Rest in Peace, dear Nikki... Rest in Peace.

Anika

aka

My beloved ATLien Nikki

The Iniquitous One... Nikki Indigo

August 1, 1971- August 30, 2009

Nikki... I will miss you.

I am so glad you were my friend.

Love LadyLee

I am dedicating my week of blogging to her. Heck, I don't even know if I will be able blog. I am more than stunned over this. Just torn. But she was such a great friend to me. Amazing how this virtual blogging world connects you with people.... I am glad that I met her and clicked so well with her.

I will miss you, Nikki... we've laughed and cried together.

I will miss hearing you holler "Hey Sis!"

I am just relieved that you are no longer hurting.

Love,

LadyLee

Happy Monday Morning!

Happy Monday Morning to YOU.

That sounded festive, didn't it? LOL

Nothing much ado about nothing over this way. As a matter of fact, didn't do much at all this weekend.

And that's the way I wanted it.

I've been in the house since Friday afternoon. A nice quiet weekend indeed.

Now, I had things to do. Always have things to do. But couldn't do much since it was raining so bad. I was NOT getting out in that mess. I even missed my finance group meeting. (It was canceled anyway).

I did a lot of reading this weekend. I sometime like to read 2 books at a time, the requirement being that they are vastly different.

Tia McCollor's The Last Woman Standing.




Brandon Massey's Cornered.



The Last Woman Standing is a piece of Christian Inspiriational fiction, and Cornered is a grip-your-wig-before-it-blows-off thriller. Both are set in Atlanta (I really like fiction set on an ATL backdrop). I am reading the first with LBeezy and the second alone. So it was nice to just sit around and do some nice reading.

I really like both of these authors and I HATE when I finish reading their books because it means I have to wait a whole nother year before they publish another book. Sigh.

That was the gist of my weekend... Got a lot of reading and a bit of crocheting done. Cleaned up the house (not as much as I'd liked, lol), and even brought some work from work home to do. (Didn't like that AT ALL, but only spent 30 minutes on it).

Will I post every day this week. I don't know. I have a few LONG posts to do, and I'm not looking forward to that. So we shall see. Maybe some parts 1-3 or something like that.

Last week was shaky. I am looking forward to a much nicer week.

This week is going to be great and lovely.

Something great is going to happen this week... I am going to expect it!

And I am saying that on purpose!

You have a great week too...

Freestyle Fridays

Good Friday Morning...

TGIF!

Not just because it is Friday.

But I am OFF today. And this is GOOD.

I have a doctor's appointment today, so I decided to just take the day off. The problem is that it is raining cats and dogs and frogs today. It has been raining like crazy over the past three days... I have never seen so much rain in my life. It's as if it will never stop.

And I gotta drive in this craziness. Allll the way down to Henry County, some 30 miles away. Atlanta drivers are crazy. They drive fast. On rainy days, they drive faster.

Not worried about it. Gonna get my umbrella and keep it moving.

I'm not sure what I'm doing afterwards. Green Eyed Bandit, you live down there with those red necks... I'ma call you and see what's up! Might stop by.

I've been reflecting on my week. It hasn't been the most productive week at work. I feel as if I'd been digging a ditch with a toothpick.

My conclusion is that it be that way sometimes.

Sometimes, you gotta take your toothpick and diligently work that toothpick. I feel as if I've done that.

I am a member of 2 fantasy football leagues, and we had a fantastic draft last night. I am somewhat happy with my pics. My team The Original Oldboys may not come in last place this year. I have one more draft next week, and I'm in there. Can't wait for football season to jump off!

Nothing much is going on today. I just have to battle this rain. And I'm buying a lotto ticket, since the lottery has jumped past 300 million. (This is when I buy my ticket. If I'ma win, I need to win THAT, lol). I'm buying it down in Henry County. Never buy in the city. We don't win in the city.

This will be a slow weekend. I am happy about that. The month of August has been a fast one. Not a good look. I am not a fast Oldgirl.

Well, I've been vegetarian all summer. Did a decent job all summer, but I was not pleased with August. But the trial period is up in a few days, so I have much to think about. Overall, Iwill continue. I just have to tweek. As my blog bruh says so vehemently, I must strategize and optimize.

And that's what I'll do...

