Have a good time--Jamaica seems like it would be depressing, once you go outside those resort walls.

Good luck and have a good time. We'll be here when you get back. :)

New townhouse and a caribbean vacation? Girl, you're chockfull of surprises. You've picked a great place for some RnR, nyk (tho gotta watch the timing sometimes during hurricane season). Hope you have a great time recharging with island solar power.

Take me!!! I'm jealous. :( ....I WANT a vaction too. Seriously though, have fun and get rejuvenated.

Just two words for ya': Slac Ker! But for real-for real, isn't that one of the major pitfalls or problems with being a one-man (gal) show, whether in business or blogdom? Get burned out, or tear one little achilles tendon, preventing you from peddling your Christian T-shirts for eight months, and your creditors STILL want their money, regardless of whether you have revenue flowing in or not; and then they keep calling, and calling, and calling, and then you have to get caller-id and tell your kids to lie about your whereabouts when strangers call, and then your wife starts looking at you funny, and your tithes drop off, and, and...Oh, I digress. Seriously? Remember, SPF-30 (although studies have shown that the farther from the equator a people live the greater the cancer rate. Mmmmm.)

There's no rule that says you have to blog with any given amount of regularity. We'll all be here when you do. It's quality, not quantity, dear.

Have a great vacation. Drink a Red Stripe for me.

Ambra,I wish you good luck on your trip to Jamaica. Have a nice trip back.

AND, do you mean that it would have been ok for Mademoiselle Knowles and her posse to give lap dances to SINGLE men on national television? (Obviously a rhetorical question.)

Oh, and from what I gather about her, fellow commentors, Nykol does not do "luck." Correct?

Thanks everybody

Johnie, you would be correct on both counts.

Memer, tickets were booked a long time ago.

Yeah, that's cool, Ambra. Just sayin that tho there's long stretches of sunshine, officially, the hurricane season runs from around july to late october or so. Little bit of the roll of the dice, but odds are normally in your favour. Ebbryting irie?

In any event, if you venture off the resort (and, seriously, you gots to mind your step with that), you'll discover a culture so very different from the U.S. Soak it all in.

1) I don't roll dice, or have odds in my favor. I do have favor, but the dice are not responsible for that. I'm going for a birthday party so the dates are fixed. Hurricaine or no hurricaine. I always have favor when I travel though, so I'm not worried.

MJ, I wouldn't necessarily call it depressing...but it is reality that we need to respond to.

I've done quite a bit of traveling to Western and Southern Africa and it's always the same in predominately black countries (I refuse to use the term "Third world" because who the heck do we think we are?)....there's a huge poverty line. It's the same in the Bahamas, St. Croix, Jamaica, etc.

Memer,
The funny thing is, it's the inverse in the Carribean. In the media, the Carribean is highly glossified and no one ever shows the other side, the shantitowns, and the non-resort life. I'm no stranger to this.

In Africa, all the media ever shows are huts and people running around with spears. They never show the sky-rises, the black Africans with oceanfront mansions, or the business owners. Instead, we see World Vision meets Feed the Children and kids with flies buzzing around them. That is a reality there, but it's not the reality. Another reason why CNN running the media has been a detriment to black people of the world.

In the midst of extreme poverty, I have never seen more prosperous black people than when I've traveled to Africa. I'm always floored by the work ethic and succes. Atlanta, the blackmecca, can't even touch it.

P.S. If you ever leave a comment again like the last one that I had to delete, you're on the fast track to bannation (soon to be entered into the Nyktionary as, "The act of banning or revoking another's ability to comment on a weblog for lack of value added to the conversation, and offense taken by the author").

Glad to hear you're getting some rest. Have a good time.

Cool. Please pahdon my presumptions. And "the dark continent" is one place i hope to visit 'fore i pass on.

Erm, re bannation, are you talking to me or MJ?? Wasn't aware that you deleted a comment of mine??

I'm talking to you. I didn't delete it. I edited it for class and appropriateness.

? What, the one from, like, a year ago? Uh, ok. Fair enough.

No; the one you left this morning.

Haven't said much lately, but I do want you to know that we all love you in a special blogospherical way, and whatever you need to do (or don't do) is OK. We can wait for the Ambra Experience.

That "psychotic" feeling of seeing if you have posted on your own blog is not so much psychosis as it is hoping to find inspiration for a "worthy" post. Summertime seems to intensify the feeling of not having much to say. Guess it's the heat, or is it the humidity?

Keep cool in Jamaica!
One love, one heart, let's blog together and we'll feel alright.
Give thanks and praise to the Lord and we will feel alright.

??! I'm not sure what you mean, A. The post in this thread is the only one I've made this am and it is exactly what I wrote, you didn't touch it.

This be mighty confusin. Anyway, here's hoping to get some time to unwind.

Marv, you're cracking me up.

Enjoy the heck out of your downtime! Burnout is all too real, especially for folks in media, and it takes real love for one to stop the madness. Good for you!

I will pray for you as you endure Emily. Methinks your stay will be extended. Bon voyage! God bless you.

enjoy your vacation!

ahhh suffering for Jesus...i remember the days hah

Have a super vacation - you deserve it. And congratulations on the new job and the new town house.

I know just how you feel. Have a great vacation.

Mental health days are essential - so go for it!. I once had a boss (President of my Business Unit) that said that anyone who did not take vacation needed to have their heads examined (she went 30+ years without sacrificing a day of vacation). I myself subscribe to that philosophy and thus am now known as "Travel Barbie" (I do object to the Barbie part as I was never partial to dolls)

Have fun!

Have fun!

I know what you mean. Also God is great!

Maybe I'm just clueless or something but: Beyonce Knowles did WHAT?!!

(And since I'm so clueless, where did this happen?)

I just saw there is a Hurricane Emily near Jamaica, category 4. Pray that she'll be alright..i'm sure she will.

Only one more day. Hooray.

Hey, it's past "bright," and way past "early"! Where you at? Hopefully not hold up on some tropical, muddy hill, surrounded by island flotsam (from a hurricane)!

Take care Ambra and enjoy your break from blogging - we all need one of those every once in a while :)