Baby Shower Fun

Every once in a while we have a baby shower at work.

This year, there are TWO pregnant ladies in our group. And the first one due up is Ash!

I like Ash. But she use to check our paperwork. And when I would see her coming my way, I would automatically think... "Oh no, here comes Ash. I'm in trouble. She's gonna make me do everything over."

That was never the case. I'm just nervous like that.

And I wondered why she had on pink... She's having a boy.

I didn't bother her about it. She's a lady, and she can wear pink if she wants to!

Anyway, we had a baby shower for Ash!

And there was a fine spread of food.

Fresh fruit and veggies... I was eyeing that real hard.

We had plenty of snacky-snacks: pretzels, chips and dips, nachos and salsa.

And you can't have a party without fried chicken wings.

Those were some good wings. And they got those done that morning at the local grocery store before a brown-out downtown, so the grease fryers didn't work. (The construction workers are highly annoyed that there was no chicken available. Thank goodness they didn't see our tray of chicken).

We had some sliced sirloin steak and sliced chicken.

(Someone bought that at Sam's warehouse. I have to remember that for the next time we have a party, because it was good!)

Potato salad!

You can't have a summertime party without potato salad. Nope!

Cheese!

And we had some sherbet punch.

Now that was good. I watched it being made. They mixed together a bag of frozen mixed berries, a carton of frozen concentrated fruit juice, some rainbow sherbet, and a couple of liters of ginger ale.

 I had 2 or 3 cups of it.  That was some good stuff!

Check out the cake...

The cake was beautiful, and oh so good.

We played games. And there were some professional baby shower game players there, so, uh... let's just say I didn't win anything. Sigh.  But it was fun.  We were competing like we were trying to win the Olympics or something. Hilarious!

And Ash had gifts...

And of course, I made a baby blanket. When she said she was pregnant, I began the questionings.

"What are you having? A boy or a girl?"

I wanted to ask "What are you having, a boy or a girl? I need to know because I need to make a run to the Southside suburbs for some yarn and I kinda wanna get that done as soon as possible."

Couldn't say that, though. And she was taking too long. So I went with my trusty variegated yarn that could go for any sex.

And she liked it! 



So glad she did!

And here's the group gift...

Not sure what that is... It's very nice, though. Baby toys have come a long long way.

It was a fine time!  We need to do that once a week. 

(Oh no. That would mean a LOT of pregnant folk, tho... Yikes).

But it's always fun to get together and celebrate a new life entering the world.

Best of luck to Ash! And congrats on the upcoming birth of your new bundle or joy!

Confusion 101: The "Day Party"

So, one of my favorite people these couple of years is Samantha, aka, Cinnamon Sugar.  She has trained me well in texting, as she is not hearing my whole "My smartphone is not connected to my left breast" spiel. It is almost required that we text daily.

Some of ya'll chickens gonna learn to stop trying to keep up with LadyLee.

Until that time, we will text. Text, text and more text.

Anyway Sam sent a text message earlier this year.

I don't know what I was doing at the time, but I barely glanced at it.

But I thought it was an ad for a strip club. A moment later I was thinking...  "She stripping now?? OH NO!!"

I thought this chicken was stripping at the strip club and sending out advertisements. LOL

I actually read the post a little closer. I text her my thoughts, and she thought it was funny. I am a bit slow some times.

A DJ! Some liquor! And some pictures.

I wonder if the photos were like the ones we took back in the nineties. You remember the ones in the club, where you and your friends were posed all up in front of an airbrushed picture of the skyline of your city.

And everybody was drunk as hell.

Those were the days!

But we had parties at NIGHT. What is this DAY party craziness?

A DAY party is a kid's birthday party. At the Chuckie Cheese. With pizza. And cake and candles. And those big animals singing.

I don't understand all this "Day Party" business.

Sam and Southern Black Gal tried to explain it to me a few years ago when we had all hooked in Serenity's hometown of Charlotte.

"We're going to a day party!"

"A what?" I hollered.

They were going to a day party. After breakfast.

O_o.

"It's a party in the day time, LadyLee. With a DJ and music and drinks."

"Like a party at the club, but during the day? Ya'll kidding, right?"

