Cheating Celeb Husbands: I've HAD it!

I've kept my mouth shut for far too long. I didn't say anything about Elliott. I maintained my silence about Tiger (did you see the freakin' latest, btw??). I've bitten my tongue about John. I zipped it about David. And there were more. Through it all, I silently fumed and cursed. But today? When I heard about Jesse? I decided I couldn't take it anymore. So I'm breaking my silence.

WTH is wrong with these men? Do they think that having power, success, fame and money gives them license to be jerks? Is infidelity really innate? Is it because they're treated like spoiled brats and never told "no"? They have beautiful, intelligent, loving wives that are good mothers to their children. Is that no longer enough?

Someone please help me out here. I.JUST.DON'T.GET.IT.

Sex and The City 2- Movie Trailer

I know everyone is finalizing their holiday to do lists but I had to stop and take a moment to share the news. Hot off the press- it's the official trailer for the Sex and the City 2 movie!! I can't wait until next summer to see this!!!

The trailer is such a teaser, I can't take it!! And the song-- perfect!

Check out the movie trailer here.

(I would post the video but YouTube restricted it.)

Love Without Bias

Last night hubby invited me to watch a sports documentary with him (yuck!, I thought; but since you asked, sure…why not, I thought). I don’t watch sports, so you can only imagine my enthusiasm to watch a sports-related documentary. I was rather pleased that I took him up on his offer because I was moved by this film. It was a reminder of so many things about life and I encourage you to catch “Without Bias” the next time it appears on ESPN.

The film documented the tragic death of rising basketball star and local DC-area legend Len Bias. Apparently, Len Bias was destined to outshine Michael Jordan; he was on fire and had been drafted (maybe even Number 1 drafted) by the Boston Celtics - he apparently was going to be their savior! The film chronicled his skills and talent as a college basketball star and showed clips of the excitement that he caused in Boston and in the DC-area. As it turns out, the night upon returning from Boston (and incidentally, signing a deal with Reebok) he partied a little too hard and a little too long and mixed alcohol and cocaine and died.

His death triggered an entire series of events, some were directly tied while others were outgrowths of the tragedy, including the FBI investigating the local DC drug trade, Congress’ war on drugs, mandatory minimum sentences, increased awareness of athletes' drug use, the eventual downfall of one of DC’s biggest drug lords and maybe even the Marion Barry sting.

The most heart-wrenching part of the story for me was to watch his mother go through the unthinkable. I broke down in tears because I just couldn’t imagine how a person could withstand such heartache. Despite my horror, his mother was strong, composed, organized and in control. She stated that she knew death was coming, and she was prepared for it. She discussed her faith in God and her understanding that her son was in a better place. Strangely though, she also discussed the fact that she hadn’t understood and appreciated who “he” was and didn’t understand the world that he was in.

It was a cautionary tale and a welcomed reminder to stay strong in your faith because anything could happen at any second. It was a reminder to love your child at every moment because that child is a gift from God. It was a reminder that regardless of your child’s age, as a parent, that person will always be your child. It was a reminder to always keep the lines of communication open with your children because you could be the only person to offer a life line in times of trouble. It was a reminder that things could always be worse so be thankful for the graces that you have now.

There were so many other reminders for me about my life and my family’s trials and tribulations. And who would have thought that I would have gained a little more insight about life from watching ESPN! Thanks hubby for the invitation; I appreciate it.

Hiatus

We've been on a bit of a hiatus this week as we approach the homestretch in prepping for Blogalicious (just in case you didn't know ... we are hosting a conference for women of color bloggers next month in Atlanta; more info here); so none of us have been able to update you on the regular and not so regular happenings around our homes.

But, it is Thursday and you know what that means? RHOA. Our weekly source of entertainment is on at 10pm tonight - can't wait! In the meantime, if you're a RHOA addict, check out the happenings from earlier today at the taping of the Ellen DeGeneres show - the cat fighting has not stopped!!!

MamaLaw Weekly: Celeb News

First, I must start off with a RHOA update. Have you all heard Kim Z.'s first single "Tardy for the Party"? I love Kim, I really do. But this song is not hittin'. I would have thought with high-powered producers behind her, she would have come out with a chart topper. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Tardy For The Party (Mix) - Kim Zolciak


Kim and NeNe had it out on the Ryan Seacrest Show about the altercation they got into recently. I'm kind of sad because after all, I thought they were going to rekindle their friendship when all was said and done.

So I'm thinking of adding chunky blonde highlights to my hair. My inspiration is the lovely Eva Marcille in last month's issue of Essence. I'm not a radical hair kind of gal, so this would be major for me. Do you think it's a good look?

