Karrine Steffans on Jermaine O'neal (video attached)

I don't know if this is an "Ahh come on" moment or more of an "Ooo da*n" situation. You decide.

Karrine Steffans has become synonymous with the term "vixen" due to her 2005 tell-all autobiography and best-selling novel, "Confessions of a Video Vixen." Steffans has catapulted to the leads of mainstream entertainment, from Tyra to Oprah - everyone wanting a voyeuristic look into the life she lived as a video actress and her scandalous rendezvous with various celebs. Several derogatory terms have been used to describe Steffans, but what is undeniable is her effort to remove the "video vixen" label and press forward as a devoted mother, entrepreneur and novelist.

Below is post that can be seen on her site (Karrine) where she's decided enough is enough. I don't think it's ever too late to change your life, but for women, when you are labeled...it's hard to erase the brand. We live in a world of double standards, and for Steffans, her life as "superhead" may be difficult to forget considering she's made a successful career out of blowing the whistle on the celebrity men with which she's been intimate.

Don't get me wrong. This sister is articulate and smart and I wish her all the best, but I hate to see that her reputation still follows her.

Funny Pet Peeves

My friend and I were having a great conversation about pet peeves when we decided to expand the conversation to other friends and loved ones clearly out of sheer madness :). What did we determine? We are all a special kind of crazy. [Smile]

Here is a list of pet peeves I've gathered that some consider to be the ultimate pet peeves (gross, nerve wrenching, etc.), but in some cases, I consider them to be down right funny. Enjoy... 

1. Brushing Teeth Outside of the Bathroom. My friend says most hygiene should be kept in the bathroom. "I don't need to see it or smell it."
2. Public Spitting.  Watching spit leave your mouth and dangle in mid-air like Michael Jordan is disgusting.
   
3. PDFR (Public Displays of Feet Rubbing). Taking your shoes off and rubbing your feet in public can apparently be bothersome. Some say once you rub your feet and touch other objects, "feet juice" will be all over the place. (Just typing this made me chuckle)
4. Close Encounters. Talking so close to someone's face that you can smell what they have eaten.
5. Touched by Strangers. There's a story to this one. My friend damn near had a conniption when a stranger bumped her and felt so bad about it that they apologized profusely but kept rubbing her back to soothe the pain. My friend didn't want the rubbing. And the pain was gone long before the rubbing...and long after. But the rubbing continued. [LOL]
   
6. Sandwich Pressing. Making a sandwich and pressing down on it with your hands. The imprint of the fingers on the sandwich drives my husband crazy.
   
7. Residual Spit on Books or Magazines.  Ever wet your fingers to help turn a page? Leaving something behind other than the occasional ear-mark or highlight is nasty. Ewe. 
8. Surprise Stepping.  There's nothing like fresh-cotton socks. But stepping in a wet spot with socks on is unnerving for some. 
9. Crowded Food. Different foods touching on a plate. (I don't get this one at all.)
10. Share and Share Alike. Ever been in the club and a random stranger asks to use your lip products? Umm yeah...that's not cool and it's gross.
    
11. Blessing Food. Not what you think. It's sneezing over food while preparing it. And folks, I'm not talking about covering your mouth either. Ewe.
12. DWP (Driving While Picking). Because you're in a car does not mean you're invisible. There are windows. STOP DRIVING AND DIGGING! :)
13. Impolite Flatulence ( a.k.a. - crop dusting).  Here is another gym story for you. My friend and I were on the StairMaster and got a sudden and horrible smell. We were already breathing heard so the more we inhaled...you get the point.
    
14. Stop. Drop. Flush. Not abiding by the courteous "drop and flush" bathroom rule is rude to some.
    
15. Food-mobbing. Someone who admires your food and inappropriately smells and/or points at it
16. Grab Bag. When someone offers food (i.e. chips) and the person WHIRLS their hand around in the bag before getting what they want out of it...as if each potato chip is different and the choices are immense.
    
