Yay! Who doesn't love getting an award every now and then? This one came my way via my friend - my partner in crime - my sister, the equally beautiful Traci of Beauty in Rare Form, Babygirlz Magazine and M.O.C.A.E.D. (Mothers of Color Against Education Discrimination). Yeah, she's all kinds of awesome.

Its the Beautiful Blogger Award, and it was shared with me because of Notes to Emma. Traci said,

"I have seen this in movies - but only when a person thinks they are about to leave this earth. In Barbara's case, she just wanted to offer something to her daughter, to answer all her questions about life, about herself, about her mommy. Beautiful and very inspiring."

Thank you again for the beautiful words and the recognition. I'm sure that Emma will be delighted to know that her life and her history is award winning. Now its time for me to do some sharing. In my opinion, every single writer that I am following is a beautiful blogger! Since I stopped following the rules along time ago, I was tempted not to award 15 specific bloggers with this, because, you know, like I said, all of you are beautiful, BUT, I want to highlight a few of you for your awesomeness =).

So, here goes...

1. Miss Nico of Mama Bear - Single Mom Meets UC Berkeley
Aside from the fact that this beautiful woman has opened her home to me and my daughter, taking our Cal refugee selves in, she is just straight up brilliant! She has overcoming and is still overcoming, like so many of us, "clawing our way out of the gutter with no claws!" To hell with boots and boot straps, at this time, us Cal moms and former Cal moms are on a whole other level of survival, for ourselves and for our children. That in itself is a beautiful thing.

2. Mama C of Mama C and the Boys
Catherine is such a breathe of fresh air. She is a fellow single mama, raising two little handsome boys. And, did I mention that Mama C is mothering a beautifully blended family? She's white, with one black son and one biracial son, and is co-parenting them with her brother. The way that we choose, and are chosen in life, are amazing. Check her out to read about her unique perspectives and enlightening experiences.

3. Rue of Outdoor Afro
Calling attention to the lack of exposure of black folks in the outdoors, Rue turned her passion into a business, bringing awareness and inspiration. Just this past Sunday, she collaborated with a couple of organizations in an effort to get black bicyclers out on the roads and visable to other black folks in our communities. It was a beautiful success. Check her out for more information on blacks in the outdoors, and if you are a person of color (not just African American) who loves the outdoors and you would like to share your experience, she is always looking for features.

Alrighty. Run along and get to reading. And seriously, this award is for all of you, so feel free to accept, link back here, and if you want, share it with other beautiful bloggers. Just remember to let them know that you've awarded them.

This week, my good friend Traci, over at Beauty in Rare Form, was nice enough to share her very first blog award with me. I love experiencing the joy of bloggers who receive their first blog awards. Its one of those "I have arrived" experiences. To be recognized and appreciated for your words, your views, your life, can be an overwhelming escapade. So, I thank her again for her generosity. As with the last award that was shared with me, I am going to share this with all of you! If you have never gotten an award before, please snatch this one up and put it on your side bar as a reminder that I think what you have to say is awesome! If your sidebar runneth over with awards, carry this one in your heart.

For those who like to follow the rules, here goes.

• Share this award with 7 other bloggers that you think are honestly amazing.
• Let those wonderful 7 bloggers know that you have recognized them.
• Share 10 honest things about yourself.

Since I am in an honest kind of mood today, I'll go ahead and play along...

