FILA update

Sooo, in October I made a list of 10 things that I wanted to do during the first 6 months of me relocating to the metro-Atlanta area. A little over two months into my little project and I'm proud to say that I'm making progress!

1- "Buy something from a cute boutique shop."

I did this one Saturday afternoon. I found the cutest shop in Little Five Points thanks to a friend, who I was meeting in the area for lunch. The shop is called Tease, and what they lack in square footage, they more than make up for in quirky, funky style.

If you are a bit confused by the name, when you go inside it all makes sense, as T-shirts are the majority of the available merchandise...get it T-shirts...Tees...Tease....My shirt was kind of plain, but I thought it was cute. I saw a white T-shirt that said "Smart is the new gangsta" in orange and fuchsia letters that I want to go back an get. Feel free to check them out for yourself (it's on Euclid Avenue).

2-Go to a Hawks game

I'm going to the game later today and I actually was able to get great seats thanks to my alumni hook up. The alumni association for Georgia Southern (Go Eagles!) arranged a Georgia Southern Day with the Hawks where alumni could get good seats for the low low and we get to mix and mingle with the Detroit Pistons coach, who is also a graduate of my esteemed university.

Dreaming of a green Christmas?

I hate wrapping presents. I hate taking the time to make sure the corners are crisp and I hate even more how it looks when you don't. I hate stick on bows, but unfortunately for me, I haven't been able to pick up my mother's gift of making home-made bows.

On holidays and birthdays, everyone in my family looks forward to getting a gift from my mom. It's really amazing to me how she can take a spool of ribbon and turn it into something so festive.

Both my older and younger sister have picked up at least a portion of her talent. Unfortunately, I can't say the same goes for me.

My feeling about wrapping gifts is no secret in my family, so every year at Christmas, it has become a source of merriment for them to see how I've adorned my gifts. One year I used brown paper, twine and fake stems with cherries - cute concept, but my delivery was a bit off. Another year I decided to throw everything in gift bags - it got the job done, but it wasn't very exciting.

This year, in an effort to 1) satisfy my desire to not wrap any gifts and 2) lessen my impact on the world, I've decided to give the gift of going green. Instead of putting my gifts in boxes or gift bags that will be thrown away, I'm going to put everybody's present in one of those canvas bags that they can take to the grocery store.

I'm encouraging everyone else to do the same, or at least take a page from my older sister and mom's book - if you must put your gifts in boxes, gather them up after all the presents are opened and use them again next year.

Where's the lighter fluid?

You think you know someone and then they turn around and do something so surprising that it makes you question if you ever knew them.

My life feels like a series of lines from a host of movies and songs right now, there are many, but none sum it up more than that classic Kelis tune, "I hate you so much right now." *insert scream here*

Writing is generally my release, but it's not helping at this moment. Nor is sleep, as it has been elusive most of the night. Nor is that wine and beer - poor combination I know - that I drank last night.

"I don't wanna go to work today, I'd rather stay home and play video games. I'd rather chill for real...but I gotta get up."

I find it darkly humorous that a date that will live in infamy for me personally came the day after the historical one. The irony of it all. I imagine if the mail ran on Sundays then they would have coincided.

Is it just me?

So I've been making an effort to be more positive about things because no one wants to be around a Negative Nancy....
That being said, no matter how hard I try to break my habit of waiting for the other shoe to drop, I can't. I mean things could be going great in my life, but I never allow myself to really enjoy it because I'm afraid that if I do, things will make a turn for the worse.
Maybe if things didn't always tend to go awry I would get out of this habit, but so far my luck hasn't changed.
For instance, a few months ago I was thinking that my car was running great...the next thing I know, it breaks down and costs nearly $500 to repair.
Or if I haven't had an argument with a friend in a while and I start to think that we're good, we'll get in a huge argument and stop talking for a month or so.
I don't know if this is just me thinking negatively or if its just a defense making mechanism. Maybe I'm afraid of being happy as ridiculous as that sounds. Maybe things keep going poorly because I expect them to.
I don't know, maybe everyone thinks like this - or maybe it's just me...

Thankfully me...