If you're considering kicking out on this Dominican Republic 40th birthday trip in February, drop me an email at oldgirl_1@earthlink.net. I can email you some information. If you wanna go, you betta come on!

So that is my freestyle offering for the day.

You have a good day!

Make it great. Make it lovely... even if you have to close your eyes and use the eyes of faith, i.e., step into the realm of your imagination.

As Labelle says in the song "Holiday": "Gonna close the blinds of my mind and let my own sunshine brighten up my day!"

And that's what I'll be doing in rainy ATL today.

You do that, too.

Have a great weekend!!

The Taking of Stuff

As I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts, I am a member of a Writer's group. I haven't talked about it much, as I had no idea how it would pan out, but it seems to be going well, and I must admit that I do look forward to our monthly Friday evening meetings.

There's only 5 of us, and the young ladies are much younger than me. This could've bothered me, but I didn't let me

An Oldgirl is young at heart, you see.

And I can get a little more racy with my writing, as they are a bit more racy in general.

The group was started by my former book club sista Dawn. I like ol' Dawn. She's particularly enchanted with a double chocolate triple strength coffee infused cake I've made in the past for journal writing meetings.

I remember Dawn sitting in the corner, killing this cake and commenting "Lee, this cake is hot. It's better than sex! It do the trick. I could go without sex if I had this cake. This hit the spot!"

*crickets*

What in the world?

Dawn, let me tell you something. Ain't no cake better than sex. I don't see it. Not even better than bad sex. Cake ain't gonna do the trick.

I don't know. Maybe I feel like this because I'm not big on sweets.

That's some food for thought all unto itself.

And I've jumped off subject. I just think of that EVERY time I see Dawn.

She wanted to know if I wanted to be a part of her group, and I said yes. I am happy to support Dawn in such endavors. I think it's a great idea, especially her method of handling our writing assignments.

And an Oldgirl's writing needs a little stimulating.

(Maybe I should have a big slice of that cake, lol)

Anyway, we get together for about 4 or 5 hours on a Friday evening once a month. Most of them are vegetarians. (It wasn't a good look to show up that first night with a gang of hot wings, lol). They are also future massage therapists.

(I hope one of them breaks me off a free massage. 2 hours worth, please. lol)

We do writing prompts, writing for 5-10 minutes on each. I've posted something on the walls of the House of LadyLee before from our meetings. (See, In this one...).

And here's a little something we were asked to write. It was in response to a portion of a play Dawn read to us, the subject of which was a woman hollering at a man about taking her "Stuff". We were to attempt to write a man's response to such.

Here is my 5 minute attempt at such.

(And uh... this is rated PG. Parental Guidance suggested).

The Taking of Stuff

Yeah… I took your stuff.

I took ALL your shit!

The money, the stereo, the fur coats, the diamond rings…

The pussy, the thoughts, all your dreams.

I took all that shit!

And if I’m being real,I really didn’t take it.

You gave it all to me; eagerly, without a second thought.

They all told you I was no good.

No job, no ride, no hopes, no dreams.

Even after all that you knew, you gave freely.

Even I knew that you were looking for anyone who would make all the pain go away, if even for a moment.

I was that man, the one who could make you feel like the sun, the moon and the rain.

But there comes a time when the sun will set.

The moon will fade.

The rain will end.

And I will run off with all your shit.

My bag stuffed to the top with all your love, hopes, and dreams.

I took it, and you know it.

Next time… be more careful with what means much to you.

Or should I say, be more careful with what should mean much to you.

Afterword

I don't think a man intentionally thinks this way. But I do think this tends to happen. We as women give our all, and in some cases, motives are exposed and all our "stuff" is taken.

The material stuff that may be taken is not as important as the intangible stuff that is taken from us... our hopes, our dreams for our lives. For some reason, some of us allow this to be taken.

So ladies, I ask you to protect your stuff... the very essence of who you are. It's of great value, more valuable than furs and diamonds. Don't expose your stuff to those who are not worthy of you.

That little 5 minute piece was born out of my thoughts on that.

And it helped me realize what "stuff" should be crucially important to me.

You Wanna Go?

I, that Oldgirl LadyLee, will be turning 40 in 6 months.

You know what I holler: "You don't know nothing 'til you turn 30."

And someone told me something quite interesting:

"You don't start LIVING until you turn 40."

Well, well, well! Alrighty then.

