The Wrap Up

I owe you an apology. Perhaps I had you all anticipatory and excited to hear of my daily exploits in The Chi, yet I let you down. I didn't post after that first day, and again, I apologize but............. I WAS KICKIN' IT!!!!!!!

Lawd, Today! What a trip. IF you have never been to Chicago during the Fourth of July, you are missing out on an incredible Black experience.

The weather was beautiful, that Chicago summer air, especially at night, is intoxicating. Yes, its muggy and sticky at times, but its still love.

Because so many days have passed, my account of festivities and happenings will be abbreviated for times sake. I realize you don't come here to red a novel.

Day two, Friday, after hanging with Pops, I went to visit The Lady, albeit briefly, because she had to go "make the donuts". Then I went to visit my best friend, The Good Doctor, in her new diggs, to check it out. I am very proud of her accomplishments as of late and she and the little lady Capricorn aka "the future MD", love their house, so I love it too! Later that night, I went steppin' in CC Hills at Sweet Geogia [sic] Browns, a South Suburban lounge. I got a chance to dance with one of my long time friends and he was quite impressed with my progress, besides, he is a really good stepper, so i felt good holding my own. My girls (The Good Doc, Stella, Prof. Woo) and I laughed and drank and took pics, and I danced as much as my feet could stand. By the end of the night, my dogs were yelping from pain. Clearly, I'd worn the wrong shoes, but I was cute! I ended that night with a White Castle burger (a late night staple in The Chi), and it tasted delicious, but one was enough for various reasons (smile).

On Saturday, I hooked up with one of my oldest friends, Ms. ILM, and we scooped my girl Ms. Sophisticate (in from DC) and headed to the Old Skool Picnic. Chicago's OSP is not for the faint of heart. It is an ALL day affair full of grilling, drinking, socializing, reminiscing, and of course - Chicago House Music! For my generation, it is one of the most anticipated events of the summer. People bring their spouses and children, set up tents, and lay out blankets, for what ends up being a wonderful reunion and a humongous party. It is an incredible sight to see. I saw friends from grammar school, high school, college, and old jobs. I saw the twins that used to braid my hair.... what's up Doublestitch! I saw some of my homies (wassup Scilla), long lost friends, former enemies, ex-boyfriends, Squirrels and dips, (both mine and my girls). I even saw other LA transplants back in the saddle....wassup Coodie! I had a ball and it was just great to be amongst my own without incident or problem. That night, my crew was talking about keeping the party going at some aftersets, but my ass was tired and I had to haul it all the way back to the woods to Pops' house. That is a LONG drive.

Sunday was lovely. It was family day! I had breakfast with Papa, The Lady, Auntie Day Day and my cousin L. After eating, we went to catch a flick, and saw that new Big Willie movie. It was entertaining, and I enjoyed it for the most part, but it gave me a King K vibe at the end, and I always have issue when any brotha in a movie, sacrifices himself or his life to save Miss Ann. I'll leave it at that. After the movie, The Lady and I went to church and it was sooooo good to be in the TUCC sanctuary. I love that church! I reconnected with a member that I used to mentor alongside, I saw my boy who plays drums for the choir, and saw one of my grammar school teachers, Ms. Tripplett. She was still as fly as ever!

After church, I went to scoop my girl Mama So, and headed North to have tapas with The Ghandi's, MoMo and the CEO. It turned out to be quite eventful due to the topics of conversation, but all in all, we had a good time. Once again, I had to trek back to the woods....ooh wee, that's a drive, but it must not have worn on me too bad, becuz, I stopped by Stella's crib to see her beautiful chillun'. Please note though, that she too lives in the woods so I was close to home.

Monday and Tuesday I TRIED to slow it down. Monday, The Lady and I went downtown and afterwards we hit up the Harold's on 87th Street so I could have my fix, a Gizzard and Wing combo, mild and hot sauce, with salt and pepper. Hood Scrumptious! I then went to visit Grandad and Emo. No sign of the little brother though; he was in the streets. Later that night, I went to have a drink with MoMo. She and I went to Parc 52, our friend MBB's spot in The HP. We sat at the bar and had great girl talk. Girl talk is excellent sometimes, like when there is no game on! LOL! Once again, back to the woods for a good nights rest. But not before I stopped by a lounge where my girl Stella was hanging for a colleague's birthday celebration. One thing about The Chi, the lounges are poppin', and I aspire to be a Lounge Lizard, or Lounge Beyotch (as I like to say), so any time spent inside one is time well spent, in my book.

Tuesday, I had breakfast with The Mouth of the Southside (she knows who she is), and then headed into the city to the old neighborhood (London Towne) for a visit with my second Mom, T Maxx. Next I headed to The Lady's crib again for one last visit, and my cousin, Pretty Black, brought her boys by. They are so cute! To end the day, I went to Papa's house and we ordered pizza, drank brew, read the paper, and watched that (B)ubba, (E)d and (T)ed reality show about those LA kids in the Hills. Lights out.

