Nappy-oke!!!

Hey ya’ll! On September 25th, I met up with two old friends (and one new friend!) for an event hosted by Tempie of Asaze Natural Hair Salon. *Asaze Natural Hair Salon is located in Northeast Washington, DC. The event was “Nappy-oke”…this is where Natural Hair meets Karaoke, per the flyer. The admission fee for this event was only $5 per person so you know this was impossible to turn down attending! What?! Natural hair AND karaoke? My two most favorite things right now!



<-- Tracy








<-- Jennifer and Yvonne





My girlfriends and I met up at a central location and rode in together to the event that was held in SE Washington, DC. And we had a blast! Not only was it good seeing and catching up with old friends and making a new one, the event was really nice. I’d spoken with Tempie, the hostess, a couple days prior to the event so meeting up with her was one of the first things on our agenda. Tempie was super nice and attentive! She made us feel right at home from the first few seconds upon entering the building. She even joined us for our Karaoke bit! Ok, the real story is, after we attempted to chicken-out of performing, she “encouraged” us to brave the crowd by volunteering to be the lead singer! *We ended up being “Sister Sledge and company”, jamming to “We are Family”!! We weren’t all that good but had such a good time up there, feeling like stars as cameras flashed. I’m still waiting (dreading!) to see us appear on a youtube video somewhere!



Tempie, of Asaze Natural Hair Salon -->








In addition to embarrassing, …uh, I mean performing our bit, we hit the vendors booths! Yeah! After visiting EACH and EVERY single booth, I ended up making a couple decent purchases; my favorite was this awesome sterling silver and turquoise bracelet from “Shopwize Treasure Chest” (www.shopwizetreasurechest.com). Denise, the owner, really knew how to make a sell!



I also found this gawgeous pair of earrings at the booth of Sabirah, Metal Jewelry Artist!


There were many other awesome vendors there; check out a sampling below:


Ms Takisha Robinson, Designer and Owner of "Many Treasures For You" was seriously working it out!


Here's Ms Denise, of Shopwize Treasure Chest (sold me my sterling silver bracelet!)



Angelia's Afro-Centric Hairbraiding Services



I didn't get this gentleman's name but he was representing Dr. Miracles product...


Designs By Talia...







Ebony's Braidery...







Traci Lynn Fashion Jewelry...




Ok, you get the picture...there were many more vendors but due to time constraints (and the arrival of my Thai dinner!), I guess you guys will have to attend the next event to see them all! lol!! Later ya'll!!!

The County Fair....

Ok, so the County Fair happened this past weekend and I must say, it was pretty neat!



My daughters, one of their friends and I ventured down to the county fair this past Saturday. Can you say 5 hours? Yeah.



They had a ball and I actually enjoyed casually walking through all of the displays and "people watching". The fried cat fish and fries were delish and the cotton candy topped the night off perfectly.













I was one tired mama around 8:00p that night but it was worth it. One never seems to outgrow the County Fair...

I believe in miracles...

Do you?

As children, we read so many stories about the miracles that Jesus performed; as a young adult, I used to question as to why that type of thing didn’t happen anymore. Later in life, I was shown that miracles do in fact happen, each and every day of our lives. No, not just the miracle of life but “bible-time” type miracles.

A week ago I called into the Lexus dealership to schedule my routine car maintenance for this past Saturday. After getting lost (thanks hubby!) I still managed to arrive at the dealership about 15 minutes early. So, I’m processed in and directed to the waiting area because this was only a routine appointment, shouldn’t take more than an hour, hour and a half.

About two hours later, the attendant comes in and tells me, “Ma’am, they’re JUST STARTING to work on your car, would you like a loaner?” Yes, of course. So she gathers the necessary items and away she goes to get the loaner car. Now, if any of you have had service that was not up to par, you know the next thing I did was go find the manager. Before I could finish the second sentence, he acknowledged they’d messed up and offered to discount half of my bill. Cool.

So away I go in what I must admit is a beautiful white hybrid Lexus 350. Some of you may consider this strange, but I name my cars. The one I currently have is charcoal grey 350 and his name is “Greyson”. Yeah, yeah…anyway, so this one was so pretty it ALMOST had me comparing it to Greyson.

Later that night, the girls and I are returning home from dinner (see picture below!) and we’re at a red stop light, getting ready to make a left turn once the light turned green. Along come these two cars traveling in opposite directions, perpendicular to us at the stop light, and one decides to make a left turn. The driver couldn’t have been paying attention because he/she turns RIGHT IN FRONT OF the oncoming car that’s going through the green light!