Let's get ta living, baby!

And live it up, we shall!

An Oldgirl's turning 40...

'Tis monumental indeed. Historic even.

I know one thing to be true:

An Oldgirl will NOT be working on her birthday. Heck, I won't be working the entire week of my birthday.

If I could take the entire month off from work, I surely would. I have enough vacation leave time to do so. But an image of my edgy boss smothering me with a pillow as I slumber clouds my mind. Not a good look.

So I'm taking a week off...

Heading off somewhere with beautiful beaches, sky blue waters:

*LadyLee screeching "Come back to Jamaicaaaaaaa!!!"*

You can go back to Jamaica, but I ain't. I don't wanna go there. Feel free to do so yourself.

Nope.

I've never been there. And since it looks like I'll be vacationing twice a year from now on, it is on my list of places to go. But, not for my birthday. I want to go somewhere off the beaten path. Somewhere not too touristy.

Now there were several places on my mind. I'd been arguing hard with my homegirl Kim (the chick with the acrylic toenails; the one who throws the funny card parties ). We're stomping down to the Mayan Riviera for her 40th birthday in a few weeks, and we were discussing where I'd like to spend mine.

I wanted to go to Aruba. Problem: High season in February. I'd have to rob a bank to go there.

I wanted to do Turks and Caicos. Problem: Gotta rob 2 banks to go there. (Plus there's an outside chance I'll go there later in 2010).

I wanted to hit up Puerto Vallerta. Issha: 2 connecting flights to get there. I am not changing flights twice. I would have to have my luggage strapped to my head if I'ma do all that, lol.

I wanted to go to Cancun. Problem: Hen-Dog was hollering against that.

"If you wanna have sex with everybody, go to Cancun."

What the world?

Hen-Dog must've had too much fun down there. Kim was irate behind this.

"You tell that n*gga ain't nobody trying to do all that, blah, blah, BLAAAH!

LOL. She was HOT with his tail. Thank goodness she was not face to face with him. She would've knocked him upside the head.

Plus, I don't want to go somewhere besides Mexico for my birthday. Went there on the last birthday, and will be back there in September. Mexican destinations are low on my list.

I wanted to go to Costa Rica. But the travel agent was like, "Uh, if you're the adventurous type who likes to do zip lines and rock climbing, then it's good."

*crickets*

Who me? The Oldgirl? Ziplining and climbing rocks?

Girl stop!!!

LOL!!!!! Yeah right!!! Ain't no way, man! Get down in Central America and get injured out in the jungle doing that craziness... NO WAY!

So, we decided on the Dominican Republic...

We'll be hanging out on the eastside, in Punta Cana.

This place is touristy, but not as much as the more popular spots. I don't know too many folks who have been there. Kim went awhile back and loved it, even though she was hollering "Girl, it was hot as 10,000 hells!"

She went at the end of summer. I ain't going nowhere near the equator during the summer. It's already hot as hell in GA. I could only imagine how hot it is down there in the summer.

We checked the winter temps and they average in the high 70s. This is ideal for the Oldgirl, as I don't like too much heat.

So, 'tis the destination for the birthday trip...

We'll be staying at the Punta Cana Princess All Suites Resort and Spa

All inclusive... 5 star.

All you can eat, all the liquor you lushes can drank, 24 hour room service...

You wanna go?

Nice massages, all outside while you feel the cool breezes and watch the ocean. (That ain't included, but if you a baller, you might like that)...

Do you wanna go?

They even got beds out on the beach.

That seems a bit freaky... and creepy to me. Give me a lounge chair, and I'm cool. But shoot, that might be your thang...

You wanna go?

If you wanna go, better let an Oldgirl know. We got a crew rolling out, you better come on.

LadyLee is turning the big 40, babes.

It's gonna be on... and popping.

Book Club Tidbits

Dedicated to one of my favorite lurkers Cashana... sorry I didn't make it to NBCC! Erica said you were looking for me! Wanted to meet you:(

A couple of weekends ago, we had our August book club meeting...

Of course, they try to shock me with the t-shirts. Star wasn't at the meeting, but her bizness partna Erica was. They have a most interesting t-shirt that's pretty popular over at It's All About Books:

"Book Lovers do it between the covers".

I like that one!