And finally, today marks the eighth anniversary of Aaliyah's death. Can you believe it? Eight years. I still remember when I heard the tragic news on the radio. Hubby (then my BF) and I were headed out to party with some friends who were in town visiting. We were in the car and were all shocked by the announcement on the music station we were listening to. Needless to say our mood was dampened and we spent the evening subdued, in disbelief that young, beautiful Aaliyah was suddenly gone. R.I.P. pretty lady.

A night like no other

As you may know (if for no other reason than the fact that we've been posting, facebooking and twittering about it for the past week or so), we filmed our first episode of The Verdict on momtv.com last night and it was.so.much.fun!

Trust me when I tell you that it was a comedy of errors throughout the night and it felt like we were on an episode of Seinfeld. We had a plan and that went out the window! But, as mamas, we adjusted. All in all, it was fun to be in the same place at the same time with the mamas just chatting like we always do.

AND...an added bonus was that after the show was all said and done, we got a girls night out. We stayed up until 4:30 in the morning eating, drinking, laughing, sharing stories and getting advice. It was a mamas slumber party and it was SO overdue!

Anyway, check out the replay or join us for our next show live from Chi-town as we attend the BlogHer conference. We will be streaming live from our Blogalicious meet-up event "The Lush Experience". We are dead serious when we say it's a night not to miss!

Look Ma, We're on TV!

On MomTV that is. Yep, that's right! Justices Jonesie, Ny and Fergie will be making our webTV debut this Friday at 9pm, live on "The Verdict" where you can tune in and chat with us about all the latest hot topics! We'll be talking about all that's newsworthy in entertainment, politics, home & family, and more.

So set your calendar reminders, grab a bowl of popcorn and get "The Verdict" on current events from your favorite ladies-in-the-law!

Oh! and if there's a topic that you'd like to hear us discuss, leave a comment and let us know. We promise to give you a shout out on air. See y'all on Friday.

H1N1/Swine Flu - what you SHOULD be doing anyway

There is great concern about the H1N1 or swine flu - and rightfully so. It appears that health officials still don't know enough about the virus to contain it or even diagnose it. We know that the symptoms are very similar to regular flu symptoms - cold, body aches, chills, fever etc. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also concerned that cases are popping up all over the country and in some instance, they can't yet explain how the probable patient could have contracted the virus. It seems serious enough - right. The World Health Organization is also raising the alarm so I think it's pretty serious.

However the precautionary measures are so simple that I can't help but say huhhhhh? The CDC has a list of recommendations for folks to stay healthy, but really these are things that we should be doing anyway - right!!?!?!?!?

o Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
o Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hands cleaners are also effective.
o Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread that way.
o Stay home if you get sick. CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.

So.................what value have these recommendations added? At this point, the CDC should just say "listen to your mama" on their website until they have more information.

Big Announcement Part 3!

The exciting news just keeps rolling in! We are so (so!) thrilled to announce that Karen Walrond of the absolutely fabulous blog, Chookooloonks, is going to be the keynote speaker at BLOGALICIOUS 2009! Anybody who's anybody in the blogosphere knows just how major Chookooloonks is and we are tickled pink to have her share her experiences to the dynamic group of women that will be attending our event.

Karen is not only a talented engineer, accomplished attorney, and gifted photographer, writer and social media maven -- she's also a devoted wife and doting mother. In a word, she rocks. And in fact she rocks so much that she is going to be ON THE OPRAH WINIFREY SHOW TOMORROW, APRIL 6th!

I. Know.

KAREN IS GOING TO BE ON OPRAH TOMORROW, Y'ALL! The show is called "The Secret Lives of Moms" and she will be sharing her "secret life" with us. So please tune in to show her your support and join us in welcoming Karen to BLOGALICIOUS 2009!



Stay tuned for a flurry of new announcements coming your way this week. This event is going to be more awesome than we ever imagined!

Proposed Law Intends to Ban Sale of Barbies

A West Virginia law maker has proposed House Bill number 2918 which provides that "[i]t shall be unlawful in [this] state to sell "Barbie" dolls and other similar dolls that promote or influence girls to place an undue importance on physical beauty to the detriment of their intellectual and emotional development."

No, this isn't a joke. I have so many comments on this, I don't even know where to begin. This is absurd. Of course it will never pass. And I suspect this is Delegate Eldridge's way of getting some attention. But come on! At least write the darn thing correctly. Define "other similar dolls" for us please, Delegate.

And should we ban GIJoe too? I think it places an undue influence on boys to want to fight for our country, or look physically fit, or fight. ?!

