Sweet Potato Cafe, Josephine, and Me

So...

If you've read here for any length of time, you KNOW I love a good book, and when I come across one I like, I will rant and rave about it.

And last summer, I read the book Solomon's Blues by Josephine Garner.

That's the first book I've read on my Kindle, then ordered the hard copy...

... Just so I could hold the book in my hand and smell the pages. And read my favorite passages again.

That's just how much I liked it. I even posted a review of Solomon's Blues.

Anyway, how did I find out about the book? Josephine and I were in a writing class together for 12 weeks last year. And when the instructor asked us to explain our writing experiences, Jo described her book and the sequel she was working on. I quickly scribbled the name of the novel in my notes.

I liked that book. 600 pages long, set back in the 1950s. Black and white relations. Awesome read.

And she and I have kept up with each other. She works at the agency across the way in my city. She works at the agency that folks from my agency look fondly upon... and wished that we worked there.

Hence, she comes up in my work email scroll which contains every government employment under our HHS agency umbrella. And I can email and stalk her however much I please. Really. (But I don't, lol. I check in for time to time).

We'd been wailing about getting together for lunch. She picked a day (Saturday, her writing day). And she was asking me to pick a place halfway between the two of us.

Man... I had no idea. But I remember seeing a little place on my GPS near her, and wondering what it was about. I even planned on seeking it out for a pre-class meal. (This didn't work out. It took me a good hour just to get to class. Humph).

And that place was The Sweet Potato Cafe.

Such a quaint little place, located in the shadow of Stone Mountain in Stone Mountain village. And I couldn't really figure out where it was on my GPS back when class was in. But come to find out it was maybe a block from my class. I wish I would've been more aggressive about finding it, because I was definitely missing out on something special.

(Jo said pick somewhere halfway between us. I am about 30 miles from her house. I picked this place which is a couple miles from her house. She was O_o. "That's not halfway!" LOL)

This is such a niche spot, as the selections are based on sweet potatoes, or contain some sweet potato side dish. Now, I really wanted to take LadyTee there for her birthday... but LadyTee said she doesn't like Sweet Potatoes (Gee, I never knew that during our over 30 years of friendship. Gee. She missing out, with her finicky self).

Back to the lunch with Jo...

I saw Jo walking there on the way, head held high, just enjoying the sunshine on her face. She lives about a mile away. I offered her a ride (We could see the Sweet Potato Cafe from my car). She declined. I imagined she likes to walk like some did in her book in the 1950s.

*ladylee speeds away and parks the car*

This place was so nice. Just right for a late lunch.

Jo had the turkey panini and sweet potato fries.

That looks good. I wanted to snatch one of her sweet potato fries. But that would be a bit ghetto. And Jo is very refined.

Anyway, we did share the sweet potato hummus.

As you could see, we'd already dug in before I remembered to take a picture.

That was some good hummus right there. Real good. Very light, light as air. Perfect take on hummus.
Jo talked about that when we were in class last year.

"That's some good hummus," I said as I dipped another warm toasted pita chip in the hummus.

"I told you," she said.

"I got me some hummus at home," I said. "I'm gonna boil a sweet potato and mix it in with my hummus I have. I wanna make some of this."

Jo shook her head. "Noooo. It won't taste the same."

Maybe she was right. If I took my hummus and mixed it with mashed sweet potato and it didn't taste exactly like the lovely concoction before me, I'd be highly upset.

I craned my head over towards the kitchen. "I wonder if they sell it. I wonder if I could get a container of it to take home."

I also thought about whether I had a container in my car. I am sure I had a random Solo cup in the car. I wondered how much she would charge to fill it up. Hmm.

But I quickly forgot about all this once my lunch came.

I am being mad strict on myself with mainly eating fruit and vegetables. So I zoned in on the vegetable based lunches.

I had the grilled vegetable soup.

Oooooh, that was so good. If the lights would have went out, I would've licked the bowl. Yes indeed.

And I had the Baked Sweet Potato with sauteed arugula and caramelized onions.

That combination... Who in the world would've thought to put arugula and onions with sweet potatoes?

But what a combination it was. It all balanced out REALLY well. The sweetness of the onions played against the bitterness of the arugula... all atop a perfectly backed sweet potato. Oh it was so good. And I love a good green salad. I didn't even need the butter (I don't have much of a taste or need for it these days since I have ditched the dairy). And the salad is just like I like... the nice baby spring greens.

