Be Amazing...

Happy weekend!! I don't have to explain how much I love weekends. Just know that I do. I hope that you're having a great start to yours.

I just want to take a quick second (well, longer than an actual second of course), to rant about speak on something that I am just beyond done with. Women who speak about themselves in such a negative way. It is so sad to me that some women can see so much beauty in others, but fail to see it in themselves. 

I like how the sun rays show in this picture :)

I swear, some of the comments that I read on social media are down right sad. Let's just get something straight. NO ONE can tell you how to be confident in who you are. It comes from YOU. Do the work. And by work, I mean convince yourself that you are wonderfully made. Surround yourself with positivity, and embrace it. Speak light into your life.

I just love this dress. It's my favorite!

Stop running around all woe is me. I see a lot of this... "You look great! I wish I could wear that." "Your hair is awesome! I could never rock a style like that." "Where do you shop? I never find things like that in my area." It's fine to compliment someone. By all means, please do! Your kind words could very well make someones day! But the compliment does not have to be accompanied by a downplay of yourself.

That silhouette though!! Yaaaaaasssss! LOL!

You want to rock a pencil skirt? ROCK IT! You want to "go natural"? DO IT! You want to shop for a crop top, but haven't seen any in stores near you? Open your browser, and GOOGLE IT!  You have access to the same things as the person that you see on your screen. They have struggles just like everyone else. Not to mention, so many of them don't even wear what you see past the location they use to take the pictures. 

Smile. 

To be inspired by others is awesome. I can't tell you how much inspiration that I get every day by just scrolling through my Twitter feed, Facebook, and Instagram timeline. Just don't lose you in the process. Use that inspiration as a tool to better yourself.

Ok, I'm done. But, if you don't take anything from this post, please remember this... "You are the only you that the world is ever going to know. Be amazing." I'm not sure where I got it from, but I've been telling it to my daughter and son before they were old enough to understand. Try it.

Until next time...

Dress - Dots

Wedges - Jessica Simpson - Marshals

Progress is Success...

Happy Monday y'all!! My weekend was great! It was filled with mostly a whole lot of nothing, which is exactly how I like it. I don't really like scheduling things to do on my weekend time, you know? I feel like it's for doing things that I want to do, when I want to do them. I was able to do just that, and I was happy. How do you like to spend your weekends? Scheduled, or free??

This weeks post isn't about weekends or freedom. Again (and for a while to come), it will be about my fitness journey. A while ago, I said that I wouldn't turn this blog into a fitness blog, but that's all I'm up to lately!! No, really. It's true. Please hang in there with me as I go through this. I promise OOTD posts will be back. Soon.

As I explained in my previous post, myself as well as #BLMGirls Britton of My Big, Beautiful Life, Dee Dee of Miss Foodie Fab (this weeks link-up host) and Beatrice of Inspired by Beatrice Clay have teamed up to bring the #BLMgetFit challenge!! Week 1 went great for me! I lost 3lbs, and I rocked out on our #WaterWasted challenge!! I was able to get in at least 96oz of water for five out of the seven days! While that may not be much for some, it was a grip for me. I was a very close friend of the bathroom… And still am because even though the weekly challenge is over I haven't stopped.

This weeks challenge is #NoSweetsWeek. This means NO sweets all week long. No candy, no cakes, no cookies, NADDA!! Not even if it's low fat. None. Day one went well, as I have been cutting back on these types of things already, so I'm confident I can make it through. For all of my #BLMGetFit participants, you can start submitting pics on Instagram as well as Twitter with your interpretation of this challenge (be sure to use hashtag #NoSweetsWeek).

***As I mentioned above, Dee Dee over at Miss Foodie Fab is hosting our weekly link up for health inspired posts! Please head over and link yourself!! NOTE: You do not have to be part of the challenge to share your health and/or motivational posts. This is open to all of my readers.***

And without further ado, I share my Insta-life…

Check the socks yo!! =D

All (mostly) black with a pop of color

I don't like the bikes because they hurt my butt… All pain, no gain!

