The Never Ending Circle of Life

So, tonight as I assisted my mother and watched her work in the kitchen to pick up some things and techniques prior to our big day tomorrow: Resurrection Sunday as well as my younger brother's 16th Birthday! --we watched some movies. And may I say BET did not do too shabbily as they normally do in my humble opinion, we watched a couple of movies. A refreshing end to our long and busy day of running errands gathering rations for our feast, as well as luaghs, memories, and grand times with my Aunt Lisa, one of her three older sisters, closest in three years in comparison to the two eldest.

I must say, I love my family, down to their bone gristle. They helped nurture me, like a gardener with their careful hands, into the woman I am today. I am digressing from this post's intended purpose...the movies we watched were Tyler Perry's "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" which I was finally able to see through to the end, despite it's premiering in 2009, and Funny Valentine's starring Loretta Divine and Alfre Woodard. Their on screen chemistry is amazing, as it should have been seeing they had played sisters in the film. In the movie, the woman who delivered Dearie B (Divine's character) was approached by Joyce Maye (Woodard) after Joyce discovered Dearie B's birth certificate and discovering they were indeed sisters, who shared the same biological mother, and not first cousins -Dearie B was raised by their aunt as her own child.

Before this specific visit to the doula, Joyce visited with Dearie and had her tell the story of how she was born breech, which she had loved to hear. The doula had confirmed the story, adding more--including how she always buries the placenta from children she helped bring into the world beneath a rosebush, and not a tree.

I found this highly interesting, so of course I had to search it! My search was 'why do women bury rosebushes or trees on top of a woman's afterbirth?' and after a condescendingly gentle correction of women to people, I came upon this and several other webpage results.

Such amazing traditions and analogies I had found! From the continuance to everlasting life from being buries under a tree to affecting a woman's future fertility.

This makes me want to look further into the natural birthing process, and also watching The Business of Being Born, produced by talk show host and author Ricki Lake.

I hope this brought new light on an occurrence that takes place the world over each second of each day, and you take away some information with you that will open you up to more in life, if anything more appreciation of how you got here in the first place! :-}

Here are some supplemental links on similar topics:

Placenta Encapsulation 
The Spiritual Art of Natural Birth
Placenta Benefits
How Home Birthing Helps Black Women Connect With African Roots
Erykah Badu on Natural/Home Births & Importance of Birthing Plans

Musical Musings: Not Tonight- Elle Varner

Not Tonight- Elle Varner

From her debut album, Perfectly Imperfect. I find this record absolutely captivating. I believe several people have felt this way at some point in their lives (despite gender/sexual orientation). That’s a part of the beauty in music; what we can’t find the words or courage to say, someone has. Speechless on how much these kinds of records mean to me.

Lessons From My Niece & Nephew

My brother made some BEAUTIFUL children! The next generation of greatness. Although they may not know it, a lot of things I aspire to do is to make the quality of life and opportunities they will have beyond their wildest dreams. Just being able to experience their pure love, joy, and laughter is the greatest blessing. And I’m just their aunt! Seeing my brother become a parent has helped me see what a magical gift from God life truly is! These two are so inspiring to me, when I have children of my own someday, I will be thankful for the experience gained from these two!

Raised Rich (Episode Recap/Opinions)

Lala's Full Court Life "Always Bet On Lala" S3E5

In this episode of Lala's Full Court Life 3rd season of hit reality show, Alani "Lala" Vasquez-Anthony accompanied with her "entourage" (quoted because they feel like family and you can obvs see they are indeed REAL PEOPLE not a whole bunch of jerks pumping fluid into an egomaniac's brain) goes on a business trip with her son Kiyan, brother Diego --who is a total FOX by the way!, cousin Dice, longtime friend Po, stylist Jason (recently married CONGRATS!), and tons of beefcake security to host a pool party in a casino in Connecticut.

Po "dived in" --a la  Trey Songz fully dressed. Now that's gangsta!

In this 30 minute installment, we witness her battle weaning herself off a love for gambling --as a native of Atlantic City, NJ I have seen how many can fall into the hype of the slot machines and commend her for trying to cut back while she is on this business trip. Some people walk around like zombies from machine to machine, table to table.