What a good lunch. I was full without having need for a nap! LOL

There was much artwork around the place to admire.

I have no artwork on the wall. This makes me want to get some.

I wanted to take a picture of the restaurants interior, but there was a big group there. They finally left, and I got a good picture.

Just such a sweet nice little place. Lawd have Mercy, if I lived nearby I would worry them something aweful.

"Here comes LadyLee, yall... Marching up the road like Miss Sophia from The Color Purple."

And the owner, Chef Karen Patton, came out and chit chatted with us.

I really wanted to ask her, "Could I please work in the kitchen for a day? I would gladly work for free. And I would wash up the dishes."

While I'm washing the dishes, I could spy on her making that grilled vegetable soup.

And that sweet potato hummus.

But you know me. I didn't say all that. I just told her how much I enjoyed my meal.

I truly did.

And I enjoyed lunch with Jo.

"This is like having lunch with Oprah Winfrey!" I said, on more than one occasion.

"Stop saying that," she said.

Well it was. Maybe I won't say it anymore. It is so stalker-stannish. It is.

But I enjoy whenever we talk, which has been mostly on email. She has surely gotten an earful from my normally quiet self after class, when I would follow her outside and wail about some climax or point of angst in her book.

But I needed the pep talk about my own writing. I get a little bogged down and stuck with my editing and rewrites, and she is so encouraging. It is such a solitary experience and it has always been good for me to talk to another writer about my feelings. She truly understands the thought and care it takes to write something great. She gave me some great ideas on motivation. And I'm going to implement those ideas.

That was such a nice day. And a nice new place for lunch.

I need more of this. Good food. And good convo. Those things are priceless.

So I hope you have enjoyed my food week. I was looking through my camera and found more pics of places I've been, but I have ran out of time. Maybe they will be posted in the month of May.

The Sweet Potato Cafe was my favorite find, though. I'd never been to a Farm-to-Table establishment. I will definitely be returning!

With that... have a good weekend. On purpose!

Of Purses and Tazzee

So...

I opened the front door one Saturday morning and saw a box on the front porch. The postman had left it, and it was addressed to me!

And in it was the most lovely purse.




The purse was all glittery and festive. And it had the Falcon's motto emblazoned in silver glitter across the flap.

"Rise up!"

I thought to myself... gee, I'm not a big Falcon's fan, but hey, I live in the ATL, so rise up! Doggonit. This is awesome!

Anyway, I flipped the purse over and words were across the back.



Nyx 2014.

And that right there should let you know who the gift is from. It's from the Bayou Creole Chick, Ali. She has been riding in the Krewe of Nyx during the Mardi Gras season for the past couple of years.

I took the purse to work to show to my cubicle mate, The Cowgirl Cre.

"Tazzee would LOVE this purse," I hollered as I waved it around. "You know she down for some Falcons."

"She sure would," Cre agreed.

Too bad. It was mine. I placed the purse back in my carry-on bag.

And I got a text sometime later about the purse.

"Your gifts were mixed up," Ali said. "My husband mixed up the addresses"

That made perfect sense.

And it meant that me and Tazzee would have to hook up and exchange gifts!

*cartwheels*

I like ol' Tazzee. She is just so kind. Salt of the earth. Good people, she is.

Luckily it was early March, and I'd been hanging out on her side of town for my chiropractor visits.

So we met up at Fresh to Order at the popular mall out that way.

Tazzee had the salad with the calamari. And the chicken tortilla soup.


She really likes that salad with the calamari. She had that the last time we got together. It does look good! And that soup looks good too. There's a Fresh to Order a block from my job, and a lot of people like that soup too.

I had the cream of mushroom soup.

And I had the asian chicken crunch sandwich. They substituted seared tofu for the chicken.

That was very good. That's what I get when I go there. I guess I am like Tazzee: I get the same thing everytime.

Oh how that makes me long for some cream of mushroom soup. I have a raw and a vegan recipe for it, but I am too chicken to try it. I am quite sure it won't taste the same as the the creamy dairy version.

We had a good time of chit and chat and chit-chat and smiles.

And oh yeah... we swapped gifts.

Here's mine!



Isn't that nice!

Look at the back of it:



Wow. Thanks Ali.