They were not. I could tell by their straight faces. I was laughing. And they were not. They were serious. And they had that look in their eye: they were ready to get their drank on.

I still wasn't buying the whole Day Party idea.

So when Sam text the flyer above, I still had questions about this Day Party thing.  I asked some folks at work.

Most had never heard of it. But we are all old. So I had to talk to one of the youngsters.

We have a student who's a Que Dog, and I asked him about it. He said he'd heard of them.

"We have day parties," he said. "It's like a cookout."

"Well why don't you call it a cookout, then?" I shot back.

He said nothing. He is polite when it comes to his elders. He just walked off.

One of my coworkers has a public relations business on the side, so I asked her.

"Z, do you know what a day party is?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, like I was asking if the sky was blue.

"That's some craziness. Who has a party like they in the club during the day?"

"Day parties are nice," she said, her hands making elegant movements in the air. "It's nicer than parties at night. You can actually see who you're talking to. They are nice."

"What do you mean by you can see who you are talking to? Every club I've ever been in has no windows. So it's dark all the time.I don't care if it's daytime."

"No," she said.  "Sometimes day parties are on rooftops. The sun is shining, and you can see who you're dealing with."

Z knows what she is talking about. There are pictures up in her cubicle, pictures of her with various local celebrities. And they're all smiling brightly like they are about to shoot a toothpaste commercial...

At a day party.

And that made some semblance of sense to me. You can see what's going on up on the rooftops.

I mean, with the sun shining and all. You can see.

So, Sam, never mind me snickering about the day party. I'm glad you had yours and I wish I could've come since you had the open bar and the DJ.

*ladylee sliding up to bar*

"Uh, yeah... can I have a spinach-apple-cranberry juice? And don't you dare put liquor in that. Only a couple of ice cubes. Thank you. Oh, do you have some blackberries back there?"

*LadyLee taps DJ on shoulder*

"Can ya'll play some Earth Wind and Fire up in here instead of this Chief Keef , Niki Minaj, and Lil' Wayne?? Good grief!! I don't wanna hear all that noise! Play some real music. Shoot!  At least play some Gap Band or Pointer Sisters! Turn this mess off, and-"

*ladylee being escorted expediently from day party*

HAHA!

Well, I learn something new every day. I haven't been to a day party yet, and I don't plan on going to one anytime soon.

I like ol' Sam. Ya'll should like her too. She does all my "pre-reading", i.e., she reads and approves all my food-for-thought posts before I post them. So you have her to thank for that.

She calls herself my "Stalker Stan".  Hmm.  At first I thought, that's not good. But it has turned out to be very good. She is one of my favorite chickens these days. And I treat her like I treat my sister Kentucky. (This gets dicey and could be either good or bad. You will have to ask her about that).

Hey girl, I'm still mad at you for napping on my couch last summer when there was a perfectly good bedroom upstairs that I cleaned up just for your visit. I had to be all quiet while cleaning up. Next time I won't be so nice!

Humph!!

And the next time you're down here, have one of your special... Day Parties.

I promise not to request fresh vegetable juice from the bar.

Just ask the DJ to play a Kool and the Gang song... Or some SOS band.



Or some Yarbrough and Peoples

Don't you stop it ...dont' you stop.. stop the MUSIC!!



(I always do the hard wop to that song. You better move out the way and give me space. If not, you will get knocked over).

How bout you do that for your Friendly Neighborhood Oldgirl LadyLee :)

(Why don't I just have my own Day Party... At night. LOL)

Of Presidential Debates and Seafood Debate Parties

So...

I told ya'll.

Ol' Mitt... He was gonna come out swanging...

Somebody gave Mitt a few cans of Red Bull before that debate. And you know how we get when we all amped up on Red bull. We run our mouths, man. The moderator couldn't even muzzle him. I know the moderator's blood pressure was SKY HIGH after that debate.

My goodness.

And these things happen when you try to stop folks from achieving their goals. Presidency is a bucket list line item for Mitt. He going for it... by any means necessary.

Had me sitting there last night listening to him thinking "Geez, is this guy making up stuff on the fly? How much red bull did he drink?" O_o

Our beloved president seem to notice this, too. And what scares me is that he was taking notes. Uh, if he was writing down all those doggone flip-flop antics... uh, Romney might be in a little trouble.

