Let The New Year Begin

The best way to start a new year?  Surrounded by love.

For my 12th birthdayI had a gathering with one of my dearest sister friends(Teyonah Parris) and it was all LOVE!

The moment below was captured by another beauty you've already met on this blog.  Ms. Christine Jean Chambers.  

Happy birthday to all the September babies in the world!

Calling On A Quote

I must have shared the quote below on ye old blog at some point.  Must have.  Somewhere.  Maybe several times.  It's one of my favorites.  Probably one of everybody's favorites.  Anyway it's on my mind tonight.  It was on my mind all day as I sat here writing/trying to write a statement for an artists program I'd like to be a part of... I started judging myself and what I had to say and all that judgement kept me staring at a blank screen for way too long. Then I thought of this quote and began judging myself a little less.... a little less is always a beginning.  Thanks M.G.

"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.  The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.  It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.  You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work.  You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you.  Keep the channel open..."                   - Martha Graham

To be reminded that there is only one of you...  I think I found what I will celebrate for the rest of this night.

Mommy Says The Darndest Things

It's a Sunday with Mommy.

After church I arrive at her place.   She has oranges cut up and a pot of black beans sitting on the stove.  I can smell the pepper.  That pot of beans is for me.

The Waltons marathon on is GMC.  Of  course that's what Mommy wants to watch so that's what we watch.  It's nice watching shows I don't want to watch with my mother.  She says ridiculous things, I crack jokes about her old school values and pretend I don't agree with them.  We laugh.  We eat oranges and the television begins to watch us.

I know exactly where I get my knack for not shutting up.  We talk and talk and talk.

After eating my pepper-full beans and a few more orange wedges I make my way to the floor just beneath her legs, throw my head back and beg for a massage.  I knew she wouldn't be able to resist the face I was making.  Mommy's little hands get to work and we have the exchange below.

MOMMY:  You know my dear friend Victoria... her son was born the same year you were born.  He's married now and has a son.

ME: Okay.  Are you trying to tell me something Ma?

MOMMY:  Yes.

I took three deep sighs and continued to enjoy my Mommy massage.  The woman says what she feels.  She holds nothing back.  While she rubbed and commented on the state of my tense shoulders I wondered how she would tell me I should be married with kids next Sunday...

This is the life!  Absolutely.

Success

"Defeat is a destructive force only when it is accepted as failure.  When accepted as teaching some needed lesson, it is always a blessing."

"Believe in yourself but don't tell the world.  Show it!"

-Napolean Hill

Advice doesn't get better than that.  Keeping it simple.

Nothing Like A Dare

I just can't say no to a dare or to a challenge that costs me nothing but a little bit of getting over myself.  I'm also a sucker for a penny bet.

At times that leaves me vulnerable to my friends and their whims.  But alas, all is fun in friendship... okay not all but some or most...

Anyway, I was accused of falling off with my living out front journey.  "What!!??" Living out front is what I do, it's my thing, the twist I have been loving for the last two years.  There is nothing like putting it all out there.  Once I started living out front it was kind of freeing so this accusation is sort of annoying.

I should say that according to a few of my friends my definition of putting it all out there might be a little conservative.

Does blogging about my life count for nothing?

To the point-  many, many, many, many posts ago I had decided to give internet dating a try.  Why?  Because it was 2011, that seemed to be the norm, and of course I let my friends convince me to give it a stab (again- I had tried once before and ran away because I just wasn't ready to really date).   I didn't do it in lieu of meeting people in person.  It was an addition.  It was also a disaster.  Click here to read an older post where I detailed some communication thrown my way from fellow on line daters.  As I remember they were comedic.  Tragic might be a better descriptor.   Look around the blog there are plenty of stories about dates, awkward moments and the internet....

I went against everything in me that said internet dating is not the way to meet a person.  Some of my favorite people kept asking, "what's the harm?  You meet crazy people in person, what's wrong with meeting a crazy person online before meeting them in person?"  I never had a good comeback for that logic so I found myself filling out a profile and selecting pictures to post.

When I had gone on a few dates, embarrassed myself a couple of times, and done some silly things out of character I decided that I would go back to meeting people without having to click and type.  I was done with the internet dating phase of my life.  Every idea that I had about profile pages being full of folks who were- how can I say this nicely- not who I was looking to meet was accurate.

So now it's May 2012 and one of my friends wants to give it a stab and I think she should because for her it's what would work for right now.  The problem here- she doesn't want to do it alone.  That's why she accused me of falling off of my living out front journey; she knew it would hit a spot.

