"101 (+5) Things You Probably (Never) Wanted To Know About Me"

I know that just because everyone is doing it doesn't mean that I have to. I was just curious to see what I could come up with. Sorry in advance for any boredom or yawning this may cause:

103 things about lil ole me

1. My first name is actually Stacey Lee
2. My last name in German means “scratch”; Issame’s last name also means “scratch”
3. I was born 7/7/75
4. My favorite number is…7
5. I love being a Cancer. Go crabs!
   
6. I don’t have a favorite color but each year I pick a color theme: 2003 was green, 2004 was purple, 2005 is brown
7. I am a 3^rd generation shortstop. My grandfather, my dad and me.
8. I play softball with my grandfather’s glove
9. I twirl my eyebrows when I’m thinking
10. I’m the oldest of two and the only girl
11. I speak 4 languages: English, Spanish, French, Moroccan Arabic
12. I use to have butt-length long hair
13. I love to swim
14. Spent every summer until college at Rockaway Beach-110^th Street
15. Excluding stop-overs, I’ve traveled to 8 states: New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, Florida
16. Excluding stop-overs, I’ve traveled to 2 countries: France and Morocco
17. I was 20 years old the first time I flew on a plane (France)
18. I do not have a driver’s license
19. I’ve worked since I was 12 years old-my first job was in a florist.
20. I graduated college in 4.5 years
21. I was an Art History Major
22. I am now in Graduate School also for Art History
23. I have a small yet eclectic duck collection
24. My favorite meal will always be Mom’s meatloaf, mash potatoes and corn with tomato sauce
25. I graduated from high school in 1993
26. I went to Christ the King Regional High School
27. I’m now Muslim
28. I went to the same high school as both my parents
29. My parents have been married for over 30 years
30. My brother is an actor/pain in my butt
31. I was born in Richmond Hills, Queens, New York
32. I grew up in Middle Village, Queens, New York
33. I moved to Brooklyn in 1999
34. I think I’ve always been a Brooklyn girl at heart
35. I lived across the street from a cemetery
36. We never hosted a block party
37. I’m a policeman’s daughter
38. I use to play “funeral” and imagine what I would wear and say at my father’s funeral (My dad is now retired)
39. I also use to play “Communion”
40. I broke my brothers arm when he was 6 years old
41. I wasn’t a very good big sister
42. I mastered the recorder
43. Then the guitar
44. I really wanted to play the piano
45. I never met my grandfather on my Dad’s side, nor my grandmother on my Mom’s
46. I never thought I’d live past 18 years
47. Got into a mess of trouble when I turned 18.
48. Still wish I had waited a year before going to college
49. Went to Pace University in NYC
50. Had some of the best times-socially and educationally there
51. I only talk to one person from college
52. I don’t really speak to anyone from high school
53. Moved out of my parent’s house a month before my 24^th birthday
54. Lived in an apartment in Manhattan for 6 months.
55. Met my Habibi a week before my 24^th birthday
56. Knew that I loved him about 2 weeks later
57. We met in a nightclub in the city-Webster Hall of all places
58. That night he told me I was going to change his life—it worked both ways.
59. Two years later I went to Morocco
60. I moved to Brooklyn partly to be closer to him, the other part to be closer to the beach
61. I love the beach
62. I love BBQs
63. I can make the best BBQ fire in the house
64. I love wood furniture-not for BBQ’s but because it has a soul
65. I am an amateur photographer
66. I wanted to be a writer/photographer
67. Hope to someday work on or collaborate on a book about Moroccan art
68. Hope to someday write a book titled “My Habibi”
69. I am too honest
70. There are very few foods I don’t like—brains and balls of any kind are the few
71. I like dogs better than cats
72. I love my cat
73. I believe that everything happens for a reason and that I need to relax so I can see the reason behind the action
74. I’m not very patient
75. My favorite flower is sunflowers
76. I once found a $50 bill in the cemetery across the street from my house
77. I bite my nails until recently
78. I’ve only had 3 manicures and 1 pedicure in my life
79. I love wearing skirts and boots-not necessarily together
80. I have 20, now 19 more things to write about myself
81. I prefer summer over winter
82. I prefer bare feet to socks
83. I love learning about other cultures and languages
84. I eloped 3 years ago but still am not technically married
85. I have credit card debt
86. I am working on it
87. I’ve worked at 14 (maybe 1 or 2 more) places
88. My favorite restaurant is this Turkish place in my neighborhood, my 2^nd favorite is a Greek restaurant in South Beach Miami
89. I like getting up early on the weekends to run errands and then sneak back into bed with my Habibi
90. I love Habibi more than anything in this world
91. He’s my best friend and my heart's heart
92. In my next career, I want to lay tilework
93. I can see myself now living outside of NY maybe even overseas
94. I’m afraid to do that
95. I love to cook-especially Moroccan food
96. I love Essouira (Morocco)
97. My husband taught me how to cook
98. My favorite dessert is ice cream sodas
99. My 2^nd favorite is baklava-I can make that
100. My 3^rd favorite is hot apple pie and vanilla ice cream-whose isn’t?
101. I think I’m hungry?
102. I love having this blog and committing myself to writing everyday
103. My best job: working as a tour guide at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
104. I want to have children-maybe 3
105. Best feeling: being loved
106. Am grateful for this life

