How to Be Single & Happy on Thanksgiving! The Dos & Donts!!!

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Dear Diary,

This is the first Thanksgiving that I am single since about 2006. I am not really a Thanksgiving person so being single on Thanksgiving doesn’t bother me in the least bit. Hey, I spent Hurricane Sandy alone… If I can do that, I can do anything! LOL.

Well, this year I’ve had some offers to attend Thanksgiving dinner (including one from my ex) but I decided that I will get some well needed rest like I did for the past few thanksgivings.

So, you are single and you are feeling lonely. Here is my Dos and Donts so you can have a great holiday without the pressure of feeling like a loser…

#1 Do: Thank God for making it to see another Thanksgiving. Hey, there are many people in the world that didn’t live to see this day so you better praise him.

#1 Dont: Don’t show up at your ex or current boo house uninvited. It makes you look like a loser and you are just punnishing yourself no matter how fly you look once you get there.

#2 Do: Spend time with your family because this is the time of year where family matters most. Consider yourself lucky that you have a family. Be good to your peoples!

#2 Dont: Don’t go over any of your EXES house no matter how close you are to them or their family. I don’t care if you were invited. Stay your ass home! An ex is an ex for a reason and you don’t need to cloud your judgment or your life with bullcrap. Dinners will just make you feel funny and will lead your ex on. He or she may start to feel like you want them back! Spending Thanksgiving with exes just make things even more confusing.

#3 Do: Do understand that if you are talking to a dude and he hasn’t invited you over for Thanksgiving or attempt to spend Thanksgiving with you or your family that he may not be feeling you like that or have made other plans.

#3 Dont: Don’t take it personal when you’re not invited. It’s cool! Knowing is beautiful and half the battle! Also, don’t make no excuse for why you are not spending the holiday with them. If someone ask, just straight up say, “He didn’t invite me.”

#4 Do: Hit your family and friends and say Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Holidays… Once again your peoples are everything.

#4 Dont: Don’t you dare hit no dude up on Thanksgiving day or the night before wishing him a happy holiday or to see what he is doing. No girly, you are too cool for school and too busy for that! And even if you are not too busy for that- you better pretend you are. No need to look desperate or put yourself out there. Let him hit you up first and if he doesn’t, don’t sweat it!

#5 Do: If you get too bored, turn off your phone and get some nice sleep or watch some movies on Netflix that you always wanted to see. Take time for yourself because only you can avoid being unhappily single on Thanksgiving. You can also make dinner for a homeless family or serve food at a homeless shelter. There are so many different ways to feel appreciated on this holiday.

#5 Dont: Don’t allow his ass to come over no 9pm after all the food is cold (unless he had to work). You are no second choice and you can’t allow that kind of fuckery into your life! 9pm is too late… Sorry, don’t even answer your phone!

I hope these tips help you. Have a great holiday guys and eat a lot and go to the gym on Friday and work it off hunny!!!

Love you for free!!!

Tionna

Love: Can You Be Happy with One Person in Today’s Society?

Dear Diary,

My parents have been married for 28 years and often times, I sit and wonder how the hell do they do it. Hell, my parents have spent more than 10, 220 days of their lives being married to each other. Geesh, that is a long ass time. I ask my moms from time to time, does she ever get bored of the sex? Or get sick of being with my father? And she always says the same thing, “you will never get tired of being with the person who is the one for you.” Damn that sounds good but shit now a days what is the one.

The number one makes me think!!! One means being with a person in hopes that they will satisfy your needs mentally, physically, emotionally, and financially. Man, sounds like a lot of pressure for that one. So I ask myself, wouldn’t life be easier if we were allowed to have two people to come in and split the responsibilities of making one happier. Man, I’m a hustla so I always think of practical solutions that can make things move more swift.

Everytime my mother try to give me advice about men and finding the one i stop her because she hasn’t been single since Marvin Gaye was alive. Women roles have changed and men DEFINITELY have changed. Moms is from a time where men took over the households and brought home the bacon. She always tell my sisters and I stories about the good old days and how if you smoked, a dude brought over the cigarettes; if you drink, dude brought over the bottle; and if you eat, the dude brought over the food; no ifs ands or buts about it.

