Glamorama 2008

Glamorama is a fashion show/concert/fundraiser for the Chicago Art Institute that takes place every year at the Chicago Theater. Our hotel has been the host hotel for this event for the past 2 years. When i heard that this year was an 80's theme and would feature performances from Cindy Lauper and MC Hammer, it was a complete no brainer! I love the 80s, i love fashion, and i love getting all dolled up so this had my name written all over it!

First off, MC Hammer looked GREAT! He still has his moves, and yes i was sreaming the words to 2 Legit, and Can't Touch This to the top of my lungs... Cindy Lauper was great as well, and totally made my night when she sang, " Girls just wanna have fun."

The best part about Glamorama, is actually the after party. They clear out the 7th floor of Macys and set up food stations and all kinds of entertainment. They had a DJ playing 80s music all night, break dancers, video games, 25 bars and 25 food stations. Adam, Holly, Camille, Duke, Juan and I had a fabulous time.

Playing a little guitar hero......

Bean Bag seating section.......

Glowing headbands......

Yummy food station.....

Big laughs with good friends....

A Tale of Two Concerts....

It was brought to my attention recently, that i attend concerts all the time. I guess i didnt really realize it until last night, when i did a tally. In just the past 2 years i have seen the Dixie Chicks, John Legend, Robin Thicke, Martin Sexton, Maroon 5, Erykah Badu (twice), Kanye West, Etta James, Tony Lucca, Jay Z, India Arie, Neeyo, Justin Timberlake, Franky Beverly and Maze, the Roots, Big Daddy Kane, MC Lyte and Alicia Keys. I have always thought my musical likes were very versatile, especially considering that list, but it wasn't until last weekend's concerts i attended that i realized just how much. First up, my Thursday night concert:

Yes, that's right... Jimmy Buffett. The guy is a legend and the concert was great. I truly enjoyed being wasted away in Margaritaville... a place i visit often. It was unreal, over 20 thousand people showed up with their hula skirts, tropical shirts and parrot hats. Well, i can check that off of my "things to do before you die" list.

Next concert, Saturday Night:

Montel Jordan.... THIS IS HOW WE DO IT!! Before he sang his signature song, his introduction went like this. " I am going to need your energy for this next song. When i am 65 years old, and singing in Vegas, i will STILL have to sing this song. Yes, I will have to sing this song, at every concert, for the rest of my life." Sorry Montel...at least people are still listening....

Up next:
Sisters with Voices, and yes they sure do! If you watched the recent BET Awards, you would have seen the medley that Alicia Keys did with many of the old R&B girl groups of the past, which included, SWV, Xscape and TLC. SWV was fabulous in concert. Seriously, Cocoa (the lead singer) had one of the most incredible voices I have ever heard. I never noticed before, but Cocoa is definitely the "Beyonce" of the group. She was the only one that sang lead, but with a voice like that, i see why. It totally brought me back to the 90's. I wanted to run home and make a mix tape! So now i ask, what special person made you "Weak" back in the day??

Girls Trip 2008: ARUBA

My mother always told me that when it comes to marriage, you should start out the way you want to hold out... meaning, don't do things in the beginning of your marriage that you don't expect to keep up for the rest of your life. The one thing that i insisted upon before i got married (that i got my hubby to agree to) was an annual girls trip; a vacation that i would take with my girlfriends every year, to relax, shop, gossip....you know, all the things that men don't like to do...

I think i got this "request" pushed through because of three major reasons: 1)Ken loves me and knows how much i miss my friends since i relocated to Chicago, 2) because i work in the hospitality industry, i can travel to great places and make them affordable, and 3) let's face it, just because you're happily married, doesn't mean you don't need a little bit of a break from each other once and a while...

So Terri and I packed up and headed to Aruba for 5 days and 4 nights of sun, fun, relaxation at the all new Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort and Casino. It was also Terri's birthday, so we had plenty of cause to celebrate. We spent most of our days laying out on the beach, dipping in and out of the ocean to cool ourselves, and sipping cocktails. The water is so cool and still there, you can literally take drinks into the ocean without fear of them being knocked around because of waves. We spent our evenings dining at the very tasty restaurants on the resort, and finding all the hot spots where the tourists don't visit, to really get a feel for the people who lived on the island... which is our favorite part about traveling.

