11/30/09

Tales from Italy - Day 6 - April 27th, 2005

Leaning Tower of Pisa


Today we took a tour to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

It was much more impressive in person than anything that I have ever seen in pictures. I took a wonderful video of a guard singing in the Baptistery, which has a "perfect" echo due to the architectural design. I signed my mother and I up for a climb to the top of the Tower and she was such a trooper. Mom made it all the way to one level below the top and I of course climbed all the way to the top to touch the flag. What a spectacular view of the Cathedra, Baptistery, surrounding town of Pisa and the Alps in the background. Just plain impressive.

We had some time to kill before we had to get back on the train, so we shopped the booths along the wall - mom bought a really nice leather purse and I've added to the snow globe collection. We then decided we need a few more pounds on our body and went to the gelato stand. OH MY GOODNESS.... this was the best "ice cream" I have ever had. So good I was trying to lick the little bowl, but mom held be back and made me pace myself. That stuff they are selling in the mall IS NOT gelato. Must have more before I get back to starvation, workouts, and my personal trainer from hell.

We arrived back in Florence and did some more shopping for gifts for our friends and family so I can't tell you what I got or it would not be a surprise. After dropping off our bags in the hotel we were back out to go to a restaurant that came HIGHLY recommended call "Il Latini". When we arrived, there was a line outside that went up the block or rather piazza. Well, being the travel snobs were are - WE HAD A RESERVATION - we went right to the front of the line and I almost had to kick off the Murano walking shoes and hand my jewelry to mom in order to commence the Ass Whooping this group of ladies from NY were about to get for getting hostile about us going to the front. They DID NOT have a reservation and wanted to swear that the restaurant does not take reservations. They proceeded to tell us to get in the end of the line. I promptly let her know that I DID have a reservations, that they needed to be made IN ADVANCE (see the damn crowd idiot) and that we were staying put. Mom steps up behind me as if she has my back (she did) and put an ominous look on her face.

Obviously, the NY ladies did not realize that an angry black woman, backed up by an angry white woman is nothing to mess with. She promptly backed down.

We get in the restaurant and to our surprise there really isn't a menu. The waiter tells you what your choices are for each course and that's what you get. He gets mad and down in the mouth if you decided you don't want a course - heck, I was about to burst after the antipasti course. (Would have helped if I slowed down on the Chianti). Nevertheless, for all the hoopla, the food was okay. The restaurant was a huge tourist trap. No locals, almost everyone was American. It was entertaining, the company was good, but for all the talk I thought it was going to be more authentic. Harry's Bar was much more real (expensive) but worth it. iL Latini was cheap (50 euros for two) but average and touristy. Oh well. The Chianti bottle we killed definitely made up for it.

Tomorrow we are off for our Tuscany "Italian Immersion" Advanced Cooking Class. This should be a hoot.

11/29/09

This Is How We Do It - Christmas Decorating

This is how we do it here at True Blessings with the Christmas Decorating. For the last 15 years+ we spend the Friday (weekend) after Thanksgiving putting up our Christmas Decorations. The rule is...if you can't land aircraft by my lights, then you don't have enough. PERIOD. We have to get all the decorations up by the 1st weekend in December. WHY? Because the Army-Navy Football game is usually played the 1st Saturday in December and if the game is not played in Baltimore/DC then we host a HUGE football party. If it is local then we even host an afterparty...it's tradition.

Thus, decorating frenzy.

Here are some pics from our decorating madness this weekend. My mother hasn't even started on the Fontanini Holiday Display; however, this year she has until the 12th to get it all done. We got a little breathing room as the A-N game is not till the 2nd Saturday.

11/26/09

Thanksgiving Table


The table is set and now everybody is hovering around (damn people, it is only 10am) asking is it done yet? While I use the same "formal" china (if you can call it that) that I have collected over the years and added to in the same family. I do change up my centerpieces or do a table scape (ahem...Pattie) different for the occassion but I am especially fond of decorative napkin folding to jazz it up.

I put this little video together for you on how to do the napkin pictured above called The Cats Paw. Enjoy and I pray you are having a Blessed Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving

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11/22/09

Nintendo WiiFit Plus Party

I don't even know what to say except WOW!!!!!! This was the second Nintendo event that I have been invited to and let me tell ya - I AM A NINTENDO FAN - as well as a fan of the hosts that were gracious enough to invite me.

