Nostalgia3

Nostalgic Moments from the archives (originally posted 7.6.11) -

Those of you who have received my homemade stationary have seen this kind of stuff.

Inspired by Miri G, and dedicated to her, because sometimes you just have to take a moment and play hide and seek with the words inside you. Whether professionally or personally, it is necessary at times to simply stop and hear your own internal ripples to inspire the unfinished written works inside you to move closer to the “done” den.

I am sitting in the office in Arlington, preparing photos for a restaurant review that will be published later today. At this moment, I am listening to Proust and the Squid – The Story and Science of the Reading Brain by Maryanne Wolf, narrated by Kristen Potter. Listening to this audio book and jumping about mentally I am, within a ten second loop, considering the restaurant review formation (mixing the images and text in a mental storyboard), the progress review for school (which is the main reason for listening to the Wolf audio book), the bible verses I listened to this morning, the bills that I must fill out for clientele, and my reply to my good friend Miri.

Miri is one of the many brilliantes I met at my Goddard Spring Residency. She is part of the group of people in my life that, like me, share a love of letter writing. This art is something that is falling away it seems, in light of the ease and speed of the digital communication technology all around us. I am one who appreciates being forced to slow down and take the time to taste each word in my head as I hear it, in my mouth as I imagine saying it to the letter recipient, and in my hands as I write it out. It is a long slow process, and I love it. Miri is one who writes longhand cursive with clipped curves, and excited punctuation. I truly enjoy not only what she writes, but the physical expression of her mind on paper. Each curve and line is a hug (she also doodles in the corners, so I get the fun aspect of her art imagery and art text).

“Dearie Miri” sent me a video the other day, but told me I couldn’t watch it until I received her letter, which was an accompaniment. It was an exercise in patience, and rewarded with a beautiful poem and awesome written art.

As I was writing her reply letter I began to write prose as well. The words made me feel beautiful and peaceful. Miri inspired me to inspire myself. Now I am off to write my restaurant review. 

From the last Restaurant Review for FW&D that I wrote. Isn't that smile DARLING?

But I leave you with a snippet of what I wrote to Miri:

I should be writing a Restaurant Review, but I feel stilled by the words in my heart.

As if a wind blew softly, and a leaf on the wind landed dancingly on the still water surface of my heart.

Ahhh, I heard the click in you. I see you know this image.

The gentle ripple of words in my “good morning love’ to your story…

to your poetry…

to your own internal phoenix fire resting patiently under the still water surface.

How quiet it is…

how expectant…

pregnant with a destiny that is on the surface unknown,

but underneath,


fully understood.

With words, song & prayer,
TiMo
Here's where you can read me:
www.alwaysalreadyalright.blogspot.com 
www.pmeqme.blogspot.com

Yours Truly, Summer 2011
© Tiffany Monique

Kitchen Remodel by FW&D

Mrs. R. invited FW&D back to her Fairlington Edgewood Unit for the kitchen remodel after we remodeled her bathroom in 2010.

Read more here.

Many of the the Fairlington units are cozy when it comes to the kitchen space, so you do well to use bright colors in my opinion.

The neighborhood is so pretty and green, you want to open the windows whenever you can anyway.

FW&D Review- Silver Diner in Springfield

Read the review here...

This was one time when the boss didn't come. I invited some friends and we cut up the whole time. It was so much fun. Lil Miss G stole the show with the cutest smile, and beat a 35+ year old at thumb war, even though his thumb was the size of her whole hand!

The Mombot gave permission for her daughter to be a model for my restaurant review... and even though it took a while for the little one to come out of her shell, she smiled big for the camera... Get ready for cuteness overload... 3...2...1...

Don't say I didn't warn you...

The jukebox played "Popeye The Sailor Man", "Day-O", and some others... we kept lookin' up at the ceiling. It was hilarious. Not only that, We talked about why "Enemy Mine" was one of the great 80's movies... if you don't know that movie, you missed out.

I don't know what I was thinking, inviting one of the most picky eaters I know to a restaurant review, but aside from not touching the shrimp scampi, the burgers, the fries, or the edamame in the salad, she did in fact eat! I wanted to try the sweet potato pancakes, but I was outvoted. I'm not bitter... I'll just have to go back!

We all had a great time, and I really am going to go back for the sweet potato pancakes.

Fairlington Kitchen Remodel by FW&D

FW&D did some more work in Fairlington. We like the area.

