Tis the season for blogging!!

The weekend was truly met with a few challenges.  Let’s start with Friday night.  I get myself ready to go out get to the club to see one of my favorite DJ’s who ‘allegedly’ got stuck in Canada **side eye to him** He misses events often so I wasn’t shocked or surprised just a lil pissed.  But the house DJ played great and it was good to see some folks I hadn’t in years INCLUDING 2 exes… Well it actually wasn’t all that great to see them.  In fact I avoided them like the plague.  Thinking back one I really did like and tried 2 times (yes I gave this fool 2 times to show me he was NOT the 1 LOL) and the other I don’t know what I was thinking but after the infamous knee massage (did I blog about that years ago?!?  Hmmm)  I KNEW he was not the one!!  So that was Friday.  Saturday wasn’t so bad.  I picked up Girl Scout (of America) cookies, took stuff to my sister and then took my mom to get her hair cut.  The little girl that did it did a good job.  As I sat in the salon and smelled all the salon smell, I really did crave it.  Over the years mainly because of money I only went to get a relaxer and now that I’m TEAM NATURAL I miss going to the salon regularly.  Something I that I need to start back up because I am dreading doing my hair lately.  Sunday,  I get up, cook myself breakfast and plop down on the couch to catch up on my sci fi.  So the roommate doesn’t really ‘get’ sci fi and has a plethora of questions that I just don’t feel like answering WHILE the show is on, and of course she forgets the questions when the commercial comes on.  I use early Saturday and Sunday (you know when I’m being a heathen a wretch undone by not going to church) to catch up on Grimm, Dracula, The Agents of S.H.E.I.L.D. and whatever else.   I’m not good into S.H.E.I.L.D. and she comes and sits down **loud sigh** so now I can’t watch my show because even though she has a big ass TV in her room she likes the living room one.  I just turned it off and turned on something she would like.  The goal for the day was to do not much of anything so it threw me off when my nephew called to remind me that he needed to go shopping.  He’s a little boy who tries, I mean you know not THAT hard, but whatever, he’s a boy and auntie must do what auntie must.  On my way my freaking tire blew.  And that just about pushed my right over the edge I was already teetering on.  There were a few other things that didn’t help my already fragile state so when I got home and yelled at my mother (the roommate) for a really dumb reason I just lost it.  She didn’t deserve that and I immediately felt bad but yet she comforted me!  In that moment I  was a kid again with not a worry in the world just appreciating the hug my mom gave me (with her good arm LOL)!  And her solution was for me to get her credit card and buy myself something to make me happy again.  I really am not unhappy, but the stress of caring for an aging parent can be a bit much some days.  I told her I would go on QVC and she agreed that was a good idea! And then I ‘found’ the Firefly Sweet tea vodka and that made me happy too!  We watched the Sound of Music which maybe wasn’t a great idea because that movie is a tear jerker for me.  As Maria sang ‘Favorite things’ Mary J. Blige version came to mind.  ONLY Julie Andrew and Luther  Vandross versions (and maybe some jazz instrumental versions) do it for me.  Which brings me to the morning… Pandora is great today! I’ve only had to skip a few songs.  I really do not like the Temptations Christmas songs.  It’s like nails on a chalkboard!!  I like the Jackson 5, Peanuts (the cartoon… well the dudes that played the jazz in the background Vince Guaraldi and band), Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey (who I actually need to get,) Kirk Franklin, Rahsaan Patterson, Stevie Wonder and… as I’m listening to Pandora, Glee did a Christmas cd and all the songs I’ve heard are good.  And actually Kelly Clarkson did some good renditions.  I’m just sick of the rehashed version of classic songs.  How could I forget Donny Hathaway!?!? But I only think he did a few songs; CLASSIC, but not a whole album. 