We are an all female book club, but lo and behold, we have one male member, "Cid"... In the ATL, there are male book clubs, but they are of the "ghey" persuasion. Cid said he rather hang out with us womens. He's a great addition, as he brings the male point of view to the plate.

He poses here in his "Got books?" t-shirt.

I like that one, too... He wants a "I make reading sexy t-shirt"... but it has a female on the front, sort of like Erica's shirt above.

Erica, do a shirt with a dude on it!

As I mentioned before, our book club meeting was waaaaaaaay the hell up in Roswell, a northern suburb. I don't mind this at all, and I try to be sure to participate, as we do have members that drive long distances every month to book club meetings.

As a result, one better stop for gas before they kick out on an hour drive home.

Green Eyed Bandit expressed this quite fervently.

I snapped this pic of her and one of my House of LadyLee mascots, her son the Baby Bandit.

I never see the boy smile for a photo, so I was glad to catch a pic of him not being all hardcore!

But I got a question, Green Eyed Bandit...

Uh-rah... in this particular gas station that we gassed up in, on the GOOD side of town, mind you-

Did you notice the lovely assortment of crack water pipes so loveling displayed at the cash register?

Man, I wanted to take a picture so bad... ooooh. I think they would've snatched my camera if I would have.

I never thought I would have seen something like that on the high class side of town!

Makes me want to stick to my 'hood... just a bit closer.

YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL, DOC!

Happy Monday Morning!

Good Morning!

You are currently standing in Ye Olde House of LadyLee...

LOL!

Station Identification. As you can see, the blog has been renamed. I've been calling it the House of LadyLee, so let's just run with that! There are many "rooms" in this place, most of the smurfy sort. But there's some food for thought and what not, here and there.

And the Book of Cuss is buried in the backyard. (We gotta dig that up every once in awhile).

We're rolling strong in our fourth year, and we're jacking it up a notch (whatever that means. I don't know, just sounds good).

Another Monday, another work week.

My weekend. This weekend went by in a flash.

But that's alright. Because I had a good weekend.

The weather was nice, around 75-80 degrees, with lots of cool breezes. The current temperature here in the ATL is about 65 degrees (highly unusal). It's suppose to be in the mid 80s today, which is cool for these parts.

Like I said, I had a good, no a GREAT weekend.

That's because I kept it very low key. Very.

No rippin' and runnin', none of that. I spent it alone. Even my sister Kentucky was gone, so me and Oscar-Tyrone had the house allll to ourselves.

Saturday I stuck around the house. I REALLY needed to clean up because the house was looking like a brawl had taken place up in here. Since I hadn't been around much, I hadn't been cleaning up. The place is nice and spruced up now, lol... Thank goodness for that.

Sunday morning, I went to church. This is HIGHLY unusual for me. I usually go on a weeknight after work. But I felt I needed to go. When I'm like that, there's a 100% chance that it's tied into something I'm dealing with or trying to figure out at the moment, so I be sure to hightail it on out of here. There had been a couple of things on my mind the past week, and that was the very subject matter of the sermon. So I have a bit of clarity behind that now. Thank goodness for that!

Besides that, I did some grocery shopping. It's better to go to my local vegan grocery store on a Wednesday or Thursday afternoon. Folks clean that place out on the weekend, lol. I hit up the Farmer's market, too.

I should be straight for the next week and a half veggie and fruitwise...

Vegetarian update. The whole vegetarian thing has continued. I wasn't exactly pleased with this month, as I wasn't as stringent with myself as I was the first 2 months of the summer, but oh well... the three month trial period will be over next month. We'll most definitely continue, with a few changes, which I will discuss next week.

As my blog bruh Hassan would say: STRATEGIZE and OPTIMIZE.

I've learned much. Gotta optimize the strategy, though. Some tweeking is needed indeed.

Vacations. I have a big vacation out of the country coming up in late September. Some all inclusiveness beautifulness.

And peep this: my vacation for my 40th birthday this February has been squared away...

You wanna go with me? Wanna celebrate the big 4-0 with the Oldgirl?

You better come on!

All inclusive.

All the liquor you can drink.

Pure luxury indeed.

It's a most uncommon destination, a place where peeps don't normally think of when they think of vacation...

Hmmm...

If you wanna go, let's go baby.

I'll talk about it this week sometime.