And the Falcons fan Tazzee was pleased with hers.  I thought she was gonna get up and belt out that Falcons song.

"Falcons rise up!"

LOL

But she didn't.

I tell you, the time together at lunch was much too short. It's always good to see Tazzee. Granted I see her on Words with Friends these days, where she whoops my non-spelling behind good fashion on a daily basis. But we live in the same city, me downtown, and her out on the westside. And it was just good to see her face to face.

So Tazz, let's not let too much time go by before we get together again! Please!

LadyLee Field Trips on the West Side

If I have to do business or have appointments in areas of my city that I rarely frequent, I like to peruse and visit different places.

In other words, I like to take field trips.

I don't particularly like to hang out in the western suburbs, as that is the ex-husband's side of town.

But there were a couple of places, some specialty grocery stores, I wanted to visit out that way.

Like Life Grocery.

I'd heard about this place, but I had no idea where it was. I knew it was near the "Big Chicken".

Yes, the Big Chicken. That is the local landmark for that area. You can see that sucker from a mile away. If anyone gives directions in that area, the Big Chicken is referenced. A few years ago I'd asked how far Life Grocery was from The Big Chicken, and I was told it was nearby. And I knew my Chiropractor wasn't far from there, so I went searching for the store.

It was a nice store. Small. And expensive as all get out. My natural foods store in the hood is cheaper. But I found some good raw crackers made from flaxseed instead of flour. So that was a good find.

7 crackers for $4.  There must be flecks of gold in those crackers. Well, there are not. But they are good. And they will last me awhile, seeing that I have a flax seed allergy.  Too much flax seed have me scratching like a junkie. That's not good. Only half a cracker for me, honey.

I also scored some nutritional yeast. That is VERY hard to find in town. But I wanted a good grade of it.

Anyway, I also went to Harry's Farmers market. This is the White People's Whole Foods.

It's just called Harry's Farmers market for some reason. That store has been there forever. I remember going there back in 1997, when I lived a few miles away from there.

It has been remodeled since then and it is BEAUTIFUL.

I was just a smiling while walking through. I wanted to holler out "This place is GORGEOUS!"

It wasn't all packed out like a club, like the one in Midtown nearest me. It was very nice. And the prices were the same. Some of my regular organic veggies and salad greens are cheaper at the Whole Foods than at my usual dekalb famers market. Other stuff is sky high!

There are a couple of very nice Wal-Marts out that way too.  And the prices at the Wal-marts out that way are 5 to 10 percent cheaper. Humph. The yarn is 7% cheaper, and they have a TON of it. Go figure!

*making mental note to go out to the westside on yarn runs in the future*

Yes, there's nothing like a good field trip.

Yes indeed!

Birthday Funnies: Shared Sandwiches

This has been my favorite raw snack as of late:

Apple Sandwiches.

I came across this recipe while perusing raw recipe cookbooks. My goal is to try out one or two new recipes per week. Hopefully I will find some good easy ones, with the added goal of finding something I don't mind having on a regular basis.

And those sandwiches are simple. Mix a couple of teaspoons or raisins into raw almond butter. Slice a apple down and take it from there. Very easy. And something I like as a between meal snack. I need more simple recipes like that!

Anyway, last Friday was LadyTee's birthday, and we went to the movies. I knew I didn't want the usual popcorn and soda, so I decided to throw a baggie of these apple sandwiches in my purse. (I usually take a baggie of apple wedges anyway. This was just something different. And better as far as I am concerned).

LadyTee didn't comment whilst I was grabbing them out of a cooler in my trunk. We went on into the theater, and I paid $12 for her small popcorn and cherry Icee.

($12. When did it all get that expensive? I know that movies make their money off concessions, but DANG).

While we were sitting in the movie theater watching previews, LadyTee posed a question.

"So, what did you bring to eat while we watch the movie?"

"Some apple sandwiches," I replied.

"What's that?" she asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Almond butter sandwiched between two apple slices. It is very good."

"Humph," she said.

"I get the fresh ground almond butter from the natural foods co-op store. I keep that in the fridge anyway. And I saw this recipe, and it worked out fine."

"I don't like almond butter," LadyTee said.

*silence*

"I like peanut butter," she continued when I didn't reply. "I have some almond butter, but I don't like the way it tastes."

"Okay," I said.

