Gratitude

Christmas is exactly one month from today, and I sincerely hope that people don't lose focus on Thanksgiving while visions of sugar plums dance in their heads.... 

I finally read The Alchemist, and I must say I was floored. A blogger friend recommended I read this book and I am so glad that I did. It is definitely a must read, and I recommend anyone who has ever questioned their path read it. (Thanks Carla!) 

Not that I've totally spent the last few days of my life reading (well, I kinda have) but I also read To Heaven and Back, by Mary C. Neal, MD. This book recounted the authors near death experience and trip to heaven, as well as followed her story as she discovered her various purposes in life. I believe in God and this book was definitely comforting to read. It reminded me a little of The Shack, which is one of my favorite books of all time, but from the perspective of someone who actually saw a glimpse of heaven. 

The weather in Houston has been terrible the past few days. Today it rained the entire day, and the temperature did not get above 45 all day. That is COLD for us. I can't complain. I love the cold weather, I love Fall and I love anything boot, scarf, or hot tea related. I put the books down momentarily this weekend to go to the mall, and do a bit of shopping. I wanted boots (either riding boots or granny-esque/military inspired) and sweaters. 

I succeeded in finding the boots, but for some reason I had no real luck with the sweaters. 

I have a confession. I'm obsessed with Orange is the New Black. I downloaded Netflix specifically to watch it. The curiosity got the best of me, and despite it's racy content.... I love it. Netflix is kind of awesome. How did I not know this beforehand? I guess blame the books as the reason why I don't watch much television, but this... glorious. I may even dabble in some Breaking Bad or dare I say it, Scandal. I just may be invited to the cool table after all! 

But really.....

Life is not as bad as I convince myself at times. I have been truly blessed. 

I'm on my chosen career path, making moves and prayerfully walking in the right direction towards my purpose. I have my family, my friends. I have clarity on who needs to be in my life, and who should not. I've experienced love, and I've experienced loss. There is so much living left to do, and I'm learning more and more each day to focus on the present and to enjoy the journey. 

One day it will all make sense, and for that I am truly grateful. 

T'is Almost the Season....

I saw twinkling lights as I drove home from Benihana tonight, and no it wasn't from the punch bowl that my friend and I split...nor was it from the mojito I had with dinner. The entire street was lined with Christmas decorations! Is it safe to assume that the world is skipping Thanksgiving, and looking forward to Christmas?

After work, I treated my buddy to dinner and drinks at Benihana for her birthday. She never celebrates, and every year I always attempt to encourage her to do something and she declines... Well this year I took matters into my own hands and made sure there was some sort of acknowledgment of her day!

Fortunately she enjoyed being treated, and even enjoyed the birthday song and free dessert we received.... I love Benihana!

Thanksgiving is exactly one week from today... And as the weekend approaches,
I can't help but begin to think of all the things I am thankful for....

T'is almost the season!

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....

Thirty-Too

If you follow me on Instagram, I extend the sincerest of apologies because your timeline was FLOODED with pictures of my friends and I celebrating my birthday this past weekend!

I can truly say that I had an AMAZING time celebrating with my friends and family... Everyone knows me as the individual who always goes all out with birthday planning. In 2008, I had a party that everyone to this day still talks about...then life caught up and I didn't have another big party until I turned thirty, two years ago... and of course last year I was still in depression mode, so I threw something together at the last minute and ended up having a terrible time. This year I decided that I had to make up for how I felt last year.

On Friday, my best friend from undergrad flew into town, and we headed straight to the mall once I picked her up from the airport. She lives in Alabama, and had not been to Texas in almost 5 years so she was extra excited to return to civilization. While shopping we happened upon a store having a buy one get one free sale. I found a dress that fit my body perfectly, so I decided to buy it and wear it that night instead of what I had originally planned.

In lieu of having one event, mixing friends and personalities...I planned separate events for friends so I would not have any conflicts similar to what happened in the past. I also decided that I only wanted to celebrate with people who had actually been there for me this past year....quality over quantity. A lot of times I would just invite people out of obligation, this year nah. But back to Friday....

Friday was deemed "bourgeois night" which is hilarious to me. We booked a reservation at Eddie V's, which is a seafood/steak house in City Centre. Upon arrival we were seated at a table covered in fresh rose petals- truthfully, the waiter admitted to placing the petals on the wrong table, and I feel sorry for the couple celebrating their anniversary at the rose less table, but I digress. We dined on crab fried rice, crab cakes (everyone ordered the same thing) and sipped on cocktails while we laughed hysterically all evening.