I was going to do a year in review, but maybe not right now.  Here is the quick and dirty… This year has been no different from prior years.  I’ve had ups and downs although this year I must say more ups than downs which is good.  My mother has consumed much of my year and if anyone said to me that this time last year I would have a 71 year old roommate I would have laughed at them and now she actually IS with me, I continue the laughter! I’ve said it before I need a blog just for the shit she says.  Work has been interesting to say the least.  I have kept a job for a WHOLE year!!  Didn’t get fired didn’t even piss anyone off that much.  I flew under the radar just enough.  I reactivated in my illustrious sorority and have done not a whole lot.  Next year is the year for pink and green.  This year I had to just ease myself back into it.  I have attended some great concerts!  I finally made it to Essence in New Orleans which felt like work but I blogged about that earlier.  I went to Capital Jazz Fest also.  What I don’t like about festivals is that the people I like do not sing or play enough for me.   Some highlights are Jose James, Eric Robeson and Gregory Porter at the Howard Theatre; Lalah and Mint Condition at Baltimore Soundstage; and everyone else I had seen LOL Lastly, I will speak on my hair.  I have finally come up with a good regime which includes mostly WEN products.  QVC just did a TSV (that’s Today’s special value for the uninitiated) and you know I bought it.  YOU KNOW!!  Other than that and coconut oil and whatever I already have, I am not buying no more products.  It just gets to be toooo freaking much AND expensive.  So that’s it…

OH WAIT NO IT’S NOT… this is about hair, but not mine.

So on Sunday after taking the nephew shopping I decided to go the Shop Rite next to the Kohl’s and did my little shopping so I wouldn’t have to stop anywhere else.  I was so tired and get to the register and put my eggs on the belt.  It felt like one was broke so I opened it and sure enough eggs didn’t make it from the back of the store to the front.  I don’t know if I broke them, but I do know I wasn’t purchasing them.  I say to the little girl, the eggs are broken and I don’t feel like going back to get another carton, so can you just take them.  She only ½ hears me and says OH you can just go get another one in the back.  I said NO I’m NOT going back there so can you just take them.  She then says well I can scan them and get Elijah to go get you another one.  I’m like ok that’s fine.  There were 2 little random boys,  1 has EJ on his name tag and the Elijah came into view.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes things move in slow motion for me.  This little boy (cause he surely was just a teenager) walks up to me in slow motion with this head full of curly LONG shoulder length hair that looked absolutely effortless AND like a fan was blowing beneath him!!  Like a little black Fabio LMBAO!!!  I’m looking at him like WTF!?!?  This is so unfair!!  He is a boy and his hair looked freaking B E A U T I F U L!!!  He looks like he probably gets up in the morning shakes his head and leaves for the day.  So I’m standing there he takes the eggs out of my hand and then I’m like OH I HAVE TO LOOK AT HIM AGAIN!! I stare.  He comes back with my eggs… same slow motion with the fan and I get a really good look.   He was a little cutie and if I was a 16 year old girl, I would be in love!! But I’m an almost 40 year old chick but I really did enjoy the view!!

bad hair day... random rant

I am having a bad hair day!  My hair is in HAIR FAILURE!!  Of all the things I need to be thinking about, and trust me there are many, the thing that is plaguing my mind is MY HAIR LOOKS BAD!!! This natural hair journey has been an absolute interesting ride and actually it’s been a little over a year that I decided to do this.  Even though it wasn’t as well thought out as some because if you will recall it was really born out of not knowing what to do next, I have taken it in stride, went to the hair care expo’s, watched the YouTube videos, bought the products, and practiced my flat and 2 strand twist.  But alas I am having a bad hair day!  One of the problems is probably that I watch the videos and think that my hair will turn out look the same if not very close to the ladies that are doing them.  In my head I think, well all she did was this and that, and I CAN do this and that so it will be good for me.  Not so my friend NOT SO!!  The video I watched the young lady had flat twists parted on the side so that they would turn out to be out but in some sort of style.  Well what I didn’t consider is that my hair takes FOR-freaking-EVER to dry.  If I do something even if my hair is not fully wet when I started, it still is going to take EXTRA for it to fully dry.  So I did the flat twists at 1 o’clock on not completely wet hair thinking it would be ready by 5:30.  It was not.  My bright idea was to sit under the dryer.  Something I have learned in the past few months is that my natural hair does NOT like the dryer a point that was even further made yesterday.  SO I sat thinking OH THIS IS GONNA BE CUTE… only for my hair to still be damp on the inside part of the twist and I had a mess when fully taken out.  So I decided to just put it up in a puff, only the puff never fully materialized and it was crooked all night, and every time I looked in the mirror it was had a gansta lean.  I picked it, I gelled it more and it was a hot greasy and gelly mess.  Let me point out it is winter so even though I want to do a wash and go, leaving the house with wet hair is just not what I’m about to do.  SO this morning it was still a mess it was a big poof of un-cuteness.  I mean I’m really not trying to impress anyone but myself, but COME ON PUFF look right, PLEASE!!?

quick and dirty random...