Ms. M, the woman who referred her good friend (our fun loving homeowner Carole), wanted to make some changes to her kitchen, and FW&D was happy to be a part of the change. More...

Fairlington Remodel by FW&D

The homeowner Carole had been in her home since, she says , “before I was a hippy”. She decided to remodel her bathroom. She had also decided to make some changes the ceiling in her kitchen.

Naturally, she called on FW&D.

Click here to read the story!

FW&D Review-Twisted Vines Bottleshop & Bistro

FW&D found another local jewel. Facing Columbia Pike in Arlington is a perfect spot for a date night or a quick bite. FW&D met up with friends old and new to review our newest discovery - Twisted Vines Bottle Shop & Bistro…READ MORE HERE

FW&D Profile- Jackie Moyer

Now that it is officially summertime, Ned Overton of FW&D attended a Seminar for Window Treatments by Jackie Moyer of Decorating Den.

Click here to read the story!!!

This blog article is from FW&D

Kitchen Remodel by FW&D

Click the image to read the story!

FW&D AT RESTAURANT SUPPORTING TORNADO VICTIMS

FW&D's very own Ned Overton is probably going to have Southern BBQ tonight. He'll be at Ramparts Tavern on Fern enjoying some great food for a great cause.

Ramparts Tavern is donating 20% of today's proceeds to the Joplin Missouri Tornado Relief Effort.



Join Ned at Ramparts to participate in the fundraising event.

Ramparts Tavern & Grill
1700 Fern Street
Alexandria VA 22303
703.998.6616
703.778.2940(fax)

FW&D Review of Bubba’s Bar-B-Q

Its summertime according to the weathermen, and Barbecue is definitely on the list of things to eat. FW&D spied a spot hailed as having the best Carolina BBQ in the area.

Taste buds buzzing, FW&D joined with some local friends and made our way to Bubba’s Bar-B-Q.

Profile- Roberta Elliott Speight on DC Examiner

Imagine, plan, prepare, execute..."And you will know them by their fruit"

FW&D Review- Jaipur Royal Indian Cuisine

Sometimes it’s nice to try something exotic, but not outside the realm of Virginia good. There are so many different flavor experiences one could have within the DC Metro area, and FW&D saddled up the taste buds and traveled to Fairfax, where we explored the culinary wonders of Jaipur Royal Indian Cuisine.

Feeding my undernourished intellectuality...Kudos to Josh Pollock.

Josh Pollock and I met at my G2 Goddard Residency. For some reason, I was going on and on about The Matrix and how it could be used to teach people about different types of understanding/learning/knowing (and yes I see them as all three mutually exclusive). As we started talking about the movie and it's uses as a learning tool, he and I started talking about different things. He interviewed me for the Magazine of Yoga, and has since asked me to do a regular contribution to his new blog Celebration of the Nerd. My section is called "Tiffany vs. The Matrix". It is so apt for where I am right now.

I have been exploring some seriously lofty concepts with my friends over the last three weeks. Time has changed its mile-markers. From days, weeks, and months I have gone to defining my time by which packet I am working on. Right now I am thinking solely in terms of Packet 2. From the Matrix to Invisible Man, I am exploring all this knowledge and theory. I am lucky to have friends and family to help me walk through the mire of emotional responses to life and learning because life has been doing its own thang with gusto, depstite my best attempts to ignore it and be artistic.

In the meantime, I have also been writing for work. For the DC Examiner, I am interviewing at least seven people (which reminds me, I have an article deadline for this evening). I love how busy I am, and yet I still feel like it is a preamble for what is really coming as far as workload. This week FW&D did a restaurant review for Maplewood Grill in Vienna. I ate so much it hurt, and I had leftovers (BTW- the meal to get: Shrimp & Crab Poppers for the Appetizers, Seared Scallops as the main dish, and Brownie Sundae). Writing the review was not easy, but I exercised my self-discipline muscles and got it done. Just like I did with the blog about the kitchen floor we just did. Just like Packets.

And now, on to my business plan. Learning how who I am is interacting with my finances. Do I obsess over the need to buy things? Do I like the drama of billpaying or living close to financial limits? Am I scared to buy a home because of what it would mean to truly commit to something that grounded? What is my thesis question and does this play into it? Am I ready for the reality of my slowing down and truly questioning what is going on? God help me, I am started to think I am.

Imagine, plan, prepare, execute...

