Book Review #1:Rachel Hollis

Hey hey guys, I am doing something a little bit different these coming months where I am going to introduce you to my world of reading. Now, I will admit, I have not read a book all the way through since 50 Shades of Grey Part 1 came out but I have always wanted to read interesting works by other writers. The book I am going to review this month is a book written by a great women who loves to help other women get out of their way and see what the potential that they already have. Growing from tragedy and being able to be successful in life with some bumps along the way is real-life for her and she wants you to know-ITs Normal! Introducing a lady I highly respect for her courage and empowerment of other: Rachel Hollis

I read this book from cover to cover and was amazed at the similiarities we have. I thought I was the only one thinking and going through it. For those of you who do not know who Rachel Hollis is, she is a Mom of 3 boys and a 1 girl, wife to Dave Hollis and founder of a lifestyle website TheChicSite.com and Ceo of her own Media company. She has alot of followers online via instagram, facebook, youtube etc. She is a woman who likes to tell it like it is, she encourages, enlightens and works to help others acheive the same sense of confidence she exudes throughout everything she does with the help of God.

I am going to review this book in 4 parts:

Why did I pick this book to read?
What part of the book, really hit home for me: (ex. made me cry or have a aha moment)?
What is one thing I took away from the book that I will change in my life?
How would I rate this book out of 5 stars?

Rachel Hollis: Girl, Wash Your Face

I picked this book because it came highly recommended online. I was curious as to what washing my face meant so I said this might be a great book just by the title, so I bought it. I never realized when I opened it, I would never be able to put it down. It spoke to me so well. Everything, well almost everything, was so similiar to my life I couldn’t believe that this nice young lady had gone through all that and still managed to be a great women waking up everyday helping people with her wisdom and lending a helping hand.
A part in the book that really hit home for me was Chapter 15: I Will Never Get Past This- when she talked about her family. Not being as close as she wanted to be after the tradegy just trying to salvage what was left of her relationships and picking up the peices and moving forward in church and counseling, which is always the best medicine. I cried through the whole chapter.
One thing she stressed so much in her book about it being happy with who you are. It doesnt matter what you didnt accomplish or who hurt you in your past, you are responsible for your own happiness. Never let others believe you are never good enough to try new things or pick where you left off with years ago. Always try to be you and be happy for you not anyone else. I realizes that in trying to make others happy all at once, I have made myself unhappy. I have decided to run away from toxic or negative things and let others be unhappy by themselves and take care of me first. Be there after I am taken care of then console others.
5- star rating from me for original content, very personable and uplifting!

Looking forward to reading her other book:

Girl, Stop Apoligizing

Ordered my copy from Barnes and Nobles today and will start reading after my 2nd book which is from a new first time author who writes about how the word of God influences your life processes everyday. Click link below to purchase Marcus Myrick’s

Click link to purchase e-book at: Amazon.com

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She Cave….Finally!!

For many years…women have been trying figure out why there has never been a place a woman could get some peace and quiet. Most men who shop for homes or apartments are always looking for a bachelor pad…women on the other hand are looking for functional space. Well, I have been through both and being a mom of 3 and wife for over 20 years…I need my space!

So I did something about it. I cleared out one of our sheds one day into the other…actually I put everything outside and the kids put it in the other shed during a rain storm. It was so wonderful to see them all work together. Stage 1 of my shed was cleanup. You wouldnt believe how much dust and dirt is in a shed along with bugs…ugh. Step 2 was finding furniture. It wasnt hard for me to find some stuff to take from the house but I needed a really good sofa. One day me and my husband was doing our 3 mile walk one-day and I passed by a neighbor of ours and they were getting rid of a futon which at Walmart you can get 300$…omg Me, Sr and Jr loaded it up in the van about midnight and checked it out and it passed inspection-YaY!! Step 3..last step was getting a few accessories like a fridge and air conditioner-it can get Hot in sheds.Everything in its place…tada

I love it so much!! Let me tell you, I have had so many movie nights and it so peaceful in my She Cave. Some of the products I purchased:

I have always wanted a hammock and I got one. I got most of my items on Walmart.com or in person like these items:

and a couple pillows along with my Live, Laugh, Love rug.