I wouldn’t call the mood or state I’m in Grinch-like but I’m really close to it.  I honestly don’t know why.  Christmas has morphed into this season of buy buy and buy MORE.  It hasn’t been just a good old Christmas in more years than I care to really admit.  It’s not really fun for me.  I used to enjoy buying stuff for the kids but it just isn’t fun.  So I turned to the R&B and pop station on Pandora to get me in a more Christmassy mood.  Original Christmas music is few and far between.  I have heard 3 version of O Holy night… well 2 gets a pass because it was the Whitney and Mariah version (separately not together… so I had to get myself together because that song is emotional to me).  But Cee Lo Green did a version of This Christmas which WE ALL know Donny Hathaway is the undisputed OWNER of that song.  But honestly Elliot Yamin did a good job of the song.  He is a Donny clone so how could he NOT do a good job.  Michael Buble just did a rendition of Mariah’s All I want for Christmas is you.  I’m not a huge fan of his so I skipped his version.  ALL this is to say I have resigned to just enjoy whatever they play next.  And I have  spoken too soon because Michael Buble is doing the Christmas Song and it is very Nat King Cole-esque… so he gets a pass too.

Have you ever gotten meal that is so bad but you kept eating it because you were too hungry and too not in the mood to go get something else?  Well that is my story yesterday AND today.  So there is a cafeteria in another building on the campus I work.  And for the most part I don’t fool with the food they cook.  One time what I was supposed to get was a carne asada breakfast burrito but what I got was sausage and bacon, but I ate it anyway.  Yesterday it was snowing and I just was not getting in my car to get food.  So the line for the sandwiches was long so I decided to get the ‘grill’ item.  What it was supposed to be was a chicken sandwich with cheese and bacon.  I’m not convinced that was what it was.  The chicken was so dry and I had to use a lot of honey mustard and mayo.  I kept eating it and I guess I was just hungry because it was horrible. And how do you mess up chicken anyway?!?  All it needs is a little salt and pepper.  But it was BAD!!  Today I got nuggets from Wendy’s and a coke.  So the coke is just colored seltzer water, the fries and chicken are cold and yet I ate them all.  So my belly is full, but that’s it.

Monday random 5452

I am right back to something being taken completely not in the vein it was said or given.  So the same thing in the equation is ME, so maybe I’m just not communicating as well as I think I am.  Maybe I just need to keep my mouth and/or thoughts via email to myself.  It doesn’t do any good if what is said is perceived incorrectly and then you have to go back and forth saying WELL WHAT I MEANT WAS… it just doesn’t make sense or help matters at all. It can be very frustrating.  So I’ma take Madonna’s (yea THAT Madonna) song Bedtime Story to heart.  Wanna hear it? hear it go:

Today is the last day that I'm using words
They've gone out, lost their meaning
Don't function anymore
…
Words are useless, especially sentences
They don't stand for anything
How could they explain how I feel…
…

And all the you’ve ever learned

Try to forget

I'll never explain again 

And that is that…

What the hell else is going on?!  Well it snowed yesterday. It’s always so pretty until you have to shovel it and drive in it with folks who should have kept their booties home.  I was behind a Toyota pick-up truck this morning and he refused to go over 25 miles.  The funny thing was NO ONE else was on the road and the roads were clear.  I mean I know we should always try to be as safe as possible and there is ice but come on men!!  I refrained from honking and acting ugly and just sipped on my coffee. 

I’m still rocking boots from like 2001.  I attempted to buy boots this year off the good QVC, but when I got them they were too tight across the width of my foot.  SO I sent those puppies back.  The ones I have actually are still good just a little scruffy, well yeah cause they are from 2001 (at least!!).  One of my co-workers at the time said these were my snow stomping boots.  They are not cute, but warmth and protection from the water does not equal cute.  If I recall correctly I even got a little discount from the Naturalizer store. And these boots have served me well.

