MissErma

Put Your Activism Hats On!

For your furry friends:

On Monday morning at 9:30AM a hearing will be held by the Environment Committee for HB 5443 legislation to facilitate the incorporation of humane education into school curricula. People are allowed to testify for this legislation so arrive at 9:30 to sign up and submit 50 copies of your testimony to the committee.

Room 1E, Legislative Office Building
300 Capitol Ave.
Hartford, CT

Read about HB 5443 here.


For your fellow people and aquatic habitants:

Also, Broadwater Energy wants to build a Liquefied Natural Gas processing facility in the middle of Long Island Sound. If built, it may pollute the surrounding water which will counteract years of effort put into cleaning and protecting the sound. Learn more about the facility and how you can help oppose it here. [via ConnPIRG]

Day of R&R

I guess it happens to everyone at least once in their lives to put the wrong soap in the dishwasher. Unfortunately it happened to me a couple days ago and I'm glad to have roommates caring enough to help me mop up soap suds on the kitchen floor. All I have to say in my defense is that dishwashing liquid labels are very misleading. One needs to be careful and be able to distinguish dishwashing liquid from dishwasher liquid.

In other news, my sister Joan told her coworkers about me and my recent domestic endeavors. If you're visiting again, I'm glad that you like my Valentine's garland and yes I am hooked on baking cupcakes with soda! I've made my third batch thus far, this time using white cake mix with Diet Sprite Zero (it was the only soda I had in my posession, it's nothing special). I decorated it with milk chocolate icing, red sprinkles, and teddy bear graham crackers. They're so delicious!

Those cupcakes were meant for Christina's 22nd birthday. Even though her 22nd birthday was last week it wasn't until this past thursday night that we were able to get together to celebrate. After going to 3 eateries with no luck of getting food (Panera in Hamden and The Rainbow Cafe in New Haven was closed, and it took too long for a table to get cleared at Atticus Books) and 2 people leaving early, Christina, Danielle, and I went back to Caffe Bottega (on the corner of Chapel and College Streets) for panini sandwiches and gelato. I also treated myself to an iced espresso that came in a nifty martini glass-looking cup. I tried gelato for the first time and I love it! Apparently another man at Bottega also loves it because he came out of nowhere to rave about how good it is in all of Connecticut while Christina and I were tasting at the gelato station. Then he handed us his business card for a salon and spa down the street and disappeared. Oy, networking people!

Friday night I drove home to go to see Macio's comedy at Mohegan Sun with Joan. He's really funny. I would have preferred he do more than just ethnic jokes but his whole routine was still hilarious. The opening act on the other hand didn't even get a single laugh out of me...

Saturday was a busy day. I stayed long enough at home to wish my mom a happy birthday then I drove back to New Haven to perform with three of my choir colleagues among other area college choirs but we had to cancel at the last minute for certain reasons. My friend David came up from Brooklyn to visit for the day on saturday. I took him to Panera Bread then took him and my roomie Pam out shopping. We hit up K&G, the Connecticut Post Mall in Milford, and DSW Shoe Warehouse. I saw a nice pair of Kenneth Cole shoes at K&G and held back on spending $20 on them. Erma not buying shoes on clearance, that's unheard of! I went to DSW for the first time and upon entering the store the first pair of shoes that greeted me was an attractive pair of Marc Jacobs heels. Pam tried them on and rocked them for a few minutes. Be still my heart! The day was spent browing racks, talking fashion, eating Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and being way too sarcastic for our own good. All in all it was a fun day. Honestly David, I had no idea how well versed you are in fashion. You know Kenneth Cole!! You can go shopping with me anytime!

You Know What?

I don't care if you say obscenities when you have to get into your car through the passenger-side door. You're the one who's parked on the line. I pulled into my space while staying within the lines and it just so happens that your car is less than twelve inches away from my car. Keep on practicing how to park and you'll get it right eventually! I better not see silver paint on my door when I get into my car tomorrow.

Everyone Needs Some Common In Their Lives

I love Common. I just listened to the Be album recently and I am hooked. I can't believe it took me more than seven months after the album was released to hear the rest of his music. I liked Go when it came out but never got around to checking out what else he put out. I don't know if this album has already won any music awards (I don't care to watch awards shows except for the musical performances) but I hope he wins the two nominations for the NAACP Image Awards. If you haven't heard any of Common's songs, I urge you to give him a chance. I like to listen to quality rap that includes smart lyrics over a well put together beat and melody. Common fits in perfectly by my standards.

Overheard Conversation

That girl, she was built like a man!

