Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Barielle Fall Nail Color Giveaway Winner!

Congratulations to A Mom's Choice for being the winner of three new shades of nail polish by Barielle. Her number, lucky number 11, was selected using the random number generator at random.org from the eligible entries. Thank you to everyone who entered.

Come back tomorrow for details on September's e.l.f. cosmetics giveaway!

Rooster At Freddies On First

This rooster looks over the outdoor eating area at Freddies in Austin. Zack and I had lunch there with a friend today.

Too long for a Facebook Update, a bit random for a blog entry, but here goes anyway

I had fun at the park with Zack this morning. Went without my camera. Sucks. He's squeaky clean and in bed napping now and for the next 3 hours. So I'm going to have brunch (missed breakfast again this morning) and get some cleaning done. I'm reading Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood right now and it's SO good! I wish I could just sit and read it until I'm done, but all my time comes in bits. Like now. For the past 17 minutes I've been standing at the counter in my kitchen returning emails and catching up on my social networking spots. Afraid to sit down, because then an hour would go by and I'd still be hungry and my house would still need to be cleaned. Anyway, the book is wonderful. I'm always thinking about it when I'm not reading it. That hasn't happened in a long time.

And this is so random, but I'm a fan of Sanaa Lathan on Facebook and it's really her...she uploads mobile pics and everything. Anyway, I want to tell her so bad that she's my BFF in my head, that we would totally be real-life friends if we ever met...same with Gabrielle Union on twitter. But that would be silly.

Old Fashioned Rx

Billy brought this bag home from the neighborhood pharmacy the other day. These are old fashioned ads for medicines all over the black and white sack. This is one of many changes our neighborhood grocery store has implemented. I walked in there about a month ago having been away for a while (I usually shop at our local discount grocery store outside my hood), and there is like a living room section with a fireplace and upholstered armchairs, a Starbucks, another little cafe area...they're almost about to make me start shopping in my own neighborhood. The sitting areas are so convenient. I've had to stop there a few times just to feed my son and didn't feel bad for not buying anything. Sometimes, he not eat when I offer it to him then say he's hungry as soon as we get into the car. The store prices have gone down a bit too and I just found out they double coupons. Hmmm. So these charming little pharmacy bags are working on me. I'm one of those people that marketers love--easily charmed by these little touches.

I love my body!

Please visit my entry to the Love Your Body contest that Victoria's Secret is promoting right now (which I found out about through an ad on my own site!) to view my picture and short essay on why I love my body then vote for me--one click on the heart...that's it...and you can do it once a day until September 14th at midnight. So you're welcome right back here to vote everyday.

Vote  <<HERE>>. Thanks! And I hope you love your body too. ;)

Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic

Get some in your life. I made this the other night.  I served it with sauteed mushrooms and onions over mashed sweet potatoes and sauteed spinach. Y'all, I have never experienced a delectable a mix of flavors in my mouth--from my own cooking. Sorry no picture this time (that's one from the recipe website). I was too eager to eat it and didn't even think to grab my camera. 

I bought this huge container of peeled garlic cloves from Sam's and mentioned to my sister that I needed to use it all before it went bad and she mentioned this dish. I googled it and saw Ina Garten's  (aka Barefoot Contessa) name and looked no further. I followed all the steps, except I only used one whole chicken and 20 cloves of garlic instead of two chickens and 40 cloves. Love this. It is officially in rotation in my house now. I bake a whole chicken every week--now I'll hook it up with garlic in my Dutch oven.

Ingredients

    * 3 whole heads garlic, about 40 cloves
    * 2 (3 1/2-pound) chickens, cut into eighths
    * Kosher salt
    * Freshly ground black pepper
    * 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
    * 2 tablespoons good olive oil
    * 3 tablespoons Cognac, divided
    * 1 1/2 cups dry white wine
    * 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
    * 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
    * 2 tablespoons heavy cream

See very important cooking directions over on Food Network's site <<HERE>>. Enjoy!

Poor Judgement Much?

