I love traditions. My family has a set of pretty strong traditions connected to holidays, birthdays, and just being together. After living away from my family for a decade, I’ve made a few traditions of my own as well. One of those traditions is a trip to the pumpkin patch. My linesisters, their little people, …
The best apps for mindfulness and meditation
One of the best ways to live a joyful life is to be centered. As a black woman, I have to work hard to maintain a true sense of peace. There are all kinds of things that can steal your peace and the world offers a lot of fabricated knock-offs to restore it. If you’re …
Countdown to forty and fabulous
I made a non-dramatic entrance into the world on November 11, 1978. It is forever a national holiday. Go ahead, take the day off in my honor. In exactly 40 days, I’ll be turning 40. I can’t believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was turning 30! I had …
It’s officially fall … so bring on the fall flavors
Even though fall officially arrives on the Fall Equinox, it takes me a few weeks to really shift into the new season. I tend to welcome Fall more in line with the beginning of the fourth quarter of the year on October first. No matter when I acknowledge the start, the coming of Fall means …
i want to be free
the last few months have been trying for me. i have felt too overwhelmed by a few things to even write them out. well, in public form. i journal everything. if something ever happened to me i need to have a legal plan for the collection and care of my journals. i don’t want pieces …
this cup can pass
life can be measured in a series of hard times as easily as it can be measured in a series of good times. it ebbs and flows through mountain tops and valleys. it is highly likely that you can find yourself in both places at the same time in different areas of your life. as …
it’s time to put on your big girl panties
there is a saying that when it rains it pours. for the most part, it holds a negative connotation in our lexicon. usually when something bad happens, it comes in waves. you don’t get a sprinkling of bad, you get an entire downpour. like, if you’re going to get wet, why not go big and …
luther, michael, whitney, and prince
i was born in 1978. i know, i don’t look like a seasoned 37-year-old. black don’t crack is factual. i’m so happy i was born when i was. it meant i grew up in the magical 80s and matured in the golden 90s and i was blessed to have some of the best music of all time …
the junk that spills out from my brain dump
there has been a lot swirling around in my head lately. probably not more than usual, but it has been weighing on me and making it impossible to write or move forward on some projects. a while back, a group of my friends and i read the artist’s way. actually, that was how we became …
i’m a hustler baby i just want you to know
when i think of the word hustler, i struggle to conjure up positive images. growing up, being a hustler meant you did what you had to do – legal or otherwise – to make ends meet but it was never considered legit work. often, it was cloaked in the aura of danger. a hustler could …