Wordless Wednesday-July 24, 2019

In Diva Love, 

Pam 👑💯❤️

Wordless Wednesday-July 17, 2019

In Diva Love, 

Pamela 🙏🏽💯👑

Wordless Wednesday-June 12, 2019

In Diva Love, 

Pamela 🙏🏽👑❤️♊️

Wordless Wednesday-May 29, 2019

In Diva Love,

Pamela 🙏🏽💕👑

Wordless Wednesday-October 24, 2018

In Diva Love, 

Pamela💜💯👑

Wordless Wednesday-October 3, 2018

In Diva Love,

Pamela 👑💯💜

Wordless Wednesday-September 19, 2018

In Diva Love,

Pamela 💜🙏🏽👑

June’s Golden Celebration

June is and always will be the best month of the year. This past June, God allowed me to see another year of life and I happily celebrated turning 50 in grand style as only a diva like me could. While there is longevity in my family, I don’t take a single day of life for granted. I’ve been through a lot and I’ve learned a lot. I don’t take any experience for granted and I have embraced the lessons. I trust God and continue to pray through everything. I am looking forward to all that life and the next 50 years have to offer. Winning a huge lottery would help to fulfill quite a few of those dreams not only for me but my loved ones as well. I digress. 🤷🏽‍♀️. While my actual birthday was pretty low-key in terms of celebration, it was a good day. I always celebrate the entire month and this year was no exception. So I had a vision for my birthday but obviously I was procrastinations a little to much for my BFFs. They took over the planning and put together a wonderful Boozy Birthday Celebration.We kicked off the weekend with drinks, appetizers, and karaoke. On Saturday, We did a sip and paint and culminated with a nice dinner at the Chart house. We managed to sneak in a photo shoot too. A Sunday brunch culminated a wonderful celebration. I am eternally grateful for the women God has placed in my life to be my best friends. They gave me exactly what I wanted and the people who were meant to celebrate with me were present. Father’s Day weekend caused a few folks to miss due to other obligations but that allowed me to keep celebrating for several more weeks into July.

In addition to me celebrating my birthday, I had the pleasure of having one of my dearest friends spend a weekend with me here in VA. We hit up a winery and got to check out the soft opening of the Alamo Draft house. I love the concept of having drinks and a meal served to you while you watch a movie. I also got to see my niece’s efforts a she was in her first dance recital. It was a real cute rendition of Cinderella. The month concluded with a lovely trip to New Orleans to witness the nuptials of my step-son and his beautiful bride. I hung out with my sister in love and once again ate my way through one of my favorite hot places. I wasn’t trying to be too touristy this time, but if you get an opportunity, I would highly encourage you to visit the World War II Museum. It was a very interactive, well planned museum with lots of information and artifacts. The museum is laid out well and flows beautifully. It was a good one on one with my youngest Thorpette. Can’t believe that kid is going to be a high school senior this Fall. 

If you took the the time to participate in my birthday bash, I appreciate you. I had a blast. I am always grateful for the love and support of my friends and family. June was better than I expected and more than I could wish for. Reflecting on the month and May too, I know that relationships shouldn’t be taken for granted. Love hard on your family and friends and enjoy the moments you get to make memories. I am no longer #flirtingwtih50, I am 50! Fierce and fabulous! I can see their will be changes ahead. With God, I am here for Every. Single. Bit. Of. It.

Cheers 🥂  to 50 Years!!!

In Diva Love,

Pamela 🎂💜👑🥂🍷🙏🏽❤️😘

Random Reflections-May, 2018

The past three months seem to have been one big epic celebration of life and people I love dearly. I guess that’s why it’s been so long since I’ve made a post. I’m still here and I have enjoyed the season. May kicked off with a forced celebration of my brother, Gerald. He celebrated his 47th birthday here in Virginia with me. By forced, I mean, he imposed a Chapter 47 Shenanigans weekend long birthday celebration on my sister and me. While I balked at planning the weekend, it was one of the best times I’ve had with my family and friends. I got to see several relatives that I had not laid eyes on since 2005. Crazy right? I guess God was in the details because it turned out that my paternal family would be in Baltimore to celebrate my cousin receiving her Masters in Nursing. We started out with a Taco Game Night, where no games were played because we were too busy catching up, eating and drinking. On Saturday we had an actual birthday party that lasted late into the night. Sunday ended with a brunch. No party is complete unless my BFFs are in the house...each of them showed up to partake in the shenanigans and I’m sure they will all say it was worth the trip. I think Gerald was extremely pleased with they way everything turned out. No matter how far apart you are or how long it’s been, it’s great to come together and seem to have never missed a beat. Best takeaway from that weekend was that both brothers were in town at the same time so we could finally get a picture of them with both my sister and me. Trust me when I tell you, we are never in the same place at the same time. I’m including a collage so you can see how much fun was had.

Aren’t you sad you didn’t get to join us?

In Diva Love,

Pam 👑❤️😘

Wordless Wednesday-May 9, 2018

In Diva Love,

Pamela 👑❤️

Wordless Wednesday-April 18, 2018

In Diva Love, 

Pamela 💜👑❤️

Wordless Wednesday-April 11, 2018

In Diva Love, 

Pamela💜👑❤️

Wordless Wednesday-March 21, 2018

In Diva Love,

Pam💯👑💜

The Commandments of Pam

We all have a set of rules or core values that we live by, whether spoken or secret. Since the New Year has begun, I’ve been relatively quiet and mostly keeping to myself. Kind of a switch for an extroverted person such as myself. For whatever reason, I am in a very self-reflective mode and doing some serious introspection. I think I live pretty authentically but I want to make sure that I’m putting my best self forward and being the best version of me that I can be. As I grow older my tolerance for BS is extremely low and I really am having a hard time with phony and fake. So it came to me that I have some rules that never change....like God had the Ten Commandments. Here they are, in no particular order, but each one is equally important.

