The Halle Berry and Nia Long Effect

http://photos.essence.com/galleries/nude_fashions#399351

It seems to me that Halle and Nia are becoming more and more gorgeous and uber hawwwtt with time? How is this possible? Clearly it is and I want in! I've always been a fan of both women and I've yet to identify one "in" commercial celebrity that can hold a torch to either of these ladies, and I'm even more tickled considered they are successful and progressive black women in Hollywood....far and few between, unfortunately. In any event, all the paparazzi pics of Halle walking around in her work out gear looking fab and Nia's recent Love Jones ode (FYI, Love Jones is my absolute favorite movie of all times, and because of this I am forever the hopeless romantic in search of what "Nina and Darius" had and I'm not inclined to settle....see my Diary chronicles for more details...) at the 2010 BET Awards has me in a tizzy. With that said (and seen), I'm on a mission. I'm creating a new lifestyle in terms of my diet and exercising habits because as I just recently said, I want in! Who wouldn't??? Shout out to Malinda Williams, Sanaa Lathan, Gabrielle Union, Rihanna, Kelis, and Eva Mendes....women of color who have me in the gym going hard! :0)

Fast Times In the Life of My Fingernails

I love fashion and creativity but I'm an attorney and I have to keep things toned down to a certain extent. No colored hood hair or sloppy flamboyant nonsense, which actually doesn't work for me at work or at home or at play because it's just wrong!!! But I say "a certain extent" because although I have to wear suits to court, I still try to wear a cute, funky, modern and young suit, and although I work in the office when I'm not in court, our Firm dress code is business casual so I take liberty with color, my accessories and shoes (but of course....and for the record, my liberty with my shoes is not to be played with)!! But one of my favorite accessories is my fingernails!! Not only is this a fun way to reflect my style and taste but what girl doesn't like pampering inexpensively and a quick, easy and simple way to break up a classic (yet sexy) black suit without going off the inappropriate and unprofessional deep end! So take a look at some of my favorite designs and how my nails make me special in an unexpected splash of fun, spunk and personality kind of way!!! NOTE: I highly recommend that you pay very close attention to Samantha Jones' nails in Sex and the City 2: The Movie b/c they were hotter than her outfits, which is pretty hard to do!

The Power of Target

I can not even begin to describe the necessity of Target store. It has to be the single most important place in the U.S. Before I even realized how big it was and how necessary it would become and how deprived the North East had clearly been, I stumbled upon it. It was 1997, and I was living in Coral Gables, Florida, right outside of Miami. I was a sophomore at University of Miami. I was a new mother and on the verge of becoming a new wife to my now ex-husband but then jr. high school sweetheart (that experience gets its own category and label....OMG). Although my tuition was mostly covered, my living expenses and penchant for all things brand was kicking my @ss. Therefore, I needed a part-time job. I landed in this shopping center and at this store that at first I thought "looks like a very fancy and clean K-mart." I was very curious but I was also skeptical. I despised (and still do) Kmart and the other "mart." They are synonymous to some form of modern day torture and aside from grabbing some toothpaste and toilet paper, why else would anyone decide to spend any additional time in those stores and let alone actually make a substantive purchase??? Uggh. The thought of it is making my stomach turn. Anyways, my love with Target began right there because my skepticism was pleasantly dispelled and from that moment on Target was my go to place for ALLLLL things. I ended up securing my part time job at that very Target in Coral Gables and the long hours on my feet, straightening and stocking shelves, jumping on the register, cleaning the food cafe and dealing with psycho supervisors was always softened with the ambiance and stock of "Tar-Che!!" It was that introduction where I found that the Home decor and furniture, clothing, electronics selection, and beauty products were to rival the high end department stores but the prices were within the reach of a young, college student, teen mom hundreds of miles away from home with a keen sense of style despite of! Today, I love Target more. It never breaks my heart, it never betrays me and it never disappoints me. Even my children are incredibly fond of Target. When we don't have any particular plans or activities scheduled we generally decide to "just go to Target" and we never leave disappointed even if we leave empty handed, which is a rarity. You will see in my fashion labels and categories how I frequently pair inexpensive hot clothing pieces with excessively overpriced shoes and handbags (my other vices that have since reduced me to stone cold irresponsible soul) and you will see here first (and later again) how my home is an eclectic mix of inexpensive and expensive pieces, the best coming from none other than Target!! My side bedroom table, which I get a ton of compliments on, came from "Tar-Che" and was an ultimate clearance find at $20. The table is solid black/brown wood, perfect square shape with circle cut outs. The vertical striped vase on the table is another $5 target clearance find. My dining room table is adorned with great "Tar-Che" finds, the huge wooden ball center piece and the marbled brown dining ware are the perfect additions. And lastly, one of my most prized and proudest home possessions (b/c I thought of it all by myself) are the two 8x10 black and white photos of my children I have hanging on my living room accent wall. The frames were clearance "Tar-Che" finds and when I saw them I immediately got the idea to take these two colored 5x7 pictures of my children, when they were younger and both wearing cute fedora style hats, and have the pics altered to fit the frames and accent my accent wall. Enjoy!

The Dating Chronicles

I've made a conscious (and maybe later to be regretted) decision to chronicle my dating life....for now. I figure if I'm gonna do it, date that is, I might as well share the mess with the rest of the world. Well actually, my favorite girlfriends (and one guy friend who actually asked me when was my reality show airing)laugh so hard at my crazy date stories or my inappropriate and misplaced responses to some things that shouldn't be deal breakers and some things are beyond deal breakers! I thought if I could make all of my 2 friends and 1 guyfriend laugh that maybe I can make you guys laugh so here goes my 1st entry!!!
- So I went out on what I'm going to affectionately refer to as "re-date." A "re-date" is not a simple circumstance of going on a subsequent date with the same guy, but in fact, when you have dated someone in the past...beyond the first date, and something bad happens and you stop, lose touch with that person, maybe even fall apart from that person, and stop thinking about them altogether. This is not a love story gone bad but just a dating situation that stopped working and you let go and moved on. Now, here comes that guy years later and asks for a do over essentially.... a date as if we didn't date and then didn't talk. It has been approximately 4 years since the last time I've seen him or dated him. He reached out to me via FB and I agreed to go out and I had lotttttsss of fun!!! But we always had fun so now what? Consider that part of the problem was we always had fun and that's exactly why I liked him and generally the extend of my fondness for him. He was funny, smart, nice, friendly and fun. But there was nothing else I felt beyond that. He was a great friend who helped create great times. So now what? Is there a chance when you engage in a re-date or are you just re-doing every that was done on the initial date?