Barbie is more than just about beauty now. Barbie has the "I Can Be..." Collection where she can be a veterinarian, a SeaWorld Trainer, a gymnastics coach, and so on.

That's all I'll say about this.

What do you think?

"Salma Hayek Breastfeeds African Baby"

Talk about a headline that grabs your attention. I first heard about this story on a radio show and then, of course, immediately googled the headline as soon as I could get my hands on a computer. The backstory is that Salma (I can call her that since we're such close and personal friends) was on a Goodwill trip to Sierra Leone and Nightline was along for the ride to document her trip. While on the trip, she met a mother whose milk had dried up and who was unable to feed her hungry newborn baby. So...Salma nursed the baby herself.

Continue reading...

The "Not Obama Dolls": A Hard Lesson In Marketing

It never ceases to amaze me how major companies get themselves into trouble by making mistakes that, one would think, are easily avoidable. It all goes back to basic principle that there is a right way and a wrong way to do things. The case du jour is the fatal faux pas that toy company Ty made in creating dolls in the (not-so) likeness of the Obama girls. learly done as a ploy to capitalize on the popularity of the newly-crowned First Daughters, the company recently released the "Marvelous Malia" and "Sweet Sasha" dolls as part of their Ty Girlz collection of plush dolls - and get this - without even bothering to request permission from the Obama family. Um, hello? Anyone home at Ty? Did you think the Obamas would not notice?

Continue reading...

Motrin's Headache

By now you've heard about Motrin's unfortunate screw up where they made a video meant to advertise their product to moms who use baby slings. Instead of appealing to their target market though, the company completely offended many moms by running a snarky, insulting video ad. Since the weekend, moms have been going crazy on Twitter, and YouTube, and the mommy blogosphere has been abuzz; many moms calling for Motrin to apologize and/or vowing to boycott their products forever. To make matters even worse (for Motrin), it's International Babywearing Week!

Well, it's clear that the power of moms using social media is not to be ignored. Today Motrin made a public apology for the misstep and took down the ad. You can see the statement made on their website here.

The irony is this: companies obviously understand and appreciate the power mommy bloggers have to influence opinions about their products (as evidenced by the flood of product reviews on mommy blogs these days, ours included) but, here, in their haste to woo us influential moms, they failed to take the time to craft a message that moms could relate to, and instead came up with an ad campaign that backfired on them completely.

As the Chicago Tribune printed today: "Offend mommy bloggers at your own peril. They can chew you up and spit you out in a day." That's right! Mommy bloggers are a force to be reckoned with. If companies don't know, they betta ask Motrin. Or Disney. Or Eggland's Best.

Shout out to all the mom bloggers who made their voices heard.

Rock on, mommies.

On My Mind

Here are some of the random things on my mind today:

(1) I keep reading about how the Nebraska lawmakers want to amend the child safe haven law to make it clear that it only applies to abandoned infants. I fully understand the intent and purpose of that law, but there has been a total of 31 children abandoned since the broadly-worded law was passed. It seems to me that there is obviously a need for some type of help for parents who, for whatever reason, can no longer care for their child, no matter what the age. Now in no way am I encouraging parents to abandon their children, but it's apparent to me that a parent who drives from Florida to Nebraska to drop off their 11 year-old clearly has run out of resources and options. What will happen to the families (and children) in those situations once the law is passed? I guess what I'm trying to say that changing the law to apply only to infants won't eliminate the need that obviously exists out there for a safe alternative for parents of older children.

(2) Yesterday as we were walking into a bagel shop a (homeless?) guy asked us for money to buy breakfast. Hubby bought an extra bagel and cream cheese and offered it to the guy on our way out. Can you believe the guy looked at the bagel and said: "Nah, I'll catch you next time." Huh? What? You'll catch us next time? Think again buddy. Clearly he just wanted cash and not food. How rude!

(3) Anyone out there with a nanny that's in your house all day? How do you handle the food situation? Is she free to eat whatever she wants from your fridge/pantry? We never laid any ground rules so our nanny has been eating our food here and there, which is totally fine. But lately she has eating more and more of out leftovers which causes me to (a) have to make an entirely new meal for dinner each night and (b) buy more groceries. Any thoughts on how to navigate this? It's a delicate situation.

Yes, We Did

My heart is full right now. Family from Canada keep calling and asking me how I feel, but I really can't verbalize it. Late last night, looking down at L'il Buddy and realizing that my kids will see this man as their president and not think anything of it, was almost overwhelming. Last night was a historic night and a proud night, for sure.

He Did It...

History in the making.

Shameless Plug

Check me out on BabyCenter!

I Need A Ride

There really is never a dull moment, is there?