Last night we went to a gallery in Bethesda and we "worked out" the new training programs on the WiiFit Plus. What a hoot and a dag on good workout to boot. My favs were the Yoga routine (I can't wait to try the new advanced poses they added), Kung Fu Rythm, Obstacle Course & the Hula Hoop. Shelly kicked all of our butts with on the Hula Hoop workout with something like 330 spins - none of us even came close. OneFromPhilly has got that Obstacle Course down pat - perhaps her fondness for WipeOut was the key.

The people from Nintendo were awesome AGAIN as as usual. Most of the time you didn't even know they were there, but they were a lot of fun. Thank you, Sean for gracing us with not one, but two renditions of making "BIG CIRCLES." Sigh.

The food & beverages were fabulous (it was a real stretch not to be greedy, but those rolls were slammin').

The night ended with CreoleInDC (our hostess) being presented with a Wii Game System and the WiiFit Plus...but it wasn't over...cause "EVERYBODY IS GOING HOME WITH A WiiFit PLUS!" We started jumping up and down, screaming like we were on an episode of Oprah's Favorite Things. But that's not all. I commented at the beginning of the event that I would really love to have the Nintendo WiiFit Jacket that the Nintendo people had on...AND GUESS WHAT...(*cue screaming*)...we all got one.

JUST FABULOUS!!!!!

Thank you and much props goes to Nintendo and CreoleInDC for such a wonderful time and awesome opportunity. I'm hooking mine up today and we are gonna get some family fit time on.

11/19/09

Thursday Thoughts

I don't find it difficult to find things to be thankful for. Shoot...just cause I wake up, I am thankful.

Maria at the Columbia Mall Williams & Sonoma was the epitome of customer service & knowledge. She almost sold me the dag on store.

On the other hand, NY & Company just got kicked to the proverbial curb. I don't use your friggin card for 13 months, so when I do, you want to run a credit check. Ummm....HELLZ NO! You don't need to run no damn credit check for a t-shirt. No playa. I don't think you are worth any of my money. Bye.

My neighbors cut down almost every tree around their house. I'm talking old growth trees...all the way back to the creek. Desolate is the word I'd use. Ugly is another.

Am I angry all the time at someone or something on my blog? Nope. After a review of 300 posts, 5 were "angry" at someone or something. Under 2% does not angry make. Is my language direct & to the point. Yep. Angry all the time...no. However, perception is reality.

Speaking of perception...I understand that the perception is that I live a charmed life. Yes, we are blessed. However, we didn't get here all magical like; it wasn't handed to us on a silver platter. Hard work, perseverance, commitment to our goals, taking risks (that have made my knees buckle on occassion) & failing forward are just some of what it took (and takes) to live this life.

I choose not to share all of my/our bag of woes, hardships and moments of despair with the world. Doing so would not change anything (there are enough people that like to share misery to go around) or what we need to do.

I choose to be happy and revel in the wonderful moments...."because in the end, it is not the years in your life, it's the LIFE in your years."- Abraham Lincoln

I agree that to whom much is given, much is expected.

However, that does not make me infallible or perfect. Ohhhh, I'm so far from it. I am a work in progress...trying to become like silver refined.

I make mistakes. I have been known to occasionally say or do something stoopit. I apologize for my imperfections and moments of insanity. Trust me...I do learn and grow from them. (And take drugs for my "nerves")

With that said, I sincerely apologize if I hurt someone by expressing my disappointment and confusion in a public forum. My method & tone was wrong. I'm sorry and wish them all the best.

Princess Cara lost her 1st tooth this past weekend. I played the role of Tooth Fairy (you know that was NOT a stretch) and I will probably have a recurring role in several upcoming dramatic episodes of "As The Tooth Falls Out"

I went back to a gym I used to teach kickboxing at to take their 3 week boot camp. HUMPH. I don't think I will be signing up for another round. The music is WAAAAYYY to fast for safety, improper technique is still used and laying down on the carpet that everybody wears their street shoes on to do exercises is just GROSS. I'll pass.

I am really loving my new "used" florescent beige hooptie. I affectionately call her Loverly.

Loverly is paid for. GMAC (and most other lenders) can bite my azz. You get a bail out of gazillions of dollars and now don't want to lend 2 cents to anybody. o_O

BTW...how you gonna tack on a $2800 "expense advance" (what da hell is that) charge to my bill and then when asked what da hell - you say "you're not sure what it is for."

