NOLA

I'm in New Orleans (until tomorrow, anyway) for the Essence Music Festival. It's been quite a time. I think I have red beans and rice coming out of my ears. And the bread pudding?! Oh my my. I guess I'm going to have to be extra good when I get back to Sweet Home, Alabama.

Traveling tells you a lot about yourself, I think. I'm a pretty laid-back, go with the flow type person in general, but I get a little type A in traveling. I think it goes back to traveling abroad in college. That was the first time I'd ever been anywhere (significant) when the planning was all up to me. I remember obsessing about the best way to get from London's Gatwick Airport to the University of Kent in Canterbury. It was not rocket science but, at nineteen, I was so afraid of being a lost black girl in a foreign country. I figured there'd be no team looking for my behind if I disappeared. Or maybe I'm just an anal control freak. I think it's a lot of the former and a large pinch of the latter.

But, back to the Essence Festival. The music was pretty fabulous. I came to see Jill Scott, but all the other acts last night--Musiq Soulchild, LL Cool J, and the incomparable Miss Patti LaBelle--were all wonderful. I mean, LL looks better now than he ever did. He was just, oh my! The stuff at the convention center seemed a little haphazard (I missed Bill Cosby talking about pound cake and so on because there were no itineraries online. Hmph), but, overall it's been a good experience. I'm hoping that my boy Maxwell will grace us with his presence next year, cause I'll be back!