17. Toothpaste Squeezing.  This is just crazy. The logic behind this (so I've been told) is that if you squeeze in the middle of the tube, you'll have to expend more energy to get the rest of the paste out of the tube as the paste runs out. But if you start to squeeze from the bottom, you'll get more out of the tube. Go figure.
    
18. Tissue Placement. Over not under. (This is another one I don't get. Who cares? Isn't it all going to be used?)
    
19. Show Interruptions. Ever been in the middle of your favorite show and someone walks in and says, "What happened?" Now to fill them in on what they missed, you'll miss at least eight minutes of the show because you know they'll have questions. [smile]
    
20. Live Movie Commentary. Watching a movie with unwanted commentary from the audience like, "Fool, don't go in there!"
21. Hairy Soap. Soap with random pieces of hair on it (long, short, etc.) Ewe.
22. I don't know what to call this. Waking someone up and then saying, "Oh I'm sorry. Go on back to sleep."  Was there another option?
    

That was close.

I had a nightmare last night and woke up crying. I literally felt my eyes and face frowned (like so) and I heard myself crying.

The nightmare? I showed up to work two hours late and they fired me.

Shucks. In this economy, wouldn't you cry too? [smile]

Mickey

B*stard or Fat A*s? I'm more offended by the latter.

Some girlfriends chat on the phone, shop or occasionally meet up for drinks as their ritualistic homage to what they call bonding.

Well, one of my friends and I, like clockwork, go to the gym because that's our "bonding time." We take this wonderful cardio salsa class but decided to kick it up a notch and take back-to-back classes - one being our regular class and the other was immediately after.

My friend and I were tired but decided to tough it out and take the second class. ( I think I would have worked out four hours straight just to look stallion-esque in my wedding dress. But, that's another blog.)


Picture this...

We've started the second class which is a combination of kick-boxing and aerobic moves. My friend and I are at the back of the class when a woman gets within one foot of my friend and tells her (abrasively) to, "Move up." My friend says, "No, you go up there."

Reminder: We are in the middle of an engaging aerobic class where we're jumping, kicking, punching - basically where there's a need to have space between all class participants. Point being: The woman was too close to my friend and there was more space on the dance floor. She wanted my friend to move although my friend was already working out and had been in that spot long before she arrived.

(Side-note: Describing this feels like kindergarten again when I wanted my seat saved and my friend was suppose to hold it but didn't and I had to push my way back in it...ok...i digress)

The woman bumps my friend and they slightly shove each other and I kept saying out of sheer shock, "Are you kidding me!" (a.k.a "Ahhh COME ON!)

In the midst of the all the commotion, the lady (who will from now on be called the "offender") gets a staff person to reprimand us. Immediately, I tell the staff person (calmly, I might add) that this woman pushed my friend...and in mid-tattle - the woman yells at me, "You're a liar, you bastard. You fat ass."

OK. Whoa.

I know she yelled more than that, but it was like I couldn't hear anything but "bastard and fat ass." So at that point...I lost my temper. I yelled some unmentionables...and my friend and I decided that we would leave. But my wonderful friend, being the spunky person she is said, "Why should WE leave." So we proceed back to the class. When the offender saw that we were back, she left.

The staff person told us she saw how the woman acted and said to let her know if the woman harasses us again. Apparently, an incident had happened with the same woman and another club member.

Here's my dilemma: I was angrier that the woman called me a fat ass than a bastard. I know my father, he's a wonderful man and very active in my life. But a fat ass? Isn't that why I was in the gym anyway? That went too far. [Smile]

Everyone laughs when my friend and I tell this story, because out of all of this...I was most upset that she called me a fat ass.

Disclaimer: I'm not an insecure woman who is ashamed of her curves. I embrace them. But it was something about being exhausted and trying to fit into a wedding dress that sent me over the edge. For the record...I LOVE MY FAT ASS!

Mickey