An Industrial Engagement Shoot

Today marks eleven months since Paul and I got married. I cannot believe it’s almost been a full year! So I figured I would do a wedding-related post today. My super talented photographer friend Candace Camuglia offered to do an engagement shoot for us. Not only is it way more fun to do a photo shoot when your friend is the photographer, but Candace has a special knack for making the whole experience not awkward. Because engagement shoots have a tendency to be seriously awkward.

We went to Bushwick specifically for this giant boombox graffiti art that we wanted to use as a backdrop. Candace and I had seen it when we were out there for Bushwick Open Studios earlier in the year. I’ve always liked graffiti art, but we also figured it would be perfect for an engaged rap producer. Unfortunately, when we got there, it had been painted over. Super lame. But, we found some other walls with cool graffiti and a lot of industrial spots that looked pretty awesome. Here are my favorites...

You can find more of her photography, including her editorial work, here. Don’t be surprised to find more than a few pictures of yours truly. Getting to be a muse for Candace is always fun, cause it usually involves putting on some of my favorite vintage clothing.

Pinkies Up! The Year We Belonged To A Social Club

Paul and I had our wedding reception at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn, which meant we had to join and become members of a social club. We didn't really know what we were getting into. Although the club has a distinguished history and has hosted U.S. presidents, senators, etc., it’s located in Park Slope and is a bit of a fixer upper, so we thought there would be some sense of irony or self awareness. Not too much.

I still “like” the Montauk Club on Facebook, so I see their posts and they just put out a reminder for their upcoming new members dinner. After we joined, attending the new members dinner was when we realized it was a legit social club. Paul and I showed up and immediately noticed that most of the people there were old and white. For real, Paul was the only black person there who wasn't a server. But the best part was the entertainment for the night. They brought in the Princeton Tigertones, an A Capella group, to sing us jaunty showtunes all night long! And when they did the Princeton fight song, several of the old men stood up at their tables and chanted along. 

The Tigertones in all their glory.

Shortly after becoming a member, I accidentally joined the entertainment committee. I attended one meeting to suggest some improvements I thought would make the club function better as a wedding venue. That didn't go so well. They don’t do food tastings and they don’t have a full set of matching chairs. I mean, come on, if you’re a wedding venue, you sort of have to offer those things, right?

Because of that one meeting, I was forever on the email list. Luckily, they were often amusing. My favorite email was regarding the planning of the Super Bowl party. Seeing as it is a social club, there is a dress code. But one of the members asked if the dress code could be ignored for the Super Bowl. The response from the head of the committee was: “This is the Montauk Club. If you want to wear a jersey and drink Budweiser's, I recommend going to one of the many bars on Flatbush.” Pssh, what a pleb! He should know better than trying to wear some sweats and drink a Bud at the Montauk!

Needless to say, after our wedding, we did not renew our membership. It is a beautiful space and I loved the atmosphere of the building, but we just might not be the social club types.

Goûter On The Lawn

Yesterday, I got an invitation from my high school “to celebrate Sister Caire’s 90th Birthday at a special ice cream goûter on the White House Lawn.” I left it on the table and later Paul picked it up. Paul’s reactions to my Duchesne stories always remind me of how insane my high school experience was.

I went to an all girls Catholic school from middle to high school. You could start there in pre-k, and those girls were known as the lifers. My mother first tried to get me in for kindergarten, but I must not have been good with the scissors or something, because I apparently needed to repeat pre-k. She declared that I was too tall to be held back and sent me to the local public elementary school instead.

As quirky as it was, I can honestly say I have some of the best memories from that place. I definitely feel more of a loyalty to Duchesne than my college. (They sort of brainwash you...) But I really do love that my experience was unique. When Paul read the invite, he was dumbfounded. There were so many questions that needed explanations. And my answers sounded more ridiculous than his questions.