Mind you, my daughters and I have front row seats to this “about to happen” accident. I immediately scream, “Oh my God, they’re going to ….” And then before I could finish…. CRASH!!! When these two cars collided, one car ended up less than two feet from us, turned in the opposite direction on the medium right beside us and the other car is hit and rolls right in front of our car! We are so close to the impact, we were able to see the shattered glass and car parts rain down in front of the car we were in!

The miracle? I honestly believe everything that happened was in place according to God’s Will. You may say coincidence but I don’t believe in coincidences. Check this out:

- When one of the cars made impact, the car swerved, and it was headed straight-on to our car but the driver turned the wheel in time to jump the medium instead of hitting us. Would he/she have seen us if we were in my charcoal grey car?
- If you make a right angle, that is the layout of the accident; we were in the “V” of the right angle and NOT ONE PIECE of debris from the accident touched the car we were in and we were less than a yard away!
- When we got home and took our shopping bag out of the car, we immediately noticed there was a scripture on the bottom of the bag. John 3:16. Yeah.

Miracles happen every day and sometimes we put them off as “coincidence” or “strange” happenings. So, the next time you have to wait a little longer, or something feels as if it’s inconveniencing you, stop and think that maybe that extra couple minutes could make a difference in your life. Thank God for working to His Will and knowing where you need to be, when.

Umm Umm Good!

The girls and I went out to dinner tonight...here's what I had:



Spinach Salmon with baked mac and cheese and asparagus spears...sweet tea rounded this meal off. It was delicious! :)

Since mid-February of this year, I've limited my meat intake, having only seafood as my "meat". I feel better for it, have lost a few pounds and this meal goes to show, this isn't as bad or as hard, as we meat-eaters may think!!

Temporary MIA..

I'm Georgia bound tomorrow! Yay! Going down to spend a little time to see family. So, if this page gets a teeny bit slow...that's why! I know it's going to be lots of fun *claiming that right now! Thank Jesus!* lol!! and I will have plenty of pictures to post once I return!

Until then, Peace!! :)

Happy Sunday morning ya'll!

The other day, while taking a walk through the neighborhood...



...I noticed the moon and this pretty pink sky!






Wow...God is amazing.

Eric Thomas (The Hip Hop Preacher) Formula To Success Video

Ok Ya'll,

A young lady posted this video as her status on Facebook and I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to share it with you! Please take a moment to check it out; it's an AWESOME message!!

Below are three things he says about being successful that I REALLY liked:

“Don’t cry to give up, cry to keep going.”

“All men are created equal; some work harder in preseason.”

“To be able, at any moment, to sacrifice what you are for what you will become.”

Enjoy!!

Don't you just love surprises?!

We found this park by mistake while out driving on Saturday and the bridge and deck were lovely locations for a few pictures with my new camera. Here are a few of the shots I was able to get. ...I love pleasant surprises!!

Ok, so I was planning on making spaghetti anyway today but I started wondering, "Now, how would that taste with fresh steamed spinach tossed in?" Well, here's the result of that thought:





...and it taste pretty good too! :)

"A Taste"

Of the forbidden fruit, the first bite is so sweet
Although you’re hesitant to take it
But once you open wide and take the plunge
The second bite is easier to make
And you find it’s just as sweet as the first.
Eventually you finish the forbidden fruit
But now you have a taste for its sweetness
It’s difficult to go without the flavor
Now that you know it exist
You carefully look for the next perfect pick
So you can once again taste the sweet juices of excess.

© 2007 Trena A. Jones

Dang, I can’t give this hint away!

Ok, you haven’t answered the call of a particular person in forever but yet, they continue to call. You haven’t initiated contact in months but still, here they come, trying to draw you into the conversation. Whether it’s a friendship gone bad or an ended relationship with an ex, how do you get the message across you’re no longer interested? Well, after just receiving the eighth phone call within a ten minute time range, I obviously don’t know the answer. I do know the individual who is calling only wants something from me, heck, that’s the only time they call. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind helping a person out sometimes but can a sista’ get a break? Dang, take the hint already!! lol

What you see is what you get...

"Believe people the first time they show themselves to you" and you will avoid all the pain associated with "seeing them later on" for which they prove to be in the end yet showed you in the very beginning!

*Betcha can’t say that three times fast! Ok, I’ll go slower. ..and listen, this goes for men as well as the ladies…

I have friends who will meet a man, see all of the tiny tips of redness peeking out of their doorways, still get involved with him, and when the whole red flag comes bursting out of the closet, all of a sudden you get the “I can’t believe he did THAT to me!”

