5 On Friday

Who's excited that the weekend is here?  I can't say that I'm too excited because the Mr has to work this weekend.  Not to mention, our warm days have passed and it's back to being chilly and ice cold. (Insert sad face).  Anyways, check out my five shares for this Friday.

Bree Earrings

Elle Magazine has named orange the new black for this upcoming Spring!  I like this because oranges and reds are what you'll catch me in during the warmer months.  But more importantly, I'm really feeling those cute Bree earrings above from LuCe & Elizabeth!  They're more of a reddish orange which is perfect because I could pair them with more things.

 

We got Moo's assignment for kindergarten this fall.  Thankfully, we'll have moved and rezoned by then.  Plus, we are looking into other schools.   It was suggested to us by a professional that we try to get her into one of the Alpha schools because she might be too bored in a traditional public or private school.  To say that I was not a fan of the school that was selected would be an understatement.  I hate that there is such a noticeable divide in the quality of education and resources offered at the different schools here.

And no the teachers aren't necessarily to blame.  They work with what they have.  At the end of the day, the blame of having a low rated school should be shared by the school district, school staff and parents (and depending on the age, students).  The Queen City is going places and I hate to see a lot our children getting left behind.

I'm pretty sure that JJ said Daddy the other day.  How did it happen?  Well, the kids have been sleeping in later instead of getting up at the crack of dawn.  I'm not complaining because I get have quality with the Mr when he gets home in the mornings.  Anyways, when Moo got up and saw the Mr, she started jumping up and down yelling "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, I'm so glad you're home."

Yes, she does this almost every morning if she wakes up late.  I think it's sweet.  But the JJ didn't to join in on the action and I'm 100%  sure he said Daddy at least twice.  Now, I've been trying to get him to say it on his own since then but he acts all bashful.  I don't want to get my hopes up too much, but if we can get him comfortable with repeating words, he could very well be talking up a storm by his third birthday!

via Pinterest

This is pretty much self explanatory. Dreaming of doing something is one thing, but in order to have success you have to put in the work.  Maybe even a little blood, definitely some sweat and there will be some tears.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who has been sharing and/or participated in one of the hops on the Facebook page!  I appreciate it.  And if you don't know what I'm talking about, then stop by and see the timeline for yourself.  

Happy Friday!

Disclaimer:  This post does contain affiliate links. 

5 On Friday

Rain, rain, please go away and let us be.  Yep, this month is looking it's going to be one where it rains every weekend.  I don't have to tell y'all that our plans are to stay in, keep dry and just chill out.  Well, the kids will be chilling out.  I have some work to do; some plans to get in motion

We're still growing and expanding over on the Facebook page.  Almost to 600 strong and I couldn't be more excited.  It's been so great connecting with new supporters from the SITs Girls Facebook group.  Also, I'll be adding some link up opportunities for everyone to stop by the page and share some posts.  (See here.)  I'm really on a mission to connect better with all of you as well as interacting more.

   

My girl Christina from Being Mrs Jones has done it again!!  She released her second novel, Strictly Professional , this week via Amazon!  I couldn't be more proud of her.  And when I tell y'all this book is good, I really mean it's fantastic.  It was such a delight to read and I couldn't put it down.

If you're read her novel, Love & Other Things, then you know she has a talent for not just writing but creating this characters and situations that draw you in.  I firmly believe this is just the beginning for her.  She can definitely moves in the world of Contemporary Romance and African American fiction.  Be sure to keep up with her because she has more projects in the works!  Also, I'll be doing an author spotlight on her soon.

Gotta support those who have been unconditionally supportive of me and YUMMommy.  And Christina has been one of those people.  If I have a question about graphic designing or writing, she doesn't hesitate to answer it or help in some way.  And I truly appreciate that.

Reasons to Dress is officially one of my Top 5 favorite fashion blogs now!  Over the last few days I've been connecting the with the blog's owner, Angie, and I just adore her already.  I love that what sets her apart of some of these other fashion bloggers is that she actually works in the fashion industry!  I know that you don't have to have a degree in fashion like I do to be able to have an opinion about fashion or have a sense of style, but there's just something so official and legit and creditable when you have experience in the industry or topic that you're discussing.

She's real and genuine in her writings and sharing of her personal life. Plus, she lives in one of my dream countries, Italy!!!  Omg, I so want to live there for at least a year.  For a fashion and food lover like me it would be heaven.  Not to mention all of the old world charm just speaks me.  I crave to live somewhere that's modern but just not modern at same time.

