The night before I go on a trip, I check the weather for the destination’s forecast, and plan my outfits for the whole week. I narrow down my footwear to what I’m going to wear on the plane, a pair of sneakers, 1 pair of heels, and a 1 pair of black flats. I decide what size suitcase and what carry on to bring, and what will go into each. I stay up late planning, and prepping, and funneling various oils, creams and conditioners into travel-size containers with the precision of a chemist. I try to get cash and packets of oatmeal ahead of time, so I won’t have to deal with the high prices of food and $5 ATM fees at the terminal, and I reserve a parking space near the airport. This process usually works out pretty well, and I get to my destination ready to relax or work or whatever. Pretty savvy right?

BUT…

There is a real fear out there, (as well there should be) that many of the products that we clean our homes with are making us sick. Unfortunately, home cleaning products don't have to list their ingredients like food manufacturers do. After doing a bunch of research for myself, I've stopped using bleach, ammonia, store-bought laundry detergent, fabric softener, and dishwashing detergent. This is shocking to most people I know and confusing to others because most people don't know what they would do without those products.

So then I went a little "green" crazy and ended up a little broke.

There is a growing trend of overpriced products out there that play into our toxicity fears and will charge you upwards of $25 a bottle for a so-called "green" laundry detergent. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with many of the new green products out there, but there is talk of harmful ingredients being present in some of these products, and there is no way of knowing, because green products don't have to list their ingredients either. And if they do, what's stopping them from leaving the objectionable items off the list?

This is my 6th year with the love of my life and future husband, Codi. We are apart right now because each of us had dreams and opportunities to pursue in different places. Being so far apart, with me in Brooklyn and him in San Francisco has definitely not been easy, but we've had 5 years of living together that strengthened our bond. He is quite literally my best friend and we've been there for each other through good times and bad.
He will eventually move to Brooklyn with me, and until then I have to hold down the fort by myself. I pray every day that circumstances will soon shift so that this move is possible, but I also have to take care of business on my end. That means being strong and devoting my energy to my creative pursuits, really pushing myself. Sometimes I'm incredibly lonely (New York is a very romantic place!), and when I feel that way, I focus on what I came here to do. I find a gallery opening to cover for my blog, a new artist to write about, work on my paintings and drawings, or throw myself into a good book. I try to spend as little time as possible feeling sorry for myself (although I have those moments too).

I have been moving around with this thought that brings me such comfort and clarity, but sounds so strange when I repeat it. It has helped me to process what I've been feeling the past few months. Everything was so very hard, strange, and sad. I felt lost, like I didn't know who I was or where I was going. I kept telling myself and others that I was "fighting off" depression, but it was only recently, after feeling some relief, that I was able to understand how deeply I'd fallen into it. The past couple of weeks I've been feeling like I just woke up, everything feels new, and I'm so grateful and appreciative of every little thing. The thought that came to me is that some withered part of myself--something I was clinging to--has died. And now that I've let that part die, there's a new part of me with more room to blossom.

There is an annular Solar Eclipse in Capricorn this Friday, January 15th, 2010. What's interesting is that this Solar Eclipse coincides with the New Moon that is also on Friday. New Moons mean clean slates and so do eclipses, so we are going to see a lot of changes in the areas in our lives that usually fall under the domain of the sign of the Goat.

In the natal chart, the Capricorn house rules over stability, responsibility, virtue, patience, and ambition. You will see that a fresh start in one of these Capricorn ruled areas of life emerges at this time, in particular because the New Moon actually happens just moments before the actual eclipse.

The Solar Eclipse can impact different people in different ways. For an Aries: The eclipse is likely to hit them in the area of career.

Taurus:The eclipse could bring a legal or housing matter to attention.

Gemini: May be evaluating their place of residence and how you make money at this time.

Cancer: The eclipse will give them opportunity to examine a close relationship and decide whether or not it still works for them.

Leo: Pay attention to how you present yourself. The eclipse may bring you a chance for a makeover.

