Vixen Chronicles

First I was too cold and now I can't get cool enough. There is no air-conditioning here. I didn't know it when I planned this, or it didn't occur to me. The first night, I told my landlord that I was a little warm in my room at the cottage. “No, problem, we'll fix that.” Silly me, I thought that meant that they would turn up the air conditioner to that comfort zone we talk about, you know, between 68 and 72. “We'll just open a window or two.” I was perplexed as I followed them around the house. They opened window after window and explained to me how this was an efficient house that was designed to be hot in the winter and cool in the summer. It just wasn't cool enough. I walked around Oak Bluff, in and out of the various merchants on Circuit avenue. Guess what? No air conditioning there either. The weather was balmy, not quite hot, but I wouldn't exactly call it cool either. It wasn't in your face hot like in Texas, but just warm enough to make...

I needed a break from all the moving, so I headed to the beach. I headed to take my daughter to camp, actually, and decided to wait for her at a nearby Beach town. She is going to the historical Camp Atwater,and no, its not a Fresh Air Fund Camp like the characters in Marrying UP said it was. I made that up. That's why its called fiction. She's never been to sleep away camp before so I was worried that she would have a hard time. She is just a baby. I tried to expose her to this type of thing before when we went to an overnight Mother-daughter camp with the Girl Scouts. I think I blogged about that too. In my heart, I knew that if that camp was anything like Camp Atwater, there was a good chance she wouldn't want to stay. It can't be a good experience if the one thing she remembers most is the smell. Driving up to Camp Atwter it was a pleasant surprise. It was camp, but certainly less "rustic" than where we stayed. We rolled into expertly manicured and...

Moving is getting tiring. People say "moving" like its a one point in time thing, but in actuality, it is a process. We have physically moved all our stuff from point A to point B, but now I am sifting through all the stuff in the boxes and trying to get it in its place. Everything has a place, and I just gotta find it. Truth be told, I am throwing/donating a lot of things that had found their way to the back of the closet or that have outlived its usefulness. I'm finding having less stuff kind of refreshing. Liberating even. I have help, thank goodness. I wanted things to go smoothly for my family, so pre-moved, I went through and purged a lot of things. Clothes I hadn't worn in two years. A shoe or two. Some of them I looked at and wondered how the hell they found their way into my closet in the first place. What was so attractive before was butt-ugly now. I evenpurged for my other half because he is not a person who throws things away. Trust me fellas, men...

My struggle with nature continues. You see, alas, I have moved to the KUN-CHER-EEE. I am still sitting in the midst of boxes, albeit fewer than before, but in the midst of boxes nonetheless. It's one thing when you move from house to house or neighborhood to neighborhood. In those cases, you can still rely on the old faithful things you know. Same people, dry cleaners, grocery store, but I have moved to a different city and I am just lost. Where I have moved the grabage company does not provide trash cans, and since, as a result of my move, I have a lot of trash, I found myself in need of the "man-supermarket", AKA Home Depot. I looked it up on the internet, found an address and then tried to put it in my trusty (or so I thought) navigation system. After 20 minutes of trying, I decided to give it a go and just drove in the general direction that I thought it was in. Well, I drove around in circles and ended up there quite accidently, but not before I called relativ...

So, I moved to a new city and I think nature and I have finally reached an equilibrium. I'm sitting in a house surrounded by hundreds of boxes and I haven't really seen one creepy crawly inside the house with me yet. What I have seen is lots of nature. The first two days the movers left most of the doors open as they were going in and out. I just KNEW I was going to have things in the house,especially with my recent track record. This is south Texas, for goodness sakes. Lo and behold, I was right. I kept hearing this incessant chirping that was driving me nuts. It didn't take me long to figure out I had visitors. The house is on a hill and apparently with the doors open, birds thought they could fly right through. All of the possible scenarios that could happen to me and only to me, ran through my head. Can birds get rabies? I was sure if it were possible, I was sure to get bitten, scratched or crapped on. (They claim that its good luck when you get crapped on by...