I may or may not have googled houses there.  At the very least, I am determined to vacation there and explore to see if the if the Mr has any family left there and to find out where his family lived and how they manged to make from Africa to Italy and then to America.  This will be just as much of a history lesson and a self discovery trip as it will be a vacation.  Please stop by and tell Angie that I sent you!  You can also keep up with her on Facebook.

I got my first pair of skinny jeans this past Christmas (shocker) and I'm hooked.  I don't know why it has taken the Mr having to buy me a pair for me to try them.  I considered myself such a straight leg and boot cut kind of girl, but now I don't know.  I've had these skinnies from Amazon to my wish list until I can decide which pairs I'm going to get first.

Indigo Saints by BLANK NYC Womens Petite Fit Skinny Jeans

WallFlower Juniors Foil Wash Sassy Skinny

WallFlower Juniors Foil Wash Sassy Skinny

Pinterest

This pretty much sums up where I am right now in my life and what I'll be doing from here on out.

Happy Friday!

Disclaimer:  This post does contain affiliate links. 

My Weekly Ambition

I missed linking up over at Ambitious Curls for My Weekly Ambition for the last couple of weeks.  But I am back on the wagon.  About my last MWA post, I totally did not exercise for 30 minutes like I was suppose to everyday.  Does chasing after kids count?  I have been managing to write for an hour everyday.  However, I tend to self edit as I write and that doesn't make for very good progress.  I did manage to start and end my days on a positive note though! 

To exercise for 30 minutes everyday.  I'm not working out to drop pounds because I think I'm good where I'm at weight wise.  However, it's time to tone this tummy and these legs back up.  I have drifted away a little ways from the college freshman body, I had when I first met my husband.  He's not complaining, but I sure as heck am!

To work on concepts for my book cover.  My book is not finished but it finally has a title (click here to find out what it is) and I have a rough mental picture of what I want the cover look like.  I need to just refine it a little bit and then get busy networking and making some calls to get the proper people on board to help me execute the vision.  

This book is like my baby and I've been guarding it with my life.  I don't just want to be putting a bunch of words out there.  I'm so passionate about writing because it is my art and I want readers to be able to feel that from cover to cover.

To have more patience.  I am more patient with kids, but I still need to work on my patience with the Mr.  I think that the year we took apart and then all the time we had been growing apart up until that point got me used to having my space, coming and going as I wanted and interacting more people my age.  When I first met my husband, gestures of affection (i.e.-hugging, holding hands, cuddling) weren't something he was into at all because of how he grew up.  He just didn't see affection, but the opposite.

My parents on the other hand were very affectionate before things went down hill and as a result, so was I.  But I eventually adjusted to my husband's comfort levels as time passed.  We split.  Now, we're back together and I just don't feel like making the adjustment back to the old me.  Therefore, when he's in my space a little too much , I tend to get annoyed easily.

Honestly, I feel like old me who was more affectionate and wanted him in my space got her heart broken.  So, new me still has a wall up because I guess at times the hurt still feels fresh and the fact that this one car situation makes it hard for me to get out as much as I want to.  However, I am devoted to my marriage and will work on getting this wall down and finding a way to bump up my income so that I can get this second car fund back up.

What's one challenge that you want to overcome this upcoming week?  Did you notice anything different about the blog today?

5 On Friday

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Yesterday, my heart was broken when I heard the news that former South Africa president Nelson Mandela had passed away at the age of 95.  Mr. Mandela has often been described as a South African equalivant of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X rolled into one being.  As a person of African decent, I can't tell you how grateful I am for everything he did so that my fellow Africans back in the Motherland could have the same equality we were fighting for here in the US.

His fight to end apartheid extended far beyond just the borders of South Africa.  He was and will forever remain a symbol of hope, equality and freedom!

I've been using the signs that JJ's speech therapist taught me on Wednesday and I think he's already getting the gist of it.  I did get him to try to mimic the sign for potty.  Like this entire process, it will take him time to get used to it and learn it.  I am also making it a goal to get through week without crying about this or blaming myself.  At the end of the day, I need to maintain a positive upbeat attitude and prayer when I feel a moment of weakness coming on.  He picks up on my moods and I don't want him feeling down or discouraged as we battle his delayed speech.

While  a new laptop is at the top of my list so that I want have struggle with blogging from my Kindle and phone, my number Christmas gift would be for JJ to be able to say 'I love you'll back to us when we he tell him that we love him.  I'm telling you if I ever took hearing those three words for granted in the past, I don't now.  I think it's every mother's dream to hear her child verbalize their love and I can't but feel like I have been robbed of that enjoyment.

