Turnt Up at the Essence Music Festival

Hey Beautiful People,

Get comfortable this Blog is going to be straight Comedy!

The 19^th Annual Essence Music Festival in New Orleans
from the SingleNFabulous perspective!

(smiley face with a wink)



I don't even know where to start...let me stop lying...YES I DO....it all began on Thursday morning, 4th of July, 2013…

First of all, my ass over slept, smh...my flight was leaving at 9:30am and I was supposed to be up at 6:30am. Needless to say that didn't happen (you guys know I don't do mornings)!  My twin sis had to wake me up to get my butt to LAX right on time! I got through TSA without any issues and I arrived at my departure gate with plenty of time to spare to get coffee and a cinnamon roll.

New Orleans ain't ready for US!

My partner in crime this year to accompany me in my Essence Music Festival shenanigans was "the one and only Timika!" I roll with a small clique because I just find it's much easier to manage and for the most part two people are more likely to be on the same page versus multiple people, personalities and opinions. Did I mention I don’t like a whole lot of people… lol, yeah that’s just ME!

Okay, let me get the formalities out of the way - Overall the weather was warm and humid (not too hot) with random bursts of thunderstorms...don't ask...it's New Orleans which is notorious for unpredictable weather! Thank goodness I checked the forecast before I left LA and was semi-prepared and packed my mini-size umbrella. It didn't help that I left it in the hotel room on the first night it rained, Lol.

Every day I was meeting someone new...which was the best part of the trip. I had my Foxy "Sandy" Brown Curly Weave in and I couldn't keep 'em off me, LMAO. Truthfully I don't know what color my damn hair is as my hair stylist refuses to tell me, well...she may have hinted at it being honey blonde...but idk. I just know she makes me look HOTT every time I walk out the shop!

I splurged a little and got some eyelash extensions at this beauty spa in the South Bay Area specifically for this trip and they came out pretty cool as they looked really natural. It was a good investment and much better than going to the Nail shop and dealing with those amateurs!

My daytime outfits were on point. At first I thought I over-packed but I wore all my dresses and then thought that I should've had 1 or 2 more back-up outfits in case of a wardrobe malfunction...but everything worked itself out. Except, I didn't get to rock my night time Thick Chick clubbin outfits like I thought I would (sad face).

Thursday evening we arrived in New Orleans with no problem. We saw Mary Mary with their husbands and Chef Roble in the airport waiting on car service (must be nice)! We rode the Airport Shuttle to the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel and quickly checked into our room. I think this hotel is a pretty cool spot for the festival as it sits on the corner of Bourbon and Canal. The "front door" gives you access to the various shopping stores on Canal Street (Footlocker, Nine West Outlet, CVS etc.) and you can visit the lounge bars in the other hotels on the block. The "side door" gives you access to Bourbon Street and all the ratchet activities for the night. Once you go down Bourbon Street be prepared as you are entering the "dark side," Lol (that's a good thing)!

@The Infamous Razzoo's

The Essence Music Festival Adventures of SingleNFabulous went from Thursday to Monday so naturally we walked Bourbon Street and visited the infamous Razzoo Club and Patio several times!
What I can tell you is this...when going to these two places make sure you go early (once at night and once in the daytime) before everyone comes into town on Friday or Saturday. I had fun but as more people came to town the crazier it got and the harder it was to function at either one of these two hot spots! Me and Timi had to check to see if we were pregnant (after being felt up so many times) LOL. We had to squeeze through a sea of men from the front entrance of the club to reach the back patio. Now don't get me wrong it was to be expected but as mentioned before it becomes more and more difficult to have a good time when there are extremely too many people in one spot!

Weekend Highlights –

It’s mandatory that you mix and mingle at the W Hotel in their upstairs bar & lounge. All you need is a DJ on the 1s and 2s and an abundance of handsome men buying drinks! You can go to the W in the daytime or at night time and they will always get it crackin!



Rockin our All White Gear!

We then made our way to the 15th Annual All White Party at Metropolitan Nightclub "Cause We Like to Partaaaaaaaaaaaay!" Just our luck...we met some cool women that got us past the wait in line and went straight to the upstairs VIP section. General Admission was a zoo but it was still FUN to socialize with everyone. The comedian Kevin Hart made an appearance to get the party Turnt Up!(he's the little man in the middle with a black shirt and sunglasses on - right below, lol). It was a very big venue and able to accommodate a lot of people. If you got there too late you were "assed out" - No Entry for You!

 

Kevin Hart in the Building!

After shutting down the white party we finally made it to our Friday Night Concert at the Mercedes Benz Louisiana Superdome. The artist line-up was great and consisted of Brandy, LL Cool J, Jill Scott and Maxwell. We were on CP time and the impromptu rainstorm earlier in the day prevented us from arriving on time to see Brandy perform. I've seen Jill Scott and Maxwell in concert several times. I really just wanted to see LL Cool J since he is a Rap ICON and I've never seen him in concert before. I was very happy when I found out one of my favorite soul singer's Anthony David was performing in one of the Super Lounges so I was able to get away and groove with him in between the main stage acts.

