happenings....

It's only been a week, but it seems like an eternity ago that I was birthday celebrating. The last few days were pretty action packed, and it saddens me to see that there are only two weeks left of my favorite month.....

I had jury duty this past Monday, and I was fortunate enough to have made it past voir dire and was picked to serve on a DWI misdemeanor trial jury panel!!!! Attorneys rarely get picked to serve on juries, and I was beyond excited. It felt so different sitting on the jury versus actually having to present a case. I saw things from a completely different angle and once we deliberated, we found the defendant not guilty. Surprisingly, the state did not prove their case and it was only right to let this man go on with his life. Although discussions in deliberations are technically confidential one thing I can share is that it is important to take jury duty seriously. We owe it to ourselves and the community...especially as minorities (race & gender) because there are innocent people not getting a fair chance just because none of their peers showed up for jury duty. There are also guilty people walking free simply because the jury empathized with their skin tone and couldn't see past all the facts to actually hand down a conviction. I'm not trying to sound preachy, but there is NO way a suburban housewife or multimillionaire who has never left the confines of his gated community should be considered a "peer" of a little brown boy who grew up in the center of the ghetto. I just can't see it and studies need to be done to show the statistics of who is showing up to serve as jurors versus the ethnic make up of those standing trial... But I digress. 

I was birthday-gifted tickets by one of my girlfriends to go see Janelle Monae at the House of Blues. The show was this past Wednesday, and we had a great time singing and dancing the night away with Ms. Monae. She put on an excellent show and is sooooo gorgeous.....

After all that dancing & singing (and drinking) my girlfriend and I were exhausted. Thursday was a blur........

By the time Friday rolled around I was still exhausted... I made certain to clear my schedule so I could spend my Friday night resting and reading since I had a book club meeting the next day. Since things had been so busy this month, I sort of neglected the book club selection for November, Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan.... I ended up starting it after work and finishing it around 2 am....

And then a carafe of mimosas later, our book club meeting was a success. Terry McMillan did a great job with this book & it was definitely redemption from Getting to Happy, which I did not like......

After the meeting I napped. And napped. And napped.... Then went to a housewarming for my friend who got married last December. She's so stylish and of course her new place is as well... One of the games we played was a blind wine tasting, where we had to guess the names of 10 different variations of wine without reading the label. For me it was hard as I am not a wine conniseur, but quite a few couples were able to identify every type that was available. Kind of makes me want to take some classes to cultivate my palate..... Hmmm....

I woke up late this morning, which I'm not at all surprised by. My aunt and I got tickets to go see The Best Man Holiday and I loved it. The sequel was well worth the wait. I'm not into spoilers, so I will spare the details but my God was it good. The perfect holiday movie, especially for those who like myself loved the original. 

After the movie, I napped several more hours then went out with a "friend" for a late birthday celebration. Which brings me to now... I'm wide awake from all the napping today, but I know I need to be asleep since I have to get up early.... 

I hope everyone had a great weekend & peace and blessings to everyone this upcoming week....