Now's the Time for a Contingency Plan

Things are going to be rearranged and revamped here at MissErma.com in the coming months. New projects are in the works so I'll have to keep quiet while I work on them and when things are ready I'll let you know what's up. My apologies for the entries being far and few between. I've been maintaining a blog for nearly seven years and there's only so much a little girl like me can talk about! Don't feel bad if I nix the blog sooner or later.

Take care and I love you and keep in touch.

Happy Valentine's Day!

[Image credit: deconcept]

Now I Know How Kelly Rowland Felt.

Awkward.

You know, at that point in time where two former members of Destiny's Child were dropped and replaced by Michelle Williams in the middle of a tour.

So I recently joined three colleagues to form a quintet of singers, the result of an open invitation by a male friend of mine. The four of us only plan to use some of our free time to get together to work on a very pretty four-part harmony piece in french just for the heck of it. There's me on the soprano part, a female for the alto part, and two males for the tenor and bass parts. I'm well acquainted with the three of them and I am confident that our voices blend well in whatever piece we sing.

Now it's only been a couple weeks since we started and we sound great already. I'm sure in a few more rehearsals we'd be able to smooth out the rough edges and be ready to perform the piece anywhere and anytime if the opportunity arises.

The alto that initially joined us apparently finds it difficult to meet up with us the few times we rehearsed. It's understood, our schedules are different. I'm not upset about it. We're all advanced enough in our talent that we can find time to work on the piece individually and eventually come together to work on it. Then this afternoon after my chamber singers rehearsal I come to find out that my male friend asked another female to sing the alto part in our group.

What? He just Destiny Child-ed my girlfriend and pulled in a substitute! And he hasn't told the original girl about his decision yet.

On how many levels is that wrong? Someone do the math. I'm not hating the new girl who accepted his offer because I have lots of respect for her as a singer and individual. She's great, really. I just thought it was interesting that this happened. The last time I checked we weren't an exclusive and elite performance group like the Yale Whiffenpoofs or CoCo Beaux, I'm pretty sure I'm not friends with Simon Cowell, but apparently someone thinks they have the power to fire like Donald Trump. Don't blame me! I didn't play any part in this decision process. I'm just doing what I love to do... sing.

by the way! The divine Marc Jacobs showed his fall '06 collection at The New York State Armory last night. Read a description of the collection here and see the collection here. Highlights of fashion week so far are at New York Metro.

Fashion Week In Full Swing

Olympus Fashion Week is on it's fourth day. If you're like me and the closest you'll be getting to Bryant Park is through the live feeds on IMG, then go put on your nicest heels and grab a front row seat to your favorite designer's shows this week.

More coverage of the fall 2006 collections:
- MSN Lifestyle
- Fashion Week Daily
- Elle
- Style

You Can Do This If You're Single

My roommate and I spent our entire weekend watching Sex & the City, seasons 2 and 4.

We also baked cupcakes. Did you know you could substitute eggs and oil and any other liquids in cake mix with 10 oz. soda? You can. It comes out delicious. We made triple chocolate fudge cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles on top. We ate our cupcakes at 12:48 AM late saturday night while finishing up Season 2. Not very many ladies can do that.

Pam likes cake batter.

Erma likes mixing. This will be the cover photo of my first cookbook if I ever publish one.

I'd have to say that we had a very productive weekend. We watched 14 hours of Sex & the City, baked cupcakes, and went shopping without actually buying anything.

Six Degrees of Internet Surfing

One way I love to waste time is to watch cool and funny video clips I find online. Here the latest gems I've found:

1. Biker Dances to My Humps - This is what slapping leather sounds like. [via Star Crafty]
2. Matrix Ping Pong [via Google Video]
3. Gold Digger Parody - Chow down girl. Go 'head, chow down. [via Google Video]
4. Fold clothes like the wind - It's an interesting clip from a Japanese video tutorial on how to fold your shirts. [via Ready Made Magazine]
5. James Lipton reciting K-fed's new "single", PopoZao, on Conan - Wanna see some popozao? [via Little Yellow Different]
6. The Chronic of Narnia - a clever rap song by a couple guys from SNL. [via Waxy]

* VH1 has a new show hosted by comedian Patrice O'Neal called Web Junk 20. Each episode showcases 20 video clips that have made their rounds on the internet and since they're so funny VH1 thinks they deserve to be seen on cable television. New episodes air right after Best Week Ever on fridays at 11:30pm.

It's On.

I am ready, willing, and able to poke as long as I have to.