Thank you for reading…just wanted to share a great accomplishment!!

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Blogger Recognition Award: My Way to Happiness

Yesssssss…I have been nominated for an award again ladies and gentleman!! It feels so good to be recognized for all my hard work with endless hours spent in front of my phone and computer letting the world know who I am. I have been nominated for 2 other awards in the past year and I am so proud to get a 3rd!! I was nominated for Blogger Recognition Award by one of my favorite bloggers and she is just one of the most talented and humbled bloggers I have met. She is always at the top of her game when it comes to her post and with all her nominations and awards….she is truly a gifted person when it comes to writing. I would like to thank my fellow blogger pal Charli Dee for nominating me. We are so much alike and have so much in common. I am so glad that we met when we did!! Check out her blog by clicking here Life With Charli

Blogger Recognition Award

The Blogger Recognition Award is an online award given by bloggers to other bloggers. It is a way to recognize the work of other bloggers, and award them for the work they do in putting out blog post.

Rules

Thank the nominator, and publish a post to your blog about receiving the Blogger Recognition Award. Make sure to provide a link to the nominator’s blog in your post.
Give a brief story of how your blog started.
Give two pieces of advice to new bloggers.
Nominate 10-15 other bloggers for this award and inform them of their nomination.

My Way to Happiness

One of the many things that became important for me to find was happiness. Everything in my life started to change and take on a different meaning. When you are getting older, the kids are growing up and you finally have time to take care of yourself….it seems to not happen. What I mean by this is, your mind will always find ways to fill your need to be wanted and needed. If your kids are almost graduating high school or have already and they start their lives and families, you feel the need to want to take care of them before yourself. For me, I have watched as everyone around me grew tired and felt that they didn’t achieve much for themselves so I want to take a different approach. I started my blog a year ago after I found out that I was going to be disabled the rest of my life. All the years of hard work and physical labor took its toll and now I am not as active as I was. I don’t want the second half of my life to not include time for me to take care of myself.

My blog started out as a family blog of adventures my family…who is my whole world…would share. But then, I said why not share the people I know with the world and help them grow and become successful all the while introducing the world to who I really am. I love writing and it has been such a passion for me since I was little and I don’t plan on stopping unless my carpal tunnel prevents it. I am in the process of writing a book and it just so exciting that my blog has been such a success!!

My Two Pieces of Advice

Spend the rest of your life writing about your passions or doing them. Your story may be boring to you but others may find it interesting and inspirational so write about.
Always support and recognize others for what they do because you never know if they need a boost in self-esteem. In the spirit of making others feel better, make sure you always cater to your own well-being.

My Nominees

Marquita Myrick- Marquita Myrick Coaching Blog

Megan O’ Keefe- Debatably Dateable

Catherine and Maddie- Days Of Our Chives

Janine Thompson- Brutally Honest Mom Blog

Ashlee Nicole- Ashlee Nicole Explained

Liz- Mummy Overload

JJ Nibs- Spice and Nice

Nyxie- Nyxie’s Nook Blog

Laura- Laura’s Books and Blogs

Teresa Terry Jeffris- Joy Blessings and Poetry

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A New Look!!

Ok, so, I am a women in my 40s and I am looking for a style and color for my hair. Well, guess what, what better way to say “Look at me” then to go drastic right…lol.

This is what I did…..I went from extensions…

To this…..short bob cut

I even tried to go back to what was easiest which was this….

But I needed more…so I ditched the braids and decided color was the right move….it didnt turn out too well, I lost some hair due to human error of my stylest.