So in true random form, I am reading an article about Black Coffe the dj from South Africa. Ok so Nelson Mandela recently passed away and for whatever reason I just kept thinking about Black Coffe.  I have only seen him live once in Miami and you know how sometimes you don’t realize what you are seeing or have seen until after the fact? Well he certainly fits into that category.  It was a very forgettable party, but I took a bus by myself to get to the location. I’ve done some pretty ridiculous things in the name of house at WMC, but you know what happens in Miami… Anyway even though this party was in the middle of nowhere it still was a Miami hotspot.  I have this thing where I have to look at the dj while he (or she… damn that was pretty sexist) playing.  Just like at a live show I have to see the drummer, weird I know.  So anyway he comes on and I was like hole up, WHO IS PLAYING!!  I had to get up to go look at him.  So before I go into more of a tangent than I already am on, he does not have use of his left arm!!  I didn’t even realize this.  He plays solely with his right hand/arm which is pretty amazing I think!  Incidentally he lost the use of it at a celebration of Nelson Mandela’s release.  See how this is full circle? Anyway one of my favorite songs of his is Superman featuring Bucie.  It is a song that is not telling the man what to do but more asking can you be my superman?  And this is what I need…

Wendy shoes MAC... random

I have not focused on one good thing today.  And this day could not be any longer.  Every time I look up it’s only 3 minutes from when I last looked at the clock which makes for a really long day.  My YouTube on my iPod refuses to accept my username and password so getting caught up on my Wendy Williams has proven to be difficult.  But I did get some aftershows from a few years ago that I had not seen.  Don’t judge me I freaking LOVE Wendy Williams and I need a weekly dose of the actual show and then the aftershow.  I have an insane crush on her Wigologist (yes people it’s a thing he does all of her wigs) Antwon who is sooooooooooo gay but he is such a cutie.  And they show him putting on eyeliner, yeah no straight man that I know does that. Again DON’T JUDGE ME!! I even am about to go buy a Wendy wig why, because it’s just hair!  Wendy is absolutely doing something right.  It may not be what or how you would do it, but she is #WINNING!!

So I just bought some sparkly party shoes from Nordstrom. See what had happened is I needed to meet my old co-worker to pick up my girl scout cookies.  So I left my sister’s house and was going to go to the Wal-Mart and then get them.  But then I said OH I can stop at the Nordstrom’s and go to the MAC counter and get some Ruby Woo because I NEED a red lip!!  So I am looking a straight bum.  I looked like I was going to Wal-Mart not a high end department store.  But you know I don’t care!  So I get in the store and the shoes were lined up and ‘marked down’.  SO I see these little sparkly shoes and it’s my size.  I whip off my sneaker and put my un-lotioned ashy foot in the shoe with no footie.  AND IT FIT!!  AND it’s a peek toes and my toes didn’t peek out.   So then I put the shoe back, the sales guy comes up and asks if I need help and I say in FULL Wal-Mart mode SO is it discounted MORE?!?!  He being the appropriate sales dude says, well ma’am they are already marked down as much as they will be.  At this point I see an older lady and her daughter who is about my age try on the same show in a smaller size.  In my mind I thought the shoe would not work for her, but she proceeds to do a little dance and the daughter does everything to NOT be embarrassed.  I sit there completely amused and thank the lady for her dance and for confirming that my mother is not the only mom who still embarrasses!!  And then I start to walk away.  And then I go back to get the shoe like REALLY CHICK it was only 60 bucks.  So all of the sales people are like these stunning dark skinned African people, like from the continent of Africa, and the guy (tall and just gorgeous) with the microphone asks if I needed help.  He got my original guy who gets the shoes for me and some footies this time, and they fit.  So then I PROCEED to do a little dance and announce to no one in particular THESE ARE MY PARTY SHOES!!!  Then I take my tail to the MAC counter which is where I was headed in the first place.  It’s Sunday so thankfully there were not a ton of people trying to get some product.  So I still have to wait for the little girl to get finished.  SO I wait, because that’s what you do.  Well when she gets to me a little Hispanic family complete with 2 kids the mother and the grandmother who decides to stand right beside me picks up a lipstick and says to MY sales lady‘I want this!!’ Ummm little lady it is my turn go somewhere and have a seat!!  MY sales lady sees my reaction and stifles a laugh because I am not about to TURN UP at the MAC counter but I will if I have to… just saying.  So another lady helps her.  I have important Ruby Woo business to attend to.  For some reason I got it in my head that I needed RED lipstick and Ruby Woo or Rhi Rhi Woo was it.  She puts it on me and I was like OH NO MA’AM!!!  I look crazy!!  It is supposed to look good on everybody but it just didn’t look good on me.  Rhi Rhi Woo was the limited Rhianna lipstick so they didn’t have it anymore.  I also tried MAC red which again… I looked a mess. The little girl told me to go look at myself in the shoe mirror but I still didn’t like it.  It is yellow red and I need blue red.  I know what color works for me and they didn’t have anything except for the really deep hues that would work for my skin.  Long story short I end up with a deep plum lipstick (Hang-up) with the currant lip pencil and a few other things that I didn’t intend on getting but hey it is what it is!!

monday post turkey day random...

