Vixen Chronicles

People do things to you and you forgive them, right? I walked into Luxe Apothrtique (used to be The Beauty Store) today to look for some gifts. As I rounded a corner I happened to peer into the salon in the back. I caught a glimpse of a male stylist and thought to myself, well, he looks just like the guy that made my hair fall out a few years ago. I had a flashback right then. People talk about their lives flashing in front of their eyes, but this is the first time it ever happened to me. Now, like Oprah says, every Black woman has hair stories and although I have certainly found my groove in the past five or so years with my locks, I have had my share of hair Trauma. For instance, I was one of those Rio people that wanted bouncing and behaving hair as a result of using a so-called "Natural" product. I used it and after my fingernails turned green, my hair bounced right off my head and onto the floor. Well, After a few years of wearing a weave 'cause I had to, my hair gre...

I had to put my foot down. There would be no more waiting for new technology in this mouse. Either he would go out and get one or I would. Eithe way, there would be some TIVO up in my house before we went to bed. He laughed at me, did some internet searching, and then with a sigh he set out on his quest. He finally reaslized I was serious. I refused to be a slave to the television anymore. I would not watch in realtime, suffer through commercials or miss another episode of Nip/Tuck or Desperate Housewives because the kids were still awake. And no way was I going to catch them on re-run day. That is like watching football only on instant replay. He was gone about an hour, then sheepishly crept back into our house, new box in hand. I waited patiently while he set it up and then placed the call to Direct TV so they could activate the new unit. I looked over at my other half and stretched out my hand. 'Let me have the remote." I knew that if I let him go too long, we woul...

I have read a lot of books over the past two months. I'm in a book slump right now, there are htings out ther ethat I want to read (okay, I can think of two) but I just can't seem to press send on the Amazon screen to make th books come to me. (Yes, they do have to come to me. I can't possibly go to the bookstore and go get them). The holidays are here so I'm sure I will catch up. This is what is on my "Just Read" (or Just Heard) shelf since my last update. 1. Skinny Dip. I gotta tell you, this was the longest listen ever. It took too much time to get through, maybe because the reader tried to do every little voice in the book, but I couldnt' stop. It started with the premise that a man throws his rich wife of two years overboard on theri anniversary cruise. That wasn't the good part. The good part was that she lived to torture him. 2.Knockin' Boots by Tracy Price Thompson. Tracy does it again. More explicit sex that usual for her, but i...

We are being forced to watch TV in real time. Our TIVO unit is broken. I knew I was in for trouble when my little kid made the TIVO sound with her lips when a commercial came on. "Boop, boop" has become family speak fpr "Please fast forward through that dang commercial or part that is rated anything above PG." She looked at me with a perplexed look on her face as I tried to explain to her that TV didn't work like that. At least not anymore. She further did not understand that there were no more Scooby Do's on demand. It was about time she found out. She was asking us to "go back" at the movie theater, too. She would have been devasted had I told her that television did not always come in color, huh? I feel like we are watching TV in slow motion. The sad part is, I am watching commericals with wonder, like I haven't seen them in ages. Well, I guess I haven't. The upside is that I am not being forced to watch reality shows anymore. ...

Sigh. Leave it to the guest bloggers to tell a skewed story. You knew I would tell you the real deal about the Femme Fantastik in LA. First of all, I am most certainly not going to rehash the limosine story. All I have to say about that is that they should have known things would be a little "special" if they traveled with me. Hell, I was one the one who floated down the road in Houston and ate dinner while a woman shook her parts over me in Atlanta. Obviously they didn't read my blog. Anyway, for those of you who asked, yes, I did wear Coach shoes, clogs actually. They were VINTAGE (fashion code for about two years old). They are my comfy travel shoes and quite good looking. I am an equal opportunity shoeshionista. The real fun began after the no-neck-turning limo man left us at our hotel. Of course we were hungry. No one really gets food on airplanes anymore and I refuse to eat another SouthWest peanut, so we headed to one of our hotel's restaurants. The plan was we...

This time by Carmen Green - Cross Posted from Femme Fantastik Blog The thing about being a Femme Fantastik Author is that anything goes. You can’t do something and get away with it when you have the wittiest women in the world together. We are going to notice and we are going to talk about you. Let me describe to you the bootleg ride to the fifth power. I arrived in LA and went in search of Nina in baggage claim. Why did I find her sitting down and not with the promised limo driver? I was so excited, I hugged her and then asked, where was the driver. She replied, “Right there, don’t look.” Come on now. Don’t tell me not to look at something. I’m peeping everything. I’m a black suburban woman who doesn’t get to see much in Duluth, Ga, so I looked, and didn’t see a thing. I was like, ok then. I told her I was going to get my luggage and to wait for me. I walked through the doors and waited at the wrong carousal for my bags. Just as I b...

-By Lori Bryant Woolridge (Cross posted from the Femme Fantastik Blog) We're sending a car." Sweet words to every mid-list author's ears. Before the story begins, let's be clear about why ground transportation is such a desirable perk. For A-List authors, your E. Lynns, Terrys, Erics, Grishams, Pattersons, Tans, a sleek, shiny, limo waiting to pick them up at the airport and whisk them off to their scheduled events is a given. Doesn't matter if they are on official book tour or doing some other event in between releases. A car and driver is part of the package (you know, the requisite big All-5 package--five figure honorarium, five star hotel, etc). On the other hand... for fabulous, up-and-coming authors (like the Femmes), after the official, publisher sponsored, book tour is over, we're pretty much on our own when it comes to most promotional appearances. So when some event planner tells you they're sending a car to meet you at the airport, it's all g...