"But you know when you pull that out your purse you gonna give me one, right?"

O_o.

And she was eyeing me hard when I pulled them out. I grabbed a napkin and gave her one and watched her take a bite. I was waiting for her to throw it, but she didn't.

"They have raisins in them," I said.

LadyTee HATES raisins. With a passion. The look on her face was priceless. You would've thought I told her there were spiders in her apple sandwich.

But she ate it anyway.

Later at dinner, we talked about it.

"LadyLee, I know you were thinking 'How this broad gonna ask for my food and she don't even eat almond butter?'".

"Yes I was thinking that. That's why you had your popcorn and Icee."

"I ate it and it was good," she said. "I had to spit out them hulls, though."

"Yes, you suppose to core the apples. But I don't have an apple corer, and when I tried to core it with a nice, I tore up some slices. So that wasn't happening again."

That was all too funny. And you had to be there to get the full gist of it.

I was happy to share my little apple sandwiches. Those usually last me three days.

Two days when sharing with LadyTee.

Happy Monday Afternoon

Happy Monday Afternoon.

Yes, this should be "Happy Monay Morning", but I am posting quite late.

I got to it all late. Oh well. I am here now!

And once again, we've been sent home early due to fumes from some work on the roof of the building. I only worked 1.5 hours today, if that. It is a bit annoying. I talked to one of the supervisors on the way out, and he suggested that I come in at 6 in the morning. I may have to do that. 6 or 7 in the morning. Just so I can get some work done.

Oh well... that's what I call a high class problem. Very high class. Can't complain about free time off, can I? Nope!

Well, back to interesting things...

I had a great 3 day weekend. My best friend LadyTee and I spend our birthdays together.

Even though Sunday was LadyTee's birthday, we spent Friday together instead. Oh, and she really like her birthday present, the green and white blanket. Green is her favorite color.

We saw the movie Divergent.

You know me! I love some ol' sci-fi type thing. This was more dysporia than sci-fi.

And I'm always glad to see some black folk running around.

Mekhi Phifer was one of the leaders.

And Zoe Kravitz was one of the supporting characters.

Lisa Bonet and Lenny Kravitz' baby girl. She has to be in her 20s now, hunh?  I thought she was still a kid.

There were a lot of tattoos going on in that movie. My goodness.

Anyway, the movie was good. More of a Hunger Games Lite if you ask me. It was worth seeing, but I would not see it again. Good entertainment, though. A couple sequels on deck in upcoming years.

By the way, here's LadyTee's birthday card:

Nice and simple... especially since I don't have a lot of stickers right now.

And after the movie, we head down to Agave, a popular upperscale Southwestern Restaurant in Cabbagetown, an inner city enclave a couple of miles from my house.

It might now have been the best choice, as LadyTee doesn't like hot and spicy food. It turns out everything is pretty hot and spicy. Sigh.

This was NOT my fault. She was on me to think up somewhere new that she had never been before. I have my favorite places, but we have been to those. I was just trying to think up some new things to try. I have been here in the past, and it was really good.

They do indeed have the best salsa I have EVER had. And it wasn't particularly spicy.

I chose this place mainly because they had a good selection of vegetables that I could eat. I had the grilled vegetable plate.

Garlic sauteed spinich, grilled asparagus, grilled squash/zuchinni, grilled corn and mashed potatoes. Now THAT was good. That tasted like it had all come fresh off of the grill. Well worth it.

LadyTee had the same thing. She liked it too.  She is so finicky. They had a chicken dish that wasn't spicy, but she doesn't like chicken breast. Sigh.

She had a chocolate mousse/ice cream type of birthday dessert.

We had a great time as always. Hell, me and her can watch an episode of Good Times and eat at the Burger King and it's all good. That's the way it's suppose to be.

The rest of my weekend was as it has been the past couple of weekends: chiropractor visits plus errand running. I was just glad that it was a beautiful weekend. It rained a little on Sunday, and that was okay.

Right now, I have to just deal with being off from work.

And I will have to think about trying to get into work at 6 in the morning just so I can get something done. Sigh.

We'll see how that works out.

This week is going to be a food week, moreso detailing my outings over the past couple of weeks. So stay tuned for that.

And with that said, have a good weekend...

On purpose.

Friday Freestyles

Friday!

Finally!