As you can see my hair was red instead of the brown it was supposed to be…so I had to get it redone in the weeks to come. At that point, I believed that what I was looking at in the mirror wasnt going to get any better unless I start to truly appreciate my beauty with hair included so….I did this

I started over from scratch and never felt better. Check out my post in “My Story” titled The Cover Comes Off….No More Filters (tap link above) It explains the decision I made to cut it off.

Being that creative person I am, I came up with ways to make this hairstyle work. So, I grew it out and up and now it is a very popular do amongst African-American women….

Some of my favorite cuts:

Now your probably wondering….what did I do next? Well, me being creative I wanted to try color so I experimented with these products to get a tone close to my skin. These are the products I attempted to use and there was no change….

One was supposed to lighten my hair but all it did was make my grey hair worse and cause me to sweat alot from sitting in the sun. The other didnt change my hair at all and it was gross to put on.

Gave up hope until I saw this lady on You-tube who goes natural like I do and I loved how her hair color was and I was amazed..check her out below and subscribe

So in this video she is using Dark and Lovely golden blonde hair dye. I decided I would give it a try and after washing it with Kinky Curly clean shampoo, which is done 24 hours ahead of time to wash out grime, loosen knots and previous products. I did this to give my hair a fresh start but it is not neccesary to color. I picked a honey blonde….

30 minutes later and 15 minutes of rinsing…tada

So it all worked out and I love my new color. It is so vibrant and makes me feel young😃

Tell me what you think and thank you for reading.

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Family Movie Night…Scary!!

It has been a long time since me and the whole family saw a movie together. This movie had two parts that came with. We saw Part 1 2 years ago, I was a skeptic at first because I really dont like reboots but I said I will give it a try. After we saw the movie, we couldnt wait for Part 2…which came out the weekend of September 6. Let me tell you this was soooo scary for me…I covered my eyes and I think I peed a couple times..lol.

Introducing…..IT Part 2 (2019)

Check out the trailer here:

If you haven’t seen it, GO NOW!!

Check out the trailer for It Part 1(2017)

Personally, I am conflicted because I like the original IT Part 1 from 1990 and the new IT Part 2 from 2019. Can you imagine what that movie would have bee like to combine the two..so cool!!

If you enjoy a classic movie, check out the original IT by Stephen King 1990 trailer.

Enjoy the movie!!

My family saw the movie here with reclining seats since it was 3 hours long…these seats are amazing!! This was my snack at Cinemark…so good!!

Who is Scarier?

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Vogue Magazine…73 Questions Parody

I know you guys just learned about me for 31 days…but I’ve got a surprise for you!! I get to answer 73 more questions blogger style about myself in this post!! I was nominated by a fellow blogger whose blog I deem as one of my favorite, her name is Charli Dee. She has won many awards for her blog and shares the same spirit I have. Check out her Vogue Magazine Blog 73 Questions Parody on her blog here: LifewithCharli

Ok, here it goes…may not be done till the end of year with post…just kidding..lol

1. What’s your usual Starbuck order? Anything that gets whipped cream on it. Last one I had was a latte with cocoa mocha flavor and whipped cream.

2. What does your work station look like?

3. Favorite food?

4. Favorite author?

I don’t have a favorite book author but I have my favorite blog authors. Check out my post click here:5 Favorite Blogs

5. What do you think about open relationships? 3 or more is a crowd-So Nope.

6. What is your favorite video game?

7. Guilty pleasure treat?

8. Favorite movie?

9. Favorite Author? I don’t have a favorite book Author but I do have favorite blog authors. Check out my post on my 5 favorite bloggers, click here:5 Favorite Blogs

10. Twitter or Instagram? Twitter most definitely!!

11. Desktop or Laptop? Laptop. I usually use my phone most of the time.

12. Best advice you’ve ever received? Keep doing what your doing, it will all pay off in good time.

13. What project are you working on right now? I am currently writing my first book series that will be out next year.

14. Favorite Color? Red and Black

15. Did you get good grades in school? I graduated public schools with a C average and I graduated college with an A average.

