S'Mac - Lip-Smacking Good Mac 'N Cheese

S'Mac is Native Creative Concierge™ approved.

All-American with Slab Bacon and Shittake Mushrooms

A few years ago I wrote the article, "Comfort Cuisine" for NY Resident magazine. One restaurant I covered was S'Mac, a restaurant specializing in macaroni and cheese in a wide range of combinations. At the time I wrote that article, you could only indulge in the goodness at the S'Mac East Village location.

Random Musings on Saturn in Scorpio and Mercury Retrograde

                                                                                        

A few days  before Mercury Retrograde even began, I left home one afternoon and ran into 2 former formers--One psycho I'd hope to never see again and the other I think the Universe keeps sending me to him because he has to make right with the situation (He's a Taurus). I'm even more determined to finally use the money saved up for my divorce to file and finalize (ex husband is a Taurus too). Time to end that chapter.

People are lifting themselves right out of my space and some I'm hitting the delete button on emphatically. I've always been pretty good at setting boundaries, putting myself first, not overextending myself to emotional leeches, XYZ, so I'll make sure to continue to do that while I go through this "growth spurt".

Creatively, I've gone back to some old stories. One will remain on the shelf. Not ready yet. I looked it over and... meh. The other one I'm excited to get back to. I'm excited for the adventure my character is going to be on. I'll be including old characters from old work to tell the back story of the characters. Retrograde to move forward indeed. You will love it.

Ask Abbie: My Wife, Masturbation Or Cheating?

11 years together. 9 years of very little sex. Now on the verge of stepping out on his wife, who is pregnant, for the first time...

 

Empty-inside Ed Asks:

Hi. Ok this is kind of weird but i will give it a try...

I'm 33. Been married 6 years, but have been living with my wife for 11 years. We have a young son and she is pregnant again. Love her, love the family etc.

Anyway, the only issue that comes between my wife and I is sex. I want a lot of it, she could care less. It's been that way after our first 2 years together. The beginning of our relationship was great sex-wise. But now we're entering into year 9 of slim-pickings. 

Ask Abbie: Overactive Thyroid, Weight Loss Supplements and Exercise

 

How to regulate weight and be healthy without the use of dangerous weight loss supplements.
  

Thyroid Tanya asks:

Well I had an overactive thyroid and it caused me to go from almost 200 lbs to about 130 lbs in two weeks. Then I was medicated and I've gained more than my weight back. I'm currently 220, a size 16. Physically at 130 I look like a AIDS patient Lol. I want to get down to a size 12 again. I feel like it's so hard. I've been taken off of the meds and everything is regulated. I don't stick to diets but when I do, I drop maybe 8lbs in a week on a strict one. I've been working out and taking Oxyelite pro. But I'm kinda inconsistent. Idk what to do.

Ask Abbie: How Can I Tell If She's Lying?

He contacted me with this question: How can I tell if she's lying? 

This one goes deeper than lies...

Whipped Willie Asks: 

Ok I need some advice. I'm a dude. Basically imma wrap a long ass story short...I met a girl on craigslist. Wanted me to critique her work. She ends up asking me to make love to her. Typical of me, I did. Says the sex was the most beautiful experience ever. Whatever. I get attached. She gets addicted. 

TED2013 - Session 6: CREATE!

TED2013: The Young. The Wise. The Undiscovered. Session 6: CREATE!

Gotta love the friends who keep you "in the know" and share opportunities with you...

February 27, 2013, I had the opportunity to attend a session of TED2013 via TEDLive held at City College. It was made possible by Scott Elias of LivingWorks Ventures. After the talk he told us for all the years he's been attending TED conferences the common thread among all the speakers is their passion for what they do. What is your passion? Are you happy? How can you make yourself happy doing what you're passionate about? How will your passion affect change? These are questions he didn't have the answers to which is why at age 50 he started LivingWorks Ventures. It's one thing to create products for consumers, it's another to create from love, create memories, create a feeling that a person will want to recreate again with your products.

