On Thursday I attended the launch of 55DSL’s Uncontained. Uncontained is a thirty-day event allowing creative companies, individuals and organisations to exhibit their work in %%DSL’s shoreditch box park shop! I was invited by Kwabena from Mixtape Madness and had an amazing time!

The artist exhibiting was 20//20 and I had the opportunity to watch the artists illustrate the walls of the shop live. With great music, free beer and a cool vibe, this is definitely something I recommend. Check out  http://uncontained.info/whats-on/ to find out when the next event is on (I mean the next free beer event lol!).

I have posted some pics below of the event. A new artist will be exhibiting each day so there is no excuse for non attendance!

Love Me xxx

Happy Jubilee!! I hope you guys are enjoying your time off! I was doing my usual youtube.com browsing and stumbled across Brothers with No Game!

This is a new web series about the ups and downs men face in relationships. It follows 4 different men through relationships, dating and dealing with their women! I am really excited about this new project and when the first episode is out on 11th June and I will make sure I post it for you!! Watch the teasers below (and above), this series is definitely going to be funny!

Also, check out the blog at brotherswithnogame.com

Love Nats xxx

I know this isn’t a music blog but as soon as I heard this song I feel in love with it. Having a close relationship with my father made it so easy for me to love, relate to and appreciate this song.

As some of you may know, Nas hasn’t had the greatest relationship with his teenage daughter and through this song shares his failures as a father but also the love has for his only daughter Destiny Jones. I felt obligated to share this video as it praises true love and tells the tale of a man who finally recognises how precious his daughter’s virtue is as well as his role to play in protecting that virtue.

I hope every father who has daughters and listens to this song realises the role they need to play in their daughter’s life. Trust me, a father’s love is the greatest!

Love Me xxx

I haven’t updated this blog in ages so as a peace offering I will let you into a lil secret of mine!

Recently I took my dining partner Melissa to Aqua, a nouveau bar on Argyll Street just off of Oxford Street. With its classy but discreet deco, its Japanese as well as its French gastro offerings this bar fuses different themes seamlessly leaving all visitors satisfied.

We opted for the Spanish al a carte menu and I started with grilled octopus (which was so gorgeous I wanted another portion), mutton cheek for my main, and a chocolate tart for desert.

The relaxed vibe, amazing customer service and the exclusivity of the venue definitely makes you feel special and this feeling adds to the experience. Gentlemen, if you are really aiming to impress a lady this is the place to take her! However once you have finished dining you can move into the main bar area, have more drinks and dance the night away with the help of  the inhouse DJ! The gasto restaurant also has an amazing rooftoop area but as the weather wasn’t so nice we didn’t experience it this time!

It definitely made a great after work treat and once you attend it is inevitable you will attend again. I have posted some pictures of my experience!!

http://www.aqua-london.com/

Price range  £45-60 (Three courses with a cocktail)

Love me xx

So I did an earlier blog admitting that I suffered from an addiction to reality tv. Luckily as soon as I discussed my issue on here it seemed to wane. I still watched reality TV but not with the vigour that I once did and what I watched last night put me off even further. Basketball Wives is now in its fourth series, woop woop or womp womp (you choose) but no previous episode has sparked as much controversy, debate and even a law suit.

I won’t bore you with the intimate details of the bickering that is going on between the many cast members but I will say is that what I witnesses last night physically disgusted me. It seems as if the fact that something is being played on TV allows the participants to do exactly what they feel without any recompense or restriction. It also seems to give them a sense of invincibility as well.

A lot of commentators on this show have repeatedly made the point that the show’s characters (along with the characters of similar shows) bully, harass and abuse the other members in order to secure a “good” story line. Frankly, they seem to be out of control. In the episode just shown we saw a completely unnecessary violent attack against another cast member. Why do these programmes, especially basketball wives, feel the need to abuse a cast member for an entire series in the name of entertainment? I have watched many fights but this one was completely ridiculous and it shocked me that a women could think it was okay to slap another woman for no apparent reason and think nothing was wrong with this behaviour. She seemed to feel completely justified and in no way ashamed.

Well, the story doesn’t end there and thankfully the woman (who is not even a paid cast member) who assaulted another cast member is being sued. From watching the earlier episodes of the show I am convinced that the show’s producers maliciously orchestrated a situation which would lead to a fight, taking advantage of the fact that this non-cast member was desperate for the lime light. I hope this law suit will deter others from partaking in such foolishness.

I think the root of my offence to this situation is the fact that as a black women, I hate to see other black women portrayed as aggressive, ignorant and out of control as I have to live with the effects of such stereotypes in my day-to-day life and have attributes attached to me that are completely inaccurate. A show like this may be an opportunity to make a quick buck, but it should never be acceptable to make yourself look like a barbarian for money or fame. Unfortunately that seems to be a downfall for black women in these shows.

Below I have a picture of a fight from another episode. On this occasion it was deemed as acceptable to throw a bottle of wine in a packed restaurant because someone was called “loose”.

