Whirlwind weekend almost over.

I have about 24 hours left to recuperate from the last 48 hours.

Between being a proud auntie at her salutatorian niece's graduation (beautiful speech), road tripping up and down the interstate, and having the honor and privilege to serve as one of SupaChica's bridesmaids at her beautiful, tasteful, and fun wedding at a very lovely Georgia location, I'm wiped out but content.

By they way, my girl, SupaChica, was absolutely stunning. Her bridal party (Team Bride) was attractive as well. Everyone just looked nice, and everyone was touched by everything. Fascinating fact: almost everyone in the bridal party is married. Impressive.

Now that all is said and done, I almost don't know what to do with myself. There's one other thing I have to do, but it doesn't compare to logging about 500 miles on my car on the weekend with the highest gas prices yet. It was worth it since there were some once-in-a-lifetime events I went to. But I still filled up my tank at a cost of $47.84. *tear*

"This is how we chill"

Today was just like any other day except I felt like being cute on the job. After all, I wore sweat pants yesterday. Dolled up with a colorful yet tastefully done face, I jumped in the car. Damn if I didn't forget the small brush to apply the pot of cream eyeliner... to my eyebrows. Just for definition. I was running late already, so I couldn't turn around and tear my house apart looking for it. *sigh*

I always keep makeup pencils in the car, and the only one remaining was my NYC red lip liner. It's only been on my lips about 10 times in life because I always used the red to create red eyebrows to match my hair. On this occasion, my heart kinda dropped. I had gotten accustomed to the dark brown eyebrows I created. Maybe I just felt more grown up with my not as red hair and my dark eyebrows. Even typing right now, I'm just not digging red eyebrows, especially with this colorful make up.

A redefinition had begun. Red eyebrows equaled a regression. *sighhh*

You should always remember where you came from and what has defined you. I just had stepped away from that like I did so many other things. Evolution, not living in the past.

But revisiting the past for a spell is always hot. That's why my picture has been replaced by a defining graphic. It's not my definition because I never had the image of hard core hip hop head. Just the heart of one. For those that haven't grasped what that image means, peep the video below:



93 Til Infinity
Souls of Mischief

My Alphabet

I found this on a messageboard that I frequent. Basically, take each letter of the alphabet and use a word or phrase that pertains to you. I could do this all day everyday:

Anticipating reporting to work on Monday
Better than being laid off
Christ is my Lord and Savior
Diggin' my family
ETA Sigma Alumnae Chapter
Faithful and sisterly sawrahu
Georgia born and Georgia bred
Hell yeah when I die I'll be Georgia Dead
I's married nowq
Just 3.5 months
Kids are being contemplated
Loving coupledom first
Maybe a mommy one day
Nifty auntie today
Open roads
Protective napptural styles
Questing for a CDL
Red afros occasionally
SEC Football loving chick
The ultimate conference
UGA = best school and mascot
Wife of a Togolese
Xi! Chi! Xi! Chi! Xi Xi Xi! Chi! (from the flick Road Trip)
Yes, I like randomness
Zoos suck

My hubby has caught my Dominoes Fever. He's caught on to playing double 6's, and he actually beat me in a few hands. Of course, I won the overall games, but I'm sure he'll catch the strategies and will beat me. The next time we play, double 9's will be used. Thank God he caught on to one of my favorite past times.

Recently, my thoughts towards hubby lead me to compare our marriage to his first marriage. My mind knows that she's his ex for a good reason, but I just wonder if our marriage is better than the first time around. After all, we've been happily married for 3 months, and he's had no major complaints.

Hubby revealed to me that our marriage really is better than his first time around. We have fun with each other and live my the artistic motto hanging on our living room wall: "Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much". One thing that throws me off is that he becomes bashful when I look at him with an obvious attraction in my eyes. He knows that I love him with facial hair, but I also appreciate his face when he shaves as he prefers. I finally asked him if his ex ever looked at him in the same way that I do. He simply said in his sexy accent, "Never." It seems that he has no idea how attractive his is and can be, even though my straight-no-chaser sister-in-law let him know that he's one of the most attractive Africans she's met. Fascinating.