"And you will know them by their fruit"

Roof Emergency in Arlington, by FW&D

The rains were crazy this March, and just because you have a brand new roof doesn’t mean that it won’t suffer under winds upwards of 60mph and torrential rains. FW&D was right on time without a moment to spare. Click here to read my work article.

The rains have been a-comin' down... and it is still colder than I would like, being a Cali-gurl. Graduate school is back in session, and I am busy busy busy. I am checking and rechecking. My spiritual feet are growing, and I am tripping over them.

M5 made me do burpies this week. They are worse than Turkish Getups. A family member of mine just overcame a huge medical hurdle. I did two important performances, and I met with some wonderful people, just to plan for what to future will hold (once I have time). I did an interview last night with a man who happily lives his life as a DC Judge and Award-winning playwright. It was humbling. The last month has been humbling. I had a really good friend tell me some profound truths about truly trying to improve myself, and how much harder it is than telling people about themselves.

My roof is solid, and I am spending a lot of time in my mental attic. I am finding some old boxes in there. They make me laugh, and cry, and so happy to remember, and so wishing I could forget. What I am beginning to really look into how the way I see myself differs from the way God sees me. I am a work in progress, and while it is beautiful work, man sometimes the work sucks!

But I have the covering of those who truly love me (and that includes me). But I have more "Spring cleaning to do". This is a vague meandering of words, but it feels good to write about the hope that I feel. This work I am doing... it is truly something.

Imagine, plan, prepare, execute...

"And you will know them by their fruit"

Ned's newfangled Foot Faucet

Ned Overton, resident “Inspector Gadget” of FW&D (and my boss), has a newfangled contraption in his kitchen- something called a Foot Faucet..

Restaurant Review sparks artistic entrepreneurial reverie... where's my art?

The strangeness of the Open Kitchen story is what lured FW&D to give them a try. Once again, we brought some of our client favorites to join us on another edible journey. Read more...

I didn't attend this particular Restaurant Review. I went to the DC Solo Performance Lab with Laura Zam. There will be a performance on March 16th at the DC Arts Center located in Adams Morgan. This is some hard work, writing and performing this piece. Hard, but necessary. Last week, I sat in the New Orleans Cafe, eating Alligator Gumbo and editing articles. I didn't want to do the work, but it got done. Deadlines for both the Magazine of Yoga and the Performance Lab were right on top of each other, and I didn't have time to whine about it. Produce, produce, produce. Life can wait. Feelings can wait. Do the work. Do it now.


I am scared it won't be good enough. 
Do it anyway.


I don't want to be laughed at.
Do it anyway.


What if I misrepresent what I am really trying to say?
Do it anyway.


The following list is the negative side of what can stop us from producing artistically. We (a group of students, plus Kat Lissard and Jim Sparrell) created this list during a workshop called "Write to Think" at Goddard College. 

Things that get in the way of your writing

• Imposter syndrome

o   I have no right to write this

o   People will discover I am stupid

o   Exposure

• Privacy – once written not in my control
• Fear of external judgment
• Not good enough
• Perfectionism
• Not having the right words
• Good intentions to write – waiting for the ideal situation
• If only…
• Who is the audience – who am I writing to or for
• Over preparation and over research
• Time management
• Fear of lying
• Self-censorship
• List making
• Comparing yourself to other writers or thinkers
• Self-fulfilling failure promotion
• Failure before you start
• Dumbing yourself down
• Don’t know what to write
• Don’t know where to start
• Needing perfect opening lines
• Introduction and Conclusion
• Data/info overload

o   How to express it

o   How to retain it

• Laziness

o   Sleep

o   Fear

o   Avoidance

• Procrastination/waiting for the best moment

I think, during my dinner at the cafe last Wednesday, 35% of the list tried to attach itself to what I was doing. 


Who am I to write for a living? How dare I question the authority I claim to respect? I can't even make a scant 100,000.00 a year as a best selling author/singer/actor, who I am to say things like, "I know"... I am such a dork for talking about making money doing this stuff! How unrealistic!


But I kept writing. I finished first one, then the other assignment I set myself to finish. I didn't feel like I conquered the world, but I passed my own test. Can I write against the doubts that try to make me stop? My faith says yes. I am a writer. I am a singer. I am an artist. I am going to continue this journey I have started to its glorious end.


I can, have, and will do this work.

Yours truly as Mary Wells in
"The Motown Journey"

Imagine, plan, prepare, execute...

