THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND....

The random quotation of the day on the side panel of my blog today said, "The truth is the kindest thing we can give folks in the end". - Harriet Beecher Stone

I for one, could not agree more. I don't know what it is with me and the truth, but it is something that I hold sacred. If I do nothing else with my friends whom I hold dear, it is that I try to be as honest as I possibly can be. Sometimes to a fault, my friends will tell you. Mostly because I have a heck of a guilty conscience, plus my facial expressions tell all my truths. I would be awful at poker, lol!

That being said, I expect it in return from my friends, the good and the bad. I don't want you to tell me what you think I want to hear, I want you to tell me the truth, no matter what. Just break it down...

It is the least we can do to show one another respect, right? Plus when trust is lost in a friendship or relationship, it's so hard to fully get it back. I think I would rather be hurt than be lied to, to be honest. There's just no reason for it. Or is there? Is there a time when it's ok to lie?

Are white lies ok? Perhaps.

If it will save someone from being really hurt, maybe it's ok then?

What about lies of omission? You know, you didn't outright tell a lie, but you omitted the real truth from your story. Is that ok?

I don't know where to draw the line, so I just work under the truth at all times premise. Well I try really hard at it anyway. Makes my life a whole lot easier in my opinion. And I hope my friends will always love and respect me enough to treat me the same way.

YES HE DID!!!!!!!

Congratulations to President-Elect Barack Obama!!!! I need say no more! I pray for God's blessings on him and his family. To all the men and women who died so that this day might be possible, I say thank you. We honour you!! It is a glorious day in the USA!!!

MINI PREVIEW

So for the last few months, my business partner and I, Peggy, having been working on a client's home. This project has been a COMPLETE overhaul. We've taken our client's home from something that looked like the inside of a wooden box to something contemporary, sleek and stylish. We are just about finished and we're looking forward to the reveal party that she's going to have on the 22nd to show her "new" home to her friends and family. I think this is one project Urban Safari Design can be proud of. Here are just a few before and after pics. Be sure to tell me what you think....


Master Bedroom before...



Master Bedroom after...




Entry Way before...



Entry way after...


Bookcase before...


Bookcase after...


Master Bath before...



Master Bath after...

(We're still waiting on the custom window covering to come in. It's on back order..)



We have to take a few more pictures and we have a couple more items to buy but for the most part, this is a glimpse into the finished product. I'll give the full rundown on the reveal day.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

A good friend of mine forwarded this quote to me the other day and I liked it so I figured I'd share it. Given the upcoming elections next week, I thought it was something you guys might like too.

"Rosa sat for Martin to walk; Martin walked so Obama could run; Obama is running so our kids can fly...."

I can't vote because I'm not a citizen of the US, but I'm with him in spirit:)

OBAMA '08!!!!

HAIR-OLOGY 101!

So on Friday night last week, thanks to my boy Chris Spencer, I was invited to a special screening of an upcoming documentary by Chris Rock on black hair. I took my friend Brianna and my roommate Coen along with me. I had no idea what to expect but suffice to say, as is the case with most things Chris Rock is involved with, it was funny. It was however, informative too.

In spite of the fact that I have dealt with pretty much every hair issue there is, trust me on that one, his documentary brought quite a few things to light that I hadn't thought of in a while or that I never knew in the first place.

For instance, did you know that the way they get the Indian "human hair" for weaving is through a religious ritual called tonsuring? Women go in the millions to certain temples and have their heads completely shaven as as a sacrifice because hair is seen as a vanity. The temple then sells the hair and makes ridiculous amounts of money, second only to the amount of money the Vatican makes. They then wash and "debug" the hair and sew the wefts and sell them by the kilo to vendors, mostly in the US. Who knew all of that was involved?

He had me laughing when he had all these black men on there talking about how they are not allowed to touch their girl's hair 'cause they would get a beat down, lol!!!

Women were putting $1000 wigs on layaway. I didn't even know there was still layaway, let alone on hair,lol!

Mothers were perming their 2 and 3 year olds' hair, good grief...

