Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Because Shouldn't We Celebrate Christmas Every Day?

I think this is an appropriate first Homegirl post of 2012. The fact that our Christmas tree and stockings and house lights and yard ornaments are still up kind of represents my general outlook on things. If it's cute, makes you smile and isn't hurting anybody, let it be. Especially if there's a celebration involved. We leave birthday party balloons and Mother's Day flowers around the house until they die. Rarely is my home without a helium balloon floating around someplace. Because, why not. At some point, it all has to come down. The yard stuff. I have a few neighbors who are yet in the Christmas spirit, and there's comfort in numbers so... The Homeowners Association is sure to say something about the reindeer and the lights on the trees, but only after Chinese New Year which is like three weeks away. My tree is safe inside. I'm sure it won't be there three weeks from now, but I quite like to enter the room and see it there. It's not a small tree. I'm 6'1" and it has a few inches on me. I like looking at it. Most importantly, it makes my son smile. I started to remove ornaments the other day and he said , "But, Mo-Om! Don't take it do-Own! Keep it up! It's SO beautiful! I love Iiiiit!" He really didn't have to be so dramatic about it. Secretly, I had wanted to leave it there. I was trying to start off my year by checking things off my to-do list ever single day, and the Christmas tree's number was up. I'm glad the boy protested. We are still enjoying our tree, and Zack gets to have Christmas every day. When he comes into the living room or when we're approaching our house, he says something like, "It's still Christmastime!" Then I say something like, "Does that make you feel happy?" Then he says something like, "Yeah!"  Then I say something like, "Awesome." He hasn't mentioned toys or lists to Santa. He's just happy that it's still Christmas. Obviously, so am I. How does my husband feel about the after-Christmas tree? As long as he has a plate of food to eat in the evenings and knows where at least two of the TV remotes are, he's happy. Everybody wins. 

Am I alone? Does your home also still look like Christmas? 

Keep It In My Backyard, Austin!

Kiimby (Keep It In My Backyard) is so quintessentially Austin-- a movement created by tech guys, encouraging people to do good, while shopping local. Wednesday night I had the pleasure of joining them at Dress Shop in downtown Austin for the first of many events around town to celebrate their good-hearted movement to encourage Austinites to shop at locally-owned businesses while simultaneously supporting local charities. The short of it is that shoppers can register (at no cost) for a Kiimby card, select a local charity to support, and use the card when shopping at Austin businesses. The card works like a local shopper loyalty card--swipe it at an locally-owned business and a percentage of the purchase goes to an Austin charity. Pretty good, huh?

A percentage of purchases made at Wednesday night's event went to support  . In case you missed it, my relationship with DFS started with a little cupcake party I threw and has blossomed from there. Leslie, Judy and the team of volunteers there are just awesome. Austinites, if you have a do-gooder itch to scratch, and being part of an organization that supports women interests you, go register to volunteer with us! If you don't have time to volunteer, go over to kiimby.com, register for your card, select Dress For Success or any other local charity you want your purchases to support and shop local! Let me tell you, Dress Shop is a great place to start. Obviously the dresses there rock, but the accessories at that place? Girl! I promise my heartrate increased when I saw the first display of statement necklaces. I'm going back there for my next accessorie run and you should too. Brave downtown parking (I tried to use the law of attraction--really--to find a close spot, but still ended up walking 4 blocks to the store), wear comfy shoes, and prepare to be enveloped in ultimate girlieness

I managed to snap a few decent pictures during the event. Here are a few, but as usual, head on over to my Facebook page for the full monty!

 

Do You Austin's First Anniversary Bash

I remember being at the first meeting of this group started by an acquaintance of mine a year ago. Do You Austin (as in Do you, Austin.) started out as a small group of women looking for  solutions to care for natural hair. In just one year, has expanded to over a hundred men and women and kids who come together to celebrate life, encourage and support entrepreneurship, natural living, wellness, art, music, dance and all things beautiful. Do You Austin has come a long way from being just about natural hair care, but you know what? There's no other resource that has been more useful for finding out where to get  your natural hair done or who to consult about caring for your hair at home in Austin.