Work. I am actually not all bitchy about going to work this morning. I have had a very productive couple of weeks. This usually happens when the boss leaves me alone. She likes to throw monkey wrenchs into my process, and that is not a good look. She has been low key since I am on her bad side lately.

(Note to self: jump on her bad side more often so I can get more work done).

But she confuses me lately. She wrote me up for 2 cash awards-- one for some publication I had, and another for a F.ox news segment I did in my "Dr." capacity. (lol). Not sure what was up with her. How can you go all out to insinuate that I don't work hard, yet write me up for awards?

Highly unusual, and I refuse to think about it any more. Peeps who have management in their back pocket get all the accolades. I'm not an ass kisser so that usually leaves me in the dark.

Thanks gub'ment job, for paying for my September vacation. Really appreciate that. Wasn't expecting that at all.

Ya'll are number one. Really.

LOL!!!

This is a 4 day work week for me! Glory! I am OFF on Friday. I have that same ol' doc appointment I have every 6 weeks.

This week is going to be a great week. Look for posts every day this week. Even got some poetic prose coming up for ya. Hmmm...

I'm gonna feel lovely! I'm gonna feel great! On purpose, man!!

(You won't get that unless you've read the last post, lol).

Have a great week. And be sure to come on back to The House of LadyLee and sit a spell!

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:)

Card Party Chronicles, Part 2: Training Day. The Characters...And that Hunch Punch

Like I said, I attended a card party last weekend, thrown by my beloved book club sista Kim. (See previous post for part 1).




I could not partake of the meatballs and hot wings (they sho nuff looked good), but I navigated around the spinach dip and crackers.

Kim tried to be a good hostess. "I got some salad upstairs, Lee. You want some of that."

"Nawl girl!" I yelled. "I got salad at home!"

She was done with me. I'd decided to keep fooling with he spinach dip.

But I thought this would be a good time to learn how to play spades.

For my book club sistas are a congenial crew. They would be patient with me... Right?

And on that note, I must talk about the "characters" at the party.

First of all, there was my first ever spades partna... Monie Love.

I didn't start playing immediately. I just decided to watch what she was doing, since she and whatever partner she had were winning games.

Now, I've known Monie Love for about 4 years, I believe. We've been in the same book club for the same amount of time. But we are both quiet, which mean we don't talk much. There was talk a couple of years of go of a casino trip, and I just remember this quiet chick saying "Hey, we can't leave if the tables are hot!"

She had this wild look in her eyes when she said that. I don't know what that meant. I thought to myself "I don't need to fool with this chick. Get somewhere in some casino in some back room with some hardcore gangstas and get shot fooling with her."

You have to watch us quiet folks.

But Kim's Mama, who lived next door to Kim, stopped through, and was Monie Love's spade partner, and they were winning games. Kim's Mama did her thing and got the hell on... She's more of a Bid Whist woman, you see. (Yeah, old school card player)... I think we all were mere amateurs to this oldschool player, who swiped up winning books with ease.



Monie Love was also Kim's spades partner for awhile. I continued to watch, ask questions, and try to understand what was going on.

Anyway, I whined about wanting something to drink. Monie Love said I should try the punch.



"It's spiked, Man!" I whined.
"It's good!" she replied.
"Well give me half a cup."

Monie Love gave me a whole cup.

"Why you give me so much?"
"I put ice in it, Lee."

I stared down into the cup of punch. I drank it all. It was good, and wasn't even strong!

I wasn't playing cards then. Just watching the action on the table. Monie Love was winning games. I was trying to figure out if she was cheating, lol.

By that time, the Green Eyed Bandit, the chick solely responsible for my consistent blogging habits, made an appearance. She called next game, and leaned on a chair next to me to watch the action.

All of a sudden the room was floating...

I looked over at Bandit, who was standing still, but was blurring out and floating....

"I feel weird. Kim, what did you put in that punch?"
"Girl, it ain't that bad."

The room continued to float. I held on to the table. "I feel like that dude in training day. You put some dust in the punch."

"Aw Lee, just some tequila and rum."

I looked over at Monie Love. She was concentrating on her cards.

That chick put something in my punch.

She's undercover gangster. She was dressed in black from head to toe. She drives a nice conservative Volvo.

But I noticed this Volvo sitting out in the driveway was sitting on 20s. Hmmm....

