If you want to know why I hate wearing bras, follow the link: Braless Wonder

All of the other girls got awards too and they were all very good sports, even Sheree, who received a little humble pie. Life is sweet, ain’t it?

I have people coming at me from every direction, texting, emailing, calling and even stopping by with their problems…and I am more than happy to help.

In fact, I feel it is my calling to inspire, help, and motivate others whenever possible. Hence the name, Diva Muse. I believe I am a positive Diva who inspires other Divas, the Diva of muses or a muse for Divas, if you will. Personally, I think both apply. And I really believe that their is a little bit of positive Diva in all of us as well as a little muse

But who inspires, who helps, who motivates the Diva Muse? For the most part…me. I motivate me. But I am also motivated by my fellow bloggers. Most of whom, don’t even have a clue of what they bring to my life.

I find that most people are not very good listeners. They think they are, but they really don’t know what it means to truly listen actively. They unload their whole life story on you and as soon as you open your mouth to speak about yourself, (you know, a mutual exchange) their eyes glaze over, they have to suddenly go somewhere, or they become extremely distracted.

There should be a rule, if you unload on someone, you should be equally open to being unloaded on for the same amount of time or you should have to give the person you’re unloading on, an IOU redeemable at some time in the near future, no matter how self involved you may happen to be, or how boring you think the person is. Trust me, habitual unloaders don’t have the most interesting lives and a lot of the things that they are in a tizzy about, they usually bring upon themselves. But I digress.

I know three people personally who are actually, genuinely good listeners. It comes naturally to them. My life-long friend, Youvet, another good friend I met about 13 years ago, Carla, and My adult bestfriend, Danyelle. I say their names here because I bet they rarely get any acknowledgment for how well they listen to others. I consider myself a good listener, but I am nowhere near as awesome as they are.

Youvet and Carla are the best listeners, attentive, and engaging. They give good advice when appropriate and they are not judgmental. I have learned over the years to not unload on them because with all of my pent up feelings and emotions and ideas, I don’t want to overwhelm them. I actually want to keep them as friends. And Danyelle and I always have so much to tell each other, we are literally exhausted by the time we are done talking. She lives in Germany now, so our conversations are very few and far between. Oh, and a fourth who is an emerging listener, my son. I must admit, I am not as good at listening to any of them as I should be. But at least I do make the effort.

Perhaps this is the reason I blog. I can write down what I want to say and anyone who chooses to read it, can. And those whose eyes glaze over don’t have to. Perhaps this is the reason most bloggers blog.

Perhaps we realize that often love comes easier from strangers than from those who claim to love us and claim to be there for us. Or perhaps bloggers just realize the intrinsic value of real two way communication. And here in the blogosphere, we can do that as much or as little as we want. Bloggers understand how important conversation really is, even if it is written.

This post was inspired by another post written by Ms.Pennylane on her Marmalade Skies Blog. She is an awesome blogger and even when I don’t hear from her, I know she is out there somewhere listening. Because afterall, that is what WE do.

Please visit her blog to read the post that inspired this one.
Pouring Your Heart Out To Strangers

Till Next Time,

A special thanks to my girl, Kristin for the heads up on the additional video.

And always, for more clips and Real Housewives of Atlanta tidbits, visit BravoTV.com
Keep it Bootylicious y’all!

This outfit, although a little different from what we are used to seeing Ms. Alicia wear, is pulled together and is a flattering choice for one of our favorite Bootylicious Divas. I think the cut and style of the dress could be adapted for almost any girl to wear and make her own. And I personally love the color.

To the sweetest Diva, Candy, thanks for featuring this interesting ensemble.

Kim Zolciak has proven indeed to be a complete mess on the Real Housewives of Atlanta show. She was apparently dating a married entrepreneur who has been her benefactor for some time. She dissed NeNe to become friends with Sheree. She embarks upon a singing career, except, she can’t really sing, and she and Lisa have a major disagreement which prompted her to seek legal counsel. And now Kim says that she has or had cancer.

See videos below, where Kim and Lisa and NeNe actually argue about the alleged cancer.

Rumors are flying around the internet that she has cancer, when in fact the rumor, the truth, or lie, if you ask Lisa was actually started by Kim herself.

There are no reports confirming whether Kim actually has cancer or not. If she doesn’t and is seeking sympathy,publicity or some other strange form of fame. “Shame on you, Kim!”

But really, would someone, even Kim lie about that? So if it is true, our prayers and thoughts are with you. And if you are really interested in getting better, perhaps you should remove yourself from all of the drama and focus solely on healing or staying in remission. Whichever the case may be.

I opened the bag and all of the air came out. And I could literally fold it in half.

When I looked inside of the bag. This was all that was in there. Just enough to piss me off.

The way I see it, the Frito-Lay people must be getting really stingy with their chips or someone is snacking on the job.
Either way, my feelings are hurt. I think someone owes me 54 1/2 cents or another half bag of Doritos.