Warning, the following contains graphic language and is an absolutely true story. It is not for the faint of heart and children are advised to leave the room. Moving is a muthaf----. I couldn't sit still and let the packers pack my stuff, I had to walk through and see if there was something I could do. Of course, there is always stuff behind stuff, especially in kid's room. Behind my daughter's kitchen, a discarded night gown was lurking. I decided to pick it up and put it where it belonged when--ouch, no sh--(*&^^%%', I heard a snapping sound and felt sharp pain on my fingers. Ohmigod! I threw my phone and the nightgown and grabbed my finger, crunking again. I was getting good at this. My kids screamed "What's wrong, Mom?!" Something had bitten me. Immediately, I thought the worse. I grabbed my finger and tried to hold the poison I knew to be coursing through my views down in the digit. Maybe I had been stung by a brown recluse? I thought ...

Can't sleep. Can you believe I had an uneventful weekend and 4th of July? This is the first year I did absolutely nothing. Well, I did sign books at the Essence Music Festival in Houston, but I went in, signed the books and came back home. No, they don't give you free concert tix or anything like it when you do that. I did get to meet a few folks from Austin, some people even recognized me from TV. That's a big deal for me because authors don't get recognized. Its not like begin a TV star. It's been a long time since I signed books like that. We stood in front of the table and basically accosted passers-by with our bookmarks and postcards. I used to do that type of thing all the time when I was self published. I would even use my then three year old daughter as a shill. Folks would stop to remark on how cute she would and then she would do the accosting, slipping them some material and blinking her eyelashes. "My mommy is an author, would you b...

I don’t seem to be able to take a trip, rather I have Adventures. I can’t tell you what it is about my karma, but things just happen to me when I travel. From the moment I stepped off the plane, I knew that this trip to Miami would be no different. The first thing that I noticed was that there was a dress code, or should I call it a “lack of dress” code. The men all seemed to be wearing white and the woman, no matter if they were a size 2 or 22, all were naked. Well, nearly naked. Thankfully, most folks do realize that not everything is for everybody. Just because they manaufacture it doesn’t mean you should wear it . Really. Things that look cute on that twiggy size two model will not look the same on your size 14 (or larger) hips. I guarantee it. But these particular citizens folks seemed to have missed that. Anyway, I’d gotten off the plane hungry adn my hosts insisted that I shower and change my clothes so I could eat and properly experience Miami. A girl’s gotta eat,...

I have been procrastinating on posting my May reading list this time, probably because there was only one GREAT book in it. The rest were books that I had to finish since I'd started them. 1- Getting Even by Kayla Perrin. I waited to talk about this book in the SPice line of books. Spice books are erotic novels, and since I wanted to write them I have to do research, right? Great cover, but I had to ask the author some questions. Fortunately I was able to ask her at this year's Romantic Times Magazine conference. I needed to know: What's a nub? What does "smoking up" mean? It hit me during our conversation that although the book was supposed to take place in Atlanta, there were times when the characters slipped into Canadian-ese. You see, Kayla is from Canada. There were also times when the nuances of Black American "high society" were just missed and seemed, well just un-black. I did love the way she wove the women's stories together even ...

When I moved to Texas for the second time (about ten years ago), I came from Arizona. Yes, it was hot as all get out, but one of the things that Arizona had going for it was that there were very few flying insects and creepy crawlies because there is just very little moisture in the air. Sure, we ran into the occasional scorpion, but these were the little pink variety, easily controlled by the exterminator. Long before I got here, I kept hearing, "The bugs are everywhere!" I thought folks were just exaggerating. Well, lawd, Lawd, lawd, everything is bigger in Texas. We have been in our house a long time and I am still encountering creepy crawlies. Spiders, little wormy looking things, and yes, scorpions. I like to think I'm kinda tough, but the sight of an insect REALLY freaks me out. When you give birth, you learn to be strong about a lot of things, but I had to check myself a few years ago when my then two year old thought the name for a spider was a Mo---- F----...