1. One of the reasons that I decided to go natural was to "live by example" for my daughter. I go the extra mile to make sure that she views her natural locs positively, and will rip anyone who says otherwise a new asshole! I couldn't honestly talk about how beautiful, versatile, amazing, and super cool natural hair really was without having some myself. So now, we both rock our natural curls and discover, together, new ways to make them the best that they can be.
2. I'm easily annoyed. I don't try to be, it just happens, and you know what? I fully accept it. There are some things that just easily get under my skin, like people who talk alot. Don't like them... AT ALL. Now, I'm not talking about people who actually have good conversation, I'm talking about those people who will walk in a room talking, and will continue to go on and on about nothing at all, even when its clear that no one is listening.
3. While we are on the subject of folks I don't like, can I add 'people who are always happy' to that please? Its not that I don't enjoy positive people or positivity in general. I do. Really. But when a person uses "positivity" to overshadow what someone else is experiencing, that I can't stand. Example phrases: "Look on the bright side", "Things could be worse", "Just pray on it". These people make me wanna say, "Just SHUT UP".
4. I LOVE music. I think that life really does have a soundtrack. I'd bet that there is a song that can remind you of each stage of your life. Music just works that way. Experiences and senarios get put to a beat, and people relate. Or, a particular song/album/band/singer can define an entire era or decade of your life. Anita Baker does that for me.
5. My favorite Thanksgiving dessert is Sweet Potatoe Pie. I love everything about it. The smell, the taste, the wonderful memories of my great-grandmother that it brings. I always have to have my grandmother to make me my very own pie, separate from those that will be eatten at dinner time!
6. I don't understand women who can't leave the house without a full face of makeup. I feel like it should be a choice, not a requirement to face the world.
7. I think life would be soooo pointless without good comedy. There is nothing like a gut busting laugh, especially at yourself.
8. Don't know if I said this before, but... the Duggars scare me and amaze me at the same time. Poor Michelle, thinking that her 8 month old was gonna be their last. Ha! She never saw pregnancy #19 coming.
9. I'm looking forward to finding a good paying job, and hoping that it is very far from corporate.
10. I appreciate having the circle of friends that I have. They are the very best!

That's it. Enjoy your award and the rest of your weekend.

Earlier in the week, I received this Lovely Blog Award from Nadirah over at Nad and Zara Take on the World. It was a sweet surprise in my day, and an even sweeter gesture from Nadirah because this was her very first blog award!! It always feels good to be appreciated, and I appreciate each and every one of you, so please feel free to accept this award and know that you too, are lovely.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Michael Jackson Tribute performance put on by the MTV Video Music Awards tonight. The dancers were on point, as I am guessing they had no other choice but to be on point under the watchful eyes of Janet and Laurieann Gibson. While the majority of viewers are still fixated on trying to figure out why Kanye West would dare be so... Kanye, I am thinking of no other moment than when Janet left her heart on that stage. It was bittersweet seeing her dance with her brother. It was such a Natalie, Nat King Cole, Unforgettable moment for me. You could see it in her movements, in her facial expressions, that she is carrying a lot of pain and anger. I think that what Madonna said in her speech is the very thing that Janet displayed in her performance.

Throughout this entire ordeal, I have felt the most for Janet. She was Michael's baby sister, and they were very close. Whenever Michael's world was turned upside down, or at its peak, Janet was right there by his side. I guess I am thinking back to the happiness and love that was expressed at the 1993 Grammy Awards.





Such appreciation and genuine affection.



I am hoping that Janet will get the closure that she needs, although, I know first hand that closure is something like a myth. It never really happens, we just tell ourselves that it has happened to make us feel better. Nonetheless, her performance tonight makes me think that she may be on her way into the healing process. Perhaps she will do another interview with Oprah in the coming months/years or pour her soul into an album that will mirror the feelings that helped produce the Velvet Rope album. Who knows...

Tune in to the Oprah show on Wednesday 9/16 to watch the interview that she did with Michael in 1993. It was just as big back then, as her interview with Whitney Houston will become over the next couple of days.

Thanks so much to Juanita of Blah, Blah, Blah for sharing her beautiful award with me. It was her first one... and she shared it with little ol' me. I am always grateful and happy to be loved, because love is wonderful, and people who show love are wonderful, and I love to show love to those who love love, hehehe. Stay with me now. Soooo, because love is in the air, I'm gonna do something I haven't done is a looong time when it comes to awards and memes... follow the rules.


I'm suppose to award 15 lovelies with this lovely award, so, here goes...

1. Beauty In Rare Form
2. Mama Bear - Single Mom Meets UC Berkeley
3. Espinoza's Love
4. Execumama's, I hear ya
5. Powerful Beyound Measure
6. What's It All About
7. You hear that, World?!
8. Outdoor Afro
9. Basic Obento
10. A Woman's Worth
11. Mommy Fabulous
12. Hanging With Mrs. Cooper
13. Tea and Honey Bread
14. Mama Shujaa
15. Chuliboobs

And look who found a friend...