Jason Po & Dice turn things upside down at the golf course to keep La's mind off gambling

She also witnesses her only child, who is only 5 years old, experience something she and her husband, NY Knicks Forward Carmello Anthony, have become quite accustomed to due to their lifestyle. He is approached by fans at an event because he is the face of Jordan kids. So he's signing autographs and taking pictures, Dice said he signed his autographs like his dad, and after later in the show (Ep 6) when they're in Puerto Rico you can see he surely does! How adrobs is that?

The Great Kiyan Anthony signing autographs for his legions of fans :-}

Being only five, Kiyan gets a little agitated after some time and much to Lala's dismay, begins to forget his manners. She kindly reminds him to say thank you to the children, and to the store manager who had fit him with a New York Giants Victor Cruz jersey, in addition to some other gifts.

A talk with Kiyan stressing the importance of appreciation

To get her mind off of the itch to gamble, Po and Dice find a bowling alley in the casino and think it's perfect since that's one of Lala's favorite hobbies. After creating a scheme to "go to a meeting at the club" she skips out on the trips down the lanes, and hit the slots. Her good luck charm happened to be her friend Ashley, after a bribe of 300 bones. She made a nice comeup on over 2,000 on two machines that we've seen.

Lala celebrating her vicotry

So she gets busted, and Po and Dice come to her hotel room with her Neon Yellow and Clear pointy cap toe Loboutins that she left behind during her "meeting" with the slots. Dice poked some fun at her on how she left her Loubs behind to gamble in bowling shoes. "What do these mean NOTHING to you!?" Shoot, those bad boys are a couple of thousand, AND to die for. If you want to donate any shoes this way La, I wear a 8.5/9 and they would have a VERY happy home! lol

She admits to a problem and creates a solution for her and Kiyan's bout of selfishness: DONATING! I absolutely adored this because ever since I can remember, my mother would always have us gather toys, shoes, clothes, WHATEVER it was that we could no longer fit, or didn't enjoy anymore to donate to various centers who would give them to families in need. It's a very beautiful thing to be in a position where you can give new or gently used items away so someone else can enjoy them. Kiyan was very enthused, and picked out several footballs/basketballs, dolls, and an uber cool toy snake which he seemed to love. He also had a great time with the kids playing with them and the toys.

Kiyan picking gifts to donate to children

She also took her crew to a nice fancy dinner, which she picked up the tab to. You've GOTTA love having those special people around you who keeps you grounded and level headed when you start to act a lil Cray!

Good times with even better people

In conclusion, I would like to express how much of an inspiration Lala is to me. She takes care of her business, and her family. Never leaving them behind or playing them second to her career. She clearly loves both, but family is FIRST, and despite how many opportunities one may have, you only have one family and we don't know how much time we have with them.

She does her best to instill morals and values in her son, and has amazing people surrounding her who also adds that to him.Watch more of the show and see how Lala manages to balance being a mother, wife, and career woman, as well as the hijinks she gets into with her crew!

New episodes of Lala's Full Court Life Monday's 10 and 10:30pm Eastern Two new episodes back to back for the total of one full hour of La and the crew! Tune in and enjoy
Photo Courtesy: Vh1 Lala's Full Court Life Season 3 Gallery

There is absolutely NO copyright infringements intended, or claims of ownership on these photos. I am simply a fan of the show, and network, expressing my personal opinions.

Original Post Date: Monday, March 4, 2013

Life is But a Dream

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! The BeyHive is surely buzzing today after an eventful night for the "Diva". It all began with Beyoncé appearing on Oprah's Next Chapter, where they chatted for an hour on various topics concerning Bey's career and home life. 
My favorite parts of the interview were:

• She may have been nervous, but seemed very comfortable with Oprah. Just like talking with a friend, except with several cameras and other people in the room. Extremely intimate setting, as in all of her Next Chapter interviews. But there was something here that just emanated off the screen and into my home. As a result of this, she didn't seem like an airhead, as she may (or may not have due to varying opinions) in the past.
• How Oprah called her out on keeping her marriage a secret at first. Of course we all knew anyway when rumors began to swirl. If you're proud of your love, why hide that from anyone? Making a statement saying "Yes, I am married" is in NO way shape or form allowing anyone to pry in your personal life. Many of her fans may have been hurt and that could've caused damage to her fan base, loyalty of her fans, and her brand as a whole.
• She gave insight into being the mother of Blue by sharing her little girl's personality and saying "I'm gonna have me a time." Tres adorable.

Immediately after the "Next Chapter" