Djeneba and I in front of Notre Dame. 

Jardin des Plantes - huge park in Latin Quarter area. 

I was SO excited to see the posters for the Da Vinci Code movie being advertised in Paris. The walls of this particular station was completed covered by Da Vinci Code ads. I thought that the old French guy standing next to the ad was perfect. Earlier, he had walked up to the poster, looked at it and shook his head. I just HAD to get a pic of the old rejecting the new. He had probably heard about the controversey over the movie and was not happy about seeing the station covered with posters celebrating the release of the movie. 

Shameless advertising: Charlize Theron was everywhere in Paris advertising for this perfume, j'adore. She also appeared nude in a TV ad for the same product. 

Louvre Museum

The things that I saw at the Louvre, but couldn't photograph: the Mona Lisa, The Consecration of Napoleon, and many other works painted by Italian or French painters. Delacroix was my personal favorite.

I took a pic of this statue of a pharoah 5 times, but it still came out like this. It was weird. It's like there was some strange aura around it. Freaky! 

"The Cheater" by Georges de La Tour.  

There were art students throughout the Louvre trying to paint copies of the famous original masterpieces. This art student was the best I'd seen 

"Venus de Milo" at the Louvre. 

Rodin Museum

This is Kenyatta, who we met at the Rodin Museum in Paris. When I said, "I never thought that I'd see this statue in my life," she said "me too." That's how we met.  

"The Thinker" by Rodin. I never thought that I'd see this statue in my life and there I am standing right next to it! 

"The Gates of Hell" by Rodin. 

"The Kiss" by Rodin (Paris). 

Melissa and I at the Musee Rodin in Paris. 

Sakura: Hanami Season

In Japanese sakura means "cherry blossom" and hanami means "flower watching or viewing"... Hana means flower and the verb mi means to watch/see.

This was my first time viewing the sakura in Washington, DC since coming back from Japan. I must say that Washington, DC's sakura season is getting better every year. I went with my friend, Mariko, who is originally from Chiba, Japan. She was teaching me some of the different names of the different sakura in Japanese. I even saw a group of sakura trees that came from the Yoshino area in Nara, which is where I used to live. They were the most beautiful of course.

I am currently reading a travelogue book that my friend, Denise, let me borrow. It's called
"Hokkaido Highway Blues: Hitchhiking Japan" by Will Ferguson, a Canadian JET teacher (like I was in Japan). This book is about him hitchhiking from the southern-most point of Japan to the northern-most point during sakura season. This book is so hilarious because I can relate to everything that he is saying about being a foreigner in Japan. I'm going to recommend it to ALL of my friends that are/were teachers in Japan. By this time next year, I plan to be in Japan and I've been inspired to travel throughout Japan to visit my friends during cherry blossom season for two weeks. Anyways, enjoy the pictures below...

The most beautiful view of the Jefferson memorial near Tidal Basin area. 

Cherry Blossoms near the Washington Monument

Me and the white cherry blossom trees. 

My friend, Mariko.

This was the most beautiful Cherry Blossom tree near the Tidal Basin. 

Sunset near the cherry blossom trees.

A Dream Deferred

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or fester like a sore-- And then run?

Does it stink like rotten meat?

Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.

Or does it explode?

- Langston Hughes

New Year Resolutons 2006

Ok, so I'm 26 now and 4 years more until I'm the big 3-0. This has caused me to reevaluate my future plans and how I'm going to prepare for it. I looked over my resolutions/goals from 2005 and I think that I did pretty well. Of the things that I wanted to accomplish, I DID actually ...DO those things (+=successful, -=not successful):

Career : get serious about it-- +
Savings : (I won't divulge that info, but I got to go on a much-needed vacation to the DR w/ it).+
Travel : Thailand +, Cambodia/Vietnam -, Europe -, Florida +...added bonus: Dom. Rep.
Get politically active :(
Take spanish lessons: started it, but didn't finish -/+
Take belly dancing lesson : +, added bonus: took Yoga classes too
Writing : take online lessons and submit some work for publication -

2006 will be the year that I prepare for the big year: 2007. In 2007, I plan to be on the road to writing professionally, and/or going to grad school at NYC's The New School for an MFA in Creative Writing and living in Brooklyn....