I am steadily making progress on my novel.  I'm writing it out the old fashion way using pen & paper and trying to type a little bit everyday in Google Drive that way when I finally get a laptop, I can just download it to MS Word.  Santa going to have to push back getting the laptop I wanted for Christmas because obviously getting a car trumps a computer right now.  I'm hoping for a blessing the disguise of a nice sum of coins coming my way.

I'm thinking about putting together a virtual yarn drive to crochet granny square & rectangle baby blankets to donate to two local charities here in the Queen City who provide supplies as well as free housing to pregnant women and new moms.  Baby blankets don't take that long to make and each one would be a one-of-a-kind labor of love.  I think with enough promotion from me and the charities, this could be successful.  And crocheting relaxes me. So, this won't feel like work and I won't have to worry about getting overwhelmed.

What do you guys think? Is this something you guys would support or donate to? Any of you readers/bloggers who crochet or knit interested in donating a baby blanket or two?  I'll see what the response is and go from there.

I stumbled across this great list of 25 Christmas Traditions to start with our with families.  I saw a couple that I want to start doing with Moo and JJ.  Having our traditions for them to look back on and share with their children is important to me.  Be sure to check out the list and cute graphics on The 36th Avenue.

5 On Friday

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and got to spend some time with their loved ones!

My dear friend, Christina of Being Mrs Jones, published her first novel!!  It's called Love & Other Things .  I'm so happy for her for taking the plunge.  Writing fiction isn't as easy as it may seem.  Writing something to publish for the public to read is hard period because you're putting your talent out there for others to judge.  As writers, we struggle with whether to write for ourselves or to compromise and try to appease our readers.

So, I take my hat off to Christina for taking this huge leap.  I actually got to be a part of her writing process for Love & Other Things.  Let me tell you, this is a book you'll want to read.  I think that every woman who has struggled with finding love or opening herself back up to love after being hurt will be able to relate to Christina's characters.  So be sure to scoop up a copy!

Our Thanksgiving was low key.  I actually had intended to take the kids to the Thanksgiving parade, but after staying up until 4 AM slow cooking our turkey, when I finally did doze off I woke up too late to make it Uptown in time to get a decent parking spot.  No worries, we watched it on the tv.  Look out Macy's, you're not the only one who can put on a good Thanksgiving parade!  Novant Health stepped up and sponsored the parade this year.  I'm grateful that they did because it had been cancelled over the summer due to lack of sponsorship.

The Mr also had to work yesterday.  So, instead of having Thanksgiving dinner, we had Thanksgiving lunch before he left.  I'm hoping next year he'll be off and we'll all be able to make the parade and do more festivities.

Well, looks like we'll be getting a new car sooner than we had planned.  Sadly, we still won't be a two car household though.  Our Kia got attacked by a buck (male deer) when the Mr was driving home from work Monday morning.  Anyways, he ran into the driver side front tire hard enough to run the Mr into a ditch and fold in the tire.  And because we have an older model Kia, the insurance company is saying that they want to just total the car instead of paying for the repairs because basically the whole front of the car would need to be replaced, etc.

If it's not one thing it's another.  Still have joy though because my husband could have been seriously hurt.  There were cars on the road in front of and behind him.  He could have easily ran into one of them or the car behind him could have hit him when he went sliding into the ditch.  Not to mention, we had freezing rain the night before.  The whole situation could have been worst than the car getting messed up and the deer being injured.

One plus side is that we have a SWEET BMW to ride around in from the rental company.  If we could afford it, we'd definitely buy one just like it.  It's roomy, fully loaded and good on gas.

Moo turns 5 this weekend!! I can't believe it.  It feels so surreal because it honestly doesn't feel like five years have gone by already, but I guess it has.  I was thinking of starting the tradition of putting together a slide show for each birthday going forward so that they'll be able to look back on a recap of each year of their childhood.  

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Since, most my pictures were on my old iPhone and didn't port over to my Galaxy S4, I don't have many to include for this year. :(  Thankfully, that won't be the case anymore because all the pictures on my S4 automatically save to both the phone and my memory card as well as upload online to a private gallery.  Mama learned her lesson.

I'm thinking of cutting my hair again.  I did try experimenting with a few twistouts and bantu knots hairstyles, but they didn't come out so well.  I also need to invest in a decent flatiron because my electric hot comb is dying on me.  It's about time though because I've had it since my freshman year of college.  I also need to find another old school ConAir barrel curler.  

I took mine to New Orleans for my sister's wedding and it's been MIA ever since.  We'll see.  I might just call up one of the my girlfriends to help me put in some box braids and call this hair situation a wrap.