40 is the new 40!

With all the "reinventing" that's being talking about these days - blank is the new blank, Aceil chose to go against the trend and tell it just as it is.

"I'm 40! But wait a minute, because I'm not just 40, but I'm the new 40," says the mother of 2.

Aceil, better known as CiCi, is ready to take on this new chapter in her life and is in no way trying to call it something that it's not.

She states in a recent interview, "I'm in a new place in my life right now. I've grown a lot in the last year or so. Made some grand changes in my life within the last few months and I'm just ready to move forward in this new chapter. I'm excited to be 40!"

She is serious about growing and changing and has the tattoo to prove it. The Washington, DC native, just got a double tattoo for her b'day that reads: Growth. The exact same tattoo also reads: Change. It's the most creative thing I've seen in this art form.

CiCi has already completed her birthday photo-shoot with Bill Lee, photographer extraordinaire of Real-Life Photos to capture her new transformation.

So what's next for the fab lady of September?

"Well, I have a private birthday celebration planned this weekend with my family and close friends. I'm working on my business, Excel with Aceil and I'm looking forward to lots of play-dates with my youngest daughter, Gisele."

I would be proud of 40 too if I looked as good. Clearly, in my case, 40 will be the new 25! Haaaaayyyyy!!!

I appreciate the time spent with CiCi to capture the coolness in her old age (smile). Even though this chica does not look a day over 29! Lol! It's been really fun hanging out and Girard Street can't wait to cover your "50 & Fabulous" story.

Now, let's party!
Chas B

"It's Settled!"

Last night I visited Spirit of Faith's Brandywine location and received a wonderful blessing - spiritually and financially. Originally the church would have been visited in honor of my cousin, Gisele's baby dedication. However, my plan to "leave early" came to an "I receive it" halt! We were receiving blessings ALL night. The spirit of the Lord moved through the temple in a very confirming way. I could feel things being settled in my life, at my home, on my job... I mean, every word seemed to have my name in front of it. How did I end up here? At this moment? At this time? To receive this word, that I desperately needed? It seemed like every word that came from Pastor Freeman's mouth was on point to what I needed. Talk about being at the right place at the right time. Sheesh!

I thank God for settling it for me!

Chas B

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Happy Birth-Month to Me!

Well, the beginning of my birthday is over. Today was great! At twelve on the dot my sister, Miss Marc Jacobs, lit up my timeline on Twitter with her all capped birthday bulletin. This led to a chain of others. Shortly after, my phone beeped and buzzed, "Happy Birthday Ms. Chas!"

As morning fully came in, my husband touched my lips with a birthday kiss. And filled my hands with some cash. Haaaaaay! I love that man. Muah!

Even Chayce gave ma some birthday love as she sneezed & cough in my face. Mmmmm!

As I prepared for work, my phone was still in over-drive. My Twitter family was up and I was RT'n. It felt good. I couldn't stop laughing at some of my tweets. I swear, I love my followers!

Of course, I had to send one up to the man upstairs. God has truly blessed my life. Almost a year ago, I gave birth to the most adorable person in the world. She's made her father and I lives more beautiful than ever imagined.

My mom called to wish me a happy birthday and like every year, I do the same to her. It's so retarded, "Happy Birthday, my Love." And then I go, "Happy Birthday Ma." As an adolescent, it's cool. At 28... bor-ring!

It's bad enough I now have to share my birthday with another sister. And according to the other birthday tweets, half the DMV.

Anyway, I finally made it to work. At this point, my voicemail is telling me that my mailbox is 90% full and I need to delete messages. Yeah right! I'm not deleting anything!

Ok. I'm a little sleepy so I'll go ahead and close by saying that I'm grateful for another year and I can't wait for all the wonderful things that's in store for me.

This is only the beginning. As promised via Twitter, I will be celebrating my birthday the entire month of February. I'll also recognize legends of black history with a Moment in Black History.

Tonight's Moment in Black History is dedicated to Langston Hughes, whose birthday is also February 1st. I get to share my birthday with one of the greatest poets of all time.

Happy Birthday Langston!

Well guys, that pretty much sums it up. Until tomorrow night... Enjoy!

And again, thank you. Muah!

Chas B

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Time-Out on The Game

I called a false start on the first scene because I guess I just expected a little more. There seemed like a lot of dead air after each character’s line. You couldn’t really hear the “crowd laughter” too well. And it didn’t come in on every “punch line”.

