I got your back Homie!

I used to be a pretty shy person. I was never the type of girl to just walk up to someone and start a conversation. My best friend and I met in the 2nd grade. I remember her coming up to me and saying,

"Hey. I'm Latoya. You think you're cute don't you? Well, whatever..we're gonna be friends. Walk me home from school today."

On the outside I was saying, 'Who do you think you are?'. On the inside I was saying, 'I think this chick is crazy. I guess I'm obligated to be her friend'. Years later, (ahem..uh 25 years to be exact)we are still friends. I didn't realize back then just how much I would need good girlfriends in my life. In fact, I only realized that just recently. As you get older, your needs and wants change dramatically. The friends that may have been important to you in high school are not necessarily the same one that will continue with you through adulthood. Now that I'm a wife and mother, my circle has changed a bit. Thankfully, I am still able to carry some of those same people with me through my adult years. I am happier, more at ease, and more open-minded when I have my girlfriends in my life. They give me a natural thirst for life that I don't even think they know existed.

Let's face it, being a grown up isn't always all its cracked up to be. 6 am wake up calls, school lunches, snoring husbands...its a little too much for a Diva sometimes. So I feel great that every once in a while I can get together with my girls and escape for a bit. Its very comforting to know that the women you most admire have crummy days every now and then also. Its good to have a support system that inspires and encourages you. So thank you to all of my girls for your undying love and support. You girls ROCK!

Why girls eat ice cream

Breaking up with your man will almost inevitably lead to a series of evenings polishing off a pint of Haagen Dazs. It almost always seems like we are stuck at home crying into our waffle cones while they are out smoking cigars with their boys. Not necessarily because they don't care, but because they are experts at perfecting Amnesia.

When women break up, they think of all the little things that made them smile. They think about those corny-ass gifts that he gave them that would probably seem really lame today. They think about how the color yellow makes them sad because her ex-boyfriend's favorite snack was Bananas. They think about how it would be impossible to EVER step foot inside of another Ruby Tuesday's because that's where they had their first date. We sit at home, and we think, and we sulk, and we eat ice cream. Tons of it..

When men break up, they completely forget about their past relationships, and only think about one thing: "I sure miss Mary, but damn Becky REALLY has a nice ass".

Men have an amazingly admirable trait that I wish I could possess. They have the ability to put their feelings aside and think like an animal. Like a bear caught in a trap, a man will gnaw his leg off to get away from his woman if he feels backed into a corner. Sad thing is, we as women don't always know what it is that has caused them to go into aggression mode. I am completely puzzled at the amount of women I know who are beautiful, intelligent, independent, and are still single. It seems that there is a certain segment of the male population who find their intellectual stimulation just plain hard to deal with. Putting in the time and effort seems like such a waste of time when Becky requires no professional skills whatsoever to make her smile. These are the lazy animals...not necessarily bad, just a little lazy. Or perhaps just a little cloudy from too much cigar smoking and bar hopping. They are really content with playing the field. They'll hold out for months, maybe even years, thinking something better will come along. And when it doesn't, they come crawling back...or they marry a 24 year old with no clue how to live her life. If only they could see into the future and see exactly what they would look like when they are 52 years old with a giant beer belly hanging around the local watering hole looking for a date. ***sigh***

So, you see-this is why we eat tubs of ice cream. These puzzling scenarios that make absolutely no sense to a seemingly intelligent woman. In an effort to understand the male psyche, Haagen Dazs has increased their net worth by millions of dollars. I can only imagine what the women in rural Botswana do to substitute for their lack of Haagen Dazs. I am pretty sure that somewhere in Botswana there is a woman scratching her head trying to figure out her man. And when she arrives at Ellis Island, I will be sure to meet her with a pint of Haagen Dazs. I'm sure she'll need it.

Black Summer's Night..

If you've never heard the R&B sensation Maxwell, then you have been sorely missing out. With songs like 'Fortunate' and 'This Woman's Work', the uber-sexy Maxwell has ladies all over the world closing their eyes and dreaming of romantic liasons. There is something about the way he delivers a song that puts him in a special category by himself.

After a 7 year hiatus, Maxwell is back with 'Black Summer's Night'. I can honestly say that this album was worth the wait. I must admit, I am smitten! Check out the video for the single 'Bad Habits'

Enjoy!

The recessionista strikes again!

I have always been a frugal shopper. Still to this day, I remember my first major purchase when I was 6 years old. My neighbors down the street were notorious for their famous yard sales. Never one to miss an opportunity for saving, I borrowed $1 from my Mom and came back home with a shiny new four wheeler in the shape of a motor boat. I rode that thing until the wheels fell off. I definitely got my $1 worth!

Now that I am older, I no longer search for items to add to my toy collection. These days it is all about frugal shopping techniques for my family. In the past year, I have focused more on frugal finds for my husband and son. One of my favorite places to find good key pieces is the Gap. I love the look on my son's face when we pull a great outfit together for him. Lucky for me, stores like Gap and Old Navy have great key pieces that you can use to pull any outfit together. What's even better is that I can go to these stores and get things for the entire family. Its a woman's dream come true!

This past summer ,my family had a photo shoot at the beach. Because our summer was SOOOO hectic, I completely forgot about our scheduled shoot, and before I knew it, I had only one day to pull together outfits for the whole family. After tossing and turning all night, and stressing about what we were going to wear, I got up the next morning and headed straight to the Gap. I found complete outfits for the whole family in just one stop! The clothes fit great, and we all looked FAB. Furthermore,all of the pieces I purchased were on sale! Talk about a life saver!



Our next family photo shoot will be for our family Christmas cards. This time I know exactly where to go to make us look our best. I can even pick up something for my pretty little Pooch, Georgie Patton! To take advantage of great savings for your family, go to the Gap outlet and go to Twitter Moms to join in on the contest and discussion

Things I learned while I was away..