Although this trip was meant to be extremely laid back and lazy, Terri (always the adventurer) convinced me to do some snorkeling. We took a private boat with just us and the captain, and snorkeled for 3 hours. I am so glad that i went, because it was truly amazing. I liked it so much, that i am getting my own snorkeling gear... i fear i have a new obsession...
When Ken came to pick me up from the airport, he looked at me and laughed. "You look really tanned and really tired" he said. I replied, "Well i guess i did it right then." The best part about a fabulous girls weekend with a fabulous friend, is coming home to a fabulous husband that made it all possible.

Girls Trip 2009?: COSTA RICA!!!

Pause for the cause....

On Tuesday, i attended a charity event at my hotel for NBA player, Antoine Walker's 8 Foundation. 8 Foundation focuses on helping inner city children in Chicago, mainly those of single parent households. The event was sponsored by one of my clients, so of course i was in attendance. I haven't had the best experience with professional athletes, i find them to be arrogant and annoying....probably because i have never been a groupie and i just don't think that the fact that you can play a sport really well gives you the right to be an asshole....but Antoine was very kind, down to earth and pleasant. It was a great night, and a fun way to come together for a great cause...

Jonah and the.....

Tuesday morning, i got an unexpected call from my uncle. It was such a pleasant surprise, because i find that since i moved to chicago, and got married, i tend to just get wrapped up in what is going on here, and hear everything second hand. Him and his wife just had a little baby boy, their second child. Of course i wanted to know all about how he was, how things were going, but most important, how their daughter DJ was adjusting.

DJ, an old soul at 3 years old, is such a darling. She is just one of those kids that you meet, and you are blown away at how well she speaks, how smart she is, her personality and her humor. My aunt viv and I we talking the other day and she told me the funniest story about DJ.

My aunt was teaching vacation bible school at her church in Alabama. She was teaching the kindergarten class, and of course, DJ is in her class because a) that's her niece and b) she is smarter than any 5 or 6 year old around. My aunt viv was about to tell the story of Jonah and of course when she asked the class if anyone knew the story, DJ was the first to raise her hand.... and in perfect english she recited the following:

"Jonah ran away from Nineveh to the sea and got on a boat. A storm came and the men on the boat thought it was Jonah's fault, so they threw him into the sea and he was swallowed by a dolphin!"

Always the comic....smart, pretty, witty, and only 3 years old...

Best Beach Weekend Ever.....

My sweet friend Callie just graduated from Vet School and in celebration we all headed down to Rosemary Beach, Florida for a weekend filled with sun, fun and a bunch of our friends. Our friend Napoleon's family owns a beach house there, and when i first heard of this, i was expecting a small beachy house, probably a bit older, with a cute white picket fence. What i got was a sprawling 5 bedroom mansion in a privately owned community outside of Panama City Beach with imported european sand....seriously....

When we walked inside, and i really thought i was stepping into the Real World House. It boasted 3 stories, a full gourmet kitchen, marble bathrooms, hardwood floors, 2 master suites including large full sauna/steam showers, 3 outdoor seating areas, a loft/game room, flat screens everywhere, and a booming surround sound system that we blasted music from all weekend long.... oh and a huge hot tub.... Needless to say, we were impressed.

We woke up friday morning, had some breakfast, and went to the grocery store to stock up on all the food we would need for the weekend. I was the resident chef, a job that i happily took, because i wanted control of the menu and again, the kitchen was amazing. Hands down, it was the best stocked kitchen i have ever seen... and to think, this is someone's SECOND home!

The day was a bit overcast, so we spent the rest of the afternoon at the house, and awaited the arrival of Napoleon's friends who were also joining us at the beach. This could have been a disaster. There is nothing worse than going somewhere and sharing space with people you don't know, only to have them end up being a complete pain in the butt and ruining your vacation. When they arrived, it was one of those very fortunate occurrences, where the dynamic of the house just worked. Everyone got along, laughed our pants off, shared stories of our lives, and were genuinely so excited to spend time with one another.... and what else do i like to do when everyone is getting along? that's right... KARAOKE!!

