Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

An Unintentional Gift, Guilt Cookies and Redemption

My son turns five next month. The big 5.0. I've been planning his birthday party since after Thanksgiving. My life is essentially what happens in between events. I like throwing parties and entertaining, so I'm kind of always planning something. This year, while I have the pleasure of planning my son's biggest birthday party ever, I'm also planning a gift of atonement. This year will mark the fifth year that I have had the cookie sheet that my friend brought over to keep the baked chicken juices from spilling onto her car seat en route to my house after we brought Zack home from the hospital.

I have had her cookie sheet for five years. And I have used it. I didn't plan to have it this long, it just happened. See, what had happened was, I washed it and set it aside to return to her when I was back on my feet and out with the baby. I'm one if those girls who stays in for six weeks with my baby after birth because that's what my mama, her mama, and all the mamas before her said to do. Six weeks is a long time to remember to return something to somebody. Plus when I did try to return it, she was out of the country. She ended up being out of the country for several months at a time over the years to follow and I just moved on with life. Am I a terrible person? A thief even?

Every time I use her cookie sheet and wash it I feel a bit guilty and tell myself I will take her a new one the next time I see her, but I always forget. Until I see her, and then I remember, and feel guilty for not saying anything. This has gone on for five years! This year, I'm doing away with going to guilt-ridden play-dates and eating guilt-ridden cookies and biscuits.

As I wrap Zachary's birthday present, I will also wrap one for my friend--a new cookie sheet, oven mitts and baking utensils from Target or Crate & Barrel, with a card attached that will read, "Sorry! I can't believe it's been five years!"

Five years! I wonder if she even remembers. lol 

What's the longest you ever kept something that was SO not supposed to be kept?

Making It Official: I will see y'all in 2013

My last post was two months ago from Paris. Since then, I've been spending so much time sharing my photos and anecdotes and whatnot on Facebook and Twitter that I have totally neglected my blog. I don't see a place in December where I can sit down to write, but trust me, I will be back at it in January 2013. I have a few inspired posts on the 2012 Presidential Campaign, Trayvon Martin, and vegan, non-allergen baking and recipes I'm trying out on my son, crafty undertakings, fitness and knitting for my other blogs and peeing in Europe...peeing...in...Europe, and of course pictures all on the Homegirl horizon. 

I'm caving and giving in to the ever-creepy Elf on The Shelf, per my son's request, after hearing of his friends', to ask Santa if one of his elves can visit our house until Christmas. I'm already thinking of ideas and will be posting Elf's pictures on Instagram, so you don't want to miss those. I won't be posting here, but in the mean time, I will be all up in and through social media. Catch up with me on...

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

Please enjoy every moment wrapping up your 2012 and have a great Christmas and New Year. 

Also, since today is World Aids Day, I'll leave you with this: Death to AIDS. Death to judgement. Death to stereotypes. Death to misinformation. LIFE to those living with HIV. Let us remember those who we've lost and those still fighting. Get tested! http://www.worldaidsday.org/.

Thanks for reading! 

Holla! 

Best of HomeGirl: What had happened was...

 

I've been blogging since 2005. Over the years my blog has taken on many forms and the content has changed in waves, but one thing has not changed...I am a constant goof and crazy things happen to me. I post about them in the category, "One Time At Bandcamp." It was fun going through all those old posts. I'll probably do this for other categories from time to time too.

 In the words of THIS guy, "Let's no further then do"...or without further ado, in no particular order, here are my all time fave five what-had-happened-was moments: 

1. This happened because I'm awesome. I mean that sarcastically...but then sort of literally.
   About that time I locked my baby in the house.
2. I told my boss I did number one
   It was totally necessary.
3. Sushi
   About that time I learned that wasabi paste is NOT guacamole...the hard way.
4. So I flashed my neighbor.
   About that time, well, you know.
5. Note to Self: When traveling by air...
   About that time I wanted to put the smack down on some airline byotch.

And just because I had to share this one again, a bonus one about the time I had to use the men's bathroom...while it was in use:

No sir, don't mind me. You go right ahead and pee. I'm just changing my baby's diaper.

Girl, did you see this new Vlog!

So. My best friend, EssBreezy, and I were on the phone one day talking about Julia Roberts' film, Eat Pray Love. I had seen it months ago and she FINALLY saw it and we had a blast sharing our reactions to the film. We both love Julia Roberts, so there was the gushing about that. We both love food (one of us-->EssBreezy<-- more than the other), so there was the gushing about the 'Eat' part of the film in Italy. We share similar, some would say feminist, views and so we went on about our issues with how Julia Roberts' character made some of the decisions she made. We rehashed this film just like we do most shows and films we watch, going from shallow to deep and laughing from the gut along the way. After we got off the phone, I was still laughing. My husband asked me what was so funny when the phone rang again. It was Summer. She was like, "That was fun! I really enjoy our rehash convo's. We should record them." And so Girl, Did You See...? was birthed. 

