Brunch with Denitria Lewis & The African American Day Parade

What's happening Family!

This morning after a quick early morning run to Home Depot with my monster, I came home, changed clothes and decided to check out a brunch that a new friend of mine, Denitria Lewis was holding at her home.

Denitria is a fellow Harlemite like myself and it was a quick walk to get to her place....well it was pretty quick until I reached Seventh Avenue, which was all blocked off in honor of the annual African American Day Parade. Unlike parades of the past, I was able to cross over to the other side of the avenue with no real problems.

I reached her place quickly and without incident, and found that I hadn't missed much...they were just beginning to talk about the reason we all got together in the first place. We had all gathered for a sampling of a new product called Monavie, which is a juice from the Acai (pronounced Ah-Sah-Ee) berry which is loaded with antioxidants and nutrients. I am told that one 2 0unce serving of Monavie add up to the equivalent of 7 servings of fruits & veggies. I am familiar with this particular berry because when I was in Cali shooting MADE for MTV, a spa owner named Charles suggested that I give it a try. I found it to be very tasty indeed, but also a little out of my price range for the moment...lol.


But I found the seminar to be really interesting and the best part is that you can mix Monavie with alcohol (we had Ciroc at the seminar) and it makes a nice cocktail too! After the presentation we all sat around and chatted and munched on turkey bacon, bagels, Flautas & fresh fruits that we were able to dip in the fresh chocolate fountain she had on display. I hung out for a little while and then decided to check out the parade for a little while before I walked home.


I thanked Denitria for the invite and then headed back over to 7th Avenue where the parade was in full swing. I stood out in the sun for as long as I could handle it and checked out the marching bands, colorful floats and the muscle boys with no shirts promoting their new calendars before I crossed over to the west side of 7th avenue and walked home.


For whatever reason, the parade doesn't hold the same joy that it used to for me - as with Harlem Week - I remember it being different, and better on a much larger scale. I mean we NEVER missed this parade when I was younger - all you had to do was walk the length of the parade route and you ran into EVERYBODY that you knew!

It just doesn't do it for me like that anymore.

"The greatest wealth is health."