The White House

Well, Paul, goûter translates “to taste” in French, but it means “snack time” in Franglish. Duchesne was founded by French nuns, so sometimes school activities were nicknamed after French words (but pronounced with Texas accents). I just discovered that there is actually a glossary of terms & traditions on the school’s website. Reading it made me giggle with nostalgia. Since it was a school of only girls that was run by mostly women, we found reasons to celebrate snack time a lot. Pretty much every Saint’s feast day was a reason for goûter.

Check out the form on that curtsy. Skills.

And yes, we still have nuns that run the school. And the nuns all live in a house (that’s painted white) in the center of campus, and the lawn in front is where many of the school functions are hosted. Including graduation, where we wear white gowns and little doily crowns on our heads. We practiced curtsying for weeks in our heels on that lawn in preparation for graduation, so that we could curtsy to the head nun as we received our diploma. So yes, Paul, we do celebrate our nun’s 90th birthday parties with a special ice cream goûter on the white house lawn.

That Time I Accidentally Befriended Some Gang Members

My place in Bushwick

My neighborhood, Prospect Heights, has started to gentrify like crazy. Since we moved in four years ago, so many cafes, restaurants and bars have opened it’s hard to keep up. There was an explosion of new businesses this past winter, and now that the weather’s nicer and everyone’s out, the difference has become very apparent. It’s weird to suddenly live in a desirable neighborhood. I haven’t always lived in the safest parts of Brooklyn. Working in the NYC art world is unfortunately not the path to riches. But it’s a good thing we live in a nice area now, cause Paul would probably have a way smaller client base if his home studio was in our last neighborhood.

I lived in Bushwick (before it was 'East Williamsburg') when I first moved to the city and Crown Heights afterwards. My place in Bushwick looked so sketch at night that once when my dad’s friend gave me a ride home, he refused to drop me off in front of my loft. I had to explain that I actually lived there before he let me out. He gave me a stern look and told me he “wouldn't tell my parents".

The sole bar in my hood in
Crown Heights

Crown Heights looks nicer since it isn't industrial, but there’s still a fair amount of crime. There were these guys dressed all in red that hung out by the subway. One was in a wheelchair and always said hello, so I would wave and greet him as I passed by. When Paul moved into the neighborhood a year later and we started dating, he noticed me saying hello to these guys. This girl got an education that day. Apparently, in the hood, guys dressed all in blue or all in red are gang members. Oops. Obviously, I had heard of the Crips and Bloods before, I just didn't expect them to be so friendly.

The adorable Sunshine Co.
in Prospect Heights

We finally moved after Paul’s roommate's friend was shot on New Years Eve in our neighborhood. Yes, shot. With a gun. In the ass. We can joke about it now. At the time, it was terrifying. They were coming back from the subway when they heard gunshots and started running. Chuck ran for a few blocks before realizing he’d been shot. Adrenaline is an amazing thing. They couldn't remove the bullet either, so poor guy will probably set off metal detectors for the rest of his life. This story has a happy ending though. He married the girl that was in town visiting with him that weekend. Maybe that night they realized how important they were to each other?

Not that Prospect Heights is free of crime. Nowhere in NYC is. And I’m sure we’ll see a backlash to the gentrification. But it’s a big change for us to live where cab drivers drop people off on Saturday evenings, instead of where cab drivers park at the end of the night.

An Ode To My KitchenAid

Paul's own private stock of pie

Paul may do the cooking around here, but I do the baking. And I’ve been doing a lot of baking lately. It’s partly because Paul is greedy and whenever I bake anything for guests, he wants me to make an extra one just for him. I had to put us on a diet before the wedding, which we've luckily been able to maintain. But the past few weeks, we’ve been really bad.  

I made a chocolate chip cookie pie to bring to a dinner party at a friend’s house. But of course Paul insisted on his own pie, so I actually baked two chocolate chip cookie pies. He’s lucky the pre-made pie crusts come two to a package. This pie is like crack. The batter is so rich that it tastes like maple syrup. Knowing the amount of sugar and butter in the recipe might dissuade you, but I promise it’s worth the calories.