Things have certantly changed, now adays dudes come over empty handed and expect you to suck them off like they are King Dingaling or something (save the suck ladies). They don’t even ask you if you need something before they come thru, SMH. Granted, women standards have changed over the years but many dudes haven’t learned the fundamentals of being a man which makes it hard for single women out here to find one dude who can satisfy their every need.

The world is crazy. It’s like if you meet a guy who has good sex, he doesn’t have a job and if you meet a guy with a job, he doesn’t have a car and if you meet a dude with a job and a car, he lives at home with his mama. It’s like how can you find a whole person to make you happy as a whole person when there are not many whole people out here. There are just a bunch of people out here trying to find themselves. And to those people trying to find themselves, keep doing you and keep others out your mix. You can’t be anyone’s #1 until you have everything together for yourself which should be your #1 priority.

I think you can find one person to satisfy your needs if you dont want or need much but if you live an advanced life, there is no way one person can satisfy you. The more complex your life is, the harder it is to be with one person who you feel can make you happy. I know that people with advanced lives are hard to please and expect so much out of people that we end up being disappointed but hey that is life.

I just think it is great to date multiple people until you find someone who fulfils at least 80% of your needs. Hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day. The person who fulfils that much percent in today’s society is a keeper because it is really hard. To find out what percent of your needs your lover have on lock, write down 10 of the ultimate needs you need to have in your love life. Now check off every need your “one” lover provide and the percentage will be clear. If you check off 3/10, your man only fulfil 30% of your needs (which is a fail); if you check off 8/10, then boom pow pow, he or she is a keeper.

The more advance of a person you are, the more needs you have which means the less likely a mere mortal is able to keep up with the checklist (not the one Chilli had).

I guess my feelings about being with one person will change ultimately when I meet the right person but I wont waste time thinking about it. Life is too short to be worrying about the “one” when you can have two or three in your life that you can rotate to your convenience. Yup, the funny man, the money man, the lover man, the sex man, etc.

Dating one person is hard and it takes a lot of patience and both parties must be down with the program in order for it to work. Hell, a lot of people think they’re with people when in all actuality, they are BY THEMSELVES. You won’t catch me out there!!! I say stop looking for the one and just do you!!! It will make you a lot happier in the end of the day but I know seeing people like my parents make you want the one infinite love…

Awww

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Dating: Finding Someone New After a Long Term Relationship!

Dear Diary,

Life is funny sometimes. You just never know who is in the background waiting for you and your dude to break up. I truly believe that people who just got out of relationships need time to grow and time to heal from the past relationships but if you are over it and over him, DO YOU!

I’m laughing because we always think a person had to be cheating with the next person if they get into a relationship right away after a break up but I am living proof that that is not true. Recently, I decided to end things with my fiance’, who I was with for 4 years. As soon as word broke out in my small circle about me being a single lady, a guy friend asked can he take me out. I knew dude for ever and wouldn’t normally go out so quick but I said, why not? And accepted his offer. I didn’t know what to call it. OMG! Is this a date? Is this chilling? Whatever it was, I knew I had to be cute.

I was ready!!!! Yes, ready to enjoy myself. I had no baggage left from my past relationship (when it’s over, it’s over) and was sure that the chapter with my ex was FINITO. Yes ladies, be sure that you don’t want the ex before you go on a date with the next.

Anyway, I looked cute; not too sexy and not too classy… Just hot! Needless to say, I had one of the most romantic dates ever. He was a pure gentlemen and I was very impressed. I never believed in a million years that I would be on a date with a man I knew my whole life but walla magic, here we were on a date, chilling, and enjoying each other’s company. It was a great feeling.

Now, I told you that to tell you this. Life is too short to not go on dates because you are too afraid to explore the world and hurt people feelings. When your relationship is over, you have the key to open any new door you would like to open. You just have to be ready to embrace a new world. That is why I started my new DATING GIRL Movement. It’s for the girls who dare to move on with their life and is super-happy about their new or old freedom. Freedom could be from your ex, freedom could be the pass to explore a new world, freedom could be anything you make it as long as you are happy.

