Welcome to 2015!

Happy New Year!! 

My first post of the new year comes almost 2 weeks in but I've just been taking it all in. I love the holidays so I enjoy this season. I enjoy celebrating late December and early January so I've been in a in good spirits for the past couple of weeks--for the most part. Happy to say that I made it through one full business week of the new year. My new year started on a pretty good note. Once the weekend was over I went right back into my school and work routine. I felt like I needed a longer vacation but I was excited to be filling my days again.

This year, if all goes accordingly, I will be taking more classes. I'll be more focused on school this year so I'm hoping that this year I can procrastinate less, focus more, and prioritize my energy.

I'm doing the happiness jar again this year. It really reminded me to be appreciative of all the little things that make me smile. Reading everything at the end of the year was such a great activity. I really enjoyed the whole project and look forward to doing it again. When I finish redecorating my jar, I will share the 2015 happiness jar look!

This year, I want to journal more. I was inspired by Pearl Cleage and I want to document my life. It's great to look back and see how much you've grown but it's even better when you look back and read about it and relive scenes from your life as you read the little details would be so much more amazing.

More self love this year!! Every day, more love. Less negativity and hopefully less over-thinking.

Most importantly, I hope 2015 is good to you. Happy New Year.

Looking Back On My Year

This is what my happiness jar looked like coming to the end of 2014. I just finished reading through my happy moments. There were so many! I was surprised by how many notes I put in there because there were times I forgot about the jar for weeks. I noticed that I had a lot of the little things documented. I love that. I'm proud of myself for finding joy in the little things. I hope to carry that into 2015.

Although these were small notes on small pieces of paper, I was able to see the ways in which I've grown. I'm so glad I was able to look back on that. Hopefully, I will be able to grow more and continue to be comfortable in my own skin.

Next time I would make sure to add the dates to every note and to try to put moments in the jar the day they happened. I say that because there were things I added to my jar from previous weeks and my feelings about those moments had changed. I feel like it was important to be authentic. To be happy in the moment. Hopefully next year I can add to my jar closer to when the moment happens.

My happiness jar showed me that it was a good year and I'm very thankful for it. Here's to 2015!!

Books of 2014

I love books! At the beginning of 2014 I made a goal to read more. That was going well and I was reading for pleasure and loving it. Then I started grad school and reading for fun took a back seat but I'm so glad I got to read each and everyone of these books this year. Here is the list with links to my blog posts about them:

• For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
• Mom and Me and Mom by Maya Angelou
• Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
• The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
• On The Come Up by Hannah Weyer
• Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage

Mom & Me & Mom

It's no secret that I love Maya Angelou. I feel that she's guiding me through life. I'll jump at any chance to read more of her words and learn from her. I've already shared quotes from this book on my blog. This book really spoke to me. It was so intimate and personal. I loved it.

Favorite quotes:

• "Love heals. Heals and liberates."
•  "I may never be known as a philanthropist, but I certainly want to be known as charitable."

 Must read for all my Maya admirers!

Books I Read: Things I Should Have Told My Daughter

Things I Should Have Told My Daughter by Pearl Cleage

I looked into reading this book after seeing Pearl Cleage on Melissa Harris-Perry's show. My favorite thing about this book is that these are her actual journal entries from a decade of her life. It really made me want to journal more. I really need to work on writing more. At least once a week. I did enjoy following her life and I feel like this is a book I can go back and read during different stages of my own life.

Here are some quotes that I loved:

• "I will claim myself for myself."
• "I told a student today: You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Praise yourself as much as you fuss at yourself.' And I could have been talking to myself. And I was. And I will."

I think this is a great read for women, activist women, women of color--particularly black women, and writers. I really enjoyed it.  

Books I Read: Sister Citizen

Sister Citizen by Melissa V. Harris-Perry

I read this book earlier in the year and I absolutely loved it. I had so many thoughts on it that I never even took the time to sit down and write about it. I wrote all over the pages and  I have stickers over this whole book. I don't even know where to begin.

My favorite aspects of this book:

• The connections made between American classics like Their Eyes Were Watching God or For Colored Girls and the issues that Black women in America face daily. 
• I loved the use of poetry, quotes, and imagery. I wasn't expecting that in a political book.
• I really enjoyed the quotes from various women from different places. I think it's so important for people's voices and experiences to be shared. 
• The range of topics the book covered. It raises discussion of religion, strength, beauty, disasters, and so much more. It reaffirms the importance of looking at every aspect of life. We have to be aware of how race, gender, class, past experience, religion, etc all intersect to shape our lives. All of those pieces to our individual puzzles mean something. They set us apart from one another and we have to recognize those differences.

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This is what the book looked like after I was done:

I'll select a few of the quotes I highlighted:

• "It is so easy to be hopeful in the day time when you can see the things you wish on. But it is was night,  it stayed night. Night was striding across nothingness with the whole round world i his hands." -Zora Neale Hurston
• "...this book makes the claim that the internal, psychological, emotional, and personal experiences of black women are inherently political. They are political because black women in America have always had to wrestle with derogatory assumptions about their character and identity. These assumptions shape the social world that black women must accommodate or resist in an effort to preserve their authentic selves and to secure recognition as citizens. This is less a book about what black women do to become first-class citizens than one about how they feel while they are in that struggle."
• "If Black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression." - Combahee River Collective
•  "Sometimes black women can conquer negative myths, sometimes they are defeated, and sometimes they choose not to fight. Whatever the outcome, we can better understand sisters as citizens when we appreciate the crooked room in which they struggle to stand upright."
• "...shamed individuals see themselves as particularly worthy of punishment. Shame eats away at self-esteem and makes every social role more difficult."
• "If African-American women are led to believe that strength is an essential, inborn characteristic--a racial rule--then showing weakness or asking for help becomes traitorous."

