Browngirl Speaks

i love the feel and smell, yes smell. of a book.  especially a new one.  i’m like a little kid when i leave the bookstore swinging my bag at my hip with some new reads.  but amazon has gone and made me raise a brow. 

Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device

now this isn’t for everyone but it is for someone.  i would love this, but i think it’d be even better for the mr. who usually has several books going at once and never re-reads them.  and since we don’t share the same taste in books, it’s pointless for him to buy them.  you do purchase a download of the book, but for less than a physical book.  you can also get newspaper and magazine subscriptions.  this was another plus in why i think the mr. should have one as he is a reader of multiple papers.  the reviews on amazon are extrememly mixed on this gadget, but that’s why i say it seems it’s just FOR certain people.  are you one?

Congratulations. You’ve snagged an Early Reviewers copy of Tracing Ancestors Among the Five Civilized Tribes: Southeastern Indians Prior to Removal, by Rachal Mills Lennon. You should get your copy in the mail shortly.

I LibraryThing and I recently joined the Early Reviewers group.  Mostly to attempt to get free books, but I would like to publicly contribute my two cents more on what I read and this kinda forces me to do so.  I’m not obligated to do a review, but those who don’t decrease their chances to get picked in subsequent giveaways.  They release about a dozen books every month in limited quantity and i can simply click the ones I’d like to receive.  So, I can’t believe I got picked the first month I was in the group!  There were about 20 copies of the book I’m getting and about 200 LT’ers requested it.  I never win stuff, so this is so very awesome.  Anyway, I’m pretty excited especially since this is a reference book also.  I’ve been working on my maternal genealogy since I was 12 and being a southerner, this book will hopefully be a breakthrough in the journey…

…i been tagged (gasp)!!!

okay, list 7 random/ weird things about me.  why do you people want to know the inner workings of my neurosis?   anyway, this ougtha be dull as a butter knife folks…

1. i can cross my eyes and roll my tongue ( i learned how to cross my eyes when i began wearing glasses oddly enough)

2. i can "pretend" tap dance so well that i have fooled many a person with my kitchen floor honed skills (check me on "sir duke")

3. my son and i both weighed and measured exactly the same at birth (6 lbs 11 oz and 21 in)

4. i , my son, and the mr. were all born on a friday

5. i married a half west african, half west indian hottie

6. i met nikki giovanni when i was 13

7. i still remember the first phone numbers i learned when i was four– my home # and my mom’s work #

and now, let the tagging begin…

1. Homegirl, holla at me

2. C, get down with it too

3. TruEssence, c’mon with it sis

4. Summertime

5. young miss

6. she is able…

7. look, i don’t have enough blog buddies for this…

morning coffee run…it’s cold, rainy

i took the mr. for a ride…we each took a turn driving

got a lot on my mind…mostly my final that’s due

it’s sunday…what are you up to…

i know it appears i may have gone awol on my devoted fans (totally kidding there) but i have just been in one of life’s cyclonic periods.  you know, where any and everything’s happening all at once.  i’m determined to remain positive but i am overwhelmed. 

anyway, i suppose you’re wondering about that pic of mcdonald’s coffee. well, it’s like totally my fave right now.  now don’t get me wrong, i still <3 my starbucks but they’re not too easy on my wallet.  aaaaannd, mickey d’s is open 24/7, so when i don’t feel like making coffee while burning the midnight oil for school, i can send the mr. to grab a large coffee for a buck thirty.  aaaaannnnnd, i heard it was recently ranked the numero uno coffee.  this also reminds me of a psa i would like to see:  "just because starbucks sales plain coffee, DON’T GO TO STARBUCKS FOR REGULAR COFFEE!"  i hate when i have waited in line forever to order my caramel macchiato, am nearly late for work and the person just ahead of me orders a grande coffee black.  i’m like, "if you don’t get your monkey a$$ outta here and go to exxon and get you some bengal traders!"

i <3 this face!

aaand this one, too

don’t fret, that damask bedding is in a hotel, not our bedroom.  i would need a serious intervention for that.

what i do not <3 is having to pay firestone $285.42 for brakes, rotors and a really cute nail in one tire.  but, it has to be done and is at this very moment.

yet, it’s all working out because my credit union has offered me their annual holiday skip-a-payment on my car loan.  whewwww!

i guess that’s it for now. i have much to read.  later…

this month marks a milestone in my life.  it’s the 20th anniversary of some amazing friendships that all began almost simultaneously.  my mom, my brother and i joined a church in november 1987 and we changed schools the next fall.  we were at the beginning of what was to be a life altering period that turned our picture perfect world upside down.  a world so seemingly perfect that my now friends once thought we were spoiled brats because they said our house looked like a toy store and we cried once when we couldn’t go ice skating with the other kids from church.  okay, so maybe we were a little spoiled.  needless to say, everyone moved past inital misinterpretations and got to know each other as really cool kids. 

through the years we’ve experienced everything imaginable–heartache, disappointment, success, love, marriage, death, children, and so on and so on.  some of us have moved on to other places and some have stayed.  some of us have become just what everyone expected and some are, well, "what the hell happened?".  some of you have even become my extended family.  whatever everyone’s present situation maybe, i’m glad to know you all and that you’ve shaped my life in some capacity. 

there are a few, however, who have been so dear to me since the first day i stepped into that little clapboard church one thursday evening 20 years ago (yes, quel, i got emotional riiight here) where i gained a lot of  aunts and uncles and sisters and brothers.

so i want to say cheers to you all: paula, lisa, cheronda, joy, tia, margie, ann, tc, bren, al, anitra, "jr", rodney, adriane, clara, ruth, teri, toni, mia, carla, and far too many more to name.  but, you all know who you are.

i do have to say an extra special i love you to my sister-friends tonya, raquel and kimmy.  you three are my trifecta.  i thank you for your amazing unconditional love.  there are not enough hours, days, weeks or years to express the magnitude of my love for you three…