HomeGirl and Friends Did Good! Johnsons's® "Girl Talk Cause Party" for Dress For Success Austin

Recently, I had the honor of hosting a Johnson's® "Girl Talk Cause Party". All I need is any old excuse to throw a party, so I jumped at the opportunity to host a party for a good cause when I received the email from the Blogalicious marketing network, bLink, a few months ago. Johnson's® provided body care goodies for my guests, encouraging me to bring women together to celebrate friendship and to make a difference in our community by creating awareness and support for a charity that supports women. I was excited to create awareness, have a blast and send everybody away with a goodie bag, but I also wanted to really do something for the charity I selected. I wanted my party to make a tangible difference. So I contacted Dress For Success Austin to invite them to my event and find out how we could support them.

Dress for Success is a worldwide organization that provides interview suits, work clothes and support through career mentoring programs for women who have found themselves at a disadvantage. Judy, Executive Director, told me that they had a strong need for hair care products. Later, my tour of their facility confirmed that there was not one bottle of shampoo on their shelves. Y'all know hair is one of the many topics I write about on this blog. I understand the relationship between the appearance of our hair is to our confidence, especially in job interview situations. By collecting hair products, I felt like in some small way, my party would affect the mini-makeover process for a handful of women (and much fun are makeovers?!).  Thus, HomeGirl's Shampoo & Cupcakes  For A Cause party was officially on!

It's Friday! This is how we do it.

The morning radio show I listen to during my morning commute plays THE BEST DJ mix of songs from the 70s-90s on Fridays. When I heard Montel Jordan's "This Is How We Do It" it took me straight back to college party days. I don't know where Montel is now, but this song was the jam back then.   

Me and my friends use to make up dance routines back then too ("Fo' Deep" was the name of our group...yes, we had a group). I spent many hours in college hanging out with one of my friends in particular (shoutout Blensita!) and we would practice the same dance routine to a many different songs. Fast,slow, it didn't matter. We had so much fun. I had the most special experiences and met the most important people in my life during those four five years in college. Fun times.

Speaking of dancing and college days, Billy and my friend Blen introduced me to reggae music my sophomore year in college. I was like, "Where has Buju been all my life?" We're going dancing at a good spot for reggae this evening. I will be wearing sensible shoes so I can keep up with Billy and his West Indian hips tonight.

Other fun-ness in the works for this long weekend too. Y'all have some fun too. I'll see y'all on the flipside.   

(This entry also posted on Honeymag.com.)

Very Cool Weekend

This was an awesome weekend for me because:

1. Billy fired up the grill and the smoker. The SKILLS y'all, the SKILLS!
2. Summer's afraid of dogs, but was all up in my spot with my girls Okie & Stella. Yay!
3. Her little boy, who just turned two and has never met 80 pound dogs before, met Okie & Stella for the first time, and was lovin' on them in no time.
4. My mom and Aunt drove down from Memphis for our (what has apparently become "annual") July 4th BBQ,
5. Which was great this year. About 30 guests came over...in spite of the rainstorm. The album is up, so you can view pictures HERE.
6. My house was full of people and kids and babies and Okie & Stella were lovin' it. It was awesome hearing the babies say, "Hi Doggy", "Hello Doggy", "Bye Doggies". When he was there, Summer's little boy rubbed noses with Okie and dubbed her "Okie Snokie". Y'all know I was eatin' up these little kids lovin' on my dogs, right?
7. And did I mention my mom was here? I had her for 5 days...I SO wasn't ready for her to leave, but what's new?

Needless to say, it was all tiring. All week long I've been looking forward to sleeping in this morning. I'm off to put some coffee on and to do a little reading before cleaning the house. Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Family Reunion: Memphis 2006

Coolest Moments at my first family reunion:

1. Being reunited with my sister-cousin (not a hillbilly-sister-cousin-for-real, but my cousin who's like a sister to me) after 5 years. We're only 5 months apart in age, so we literally grew up together. The last time I saw Cheronda was 5 years ago when she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She's the one person who probably knows me as well as I know myself. We spent SO. MANY. hours of our teenage years together. We really should have seen each other way before this event. She's in Arizona and I'm in Texas, so it really doesn't make sense for us to have gone so long without visiting. As Summer suggested, more frequent visits are in order.

2. Being a group again with Cheronda, Paula (my other sister-cousin) and my twin brother, Rodney. We ran together all the time growing up. We made The. Best. memories together. One of our most fun times was when we made a movie at my aunt Margie's house. We made a cooking show, complete with commercials, at Margie's house one time too. The movie we made was called Fisher (Instead of Hunter--remember that show?), I played a Mexican drug dealer/pimp named Chico who was trying to kill my "main girl" played by Cheronda. Paula and Rodney were the investigators who eventually killed me at the end. We had a keyboard for dramatic "action" and "suspense" music and everything. We were so crazy. At the Reunion picnic and the next night at the banquet, we were right back into our silly ways. It was awesome laughing so much with them again.

