Yo PARTY GIRL..Happy Birthday and Shit...

It's Tuesday, September 29, 2009. It's my birthday. It's 9:00 in the morning and I am sitting in the bed, watching The Doctors and eating fudge cake and ice cream.
Like I said, it's my birthday damnit and I am starting my day the way I want to.

So here's a story for you...

In 2000 I met a man by the name of Giovanni. I was at a Superbowl afterparty with DIGITAL GIRL. We had already pissed off half of our linesisters and forced them with our bad attitudes to take early flights back to their respective hometowns. However, this night on the town was the BEST. We were at this party, tipsy, flirting, dancing, getting free drinks, meeting men...you know, doing what 23-24 year olds do.

While walking up the stairs, my hand is grabbed by a man sitting at the bar. He says to me, "come on over here doll...lemme talk to you". I head over there and make the acquaintance of Mr. Giovanni. To this day I still can't tell you his last name. We chat it up, he makes me laugh and he invites me to dinner the next day. Over dinner I am quickly intrigued by his story. He tells me about his family in Cleveland and Sicily. He tells me about how his grandmother makes this wine that is so strong, he can't drink but so much of it. He expresses his love for African American women and he also tells me about all of these cops, athletes and coaches in professional sports who "owe him favors". Hot Damn...I done met Tony Soprano.

For some strange reason Giovanni and I become friends. We chat on the phone, we go to lunch whenever he came into town, but we NEVER dated. I wasn't no fool. It was cool to have someone like him around, but to date...nah...


Like clockwork, every year at exactly midnight on September 29, Giovanni is ALWAYS the first person to call me for my birthday. If I answer the phone he says, "YO PARTY GIRL...Happy Birthday and Shit, you're not going to beleive this, but I almost forgot. I been calling you for your birthday the past 3-4 years and how could I almost forget ?" If I don't answer the phone, he leaves that same exact message on my voicemail. I have not visibly seen Giovanni in about 7 years, but he still calls me every year to wish me happy birthday and I actually look forward to it.

So as I finish my fudge cake and ice cream and prepare to get dolled (casual chic) on this last day of fabulosity, I am more than certain that one of these three (3) voicemails on my phone is that of my man Giovanni. He never leaves a phone number, so I can never call him back. He wishes me happy birthday and keeps it moving until the next year.

I can honestly say that this birthday has been wonderful thus far. The celebration began Saturday with a very nice dinner with NGF and it will end today with a Yankees Game with THE GIRLS and an album release party of one of my clients. I plan to do today ONLY what the hell I want to do. And right now, I gotta go.... my ice cream is melting :)

PUNKED By India Arie...

As an avid music lover, I always remember when a particular song and/or album came out because I instantaneously associate it with a particular time in my life.

Man In The Mirror by Michael Jackson = Fifth Grade

I Will Always Love You by Troop = Eighth Grade

You Put a Move on My Heart by Tamia = Freshman Year of College

Make Em Say Uhhhhh by Master P = Junior Year of College

You Don't Know Me by T.I. = First Year out of Law School

I can hear a song and it will bring back so many memories of dancing with friends, being mad at my mother, road tripping, chilling in my aunt's back yard or making out with an ex-boyfriend in my mother's car. More times than not, these songs always bring a smile to my face and I scream out, "Girrrrllllll this was 7th Grade, Westside Highschool Dance when I danced with that FINE 9th grader." However, not all music brings back good memories and I am woman enough to admit that India Arie's "Voyage to India" has NOT been played by me since 2003. That's right, I issued an ex parte moratorium on this particular album.

Let me paint the picture for you regarding this album and the events surrounding it. I was nearing the end of my 3L Year as a law student, preparing for the MPRE (Ethics portion of the Bar Exam) and also preparing for a legal conference held for entertainment attorneys. I opened my very first credit card to pay for the trip, because I just KNEW I would have a job in 8 months to easily pay it back...HA !!!! Anywho, for five days in Cancun, Mexico I was really there by myself. I had a roommate for the trip. She was a student at another law school in the city but this was my first time meeting her. She was a very personable and chatty young lady, we instantly hit it off and instantly realized we once dated the same guy (Cocky Fine Bastard).

I attended many of the seminars, but more importantly I went off by myself and laid on the beach with my study materials, listening to India Arie and just being in awe of the beauty of the beach, weather and my future. On this Voyage to India album, she sang of knowing how "God Is Real" by the magnificent waters she jumped into in St. Lucia, she sang of the "Beautiful Surprise" she received from a man who just came into her life with love out of nowhere, she sang about "The Little Things" of her little sister calling and singing happy birthday to her. This album was pure. This album was light. It reflected exactly where I was in my life. I was a hopeful visionary, eagerly anticipating everything that was about to be given to me.

