A Special Day

Now that I've completed my latest assignments for school and I'm FREE for a couple of days, I'm so glad to come back here to my blog. As I mentioned in my last post, I had planned on sharing some photos that I've taken recently, but I've decided to leave them for another day.

Today I'd just like to highlight this special day of 11-11-11. Today means so much to so many and I wanted to use my little corner of the internet to share what I am thinking about today in particular.

First, I'd like to add my voice to honoring those who have served our various countries. I remember them all and their sacrifices on this Veterans Day and Remembrance Day. I grew up knowing it as Veterans Day growing up in the United States and over here in the United Kingdom it is called Remembrance Day. But to me it doesn't matter what you call it...the respect comes from the same place.

And also, this day this year has an interesting significance. It is of course 11-11-11 and even though I've read some things here and there where people think it's just another day, I don't think that myself. I'm totally respectful to how other people feel...that's cool by me. But I just think that this day is cool. I mean, I won't ever live again to see a day, month, and year where it's all ones. And it may seem much ado about nothing to some, but for me, it is one of those times when I pause and realize how amazing life is and how much we are all a part of everything. I'm grateful to be alive everyday, but today I'm vibing off of being alive on this day when all the ones line up ;-) Sometimes things are just cool to think about and that's what I'm thinking about today!

Have a great Friday! :-)

Presidential Medal of Freedom

I had planned to blog today about one of my new favorite things as I mentioned in my previous post. However, that has now been bumped to my next post. Something happened yesterday that I want to highlight because it warms my heart every time. I guess in a roundabout way you could say this is a post about a favorite thing after all :-)

Yesterday, President Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to fifteen honorees at the White House. This is the highest civilian honor given in the United States. I always love when this ceremony comes around because I love getting the chance to see who is honored and also to really “see” these people. When I watch this ceremony I always look at each and every face and it’s like you can almost feel the honor along with them. Their life’s work is laid out in front of them at that moment for the world to see, but most importantly, for them to see the great expanse of their own lives. In those moments, I see their humanity and I feel my own.



Often I will know several of the recipients, but there are many that I’m usually becoming aware of for the first time. I’m always drawn afterwards to learn more about the contributions of these extraordinary people. That is what I love about this award…you have the well-known and the unsung who are honored. These people have just been themselves and served in their own ways and that is a what life is all about as I see it.

The honorees this year are as follows:

Rep. John Lewis – civil rights icon (He was called early in life to do the right thing)

Maya Angelou – poet, author (I’d love to have her gift for words)

Yo-Yo Ma – amazing cellist (Listening to him play makes me want to play music again, even more. By the way, I played the flute in a former life ;-) )

John H. Adams – Natural Resources Defense Council – Co-founder

Bill Russell – NBA Hall of Famer, basketball legend, and human rights activist

Stan Musial – Baseball legend of the St. Louis Cardinals

Angela Merkel – German Chancellor

Jasper Johns – artist; considered a major influence upon pop, minimalist, and conceptual art

Gerda Weissmann Klein – Holocaust Survivor

Dr. Tom Little – optometrist killed in Afghanistan while on humanitarian mission

Sylvia Mendez – civil rights activist

Jean Kennedy Smith – Former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland

John Sweeney – AFL-CIO President Emeritus

George H.W. Bush – Former U.S. President

Warren Buffett – Berkshire Hathaway CEO, philanthropist

Congrats to all of them and I look forward to seeing the honorees next year!

Last Days of the Year and A Legend

Hello all…so Christmas has come and gone once again and I can’t believe that we’re headed for the end of another year. The time really does fly! :-) Christmas turned out good. My favorite part was when Brit Boy and I came back home and I was able to Skype with my family back in Georgia. I ended up playing along with them as they played Taboo and I even gave a couple of correct answers from 4,000 miles away…lol. It was so fun! The best part was finally getting to see my new little nephew. He is adorable, but then I would say that because I’m a proud auntie ;-) But he is a cute little dude. He’s two months old and is actually my great nephew…he’s great indeed, but he’s my nephew’s son. It’s so funny to see my nephew being a husband and a father and I remember him being born. Like I said before…time does fly :-) It’s great to see the circle of life continue! I hope that everybody else had a great Christmas!

In other news, Brit Boy and I have just been trying to keep warm. It has been so cold. But today thankfully it is actually not as cold. It almost felt like a heat wave earlier ;-)

So we’re preparing for our own little New Year’s Eve party around the Yellow House. Just us, but we always enjoy ourselves. I’m planning on getting on Skype again to call my sisters and niece from the future…LOL. It’s one of my things. I hope that everyone has a safe and fun New Year’s Eve.

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On a completely separate and serious note, with some love and appreciation thrown in, I’d like to remember one of my favorite singers who passed away this past Sunday at the age of 54. She was none other than Teena Marie, also known as Lady T to those who loved her music. People throw around the word legend a lot these days, but she was one indeed and rocked the R&B world. She moved a lot of people with her music and that certainly counts for so much in the scheme of things. People were often surprised at how she looked when they heard her sing, but as she said herself, the soul doesn't have a color :-) I love that!