Come on, now... practice with me... say it with me, now...

President Mitt Romney.

Say it! Sang it like Luther Vandross would say it!

President Mmm-,Mmm-,Mmm-,Mmm-,Mmm-,M-,Mmmmitt Romney!!!

LOL.

(CowgirlCre is pleasantly livid about that. "That is funny. I refuse to say that, even if it is for play-play!)

Ya'll know ya'll still listen to Luther. I'm listening to Luther right now, honey. "Anyone who has a Heart".



That's what Obama was singing to the USA when he left last night. He better come out and verbally shank Mitt in the next debate.

Anyway... last night I left work and made a trip to the east side to the farmers market for my beloved fruits and vegetables. It was a nice outing, as it wasn't too crowded and I could take my time. On the weekend, it's packed butt-to-butt up in there like we in the club or something.

When I left, I got some gas for Lucy at a gas station near there that has REALLY cheaped gas. I think it's fenced. Hot stolen gas. But that's just my personal opinion. I never go in. I get my gas and go, just in case the police roll up.

While on that side of town, I needed to deliver a couple dozen of triple chocolate chip cookies to Nikki's auntie. She really likes my cookies, and for some odd reason was trying to save cookies I took over there 2 weeks ago so that she could take them home.

Ugh... those would be stale by now.

Anyway, why on earth did I roll up to their house... something was strange. There were a LOT of cars out front. It looked like a house party was going on.

I knocked on the door and someone opened the door chanting quite loudly... "Obama! Obama! Obama!"

"Yeah!" I hollered. I stared at the lady who opened the door. Never met her before. Maybe I had, though. Nikki had A LOT of people. "What's up?!"

"Come on in," she said. "I'm Wanda!"

"And I'm Lee! I came to drop cookies off!"

Nikki's mama came around the corner. She gave me a hug.

"What's going on?" I said.

"We having a debate party," she said. "The debate is tonight!"

I laughed so hard.

People in the kitchen looked around the corner. All of them had a straight face.

"Ya'll having a debate party for real!?"

Everyone nodded. Then went back to what they were doing, i.e, jocking for position to fill up their plates of food.

A debate party.

Let me correct that.

"We having a seafood debate party, Lee!!" Nikki's mama hollered.

O_O

LOL. I laughed louder.

They were all peering at me like I was some odd bird that had just flown through the window.

"Ya'll are really serious!"

Mama Nikki pointed to her Obama t-shirt. Then stretched her arms wide so I could take a picture.

"Yes. You are welcome to join us."

"No. I'm going home." It was already 8:30. I lived 25 minutes away in downtown ATL. "I'm going home and watching the debate."

"Well grab a plate. Plenty of seafood."

"No, Mama Nikki. I'm going home and eating a salad."

I was hungry. And I'd been thinking about the huge container of salad I make and store in the fridge. I'd even shaved some red cabbage and thrown it in there. I was going to cut up some strawberries over it. And pour a little vidalia onion dressing over it.

Yes, I'd been fantasizing hard about that salad!

"Fix a plate, Lee."

"No, Mama Nikki."

"You eat seafood, don't you?"

"Yes sometimes. But I'm having a salad when I get home."

That didn't go over well AT ALL.

Let's just say she drug me in the kitchen and made me watch her fix a to-go plate.

"We have crabs, Lee. You like crabs?"

"Yes," I said, as I brought out my phone and found the camera app. "Yes I do."

Boy oh boy  did they have crabs! 2 pots of crabs!

"We have some shrimp fried rice. I'm gonna give you some of that, too, okay?"

My eyes glazed over. I haven't had shrimp fried rice over there since Nikki was here with us. It was GREAT. I told Mama Nikki way back then...

"This here shrimp fried rice taste like you got some chinese in you.... like you learned to cook it while living over in the back country in China, where you had to go outside and cook it in a wok made from clay open an open fire in the ground."

Yes. It was that good way back then.  Best I've ever had. "Yes, I'll take some of that," I said quietly.

There was a pot of broccoli on the stove. "Lee, I KNOW you like broccoli."

"Yes, i'll take a LOT of that." LOL.

There was a big casserole dish on the kitchen table.

"We have crab salad, Lee!" she said.