3. Finding out that my Uncle Billy (the man in the straw hat in the picture) is really not my Uncle Billy. He's my Uncle Norman. I had no idea until that weekend. He told me how, growing up,  my Aunt Margie called him "Bitty" as in itty bitty because he was so skinny. The name caught on and by the time I was born and introduced to him he was called Uncle Billy. I have other cousins with nicknames, but I already know their real names. At least I think I do. Let's see...

There's T.C., whose real name is Billie
Wooky, whose really Karen
Shauncy, whose really Leigh
Whooty, whose really Curtis
James, whose also known as Mitch, but whose really Quan
Uncle Paps, whose also Main, but really Vivian
Lisa, whose really Alicia (I was pretty old before I learned that too.)
Aunt Teen, whose really Ernestine
Aunt Nomie, whose really Leona
Sister, who's real name is Vera
There's Poochie, I can't think of his name... Marcus! Any kin reading this post, if you know any other names and care to, feel free to share.

Of course the list goes on, but you get the picture. Speaking of pictures, the album of pics from the picnic are posted. So many people didn't make it to the reunion. This is only a small piece of my family pie. I didn't have my camera the night of the banquet, so I'll have to wait to get those from my cousins.

I feel like a junkie.

Not that I could really know what that feels like having never been a junkie, but I've seen them in movies and read about them, so I have some idea.

I went home for my family reunion this past weekend and have been going through some serious withdrawal since returning to Austin. I haven't been crazy about talking to friends, or checking my email or updating my blog, or reading other blogs. I've been a little foggy-brain.ded at work. Just been a little blue. Serious withdrawal. 

My husband's my only family here. I have sister-friend-family close by too, and that's great--but a WORLD of difference from my folks. My Folks. There was so much love there this weekend. I could hug my twin whenever I wanted and kiss my mom and aunt and little cousins whenever I wanted and give my sister love when I wanted--and trust me, there's lots of kissing and hugging in my family...we love to show the love.

Plus it never gets old hearing My Folks calling me "Quel" or "Quel-Quel". The people who really know me, and who really love me call me Quel. Hearing that will never get old.

I'm homesick. Even after 5 years of being away. I digress.

My next post will be a tiny recap of my very cool weekend...with pictures!

Weekend Recap

Home to Memphis

My flight in to Memphis was pretty cool. I finally got to read for a good stretch of time. The book I'm reading is really good, but I hadn't had a time to really sit down and read it. I'm glad I did, because it literally took me to another place in my mind. Apparently there was turbulence during the flight. I didn't notice, but when when we landed in Memphis, the guy next to me told me how impressed he was that I didn't flinch at all during what was apparently a rough ride. I'm not surprised. The Kite Runner is an enthralling story. Heavy, though.

She's Married Now!

My friend Terri got married. Like all our other gatherings, it was a mini CBU reunion. She was beautiful. Our friend, Tonya, sang Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" during the processional and Des'ree's "I'm Kissing You" during Terri's march. I gave a WAY too tearful speech at the reception and we danced the.whole.time. There were bubbles and flowers and kids and a purple cake. It was great. Congratulations, Terri!

 

Fish Fry

I asked my mom to cook some spaghetti. The next question was, "And what else?" In the South (or maybe just in my hood?), the answer is usually, "Fried fish"...and coleslaw, of course. So after church on Sunday...at which time the big question with my kin folks is usually, "Who cooked?"...word got around that my mom was cooking and it was on. My brother, Rodney, fried the fish, mom hooked up the spaghetti and lemonade, and some of my folks passed through. One of my brother's friends brought a "Welcome Home" cake for Billy and me and it was officially a party. This was one of those tough trips home to leave. I'm homesick all over again. Our family reunion is Memorial Day weekend, and I already know I'm gonna be sick when I leave then too.

Saturdayness

We went to our church's annual Valentine's Day dance last night. I almost thought I couldn't go becasue of this weird eczema thing that popped up on my neck...thank God for drugs and doctors! I actually got through the night without having a drink too. My social anxiety didn't show it's ugly face last night, which was awesome (maybe I'm growing out of it? ) The dj did a great job...we danced most of the night after dinner. I couldn't ask for a better dance partner than Billy. We also finally got to meet Brotha Buck and his wife officially. He was actually my blog buddy before I realized we went to the same church. I only met him there once, briefly after church, but we never got to talk. I learned his real name and realized how closely he and his wife resemble his comics...he's a great artist and writer. Anyway, Billy and I didn't go to bed until about 2 a.m., so this morning has been slow...and nice.