This is not my photo. A facebook friend of mine shared this story and I googled around to find out what others where saying about it. Apparently, this doll was on sale at Costco stores across the country. A black customer complained that it was racially offensive and it was subsequently yanked from the shelves this week. The doll has "lil monkey" written across the hat on her forehead and the box reads, "Monkey Has Her Own Bottle Too! Diaper Fits Both Baby & Monkey!"

There was a white baby doll being sold alongside this one called "Pretty Panda". Um. Yeah.

OK. So. Monkeys are cute. Especially baby monkeys. But somebody...SOMEBODY...somewhere between the conference meeting where this product was conceptualized and the factory where it was assembled and the trucking dock where it was loaded and the Costco warehouse where it was put onto shelves must have thought it was a bit insensitive to a certain group of potential Costco customers in the United States of America where the whole negro-as-monkey thing kinda left a bad taste in the mouths of normal people with souls. I am amazed that this made it to the shelves.

I can't say whether the intent of the manufacturers was racist or not--I'm leaning towards not. There was a lot of money spent on getting this product to the shelves and that's a lot of money to spend just to make a racist statement. I'm sure they are in business to make money and selling black baby dolls with "lil monkey" written across the forehead defeats that purpose...at least on the shelves at Costco. Maybe, especially now that they have truckloads of  black baby doll monkeys to try to make a profit off of, they can hawk them at KKK conventions or certain extreme right wing republican rallies or certain neighborhood parties where "good Christian Americans" live? I'm sure the doll would be wholeheartedly embraced by them.

Tami over at Anti-racist Parent blogged about this story and linked to some other pretty disturbing displays of outright racism. And I ran across some others over at Undercover Black Man. If you have the stomach for it, definitely click on those links.

I'm tired. *shaking my head and walking away*

News clip of this story <<HERE>>.

I prefer this Rihanna...the "before".

I'm still a fan, just not as much as before.

And eff why eye...

In case I haven't already told you, I'm posting to my weight loss blog again after a two-month break. Less than 30 days to lose not lose 30 pounds. I'm on a journey. I know it's impossible to lose that much weight in that amount of time, but I can sort of kind of try, right? I'll treat my body like a temple for the next month (and beyond, of course), in the process, so it's a win-win whether I lose all the weight or not.

If you're new to DailyFitGirl, click HERE for the intro and to catch up. If you're use to reading my ramblings about my eating and weight issues, then get over there and pick back up where I left off almost 2 months ago.

You will see less of me soon...promise. ;-)

Because, apparently, I like to show my panties to men who might happen to knock on my door.

So this morning there was a knock at the door. It was loud and insistent and I was fully prepared to throw some how-dare-you-beat-on-my-door-this-early-in-the-morning-how-did-you-know-I-wasn't-still-sleeping shade on whoever was at the door. Normally I don't answer the door if I'm home alone and not expecting anybody, but Billy was on a conference call in the dining room, so I felt it was safe to answer.  As I approached the front door, I could see the back end of a police car through the window. When I actually made it to the door, I saw  a uniformed police officer (apparently policemen in my county are just awesome looking, because every one I have encountered has been so cute--the firemen too), peering through the side window. So I opened the door and he asked if everything was OK. There was an open 911 call from our house and he wanted to make sure we where cool. Turned out that Billy had dialed 911 by accident when he was conferencing in to a call, and the 911 call was never disconnected. It also turned out that I answered the door and talked to Mr. Cute Policeman in a purple tee-shirt and pink floral panties. I couldn't even muster a feeling of embarrassment, because 1. It hadn't occurred to me that I didn't have on pants until he was long gone and 2. I'm sure I wasn't the first person he had ever seen answer the door in their undies on a 911 call and 3. This was also not the first time a man knocked on my door and had the pleasure of finding out what kind of underwear I was wearing--read about that here.