I looooooovvvve holidays, but especially the ones that give me an excuse to pull out the elastic-waist yoga pants and over indulge in delicious treats! I really don't have much to do for tomorrow's feast (I'm making apple cobbler and brownies - from scratch not the box thank you very much), so I'm especially looking forward to lounging around until dinner is ready : )

Although I make sure to say a quick prayer of thanks every morning before I get out of bed, I feel moved to share my list of things that I am thankful for in honor of the big day of thanks tomorrow, so here goes.

I am thankful for:

...having a family and friends who love me.

...having a job, even more so one that I enjoy, during these crazy economic times when so many people are losing their steady source of income.

...being able to indulge in a new pair of shoes or random article of clothing every now and again. Okay, so its been more now than again, but I'm thankful all the same.

...being so close to my Godsons! I may joke about living in the servant's quarters, but I really love it. I like being the first person to hear them when they wake up in the mornings and being able to offer a little late night/early morning hug or 2 if they have a nightmare.

...feeling as if I am walking in my purpose.

...being able to realize when I need to subtract people/behaviors from my life.

...my ability to pretend that all food consumed on Thanksgiving is calorie, cholesterol and fat free : )

Leaf me alone

So, in the month that I've lived in North Georgia, I've learned several things about myself...really profound things.... I heart fall leaves....okay so I lied, it's not profound.

But seriously I honestly love seeing the vibrant yellows, reds and oranges as the leaves on the trees concede defeat and accept the arrival of fall and the impending winter.

Since I live in Alpharetta, but work in Gainesville every morning on my way to work, I get to really drink in the changing colors as I drive along I-985.

Living in South Georgia all my life, I've never really experienced anything like this before. Don't get me wrong, we have trees down there, but the leaves just turn brown and then fall off. And I've been to other northern states in the fall before, but I've never actually been able to see the steady progression from green to the other fire-like colors that I've seen now.

I mean I love everything about these fall leaves. From the color to the crunch.

The other morning as I was pulling into the parking lot at work I noticed that there was a significant pile of fallen leaves stretched between 6 or 7 empty parking spaces. So in a decidedly child-like moment, I turned my radio off , rolled down my windows and slowly drove through the parking spaces and over the leaves, just so I could hear the CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

Now, I still miss the beaches of my original southern Georgia home, but the leaves here give me something else to enjoy while I'm away.....

A CHANGE is gonna come

As a journalist, I am expected to remain impartial on the issues even when everyone else expresses their views so freely. Well on the morning of a such a momentous occasion, I feel justified in breaking that rule because I feel more passionate about this presidential election than I've ever felt about anything else EVER.

As I type away on my computer, through the tears that threaten to spill from my eyes, I am proud to announce to the world and the infinite web audience that I am without a shadow of a doubt Probama!

Yes I voted early, and I am proud to say that I cast my ballot for the first Black president of the United States. Yes I am Black, but I did not vote for him because of his race, I voted for the BEST man for the job.

I voted not for myself, but for my niece, godsons and my own unborn children. I voted because I know that change doesn't happen overnight and so I took a stand today for their better tomorrows. I voted to plant the seed so that their generation may reap the harvest. I voted unselfishly for CHANGE because I want to leave this world a better place than it was when I found it.

I voted because I know that if you do what you've always done, you'll keep getting what you've always gotten. I voted for the man that WILL get the job done. I voted because I have faith that I can help correct the mistakes of the past by voting to elect a visionary leader for the future.

The journey of 1,000 miles begins with one step and I am proud to say that I took a step in the right direction...

Forever I Love Atlanta?

Anyone who know me knows my extreme dislike for Atlanta, I've always said that I don't want to live in Atlanta or anywhere near it...too many people, too much traffic, too much crime.

But alas, here I am, in the metro-Atlanta area. Since I'm here for what may be a long while, I may as well enjoy it, so here is a list of things I'd like to do in the not so distant future. Since I'm trying to work on setting goals, I'll give myself a six month deadline to accomplish the things on my list:

1- See a good play, I hear that Wicked is playing and I've been wanting to see that since I read about the Broadway version a year or so ago.

2- Go to a concert.

3- Buy something from a cute boutique shop.

4- Figure out where the different counties are in relation to each other and which highways lead to where.

5- Find a new favorite restaurant, preferrably not a chain establishment.

6- Find a place to enjoy a good book.