In our first video, we rehashed the Season 3 Finale of Basketball Wives. The ones that followed were a 3-Part video on our opposing reactions to the film, The Help. See? Shallow...Deep. All the videos mentioned here as well as the ones to come can be found at http://www.girldidyousee.blogspot.com.

Please check us out! And Follow us on Twitter @GirlDidYouSee so you won't miss what we see next time.  We would love to hear your thoughts about what we saw.  Tweet us and let us know you watched it too! 

Here is our first video...

Keep It In My Backyard, Austin!

Kiimby (Keep It In My Backyard) is so quintessentially Austin-- a movement created by tech guys, encouraging people to do good, while shopping local. Wednesday night I had the pleasure of joining them at Dress Shop in downtown Austin for the first of many events around town to celebrate their good-hearted movement to encourage Austinites to shop at locally-owned businesses while simultaneously supporting local charities. The short of it is that shoppers can register (at no cost) for a Kiimby card, select a local charity to support, and use the card when shopping at Austin businesses. The card works like a local shopper loyalty card--swipe it at an locally-owned business and a percentage of the purchase goes to an Austin charity. Pretty good, huh?

A percentage of purchases made at Wednesday night's event went to support  . In case you missed it, my relationship with DFS started with a little cupcake party I threw and has blossomed from there. Leslie, Judy and the team of volunteers there are just awesome. Austinites, if you have a do-gooder itch to scratch, and being part of an organization that supports women interests you, go register to volunteer with us! If you don't have time to volunteer, go over to kiimby.com, register for your card, select Dress For Success or any other local charity you want your purchases to support and shop local! Let me tell you, Dress Shop is a great place to start. Obviously the dresses there rock, but the accessories at that place? Girl! I promise my heartrate increased when I saw the first display of statement necklaces. I'm going back there for my next accessorie run and you should too. Brave downtown parking (I tried to use the law of attraction--really--to find a close spot, but still ended up walking 4 blocks to the store), wear comfy shoes, and prepare to be enveloped in ultimate girlieness

I managed to snap a few decent pictures during the event. Here are a few, but as usual, head on over to my Facebook page for the full monty!

 

5 More Randoms...

It's been a while since I've posted. Even longer since I've written a 'Randoms' post. I was just checking my social networking sites and thinking during my quiet time this morning--after dropping the boy at school and before going to the gym. Picture me sipping on a cup of tea, standing (I rarely sit down during the day--even eat standing up) at my kitchen counter on my netbook. These were my thoughts...

1. I want them to bring back Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy on SNL.I thought about that when I had my own Handyesque deep thought--> We say summertime and wintertime and springtime, but not falltime. What's up with that?

2. I got a Kindle for my birthday. I bought a hard cover book the same day. I'm warming up to it. 

3. There was a delay on my iPhone4 order and we ended up not buying it when it arrived at the store. I saw a commercial for the Blackberry Torch and am torn now because there's an option for me to keep my beloved Blackberry buttons AND get a touchscreen for browsing. Both phones will cost the same thing with my plan upgrade. Heading over to the store to play with the Torch today. Decisions, decisions...
 
4. I looked at my self in the mirror for the first...er...second time in Zumba last night. I use to not look because I didn't want to KNOW how crazy I looked trying to dance the samba. I felt better picturing myself getting down like the Brazilian Carnival girls in my head. But last night, after several months of taking Zumba and totally by accident, I looked...and I LIKED! :) 

5. Today was my first snack day for my son's class. I bought a watermelon and cubed it for the kid's morning snack. I felt like a mom. :) It's so much fun being a toddler's mom. I think I'll stay here for a while.

 

HomeGirl and Friends Did Good! Johnsons's® "Girl Talk Cause Party" for Dress For Success Austin

Recently, I had the honor of hosting a Johnson's® "Girl Talk Cause Party". All I need is any old excuse to throw a party, so I jumped at the opportunity to host a party for a good cause when I received the email from the Blogalicious marketing network, bLink, a few months ago. Johnson's® provided body care goodies for my guests, encouraging me to bring women together to celebrate friendship and to make a difference in our community by creating awareness and support for a charity that supports women. I was excited to create awareness, have a blast and send everybody away with a goodie bag, but I also wanted to really do something for the charity I selected. I wanted my party to make a tangible difference. So I contacted Dress For Success Austin to invite them to my event and find out how we could support them.

Dress for Success is a worldwide organization that provides interview suits, work clothes and support through career mentoring programs for women who have found themselves at a disadvantage. Judy, Executive Director, told me that they had a strong need for hair care products. Later, my tour of their facility confirmed that there was not one bottle of shampoo on their shelves. Y'all know hair is one of the many topics I write about on this blog. I understand the relationship between the appearance of our hair is to our confidence, especially in job interview situations. By collecting hair products, I felt like in some small way, my party would affect the mini-makeover process for a handful of women (and much fun are makeovers?!).  Thus, HomeGirl's Shampoo & Cupcakes  For A Cause party was officially on!