Guess what...I ain't paying ish until you KNOW and EXPLAIN (and it better make some damn sense). I wonder how many people you've tried to play as boo boo the fool with that one.

Sitting at my District Meeting, I look around and once again I am the ONLY person of any color beyond the tanning bed session in the room. Sigh.

The Sunday BIG BREAKFAST has been elevated to family tradition along with Christmas Decorations put up starting the day after Thanksgiving (we don't shop, we build) ; the Army-Navy Party & Christmas PJ's. I LOVE IT!

Prince Jordan - Master of the Universe, Heir to the Empire - is coming home on Saturday for Thanksgiving. It is nearly KILLING me to not act like the mom in Transformers2. I am making the necessary Costco run (by request). Anything for the future King.

What your your thoughts this rainy, thundering Thursday?

11/18/09

My Two Peas in a Pod

11/16/09

Tales from Italy - Day 5 - April 27th, 2005

Traveling to Florence

It started off as a wonderful day.. We get up leisurely and go for a morning stroll and then for breakfast at an outdoor cafe. While at the cafe, we decided that Wednesday's is the day when crazy people are let out of the asylum to air out. We had several people walk by that talk to themselves, one man that stopped in front of the cafe and cursed, ranted and raved for about 10 minutes in Italian (too bad we couldn't understand a word he yelled) and you assorted unusuals. It was one of the most entertaining mornings we have had.

We loaded up our luggage to the train station, where once we were dropped off, we were completely clueless. Out ticket is in Italian and the train board is in Italian. I got the trusty HP out with the translation software on it and proceed to slowly but surely, decipher our ticket and
what platform we needed to be on. 30 mins later, I figure it out and we hustle to catch our train. We get to the front of the train and now I can't figure out which car to get on. It is not marked Coach or First Class. Looking like a deer in headlights, this seemingly kind woman takes us under her arm and escorts us to the right car, helps load our luggage, gets us to our seats all for the bargain price of 5 euros each. It was worth it. I was on the verge of a melt down.

The train ride was very pleasant and scenic. We arrived in Florence, found a taxi and arrived at the "hotel". Okay, call me snob, diva, WHATEVER. This hotel is not the Westin- not even close. We get up to our room and we can barely get our bodies let alone the luggage inside the room which consists of two twin beds, a mini bar (thank God) a bathroom that you can't sneeze in or
you'll fall into the bidet and a desk. There is about a 2ft corridor separating the desk from the bed and the bed from the wall. OKAY. I'm trying to deal. No heavenly bed. OH MY GOD - what is a diva to do.


SHOP.

I hauled mom out of the hotel and we proceed to do a two mile march toward the Ponte Vecchio which is a bridge lined with jewelry and other shops. I was so distraught I had to buy myself this
beautiful red leather jacket. After a sob story about how we were suffering and giving a couple of kisses on the cheek, we knocked off 60 euro for a nice bargain. Mom says that if I had let him touch the girls, he might of knocked of another 100. He certainly was eyeing them.

We strolled the two miles back. (I really didn't know that I was dragging mom on a four mile trek). The dogs were talking. We had two beers in the lobby, when the tour buses arrived. This place just sucks. Even the cartoon channel is in Italian. The lobby is supposed to be wifi. NOT.
Intermittent at best and they wont let you buy a computer card for the computers sitting in the middle of the lobby for more than an hour at 5 euros each. Can you say not even Holiday Inn. OKAY so we only have to sleep here.

We went next door for dinner (pizza) which was pretty good by the way, but to ruin the moment in comes 2 more 'yucky Americans' who demanded that the Italian waiter explain the entire menu to them in English. I thought I was going to die. Mom held me back from throwing the translator at them and cursing them for not even trying-no wonder they talk about us. We finished and left.

We are now killing time on the computer in the lobby so we don't have to go to our room.
Tomorrow we will be up for an all day tour to Pisa-and yes I'm making mom climb the thing.

Till tomorrow for the continuing saga of the Diva's do Italy

11/15/09

FREE TOYS Puts Everyone in a Good Mood

Tis the season to be thankful and to be of good cheer. Right now, I need a pick me up myself so what better way to lift my spirits and perhaps that of some blessed readers with some FREE TOYS!