Women were spending 4, 5, 6 hours at the hair salon - that's why I personally haven't been to get a perm since the 90s. Last time I went, that woman had me in her shop for 5 hours. I swore never again right then and there! I just go right on down to Rite Aid and buy me an Optimum Care perm kit and I'm done in 30 mins, thank you very much!

There was the whole go natural or not debate? Afros? Dreads?

Women were discussing the choice to get their hair wet or not to get it wet (ie. go swimming). Nia Long said choosing to get her hair wet with/for a guy was more intimate than having sex, lol!!!

All I can say is that you should make sure to watch this documentary when and wherever it comes out. You'll have a completely different appreciation for our hair and all that it entails...its complexities, its challenges and its beauty!!

DRIVING WHILE "DISORIENTED"

No, I'm not referring to what probably first comes to your mind when I say driving while disoriented. I'm not talking about being intoxicated or anything of that nature.

Last week when I was at home, the athletes were given rental cars during our stay to get around. For the first several days, I refused to drive. Why, you might ask? Well the reason is pretty simple. In The Bahamas, we drive on the left hand side of the road and as a result of living in the US for quite some time now, this switching sides of the road can be an instant mind bender, to say the least!

Your brain is fighting you all the way, especially when it comes to making turns. Do I make a hard right? Do I a make a wide left? Then just to add insult to injury, most of the cars are also right hand drives, so the steering wheel is on the other side of the car. And then just to make sure you really get confused, the turn signal is on the right of the steering wheel and your windshield wipers are on your left hand side. Confused yet??? I can't tell you how many times I turned on the wipers when I was trying to make a turn!!

Trust me, every time I go home, I have to take a few days to get in sync with everything before I get on the road like a maniac and kill innocent bystanders, lol. This time was no different. You have completely different cues when you sit on the right. You have to judge the far left hood of your car in relation to the walls, people, the sidewalk, etc and some of our roads are extremely narrow. And why don't we have left on red? I'm still not sure I understand.

One last thing, unless you're from there, you'd never know this unwritten rule. Once the clock strikes midnight, you can pretty much ignore all the traffic lights. You're pretty much free to stop and go as you please!

Oh well, I managed to make it out unscathed although when I got back here to LA, I realized that my mind had already switched and I had to adjust all over again.

PS. OK mr. pitbull, maybe this little chihuahua, isn't the best driver in the world....I'll finally give you that:) But I bet you'd have trouble too...

FINALLY BACK AT HOME.....

I'm back in LA finally after what can only be described as a whirlwind!! Honestly, I think we fit more in one week than I normally would fit in a month. On Friday alone last week, I took four flights and was on four different islands in The Bahamas. Talk about island hopping. We wrote the book!!!

We got to go to Inagua, an island that was heavily hit by hurricane Ike and also to Cat Island, another island in the chain of 700 that encompass the entire country and one which I had never been to. In both places, we were treated to performances by the local school kids and they truly were the highlights of our trips.



On Saturday, we had more autograph signing at Robin Hood which is a Costco type place. That was followed by another luncheon and finally that night, the big awards banquet which the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, the Rt.Honourable Hubert Ingraham attended.




I would have to say one of the most memorable moments that night was when two of my teammates, Debbie Ferguson and Chandra Sturrup were awarded their respective gold and bronze medals from the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton. In light of the recent stripping of major medals from Marion Jones from all events during that period of time, both Debbie and Chandra were moved up one spot to their rightful places, Debbie from silver to gold in the 200m and Chandra from 4th to 3rd in the 100m.


It was really touching and our Prime Minister awarded them their medals ceremoniously on a makeshift podium replica and the National Anthem was played for Debbie. It in no way makes up for the moments in the spotlight that they were due at the time of competition but it was extremely moving and I have to say that my eyes welled up a little.

We ended the night on a high as we let our hair hang out literally at the infamous club Aura in the Atlantis hotel.

I'm not sure what time we left but suffice to say, a good time was had by all!

Now, guess what, it's time to get back to training. It's amazing just how fast times flies when you're having fun...