Is plastic surgery the new "black" ?

Today I decided to honor one of my New Year's resolutions & go for a run. Afterwards I decided to defeat the purpose by picking up some lunch from Panda Express. On the way home from Panda Express I decided to stop at Walgreen's to grab some Baked Lays & my must have on deck at all times sugar free Red bull (momma was down to her last can).

While waiting to check out I silently perused the magazines near the counter & discovered the new People magazine with the headline "Addicted to plastic surgery" with a beautiful woman in a gorgeous purple dress. Silently I wondered who she was because I didn't recognize her. As I studied the cover a bit more I noticed in the upper left corner a picture of Heidi Montag from Mtv's "The Hills" & it said 2008. It took me about 10 more seconds to realize that the woman in the dress was Heidi Montag !

I couldn't believe it ! She looked like a totally different person. After seeing that cover I just had to cop that mag ! After reading the article in which Heidi stated " For the past three years I've thought about what to have done. I'm beyond obsessed". I thought to myself:

Is plastic surgery the new "black" ?

Plastic surgery isn't hardly new at all. People have been getting nips & tucks for eons. They were just more discreet about it. When a woman went away to go get a face lift she told her friends she was going away to a spa retreat or something of that nature. Nowadays women pass along their plastic surgeons information like they're giving you the phone number to their beautician. Women are willing to go to extremes to become exactly who they want to be. For example, if you were the flat chested girl in high school with a bird beak for a nose & an extreme over bite, you can now for several thousand "throw some D's" on yourself, get rhinoplasty & expensive orthodontic surgery.

Yay YOU ! Now you're fabulous :-)

Supposedly plastic surgery was just something that "rich white folks did". Not true. Black women just know how to keep a secret better. In 2002 African American Detroit city council woman Brenda Scott died from a severe infection in her stomach three days after undergoing surgery for the LAP-BAND system to restrict the size of her stomach. Around that same time about 4 women from my job had already gotten similar stomach reduction surgeries.

Soooo...why is everyone so willing to talk about it now ?

Perhaps because it's now harder to keep it a secret. Plastic surgery has gotten bigger & bolder in recent years. Women leave work for a week looking like 10 year old boys & come back looking like Dolly Parton. Dear, sweet Ms. Jenkins your son's 1st grade homeroom teacher takes "some time off" & comes back to work a month later looking like Ms. Parker from Friday. Lastly there's nice little Sherman who was in your 10th grade drama class who now dances at The sexy kitty & now goes by the name "Sasha".

Yup. You can live out all your desires for a few Benji's.

The latest big thing *pun not intended* is butt implants. This particular procedure appears to be gaining popularity like wild fire, especially in the urban community. It's become such a hot commodity that it is apparently done more "underground" than in an actual plastic surgeons office. The "I got it for cheap" version is given in the form of illegal hydrogel shots. Supposedly it began with transvestites & like all juicy gossip the word got around that for just a couple stacks you too could look like J Lo circa 2001.

Sadly the desperation in some of these women to enhance their posterior has superseded the God given common sense to want to remain healthy & alive. Some of these "hood doctors" are using dirty needles & industrial strength silicone thus causing multiple deaths already with this extremely risky procedure. The situation is getting so out of hand that even Tyra devoted a segment to the subject on an episode of her talk show discussing "the dangers of plastic surgery". Will this stop young girls from getting this procedure ?

Umm...I'll take "hell no" for a thousand Alex.

As long as hip hop videos continue to show men ogling beautiful women who have waists like 5 year old girls & booties like Big Momma then women will continue to put their lives at risk.

Don't get me wrong now, I am a pro plastic surgery supporter. As long as it's SAFE. Puhleeze believe this Barbii has toyed with the idea of upping the ante so to speak on my own rack . Hell, I even believe Heidi looks great after her surgery. I do think however it was a bit excessive seeing as how she could have knocked on my door this morning while I was watching an episode of The Hills & handed me my newspaper & I would have had no idea who the hell she was.

I wonder how her parents felt when they saw their new daughter...

I wonder if this is just the underlying of a much bigger problem such as extreme lack of self esteem ...

I wonder if good ole Spencer had anything to do with this.

Hmm...

I guess we'll have to wait until the new season begins to find out.

Blowing this popsicle stand now kids...

