From the outside looking in, it seems that the altercation totally broke their personal relationship. Their business relationship was severed as well.

I was concerned, and saddened. I wished for us all to continue being one big happy family. But it was over. Done. I couldn’t really talk to any of them about it because they chose to keep their problem under wraps. They didn’t discuss it. This nondisclosure is a testament to their maturity, professionalism and mutual respect. I appreciate that.

I continued patronizing their business- which one of them took over- because I love their product. But it was a little weird not have all of my friends around.

Then, a couple of days ago, my other friend opened a brand new business. I was thrilled. I knew that this new business venture would be just as successful as the other. And I decided to support my friend in this new endeavor.

But admittedly, I’m concerned. Even though my friends have never spoken about their rift it will be difficult for me to “dance” around them and not mention the other’s business.

I know this is probably petty of me and bordering on “messy” but I’m not exactly sure how to move forward. I guess I’ll just keep a tight lip and pretend that all is hunky dory . I hope my tongue doesn’t slip.

Luckily, things were worked out and I did, in fact, graduate. So now what? What does a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership mean for me? I’m not exactly sure. Really, I have absolutely no clue.  People with my degree would normally work in public school administration. But that job isn’t for me.

I desperately want to get out of the classroom. I have no desire to teach anymore. But I don’t want to be a school principal.

Only God knows what’s next. I’ve asked him many times, but he hasn’t told me anything. So, I’ll place my degree in a brand new  frame and hang on the wall in my home office and wait.

I rarely wait on sales. When I find something, I get it. Then I scramble through the trunk of my vehicle hiding my purchased items from Mr. Incredible until the perfect time comes for me to rush upstairs to my closet and hang the clothes among my pre-existing wardrobe. He seldom notices, until he checks the bank statement.

Just recently I bought the most beautiful pair of white pants. They were like vanilla ice cream: smooth, creamy and soft. Simply beautiful. I had been waiting on these pants for months. I spotted them in the store this past summer and fell immediately in love. I was determined to buy them but there was one small problem…they were about 4 inches too long.

Yes, all my life I’ve been a little vertically challenged. Standing just 5’1″ I’m forced to shop in the petite section of stores. But these pants were not in the petite section, so they were too long for my short frame. I waited and waited. I continued to check the “tiny people” section of the store hoping that the designer would have mercy on women like me and create a petite version of my vanilla ice cream pants.

After months of anticipation I finally found and purchased my pants. There was no need to try them on because I’ve been the same size for years. I knew they’d look beautiful on me.

So, just this morning after 4 days of hiding my vanilla ice cream pants from Mr. Incredible I decide it’s time to unveil to him what has caused such a dent in our bank account.

I slid the pants on, anxious to show him how wonderful I looked in them. One leg, then the other…….I began to feel a squeeze around my buttocks, then began to worry. I pulled the pants up as far as I could and tried my damnedest to fasten the button.

The pants were too small. They did not fit. What was I to do? What was I to do?

Disappointed beyond belief, I peeled the pants off of leg by leg. Hung them back on the hanger and secured the shopping bag over the pants. I placed my vanilla ice cream pants in the back of the closet so they were out of my sight and I began looking for the receipt in order to return them to the store.

This has been a sad, sad, pitiful day.

I completed my first chapter and was about to send it to an author friend to do a quick read through and make sure I was on the right track. Then it happened-the worst thing you could possibly imagined. My computer crashed and I lost it all.

The complete first chapter of my beloved, long-awaited, hard-to-come-by novel was gone. Every character, erased. Each detail, invisible. All the dialogue, action, sequence of events- everything, eliminated.

Now a normal, rational thinking human being would have saved the document. Of course it would be backed up on a jump drive, disk, or outside file. Well, admittedly, I’ve always been kinda “special”. So, no…it was not saved on a jump drive. It certainly was not on any disk. And there wasn’t an outside file that I put the information on.

It was gone. All gone.

This tragedy occurred in October of 2010. Here it is February 2012 and I still haven’t gotten over the occurrence. Now a normal, rational- thinking person would have just begun the writing process again . Well, admittedly, I’ve always been kinda “special”. So no, I cannot rewrite the chapter. I can’t. I was too married to the characters. Every detail was perfect, just perfect. And now, it’s gone.

