Does Something Look Familiar?

My September Shoes!!! Yay, as you see I decided on the "cobalt blue booties" and I wore them for the first time today. I had a few errands to run to include a doctors appointment, some in-processing for my new job (yeah, you heard right), and of course some shopping while in the "big city"; well as much shopping as the "big city" of Lake Charles offers anyway.

So, on my first leg of my journey I stopped by the "hubby's" office to give him smooches and show him how cute I looked. AND get a pic for my blog of course (he is the camera man, ya know)! I had to show you all my new "blue suede shoes"! He all too willingly obliged as you can see by starting the photo shoot before I was even ready. I hadn't event cleared the car or blotted my sweaty face...but the end results are OK although I wish I'd smiled (darn sun) or got a better backdrop other than the parking lot...and told Darryl to get his darn shadow outta my pics! LOL

Fair Day/Robert's First Field Trip

This past Friday was Fair Day and the small (5-stop light town of DeRidder of which I reside) ceased to operate, even schools closed to celebrate! Autumn is officially in the air, although it is still 86 degrees on average and sunny, the humidity is gone - and that is surely a relief! Robert's school along with all others in the surrounding parishes had previews earlier in the week to show all the kiddies the great things fairs showcase about the community, besides carnival rides and funnel cake. It was also a great way for us "Yankees" to get to know our adopted community and its natural resources.





We saw a lot of livestock to include: goats, cows, pigs, horses, and even a zebra and a camel! We also saw a real up a close sheep shearing. Robert commented that "That sheep is getting a hair cut, mommy." which made me laughed aloud. We saw chickens and roosters, which by the way are very loud at all times, not just dawn, and various types of ducks.

Sheep shearing

We went to exhibit booths that housed all types of home grown vegetables and plants that had won ribbons and saw some of the biggest variety of squash I'd ever seen. We saw beautiful quilts that must have taken forever to make and unique crafts prepared from everyone from local school children to disabled community members; it was a very community driven fair.





I even found this one for you Kourtney!


Local middle school children even put on a puppet show for the kiddies to celebrate the return of our local army brigade and educate them on other social skills such as friendship, respect of others' differences, and playing nicely. It was a great first field trip and I am glad that Robert's teachers Mrs. Hailey and Mrs. Richardson asked me along; although seeing as though Robert is such a handful, it was probably a requirement (insert wink).

 It was a great day, well hour and a half...and I promptly placed him back on the school bus and drove the 5 minutes it took me to get home (no need of messing up his schedule by checking him out early) :P

My Mastering Meatloaf

50/50 Southwestern Meatloaf

Darryl's Plate - 50/50 Southwestern Meatloaf, Macaroni and Cheese,
Candy Yams topped with marshmallows, pineapples, raisins, and mandarin
orange slices, and fresh cut green beans.

All hail my greatness! I know, I know it is still Vegetarian Awareness Month but my family is not comprised of vegetarians so although I can enlist them to cooperate and support me for a day or two, the cause is mine alone otherwise and I  must sustain them accordingly. So I prepared meatloaf for dinner this past week.

This I believe was my fourth time, but this time was completely different; because I didn't need nothin', no recipe, no measuring cups, no spoons, no nothin'. I knew all the spices I wanted to incorporated, all the ingredients I wanted to use, and when I didn't have something - I didn't run to the phone to call Mommy or Deletta or Vernice or Chris, I just improvised because I knew what to substitute...I was in that all too common zone that I have heard the "wise ones" reference and it showed as I just sat back and listened to the licking of fingers and scraping of forks on plates at 6:30p.m CST that evening now marked as one of my greatest dinners to date. My foot had officially "gone into the dish" and I had in fact become a "Master of Meatloaf"!

I didn't even stand over Darryl while he took his first bite - awaiting his approval, (as I usually do with apprehension), I just sat his plate down, kissed his cheek, and slowly walked away; not even looking back.

I know, I know...you are not worthy...

My Look of the Week

My church look for this Sunday: A brown retro sheath 60's look. It was reminiscent to me of the clothes worn by Beautiful Black Queens while attending services or participating in the Freedom Marches.

It's an old JCP dress that Julie Bean aka Julia and I bought (same color - lol) in Fayetteville about 3 years ago. It "called" to both of us so we bypassed the "sacred shopping decorum" of not buying the same outfit and simply made a mental note to call one another before wearing it as not to wear it simultaneously to work (too tacky). It was just too simple yet classic to pass up. Its thick, rich chocolate fabric and waffle like texture was perfect for the transitioning weather of today (sunny 82 degrees in DeRidder, LA) and it also has cute circular pockets with huge over- sized buttons that are super functional and simply to die for!

I accessorized with a wonderful authentic African necklace my brother gifted me from vacation, an ethnic bangle my sister gifted me (gotta love siblings), a simple bangle, simple small gold-hoop earrings, and a statement ring that picked up on all the browns, ivories, and golds of the warm chocolate dress. Adding to that I wore a cute ivory chain bag (that can also double as a clutch) and a natural retro shoe, and voila'!

Oh, I can't forget my fascinator (feathery hair accessory) it's from the UK; I'm addicted to them as they add a great bit of flair to my "natural" and I have amassed quite an authentic collection by shopping online and having them shipped. Check out their website at http://www.debenhams.com/ and do a search for fascinators, they have a huge selection, however some do not ship here "across the pond" (insert sad face). You can get them locally, however if you get them from where they are "notorious" I find, you have more creative freedom. They also have other great shopping finds there too (shhhhh - inside scoop alert).

Tell me what cha ya think...

