Anyway by Mother Teresa

Mother Theresa, "Anyway"

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Update!! French Vanilla Soap & Lissie

I live in the suburbs and you know that my life is super interesting when I get excited over 1.) The Whipped French Vanilla soap in the staff bathroom and 2.) Buffalo Wild Wings Tuesdays when all the wings are 1/2 off.

sigh.

1. But anyway, the giving up Facebook and Twitter (+ other stuff) thing has actually been going quite well AND the best part is that I figured out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life. (No. I'm not telling. I'm letting it flip in my head for a bit). Plus, I figured out what I'm going to do with other aspects of my life. I'm FIST PUMPING LIKE A CHAMP!! haha. (cue Kanye)

2. I am currently in love with this new chick Lissie. Check one of my fave songs by her here.

3. Recently re-visited the Ye' classic "College Dropout" and fell back in love with Kanye. Kanye is my forever boo and dont you ever forget it. Also, check the recent video he dropped for "Coldest Winter Ever".

KANYE WEST "Coldest Winter" Directed by: NABIL "ITUNES link below" from nabil elderkin on Vimeo.

4. I am still in the midst of the Personal Fashun Challenge and to my surprise (and the surprise of others) I am no longer into taking pictures every morning. I've decided to just take pictures when I'm particularly fond of an outfit. Cool? Cool.

5. Listened to Natasha Bedingfield all day Saturday and it restored my faith in the ENTIRE music industry. No lie. Actually, just being bombarded with so much musical greatness this last week has restored my faith in the music industry. Check her cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" below. This chick is bananas! But still, two of my all time favorite Natasha songs are  These Words and Unwritten.



6. Check my tumblr for more frequent posts and updates. Tumblr works better for me right now because it is short form and requires less internet time. Lyfe. Fashuns. Soundz

The Posting....Decrease.

If you follow me on Twitter or you are friends with me on Facebook then you already know that I'm taking a 40 day hiatus from all of that. I am semi-addicted to everything internet related... I twitter, I blog, I facebook, I tumble, I watch movies online, I read the news online, I listen to music online.... and the list goes on and on..... I LOVE the internet. Seriously.

Lent, IMO, is a perfect time to sacrifice certain pleasures and re-focus life. I will definitely be posting less because I just will not be as plugged in to the world as I usually am. This blog will actually be a lot more reflective for the next 5 or so weeks. Lo Siento!

I'll catch ya'll on the flip! I'll be back full force by the end of March.

heartz.

Valentine's Day and Such.

I hope everybody had a lovely Valentine's Day! I did! I was in Minnescrota kicking it with the homies and laughing/encouraging the loves still at C-ton. Love yall! My parent's also got me a DOPE gift. I was thoroughly impressed.... diamond necklace, homies. Will definitely be rocking sooner rather than later....Also, I will post a video that I clearly forgot to post last week with my "Love: Music" post and a picture of my favorite couple besides my parents (31 years and counting, homies! Now THAT'S love!).



One of my all time fave Alicia tracks! This is when she use to caress the music....

And my fave couple:

Black love just sends tingles down my spine....

Happy (belated) Valentine's day!

Fabness Takes Flight: Airplane Wear

I'm going on a trip this weekend and so I've been thinking about what I want to wear to the airport because 1.) You come in contact (directly and indirectly) with so many people 2.)I can be a big attention wh*re.

I can remember being young and always admiring people who came to the airport in real clothes. What do I mean by "real clothes"? You know, something other than sweats and sneakers. (ugh.) When I was a kid we use to rock jogging suits whenever we had to take a plane ride but as soon as I was older enough to start dressing myself and started to care about how I looked... I stopped that ish. I understand that people want to be comfortable but I also know that people tend to have a warped sense of what's "comfortable". Trust me, I LIVE for "comfortable". You will rarely catch me in something I am not "comfortable" in and I currently do not believe in heels because given the circumstance, they are quite difficult to run in. Taking a plane ride does not mean you need to look like you're going to bed or do not own a thing in your closet with structure. You are talking to (or reading the words of) a person who wore jeans on a flight from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg. I was comfortable the ENTIRE time so needless to say I do not buy that whole "I need to be comfortable" argument. So what are the best things to wear on a flight?