2009 was a year of serious transition for me, and I have been trying to roll with it, to be at ease with myself, my cycles, and my feelings. I remind myself that every step on this journey--whether good or bad--is a lesson I can take with me. I moved back to this new (and yet so familiar) place, Brooklyn, not knowing what to expect. I was delighted to come here and find a group of kindred artist spirits. We share our work, exchange ideas, and collaborate. I've found new venues and opportunities to show my work, and I am having so much fun documenting shows and artists for Black Butterfly and societyhae.com. I feel myself flowering creatively in this place.
On the job front, I spoke up for myself and I'm happy to say I'm being transferred to another work site where my job will be more in line with what I signed on to do. I will be working in the development department of a food pantry, photographing events and writing for their website, writing letters, and doing all sorts of promotional communication work, which I'm very excited about. So I'm wrapping things up at the other place, and I'll be moving on soon.

Just wanted to thank anyone here that stopped by my blog @ sexierhealthierme.wordpress.com.

Preciate it.:)

Over the past 2 weeks, I have been wrestling with the decision of whether or not to leave my americorps site. I'm doing work that I love, but in an environment that is toxic. As things began to get worse under the direction of a power hungry and unstable person, I began to go through changes. Full blown anxiety attacks became a common occurrence for me (when I've never had one my whole life), my stomach is in painful knots a lot of the time, making it hard to eat. I've begun to feel depressed (something Ive always had to fight against sliding into).
Today was a particularly wretched day of seeing our best staff members being demoralized and pushed around. I sat in a corner of the office, trying to keep a piece of bread down after not eating all day, and trying not to let anyone see me crying. At the end of the day when I walked to the train, I said enough.

I was born to Pentecostal Christian parents. They raised me the best way they knew how in a religion that left little room for self discover. Growing up in church wasn’t all bad, however. Of the positives, I had a plethora of friends who accepted me for me because they were raised the same way I was and would be punished for not being loving towards me. Church pageants and plays gave me my first public speaking forum. I was taught how to sing and reading the bible did wonders for my vocabulary. I learned to share with my neighbors and care for sick and elderly. I was taught values of perseverance and faith and for those things I am very grateful. But there were a lot of things within me that religion helped repress and after years of self discovery I have chosen to abandon religion and seek spirituality through truth.

I'm literally standing at the crossroads now, with much more than I bargained for on my hands, good and bad. The good has made my heart sing, and has reminded me of why I am here, why I am alive and creating. So I'll start with that.

Last night was the opening reception for a group exhibition I was part of in Brooklyn. It's the most work I've ever shown at one time, and my first time exhibiting my works on paper. I was so nervous, because this work is a complete departure from my signature bright canvases. And I'm happy to say that people loved the work! One woman enjoyed it so much she gave me a big hug. I just got so much positive feedback and love from everyone.

On top of that, I received a video camera from societyhae.com in order to film exclusive arts content for their website. They liked what I was doing on Black Butterfly and reached out to me. So I've started filming arts events around the city. The blessings in my artistic life are so abundant right now, I can hardly believe it.

I am an Artist,..songbird,..writer,..painter,..mother,..and lover,...

and right now one of my main mediums of choice is hair. As are we all creators it is so inspiring to share these gift of creativity with one another. And as i have been inspired by many of you,..i hope to continue with reciprocity. God gave me a vision for what Id be doing when I moved back to my home in Dallas, from having globe trotted and lived in the inspiring city of Atlanta and the rejuvenating oasis of the beaches of Tampa. I am here now, and how beautiful it is to see a vision manifest!

just the beginning!

