RHoATL, Season 2 Finale: Wrap it up, B

But that choker's not cute.

We’re back and it’s over! I missed blogging last week’s episode but when I got around to watching it, it wasn’t THAT exciting to write about anyway. On to the finale…

What are Dwight’s qualifications as the director of a fashion show? He’s telling Sheree to trust him but um, what references is he rolling with? Sheree is the WORST when it comes to hiring help. She can’t hire models, party planners, seamstresses, nobody. For someone who had such a dreadful show last time, you’d think she would be on top of this. How the hell does Sheree have one vision (simple, understated) and she hired Dwight who is thinking “it’s better to oversell than undersell”????? More fur! More accessories! Mmkay.

The Hartwells are getting real and I appreciate that. Ed is truly being responsible saying let’s downsize this crib that costs $200,000 a year and move into our other crib that’s 9 acres. Still a great place to live, I’m sure, but a downgrade from where they are now. Lisa needs to get it together. I know she’s got a lot of things going on, but I’m not so sure she’s bringing in the kind of cheese that’s necessary for the upkeep of the home and everything else the family is spending money on. She wants to be wealthy, but um, it’s not like they’re moving to the poor house! Ed was TOTALLY on point when he said his home was in his family, not in the house. And no Lisa, you can’t build a guest house. You cannot build a gym. You cannot have a circular driveway. By the time you renovate the property with all those extras, it’ll cost damn near the same or more than the home you’re leaving!

focusing on healthy relationships

Today is “Taking it to the Streets” day for Strong Start, an organization dedicated to educating young people about healthy relationships and ending teen dating violence. Eleven organizations in Atlanta,, Austin, Boston, Bridgeport, the Bronx, Idaho, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Oakland, Providence, and Wichita will be helping spread the message about healthy relationships. According to the website, Start Strong is also encouraging people to join the conversation online – “We are asking for your best thinking, your best advice, your best observations to get this country learning about healthy relationships, how to have them, build them, keep them and ensure that violence and abuse are never tolerated.”

It’s great that Start Strong is doing this work and even greater that they’re taking it to the streets today during Domestic Violence Awareness Month to help people see that teen dating violence is truly related to domestic violence overall. A lot of the time we focus on the negative when trying to create awareness by telling people what they should NOT be doing or by showing them how jacked up their lives and relationships are. This campaign builds off of what many advocates know already and what President Obama said in his official National Domestic Violence month proclamation on Oct. 1:

During this month, we rededicate ourselves to breaking the cycle of violence. By providing young people with education about healthy relationships, and by changing attitudes that support violence, we recognize that domestic violence can be prevented. We must build the capacity of our Nation’s victim service providers to reach and serve those in need. We urge community leaders to raise awareness and bring attention to this quiet crisis. Together, we must ensure that, in America, no victim of domestic violence ever struggles alone.

Even amidst all this positivity, I’m kind of saddened. As a soon-to-be 28 year old woman (Nov 1!), I realize that neither I nor many of my peers know how to articulate the characteristics of a healthy relationship. So few of us have seen them or been in them. If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll see that this is a true statement. How can we be mentors and teachers to young people starting out? Start Strong’s target audience is 11-14 year old boys and girls. Good, it’s not too early. Clearly we all needed some help learning how to love ourselves and one another in a supportive, encouraging, uplifting and healthy way.  I’m going to keep an eye on this organization and I hope that you do too. Try following Start Strong on Twitter.

Here are ways that YOU can participate ONLINE on October 22nd.  It’s easy and will only take a few minutes of your time:

1. Give Start Strong your relationship feedback. They need to know what you know. Click Here to give your feedback!
2. Post a conversation starter to your Facebook (http://tinyurl.com/yfxr7yl) or Twitter profile. This will have a major impact.
   • For example:
     • (insert name) how do you start strong? Join the conversation http://tinyurl.com/tothestreets
     • (insert name) is on a mission to define a healthy relationship. Join the conversation http://tinyurl.com/tothestreets
     • (insert name) is wondering how do you define a healthy relationship. Tell us how to Start Strong before it ends wrong http://tinyurl.com/tothestreets