Weekend Wrap....

I had every intention to actually have a seat this weekend and rest but things didn't quite work out that way....

This past week was rather stressful at work & I'm praying that things work out and calm down sooner than later, but that's a story for another day. Instead of sitting at home in a funk one of my friends convinced me that I needed to get out and do something. We grabbed a snack and margaritas at Bennigans and went to The Black Swan, which is a club hidden in the basement of the Omni Hotel. Surprisingly neither of us took any pictures...which is rare for two selfie addicts... 

My Saturday morning was spent running errands and napping, then that night I went to celebrate with my friend for her bachelorette party. We started the night off at Pinot's and drank & painted for a few hours.  

Afterwards we went out for a night on the town. 

She and I are both old ladies, so we pretty much observed the madness on the dance floor, yawned and joked about how we were ready to go to bed until she finally had enough and suggested we call it a night. Lol! I was happy. She is beyond ready to get the show on the road and get back to normal life. 

I overslept Sunday morning and it was almost 11 by the time I rolled out of bed. My sister wanted to go see Baggage Claim, so we went and ready enjoyed it. I can't wait until the Best Man comes out!!!!

After the movies I rested up and then took a friend out for dinner for his birthday. I didn't stay out too late but I'm so so tired today. 

I'm so in awe that tomorrow is literally October. Where. Did. The. Year. Go?

My birthday is a little over a month away and instead of being down in the dumps like I was last year, I actually think I want to plan something fun. 

Also, some of my dear friends and I have decided that we need a girls weekend so everyone is meeting up in Houston and we have an entire weekend of activities planned. I'm so excited, but I know I need to start resting up now! 

I'm trying to stay upbeat and positive and trying to put all my faith in The Lord for this season. I'm looking forward to great things in the future :)

Weekend Wrap-Up

My first official weekend of Fall has been pretty low key. I wanted to spend some time around the house to get my thoughts in order, so Friday night after hanging out with my co-workers while it poured down outside I came home early to read & listen to the rain..

I anticipated not leaving the house at all on Saturday, so I cuddled up under my blanket and read for hours upon end... One of my friend's randomly called me and invited me to dinner at Chuy's, which is one of my favorite restaurants in town, so I gladly accepted the invitation...

Today, after all my deep thinking & whatnot, I went to a bridal shower at Yepez Vineyard, about an hour from Houston. The weather was perfect and the vineyard was so peaceful. A few pictures below of me and my girlfriends....

It was great catching up with them. It seems like only yesterday we were all cashiers at Express, terrorizing customers and spending all of our paychecks on clothes. Now everyone is all grownup and my girl is getting married.

Good times!

The Spirit

I have come to the conclusion that for the majority of my life I have been living with a spirit of fear. Fear of failure, fear of being alone, fear that I have made the wrong decisions in life, fear of others, fear of change, fear of man....just overall filled with fear. Over the years this fear has caused me more damage than good. I have been afraid to say no, I have been afraid to say yes. I have caused myself physical and mental pain all because of my fears. I'm ashamed that my mind and thoughts have been riddled with so much self-doubt, guilt and fear. Fortunately, I have come to the realization that there is a problem and I want to dissolve my spirit of fear and lean 100% on the Lord, as He is truly the one in control. I've prayed, I've had others pray for me, I've had blatant examples in front of my eyes numerous times letting me know that there was no need to be fearful...even as I'm sitting here randomly typing this post I had to pause and look at my television (which is on the OWN network, a show called Help Desk with Deepak Chopra) and hear Deepak Chopra tell a woman that she needs to stop looking at life through a fearful prospective. Surely that moment in time was nothing but God letting me know yet another time that I do not need to approach life with a spirit of fear.
I've been so stressed out this past week and a half, anxiously awaiting a phone call and the entire week I have caused myself mental and physical anguish...repeatedly telling myself the worst of my fears, not proclaiming good news when in my heart I know God has never let me down. Even when I prayed for things, they may not have come immediately but the blessings always came right on time. I want to proclaim that I am fine. I am happy. I am headed towards greatness. I no longer need to live in fear. Everything is going to work out for my good.

Psalm 6
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
My soul is in deep anguish.
How long, Lord, how long?
Turn, Lord, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.
Among the dead no one proclaims your name.
Who praises you from the grave?
I am worn out from my groaning.
All night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.
My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.
Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the Lord has heard my weeping.
The Lord has heard my cry for mercy;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies will be overwhelmed with shame and anguish;
they will turn back and suddenly be put to shame.


Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.


In the midst of crazy week, I did find time to break away from my self-inflicted paranoia to enjoy an evening with my friends for our book club meeting. The book we read for the month of September was entitled Substitute Me by Lori Tharps. We went back to Boheme and enjoyed delicious gourmet pizzas, truffle fries and drinks as we discussed the novel. We had a really great time, and I enjoyed being able to take my mind off of all the things that had been going on. I really am glad that we have a book club that truly works. Everyone gets along and looks forward to getting together monthly to discuss all the books we've read. It's delightfully nerdy and I love it!!!!