LETS C.....I LISTENED TO SOME MUSIC AND ITS STILL QUIET HERE
ON MY WAY TO THE STUDIO SO MY MIND CAN CLEAR BUT IM GOOD BROTHA IM GOOD.
LETS C...... TITS STILL SAG BUTT GOT DIMPLES GROWING AND TRANSFORMING LIFE AINT THAT SIMPLE
BUT IM GOOD BROTHA IM GOOD.
LETS C.... WHAT ELSE......MAKING MOVES BUT A LIL CONFUSED IM AT A CROSSROADS AND I GOT TO CHOOSE BUT IM GOOD BROTHA IM GOOD.
U WANT TO NO WHAT ELSE LETS C.......HAD A FEW BAD APPLES TASTED SOUR BULLSHIT HAIR STILL NAPPY CALLED MANISH WHEN I SPIT AND MAYB A LIL SNAPPY BUT I GOOD BROTHA IM GOOD.
NEVA BEEN OUT OF THE COUNTRY BUT I WANT TO TRY 10000 THINGS TO DO BEFORE I DIE AT TIMES I WISH TO BE A BIRD SO I FLY, BUT IM GOOD BROTHA IM GOOD.
IM GOOD BROTHA IM HOOD TOO BUT IM GOOD IM GOOD.

~From We'Moon Calendar 2009

Known as the Day of the Dead in Latin America, Hallows Eve is sacred around the world as a time to honor the ancestors who are said to "walk abroad" when the veil between the worlds is thinnest. Ancient European women prepared "Hekate's Suppers" to leave at the crossroads and gathered herbs in cemeteries to practice their powerful regenerative magic. In Sumer (ancient Iraq), Inanna descended to the underworld to meet her dark sister, Ereshkigal; at Candlemas she will be reborn into her power. The most powerful symbols of this holiday are representations of the Death Goddess and her retinue of witches, spiders, spooks, jack-o-lanterns, black cats, goblins and ghosts.

Why not try a scrying ritual on this magical eve of eves? Put water in a shallow bowl that has a dark shiny interior and place a few drops of mugwort oil or msnstral blood on the surface. Enhance your psychic faculties with incense and saffron tea. Look into the water and allow images to form; ask questions and divine the answers. You can do this with a group of friends, letting each person say what she sees in her vision.

Anyone know of any other Samhain rituals?

These video's are just to make you chuckle or fall on the floor with laughter. What ever issues you may be stressing about, take a break. Laugh a little!

On a hot day this past summer, my friend and I sat on her rooftop in Brooklyn, laughing and talking. I was close to the ledge, and I laughed and leaned back a little too far for her comfort. "Watch yourself there! Because if you fall everyone will say I pushed you. They'll say I had just been waiting for the right moment!" I told her she was absolutely right, and we both dissolved into giggles.
Why would people think that one of my best friends would be out to get me? Because she is the wife of my ex-boyfriend, a man I was with for three years before I met Codi. When we split up, he moved to the East Coast and met her. I'd heard that he'd gotten married, and I thought his wife and his new life would remain a mystery to me, because that's how it usually works. Not in this case.

When I look at this picture, I think WOW what a beautiful picture. Then, I start to think back on all the things that I've tried to teach her. This beautiful princess, DIT (Diva in Training), Queen to be is my only daughter. She's a freshman in college, smart, gifted and talented. She is as much like me as she is NOT like me.

Okay!
I spent my first decade being a fly on the wall
The second being a hellraiser
The third getting educated
This decade I think I can give to all work and
tell the kids tomorrow
What about the next decade?
The one just two months away?

When do I get to buy the diamond earrings?
the trips to Spain?
When can I answer my phone without first checking the caller ID?
Go Skiing?

What will my 40's will bring?

I've had some time to think
(a recession will do that to ya...LOL)
and I think I was speeding right past my life. No more
important but equally tragic, the life of my children
now here I am front and center
Letting go and feeling the rhythm of me
Letting go and letting God

In June I posted a blog on the impending "Mandatory Vaccinations" well there here.I'm not going to rattle on about them,I just ask that you all take a moment or two to view these videos.The next step after this will be The freedom of people to choose natural healing and alternative medicine and nutrition. Ratified by the World Health Organization and going into law in the United States in December 2009, the threat to health freedom has never been greater.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZiSOCyVB50

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWnH_-7yAQE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAG7ISbyFKo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiusxYyw16o

I'm in a class about the state of the union of the black woman and we have at task and I wanted to see what everyone else had to say too.

Ladies Name 5 things you think the black man should apologize to the black woman about!

