April 2014 Lung Cancer Walk in New York

Most people are well aware of the Breast Cancer Walk and the AIDS Walk that takes place every year in New York City at Central Park. These are the two biggest walks I can think of since they are well advertised a few months before the walks happens, but what about the other walks that don't get as much recognition. The other walks matter too.

Luckily I was able to find the information on the lung cancer walk and I signed up. This year I will be participating in the Labrecque Lungevity Run As One Walk. The Run As One Walk has been going on for eleven years. What I like about the event is you can either run or walk. So everyone is able to participate for a good cause. I'm not a runner, so I chose to do the walk. I'll be walking with my boyfriend who has lost his grandfather over 20 years ago and with my mother. I was surprised when my mom volunteered to do the walk with us. She's not big into sports, but since this one hits home she decided to join the cause. 

Ever since my step father passed away I knew that I would do everything I could to promote awareness on lung cancer and help the fight to find a cure. It hasn't even been a year yet since my step father passed away. It'll only be a year in July. I think doing the walk plays a big part of the healing process. I visit him every other week and even when I'm at the cemetery I still can't believe he's gone. I haven't accepted the fact that all I have of him are memories whether good or bad. 

This is very personal to me and I'd like to raise as much as I can for a great cause. I'd like to ask everyone who reads this to donate whatever you can for this cause. Every little bit helps a great lot. 

Link To Donate

Please note if you do donate please OPT out where it says "Optional Processing Fee" and make it 0%. This is something The Thomas G. Labrecque Foundation is aware about and having the website work on.

In Memory of Oscar R. 

Friday Night Drag Queen Show At Lips

Lips
227 E. 56th Street
New York, NY 10022
www.lipsnyc.com

For my mom's birthday last month I decided to take her out for a girl's night out just the two of us. My mom doesn't get out much and I wanted to do something both different and memorable. I could have taken her out for dinner and drinks, but I just wanted to do something outside of the box. So I decided to take her to Lips for dinner and a Drag Queen show. I decided on a Drag Queen show because I thought it'd be a lot of fun. I had to have Google every single Drag Queen show with dinner in the Manhattan area. I chose Lips because all the reviews on it were great. People really seem to like this place.

When we got there everything was dark outside and it only had a sign that said Lips in hot pink, which is good cause it kept the mystery going. My mom was so excited and asked what kind of place it was about a hundred times. Then as we're walking in you couldn't miss the hostess' big orange wig and her reaction was priceless. She looked at me and said "Oh My God are we watching a Drag Queen show!!!". She was super excited about it. Turns out she had always wanted to go to one, which is great for me.

So we checked in with the hostess and waited to be seated. The place is not too big, I'd say about a medium size room so you get a more intimate feel. Everything about the restaurant just screamed out glitz and glam. Since it was just my mother and I we actually got seated at a table for two right next to the stage.  The hostess seated us and said look you have a VIP table. It was nice that we didn't have to share a table with other people since we were celebrating her birthday.

Once seated the menu is just like any other generic restaurant menu. Nothing screams out try me. Instead of ordering all this food, we decided to order just appetizers and share everything. We got the calamari and Mistress B sampler platter. The food wasn't bad at all. It didn't taste like something was heated up in the kitchen which was another plus. For drinks we ordered the Drag O Rita (which was a margarita), and I was very surprised when I tried it. They were made strong. Not that it tasted bad, but it had a lot of alcohol in it which was great.The food came out fairly quick I would say within fifteen minutes and then the show started about fifteen to twenty minutes afterwards.

This place was on schedule from the moment we walked in. They do about four shows a night. The first Drag Queen to perform sang a song about Vaginas and I couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole thing.
Once that act was done then they called everyone who was celebrating their birthdays to come on stage. Those people got a crown and received a slice of cake and got to take a picture with two of the Drag Queens. I didn't tell our waitress that it was my mom's birthday because she's a bit shy and she would've killed me if she had to go up there. So I knew better than to do that to her. Once they were done introducing all the birthday girls and making fun of them (in a good joking kind of way) then it was on with the show.

The songs they performed were a good variety. These drag queens performed songs from the 80s, 90s, and today's top songs. For example one Drag Queen performed a Boni Jovi song from the 80s, my waitress performed a song that was in the Clueless soundtrack, and towards the end of the show one of the Drag Queens performed Can't Hold Us by Macklemore. Also the performers interacted with the audience so everyone was part of the show. It just felt like we were all in one big party.

After the show you're able to take pictures with the Drag Queens. It does get crazy though because they're both performers and waitresses. So as they're trying to close out people's tabs they're also busy taking pictures as well. I don't know how these ladies do it, but kudos to them. Everyone did an amazing job and both my mother and I were impressed.

Altogether with the dinner and show everything took about an hour and a half. On the website they suggest making reservations about a week ahead of time. I booked my reservations about two weeks ahead of time just because I knew their busy days are always on the weekend. I was beyond happy with my decision. Everything that I read online was right on and Lips was awesome. If you're looking to go to a Drag Queen show then this is the place to go because you'll have a great time and you won't regret it.

The Stage

Some Glitz and Glam 

The First Performer

My Waitress Eva (she was such a sweetheart)

The Ladies Doing A Performance Together

This Diva Reminded Me of Diana Ross

Ditch New Years Resolutions Day!!!

Today's wacky holiday has to be the most fitting for my adventurous long weekend. I'm taking Ditch New Years Resolutions Day and taking it to another level.