Yesterday was the hottest day on record in central Texas and of course I would pick this day to check out a new mall in my new area. And yes, it was outside. The mall was beautiful, but who'da thunk that someone would envision an open air mall in this area of the country? These are fine, say in Detroit or southern california, but Texas? Lawd, Lawd, Lawd. I mean, there were water features everywhere and great stonework that you couldl hardly see because it was so hot it was like the air was wavering. You know what I mean, like on those old western films where people see mirages. So, maybe I wasn't at the mall, maybe when I realized that I was sweating (or glowing) in my designer jeans I started to imagine that I was in a mall. Several of the stores had the door wide open and I could feel the air conditioning hit me. Needless to say I lingered in front of thsoe stores, and then, when I couldn't take it anymore, I ducked into Neiman Marcus and just stayed for awhile. ...

Sometimes you just want to do something different. I like to watch what I eat, so when friends suggested we go out to eat, I scowled. I didn't want to eat and I have to admit I don't have the willpower not to eat while others do. You know how it is, you try to be good but then that chip tortures you and forces you had to pick it up, or that "just a little taste" of dessert turns into scarfing down half of whatever sinful chocolate concoction they sit in front of you. My friends turned out to be my true friends so instead of going to eat for happy hour in an attempt to fatten each other up, we ended up at a wine tasting bar, CORK & Co. on Congress avenue. I had never been to this place, never heard of it actually, until one of us spied it online somewhere a couple of weeks ago. There are times in the week when I dread going downtown. Parking is horrible and it is downtown, and of course I am cash challenged and can never valet park, so instead I am usually st...

I taped a television show last night. The topic of the show was"How to Make your man do anything you want...and like it." I gotta tell you, when they first asked me to be on the show, I wasn't sure WHY they asked me. But, as it turns out, I do write relationship novels and flap my lips in this blog quite a bit, so they thought I would have a lot to say. And you know what, I did. The show will air in the fall and it is The Family Digest Show. Check out Family Digest Magazine. http://www.familydigest.com/ There were two other panelist besides myself,one a psychotherapist who writes a column for the mag, and the other, a long time married man. We talked about how to make a man happy, etc, etc, and what it seemed to boil down to was that the woman needed to be happy with and know herself to make someone else happy. Oh, and the man wanted it known that it was important not to nag. (!) They asked us what we thought a man wanted from a relationship. Myself and the psyc...

What do you look for if you are moving to a new city? A church? A favorite activity? I thought I was looking for a house but my head kept turning as I drove down the city's main street, the names of stores were catching my eye. It was like I had shoe-dar or something, I needed to know that the place had more to offer than my favorite supermarket and cultural activites. One place, Lee Lee's, caught my eye and I made a sharp turn out of traffic and headed into the parking lot. Of course it was a shoe store. Moving is an adventure, but it is also sad. You can always visit friends, but what of the boutiques and neighborhood stores that I have come to know and love? The ones that send me holiday cards that say "Happy Kwaanza" when I am absolutely sure they had never heard of Kwaanza before knowing me or gifts of Casmere gloves with my initals in rhinestones for my birthday and specially scented candles? I walked into this shoe boutique cautiously with my daughte...

So, I loved Desperate Housewives, even when I thought things were going downhill. When Alfre Woodward moved in, I knew they were stretching for a storyline, counting on her celebrity to add some spice to the street. Sure, she's a big star, but did anyone notice that all of the Housewives were hotties? Even the Ice Queeen Housewife? I thought I could go with it though, even though thery couldn't let the sister be as sexy as the others. She should have been Holly Robinson Peete or Vivica Foxx, or someone in that vein (No offense to Ms Woodard) Alfre's character was crazy as a bedbug, and seemed to be resonably minor, but I guess they decided it wasn't working. They wrote the entire family out for next season, or at least it looks that way. But let me ask you this, since the show began there have been how many murders? Three? Four, Five? Maybe six or seven if you count the suicides. So, why is it that the only person who didn't get away with murder was the you...

