I'd have a spongebob car.

Is it just an Atlanta thing? A few minutes ago I was walking down the street and a caddy passed me. With a verizon logo on the side. Complete with "can you hear me now? Good." on the trunk side.

This is not new to me. I've seen nesquik, Hawaiian punch, m&ms, tropical skittles, slice soda, etc, on car doors, complete with the car painted the exact color of the product.

Its pretty neat. B said you have to find the decals online and get custom paint, while Kesi and his mom agree that you should be able to contact the company.

Its almost always a big old school car that has the logos on it. Right now we're riding in a new Yorker... Hmm. They also seem to be geared towards kids products. I think I'd want a cartoon on my car. Like, spongebob, or bloo from "Foster's." lmfao!

So do they do that where you're from? Or are we in the A the most fortunate to have rolling advertisements?
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Playing hookie

Ok, I wasn't really playing hookie, I was legitimately sick. But I didn't stay home sad in the bed.

Friday night I felt awful. It was my first day of the stupid antibiotics the throat doctor gave me. Naturally Saturday morning my throat swelled right back up. (You won't take my tonsils out, they rebel!) so I called in sick for work. I laid around for a while and then kesi called me. I thought we were going to his house; no! We went to the movies!

His brother keem, our friend Jason and we went to Tinseltown, which apparently is the super teen hangout the magic Johnson was for me when I was 12. First we saw Reno 911, which was a good conversion. You could tell there were things they've always wanted to do on TV but couldn't, and put it in the movie. Funny stuff. The Rock was in it. He's a cute muscly guy. Yes. Of course the film was one ridiculous scene after another, and if you like the show you'll love the movie.

We also saw the number 23. Let me say now, the ending was completely surprising to me. It was a great movie. So good I wanna tell people at work what I did while they dealt with those snotty AKAs.(disclaimer: not all AKAs are snotty. But most of the older ones I dealt with had this "you're young and you're just the help" attitude. One told me she had to train me like a dog. She was real close to a whoppin.) But alas, they'd be perty pissed. It was a really good movie. Keem fell asleep and was really snoring during the movie. He missed like a good half of it. Came in at the end talking about "what happened?" Boo bro. Also, Jim Carey was kinda muscly. And that random assed tattoo was highly accentual.

So after the movie we went and got in the car and we were about to play my robin thicke CD, which I am hella late in buying, and who is on the radio? Michael effin Jackson! And the song was pretty alright. The beat was hot. And J bo from young bloodz was on it. How random, especially since before the lyrics kicked in I was like, this better not be wack. yet I still feel for him like I feel for R. They loves the kids, and not like trick daddy.

The end.

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photo time!

so i'm at my boo's house uploading my new mp3 playah(!!!) and i decided to give yall a taste of my new stuff...

this is the louis inspired baby blanket i made for my girl DD's friend. even i'm impressed with how it came out.

my hat that i made yesterday whilst at the salon for 11 hours getting these tight assed braids... yes they are blonde-ish, and i loves them!

front view- am i muggin or what? it was early! so i made this hat for a dude but i dont think its really masculine. mainly cuz i really like it, and its thicker than the average skully. opinions?

me and my booski before we left the house the other night. feel free to tell us how cute we are.

Half truths

I don't remember the first time I thought it, but I remember the first time I said it. We were at Reka's fam's house for thanksgiving and talking about baby names. Some how the convo turned to relationships in general, and I said it.

"I'm the best girlfriend any of my exes has ever had."

I believed it then. And until recently I still believed it. Here's why I did:

I call myself the cheerleader. I am 100% behind any guy I date. As long as he's behind me. And if he's not, then why are we together? I believe in the man I'm with. Also, after me, its all downhill for dude. I keep em in line. I've had boyfriends who are now crazy, ex cons, baby daddies, addicts, etc. Never a hint of it when we were together. And onward, I'm shallow. Of course I think I'm the shit! And they did too.

Here's why my view has changed:

I received a MySpace message from a man named Brian. Brian and I dated for 3 months when I was 14 and then broke up. He was asking if I still remembered him and how I was doing, yadda yadda. How nice. I showed the picture to kesi and he said he didn't remember dude- we often share MySpace peeps from our old school. Later, I receive another message from dude with all kinds of talk of high school sweetheart this and that, complete with a link to Brian mcknight's "anytime." wtf? Mind you, I dated dude 10 years ago and have since almost had a baby and am now with my TRUE high school sweetheart.