January has to be my least favorite month of the whole year. Besides the fact that it's winter and cold, it's the one month that I'm always broke no matter what. I'm always broke in January, but with good reasons. Some of the most important people in my life are Capricorns. With Christmas and New Year's past then comes the birthdays all in a row. It first starts with my mother on the 4th, my boyfriend on the 10th, godmother on the 13th and my youngest aunt on the 14th (she's 37 this year and no one ever believes she my aunt).

So today I'm starting by taking my mother out to LIPS to New York City's best Drag Queen show. When I was with Bali my mom, aunt and I went to a gay bar and they had Drag Queens performing and it was so much fun. So I figured why not take my mom to a Drag Queen show here. I've read almost all the reviews on Yelp and everyone on there said this was the place to go. I hope it's everything I hope it would be.

Saturday I'm going to watch Rock of Ages for my boyfriend's birthday. He absolutely loves the 80s and once again the reviews on Yelp all said this was the show to see. I've seen some of the YouTube videos on it as well and you can't help but start singing and dancing along to the songs. Since I'm going to a daytime showing we'll be having an early dinner. For dinner we're going to Neely's Barbecue Parlor. I've always wanted to go here and the menu looks amazing. While I'm eating dinner there will be no such thing as New Years Resolutions (I know it's bad, but I know I'll pay for it).

Sunday I'll be going to my favorite Dim Sum in Flushing (Jade's Asian Restaurant). The review on it is on my other blog Inda's Tasty Reviews( Dim Sum Review). Although I just went there a little more than two weeks ago, my aunt the birthday girl suggested we go there. In my family whatever the birthday person wants they get. So Dim Sum it is.

Then Monday my I'm going to lay low and go to my mother's house and she already told me that she'll be ordering Chinese food that day. There's a good Chinese takeout spot in Woodhaven and that's where she'll be ordering our lunch that day.

With all these good places to go to my eating clean/healthy lifestyle will be paused for the long weekend. Then Tuesday starts the true starts one of the hardest test. I plan on going to the gym in the mornings. I know I can do this, and everyone isn't perfect especially when there's so many things to celebrate. So there it is all the things I'll be doing to ditch my New Year's Resolutions.

Snow Day in New York City

Last Thursday New York City experienced our first winter storm. Luckily for me I had requested a personal day for that Friday, but it was because I had a wedding to go to. So knowing how bad the snow storm would be did make me nervous about going to the wedding.

So Thursday night my boyfriend and I stayed up a bit because we both had the following day off. Usually he's in bed by 10PM because he has to get to work by 7AM and I go to sleep by 11:30PM. We also kept watching updates on the storm and looking out the window. Whenever I looked out the window it looked like a scene from a movie. I love how snow looks when it first sticks to the ground. It looks so clean and it makes you want to go out there and play in the snow. One of my favorite things to do when I lived at home was to go to the backyard with my sisters get into a snow fight and make snow angels.

On Friday I got to sleep in for once and although the snow was bad, it didn't look too bad as how the news said it would be. I was expecting almost a foot of snow, but it was only about six inches. I guess in my eyes that's not bad because I'm not the one shoveling any of the snow. So after my boyfriend and I ate breakfast we got ready to go outside to take pictures in the snow.

We were only out there for about 15 minutes at most and that was enough for the both of us. With that much time we were only able to take about 3-4 pictures because it sure was cold. Once we got back inside the house and ate lunch it was time to get ready for the wedding.

Lucky for us we called Metro Line a Brooklyn based taxi company and we were able to reserve a cab in Maspeth. Usually they don't reserve cabs, but I suppose it was different that day because of the snow. Meanwhile when we called a local Queens taxi company (Four Ones); they told us our chances were slim to none and should call back at 3:30PM. We needed the cab for 4:30PM so that wasn't going to work. Plus what if we called at 3:30PM and they still didn't have a taxi available? We would've been screwed. At least there's always options in New York City.

Once 4:30 PM came our cab picked us up on time and off we went to our friend's wedding. In a nutshell our snow day was very productive and we had fun all throughout the day and night.

Bringing In 2014!!!

Going out to a club, bar, or even a restaurant is so overrated in my eyes for New Year's Eve. Especially in New York City. Everywhere you go all the prices have been raised because it's New Year's Eve. Then once the ball drops it all goes back to regular prices.

So for the past five years I've been going to a get together one of my friends throw. These last three years my boyfriend and I have been going to on of our friend's house. You can't go wrong with hanging out with friends and family when the ball drops.

Not only is it great to be around your family and friends, but we always have an amazing dinner. Every year the set up for dinner is the same. First we eat dinner and they always have amazing food. Then we have desserts and once the ball drops we have snacks to munch on. You can't bet this anywhere else.

Once the ball dropped I can't believe 2013 went by so fast. It all seemed like a blur. With all the ups and downs I have to admit 2013 was a sad, but great year. With the loss of my stepfather I've learned more things about myself. I've learned that my anger is something that I have to cope with better and that I need to tell the people I care about that I love them more. Words can hurt and you should be careful with what you say to your loved ones. With that being said 2013 was also a great year as well. I moved out on my own with my boyfriend and so far it has been a great step forward. I also got a new job and traveled to Europe for the first time. 2013 was great, but I think 2014 will be even better and I can't wait to see what this new year brings me.

The last Selfie of 2013. 

After the ball dropped, here's 2014.

Happy New Year's to all my followers and I hope each of you have an amazing year.