I felt so sassy in this cream blazer from Dots & my Old Navy trouser pants!

Old Navy dressing room fun. I like it, and I bought it!! pssst… It's a size large =D

One of my #WaterWasted pic submissions

A little #throwbackThursday action. Don't ask me why I was 15 on Santa's lap :P

This was dinner last night. Shrimp Stir-Fry. YUM!!!

Hooked...

Hey peeps!! I hope you're having a great start of the week!! For me, it was a very busy, yet fulfilling day. I am an eMentor (mentor over email) to a high-school student, and I got to meet her today. She came to my office for half the day to participate in a job-shadowing opportunity. While it was an awesome experience for she and I both, I had to basically cram a full day of work into 4 hours once the job-shadowing was over. It was at that moment that the wheels flew off of my day! I finally gained control of everything before it was time for me to leave. Whew! I'm assuming tomorrow will be better.

Anyhoo, on to the OOTD…

So, here's the deal. I can't stop wearing stripes. No matter how hard I try to steer clear of them while shopping, they just keep callin me **insert Pookie voice from New Jack City**!

Chris Rock as Pookie

 This skirt was no exception. I picked it up from the Old Navy Outlet for the lovely price of $8.73 a piece! When I saw that the clearance price was $12.49 + an extra 30% off, I realized that there were 2 other skirts (plus a blazer) that NEEDED to come home with me. Ha!

The black and white striped skirt just begs to be paired with my leopard shoes. I love them together.

I pinned one side of my hair just to see if I would like it… and I do! I think, I'm getting the hang of this whole natural thing. lol I've been browsing Youtube looking for more styles that fit with my length. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments section, or hit me up on Twitter or Facebook, and now Instagram!!!

Until next time...

T-Shirt - Dots

Skirt - Old Navy

Shoes - Target

My Day, My Way...

Hello peeps!!

Today is my birthday! Happy Birthday to me!! =D

Let me just tell you that I woke up this morning scratched my head, and forgot that I cut my hair off yesterday! Lawd, I went through about three seconds of complete terror! LOL! I'm ok now, but that was crazy! I want to thank all of you guys for your support in my last post, on FaceBook as well as Twitter. It means the world to me.

For todays "do" I wet my hair a little, twisted it up, then let it air dry all afternoon. When I took the twists out, this is what I got & I like it!

I have a self proclaimed "Birthday Dress" from ASOS that I will be wearing sometime this weekend. I'm a little nervous about styling my hair for a more dressy look. I'll watch a few more YouTube videos to get some ideas. I'm sure it will be fine.

Todays OOTD is post #4 of my birthday week. I'm doing real good at keeping this up. Kuddos to all of the bloggers who post every day. It's hard to do, and if I wasn't off of work this week, I don't think I could have done it.

I've previously worn this skirt as a dress, seen here. I love its versatility.

Until next time…

Tank - Dots

Skirt - Little boutique in the mall

Shoes -  DSW

Weekend Girl...

Hey peeps! Just a lil post with what I wore on Saturday. Nothing special, just super casual. Ok… there is something special (to me at least). The necklace that I'm wearing is a waist-chain. It's no longer fitting like it used to, and I haven't worn it as such in years... so I'm re-purposing this bad boy as a necklace. ALSO, I've had these shorts in my closet since my son was born over 7 years ago. They were in a bag that I was going to donate to the Goodwill. Since I've lost a few, I decided to pull them out. THEY FIT!! Yay me!! Other than those two things, the outfit is nothing special. =D

Side note: I'm not going to turn this blog into a weight loss blog or anything, but my little corner of the blogesphere is a representation of things that are going on with me. My health is huge for me right now, and I'm not even sure why. Something just clicked in me recently, and good things are coming out of it. For example, my blood pressure was 122/80, and has come down to 120/79!! I hope you all stick with me while I'm on this path of discovering a new me.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Until next time…

Tunic - Target

Shorts - Target

Shoes - Target

Waist Chain/Necklace - Dots