Yesterday my sister randomly requested a piece of jewelry she let me borrow five years ago. As I was looking through all the jewelry I've accumulated over the years, I ran across an old charm I used to wear everyday on my necklace. It was a prayer/wish box, and of course I had to dig out the crumpled piece of paper to see what I was wishing for back then. I felt truly humbled when I read it.

I guess my wishes/prayers have always been the same in a sense: true love, restoration, strength, career, get my JD, pass the bar on the first time, and just be happy.

Well, I can say for the most part all of those prayers/wishes have been answered. I received my JD, five years ago, I am working in my career, I passed the bar (on the second time) and I am a lot stronger than I used to be, despite my short comings. It was a great reminder of the goodness of GOD. He always will take care of us, even if what we ask for doesn't come on our time, eventually everything will work out in the end.

My prayer is that I learn to trust in Him more, and just be more patient and realize that only He is in control. I want this so bad. I want my faith to be strengthened and I truly want to put all my reliance in Him.

As such, a new season is finally upon us. A fresh start. Fall is a new beginning and I welcome it & all that it shall bring.

Happy Sunday!!!

When Good Hair (Days) Go Bad...

& other reasons why I need to get my life.

So first off, this past week was trash. I'll spare myself from memorializing the details in writing, but long story short. Pure bullshit garbage.

Moving along.

By the time Friday rolled around, it was decided that I definitely needed to get out. I went to one spot, and it was horrible. But, they had happy hour until 9 pm. After we couldn't stand it any longer, we went to get food and ran into my cousins at the bar. More drinks. I was in an undisclosed location for the next hour, then eventually made it to yet another spot. It made me think of my undergrad days, and this ridiculously hood club called Vibes that I used to go to almost every weekend. No judgment, it was a different place and time in my life. *Insert blank stare. Anyhoo..... The only difference is ten years ago, my body could deal with the type of foolishness my Friday entailed. But I digress.

Needless to say, I did not want to wake up Saturday morning, nor did I want to do anything that involved a bra or real clothes. Welp, that didn't happen. One of my friends insisted on going out since the National Black MBA convention was in town, and she was convinced that her husband was magically in town for the weekend and waiting for her at a day party. Ummm. Yeah. He wasn't there. Nor was he at the next spot we went to. He also was not at our final destination for the evening. When I left the house Saturday morning, I was having the best hair day ever. Which, in this humidity has been difficult, with my hair being natural & me opting to wear my hair straight.

Let's just say that by the time we made it to our final stop, it was ridiculously packed and ignorantly humid inside. I could feel my hair melting, then inflating. I was beyond ready to go the entire night. The crowd was pompous and annoying. I cannot deal with this new breed of urbanite hipsters. I. Can. Not. It was at that moment I decided that I need to take a major break from going out. If the motive is to look for men, and not just have a good time then I have to respectfully bow out. I really think that is the worst way to meet guys. I'm not a fan of thirst. Not the haven't drank enough water type of thirst, but the look at me look at me attention hungry state people display when they are trying to get "chosen" by someone. It borders on the realm of desperation to find someone, and usually ends in finding someone for the night, or just looking cheap. Fortunately all the married & coupled up folks don't have to deal with this, and I hate that I have to deal with it.....but apparently this is the new normal for young professionals. At least here. Needless to say, I enjoyed laughing with my girls but I did not enjoy people touching all over us every five minutes and being in the crowd watching the Mayweather fight.

I really feel like I lost hours of my life yesterday, so I am spending my Sunday recovering... I'm praying for a better week. Grace & favor are definitely needed. Also a major blessing or two.....

Random Ramblings.......

I have a new favorite quote of the moment. It comes from the ridiculously adorable player from the Houston Texans, also known as, JJ Watt. I'm not the biggest fan of football, but I definitely love some JJ Watt. But I digress....

"The second I feel like I made it, the second I feel like I've arrived, that's the second someone will take my spot. And I like my spot."

The message I take from it is, stay humble. Even the best can be replaced with even better. Stay steadfast with self-improvement. Getting better is allowed. Don't stop perfecting your craft, just because you think you have made it.

Aside from the deep thoughts on a Sunday night, my weekend has been pretty chill. I went out Friday night for happy hour, followed by dessert at The Chocolate Bar. No photograph could do the delights I experienced justice. I've passed that place hundreds of times, but never went inside. Let's just say that after devouring two scoops of the BEST rocky road ice cream & taking literally two bites out of the biggest slice of chocolate cake I have ever seen in real life...I was chocolate wasted. The three glasses of champagne I had at happy hour probably aided in my wasted feeling, but I am blaming it on the chocolate.

I slept in on Saturday, ran some errands and went for a much needed pedicure. After that, I napped for an unknown amount of hours. I realized I had been sleep for hours, upon hours and had neglected dinner. I peeled myself off the bed, and went to eat. Then reinserted myself between the sheets and watched television until I fell back asleep. Oh the excitement.

I woke up early today in order to visit a new church and see my friend make her choir debut. After church, I resumed my position on the bed and napped some more. I'm guessing I was exhausted since the majority of my weekend involved me being asleep...... Ah well.

