Top 10 Events That Make For A Fabulous Week

As I sit here completely refusing to do any of the outstanding items on my "to do" list and waiting for 5:00, I noticed something about my week... it was pretty damn fabulous! I wasn't optimistic given recent events but God granted me a truly great week filled with silliness and friends. What makes for a fabulous week you ask?

Top 10 Events that Make For A Fabulous Week:

1. When you lose 13 pounds in about two and a half weeks!
2. You see "Cedric the Entertainer" live... and equally as amusing, you see Hennessey, on tap, at DAR Constitution Hall --> a place that was once so upscale that they refused to allow Marian Anderson perform back in the day.
3. An irate African-American lady hands your client his testicles in a meeting and then further insults him by flailing her arms and yelling, "Merry Christmas" at the close of her rant!
4. When you finally, finally understand that you can't move successfully into your future if your past is still present!
5. The Lakeside Homeowner's Newsletter -- oh my, my! Can't explain it, just something you have to experience for yourself.
6. When you understand that God sometimes has to yell at you and turn things upside down to get your attention. With work, e-mails, cell phones, instant messenger, sometimes you're just too occupied to really listen... For hard headed children like me, God has an alternative "shock therapy." Although I can appreciate it, I'll definitely listen more closely in the future with the hopes of avoiding such shocking disruptions!
7. When you realize that you're not too jaded, cynical or old to have a bonified third-grade, school girl crush... I'm just so amused by the whole thing! Really, I am. ;-)
8. When you experience the utter outrageousness of the "Minority Information Sharing All Hands!" ... you sooo had to be there!
9. When your heart is free... everything just clicks! You get it, thank God, create a "lessons learned" in your heart and keep moving - all the while looking cute!
10. The absolute highlight: having your manager debrief you on the positively fabulous highlights of your 6-month assessment; telling you that you're promotion bound and giving you the snippets of the feedback they collected from ten clients, peers and mangers that included:

Crystal fully exemplifies the firm's core business values and received high marks from both her clients and colleagues for her professionalism, communications expertise, inter-personal skills, and positive attitude. Because of her strong work habits and ability to focus on the assigned tasks under a client management team that was at times conflicted, she gained the sincere trust and respect of her clients, managers, and peers.

...She quickly learned the IAIP framework, producing quality products that continually exceeded her client's expectations.... Crystal was placed in an impossible position with an individual client who was rude, disrespectful and entirely abusive but remained professional while apprising her colleagues of the situation. By staying focused, both Crystal & the firm were portrayed positively.

Crystal excels as an individual contributor and shows analytical skills well beyond her professional years. Although her contributions as an individual are strong, she can quickly adapt to a team environment and makes everyone feel valued. Crystal is dedicated, responsive and collaborative and contributes tireless effort to ensure tasks are completed at the highest quality and on-time. Her adherence to the firm's business and individual core values is a model for us all. Crystal's potential is boundless as you can be assured she's only going to get better with time and experience.

And what do you know, it's 5:16! Have a great weekend. :-)

Still Living...

I know it seems as though I've fallen off the face of the earth but this week has been a pretty terrible. Nothing I want to delve too deep into, suffice it to say, lying to yourself is truly the worst thing that we can do to ourselves. I guess the thing that I'm fighting the most is the tendency to mistrust. I'm not going to let "this" color my outlook on life and effect my daily interactions. I've fought my own insecurities very hard to get to this place that I am now and I'm not going to let a single event or person take me back to a time where I was always second-guessing everyone's thoughts, actions, intentions, etc.

Sunday, I thought I was going to take my last breath. Monday, I kept telling myself you have to get through today and by God's grace each day has gotten better than the previous and I'm sure this will continue.

Enough of that. Really. Enough.

On a happy note, my 16-year old brother has been in town this week visiting to attend a leadership development training at my job. I really have the utmost respect for single parent's around the world. It's so hard to get up, get somebody else up, drop them off, get to work on time, make sure they're fed... that's so not my life. I never realized how much my life centers around me and I've taken for granted the luxury of just having to worry about myself on a day-to-day basis.