But now it's time to get to Saturdayin'...

I have about 15 more minutes before I get up to start cleaning my house. I've already read a couple of chapters of Waiting to Exhale, had breakfast, watched 106 and Park Freestyle Friday re-run and a couple of episodes of Wild 'N Out. I'm having coffee  and was about to watch Mad Hot Ballroom again, but I have to get some housework done. Today is the day for Stella and Okie to get their asses washed too. If I get enough done today maybe I can start painting my dining room, which has been taped off for a whole week now--I was going to paint last week while Billy was in Japan, but got sick before I could start. I'll share before and afters when I'm done.

Totally unrelated tasty bit: I discovered The Dog Whisperer blog! SCORE! I'm gonna ask for advice on how to get my huge 80 pound dogs to stop rushing people when they come into the house.

Today I...

1. Returned the outfit I ordered to wear to Summer's Party For The Grown & Sexy this weekend. Billy and I loved the outfit, but I was in need of some therapeutic shopping. So rather than get a refund, I looked through the catalog and filled out the exchange form for a casual top and some really cool accessories. I missed the party because in my current condition of sickness, I cannot travel out of town and had to follow my doctors orders to stay home.
2. Stayed in bed and listened to talk radio until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Partly out of depression for being sick and missing my friend's party, and partly because I was enjoying listening to tips about landscaping and organic gardening.
3. Started transcribing Thanksgiving recipes to send to my friend in Houston. She spent T-day with us a few years back and recently asked for my recipes. Said it was the best Thanksgiving dinner she'd had (she's Kenyan). I boned a turkey, hammered it flat,layered a sausage and vegetable mix on top, rolled it up into a huge turkey sausage roll and roasted it. It was yum. I'm also working on my mom's dressing and red velvet cake recipes.
4. Watched the Good Times marathon on TVOne all day long. The one with James' funeral came on, so I got to see (for the gazillionth time) Florida drop that crystal punch bowl and say, "Damn! Damn! Damn!" That was cool.
5. Watched Beauty Shop on PPV.
6. Made my grocery list.
7. Wished I had a time machine to warp me into 5 weeks from now when I'll be not-sick and in ATL partying with my girls.

Life After 28

Well, it's been about 5 weeks since I turned 28. I've taken some trips to see my nears and dears over the past few weeks. I had plans to post after each trip, but I was too busy being busy and being a big ole procrastinator with regards to keeping blogland all up in my loop. So come on catch up with me...

On my birthday-eve, as I was packing for my trip to D.C., Billy surprised me with cup cakes with candles lit and a beautiful card. I cried (because I'm such a goober) and read the card, made a wish (yes I make wishes on birthday candles) and blew out the candles. It was a sweet moment.

Washington, D.C./Alexandria VA- September 16 (my birthday)
I went to visit my sister on my birthday. I stayed awake on the plane the whole way there for the first time. I watched the sky most of the way. I couldn't believe I was up there. It's pretty hard to take for granted that tons of metal and hundreds of pounds of people are floating above the clouds. I took pictures.

I arrived in D.C. around noon and it felt just like home to me: I took a semester off from college my junior year and crashed with her in the heart of downtown D.C.--best 7 months ever. My sister left home for school at Foxcroft School in VA when I was 10, so our whole relationship has been these amazing visits to wherever she was at the time, which was always somewhere Northeast and beautiful. Anyway, Adriane took me to her spot, this amazing coffee house called Cameron Perks. I wanted to move into one of the brownstones across the street and just live there forever. I got to go to Trader Joe's for the first time, which was cool. H&M was everything I thought it would be. I was a little too bootylicious for the skirts I wanted to get, but I got some really cute tops and accessories. We shopped and ate and ate and shopped, and had a blast. We went to Kramer Books&Afterwords on Dupont Circle...one of my favorite places in D.C...and just had a great time doing our sister thing. Oh! And she and Vivian officially hooked up my "frog stuff" collection, so I'll be updating and posting my Frog Stuff photo gallery with the soon-ness.