Now, I DID NOT approve the network to draft Meagan Good’s ass either. Those lips get on my nerves some kinda bad. Good thing my husband missed this episode because he would’ve been getting the “side eye” for the whole hour. *side eye*

The cameos were cute though; Chris Webber, Sheree and Terrance J, to name a few. And I do mean, just to name a few. There were so many cameos, I thought they just had a re-cast… but still kept everybody else… except Brit. WTH? Brittany made the show just as Jason and Kelly did. Brit mattered!

I had to throw a flag on a couple occasions. The first flag went to Toya’s Family Affair commercial. I was not expecting to see the N.O. crew just pop up after Tasha and Terrance J’s steamy scene. Toya’s Family Affair reminds me of Keyshia Cole’s show or maybe it was the Neffe and Frankie’s show. Either way, it seemed incorrect. Inappropriate and way too early. Show that joint next month or something. It’s not coming on until April. Wait a minute! I think Toya’s book come out in April. I need to talk to her publicist or whoever set all that up because the timing is kind of right… as far as publicity and business is concerned. Not right as far as I’m concerned.

I don’t really understand the purpose of the Black & Mild prop at all. It even landed a spot on Twitter’s Trending Topic list, I hear.

You know, they really had me because I got a little wired over lil DJ not being Derwin’s. “Janay’s gold-digging behind!” Melanie knows damn well she was wrong for doing that paternity test. Somebody on Twitter tweeted: In the case of 2 year old Derwin Davis, Jr, you are not the father! I screamed so loud. I thought that tweet was the funniest of them all. And there were a lot. Melanie needs to just get it together. When she said, “I do,” she accepted the situation. What’s done is done. She had her chance to walk away if she couldn’t handle it and she decided to stay.

Another flag. Whose idea was it to have The Family Crews promo their new season also? This is not the Super Bowl. All these extra shows and promos and things being thrown into the game was un-necessary. I was not interested in Terry or Toya.

Poor TeeTee. Y’all know he go’n tell the Saber’s owner that Malik is banging his wife. Don’t say nothing cause you ain’t hear that from me.

Now, of course Melanie is going to tell Derwin the truth about the DJ actually being his son. Y’all know Melanie ain’t that type. She may have acted out last season with Jerome and McHottie or whatever but she don’t have real balls to hold something like that. As we’ve already seen.

Even though the beginning of the hour long episode started out kinda shaky, I think BET did a good job. I can’t wait to see how they’re going to include Tia Mowry’s pregnancy in the show, or if they would even consider including it. She does have a twin. So the show was cool and I can’t wait to see the next episode next week.

Congrats to the cast and crew of The Game and shout out to BET for taking the show onto its network. I only wish great things for the combo.

Time In.

Gisele's Carnival Extravaganza

I’ve never been to an actual kid’s birthday party before but I know that yesterday was no ordinary party, it was truly an extravaganza! Who’s the birthday girl, you ask?

Full name: Gisele Joan Alston.

Age: 2.

Favorite animated character: Dora - but that has nothing to do with yesterday.

Have you ever been to a carnival in the beginning of January? Neither have I. But this indoor carnival was excitingly the bomb dot com.

When the nugget and I arrived, we were directed to a live show. “Step right up kids!” The clown was in the middle of her popular act. She made monkey hats, poodles and these heart sword thingys out of balloons. And the kids loved it! Gisele was the center of attention of course. She helped the clown with her magic wand to make a rabbit appear. That’s right y’all, this over-dressed clown had a rabbit. Surprisingly, the kids weren’t afraid of it. They all wanted to pat the white fury hopper. Even Chayce took delight in meeting the rabbit, courtesy of Byron.

Just as any other carnival would have, pizza and hot dogs were added menu options. Cotton candy and cupcakes were the sugar-filled treats of the evening! We played games, took photos at the photo booth and the kids had cool, fun-filled to go boxes. Gisele played in the moon-bounce with her cousins and friends. The kids and even the adults were getting their face painted as some sort of fantasy figure from Batman, Iron Man and Tinker Bell. It was super cool.

I must give a special kudos to Gisele’s dad, Dalion, because he WORKED the popcorn machine. I mean, the popcorn was so good. I honestly had like 3 bags. It was a movie lover’s dream.

Fun times with family, old friends and tons of kids. No one got hurt, the kids played nicely with each other and there was no drama. Just a birthday girl enjoying her day at the carnival. What more can you ask for?

If at 2 you get a carnival, I wonder what the Sweet 16 will look like…

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

My Christmas

Gift wrap, gift bags, gift boxes, oh my! Ornaments, Christmas trees and what is this? SNOW!