Ebeanstalk Announces their Cutest Kid Playing-With-A-Toy Contest.
(You know you really don't have a chance cause Princess Cara is THE CUTEST kid - I know, I'm biased - but I'll let ya'll have a chance anyway).

So, here is the deal...

Take a picture of your little one playing with a toy, and email the picture to emily@ebeanstalk.com. It's just that easy.

You don't have to leave a comment (but one would be nice). You don't have to post on FB or Twitter (but passing it on would be friendly). Just take your sweet bundle of joy (ie. RUG RAT) picture playing with a toy - any toy - sent it emily@ebeanstalk.com and you are done.

Be 1 of 10 lucky winners to win a $50 gift certificate at ebeanstalk this holiday. Entries will be chosen on their cuteness-level.

Privacy ensured! Entrants will not be spammed. Do not send your address for privacy purposes - just email and the FIRST name of your child.

For everyone: All blog readers will receive a 10% discount at ebeanstalk of any purchase. Enter the code ebeanstalk100 at the cart!

Ebeanstalk is a website dedicated to selecting great, safe baby toys and kids toys. They rely on the opinions and feedback of bloggers and moms around the country. Also their team of child experts help to pick out unique toys...but you be the judge!

Winners will be picked at random on 12/1/2009. GET YOUR ENTRIES IN NOW!

It Is No Wonder...

Last night the FireMarshall and I went to Stat.ion.9 to help celebrate our GodNeice's 21st Birthday and we both sat there with our mouths hanging open - me clutching my virtual pearls & the FM scowling and ready pull off his belt and begin to azz whoppin on the whole club.

What we saw happening in terms of "dancing" (if you could even call it that) and dress was equivalent to watching soft p.o.r.n live and in living color. We watched as young "ladies" in their early 20's, most of them Ho.war.d U students come to this club dressed exactly like garden implements - STRAIGHT UP HO's. Dresses so frigging tight that it left us with no doubt that they had absolutely NO undergarments on. They couldn't possibly. Dresses, skirts & shorts so frigging short that with one gyration of a hip, we were given proof positive that they didn't have panties on and that the hedge needed to be trimmed. We couldn't understand why they just didn't come in a their underwear or nothing at all. I had more material in my own bloomers than at least 2 girls put together.

However, the dress code (if you could even call it that) was not what really sent me into my Prudish Clutching Pearls moment...it was they way these chicks were dancing. We were absolutely MORTIFIED. We watched as several girls actually bent over at the waist, backed it up, backed it down & all around while the guy de jour tapped that azz to the beat of the music. Then it got so intense, that they would get into a kind of chain to execute what I could only describe as a group chex line (or they would hold onto the pillar if they were near one) - girls would bend over & hold the waist of the guy in front & so on - so that they could get a better grip and apply more force/leverage so the guy could simulate tappin it. I watched as girls would squat down down to crotch level or EVEN KNEEL ON THE FRIGGIN FLOOR while the guy would simulate gyrating his hips as if the girl was doing oral sans ropas. GTFOOH!!!!!!

Is dance floor chex a new dance move? We watched as the young college girls that had the whole life ahead of them dress and act like garden tools. We watched in horror as these girls (one was freakin so hard she blew two buttons off her dress - and asked the girl sitting next to me for a safety pin - WTF For?!!!) did their best performance for a chex film entitled College Girls Do Entire Club. I simply could not fix my face for one more minute of these shenanigans. The FireMarshall looked at me over the top of his glasses and that was the cue for us to roll out.

It is no wonder, no surprise AT ALL, that a more than a fair share of men these days treat women like hoo.kers, talk to them any ole kind of way, treat them like dirt, maybe even hit on them. NO WONDER.

When a woman ACTS LIKE A HO, DRESSES LIKE A HO....YOU ARE GONNA BE TREATED LIKE A HO. PERIOD.

Ladies...if the shoe fits, wear it. However, we have GOT to do better. If those are your shoes, get new ones.

You can't expect a man to treat you with respect if you don't treat yourself with respect. You can't expect to find Prince Charming in the man you let hump you in a night club and then passed you to his buddies like a piece of meat. He WILL NOT be taking you home to meet mama. You can't expect to behave like that and then expect him to see the nurturing, beautiful woman you are who will be the mother of his children. Stop acting shocked when the man you were chexing up in the club calls you a Byatch or worse when in the heat of an argument. You already set the standard of behavior.