We went to Six Flags last weekend, which was great and tomorrow we're going to see Cedric the Entertainer live... very excited about that!

The Power of Music, The Power of Luther

This is totally out of character of my blogs but I thought it was neccessary to cement in time, my feelings after the loss of Luther Vandross. Every now and then an artist plays the chords of your heart and becomes that soundtrack of your life and Lutha, as he was known in my house, was that for me.

I remember on Fridays always hearing,"Bad Boy/Having A Party" and I knew the weekend was coming. I remember singing "Never Too Much" on the way to school in the morning enroute to the Rutgers Chen Preschool. "Stop to Love" resonated through our house during joyous times and through trials and tribulations, songs like "A House is Not A Home" and "The Power of Love" got me through. I remember when I first fell in love, "So Amazing" was on repeat in my CD player for weeks and "Don't Want To Be a Fool " played as I soon (or not so soon) fell out of love. I also recall, "There's Nothing Better Than Love" inducing me to sleep on lonely nights. I feel sadness about the relationship I was never able to have with my father when I hear "Dance with My Father" and I still cry unexplicably every time I hear "Superstar/ Until You Come Back To Me."

I've always known I was a Luther fanatic and can sing every lyric of just about every song. What I didn't know is that I would immediately burst into tear at 6:13 p.m. at the news of his passing. I'm always amazed at the ability of music to unearth a taste, a smell, a thought, a prestine memory burried by daily bustle.

I was just telling a friend jokingly, Luther picked a great time to make his transition - Friday, after work hours, before a long weekend... I can only imagine how many African-Americans would've called in sick, at the risk of unemployment, to listen to albums, tapes and CDs to mourn and reminisce. Can you imagine what Luther's passing during the work week would've done to the national unemployment percentages?

In all the sadness, this one fact holds true and it is the same with any great artist from DaVinci to Tupac; Jane Austen to now Luther - the products of genius will far supercede their physical being. And through his music, Luther Vandross' legacy will live, perhaps until forever.

Emancipation Proclamation 2005

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the first day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and five, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

That on the first day of July, in the year of our Lord two thousand and five, all persons held as slaves within any Booz Allen War Room or designated proposal room, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free

All of this to say! I'M DONE! The proposal is done. I'm done and I have a three-day weekend to celebrate it. Today, we finished up the proposal and it ready to go to orals on Tuesday. This week did not go off without a hitch... I got a wickedly violent stomach virus from the kids I baby-sat for this week. I started to feel ill about midnight on Wednesday and while I'm on the floor of my bathroom with green grossness spewing out of every orifice, all I could think of was my proposal! I was so delirious that I called my task lead at 4:00 a.m. and told her that I wasn't coming in and not to fire me? She said all she could so was laugh because she knew I wasn't in my right mind!... I think her initial impression was that I was under the spell of Brother Booze.

Anyway, my parents and brother came for the night -- they were passing through on the way to my stepfather's family reunion in New Jersey. Sometimes, I marvel at the dichotomy between my biological dad's family and my step dad's family. Case in point, if the Webb's were to have a family reunion, please believe we'd click my grandmother's and aunt's trailer together (with the drinking, cards, and weed in my aunt's trailer); have about 3-4 grills going in the front yard and enough kids to have a baseball game with enough participants for the infield, outfield, pitcher, batters, first-base coach, etc... and the Slaten's are having their family reunion at the Scotch Plains Country Club.

This weekend is going to be oh so mellow. I'm still feeling a little groggy from the dehydration and most of my friends, well all of my friends, are out of town this weekend. The Beane Family is going pioneering to Belize for the Baha'i Faith and I'm going to help them with their yard sale and watch their two beautiful little ones while they prepare to move out of the country! I've not known Heitha long, but in the time I've known her she has been a gem and an inspiration to me. Her selfless devotion to Baha'i Faith and its Cause is nothing short of amazing. Her family has a beauty and a love that radiates from them!

I hope one day that I will courageous and obedient enough to pioneer. Until then, I'll baby-sit everyone kids while they prepare to go! :-)