16. Dream Job? Check out my post on what my dream job would be, click here: Dream Job

17. Play Sports? Unfortunately no since I have been disabled. I used to love basketball.

18. Do you have a degree? Yes I do. I have an Associates in Business Management.

19. Nationality? African-American

20. What’s your favorite type of blog posts? When people are recognized for their blog writing by fellow authors and writers. It is very rewarding when the people who read your writing appreciate it and acknowledge it to the world. It makes blogging so worth the time spent.

21. What do you like to collect? I like to take a lot of pictures with my phone when I am traveling with the family or friends and place them in folders on my computers with labels and dates so that if my memory goes I can remember the experiences that way.

22. Describe yourself in three words? Caring, patient and inspiring.

23. If you were a rapper, what would your stage name be? MC MomBoss

24. Who was the last person you Dmed? My cousin.

25. What’s on top of your wish list right now? Eating that Stouffers Pizza in the oven.

26. Sorting houses? Griffyindor

27. How many tattoos do you have? I currently have 5 working on the 6th. Check out the meaning behind them on my blog post here: Piercings and Tattoos

28. What are you most grateful for? I am most grateful for my health. It has been rough the last 4 years but waking up every morning, I am grateful that I have a purpose.

29. What’s the best thing that’s happened to you this month? I was able to congratulate my youngest child, who is 16, for getting her start in the workforce. I am so proud of all 3 of my teens for becoming so independent.

30. What’s the best thing that has happened to you today? Earlier today, my bff told me that she is going to be coming to see me in Florida in two weeks!! We have not seen each other in 24 years..so excited!!

31. What’s the best thing ever? Retirement

32. Favorite Season? Spring. Florida only has 3 seasons here, hot, hotter and stay in the house or you will melt hot…lol

33. Favorite Holiday?

Christmas!!! Coincidentally my birthday is 6 days after and I love the gatherings and songs played on the radio along with the classic movies. Not on Hallmark during summer…lol

34. What fictional character do you relate to? Jackie Brown, she was a middle aged strong, intelligent, hard-working black woman looking to be a world traveler and be comfortable in life…no drama.

35. Do you like surprises? Yes, as long as they are good ones.

36. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever received? My youngest son Devon, now 19, he is a blessing.

37. Which surprise made you cry? When I got the news my grandma died.

38. What’s the best surprise you’ve given somebody else? When I first started my blog last year, I featured entrepreneurs and one lady in particular, who was an self-published author, was so shocked that she let everyone know it was her first time in a blog.

39. Do you like muffins? Yes, all kinds, especially ones with fruit in them.

40. Do you cook often? On occasion but mostly I am teaching my teens how to cook something.

41. What’s your favorite dessert? Anything with sugar in it!!

42. Is there a dessert you don’t like? Anything with yellow prevarian cream in it, I like white cream.

43. Cake or Pie? Seriously….I cant choose between these two. If I sit down to either of these I require milk..lol

44. What’s your least favorite food? Veggies…YUK!! I will eat them but I don’t have to like them.

45. What’s your favorite condiment? Barbeque sauce

46. It’s 4am on a random Saturday, what are you eating? Probably scrambled eggs.

47. If you could teach a college class, what would it be called? Life Sucks 101

48. Best Animated Film? Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2…so funny!

49 What has a guy done or said to impress you? My husband bought me a car. I usually buy my own cars.

50. Best thing to do on a first date? Be polite and listen to the other person when they speak.

51. Whats the worst thing to do on a first date? Being rude and talking too much.

52. What’s the funniest pick up line a guy/girl could use? “Are you tired because you’ve been running through my mind all day?”

53. Best Comic Book Character Right now my favorite is IronMan.

54. Name 3 things that can always be found in your purse? Check out my goodies in my purse and you will be surprised! Click here: What’s in my handbag?

55. Favorite drink? Water and anything with alcohol in it.

56. If you could play a historical character in a movie, who would it be? I don’t know.

57. Kittens or puppies? Both are way too cute but if i had to choose it would probably be a puppy. Since Sage my 4-year old dog came into my life, he is such a sweetheart.