Men are pretty simple creatures when you boil it down. They are hunters. They learn how to hunt different prey through experience. They learn what they can and can not do/get away with in order to have a successful hunt. The way they hunt for a quick meal is vastly different from the way they hunt for the future Mrs. Gatherer. I know for a fact that a man can look at me and KNOW that I AM NOT THE ONE to come at with some craziness or jedi mind tricks. It is all in the respect I have for myself, my demeanor, my carriage, the way I dress etc. However, the ladies doing the stuff & dressing the way I saw last night are setting themselves up to be quick prey; thrown to the side with your entrails hanging out on the side of the road. STOP IT.

Men won't do right by you till you do right by yourself. STOP IT. DO BETTER. NOW.

I'm just saying. What you think?

11/14/09

Random SideEye Opinions on Internet Opinions

If you are going to put a post up about something you did or are contemplating doing and ask your audience to give their feedback on it....IF YOU ASK FOR AN OPINION...
  • expect to get some.
  • expect that not everyone is drinking your brand of dumb ish Koolaid.
  • expect that not everyone is going to co-sign on bad behavior & bytchassedness
  • expect to get a few opinions opposite than your own brand of crazy.
...and if those opinions are given in a respectful manner (no cussing or name calling) then don't get your panties in a damn bunch and call those people "haters" or worse. Seriously.

If you can't handle the fire, then get out the damn kitchen and stop asking for opinions/advice from virtual strangers.

It seems as if more and more people, especially on these here Internets, are just a bunch of passive aggressive wimps that can't have a decent, mature, rational discussion regarding conflict or issues. Get a pair...Please!

I suppose I'm filled with hateration. Yeah, whatever.

Anybody who knows me, knows that I jacked out of the Matrix a long time ago and am just a crazy azz "nice lady". Don't let the cute smile fool ya.

If asked, I speak my mind and am not going to babysit, pick & choose my words, walk on eggs sells around you, etc. etc. so as to not possible hurt your feelings. If you are doing grown folk stuff then I'm going to talk to you as a grown folk. PERIOD. If you can't handle my shot glass of truth, delivered in a respectful manner, then perhaps you should go back up on the porch with the puppies. STOP WHINNING, stop complaining, sniveling about your lot in life and why things do ever change...blah, blah, blah. Assess your situation, review the advice received (from your wisest Top Mafia), do your due diligence and MAKE A COMMAND DECISION. This business of lying on that nail IS childish. Grown folk doing grown folk stuff need to get off the porch & run with the big dawgs if you plan on having a decent, rewarding life.

Don't shoot the messenger cause you are trying to drink the hard stuff when you are still on the baby bottle.

Get yourself some pabulum (intellectual nourishment) and straighten your spine. Mkay?

Jeeze people.

Let's band together and STOP GLOBAL WHINING!

11/11/09

Honoring Our Veterans


It's Veterans Day. I give thanks and am blessed by all those who gave their lives and continue to serve so we can live in the The Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.

Hug a Veteran. Say a prayer for our fallen & those still serving...and in case you didn't know how Veterans Day came about and why it is always on November 11th....

11/10/09

Grown Women Gone Wild

This past weekend Swaz and I flew our girlfriend in to celebrate her 50th Birthday. I can best sum up the fun, drama & good times with a few key statements heard (or rather exclaimed) from us at some point during the weekend:

  • "Travel Diva...I'm Lost...it's HORRRRIBLE!!!!"
  • "WOOOOW. All I can say is WOW!"
  • "Bwahaaahaaahaaaaaa....!!!"
  • "Ladies, you are at a Level 10...let's try Level 7."
  • "Let's see if my face will fit in the glass. HEY! It does."
  • "I think I have alcohol poisoning."
  • "Jesus, be some water & aspirin."
We had an absolute blast. It was a short weekend; however, I don't think we could have taken much more since it took until today (at least for me) to fully recover.

Friday, Swaz and I picked up Pattey at the airport (after The FireMarshall & I managed to talk Swaz to my house in the dark..."OMG, it was HORRRRIBLE!!!!) and we toasted her arrival with the biggest martini in the world. We found out later in the evening that you COULD, IN FACT, fit your face into the martini glasses. AWESOME!