Thank you to La Mom, who is living the good life in Paris, for sharing this award with me. A highlight for blogs that show attitude/gratitude. Its good to know that in some worlds lunacy is just another word for "attitude" =).

I share this award with all of you who are just as loony as I am. Yes, that would be YOU! Don't make me start pointing people out... Tameka, Brooke, and you over there hiding in the back. Yeah... you... behind the sewing machine ::wink:: Need I call more? You fellow wonderful, attitude having, gracious human beings know who you are!

Enjoy!

I received this award a few days ago from the lady of The Leaves of Tarkong, who is also a single mommy =). Blogging from the Philippines, she shares her life, as well as reviews of a variety of products and services.

I can't think of a better thing to be awarded for than honesty!

As with any award there are rules. I must tell you 10 honest things about myself, then share this award with 7 other wonderfully honest peeps.

Soooo, um....

1. I was an Xtra spoiled kid, or maybe it was just extra loved. I was the apple of my great-grandmother's eye... her baby... one of the favs, so she always went out of her way to make sure that I didn't have to focus on too much other than staying on the honor roll. I've been told that in her eyes I could do no wrong, but um... I've picked switches that would beg to differ. Anyhoo... I slept in the same bed with my great-grandma until I was 13 years old. A long time, I know, but hey, why give up all that grandmotherly warmth and comfort if you don't absolutely have to?

2. I may have told you this before, but I am a total introvert. I have no problem making my own party all by myself. I appreciate friendships and being social, but I have a bit of social anxiety... which could also be anti-social personality disorder, lol. New groups and big crowds send my anxiety into overdrive so you wont really catch me on the club scene with all of the other "normal" 24 year olds.

3. I am emotionally ready for another baby. I didn't anticipate Miss J rolling solo for this long. The plan was to have two children close enough in age to be able to grow up together, as opposed to having a situation where the "older" child is always in some kind of care taker role being responsible for the "younger" child. I swear, I'm gonna blink and she's gonna be 10, and then it'll be like, what's the point? Hopefully we will be blessed once I am financially ready for another baby.

4. My entire 5th grade year in elementary was spent performing. I honestly can't remember doing anything other than practicing for a performance or actually being on stage. Our teacher was big on the arts and he taught us tap dance and raps about kids staying away from drugs.

Because I don't want Tameka of Tea n Honey Bread to think that I am an ungrateful little snot, I have to take a minute to acknowledge her love and openly thank her for it. These days, I am feeling nothing like a superior scribbler... more like a pitiful scribbler, a poser, a fake! However, I know how to look beyond my own nullifying thoughts to accept the fact that this too shall pass.... because Tameka just said so.

Following in the footsteps of this marvelous and insightful woman, instead of passing this award on to five others, I am going to just pass it on to one. Not because I think that only one of you truly deserves it, but because many of you superior scribblers have already had this honor bestowed upon you and also because I am on borrowed time. So for now, I pass the love, and these rules, on to Eb of Renaissance Black Woman. Eb is one of those people who doesn't mind pulling you into her world and sharing every adventure, erotic fixation and any additional moment of sheer entertainment. I enjoy being along for the ride.

So, Eb, here's to you:
1. Post the award on your blog.
2. Link me for giving it to you.
3. Link the originating post here.
4. Pass the award on to five more deserving people.
5. Post these rules for your recipients.

The wonderful Jewelry Rockstar has officially deemed A Place of Comfort as being "down for the people." She did so by honoring me with this lovely award...YAY!

This award means a lot to me because when you are honored for "keeping it all the way real" which is basically what being "down for the people" means, that's huge. I think that is something that we all strive for, to be our true selves, to let it all hang out before those who choose to drop in on us and experience our world. To be "real" or "down" is an act of courage because you never know how your life will be received by others. And just for the record, I think that every blogger who puts themselves, their family, their goals, dreams and aspirations out freely into this virtual community should be a recipient of this award.

Although I just bestowed this award on all of you, there are a few folks that I enjoy and who definitely keeps it all the way real that I want to pass this onto specifically.

THANK YOU FOR LOVING ME!