Ladies, if a man REALLY wants to spend time with you, there’s no amount of anything else that will stop him. Don’t fall for the “Oh, I had to run by the store for my mom” lines… If he wants to be with you, that “store run” would happen and he will still be right there with you…on time! Don’t make excuses for why he does the things he do. HE’S A GROWN MAN!! And trust me, the same way he would go through hell and high water to get that Mustang he wants or that Escalade he’s always wanted, that would be the same way he’ll be with you IF he really wanted to be!

Men, if a woman is interested in you, you don’t have to go broke “proving” anything! She’ll eat pork and beans from a can with you if she’s truly into you…okay, even though I like the ole’ p&bs, that may be going a little far but you get the picture! Yes, it’s nice to surprise her with a treat every now and then but when gifts become a requirement…RUN! ….Or be rich and generous…whichever works for you! *Sorry ladies, had to tell it.

If he will stray away from the one he’s vowed to love and honor, and if you just happen to find yourself in the unlucky position of him deciding to he wants to be with you, know that the chances of him straying away from you is pretty high. What?! You didn’t see that coming??!!

If she will gossip about another friend TO you, she’ll probably gossip ABOUT you to that friend. Simple.as.that. Yeah, I know. There are those few people who can come to you to rant on occasion but when the rants becomes pure gossip, especially the kind that can hurt, then she’ll be hard pressed to NOT talk about you in the same manner!

And this goes for you too! What you “put out there” is what people are going to finally see. Don’t question why you don’t have any real friends when you can’t be one; or question why things don’t ever seem to go well for you when all you do is wish badness on others. The math is simple on this one ya’ll…99% of the time, what you see is what you get…even if you choose to close your eyes!

Dimming your light...

On my way home from work one day while my son was away at college, I got the urge to give him a call. Now, there’s nothing unusual about this, I, from time to time, get these little urges and just happen to act on them. After the usual pleasantries, the conversation made the turn of me attempting to drop a little wisdom, to encourage him to continue seeking his dreams and to know everything happens for a reason and in its on time. During this “pep talk” about life, I made a statement that he asked me to repeat for him again. And that statement was, “never dim your light in order for someone else to feel comfortable in their own insecurities.” After about 10 more minutes of “teaching”, I’m finally let in on the fact that this whole conversation was being broadcasted over one of his live webcasts! After the conversation was over, I received accolades from as far as London! lol

Every now and again I get to thinking about that statement which seemed to have come from somewhere deep within me…”Never dim your light in order for someone else to feel comfortable in their own insecurities.” So many of us do this without even realizing it’s being done. How many times have you purposely faded into the background so someone else could have the spotlight? I’m not talking about giving someone else a chance to shine…I’m talking about purposely dimming or downplaying your strengths because someone else hasn’t done what they needed to do to be their best.

I’ve been in a position where I would dress down because I didn’t want the people I was going to be with to feel threatened by my “light”! Or while walking in a crowded area I’d purposely avoid looking at the male half of a couple because I didn’t want the female half to feel threatened. And I’m not even talking about staring or gawking, I’m talking about the simple act of taking in the scenery while walking amongst a crowd! Is it my fault if she’s so insecure in her relationship that I should alter the actions that give me pleasure, such as people watching? I think not.

Shifting your way of thinking on this subject will come with some fallout, trust me! Since I’ve learned to embrace and shine all the goodness and talents the good Lord has blessed me with, there has surely brought about some sourness from some of the folks who were just fine with me being their shadow…but one step towards the light of being an equal hero or, heaven forbids, the main attraction, and the hate comes out full force! But like I said earlier, everything happens for a reason and in its own time. This “coming out” is the perfect tool to use when deciding who to cut out of your life when you decide to start building a more positive alliance in your life.

When you surround yourself with people who are comfortable with themselves, who can shine their own light without fear or insecurity, then you can continue to shine unabatedly, thus allowing a sustained growth in your life and the purpose for which you were put here on this earth.

Shine on, I say! ...Shine on!!

Asa [asha] - 360° [with lyrics]

Enjoy Asa's "360%"...she's one of my favorite artist and is truly AMAZING!!

Drunken Noodles

If you're ever in Southern Maryland, be sure to make a stop by "Thai Flavor Restaurant" for some of the best drunken noodles! It's an out-of-the-way type place, with a quaint atmosphere; service is quick and the food is good!

Beauty...

The quest for true beauty seems to be an everlasting search but the true beauty of God's creations is all around us; we just need to slow down, look beyond the "forest" that we call everyday living, and take the time to see'em.


Pine needles on a tree...


A bud on a bush...



Even a weed growing through gravel....

...is beautiful if we take the time to really see it.