The name of this blog is mscarterloves not mscarterhates or mscarterdislikes so I have just named this blog after the man it is dedicated to. I have seen the above cartoon so many times and I promise you each time I view it I literally freeze with anger. I do not understand why as black women we are constantly abused, belittled and berated. This cartoon, posted by Kevin Hart on his facebook page, sends such a negative message about black women and, as usual, a black man has taken another opportunity to make/poke fun at black women.

Kevin Hart has continously denied that he posted this cartoon to his page. He posted a retraction stating that his assistant thought he was doing him a favour by posting the cartoon. Why would you assistant think that cartoon was okay if you had not already given him the impresssion that you agreed with its message? Please. Blah Blah Blah. I am not convinced.

Why would Kevin Hart think it was okay to publicly berate black women by a co-signing a cartoon which present black women as unattractive, overweight, aggressive and bitter and a white/light skin woman as more desirable than a dark skin one? Malcolm X once said that the Black Woman was the most desrespected individual in society and in 2012 his words are still relevant. How sad.

This is not the first time that Kevin Hart has been under fire. He tweeted the following:

As far as I am concerned, he is not a real man. How dare he tweet and post such hatred, especially when he has a darkskinned daughter, and is dark skinned himself. Give me a break. I do not understand why it became acceptable for black men to take swipes at black women rather than protect us. I just do not get it. His mother, his aunties, his sisters, his daughters are ALL black women. Does he hate himself that much he would bypass this so he could take such a unnecessary swipe?

I can promise you this, I will not be purchasing, watching or supporting any Kevin Hart films or projects. I think he forgot that the majority of people that buy into him actually are black women. What an idiot. As a community lets walk away from artists that behave like this. The fact that he tweeted such atorcities and then posted them shows that he is indeed a serial offender, and shows that in order to be funny, he needs to degrade women who look like me. So no, he will not be getting a PENNY of my money and any black woman out there should follow suit! That is all.

Below is a picture of Kevin Hart – please note how dark skinned he is.

Love me xx

On Saturday, the living legend known as Ms Lauryn Hill graced London with her presence and performed for the first time in five years. She was absolutely amazing. When queuing up to get into the Indig02 many anxious fans discussed whether Ms Hill would “bring it” to this performance. It was as if all of us had bought our tickets at the peak of the excitement that Ms Hill was returning to London and now were nervously waiting outside with thoughts of her last few performance reviews being replayed in our minds. I was personally worried that she would not perform well, would not be vocally strong and to top it off would start with the diva antics.

I was so wrong. Ms Hill started strong and from the first note had us hanging on her every note. She performed each and every song from the Misducation album as well as her classic, “The Sweetest Thing.” She also went onto take us back with renditions of The Fugees classics and tributes to Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley. I watched in awe as she sang songs so close to my heart with the same raw emotional that seeped through her album. Songs such as Ex factor (which was my ultimate break song) have never touched me in the way they did that night. I have posted the best picture I managed to get of her but as you can imagine the vibe was so electric it was hard for me to stay still!!

I have listed her amazing set below and there is also a link to a website that has videos of her inspiring performance. However it is heartbreaking that after 15 years she still has not released a new album. Hopefully the next time she comes to perform it will be to share what she has been keeping from us all these years.

Last week I attended an event run by Urban Lawyers for prospective trainee solicitors and trainee barristers. The Panel consisted of trainee solicitors, a solicitor who practices Caribbean law, a criminal solicitor and a criminal barrister. The event was very insightful and after each lawyer spoke about the route they took career wise they participating in an honest Q & A session.

If you have an interest in pursuing a career in law check out the link to the website below.

http://www.urbanlawyers.co.uk

So I blinked and it was February, blinked again and it was March. Rubbed my eyes and it was Easter and 2012 was a third of the way through.

WOW! Time does fly! I was not that excited, more disappointed if I’m honest. I know at the beginning of the year (actually towards the end of December) a lot of us tweeted, facebooked and maybe even blogged about how amazing 2012 was going to be for us. I did not get over excited at that time but I really did believe that this was going to be a monumental year for me and when I realised it was Easter I had that weird feeling. I was sitting there think, “Oh cr*p, I have not achieved much.” I did have a plan for 2012 but some how I have been way laid and I’m assuming I am not the only one.

This blog is a word of encouragement for everyone who reads it. 2012 is far from over and there is more left to this year than what has passed. I promised myself that I would achieve a lot this year but even though I still need to take the first steps on some things, When I thought about it, I had made progress on others goals I had set myself. I may be a few months behind but now, more than ever, I am excited for what I can turn 2012 into. It may have had its low points BUT if I really want to, I can actually make this year the best I have ever had.

Whatever you promised that yourself that you would take up or put down, you still can. Easter signals the season of new beginnings so whatever you need to achieve you can do so before the end of 2012! Discipline is key but determination plays the biggest part. Someone told me that what I put in front of my eyes I will produce. It will not be easy, or straight forward to regardless of what has happened 2012 can be your year.

Put it this way, do you really want to get to 2013 and not have made any progress or at least tried?? I didn’t think so!

Get to it!

Love Me xx