The Hunt Is On...

Greetings...Sleep is clearly not a friend of mine tonight. I just recently came in from a night dinner,the oh so frustratung event of bowling and great conversation. Great Times, but now I'm wide awake and have a free day tommorrow, so I told myself I might as well do some posting.

So if you haven't picked up the latest July 2008 issue of Essence you def. should. Not only because my fly sistah Gabrielle Union graces the cover but it also carries hot articles.
My top three...

• Nicole Paultre Bell Speaks!- This article interviews Paultre Bell after the unfair verdict of her husband who was shot by the police on there wedding day.
• Your Pursuit of Happiness-This article gave advice to recreate your mentality to keep it in a joyous state. The article quoted Alice Walker " Don;t wait around for otheer people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get, you've got to make yourself."
• They thought I'd Never Get Married!- Umm enough said! This gives every successful, empowered African American woman that all hope is not lost just yet.

But I posted this pic of Gabrielle Union on here because I love the new chic hair cut she is now sporting. And what I love even more is her Brian Reyes cardigan she is sporting!! I want it, It gives her a laid back comfortable look with a feminine splash. Oh I'm sporting it even if I have to piece it together myself. My goal is to find a less expensive replica...I willl be doing some good thrifting around my neighborhood while im still at home...Don't sleep on Broad Ripples Thrift stores.....The hunt is on!!!God Bless

*SOnG Of ThE MomeNT*

Soo All thIs Morning I have Been blasting the Sex And The City SoundtracK..I know, I know the movie has been out for a moment now but still love it.So until it comes out on DVD(which might get the same rotaion as Brown Sugar) i'll just bump the Soundtrack;) As you know Miss. Jennifer Hudson brought some color to the Movie as playing Carrie Bradshaw's assistant. \

As I was watching the BET awards a couple of nights ago they premiered Jennifer's Hudson new single Spotlight which is my favorite song of the moment> Not only does she sound amazing she looks beautiful in the video. All of her outfits she chose are very form flattering for her and her choppy bob fits her well! Oh it also is my fav video now because ...Pause at the sexy chocolate locmate who plays the roll of her possessive man! Jen, you did a wonderful casting:0 Her new single is called Spotlight which I love for more reasons than one.. Check It OuT...


God Bless!

*SpotLight ShoE*

Good Morning God's Gifts!!Yep Yep once again I came out of hiding! I always say I'm going to start doing better on having more consistent posts but I always do worse;0EEkk! No but, really I'm still on my month off from school, work & anything else that adds stress in my life. I honestly feel 210% refreshed already. I feel as if I have never been this focus in my life and it feels sooooooooo good:) But what also feels soo good is a Fly Pair of new shoes!!!YaY!!! okay *Pause* Technically these aren't my new shoes....Technically there my older sister's, Eden's..Hmm But we have such a share clothing policy ( sneak and wear each others stuff)it really doesn't matter ;0 She order these from Nordstroms and was bugging me to blog them b/c she felt these are the flyest shoes right now.....
To be quite honest I really wasn't 100% feeling them. I just had to look past the patent leather and focus on the style. Once she slippped one of them on and I trotted around in the other one my opinion def. changed on these 70's inspired Linea Paoulo heels..It was a steal sale also with her discount...The price went from 150 down to 49! You can't even complain if you wanted to!!Alright more coming God Bless!!!

Defeat your Enemies With Success

"We Made It" Busta Rhymes feat. LinkinPark
Powerful Lyrics, Powerful Video......




Chorus

">Together we made it
We made it even though
weHad our backs up against the wallForever we waited,
And they told us we were never going to get it
But we took it on the road,To the riches,On the road, to the ghetto, on the road, to the projects on the road, ride with meOn the road, we come and get it on the road yeah yeah yeah yeah!"


..Gotta Love it

God Bles...

