people watching is primo, lol. You see all kinds of people and if you are lucky get to meet a few of them. Hope to see you there and if you live in Houston and never been take a chance and go you might enjoy it!!

Tip: Parking is kinda a drag so I always get there early. One hour early actually. So drive past the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the next lot is for the Rose Garden. Park at the Rose Garden. It's free and literally across the street from Miller.

Seating you have 3 options: Free tickets can be had for the seats under the cover at the box office. See Miller's link for details to get them. Then there is the hill and it is divided into two halves. One half is for those portable chairs and the other is for the blanket crowd. So you will have a good view either way. So get a ticket, bring a chair or bring a blanket.

Food: Bring what you like. I see alot of people with the wine and cheese combo from Whole Foods or Central Market. Make it an event and pack up your favs or frufru stuff you always wanted to try. They also have a concession that has ballpark foods.

Other: I usually bring my camera, deck of cards or dominoes, wipes, bug off and a book.

Birthday Celbrations: Happy Hour Girls

I have this wonderful bunch of girl friends who try to get together for dinner and drinks once a month. This month is my birthday, woohooo!! I will be the big 36 on Monday. I just got an email that we, the girls and I, are getting together on the last Saturday of this Month for game night at J and B or L's house. I am so excited!!

On a funny note, I was looking for a Dachshund Birthday pic and came across the Dachshund Birthday cake. Umm, I don't think the schnout is quite long enough. It looks more like like an aardvark, LOL. And who wants to eat a DOXIE!!

Food Addiction: Cravings and moodiness

I have been trying out a Clean Eating diet plan. It's been going pretty well considering I am taking two college summer school classes and working full time. On Mondays I feel pretty tired and grumpy. I have been blaming my attitude and lack of energy on school but I know it's lack of exercise and occasional bad food choice (McDonald's). So, today I was googling food addiction in general and came across one the best explanations of food addiction. I think my problem is during the week I eat super healthy. On the weekends I eat ok to bad. I allow myself wonderful things like Mexican food and chips n salsa. I also squeeze in a coke and maybe some sort of desert/treat. I think what is happening is I am screwing up my craving balance. I think it takes me all week to get my body nutritionally happy and then on the weekend's I give in to cravings. The cravings stir up my emotional food addiction as well as my love of salty fried foods. This part of the article really spoke to me ...

"The body’s homeostatic balance is affected by diet. Consumption of massive amounts of sugar, salt, caffeine or fried foods drastically affects homeostatic balance. Natural hunger becomes distorted as the body craves for the substances necessary for balance. The body reacts as it would to any addiction. Powerful cravings override the body’s natural needs. Food allergies can also cause an addiction-like dependence due to homeostatic disturbance. Your favorite foods are usually the ones to which you are addicted. You usually feel better immediately after eating the food that you are addicted to, but shortly afterward the allergic reaction produces a feeling of irritability. It causes flatulence, nausea, depression or headaches."

So, I think I need to better plan. My DH and I eat out all weekend and that's not going to change. It's part of our entertainment. So, I will have to stick to making food choices that are closer to clean eating. For me a biggie is no processed carbs ie bread, pasta, rice. I automatically feel sleepy or jittery or down right crappie when I eat these things even though I felt like I was in Heaven when I put them in my mouth. God I love processed carbs!! I think having gastric by-pass (RNY) was the best choice for me to finally get a hold of my carb consumption. Yes, I can still eat them but now it's not fun bc I can only eat a couple of bites and then I feel like crap. Before surgery I would eat bowls of carbs til I could eat no more which would cause sleepiness so I would follow that up with a DingDong sugar boost. I thought that was Heaven! Now, though, having dropped 80 pounds in 9 months I realize I was trading carb loading for life living.

"Your food addiction is great for Business"
http://www.healthrecipes.com/eat5.htm