Hubby always tells me, "I'm a very lucky man," when he talks about us and our marriage. I always respond, "No, we're two lucky people to have found each other." He has no idea how truly lucky I feel to have him.

it's after 1 am yet sleep eludes me. Allergies are still affecting me and my sleep patterns. Might just be a nasty sinus infection that I cannot shake for anything. Double doses of a.lka s.eltz.er cold, acv cocktails with cayenne pepper, and the.raf.lu liquid medicine have not helped yet. Like this chick at a previous job used to say about our shift, positions, and our employer, "This is some bullshit."

On another note, Hubby and I had a good time at the Cyclorama on Sunday. Who knew the world's largest oil painting paying homage to The Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War would be pretty decent for a black chick and her African hubby who digs history and anything resembling a documentary? Best of all, we weren't the only black people.

After, we entered Grant Park and chilled by a fountain on that beautiful day. I was astounded by how nice the park was. Grant Park was avoided for years by my family because the last time we were there in the 80's, the park smelled overwhelming like the adjacent Atlanta Zoo. Yeah, not a motivating factor to try it again, but there was no smell on this Sunday, about 20 years since my last visit. We'll be back again for our own picnic on a blanket.

George Bu$h might have been right...

to my chagrin. I called my bank's information number to listen to my bank balance. I knew I had money because it was pay day, and thanks to four months of insisting I get a 1 year review at my job, I earned a slight raise that equals to about $30 extra in each bi-monthly paycheck. Yay. Now I can afford gasoline. I dialed in my account data and actually heard an amount I wasn't read for. After more investigation, my research found that I had received my economic stiumulus payment! It's not a myth; they do exist. Thank God for those very low last two digits of my SSN; I wish patience to those of y'all whose SSN ends in 90+.

That $600 couldn't have come at a better time. I had just made an "appointment" with a good friend of my brother, NOPI. Thanks to my brother's natural male inclination to love everything about cars and his love of all things customized Honda, he's made an interesting array of friends including The Asianphile (AP). He's a lover of all things Asian considering he's a black man with a whole lot of Asian friends, he lives with two Cambodians, and he can even claim Cambodian heritage. AP introduced got me to go to that Chrimmah party I blogged about last year: http://sunshynelyfe.blogspot.com/2007/12/shredded-papaya-who-hell-knew-that.html

Plus, AP happens to be a very nice, honest, trustworthy, and hilarious mechanic with an affinity for Hondas and Acuras. Our appointement was set for yesterday just to get the valves on my engine readjusted because they were making too much noise. We decided to hook up at my parents' house where NOPI is currently residing. NOPI won't be with them forever because he has a fiancee and new baby. There's no date yet, but you best believe my Mom and Dad aren't moving a new family under their roof.

So what does that jackass D.ubya have to with this weekend? Because I had that $600, I was more willing to spend money on my car. I gave AP the set amount of money for working on my car at my location of choice, and we did all kinds of maintenance on my 201K+ mile Accord. It sounds a lot better, and I can tell that the minor tune-up made a difference in performance. If things go as I plan, my car will stick around for another 100K miles, minimum.

I'm satisfied with the current status of my car; therefore, I feel no fear in rolling out. I'll be on the road spending money in other cities. Even AP has extra money in his pocket thanks to the economic stimulus payment. He'll get more money soon because I want to get some more maintenance done on my car that has never been named. I shudder to think D.ubya might have been halfway right about anything.

Besides that, the weekend has been excellent so far, and it's not even over. Hubby and I are going to the Atlanta Cyclorama, which is basically a circular artistic depiction of the Civil War. Someone suggested he should see it because it''s a great Atlanta landmark. My mind leads me to wander if we'll be the only black people for miles..., but I'll go anyway. It's another Atlanta landmark I haven't been to yet, but at least hubby is willing to go out somewhere.