I love finding dusty vintage gems in the most unassuming of places!

When writing, erstwhile, about the road trips Darling Hotbuns & I took this summer, I mentioned that I looove a good greasy spoon or Maw & Paw type of joint.  That is not merely exclusive to road tripping, though — I love them all of the time & ANY time! I’m a total Foodie, and I love all varieties of food & different kinds of restaurants from a hole in the wall to Michelin-starred dining (I, nor my taste buds, are even remotely persnickety), but there’s just something about good southern home cookin’ being served to you by a motherly broad who calls you “Suuugar”. ::grin:: Besides the people who get to make Jim Henson’s Muppets, the people who build homes for Habitat for Humanity (which is really volunteer work), the cast of SNL, the Fly Girls from In Living Color, & the fellows in The Blue Man Group.….. Guy Fieri has THE BEST job! (And yes, those have been amongst the top of my “Dream Job” list. No one could ever accuse me of having narrow interests. And, for the record, I’ve already done the other dream jobs listed on mine. #W00Tthereitis!) Every time I watch Diners, Dive-ins and Dives, I holler at the TV, “Guy, take me awaaay!” Calgon Smalgon. Give this gal some greasy grub!

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… and this is a SPARKLEtacularly GOOD thing!!! This is a plague we should all be so lucky as to catch.

Today I am featuring a masterful & polished photographer by the name of Kimberly Tabor. She is the owner & big cheese of Imago Photography. Imago Photography specializes in just about anything you can think of pertaining to all your photography needs… Kimberly does wedding & engagement events, new baby sessions, family portraits, graduations, etcetera, etcetera. You name one of your biggest life moments, Kimberly will be there to visually document & immortalize it through the remarkably sensational eye + lens relationship she’s nurtured into a fully-bloomed, actualized art. She is far more than just an event & portrait photographer, though! She also enjoys shooting landscape & nature — for her own personal pleasure — but has a lot of radiant & penetrating pieces that would be absolutely glossy, gorgeous additions to your home or office. BUT, my favorite work by Imago Photography is Kimberley’s singular & distinctive categories of interest, such as, but not limited to: vintage, Victorian, Steampunk, rustic, retro, & she’s even going to venture into Boudoir photography in this year of 2013!

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Dress by Three Seasons, ordered through lightinthebox.com

When I wrote the polka dot dress post Ravin’ in the City (With MY Mr. Big Stuff), I spoke about how Darling Hotbuns & I went on 3 road trip vacations this past summer. The last one was to Indianapolis, Indiana where we attended Gen Con, a 4 day convention for tabletop gamers. That’s right, my DH is not only smart, sexy, silly, smoldering, sensuous & successful, but he is also an utter GEEK. I am telling you what, I hit the lottery when I met this man who was designed by some sort of dynamite deity who tailor-made him JUST for me! But anyway, Gen Con is one of the most mondo annual gaming conventions in the country. It’s a big deal — well over 40,000 attendees come through the convention center in Indy every year! It appeals to all kinds of gamers — board gamers, card-style gamers, live action role-playing gamers, strategy gamers, miniature wargames, and muuuch more. There are all kinds of tournaments & game sessions being held everywhere, all of the time, as well as shopping & sightseeing in the exhibit hall, not to mention entertainment & seminars, and LOTS of Cosplay. There’s something there for everyone! Even the non-gamer like me. I don’t game, but I geek. Very well.

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Me with my grand gal pal, Miss Jennifer Wang Chung Tonight, on my birthday this year – an example of my big, chunky ring bling.

I declared the other day on the I Wear My Sunglasses at Night post, that I have three weaknesses when it comes to accessorizing. 1) Sunglasses. 2) Hats. 3) Rings. It’s true, I am a hound junkie for chunky rings! However, what makes me a bit unlike most dames is that I don’t really prefer fancy, flashy (in an affluent way), expensive rings — I prefer jumbo, tubby, roly-poly costume rings (and if they’re plastic, all the better!). When they’re chintzy and cheapo like that, they don’t have much of a lifespan, but if you’re only spending $5 to $12 on a ring than it doesn’t break your heart or bank account when they break! Plus, it gives you the excuse to go and rummage around for another one that is in fine fettle and makes you happy. When I look down at my playful rings, I FEEL playful (and seeing as I have such a kittenish personality anyway, you could get me a ring out of one of those quarter machines at the Five & Dime and it would be even better than a roll of yarn)!

I have an even larger collection than this, but this is all that can fit in my jewelry display. I have this elegant, espresso-colored wood jewelry box from Bombay Company that was a gift, but all that I have in it is plastic, metal costume jewelry that probably cost a fragment of the case that holds it all. ::titter::

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At the King Center in Atlanta, GA – 2004

I am not going to say a whole lot today. This is because there is just so much to say. If I began to run off at the mouth & pontificate now, it would certainly become like a sermon. I feel as though I should leave those to the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. himself. All the topics I could broach today (or any day) are stalwart convictions of mine that I feel SO strongly about that it could very likely become much too personal, preachy, & not succinct enough to be an article for this blog. I don’t want to get on my soapbox here — the playground of ravin’ perkiness. I can write some pretty assiduously forceful declarations when I am impassioned, but What’s Ravin’, Maven? is not a project I designed for that. Thereupon, today I will just share what I know about this revolutionary man who has been my hero — my professor of life, my like-minded kindred soul, my muse — and try my best to honor him on this very important day in which is dedicated to his mark on *our* world.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was actually born Michael Luther King, Jr., on January 15, 1929. If I remember correctly, he legally changed his name to Martin. Following in his grandfather & father’s footsteps, he was the co-pastor to his father at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, but I have skipped ahead of myself… Before that, MLK Jr. graduated from a segregated high school when he was 15 years old. After that, he got a B. A. at Morehouse College, which was a “Negro” college, also in Atlanta. From there he attended 3 years at Crozer Theological Seminary (Pennsylvania) and studied theology, of course. One of his first triumphs & clues, into his future in civil rights, was that he was elected president of his senior class at Cozner, which mostly consisted of white students. Where our country was with segregation at that time, this was a ridiculously admirable & powerful feat. He went on to win a fellowship there, and then headed off to Boston University. At Boston University he completed a residency and got his doctorate. This is when & where [in Boston] he met Coretta. He went on to marry Miss Scott, making her Coretta Scott King. #love Together they had 4 children — 2 daughters & 2 sons: Bernice, Yolanda, Dexter Scott, & Martin Luther King III.
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