Memphis, TN- September 24 (On the way to ATL)
On the way to Atlanta for Blen's wedding, Billy and I had a 5 hour layover in my hometown, Memphis. We met my parents and aunt and uncle at IHOP for breakfast. After breakfast, Billy went to the mall with my mom to find a tie (he left his other one at home) and I went home with my aunt to spend some QT with her. I love going home to Memphis. Just being around my people and relaxing 100% and speaking with my Memphis accent...LOVE it!

Atlanta, GA- September 24 (Blen's Wedding)
Billy checked into the Ritz (where the reception was being held) and we went to Summer's room for a bit...met her peeps...took pictures, etc., then Billy took me to Blen's uncles place where the pre-wedding celebration was going on: beautiful home, beautiful music, beautiful people, beautiful food, beautiful language, beautiful Blen, beautiful experience. It was hard, at times, to witness this rich and rooted Ethiopian wedding tradition and not mourn the African traditions that Black Americans were robbed of and will never fully know. The aforementioned "beautifuls" also sum up the wedding. And speaking of "sum", Summer did the wedding recap more justice than I can do right now, so for a more detailed recount of the wedding...and pictures...click here.

Dallas, TX- October 15 (Weekend with friends)
We went to Dallas for the wedding of Billy's friend he grew up with in St. Vincent. We went straight to our friend Edmund's (a.k.a. Nabz) place, but he hadn't made it home yet, so we hung out there waiting for him. It was great to see him. Always cool to see old CBU friends. Billy stayed with Ed and I drove over to Summer's for the night. We had plans to go out, but it was way late when I got there, so we ended up doing our old stand-by...yapping and laughing into the wee hours. The wedding was nice and the reception was nice. It was a short trip...not much time to spend with friends, but any amount of time with friends is just what the doctor ordered.

Austin, TX- October 21 (In-law in town)
My sister-in-law came to visit. She's in the U.S. on vacation and is spending most of her time with cousins in Brooklyn and Newark. We went bowling the night she arrived and I murdered my bowling average. We showed her as much of Austin as we could and Billy took her to San Antonio to do the Alamo thing. I love to see Billy around his people. His West Indian accent gets really thick, and he uses that dialect more, which is a bit of a huge turn on for me. 

Plenty of trips for me in my first few weeks as a 28 year-old.

And it don't stop...

I heard there's a party next weekend in Dallas for the "grown and sexy". I do consider myself sexy...we'll work on the "grown" part at the party.               

Vicarious Living

So my friend, Summer, got to meet some of the girls from America's Next Top Model at a signing in a mall in Dallas today. She had a blast, of course...if you're a Top Model fan, and you get to hang out in line with other Top Model fans, and you get to meet Eva, Kahlen, Mercedes, Amanda, and Kenya, of course you have a blast. I asked her if they are even more beautiful in person, which of course they are, and I asked how they smelled. For some (strange?) reason, I always figure beautiful model/actress celebs smell like dolls. You know like plastic baby dolls? I don't know why I care about how they smell. Is that weird? Anyway, I digress. So after my 20 questions, I felt like I had been there too. Sweet Summer knew how much I would have L-O-V-E-D to be there, so she got Eva to sign an autograph for me! It says,

"Raquel, stay beautiful. Eva Diva"

So I got a souvenir from my vicarious living today!

Here's a little vicariation for you guys...

This weekend was a blast.

I had to divide the weekend into two seperate posts, 'cause 1 post would have been too long, and I would actually like people to read them. The D.C. concert recap is really long, but I tried to break it up to make it easier to read. I haven't done this much real partying in a long time. My friend Summer came to visit and boy did we have fun.

Club 115, Saturday night...

Billy, Summer and I went to Club 115 last night. The Club has a nice vibe. A spot for grown folks. An acquaintance, Denise Brooks, a choir member from church, had a show there. It was cool. She sang mostly old school covers, mixed in with some original stuff. She is definitely a show girl. That girl can sing.

After her set, the DJ kept in live with everything from old Bobby Brown and New Edition songs to Missy Elliot's Lose Control, which we did. I had never tried "crunk dancing" before, but that part in the song where Missy says, "Music makes you lose control"...if you're dancing to that song, there's nothing else to do but shake it up.

We all took it back to our old Memphis party days and did all our old moves we could think of. Billy left to pull the car around and Summer and I tried to go out and wait for him twice, but the first time we got to the door and he wasn't out there, 50 Cent was like, "Go shorty, it's yo' birthday..." and we stopped and started backing in from the front door like we were in the Soul Train line. This guy jumped in front of me and we got down for a few seconds and then in front of Summer like we were on Soul Train for real. The second time we tried to leave, Lean Back came on and we had to make it back to the dance floor to do the rock away. On our final exit, Summer and I did our little fraternity stomp as we passed the bar and that same Soul Train line guy joined in again and saw us out.