The Power Of SelF DisCipline:0

Good Evening Blessed Ones... Im now sitting in my family room at surrounded by my loved ones who are actively participating with the TV Gameshow Password as if Regis Philbin is going to pop out the TV and say Correct!! This usually would work every other nerve but this trip home is different. After ending my second quarter in Chicago its comforting to be surrounded by people who don't want anything from you except your presence. One vital part of my life that I realized I missed and needed the most was my father/daughter encouragement talks.



One quality you should understand about my father is he is extremely hardworking, discipline and does not allow any outside sources to affect his spirit in any way. He has an extremely quiet spirit and allows his actions speak for him. Clearly I received the majority of my traits from my mother- high strung, stress all the time, allow insignificant issues affect my mentality and the list can go on. But one trait that I always admired the most that I have learned first hand in the past months is ...Self Discipline. So after our family left Sunday Service today me and my father had one of our good ol' fashion life advice talks while eating over our Sunday dinner which he makes every week(ooh how I wish I inherited his cooking abilities:0).

I have always been curious how my father stays so focused and content through life storms. He informed me that all it took was the power of self discipline. My entire family has overcome numerous obstacles but it has been my father's struggles that has stood out the most. My father who is originally from Nigeria has been through extreme tribulations just from the ignorance of this country supposedly named "The Land Of the Free" A boldfaced lie. Clearly if you do not sound/look like an European American people want to place you in the box of being mildly retarded and uneducated. Which is clearly not the case with my father who was college educated across seas in London. I remember as a child growing up both me and my older sister would get extremely irate ( to be honest I can;t even express in words of my anger) when White America would disrespect him just because of his accent and his orgin. Yes we were both guilty of childhood fights with ignorant kids who felt the need to make comments. Throughout all these incidents my father was the most calm. He would always tell us do not worry about others they can only control your fate if you allow them. He would encourage us and tell us give it to God and focus on disciplining yourself so you don't prove your enemies right. As a young girl I watched him become a livng example of his advice towards me. He did not allow anyone to stop him from surpassing his goal and put his energy running his own succesful business. Even his family doubted his success and has continued to prove everyone wrong time after time.



I never understood how he continued to rise bove it all time after time . But with his wisdom today I truly understood the power of Self Discipline. From eating habits to what type of media you allow to infiltrate your mind to ignoring outside sources to pull you away from you goal it all goes back to self discipline. It is amazing where self discipline canplace you on higher levels of life. If you focus on yourself and give yourself of restrictions it ultimately builds your mentality up to be unstoppable. It is vital to have discpiline in actions -

• Setting a time of meditation each day to build up your relationship with the Lord. This is an IMPORTANT step people skip. People lack to realize it doesn't matter if you have a long list of goals and dreams you still won't achieve them if they're not aligned up with God's plan for you. Make sure you stay focus on the Lord and he will reveal where he wants you. Trust Him when He leads you he know the desires of your heat and he will surpass your own individual goals.


• Making sure you just don't set your goals but have a detailed plan to achieve each one. I live by lists. I full believer of setting goals and accomplishments daily,weekly, monthly,yearly..etc. Once you start to see your daily accomplishments conquered it will give you more confidence to continue to reach you bigger dreams.


• Remember your body is a Temple and should be treated as such. Make sure it is in the top shape it can be. Set aside times a couple days out of the week to discipline your body.Watch what you intake in your body (my weak point). Keep discipline in your diet. Even if you're not a vegetarian, intake fresh and natural foods


• DISCIPLINE YOUR THOUGHTS!!!!! Let me state that again..DISCIPLINE YOUR THOUGHTS!!! this the most vital!!!!!!!! your thoughts will automatically control your destiny. Whatever you think about yourself thats what you will become. If all you do is think about your past that is will you will eventually end up. If your focus in life is negative or indecisive that is will you will end up still lost and confused. your thoughts are powerful. If anythi take away the point of DISCIPLINING YOUR THOUGHTS. This is the main reason why people get caught in between there dream because there thoughts are not focused in the right direction.