Photography by Darryl Swann

Photography by Darryl Swann

Photography by Darryl Swann

Photography by Darryl Swann

Darryl said I must give him photography credit if I continued to get him to take pictures, so there ;)

World Vegetarian Day!!! October is Vegetarian Awareness Month

We Petition The Obama Administration To:

Forgive Student Loan Debt to Stimulate the Economy and Usher in a New Era of Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Prosperity

 

Forgiving student loan debt would provide an immediate jolt to the economy by putting hundreds and, in some cases, thousands of extra dollars into the hands of people who WILL spend it - not just once, but each and every month thereafter - freeing them up to invest, buy homes, start businesses and families. This past year, total student loan debt finally surpassed total credit card debt in America, and is on track to exceed $1 TRILLION within the next year. Student loans themselves are responsible for tuition rates that have soared by 439% since 1982 and for saddling entire generations of educated Americans with intractable levels of student loan debt from which there is, seemingly, no escape. Relieve them of this burden and the middle class WILL rebuild this economy from the bottom-up!

 

Take a stand and sign the petition  http://wh.gov/gpx once your finished forward the message and add the link to your social media sites...spread the word!

Family Day At Zoo Fest

The Alexandria Zoo had a free day so of course the the Swann Family was there, it's a recession so minus the 1.5hr ride we saw all of our favorite animals (except the Lion - sorry Darryl)! There was ice cream and cake, bounce houses, live music, a bit of education, and of course our favorite animals. We didn't take many pictures of animals because we were having so much fun, but you can check out the ones we did take.

...and reminiscent of my parents we went "old school"and packed lunch, it was a great Louisiana Swann Family Day!

 Waiting in the birthday cake line. Happy Birthday Alexandria Zoo!

 Smile Robbie...LOL

 Family Picture (Rah was annoyed because he wanted cake).

 Take two wasn't any better with Rah.

 Now, he's happy although they were out of ice cream :(

 Daddy Swann enjoying his packed PB&J.

 "Funny Monkey"

 Rah saw that this animal friend was "camouflaged".

 If you look closely you can see the tip of Rah's head at the bottom of the slide (poor action shot, eh?)

 Daddy Swann's on backpack duty.

 Rah is giving me his bounce house strategy for the day. 

 He got on about 8-10 bounces total but stopped when he noticed that the bounce house's water was getting pretty muddy! Lol

 I had to strike a pose.

Zoom in Darryl, Sheesh!
 
Darryl Stop!


Can you find my lion cub?

Got Gym?

OK, so I have been working out and making progress and I am pretty happy; so happy that I decided to put on some jeans that I know I am not quite yet ready to fit "comfortably". Seriously, I'ma good 10lbs  from comfortably wearing the jeans I put on today but I went right from the gym to a doctors appointment and I was already committed (per my previously packed gym bag).

I figured since the ride was an hour and a half and its a widely known fact that your thighs expand to twice their size when you sit, that maybe my legs wouldn't look like two massive bratwursts that had reached their core temperature by the time I arrived at the doctor!

In the car, heading to the doctor.

 No, thats not camel toe! That's a massive double thigh roll that has formed, what appears to be a secondary vag HA HA HA!

Arrived at the doctor! It worked!

This concludes your Science/Anatomy lesson for the day...

After the Storm

Well it's done for now. The clean up has concluded and a mere, if you wanna call it that, $475 later the tree is gone and fence is repaired. Now as you can see the shed now has a faulty roof of which can not be repaired due to the materials of which it was made - thus the integrity of all its contents will pretty much be exposed to the elements. So although the doors still open and close and the structure is still standing, no roof is pretty much a "no go"! 

Thus onto the next decision, any suggestions or are we simply out of another $750 investment? Ahhhhh...the joys of home ownership!

(If you want to see the full images of how the recent tropical storm was disrupted by my property, simply scroll back a few blog entries.)

SEPTEMBER SHOES

As most of you who already know me are already familiar with, I have a few vices; but one in particular is my love for shoes! Now I haven't reached my peak yet, the Christian Louboutin/designer realm, but I dare to dream that one day I will. One day...I guess I may have to do some basic things like get a job and have an actual need to wear them other than doing laundry or my weekly visits to Walmart (but I digress). As for now, I am comforted by my "shoe of the month" boutique that is JustFab in addition to my regular shoe purchases.


At first, like any person with over 432 pairs of shoes (I know, I actually counted today - Darryl's gonna kick my behind), I was elated and had no restraint, buying up to 3 pairs at a time from my boutique of shoes selected for me by a personal stylist who knew my shoe desires from my completion of a simple yet detailed style inventory - ha. But after I took myself through "shoe intervention", like a junkie, I now only make a single selection per month. It's all working out fine.


There are months when I get the "shakes" and could use a hit of a "4" hidden platform peep toe pump", and look back at my monitor ready to select another option to put in my cart, but I don't...and that's progress. I'm proud of me. Nonetheless, this month has been trying. I have 6 styles each month and an endless array of colors - but have narrowed my selection to 2 styles and 5 colors. Maybe your input will influence my final vote. So far Ebony likes the blue booties and both the grey and blue mid calf boots (I know, great help with narrowing down my selection), Verniece also likes the blue booties, and Diane likes the red mid calf boots (which were the most limited in quantity - which also leads me to believe they are a hot item). I like all of them, and I do know that shades of blue are a must this upcoming fall, just as they were over the summer. I will choose only one and show you how they look when they arrive.

(Pardon the pics' quality 'cause they suck, but u should be able to get the jest.)

 Blue bootie (its really bright and vivid - remember pic quality)

 Purple bootie (also very bright)

 Blue mid calf boot (blue bootie has similar color)

 Grey mid calf boot

Red mid calf boot