Deshawn speaks in general about the show, the drama, and how people don’t seem to realize that the show is just a snapshot of their lives and not a full on biography.

Mara Davis asked very candid questions about, Kim, her singing, and her wig. And much to Deshawn’s credit, she was very gracious and informative and held any snarky comments in reserve. Kudos to you Deshawn! She did however tell Mara that Kim has been working on her album and that she has the single, Tightrope coming out in I do believe January. I am sure we all can’t wait.

In all, I actually enjoyed the interview with Deshawn. People haven’t really been nice to her in the comments. Having ugly things to say about her weight and other ugly things that I won’t repeat here because that is not how the Diva Muse rolls. She promises us that the drama does escalate and that the reunion show won’t disappoint. All I can say is, I can’t wait to see it.

Oh and I can’t believe it, but Kim actually had the nerve to say, while worshipping Sheree like she always does, that NeNe looks like a drag queen. I will so let you, my lovely readers draw your own conclusions on that.

Deshawn and her husband reminisce about the time when they didn’t have much. How they really had to rough it and then when they thought that they were really doing a little something, they went to Red Lobster. Haven’t we all done that? She acknowledges that he has an injury and that his career is ending and that they have been planning for the day to come when he doesn’t have basketball as his livelihood. Hopefully the fact that this COUPLE has a back-up plan will shut the critics up who keep asking what she is going to do now that her husband has no job. Deshawn understands that she has to cut down on her spending and she says she is okay with it. She hasn’t however, cooked in ten years. I wonder what she will do if she has to get rid of the chef?

OMG! Could it be? Is Kim having money problems. She was giving a list of things that her nanny needed to take back, Gucci, Chanel etc, when Dallas Austin called and basically told her in not so many words, that she needs to go to voice boot camp, quit smoking and get serious in order to get her voice up to par. She seems puzzled, but agrees, she promises her girls that she would quit smoking. The oldest daughter says that if Kim does quit, she will sleep in her own bed. Do the hits just keep on coming with Ms. Kim or what?

Lisa let Ed know that she is not happy about him returning to play football. She has issues with him being gone, and the possibility of him getting hurt. Ed tells Lisa that he will defintiely fly down and see her on his off days because being without her is just too hard. (The Diva Muse clutches her heart) Aww that’s so sweet!

Mychael Knight from project runway gives Sheree some straight talk about her fashion line. He told her that she needs to be less grand, and more hands on. He also told her that she needs to do the little things like, oh I don’t know, pick out her own fabric…you think?

Lisa has a dinner for all of the wives and their families so that the girls can come together and clear the air. There is visible tension between NeNe, Kim and Sheree. I am not understanding Kim’s dress, but the ladies keep complimenting her, so maybe it shows better in person. Lisa gets the ball rolling and tries to make the girls talk. Sheree makes her grand gesture about how she has grown and her eyes have been opened. NeNe talks about her history with all the girls and you can see the hurt in her eyes. And when Kim says her part, NeNe spills her feelings and tells Kim that she should have come to her and that it was really small of her to just end their friendship based on something that she heard. Kim acknowledges that she should have gone to NeNe in a sidebar. And then, Greg, NeNe’s husband diffused the whole situation, and spoke wonderful words of wisdom that seemed to make everybody feel good. NeNe and Kim agree to have drinks and talk to each other, just the two of them. I see what NeNe sees in Greg. Everyone jokes about him being so old, but he seems like a really good person. He let everybody at the table know that he loved them.
And everybody left with a warm, fuzzy feeling, living happily ever after…or did they?

The drama continues! Watch the videos below to see the extra Reunion Show Trailers. I guaranty they are off the chain, Honey!

I love hearing from you, please feel free to leave your comment, thoughts, feelings about the show.

I always wondered why advertisers and designers never showcase their fashions in a variety of sizes. It seems to me that it would be advertising genius to actually show the buying public how they could look in an outfit. Imagine, a fashion show that actually had different sized models with different body types and even different heights? How many women would actually buy the items that they see? I know I would. But instead, we usually have to visualize how the outfit on the model will look on us. I realize that it is easier to make everything one size. But if you want me to buy your clothes, then perhaps easier shouldn’t be your main goal.

One thing that the article stated that was extremely gratifying. When they did an experiment showing an ad with a size 8 model and then the same ad with a size 12 model, women 18-25 were much more pleased with the ad featuring the larger model and were much more inclined to buy. This is really amazing to me because the majority of the models out there doing the advertising are usually nowhere near a size 8.

I know that the fashion industry is not likely to change its practices any time soon. As long as the men who run this industry are interested in seeing women who look like prepubescent boys in the spotlight (which when you think about it is really kind of suspect) we will probably still have models who are too skinny to classify as a size at all. But, it gives us hope that someday, the people we pay to design our clothes will actually have the sense to keep us in mind when showcasing them.