It was our first time going to 115, but the spot and the DJ is hot.

Destiny's Child Concert

This weekend was amazing. This was my first big arena concert and the show was great. The after-party was great. SO much happened! Too much to try to write about in structured paragraphs, so I'll highlight the happenings to hopefully make for an easier read.

This is a long one:

1. Friday morning, my friend Summer came down from Dallas for the Destiny's Child concert in San Antonio. Once we got there and got checked in to this amazing Hotel, the Westin Riverwalk, we ate, got glammed up and went to the show.
2. Our seats were AWESOME!
3. When we got there Amerie was performing This One Thing. She is as perfectly beautiful as she looks on TV. Then Mario came out and got the girls all excited. This was my first big arena concert, so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. There were a lot of kids there, but many parts of the show were very R rated.
4. Beyonce, Michelle, and Kelly did what they do. They "catered" to 3 guys from the audience and Beyonce's guy, George (pronounced horhay) from El Paso, sang to her in Spanish. It was cute. There was this young Hispanic guy sitting across the aisle from Summer and he was definitely a Beyonce fan. He couldn't have been older than 15. I could see the poor baby's was in awe every time Beyonce was on stage...he screamed out the cutest things, "Beyonce, I love you more than anybody!" and "She's so hot!". He and Summer were doing D.C. choreography in the aisle all throughout the concert.
5. Speaking of D.C. choreography...after the concert, when we got back to the Hotel, we saw, what looked like the tour manager (we call him Chicken Bone, 'casue the whole time we talked to them, he was chompin' on wings) and Mario's background dancers in the lobby. Chicken Bone saw us looking and was like, "yep, that's them." Summer asked where the party was and he told us Joe's Volcano.
6. It was like 1 a.m. and we weren't sure if we were going out, but we figured why not. When we stepped off the elevator back into the lobby, Destiny's Child's female background dancers walked by us. We couldn't believe it! So we walk over and Summer (she's the bold one) says hi and we tell them how awesome they were in the show. They were really friendly and one of them, Aisha, said it was her birthday and she was all excited to be going out.
7. The the male dancers from the show stepped of the elevator and it was like everything went into slow motion. Those guys were as good looking as you would expect them to be in person. We couldn't believe this was happening. We were all waiting in the lobby for valet to bring our cars around, so we were just chillin' there...WITH DESTINY'S CHILD DANCERS! One guy, Anthony, came over and shook hands and introduced himself to Summer then to me. Eventually everybody was introduced and our car came and we were like, "see y'all at the after party!"
8. We get to the club and the line is crazy long. Then we see a shorter line and Summer goes to investigate...you had to valet park at the club to get in the shorter line and there weren't any more spaces. So we're at the end of the long line, it's like 1:30 and there is no way we're getting in...the place is filled to capacity and it's like a 2 out-2 in thing going on and we knew we weren't gonna make it in. Summer goes back to the valet line which is empty by now and talks to the guard...not one minute passes and she's flagging me over from the back of the 'we're-never-gonna-get-in line and INTO THE CLUB! I gained a whole new respect for my girl that night. She knows how to make things happen.
9. We had a great time. (Although the music sucked...the DJ kept playing all this rap and no real songs you could dance to...there were kids practically making babies on and off the dancefloor, and lots of smoke, but it was an experience.)
10. In the interest of not incriminating certain individuals, the following events will be generalized and abbreviated: When the male dancers finally came out of the VIP section music continued to play and the professional dancers danced amongst the non-professional dancers, whom they recognized from a previous meeting.
11. We got back to the hotel at almost 4 a.m. and rehashed the whole night to make sure it all really happened.
12. The next morning, I got up a bit early to go out on one of the balconies in the lobby to read. [When we got there the day before, I made a mental note to experience reading in the morning on that posh balcony...overstuffed cushions on overstuffed sofas and chairs under ceiling fans and overlooking the canal.] So I was out there reading and Summer woke up and realized I had left the room and came down to the lobby and who else is there checking out...D.C.'s dancers...who still remembered the night before and were like what's up...

We didn't get to meet the headliners of the shows, but we went to the concert, met with the dancers on the way to the after party, at the after-party and at check-out the next morning...when all we expected when we got there was to see the show. I'm so happy Summer chose to make reservations at one of the nicer hotels downtown. It was just one night. And it was totally worth it.