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I think everyone should read this book. 

Celebrating Me: December 6th

It's already December! How did that happen?

This past month has been very eventful. It's been an emotional roller coaster but that's okay. It's important to recognize that you will go through many different feelings an emotions during the course of a day, or week, or month, even from one minute tot he next. I may joke sometimes and say that I'm over emotional like it's a bad thing but I don't really think there's anything wrong with feeling things. What's important is that we don't let any one feeling define us and we don't let ourselves see our emotions and feelings as flaws. Additionally, we can't forget that emotions are not flaws in other people. If someone is expressing anger it is because they are angry about something and that it a human emotion. They are not inherently angry.  The same goes for all other emotions and feelings.

I started reading Robin Roberts' Everybody's Got Something and I've been enjoying it so far. I'm really glad I picked it up!

This time of year is my favorite because I feel that this time of year is about love and spending time with people you care about. It's about showing people how much you care for them and keeping them close. It's a great time of year.

Today, I'm feeling great because it's the weekend, I had a wonderful Friday, and I was very productive. I'm feeling slightly stressed as the end of my first semester of grad school comes to an end but I've been working on being more organized and I know that I can get my stuff done. I'm excited that winter is finally here. It's time for hot chocolate and fuzzy slippers. I'm really excited.



My quote of the day is:

"I've learned that I still have a lot to learn."

-Maya Angelou

Your life matters. You are beautiful. You deserve to be here. You deserve the right to feel and have the space to express those feelings. You are enough. ♥

Never Forget Them

 

 Trayvon Martin. Mike Brown. Oscar Grant. Jordan Davis. Eric Garner. John Crawford. Ezell Ford. Tamir Rice. Sean Bell. Amadou Diallo. Rekia Boyd. Miriam Carey. Alesia Thomas. Melissa Williams. Kendra James. Johnathan Ferrell. Patrick Dorismond. Orlando Barlow. Ousmane Zongo. Timothy Stansbury. Ronald Madison. James Brissette. Aaron Campbell. Steve Eugene Washington. Ramarley Graham. Manuel Loggins Jr. Akia Gurley. Aiyanna Jones. Pearlie Golden. Tarika Wilson. Shantel Davis. Tyisha Miller. Heather Parker. Delores Epps. Robin Taneisha Williams. Erica Collins.

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Don't forget their names. Don't forget their stories. Don't forget how the justice system failed them. They were brought into this world to be loved but unfortunately they all suffered the injustice of being killed at the hands of people who were supposed to be protecting them. There is a problem in our society. In 2014 we are still questioning whether or not the lives of Black people matter. This is still something that people think it up for debate. Why are young black boys being put on trail and blamed for their own murders? Where is the justice? When will it end? Every life matters. They were sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc. Their lives meant something to someone. THEIR LIVES MATTERED. BLACK LIVES MATTER. We deserve the justice that our country forces school aged children to recite about every morning. With liberty and justice for all? Who is included in the "all"? What does that justice look like for Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin or the other names on this list and the names that are missing? How long will we have to wait for an answer? Enough is enough. Don't ask people why they're angry. Get angry with them. The situation at hand is not okay and we should refuse to be silent about it. 

Your life matters. Each and every day, your life matters. You should not be afraid of the world around you. We will stand together and stay angry until change happens. 

Also, if you do have strong feelings about these recent events, know that your feelings are valid. Know that it's okay to feel the way you do. Whether you're sad, angry, upset, depressed, etc.--you're allowed to have those feelings and you're probably not the only one feeling the way you do. You're not alone in this and you are loved.   

Celebrating Me: November 6th

Today was a rainy day and I just love rainy days. I feel great that today is Thursday. Thursday means some of my favorite shows are on! Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How to Get Away With Murder! How to Get Away With Murder and Red Band Society are my favorite shows that have premiered this fall. I always enjoy my shows! Something to look forward to at the end of the day.


Lately I've been reading "Mom and Me and Mom" by Maya Angelou and I love it. Every day I read it, I feel like I've learned so much. I feel like I'm learning not only about Maya Angelou but about my self, love, life, relationships, and so much more. I'm loving every minute of it.


Today, my quote of choice is,

"Don't wait around for other people to be happy for you. Any happiness you get you've got to make yourself." -Alice Walker

Overall, today was a good day. I was pleased with the weather. My shows were on. I got to wear my cute scarf and coat. I'm in love with this time of year and I'm so glad to finally be celebrating my first fall in NYC in a long time. I think the proper term is excited. I'm excited about fall! The only thing I would wish for is a full day in bed with movies and good tv--preferably with a rainy setting outside. I feel like that would top off my transition into fall just perfectly but nothing has matched up in my favor. It's okay though because school and work are going quite well so I'm okay with waiting until Thanksgiving.

Thoughts at the moment: I don't want to twist my hair for bed. :(


I hope the weekend is good to you. You are loved.

Happy Motivation Monday!

“Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”

-Maya Angelou 

I found this lovely quote in Maya Angelou's book, "Mom and Me and Mom." I haven't finished reading this book yet but I'm so in love with it. It brings me joy every time I open it. I love this quote. It's a reminder that love is a very powerful force. Love does heal. 

Learning to love yourself is one of the best things you can ever learn to do. That loves helps you learn to forgive yourself and to be kind to yourself. It's a daily process and its worth all the work you put into it.

Believe in love.

Have a great week!