"And you will know them by their fruit"

House Dynasty Restaurant Review

The night ended with four full stomachs, and great conversation enjoyed by all. FW&D will definitely be back, and soon. Read our review here!

House Dynasty
7550 Telegraph Road
Alexandria, VA 22315
703-922-5210

Should you have an idea for a restaurant review, submit it here.
If it is chosen, perhaps you can join us for the review!

Virginia Snowstorm

It was eerily quiet as I left work at 4:30, and the snow was already falling thickly, pressing down the air like a mashed sandwich. I was 7:05 when I pulled out my journal and started writing because the snow plow in front of me was turned off, and the driver was helping someone in front of him who had gotten stuck. My bladder was full at 5:00pm, and if it hadn't been for the inclement weather cancellation, I wouldn't have been able to make it to church for the Wednesday night bible study. I was still on the road home and hungry, thinking about Burger King (which was closed and dark as I passed it), but otherwise calm, and I felt protected. My brother prayed for me, and I really felt the fabric of angels' gowns as they encompassed me.

It was kinda wonderful to see how we, all those stranded on the Pike, became an army in combat. We combated the slush, snow, stuck cars, and general impatience at the unwelcome obstacles to our commute. One army man in fatigues helped at least three or four stuck cars (that I saw, he gave me a gentle push at a particularly hairy spot). It took over three hours to travel six miles. I remember having passed his parked truck miles back. I saw how haggard his face was. He wasn't wearing a jacket. He was cold, he was tired, he was out of breath. I couldn't have been more proud of him if he had been my own son.

Photo by yours truly, from the safety and warmth of my vehicle
1/26/2011

Thank you sir. Thanks to everyone who got out and pushed the Pike along last night.

...a little while later...

Snowstorm is over, but its effects remain. It's 5 or so in the morning, and I'm writing this by candlelight because the house has not had electricity since before I got home from work where parts 2 in my evening took place.

Once I got home I couldn't get into the driveway, so I parked (as I sometimes do) on the street just past the house. I got inside and there was no power, so candle-lighting and shoveling commenced. I half-watched passing traffic, which was when I noticed that there was a downed power line about, oh, six feet from my car. I was going to make the attempt to move the car with a little help, but I didn't want to start the car so close to the wire and turn myself into popcorn. I called my boss (a retired fireman) and he assured me that starting the car would be fine, so I did.

And then I threw the phone in the street.

He mentioned the phone was more an issue than the battery. At least, that was all I heard before the phone went flying. The street sparked green and blue like Independence Day, but the sparks were thankfully not from the wires near my car or home. There was at least one other downed line less than ten feet from the side of the house. I wasn't worried. I danced my car into the driveway and once parked, went inside.

9-1-1 was busy the ten or so times I called, but I did get through to the electric company to let them know about the downed lines. She was glib. "There are a lot of downed power lines", she said. But I heaped blankets on myself and went to sleep, just as cozy as I wanted to be. I admit to being a little afraid to turn the car on last night, but I can honestly say that it was rather thrilling to do. I will never forget looking at the downed wire, so close (and getting closer from the weight of the snow) as I turned the key... The last 18 hours or so have been, well, a bit of an adventure. Go Cali-girl! Kudos to me for my new level of snowstorm survival (Insert mental dance of coolness unparalleled)!

And on the way in to work this morning, the night's treachery gave way to the most beautiful drive. The sun was out, and the whole area looked just like a Christmas card.

Photo by yours truly 1/27/2011

It would be a "watch-how-you-drive-and-oooh-that-car-is-still-stuck-wow-I-am-praying-for-you-cuz-you-got-some-SERIOUS-shoveling-to-do" kinda card.

Photo by yours truly 1/27/2011

But a card nonetheless.

Imagine, plan, prepare, execute...
"And you will know them

by their fruit"

Maizbon Restaurant Review

Maizbon Afghan Grill
6244-K Little River Turnpike
Alexandria, VA 22312
703.914.1700
703.914.1701 fax
info@maizbon.com
www.Maizbon.com

This blog article is from FW&D.

We do Kitchen Remodeling, Bathrooms, Roofing, Doors, and more.

Call us at 703-933-8900
or click here to visit our site and learn more about us!

Abi Restaurant Review

This blog article is from FW&D. 

We do Kitchen Remodeling, Bathrooms, Roofing, and more.

Click here to visit our site and learn more about us! 

Or call us at 703-933-8900.