Pure Poison

One day, this feeling suddenly took over me. I was running out of fragrance and I felt that I needed to get a few, not just one. I still had a gift card from a cosmetic store but they didn't have the perfume I wanted. I wanted Christian Dior Hypnotic Poison. I have always loved it but have been stingy to spend $100-$120 on it. I had enough money in my gift card but they didn't have the perfume I wanted and having had the gift card for almost two years, I didn't want to settle. One day, I went on their website and saw that they had the perfume. I couldn't believe it! I immediately tried to buy it but alas! The card was only for in store purchases! I then went to The Beverly Centre, seeing that they finally had the size I wanted online, to buy it there. They  had always had Hypnotic Poison just not the big bottle. Why spend $75 on a 50ml (1.7oz), when you can get double that size for 100 bucks? Plus I never buy small bottles of fragrance. 100ml (3.oz) or nothing! 

Unfortunately, they didn't have the bigger size in the store. They lady tried to do the same thing they have always done when I have gone to look for this darn perfume, check in the back, and in other stores. I was like, lady, if you don't have it here and have never seen the big bottle since you've worked here, nobody will have it. I have been to more of this store than you can imagine, mainly just collecting free samples of perfumes I am too stingy to buy. Tacky, I know! I like Hermes perfumes, the ones in round bottles, Eau des Merveilles, check it out if you haven't and let me know what you thing. My favorite is the one with gold around it. So good! I have had both samples of my favorite Hermes and Hypnotic poison, Poison lasts longer and smells better on me. Just as well cos that's my favorite! 

I called the store and asked them what if I bought the perfume with my own money online, returned it and then bought it with my in store card, would they let me. They told me they couldn't say no if what I wanted was in the store. Perfect! I went online to buy the perfume and SOLD OUT was all I could see across the big bottle I so desperately wanted. So close but so far! Becasue I wanted to get  myself a few perfumes, I thought of all time faves, that I had always used back in Africa and decided to revisit them. I bought Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman online. It arrived in no time, thankfully! The one I used to buy back in the day used to have a purple-ish side. I noticed that this one didn't.

Elizabeth Arden Provocative Woman

While waiting for the Provocative Woman, I went to the mall and bought my other all time favorite. Also by Elizabeth Arden: Red Door. This will never get old with me. I just love this old lady's perfume so much! It makes my heart smile! I got a nice deal on this one! I couldn't believe how cheap it was. The bottle is also different to the one I'm used to but I had already read reviews online and saw that people were happy with it, so I didn't think it was going to smell differently because of the new and improved bottle. Plus I love the new bottle. It's fancier.

As luck would have it, I went to Calvin's for the weekend, I told him the story of my unrequited love with Hypnotic Poison. We went to the mall one day before a day at the beach and guess what? He bought me the perfume! I walked out of that mall with a pep in my step, I was so happy! He really made my day! He was surprised how happy I was about that. Keep buying me stuff and you will be amazed at how happy I can be! Haha!

He wanted to buy himself a pair of Jordan's while at the mall, we found a pair we both liked for him and the lady took more than five minutes in the back looking for the mate. It was the last pair. Calvin is nothing if not impatient. I am amazed at how he can wait for me without saying a word while I get ready, way after he is already ready to walk out the door, but cannot wait more than a few seconds for anything or anyone else. We left the store without the Nike Jordans. They were Black with a little bit of red and white sole. Hi tops. 

One weekend, while at Calv's we went to Pasadena to play Shuffleboard, I game I had never heard of before. I enjoyed it. Calvin wants to buy one and put it in his office/spare bedroom. I would buy him one and surprise him if it weren't $700.

Me, playing shuffleboard in Pasadena

I don't know if I told you this but Calvin's dad is such an amazing cook! I guess Calvin takes after him. He is always making something. Calvin's fam live close by so when his dad makes something, he will call and find out if Cal and I want some and bring us some or Cal will go get it. It's a very small town type of lifestyle, in the middle of a big city like LA,  I like it, in a way. Cal's dad makes things from scratch people don't make from scratch. He also cooks things like sauerkraut. I don't know anyone who makes sauerkraut. It's awesome. I feel really special when he sends over two plates, one for Cal and one for me. Wouldn't you? Cal's dad is cool people, he comes over, hangs for a little, not too much, just enough. He likes to joke around, he has a silly side. We all call him by his first name. By we, I mean Calvin's friends and I.

The first bouquet of flowers I got from Cal. He bought them for me just cos

I loved the flowers, they look wild, it's a very interesting combination. I'm into it! 

Later,Cal picked some from his front yard and added to the combination, it was interesting. He has the nicest smelling pink roses in his yard. He usually picks one or two and put them in an old vase he got from his late grandma and put them on the dining table. I like that, it's so romantic!

I always take a moment and stop to smell the roses. 

FAB Life

One week, I was in Beverly Hills minding my own business, Calvin called, he asked what I was doing that evening. I didn't have any plans, other than, watch reality TV, as usual, before bed. He asked to take me to dinner in his neck of the woods. I was down! I love spontaneous stuff like that! I got ready and headed to the east side. We drove to a couple of his favorite sushi spots, they were closed already. It was late but not too late. We found one spot that was open, a nice sushi place, big with two levels. There was only one other couple there and us.