This summer I took a much needed break from my routine. I have not posted anything on my blog in over a month. Sadly enough, it wasn't until week 2 that I realized I even missed my blog. Did I miss it enough to come back..well, yes and no. I did miss my blog a lot. I missed logging on and looking at the feedback and comments I received. I missed the emails and the posts on Facebook giving me props on a great post. I missed the feeling of achievement knowing that I was sharing a part of myself with someone else. But what I didn't miss was the pressure I was starting to put on myself. I did not miss the idea of submitting to the pressure of mandatory posts regardless of whether I had something good to say or not. I did not miss the pressure of writing to keep up numbers at the expense of the writer deep down in my soul. I missed writing for me.

Reviving my blog at an earlier date did cross my mind several times. My fear was that if I didn't post anything, I would lose valuable readers. I needed to do something to keep them there, and get them to spread the word to others.But was I really doing my readers a favor, or was I doing them an injustice? What good would it be for me to post on my blog when I had nothing valuable to say to them? Relationships require genuine love and interaction, or they are doomed to fail. I owe it to my readers to be truly genuine, no matter how funky it gets. Raw, unfiltered, honest and genuine. And I won't allow anything else.

I learned to allow myself to recharge my batteries. I learned to allow myself to re-focus. I learned to allow myself to make mistakes. My time off was an essential part of my growth and development. I feel so much better having taken the time to focus on me and my goals. So much better that I feel I can deliver greater things. You learn a lot when you slow down and watch the flowers grow, or watch the sky slowly fade to Black. You learn that the world is a lot bigger than you, but the world still needs all of us. How would we appreciate pleasure if there were no pain? Unfortunately, in this life sometimes you have to re-learn pain. When you do, your pleasure will be increased times 10.

So here I am, back on the block. Ready to take my turn in the circle of life. I hope that now I truly deliver some of the things I learned while I was away.

Mapping out your strategy for success..

Its always a good idea to sit down and map out a strategy for your success. Not only does it give you more focus and direction, but it also allows you to see exactly what the obstacle is in front of your ultimate success. After reading all of the inspiring stories from Blogher, I felt compelled to implement a few changes in my career goals. I sat down with a pen and a pad and figured out what I needed to do to take my blog, my writing, and my business to the next level.

I must admit that I was feeling a little low for not being able to attend Blogher. After all, I was missing out on so many valuable connections. After writing my list, I realized that it wasn't so much the actual event of attending Blogher that had me down, but what Blogher represented. To me, Blogher was kind of like Orientation at a new school. Walking around learning about what your new "school" had to offer, and making new friends that would later on become your new study buddies. Looking at my list, I realized that I had already compiled this list months before. It wasn't the Blogher conference that had given me the ideas..the ideas were already there. Blogher just reminded me to dust off my list and keep it moving. I had already discovered most of the tools that I needed to accomplish my goals. I just needed a swift kick in the Hiney to get moving!

So according to my list, the biggest obstacle to my success is me. I am living in a world where I allow my fear to drive my actions. I allow myself to make excuses for what I know I can do, but fail to implement. I must admit that I am quite the lucky girl to have God reveal His plan for me. But its almost like I saw the plan, Tivo'd it, then left it to look at it next week. Time to stop procrastinating and implement my plan.
What's your biggest obstacle? What are your fears about success?

Scents of Duty

My dog Georgie (short for General George Patton) is the love of my life. I can honestly say that I have never loved a "man" as much as I love Georgie. He serves two roles in the house: faithful companion, and miniature guard-dog; thats why we named him General George Patton, he is a tough little cookie. He is also one of the most loveable dogs that you will ever meet, and he craves attention. From the day I brought him home, we have been attached at the hip. He is so attached to me that he actually gets jealous when the hubby gets too close to me.

Georgie and I have a regular routine....
In the mornings, we get up and "have our coffee together". I make a fresh pot of Joe while he nibbles on his morning snack. By the time I have my coffee, hubby is usally long gone. In the evenings after dinner Georgie and I are usually alone while I am watching TV or working on my craft projects. Hubby will come in around 11 and join us until bedtime. Since hubby has been working from home the past couple of weeks, Georgie has gotten a little jealous. In the past couple of weeks, my little angel has managed to get in trouble just about every day.

Well, last night me and the hubby were laying in bed watching TV. I had not really spent that much time with Georgie that day. In fact, he had been in his cage most of the day on punishment. We were watching TV, and I started to smell something weird. I turned to Hubby and asked,

"Do you smell anything?"

Of course, his reaction was,

"No, you're just crazy."

So I laid back down and didn't think much of it. About 5 minutes later, I smelled it again.

"I definitely smell something," I said

Hubby turns to me and asks, "What does it smell like?"

It was kind of an odd smell and I couldn't really put my finger on it; All I could think about was that it smelled like rotten fruit. Finally, after a few minutes, Hubby goes "I think you're right. It kind of smells like fruit and garbage".

So I got up and looked around to see if I could find the smell (ironically enough, Georgie had gotten up off my lap and was underneath the bed). Much to my surprise,I looked in the hallway, to find out Georgie had pooped on the floor. But his poop smelled like FRUIT! Hubby busted out laughing and said,

"Its the candle! Remember yesterday, he got in trouble for chewing up a scented candle!"

His poop smelled just like the scented candle that he ate the night before! I have never in my life imagined what dog poop and flowers would smell like when they were combined, but last night the mystery was unveiled. Seems like Georgie has created something new in the world. Scented Poop; Available in Wild Raspberry, Cinnamon, and Rosemary!




**Disclaimer**
No animals were harmed or exploited in the creation of this very true and very stinky story. Georgie is much better now, and rethinking his options for chew toys