Interestingly, this woozy feeling lasted all of 5 minutes. I have NO idea what that was about. (Maybe I was drunk... I haven't been drunk in 10 years.)

Lesson learned: Don't let Monie Love fix my drink EVER again.

Kim called a cousin of hers. She wanted him to stop by... and she was mumbling to herself, hoping dude would be on his best behavior, that he would bring it down a few notches.

So in walks Kim's cousin, who we will call "Big Poppa"

And that's when the party kicked up a few notches....

to be continued later today.

Card Party Chronicles, Part I

Last weekend, I attended a card party.

I don't usually go to these, as I, LadyLee, don't know how to play the game of choice at such parties: Spades.

Yes, I quietly admit that I don't know how to play spades. I can play mean hands of tonk, gin rummy, and poker. And Old Maid,

But no Spades.

My book club sista Kim decided to throw a party on Saturday night, so I scooped up another book club sista Viv, aka "Net Rock" and we headed deep into the ATL Eastside (in the pouring rain, no less).

I brought a gang of cookies (as expected of me these days). I forgot to eat dinner before I came, and of course, Kim didn't have the vegetarian fare in place

Lee: "Kim, you could've at least had a tofu dish here for me!"
Kim: "Girl, you know I don't fool around with that."

So as a result, I hung out around the Spinach dip half the night.

(This is not all that great because it was cream cheese based, and dairy products are NOT my friends lately...)

Anyway, there was not even any nonalcholic beverages. Of course I complained loudly about this.

"Drink some of that hunch punch, girl!" Kim hollered.



I stared down at the punch. Nawl. Look at all that liquor around that punch bowl. Knowing Kim, it was heavily spiked. Very heavily.

(Kim is just one more lush that I don't need to be fooling around with.)

Anyway, Net Rock and I had a goal to hang out and watch them play.

Little did I know that it would be my own personal "Training Day"...


And thar's the look I had on my face the entire time, lol.

to be continued...

Live at the Sambuca!

The weekend was adventurous...

(Still working on those posts)...

And the weekdays are even more adventurous...

Monday night, a few of us went out to celebrate our book club sista's 50th birthday.

Happy Birthday Joan!!!!


We had dinner and drinks at the Sambuca Jazz Cafe in Buckhead...

There was cake!

There were ballons!

There was liquor... This here is "Net Rock" Viv's Green apple tart!

(No dranks for me. I had a glass of cranberry juice with lemon!)



As you may well guess, this is not my side of town. It is for the shintzy types. Let's just say I was fighting with book club sista Kim about the dress code. We decided that I should call and ask about the dress code. It was dressy/business casual. I have NO idea what that means.

More arguing with Kim. And personally I wanted to roll up in there in my work gear (sweats and t-shirt), and holler "Do you know who I am?"

LOL... I would never do that. I had laid out something to wear that morning, some dressy capris and a sheer leopard shirt.

(I am worse than a dude, but I clean up well, lol).

Anyway, this jazz club has live music. And that night, Maria Howell performed.



I was thinking to myself... Hmm, that name sounds familiar.

Now, if you are a TRUE fan of The Color Purple, you would recognize her as the young lady who was singing in the church choir right before Shug Avery come running into the church.

You remember that song "Speak Lord! Speak to Me."

Well, it was that chick headlining that night.

So we are all sitting at the bar, waiting for the birthday girl to get there, and Maria Howell is on stage singing down. I turned to my book club sista Ray-Ray, and said...

"Uh, you know. I bet if we started singing the Color Purple song, she'll catch a hint and start singing it."

As a matter of fact, I told Ray-Ray to reinact that scene: be Shug Avery and run all around the club all the way up to the stage. She could've pretended that the piano man was the preacher-daddy, and hugged him and she could say "Even sinners have hearts." (Whatever it was that Shug said). LOL

I could've been Celie, standing back there clapping and watching.

Ray-Ray was not down for this, as she KNOWS me well. I would've left her hanging... Would've been hollering...

"Look at that fool running around the club? What is her problem?"

LOL!!!

We continued to contemplate the whole matter. And I pretty much sat back and snapped pictures.

That is until, Ms. Howell called me out.

"You, back there," she yelled.

*LadyLee frowning and looking around*

"You, I'm talking to you. Come up here and take my picture. Let me get my pose on!"