"I don't want any of that."

"But it's good." She uncovered it. "Real good."

I peered down at the crab salad. It wasn't that old fake crab salad. This was that real crab meat. Lump crab salad.

"Whoa, that's the real stuff. Hey, gimme some of that."

My pictures are blurry because there were so many people and everybody was getting their food in the tight kitchen. And looking at me crazy for trying to take pictures.

But I took a picture of my plate when I got home.

That is a fine plate of food. That is another crew of people who know they can sho nuff cook!

I 'm saving that for the weekend! 

I ate some of my crab salad over my huge veggie salad when I got home....

 *heaven*swoon*

 That is all.

I'm glad I didn't stay for the debate party. They would've beat me down before it was over.

"See, I told ya'll, Mitt not playing games with ya'll. Bump ya'll 47 percenters! He ain't worried OR thinking about ya'll.  Mitt wanna be president!"

*lee gets smacked, jacked up, and thrown out on the front porch*

Mitt's not playing with ya'll.

President Obama, you better hit him with the FLEX next time. A verbal smackdown is in order. You know how we do, Sir.

You know.

Weekend Food and Fun!

So as I mentioned on Monday, the highlight of my weekend was attending a birthday party at Nikki's parents house for her mother's sister.

That was a lot of fun.

It was preceded by a promise to bring cookies... which I do anyways. I NEVER show up anywhere empty handed.

More on that later.

I had a nice time.

And I tell you, when those folks cook? They cook it up for real. The charcoal grill was going full blast when I walked up.

I didn't get pictures of everything. We were too busy all in the kitchen... throwing elbows, jocking for position.

I myself was very much interested in the fruit and the salad.

If the lights would've gone out, I would've picked up that tray of fruit and ran out of the house. It was good and sweet.

They had some serious food. I didn't get the pictures I wanted because there were so many people. But check this out...

Ribs... dirty rice... macaroni and cheese (which was insanely good)... and some type of ramen noodle dish (I think it was yakamein. Where is BayouCreole chick at? Explain that to me. I didn't have any while I lived in New Orleans). I didn't get any of that, but man it looked good.

Those ribs are off the grill... so I know they had to be good. They sure smelled good.

There was baked chicken...

And lasagna.

There was no eggplant parmesean. But Mama Nikki hooked up some spinach lasagna. I didn't get any of that. I thought I would go back for that, but I was laid out on the sofa after I finished my first plate, lol.

Rumor had it that there was some good gumbo around. I didn't see it. But people were taring it up. I think that went fast.

There was some GREAT caramel cake.

Caramel cake is my cubicle mate CowgirlCre's favorite cake. This was good because it wasn't caramel icing out of the can. This was the real deal... somebody messed around and melted some caramel candy cubes or something like that, and made that icing from scratch!

Oh my! It was good. I wanted another piece to take home. But I am to shy to grab a plate of anything to take home. (Even though others were lined up and with plates and foil... gotta love our people, lol!)

Like I said, I had a good time. They know they can cook up some good food!

And you know what? I brought some cookies... I think I made 4 dozen: 2 dozen triple chocolate chip pecan, and 2 dozen oatmeal raisin cranberry walnut cookies.

But no one saw them after I brought them in. I remember sitting them on the dining room table.

I started getting pointed questions.

"Where the cookies at?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. But I brought them in. You better ask Mama Nikki and her sister. They were in the room when I sat them down."

I got a hard side-eye from some folks. LOL

Not my problem. I wanted one cookie. And my cookie was at home sitting on my kitchen counter.

When I was leaving, Mama Nikki and her sister were outside smoking cigarettes.

I stopped to talk to them. "Uh, people looking for the cookies. Where did ya'll put them?"

"We're not leaving those cookies out. Are you crazy?"

LOL. That happens a lot with my cookies. That happened at CowgirlCre's family gathering back around Labor day.  The ish gets put up. And I get the hard stares, as if I forgot to bring them. I know I took 6 dozen cookies to one of CowgirlCre's family dinners and they all disappeared in less than a minute. So I do understand that you cannot just leave them just sitting out. Nerp.

"You can put them out," I said to the sister. "I can just run you a tin of them out here before you go back to New York. I live downtown, only 20 minutes away. Not a problem to run out here real quick."