"30 lbs of Kitty Litter"

It's official I'm crazy cat lady. Got 30 lbs. of kitty litter from Target for like $6-7 That's awesome. My poor office mate Cheryl though--she helped me cart then lug the bucket-o-litter to the train station. But we both made some wise, stylish, economic decorating decisions (not with the litter). It was all good!

Finally sold one of my Moroccan wood tea trays from Essouira. I just posted another one for auction. Go to ebay and type in "Moroccan tea Tray and there I am. Please share it with anyone you think might be interested.

So it's after Eid al Adha and all that's left to eat in the freezer is lamb. I'm sick of lamb--it's the Moroccan Turkey.

+ =

Haven't done one of these in a looooooooooooooooooooooooong while:

"Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good. "
Alice May Brock-check out the book she wrote. Great minds, baby!


For the adventurous types: try being an international secret Santa or Papa Noel.

Morocco publishes king's salary
A Moroccan magazine has taken the unprecedented step of publishing details of King Mohammed VI's salary.

The French-language magazine Tel Quel says the monarch earns less than a typical company director in the developed world, under $45,000 a month. The annual expenses of the royal court are said to be around $250m.

Correspondents say the publication of such figures is a unique event in the Arab region, whose unelected leaders are some of the richest in the world.

King Mohammed has been spearheading a drive to modernise his society and introduce a culture of accountability, correspondents say.

He has made the fight against poverty in Morocco one of his priorities, earning him the name "guardian of the poor".

Since coming to power in 1999, he has embarked on a series of political and economic changes.
Story from BBC NEWS: 

"Train Buddies"

Well it took an hour and a half to get here this morning but I manage to make it out of the apartment and to the train station. I had to dodge yellow (and brown) patches of snow, tread lightly and pay a toll through the pool of black slush and sit on a train filled with Manhattan-bound, Jesus-loving terrets syndrome citizens but I made it.


It's funny to me to see certain people day after day on the train. They become your little transportation friends or as a friend of mine from college use to call them: train buddies.

There's the bald guy with terrets--he likes to flail his arms alot and looks a little like Uncle Junior from Sopranos



The woman with the cross bone tote bag


Random Russian Bears


The loud talking Asian women who eats Dunkin Donuts bagel and coffee


Random lost Russian guy


The 3 drunks: 2 guys and a girl. The girl looks to be about 18 months pregnant but its a stomach tumor that's preserved with all the alcohol she consumes.

A new "buddy" caught my eye this morning. Must be an x-marine cause his hair was closely cropped and his shoes recently shined. He was wearing pressed white khakis and a crisp ironed blue button down shirt with tie. Now the thing that really got to me was the white khakis. With all the snow out there, there will be track and sludge marks all over the back of them. Poor guy!

"One More Day..."

...in the house. I have been in this apartment since Thursday. I've gone out occassionally to get groceries and do laundry and such but because of the weather I've pretty much been trapped inside. I took today as a "work from home day" for 2 reasons: 1) hurt my back with all the shoveling and 2) I'm out in the boonies near the ocean and we got way more snow than the rest of Brooklyn, plus we have elevated train stations and service this morning was a mess. Habibi and I take the same train to the same stop only he has to be at work at 7am. It's about a 40 minute commute door to door It took him 90 minutes just on the train. He called me when he finally got into the city and saud don't even try it. I'll get up extra early tomorrow and get in early. Maybe beat the commuter rush.

all-in-all I've gotten alot done. And am about to start cooking dinner seeing as SIL started her 1st day of school today for English classes. This'll be interesting. I have alot of things I want to say about this situation but am afraid lightening may strike me. So I'll just do some breathing and maybe some pilates and ask God to forgive me and teach me patience and release.