They sat us at a nice table, facing the counter where they prepare the sushi.The entire set up was cool, the lighting was dim and the tables were big with parts where you can cook your own food. There must be names for that kind of stuff, I don't know what they are called. Feel free to leave me a comment with the name. Calvin loves sushi, I am not a big fan of cold foods. I am becoming more and more my mother's child. She always would complain how a real meal to her is a cooked meal. I get it now. I try to keep an open mind though, you don't want to miss out just because you are you mother's child. I told Calvin, as I always had to order whatever he things is going to be great and I will love it. He had always ordered my food, he knows way more about different cuisines than I do. I always tell him what I feel like, which is usually meat, and he would order something amazing for me. I hardly ever order chicken because I eat a lot of that at home.


Calvin ordered eel sushi, I had never had that kind before. I had previously seen an eel in an aquarium, when we went on our fishing trip. We took pictures and videos, I will upload them for you when I have a minute. It was interesting how we were now eating poor eel, awwww :( It was good though, probably the best sushi I have ever eaten! Plus it was kinda warm. We had three different kinds of sushi that night and scallops. We also had desert, regular and green tee cremebrulee. Everything was just so delicious. I was in cloud nine, sitting in this dimly lit restaurant with a guy  I adore and eating this uber delicious food. What planet am I in? It was awesome! After dinner, we headed back to his place and hung out for about another hour, then I headed back to my place. We both had work the following day. I must have arrived home at midnight but it was all so worth it. I drove home thinking, what just happened? Is this real life? I was having the time of my life! I was in an awesome mood! The stars were aligned!


Speaking of star alignment, one day, I was outside Culver Studios, waiting to go to the FABLife, the new show hosted by Tyra Banks. Now, Tyra, is my girl! She's my crazy sister from another mother! I was super psyched to be going to her show, I used to watch her previous talk show religiously, and am a fan of Top Model. There's another show she did, Inside Beauty, where she teamed up with my celebrity crus, Ashton Kutcher, I watched that too. Anyway, I went to bed excited the previous night knowing I was finally going to see my girl in person. Sadly, they had too many people and I didn't make the cut. Boo hoo! If I can only get the opportunity to go again!


I remember going through my Instagram and seeing posts I might be interested in according to whoever from Insta, I checked them. One of them was John Legend's wife Chrissy Teigen, one of FABLife co-hosts. One of her recent posts, back then was of John Legend, naked. It was of his behind, what's the opposite of full frontal? Anyway, I thought it was distasteful, but for each his own. I just didn't see John as that kind of guy, you know? Someone who posts nude pictures of himself? Anyways, two days or so after seeing that picture, I got another chance to go to FABLife, Yass! You know  I was hella early that time! I wasn't going to miss seeing Tyra for sht! When They let me go in, I had the biggest smile you can ever see on a person in line! I was about to see Ty Ty, whoot! I was next to a friend of mine that  I met at one of the shows in Manhattan Beach studios. We had good times, the show we were at was 8-9 hours long, I mean, the finished product was probably going to be an hour but filming took the entire day. Which meant we had enough time to bond. We talked a lot about the Law of Attraction and what we had manifested into our lives through it. It was a nice day. I also saw a girl I had worked with previously in a sitcom, she recognized me and showed me the episode we did. I had great camera time in that episode because I interacted with the principal actors. It was a great day. I will pot a clip as soon as I find it again. Anyway, I digress. The girl from the 8 hr show and I always touch on the law of attraction when we see each other, which is very seldom. We were both in high spirits that day, at least I was. They sat us next to each other, thankfully.She's a former model, gorgeous girl! She dated all kinds of Hollywood people, some of her exes who are not Hollywood, dated supermodels, very interesting life!


The audience warm up guy, who I adore,made some jokes, we laughed and had a fun time before filming began. He asked if anyone wanted to perform. I offered to sing. First, I asked what I was getting, I just wanted a memento from the Tyra Banks show! He had FABLife T-shirts. It doesn't matter if you're good or not, if you're willing to put yourself out there, your ass is getting a t-shirt. I went to the stage and sang an African Song with a hell of a lot of clicks and got me a T-shirt. The day was going my way already! The t-shirt he gave me was a medium, you know I am no medium! I was lucky a bunch of girls behind us had been crazy like me, they got t-shirts for that reason. They gave me standing ovation and bowed down and called me Queen when I walked past them to my seat. They were too sweet to do that. Anyway, a friend of mine, who had also sang for a t-shirt,  asked what size shirt I got. I thought that was perfect, I had an M, she had a L, I was like, great! Let's swap! She suddenly had a change of mind. Not that he large was going to fit anyway but it was better than a medium. She was like, 'oh, no! What if it's too small' Girl Bye! I don't want to even want to have the energy to discuss that nonsense. I was too excited about seeing Tyra. My peeps from behind us, were like, 'Queen, what size t-shirt do you want?' I told them an XL or bigger. There were 4 of them, one of them had an XL, they gladly gave it to me. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I was so touched by the kindness more than anything else. I told the girl,'I love you! Do you wanna get married of something!' Ok, I may have gone overboard! But you would be too if you knew Tyra was about to walk out the door, sht! The lady surprised me with her answer to my marriage proposal, She was like, 'Uhm, I have a girlfriend. Well, she's out of town, so I guess, sure! Yeah, I'll marry you!' LMAO. Best response ever! Not only did I get the right size t-shirt, I left the show engaged that day. To a woman!
Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Tyra Banks!  She said her few lines, then the double doors opened and she came out, looking as fine as ever!
Here I am at FABLife, guess, who the guest was? John freaking Legend! Now, how do I look at this guy without totally imagining his butt crack? It was hard! That's what she said! Haha! I had seen John previously in person, not that close! I went to his concert in Johannesburg forever ago. Anyway, It was a nice episode where they had a chef named John and John Legend. They both made deep fried chicken. The hosts all tasted it, I tell yeah, my girl Tyra loves the hell out of chicken wings, she kept going back for some more! The hosts had to decide which John was the winner. In case, you want to watch the episode, I won't tell you who won.