7- Meet a celebrity

8- Go to a Hawks game...when they play the Spurs, hey what can i say, I'm all for supporting the home team, but I've been a Spurs fan since they drafted my fave player Tim Duncan.

9- Go to brunch at a nice place.

10- Have a dinner party.

Golden Girl

I'm not the most religious person that you'll ever meet, but I do consider myself to be very spiritual. While you won't find me in church every Sunday, you will find me making choices in my everyday life that I hope will keep me on the right side of that chick Karma.

So far so good, as my grandmother likes to say, right now I'm feeling "blessed and highly favored by the Lord."

After putting in my time at my hometown paper for 2 years, I recently was offered and accepted a position with a larger publication in Northeast Georgia. I'm gearing up to start my second week and so far so good, I like my job, my co-workers are nice and things to see on the up and up. Although, I must say that I am a bit bitter to learn that I won't be getting paid until freaking Oct. 24...that's a long time to go without a pay check...but so far I haven't been forced to live off Ramen Noodles!

Meanwhile, Danielle- my bff since 93- and her family have oh so graciously provided me with lodging until I find a place, so it's good times - especially since I get to spend sooooo much time with my handsome, inquisitive and usually agreeable godsons Cam and Car.

Things seem to be on the up and up and that makes me very happy to say the least. A new city, a new job and a new chapter in my life just as I turned the big 2-5- what more can a girl ask for?

In the words of the oh so talented Jill Scott, I'm committed to "living my life like it's golden" so this is just the beginning I'm sure

Open-ended closure...

So, this week has been an interesting one for my family, without breaking our cardinal family rule ("What happens in this house stays in this house") I'll just say that we lost some family members while gaining many, many more. 

Anywho, during this process I raised a lot more questions internally than I have been able to answer, so I decided to present them to the blogosphere and maybe someone else would like to mull over it and get back to me.....

1- On the subject of closure...People are always talking about wanting closure. When a boyfriend/girlfriend suddenly decides to call it quits, the other party still feels the need to contact them one last time - in the name of closure - to see why it didn't work out. Or if a parent decides to walk out on their family - children and all - one of those affected children is bound to seek that parent out and find out why they left - in the name of closure.

But does seeking out closure really bring closure? Such a journey will surely bring more questions than satisfactory answers. If  at the end of your initial quest for closure you end up hungry for more instead of fulfilled, was the journey really worth it?  Should you have just left well enough alone? 

2- Skeletons in the closet...Everyone has a few bones in their closet, some people may even have a full fledged skeleton that some poor child in anatomy class would love to have when trying to learn all the bones of the body. 

Sometimes in relationships, old and new, people feel the need to share these bones with others. They reach back into the dark depths of their past, and bring out a bone and offer it up to someone in their life to chew on for a while.

In new relationships, it's best to start with a clean slate, but once you've been in a relationship for a while (be it boyfriend/girlfriend, mother/daughter, father/son, husband/wife...you get the picture) when does it become too late to share certain secrets?

At what point does sharing a secret stop being about being for the receiver's benefit and more about the giver hoping to soothe a guilty conscious? Is it wrong for the giver to benefit from the exchange more than the receiver? When is TMI really too much information?

When, if ever, should you slap a padlock on your closet of bones, throw away the key and commit to taking those secrets with you to the grave?

*****This is just the tip of my mental iceberg, but I don't want to overload the world with my personal thoughts....

Ping, pop and porn

I have the worst luck with vehicles. This the second vehicle that I have paid off and the second time that something has gone dramatically wrong a week after I pay it off. 

My first car, was a 1989 Chevy Blazer, a.k.a. the Heavy Chevy. It was very old school, but I loved it to death because it was my first car and I paid it off myself. I always said that I would keep that car forever, but apparently the univ

erse had other plans for me. A week after I made my last payment, my friend Dre asked me to give him a ride to work. So I head over to his house, still in my pj's and scoop him up. Halfway there, somebody's grandma decided to pull out from a stop sign and side swipe my car. My radiator was busted, windshield cracked, and passenger side door jammed shut. It was fixable, but because the cost of the repairs were so high and Kelly Blue Book said my car had such a 

low value, the insurance company decided that my baby was totaled. It was a very sad day...I still have the Chevy emblem from the front and old tag in my memory box....