Just want to take a moment to thank everyone who comes to this site even if its only once. It's cool to be interesting or at least think that you're interesting. So don't forget to check out my photos from Morocco -link on the side here and maybe sign the guestbook or something.

Been feeling a little sentimental and nostalgic lately--think its mainly PMS but just want to wish everyone peace, love and happiness. Stay safe out there, kids!

BTW, Pat, I've mailed you a box of snow pso the boys can make snowballs.

we got probably about 2 feet in Brooklyn. 

Snow Day

too much snow today!

Eid Follow Up

Overall-it was a good holiday. We had including us 14 people in the apartment. We bought a small lamb for $250 at a secret location under a bridge in Brooklyn. Gosh, I love this town! It started out ok but I had some reservations. This is SIL's 1st holiday away from the family and their was going to be another Moroccan woman here as well and I knew that I was going to get blocked out of my own kitchen but I was determined not to let this happen.

I had meant to say something to Habibi about my fears based on previous experience but I was like, let him see for himself what is going to happen. So I think he must have known that those 2 were going to collaborate so he invited me to collaborate on a meal with him. I felt really special and so relieved that he already knew what was going to happen.

SO I had decided to dress up just a bit for Eid. SIL had given my a beautifully tourquoise-colored camis - it's essentially a nightgown. The women in Morocco wear them around the house, usually for cooking or cleaning. I decided since it was such a pretty color to wear it with white linen pants and matching tourquoise jewlery. I knew we were going to be cooking, plus we had pieces of animal carcass all over the place so it was comfortable and I was too worried if it got dirty.

About 1/2 way through the celebration, I realize that my SIL has disappeared for about a good 30 minutes. Earlier she had been upset because she wasn;t going to be with her family for the holiday, so I thought she might be in her room crying or on the phone with them, my mistake. She came out decked out to the nines in a Moroccan takshaka--essentially her wedding dress! Hair up, full makeup and her wedding jewlery (which BTW I never got) and she was in this heavily embrodiered pink dress with small pearls sewn on. Seriously, the only thing she was missing was her tiara. Everyone else had jeans or their pjs on. It was like showing up to a poker party dressed like you were going to the Oscars. But she insisted on wearing it and cooking. My eyebrow just went up and I looked at him and we both shrugged at the same time. I walked over to him and before I can say anything he goes, "now see, you could have beaten her at her own game if you had put your dress on first." I said to him, "it ain't that kind of party."

But I will always remember this as the Eid that Issame almost killed us all with carbon monoxide. We did the wholoe BBQ thing and at first it was outside and then he told me g=he was going to move it closer to the door because it was so cold outside. Next thing I know the carbon monoxide alarm is going off because someone has decided its better to cook inside the foyer that put a coat on. Everyone was ok after I opened a few windows but he had a massive headache. I could have killed him!

So originally the newlyweds were going to go to NJ for the rest of the weekend but because of the Blizzard. There here with us! I'll try to survive.

"Proud To Be An American..."

...well almost.

You can let your breath out, he passed!!!
So funny. We got up at about 5:30am, after having gone to be at around 2:30 in the am because of our very festive and boisterous Eid celebration (will fill you in on that later stay tuned for that one-2 themes: near death by carbon monoxide and Carrie-Stephen King's) So we stayed up a bit reviewing the questions and things that he would say. He put on his good suit,a tie, his Italian shoes and Dolce & Gabbana winter coat. (Yes, my husband can be a fashionista)

So he gets there, introduces himself to the interviewers and then they sit and wait. After a few minutes they go to him, "So where is your client?" Habibi's very confused and goes "what client?" He goes, "I'm not a lawyer, I'm an electrician." They thought he was a lawyer and not the person scheduled for an interview. They apparently had a rather good laugh about it and he went on to ace the exam. He got a score of EXCELLENT!!!! He got a 100%. Now they just have to complete his tax check and we should be good to go.

He was so happy when he came home. We've been calling him Mr. USA! Well, I'm thoroughly exhausted from the whole holiday/interview ordeal and am going to crash. Will fill you in manana about our Eid celebration.

