Anyway, here is the link. And if you cry easily when it comes to sad stories or even when it comes to just weddings, GRAB SOME TISSUE before you watch the video at the end. (Not kidding).

http://danieb.com/nfl-stars-wife-dies-from-cancer/

I don’t have anything else to say really. The video touched my heart. It speaks for itself. This is what I looked like afterward..

• Laura Mink – average voice, sweet personality.
• Ashley Altise – wow…her personality was out there, and so was her hair and style of dress. But man did her voice blow me away! She’ll definitely be needing some maintenance on the outside though. *joy hops* I support. Even though I somehow feel like it was her dad who wrote the “pants on the ground” hit.
• Brittany Kerr – extremely, extremely hot chick, average voice.
• the guy from Attapoxa (the spelling is SO wrong lol) who quit his job even though he has a baby on the way in 3 months – I wish him/them the best.
• the young woman who was living in a tent!!! I pray she makes it far. I love how happy and optimistic she was being; she was almost glowing. And some of us who have real homes have the nerve to complain about life… God bless her!
• Skyler Dixon – I know she was extremely bummed that the judges requested her brother to audition again this year b/c it took ALL of the spotlight from her
• last but not least, Phillip Phillips!!! I’m down for him making it to the final cut. He’s a home made heart throb. In my opinion, he definitely has what it takes to be the next A.I.

I also have to add that the African guy completely butchered my favorite Rascal Flatts song lol!

Sincerely, Scotty fan

-Karina Pasian

You see. Those three things are the key to failure:

• If you are INVESTING too much of yourself and giving your all, this is actually NOT the thing to do with a boyfriend
• If you have HOPE that things will start to look up, you have already started on the WRONG foot
• CRYING. No man on earth should ever make you cry unless he is proposing to you or something of the sort

If you remember those three things, I guarantee you gals that you will find yourself happier. And THAT, my dears, is the one and only ultimate goal in love: Loving yourself and being happy. So it doesn’t matter if you end up being single for a while waiting on a good guy. The key to love is loving yourself and respecting yourself first and foremost. Let me explain…

First of all, don’t ever wait on a man unless you’re a freakin’ waitress. Matter of fact, do you know what waitresses do? They are told to wait on their customer, take orders, bring them whatever it is they desire, be on time and look decent, always smile, and at the end of the meal, the customer gives them a tip. You have to ask yourself are you willing to be treated like a waitress. (Even good guys can treat you like a waitress whether they realize it or not so pay attention). Do you want to put in time and work with a boy you like just to be given a tip at the end? And I don’t mean money, I mean literally a TIP — as in the SHORT end of the stick. We have got to stop the madness. If you keep wondering why you are giving your all and he still can’t give you 100%, I have been there too. Read some of my really old posts about heartbreak, lol.

Have a little more faith in yourself. No, a LOT more faith in yourself. If you don’t, he won’t.

There are tons of great guys out there. This is definitely not a blog post that is set out to say that guys don’t treat women right. What I’m saying here is that guys only treat certain girls certain ways. So if you are showing him that you are willing to give him what he wants, he is going to naturally start expecting you to give him what he wants. When he wants it. And how he wants it. Girl stop.

In case your daddy didn’t already let you in on this, women are God’s gift to the world and so you’d better not settle for less. We have to know and UNDERSTAND what it is that we want out of life and the people in it before we can think about expecting to be happy. But anyway, back to the subject on the table.

Here’s what to do:

• Instead of INVESTING everything you have into a guy that you like (i.e. making sure you look beautiful every time he sees you, cooking for him, sex, being there for him whenever he needs something, etc.), leave something to his imagination. And not just physically. What I mean is, if you’re trying super hard to be wifey, he won’t have anything to look forward to. You’ve already shown him every ounce of your potential by throwing yourself at him. Basically, don’t be so available. It’s the little things – stop waiting by the phone, stop trying to be perfect, etc. Make him want for you and make him long to hear from you and make him miss you being around because he misses your laugh and things of that nature *wink*
• Never ever be with a guy that you HOPE will change or that you HOPE will come around. Stop right there. If he’s too immature, he’s too flirtatious, he’s not ready to settle down, he’s too busy, whatever – don’t HOPE for anything with him. A guy that you have to HOPE will change is obviously not the one for you, correct? Because true love is when you can ask yourself: if I could change anything about this person to make them perfect for me, what would I change? -and the answer is that you wouldn’t change a damn thing! You should feel that way about a person before you begin to give him special attention and share personal things with him. And hopefully he would feel the same way about you. He shouldn’t be HOPING either. If he’s hoping that you get your life together and get your priorities straight, or he hopes that you will change your hair, or he hopes that you will make more money, anything – he doesn’t need to be with you if something about you makes him hesitate. Because that means you aren’t the one for him and/or you need to look at yourself and ask yourself if you’re even ready to be in a relationship right now. Now, everyone has room for improvement and everyone has potential. So I’m not saying you young’ns need to find a man that has a good job and drives an expensive car. I dated someone who was a cook at Sonic Drive-In and we had a fantastic relationship for three years! But what I’m saying is just know where you stand and know what you want for right now. Does this person make you smile?
• Which brings me to the third point: Has the person made you CRY??? This is the number one no-no. There is no way that someone that so-called cares about you can do something intentionally that hurts you. Open your eyes and realize that you deserve to be treated better. And if you don’t think you deserve to be treated better, you need to ask yourself what you want to change about yourself and your personal life that will allow you to have more self-love. Don’t waste your time on someone who hurts your feelings, doesn’t listen to you, doesn’t try to compromise with you, cheats on you, lies to you, and all that other nonsense. There are plenty of great guys. Just look around you. Don’t get hung up on just one guy and regret it one or two years later that you wasted so much time, money, patience, and love. You could have been giving all of that to someone who deserved it. And BETTER YET, you could have been giving all of that to…

…YOURSELF

The way to a man’s heart is NOT through his stomach, girl. Listen to me, I’ve been there and done that. The way to a man’s heart is through his heart. Think about it. Waiting on a man is stupid. There are many great guys out here, like I already said. But we can bring the best out of people by making the right investments and making sure we are not being used. It’s okay to invest. It’s okay to be hopeful and it’s okay to cry. But make good decisions. Make decisions that put a smile on your face at the end of the day.

Hope I helped someone today with this post, because it’s been on my mind for a while. But I do understand that most women have to learn the HARD way before completely understanding their own heart and mind and knowing what they deserve. I just wish everyone the best! Because I am finally happy and in love and I can say that I have never felt this happy and complete before. It’s out there for you too. Live and learn. That is all.

But Brother Dan got to talking (like he always does in his little “prelude sermons” as I like to call it lol), and he was talking to us about how parents should lead by example for their kids. Children are too young to have jobs and too young most of the time to have true appreciation for things their parents do for them. So he went on to say how parents provide for them and give them gifts not because they have done anything to earn it yet but simply because they love and care for them. He then said that the same goes for God. We are sinners yet He still blesses us day to day with more than we could ever ask for! He even sent his son to suffer and die for us. Even when we don’t deserve it, God gives us His mercy and He watches over us and always gives us exactly what we need. God doesn’t OWE us anything. If God stop providing for me from this day forward, I can not complain. He has done more than enough. And what have I done to deserve everything I have? Brother Dan then posed a question that I hadn’t really thought of, DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN TO GOD? And that’s what really got me to thinking. And it made me feel even more uplifted and grateful and ten times more blessed…

I have a new car that I don’t wash? I have books that I haven’t even finished reading? I have a cell phone with a bill I hadn’t paid yet? I have a job that I have the nerve to show up late to? I have clothes that still have tags on them? I have food sitting in the fridge that I haven’t bothered eating yet? I have a college degree? YES – I have MORE than enough. Some one in this world doesn’t even have clean water to bathe in or clean shoes to walk in. I thank God everyday for what I have. But sometimes we really have to stand back and take a look at our lives. I mean a whole lot to God, and He has blessed me in sooooo many different ways. That makes me feel really good.