In response to the killing of the Chicago teen Derrion Albert I posted something on my blog about the situation and our peoples current mind set. Please check it out!

www.NappturallSpeaking.blogspot.com

54 Countries One Continent

WHO:  African Caribbean Television at the African Pride Day Parade 

WHAT: The 3rd Annual African Pride Day Parade & Street Festival 2009

WHEN: Sunday, September 27, 2009
Parade - from 11 am to 2

WHERE: Harlem, New York, U.S.A. (126th St & 8th Ave.)

African Caribbean Television
Satellite Galaxy 19, Transponder 20, Channel 6
Broadcasting Live on Time Warner Cable, CH 96

Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about the direction I want my life to take. I'll be 30 in 2 years, and there are many roads I could take.
Recently I got a reading from a Babalawo, and it was very favorable. We started to discuss what I wanted to do after my Americorps year, and he brought up postgraduate education. I told him that I was more interested in going into debt for something like a house than a degree at this point. He told me that was all well and good, but to not put obtaining material things first. He said that the education would open me up to a higher income bracket, and I would be able to pay off that student loan debt and begin saving for a house. I still wasn't convinced.

Peace Sistren!

I feel so wonderfully and beautifully blessed! Last autumn, I was initiated into the Orisha tradition. I received my elekes and was marked as a daughter of Oshun. This autumn, almost a year to the date that I received my elekes, I am making Ocha, or beginning the process of becoming a priest in the Orisha tradition.

I am extremely excited and blessed because it feels like I am coming home. It feels like I am doing just what I should have been doing all along...that I'm fulfilling my destiny.

I'm thankful for all the people and the experiences in my life that have brought to this point. I'm thankful for Olodumare and all of the orishas for their blessings and their favor.

Ase! Ase! Ase!

So how should we do this? I know a way, maybe get together an online petition that says we will boycott their sponsors if they don't change their name to Black Exploitation Television, or Images of Black People to Make White People Feel Good, change their programming, or get off the air. It's all about the dollar. We have to boycott their sponsors. We can opt to put that money in the Black Community instead..or whatever. We have to do something. And I don't even watch it! Haven't really watched it for 7 years! I just remember and hear what people are saying and I know it's getting worse...

Anyone know more info about getting this done, I will promote it to the hilt.

"Knowing love, I will allow all things to come and go... As Rasa would say, 'Life is right in any case.'"

This summer I began an experiment after reading about the victory gardens of world war 1 and 2. I have never tried to grow anything in my life and I had no idea what to expect or how to begin. Thank God for technology! I hopped on the internet and began to search for articles on how to begin a home garden. I planted tomatoes, okra, basil, green peppers and sweet potatoes. I figured that was a good start for my first garden experience. REMEMBER THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME! I was a garden virgin, just learning how to handle a trowel.

so far on his journey to healthy and wellness i have noticed that it is mind over matter. saturday night i had a small breakdown. somethings were going on in my life and i got me some bread and peanut butter and jelly and went at it. then i was up all night. but luckily i turned things around on sunday. i ate a good breakfast, some lunch and cooked me a good healthy dinner. I thank you all for your support.
today I got on the scale, and to my surprise I lost 2.2 pounds. how I did it, i dont know cuz I only worked out twice since my start. but I guess me drinking more water and adding more fiber and protein to my eating helped some. altho its only 2 pounds, i am encouraged even more.
I was lookin at something online where a doctor was saying its not so much weight loss, its about body fat loss. so how do you lose body fat...?? what foods can i incorporate in my eating to help me do that??

much love,

Jenny

Lately I've been keeping to myself a bit more. Even when I'm out with friends, I''ve found myself longing for the comforts of home: cooking a meal, reading a book, or prayer time. I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but suddenly being out with the girls didn't mean so much, and I'm a social person! I thought I was turning into a hermit. Then I read my yearly horoscope in my We'Moon calendar, and something stood out:
"Some solitude and downtime is essential, as much energy is occupied with deep internal processes and you must not be distracted from this work. Art and music assist in this deep diving, and dredging up profound and stunning impressions."