Listening to her music instantly takes me back to the good old days. And she was still making great music for years. She was a trailblazer and her voice will be truly missed, but she left us great music like this…

“Square Biz”, “Portuguese Love”, and “Lovergirl” and so much more...take a listen if by chance you’re not familiar with her work :-)

Rest in Peace Lady T…

In Tribute to Lena Horne

Today I'd like to pay tribute to a lady that I’ve admired for a great portion of my life…Ms. Lena Horne. She passed away yesterday in New York at the age of 92.

 

When I was a little girl, I loved spending my Sundays watching the classic movies on television, especially musicals, from the golden age of Hollywood. I would watch and be transported to another world of beauty, make-believe, and elegance. I imagined myself dancing around with Fred Astaire or making an entrance like the great Bette Davis. I was absorbed into that world and it was part of my 'play' when I was growing up. It fueled my imagination. Then one day, I saw her…Lena Horne, and I was a fan from that moment on (smile). There she was…elegant and beautiful and talented. She could do something that I wanted to do so much…she could sing! And she got to wear beautiful clothes while doing it…hey, I was a baby fashionista back then (smile). 

When I saw Ms. Horne, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lady that looked like she could be a relative. I had always watched all of the MGM musicals and various movies and loved them no matter who was starring in them. But it was a revelation in my young life then to see this beautiful, talented lady on film who looked like me. She was rare then, as the first black performer to be signed to a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio. So she was not only talented…she was a trailblazer too. Sadly though, she was held back in the 1940s, because of the color of her skin. She would perform one or two songs in various MGM movies that could be easily edited out of the film in order for it to be played in certain areas. What garbage I say! I should use the other word I thought of. LOL. Anyway, she had two movies where she was given the spotlight that she deserved, in 1943, with all-black casts. 

She made “Cabin in the Sky” for MGM and was loaned to 20th Century Fox for my favorite, “Stormy Weather”. And one of her signature songs was the beautiful “Stormy Weather” that she sang in the film. Please take a look at her performance here. So no matter what she had to deal with, she is still going to be remembered always, and she triumphed despite the odds. I love that! I feel like watching “Stormy Weather” right now. I’m going to have to buy a copy somewhere (smile). Besides her movie career, she was a very popular singer in elegant clubs, onstage, and on many recordings. In 1981, she was the toast of Broadway with her one woman show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music” , for which she won a Tony Award.

 

I wanted to go to see her onstage back then, but I was a young teen who couldn’t be out on a school night (smile) and I didn’t have the money to go to New York. This was the time in my life when I couldn’t wait to be grown, so I could just go where I wanted, when I wanted. Of course I learned later, like we all do, that we shouldn’t rush growing up. But it was still fun to fantasize (smile). I grew up as a typical child and teen of the 70s and 80s, with lots of love for my faves of those days…like Michael Jackson, Prince, and Madonna…just like a lot of kids my age. However, I also had lots of love for the ladies and gents who paved the way in those early days, not just as entertainers, but also as important threads in the tapestry of the American culture. They made change in their own way.

 

           Photo credit: Garth Vaughan/AP 

                                                       

Lena Horne was a great performer, a trailblazer, and a civil rights activist also. I honor her memory today. Rest in peace…Ms. Horne. Thank you for shining your light in this world!

A Great Honor

This is Brit Boy’s toy, but for now I'm borrowing it and it’s my stand-in cup of honor ;-)

I have some fun news to share. I got a lovely honor a couple of days ago. I was named as one of Alive Magazine's 2010 Women of the Year . The magazine is an online magazine whose aim is to empower women and help them identify and achieve their purpose in life. They concentrate on three words to convey the message of the magazine, which are ‘empower’, ‘inspire’, and ‘connect’. It is a very inspirational magazine and I’m truly humbled to be included in their list :-) I was truly shocked when I found out, but now I’m embracing it and I’m so grateful.

This experience has reminded me for sure that you just never know what life has in store. I was told a couple of weeks ago and at that time I had to send in some information about myself. But I was asked to keep it quiet until the other day when they released the issue. Now however, I can share it with you all :)

By the way, please check out my latest post at my new blog Yellow House Views if you have a moment. It's all about a sale that I've found out about for this weekend.

Have a great weekend! :-)

In Celebration and Honor

I wanted to offer my BIG congratulations to Serena Williams today. She just won her FIFTH Australian Open title and now ties with Billie Jean King in having TWELVE grand slam titles! Wow! That is truly amazing. Her true athletic strength and determination is so inspiring to me.


Photo Credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

And also, she and her sister Venus won the Australian Open women's doubles title for the fourth time on Friday. That is amazing too! So congrats to both of them. They are truly great athletes.


Photo Credit: AP

Brit Boy and I got the chance to watch Venus Williams play at Wimbledon on Centre Court in 2008 and I'll never forget it. You can check out our experience here. What a great athlete and winner she is :)

I often shake my head at the heat the Williams sisters take for....gasp...winning ;-) Some people say it gets predictable and they get tired of seeing both of them win. Well I say, how ridiculous is that?!!!! And some of the criticisms of the sisters that I read sometimes are just vile, mean-spirited and narrow-minded and absolutely stink of sour grapes from people who have never come close to such achievements. We should all celebrate these two women and the determination, sacrifice, and inner strength it takes for them to achieve what they have so far. And I applaud their parents, for not just raising one champion, but raising two. Now that's something to be proud of.

These ladies inspire me and this is why I'm smiling today!