I hope someone gains some insight and Hope from this specific posts..Stay Focus. Don't Give Up. It;s surprising once self discpline is a part of your daily activities you will begin to be fully content in life no matter what situation God has placed you in. I'll leave you with his famous quote by Frank Outlaw..

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

....God Bless!

When Props Are Due..

"Cause I got summer hatin on me Cause I’m hotter than the sun

Got Spring hatin on me Cuase I never sprung

Winter Hatin on me Cause I’m colder than y’all

But I will NEVER I will NEVER I will NEVER fall!"



Okay so me and my bestie were out yesterday and I blame her for me being past obsessed with this song and especially the Lyrics I just posted. Now if you know me, I have never been a huge Wayne fan. When I listen to music Im all about what message is being portrayed from the artist tto the audience. Numerous times I have listened to Wayne and I'll admit the way he puts his words together is slick genius. The problem comes in is when a full messaged is not being portrayed. But I'm not knocking wayne because I jam out to him hard when trying to stay on my grind. I still play out "The Sky is The Limit!" I can't be mad because he came up and clearly is shutting the game down..especially since he has already sold a million units in the 1st week!



The idea of this song was a powerful combination of bringing both The Carters together. I loved the Collabo and I love the smoothness that Mr. Jay- Z brings to the track. I have ridiculous amount of respect for him. He has grown so much since he started in the hip hop game. He's literally a business man! I love It ...So right now my song of the week Is " Mr. Carter." I love it because its a reminder of no matter whats going on around you, you have to stay focus. It also allows you to take all your enemies negative energy towards you and use it to empower yourself. Because regardless of what others may think if you stay focus and have determination everything will fall into place! You have to be your biggest fan or no one will ever support you! Don't let other determine your destiny!Stay Focus and of course everyone will begin to ask about you. "I Will Never, I will Never, I will Never fall!!" Aah You got to Love It!!! God Bless!!!!

New Products

Goodmorning Beautiful Ones.... I decided to come out of hiding. I have been enjoyoing doing absolutely nothing since I've been home. I have been sleeping, eating, and kicking it with all my loved ones. Which brings me to my next point of whe I said I have done nothing that has incloded my hair also. I have to say Thank God for hair accesories ! I have to say headwraps and fedoras have been my saving grace. if you have seen me this week you clearly understand the creative coverups I'v been using to try to cover my laziness! Okay so a couple days ago I stopped being triflin' and decided I needed to do something with my hair. I'm celebrating my inspiration/sis/the most sarcastic girl in the world Al's B-DAy this weekend and I know the jokes will come if hot mess are the only 2 words that come to mind when you look at my head. I only had one problem with beginning to start my twist set. I def. forgot I left all my products in apartmentin Chicago...sooooo I decided to make due with what I had. Thankfully my mother is on the natural bandwagon with her sisterlocks so she did have some products that I could use. My sister is no help since she still loves the chemical that poisoning her body called a "Perm!" lol.So as I was scurrying through her bathroom( which she would go crazy if she found out i touched her sacred hair products:0) I found Mango& Lime locking gel which I want to state smells so Heavenly its hard to pull the container away from your nostrils. Hmm Okay so check, I found a locking gel next I needed a good moisturizer. I usually use Carol's daughter Hair Balm mixed with Crisco. which keeps my extremely coarse hair moisturized. As I was looking through the cabinets I spotted a container of raw Shea Butter. After seeing this container I remember a couple of months ago I was conversing with a customer at my job who had the most beautiful natural blowout I have ever seen in my life. It was killing the lengths of Leela James. So of course I asked her what products she used and she stated that she melts raw shea butter and uses it as a moisturizer while doing her twists sets. I recall me wanting to try this technique numerous time but could never find a place that sold raw shea butter except at different festivals and expos where I purchased the one I already had in my possession.