After the show, they have audience go down to dance with the hosts. I was like fck it, excuse me! Excuse me! Sorry, excuse me, pardon me! I was going to the stage! I needed to get close to Ms Tyra! And I did! I was so excited, I think she may have felt my energy, I was doing my 1980's signature dance moves, not a care in the world! At one point, I turned 360 degrees and then Tyra and I locked eyes! That moment right there was one of my favorite moments in life! I tell yeah, small miracles! Tyra's eyes are gorgeous, you know she has those light colored eyes, they looked charcoal grey that day from the smokey eye make up she had on. After the show, I ran back to my seat as the ushers were ushering us out the studio. My friend was like, 'girl! Tyra looked at you!' I? was like, you saw that? I'm glad I have a witness!


It was a great day!

Blowjob Anyone?

So, in the beginning of time! When Calvin and I parted after our first date, he sent me a text about how all the way home, he had the song, 'Something tells me I'm into something good" stuck in his head. As soon as I heard that, I went to my iTunes and looked for that song. I found it and top rated it AND added it to my iPod. I played it one day at his place from the iPod.

In our first few weeks of dating, Calvin got a job offer from NASA as in (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). Not as an astronaut! He called me one afternoon and told me that he decided against that job,  he has been at his current job, working for government for five years and likes the people he works with. Calvin told me that he was sad that he was no longer going to have a NASA t-shirt. That was the one thing he was definitely looking forward to. I remember asking him why he didn't just ask them to send it to her considering they had already ordered one for him.

After that conversation, I decided to go online and look up NASA T-shirts. I wanted to get Cal one in his favorite color: green or red. I didn't see any that I like in those colors, plus I had already seen that he had t-shirts in those colors. I also saw that they had those T-Shirts at Target. Target is a mile away from my house, versus ordering it online and having to wait for them to ship it to me. On my way to Cal's one weekend, I went to Target, got him one of those NASA T-shirts and a giant packet of mixed Pistachios and Cashews, both his favorite nuts. I was lucky to find that kind of a mix. The pistachios were already de-shelled, thank goodness. You don't want to get someone something that they have to work so hard at.

I was so excited driving to Cal's. I took the t-shirt out first, told him that I felt bad that he was no longer going to be able to rock a NASA t-shirt, so here we are! His very own! He was so happy! He told me that he never expected me to get him anything. Then I told him that I didn't know if he was going to like the t-shirt or not, so as backup, I  got him 'there'! I took out the big thing of nuts. He was so excited! He told me that he didn't even know that they they sell de-shelled pistachios. Score!

After all that fuzziness, we headed out to Manhattan beach. I had jokingly told Cal one day, when he mentioned fishing, that  I had never been and would give him head if he took me fishing. He was like whoa! Anyway, we started off at the shopping centre, bought a few things for our fishing trip. Blow Job anyone?

It was a nice drive out there, more than an hour. Hot as heck! We must have driven around for  minutes looking for parking. I would have totally left but Cal was determined. We finally parked and walked towards the beach. I was looking forward to my first fishing experience. We weren't there for long, we stood on the pier, Calvin taught me how to bait and throw the rod, whatever the correct terminology is. We must have been there for 45 minutes or so, then we made our way towards the water. I sat and too videos while Calv skim boarded. I had never heard of skim boarding until I met Calvin. He's not bad at it too! I really enjoy watching him in his own element.

I took a few pictures of him and some videos, of course this random lady walked towards him and started up a conversation about skim boarding. Apparently, she was there with her son who was into skim boarding as well. I just watched from a distance, Calvin called me and asked me to bring his stuff, he offered the lady's some something to put on the board to prevent slipping off. After that, the lady and I ended up standing and chatting. She asked me a lot of questions about Calvin and I. Apparently, she was on vacation from the east coast, blah blah blah.

After all those shenanigans, we headed to the car, paid for more parking and found a seafood restaurant. It was an expensive one! Right by the sea! We had Oysters and Crabs and something else. By then, it was late. We made our way back to Cal's. It was late, I was pooped as I always was after spending a day with Calvin. He is very energetic, I am a home-buddy, so one of us (pointing at self), always gets exhausted after spending a day out. Calvin is a great cook and barbecuer, he would always make something delish for me to eat, usually something I had never had before. I am always game for that kinda stuff!

One afternoon, we were at Calvin's just chilling, I think I had spent the night there, it was the following day, Sunday. I mentioned that I would love to see Calvin Climb a tree, that's one of his plethora of hobbies. He was like, 'let's go right now!' We loaded the truck and headed out. I was like f*ck yeah, let's do it! We went to the park, Cal suited up and got on that tree. It was a beautiful thing seeing him climb that tall ass, big ass tree like that. People around the park were watching too. It was pretty awesome.

That afternoon, we went back to his house, got into bed and just napped like the old people that we are. Not before we went to the store and got some snacks though. At the risk of sounding corny, we were spooning, I am the small spoon. In my past experience in South Africa, when you meet a guy, he asks for your number and you give it to him, then you're basically a couple. He better not be seen with someone else. Here, in the States, things are different. There's talking, just talking to someone without any labels, then there's dating, then, you can stay dating, or be friends with benefits or you can have 'the talk' and become exclusive, all these stages can make it fun if you're with the right person, who also wants what you do. While spooning, Calvin was like, Brook, I want you to be my girlfriend! It was the best thing I had heard in a very long time. Not only did I feel so American in that moment, I also felt like this guy and I were on the same page. He might just be that guy that I had wanted all this time, that guy that I hoped he would be.