We went to a restaurant called Bistro Blanc for dinner where we polished of a champagne toast, a bottle of wine, chocolate martini's for dessert & a B&B. The food was so damn good...but that Flat Bread...We had relations with the flatbread.

Our designated driver, a fellow West Pointer (Class of 2007) staying with us while he recovers from surgery, drove us to and from...and his gallantry as our personal driver & gofer was a girls dream. from insisting on opening any & every door, to fetching stuff, to scrubbing a bathroom for me "with chemicals" means he is going to make someone a great catch someday. That boy is going places. Our hero.

After dinner (rather after we shut down the place) we went back to the house and headed up to "The Retreat" where we had more martinis & cut up like fools.

  • Why did Swaz challenge my drunk azz to a head stand face off?
  • Why did she wear the red bowl on her head & then face as she chanted redrum, redrum?
  • Why did I challenger her to do some Bikram Yoga poses. Do you know how hard it is to balance on one leg 5 sheets to the wind? HARD. Shoot, it is hard stone cold sober.
  • How come you dancing like you having full body spasms to "Play that funky music?"
We laughed so hard, I think we ruptured our spleens. We collapsed in a heap around 3 am and these heffa's were up talkin ish & fixin coffee at 7am. DA HELL!

We were ou the door on Saturday morning by 10:30am and we proceeded to shop our way from Maryland to Virginia and back. We (or rather Swaz - I was just a navigator - I'm innocent) got pulled over by the PoPo and OHHHHH!!! She sure was mad about it. The PoPo said we were speeding. Wanna know how he knew we were speeding? He said that he was doing 10 mph over the limit and since he was behind us we had to be doing at least 15 over. Seriously? We were trying to get outta his speeding azz way...looked like he had places to go. Then when Swaz asked him weather he used a radar gun, he said no, he used his "calibrated odometer."

PoPo, WHAT! DA HELL YOU SAY!

Well, Swaz was fussin with him and I thought for sure when he said, "Ma'am, I'm not going to argue with you on the side of the highway" that we was going to jail...AND if he had gotten a good look at the Birthday Girl sporting the drunk eye in the back seat...we was definitely going to the pokey. Mr. PoPo gave Swaz a ticket and we went on our way knowing Swaz would be going to court.

Too Funny...(although for most of the day, Swaz didn't find it funny AT ALL)

We shopped for 12 hours straight (mainly for household, decorating, tablescaping items). We did stop for Tea at the Ritz Carlton in Tysons which, since we had starved Pattye to damn near death, was a complete...ummm...let's just say...completely NOT satisfying. We managed to be entertained by a woman who wore Spanx Footless Pantyhose as tights. Just one of numerous glamour don'ts we say that day.

At the 9 hour mark, when we got to Tyson's II, we had to practically carry the Birthday girl into the mall because her feet were swolt and about to 'splode. You know you have shopped till you dropped officially when you stop to buy sneakers so you can keep going. And keep going we did. We shopped till we shut down the Mall and almost got locked into Macy's. We pulled back into my house at 1030pm...promptly collapsing into a heap.

Sunday, I got up and made THE BIG BREAKFAST (Sunday breakfast is becoming a family tradition around here) and regaled the men folk and my kids with stories & re-enactments from the weekend.


That was one of the best girlfriend weekend ever.
HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY, PATTEY!!!!!!

...SOooo when is our next trip....I'm thinking Grown Women Gone Wild - Vegas. Enjoy the Video


11/6/09

Top Mafia + 1

I am truly blessed to have some great friends and even more so that I have a couple of friends that are in the Top Mafia/BFF category. Well, this weekend is one of my Top Mafia's 50th Birthday (HandyHotNESSKY - Pattey) and we are about to embark on a wonderful weekend celebration.

The thing that is even better about this weekend is I am getting to meet & hang with one of Pattey's BFFs. Now I've never met Soizik, but I've talked on the phone with her, we have FB IM'd and I've talked to her while I was with Pattey. Nevertheless, we always talked with each other as if we always had been friends and partners in crime. Why? Probably because we have a Top Mafia in common.

Does this present a problem? Have I ever felt threatened by Pattey & Soizik's friendship? Have I ever not wanted to share or been jealous?