Great! I thought this the perfect time for me to try.So I washed my hair with Rosemary& Mint Shampoo from the Carol's Daughter line and deep conditioned using "Hair Mayonnaise." Next I cut off a chunk of the shea butter and placed it in a plastic bowl and popped it in the microwave fro about 45 seconds. The shea butter turned into a thick liquid form. After that I popped in "why Did I get Married", grabbed my spray bottle, my glorious smelling locking gel and began the hour long process of two strand twisting my hair! I usually fingerpart my hair into four sections and use the tail of a rattail comb to part int o smaller sections in which allow me to twist. Each section that I began to twist I took a dab of shea butter and a dab of locking gel and just began to twist and just wrapped a silk scarf around my hair and BooM! I was done! I am extremely surprised how much better these two products worked on my hair. After working out and running all over the city, help planting with my father in this sun my hair is still soft,great sheen an great moisture! sooo i might have to update my products! and Ill update you how my hair will last through this weekend filled with "Fun Foolishness!" !! Hmm I still don't know how I want to style It ...will see... God Bless

Do you want to be One?

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Good Evening Beautiful Ones, I know in my last post I stated my next posts were not going to be music related but I truly had a need to address this controversial single from Nas. I have to state I respect the fact that Nas holds so much knowledge and is not selfish when it comes to sharing uplifting information to raise up his people. Nas continues to hit in depth topics with each album that is released even if the delivery is graceful or rash.


I have to admit when the world spotted Nas with his flawless and creative spouse, Kelis sporting the word "NiggeR" as a walking Billboard on the Grammy Red carpet, I was a tad bit distraught. I was actually irate with the fact that he was throwing around this word with so much hatred, anger and pain as if it was an appropriate greeting that could be found on a welcome doormat. The first time I turned the song on I could not listen to it all the way through because my blood pressure was rising with every nonchalant "nigger" that was being thrown around in the lyrical delivery of Mr. Nassir Jones. I was utterly turned off and somewhat disgusted.


In the back of my mind I honestly knew that Nas has too much knowledge and I knew there was a hidden message past the upfront ignorance use of the word. I finally had a chance to catch the full version of this video and honestly it made the message fall in place for me. The video for me pretty much broke down the message on how I perceive the song. I have honestly been playing this song on repeat just so I can pull out every creative bit from this song. In fact I'm listening to it right now as I type.


In my 19 years of living I have been blessed to have been introduced to numerous cultures and offered knowledge at such a young age. One of the blessings I have received from my Heavenly Father was the talent to observe/study others and being able to piece together their behavior. Everyone actions has been triggered by an event or an environment that surrounded them. Since elementary to High School I was introduced to ignorance being in an predominately white area and an equal ignorance when I enrolled in A HBCU. I know reside in a mixed environment where it seems as the same ignorance lives. In each one of these environments it was vital to create the person I am now. When living and growing up in a predominately white area I was smacked in the face with the ignorance of people still being afraid of difference and disregarded anything that they did not see on a day to day basis. This was good for me because you saw racism slapped in your face on a regular. There was no hiding. It was in your face hate for other cultures and anyone with an unique mentality.


When I decided to attend an HBCU about 2 years ago I was ecstatic to be engulfed in the rich culture of my people. There was not a doubt in my mind that I was going to be introduced by black power fists and natural coils. To my surprise it was the complete opposite and mostly assimilation was taking place on the campus.


In both environments I found myself being around people suffering from identity crisis. In the environment I see that people see it is a hot trend now to indulge themselves in the Black Culture. What Nas portrays wuth his lyrics and his video that even though many people want to be part of our culture there is still much pain and history behind the word. Its funny because both black and whites are never satisfied with there culture and are always trying emulate the other. Blacks are trying to get away from the word and culture by weaving it up, plastering themselves with old white designers who probably wouldn't want them to wear there items no way and losing sight of there past. You have whites who think its appealing to blast the newest Wayne (in which they think that represents hip hop), misspelling words on purpose, and saying every other word in our culture eagerly waiting until society allows them to say the word "nigger."



So I wrote all this to say do not write off Nas just yet. Even though with each chorus you may cringe, You need to listen to this thought provoking song. And realize that the disease of identity crisis; is running rapid. In no way I feel as if he was glorifying the word but showing the world that if you want to be a "nigger" here is what you must endure- The Pain of The Past, The Prejudice of Present and the Frustration of the Future...Think about It..God Bless.