And I am glad. Because I am off today.

And it isn't that much to get stoked about. I only worked 5 hours on Wednesday. And 3 hours yesterday. Why? Because there is work going on on the roof of our building and the most noxious fumes are coming in through the air vent. It is quite unhealthy.  And they are suppose to be working on the roof for a couple of more weeks. You would think they would work on this on the weekend or at night, but no, that's not the case.

Oh well.

Free time off. But today is Friday and it's a scheduled leave day for me. I am hanging out with LadyTee, as is our normal tradition for our birthdays. And we are going to do our Thelma and Louise thing, which amounts to a movie and dinner. I think we're going to see Divergent (you know how much I like sci-fi. I hope there is some black folks in it). I read a few chapters of the book last year. It was similar to Hunger Games, but didn't hold my interest. It's alright, but I'm wondering how they are going to pull off something that will be better than the Hunger Games. This feels more like a Hunger Games Lite.

What I'm happy about is finishing LadyTee's birthday present. That doggone blanket. It is DONE.

I had to really crank to get that done. If I woke up at 3 in the morning (I rarely sleep all night), I would get up and work on it. And as soon as I got home I would work on it. It was a bit stressful. I think it's because my schedule changed a bit. I have to run all the way out to the westside early 3 days a week for the chiropractor visits. That has thrown me all the way off.

But I finished the blanket on Wednesday. I try to give myself a day to trim it, which takes a couple of hours, but I am doing better about trimming and hiding loose strings as I go. So that worked out well. I almost didn't know what to do with myself when I was done. I did load up a bunch of pictures for blog posts next week... and I laid around doing NUTHING. Now THAT feels good.  And I thought about the things I need to get done going forward.

The problem now is that I have a lot of honeydew yarn left. Too much.

I don't know what to do with that. Why on earth did I buy so MUCH of it?  I could take it back to the Wal-Mart.  That's a $21 refund. However, I owe a little girl a blanket. She's only 3 so it doesn't have to be too big. And the skeins of yarn there are enough to make an all honeydew blanket.

Hmm. Something to ponder.

Salad of the Week. Alright, I know I posted a salad yesterday, but here's a doozie.

Honey, that salad looks like I can just throw it in a wok and stir-fry it down. It was a bit too heavy-handed for me. My jaws and teeth hurt from chewing that.  I took a good LONG nap after eating that one.

Picture of the week. So... I was on my way home from somewhere the other day. I was getting off at the I-20 Capitol Avenue exit and I saw this:

The Devil is a Liar Salon!

Ha ha!

I want to walk into that salon and holler "GLORY!!!!"

Then walk back out.

Because Soho cuts my hair. I'm not going to get it cut anywhere else. I just like the title of that salon.

You have to admit, it does grab one's attention. Indeed.

Song of the week. I haven't heard this song in a very long time. Optimistic by Sounds of Blackness.



I wish there were more songs like that. My days would be so much better!

Alright, that's it for me. Back to our regularly scheduled programming of posts!

I STILL have the gift cards, sitting right here on the dining room table. So my big goal this weekend is to work on those. I promise they will get out soon. (Ya'll know how slow I am. Sigh).

You have a good weekend...

On purpose!

Salad of the Week

I have been eating a ton of salads lately, and for some reason I am very much enamored with purple and green veggies.

Hmm Hmm good!

Friday Freeeeeestyles

Friday!!!

Payday!!!

*multiple cartwheels around the living room*

(And I can do that now since my back and neck are being cracked 3 days a week at the chriopractor)

I tell you, this week has been a blllluuuurrrrrrr. It went by so fast. And I haven't had time to sit down and blog. I am doing all I can to finish off LadyTee's birthday present.

I am about 65% done. Not long now.

Highlight of the Week. Lucy Jr! She was washed!

Yeah, I took pictures while going through the car wash. It's not the first time I've done that and definitely not the last.

Lucy Jr. squeaky clean, honey!

Lucy Jr. squeaky clean AND holding down the handicap parking space at the Wal-mart!.

Get down, L Deuce!

Clean as a whistle.

My goodness that car was dirty. And I wasn't washing it until this snow and ice and sand and all that mess they spread on the ground was gone. She was covered in all that stuff, or whatever they were throwing out on the road. Once I thought they'd gotten it all up, then it was okay to spend the money on a car wash.

