Vixen Chronicles

The highlight of my Oprah Weekend was not what you would expect. First, Dallas was in for record heat. If you know Dallas, you know then that it was hot as hell. We thought we might walk the block and a half from our hotel to the convention center, but after we took three steps outside we quickly changed our minds and hopped in a cab. Staying dry an extra minute was well worth the two buck ride. We spotted lots of folks we knew while we waiting in the throng outside. At two minutes past ten, they began to let us into big Expo like setting. There was a warning on our tickets that sid no one would be admitted after 11:30 even though Oprah wasn't set to speak until one. Perhaps this was to make sure you went through every Disneyworld like line to get coupons or small gifts from the sponsors. Mots of them were cute things, things I might use. Diet Rite gave us samples and coupons, Maybelline was doing makeovers (I passed on that one. C'mon, was I really gonna to let them take off M...

At Ft Bragg North AAFES

With Local Star Readers

Femme with Jason Rosenberg (Store Manager) and Country Music Star

The biggest Fan Drive Over 130 Miles

Display at Ft Bragg North AAFES

The mood was pretty festive this weekend in Fort Bragg. Although it was cold and rainy in Ft Bragg, the Femme were ready to go. Jacquie asked if we could speak to her son’s first grade class and we agreed, not realizing that she meant over 100 kids. They were happy to see us though and inspired us we close to one hundred questions. Really. We had too much fun at our seafood dinner and lots of stuff happened that I promised not to mention in this blog. A promise between Femmes is a promise, so I will only give you highlights. “Look, Nina is CHEWING!” Batteries. Carmen had never experienced a hush puppy. “Can I have some oyster with that hot sauce?” Mother’s Day not Easter? (If you figure this one out I will send you a free cover flat) Ziploc bags. (And this one gets you a free book) Our host from AAFES laughed so hard he thought we were better than THE VIEW. He also thought that Black Expressions meant he should say, “H...

All The Femme Plus Guest Author Kayla Perrin at Ft Dix, NJ on April 22

I don't know what it us about the brain that makes you forget the negative aspects of things and only remember the positive. I used to live in New York. I'm from there. And for the life of me I had no recollection of it being cold in April. And last weekend it was. So when I arrived in my cute white leather jacket, needless to say, I froze my tushie off. But I was cute while I did it. And it was rainy too. I had forgotten how as a kid, we knew that April meant rain. And then after that May would be pretty nice, but it wouldn't be reaaly warm until June. I have gotten really used to being warm by early February. If only I could have postponed my trip two weeks. I have gotten pretty used to zipping around town too. Now I get in my car and go wherever I want. In most cases, half an hour is a long trip where I live now. I didn't realize that this was quite a luxury. Traffic in and out of the Holland and Lincoln Tunnel is still the same. It took over an hour to go eight mile...

I went to Hawaii expecting lovely beaches and exotic people. Instead, I was surprised in Honolulu by New York-esque buildings and very American looking people. The area where I stayed was a shopper's cornucopia, perfectly pretty streets lined with high end shops of every ilk, peppered with a jewelry store in between each one. In contrast, the strip of beach in front of my hotel was small and unattractive, hopeful surfers bobbing endlessly in the pitiful waves. I was goin to be here a few days, so I did the logical thing--I went shopping with my new friend. She liked to shop, too, she said. She was a toucher. I could look without putting my fingers on a thing, not even my wallet, but not this one. She touched everything and surprisingly enough, no one said a thing. On store, Fendi asked us to unhand our lattes because of their valuable merchandise. We promptly left. Louis Vuitton had a private shopping area that we peered into curiously. We wanted in there too. What thing...

6 Women traveling together, who would've thought? I have to admit that I was really worried about six females together in close proximity and getting along enough to survive it for 48 hours. By the end of our trip I was pleasantly surprised. Carmen came in the night before and after working all day and then traveling in the afternoon, she was up for anything. She even went grocery shopping with me with no questions asked and sat down while my young one interrogated the strange woman that was about to stay in her room. The rest of the Femmes joined us the next day, right on time. It was a VERY energetic bunch as we were joined by our male guest author, Victor MGlothin. He had been dubbed, "Man Child" by the store manager. Victor was very gracious and seemed to understand that us women, we were the ones running the show. And the things we talked about in the car. I can't write them here, you see, we all agreed that what was discussed in the car remained in the car...

Waikiki At Night

And with a limo that wasn't ours. We just wanted to take a picture with it.

At the Pageturner Event in Houston, Texas

The Femme Fantastik Crew with Some members of our Armed Forces

Carmen Green with Victor McGlothin at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas

I had a lot of time to watch people while I was in Mexico . By Tuesday I had successfully done nothing for two days. I mean, I did read a book a day, but I think this may have been the longest I have ever gone without rushing somewhere. So, I sat by the pool and smiled while I watched my kids play. It was good, and it left me crazy. I started tpo look around the place more thoughtfully and then it hit me. I was not struck by the beauty of the place or the friendliness of its people. What hit me first was that there were bellies everywhere. I mean, the place was full of Americans and Canadians and boy they were certainly very heavy. North Americans are truly getting fatter. The next thing that stuck out were the boobs. People were at either very fat, or they had a great set of boobs. Let's get something straight right away. I certainly like men. But it's a well-known fact that women dress for other women, not men. So I laid around the pool li...

Last week was spring break in Texas . So I spent a few days on the beach in Cancún Mexico . I have to admit is the first time in my life I actually did nothing for so long. I spent a few days reading some of the things that had been lined up for me, you know those books that you collected sure gotta read this as you get the chance? They ranged from a hair above boring to mildly interesting, and riveting. I started out with Fair Play by Deirdre Martin. Had a hard time with this one. It just couldn't hold my interest. There was something about a romance with hockey players that just didn't do it for me. Then I moved on to Remember When my Nora Roberts and JD Robb. Half of this book is in the present with the last half being written in the future. It was a mystery crime, that happens now and is solved 50 years later. This was better. I was intrigued enough to make it all way through, although I found parts of the book tedious. I was good and su...

The Objects of My Obsession

Okay, see, it's like this. I was minding my own business and flipping through the shoe quarterlys just like any other red blooded American woman. And there was this one pair of shoes. They were on every page, jumping out at me. They were in Shuz , in Vogue , In Town & Country . I turned the pages trying to get away from them and there they were again. It was like they were haunting me, calling my name, saying they wanted to live in my closet, in my shoe colony. They want a place of their own. Safe in their dust bag, inside a clear box with their picture on the outside. Since I consider myself a graduate of the 12 Step Shoe Program, I tried to ignore their calls. It worked at first. And then they appeared online too. I could preorder them if I wanted to. I held out. And then I got this call. It was from Jim at Jimmy Choo in Dallas. He said, "Nina, we haven't heard from you. Did you get your catalog?" I sighed, then mumbled, "No, I guess I missed it." ...