I said yes!

Terrible Twos

My sister Pumla was about to come on vacation to The US. I was psyched! It was going to be my first time seeing a family member in person since moving to The US. The trip was meant to be to the East Coast but she was working on coming to the west coast as well. I crossed my fingers so hard, my entire hands fell asleep! She has been to Connecticut, Chicago and New York. It would be her first time in the West Coast.

Whenever I would see something fun, I would make a mental not to do it with her. She was planning on being here for a week to ten days. I told her we should try to go to Vegas during those days. I mean, only five hour drive, of course we could do it! Even if we were going to spend a day or two, Vegas isn't big anyways! I secretly had my own plans. She had always wanted to visit San Francisco. My plan was, if she's gonna be here for  days, we're going to San Francisco! It was going to be the trip of a lifetime! I was so excited! 

One weekend, Calvin and I had plans, I took the bus to meet him downtown because we were going to go to the beach thereafter, we didn't want to drive in two cars. I didn't mind taking the bus. The only thing better would have been for Calvin to pick me up but  I didn't want to be divalicious. It worked out because I called my sister while on the bus to check where she was. She had just arrived in New York! I was so psyched to hear it! Knowing she was so close to me, made me feel that much closer to her in so many ways. It was a great way to start my day! She told me about her fight and everything. She was staying right in Times Square. I had flashbacks of my first time in Times Square in . One of my favorite moments ever! We talked until I arrived downtown. After that, I was bouncing off the walls with excitement. Calvin told me he was going to meet me at the bus stop. Which was nice. I told him when I was close, he circled the bus stop until I arrived. I hopped off the bus and on his car as quickly as possible as there is never street parking Downtown LA. Calvin looked so cute, he had a nice navy and white Hawaiian shirt on. Not those in your face ones, a nice and calm one, thank goodness! You know, he loves Hawaii, I could only imagine how many more were where that came from. Anyway, the color of the shirt brought out the color of his eyes. Also, he had the right size shorts on haha, that made him look even taller than he already is. He has some giant clothes that Calvin! Some of his pants fit me and the guy is slim. You know me, I'm the furthest thing from slim!

We went to a Japanese festival type gig in Little Tokyo, Downtown LA. Very close to Carly's. She and I have been to Little Tokyo together. We found a parking garage, left the car there and walked to the Japanese thing. We had a few Japanese snacks in the square, watched an eating competition and then went inside to check out the bonsais.

Bonsai at the Japanese American Cultural Center

They were all so beautiful. They looked picturesque. I enjoyed the show. Calvin has a collection of his own, so he talked to the people more about bonsaing, I on the other hand was just waiting on the sidelines because I don't know the first thing about mini trees. I would have cropped it but I spent so much time trying to find these pictures, then realised I lost them, I may have deleted them the one time I accidentally hit delete before all the pictures sent via Bluetooth, thereby deleting all the selected to be sent pictures. I found this on my Instagram and just took a screen shot. Anyway, isn't that a beautiful tree? It looks unreal! 

After the bonsai tree, Calvin bought Mochi Ice Cream: golf ball sized ice pasta like, consistency, rice, filled with ice cream. It's very cold! I know it's ice but I think because of the texture,the ricey part doesn't melt in your mouth, so it seems colder than regular melt in your mouth ice cream. They have all kinds of flavors.

Mochi Ice Cream

We then headed out to a Hawaiian festival in Long Beach. It was so hot outside, I just wanted to stay in the Japanese place with the trees and chill in the air-conditioned room. 

We arrived in Long Beach, parked the car and walked around, checking out the stalls. It was your usual flea market, with handmade bags and shoes and other Hawaiian stuff. I felt like I was in Durban, South Africa. I love Durban, so that was a good thing! 

A week or so prior, I had asked Calvin, while at his place if he by any chance had a sarong, so when he saw one at the festival, he bought it for me. He told me to pick one I liked. Having lived in Durban, I had so many Sarongs in my past life, so I tried to find one in a color I never owned. We both agreed on it. It was green and black, green is Cal's favorite color. That and red, hashtag Christmas!

We had lunch at the festival, the food was good. I had something porky as usual and Calvin ordered sea food. The food lines were so long, you know how it always is at places like that. The food was good, we also had ribs. After eating, we headed out. Thank goodness, I was tired of digging my feet in the sand in the scorching heat. 

Long Beach, California aka LBC with Catalina Island behind me and my new sarong in my hand

The morning after the above weekend, I had a shoot in Calabasas. It was nice and early in the morning, so  I beat traffic, thank goodness for small miracles. I must have been the first or second one to arrive. I took out my tablet and caught up on my reading while waiting for everybody else. It was beautiful over there, mountains all around us. It wasn't a big shoot, maybe 20 people. some people didn't make it, they had to be replaced in short notice, one lady was two hours late.  We were going to do a choregraphed scene as well. I enjoyed it. I worked with a guy I had done a few commercials with before. We get along, he's crazy. 

They gave me an apron and pointed me to this as my first position

Peace of cake! I've done this kind of a character so many times, it's become second nature. I don't know if any of you spotted me in a commercial that ran for a very long time on SABC (South Africa), usually during Generations (a South African Soap opera) where they had a woman selling fruit and vege. I was that woman, I saw it one day when I was visiting my sister in Cape Town. She was like, what the heck! This has been running for a while, I never thought that was you, lol. Of course she knows what I look like, she just didn't expect that to be me. Anyway, I put on my apron and went to town!