Yes, it is true! Li'L G from SILK will be in Marrying up as a special guest in Chattanooga. Ya'll come, ya hear? Here is the press release. Foxx/Tales Productions 3300 Bee Caves Road, Austin, Texas 78746 PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Publicist: Shia Shabazz @ 512.347.9995 Foxx/Tale Productions & Gdavis Plays Marry Up to Benefit Friendship Haven Nursing Home Chattanooga, TN June 2, 2006 -- In unique agreement, Nina Foxx and Garrett Davis, of Foxx/Tale Productions & Gdavis Plays respectively, will donate a portion of the proceeds from the June 2, 2006, Chattanooga performance of their collaborative hit play, Marrying Up to the city's oldest nonprofit senior living facility, Friendship Haven Nursing Home. Proceeds will directly benefit the effort to upgrade the facility's currently outdated system toward the purchase of a state mandated fire sprinkler system. Foxx, author of the novel from which the play is derived, states, "It ...

To answer your emails, tickets for the Chattanooga show are avaiable online at the theater box office. Here is the link http://www.etix.com/ticket/servlet/onlineSale?action=selectPerformance&performance_id=413301 You can also buy tickets straight from www.ninafoxx.com/schedule. Or in person at Scenic City Music, Cats Music, WNOO Radio & Box Office This show will have Li'l G from Silk as a special guest. See you there. N

Marrying Up has a few more performance before summer hiatus, and if you are in the are, try to catch it. Take a look at the commercial here. http://www.ninafoxx.com/stageplay/ June 2, It will be at the Memorial Auditorium in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I will be appearing at that performance. The following week is the Meridian , Mississippi performance, at the Temple Theater. I will not be appearing there, but it will still be a great show. Check my calendar at www.nianfoxx.com/schedule for other dates to catch up with me this summer. I will be speaking at The Romantic Times Conference next week in Daytona, and I will also be at the National Convention of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority along with my friend and Author Reshonda Tate Billinsgley in July in the Motor City, Detroit. After those two performances the show will go on summer break and re-open in September. Keep checking back for dates! Holla!

This time of year is always hectic, especially if you have kids. You would think that things would be slowing down near the end of the school year, but instead they speed up, with each child having to do twice as much, which of course means that parents have to do twice as much, too. You can't work less (especially if you are self employed because that means that you will probabaly get paid less), so the other stuff has to go. In my case, I read less in April. Here 'tis-- 1. Baby Brother's Blues - Pearl Cleage. This one was my book club selection for the month. I thought it was a fine read, although I didn't want to read another Black-Man-Down-Low story. Enjoyable and interesting story though. 2. Criss Cross -Evie Rhodes. I didn't think I would like this, but I truly got into this Christian Fiction book disguised as a supernatural thriller. 3. NoWhere is a Place -Bernice Mcfadden- this one was not what I thought it ws going to be, but Ms McFadden did it ...

And you thought I was going to let a week go by without posting. Sike! Busy week, busy week, but you know how it is, life happens. Found out this week my car needs a lateral excelerometer. Huh? That is exactly what I said when the technicican told me that. It also needs a new radio and the back windshield wiper doesn't work. No, I don't drive a beater. Its a 2004 American gas guzzler that just went over 50,000 miles. Someone once said that American cars aren't built to last past 50K miles. I trusted what they said, too because every one I have ever had started to act up a soon as the odometer rolled past that fateful point. What kind of coincidence is it that 50K miles is also the point where most warranties end? I fooled them this time, I bought an extended warantty. Ha! Its still time for a new car though,with gas being so high I'm going to check out the hybrid scene. I'm even willing to overlook the funny-lookingness that these cars seems to suffer fr...