Last week, I hosted my first official [housewarming] party of the year at my new home, the Humble Ranch. So many of my family & friends came out to celebrate this awesome life event with me.

It was a simple affair complete with excellent texture, color, design, drink, & food mixed with African flair.

Everybody knows that I'm all about a fun party flyer so for this occasion I decided to use a few vignettes from my home as a background to spread the word. With many of my friends not seeing my home before the party, the flyers offered a sneak peek into my life & design esthetic.

As you can see, the set was 4-8pm but things lasted much longer & it was all good. People love a good party, including me!

I'm so appreciative of the wonderful people that I have in my life, they really showed your boy some tremendous love!

I've been in my new home now for almost 4 months and it's honestly THE best home that I've ever lived as an adult for so many reasons.

As a matter of fact: The top image was taken with my Nikon DSLR, the last two were taken with my iPhone 6.

I am not a big fan of going out during the week, but when my girl Mayaeni organized a show, there was no way that I could not be there. She gave the standing room audience everything they needed and then some! And as an extra rock songstress bonus, she had Steffanie Christi'an on stage for the end of the set. It was a great night & I'm happy that I broke my rule.

"Anger, can make you old, yes it can I said anger, can make you sick, children... oh Jesus Anger destroys your soul Rage, there's no room for rage in there There's no room for rage in here Line up some place to go to be mad It's a sin to treat your body bad" Marvin Gaye - Anger ~ 1979 I choose to live in peace because it takes little to no effort & it makes me happy. My heart is open & there is plenty of room for love. Anger will kill. Anger will destroy. Anger will eat you alive. Anger will block your growth. Let it go & free yourself. Easier said than done but it is doable. I'm living proof.

Three years ago, I made a plan to purchase a home. Last week, the plan materialized & I'm beyond happy. Staying committed to the plan was a little rough as I had to really resift my priorities to make things happen but it was worth all of the sacrifices. Waking up to a home drenched in sunlight, covered in love is where my happiness stems from! I've never been a morning person but I find myself waking up early to enjoy the quiet peace of my new home. Still kinda feels like a dream; a great dream in my dream home.

My cousin, best best best friend, Cousin Dee is having a baby!!! She broke the news several months ago and it was the best news ever. Of course, I had to photograph this wonderful moment in my family's history. The image above is my absolute favorite from our little session. We were joking and sing some T-Pain song and we both just burst out laughing. Not to put myself out there too much but I just recently discover T-Pain's music & that's because of a story on NPR. You have to see this video. I love it! Like for real…. Can't wait to meet my little cousin/nephew. I already have a nick name… Uncle Baba TT. I hate it. I hate it so much but it's pretty damn funny.

Earlier this week, I made my way to San Antonio, TX for the first time. I've wanted to visit for years after seeing various enticing shows on the Travel Channel & Food Network and as a history buff, I totally wanted to visit the Alamo and Catholic missions that are around the famed city. Well, this trip to San Antonio served two purposes; business & pleasure. Business: I was presented on a University of Michigan career development program at the 2014 CUPA-HR (College and University Professional Association for Human Resources) annual conference. Pleasure: Eating, sightseeing, & whatever else I could get into. The conference was AWESOME and my presentation went very well. I pretty much wanted to kick my feet in mid air after it was over.  I present frequently but this was my first time nationally so I'm feeling swell about this feather in my cap. Everything else on the pleasure side was what I wanted and more. San Antonio is such a beautiful city! Met some fun locals & many other conference attendees at networking events. Had amazing food but honestly, I over dosed on Tex-Mex and prickly pear margaritas. Upon leaving, I felt energized & empowered from the conference & certainly planning to go back to discover more of what the city has to offer. It was a great week & I rocked it out! Video done on the iPhone 6 with slow motion. Music credit: "Keep Up" by Slakah The Beatchild featuring Ayah See a few snapshots from my trip here

Cousin Dee & I took a quick little road trip to NYC this past weekend for a needed break and to attend José Vilson's, "This Is Not A Test" book launch. The trip was hype. Ate at some of my favorite spots, discovered some new spots, kicked it with great people, took a lot of damn pictures. Best of all, I was able to check out the Carrie Mae Weems exhibit at the Guggenheim and the Black Eye pop up exhibit in TriBeCa, where I had a very unique interchange with the exhibit's curator, the beautiful, Nicola Vassell.   Interestingly enough, Carrie Mae Weems and Black Eye contributor Rashid Johnson have given me inspiration to do a series of introspective photos of myself that will most likely be centered around my body, my vulnerability intersected with cultural identity to share a narrative that will hopefully push me further as an artist. We'll see how this plays out…

Yesterday, I attended my first BBQ of the short season aKa spring/summer or is it still winter.  It was last minute and typically, I like taking salads to cook outs but yesterday, I decided to do a quick and fun lemonade using what I already had on hand. - English cucumber - Basil - Orange (for fun) - Lemon (for fun) - Simply Lemonade - Tanqueray Rangpur - West Indian Orange bitters I really didn’t measure out anything just chopped, poured, & stirred. After mixing everything together, & let it sit in the freezer for 2 hours to give it a good chill. The basil gave this concoction life. The cucumber mellowed it out and made it super refreshing. It turned out great & it was gone before I knew it.

Opening Day for the Detroit Tigers is certainly a grand Detroit holiday! Tailgaters everywhere! Debauchery everywhere! Chaos everywhere! People doing way too much everywhere! I had a great time celebrating the opening of the season with my boo, my friends, and a whole host of randoms in my orange fashion sweater that they all love to hate. For some reason, I felt like I was Ferris Bueller, minus the car situation & the sister with the scorching case of herpes. It was all good! Pictured above is Detroit Tiger, Austin Jackson. A great player and a great person all the way around! Here's to a great season!

Every thing about this photo here screams 1980s Jet magazine Newport ad. I love it & I'm so not into cigarettes!

One light… One woman… Two looks… Doing more with less is my new black. And having beautiful friends who are willing to be photographed by me is always a good thing! I appreciate you TR.

Bad ass woman of earth & wind.

50-11% of my friends are artists of some sort like, Steffanie Christi’an, one of my dearest friends and one helluva vocal artist who represents Detroit to the fullest is coming out with an exciting new project in a few short weeks.

"Steffanie Christi’an is Way Too Much.  Stuff Tina Turner, Rage Against The Machine, and Alanis Morissette into an industrial-grade mixer and crank the sumbitch up to 12. Add a fifth of Hennessy, light up a Newport and watch the roof explode."

I captured this video Steffanie performing, “What You Gonna Do” at a recent album preview party. And yes, that is me singing in the background! This is my jam! Steffanie is a chameleon. Never the same chick twice. Never!