Movie of the Week. Dallas Buyer's Club.

I thought the movie was alright. I give it a B-. I think I was just way too disturbed by Matthew McChonehy's appearance. That dude looked like he was smoking crack. VERY disturbing. But it was alright. I wouldn't watch it again. But definitely an Oscar winning performance. Even if it be for losing all that weight.

Song of the Week. Some Miki Howard. This is one of my favorite Miki Howard songs.



That song is 20 years old. That's a good sad song right there. It probably sounds real good when you're on your 4th cigarette and you're good and drunk. I wonder who she was sanging to?

I know ya'll heard that she supposedly had Michael Jackson's baby. I don't believe that. That dude does look like that family,thought. Maybe he's one of the other brother's kids.

Who in the WORLD would sit on such a secret?? Not me!

You can sue me all you want. This baby right here getting what those other three kids that don't look nothing like the family getting. That is all, bruh. Shoot, he would've had to acknowledge that one. Yes sir.

It's probably just a rumor. It would explain the whole Billie Jean song by Michael Jackson, though. It would. But no one sits on a secret like that.

And you know how I am a Miki Howard STAN. She is one of my favorite singers over the last 25 years. She would've told me about this, lol.

Alright Oldboys and Oldgirls, that is all for today!  I have a pretty good weekend planned and I cannot WAIT to get to it.

Have a good weekend... On purpose!

Wednesday Words

I have a lot going on... so I think I will just post some thoughts to get myself going again.

1. Yesterday it was a sunny 77 degrees in the ATL. Today, the temperature is dropping down into the 30s. This don't make a bit a sense. As the old folks use to say "This that Pneumonia weather."

2. My sister Kentucky and I are on the 21 day financial fast. This is day 4. We seem to be doing well. We have an appointment to talk on the phone nightly at 8:30 pm concerning our thoughts on the reading material and our answers to the questions. I'm just glad I get to have a heart-to-heart discussion with my sister every night. That makes it all worth it.

3. The chiropractor visits have gone much better than I expected. I am extremely limber. I can stand up for a VERY long time now without a hint of pain. I feel good! GLORY!

4. Since the chiropractor is a nutrition expert and a vegan, he peeked my interest. I've been reading up on raw living for the past couple of months, but I couldn't really connect all the dots concerning it. So it was suggested that I go vegan and gluten-free. This makes sense to me anyway, since I have no symptoms and my bloodwork is EXCELLENT when I am eating very clean. I would like to go 70% raw, and I have someone to discuss it with now. Everything is in place, and all of my concerns were addressed, so I just need to jump out of the ship and into the ocean and go for it.

So this is day 3, which doesn't mean much to me. Check back with me on Day 33.

Or day 333

5. I'm tripping on this Malaysia airplane falling out of the sky and disappearing into the ocean. How the heck does that happen with all this technology out here? I mean, you can spot a postage stamp on the ground from space. SURELY someone caught a glimpse of this plane going down. This has to be pure hell on the families. Man.

6. There are a few people around me who need the "/" and "-" sign put next to their name in red ink. In other words, they are divisive and they are draining me. That means they have to go. That is all.

7.Tyler Perry's new movie is coming out on Friday. I'ma need ya'll to stop hating on Tyler and go see his movie. No I'm not going to go see it. I will catch the bootleg. I just like to see folks do good.

8. Today's lunch: sesame-ginger broccoli, sauteed squash, and a big salad. I may need to find a place to take a nap... I may catch a case of the 'itis.

9. So I am sitting here listening to my spotify. And a Mia X songs come on. And I hear the following lyrics:

On the mike, think twice
This girl ain't no joke
I'll stomp your ass like a southern cockroach.

*crickets*

I don't know why that caught my attention. I was a bit disturbed that she tried to remake the iconic Salt-n-Pepa hit "I'll take your Man". The violence is a bit off-putting. But I think it's the whole cockroach thing. I remember my great-grandmother stomping cockroaches from time to time. I don't do that, as I don't care for the... crunch.

10. Work is super slow right now. I can do all I need to do in as little as 3 hours. I told my boss, "Look here, if you catch me crocheting at my desk, then don't trip. I have a deadline to meet." As usual, she rolled her eyes.

I don't think I will meet my deadline. I am only 60% done. I will need to pull some all nighters to have this blanket finished by March 22nd.