Spongebob Squarepants Marathon Party

No we weren't watching endless episodes of the cartoon show. It was actually the most interesting party I've been too...ever, I think. This girl who teaches running classes here at Runtex invited us to a party last night. The purpose of the party was cool: a lot of people had birthdays this month and a few had run their first marathons, some half marathons, and triathlons. Somebody brought a huge Spongebob Squarepants pinata, so it became the centerpiece of the party table.

The hostess usually runs in the events here, but when she's not running, she's ringing a cowbell to encourage her students and friends. Somebody found a shirt at Urban Outfitters that said "More Cowbell" and brought it to her as a gift. Of course she had to go get the cowbell and demonstrate her sideline race cheers for us. We laughed about Will Farrell's character on SNL who use to outplay everybody in his band on the cowbell. I was surprised by how many people weren't familiar with that.

I'd never been around so many runners/bikers before. This one guy was talking about a bike race he has today and there were conversations about injuries, and insoles, and race resumes. The non-runners tried to get to the "why" of training and running marathons and stuff, and one guy boiled it down to, "you run from here to there and see who gets there first." Still not clear on the "why" of it all, but that answer seemed to please most folks there.

Birthday Party

We had a great time at a friend's 40th birthday party this weekend. I had no idea he was that old until we got the invitation. His birthday was actually last month, but they didn't have time to fit the party in then. The theme was Casino Night and they hired a gaming crew to set up tables and guests were playing blackjack and whatever other games you play on casino tables. I was so lost. Billy did ok at the tables, though. Too bad they weren't playing with real money.

I am NOT a card person. I can only play kid games like speed and concentration and solitaire. Needless to say I didn't do any of the casino stuff. These guys were getting a spaids game together and needed a 4th. I was hoping they wouldn't ask me, but they did. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only black person who can't play spaids. I know that sounds like a stereotype, but I'm speaking from experience here. And everytime I have to opt out and tell people why, they are so surprised...everytime. Sorry! I just never learned to play!

I was a good girl too. I resisted the margaritas, as good as they were lookin'. And they had my favorite red wine too and I did not take a sip. I did my share of drinking when Terri was here. I told myself that would be my last time partaking of wines and spirits this year...for many reasons.

They have the cutest dogs too; a toy poodle (boy, black, named Onyx) and a chihuahua (girl named Diva). Billy says they're not real dogs. I must admit, tiny pooches are not as fun to pet and cuddle with as the big monter ones are. Diva and Onyx are sweet babies though. Very spoiled indeed.

I won a door prize too! I never win door prizes! I never win anything! I was so excited. We had to draw these slips of paper from a bag . Billy made fun of how excited I was. As soon as I looked at my paper, it was like I had won the lottery..."June 27, 1965! June 27th! I won! I won!" jumping up and down in my seat waving the slip of paper high above my head. Then this girl was like, "No. That is for a different game, not this one." I was surprised at how little I was embarassed. I was too busy laughing at myself...and at Billy making fun of me. But then later they said 4 slips had his birthday on them. I had one and Billy had another, so I did win. I just celebrated a little early. Even the gag prizes were nice. I got a neat purple (my favorite color) toothbrush and soap travel case set and Billy got a jewelry box from Pier 1...both are mine of course. This one other lady got a Pier 1 pillar candle and holder. Very nice.

Another Girlfriend Reunion

My friend, Terri came to visit me recently. We've known each other since we were like 10, so she's more like family in many ways. Anyway, since I've been "out" for a bit I haven't had a chance to fill you in on our visit. I was a little sickish most of the time, but I think I did an ok job of masking it...although I did say, "I'm sick" fairly often. It was an eventful visit...plenty to recap. I hope I don't forget anything.