I can’t recover. I can’t write anything else. I just can’t.

This is more than writer’s block. I am incapacitated. I’m paralyzed. I’m crippled. I am just plain stuck.

I keep checking my computer, now that it’s been fixed (not restored, but fixed) to see if my document is there. I scroll through my emails every day just to be sure that I didn’t email it to myself. And I’ve checked every single jump drive I own searching for the missing document.

It’s gone. And I can’t quite come to terms with the loss of it.

This weekend was very busy for my family. We had my son’s basketball game, grocery shopping, and a pile of clothes laying around that would liken Mt. Everest which needed to be folded. We also had two class projects to do, Valentine presents to buy, church to attend…and did I mention that pile of clothes?

So, I wasn’t able to schedule my posts for this blog like I normally do. I figured I’d wake up early this morning and write an amazing post…like I normally do. Well, I planned to tell you about my son and the crazy adventures he always has planned for us when we go out to eat. He usually does things like dance in the restaurant for all patrons to see, hug the people sitting beside us, or hold a 10 minute-long conversation with the waitress that prevents her from bringing our food in a timely manner.

For this post I found a picture of my silly little boy making a crazy clown face with a french fry place carefully on the top of his head. But, when I attempted to transfer the picture from my phone to my PC in order to crop it on Picnik, the file did not work. I tried over and over again, waisting a complete half an hour. So now I sit, in front of my PC, with my underwear on, MAD.

Because I’ve waisted so much time I will probably be late for work, my children won’t have any breakfast, and my hair will be a mess all day. And that is the sacrifice I make for you. I love you guys, but right now, I hate my PC.

My intention was to look up every piece of information available on him….history books, museums, the Internet, everything.  I was going to find out all there was to know about this artist. 

But, the hustle and bustle of my life has no regard for my frivolous intentions.  So, I went to the Macy’s exhibit equipped with no knowledge of the man except the fact that he painted pretty pictures.

I arrived extraordinarily early because Atlanta rush hour traffic is a beast, and I wanted to avoid it.  Plus, I was really excited to see my blogger buddies whom I hadn’t spent time with since Ask Wifey’s spectacular Christmas party.

Macy’s was beautifully decorated with Bearden’s work. The pieces were breath taking, far more advanced than my simple finger paintings and brush strokes.

There were many of Bearden’s paintings displayed throughout the store along with information about his life and his inspirations. The band played jazz music and people mixed and mingled discussing Bearden’s impact on American culture and the world.

There were raffles, gift cards, hor d’oeuvre and many, many people..art collectors, gallery owners, news journalists, bloggers and art lovers.

The reception following the art show was held at Nancy’s Pizza Buckhead. We all filed into the Pizzaria ready to relax and reflect on the artwork. Greg Cole, owner of Nancy’s played the consummate host. He served dish after dish of pizza, chicken alfredo and salad. It was a beautiful end to an enjoyable evening.

The Romare Bearden exhibit runs February 9-12 at Macy’s Lenox Square. Thanks so much to the Macy’s, the Everywhere team and Ronnie and Lamar Tyler for hosting  a exceptional event.

*This is a paid post. All expressed opinions are my own.

I immediately fell in love with it. The brush was a welcomed change from the messy sponges I’d been using. The makeup artist also told me about another MAC product that she was sure would come in handy. She assured me that blot powder would rid the shine from my face and help decrease breakouts.

She applied the blot powder to my face and honestly, I didn’t notice much difference. But she spent the next half hour explaining the benefits of using the product. Boy, was she an excellent sales woman! A few days later I purchased the blog powder and I’ve been using it for the past three weeks.  I can truly say that this powder has changed my entire life.

I no longer have to be concerned about looking like a greased chicken throughout the day. I don’t have to repeatedly apply makeup to my already made up face. The blot power controls the shine and holds my make up in place for hours. I absolutely love it. I often do a double take when I look in the mirror during the day. After many long hours my make up looks as if it was just applied.

I’m in love with Mac’s blot powder. I can’t wait to go back to Mac Cosmetics to view other fantastic products they have.

*I am in no way affiliated with Mac Cosmetics. All products were purchased by me. I’m receiving no compensation for this or any other post related to Mac Cosmetics. Photo courtesy of www.maccosmetics.com.