Isn’t she lovely?

The beaming bella you see above is my homegirl Andrea — brilliant blogger of Fly, creator of awesome natural hair You Tube videos, and now creator of unique art that you can proudly adorn your walls with.

These prints are available to you at Andrea’s online store for the I Love My Hair project! This all began as a project for her thesis class, as Andrea herself explains in this post.

I love learning about the artistic process, and Andrea remains a continual inspiration. Her prints range from $25 to $30, and would make a fabulous gift for any Afrobella in your life during this holiday season (don’tcha think?)

Click here to get yours!

I love what I do, and I love spreading the word about natural beauty! Recently I’ve had some awesome opportunities, and have been interviewed by and featured in some truly amazing ways online. Please allow me to share with you!

A while back I was contacted by the folks at WowOWow.com with a specific beauty question. What is the biggest beauty mistake the over-40-year-old woman makes?

I just turned 30, so my own style identity is evolving from twenty-something, I-still-see-clothes-I-like-in-the-juniors-section sneakers-and-jeans-to-every-occasion into something more toned down and true to my life experience. So how could I answer this question? I spoke to all the women in my life who are over 40, before formulating a response. Click here to read my answer. I think I did them all proud.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love clothes. I love shopping, I love pretty things and just because I am full figured doesn’t mean that I’m not a fashionista. So when the Silhouettes blog wanted to interview me about plus size fashion I was SO! EXCITED!

Click here to read my interview which is all about being plus sized my whole life, and the kinds of fashion that we women of size DESERVE.

The Silhouettes Style blog is written by the fabulous Sarah of StyleIt — she is giving me pure LIFE and so much fashion inspiration with her On the Plus Size feature. Two snaps in a circle for Sarah, and for Silhouettes!

As a strong believe in blog sister love, it was an honor and joy to interview Curly Nikki recently. And it was wonderful to be interviewed back! Curly Nikki recently featured yours truly on her blog, in an interview all about natural hair, my current favorite products, and what the future holds for me. Click here to read it, and click here to support Curly Nikki’s next big move — she’s blogging for Tyra, y’all!

Writing is my main avenue of expression, but of late I’ve been seriously missing being a contributor to radio programs. RIP News and Notes! There still isn’t another program that fills the void. Lately I’ve been lucky enough to participate in some awesome radio interviews.

It began with a special AOL Black Voices podcast on Good Hair. It was fascinating to hear our varied perspectives, and I look forward to participating in future AOL Black Voices podcasts!

The Good Hair discussion continued when I was asked to be on one of my favorite radio programs — Cocoa Mode with Shawna Renee. And even better, the other guest on the show was my girl Deanna Sutton from Clutch! It was a great show and I’m happy to be part of the extended Cocoa Mode family. Call me anytime, Shawna!

And just last night I was honored to be a guest on Womanist Musings on Blog Talk Radio. Wanna hear the show? Click here to listen to the broadcast, which featured myself, the bloggers of Womanist Musings, and professional stylist Shaha, who blogs at Natty Locs by Shaha. Show these bellas some love!

2009 has been a brilliant and blessed year. I can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

If you visited Newsweek.com’s Human Condition blog today, you may have been greeted by this beautiful photo of two bright eyed, big haired girls. Those adorable little afrobellas are my nieces. Dominique and Isabella! And the article was my response to the latest rebuttal by Allison Samuels.

Hey response to the bloggers, if you will, was titled We Are All Team Zahara, and reignited ire throughout the blogosphere.

One of my favorite bloggers, Latoya Peterson tackled the Baby Z hair police head on in Jezebel. (LOVING all Latoya’s work over there, BTW).

Post Bourgie cosigned Latoya’s take, and Ta-Nehisi Coates took on the topic for The Atlantic.

Then Newsweek invited some bloggers to respond on their site.

Tami of What Tami Said wrote Natural Hair Is Not Unhealthy.

Author Roslyn Holcolmb who blogs at Stormcrow wrote Hair Don’ts Hold Us Back.

Nichelle of 55 Secret Street wrote Its Time To Fully Embrace Natural Hair.

And now you can click here to read my final thoughts about Zahara’s hair. If you could leave a comment on Newsweek’s site, it’d mean so much to me!

I hope that puts an end to these shenanigans, at least until the next trip to a toy store, where this little girl will emerge held by her mother, and surrounded by bodyguards, gawking onlookers, and photographers by the dozen.