"I want to save some for my trip home," she said.

I blinked. "You gonna be here for three weeks, though. I wouldn't save cookies for that long."

Both took a toke on their cigarettes and pondered my statement. The sister had a determined look on her face. I convinced her to just let me bring her a fresh batch the day before she goes home. 3 week old cookies gotta be stale and nasty.

They were still looking at me crazy.  LOL

Too funny.

I had a great time with Nikki's folks...

Yes, I missed Nikki's presence... I still expect to hear her holler "Lee!" when I walk through the door. But there was some of who she was still there with everyone in attendance. And that's a good thing.

Bon Voyage, Lady Lifetime!

So one of my coworkers is leaving the beloved oppressor, I mean, workplace.

*tears*

Lady Lifetime! She's leaving! I call her that because we both like Lifetime television and have discussed it often. And I rarely use folks real name on the blog.

However, her name is all over her going away cake!

Bon Voyage Michelle!!!  Bye girl!

She is going to Uganda! Can you imagine? Uganda! What a change!

Her hubby will be working over there for a couple years, so the fam is relocating.  That is going to be something else.

I was excited. And you know how I love making cards. Here's the one I made for her.

That was a fun one to make. I found some really cool 3D african animal stickers.

She loved it. She said she was going to frame it. *tears*

Her party was the bomb. Our coworker did a great job.

I was wondering if she was going to have some type of party. "Your peeps doing something for you?" I asked, referring to her lunch bunch. "Cuz you know I'm antisocial. I don't do that planning and gathering together stuff. I already bought my gift for you."

Yeah, I got issues. Even at regular work meetings... I'm not really there. My mind is busy doing something else.

But the party was announced and I went. (Yay me. This is rare).

Cake and chips... and fruit.

You know how I feel about fruit. My eyes glazed over when I saw that. If the lights had gone out, I would've stolen the whole bowl. You know how much juice I could make from that fruit?

LOL!

I know Lady Lifetime gotta go, but I am sad to see her go. She is one of the few people I am glad to see at work. I cheese like Celie when she walks my way. She is a funny chick. She was in my group and she worked very hard. (Had to tell her a couple of times "Slow down, Ma. You working to fast!")

She has a great testimony and outlook on things. And we have also had some conversations that have freed my mind in a couple of areas. When my path crosses up with such people, I have a deep amount of respect for it. (You know how I feel about paths). And you know me, I always sow some seed of thanks toward that. I wrote her a short letter, tucked in some going away cash, and tucked it in  her card.  

And now she is off to the Motherland.

Lady Lifetime, have a safe journey. I know you will go over there and do great things. Because you are a great Oldgirl!

Glad I knew you for a season! I will remember you always!

Bon Voyage!

Your friendly neighborhood Oldgirl (and former coworker) LadyLee :)

Dinner with the Great Chef Darius!!!

So...

I have my stalkerish ways, you know... I like to stalk some of my favorite bloggers.

One of my favorites has been Master Chef Darius of EverydayCookin.com.

We ooooh and awwww over his videos and food posts. And I've cooked a few of his dishes, and they are always easy and wonderful and DELICIOUS.

Our favorite was his special Tequila Lime chicken Fettucine.

Talking about GOOD. And QUICK. And Cheap and EASY!

I am crazy about Darius. I stalk him on twitter. I've told him, if he was 15 years older, and of the heterosexual persuasion, and lived in ATL instead of Chicago... I'd be on him, stalking him HARD. He'd have to have me locked up!

So, when he said he'd be visiting Atlanta sometime in November, and wanted to have a dinner party...

You KNOW I got all giddy.

*turning to cubicle mate, the Cowgirl Cre and hollering "Darius is coming to town, and he's gonna cook!!!!"*

There was much discussion about him looking for a house to cook at. If you've ever been to my crib, it is TOO small for a party over 5 people, lol. Cowgirl Cre said he could cook at her house if he wanted.

Someone in another cubicle, who'd requested for Darius to come up with a sesame chicken recipe a couple of years ago, called my work phone and whispered "He can use my house if he wants to."

As a matter of fact, The Cowgirl Cre has been telling him for a couple of years that he should come do a tour, and cook at a different house each night.

