The Trouble with Young Black Girls

So, I know yall have been keeping up with current events and TV lately.  With everything that is going on, I have become increasingly concerned about the socio-emotional health of our young Black girls.  It's not that I'm not worried about our young Black boys, but they're fairly represented in mentorships, educational programs (thanks Bloomberg!), sports leagues, etc.  Our young Black girls, however, are getting left behind and running to TV, boys, and social media for affirmation.

Just look at the reaction to Gabby Douglas' hair. This young Black girl just won TWO gold medals and how does Twitter react? Criticizing her hair.  And it wasn't Don Imus with a nappy-headed ho comment; it was other young Black girls.  Is that how we are teaching our daughters to react to the accomplishments of another girl?  By attacking her and tearing down her looks?

Or, you can watch any show on VH1... no explanation necessary.

The images our young Black girls see projected on TV of women flaunting destructive relationships, tearing down each other and allowing men to disrespect them to their face; it's appalling.  For every Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, there are 25 MiMis and Evelyns.

You know what, they should do a reality show of me and my girls.  They would follow us going to our respective jobs, hitting the gym to keep our bodies right, going to the occasional happy hour to socialize & meet new people, an exotic vacation every now and then, and then us going home and going to bed.  But, you're right, why would you wanna watch a bunch of college-educated Black females when you can watch these women throw bottles at each other's heads??

I say all this to say, we have to make sure that we nurture our young Black girls spiritually, emotionally, physically, and mentally.  Otherwise, we won't be preparing for the next generation of CEOs, but Basketball Wives 2019.

The Olympics: The Best, Worst, and In Between

The worst: London.  Beijing brought it in 2008; drummers, millions of Chinese dancers.  The opening ceremonies this year was the history of London. NOBODY CARES. A James Bond skit about the Queen? Don't nobody care about that either. Even your Queen was bored. London: Worst Host Ever.

My new favorite athlete: Pistorious. A) He's cute B) He's a paraplegic and y'all know I *love* people with disabilities.

The "I told ya so": The USA Women's Basketball Team has won their 5th straight gold medal.  They beat France, the 2nd place finishers, by 36 points.  They also have a 41 game winning streak in International competition.  Can we say "Dream Team"?

The Hoodie award: Serena crip walking after she won the gold medal.

The Dumbest Olympic Sport: Trampoline, Sailing, Equestrian, Race Walking 

The best: The Sex! For the athletes, some of them might not have won gold medals but they were getting it in in the Olympic village.  All those perfect bodies from those various countries all living in confined quarters was a recipe for disaster.  But you know who didn't have a lot of sex in the Olympic village?? Lolo Jones.  And she had a 4th place finish. (j/k Lolo, j/k).

Well, that's my recap.  Hope yall enjoyed it, now on to book my tickets to Rio!

Book Review: Hunger Games

Aight, I'll admit I hadn't heard of this book until the movie came out.  Yeah I'm a bandwagon book reader, so sue me.  Well, at the end of the day, I'm glad I read it.  Twenty-four teenagers are forced to fight to the death on national television until there is only one winner.  This is what Lifetime-movie dreams are made of!  And this book has everything: desperation, romance, class warfare, mythology, costumes, games AND hunger.   Needless to say, I am sooo ready to read the next book in the series, Catching Fire.  I gotta find out what happens to my beloved Kat.

Next Up: Bitch is the New Black ~ Helena Andrews

Pollo Ajillo

It's another chicken recipe!  Told yall, there are 234809 million ways to make chicken.  Pollo Ajillo translates to, I think, Chicken in Garlic sauce.  Although I'm not really sure, I failed Spanish in college.  Anyways, here's the recipe.  This has a lot of steps but it's very easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 chicken thighs
3 potatoes
9-12 garlic cloves
1 c. of white or red wine
Quarter of an onion, cut in chunks
1 T of olive oil
Salt & Pepper

1. Season your chicken thighs with salt & pepper.  Heat oil in pan and brown chicken thighs.

2. After chicken is nicely browned on both sides, put the chicken aside and let it rest.

3. Cut your potatoes into bite size chunks.  Throw them in the pan.

4. On top of the potatoes, place your onions and garlic.

5. Put your chicken back in the pan and don't forget to pour in the sauce leftover on that plate.

6. Add your cup of wine

7. Cover and cook for 45 minutes on medium heat.

8. After 45 minutes, your potatoes will start to brown so rearrange the food in the pan.

9. Top with parsley

This dish is sooo good, I promise you'll want to eat it all in one sitting; the potatoes get crispy, the roasted garlic gets a lil sweet, the onions caramelize.  And your house will smell amazing while it's cooking.  Ooo, think I might throw some pancetta in the mix next time...yall know how I feel about bacon!