Fruit and Vege Stall

This was more contemporary because they let me wear my tank top and leggings still. The stall has drawers, so I was able to have my cellphone with me and chat with my boyfriend the entire time. It was great! 

There were a bunch of contemporary dancers who danced during this scene, I was doing my selling thing while they were dancing in front of me. 

Lunch Time! 

The food was great! It almost always is on set. We all sat and bonded at lunch 

In between Takes. The three who got the yellow memo.Haha, just a coincidence

It rained a bit that day as well, nothing major. I mean, it is LA after all. It never really rains. The two things you'd be hard pressed to find in LA: Rain and parking. 

After lunch, we did the 'dance scene'. It was my first time doing choreography, I enjoyed it. It wasn't hard. I wish I could find the clip and see the outcome and share it with you. 

That's me in my apron, holding a flower, doing choreography

After lunch, the two hour late lady, went to lie down on the porch. I called my sister in her hotel room. It was nice to talk to her in a landline without having to worry about buying credit for my phone. All of a sudden, I heard roaring! The two hour lady was snoring up a storm! Oops!

The blue abd blackness you see is the snoring lady. She was far but I could hear her!

During the dance scene, they kept telling us, guys please but your bags and sweaters away, they're in the shot. There was this person's stuff that was sitting there with nobody touching it. Eventually, one of the lead dancers, just grabbed it and put it away, angrily. I had a feeling it was the snoring two hour lady's stuff. There was just something so off about her. I couldn't put my finger on it. Or should I say, I could? A few minutes later, we're rehearsing, I look down, bam! A giant pad made out of toilet paper full of blood on the ground! The two hour lady was on her periods! Yikes! I had had it with her shenanigans by then, I just rolled my eyes, looked at her and pointed to the ground. She quickly picked it up, without too many people seeing it. I didn't want to see where she was going to shove it. I had already seen enough!

After filming, I headed toward my car to wait for traffic to die down a bit. I considered to go to the house where they film The Bachelor. I have the address. I wanted to see how much of the house I could see from the street, without, you know, trespassing! I was chatting with the guy I have worked with before, when out of nowhere the two hour lady popped up and asked me for a ride. In that moment, I felt bad for her because she had clearly had a rough day. I said yes. That place is in the middle of nowhere. I am not sure why she submitted her name for it, to begin with. She told me a story about how she tried to get closer the night before by booking a hotel room closer to the place. I know the hotel wasn't in Calabasas because they weren't paying us enough to afford that! She told me it was a long story. I didn't want to dig because I didn't care, really. We sat and chatted about random stuff. She asked me a lot of personal questions and told me about herself too. Her rich sisters, the stuff she owns, apparently, she is quite well off. I honestly don't care, but I guess she felt the need to tell me. 

I dropped the two hour lady near my house, it seemed like she was comfortable, she didn't want to go home. We aren't friends, I didn't want her in my car let alone my home. I have her a ride to give her a break from what seemed like a weird day for her. But enough was enough. She asked for my number, I took hers and told her I would call her. I never did. Sorry, but for what reason?

On Set at Union Station, Downtown LA for a different shoot, talking to Calvin on the phone

In Other News

After accidentally spending the night at Calvin's from out kayaking date, he called in to work the following day and told them he wasn't going to make it. He wanted to spend a little more time with me. I thought that was sweet. We were famished because we didn't even have dinner the previous night. It was around 6am when we wanted to go out for breakfast and everywhere was still closed, except good ole Mc Donald's. I was like, whatever you do, do not take me to Mc Donald's, that's not cute! We found a Mexican spot that was open and had pig skin burritos. They were very filling. Both of us couldn't finish them.

I left around noon. I didn't want to overstay my welcome. I drove home thinking, did I just go on three very successful dates with the same person? Yay, me!

A few more things that happened around that time in my life:
- I found a sh*t load of Law Of Attraction videos on YouTube and plaid them to death. They're awesome! They put me in high spirits! I read a wad of books. I haven't stopped reading since I started towards the end of 2014 in Vegas.
- I was booked (background work) in Whittier.

Whittier Country Club. Gorgeous! 

 Kind of a drive from where I live, fortunately, I found someone on Facebook whose daughter was booked for the same gig. They live 2miles (3.2km) from my house, so we carpooled. We used their car, less gas.She's a nice 18 year old girl who says she's shy and quiet but we talked about all kinds of things on our one hour drive to set. She's a cool kid. I always get along with kids, all ages, from infant to infinity. It's fun!

Might as well pose!

The shoot was ok, there were a lot of people, they fed us lunch at the end of the day, more than 7 hours later. At least, they paid us meal penalty to make up for that.

Cameraman, Brook haha

- I worked on a set in North Hollywood, on a plane with dummies that look like plane crash victims that were not found for years.

That's me...and them

 It was eerie.

Here they are again

 That was a nice gig, I was booked for two days. I could use more of that!

They booked me off my headshot and asked me to wear the outfit I had on in the headshot. Fortunately, I still have it. This was me on set.

- I worked around Hollywood and had a nice time, meeting new people, catching up with old folks I've worked with before.
- My three month popsugar subscription expired. I must have only used three things from all three of the boxes I got from them. I'm glad I didn't pay for those three months.
- My beloved Vogue sunglasses I got from my Vegas landlord broke, I still mourn their loss.