We would eagerly show up wherever he would be, you see.

Anyway, the date of the party was to be November 20th... at his friend's house in Buford, Ga.

Waaaaaaay the hell up in Buford.

The Cowgirl Cre and I looked at each other.

"Whatever man. We're going. Gonna take us an hour to get there. Whatever!"

Darius was like "I understand that's a little far!"

"Dude," I replied. "That's like Denzel Washington saying he was having a party way up in Buford, and he knows it's a little far, but..."

BUMP THAT.

He also said let him know if we have dietary concerns or requests, because there would be plenty of pork and beef and butter!

"Whatever," I told Cowgirl Cre. "This here is Darius. I'm eating it ALL."

That boy could've cooked some chitlins soaked in lard, with a side of fatback... LadyLee was gonna get her eat on! And just be inflamed and sick as a dog later.

LOL

We were going. Gas up the car. Steal some gas. Steal a car, man. We're going!

Cowgirl Cre printed out the directions... even secured a emergency phone number, just in case we got lost in the backwoods of Buford.

(Yes we were that serious. Come hell or high water, we were going to FIND Chef Darius!)

So, we sat out to Buford Ga. Took me 30 minutes to get to The Cowgirl Cre's house, and it took us another 45 minutes to get to Buford.

We parked and walked into a most lovely townhouse.

And there he was... Chef Darius... in the kitchen... cooking up a storm!

*Lee screaming uncontrollably deep deep inside*

"It's him," I whispered to Cresha. "It's really him!"

He gave me a hug. And he went back to cooking.

We all stood in the kitchen... watching and talking.

We drank Pomegrante margaritas. OH THEY WERE GOOD!!!

Chef Darius made some eggrolls, but used rice paper, and he was hollering about he wasn't going to cook them, because the rice paper was coming apart.

Uh, uh... we convinced him to cook the eggrolls.

And they were the BEST I've ever tasted. Yep!

Then there was dinter!!!

OH MY!!

Braised Beef Ribs!!!



OH MY!! I had to really gear myself up to eat some red meat, but I had a rib. (There was someone there who hadn't had beef in 8 years. She had some too. We picked on her something terrible. She was gonna be all jacked up the next day. We told her husband to get ready to help her in some kind of way!)

Macaroni and Cheese!!!





Very cheesy! Party in your mouth! He must've used 100 differnt cheeses in that mac and cheese! Best I've ever tasted!

Green Beans!!!


Sauteed with some scallions, sundried tomatoes, garlic and pancetta.

GLORY!!!!

A brave soul inquired about the pancetta. Darius said it was italian bacon.

We all saw *crickets* with that one. He could've said it was regular old bacon. WHATEVER!

The beans were great. Cooked perfectly, not undercooked, not overcooked, perfectly tender.

And you know me... keenly interested more in veggies than anything else.

"I'ma hook this up," I said to Cowgirl Cre. "I'ma leave this bacon off. I can hook it up with the sundried tomatoes, scallions, and garlic, man!!!"

LOL

Then there was the cornbread! All cheesy, with corn mixed in.



WOW.

I think I was suppose to just cut a small piece, but I got a whole block of it.

GOOD EATING! I don't eat much cornbread, but this reminded me of how my grandfather use to cook it... with the corn kernels all throughout the bread!

Good stuff.

Then... Darius, proud owner of the Cupcake gallery, brought out the cupcakes!!!



He made 2 types for us: banana and red velvet.

We all stood back and listened quietly as he gave a little speech about the cupcakes. You would've thought he was reading Shakespeare or something!

He'd whipped up some cream cheese icing, and we were to ice our own cupcakes.

He demonstrated to us how to ice the cupcakes...



He showed us how to peel the paper cup away from the cupcake.

(We stared in amazement.)

He showed us how to eat the cupcakes...

I don't think we need to know all that. We were willing and eager to work that out.

And as you can see, Cowgirl Cre peeled her cupcake perfectly.

I didn't eat my cupcakes until later. I was having TOO much fun with the crowd of people that were there, including Jermaine Sellers from last season's American Idol, shown here with the Cowgirl Cre.

Man, I was having TOO good of a time. Darius has some HILARIOUS friends.