On Saturday I turned in my beloved car because it was the end of my lease term. And, after much research and deliberation, we decided on a new vehicle. In the past when we've purchased a car, we've just shown up, given the dealer our specs, negotiated a price and make our way through the financing process and, voila! we're on our way home in our shiny new ride. Not too complicated at all. But this time?

No such luck.

Who knew that the car we want is so popular that they are selling like hotcakes. Most people I mention it to haven't even heard of it so I have no idea who's buying them. But all of the dealerships we've been to tell us that they "can't keep 'em on the lot." We test drove the car a few weeks ago so we knew exactly which model, color, options, etc. we wanted. Apparently, because of the exterior/interior color combo we chose, it would have to be a special order directly from the manufacturer. And they are all backed up with orders, so the wait time (as of Saturday) was about 4 - 6 weeks. Yikes.

We visited three dealerships in all and because they are all working from the same inventory, no one really has a leg up on the other. We did get a realistic estimate from the last dealership we went to that told us it would be more like 8 weeks (as of Monday) for the factory order, especially now because of the auto worker strike. Bananas. So we decided to reevaluate our choices. I wasn't married to the idea of a particular interior color so we bent on that and that opened up our options. A little. The salesman was able to find one, about 200 miles away, that had all of our options, though an entirely different color. Okay, fine. But once he called to request the car, he was told that someone had put a deposit on it so that it wouldn't be sold before the purchaser went through the buying process. Geez! Onto Plan B. Our salesguy found us another vehicle, about 50 miles away - with more options than we wanted and therefore a higher price - that was scheduled to be sold last night. He said that if it hadn't sold by 9:30am this morning, we could have it. So cross your fingers for us. Taking all forms of public transportation to work with a bad head cold is getting old.

It's so crazy. I mean, it's not like we're buying a limited edition Bentley for crying out loud.

I bet they have a few of those in stock.

Love It! Thursdays - Preempted...

I know, I know, it's Thursday. But since there is so much going on today, and with us generally, LIT is on hold...

In the meantime, head on over to DC Metro Moms Blog to read my most recent post about the latest hot issue in mommyland. It's also Testosterone Day at DCMMB so take a minute to check that out too.

Bullies In Our Backyards

Ok y'all, so I had to post something about this story. Something.

By now you’ve all heard about the incident that occurred at the University of Maryland a week ago. Apparently some students thought it would be funny (and/or intimidating) to hang a noose from a tree outside of the University’s Cultural Center. This hate crime no doubt stemmed from the tragic state of affairs currently playing out in Jena, Louisiana. And it’s really too outrageous and draining for me to summarize the Jena mess in this post, so if you haven’t already heard about it (which would be a shame in and of itself), please click here to find out more. Oh and while you're at it, don’t forget to read about the fliers that were distributed in Manassas,VA a couple of weeks ago... Are you nauseous yet?

Aside from my general disbelief that hate crimes are still being perpetrated in this day and age, I find that it even scarier for me, as a mother of two small children, to know that one day my kids are going to sent out into the world without me or my husband around to shield them from all of this madness. I mean, in the case of the Jena students – all they were doing was sticking up for themselves. Isn’t that what we teach our kids? To be confident and proud of who you are and to stand up for what you know is right? What if that was my child who decided that she wanted to sit where she wanted to sit at school without regard to her skin color, and with the permission of her teachers, and before she knew it, she was threatened, assaulted and eventually thrown in jail? I can’t even fathom it.

If you think about it, it’s really just a heightened form of bullying. My eldest daughter just started nursery school last week so thankfully we haven’t encountered the bullying issue just yet, but I’m sure some of you parents out there have. In fact, I know that the decision to homeschool for some parents comes, in part, from the fear of bullies at school. And bullying has become an epidemic in our country – just do a quick search on Google and you’ll find a jillion news stories, web sites and initiatives, like this one, on how to deal with it. I’m not sure what the answer is, but I do know that the problem won’t solve itself. There has to be a collective effort on the part of parents to educate their children on how to treat others; on the part of teachers to spot and discourage bullies in the classroom or on the playground; on the part of the school administration to develop zero-tolerance policies for bullying; and on the part of the justice system to do the same. And this effort needs to be applied across the board – from preschool to university to the workplace and beyond.

I’m just not sure what my part is as a parent raising young children – should I be teaching them to stand up for themselves…but not too much, for fear of retaliation? Should I teach them to just look the other way when they see someone else being bullied to avoid making trouble? What I am sure of is that we can't let this be the state of the world that we’re living in. We just can’t.

Because nobody likes a bully.

This entry is cross-posted on the DC Metro Moms Blog.