Ok, so this gives me a laugh. But then I think of my quote, and now I'm thinking of how I treated Brian. I really only started dating him to make another guy jealous. I knew he liked me and that his feelings for me were a lot bigger than mine for him. I accidentally told him I loved him one time- I said it like, "I love this guy, he's funny"- and I didn't know how to take it back, and he'd say it every chance he'd get. I broke up with him over Christmas break; didn't even buy him a present! After he said to my friend that sex before marriage was wrong I knew we were doomed. I was a virgin, and I didn't wanna do it with him, but still. (Lauren said I'm mean cuz I broke up with a dude for not putting out.) He would write me letters asking to get back with me every time I broke up with someone. EVERY TIME!

I was not the best girlfriend he ever had. I wasn't even a good one. But for some reason he thinks I was. Does that make it partially true? I never wrote him back- what could I say? In my mind I was thinking, man you got two kids (he's not married btw) and we haven't seen each other in years. What makes you think you're crossing my mind? But that's mean, no? And haven't I been mean enough to him?

So an addendum: I am the best girlfriend my boyfriend has ever had.

That will never be a lie.
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Quickly

1. Could somebody touch Britney spears for me? I just started reading Perez Hilton two days ago. Looks like I jumped in at the right time. This heffa cut all her hair off! Please somebody hug her.

2. I been using the term heffa a lot. I called a group of cheerleaders heffas the other night. Yes little kids, but when you do a hand stand 3 feet away from a glass panel door... Well at least I didn't call her one to her face.

3. My mp3 player should be here tomorrow! I so excited! I got a Phillips 30GB hard drive player. Whoo! 16000 songs! I also bought 2 plastic covers for my pearl. I can't have it all scratched and ugly like my last phone.

4. We got some new employees at work! One is 2 months pregnant, and having evening sickness- she literally stopped me in the middle of my sentence to go throw up; one used to go to school with kesi; and one is B's ex, and an ex of someone I used to go to school with who took naked pictures of her and asked me to develop them before I knew what they were. Imagine my surprise when I did my quality check. And he was in some too. Oh lord Jesus the memories! I wish for brain bleach.

5. I have to go to a sleep doctor tomorrow. This is really getting old you guys. All I want is for them to take out my tonsils but now I have to be diagnosed with apnea for them to do it. Grr. If only I had gotten this done in high school...
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Everything the light touches

What a great weekend the Joy had.

Friday I met up with Lauren and her Will so I could check them into their hotel. All the while we were acting silly and Lauren was trying to get me to call in sick to work. I so would have if we were properly staffed. We rode to my job- through traffic for days and my not really knowing how to get there by car- and I spent the longest day at work. Busy but still boring. After work I called and called Lauren to come pick me up. She was definitely asleep. Wow. Lol luckily I still had a ride so it was all good.

Saturday we decided to go to "breakfast," you know, at noon. We went to the waffle house and Will caught a southern accent. He kept saying shawty and sprat (sprite). Somehow we managed to come up with a whole treatment for a waffle house music video, complete with video girls drenched in syrup and hash browns thrown at the screen. Classic. Also, a dance derived from Lauren's silent sneeze. They should give us a TV show.

We ran around so much that day. Mall, two grocery stores and walmart. But I got everything I needed for my party. My mom. Had agreed to stay at a hotel that night, but not before getting my dad to "chaperone," just in case someone were to start dancing too close or they were to spike the punch. Lol did I mention I turned 23 yesterday?

So we dropped her off and waited while Lauren went to grab her a burger. This took an HOUR. Old national was hungry that night. And also crazy. Some man was talking about an ambush by a big dog who bit quarter sized chunks out of some dude. Hopefully Lauren will tell this story cuz I wasn't there and would surely eff it up.

So I was late to my own party! Only a half hour, though. I had to rush and get dressed and then drive back to the house. I wore a red and burgundy striped jersey dress with my jeans shorts and black footless tights. Also a ribbon that says "birthday girl," lol. I had so much fun! Some of my friends had to leave early, but somewhere around 130 it was perfect. Everyone was on the same page. The guys were playing spades and talking so much junk- ok most of the junk talked was my dad, but it was funny- and having a good time. Lauren smooshed cake in my face, which was nice, and brought up the memory of when Will walked up to some dude and told him it'd be funny if he knocked his friend's pizza out of his hands. My dad kept calling kesi his son-in-law. I got all smiley at that. Dads are the awesomest.