The HR at my office just sent out a notice that the smoking areas have been moved even further away from where they used to be.  It’s funny because when I watch old movies or TV shows, the folks just light up right at their desk.  This whole no smoking thing has really been within my lifetime.  I can remember being in line at McDonald’s as a kid and not wanting to stand behind people who were smoking.  And even on airplanes, I hated sitting near the smoking section.  It always smelled BAD to me.  When I see these old shows the people don’t seem to be phased.  But no really doesn’t it smell BAD to you too?!? I grew up in a smoking household.  Both of my parents smoked and I freaking HATED IT!!  My mom would smoke while she ironed clothes, so you guessed it my clothes smelled like smoke.  I asked her one time to maybe NOT smoke while she ironed my clothes.  I think she got a little offended, but as an 8 or 9 year old who wants to smell like you been sitting inside an ashtray??  My father never quit, but my mom did 25 years ago.  Now in her dementiaed state, she says she quit when she was pregnant with me.  I quickly remind her that she quit when my first nephew was born.  As I’m writing I realize how much it pisses me off that she can’t even remember doing it for me, she did it for my nephew.  There are commercials about different prescriptions to help people quit and this is when she incorrectly reflects.  For the most part I try to be a little gentler about correcting her memory but every time she says she quit when she was pregnant with me I want to yell at her and say NO YOU DIDN’T!!!  AND WHEN I ASKED YOU TOO QUIT AS A KID YOU NEVER DID!!! And then I want to add that I wanted to smell like Bounty fabric softner like the other kids, not a fucking ashtray!  But, that is the past, and thankfully she did quit.  I’m sure I asked my father to quit also.  Driving in the car with him was a nightmare.  The windows were yellow because in addition to him NOT rolling down the windows when he smoked, he never cleaned them.  It was pretty gross.  Now you can’t smoke pretty much anywhere and this is so good for me!  I waited for the clean air bill to pass in Maryland before I went to Bartending School.   I couldn’t imagine serving drinks while people blew smoke in my face.  In fact, when I was a waitress I hated the smoking section.  One time I had the section and four big old corn fed men sat and smoked cigars until the restaurant closed.  Thankfully the tip was good, but I smelled horrible that night.  I have only dated 2 guys that smoked and they both lived at home… hmm didn’t even make that connection.  LOL not that anything is wrong with that.  I mean sneaking into the basement is fun in your 30’s (NOT!!). 

My body is very appreciative that I have decided to give it water today.  Over the holiday weekend I was so bad about drinking all of my water.  I usually don’t do so bad, but the wine was calling my name more than the H2O which is maybe why I had a lingering headache on Friday.  Having to go to the bathroom every 10minutes is a small price to pay to get my body back in whack.

Red lipstick is not for everyone.  I think seeing people wear it always makes me want to go out and buy some but the MAC Ruby Woo and MAC red did not do a thing for me.  Now it may have been the light. But it looked like an orange mess on me.  I want to be that chick that give a great red lip, but alas the versions MAC have are not for me!!  I settled on a deep plum that everyone said went nicely with my hair. I actually spent way more than I intended at the good MAC counter, and I sincerely hope the sales girls (well on occasion guys… oh wait just one guy whose brows were better than mine that one time) get commission because they will get an extra product or 2 outta me EVERY time which is why I try to buy stuff online to replenish.  But I just KNEW the Ruby Woo was gonna be it for me!!

UUuuhhhh... I must not have shared my rule about not speaking in the bathroom with my manager.  Just as I popped a squat she wants to discuss work related items O_o NOOOO NOOO NOOOO LADY!!! Not the time or place.  Let me finish and wash my hands and leave the rest room AND THEN we can talk about the reports marketing sent!!! **pained look on my face** See this is why I try to time my visits so that I am NOT on anyone else’s schedule. 

I have decided to reinstate my ‘If you like it I love it’ mantra.  It seems that people aren’t taking what I say in the vein it’s meant and on the flip side I really don’t want your input so see it’s a win win.  I mind my biz you mind yours!!