Speaking of Brooklyn, the New Year's Eve party that I went to there was amazing! I went to this party with my cousin, Simon's, girlfriend. His girlfriend, Aisha, is an artist. She has some amazing art: www.superhueman.com that she has had in gallaries all over. Her friends were all these 20 and 30-somethings who had followed their dreams from day 1 even when they were struggling. They were graphic artists/designers, soon-to-be nightclub owners, black indie-film company-owners, abstract artists, lawyers, muscians, oh it was so cool. I left that party SO inspired to do what I've always dreamed of doing, even if it meant struggling: to be a professional writer. This year, I'm going to keep chugging along at Women for Women International (www.womenforwomen.org ) as the institututional advancement assistant and soak up as much as I can. I am learning SO much there that I can use in my own future as a creative professional. The president of our NGO, Zainab Salbi, is such a dynamic woman (buy her memoir, Between Two Worlds: Escape From Tyranny: Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam on www.amazon.com ). Just being in the presence of such amazing people at this org, is reason enough for me to want to do more to help AND to figure out how I can do something to better myself. I'm really impressed by what happens there every day....

Oh yeah, back to my dreams.... I have since posted copy of a poem by the famous African-American poet, Langston Hughes, called A Dream Deferred (see copy of poem above) to remind me not to get sucked in at work at this amazing organization and to remember that I'm supposed be working on my future as a writer. I wish that I could write all of the ideas that I have for The Adventures of Bianca Sukiyama and my other short stories, but they'll have to be unveiled at a later date. I CAN unveil my 2006 Resolutions...

2006 Resolutions
Save More Money
Start my own online family business
Travel to Europe: Already in the works...going to Amsterdam, Paris & Brussells this Spring
Road trip with my girls: Napa Valley Wine Country? The Dirty South? California Coastin'?
Artistic Collaboration with Neil? Amanda? (see Bianca art on this page)
Take Writing Classes

I think that these are all possible...don't you?

Family and the Holidays

This past Christmas was pretty good. It was my first time back in the States for the holidays since coming back from Japan. I decided to stay in the Washington, DC area for Christmas with my dad's side of the family and NYC for New Year's with my grandfather's side of the family. I went to a Christmas Eve party at my Aunt Ivy's house and I had a good time. For New Year's, I met up with Nikkii (from Japan) and I went to this awesome New Year's Eve party in Brooklyn (see New Year's Resolution).

The holidays haven't been completely about family. Since Thanksgiving, I have since moved into a new apartment with my roommate/one of my best friends, Melissa, to Silver Spring. I LOVE this area. The downtown area is so beautiful and there's so much to do down here. Not to mention it's so convenient to DC. It's been hard trying to furnish the apartment though. We've been living here for two months and we have yet to furnish the living room. I think that it'll all come together by the end of February though. We'll be having a house warming then, so be on the lookout. I hope to have some pictures uploaded later.

Me, my dad, my nephew, Ty, and my cousin, Jaylon in South Carolina.

Me and my cousin Tiffany at our family's Christmas Eve Party 2005 

India.Arie performing at the Millions More Movement in Washington, DC. 

Shomar (left), me in the middle and Nikkii at the Millions More Movement in Washington, DC. It was peace. 

Me and my favorite author, L.A. Banks, at her booksigning in Bowie, MD at Karibu Books.  

Me, Lisa and Melissa at Yuca for Lisa's 24th b-day bash. Tanoshikatta! There were all the friends who met in Japan (American and Japanese) and some of Lisa's friends from Detroit. The Latin music at Yuca was great! We had so much fun.