Anywho, I made my last payment on my latest vehicle last week. I w

as driving back from a FABULOUS weekend in Charlotte with

 my girls when I

 heard this pinging noise. 

Immediately after I heard that, my steering wheel started locking up. Luckily I was near an exit, so I got off and pulled into this L'il Cricket Food Store. As soon as I turned my car off, and popped the hood, steam started blowing out of the left side of my hood and anti-freeze squirted fro

m somewhere onto my tire. 

A quick excuse, where am I to this guy that was walking past my car revealed that I was stranded in Bowman, SC. 

This was around 6 p.m. I sat there for like 15 minutes pondering my options. I remembered that my mom had AAA, so I called her to make sure her membership was current, alas it was not ("I don't go anywhere, so I really didn't see the point in paying it anymore" *sigh*)

So my mom calls her friend, who's husband used to be a tow truck driver to see if he could find someone to come and get me at a reasonable rate. Well the best th

ey could find was someone who wanted $400 just for the privilege of coming to get me. So clearly I said, thanks but no thanks. I mean $400 just to tow my car home and Lord knows how much else to fix it? That was soooooooo not in the budget. 

So I called my friend Greg who happened to be home on leave to come pick me up. Thankfully he agreed, but unfortunately he was 3 hours away. 

In the meantime I was stuck in my car, in between gas station/truck driver rest area and porn store...makes for some very interesting but creepy scenery. Meanwhile, after making a couple of trips inside the store, this random slightly developmentally delayed man decided that he needed to keep checking up on me and bringing these random non-mechanics to my car to look at my engine...sweet, but creepy and aggravating 

at the same time. 

Finally my ride arrive a little after 10 and so I'm back in Brunswick, but the Jeep is still stranded in Bowman....

Lassssssieee! Where are you?

I had my latest pup for all of 10 minutes before she decided that I was not the owner that she wanted and ran away.

So, one of my editors at work liberated this dog that she says was being abused by her neighbors. She already has 4 dogs, ranging in age from puppy to full grown dog who weigh no less that 45 pounds each, so her house is already full and she was looking for a home for the puppy that she had started calling "Baby Girl."

She told me about the dog at work a couple of weeks ago and said that she was really friendly and weighed no more than 10 pounds- music to my ears since I've been looking for a dog that weighed no more than 12 pounds and that would fit in a cute tote.

So we decided that I would have a test run Sunday while she was working. I set up a puppy play pen in the corner of my kitchen since it was on laminate and any accidents could be cleaned up quickly and easily.

My editor calls me to meet her at the office to pick up the dog and I drive over. I was a little disappointed when I got there and met Baby Girl because she in reality exceeded my size requirements, but because I said I would give it a try, I went ahead and loaded her and the goodies that her foster mommy had brought. 

Off we go to my friend Greg's house. On the way, Baby Girl (who I decided to call Sable Mae partially because of her color and partially because I randomly enjoy adding Mae to people's names), was stretched out on the back seat in chill mode, I thought, cool, she's laid back, maybe we will get along after all.

Upon arrival at Greg's house, he picks Sable Mae out of the car and puts her down on the ground - she promptly runs away. Since she isn't answering to her name, I think quick and grab the box of doggy treats from the back seat and shake the box. She stops dead in her tracks and comes back. While she's snacking, Greg snaps her leash on (it's one of those retractable ones, you'll need to keep that detail in mind).

So Sable Mae is exploring Greg's yard on the lease while we're sitting in the cargo area of his SUV, at some point Greg picks Sable Mae up and puts her between us.

Well, apparently keeping us company was less fun than sniffing the grass and chasing butterflies, so Sable Mae jumps down. When she does that, the leash falls out of my hand. While I am trying to scramble to pick the leash up, a car passes by and Sable is off like a rocket, hot in pursuit. 

Greg and I try to catch her, but she has a good 15 foot lead on us. While she is running, the leash is dragging behind her, it gets caught behind the tire of this parked truck and snaps, setting Sable free. She is officially running like the wind now and disappears from view.