 

Bey doing it best!

1. Dresses
I know. I know. That sounds ridiculous, right? WRONG! I own sooo many skirts in dresses because in my opinion they are pretty much one of the most comfortable creations ever! The cotton or jersey kind are the best to wear on a plane. They wrinkle less and can make for a hefty dose of fabness.

2. leggings/tights
Duh. You wear them under the dress. But please PLEASE DON NOT WEAR LEGGINGS AS PANTS!! That is to date one of my biggest pet peeves. It's not sexy. It's trashy and classless. (IMO) humph.

3. "Boyfriend" jeans
That's loose fitting jeans usually with a fashionable twist(sparkles, frayed etc.).

4.Sweaters
I ALWAYS wear a sweater on the plane because not only does it always get chilly but sweaters can also make an outfit more cohesive. Plus, if  you buy it in a good jersey or cotton fabric it will not wrinkle as much.

5. Scarves and other accessories
Last but not least, wear a scarf! Scarves, if worn right, can make a person look.... dignified, more put together. Plus, It could always take an outfit to the next level.

That's my 2 cent's on that.

laaaterz.

P.S. I will SOOO post what I wear, next week.

Love: Music

In Honor of LoveDay (the 14th) some of my favorite love songs. I ALWAYS celebrate LoveDay. I'm always in love. Whether it be with a boo, family, friends or God. I believe in love, my friends. Bitterness is so 1992.



















And my fave...



:)

New Ish Wh*re: That's Me!

I can't help it. I love being up on the new new ish. Call me whatever. But it's true. What does this mean? I'm tumbling these days... What does that mean? I'm going heavy on tumblr. I'll be posting longer posts here as well. But TUMBLR is perfect in the way that it allows for you to blog/twitter/fb all at the same time. The perfect combo of all of that wonderfulness the web has to offer. Meet you there. My new ish...

Lyfe. Fashuns. Soundz.

John Mayer Inserts Foot Into Mouth.

Soooo.. the internet/twitter/blogs/real life is up in a roar because John Mayer decided it was appropriate to say 1.) that his p*nis was a racist and 2.) n*gger in a interview with Playboy. His exact quotes were:

MAYER: Someone asked me the other day, “What does it feel like now to have a hood pass?” And by the way, it’s sort of a contradiction in terms, because if you really had a hood pass, you could call it a n****r pass. Why are you pulling a punch and calling it a hood pass if you really have a hood pass? But I said, “I can’t really have a hood pass. I’ve never walked into a restaurant, asked for a table and been told, ‘We’re full.’”

PLAYBOY: It is true; a lot of rappers love you. You recorded with Common and Kanye West, played live with Jay-Z.

MAYER: What is being black? It’s making the most of your life, not taking a single moment for granted. Taking something that’s seen as a struggle and making it work for you, or you’ll die inside. Not to say that my struggle is like the collective struggle of black America. But maybe my struggle is similar to one black dude’s.

PLAYBOY: Do black women throw themselves at you?

MAYER: I don’t think I open myself to it. My d**k is sort of like a white supremacist. I’ve got a Benetton heart and a f**kin’ David Duke cock. I’m going to start dating separately from my d**k.

Laaawd Have Mercy! First of all, white is white. There are no "passes" IMO. I am in agreement with something one of my friends always says "Why are we (black people) so quick to hand out black cards/passes when they're (white people) holding theirs close to their chest?" Truth. He has good music. He plays the blues and happens to get nods from some Black artists but that definitely does not make this man...Black.  John Mayer was also trying to make a similar point which was over shadowed by the fact that he though it was okay to use the n-word. He clearly understands that a "black pass" does not exist.

And then on to the second point about his ding being a racist. Well, everybody has "preferences" but he sure as heck could have said that instead of saying his ding was David Duke. Somebody please come get Johnnie Boy. I've had enough.

John Mayer's interview was, in my opinion, more about shock value than about truth-telling. Welcome to the world of I-just-really-need-to-stay-relevant-and-will-do-or-say-anything-to-accomplish-that. Ugh. That trick...

Soooo... what do you think? Speek!