1. Be Pamela-I can’t be anyone but myself...the sum of my successes and failures, my hopes and dreams including the ones that have been deferred. The uniquely blessed, somewhat flawed woman who has become very comfortable in her own skin.

2. Just because someone is treating you poorly, doesn’t mean you have stoop to their level. Karma never arrives when you want her to but she will eventually show up. 

3. Build your tribe well. Choose the people who have a front row set to your life wisely. My core circle of friends is tight, trustworthy, and supportive.

4. Live your truth and reality. Your life and experiences have been crafted for you and the grass isn’t alway greener in someone else’s yard. 

5. Have a belief system. My hope and faith are in the Lord, Jesus Christ. I love a divine appointment where God shows up and shows out unexpectedly. Prayer does change you and the situation.

6. Take time for yourself-indulge in your favorite hobbies-for me it’s reading, traveling, coloring, and wine tasting. Getting by yourself and focusing on things you love takes you away from the noise and distractions of the world.

7. Find at least one positive in each day. Trouble don’t last always and joy does come in the morning. Smiling is free.

8. Follow your intuition and trust your gut. 

9. Things are just things. Don’t let them define you. You can’t take any of it with you when you leave the earth.

10. Choose love. Choose forgiveness. Choose kindness. 

These are my basic principles. I am sure you have your own. Let me know yours. Be a blessing!

In Diva Love,

Pam 👑🙏🏽💜

My #hashtag

It’s the year that most of my closest friends and I

Celebrate our golden birthday. When I look into the mirror, I find it absolutely unbelievable that I’m turning 50. It is what it is and life continues no matter what curves and valleys we face. So it’s definitely real. Thank goodness, Black don’t crack and we all look fantastic for our age. We got them good genes. We have weathered many storms and are still standing. That being said, until June 3rd. My birthday in the best month of the twelve, I created a hashtag to keep the occasion in perspective. I’ll be #flirtingwith50.

Join me as I celebrate the entire year. In fact we got that party started this past weekend. We celebrated my college BFF with a great party. They say fifty is the new forty. Whatever it ts, it’s going to be fabulous for us.  Hers s peak of how cute 50 can be. 

Aging can be priceless. No botox and no medical procedures. 

Here’s my #hastag. Hope you like it:

 Feel free to comment. For now, I’m out! 

In Diva Love,

Pamela 👑🥂💜

What Makes Me Feel Better, Always

Hey, Hey, Hey! Got a minute and thought I should put something out there. We all have good days and bad and let's face it, there are those things that just always can turn your day around. For me there are several very important cures. First, prayer. Nothing like a heartfelt conversation with the Lord. No judgment and He is always there-whether you think so or not. Sometime I have to remember to be still and silent so I can receive whatever it is is He has to say to me. It can't be a one way communication. 

Music. I don't go a day without it. It is always going on my computer at work. I have uplifting play lists and ratchet ones too. No day begins without gospel music. It gets my mind and spirit right. I am not a huge fan of hip-hop but give me some old school and I can jam my day away. Jazz for relaxation, R&B anytime. I've even been known to play Broadway Hits. Don't sleep on the Hamilton tunes. 

A great Conversation. Nothing like catching up with a heart and soul level friend. You know the ones who know you well...even when you aren't saying what you're really feeling? Those are the best. Also when you and a group of girlfriends come together and the conversation flows in such a way that you know you could solve all the world problems if they just gave you all the power for a couple of weeks. Had one of those moments a couple of weeks ago. There were good side conversations taking place too. No explanation, no reservation, no hiding or adapting just real heartfelt discussion without apology or agenda. Refreshing as a brisk morning wind. 

My mom. Love her to pieces. I talk to her almost every day on my way home from work and whenever the need arises. My brother does too. I know she loves me unconditionally and worries about both of us being so far away from her. It works both ways. I can discuss most anything with her and she is terribly amused by the rants of both my brother and I with ridiculous traffic antics and drivers in our respective cities.  Sometimes, I do have to remind her to let me get a word in because she truly has the gift of gab. I get that from my momma too but I am a thoughtful listener. She's getting better. Just the sound of her voice usually makes me feel good inside. 

In no particular order, these things always get me smiling too: my children and their conversations or crazy jokes. They are hilarious, yet interesting individuals. Even better, when they cozy up to me for no reason despite being 19 and 16. The best moments of my life. I love to hear little children laugh with reckless abandon. I love getting a card in the mail....If the words and message are right for me, my tank is immediately filled. A good book. Coloring-such a childlike innocence to picking the right colors and getting the picture just the way you want it. Doing a kindness for someone else. Writing or journaling. Travel would work too but sometimes funds are scarce. 

So no matter what, there's always a positive in the negative. What does it for you? What can change your day no matter what? If you can't figure it out, take a moment and get quiet, meditate on the things that bring you joy. Ask God to show you how to find that fleeting joy in the midst of pain. Trust God and trust the process. You can always start with a gratitude list. There is ALWAYS something to be thankful for. Find your joy and peace and hold fast to it! 

In Diva Love, 

Pam

Wordless Wednesday-September 6, 2017

In Diva Love,

Pamela 🤔❤️💯👑

Wordless Wednesday-August 16, 2017

In Diva Love, 

Pamela 💜❤️👑

Wordless Wednesday-August 9, 2017

In Diva Love,

Pamela ❤️❤️👑👑

Wordless Wednesday-August 2, 2017

In Diva Love, 

Pamela 💯❤️👑