I don’t want my ladies rebounding but hey, can’t get mad if another dude catch the steal. When you are a hot commodity, men are going to come and try to get you as soon as they find out you no longer have a owner and I love it. I love a man who is bold and who respected my relationship enough to wait. There are not many men like that out there…the best part of my date was that he didn’t talk about sex or try to get in my drawers. Ugh, I hate when men do that. You don’t ever have to feen for the panties, we know if and when were going to give them up.

Needless to say, me and my Mystery Man (I don’t show guys faces in pics until I know were solid) will go out on another date. I will keep you guys posted about my new dating life. Check out my pics from my date! And I better hear about you going on a date soon too! Muah…my new book, “You Gotta Lose to Win: Breaking Up, No Making Up, and Moving On with Your Life!” will explain it all.

P.S . Always rememer that another man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Muah, love you for free!

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Lil’ Scrappy Talks The Struggle of Love in New Video, No Love

Lil Scrappy released a new music video called “No love” featuring Tocarra (a singer from ATL, not the model). I love the video but most of all I love when a young, black, man express their emotions. the video is cute and Lil’ Scrappy looks handsome. He is on his independent grind and a Boss Chick like myself can respect it definitely!

Here are some highlights of the lyrics that stood out to me…

Confused flow, for real though
Love came through the front, went out the back door
Emotions are running, depression is coming
Can’t believe you love me, cause your feelings are funny

Chorus: I’m so tired of going up and down, round and round
I’m so over it, I’m breaking down
I’m bout to call it quits, I done had enough of it
My heart is so cold, I can’t find no love here

My heart on broken, confidence stolen
Mind going crazy, should I stay or keep going
She don’t love me, well I gotta embrace it
If I don’t love her, baby girl you gotta face it
The thang about love you can’t find it you need to trace it
If love was a test, you either fail or you ace it
Love me, for who I am,
If not, shit I don’t give a damn
You want the cars, house and designer things
I get it baby girl, you want the finer things
And I ain’t hatin on you, go and get it now
Matter fact, go and get it, make daddy proud

And lastly,

You wanna upgrade baby and that’s a fact
But you don’t get a nigga just like that
You don’t throw away what we had, just like that
You leave a real nigga shawty i bet you come right back

Now that was some deep ish. I just hope he is able to love someone else again after this heartache. Damn!

What are your thoughts on this new video????

Lust: Why Rosci and Eddie Murphy Disgust Me?

Dear Diary,

I didn’t want to write this post but I wouldnt’t be me if I didn’t. My people over at Global Grind released a picture collage of Rosci Diaz (of 106 and Park) and the legendary actor/comedian Eddie Murphy on the red carpet of the BET Awards dinner and I got disgusted.

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Rosci has been in the press over the past a lot when it came down to men she frequented with such as Lisa Raye’s ex husband, singer Raphael Saadiq, and now Eddie Murphy. I am a bit of a feminist and all down with women exploring their sexuality so I am not judging her sexual past or activity but Bringing Eddie Murphy on the red carpet and being seen half naked on the beach with him is where she has crossed the line.

Eddie Murphy is a bit icky. He has been caught in cars with transgender prostitutes and also abandoned Mel B. (formerly of the Spice Girls) once she got pregnant and decided to keep the baby many years back. It took him a few years to even acknowlege the baby. I understand he has a lot of money and power but where do we as women draw the line?

You can’t tell me that Rosci is just naturally attracted to Eddie. I can’t and won’t believe that or indulge in that kind of fuckery. She is in it for the dough and he is in it for the pleasure of freaking off just another “exotic” looking young chick who has a little fame. Hell since when did Eddie Murphy started going to the negro awards?

Now I’m not knocking Rosci, get your money Baby girl… But she should have some kind of standards for herself. There are just some mofos no one should know you are dealing with, sorry! If she were going to have sex with Eddie or even deal with him in general, she should have kept that as her little secret. That could have been her little sugar daddy that no one knew about but when you put it out there for the world to see, youre giving off the impression that you are serious about the guy and I can’t respect her if she’s taking this debacle seriously.

