In Diva Love,
Pamela 👑♥️🙏🏽
Wednesday, November 28, 2018
Wednesday, November 21, 2018
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Wednesday, October 3, 2018
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Summer Roundup
As summer draws to a close, I have been remiss in writing my blog. Way too much fun to take the time and get it all out. So here’s a brief review of how I’ve spent what several of my friends are calling #theyearof50. After returning from Nawlins, I caught up with my friends, Van and Terry. No laughs spared with those two. This time we got to celebrate Van who got a new job. Next up was a celebration of my oldest BFF, Monica and her Golden birthday. What a great reason for the college BFF, Sonja and me to make a road trip to the place that built me. Hello, Cleveland! Guess who we got to hang out with there? My brother, Gerald. We saw lots of my family and friends and ate way too much but boy did we have a wonderful time.
Monica planned a weekend long celebration with her very closest girlfriends and called it Monica 5.0. Talk about a fun time. Seven women embarked on downtown Cleveland, OH and had a blast. On Friday, we were supposed to do a Happy Hour boat ride but we enjoyed each other so much that wearrived at the pier and the boat had already departed. Not to be thwarted, we made arrangements to get on the boat on Saturday and came up with a new plan. The drinks and conversation flowed effortlessly despite the fact that some of us had never met each other. We ended up doing a small photo shoot in downtown Cleveland and eventually made our way to Michaels Simon’s restaurant, Mabel’s BBQ. Let’s just characterize that as a meat fest. Then we made our way to the chocolate bar for late night drinks. To say I felt like a stuffed pig would be an understatement.
On Saturday, it was a bit dreary so we took our time motivating. Once we got it together, we did another mini photo shoot and headed to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Can you believe that this native Clevelander hadn’t ever set foot in that place? What a gem! It was a great experience because I absolutely can’t live without music. There is much to experience and learn about the history of Rock and Roll. I think the layout is pretty nice and I didn’t feel like there was a need to rush through any area of the museaum. While I think there might be way too much information on Elvis, I learned a lot and was impressed with the artifacts on display throughout the museum. I loved the Evolution of Hip-Hop and silly me got a great picture with my favorite artist, the Purple one, Prince. Once done, we got ourselves together to take the boat ride. We did not miss the Goodtime III this time. A dance party was the theme and the people watching was epic. It was a gorgeous night to see Cleveland’s skyline from Lake Erie. Sunday culminated with one more group photo and a lovely brunch where a few more folks joined us and brought Monica’s 5.0 to an end.
After hanging our with more of my family, Sonja and I made it back to the DMV safe and sound. My July culminated in celebrating my niece, Jayla’s 6th birthday. That stinker is growing up way to fast. After an impromptu dinner, she choraled us into a dance party and and game night. On a sad note, we bid her and the rest of my sister’s family goodbye as they relocated to Rochester, NY. My month ended with a bowling fundraiser for PAGE, Inc. That is a non-profit, started by my friend Telia, to help teens succeed in every area of life. August brought me back to reality. Work was calling and we had to be ready for a new group of students. We bid good bye to one of the Village children and headed to Baltimore for those farewell festivities. It was a great opportunity for us to catch up with our friends who are like family and some people with whom we used to attend church. Sonja and I once again to a quick road trip to NC to drop off my godchild for her last year of college at NCAT.
I got to visit with my brother once again and even got to see him perform two pieces in a spoken word event. My own Thorpettes also embarked on their own journies as seniors in their respective schools. My older one will graduate in May from JWU and the younger one is completing his last year of high school. Time flies. Next year this time, I will be an empty nester. What a bittersweet, but sobering thought. So sobering that I ended my summer with a trip to a winery I hadn’t visited before. This past weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend a performance of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center. It was worth the hype! I loved the diversity of the cast and found the production quite entertaining. If only I could’ve learned history this way.
I am ready for Fall. It’s been a full summer and I have enjoyed every moment of it. God is good and I feel blessed to have spent most of my time with the people I love and care about the most. Count your blessings and remember, life is about experiences and the people you encounter along the way. The year of 50 is shaping up just fine. Again, I am here for it all. I apologize for the length of this post and I will try to be more diligent about posting. In the meantime, get busy living because life is precious and it waits for no man (or woman).
In Diva Love,
Pamela 👑💜🙏🏽
Friday, August 3, 2018
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 👑❤️😘
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Thursday, February 22, 2018
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 👑🙏🏽💜
Thursday, January 18, 2018
My #hashtag
It’s the year that most of my closest friends and I
Feel free to comment. For now, I’m out!
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 👑🥂💜
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
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