That is all for today. And there is much more. I will blog a bit more extensively on a few of the items above next week!

Youtube Funnies

Sorry I haven't been posting. I'm just taking a break. I have to finish this crochet project by Thursday after next, so I am hustling hard. Look out for a couple of word prompt stories over the next couple of days.

Anyway, here's a funny video, courtesy of my animal loving cubicle mate, the Cowgirl Cre.




If it is not there, click here for the link.

Hilarious!

Friday Freestyles

Friday!

Freestyles!

You know, I'm just happy that it's Friday. I worked all last weekend. And I am not working this weekend.

GLORY!!

Weekend work is not anything I look forward to. It is nice once I get there, though, because there are only 2 or 3 of us there and there are NO distractions. No noise, no nothing. Everybody is in their labs hustling, working hard. So I can get all I get done in 2 days in only about 1 day. That is GREAT.

But I still like my weekends to myself.

And I will have this one to myself.

The major goal this weekend? Get all gift cards. And mail them all out by Tuesday at the latest. I have had the cash on me for them all week. A couple of you chickens want a Target gift card, if I am remembering correctly. And with all the tomfoolery going on at Target, those folks won't see me even bring my debit card up in that camp. No way. Cash only. So this weekend, I am getting cards. I will email the winners when I send them out, with my slow self.

Back to this week.

This has been an interesting week. The weather has been trippy as usual.  Today was cold and rainy. Yesterday was sunny. And the dysfunctionality of it all is close to just being normal now.

As long as there is no more ice, I am GOOD.

That is all.

The temps have been in the 30s and 40s this week. Temps will be in the 70s this week. GLORY!!

I have also been trekking out to the Westside to the chiropracter 3 days this week, for the next month, for adjustments.

An Oldgirl can turn hella cartwheels right about now. Whoo-hoo!!

This has been an interesting experience. I had some x-rays, and I have a couple of issues that are being corrected. I feel better already.

So we will see how that goes down. Doesn't hurt trying something new.

Book of the Week.  Yo, you GOTTA go cop that Anybody's Daughter by Pamela-Samuels Young.

The kindle version is available on Amazon until 8 pm tonight for 0.99 cents. So you better go GIT it.  That's a 370 page book for 99 cents. What a sweet deal.

"I don't have a kindle, LadyLee," you whine and holler. That's alright. If you have a smartphone, download the Kindle app, and git ta reading.

I paid full price for the book ($3.99). Whatever. That chick coulda charged $24.99 for the book and I would still be up ON it. She know she can write some law thriller fiction. Sho nuff indeed.

Anybody's Daughter is hands down the best book I've read in the last 4 years. And she wrote the first book, Buying Time, in the series back in 2009 or 2010, I believe. And that was the best book I read back then.

Pamela does NOT play around. She is high powered. Pamela knows how to tell a story. Her books are master classes on tight seamless storytelling. And I write, so you know I know what's up. Her books are like watching a movie. She's an EXCELLENT storyteller. You won't be disappointed.

And it won this years NAACP image award. You can't beat that.

So get that... honey! 99 cents until 8 pm.

My name is LadyLee. And I approve this bootleg advertisement.

Really though.

Song of the Week. I really like this song.  "Let Me" by The Floacist



That's a good song right there.

And with that, i am OUT.

I will holler at ya'll next week.

You have a great week... On purpose.

Lupita Nyong'o's Speech at Essence Event.

I thought this was excellent. I wish I would've seen or heard me this when I was a little brown girl. Every dark skinned woman I know has felt this way.




(Here's the youtube link if it doesn't show up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPCkfARH2eE)

Here is the full text of the speech...


I received a letter from a girl, and I would like to share just a small part of it with you.

Dear Lupita, it reads.

I think you are really lucky to be this black, but yet this successful in Hollywood overnight. I was just about to buy Dencia’s whitenicious cream to lighten my skin when you are appeared on the world map and saved me.

My heart bled a little when I read those words. I could never have guessed that my first job out of school would be so powerful in and of itself that it would propel me to be such an image of hope in the same way that the women of The Color Purple were to me. I remember a time when I too felt unbeautiful. I put on the TV and only saw pale skin. I got teased and taunted about my night shaded skin. And my one prayer to God, the Miracle Worker, was that I would wake up light-skinned. The morning would come and I would be so excited about seeing my new skin, that I would refuse to look down at myself until I was in front of the mirror because I wanted to see my fair face first. And everyday I experienced the same disappointment of being just as dark as I had been the day before.