We women must remember to keep things on the low low when it’s just “business” or when it’s just cocksation and not give light to those who may not be in our life in a few months from now. She must also think about her career in entertainment as a female.

Females in entertainment already receive a bad rap. Many view industry girls as professionals who are really groupies on the low. Yeah I never saw so many Publicists and Stylists in my life. I just charge it to the game. It’s hard to get respect out here and he decides to be boo love at the BET Awards where her peers are and former bosses (because she got the boot a few months ago). Now if it was the Tonys or something that would have been a different story (networking).

Rosci can’t make irresponsible decisions such as letting the cat come out of the bag about her love life then get mad when rappers refer to her as a hoe or when they disrespect her by saying they will blow up how many dudes she really let dick her down in the industry.

All I can say is good luck Rosci. I hope whatever role or status you are trying to get in LA by dealing with Eddie will turn out to be fruitful for you in the future.

I wish these chicks would put in work without putting out but I guess this is the way of life in today’s society.

Damn!

SPOTTED: Tionna Smalls Supports the Indie Movie, “Brooklyn Gangster: The Story of Jose Lucas”

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I’m sure you guys have heard that I am now a Film Maker. Yes, I am writing and directing a new independent film which we will begin shooting in Brooklyn this summer. I am so excited. This movie has really challenged me as a writer because I haven’t wrote anything fiction based since I was in like 5th grade.

As a new Director, My job is to network with other film people so I went to my friend, Jason Lanzar Rivera’s movie premiere. Jason played Jose Lucas in Caglevision’s newest film, “Brooklyn Gangster: The Story of Jose Lucas.” The premiere was at AMC Theater on 42nd Street in the City. I was so happy to be in attendance and I can’t wait until I can invite you guys to my movie premiere.

If you want support, you have to support others. I had such a great time.

Here is a cool pic of me and the Talk Dat Ish Films crew auditioning some hopefuls at my boutique Loveys in Brooklyn. Information for the movie will drop in June. I can’t wait to tell you guys all about the movie!!!!

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If you would like to audition for my movie, please sign up to my casting site. Talk Dat Ish Casting . Upload your photos and videos. The site ask for a $25 donation and it’s free to use after that. The roles are listed. Thank you! Xo

Career: Tionna Smalls Meet Some of the Writing Greats in Hempstead, Long Island

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I had the ultimate pleasure of meeting three incredible ladies in the book game the other day. One was newcomer Shamara Ray, who is signed with Zane over at Simon and Schuster. She was very cool and gave Zane many props for signing her and being a great mentor for her in the book game.

I also met the legendary Pat G’orge Walker. She is known as the first lady of Christian comedy and she keeps it more than real. I love her.

Lastly, I met Carol Mackey, the owner of Black Expressions Book Club… Well Carol and I have been speaking for quite some time now and we have saw each other in passing but this was the first time we really sat and hung out. Pat reminded me that she saw me at the African American Literary Awards in 2011, when I won the prestigious award of Breakout Author of the Year for my book “Girl, Get Your Mind Right!” (HarperCollins Publishers). I was hard to miss at that award show because I wore a fur shawl in September (don’t judge me!)

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Anyway it was good to be in the presence of these established ladies in the game and we all showed love. No competition, no side eyes. The event was held at Antioch Baptist Church in Hempstead, Long Island for the Delta sorority’s ladies in literature event. I definitely want to bring this event to other cities and do it the right way because the knowledge we shared about the book business was priceless…

I am honored to be considered a great in this book game as a 27-year-old woman from the hood. What was even better was that I am a publisher and was able to hear some of the attendees book ideas, etc. I love being able to put people on!

If you have a great book idea and want to be published with my company, Talk Dat Ish Books, please email info@talkdatish.com! Thank you!

Love: Does Looks Still Matter?

Dear Diary,

Yesterday my good actor friend, Jason Lanzar Rivera, visited me at my beautiful Boutique in Brooklyn (Loveys).

