I want you to journey with me...

OMG! I've been waiting on a video for this song since the album dropped! I absolutely adore Corinne Bailey Rae! This video shows a fun & sexy side of her that I'm sure we thought wasn't there after her tragedy. Yay, I'm now going to be in a super mood for the rest of the week!!

Imperfectly Quotable

"High heels were invented by a woman who had been kissed on the forehead."

Christopher Morley

This quote makes my heart sing! I can remember every kiss on the forehead that I've ever received. There's something different about a kiss on the forehead. It's like it lets you know it's okay to be in love! *deep sigh*

My thoughts, exactly!

Now you've got me wondering!

True to my cluttered tendencies, my inbox is a disorganized mess! I have over 1600 e-mails in my Gmail inbox. This is after deleting the millions of Facebook & foursquare notifications. Sadly, I can't bring myself to delete any of these. Most include files or info that I don't want to send into the interwebz black hole of deleted files. Some are just random & funny so I keep them around for a quick laugh. I was combing through them this morning looking for a picture when I ran across two messages from someone that I was kinda-sorta dating. (I use dating loosely because so many people have their own definition. We'd gone out semi-regular basis but there was a failure to launch anything major.) Both were random pictures of me that he'd taken when I wasn't paying attention and initially I hated them both. I have no idea why I kept them. Crazy how he sent one to me while we were literally in the midst of a disagreement. I was giving him my best riot act when my phone started to vibrate in my hands. I looked down to see a message from him. I opened it and saw a picture he'd taken of me sleep on his couch exactly a week prior. I remember that exact moment because I felt like someone was standing over me but knew that he was in the other room getting ready for a meeting. I was too exhausted to wake up but I guess that I was right, huh!?!? Now that I'm looking at the pictures a couple of months later, I can't help but wonder why he took them. To me, they are pretty unattractive and boring. But I wonder what they meant to him. I want to believe that in those moments he saw effortless beauty or something magical like that. Like life's many unanswered questions, I guess this would just be another one added to the list!

*The header picture is not one of them! Thank goodness!

To me, With Love!

Ever wake up, peel yourself from the bed, head to the bathroom, glance in the mirror and think "Damn, I'm a hardcore cutie!" I don't have those mornings very often but I did this morning! It could have been the true full-night of sleep that I got that made me delirious but I was really feeling myself this morning. Even in my scarf, I had a little Halle Berry going on! To commemorate this glorious moment, here's just a few things that I love about me:

1. I smile so much that my cheeks hurt some days! I have no earthly idea why I smile so hard but I do. I have tons of pictures growing up that are nothing but teeth and gums! It drove my mom crazy when school picture proofs came back but I thought I was fine as wine. Now that I have braces, my extreme smiling skills are a million times more noticeable but I'm still okay with it.
2. I absolutely love my eyes! There is nothing super spectacular about them other than they're brown. I have friends with far more exotic colored eyes but I like mine better. They really have depth which isn't something you see everyday. It took someone to point this out me and now I'm totally obsessed. It's like looking into an endless series of open doors!
3. My hair in completely unruly! Two years ago, I made the unpopular (amongst my friends & family) decision to grow out my relaxer & go natural. For a year, I wrestled with this unknown texture and finally I've found my mojo. I've been wearing it "out" since last June and know this was the way I was meant to be. I've endured my fair share of stares and snide remarks but I'm unfazed, at this point. There are days that it does what it wants and I'm just along for the ride. No matter what crazy contortion my curls are in, I LOVE IT!
4. I LOVE MUSIC! I have one of the most eclectic thirsts for music and it's all because of where I live. At four years old, I was going down on Beale Street with my grandparents to listen to live music. I can't imagine a Saturday morning without the sounds of BB King, Johnny Taylor or Al Green. Now, I must have music playing at all times. I'm nerdy in that I like to research newer songs to find out where the sample was taken from. No musician or genre is off limits for at least one listen. I've rarely met a beat that I couldn't dance to!
5. I'm a nerd (as previously stated)! No one ever wants to admit this because society puts beauty before brains. I'm 100% okay with admitting that I like to read. Plus, I'm single-handedly keeping Google in business. I hate not knowing things so I have apps like dictionary.com and thesaurus.com on my BlackBerry. Don't judge me! At the end of the day, a pretty face is nice but don't you want someone who knows the meaning to all the big words that you know? *smirk*
6. I abuse the use of exclamation points! It's because I'm a great storyteller and no story has ever been done justice with just the use of boring, old periods. A Facebook friend brought this to my attention and I couldn't help but snicker. Sometimes, I just can't help it!!

Reading is fundamental!

I'm a local newspaper junkie & was excited to see one was running a real style contest. Before reading all the stipulations, I rushed out after work to take pictures on the hottest & longest day of the year. I baked in 100 degree weather for over an hour just to realize that I can't use any of the pictures because I'm not holding the sponsoring newspaper. Since I'm a reading fail, you get to see what I would have submitted! Enjoy!

"Why are you single?"