Cowgirl Cre whispered "Girl, get a cupcake before they disappear."

I got a banana cupcake. And WOW!!!

Best cupcake I've ever had.

Darius did not make that cupcake.

Jesus made that cupcake!!!

That cupcake. I can't describe it. It was full-bodied banana. chunks of soft banana throughout. And topped with that cream cheese icing, which was suprisingly light and almost mereigned-like (yeah, I spelled it wrong)... MAN IT WAS GOOD.

Now I'm not a fan of red velvet, but this was a GREAT red velvet cake. Very moist and flavorable.

Go DARIUS!!

I spent a couple of hours having a good time, and whispering to the Cowgirl Cre "Girl, I got the itis! I need to lay out on the sofa!"

I think we left around midnight. I dropped Cowgirl Cre back off at her house. And I arrived home at 1:30 am.

I immediatley went to sleep. With a smile on my face, lol.

I woke up the next morning, to my phone buzzing from Miss Celie's tweets.

She called me and I relayed (very animated, I must say), the details of the food and drinks from the night before.

She thought I was still tipsy.

No, just giddy! (And headachy and discombobulated from liquor and meat, too. I was JACKED up for a good 48 hours. Just say no to liquor, pork and beef is all I got to say... well unless Darius hooks it up. My body hated me for a minute. And I'd probably scream and faint if I saw another piece of red meat on my plate anytime soon after feeling like crap!)

I was happy for a good meal, from the best Chef on the Planet -- Chef Darius.

Darius, thank you for such a great meal. Like that tat says on your arm, man... Food is your life, and life is your food!

Yes indeed.

So if Chef Darius tours a town near you, BE SURE to get to a dinner party! Man... you will NOT regret it!

Darius... feel free to come back to the ATL anytime! You hear me? Really!!!

Here's one last tidbit... One of my favorite videos by Darius!!! Enjoy!!!

Card Party Chronicles, Part 3: Big Poppa and Whitney Houston (Feeling Great, Feeling Lovely)

Like I said, the party went up a few notches when this young fella showed up.

We will just call him... Big Poppa.

He sat down next to me, as I was still concentrating hard on learning that complicated game of spades.

He complained about the music choices.

"What's up with this '70s Prom music?"

"I like this music. I like ConFunkshun!" Kim said.

We all liked the music. We were a bunch of females, all about the same age, grew up in that era.

*Big Poppa immediately calling up someone on his cell phone to bring "proper" music*

I got up from the table to go get some more spinach dip. (Heck, that's all I could eat, and I was gonna work it).

I started taking pictures of the punch and liquor. (I'd left my camera at home and was eager to snatch up Green Eyed Bandit's camera and use up her card, lol).

"Hey, what are you doing?" Big Poppa yelled. "Why is she snapping pictures?" he hollered to his cousin. "What is she doing? Why she taking pictures of the liquor?"

Dang, I thought. Hope Kim say something. Dude must be wanted or something, and I didn't want to end up in a headlock.

"She has a blog, Big Poppa," she said. "She's a blogger."

"Oh, I was about to say," he said.

(Thanks Kim. Thanks for saving an Oldgirl's life).

Big Poppa wanted something to drink. Kim gave him a cup of the hunch punch.

He looked at it rather increduously.

"Uh," he said, pointing at the drink, "Uh, excuse me, but this drink has too much estrogen in it."

"It's hunch punch. It's good," Kim said.

"If I drink this punch, my period's gonna start tomorrow."

We laughed HARD at that. That's the funniest ish I've heard in a very long time.

Kim ran off to get him a harder drink.




Come on, Kim. That is NOT a man's drink. Bud Light with Lime? That still has a feminine touch to it, lol).

The spades game was in full force now.









There was MUCH trash talking going on.



There was some controversery going on involving Kim's BFF of over 20 years deep, "Drea".



An argument ensued. Somebody through out a bad card and didn't catch it.

I didn't have the faintest idea of what they were talking about...

I was just worried about that gangsta Monie Love.



I don't know, man. She was a bit too calm for me. I mean, she had had her say, and made her point, but she was a bit quiet... and she kept winning.

She concerned me. I had this vision of snatching a pistol out her waist and firing off a shot in the ceiling to quiet everybody down.