The party wrapped at 4. I didn't wanna get the cops called on me. And I was getting sleepy. My dad stayed a little while and we talked. I asked him the same question I asked my mom last year: now that I am half your age, do you think I am doing better than you when you were my age? My mom said yes, my dad said no. Lol I wasn't expecting that. But then he was tellong me things about how he was making good money and trying to get my mom's confidence up to open up her own salon. Then he started talking about our families and the supportiveness of his side compared to my mom's. He talked about my brothers and I, and things we used to do when we were little and how proud he is of us. He hugged me a million times. The funny thing is, he was saying all this to kesi, as if I'd heard it before, and I really hadn't. Not this version. He told me I'm the only person who can make him feel guilty about smoking, and he wants to quit for me. Wow.

Sunday we went to breakfast at Ihop. Will kept turning things I said into euphemisms. Pseudo was there too. I forgot to mention him somehow... Found out he doesn't like breakfast very much. How odd. I could eat breakfast all day. He and Lauren are lovely together. I wish I could just out them together and have that be that. Damn circumstances. We also went to little five points. Its an area with great shopping and the oddest people you will see in your life. Kid you not we saw a lady with cotton gloves, devil horns and a hula hoop. I wanted to get a henna tattoo but strangely I was broke. After that we went to Lauren's dad's house and he made us a yummy dinner and we watched the Grammy's. We basically talked about everyone onstage and muted the country singers. What fun. I started to get sick that day and slept on and off.

I hated to see the weekend go so fast. I had been really loking forward to it for months. I miss them already and have so many memories and photos. Maybe I'll put up a few when Will sends them to me. Now everybody keeps saying I'm really an adult. Which is exactly what I said 23 would be. I did get my tax return Monday and paid of all my bills. I also want an MP3 player...

* the title comes from one of our recurring phrases from the weekend. Its from the lion king, but I think we used it to discuss waffles, then my mom said it, and it kept coming up.
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My funny valentine

So I gave someone a valentine. Funny story.

I went into the starbucks at my job to get the valentine bear I had been eyeing and forgetting to buy. My friend Walter rung me up.

Me: isn't he cute? He's for my valentine.
Walter: oh yeah? How long have you and your boyfriend been together?
Me: 5 years. But this isn't for him. He's not my valentine.
Walter:??? You are trifling.

Kesi and I don't do Valentines. But I do like to get them for others. This one was for Lauren. She loved it. It was a little guy with a vest and tie and a v-day card. She decided he looked highly homosexual since his vest and tie matched and he had on heart cufflinks. Lol. Between her, Will, and my brother, they named him victor valentino. Victor cuz he could change it easily when he cross dresses. That is all.
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Busy week!

I'm currently sitting in my favorite pizza place waiting for a cheese slice. Its my little oasis of peace in what is the busiest day so far in a busy week. Ah... Cheese.

Today I have to the dentist (done), the otolaryngologist (ear nose throat lady), go to work, wash my hair, clean my room, pay my cable bill and get everything ready for Lauren's arrival.

Pardon me if I don't blog again til Monday. I still love you all. And one day I'll figure out autotext and comment.

My mom's trippin about my birthday party. For some reason she feels someone will call the cops or fight so my dad will be there while she stays at a hotel. Lmfao. I will kick a nigga out my house. Its just funny how much she worries. Did I mention a haven't had a party in 18 years? Yes, I was 5.

Our new shops openned at work this week. Insanity. The PM shift only has 2 associates so I'm working 6 days this week. And Saturday might be my only day off. Blah. B works in our new starbucks. I work in the gourmet gift shop. (I just left my purse at the pizza place. Shit!) We have a connecting door and sometimes we stand at it like we're at visiting day in jail. Lol we don't, really. But we so should. They take forever to close and I usually leave an hour after I close waiting for him. But its too cold at night to walk to the trains.

I know I said Blanket Statements would be up by Feb, but its not. It would be, but I'm booked through March with projects from people I work with and I want to be able to start fresh. So, March it is. Its listed on my profile but everything I wanted to put on the page is not there yet. So if you peek it may look different in a few weeks. And can you change a web page domain name? I named it joychantelle2, as this is the original joychantelle, but I wanna change it. Does anyone know how?

If you haven't read about my super sweet 5 anniversary, feel free, its below this post. This rambly post. I got my purse and I'm headed to the doctors.
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Dinner and a movie

Its not yet the anniversary, but unfortunately I have to work tommorrow, so kesi and I celebrated yesterday.