If you’ve got a little girl in your life dealing with similar hair issues as Zahara Jolie Pitt and even Chris Rock’s little girls — struggling with loving their hair in its unfettered state and appreciating their natural beauty — you might want to get them an inspiring book for Christmas. Of course there’s I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, the sometimes controversial Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron, and Happy to Be Nappy by bell hooks. Now you can add I Love My Cotton Candy Hair by Nicole L. Updegraff to the list. The book takes into account the diverse background of a modern interracial family, the hair issues of biracial kids, and ultimately it’s “a story about loving yourself just the way you are.” A message any kid (and most adults) should be able to get behind.

This coming weekend in Chicago, the weather may be chilly but I’ve got a hot party for you to come to!

Bellas, if you’re in Chitown – please come out to the Drugstore Diva Blogger Mixer on Saturday October 10. From 7 to 9:30 p.m., I’ll be sipping cocktails and boogying down alongside my bellas in the blogosphere Lianne the Makeup Girl and Erin Scandalous!

It’s an after party for the prestigious Makeup Show Artists’ Summit. Come on out to the J Bar at the James Hotel Saturday night to hang out with some of your fave beauty bloggers and some of the hottest makeup artists in the biz. — and PLEASE come on up to me and say hello! I’d love to meet you!!

After my exciting evening at the tents and tour of the city via pedicab, I was exhausted. But I had to get my butt in gear for the next day. I had a trek out to Brooklyn in store!

I ended Day 2 with a delicious Indian dinner in the Village with my best friend Jenny. Day 3, we got out early and had breakfast at the Waverly Restaurant, as classic a New York diner as you could want. Bagel all the way? Yes please.

After that I strolled along Sixth Avenue and stumbled across a sneaker store on 6th and Washington — the sign looks like this and I got a sick pair of silver high top Adidas for $35! And I NEEDED them because my feet were absolutely killing me pounding the pavement all over NYC. And I was in flats! Even flats can hurt, especially if they’re trying to be cute flats. Those sneaks were just what the podiatrist would have ordered.

After that I took the subway to Brooklyn — for the first time, by myself. Dun dun dunnnn! But it was generally an uneventful journey, and a friendly Brooklyn native set me straight on my path once I got off the train. On my way to Redress NYC!

I think every full figured fashionista owes herself at least one visit out to this crazy, wonderful, only in NYC boutique. Redress makes for a welcoming, kitschy, edgy, unconventional, great shopping experience. Customers are encouraged to share dressing rooms (which are named after full figured celebs like Mama Cass and Nell Carter). Clothes are arranged by type and size, and I found some excellent items on the dress rack in my size, and much, much larger. There are pants and jackets and shoes and skirts and on this special trunk show day, original garments and inspired remixes by designers from around the country. The crowd was extremely diverse in terms of sizes, ethnicity, sexual orientation, hair color… it was funky and fun and I was loving it! I must’ve tried on twelve dresses and four jackets before I settled on three must-have items — a chic long sleeved black minidress from Silhouettes that will last and look cute into the winter months, a cute peasant style embroidered blouse by Abby Z that is SO up my bohemian alley and I know I’ll wear season after season, and this adorable hooded pinstriped denim dress by Size Queen Clothing. So funky, so cute, so comfortable! LOVE it!

Then there was a fashion show by the designers, which can only be described as very bold.

Read the rest of this entry »

Confession time: every year I have a moment where I feel internal crisis.

I can’t help it – I’m a worrier, not a warrior.

Every year there comes a time (maybe more than one time), when I wonder:

Am I doing the best that I can?
Is my blog still as interesting to other people as it is to me?
Have I fallen off? How can I get back up?
When am I gonna get my life together and write this frickin book already?

Black Weblog Awards Winner - Best Culture Blog

And then the Black Weblog Awards comes around and reassures me – you’re doing alright, Patrice. Maybe better than you thought (but you really need to work on that frickin book)!

This year I was so honored to be nominated, but I honestly didn’t expect to win. So I want to extend my sincere love and gratitude to all of you who took the time out to vote for me. Best Culture Blog THREE years in a row? I must be doing something right.

And I promise you this – Afrobella will only get better!

Some of my friends in the blogosphere won as well, so congratulations and respect to My Brown Baby, Naked With Socks On, Kid Fury, Gangstarr Girl, Mane and Chic, The Fashion Bomb, Black Snob, and Luvvie of Awesomely Luvvie! E hugs all around!