The Date That Wasn't

One of my recent forays into online dating...


We exchanged a few messages before deciding to go to the movies. Previous plans to go on a gallery crawl didn't pan out because of location (he's in NJ) and other plans (I had other plans).


He'd be in "the city" (Manhattan, NY) on this particular day. He played an active role in selecting which movie we'd watch where, took into account my travel, all that jazz. We had the movie and time all picked out (4:15pm on a weekday). We were going to meet at the theater. I had his photo queued up on my phone so I could match it up with the man I would meet.

Ask Abbie: Victor the Virgo and His Flaky Pisces Fish

Victor our Virgo wants to make sure he doesn't blow it again with his super cute, confusing Pisces woman... and get through their date on Thursday night.

Victor the Virgo asks:

Well I am a Virgo male and I'm very interested in this super cute and amazing Pisces woman. We're still friends and we only fooled around 1 time in back in December. I told her that I cared for her too much to have sex when we are drunk so we stayed friends. I was courting her big time and she knew I wanted more than friends... we had such a great time these last 2 months. We had this trip to Miami Beach planned -- amazing Trump hotel suite over the ocean which I knew she would love. I was going to pay...but she canceled the trip, she said "too much pressure" ??? I was shocked and upset about this ... I sent some stupid texts to her. That's wrong I know so we did not text or talk at all for a week or so. 

UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche - Ultimate Fighting Women

Rousey vs. Carmouche at UFC 157

Rousey: "...Damn, those girls did deserve to be in the main event."


On Saturday, February 23, 2013, in Anaheim, California, "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey successfully defended her Bantamweight Championship against "Girl Rilla" Liz Carmouche in UFC's first women's bout. The night was history making. And inspiring.

Sweet Chick Chicken and Waffles in Williamsburg

Sweet Chick is Native Creative Concierge™ approved.

Sweet Chick, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY

I received the email re: Sweet Chick's opening in Williamsburg. It was touted as "Brooklyn's newest chicken and waffles spot". Although the duck sloppy joes on the menu caught my eye momentarily, I went for the chicken and waffles.


I'm a late-bloomer when it comes to the culinary combination of chicken and waffles. Since finally indulging in  the dish a few years ago, I've done my fair share of catching up. You've read my take on the version at Cafeteria. The Egg Nog Chicken and Waffles at Melba's during the holidays one year. I've had them at Amy Ruth's in Harlem at a friend's birthday brunch. I've eaten Chicken and Waffles at Rustik Tavern. Have yet to try them at the Pink Tea Cup and I didn't get to try them at Gladys Knight & Ron's Chicken and Waffles when I was in Atlanta. I had a satisfying Chicken and Waffles at Williams & Bailey in Williamsburg a few months back, on a whim... crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside whim. My all-time favorite thus far is the Chicken and Waffles at Clinton St. Baking Co. And I most recently had them at Back Forty in my second home, SoHo.


I had to know if Sweet Chick could measure up.

Learning To Take Baby Steps

Learning how to take baby steps is going to take baby steps. I like quicker results. Not overnight -- I know that's not realistic in most situations. But fast results? Why not.

How to Get Him to Commit to You

I downloaded How to Get Him to Commit to You Over and Over in 7 Easy Steps and Think It's His Idea by John Alanis this weekend when the free download link was on my Kindle. Free? Ok, can't hurt. Plus I had to read what a man would tell women about getting men to commit.

Turns out he told the truth. The hard truth. The truth your "head-in-the-real-world" girl friends probably told you before but you didn't heed.

Here are the things I was totally on board with:

City Crab Lunch Break

City Crab is Native Creative Concierge approved.

Juan mans the raw bar at City Crab in NY

Last Friday's lunch was at City Crab in the Gramercy/Flatiron neighborhood in Manhattan. My friend and I had been there before for drinks during happy hour and for post-brunch drinks on a Saturday (we like drinks). My friend chose City Crab because of Juan, the oyster shucker.