Last weekend, I had the chance to gab it up over some good eats & wine with some friends. All was well, until an open space in the conversation led to a question that pierces me right to the core..."Why are you single?" Just the mere utterance of those words sets me on fire & I see visions of myself flipping a table Incredible Hulk style. In most cases, this comes from a cute and seemingly innocent older southern belle. I have to remind myself that smacking old ladies is just not accepted in society. This time, it came from a girl that I'd only dealt with casually. Until this exact moment, I'd been quite fond of her, especially as she's my favorite salesperson at a local boutique. We'd shared some feel good moments over the years pouring through racks of recently discounted designer shoes & dresses. At this moment, she'd become the enemy & signed herself up for a night of dirty looks!

Really, what am I supposed to say? That night, I chugged the last of my wine and told her that I was working on it. I just didn't have a rebuttal. A couple of nights later, with a glass of wine in hand, I decided I was going to work this thing out like long division. Either I was going to have a list the size of the Constitution or a hangover just as comparable. Looking at the list the next morning, I realized most of the reasons didn't even make sense to me. For your entertainment sake, here's what I could decipher of the random scribbles & doodles:

• I like the comforts of my home far too much! As a natural introvert, I prefer staying home to being in the rat race of the social scene. When I'm in the mood, I can take the vultures head on but there are a lot of times that I get dolled up to just put on sweats, sprawl across my bed & watch re-runs of What Not to Wear. Besides, I spent many hours and good money looking for my double pillow-top mattress so I feel obligated to spend quality time with it when possible. That also limits the chances of Mr. Right showing up on my doorstep to my apartment maintenance guy, the UPS man & the mobile detail guy who pops up on Saturday mornings. I'll pass on all three, please & thank you!
• I bore/get distracted easily! Not to sound conceited or just the end all-be all in personality but I have a really hard time when someone's not holding my attention. I float off into a land of fairy tales & lollipops after a few minutes of idle rambling. Sometimes, I can use this space as an opportunity to balance my checkbook or plan out my next DIY project. I'm sure I could practice staying present but the way I see it's not a problem since I'm technically multi-tasking. PRODUCTIVITY WIN!
• I can't remember names. This is probably the most deadly social sin there is! I've never been good at remembering names & have called people the wrong name more than I'd like to admit. It's nothing to do with them but just me not properly processing information. Yikes, let's not dwell too long on this point because it would just make me look like more of a bitch!
• I'm dreadfully inconsistent. I can throw mixed signals with the best of them. It's never intentional. I can truly be into someone and two hours later get annoyed when I see their name come across caller ID. (Is there a pill that can be prescribed for this?) I have it bad for going out with someone several times for weeks and then dropping completely off the face of the earth for a month. Makes for interesting encounters at the grocery store but nothing to build a relationship on.
• I'm not over an ex! *Gasp* It's not as bad as it sounds, trust me! Everyone has this problem whether they'd like to admit it or not. It all goes back to the fact that it's really hard to keep my attention. To even make it into boyfriend status means you had the je ne sais quoi to hook me from the beginning. If anything, we should applaud those who even attempted to summit the mountain that is my heart! The bad part about breaking up isn't actually losing the person. It's losing the characteristic, quirk or imperfection that you cherished most about them. So if we wanted to lay it all out, I'd have to say most never get over the majority of their exes because collectively they'd make the perfect match. *closing out group therapy*
• I like being single! I have no desire to settle right now. My biological clock is not ticking (Some days, I even wonder if I have one.) I'm in no hurry to start building a nest and have children. As much as I admire people who have gone that route, that's just not what I want right now. I'm enjoying the opportunity to come and go as I please. One day, the urge to nurture and build will outweigh my nomadic tendencies but for now, I'm not there.

Damnit, if these answers aren't good enough, so be it! There aren't any suitable answers for this question. Plus, I'd be just as batty as the crazy that asked me if I had a legitimate answer, right? At the end of the day, no one should have to answer questions like this. I'm well aware of the true motive behind this question and that's just to find out if I'm just as stuffed full of as many imperfections as the interrogating officer. And your answer is...YES! I'm as flawed as the next person but I wear and represent it well!

***This post was never intended to be post here. I wrote it on a whim & then pulled it for something else. After the blessing & urging of good friends, I decided to post it here. Hopefully, you got a good chuckle out of it!

Confessions of an Imperfectionist

I'm sure that it's hard to believe but I have a problem with sarcasm! I never really was a sarcastic child but it kicked into overdrive once I got into high school. Had anyone stopped to ask, I would have told them what the image says above!

Source: I can't read the name of the original source, but I ran across this on unbrelievable.

I've got something you've been waiting for!

I've been singing this all day! I'm still on Cloud 9 from my vacation and a potentially awesome July 4th!

Errr...Oops!

I guess I neglected to mention that I was going on vacation & wouldn't be posting for a little bit! Guess that I'm getting old! Nonetheless, I had a blast and the time away was much needed. I got to see Maxwell, N*E*R*D & Erykah Badu in concert while I was away. I'm still on Cloud 9! I would totally bombard you with pictures but I dropped my memory card reader on the last day rendering it a shattered mess. Until I get off my butt to get another one, here's a pic of me on the way to get some grub! Happy Monday!