Wanted to wishe a Mubarak Eid or Happy Holiday to everyone today. Today is Eid al Adha. It is a holiday about sacrafice. It marks the end of the Haj or pilgrimage to Mecca with the sacrafice of a small animal, usually a lamb. 

"Pillow Palooza!"

First off,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

to my D-A-D!!

I miss you more and more each day and wish I could have gone with you & Mom to the Lobster Pot today!

OK, well we first had the dueling duvets and so now, the competition intensifies with the pummeling pillows. So even though the duvets are of the same pallet but darker/lighyter tones they each must have their own throw pillow decor to accompany the whole look, no?

So Habibi and I went to Marshall's yesterday and I got 2 pillows to match the Casablanca duvet. I headed back there today with the other set to see if I could match it with anything. And Lordy, were the stars aligned! I was so pleased to get 3 pillows that creatively matched the set. Now there's peace in the universe....well at least maybe in the bedroom.

Tempature was at 17 degrees at one point during the day. It is brutually cold.

Martin Luther King, Jr., (January 15,1929-April 4, 1968) was born Michael Luther King, Jr., but later had his name changed to Martin. His grandfather began the family's long tenure as pastors of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serving from 1914 to 1931; his father has served from then until the present, and from 1960 until his death Martin Luther acted as co-pastor. Martin Luther attended segregated public schools in Georgia, graduating from high school at the age of fifteen; he received the B. A. degree in 1948 from Morehouse College, a distinguished Negro institution of Atlanta from which both his father and grandfather had been graduated. After three years of theological study at Crozer Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania where he was elected president of a predominantly white senior class, he was awarded the B.D. in 1951. With a fellowship won at Crozer, he enrolled in graduate studies at Boston University , completing his residence for the doctorate in 1953 and receiving the degree in 1955 In Boston he met and married Coretta Scott, a young woman of uncommon intellectual and artistic attainments. Two sons and two daughters were born into the family.

In 1954, Martin Luther King accepted the pastorale of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama. Always a strong worker for civil rights for members of his race, King was, by this time, a member of the executive committee of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the leading organization of its kind in the nation. He was ready, then, early in December, 1955, to accept the leadership of the first great Negro nonviolent demonstration of contemporary times in the United States, the bus boycott described by Gunnar Jahn in his presentation speech in honor of the laureate. The boycott lasted 382 days. On December 21, 1956, after the Supreme Court of the United States had declared unconstitutional the laws requiring segregation on buses, Negroes and whites rode the buses as equals. During these days of boycott, King was arrested, his home was bombed, he was subjected to personal abuse, but at the same time he emerged as a Negro leader of the first rank.

In 1957 he was elected president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization he took from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience. and inspiring his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution; he planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure.

At the age of thirty-five, Martin Luther King, Jr., was the youngest man to have received the Nobel Peace Prize. When notified of his selection, he announced that he would turn over the prize money of $54,123 to the furtherance of the civil rights movement.

On the evening of April 4, 1968, while standing on the balcony of his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was to lead a protest march in sympathy with striking garbage workers of that city, he was assassinated.
Selected Bibliography

Adams, Russell, Great Negroes Past and Present, pp. 106-107. Chicago, Afro-Am Publishing Co., 1963.

Bennett, Lerone, Jr., What Manner of Man: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Chicago, Johnson, 1964.

I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King in Text and Pictures. New York, Time Life Books, 1968.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., The Measure of a Man. Philadelphia. The Christian Education Press, 1959. Two devotional addresses.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Strength to Love. New York, Harper & Row, 1963. Sixteen sermons and one essay entitled "Pilgrimage to Nonviolence."

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Stride toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story. New York, Harper, 1958.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., The Trumpet of Conscience. New York, Harper & Row, 1968.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? New York, Harper & Row, 1967.

King, Martin Luther, Jr., Why We Can't Wait. New York, Harper & Row, 1963.

"Man of the Year", Time, 83 (January 3, 1964) 13-16; 25-27.

"Martin Luther King, Jr.", in Current Biography Yearbook 1965, ed. by Charles Moritz, pp. 220-223. New York, H.W. Wilson.