One has nothing to do with the other.  Living out front has nothing to do with online dating... it was just something for her to say so that she wouldn't have to traipse around the internet dating world alone.  Then came the dare.  "I dare you to do this with me in the name of fun."

Sometimes you have to support your friends in ways you never imagined you would.

I'm positive there are stories to come...  What's the craziest thing you've done to support a friend?

The Season 2 Finale

Let regular life resume.  Season 2 is complete and that means I don't have to spend all of my free moments editing/ going crazy because something is wrong with or missing from the footage/ wishing I had a million dollars to make every aspect of THE SERIES what I'd like it to be... Soon.

We'd like to thank the entire ShittyFab Team for working with us on Season 2.  All of you who watched and helped spread the word about THE SERIES, thanks to you as well.  We are proud to say we produce an award winning series after receiving recognition  at the 2012 LA WEB FEST for some of our shenanigans in Season 1 - the theme song to be exact.  A little Audacity goes a long way...can't wait to see what type of recognition Season 2 will have.

I already recognize it as a labor of love.  I'm proud of it!

We will be back with  Season 3.

Below is Episode 6- FULL CIRCLE.  This is the Season 2 Finale.  If you missed any episodes you can head over to www.shittyfab.com and watch them all.

Regular blogging will also resume in 5, 4, 3, 2...

Season 2 Episode 4 (PLANS CHANGE)

SHOUT OUT!

Does anybody out there watch Mad Men?

Well I didn't(I know I'm rare)... but now I do watch it!  Why?  Because my GIIRRRLL and classmate is playing Dawn Chambers.  You know Dawn, Don's secretary...anyway shout out to the too fabulous Teyonah Parris for integrating the office. I hope to see lots of her this season and if they are wise they'll bring Ms. Parris back for the next season... my fingers are crossed here and the prayers are going up...

Teyonah Parris

Teyonah Parris as Dawn Chambers

Check out this interview Teyonah did with Ebony.com.  If you want to know more about her you can always check out www.teyonahparris.com or google her(hahaha).

Season 2 Episode 3

Below is Episode 3 - SECRETS AND SIGHS!  Check it out... of course we'd love for you to come back and watch Episode 4 on April 22nd so make sure you do.

On a completely different note- this week we will be reading The Spinsterlicious Life 20 Life Lessons for Living Happily Single and Childfree by Eleanore Wells.  Come back  for our review of the title... We are a duo but since I am the only one who is childfree and solid in my singleness this should make for an interesting review/post/heated discussion between us...  I imagine we'll be on opposite ends of the spectrum... but let me read the book first...

Season 2 Episode 2

Here is episode 2...  We  love Sheldon Woodley who plays Paul, Nikiya Mathis who plays Tammy and Christine Williams who plays Vanessa "Lotta-Puss" Green!  They will all be back in future episodes.

Stay tuned!!!

Madness

I believe that the expertise of some lies in their ability to incite rage in others.  Hints of rage that is...

Racism is alive!  Stupidity is potent!  I know neither statement is news to anyone but when I get alerts that idiots are posting comments on our videos I have to pause, acknowledge the idiocy, wonder a little about change and of course write a post.

This morning I had several email alerts saying that comments had been posted on a few of our videos.  "Great," I thought.  I love comments, we love comments.  Comments mean people are watching.  Well that love for comments disappeared after I read the first one.

"white faggot"

The second one

"this baby is not black"

The third one

"whu mixed people acting black huh?! smh"

All from the same ignorant user.  Perhaps he/she/it wanted to inspire a blog post.  Done.  I don't know  if that was the motive for sure but I know that after reading the third comment I stopped reading them and removed them all because that was the only action that made sense.

Initially  I wanted to reply and let him/her/it have it with a tongue lashing via my keyboard.  I mean really?  Have you nothing better to do "blckggg?"  That's the person's username.  blckggg.  Are you going to leave comments on every single video?  I'll just remove your absurd remarks that reflect your self hate... and thanks for the view.

YUCK!

My job as a Godmother is becoming more clear every day.  I have no new lessons to teach my 11 month old Godson.  I'll just teach him all the things my mom taught me.  Most importantly that nobody can tell you how to define yourself and that nobody can define you...

The world is full of beautiful, intelligent people. Repeat- The world is full of beautiful intelligent people. Repeat- The world is full of beautiful intelligent people...

THE SEASON TWO PREMIERE

It's time for the Season Two Premiere!  Enjoy.

Visit www.shittyfab.com to read more about the series, the cast and the crew.