Today's Word: Watch What You Say!

No, I'm not switching up on ya & making this into a religious blog. In fact, you don't even have to take this from a religious stance; think of it more as self-help. :) Since I didn't go to church today (I'se sick *cough* *cough* sniff*) I decided to do a little reading on my own.

² Indeed, we all make many mistakes. For if we could control our tongues, we would be perfect and could also control ourselves in every other way.

³ We can make a large horse go wherever we want by means of a small bit in its mouth. ⁴ And a small rudder makes a huge ship turn wherever the pilot chooses to go, even though the winds are strong. ⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches.

But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. ⁶ And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.

⁷ People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, ⁸ but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. ⁹ Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. ¹⁰ And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! ¹¹ Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? ¹² Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring.
James 3:2-12

Basically, watch what you say. I know there are many things in my life that probably could have been avoided if I'd either kept my mouth closed or chosen my words a little more carefully. And that's something that I still have to work on to this day. This week my goal is to not say anything with malicious intent (shouldn't be hard for a sweetheart like me LOL), not involve myself in gossip, and try to be wise in whatever I say.

What will YOU do to watch what you say?

Black Barbie in Vogue Italia's Black Issue

I've probably mentioned this somewhere on here before, but I've never been a doll person. As a little girl I was much more interested in getting the latest cool little techy gadget that no one else had than another Barbie. The few I had were unsolicited (except for the black Barbie with the ridiculously long hair... which I promptly cut) and unattended.

However, the little girly girl that never really came out during childhood squealed with delight when I read an article saying that as a followup to Vogue Italia's extremely successful Black Issue (featuring Toccara Jones, among other iconic Black models, in last year's issue), Vogue would be paying homage to one of the first fashion icons a young girl is introduced to: Barbie.

I absolutely love the concept of this issue as well as the previews of the images in this issue. My favs:

My absolute fav, for obvious reasons!
I like that they use Barbies of various shades, and love that the very dark doll stands out wonderfully!


The extremely varied looks, representative of our varied styles and beauty. Brilliant!

Read Vogue's article on their second Black Issue here.

Things My Future Husband Should Know: We're Gonna Be Like...

Yes yes, it's another MySpace transplant! A while back I started this series of entries with tips for the man who gets stuck... errrr, I mean, who is LUCKY enough to get me for life! Really it's just kinda random, but hey, just play along! lol Anyway, they'll be popping up here from time to time, as well as some new goodies. Soooo, yeah...

Friday, December 05, 2008

Things My Future Husband Should Know: We’re Gonna Be Like... Current mood: wanted Category: Romance and Relationships So everyone sees couples that they think "awwww I wanna have a relationship like that!"(or is that just me? well imma assume its everyone) These are some examples of the IRL couples (none of that Cliff & Claire Huxtable stuff) that I have "seen" that I would love to be like. 1. Will & Jada Pinkett Smith No, I'm not saying this because they swing. (but hey, if you're down... lol) Instead, it's because they are making a marriage work in the midst of busy schedules and public scrutiny. This little article that I came across helped me understand how they did it, and gave me something to model our relationship after: Will Smith might want to brace himself for a performance review and PowerPoint presentation on how he is and isn't measuring up as a spouse. "I'm doing what you might call a business plan in my marriage right now," Jada Pinkett Smith explains to Cookie magazine. "I don't know why, but we all think these things are supposed to be in sync. You know, when you're in business, you figure out what your goals are and how you're going to get all that achieved, right?" According to the pragmatic actress, "The point is to clear out a lot of unnecessary stuff so we can find ways of being better together, because your relationship is either moving forward or it's dying." http://movies.msn.com/movies/hotgossip/10-23-08_quickies/ 2. Pat & Gina Neely I chose this couple because they are just cute together! I love watching them cook & flirt with each other while doing so. I always imagine having someone that I could be like that with, so that menial, everyday tasks are a little more exciting and special because I have someone great to share that time with. If you've never watched their show, you should. You'll see exactly what I'm talking about. Better yet: check check it! 3. Barack & Michelle Obama Okay so this one is obvious right?! A strong example of the beauty of Black Love. I absolutely adore how Michelle is a powerful woman who can still uplift, support and stand beside her man, and how Barack shows that he can be a leader and still appreciate the good woman that he has. *sigh* So much I wanna say on this one, but I'll do it later, seeing as how right now I'm in ADHD mode.

Note after the fact: so I know I didn't go in-depth with this before, and I'm too sleepy to do it now. But something a lil deeper will be coming... eventually.

