I am willing to offer myself up as a shoulder for Reggie Bush to cry on, should he become sad when they take away his Heisman. Because I care about people… Especially handsome, chocolate, boy people.
I credit my parents. It’s how I was raised.
I smell like salmonella
I smelled like spoiled eggs until 4th grade… Or at least my hair did.
Thanks to my mom and grandmother’s love for Sulfur 8 — the anti-dandruff, conditioning grease that many brown parents swore would make little brown girls’ hair grow. Seriously, if there had been an egg recall when I was in elementary school, officials would have thrown me in the back of the truck with the rest of the “large browns.”
I started thinking about this because a Facebook friend of mine posted about how excited her daughter was to get her hair straighetened for the first day of school. It was gonna be her first time ever having it pressed and she was debating on whether she should take her to a salon or let her mom do it. And my mind immediately flashed back to when I used to get my hair pressed… And then I got angry all over again at my mom for sending me to school smelling like farts. And…
Exhale.
Learning to forgive. I love you anyway, Mommy.
To the Bride and Groom!
I’m not sure why it still feels so surreal when one of my friends gets married or has a baby… Maybe it’s because I’m in denial about how old I am. ;) Maybe it’s cause despite all we’ve seen and gone thru, I still think of us as those kids growing up in Jersey. Or maybe it’s because those things seem so far off in my life… But whatever the case I had another one of those moments this weekend when I attended the wedding of one of my absolute favorite people on the planet!
This is my friend Daryl and his gorgeous bride Lyla. They had one of the most amazing weddings I’ve ever been to and they partied HARD all nite long!
Nearly all of my closest friends from high school and elementary school were there — in fact we joked that Daryl and Lyla financed our 15th HS reunion and there was no need for us to go since pretty much everyone we cared to see was already there. But as I was looking around the room I realized that just about everybody, save two or three of us was married and/or had kids. A couple of years ago I thought, “Man, they all sure got married up quick.” But now I realize I’m the one that’s slow rolling.
Sometimes (a lot actually) I worry that my lifestyle is making it exponentially harder for me to make moves in that area of my life (How would I even fit a relationship in? I had to bow out of their reception early so I could hit the road back from Jersey to BWI for a 6am flight). But I also sincerely believe that I will have those things if they are meant for me. In the meantime I will be happy knowing that all my married friends are in very happy, healthy relationships. So if I ever find myself venturing down that road, I’ll have some fantastic couples to ping for advice!
Again best of luck to the new Mr. & Mr. Phills as they begin their life together. I love you guys and can’t wait to see what comes next!
Broadway Fun, Funny Broads (is that offensive?), and I Do’s
So… I am in the NJ/NY area this week for a few reasons. First, one of my closest friends is getting married tonite. Hooray for this. Also I had a show on Wednesday nite in the city (see the post below). But Wednesday afternoon before my show I finally was able to see FELA! — the hit Broadway musical about the life of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti. It was FANTASTIC!!! Here is a clip below:
The show only runs thru January but I just heard that Patti LaBelle is joining the cast this fall, so if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s only going to get better! Oh, and in other related and even more awesome news, my imaginary boyfriend Chiwitel Ejiofor will be playing Fela in Steve McQueen’s upcoming biopic.
My show Wednesday nite was super fun. Organized by Jen Dziura and Abbi Crutchfield, this was the press preview for their new all-female weekly showcase called Ladybits. Performing on the show were Jen, Abbi, Bonnie McFarlane and yours truly. I had a bunch of friends who live in the area come out and the room was packed. Great start ladies!!! I wish you the best of luck. They had a sketch artist sketching us while we were onstage. I’m looking forward to seeing this sketch. I asked her to draw me thinner. We’ll see what she comes up with… After the show I went for sushi with the hilarious Ms. McFarlane and the equally hilarious Morgan Murphy. Fun times! I can’t wait til I live in New York.
Switching gears, I’m looking very forward to this wedding tonite. It’s going to be a huge event — 270+ guests. Open bar… And guess who has to leave directly from the reception (possibly during) to hit the road for a butt-crack-of-dawn flight outta BWI? Yup… *this girl.* :(
Well, I wish the happy couple nothing but happiness and love and I can’t wait to see them and everyone else!
Oversleeping and Overalls
I know I’ve been a lazy blogger but the last two weeks have literally been a blur. After digging my car out of the remnants of Snowpocalypse 2010, I drove down a day early to Raleigh to make sure I didn’t miss my Bill Maher shows. On the Sunday morning after the special aired I drove from Raleigh to Altoona, PA for a Valentine’s Day show. Then on the 15th I woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and drove from Altoona to Baltimore so I could catch a flight to San Antonio. I was there for one night and the next morning had to fly to Atlanta.
Which brings me to the reason for this post. I overslept and missed my first flight into ATL and had to take a later flight. Then when I finally got into the ATL airport, the airtrain that takes you to the rental car facility was broken and I and about a hundred plus other people had to wait nearly 50 minutes to get to the facility.
All I wanted to do was get to a bed and I didn’t know if I was gonna even be able to stand on my feet any longer. But then I saw this:
The most awesome pair of Maurice Malone overalls ever stitched.
And my day was immediately brightened. These jeans gave me energy. Where did he find them? Or better yet, what made him keep them so long? And how does he access the goodies he puts in the pouch? Getting undressed to get to your cell phone seems a little inconvenient… I wondered (almost aloud — I was kinda delirious ;) whether the pouch on the back was considered an additional carry-on. ‘Cause somehow it doesn’t seem fair that he should be allowed that AND a laptop bag. I thought I would share so these jeans could brighten your day too.
You’re welcome.
EJ’s Beautiful Experiment
OK, so after doing the interview featured in my last post, I began to think a lot about BeautifulPeople.com. I joked with friends about the audacity of the site — especially considering it’s the Internet and there’s no way to verify that any of the site’s members are really as attractive as their photos suggest (or if they’re even the same people at all). But the more I thought about it, the more interested I became in what the application process was actually like. Soooo, I decided to do what I’d like to call an in-depth investigation and apply myself.
Yes, really.
So click play… and find out if I’m a beautiful person or not! ;)
Great leaders in Black history? (Snarf…)
On Wednesday I took my car to the Black-owned car wash/detailing spot not far from my house. And on the wall inside the building (where you can stand to watch your car go thru the brushes) there were a series of photos and posters commemorating great Black leaders… Cool, right?
The first photo was of Nelson Mandela:
The next photo was of Dr. King:
The next was a poster listing some of the major contributors and pioneers of the Harlem Renaissance:
And last but certainly not least… Continue reading →
How to NOT miss your blessing
I heard on the Today Show on Friday morning that a study showed that Louisiana was the ‘happiest’ state to live in. And after the fun I had this weekend in NOLA, I wouldn’t argue that one bit! I went to Louisiana to see BFF Jenny (excuse me — Dr. Jennifer Pinder Ellis) receive her Ph.D. from LSU!!! YAY! Sooooooo proud of you, J!
Jenny’s husband is from New Orleans and threw her a big graduation party at a great restaurant there on Friday nite.
And after a short program and a fantastic dinner, the party really got started. There was a great DJ who played line dances that I’ve never even heard of — in fact, I’m pretty sure Jen’s husband and his sister made at least 2 or 3 of those up on the spot ;) At some point we realized that some of the people from the holiday party across the corridor (where there was no DJ) were coming out into the hall to dance to the music at Jen’s party. The bartender even came to ‘notify’ us that they were mooching off our DJ ;) Tee hee ;) Continue reading →