Upon my return to law school, I kept Ms. Arie and Voyage to India in my constant rotation. I continued my studies, I worked, I partied, I prayed, I dreamnt, I graduated from law school and I fell in love.

"Damn India...how did you know all of this about me ??"

Everything she sang about reflected what was happening with me. It was all gerber daisies, butterflies, chocolate and sunshine. The firm I clerked for kept me on staff, so I had a job. My social life was thriving because I had successfully taken the bar exam and was back on the social scene (as if I had left, huh ?). I was about to go see my boo and he expressed his love for me prior to my getting on the plane. I had everything I wanted, including my India Arie CD. I was singing and dancing India Arie into the next phase of my life ....

That was until EVERYTHING came to a screeching halt. I lost my job, the boyfriend I was madly in love with broke up with me and I had no money. It went dark....real fast...real hard and with NO warning. You all have heard of this before.

Who in the hell can listen to India Arie singing about being "Headed In The Right Direction" when you don't know what the hell is going on or where the hell you even are ? Who in the hell can listen to "The One" when the one you thought you had thought otherwise ? So with that said, I subconciously took it out on Ms. India and never played her album again. I couldn't. I would hear the intro to one of the songs from this album and IMMEDIATELY change the radio station. I kid you not, for 6 years I never listened to this CD.

THIS BITCH SOLD ME A DREAM !!!!

Well, today is a new day. It's pretty outside. Not only did I pass that bar exam, I passed another one and waived into another jurisdiction. I moved to the city of my dreams and I purchased my first home. My social life is thriving and I am exploring new career opportunities. The money could be better, but I think I am "Heading In the Right Direction". I have a New Guy Friend and everything is still going well. He is definitely a "Good Man" to me, and I appreciate him. I made myself available to an available man for the first time in 6 years. Talk about growth !!

So...as I got up this morning to clean and take care of minimal work (it's Friday for goodness sakes) I started digging in my CD crates and look who I found ? My good friend India Arie's "Voyage to India".

Time to face the music PARTY GIRL...

Ironically, I am on her track "Complicated Melody" now.

Yes, I ended the moratorium and pressed PLAY. I realized that fear of returning to that period of being let down in so many ways kept me from being able to listen to it. It's time to face fears and move on in every aspect of my life. So I choose to keep the music playing on this soundtrack of life, even if I had to take a small break.

A Letter To My Little Sister....

Dear Little Party Girl,

Sooooo.... you're turning 21 tomorrow, and you think you are grown. I remember when I turned 21. I was in college, dating my college sweetheart, keeping my grades up, staying active in my sorority, sipping rum and coke....and NOT KNOWING SHIT !!!

I'll give in to your allusion that now the magical number 21 has come around, you are my equal. I'll give you that, like Jennifer "Effie" Hudson, for one night only, then its back to my looking at you sideways when you talk about the "mini" boyfriend drama your friends go through, the heartbreak over not getting that cute shirt from Wet Seal, the back and forth with your professors and bosses on your first job. Cause truth of the matter is....it only gets worse. The drama gets bigger, the bills get higher, the responsiblity gets greater the tolerance is the only thing that gets lower....well, tolerance and your bubbies...

Anywho, in the spirit of being "All Things Festive", your big sister, Party Girl has developed the "Top 10 Things To Remember Now That You Can Legally Drink".... since I'm the one bringing a box full of LIQ and the One Speaker Jumpoff to your party via bus tomorrow. These top 10 nuggets of wisdom have either happened to and/or have been witnessed by one or ALL of THE GIRLS...


PARTY GIRL'S TOP 10 THINGS TO REMEMBER NOW THAT YOU CAN LEGALLY DRINK:

1) Do NOT drink and drive.... PERIOD !

2) If you are too wasted to drive...do NOT let your equally wasted Girlfriend drive either...call a cab...

3) Speaking of Call a Cab...drink it once...that's all you need to realize that that shit equals DEATH !!

4) While you are still in college, set the punch made with Everclear and other cheap LIQ out for your guests, keep your stash of good shit hidden under your bed.

5) Patron is the DEVIL !!!...

6) Do NOT drunk dial and/or drunk text....your mouth is worse than mine...woooo

7) If you get tipsy off of wine coolers and beer....don't tell nobody... that is so wack...ahaha

8) If a man is talking your ear off at a lounge or nightclub and has not offered to buy you a drink, leave his cheap ass right where you found him...

9) Bottle service....only on your birthday...make a nigga pay for it any other time.

10) If you ever just happen to pass out in a bathroom ....in Cancun, Mexico.... or at a Chinese restaurant at a party in college after drinking a Long Island Ice Tea out of a Big Gulp styrofoam cup...please pray to God that your girlfriends have enough sense to come check for you within an hour of you disappearing..I'm just saying...


CHEERS !!!! Happy Birthday Kiddo....