Later :-)

XoXo

"Paging Claudine, paging Claudine"

Ok, so yesterday I went to the BBQ with the girls & we had a blast. Uncle Leroy thankfully was not there, there were no ribs, just chicken & fish (which was delish), moscato (not a fan...I'm a pinot grigio kind of girl), there were only about 15 people there so it was quite intimate (cool), the weather was great...not too balmy, not too chilly...perfection. The conversation was nice. All in all a great time. Afterwards we went to this bar nearby that was relatively new & the bartender who was a friend of Madison & Honey's let us eat & drink for free AND he gave us plenty of credits on the jukebox which we played everything from the essential Earth, Wind, & Fire's "Can't hide love" (my fav) to Erykah Badu's "Otherside of the game".

It was oh so fabulous fun :-D

Anywho, I made it back home about 1:30 in the morning with the rest of my shrimp from the bar in a take out box & feeling mellow & content.

Today I woke up feeling pretty good. I went light on dinner today since I went HELLA hard yesterday & cooked grilled mesquite shrimp with couscous. It is really good, filling, & not to mention pretty healthy.

Don't worry. I will hook you up with the recipe at the end.

Anywho, after I ate I left out for a few hours, ran some errands, hit up my favorite smoothie spot then came back supposedly to tell you all a whole bunch of nothing about how I went to a BBQ then a bar then came home.

Boring as shit huh ?

Instead I curled up on the couch to watch one of my all time favorite classics, "Claudine". I love this movie for a number of reasons, besides Diahann Carroll being absolutely beautiful in this film I love the strong black woman that she projected. She had 6 kids, no man (until James Earl Jones came in on his golden garbage truck & swept her off her feet), had "Mr. Welfare" on her ass, worked as a housekeeper, then came home at the end of the day & worked her ass off in her OWN house all while raising 6 damn kids.

Damn. Do they even make them like her anymore ?

I watched the movie as I had countless times before but this time I wondered quietly to myself ?

Where have all the Claudine's gone ?

Now I don't mean where did all the welfare mom's struggling to survive go ? I mean where did all the strong black women who believe making it was not JUST an option, but the ONLY option. What happened to that woman that would bust her ass daily at a job she didn't necessarily care for (& probably caught the bus there), but did it because she was a survivor. A fighter. She was independent & took no shit from anyone, especially a man,

Oh, & her hair STAYED laid, pants with a crease that could cut butter & she smelled like Chanel No. 5.

Where is SHE at ?

You had women who worked during the day & took business classes at night to better themselves & give them an edge for when they went for that promotion. They had small apartments probably no more than 600 square feet but when you walked inside it was neat, clean with fabulous dime store knick knacks, Chaka playing in the background & smelled of incense sticks. Women were strong, proud, & demanded respect.


Don't get me wrong. We still have a lot of chicks that are out there making the donuts, but where did our strength go ? Can we all agree that today's woman appears to be a largely watered down version of the strong, black woman of yesterday ? Did we get soft because a lot of our men stopped acting like real men & instead became glorified & celebrated gigolos ? Are we now getting more paranoid & desperate because more & more of our men are either in jail, gay (or downlow), or already married (& not a lot of them to US)

Misogynist lyrics have been increasing in not only rap, but in some r&b songs since the 90's, but when you are in a club & you see the women singing along louder than the men - ladies we have a serious problem.

My girlfriend & I were just talking about Lil Wayne's "Every girl" song in which he expresses oh so eloquently "I wish I could f%*k every girl in the world". Why are their women singing this song & LOVING it ?!

He couldn't want to just love them ?

*sigh*...bless them babies...

Yes ladies & germs, Claudine has left the building...hopefully she will find her way back soon because she was a class act & lord knows we need her.

XOXO

Barbii

P.s...

Here is the recipe for the shrimp & couscous (YUMMY) !

Enjoy kids :-D

Grilled Mesquite Shrimp

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 4 minutes
Ingredients:
3 pounds large shrimp, peeled with tails on and de-veined
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
8 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
skewers

Preparation:

Place peeled shrimp in a large bowl. In a medium saucepan, combine all ingredients, except for shrimp. Once butter has melted pour marinade over shrimp, cover, and allow to marinate in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. Preheat grill for medium-high heat. Place 4-5 shrimp on each skewer. Place shrimp on grill rack and allow to cook for 2 minutes her side. Remove and serve.

Couscous

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup couscous
2 3/4 cups water
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

In a saucepan, bring water to a boil. Add salt and stir. Add couscous and remove from heat and allow to sit for about 5 minutes. Couscous should be light and fluffy, not gummy. Be sure to allow the couscous to absorb the water.

*tip* Prepare couscous with chicken broth instead of water. It really makes for a nice flavor :-D