*shaking my head*

Found Things

I bought this book, Black Girl in Paris, at Half Price Books (for $1! Score!) a couple of days ago. Yesterday, when I flipped through it, I found a bookmark from a specialty used and out-of-print book resale store in Maine and the postcard pictured above. The front of the postcard is all pink and red and Hello Kitty. I can't figure out the relationship between "Lovest" and "Shannie"-maybe sisters or husband and wife or lovers? There's no address or stamp or anything, so Shannie must have left it for Lovest to find at just the right moment. So sweet! I heart buying previously owned things. In case you can't read the photo, it says:

"Lovest, Have a stellar meeting. You are my star--Brilliant, Dreamy, [drawing of a star],Lasting, Hot! [drawing of a heart] Lovest you, [signed]Shannie"

Win 3 Tempting Nail Colors by Barielle

I was thrilled when I was contacted by to folks over at Barielle to review and giveaway some of their products. I was familiar with the international brand (they've been mentioned in just about every major fashion magazine out there--See?), but had never had the pleasure of using any of their products before. So...

I visited their website to poke around and ended up browsing their nail colors. The absolute coolest thing about shopping for nail colors on their site? You can try the colors on using their virtual hand model! You select the nail color you want to try and then select your skin tone (they do a great job of simulating most skin tones) to see how it would look on your hand. You guys simply must check it out here.

Barielle boasts that their nail colors are a Salon Strength Formula, have a Long lasting finish, Protective Barrier, and High Shine. And based on my experiences with "secret encounter" (a metallic deep magenta) and "date night" (a metallic forest), I cannot disagree. They are also DBP, Formaldehyde and Toluene free. These chemicals have been linked to birth defects in lab animals, so pregnant girls should feel free to polish away!

And a random note about their Total Foot Care Cream--get some in your life. Trust me, you had no idea your feet could be so buttery. LOL.

Now about the giveaway...

Peekaboo

Can't keep his hands off the camera. Every time he sees it now he's all, "Camera? Pitcha? Light? Click! Cheeeeese!" I blame Diego and Click The Camera.

OMG, Y'all! I'm a TOP 5 FINALIST in the 2009 Black Weblog Awards!

I was visiting sites on the finalist list and made t down to the Best Photo Blog category and saw my name...HomeGirl...right there on the top 5 list! O.M.G. Y'all!

VOTE "HomeGirl" in the Best Photo Blog category!

Vote HERE. Voting ends September 1. Winner announced September 4.

Day Trip

I took this picture with Billy's iPhone when we were on our way down to the riverwalk today. We drove down to spend the day in San Antonio and enjoyed authentic Mexican food and the company of some authentic friends who are like family.

Black People to The Blogsphere...

"We're here are we're awesome!" :) Not that I speak for all black people, but I'm just sayin'. I'm feeling a bit excited is all. Why?

First of all, Blogalicious 2009 will be happening at The W in Atlanta on October 9-11, and I am SO looking forward to being among my blogging sisters. This conference is designed with female bloggers of color in mind, but white girls, y'all better get down there too. This conference is sure to be enriching and educational for all bloggers in attendance, and most importantly, all are welcome to attend. Just take a look at the conference agenda and you'll see that Blogalicious 2009 will have something for all of us girls. Oh! And the who's who of the brown bloggeratti will be there! I don't know about you, but what I'm looking forward to most is meeting my favorite blogstars in person. I cannot even front.

Secondly, The 2009 Black Weblog Awards Finalists have been named, so make sure you get over there, check out the nominees and VOTE!   I'm biased towards some of my favorites, but am thrilled about some of the new ones I had no idea where out there. Y'all, we are doing it out here right now. I'm enjoying reading the blogs from the list of nominees. They are inspirational. I'm SO proud.

In virtual reality and in our reality, we are minorities, but we are doing it BIG right now. Holla! LOL

Chicago Park

I snapped this pic of my two friends as we where planning next moves on our trip through Millennium Park in Chicago on Friday. Originally, I had chosen another photo to share, but I thought this one was more interesting because of all the movement in the background.

What are the odds...

...that a handicap person would come into the bathroom while I was in the handicap stall?

I really am sorry about delaying her pee, but it was the only stall with a hook and I needed a hook for my bag. I NEEDED that hook because my bag has outside pockets, one of which I needed to place my Starbucks cup inside of. The only other option would have been to sit my bag and my latte on the bathroom floor of a public bathroom stall, which was actually NOT an option. And she was so gracious and understanding when I came out! Guilt.

Universe, I am truly sorry for that. Hopefully this apology will keep me in good karma graces.