Concert Floor Seats @ The Superdome

Essence is always packed with so many cool people from The East Coast, West Coast, Dirty South and Midwest. I had plenty of girl friends that were going to be in New Orleans doing their thing and I knew we were bound to run into each other. Shout out - Although I didn't get to see my friend April and her husband (and we were staying in the same hotel)...I did run into my girl Kashawndra and her friends at Mother's restaurant! I also ran into my friend Tamanika in front of the Astor Crowne on the last day of activities.



Oh I almost forgot....me and Timi made a new friend...Miss Jamala from Oakland. We met her by accident while waiting on a taxi and ended up hanging out together. You know I don’t like random people… lmao, but she was a cool girl so I guess it was meant to be! I have to say that girl is a "pro" at taking "selfies" with her camera phone, Lol.

 

Me and Jamala

 The BEST part of the trip -
(in my Salt n Pepa voice)

"What's my weakness?... MEN!"

 

For whatever reason we met a lot of guys hailing from the East Coast and they were real Cool ! However, the one downfall was that they were very "clingy". Okay let me break it down...
At the Essence Festival EVERYONE is Single, Lol. But you have to be careful because men have their own agenda and women have theirs too. Unfortunately there are several "married men" and "single desperate men" looking to hook up!! Then you have my dilemma...the single men looking to "wife you up after meeting you in one night" Really??

This is the Essence Festival!!!!!

The main purpose is to meet new people and have a good time...not to make any "love connections" unless they live in the same area as you or you are willing to commit to a long distance relationship. I just kept attracting the clingy men that wanted to kick it "alllllll the tiiiiiiiiiiime" and of course those were the ones I wasn't interested in. I had to tell them "Sheda is a Free Agent" and then try to figure out who was worthy of my time! Believe me this only happens at Essence...me being torn between so many men. Now I'm not complaining...I'm just saying (smiley face)! Consequently...I can't get not one man to fight over my time or affection in L.A., that's a damn shame!

HOWEVER, there was this one guy I saw "sitting alone" in IHOP who was simply Gorgeous...he had so much New York Swag I just couldn't resist. He was at least 6 feet tall, ripped arms, New York Knicks hat on with a basketball Jersey reppin Brooklyn. I just had to meet him!! Timi had my back and we were formulating a plan on how she was going to approach him so she could introduce me to him...because I couldn't bring myself to do it on my own. Timi was ready to make it happen but in just a short amount of time his food came to the table and I just knew it would be rude to try and talk to him at that point. So of course I became discouraged ...but I just couldn’t let it go. So I had to get creative and I decided to take matters into my own hands. I asked the hostess for a pen and paper and wrote him a note explaining that I didn't want to be rude and interrupt his breakfast but if he was interested in hanging out during the Essence Festival weekend I gave him my phone number and told him to call me. I went to his table, introduced myself, slid the piece of paper to him, he greeted me and I left. It was out of my hands at that point.

Loungin

In 5-10 min. flat I received a text message from him (damn I'm good, Lol). I found out he was in the service and stationed in Germany. He was on vacation and meeting his boys at the Essence Festival who were flying in later on that night. In addition, he expressed interest in meeting up later to hang out with me. Long story short I had several different opportunities to hang out with him over the weekend...no clingy shit...just a real cool vibe. I learned all kinds of interesting things about him. He's a younga man (early 30's), he has a great personality, a good sense of humor, a good paying job/career in the service, he loves R&B and Hip Hop music and he's just a well-rounded person with a 6 pack of ABS to die for...and how do I know this you ask??...He had his shirt off when we were sitting by the hotel pool having a conversation (get your mind out of the gutta, lmao)!!! Oh did I mention he was WHITE!!!!! Yeah pick your jaw up off the floor...that was one Fine Ass white boy!

I tell you Fab Followers “I don't discriminate” I just need my MATE to be my best friend and It's All Good. Too bad this one has to go back to Germany. I feel like playing my favorite song (on repeat) "You Can't Win" by Michael Jackson off The Wiz Soundtrack (sad face).  I met plenty of guys this past weekend but this was the only one that I made a cool connection with and of course he has to be stationed in another country... talk about Long Distance!

Well Essence was FUN but it's over now and I must return to the Real World!

I had a great time, enjoyed great company, ate some great food and partied my bougie butt off !!! If you haven't attended the Essence Music Festival

you need to plan to go at least once...Mandatory!!

I can honestly say this experience alone gives me Faith that there are A few good men left…but is possible my soul mate may not reside in Cali...

Looks like I need to get out and travel some more.

Timika says we need to go to Aruba next…Sounds like a Plan!!!

Stay Tuned...The Adventures of SingleNFabulous must continue since there were

No Love Connections in New Orleans (sad face)!
Smooches