Realizations: I really need to reevaluate the relationships in my life, to wit friendships. Regular is not always bad. Everything does not have to be some big production to be enjoyable. I am fine with just relaxing. You do not have to share every intricate detail of your life with everyone in your life. Sometimes less is more. Patience is a virtue....that one I already knew, just need to keep reminding myself of it. Value your family & the little things. Quality over quantity.

I finally stopped being cheap and bought myself a tablet. I got a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. So far, it has given me the same joy I thought I would have gotten from an iPad. I ordered a case/screen protector off of Amazon since the ones in Best Buy were so freaking expensive. I'm hoping my purchase arrives soon because I won't be able to fully enjoy my purchase until my screen is protected. Speaking of Apple products, I want to upgrade from my iPhone 4S to a 5. I also hate Sprint, so if and when I upgrade I am considering switching to Verizon. The only downside to the upgrade is I would need a new case, and I love mine. Whine, whine, whine. First world problem, whine.

I'm hoping this week will be painless. Court in the morning, and a lot of running around & to do's to get accomplished. On an unrelated note, I cannot wait for the Fall temperatures to finally kick in.

That is all.

The Good & the Bad

Hopefully everyone had an enjoyable Labor Day weekend. I personally, have gotten spoiled these past few days, with watching entirely too much television & eating entirely too much food. My weekend has had a variety of extreme highs and some medium lows...if that even makes sense. Overall it was a peaceful weekend, but I am looking forward to getting back to reality tomorrow.

The Good ~

My family came into town from Louisiana, so I got to see my grandmother and enjoy her company the last couple of days. In addition to having some family in town, I also got a chance to see a lot of my Jaguar family since my alma mater was in town playing the University of Houston.

It was great seeing a lot of old familiar faces from college, meeting Miss Southern & her court, hearing our world famous Human Jukebox marching band, and cheering on our football team... I figured we were not going to win, since it was U of H's season opener/home game....but I didn't anticipate us to get blown out like we did, but it was still a good time.

The Bad- began with the score 60-something to 13. Sigh.

After the game I was too exhausted to go out, so after chatting it up for a few hours I went home and fell asleep.
It seems as if I slept a lot this weekend. Hours upon hours at a time.

In all honesty, I hate Labor Day weekend. Regardless of the number of years that pass by, this weekend is always overshadowed by the fact that 22 years ago, on August 31, 1991 my older brother was murdered. No matter how much time passes, my mind still flashes back to being that little girl in 4th grade who just wanted to go to the mall that day, as my parents painstakingly took on the task of letting us know that he was gone. Definitely not the best way to celebrate the holiday weekend, but that year and every year after it's just something we have all had to live with.

Saturday night, I was in my feelings so I just chilled around the house & watched episodes of a new show I discovered called Ink Master. It comes on Spike TV and it's sort of like a cooking competition, only the tattoo artist have their challenges on real live people who get tattoos. I also discovered the show Melissa & Joey on ABC Family which was also a very cute show.

Sunday, I went shopping with my aunt...was annoyed by all of my local girlfriends & ended up having dinner with my guy friend before again falling into a long deep slumber.

Today I woke up late & watched more TV. I ran errands with my mom & went earring shopping in the Beauty Supply store, which is my favorite place to buy cute, unique & cheap earrings. Not the real, wear everyday kind of earrings, but the wear with a cute outfit once or twice & not worry about my ear falling off because they are fake and I'm only wearing them for a few hours kind of earrings :)

After my beauty supply store adventure, I met up for a late lunch/early dinner with friends at Chuy's, my favorite spot. I had my favorite dish, for the second day in a row...

It randomly started raining by the time we had finished eating, so I headed home & have been planted in the middle of my bed since then.

On a more positive note, since today was a holiday that means this will be a short work week. And that simple fact brings me joy.

Welcome to September!

P.S. the post I wrote a few days ago mysteriously disappeared. I have no clue how or why.... hopefully that isn't a recurring trend. But knowing me I may have accidentally pressed the delete button, I'm not the most tech savvy, but I digress.

A weekend

I just had a weekend, in which I did absolutely nothing & enjoyed every minute of it. Technically, I did nothing because I was still extra sore all week from my fall and needed to rest...but aside from me popping painkillers I felt like I needed a weekend of solitude to recoup and refocus. 

My friend emailed me books 1-3 of the Mortal Instrument series, so I spent my Friday night alternating between reading, napping and channel surfing. 

Pure bliss. 

By Saturday, I woke up refreshed. 

I hit the streets with my mom and sister running errands & we stopped by Red Lobster for a late lunch. After eating and chatting it up with them it was time for another nap, followed by more reading and channel surfing. I ended up finishing book one and started on book two before I fell asleep. 

Sunday morning, I spent the entire day finishing book two and started on the third in the series. In between reading I took time to lust over Justin Timberlake and his amazing performance on the video music awards, and question why Robin Thicke agreed to perform with Miley Cyrus. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Miley but that performance was just, wrong. But I digress. 

I wish there was a little more excitement to my weekend, but alas it was not. No complaints though, I enjoyed every minute of it. 

Now on to finish book three......