Reddick, Lawrence D., Crusader without Violence: A Biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. New York, Harper, 1959.
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1951-1970, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972
This autobiography/biography was written at the time of the award and later published in the book series Les Prix Nobel /Nobel Lectures . The information is sometimes updated with an addendum submitted by the Laureate. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
 

going clockwise: me (in the glasses) with Habibi, Ghislaine (from canada), Said's arm, his wife Ahlam, then my SIL and BIL 

Me & Habib and a Greek pastry place New Years Day 

It wasn't just a movie. Morocco played an important role during World War II with or without Rick's cafe. There were British cartographers-map makers, the most obvious were the French, the Germans apparently were there as well. I just finished reading a book about Moroccan Harem Life around the 1940's by a Fatima Mernissi. Yes, I said harem life but not in the Sherhazade-Arabian Night fashion. Harems were later consider to be a house filled with family members. An example, 2 brothers get married (to different women) and they decided to share a home and raise there families together. The men are those who work for the family are allowed to leave the house but the women and children are not permitted to walk in the streets. The book was written by a Moroccan feminist and sociologist who grew up in a harem in the 1940's, her generation along with the "assistance" of the French ended harem life. It's an interesting look into the lives of Moroccan women however maybe this is just me I found that some of the "challenges" they encounter are not that different from someone who may not have grown up in a harem. I still think alot of women in Morocco today have harem mentality and its more often than not those who leave the homeland who sometimes grasp the concept of being able to realize that there is more to making a good batch of cous cous and having a 24 K tea set. On the other hand its like going from extreme hot to cold in the respect that some times women lose focus and respect for themselves when they leave the homeland and do things that are completely out of character for anyone to do. I think the country and the society have a long way to go before women can make a sizable contribution to its history and legacy. I don't know where this is all coming from--I'm home sick today and babling seems to be one of the symptons.  

"What I Did On My Summer Vacation"

It only took 6 months but they're up and ready for viewing...my pics from Morocco or you can go there anytime by clicking on the link on the sidebar.

The titles tend to describe what's going on in the picture but I may add some descriptions as the days go on. This is about 80% of the digital pics. They only allow 10MB per month--I've reached my limit plus there's the photos I took with the other camera.

In the meantime--ENJOY!

We're 11 days away from Issame's citizenship interview. Poor guy has been studying like crazy. It falls on the same day as Eid Al Adha whic means we'll be celebrating the holiday Brooklyn style. We usually go to Jersey for the holiday. This is the one that sort of like the New Year--where you sacrifice a lamb then you spend the next 3 days eating. Believe it or not, it's one of my favorite holidays. 

"You've Come A Long Way, Habibi"

Habibi cracks me up. Last night I quizzed him for his citizenship interview which is in a couple of weeks. I have to ask him questions that we as citizens should already know but probably don't like: "name the 13 original colonies." Some of his answers crack me up or its the way he says something that's so funny to me. He's really smart and should do well as long as they don't ask him to sing the Star Spangled Banner! LOL

To think it was exactly a year ago today that he lost his job. His bank account has diminished but not his spirit or his sense of humor and certainly not the love and friendship we have for each other. I'm really proud of the way he's handled things these past few months. Its been a great struggle for us as a couple and as individuals and to be quite frank I didn't think we were going to make it--at one point, we sort of separated.
But some mysterious anvil landed on his head when I wasn't looking and he got his stuff together and made a conscious effort to be present in this life that he created. It's a good thing. He's the man I always knew he was, I think he was afraid to be that man because it meant giving certain things up--but when you realize that those things are just things and that what you've got right here, right now is so real then you do what you must to keep it. Nothing's ever perfect and I have somehow found a way to relax more and not stress so much about certain things--frankly alot of things. I think being more confident in our relationship has de-stressed me. It was a big worry for such a long time.

Relationships are not easy and when you throw in a different culture and religion well you got yourself an Olympic-sized obstacle course with very few survivors. Under the guidance and example of many good friends (Pat, Ramela, Ann & Heather) I moved on mentally and emotionally when I couldn't physically and mapped out a course. There's no judge to say I did this right or not but I'm happy which is something I haven't been able to say or feel for about 2 years now.

Call me crazy, determined, stubborn, loyal, hopeful or plain stupid , I don't know but I'm glad I stayed when I could have run. And I'm glad I've grown when I could have just laid down and died. I feel strong, confident and loved and united. It's very nice....thank you.

"The A's Have it"

Grades are in and I didn't do too shabby...

Islamic Architecture..................... A
Latin American Art....................... A-