2020 has been a year unlike any other. We all got tested and tried and here we are - about to wrap up the year unsure of anything. There have been so many lessons that have brought me to where I am at today. I look back with naivete at the plans I had set for the year that was to be 2020. Oh how God laughs at our plans for he has something bigger, larger, greater than our little plans. In these situations, I always try and ask my self what that moment is trying to teach me. Sometimes I get the answers and sometimes, the answers show up unannounced. I have been receiving unannounced packages lately!

I look back at this year with so much gratitude despite everything that has happened.  There are times I really had it with this year. Times where my patience, fortitude, and perseverance was tried and tested. I came across a quote that moments that test you are the ones you need to learn from the most! Whewww…

For one, I started an in depth course at the Fashion Institute of Technology this January. FIT has been my dream school forever. To be taking classes and walking the hallways that Carolina Herrera, Nanette Lepore, Calvin Klein and many others walked on still makes me proud of this journey. I remember calling one of my bestie  Fuza this year with my anxiety up the roof. My nerves were all over the place and this was a few days before my birthday and literally a week away before my first day of class. Fuza had gotten back from a business trip in Hamburg and we had been talking about how Covid was in the States. I recall telling her while in Europe that I hope she makes it back on time before the borders closed. Fuza happened to land in New York, I happened to have a few days off so an impromptu Birthday trip was planned, off to Maryland we went. It became a memorable Birthday trip where we (Steph, Fuza, Flo and Val) ended up making visual boards of what we wanted this year to do for us. We laughed, played music, and downed several bottles of wine. I am grateful for lady friendships because this is the same circle of friends that has been with me all through this year.

School started and it’s still ongoing –  even amid a pandemic. Virtual classes are my new normal. I also moved out from the Upper Eastside to a charming brownstone apartment in Harlem. Five years since I moved to this city. We are HERE!

Harlem is one of those places that I have always been. I go there for drink, to party, my friends live in Harlem, it was only right. It’s safe to say my love affair with Harlem is on full display on my Instagram stories. I find myself taking long walks and capturing perfectly line brownstones, with potted plants on the steps. Harlem is the home of the Harlem renaissance and if you are familiar with the roaring 20’s. The black cultural Mecca. It birthed the Jazz age, writers, and artists. It’s safe to say, I am home!

I took these pictures with a backdrop that is currently home. A tripod is all I needed and my ever faithful iPhone because social distancing. I love how the paint is aging. It was probably once bright and vibrant but weathered through the years. The way 2020 has done to us. We will be left scared, stained, with remnants of what has happened as part of us this year. Crazy, that I had contemplated shutting down this lil corner of mine on the internets. Oh 2020!

It’s Christmas Eve today. I wish you and your loved ones a Happy and Healthy Christmas.

Thank you for being here. I appreciate you!