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Jason is a fabulous actor. He has recently appeared in the movie, King of Paper Chasers. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, go and see it because it is really good.

Anywho, Jason is what we call a handsome man; ok a gorgeous man. He looks way better than he appears on television. I posted a pic of him and I on all of my social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) and the response from women were crazyyyy. Seeing this response made me ask, does looks still matter to people? I know it did to a specific person I was trying to find a man for but damn, does it matter now?

Would you like a man based on his looks? Does a man looks what determines if you want him or not? As women are we more weak off of a good looking man versus one not so good looking? Or are we more sexually attracted to men who have great looks?

If you ask me, looks doesnt mean anything to me. A pretty man could be an ugly soul. Sure a great looking man is nice to look at and damn sure is some great eye candy but that’s all it is. I go by a man’s personality and thankful for my good friend Jason, he has the talent and personality any girl would die for. Choosing a mate off of looks alone will leave you in a dark and lonely place. Yeah, you will miss out on all the good ones waiting for one who has those “perfect looks.”

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I wrote this post to make sure that you check your superficial ways at the door when waiting for your Mr. Right! Don’t choose a man off of looks alone but by his character. Yes, you have to judge a man by his principles, lol.

Have you ever chose a man based off of his looks? Share your story!

Also, follow my boy, Jason Lanzar Rivera on Twitter now!

Love: Broken Men & Your Attempt to Save Them…

Dear Diary,

I know I have been gone for a minute but I was writing my first ever screen play. Yes, you read it right; I am writing and directing a movie in Brooklyn. Yep!

Anywho, I am back and today I would like to talk about broken men. Now what is a broken man? Well that’s a good question. A broken man is man who is emotionally unable to love and/or accept love into his life. He is a man who should have received a SSI check when he was younger because he just don’t have it all upstairs. A broken man is a self-sabotager who make sure he messes things up with any woman who shows him love especially if he feels himself falling too.

You can’t blame a man for being broken. Most of the times, you have to blame their sociological factors such as their nature and their nurture. Many broken men become that way from what they had to go through in their environment but MOST of them learn their shitty ways from the people that they were around most which is their mother.

Many women fall in love with broken men hoping that they can save them and show them a little love but they are truly mistaken. You can’t undo 25 years of fuckery!!! Nothing can help this man but prayer. A broken man must know and respect the fact that he is emotionally broken and that he may need help to overcome what has happened in his past.

Have you ever dealt with a man and no matter what you tried to do, he never seemed to show you the same love and respect back. Well, you may have dealt with a broken man. See, these broken men want to love and want to show love but they just don’t know how. No one has shown them how to properly care and feel empathy for someone else; all they know how to do is be messed up and care for themselves. Well at least they think they care for themselves. A broken man is very miserable and insecure and does not have a clue on how they can change their lives; so why are you trying to be Wonder Bitch, thinking you can change his life?????

No matter how much you may love someone, sometimes shit just doesn’t work out. Love is not enough; you have to leave a dude to keep a dude. Staying in a bad situation with a broken man is not going to help the situation, it is going to hurt the situation…Leave him and let him realize on his own that he need to get his shit together.

Life is too short to be playing Psychiatrist to your man, boo, or whatever he is to you. Who has time for all of that? If you want to be in psycho therapy, go get your license and charge $400 an hour. Don’t be one for free! Shit, you try to help him and end up messing your own ass up (I have seen this happen plenty of times). There are many warm poles out here that is looking for a woman like you to love. Leave this dude to the wolves until he get some act right.

I know I sound harsh but hey, life is harsh and I too have dealt with some broken men in my life but I can gladly testify that my life is much better without all of their drama and negativity. I don’t have time for dudes who start arguments and create bullcrap illusions in their heads all because they can’t deal with the fact that they were falling for me or that stuff was going good. <————–That's that self-sabotager thing I discussed earlier.

We'll go more into this one day. Share your broken men stories with me! Also, please comment and share!

Love: Does His Grind Match Your Grind?