Looking Back

For the past couple of days I've been thinking about something that was said on Sunday in my class. The lesson was about complaining and talked about the children of Israel leaving Egypt and complaining about the food. They disregarded the fact that they were slaves while in Egypt; they said (in her paraphrased words) "We had meat! We had onions!" Although they now had their freedom, they were hung up on the little things and letting those things blind them to what their real situation was.

She likened their situation to addiction, how many people struggle with staying clean and end up relapsing. I compared it to my own bad habit of looking back on past situations perhaps a bit more fondly than I should. Old jobs, being in school, past relationships, dead friendships... While I can usually attest to the not so great parts, the good times seem to just stand out.

Sure I used to leave work with a headache every night and didn't get paid squat, but remember how they used to always have food and the fun convos on IM? That was great...

No, I couldn't stand most of my teachers, hated going to class, and was a little miserable because didn't go into the major I wanted (it wasn't "safe"), but man, I miss the freedom of undergrad...

Yeah, our friendship has definitely waned as we've grown up & apart, but we used to kick it hard (back in elementary, middle and high school)!

I've got it bad when it comes to doing this with past relationships, one in particular. Although I have a great boyfriend now, there are aspects of that relationship I still look back on in a bit of a better light than I should. The fun times we had doing crazy stuff like street racing, him cooking me breakfast after my early class, bills being paid, having someone to go out with (even if it was on the low). Forget that I couldn't really see him whenever I wanted. Disregard the secrets and lies. Don't count the fact that it ended HORRIBLY. Never mind the fact that he wasn't MINE. I can't deny the awful aspects, but why do the good things stand out so much?

I'm trying to take her advice: be thankful for what once was (the growth that resulted & the deliverance from it) and look forward to something better.

Randonmess: Because I'm just in that kinda mood

I was somewhat in the mood to write earlier, but now... not so much. But I figured I'd share a bit of my random side since I feel compelled to write something.

Grades were finally posted today for my summer class. I could not believe I ended up with an A in my Microeconomic Theory course! So now I'm sitting at a nice 3.67 GPA for grad school. Man, I wish I would've done this well and been this focused in undergrad! But then again, there were a lot of distractions in undergrad.... Whole lotta distractions.... lol

I'm supposed to be singing in a wedding next Friday. Guess who still doesn't really know the song? THIS CHICK. I'm singing "That's What Friends Are For" as a solo (and just for the record, I do not care for this song) and then some Donnie McClurkin song with a group that I have yet to meet. This will be... interesting. But I'll definitely have my song together by then... hopefully.

Real Estate Agent or Professor at a university? I'm trying to decide which one is right for me. Momma broke it down like this: I could finish up my MBA and get my real estate license, but then I'll actually have to put in work to make the sales I need to make to live like I wanna live. On the other hand, I could bust my butt in school a few more years, go on and get that young Ph.D. behind my name, and find a job at a university. Then I don't have to do much but show up for classes and go by the syllabus I set. So basically: work hard now or work hard later (even though it definitely is two different forms of "working hard" so I guess that's not truly comparable). I'm still weighing my options.

Anyone planning on seeing Good Hair? I am! If you haven't seen the trailer, here ya go:



I need something to go see now though... Maybe I'll take myself to see The Ugly Truth on Friday. We'll see.

Aright, it's definitely time for me to lay it down. Hopefully next time I'll actually have something to write about instead of writing out of boredom :)

crumbling

I usually don't post my poetry on here... Most of that is intensely personal. This piece is no different, but I felt like it needed to be shared. Wrote this a couple days ago when I was deep in my funk.


i wonder if other people feel themselves
going crazy

guess everything crumbles over time
just like the great ancient structures succumb
so, apparently, has my mind

that's what happens when shit crumbles
a fragment here,
fragment there
you may glue them back
but there are still cracks
still holes
still tiny bits of me that will never be complete

sanity isnt finite

i laugh to keep from crying
but i end up doing both
and looking crazier than i really am

damn.

i am a jagged edge of emotion
ready to jab, cut, kill
someone
anyone
me

i'm something like crazy
crazy bitch
and perhaps i deserve it
i've done some trifling shit

guilt is a heavy weight
i'm weak.
i can't handle it
not when i have other shit to deal with
other burdens to carry
i can only take so much before i.....

escape!
i just want to escape
myself.

i am full of venom...
bitter
potent
i consume others as it paralyzes me

i am falling apart
pieces are everywhere
no one cares
enough to pick them up

i've come undone,
irreparably

i'm cr
u
m
bl i
n

g