That's me with them on outside the Kardasian store Dash

Outside Lisa Vanderpump of the Real housewives of Beverly hills restaurant SUR,also featured on Vanderpump rules

- I subsequently got a pair from popsugar, one of the few things I found to be useful, I wore those everyday, for about three days, they broke on around the third day. So much for that!

Before these newbies broke, they have a nice matte finish frame. On my way to set in Hollywood

- Two or so, more of my sunglasses broke. I wear sunglasses almost all the time, so.

Just left The Doctors taping in Paramount Studios - Hollywood. New sunnies

- I bought a nice pair of Rocawear sunglasses, they were really fancy! The kind that looks like a mirror. They broke at the end of week one. I paid more for those sunglasses than all the shades I have. Oh well!

New Rocawear Shades, on the way to set in Hollywood

- I went to American idol, randomly, got lucky to find the last free parking spot near the Kodak theatre. the odds are incredible! I knew that the episode was going to be a concert, but then aren't all episodes of Idol? Turned out, it was going to be a real concert! JLo performed! PitBull Performed! Ricky Freaking Martin performed a mashup of all his hits, #treat ! And most of all, Chris Brown performed!

American Idol Wrist Band

Not that you didn't already know this but Chris Brown is an amazing dancer and JLo has a great body. That was my second or third time seeing JLo.

- My kitchen sink got blocked. I think it was the food dispenser. Time for a repacement! 

Leaking food dispenser

I tried to fixed the clogged sink myself while waiting for management to send plumber

As you can imagine, that wasn't a nice smelling situation. I am capable of taking care of most things around the house, so I had to try. I wasn't going to wait forever whose house is not smelling, or is, to come and take care of it.

I managed to get rid of the smelliness. I took the food dispenser apart and put it back up

Unfortunately, all my work didn't fix the sink. The plumber came over in about three days of reporting the issue. He fixed it in no time flat!

- This happened!

Leaking tap / faucet

I had to send for a plumber for that as well. They took care of it much faster than the drain. They just replaced the leaking one with a new one.

- As I was taking care of my Beverly hills apartment's renovations, clearly! I was also taking care of my condo in South Africa. I was waking up at odd hours of the morning to catch people while they were still up and in the office, or whatever the case may be. A log of work was done in my condo last year!

- I drove around the neighborhood for the heck of it.

 

On my way home from set. Wilshire Boulevard. 

I will definitely miss this neighborhood when I no longer live here. It sure is beautiful!

Beverly hills library. I think the city hall is behind me

Next door. I want this car! Navy Porsche Carrera Cabriolet. 

- One day something said to open the cupboard above the fridge in the kitchen, so I did and guess what I found?

Great Find!

Remember the prophet I told you about that I met doing background for Pharrell Williams' Music video for Freedom in this blog?

The prophet and I

I had my black lipstick on for that shoot.

Black Lipstick

We did a church scene where we sang along and did what you do when the spirit moves you. We had to look like we were sweaty, so...

Fake sweat. Real on my face and the rest is fake

-I drank a lot of smoothies, made with all kinds of concoctions.

Chocolate shake and pear

Strawberry, banana and yogurt

- I went to the talk a couple of times or so. It was ok.

At CBS in Studio City. The Talk

It's always nice to see celebs you never dreamt of seeing. One of the days at  The Talk, I saw Lisa Kudrow, Phoebe from friends. She's so beautiful and so slim. 

Last Comic Standing's Tony Baker and I at the Improv comdey club that day!

Kayaking

The weekend came and it was time to go on my third date with Calvin.


Calvin found out from a conversation we had that I ha never been kayaking. He took it upon himself to take me. It's one of his hobbies, he even owns a kayak that he got on one of his vacations in Hawaii. He told me that he was going to use his kayak and was going to rent one for me. I had done my own research on kayaking and knew by then that we could get a two person one. I would've felt much safer that way considering I can't swim. Plus, I thought that would be romantic. I pitched that idea and he liked it. He hadn't thought about it. See, Cal! You need me!


I was to meet up with Calvin at his. He was going to drive us to Sunset beach. I was looking forward to it for more reasons than one: I'd always wanted to go to Sunset Beach because I followed the soap opera, Sunset Beach. Have you? I still remember Meg and her eyebrows and the hot Ben and his evil twin.


I arrived at Calvin's nice and early. He made us breakfast on the barbecue. We had talked about prickly pear before. I am from a part of Uitenhage fondly called eTolofiyeni (prickly pear in Xhosa - my mother tongue), named after all the prickly pear that grows naturally in that area. Calvin being the plant doctor that he is, he knows all the trees in the world. He  made us nopales, I didn't even know you can eat that! I only know it of it's medicinal purposes, it's an anti-inflammatory, you warm it up over some fire or the stove, wrap it up on a thin cloth or napkin and put it on the swollen area. These are the 'leaves' of the prickly pear tree, not the fruits themselves. When they are completely dry, off season, they are great to start a fire. They are nice and light and airy. That's the farm girl in me, not the Beverly Hills side. Never forget your roots! No pun intended. I enjoyed the cactus, it has a very different taste. I can't compare to anything I ate before.  I sent pictures to my cooking sister, she asked for the recipe. She wants to try it too, because, like me, she didn't know you could cook it.


After breakfast, we headed out to The OC. That's where the beach we were going to kayak in is. I was anxious. I really cannot swim. Now, I'm gonna have to ride it out in the middle of the ocean. Is this a good idea? Fck yeah!  Why not?