Dear Diary,

Now a days it is hard being a motivated woman. I guess it’s because most men are indeed intimidated by a strong woman who knows what she wants. When you are a successful chick, It’s better to already have someone already who understands those late nights of script writing (my life), those days when you take a lot of money out of the home to enhance your business (my life), you traveling, meeting new and exciting people. Everything in these type of relationships are cool until you sit down and ask yourself, are you the only motivated one in your relationship.

Being on the grind is not an easy thing; but hey, someone has to do it. I am a certified general when it comes down to grinding so I don’t expect any man who grinds as much as I do. In my past relationships, I have had a huge problem being with dudes because they’re grind was very limited. I am the type of person who goes hard in the paint when I want something in life. I go out and make shit happen; straight up and down. I hate dudes who sit around and dream about what they want to do and I hate people (in general) who’s excuse to why they don’t go after their dreams is because they don’t have the money. I always tell people who don’t have the money to at least come up with a game plan on how to get the money and also a game plan for the dream itself so your ass can be ready when you finally do get the money.

Plan…Plan is a word that wasn’t even in my dictionary until about a few weeks ago (don’t judge me!). Through trial and error, I have learned that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail and a DUDE WITHOUT A PLAN IS A FAIL (a vice versa).

You can’t be the only planner in your relationship. You have to definitely have the same kind of thoughts when it comes down to living your life together as a couple. If you are thinking like a millionaire and he is thinking like a “as long as I make $100 a day,” your relationship will not last through the test of time no matter how good you guys seem to be good for each other on a personal level.

My parents have been married for 28 years and I’d like to think that majority of the reasons why they are still married is because they wanted the same things out of life which was some kids, a good job, a good benefit package, and a home to raise their family in. Fortunately, they accomplished every goal they had and checked it off the list. Now they are just chilling and living happily and that is the formula to good relationships…Yes, in a good relationship you and your mate is on the same page when it comes down to your life and for your future. No one is jealous of anyone and everyone is focused on the plan.

Now what happens when you are on your GRIND and he isn’t?

Good question, from my experience this leads to jealousy and the relationship doesn’t last for the long haul. A person you sleep with every night can be jealous of you and mostly because you out there getting yours versus him going out there and talking about getting his. The guy gets either very sad because he realizes that his grind doesn’t match yours, or he gets real competitive with you and your achievements like he is playing basketball with is boys, or he starts to talk down/insult because he feels less than a man next to you and your achievements.

The first sign of jealousy is the not telling their friends or family members about your achievements. You’ve been promoted and is now making double the money but your man just so happen to forget to tell his mama about your promotion when he goes around telling her everything else. – He’s jealous

If he starts asking too many questions about your recent achievements, can’t come to your graduation (all of a sudden), start bringing up someone else’s accomplishments that seem to be doing better than you, or try to insult you- he is jealous and you my friend don’t need him.

The last but worse thing a jealous dude does is CHEAT. This happens when your accomplishments has turned your 6’5 man into a size of a baby shrimp and he need some loving from a chickenhead who admires the fact that he “at least has a job.” He gets all in her cooch to make himself feel better because he don’t feel like the man standing next to you. He knows that cheating on you will make you feel low (self-esteem wise) if you find out. If you don’t find out, he knows inside of his head what happened, which makes him feel like he has a one up on you.

Woah, its a cold world out here. I go deep into this jealousy in my book, “Girl, Get Your Mind Right!”

Anyway,

If you are single and/or looking for Mr. Right (even though, a woman should wait until Mr. Right finds her); ask yourself, does his grind match my grind before you waste your time giving out the goodies. Remember, he doesn’t have to be a millionaire or a basketball player to be a grinder because I have met plenty of people with money who are not GRINDERS. Don’t waste your time in a relationship with someone you know is not going to EVER match your GRIND…especially with one who don’t understand when it’s time to step their GRIND up. You have to have these honest conversations with your mate before you do something drastic in your relationship like get married or have children.

Man, I swear this love ish is all so complicated, just make the right decisions for yourself!

How important is it to you to have a man who grind hard? Please comment and share with others!