Go Away Gustav!

I made it back to Mississippi safely and just in time to face the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.
Tuesday was my first day back on the air. What made this so weird is that Gustav came so close to the Hurricane Katrina anniversary. So the comparisons of the storms were endless. But Gustav was not as powerful, THANK GOD, but seemed to linger in Mississippi and Louisiana for awhile and brings lots of rain.

Thousands of people will be returning home to the Gulf Coast today and later this week and who knows how much damage they'll find at home or whether they'll have power and water. Louisiana folks will have to wait a little while longer before they get the green light to return home: http://www.wapt.com/weather/17373086/detail.html.

So please keep those folks in your prayers! Most of them have already been through Katrina, now Gustav. Plus, Hannah is headed to the East Coast, followed by Ike and Josephine. So we're probably in for a very active season.

Took in an NYC Concert

First of all, sorry I haven't posted in awhile.

I've been busy with my parents and I squeezed in a day in the city for myself. Saw my dermatologist, did some shopping and caught up with my fellow Hoftsra alum, Tricia Berwick.

Then last Saturday, I went back into NYC for a concert where a family friend performed.

Singer/songwriter/floutist Monet (http://www.myspace.com/monetonline) took the stage at the Symphony Space Theater. I loved her performance, especially the songs I knew from her CD. She was also joined by some fabulous artists like background singe, Mike Hammond (who's wearing the hat; http://cdbaby.com/cd/mikehammond) and saxophonist, Jeff Smith.

But I've left NY and I'm in Maryland for a wedding tonight. Then I'm flying back to Mississippi tomorrow or Sunday. We'll see, depending on how Gustav is acting!

EDITED TO ADD:

www.myspace.com/nyamekyefilms

http://www.purposerecords.com/

www.youtube.com/monet7

www.facebook.com (monet dunham)

Here's a different clip of Monet performing:

A few birthday pics courtesy of Lauren Nicole

Thanks to my friend and producer, Lauren Nicole Taylor, I have a few pics to share from my birthday party. She sent these to me today. THANKS LIL SIS!

That's me and Lauren there. I like it, except, I didn't have time to put on my fake eyelashes before the guests arrived. So my eyes didn't really POP the way I like them to.


Here's Faith, Lauren, Don, Travoris and a few other folks from my party at Pi Lounge in Jackson before I came to NY.












Promise to post more when I can somehow locate the cord for my digital camera.

I'm Working on "MY FITNESS"

Aside from my duties at home caring for my parents, I've managed to fit in some fitness time.

Thanks to a two week free trial at Gold's Gym I can get back on track with my workouts. I got quite busy before I left Jackson, MS and haven't really made it to the gym the way I should.

Lack of fitness + bad food choices = diet disaster!

I hate to admit I've gained back a good amount of the weight I lost in 2006 and now I have a wedding in two weeks and I can't quite FIT the bridesmaids dress.

But since I've been "on track" with the South Beach Diet and working out 5-6 days a week..........I've lost 4.5 pounds!

Let's hope I can make some more progress in the 10 days I have left to squeeze into that dress!

My Love for Celebrity Gossip

You would think that as a seasoned, Emmy award winning journalist who has her M.A. from the world's first school of journalism - that one of the first websites I would visit to catch up on the news of the day would be www.cnn.com, www.nytimes.com or my station's website, www.wapt.com. WRONG!!!

Instead, I must feed my insatiable appetite for celebrity/entertainment news, better known as GOSSIP. There are a number of quality sites and not-so-quality sites to get the 4-11 on actors, singers and celebutantes like Paris Hilton. Here's a quick review:

1. www.perezhilton.com: The Queen of All Media Himself. Check him out first thing in the morning. He can be a little harsh when he writes on celebrity's photos and he clearly has people he hates/loves. But I applaud him for being a "brand" with his own shows on VH1, appearances on MTV, and writing columns for major publications. You go girl!
2. www.people.com: Better than the magazine in my opinion because they have a huge staff devoted to the web and break a lot of news stories here. I remember the day Star Jones resigned live on the air on THE VIEW. I was sitting at my computer and people.com is the first place I went to see if anyone was covering what I'd just seen. They had already posted her interview about her plans to resign.
3. www.tmz.com: Love the video of celebrities they get from everywhere AND every angle. They also break a lot of stories. Sadly, I don't have time to watch the show. But THE SOUP on E! uses a lot of their clips so I kinda catch up that way. Speaking of E!............
4. www.eonline.com: This site is growing on me and has a huge following because of their array of shows. I also like the celebrity fashion aspect of their site.
5. www.sandrarose.com: Blogs about black celebrities mainly and mostly in Atlanta. She can be even more opinionated than Perez. But hey, that's what blogs are for! Unlike Perez though, she doesn't talk about herself or show pictures of herself. So you really don't have a "face" to attach to what she says. Maybe she likes it that way. Sadly, Sandra is not a Beyonce fan, like me. So that's where I take issue with her coverage and criticism.
6. www.bossip.com: Another black celebrity blog. They're pretty good and they have lots of photos of celebrities out and about.
7. www.theybf.com: In case you don't know it stands for Young, Black and Fabulous. So it's similar to Sandra and Bossip. But creator, Natasha, is kinda like Perez in that she comes up with names for celebrity couples: Chris & Rihanna = Chrihanna. Isn't that cute?
8. www.mediatakeout.com: Honestly, I haven't visited here in weeks but I guess it's worth a mention. Don't go here expecting "journalism." It's a lot of rumors and innuendo and harsh criticism of black celebrities. But if you wanna quick laugh, click the link.

Survey Says....I'm a Year Older

You know those surveys where you're required to to check off your age? 17-22; 23-28; 29-34?

Now I'm officially in the 35-40 BOX! Geez Louise - it hurts a little. But I'm gonna pull through. My 35th birthday was actually a little anti-climactic. I flew home to NY, my brother picked me up from the airport, I went grocery shopping and my Mom made me shrimp fried rice.

I knew I'd be travelling which is one reason why I celebrated my birthday early with a party last Saturday at Pi Lounge. I had a blast and it was great to see so many folks before I headed out of town. In the hurry to pack enough clothes for a month, I've misplaced my cable to upload pics from my digital camera. FORGIVE ME! So as soon as I find it or buy another one, I'll share.

I'm off to care for the parents by picking up some take out!

Mom is Home and Morgan Freeman is in the Hospital

Mom came home from in-patient rehabilitation Monday and is doing well. She was anxious to get back to her PC so she could watch me anchor the 5, 6 & 10 p.m. news LIVE here.

Thanks to Family Medical Leave I'll be going to New York Thursday to help care for both of my parents. I'm planning to return to Jackson the first week in September. So the tone of this blog will change a bit because I won't be on-air. But you can still hear about what's going on in my life. Please keep us in your prayers.

Source: EOnline
Now a bit of entertainment news, Mississippi Native and Oscar Winner, Morgan Freeman was injured in a serious car accident Sunday night. It happened a few hours north of Jackson, in Ruleville, and the car flipped several time. Freeman needs arm and shoulder surgery at the Memphis Hospital where he was airlifted.

I did a phone interview with the BBC Monday evening about what happened and how the state is reacting. Governor Haley Barbour released this statement: “Morgan Freeman is one of America’s

most accomplished actors and one of Mississippi’s most admired citizens. Marsha and I are saddened to hear of his injuries, and we join all Mississippians in praying for his full and speedy recovery.” There's also a hurricane preparedness charity that's devoted its site to well wishes for Freeman: http://planitnow.org/morgan/.

We can only hope these injuries won't keep Mr. Freeman from the Big Screen for long.