We went and rented safety vest and a kayak. Calvin bought himself a new vest to replace his. Apparently he lent it to someone who never returned it. Poor blue eyed, Cal! We took off our shoes and got on the boat. Oh Lord, have mercy! This is it, Brookie, do or die! We kayaked in the Huntington harbor. It's nice and quiet over there, just kayakers like us! I was excited to be, once again, doing something I had never done before. And to be with this guy that I was getting more and more fond of my the minute! It was a good day.


Calvin taught me how to paddle, I did ok. We then did it together, I did one side, while he did the other, like one was doing left, the other was dong right. It was fun. I felt like I was on one of those cool The Bachelor dates. Only, I already got the rose on a previous on-on-one haha. Yeah, I just quoted reality TV.


We kayaked deeper and deeper into the see. We passed one or two bridges over us. It was cute. Kinda like being in Venice under that romantic bridge. I still need to go there, by the way. Have you been?


After a nice round of kayaking, before we went too deep, I was ready to turn back. While on our way to, Calvin took over the paddling and paddles so fast, the boat was rocking so hard! I was so scared. I was that person screaming so loud, when everyone was having a chill time. It would have been embarrassing if I embarrassed easily, but I don't, so all good! I did freak the freak out though. I was certain, I was about to drown!


After the kayaking experience, check! we returned the kayak and my safety vest and headed to the reggae place. It's a nice restaurant not too far from where we were. We found a nice parking spot, saw a clothing rack outside a store, went to check it out. They had a 50% off sale on some of their items. Calvin told me to pick something I wanted. I didn't want anything, plus they had nothing in my size. I told him that I would have loved a sarong if they had one, but they didn't. We saw a nice, vintage Lincoln parked close by. Calvin's first car was a Lincoln, he still speaks fondly of it, so he posed for pictures on the random one we saw in the parking lot. Nice shots with a couple of palm trees in the background. I made one of them black and white. It looked even cooler. I later sent it to him.


We walked into the restaurant. It was packed. It's really cool inside, it has fish ponds, if I remember well, they have fake plants around the fish pond, it looks very like you're on vacation somewhere, so, of course, we posed for pictures in front of all that. I was wearing this house dress, that I had taken along with me to get comfortable in after out date at Cal's. It was turned out to be too hot for the outfit I had on, so I immediately changed as soon as I got to Cal's. That's what I ended up having on all day. We had drinks in the restaurant, by the bar. My gosh, it was so packed! I had virgin Pina Colada, Calvin had something exotic, he always does. He knew I don't drink, so he took a sip in my drink to check if there was no alcohol before he passed it on to me. I thought that was so sweet. The drink was delicious!


After that, we went towards the side where they play live music. We had to pay to go in there. We arrived just as the band was setting up. Apparently, the band is from the same town Bob Marley is from in Jamaica. Do that info what you will! I have heard that when some South Africans come to The US, they claim to be related to Nelson Mandela, so hey. I had ribs for lunch. So, so good! They were falling off the bones. We were the first ones in that side of the restaurant. It got packed in no time there too! In about an hour, the band finally started to play! Just as they did, Calvin grabbed my hand and took me to the dance floor. I loved how he didn't even give me time to think about it! We danced and dance and danced. We danced to about three songs, none stop. It was a great! A lot of the people were on the dance floor, there were a lot of interesting dance moves, but who's to judge? all clean fun!


We stayed for about an hour after the band started playing, most of which was us waiting for the waitress to bring the check (bill). We, or should  I say, Calvin paid and we headed back to LA. It was a day well spent.


We arrived at his place. I was already comfortable in my house dress.


Calvin's friends came by. They went straight to the backyard. He has a nice situation in the back, big park table with attached benches, they all sit there and chill. I laid in bed and told Cal to go enjoy his friends and wake me up at a certain hour. He would keep coming in to check on me every 20 minutes. That was sweet. I would sometimes pass out and feel a kiss on my forehead while I was in lala land.


That evening, he came to lie in bed next to me. I was gonna get up later and drive home. I don't know what happened but I woke up from a deep sleep at midnight with Calvin passed out next to me. I went, 'Oh my Gosh!' He woke up and said, "Oh my gosh!" I told him it was midnight. I couldn't even ask him why he didn't wake me up, he was out as well. He told me not to drive home at midnight but to spend the night. We got under the blanket and went to sleep. Like two babies.

Sleeping With The Enemy

Life's good, I've been to two successful dates with a guy I adore, I have someone helping me with rent, who's never home, I'm getting jobs here and there. What more could a girl ask for?

Working as a Librarian in a shoot in UCLA. Nice and short shoot

Playing a passenger, Ontario Airport

My sister made me these earrings. Check out her food blog here

Brian, my airBnB was still here, why not? He's never here and he pays me a chunk of money for it! He always booked for a night, two or three, maximum at a time, which ended up being way more than I would have made if someone had paid once off for staying the entire month. I wasn't complaining. It's my job as a business person to inform you beforehand what I charge and yours as the customer to take advantage of that. He didn't, I smiled all the way to the bank. Brian's dad was paying for his rent, that's probably why he didn't care. After Ramadan, the alarm stopped going off at 4am, which was a blessing for me. It was such a blessing, I felt like I was entering my own Ramadan!

Photoshoot for headshots at Carly's when I stayed there. Carly took the pictures

Making love to the camera ;)

One day, Carly and I were chatting on email, because I didn't give her my new number in efforts of trying to cut all ties. When she couldn't get hold of me on my old number, she started emailing me. I emailed back, I was in high spirits, I was excited about Calvin. We talked, she told me about her problems, sought advice, I advised her, you know the drill! Then she asked me what's new on my side. I told her about Calvin and I. I told her that the conversation was so organic from day one, nothing forced, blah blah blah. I told her about the first date. She wanted to know what he looks like. If he has blue eyes, what about long hair, etc. I must say, it was good to see she had been listening all this time. She told me that it's time she found herself a boo. She didn't want to be left behind. Fair enough!