Here goes:

• First we had to introduce Terri to the mutts, which was an experience. Even though she showed them NO love, they showed her love anyway. They can't help it, they're lovers:)
• The first night we went to the Beres Hammond concert at Flamingo Cantina. His opening act (some non-singing guy from the U.S. who use to sing R&B, but switched over to Reggae and should have switched over to any non-singing occupation) was terrible. But B.H.'s background singers came out and did a great job. Marcia Griffith (the Queen of Jamaican music) is touring with him, and she was as cute and as entertaining as ever. As always Beres shut it down. I love his shows. His music is all about love and feeling good...classic reggae. You could feel the love he was giving out and could totally tell he was feeling the love we were giving back.
• The next day after breakfast, I took Terri on a driving tour of Austin. We stopped by Book People and ended up at, where else, but Mozart's. During our college days Terri and I frequented a Midtown Starbucks in Memphis and this really cool coffee house called Otherlands, so we had to do our coffee thing. It would have been nice if we could have walked to the one in my neighborhood, but the ones in the city are better for people watching. The only thing I don't like about Mozart's is that the tables inside are always taken. You have to hawk everybody and when you see somebody packing up, it's like a race to see who can get there first. If the weather were nicer, it wouldn't have been such a pain. It was hot y'all! That night we went to Speakeasy. Terri introduced me to the Bay Breeze mmmmm and the Apple Martini mmmmm. I whipped Terri and Billy on 2 games of pool (one summer Terri, my cousin Cheronda and I played pool everyday--I still got skills), and the band was realy good. The lead singer did a tribute to Luther...you could feel Luther up in there. He was really good. On the way home, Billy wanted to stop to get chicken to smoke the next day and the stores that I just knew were open 24 hours were closed. It was so funny every time we pulled in and realized they were closed.
• Then we went to San Marcos to the outlet stores, where I spent way too much money. All of that stuff isn't really priced as low as you would think. They have some great stores, but sometimes the clearance at the actual store is better pricewise. The outlets have more sizes though.
• We ended up on South Congress at the Antique shops and butiques down there. It was ok, but I didn't see anything I was crazy about. There were some earrings that I loved that I might go back and get. I'm trying to decide. If I wear them, I'll have to get my teeth bleached. They are these really beautiful, really big white-bead chandelier earrings and they make my teeth look very not-so-white. 
• Terri and I  watched I Robot and then the beginning of I Robot again (if you've seen it, you know why the first 5 minutes got an encore), and enjoyed Billy's smoked chicken for dinner on her last night here.

In between all the going, we had some great laughs reminiscing and just hanging out. Just like the good old days.

July 4th Party

As our guests approached our front door on Monday their steps brought them closer and closer to our Independence Day Luau. I was this close to putting red, white and blue Christmas lights on the palm tree outside our front door, but there were too many other things to tend to.

Our neighborhood association decided to put little American flags in every yard curbside, so I felt moved to keep the festive mood going inside by creating a theme, which is something we haven't done in the past. Billy thought it was cheesy, but cheesy is my middle name and I'm not ashamed to admit that. I did, after all, want to name our dogs Okie and Dokie. Seriously, how cute would that be...to have 2 dogs named Okie and Dokie? It's cheesy, yes, but how cute? Anyway, everybody was welcomed into our home with a big hug and a red, white and blue lei. Of course we couldn't leave Okie and Stella out of the festivities, so they got little dog leis as well.

The food turned out as good as we had hoped. Billy was grill master and worked his magic on smoked brisket, goat, chicken and sausage. And my aunt Margie worked her magic with all the sides. I don't think she'll ever get tired of hearing, Who made these beans? What's in that sauce? This is the best I've ever had. This was their 2rd trip down, so our friends who come every year look forward to my aunt's cooking. My mom did a great job getting the house together and helping me keep track of what needed to get done. I'm not sure we could've hosted so many people so graciously if she hadn't been here. She's so good with people...instantly familiar, you know? I wish I could be more like her in that way. She's a great person...a great mom. She kept everybody happy and everything running smoothly. 

Everybody came in and fell right into whatever conversations or games or whatever interested them. I was glad we had such a large group of people here, 'cause that meant less entertaining for me...everybody was able to keep themselves entertained just fine. There were dominoes (along with the requisite trash talking), and chess games (our friend Rami remains Chess King of our parties- nobody can beat him), and card games going on all over the house.  The kids who came all enjoyed playing with Okie & Stella, and they enjoyed the kids as well (except one little boy who terrorized my poor Stella). The party started at 2pm and our last guests left around 9pm. At the end of the day, we had hosted about 50 neighbors, coworkers, friends and their kids. We had a great time.

My folks left this morning. I was so emotional all day. I cried on my way in to work, and was basically sad all day. I always go through this like, 2 day withdrawal thing when my folks, my mom especially, leave here to go back to Memphis. Plus I usually just want to sleep all day to "detox" from all the excitement and business involved with throwing a big party like this one.

I was only able to take a handful of pictures. I'm going to try to get some from some of the guests who took pictures of their own to try to pull together a decent photo album. I'll keep you posted.