My Birthday Celebration - Katra Lounge NYC

This past Wednesday I had my annual birthday party, hosted by DeVoe Signature Events & Bklyngurl Productions. The celebration was held at Katra Lounge in Soho and it was WONDERFUL!!!!

This had been a particularly trying week for me, with my dad being ill and all and I was looking forward to getting my lil drink on and relaxing for a moment. Besides my big day the party was the official launch of "Fabulous Wednesdays" at Katra Lounge, a birthday celebration for myself & Diana Ortiz and also a meet & greet party for the new models of the newly revived "Dangerous Curves...The Tour!".

I had arranged to meet Diva and her new tour models at another location and then all travel over to Katra together. When I arrived with my Valencia chocolate cake in my arms, the models were getting dressed and getting the final touches put on their makeup by Douglas Says. Btw....I openly admired the new signature dresses by Robert E. Knight, the ladies all looked amazing. I chatted with my homie Rocky Grate as I changed into my dress. We got downstairs to the street level to find that Diva had ordered a white limousine for us to travel to the venue in style and the ladies were really excited. After all 150 of us (lol) piled up into that limo folks began taking out cameras and getting candid shots for the brief ride to the venue.

We laughed and started the party off right in that limo and the party spilled out onto the sidewalk in front of Katra when we pulled up after the brief ride. The first faces that I saw upon entering the vestibule was that of my old friend Pat Edwards, who I haven't seen in several years and two very handsome gentlemen that she brought along with her. I stood and talked with them for a few minutes (and ordering my first drink(s) of the evening - Grey Goose w/Cranberry & Pineapple juice with a twist of Lime!) and then made my way downstairs to set up my party section. Fortunately, we got there fairly early so I was able to get myself situated and then personally greet my guests (which I love doing!). Folks began arriving and the room quickly began to fill up with beautiful, voluptuous women......

Co-host Tonya Giddens had the downstairs lounge at Katra all set up and ready for us to party! So many of my friends came out that I hadn't seen in a very long time....among them was my home girl Chrys Green & Eric Owes, my longtime sistafriend Eda Francois, Jacque Kennedy, Clunis, my old friend from my publishing days, Shawn Griffith and his wife Aileen, Chrys Green and even my next door neighbor Sara Mason (BIG surprise with that one!).

My curvy divas represented the community beautifully that night! I was so proud of my girls on this night....when we dress up....baby WE DRESS UP!!!!

I tried to work the room to make sure that I greeted everyone personally....working my way around the room I found that my Curvy Celebs where also in the house....Celeb Stylist and Fashion Designer Susan Moses was holding court at the bar with former President of Def Jam Records Monica Lynch.

Designer Robert E Knight was working the room like crazy and my boy Marco Mays arrived with two girlfriends in tow and gladly took over the camera duty for the evening. My SUNY Binghamton classmate Nelceina Jacobs surprised me with her presence. My handsome friend Morris Grey gladly kept her company throughout the party - Thanks Mo!

I felt like an absolute Goddess in my dress that was designed exclusively for me by Atlanta based designer Agape. The dress got RAVE reviews from everyone!

My plus sized models represented in major numbers - both from my past and my present! Yvette Hunter -Bennett showed up with her mom and brother, Sharon Jones and her boo Stacy, Elsabet Seifu and her beautiful sister, Ena Escallier, Art Of Curves founder Blacque Southerland and her crew, Jeannie Ferguson (you KNOW I love you girl) and Mister, Plus Model Mag Editor in Chief Maddy Figueroa, Tricia Campbell, Shante Gordon, Mia Amber & her hubby comedian Mike Yard and Make Up Artist Tara Taylor. And special shout out to ALL of my Dangerous Curves Tour Models - thank you for making my night just that much more wonderful! I am so proud of you all!

It was great to see my long time friends (and party buds) DJ Rockin Rob & his wife Sharon, Brother John Robinson (who made my mouth water with descriptions of his famous sweet potato cheesecake - uh...yeah John...I'm WAITING for mine...lol!!!), Lavon brought a friend of his named Chance along (I hadn't seen Chance in over 15 years...been looking for him since the first time I met him...lol - it was good to see you Boo!)

It was 2 for 1 drinks for the first 3 hours and if I had drank all the drinks that folks were buying for me - lol, I would have had to have been carried out. Yeah...it was THAT many drinks! Needless to say, I tried to share the wealth as much as possible. As the evening neared to an end my fam sang happy birthday to me (it took so long that the candles burned into puddles.) I thought I was handling myself pretty well until those last two Patron shots (lol thanks Sean!) Let's just say that buy the party wound down and I changed back into my street clothes - I was very happy indeed.

The only thing that would have made my party absolutely perfect was if my family had been there to share it with me. Unfortunately, my dad had taken ill the night before and the rest of my family stayed by his side.

We wound up hopping in different cars to take the short ride to an all night burger joint. I ordered a burger - and I don't remember too much more after that. It was an amazing night fam! Thank you for the gifts, the drinks and all the love and support that you have shown me over the years.

Diva & Tonya, I can't thank you enough - it has been a really trying time for me and I definitely needed this to lift my spirits. I love you guys!

Photos & Slideshow courtesy of RDE, Inc & Bklyn Gurl Productions

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everthing else is secondary." - Steve Jobs