I quickly googled local bars that had live karaoke (did i mention the house had WiFi too?)..... and found a bar called Coyote's. We loaded up and headed out with nothing but a good time on our mind.... It turns out Coyote's was not our resort like accommodations in Rosemary...in fact...the closer we got to the destination, the more sketchy the situation became. Once we arrived there, we saw a parking lot full of dirty pick up trucks... this should have been our first sign... once we walked in, you could literally hear the record player scratch..... everyone stopped what they were doing, and gave us the most icy stares... i literally got goosebumps...

Now, if you know me, you know that my family is from the south... not just in the south, the country... the backwoods of lower alabama.....so i am used to finding myself in situations with scary looking men and women who look like they just stumbled out of the trailer park, with overalls on over their confederate flag t-shirts, cigarettes hanging out of their toothless mouths and arms covered in tattoos...however, this was one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life...It honestly felt like i was in a scene out of a movie.....as all eight of us stood by the door, i was quite sure that we were about to get chased out of the bar with people swinging pools sticks at us.....had it not been the tequila in our system,we would have just left... but i looked over at Callie, we grinned at each other and knew exactly what to do.... I walked straight to the bar, ordered everyone a beer ( $3 each of course!) and placed my song request at the DJ booth.....the moment i took the stage and started singing my signature karaoke song, "Proud Mary"... all was well.... In fact, every time each one of us sang, more and more people lightened up, and by the end of the night, everyone was cheering us on and dancing to all of our songs... in fact, a lovely lady that we met called Crazy Connie said to me as we were leaving.." Girl, thank ya'll for comin' in and breathin' some li-ife into this funeral." You're welcome Connie...

Yes, there was an actual coyote statue in the bar.....

Saturday was a day dedicated to the beach... we spent the whole day laying out and swimming in the ocean. After our fun day in the sun, it was time to go back to the house a fire up the grill for Callie's official graduation bar-b-que. We all ate and drank way too much...

Roasted corn....delicious!

On Sunday as we ate breakfast and said our goodbye's i was very sad to leave, but so greatful that i got to spend quality time with old friends, and have the opportunity to meet wonderful new people. We are like a little crew now, we all send mass e-mails to each other every week, and have sworn to make this beach trip an annual event.

Napoleon sent an e-mail after we all returned back to our respective homes that i thought truly summed up our beach weekend:

I'm glad you all were able to come together for a good cause and party with a purpose. Although the venue was remote, all participants made the effort. I greatly appreciate you all for that, and also for making Rosemary Beach a memorable experience. Hopefully you will take the weekend, as I have, a harmonious moment where old friends make new friends & the sea meet the sky. Until the next time....

Graduation...

My friend Callie (the biggest animal lover i know) is graduating from Vet School tomorrow. I am so proud and happy for her, because i know how hard she has worked for so many years, to accomplish this goal in her life. I was originally supposed to journey down to Tuskegee University to be there to watch, but opted to come down next weekend for the celebratory graduation beach trip.

Time passes so quickly, because i vividly remember four years ago when she first started. She had just purchased a home in Alabama, i had just finished undergrad, and i had a month before i would move to Atlanta and start my new job. I spent 2 weeks at her house before she began classes, and they were some of the best memories we share today.

What did we do for two weeks? We watched every episode of Sex and the City from start to finish, seasons 1 through 6, talked and laughed, and made fantastic meals...(well we thought they were fantastic at the time..we had roughed it through college on ramen noodles and tuna so baked chicken was a delicacy!).

I knew what was lying ahead for me, paying off those student loans, responsibilities, 60 hour weeks and 401ks, but i embraced every moment there....because even then, i knew i might never have the opportunity again...to be completely unattached to anything, and enjoying life, without anything in particular to do.

Congratulations Dr. Callie Harris! I am sure you will be one of the best vets around!