Last night was exhausting! I danced to Beyonce’s, Single Ladies while the nephews laughed at me. Ate until my belly ached. (Those honey biscuits are unbelievable!) White Hennessy came by and poured itself in my glass. My nugget (daughter, Chayce), also poured a thing or two on me - snot! She was all over the place, runny nose and all. Exploring new areas of her grandparents house - under the table and behind the couch. I never knew waiting on Santa was so much fun (sarcastic expression)! And nobody realized the time when he came parading down the street, sirens and all. We were so unprepared. “What time is it?” “Is he early?” “Oh my goodness, grab my shoe!” “Where’s the baby’s pants?” By the time we made it outside, Santa had drove to the next street to bless another block of kids with holiday cheer and pounds of crushed candy-canes.

Back in the house, we baked sugar-cookies with icing and funky colored sprinkles. Ummm ummm good. The kids finger painted the coolest picture frame for their grandparents. We designed personalized ornaments for the tree and hung stockings. Good food. Family. Great drinks. Good times.

The last thing I remember from last night was Bruce Willis just finding out that Morgan Freeman had been murdered in RED.

I finally woke up to DIDDY, which caused my iPhone to vibrate uncontrollably. It’s Christmas! Every year, I ask for one thing - SNOW! So, it was natural to look out the window. And to my surprise, white flakes were granting me my only wish for this holiday season (I kinda asked for more though). Anyway, while pecan pancakes were baking in the kitchen downstairs, coffee was brewing upstairs - just for me! The nugget crawled away from her black baby doll who chased her all cross the floor. Sung with her pal Violet as she called her name, “Hi Chayce.” She crawled around the house with her Redskins slippers on and her, “My First Christmas” Santa hat. The nephews got a new phone, an iPod touch, an XBOX and G-Shock watches. My husband smells absolutely delicious in his YSL and I am writing from my Dell Pink Mini Notebook. Christmas fulfilled!

Christmas only comes around once a year and when it does you want to make it memorable. This year was just that. A Christmas we will never forget. Well, the nugget is knocked out so I’ma go pour another cup of Folgers. “The Christmas Blend.”

I enjoyed mine and I hope you did to. Until next year, Happy Holidays!

How was yours?

Chas B
　

I Need A Drink

Have you ever just needed a drink? Had a bad day at work? Your dude pissing you the fuck off? Ever been on the phone for hours arguing to a collector about why you can’t ask a relative for the money? Damn, I need a drink just writing this. What is it about alcohol that soothes the soul? Hold on, let me find out…Chile, bye…I’m soothing right now.

Whether you’re a Hennessy drinker, Absolut or Patron sipper, it doesn’t matter the spirit just as long as it does the job. Oh, and of course you wine sippers. It still doesn’t matter.

For instance, yesterday I had a horrible day. I had to do a shoot at an elementary school in a very bad neighborhood (ghetto, would’ve been bad to use with the election going on and all). Those kids were straight from the pits of hell. I mean, they were throwing up gang signs, telling me they’re not going to smile and rolling their eyes and sucking their teeth. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of dodge.

It seemed as soon as I took the last photo, my head went into an explosive mode because the migraine those rugrats gave me was terrible. I just couldn’t stop thinking, “damn, I need a drink.” It was crazy because usually when I get a headache the first thing I do is reach for aspirin. Naw, not this time. I needed something hard. It kind of reminded me of everyday leaving Dr. Carrington’s office at 5 o’clock. Shara and I would always be ready to hit the bar. It just always seemed like the therapeutic thing to do.

Just like now, I know that if I drink this Hennessy and Cran, I’ll be good. I’ll probably be knocked out right after. But, at least I won’t have to hear “certain people” nag and complain about things you can’t control. I mean, I can’t help the fact that the weatherman said it might rain tomorrow. Or, neither can I explain why the cable is turned off. I mean damn, Comcast could’ve waiting one more day. I can’t tell you why they didn’t. All I know is that an Absolut and Orange would be great right now. Hell, once I get some of that up in me I would care less about “certain people” or Comcast.

Some times, even if I can’t get to a drink fast enough just the idea or the notion of thinking and knowing and feeling that a drink is needed is just as divine. Try it. Go ahead. Tomorrow when someone or something pisses you completely off, just say to yourself, “man, I need a drink.” Watch your day go so smoothly after that.

But here’s the kicker… When you get the drink, you’re going to think to say to yourself, “you know, today really wasn’t that bad.” Then you’re going to think for a minute more and say, “shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, let me get another one.”

Cheers,

Chas B