Crystal Meth Takes a Vacation

Well kids, it's time for my 2nd Annual Passport Girls Vacation.  This time we're going to Costa Rica!  This makes you sad cuz there will be no posts from me for a week.  To comfort you, I'll leave you with a picture of me in a bathing suit.

Party like a Rockstar

So last week was my birthday and I had the most AMAZING week.  For my birthday this year, I celebrated FOUR times.  I know.  But, I'm a lil over the top so of course my birthday celebration had to be over the top.  So I wanted to give you guys a recap of all my celebrations AND what I wore to each one.

Night 1: Harlem Nights
Yall know I *heart* Harlem so of course I had to start my birthday week in my 'hood.  My friends & I hit up all of our usual spots celebrating along the way.  For this night, I wore my new summer fave maxi with the most amazing print and  I paired it with gold accessories.

Dress ~ Walmart
Earrings ~ SoHo
Necklace ~ Aldo


Night 2: Midtown Lounge
For this night, my friends & I hit up a Midtown hotel party.  I haven't been out in ages, so why not go to Midtown for my birthday.  And because I'm getting so old, this is probably the last time I'll be allowed in a club.  This night, I wore this Black peplum dress (I adore peplum) and paired it with my cobra earrings.

Dress ~ Fashion to Figure

Earrings ~ Bebe

Night 3 (My actual birthday): Surprise Party!

Yay, I'm 28!  (Whoa, I'm 28.)  My day started with cards, gifts and this cookie cake from my co-workers.  I loooove cookie cake.










Later that evening, my friends surprised me with a happy hour in Tribeca, cupcakes THEN a dinner at David Burke Kitchen.  If all the surprises weren't enough, the chef came to our table and took a picture with me.








For this day, I wore this white peplum top (again, I adore peplum) and this leopard print skirt.  Ummm, I looked pretty amazing.

Top ~ New York & Co
Skirt ~ Forever 21


Night 4: Birthdays by Div
For the fourth and final celebration, my co-workers and I hit up a Midtown East happy hour.  I have been blessed with co-workers who are also friends so we always have a great time together.  This night was no different!  Since this was the culmination of birthday week, I wanted to wear something fun.  I think this shirt pretty much sums me up!

Shirt ~ Custom Plus

I had an incredible birthday...thank you to everyone who celebrated with me!

The problem with the WNBA

Do you know when the WNBA season began?  Prolly not.

Do you know the name of your local WNBA team?  Prolly not.

I'm a fan of basketball.  Period.  I am also the sister of a former high school basketball star, so ladies' sports was big in our family.  We've been ride or die with the WNBA since the very first season, 16 years ago.  However, in the last few years the WNBA has been on an amazing descent into oblivion and bankruptcy.  Lemme tell you a few problems with the WNBA:

1. The play: Now, while the WNBA doesn't have much dunking, it's strong on fundamentals.  But if you're a basketball fan, that shouldn't matter right?  I'll be the first to say it: people like dunking.  That's what makes Blake Griffin & Amare Stoudemire so popular; not their fundamentals but the flash.  But if basketball was just about the flash, we'd all be lining up to see the Harlem Globetrotters.  
2. Marketing: The WNBA season begins around Memorial Day.  Just as the NBA is entering into playoff season and professional basketball is winding down, there is more basketball on the horizon!  But does the WNBA market to avid basketball watchers? Nope.  They put their commercials on Lifetime in between a tampon commercial and another Rachel McAdams movie.  And the league doesn't know how to market them: are they NBA counterparts or sex symbols? They've tried both, both have failed.
3. The season: Well, the season is only 30 games, which amounts to like 3 months.  AND during Olympic years, the league shuts down for like 3 weeks since most of their stars are playing for an Olympic team.  What league you know that does that?  AND not to mention they play WNBA games on ESPN: The Ocho and not ABC or TNT like NBA games.
4. Lesbians: I don't mean this as disrespect to lesbians.  The problem with the WNBA is the lay-person believes the league and the games are only for lesbians.  Now, I applaud the WNBA for being LGBT-friendly; I think they're one of the only sports leagues that openly welcomes everyone.  But that doesn't mean that the WNBA isn't family-friendly as well.  

Well, I say all this to say 2 things: 1) More people, especially MEN, should start watching the WNBA.  If you're a fan of basketball, it shouldn't matter if the players have 2 X chromosomes or one. 2) WNBA, hire me!  I'll make everything better.  I promise!