Wednesday, my final day, I basically hung out with Papa. We went to run some errands, ate breakfast, and stopped by Mama So's parents house to see her and her boys. I had not seen those boys in about two years and they just amaze me; they are so nice and are growing by leaps and bounds. It was good to see her Mom and Dad too!

I took a shuttle from the burbs to O'Hare and my Papa's quest to get me there on time was like being in Talladega Nights or something because he was driving like a cannonball on fire.

I am back in LaLa now, completely and utterly exhausted and a little sad, because I'm coming down off my amazing home "high". Its like I'm living Stevie W's "Rocket Love".

In the midst of this whirlwind, I missed a few B Days. Happy Born Day to JM, Moose, EY, and JC! Please forgive and charge it to the game!

I'll catch y'all in a day or two. Promise. A Squirrel's gotta get her bearings.

The Maven

Hump Day House Music - Home Edition

Yo! I'm headed to the crib in the morning! Can't wait. I get to see the smiling faces of the two who gave me life! I need this break, badly. Haven't been to the crib in a year and I'm homesick. I need to recharge. See my best friends, old friends and loved ones....Wake up to see deer running across my Pop's lawn....Taste The Lady's home cooking....Eat some Harold's, Curt's and Giordano's....See the Skyline....Roll on Lake Shore Drive....Walk down Michigan Ave....Hit up the Taste of Chicago and the Old Skool Picnic and listen to some House Music... Go to Hyde Park.... Make my rounds in London Towne....Go to church (TUCC)....Get some steppin' in somewhere on Stoney Island....Maybe get in a Sox game....

I will be checking in while I'm gone, but just know that this is EXACTLY how I will feel when I get off that plane.......

We Now Break for an Important Message from our Supermodel

Pure comedy from Andy Borowitz at Huffington Post!

Gas Is On Blast

Wanna know what's going on in my neighborhood?

I'm getting my thumbs ready.

Happy Saint Patty's Day.

Celebrating in South Africa

My dear friends and colleagues Traceye, Brian, and Andrea traveled to South Africa for the holidays, and I am sharing with you a very nice account of their experience.
Kudos to Traceye and her Blackberry.

I know it's been a couple of days since I last touched base. My last few days in Jozi (JoBerg for those of you that are like huh?) were spent doing the tourist thing. We went to the Apartheid museum where they gave me, Brian and Andrea entrance cards to designate which entrance we would have to use I got the Non-European/Non-Blanke or the Black card and Brian and Andrea got the Non-Black/Blanke card. Going through the entrance Andrea was like I want a black card but she had to go through her designated entrance to show how the separation of people were during that time. The museum was really powerful. It took us through the history of the politics of South Africa and how Aparteid came to be and was ended. It's hard to believe that 14 years ago South Africans were still effected by Apartheid.

We left the museum and went to the church in Soweto were Mandela and Tutu held meetings to fight Apartheid and learned the history behind those meetings as well as the church. We even saw the bullet holes from the police attack that occured during one of their meetings. They have a wall where visitors can sign and of course I signed mine with "Peace to Soweto". We then went to Wandies the famous restaurant in Soweto whose food was sooooo damn good. I even took a picture with Wandie himself.

After we left Wandies we went to the Morris Issacson High School which is one of the organizing schools of the student March against being required to learn in Africaan where over 2500 students were killed including Hector Pieterson. We left there to go to the Hector Pieterson Museum and then went to the street where both Mandela and Tutu lived. On that street was a restaurant called Nambitha that was jumpin'. It was packed with all local people and is said to be much better than Wandies. We stopped in for a drink to find that they were doing a tribute to Luther Vandross...that was all the music that they were playing.

We ended our evening with a great dinner at the Butcher Shop, a really good steakhouse.

So now were in Cape Town, (got here on the 30th) and so far so good. We had an amazing dinner our first night at a seafood restaurant called Bahia. It's won many awards for their food and after having the most succulent lobster I understand why.

New Years Eve was great!!! We spent it with my friends Lisa and Janie's boy Sid Money who is from the states but lives in Joberg and is sooooo damn crazy!!! Imagine DMX on 40 cases of Redbull!!! We went to his friends house who has an apartment on a hill overlooking the waterfront to bring the New Year in so we could see the fireworks and then to Hemisphere, the hottest club in Capetown which is Ironically owned by a guy from Chicago!

We met a ton of Sid's friends from Cape Town, Durban, Mozambique and JoBerg who were all so nice and kept the Champagn flowing.

So far we've been to Table Mountain where the view was amazing, Cape Point which is the Southen tip of Africa where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. We"re going to the Winelands Thursday and to Robbin Island on Friday.

I hope everyone is well and wish you all a very lucrative 2008 physically, mentally, spiritually and montetarily.

Miss you all!!!
Good thoughts, Good things
Traceye Y. Smith