Not an infrequent sight on our kitchen
table: banana bread & headphones

I also made some chocolate chip banana bread this week. I got banana’s last week for snacking, but I’m a little particular and I stop eating them as soon as they get spotty. I secretly just like having an excuse to make banana bread though. Bananas and chocolate might be my favorite combo. Paul, of course, loves it too.

Whenever Paul has rappers in the studio after I’ve baked something, Paul will catch them eyeing it. And he always tells them to back off cause it’s his private stock. He's not very good at sharing. I should start providing baked goodies to his clients as part of the "rappers in my kitchen" total experience.

I gotta hand it to my KitchenAid mixer though. Baking takes no time or effort at all anymore. It’s become dangerously easy to bake. KitchenAid, you are a blessing and a curse...

Kitchen Review - Diane Meyer's Embroidered Photographs

I recently discovered these embroidered photographs by Diane Meyer, a San Diego based artist. She embroiders pixels onto photographs to obscure parts of the image. Her intent is to highlight “the failures of photography in preserving experience and personal history as well as the means by which photographs become nostalgic objects that obscure objective understandings of the past.”

I was instantly attracted to them. I love older photographs and the nostalgia they evoke. There is also a sentimental quality to embroidery, with its association to the past and the home. By bringing together two mediums for nostalgia- one modern, one ancient- she really amplifies the concept of the photograph as a nostalgic object. The technique of embroidering on the photograph also plays with the idea of the pixel, the building block of photography. I like this notion that if we look at anything too closely, it can be obscured.

The relationship between photography and memory also fascinates me. Photography is used as a way to preserve memories, but so often it can alter our perception of the past or become substitutes for our memories. I thought of my college thesis, where I analyzed Kodak advertisements in the post WWII period and how they fostered the creation of a homogeneous, shared American-family memory. Since it was a new household technology, Kodak used advertisements to instruct buyers on what types of photographs to take to “remember all of life’s important moments” and even issued pamphlets on how to stage them. These preserved moments- the birth of a child, a wedding, family trips, birthdays, etc.- are part of most family’s photo albums. Through the insistence of advertisers, documenting our personal history has become normal human experience.

Since I find nostalgia so intriguing, I really enjoy art that brings these questions to light. I look at her works and I relate to them, because I have photographs that look just like them. I can replace the obscured faces from her photographs with my own family’s faces. I feel nostalgic for a time I don’t even remember.

The Rap Wives Club

I was at a rap show with Paul last week and I didn't see too many of the usuals. I've gotten to the point where I can walk in and recognize quite a number of people, so it was weird to see such a different crowd. This made me realize how far along I've come in Paul’s world. I used to feel totally out of place. It was a community where I had nothing to contribute. For the most part, I only attended shows when Paul performed. But now I actually look forward to shows like Yule Prog- a large, well-attended, annual holiday rap show hosted by Nasa- because I know I’ll see a ton of familiar faces.

A rare 2010 appearance at a rap show. Can you find me in
the crowd? I look less enthusiastic than Paul...
Photography: Victoria Holt

It's helped that so many people from the scene are also Paul's clients. So I often run into them in my kitchen. And since Paul mixes and masters their albums in the other room (and that involves listening to songs over and over again), I become reaalllly familiar with their music. So when I go to a show now, I can almost always sing along to the rapper's hook or chorus.

I've also made it a point to get to know rapper’s wives and girlfriends. The rap world is a bit of a boy’s club. Big surprise. And they pretty much only talk about rap. So I source out the other ladies to chat about non-music things. We do rap double dates too, because then we can all chat about general life stuff. I like the behind-the-scenes look into rap lives, especially when they're married. It's nice to be able to relate, ya know?

It may have taken six years and I might not look like I belong, but I’m beginning to feel part of the rap community. Especially since I've started this blog, I'm not just Willie's wife, I'm also known for Rappers In My Kitchen. Paul slipped so easily into my world, but it takes a little longer for a girly-girl to find her place in a rap world.