After dinner, we went to a club which was slightly dead, so we drove across town to a lounge that was ridiculously packed. Well since I have been on this natural hair journey, the way my life is set up I can't really deal with hot crowded/sweaty venues so we had to leave expeditiously... Half of my friends went to another spot, but the bestie and I met a handsome stranger in the parking lot & parted ways with the remainder of the group. (I promise they did not mind!!!!!!)

And now we fast forward until that Saturday morning around 10 am........

We slept in late, then woke up to go to the Galleria mall so the bestie could visit the stores she likes that are not in Alabama. We walked the entire mall, then had to admit that our bodies were not as young as they used to be... we were beat. We left the mall, grabbed lunch at Chuy's then headed home for a nap.

Fortunately my mom called and woke me up, or else I probably would have slept the remainder of the day away. We got ourselves together and headed over to my parents house for cake & my birthday song. Yum!

I love that my family loves celebrating birthdays. We always have cake, ice cream and sing together as a family. I definitely intend to keep that tradition alive.

We were stuffed by the time we left my folks house, and had just enough time to slip in a nap before the celebrating started back up.
Although it was our intention to sleep, we were too excited about planning our outfits & getting ready to see the rest of our friends. The theme for Saturday night was "college night" because I had planned the event with all of my closest friends from undergrad and law school to get together.

My friend loves photos as much as I do. I haven't had a photographer since she moved away from Houston & she doesn't have anyone to take her photos in Birmingham, so yes we had a photo shoot before we went out!

Once our shoot wrapped... this happened:

We went to Ambrosia, which is a hidden jewel in the city that has an Asian/indian inspired theme. The restaurant mixed up our reservations, so management went above and beyond to accommodate the party. They set us up privately on the patio of the restaurant, gave us a round of drinks and provided champagne on the restaurant for the inconvenience. We dined on curry chicken, rack of lamb, various tapas and other exotic delicacies and had a freaking blast on the patio of the restaurant. In retrospect it was probably great that we didn't get the room I reserved. Being outside gave us the opportunity to be as rowdy as we wanted without disturbing the other patrons.

We literally took hundreds of pictures, I've just been creeped out about posting too many pictures of myself on the internet ever since I saw a post about people stealing pictures without giving credit. (Anyone who knows how to watermark, please let me know....)

I had so much fun with my friends. It felt so good being with people who I know genuinely care about me. The amount of love I felt was overwhelming to the point that I had to ugly cry after the champagne toast.

Dinner was followed up by dancing the night away at a local lounge, and the deepest of sleeps once we made it back home.

We woke up early Sunday morning, and listened to my friends mom give her sermon on her radio program then went to brunch before heading back to the airport. This was the last official hoorah for the birthday.

I was so full & tired that one of my girlfriends ended up eating this for me.

The spot we went to for brunch got wind that it was my birthday weekend and in addition to the cake gave us free shots & a free pitcher of mimosas.

After all of that, I had to tap out.

My friend was smart enough to book a late flight, and after dropping her off my birthday weekend was officially over.

God definitely blessed me tremendously this year. I had such an awesome weekend that I know I owe it to myself to make the continuation of my 32nd year of life just as amazing as it was ushering it in.

I'm thankful, I'm grateful.... I'm just feeling overwhelmingly blessed. I needed this weekend.

This moment will be cherished.

Friday.

When the clock strikes midnight tonight, I'll have made another year older. It seems like only yesterday I was getting introduced into society, just like the girls I witnessed last weekend. Now I'm here. I'm not where I want to be but I've definitely arrived. I'm no longer that girl, yet I am. I still have the same dreams and wishes she did, only I've lived and learned so much more.  

I was so shy, yet outgoing. I wanted the world, and I still do...except now I'm closer to having it. A lot has changed, but  some things stayed the same. 

I'm excited to see what the future holds. 

The Weekend-- Part Deuce

I woke up super early Sunday morning. 5'o clock in the morning to be exact. Yeah, I forgot to set my clock back. Whoopsie. 

Since I was up so early, I decided to make it for 7:15 service at my church and I am glad I did. Not only was the message good, but the entire congregation sang happy birthday to everyone born in November. It was the perfect start to my day. 