(Yes, I, LadyLee, have been watching TOO much Snapped).

"Monie Love," I said. "Do not pull that 9 out yo waist, girl!"

She laughed.

"Don't do it, Monie Love. Don't pull that 'tre-eight' out yo waist, gal."

Monie remained calm. Kept playing. And kept winning.

Big Poppa kept picking at Kim's BFF.

"Hush, Whitney Houston," Big Poppa yelled, referring to Drea.



"I am NOT Whitney Houston," she yelled. "Crack is wack!"

"Shut up, Anna Mae Bullock. You're drunk!" Big Poppa yelled.

"Just eat the cake, Anna Mae," I chimed in.

"I am NOT Anna Mae or Whitney Houston," she yelled. "I am not drunk! I'm feeling great!"

(Okay. She lost me with that. But I was rolling with the fact that she was NOT drunk. Just feeling great.)

Big Poppa KEPT talking trash to her. This couldn't be good. She kept wailing.

"I am not drunk! I feel great!"

"I feel lovely. I feel great! I feel really great and really lovely!"

"There's a difference between being drunk and feeling lovely. Right now, I am feeling really lovely."

*crickets*

What the world?

I was down with her loveliness and greatness.

But after she said all of this for the hundreth time, well... let's just say, she had to be drunk (in the most lovely of ways, of course.)

This was incredibly funny to us all. To the point we were all saying it, and have been saying it for days.

It has reached "Food-for-Thought" status for me.... No matter what is going on in life, I will proudly yell

"I feel great! I feel lovely! I feel REALLY great! I feel lovely right now."

(You know, if you say that to yourself a few times a day, it really lifts your spirits. It is a most powerful affirmation. Maybe our Whitney Houston was on to something).

Another of Kim's relatives, and I think this may have been the younger brother of "Big Poppa", showed up...

We will call him, Earl.

He showed up with the cutest little boy.

I was sitting there thinking "Oh what a cute happy toddler!" He had to be no older than 2 or 3 years old. He was such a cutie.

I was thinking how special to have a father-son outing, even if it is a card party.

"Who's baby is that!" Kim yelled. She went over and picked him up. "Who are you!"

*Little boy smiles with glee*

It was one of Earl's women's kids.

A huge debate ensued, especially amongst us women. We were wondering what kind of broad leaves her baby with a dude? Mind you, this isn't Earl's main squeeze.

But Kim said he brings a different chick around every week. And he's a heartbreaker.

I know the type of chick who would do that. The type that calls up her girls and says "Honey, Earl got my baby. Ya'll come pick me up so we can go to the club."

Humph...

He was a "doting stepfather", making sure the little boy's shoes were tied, etc. A great babysitter indeed. Little tike got attention from us all. A very happy boy indeed, he was.

Still, we were concerned about the broad who would let her toddler be out at 11 o'clock at night.

(Kim is STILL pissed behind that).

Anyway, Earl brought over some HARD gangsta rap music. Scary stuff. The rappers were calling out all the Atlanta projects, that type of stuff.

I was still watching Monie Love. Making sure the chaos didn't cause her to jump up and pull her weapon(s) out of their hidden places.

And with her as my partner, we won a game.

So, I am officially a "Spades player".

Whoo-Hooo!! It made feel really great... Really lovely. LOL

Monie Love left before midnight. She had a flight to catch out to Texas early the next morning.

It was "business travel", she said.

She had put in a request for chocolate chip pecan cookies. I'd scored a gang of tins earlier that day, and hooked her up. She took her cookies, and jumped in her Volvo sitting on 20s and got the hell out of dodge.

Yeah. Gangsta business, Monie Love. I ain't mad at you, gal. Glad you had a safe trip.

More arguing ensued over the cards. It was too much for me... Me and Net Rock jumped in the Mazda and got the heck on. They decided to play Scrabble.

I got a call while I was out in the car.

Turns out, Drea, aka "Whitney Houston" (her name for the entire night), had played her first word on the scrabble board...

The word "crack". That put all speculation to rest.

That was really lovely... Really great.

LOL!!

I had TOO much fun... Can't wait for the next party! Can't wait.

Ya'll have a great weekend.

I hope your weekend is really great... really lovely:)