(Cynical) Note from Alisha: I just spent an hour working on this post which detailed my trip to Chicago, where I am currently to undergo medical tests. I then went on to discuss Kanye West's very busy week of proposing to Kim, selling weird merchandise at his concerts and his skit with "White Jesus" at his Seattle concert. Then, my blog app ate the entire thing. THE. ENTIRE. THING. So, I'll just fastforward to the recent interview Kanye did explaining his feelings on the skit and tell you can now follow me on Instagram. Argh. From Necole Bitchie:

Lord, have mercy.

Rapper Kanye West, fresh off of squashing beef with late night talk show hosts and fights with paps, caused quite a stir over the weekend when he had "Jesus" make an appearance at a Seattle concert. From Necole Bitchie:

The world's best hot chocolate, at The Chocolate Bar, Winchester, Virginia.

So I'm back home after a fabulous AND busy week down in Virginia with the BFF. I've now gone down there so much some Facebook friends are asking if I've moved. Nope, still in Jersey, just enjoying one of the benefits to being a SAHM to a two year old. We can go away for a while without obligations and reprecissions like pink slips and visits from truant officers. And since my health has been relatively stable (and I haven't had IVIG in nearly four weeks; the plasmapheresis really seems to be a better treatment for me at this time), I've also taken advantage of the mild weather to go out and you know, have fun, lol.

Today is my close friend Randy's birthday. I don't think I even have the words to describe how cool he is. He's like Manhattan cool, and not just because he worked for years as a chef at a glitzy eatery in the Big Apple. He's just always been cool.

We met on the first day of classes at the now defunct Victory Christian Academy in 1997. September 4th, 1997, to be exact. It was also the day I met GiGi and Candace. I giggle aloud at the fact that I still am blessed to have them in my lives today.

Aren't they the cutest? Lily-Grace and Theo, musicians already!

... check out her Baby Love feature at Leila's Baby & Blog!

A thought provoking story from NPR (H/T: Aja):

 

...

As a TLC fan from way back, I definitely had my eyebrow raised when I learned VH1 was filming a biopic about the 90s hip hop trio. Would it be CrazySexyCool or CrazyHotMess? You can check out the trailer below. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised.

(Us)

They're rich, famous, and fabulous. And they'll never "blame it on the a a a a a a  alcohol" since they don't touch the stuff. From Hello Beautiful, celebrity teetotalers:

Joscelyne in 2011

We were darn near obsessed, my sister Jos and I.

So I've been ghost around here for over a week. I'd say, "My bad", but it's not bad at all, so I won't. I'm fine. I had some issues on the backend of the blog, then some major internet connection issues, so I just stopped trying to post altogether by Wednesday.

I also had an epically bad reaction to the dressing used by the hospital after plasmapheresis on the 4th. I'm okay, but have a crusty looking purplish rash the size of a half dollar by the catheter site. No infection, though, so it's not so bad.

After citing Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares to You" as inspiration for her own "Wreaking Ball" video, Miley Cyrus has gotten quite the response from Ms. O'Connor in the form of an open letter. From Vanyaland (beware, the following is chock full of foul language):

OPEN LETTER TO MILEY CYRUS

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Today is the feast day of St. Therese on the Roman Catholic calendar.  Last October 1st, I wrote on my old blog:

While I was in the hospital last December [2011], I read Therese's "The Story of a Soul". I was moved greatly by her sweet testimony of following "the little way" and growing childlike faith for God. So, in celebration, here are some quotes:

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Want to have a little fun? Then try taking this quiz at Buzzfeed on whether a group of paintings were done by modern art painters or preschoolers. I love the free expression in modern art, but I have to admit, sometimes, it really does look like fingerpaintings by four year olds. And maybe, there's nothing wrong with that.

I woke up this morning to a flurry of alarmist stat updates decrying the government shut down that began today. Thing is, they didn't actually state any real information, just a general "Good Lawd, Almighty, duh gubmint dun stopped runnin'!" Having not had a single drop of coffee, I didn't have the patience for the Chicken Littles of my Newsfeed, so I checked my email instead. That took all of a minute, so I soon found myself back on Facebook (yeah, it's an addiction... is there a 12 Steps for that?). Thankfully, this time, I ran smackdab into the sanity of my beautiful friend Kel who wrote:

shutdown = sucks. but we survived the one in 1995 - 1996 (for 28 days) and we'll deal with this too. the aliens from the movie "independence day" didn't take over then and they won't now...no matter what your best friend's fiance's mom's boss's sister's cousin's best friend posted as their status. no, it's not fair to anyone, but don't panic before researching if an administration that you need to be up and running is or isn't. some are, but are limited to what is deemed essential or non-essential.
hums theme to "the more you know" commercials...

Hello, East of Edeners! Hope you had a great week. I did. I capped it off with more walk yesterday, doing over a mile, pushing Zoe in her little red lightweight stroller. We had Starbucks with Uncle Joe, and visited with my former boss and coworkers. It was a lot of fun. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, and my legs felt like spaghetti, but it was totally worth it. I'm still a bit sore this morning, but overall, okay. It might be that the plasmapheresis is *finally* starting to help... :-)

Zoe and Grandpa say their goodbyes.

My father-in-law, Keith, was with us most of the week, so I've been pretty busy. That's one of the reasons I didn't blog at all this week.

(PBS)

While doing some reading this morning, I came across a couple of stories that touched on Brown v. Board of Education and desgregation in American public schools.

(WNYC)

Last month while at GiGi and David's, NPR somehow made it into our topic. I think David had mentioned eventually publishing his novel and then landing an interview on NPR as a goal, an all too lofty and impossible goal. I had rolled my eyes and told him not to put himself down like that.

I know I'm going to sound like a such jerk, but I really wish all those e-proselytizers out there would just shut up. I'm sick of your frequent status updates, pictures, memes, tweets, Vine vids and blog posts. It's not "good news" to a lot of us.

Told you I'd sound like a jerk.

By the way, I'm not referring to religious proselytizing, although I will say, some of us Christians need to watch it, too. Nah, this post is for those people who can't, don't, and won't stop sharing their conversion to clean living via the paleo diet/ P90X/ Jillien Michaels/ personal trainer/ raw veganism/gluten-free fill in the source. It's not just that they lost 17 pounds/ have an 8 pack (which sometimes looks creepy)/ can fit into their 8th grade dinner dance dress again... BUT. YOU. MUST. TOO.

This is a picture of a horse drawn by my friend and nurse Melissa. It's for her dad, who tells this joke like every time she sees him, and cracks up each time. Today's his birthday, so happy birthday Mr. Brady!

I'm in a mood today, I'm not going to lie. Augh.