I tried to negotiate with God. I told Him that I would stop stealing sugar cubes at night if he gave me what I wanted. I would listen to my mother’s every word (sitting right there) and never lose my school sweater again if he just made me a little lighter. But I guess God was unimpressed with my bargaining chips because he never listened. And when I was a teenager, my self-hate grew worse. As you can imagine, happens with adolescence. My mother reminded me often that she thought I was beautiful. But that was no consolation, of course she’s supposed to think I’m beautiful.
And then, Alec Wecht came on the international scene, a celebrated model. She was dark as night, she was in on the runways, and in every magazine and everyone was talking about how beautiful she was. Even Oprah called her beautiful. And that made it a fact.

I couldn’t believe that people were embracing a woman that looked so much like me as beautiful. My complexion had always been an obstacle to overcome, and all of a sudden Oprah was telling me that it wasn’t. It was perplexing, and I wanted to reject it because I wanted to enjoy the seduction of inadequacy. But a flower couldn’t help but bloom inside me. When I saw Alec, I inadvertently saw a reflection of myself that I could not deny. Now I had a spring in my step because I felt more seen, more appreciated by the far away gatekeepers of beauty.

But around me the preference for light skin prevailed . To the beholders that I thought mattered I was still unbeautiful. And my mother again would say to me you can’t eat beauty. It doesn’t feed you and these words plagued and bothered me; I didn’t really understand them until finally I realized that beauty was not a thing that I could acquire or consume. It was something that I just had to be. And what my mother meant when she said you can’t eat beauty was that you can’t rely on how you look to sustain you. What actually sustains us, what is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you.

That kind of beauty inflames the heart and enchants the soul. It is what got Patsy [from 12 Years a Slave] into so much trouble with her master. But it is also what has kept her story alive to this day. We remember the beauty of her spirit, even after the beauty of her body has faded away.

And so I hope that my presence on your screens and in the magazines may lead you, young girl, on a similar journey. That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside, that there is no shade in that beauty.


That is EXCELLENT. There is something there for every woman, as we all have had challenges in our self-esteem.

Something for Every woman. No matter what race or skin tone she may be.

Yes there is.

Wordless Wednesday: Bars in my 'Hood

Happy Tuesday Morning....

Oh this was supposed to be a Monday morning post.  But it is not!

It's Tuesday morning.

I've been running too hard, so I haven't posted.

So first of all, congratulations to 12 Years a Slave on those Oscar wins!

It won for best picture.

It even won for best screenplay. Now that's a great accomplishment.

And Congrats Lupita!

Go girl!

Director Steve McQueen jumped for joy.

I am glad he didn't fall. That would've been awful.

I'd be jumping too if I was him, with all the hate he's been getting. His wife read a book, thought he should read it, and he liked it and decided to make it into a movie.

He's from England. He doesn't know how much us well-to-do enlightened black folks in the United States hate slave, maid and butler movie.

You better not EVER let me get hold to some money and start making movies...

Straight up Black Space Operas.

"The Aliens kidnapped Denzel? Oh my, crank up the rocket cuz we gotta go get him!"

Original Oldgirls Space Wars.  Chicken in Space. 

Parts 1 through 10.

LOL!!!

I'd have ya'll hollering "LadyLee, could you PLEASE make a slave, butler or maid movie!?"

NO!

I'm trying to go to the Zrkinskian Galaxy and take over a couple of planets.  Me and some specially trained Oldgirls. Really though.

Straight up Space Operas.

And I'd make a movie of EVERY Octavia Butler book. ALL of them. ALL.

And some black horror and supernatural. Every Tananaverie Due book would be made into a movie. All of them.

I think we all like what we like. I heard the other day that if we are going to criticize those who go after their dreams, we aren't spending enough time on our OWN dreams. Or we don't even have dreams of our own.

That is true.

And it's a reason I get so gung ho when whoever is around me has a vision.  I want to be involved. I want to encourage. Because nay-sayers are all in our midst.

I like what Lupita said in her speech. "Dreams are valid."

And they are.

So congrats to them all...

And congrats to all of us who follow our dreams.