It's finally here! After years of dedication and hard work, today, Traci L. Lee gets to present her baby to the world. She has nurtured this project, fueled by her passion for education and the empowerment of young black women. I am honored to be along for the ride as Executive Editor; honored to be trusted with the delicacy of her dream. I am truly inspired by Traci's entrepreneurial spirit!

So, what is Babygirlz Magazine?

An online magazine catering to young African-American women, ages 11-21, with a focus on "Growth Beyond Boundaries".

Babygirlz is all about encouraging young women to see themselves outside the box, and the earlier this process starts, the less time our girls waste suppressing their greatness. We want them to know that no goal is impossible to achieve when you have a support network behind you. Sometimes, all it takes is a little push in the right direction.

I encourage you to stop by Babygirlz Magazine, and bring your daughters, sisters, nieces, cousins, and sistah girls with you!

Join me over at Moms of Hue, where I talk about the beautiful contribution that my friend, and fellow student single mother, Koko Mulder, has made to student families at the University of California, Berkeley.

We are still in celebration/remembrance/tribute mode over here.

We gathered ourselves,

Popped some bottles,

Set the channel,

and,

Just felt Michael.

Answering the President-Elect's call to service on MLK Day, I will be participating in making some donations of coats to my city's community center, which is hosting a Serve Expo.

Get involved by committing some hours out of your day to serving your community or make a donation of canned food, blankets, coats and anything else that you think can help someone in need, to local service organizations.

Go out and make your mark on the world!

Samantha Gregory of Rich Single Momma is the author of this book and has just informed me that an autographed copy will be on its way to my house in a couple of days! As part of her monthly giveaways, she decided she would bless 1 lucky mother with her guide and inspiration. She was in such a giving mood that she chose to give away 2 more! I was one of the lucky 2. I am very excited because this will be the first "single mother" book in my library, and what single mother wouldn't want to collect as many secrets to success that she can? Which is why I will soon be purchasing a copy to add to UC Berkeley's Student Parent Center. An abundance of shared resources is like the ultimate in motherhood networking. We are always on a quest to find as much information and tactics as possible to lessen the stress of combining full time academia with full time parenting, of all kinds. I don't care what you've heard, being a student parent is just as challenging, if not a bit more, than being a working parent.

Anyhoo... I am looking forward to taking in Samantha's wisdom. She has an amazing story of struggle and triumpth. You should check her out, even if you aren't a single mother, she is a wonderful asset with her Side Hustle series.

Thanks again Samantha!

As ambitious as I was about starting this year out on the good foot I have still managed to find myself here battling the taupes. Aside from my many other pressing problems, my PC is going down hill fast. Its slower, having to load and blow that loud ass fan more frequently, making me have to rethink and remember my thoughts as I wait... grrrr. I'm close to putting it out of its misery, just a couple more weeks for financial aid to roll around and it will be all good in the hood. I was prepared to sit here and rant and rave about it, until I fired up my bTunes. Keyshia made everything all better. I jumped up and my inner Tina took over. Shaking my shimmy, and everything else that shimmies, up and down the hallway. You shoulda seen me. I WAS Ms. Bar B Fierce! All I was missing was this dress.


In black of course. Truth is, I really do wanna be made over. I want the taupes to leave me alone, I wanna laugh in the face of the pass and say, "I made it." I want the healing process to begin already. Healing takes an amount of skill. It has to be organized and it doesn't happen over night. Its not just a simple process of forgive and forget, some real work has to be put in to get to a point in life where you really are able to move on. To live and let live. I'm ready to do the work and dancing is a great prelude.

No, I didn't make a sale. I have decided to pass the source of my finger cramps on to a deserving little boy who is cuter than Benjamin Button. Everyone, meet Little Monkey


Son of Mr. Tuffy and Mrs. Round Peg, and little brother of Rorysaurus, over at Mostly Medical Misadventures & Mishaps. In case you can't tell, he's celebrating his first birthday and a happy recovery from numerous cranial operations this year. You see, Little Monkey was born with non-syndromatic synostosis. His skull didn't develop properly, which left him sporting a spiked skull at birth. But look at him, wasn't he ultra adorable?


Little Monkey had surgery and grew into those bones.


And then he had another surgery...


And he got to wear the coolest hat EVER!


And now, its like this rough start to life never even happened.


We will be heading over to his place today to help celebrate his first year and to welcome his Uncle Needlenoggin home from the hospital. You can get introduced to this extraordinary family here. Through every trial and tribulation of this year, their smiles have overshadowed their tears. They are THEE most resilient people I know. I love em' to death. These folks are my Cal family and each day that they "keep on keepin' on", they inspire me to continue to overcome.