WaLE!!

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"Summer-summertime, summertime" As the Fresh Prince would state! I love getting my hands on new summertime music! So this summer I see myself jammin out to many up and coming east hip hop masters. Go Go Music style of music coming from the D.C. and east Coast area is on a steady rise with props to new artists as Tabi Booney and Wale. I'll admit I just noticed Wale when he was recently featured on The Roots Rising Up joint. I was intrigued by his laid back demeanor and his conscious lyrics. I did a tad bit of research on 23 year old lyricists Wale Folarin. He has already been in top press as the New York Times, The Fader, The Washington Post, Vibe...and the lists goes on. I actually was extremely excited when I heard he was on the 'Rock The Bell" Tour with Nas, Mos Def, Q-tip , Method Man, Dead Prez, De La Soul, Raekwon, The Cool Kids. I was even more hype when I heard the tour is hitting the Chi July 19..And Yes I'm working on tickets as I type! That tour hands down is true hip hop, no gimmicks, just taking hip hop back to its roots. It has clearly strayed away and has become ridiculously too commercial! But that is another posts that may take up half the page! But check out his new video Iposte "W.A.L.E.D.A.N.C.E." The video is artisticly simple. i definitely diggin; it..Oh and yes I have noticed the majority of my posts have been music oriented, its just been hot music has been surrounding. But don't worry more Beauty, Fashion, and Life Lessons Posts are coming soon!! GOD BLESS!!

Roots+Badu = Unbelievable

Goodmorning...I want to apologize for taking so long to update you on the remarkable, amazing and soulful concert of the one and only Ms. Badu and The Roots. I went to her concert last Friday with my sis who came in town and my hip hop head homeboy. Of course we were running late.!! So once we entered the The Chicago Theatre we were struggling to find our seats. Surprisingly we had better seats than we expected! As we wlked down on the floor to get settled in we were greeted by The raw instruments of The RooTs spitting there new single "Rising Up." I was astonished how talented these cats were live. They were interactive in the crowd and led every person who purchased a ticket to stand up and jam, no matter what age you are. Blackthought was tearing up the lyrics and then putting themm back together all in one verse. Throughout there performance you can feel the vibe that they are true artists and they genuinely love to perform. The guitarist from The Roots who goes by Capt. Kirk. tore up my all time favorite song "You Got Me" Erykah hadn't come out yet so he had a gitar solo and this man vocals was ridiculous! This man began to scat and dance across the stage while playing the guitar..he seriously stole the The Roots performance.

After about a 15min intermission the crowd became extremely impatient because we all were eager to see the queen herself. About 5 minutes later her back up singers slid out first and than she slowly crept out from the backstage in a layered taffeta dress and topped it off with a small black church hat. It was screamed out "Badu!' This woman performed for 2 1/2 hours straight! Her performance consisted of selections form "New Amerykah" back to classic sounds of "On& On". One of the highlights of her performance was when she mixed interpret/modern dance as she performed "Green Eyes". When I say she was moving all over a she was honestly spinning , leaps, unique stretches I mean it, she worked it out. She came back out and ended the concert with a snippet of her classic songs she didn't hit such as Next Lifetime, Call Tyrone, In Love with You(which I would have fainted if she sang the entire song. But what I loved the most is when she ended her set with Telephone and went into the crowd and allowed the audience to sing with her. She was even clowning on this brotha's vocals who was clearly intoxicated. We were sitting in the middle so I couldn't allow my beautiful vocal skills to shine through! clearly I sound a mess)1 But I would have pretended I had a voice to jam out with Erykah. One can automatically tell that she is down to earth and has so much meaning behind her lyrics. I would close my eyes randomly throughout the concert and her voice sounded just as pure as it sounded on her albums. Beautiful. One word to describe the concert,...Peace and Blessings,,God Bless.