58. Favorite sushi roll? I don’t eat anything raw.

59. What lipstick do you use? I don’t use it. Burt bees and Vaseline do just fine for me.

60. What foundation do you use? None, not even soap on my face, just water.

61. Blow Dry or Air Dry? I wear my hair natural now so I like to air dry.

62. Who is your favorite fashion Icon? I would say my daughter right now. She knows how to put outfits together beautifully. She is my fashionista.

63. Favorite Disney Character? I don’t have one.

64. What are you doing tomorrow? Going to a 5$ movie.

65. Movie you laughed the hardest through? This movie I recently recorded on cable, me and my husband laughed till we cried called Hot Tub Time Machine 2. Both are very funny.

66. Movie that made me cry? Tyler Perry “I can do bad all my myself”

67. If you could sing a duet with anybody, who would it be? Celine Dion

68. If your life was a song, what would the title be? “Taking it one day at a time.”

69. What is your favorite animal? Anything cat related, like lions, tigers and kittens.

70. Favorite Illustrator? I love Charlie Brown cartoons so probably Charles Schulz

71. The person you want to have coffee with? Anyone who is into great conversation and eating good southern food.

72. What country would you like to visit? Well in October, I am going to get to visit Puerto Rico next will be Germany next year.

73. Best way to decompress? Laying on a beach without a care in the world….any other time just getting good sleep.

So now here are the 10 blogs I nominate from Twitter to sit under the hot lamp and chair and answer deep questions..lol Have Fun!!

@Cherishingflo – Cherishing Flo
@DevinVandriel – Devin Vandriel
@Lisaalioto – Realistic Optimism
@CoffeeSunsets – Coffee and Sunsets
@Can_lemonade – Canadian Lemonade
@lewisjfclarke – Sir Lewis of Clarke
@elleaimevous – Elle Aimevous
@alifeonadime – A Life on a Dime
@LittleBlackDr – Little Black Dress
@31i55a – The Girl Who Drools When She Sleeps

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Thank you to all my readers and followers until next time…

31 Day Challenge-Day 31

Things that can probably drive a person crazy but I try to hide about myself….let’s get started

I grind my teeth all the time. I believe it is a nervous tick I have, as a result my jaw is always hurting.
I like to sleep on my stomach because I don’t like looking at the ceiling. For some reason, the ceiling creeps me out.
I like to keep the closet door closed because I think there is something living in my closet.
I do not like my food cold at all. My meal has to be steaming and the cold stuff has to be the right temperature.
I walk through my house in the dark and hate to turn on lights. I figure if there is a power outage, I am prepared.
If I have a light on, it stays on and my family goes behind me and turns them off.

Well, I hope you enjoyed learning all about me…wait till next month when I dig just a little deeper!!

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I am still trying to reach 500 followers by mid September but I will settle for 200!!

Thank you to all my readers and followers!!

31 Day Challenge-Day 30

Food, Food, Food…..

My favorite comfort food(s) are

Chicken Wings in any way-fried, baked, boneless and with bone and ….

Ice Cream of any kind….so so good. My favorite kind is Butter Pecan.

That’s all I got..I am hungry now!!

Stayed tuned for tomorrow Day 31, which is the last day of my challenge!!

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31 Day Challenge-Day 28

The last time I got weepy eyed….hmmm…..really, really cried

When I wrote my blog posts for Day 18, What am I afraid of?

Check it out here: Day 18

That’s all I got…stayed tuned for Day 29…

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31 Day Challenge-Day 27

What makes me feel better and has never failed?

MUSIC

I love the sound of music. I love all different genres. I am a fan of how music can soothe the soul. If I want to escape within myself it is my way to solitude. Music lowers my blood pressure, it balances my mood and it is very therapeutic for my disabilities and it also eases my anxiety.

That’s all I got!!

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