New Vid: Rih

Rih dropped her latest video for "Rude Boy" and everybody's talking about it so here ya go..... At least she got a choreographer for this one and moved a bit. Bish is flyy though (despite the lack of vocal talent and dance ability).

Yo! Remember?: Uh Oh

I was listening to some new Nina Skyy tracks (which I'll post about soon) when suddenly I remembered this Lumidee track. Like... she sings pretty bad but this song was my jaaam! Check the song and our friends, Loso and Busta... below.

Bey, You have Some Competition.

They did Bey oh so well in the video below. Take notes.




Riiight???

Dope Quote: Nothing Is Original

"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
— Jim Jarmusch

2Day In Music...

Today was a day off for me! Yaaas! And it's looking like I might get another day too because the weather outside is indeed frightful. But anyway, today I bought a plane ticket to Minnescrota (spelling intentional) after loooots of convincing and back&forth and then sent a couple grammatically perfect and evil e-mails to "WE Love Colors" after they botched my order. (sucks for them.) In the midst of handling that and other business I've been playing the following on repeat the entire day....

Wale- O Let's Do It Remix

Sade- Babyfather

Notorious B.I.G.- Party and Bullsh*t

 

Random photo because I hate posts w/o pictures. I can't wait to my hair gets annoyingly huge.

The Thrifting Adeventure!

Sooo.. Back in the day I use to dig the thrift store (right, sis?). We use to go there and get books, clothes and other fun things because we wanted to. This was long before thrifting became the indie/alt/ "cool" thing to do. I guess I was eight years ahead of the trend.. But I had not been thrifting in a really really really long time and I kept getting inspired by all of these other fashion blogs and decided I read to give it a try. And give it a try, I did! I woke up pretty early on Saturday and made my way over to the local Salvation Army Thrift Store. One of the positives about living in the suburbs is that all the little indie kids have not ravished the thrift stores. So, bueno. I spoke of my thrift store adventure a little bit in this post. Below, some of my finds.

The finds...

 

I'm obsessed with this shirt. And seriously, this photo does not do it any justice. It's sooo bright in person.

 

 Also, was instantly obsessed with this jacket. It has this members only vibe and the gold buttons are bananas!

 

I got this patterned stretchy black skirt and the colorful jacket/shirt. I've been looking for a skirt like this for a while so I was VERY pleased. The jacket stood out to me for obvious reasons.... I'm obsessed with bright colors.

I got two other things but on one of them (a navy blue skirt) I still need to make some DIY upgrades to it and the black dress I bought just did not look right in the photo I took. I'll debut both of them soon though. All in all thrifting was quite an enjoyable experience and despite these weird class issues that cross my mind, I'll probably do it again.

 

 Soooo....

 

time in store: 1.5 hours

# of items: 6

total spent: $16.00

happiness & elation: priceless.

Love: Quotes

I made a promise last week about blogging about love (and blackness) in honor of this lovely February. Here's a quote I saw today that I think is quite lovely.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."
-St. Augustine from the movie Captain Corelli's Mandolin:

Oh When The Saints....

You know the rest! SAINTS TAKE THE SUPERBOWL BAAAAABAAAAAY! I was all about jumping on the bandwagon, rocking my black and gold and rooting for the Saints yesterday and they DID NOT disappoint. GOOOO SAINTS!!

P.S. I'm sooo rocking black and gold the rest of this week.

Solo Dance Par-taay!: Heartbreaker

Welcome to another edition of "Solo Dance Partay". What came on my Pandora (Jazmine Sullivan) station today? Heartbreaker! Here I was sending a couple e-mails when suddenly this song erupted through the speakers and there I was going buck wild...looking craaazy. This song is old... Remember Saturday's, regular TV and "The Box"??? Thats old school.

Ok, MiMi and Jay.

Covered: Wale

Wale covers Waka Flaka Flame's "O Let's Do It" and gives this song LIFE! This hood hit needed it to... so... From me to you, Thanks Wale!

Wale- O Let's Do It*

*Thanks Rap Radar

PFC!!! Week Cinco.

