i am fully aware that three out of my five posts on here mention or show wine – welcome to my world.

a book i would highly suggest you reading before the month is over is: we’re going to need more wine by gabrielle union.  now, i have been a fan of gabby’s since the 90s – i first saw her in “7th heaven” as one of mary (jessica biel’s) best friends and was just elated to see someone who looked like me on my favorite show.  i was then captivated by her role in “she’s all that” and by 2000, she was my movie idol after seeing her in “bring it on”, a cult classic.  as i have grown and matured, she has done the same.  most recently, i was impressed with seeing a different side of her in “being mary jane” – a show that truly captures what a working woman of color goes through both in and outside of work.  the show and her character, was so raw and real.  it made me wonder if that is how she was in real life – could she have some of these things in common with her character on “being mary jane”? – the answer is a definite yes.

i zipped through the 262 pages in less than 48 hours during a work week. there is a message to be found in this book for every single woman and an even deeper set of messages for a black woman such as myself.  i just counted how many of those blue post-its i tabbed the book with – there were 13!

whether gabby was discussing the first time she was called the n-word in elementary school by a classmate (something i am all too familiar with), the instances where she would put on an act as the “token black girl”, the way she unapologetically embraces her sexuality (along with not being afraid to ask for what she wants in the bedroom), diving into the touchier topics like the struggles darker skinned black women go through in finding an amazing black man to date – colorism is alive and fucking well in our community (we can talk about that in another post), or how to parent black boys (and the complicated, adult-like conversations that have to be had when raising a black boy) in today’s society; there is no subject she touched on that i could not relate to.

this book is the perfect one to read while curled up on your couch with a glass of wine and an even better book to discuss with your girlfriends.  get yourself a copy of the “we’re going to need more wine” here.