So I ran up to the stage and snapped a picture.

Yep, she uh... likes to get her pose on. LOL

Mr. Piano Man wanted no part of the posing. He just waved and kept it moving.

Maria Howell even called up Joan and other ladies celebrating their birthdays to come up and be the "Pippettes" for "Leaving on the Midnight Train to Georgia"...

That was VERY funny, especially when she said "Ya'll need to come on and get these steps together so we won't be up here looking crazy!" LOL

Maria Howell even stopped by our table and talked to us. Of course I was snapping the camera in her face.





We were there for about 3 hours and we had a GREAT time. The atmosphere is really nice, but I must say that I was not all that crazy about the food. (Although this is the usual case with me: hard to find good veggie dishes).

Added Note: She did sing the first part of that song from The Color Purple (to which we all at our table went crazy), followed by the song "Sista". What a treat! If we could've gotten up on stage and acted as the back up choir... LOL... Yeah, that would've been something right there!

Definitely something different for me. Especially on a weekday.

So... Happy 50th birthday, Joan... and many many more!!

Happy Birthday Kentucky!

I would like to wish my baby sis Kentucky, shown here with our bro Milk and Cookies, a Happy Birthday!




Happy 28th birthday, Kentucky!!

A day late, lol. For her birthday, I'm reposting an old post, circa 2005.


Today August 17, 2005, is my little sister's birthday! She was born on August 17, 1981. So that makes her 24 years old today.

I remember the day you were born, girl. It was a Monday morning. I remember Ma coming into my room at 5:00 a.m. and calmly saying that her water broke, and I should get up and get dressed.

Then she did something that I thought, even at the age of eleven, was the dumbest thing in the world. She went and took a bath. And then she straightened and combed her hair.

I sat there and watched the hot comb do wonders on her nappy hair. I remember the sizzle and smoke from the pressing oil and straightening comb. And I remember looking at her and thinking, "Umm, shouldn't we be getting out of here?"

We were waiting for your daddy Ronnie (my stepfather) to come home from his job as a forklift driver. He finally got in around six-thirty and started running around the house like a chicken with its head cut off...

Ma remained calm.

We got in the Thunderbird, got on I-85, heading northbound towards Crawford Long Hospital in Midtown. Ma and Ronnie forgot about one thing...

Rush hour traffic.

So somewhere near the Langford Parkway/166 exit, Ma started screaming like someone was trying to kill her or something. And I thought silently to myself...

"If only we woulda just left... You just had to go straigthen your hair and take a bath. Now you gonna have this baby in this Thunderbird. And that is just nasty." I thought such words quietly to myself. Saying them aloud would have gotten me slapped on the spot.

Ronnie drove like crazy, weaving in an out of traffic. I didn't know if Ma was screaming because she was in labor or if she was becoming like me, scared that we were going to have a wreck!

Anyway, we finally got to the hospital. You were born around 9:15 a.m. I remember calling Grandma, Auntie, and Uncle Olin and 'em on the payphone and saying that Mommie had just had a baby, a girl.

And when I saw Ma, she looked like I thought she would: like a wild woman, hair all sweated out into a lopsided afro. So much for straigthening her hair!

You stayed in the hospital for an extra week because you had the jaundice. My first sight of you was you laying there under the lights with a white blindfold on, crying and grabbing at the air. This disturbed me so bad that I went home and sat in the bathroom with Keesie (you remember our mutt Keesie, don'c cha?) and cried for awhile.

Thought I would tell you these things, because I've never told you before.

Fast-forward to almost a quarter-century later. Now you're grown, graduated from college, got a job, got a car...

Got a man... (LOL!)

A true diva of the world... Yes indeed!!

Happy 24th Birthday, Kay!!!!!

Love,
Ladylee.

I like this little story. I still think of my mother getting all gussied up... to go have a baby, and I laugh every time.

Well, Kentucky is 28 now. And one thing we do now differently than in the past is TALK. I think it's just because she is older, and realizes that Big Sis know what she's talking about.

So now she is almost finished with her Masters program in education, and I will be going to her elementary school tonight for open house (she teaches 2nd grade).

Yes, I'm going to embarrass her reaaaal good, lol.

My birthday gift to you, Kentucky. A good dose of embarassment.

Happy Birthday, Gal! And many more!

Love, Lisa.