Always Have A Plan B

screenshot from Plan B commercial

 

Right at the precise moment I was sharing with a friend that I really am not looking forward to being pregnant and there are things that I have to take care of first before I do and there's only one person who I would even think long and hard about considering having a baby with IF that were to happen, that Plan B, AKA The morning after pill commercial (see above) came on hulu. I took a pic of it to send to my friend to show her the universe was screaming at me -- there's no need to be thinking about having no babies, 'specially not with him. As this commercial eloquently pointed out there was an option for when the condom breaks or if we lose common sense in the heat of the moment.

 

DJ Abbie Debut (Recap)

Ten days removed from my DJing debut. I've since come down off the high to the point that I haven't listened to music since. Which is astonishing for me. But I guess, subconsciously, my body and brain knew a detox was needed. I had a lot of fun controlling a room with music. In the weeks leading up to it, I organized most of my "world" music onto one playlist to make it easy. Then I organized them based on their sound or the mood they set. It's all about mood for me.

Exhaust Pipes: A Mini Collection of Erotic Fiction

I wrote another book. Exhaust Pipes. The idea came to me late last month that a mini ebook released in time for Valentine's Day would be a great product for new and old readers of my erotic fiction. So with the support of my "market research division", I went to work.


Exhaust Pipes, is a mini collection that containing four erotic stories featuring car sex or anal sex. Originally it was going to be a mini ebook of only two stories but I decided to include two more that were "in the vault" and ready to shine. Exhaust Pipes is available on Kindle, Nook and Kobo. I'm excited to also be reaching new readers on Sony eReader and Apple iBooks with this release. You can buy the book formats for those readers on Smashwords. I'll have those direct links for you shortly.

Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania 29

After Brock Lesnar's return last Monday on Raw I was excited. It took a week to hit me -- "why?". I do NOT want to see him anywhere near Ryback. We already had Lesnar vs Goldberg at a Wrestlemania. No good. I've seen the above image floating around the interwebs. Add The Undertaker to the promo image and we're set. That is what we need to see - The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar.


Set up: Brock crossed The Boss last week (fracturing his pelvis in the process). Brock thinks he's a big shot, the Big Dog in the yard.  The Undertaker will show Brock whose yard it is.

Django Unchained (2012)

 

I finally saw Django Unchained (it opened Christmas Day 2012). I enjoyed the movie. It was entertainment. It's a movie I could (and probably will) watch again. It was your typical man-seeks-vengeance, save-the-princess buddy movie with comedic and psuedo-superhero elements. What's not to love? Men on horses, men shooting guns, witty one-liners -- works for me.

Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz) in Django Unchained

Happy Holidays from The Native Creative

Thank you for all your support thus far; here's to Abundance, Prosperity, Joy and Gratitude in 2013!


We've reached another end. But the only thing ending today is autumn. We welcome the winter season and a new age of consciousness.


What's on your To-do I-WILL list for 2013? Please share.

NY Post "Subway Death Cover" Should Not Have Been Published

My first thought upon seeing the cover of the NY Post on December 4 was "whoa". I peered deeper at the image trying to get a look at the face of the train operator, physically empathizing for what Ki Suk Han must've been feeling, wishing it were merely a scene from a movie in which at the last second the man would hoist himself up on the tracks narrowly missing his real fate.


And I was disturbed that the NY Post chose to publish that image on it's cover (not to mention it's choice of headline). R. Umar Abbasi, freelance photographer, took the photo. I heard the story on WCBS 880 yesterday before I saw the image -- onlookers screamed and ran from the scene as the photographer tried to use his camera flash to warn the train operator. I can see the logic behind his decision -- a split second panic-driven decision perhaps (Malcolm Gladwell explains this well in blink). But what remains is that photo ended up on the cover of the NY Post.