Motown In The Kitchen

This past weekend, my girlfriends and I rented a cozy 1850’s farmhouse in the Catskills in upstate NY. When you live in NYC, sometimes you have to escape. Especially after a long winter. There’s also nothing better than a road trip. The subways are great for getting some reading in or being able to go out, drink, and have a ride home at the end of the night, but there is something so freeing about being in a car. So we were pretty obsessed with our minivan.

It was a recharge weekend, so we spent some quality time in the kitchen. We made amazing brunches of eggs, toast, bacon, pancakes, etc. every morning, but it was our Saturday night dinner that I think defined the weekend. We all had something to contribute, and we drank wine and danced to Motown in the kitchen as we prepared dinner. Which naturally led to a screening of the “Evolution of Mom Dancing” with Michelle Obama and Jimmy Fallon and then the “History of Rap” with Justin Timberlake and Fallon. You’d be impressed with how many rap songs a group of dec art & design grads can identify. Rappers in my kitchen: the white girl edition? We sat down to pumpkin-goat cheese pasta, fresh salad, and an apple crumble for dessert in a dining room that can only be described as farmhouse chic. I would say it was a perfect evening.

The highlight of the trip was our hike up Overlook Mountain. About halfway up, we discovered the snow hadn't fully melted. Considering our aversion to winter at this point, we almost turned around. But luckily we followed through. When NYC has beaten us down all winter, why wouldn't we choose to climb a mountain covered in snow and ice? It was the best decision we could have made though. At the top were ruins from a 19th Century hotel that had burned down. It was beautiful and eerie and amazing to explore. There was also a fire tower that we climbed for stunning views of the surrounding Catskills and Hudson River. The only thing that trumps the beauty of art is the beauty of nature.

It was hard to leave our farmhouse on Sunday. Back to a small Brooklyn apartment and far fewer stars, but with plans for many more weekend excursions. There’s a reason my girlfriends had High Voltage off of Paul’s new album stuck in their head this weekend. Illustrate knows what’s up. We’re all craving summertime.

From Christy's Kitchen To Mine

My friend Christy started making custom cookies and baked goods for friends and family out of her kitchen, and it has turned into a full fledged business. So many great things happen in kitchens! Her day job is teaching, but at this point it seems like all her spare time is spent baking. I almost asked her to make our wedding cake, but she lives in Houston and we got married in Brooklyn, so that would have been nuts.

Luckily, she can mail smaller goodies! I had her ship up a king cake for my sisters surprise birthday party this past January. For those of you not from the South, king cakes are made during Mardi Gras season and have a hidden plastic baby inside. If you get the baby, you’re supposed to supply next years king cake. Since we are an interracial household, Christy sent us a black baby and a white baby to choose from. We went with black.

Paul had a listening party for his album before he went on tour for press contacts and colleagues in the music industry. So naturally he wanted some custom made cookies to include with his press kits. He sent her the album art, and she replicated the futuristic building and typography from the cover. With frosting. That's impressive.

If you ever have any cookie needs, reach out to Baked by Drake. She's my go-to girl. I already picked out the cookies I want for my future baby shower. (Mom, if you're reading. Don't get excited. I am NOT pregnant. I just like to plan ahead.) Seriously though, how freakin' adorbs are they?

I Blog About Rappers And Rappers Blog About My Mom

The rents

As tour season wraps up, I’ve noticed that a few rappers have blogged about their time in Houston at my parents house. It’s sweet that they were so appreciative of my parent’s hospitality, but it’s also really funny that rappers are blogging about my parents.

Toussaint Morrison spent some one-on-one time with my mom a few mornings when she dropped him off at a local coffee shop on her way to work. I enjoyed his description of my mother in his blog. He noted that since she is a lawyer, “there is no lack of confidence or contrition behind her voice.” I never considered that her matter-of-fact tone might be due to her practicing law for 20+ years. I’ve always known her to be that way and thought of it as a personality trait, rather than a learned behavior. Or maybe it is her personality, and that’s what makes her such a good lawyer?