NEVER. Not once. And for the life of me, I can't imagine why anyone would. I've heard stories about women who can't be friends with each other. Who get jealous or angry if you spend time with the other friend and you're not included. Who gossip and talk about the other friend when they are not around. I've heard about it, but I have not experienced it...perse.

Like I said, I have some wonderful friends. I think that the reason I don't have those issues is because I choose not to deal with them. I'm just not going to have that conversation with you or hang around for some woman's (cause I have NEVER found any of this to be the case with men) petty jealousy or issues. If I discover that one of my friends can't handle me being friends (particularly tighter/closer) with another woman, then I'm going to do a mike check, note it and move on accordingly. I will "check you, boo" at the first sign/mention of jealousy, passive aggressiveness (ya'll know I hate PA byatchedness) or just plain ole girl craziness. You'll either deal or we are going to have to go on our merry way. And when we are in a group, I am of the school that when you have nothing nice/decent to say - Just Be Polite. No need for me to show you my azz (cause it will be in the form of a tazer); the crazy friend will show theirs eventually.

In the past, if I valued our relationship and you were not snapping crazy with bullshyt on a regular, I would simply omit certain things that I know will get you upset. I may omit that I had lunch or hung out with so & so cause you are gonna be jealous or say something that causes me to test my tazer. Unfortunately, that policy stopped working a few years back when I started blogging, FB'ing and Twittering everything. Once my adventures became an open book, well, it became easy to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Soizik and I had mentioned to each other via FB that we wanted to do something special for our BFF. Pattey is true Top Mafia to us both. We decided to share the cost of an airline ticket, picked my house to do the weekend slumber party, and decided on activities with the ease of friends who not only knew our BFF but knew each other pretty well...and I've only seen Soizik in pictures.

I am so looking forward to celebrating Pattey's birthday this weekend....AND getting to know Soizik better (she has already been added to the friend list). We may not be each others BFF - being a Top Mafia BFF take history & time - but we are definitely gonna be fast friends.

I'm so glad...so blessed to have Top Mafia like them.

Do you have problems adding people to your friend circle?

11/1/09

Random Thoughts from the TravelDiva


I ended up only completing 25 days of the 31 day Bikram Challenge. Stuff happened...doesn't it always.

Am I the only person who does yoga and doesn't have a tatoo?

Sometimes I find Fac.e.bo.ok and blogs to be just like a soap opera...tune in for the next episode of "As My Little World Turns". People are a damn hoot. Who has all the time for this drama and intrigue. Seriously.

A lot of times...I just don't give a rats patootie about your drama.

My sister called and asked to borrow my sleeping bag. No, darling...you can keep it.

We have recovered from a bout of the piglet flu. We had a great ole time with the biohazard signs, chasing her with Lysol and laughing at her expense.

She didn't think it was funny at all. As a matter of fact, she thought her life was one big tragedy becuase she couldn't go to a party this weekend. The mind of a teenager. Uggaah.

Please don't ask me if you can do anything for the fruit of your loins since she is sick when you know DAMN WELL you ain't gonna cough up nothin.

More people need to laugh and not get their panties in a bunch over every little thing. Life would be a big ole tradgedy if you couldn't laugh about it.

I didn't give a friggin damn what those parents thought about me throwing lazer beams from my eyes and screaming "Have you lost your everlasting mind!!!" at my child who was about to go into a full blown tantrum in the middle of the street while at a halloween party.

That's why I will NEVER be afraid of my kids (they need to fear me and my ability to snap crazy), they will NEVER talk out of their mouths at me, they will not have tantrums or grow up to be heathen axe murderers. CAUSE IMMA NIP THAT ISH IN THE BUD PDQ.

Trust. Call the PoPo if ya wanna...Guess what?...They remove the heathen devil spawns from the home - I get to stay in the lap of luxury.

I'm mad that I didn't take the two pumpkin muffins that Sissy made. Got halfway home and realized I had left them on the counter. HUMPH!

That request for me to vote for you to be President of some ad.ul.t entertainment company was totally inappropriate.

You don't know me like that - AT ALL.

I think Foamy the Squirrel is The Tell It Like It Is MAN! He nailed that whole FB thing. Nailed it!

Soiz & I bought our girl, HandyHotNess-Kentucky, an airline ticket to come visit and hang with us for the weekend for her 50th Birthday.

Lawd Hab Murcey on the DMV. We are gonna have a blast!

Friday won't get here fast enough.

I love my friends.