I'm definitely over here fist pumping because I feel like a winner! lol. We're at the five week mark, friends! This means that I have successfully worn a different outfit everyday for five weeks. That's major! I never even thought this was possible. I had sooooo many things in my closet that I was not wearing. Some stuff even had tags on it! (still some things in there, actually.)It was bad! I've always cared about clothes and looking good everyday, but I still had room for improvement.... and as long as I'm alive and Kelis,Jeremy Scott, Solange and Jimmy Choo are doing their jobs I will continue to work at my style. (There's always some thirsty fab chic waiting to still your shine. :))

I love my shine, I love my inspirations and I love LOVE clothes/fashion/style! :)

Anyway, Week Cinco.

 

 First day! Hey miss, you're looking pretty preppy there! I am GAGGING over that color combo! (gagging is a good thing here. :) )

 

Curls poppin', hunni !

 

Rocked the blue shoes (again) cuz' my shirt was beggin' me!

 

This was a different day and overall the outfit was a big flop! But my hair was SERIOUS this day so I thought I would post one photo. My bf got me those earrings. Thanxxxx!

 

 Some of fav colors....together = immense happiness. (as if that was not evident from the photo.)

 

My bf just bought me these shoes and I HAD to wear them! Thanx bffffffffff!

 

 That skirt is doing something special to my waist... and I like it! We'll call this day: Hoping for Summer.

 

 loooove this necklace!

 

 

Friday! Wear what you want day! 

 

 A close-up on the Sesame Street shirt. Looove this.

 

Tar-jay at it's best.

This morning. What I wore to go thrift-ing. This picture was an accident (hence tackiness to left) but okay......

That's all for this week!

Oh yeah!! A taste of what I got when I went thrift-ing today.

 

time in store: 1.5 hours

# of items: 6

total spent: $16.00

happiness & elation: priceless.

heartz, smilez and fashunz.

Video Coolness: Sade (Making of the Album)

Sade is BAAAAACK (after a 10 year hiatus)! And thank the Almighty Father she is....We NEED this. We need her genius, her voice and her vibe. Check a "Making of the Album" video below. Whew! Excitement! And just in case you have been lost somewhere on an island, check her new song and video for "Soldier of Love" here. Live a little.




heartz.

Thank Me Later: Mikkey Halsted

Yes, that is the title of Drake's forthcoming album... but it is also the appropriate name to introduce all of the up and coming artists that I am certain are about to rock and blow in the near future. Mikkey Halsted is that dude, that homie with the skill set, appeal and buzz to make it big! Check Mikkey Halsted and THANK ME LATER.



Check his website here

February Is....

A Month full of Special-ness. For a couple reasons (but not limited to):

1. Black History Month
2. Valentine's Day

I will do my blogging duty and make sure to saturate you with posts about love and blackness.

ha.
But I'm serious.

MLK is special and so is Harriet Tubman but it's something about Fred Hampton that inspires me more than any of the before mentioned legends. His charisma, his drive, his commitment and his incredible success (IMO) all stand out as qualities that should inhabit any interesting human being. Fred Hampton was committed to serving low income communities in Chicago and achieved so much during his short time on earth. Unfortunately, COINTELPRO, the FBI and CPD decided that his rise to power and his penchant for social change was beyond the scope of their plans for the inner city and infiltrated his "camp", shooting him dead next to his pregnant, sleeping girlfriend.

Thank you Mr. Hampton. We appreciate your commitment to the forgotten's.


Happy February!

ConfeXion: I Like it Hood (Sometimes) Part 3

Sooooo I was definitely having a "hood hitz" evening.... This included some Nicki Minaj, Soulja and others... This song came to mind and I had to play it... I literally have not heard this song in years....craziness...

Lil Kim: The "Original" Black Barbie

You already know that title is a tad bit of shade to our newest musical blessing (i kid. i kid.), Nicki Minaj. But really... I feel like Lil Kim has been everywhere this past week and this has got me to thinking about the original nasty, plastic gurl. There is not much commentary needed if you know anything about Lil Kim but to highlight some of the main points that come to mind:
-Biggie's side chick
-Made female sexual expression okay/normal (?)
-Has gotten waaay too much plastic surgery
-Is hood and fabulous and extra.. all at once (and I LOVE it)
-Refuses to give up her title as the nastiest black barbie around (and rightly so!)