More goofing around

Heeeeyyyy!

One Saturday, I got an email from Carly, she was going to be in my neck of the woods. She wanted to know if I wanted to go along shopping. I was working, so I couldn't. I was like, you don't even need more clothes, what are you doing? She told me that she was bored, she had been making lots of money, left, right and centre, might as well spend it. She also told me that maybe, if she bought first date outfits, someone would take her out. I couldn't argue with that. I guess she was practicing that Law of attraction stuff I always do.

Setting the table for two and trusting that the universe would send me someone to 'fill the void' which it did!

Speaking of setting tables, remember Jen? The lady who stayed here for a week? Very healthy, right?

Spring cleaning the couch after Jen moved out. Gotta get that smell out!

Day after I turned Carly down from the shopping trip, she sent me an email about a guy who was staying at hers through AirBnB. She told me that the guy was just her type, so hot! He turned her on, 'OMG, I just wanna jump him'. She was into him! She thought that he may have been interested too because since he moved in, he had been buying her dinner and not wanting her to pay her back. I told her that that could mean he's interested in her that way, or that he is polite and generous. The only way to know for sure if he's interested, was to see if he would ask her out after he moved out. She told me that she had a good feeling about him. I was like, hey, what do I know about relationships. Do your thing, boo! Just don't be disappointed if you don't hear back from him.

Carly had had a guy contact her before that one. The previous guy wanted to stay there for a few days while they were fixing up his place. Carly looked up the guy on Facebook, she added him. they got acquainted over on FB and before you know it, he invited her over. This was before the guy moved in with Carly. Carly accepted and drove over to the guy's then place. It was just the two of them in this big house, I don't know who owned it. They ended up in the backyard by the pool. The guy wanted Carly to strip and get into the pool. She wasn't feeling that. At some point, he tried to kiss her and she turned him down. I was like, why would you turn him down? Clearly you were interested in him if you're gonna go to his place and hang out with him in your very first meeting! Anyway, the following day, the guy posted pictures of himself with another girl. Carly took it personally. She told me she thought that that guy was trying to make her jealous. The guy ended up being a no show. He had already paid for the few nights he was going to stay at Carly's. Carly took the money. 

She went ahead and told the new guy that story. I was like, dude! What are you doing? Are you trying to have a bad reputation? The new guy will think that that's what you do: hook up with guests! She told me that the had tons of conversations, he wouldn't think that, she trusted him. He wasn't judging her. I was like, ok! 

As we were chatting back and forth about how amazing that guy was and how turned on she was blah blah blah. I asked her to send me a picture of the guy. I was curious,. She replied, 'OMG, Brook! I can't! The guy is right here! I'm lying on his chest as we speak!' I was flabbergasted! Why would you have such conversations about a guy while lying on his chest? Do you really believe he can't see on your phone? Come on! Apparently, they were watching a movie, on the guy's bed, the bed the previous roommate was sleeping on. She left all her furniture for Calry, when she moved in with her boyfriend. I couldn't help but wonder how the guy must have felt with his landlord taking over his bed. I know from experience that Carly was always on my couch, when I was renting her couch. She would lie there, or sit with me and work on her computer etc. I told you this. I couldn't help but think that this was all her idea. The guy probably just wanted to go to sleep but this horny woman would not leave her alone. 

Nothing happened between the two of them. The guy was going to move into an apartment not far from Carly's but when he moved out, he first went to Palm Springs to a party. 

One afternoon, I went to Walmart, downtown LA. It was really close to Carly's. I told Carly I was in the neighborhood. She came by to meet me. She was gushing over the guy who had stayed at her place. She told me how excited she was that she found the one. Don't I think it's amazing that we both found our true loves around the same time. I had always wondered when she was busy telling me the stories about these men she was throwing herself at at the same time that I told her about Calvin, if she wasn't doing that thing that she does of competing with me. Love is not one of those things you can compete about because it's not entirely up to you. The other person has to be into you, if he's not, it's over. Otherwise you are going to find yourself in a very sticky situation. No pun intended. 

When she told me that about us finding out men at the same time, I told her to call me after her first date with the guy. She seemed to be disappointed that I didn't have faith in her new blossoming relationship. I told her that they didn't meet on a dating site where everyone was looking for love, the guy was merely looking for a place to crash at night. I wanted to see if he was gong to call her now that he was no longer staying there, now that he no longer needed to kiss her ass.  She told me that they spoke since he moved out, I asked who initiated the conversation, she told me she couldn't remember. I was like, chile, please! 

She told me she was tempted to call him and ask him to hang out or to see his new place or offer to help him move. I was like, girl! This is not even you! Inasmuch as Carly is as clingy as she is to me, she is not that way to men at all. Instead, she is the opposite, she will turn down the hottest guys. That's why I was suspicious when she started acting the way she was after I told her about Calvin. 

After a week of not hearing from the guy, Carly got depressed, she would message me and ask me why it is  that the ones you love the most would always break your heart blah blah blah. I told her to stop flirting with her guests. 

Not long after that, Carly and her friends planned a trip to Palm Springs but Carly told them she would rather go to Malibu. This was just after I went to Malibu on the 4th of July. 

Calvin wanted to take me to a live reggae place the following weekend. I was looking forward to that.