The rappers were also quite entertained by my dads hunting accomplishments. The elk feast he served for dinner was definitely mentioned in Corina Corina's blog. And I noticed several rappers posing for pictures with the taxidermy throughout the house. Yes, taxidermy. My dad is as Texan as it gets. His pride and joy is the gemsbok antelope in the living room. Its horns are so tall that it couldn’t be mounted on the wall and instead requires a pedestal. It’s set in a little natural habitat of grass and cactus. I completely understand why the rappers were compelled to photograph it. There are also deer, a ram, an alligator, birds, and fish. At Christmas, my dad puts Santa hats on all of them. It's kinda amazing. My mom has put her foot down and said no more dead animals in the house, so now he hangs them in his office...

Blogging is a funny thing. Anyone can post their thoughts and stories on the internet (myself included). But I think it's pretty hilarious that my lawyer parents are being discussed through the lens of rap blogs.

Green's Delicacies

Now that Paul’s home, he’s back in the kitchen. Not recording. He’s taking a little break from work after being on the road for so long. He’s cooking again! And I couldn’t be happier. No more frozen meals for this girl.

One of the first things he did this weekend was prepare a batch of his flavored butters. He's not churning the butter or anything- he buys regular salted butter at the store and then mixes in fresh herbs. It's delicious. And so easy even I could do it.

You can put in whatever you want really, but for this batch, Paul used sage, thyme, lemon zest, garlic, and, of course, rosemary. Paul loves rosemary and uses it as often as possible when cooking. He keeps a bunch of sprigs in a mason jar on the counter top for easy access. 

He lets the butter soften, puts it in the food processor, and blends in all the chopped ingredients. After it’s finished, he stores the herb butter in tupperware and puts it back in the fridge. We use the butter for just about everything. It’s delicious on toast or sandwiches, but it’s great to cook with too. I really recommend using it with eggs. Herb butter in some scrambled eggs or an omelette? Yum!

I was telling Paul that we should start jarring his butters and giving them as gifts. Maybe make some labels too. He calls his home studio the Greenhouse, so perhaps Green’s Delicacies? I don’t care what he calls it, as long as he keeps making it.

Zombie Easter

Zombie Easter

Yesterday was Easter, but it was also the season finale of The Walking Dead. So we decided to combine the two. After all, Jesus did rise from the dead, so he was technically a zombie, right? My friend Jenny said it best: “Nothing celebrates the Resurrection like a zombie-themed Easter.”

We had some friends over to watch the show and eat an Easter dinner, with an emphasis on zombie inspired foods (bloody marys, beets, etc). Mark/PremRock also came over. He and Paul just got back from tour, and Prem started watching the show on the road since all the other guys were into it. When the rappers stayed at my parents house after SXSW, it was a Sunday night and we all sat down to watch the show together. There’s a reason they call themselves a rap family.

I wasn’t always so into zombies. I enjoyed Dawn of The Dead and 28 Days Later as much as anybody, but after watching Walking Dead, I became obsessed. I now have a zombie apocalypse escape route planned, and I assess people on whether I think they could survive the apocalypse or not.

Growing up in Texas, I was taken to the shooting range my whole life and given a rifle for my thirteenth birthday, so I’m a pretty decent shot. My dad is trying to get Paul involved with hunting too. While we were in Texas for this past Christmas, he signed Paul up for a hunter safety course. The class was outside of Houston and attended mostly by rednecks. Paul was the only black person, and we were a little nervous to leave him. He aced the exam though, and my dad has started to try and find times for the two of them to go on hunting trips. I’m just glad my dad now has a “son” he can drag on these trips instead of me. But if Paul can also get pretty good with a rifle, I think we may stand a chance when the zombie apocalypse hits.