Soooo... A walk down memory lane.

 

  

  

  

THE ORIGINAL BLACK BARBIE! 

Remember this nonsense of a couple? side eye....

AND that dang makeup.... Laaawd...

Our Lil Kim is looking better than ever these days! (shade...) ::chuckle:::

I'll always love Lil Kim though... she keeps it nasty and plastic and could care less what us regular folks think.

Great day people!

Classic Dopeneness: Wanna Be Starting Something

After a rather uninteresting gathering (read: meeting) today at the plantation (aka job)....  (more on that "gathering" later. It relates to my rant on this blog a couple weeks ago)....I emerged from the room with this song blasting from my Pandora station. I must say, this definitely livened up my whole day! Music just seems to have that affect... That's why it'll always be my first love.



Miss u Mike!

I Heart My Hair: Best Photo EVS!

Because I have the best students on this side of heaven... I MUST show you the most beautiful thing ever.. that one of my students created for me. I have had a number of creations given to me by students which I LOVE... but this one is just too wonderful to keep to myself! Presenting.. Reason # 200000000 Why I Heart My Hair...

 

wooooow.

 

I'm just speechless with its beauty.

I have big plans for this piece of art and many other pieces of art that celebrate natural (mostly fro) hair . (Did that make sense?).. The collection has begun.

heartz.

BET Honors: J. Hud and others SLAAY!

The BET Honors were last night and though I'm not always the hugest fan of BET... the talent they brought out last night is undeniable! I wish every time I turned on the TV I was able to hear people who could actually sing! Check some video of the amazingness below.



Jazmine Sullivan



Kim Burrell



J. Hud

trey & stevie 2010 beth
by yardie4lifever2

Stevie Wonder and Trey Songz

YAAAAAAAASS!

Enjoy!



videos found at Necole Bitchie

OMG!! Rih Rih!

Sooo... I saw this video of Rih performing on Ellen today and I got super excited because she sounded....decent. Yaaas! I'm not even joking. (about my excitement.) It was a proud moment. She was also entertaining which is a HUGE step for her. That gurl is trying to sell that tour she's about to hop on come summer. I will not be in attendance but here's to hoping she entertains......

The Grammy's: All It's F*ckery and More.

Tonight as I sat in front of my TV... much I witnessed.



1. GaGa decided to jump from a strange contraption into the arms of some awaiting men. She looked just as scary as ever.. blah. No surprise there. She yelled...a lot.. Overall, mediocre performance.



2. Bey performed "If I Were A Boy" and I mean it was good but... I've definitely seen her do better. I WAS NOT impressed!!! She knew her performance was falling flat... because mid way through she went into some sort of shock and started slinging that glittery lace front into the faces of all those unsuspecting robot men she had backing her up.



3. Pink surprised all of us and pulled out one of the best performances of the night. In my opinion, she is the only performance worth re-watching. Pink came out in this white frock and then took it off and exposed some glittery pasties and some silk rope contraction tied around her body. Then, she had the nerve to sprinkle some water on her body and sling around in circles in a veil hanging from the ceiling. LOVED IT though.

4. Taylor Swift's wins ruined the Grammy experience for me. I now no longer trust their judgment. UGH. Besides that, her performance sounded like death. Ole grim reaper sounding mediocre trick. Just nasty.



5. Black Eyed Peas beasted their performance!! LOVED it! A great BEP performance is a performance when Fergie is silent for most of it. She managed to scream a lot less this time. Bueno bish.



6. Also, I was CRAZY about the Lil Wayne, Eminem and Drake performance. They MURDERED it and they knew it! Travis Barker was also a sick addition. Also, one of the best performances of the night. (they kept blanking out parts of the performance because they kept cursing though.)

7. The Michael Tribute was also nice and touching. They gave me a headache with that 3D nonsense though. Usher got on my last nerves jumping around and falling on the ground and stuff. UGH. I heart him nonetheless. J. Hud looked hott in that dress! Get it gurl!

Overall, The Grammy's get like a C+. I was not super duper impressed and they made some strange award decisions. Congrats to Beyonce, Lady GaGa, Maxwell and others for their wins