I Love You, SYB Babes

Hi ladies,
I don't know how to say it. I guess I should just jump into it, since my keyboard is soaked with tears and my laptop will probably die in seconds. Next Tuesday, I will begin a full-time position as Beauty Director at Essence.com. Which means I'm also shutting down "Shake Your Beauty."

I know. I know. Believe me, it hurts me more than it hurts you. I feel like we're best friends. Sisters, even. Play cousins. You and I have been through five and a half years of love, laughter, marriages, babies, bad perms, migraines, Revlon Raisin Glaze Lipgloss, Q&A Wednesdays, a zillion posts about Tarte Cheek Stain and, and...well, LIFE. You don't know this, but you've gotten me through some really hard times. For three of our fives years together, I was going through a series of emotionally and physically traumatic IVF procedures. They kept failing and failing, and there were some really bleak times. YOU kept me smiling. Your comments, your emails...even all the drama over the Saks dress during AMBI-gate. Thank you. Girls, when I started SYB, I had no idea it would become so successful. I barely even knew what a blog was; all I knew was that I'd just left my post as Teen People's beauty director and wasn't ready to stop talking beauty. You helped me turn it into something that really mattered. We did it together! We rock!

How quickly my mood turned from despondent to rah-rah! I'm PMSing.

Recently, my life has taken some rather major turns...which I decided meant that the universe was telling me to switch some things up. This Essence.com position couldn't have come into my life at a more perfect time! I've always adored the magazine, the site, and Emil Wilbekin, Essence.com's irresistibly debonair managing editor (you also know him as the former Editor-in-Chief of Vibe and Giant). His vision for the site was so positively delicious and sexy that I was dying to be involved. Girls, as bittersweet as it is, I'm over-the-moon, hell-and-gone excited to begin this new chapter in my career. I really am. And I'm not moving to Siberia! Please, please follow me over to Essence.com! I have some really exciting stuff planned for the beauty and hair channels. Essence's digital staff is incredible, so I can do fun things I'd never have been able to pull off here (mainly because I thought the "ht" in "html" meant hot tamale).

Thank you so much for supporting SYB over the years, dear readers. You made it so fun for me. I'll always love you (especially the regulars...you know who you are). And even though the blog as we know it will be no longer, I'll send you updates here and there just so you know what's going on with me. And La Lina!

Here's what I know: You will ALWAYS be my SYB Babes. I don't care what other blogs you're into, or even if you never catch on to my orange blush thing. You'll always be my girls! Got that? Good. Now have a glorious Thanksgiving. I know what I'm thankful for!

Kisses, kisses, and mo' kisses,

Your Tia