Greg and I run back to my car and drive around looking for her, but we have 0 luck. Finally after 2 hours go by, I call my editor at work. I explained what happened and she sounds as worried as I feel. She jumps in her car and heads over to help us look. She stops and talks to these ladies sitting on a porch and they tell her that police picked up Sable, which makes me happy because that means she hasn't been run over by a car and won't have to spend the night in the mean streets.

So my editor calls the police, and luckily they still had her and hadn't turned her over to animal control. Sooooo, she and Baby Girl are happily reunited and I am bowing out gracefully from this situation and any other encounters with a potential pet - my heart just can't take the stress!

While the situation may seem a bit humorous now, please believe I was not laughing when I was in the heat of the moment!

You always need a good pair of heels

Although I have always loved my friends, living hours away from them has taught me to appreciate them even more.

Don't get me wrong, I've made some great friends since I've been back home, but nothing beats a good convo with one of my "throwbacks."

To me, the sign of a great friendship is when you see or talk to that person after several months or longer and you just pick back up where you left off like there was no absence at all.  I consider myself to be very fortunate to have such people in my sister circle. 

There is something to be said about having a history together, I mean to the outside world somethings may make no sense, but to your close friends, its totally logical and they know exactly where you're coming from. 

For instance if I said any of the following things to you, would you know what I'm saying without any further explanation? 

  •  Take that s**t to the restaurant

  •  The b**ch had options

  •  I'm so sober I could drive to Alabama

  • Knock, knock new _________

  • Check my hoof work

  • I don't do cuddling 

  • What you thought? !

 

A bit confused, huh? Well its understandable, most people wouldn't get it. But my good girlfriends know exactly what I'm saying and the situation that I'm referring to. 

Good friends are like a broken in pair of classic black high heels. They fit so well into your wardrobe (life) but you tend to take them for granted. You go out and buy a new pair of tangerine stilettos to go with a specific outfit. Those new stilettos are great for the moment, but you still have to walk around in them for a while to break them in; whereas those black heels go with almost everything and are good to go as soon as you put them on...

See real girlfriends help you get on the right foot so to speak when your world seems a bit off kilter. A real girlfriend loves you straight no chaser style, they know the no frills version of you without the polished looking outfit, fresh hair do and perfectly done make-up. They've seen you raw and uncut and still love and respect you. They know your dirt, but still appreciate the beautiful flower that you've become. (Read that last sentence again, it was deep and you didn't even notice. A flower grows from dirt....people grow from their mistakes...or at least they should...) Get it?

So in short, I love a cute pair of new trendy footwear, but I will always keep my classic black heels in the front of my closet....

Stepping outside the box...

I've never been much of a follower - some people are born to lead-  but I've decided to step outside of my box and join my friends in the blogging word.

I'm also an intensely private person, so sharing my thoughts with anyone outside of my close circle of friends and family is highly unusual for me, but someone once told me that you will never grow if you don't step outside of your comfort zone, so here I am, baring all to the world - okay, maybe not all, I'm no exhibitionist...but it is a great deal more than usual. 

I guess it's only fair that I give a little background about myself. Let's see here...what's worth mentioning.....

   • I've been working at a newspaper in my hometown in southeast Georgia for the past 2 years- I never thought I would've come back home so soon, but there I was 2 months after graduation with no job offers, so when they offered me a position I jumped at the chance. 

  • I'm selectively single, not to say that I'm not dating, but as my best friend told me "scumballs are so 2002" so I'm done settling for just any Tom, Dick, or Hakeem. So until someone worth while comes along, I'm just loving life and living it up unattached.

 • No kids, but I do have a super smart niece and three handsome Godsons, so I get to indulge my maternal side when its convenient and ship them back home to mommy and daddy when Auntie Brandee needs a cocktail : )

 • I despise ignorance, rudeness and grape flavored candies, punches and sodas.

 • I'm perfectly content watching HGTV, Style Network and Food Network all day. Or curling up in my big comfy, leather rocking recliner with a good book and a glass of wine, or hot chocolate, depending on how I'm feeling.

• I used to curse like a sailor, but I'm trying to cut back and I think it's working because my coworkers call me wholesome! 

I think we're off to a good start, so I'll leave it at that for now...if there's one thing that I've learned as a journalist, it's that you have to give people enough to be satisfied for the moment, but always leave them with a reason to come back...