We went to maggiano's. Yum. I'd never been there but he had. We took the train cuz its all the way in buckhead and traffic and parking, blah. I tried to curb my phone use on the train so we could talk and be silly, but after we snapped a few pictures pictures he nodded off. He hadn't eaten all day. I don't know how he manages. That morning I was up maybe 15 minutes before I reached for my leftover apple pie. Maybe I should have shared?

It wasn't a very long trip, and the spot was a half block from the station. It was packed! I knew we should have made reservations. Eh. An hour wait. For a while we stood up but hunger and prolonged standing are not the ish. Glad I wore sneakers. By the way, I wore the exact same thing I wore to Lauren's grad. White pants, white cardigan and a red/orange paisley silk-esque shirt with my white pumas. He wore a beige phat farm sweater medium blue denim pants and tan timbs. Whoo sexy. He can wear a sweater. I don't know what it is, but I love to see him in one.

Eventually we sat at the piano. The two singers/players were good. Classy love songs, that old Sinatra sound. The lady sounded like Karen Walker. I kind of expected her to say "honey what are we doing with this?" and make some snarky comment about will or grace. They also played the peanuts song. Lol, if I weren't so hungry I woulda done the snoopy dance.

I lost my patience just as they were about to call us. We sat in a back corner and as soon as we ordered I let him read the letter I wrote him. It was really deep. I spilled my heart. You need something epic after 5 years. He asked me if it was easy to make it this far and I told him no, because I had to throw out my ideals and realize that just because we love each other doesn't mean we don't disagree. And when we do its not the end of the world.

Dinner was delish. He had chicken and broccoli alfredo and I had shrimp and tomato linguine. Drool. The waiter forgot our garlic bread and then told me I didn't order any. That's bad waiter etiquite, especially when we discussed how much we wanted right in front of you. But I let it go. This lady in a party of 10 was so loud. Talking pure nonsense. Then when she found out the manager was black she got louder with him. Ugh. Shut it! None of it ruined my night though.

And yes, I cried. Sue me. I got into my "smooshy" mode and welled up a little. Kesi called me a mashed potato and told me to rough up. He hates to see me cry. For any reason. I could win the lotto and he'd not wanna see me cry. I told him we're in a milestone and I have to shed a tear or two.

After dinner we went to walmart. No date is complete without errands. Lmao we can't stay away. After that we watched Blow, which he never saw and I never saw the end of. I think he liked it. We said our good nights and he went home.

Great night. 5 years ago our day was hanging out after school and him asking me to be his girl before the light changed for us to cross the street. Its led to so much I never imagined.

Kesi if you are reading this, feel free to respond, you lurker. I love you.
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Cinco.

Hmm. My face number these days. These are my five facts, a la madam. But what don't you know about me?

#1. I saw someone get shot.

I was 7 years old. It was very late at night and I was TRYING to sleep. My neighbor had just gotten home from a club and someone followed her home and started an arguement over some dude they may have both been seeing (I found this all out later). The telling woke me up and I went to the window. My neighbor's babysitter was onthe porch too, with a baby in her arms, when the other woman pulled out a gun. She didn't shoot my neighbor- she shot the sitter. She was a teen. She didn't die, and I had no real reaction. It was like TV. I didn't tell my mom I saw anything, just that they were loud.

#2. I have two brothers.

Every time I say that people are surprised. In between me and my bro Shawn is my "other brother" who has a different mom. I'll call him J. He's 19 and lives in NC. I hadn't seen him for 10 years and when I was 16 I came home and saw this kid in my yard, who I knew was related to me but I had no idea how. It was funny and I was so nervous. We talk occasionally, but I'd like to be closer with him.

#3. I'm domestic.

I fell in love with home Ec. In. 4th grade. Industrial arts too. Anything that means making stuff with your hands. I can cook (sometimes from scratch) and sew and fix things. I used to help my dad and I helped construct a set for one high school play and costumes for another. I think my creativity is starting to show now with the crochet.

#4. I'm a hoarder.

I have old letters, dresses from 7th grade, books for future kids... I have magazines I haven't cracked in years. Its a real problem. I'm generally a clean person, but I like to collect info. Why?

#5. One of my biggest fears is that I'll lose my memory. Why? I don't know. But its part of the reason I wrote in a diary for so many years, and part of the reason it takes me so long to tell a story. I am all over details. If someone were to ask me about an event I'd have some kind of physical evidence of it, which would jog my memory. Some stuff I suppose I could throw away, especially if its not directly related to my life. I gotta go clean my room.

So there you have it. Five facts about me. And I have to tag 3 people. I can't remember who madam tagged besides me, so let's go with Lauren, Jamiel, and Shani. Yay! Have fun!
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