>>> The simple fact that He has given me ALL that He has given me so far just goes to show me that He sees great big potential in me and that He expects A LOT out of me…

*smiling*

When I first started seeing the “going natural” trend of 2011, I simply thought of it as a afro/locs/braid fad that had a domino effect on I-don’t-know how many young Black women. Anything that seems like a fad to me – I don’t care what it is, I pay it NO mind at all on purpose. Sorry. I just hate to “fit in.” And besides, I’m biracial and my hair type is not going to loc up or fro out no matter how much I would have wanted it to.

But my little sister Jade (@JadeLeilani) and my cousin Kisten (@theProducerChat) were discussing “natural” over Christmas break and I slightly overheard their conversation. And these two gals don’t talk no bull-jive (lmao, yes I did just say bull-jive). -_- So anyway, I decided to do some research on exactly what all the hooplah was about.

Jade and I had checked out some YouTube videos on regimens and styles and what not. And I came back home that next day and started looking up terms, transitioning tips, all-natural products, hair recipes, and so on. Man, I had “going natural” just ALL WRONG.. ~~~> Going naturally basically means just to have a better appreciation for your hair and paying more attention to the care you give it by quitting the bad beauty habits. Even with that being said though, I’m sure several people jumped on the “natural” bandwagon (as they always do) because everyone else was doing it. But hey, at least it was all the talk about it that got me curious and looking into it, which is only going to lead me toward a better, healthier head of hair and a HAPPIER me! So…whatever.

In addition, I also feel bad that I have been knowingly damaging my hair day to day by (1) using sucky moisturizers I already knew were water-based anyway, (2) not wrapping my hair before I go to bed every night, (3) using high heat when blow-drying and using daily heat with flat irons, and worst of all (4) relaxers and color! Giovanni, if you are reading this, I know you are saying: I TOLD YOU SO! (lol) <– She is the one person who always fusses at me about needing to quit damaging my hair. My dad too. He always used to fuss at my sister and I for flat ironing our hair every single morning. Which reminds me. So my mom is Palauan and I used to beg her in middle school to let me “perm” my hair so I can have Black girl’s hair like “the girl in Destiny’s Child” (which was Beyonce). SMH! So I had my hair relaxed, hot combed, straightened, all of the WORST treatments and my hair went downhill from there.

Sooooooooooooo, here we are in 2012 and I finally decided to go natural. And what that means for ME is that I’m going to (1) stop using flat irons and blow dryers, (2) NEVER use a relaxer again in my life, and (3) going to start using real moisturizers, natural products, deep conditioners, and herbal rinses.

WHY? Let me show you how long/healthy my hair is when it’s all natural:

And this is how long it was a few years ago:

This is how short I cut it in 2010:

This is where it is now:

-Taylor Swift, Ours

Nikki Giovanni

Happy new year! LOL

• It’s the largest number in English with just one syllable
• A dozen items means there are twelve of them, but a “baker’s dozen” is actually thirteen
• There are twelve ribs in the human body
• As of 2011, twelve people have walked the surface of the moon
• 12 Play was R. Kelly’s debut album as a solo R&B artist, released in ’93
• You need to bowl 12 strikes to get a perfect game
• In the Bible, Revelation chapter 12 mentions a woman wearing a crown of 12 stars
• The 12th song on the soundtrack for the movie Ocean’s Twelve is called “Explosive Corrosive Joseph”

However, Antonio is now filing for divorce after coming across some love letters Rosa had exchanged with a man she was having an affair with in the 50s…

Really? -___-

This will make them the world’s oldest pair of divorcees.

I can’t imagine how either one of them feel. Initially, I mostly felt bad for Rosa because the affair was something that she had done when she was in her 30s – that’s nearly 7 decades ago, which most of us alive today can’t even imagine what life was like in the 1940s! But the more I really thought about it, I then felt just as bad for Antonio. If you had been married to someone for 77 years, I would only imagine that there is an undeniable and unquestionable amount of love and trust! So just picture what kind of emotions you would be going through if you found out after ALL THESE years that your soul mate had cheated on you at some point in time. You would feel pain, shame, and heartbreak, except probably intensified to the 10th degree.

I don’t know. I feel bad for them both. I’m not sure how they both will be able to go on in life after this. They are both in their 90s. Simply the stress of the divorce is enough to kill someone at that age – not to mention the heart ache of being cheated on. It’s a blessing to live that long. But I guess Antonio aint playin’ no games with his dignity…