Since I went to the early service, I was home in time to listen to my friends mom, who is a pastor in Arkansas on her radio program deliver her sermon. Last week she started a series entitled "Know Your Purpose" wherein she preached on being who God created you to be. She even researched the meanings of a few names to illustrate how even the name The Lord put in your parents mind shed light into your purpose and who you're destined to be. Well I of course made the special request to know the meaning of my name and she talked about it on her radio show yesterday. Apparently my name means: royalty, leader, supreme and of a ruling family. I took that to mean that The Lord does not want me to walk around holding my head down in shame because I don't have everything I think I need right now, I'm a leader and should focus on doing great things. Her message was super encouraging and I definitely recommend listening to her broadcast if you are able to stream radio stations through an app or online. 

After her radio program I took a glorious nap and prepared to go to a ball. Of course, I am royalty after all. -insert sarcasm here, lol

But seriously... I went to a debutante ball.  Way back in a land far far away and long ago, I was introduced into society as a debutante. It was literally 15 years ago, that I was bowing and Grand Waltzing with my daddy at the ball. They invited some past debutantes to come to welcome this years new class into society and I was one of the debutantes who came back. 

I posed for pictures, and was escorted in as my bio was read to the attendees. I felt like a big deal for a nanosecond. It's just so hard to believe that I was once where these girls were last night, and how everyone was so proud of the accomplishments I have made so far. Very humbling experience. I was truly grateful. 

The girls were beautiful in their white dresses and the food was delicious as well. 

I have to search through my moms old photos to find some pictures of my daddy and I. 

Overall a pretty awesome long extended weekend for me. I'm glad I got the opportunity to put a lot of things into perspective and I am looking forward to the remainder of my birthday week being just as fulfilling.

:)

Long Weekend - Part 1

My weekend began Wednesday after court.... I was in dire need of a break. So many things have been going on. I needed to rest and get my mind off of work and just everything in general. I was mentally and physically (and spiritually) exhausted. I needed time to think, plan and redirect my energy to something positive and not continue with the unhealthy cycle of self-doubt I had placed myself on. These days off gave me exactly what I needed. 

Thursday morning, the sky decided to open. It rained and rained and rained. I rolled out of bed around 10:30. Sounds so bad, but it felt so good. I finally got myself together-- which took awhile since I discovered 7th Heaven and Touched By An Angel on television during the day time-- I went to a luncheon downtown hosted by an organization compromised of African American female attorneys. The luncheon had a panel of black female judges who gave us practice tips and advice on how to become a judge in our county & how to excel in the profession as a double minority (female & African American). It was very inspiring to say the least. 

That night I went to a Fall festival with my god daughter and devoured a gigantic turkey leg. 

Friday morning, I went to a seminar on alternative legal careers. It too was very inspiring and it gave me some insight on other things I can do with my degree. After that, I pretty much napped and watched television until the evening. Once night came, I went to a comedy show at a club where my friend performed in celebration of her birthday. She's a comedian and had various opening acts before she closed the show and the afterparty began. I ducked out to walk across the street to The Chocolate Bar so I could get Rocky Road icecream and other chocolate treats I didn't need. 

I was lazy again and didn't roll out of the bed till 11 on Saturday. I noticed that a friend had posted something sad on Facebook so I reached out to her to see if she wanted to hang out to get her mind off of things. Fortunately she agreed, and we embarked on a fun adventure in the mall...

First off, we scavenged the mall in search of shoes for me to wear this weekend for my birthday. I wanted some black pumps, but settled for a pair that shall be revealed at a later date, namely this weekend. 

While we were hanging in the food court, a guy passed by handing out hats for the grand opening of Build A Bear in the mall. Did we want silly bear hats? Hell yeah! So we walked around and got judged by mall patrons, until it was finally decided that I needed a bear for my birthday. 

And then this happened.....

On November 2, 2013, she was born. Everyone who truly knows me, knows that she represents me so well. Aside from the heels and business clothes, which I almost always have to wear everyday due to my occupation, my favorite favorite favorite thing to wear: wife beater or other comfy t-shirt, my glasses, pajama bottoms (if it's cold) and a soft fluffy robe aka a duster. My friends tease me oh so recently for actually owning a house coat/robe. Apparently people my age don't enjoy the finer things in life or at least my friends don't..but I digress. 

I've never owned a Build-A-Bear but I totally loved the process. From picking her out, stuffing & fluffing her to choosing the perfect outfit. It was a great experience that I don't think only little kids should enjoy. Whenever I have a daughter we will definitely do this, and I do plan on saving my bear for her. It was entirely too much fun!!!!!

I was beat after the bear experience and was in bed extra early..... Good sleep, I did indeed have....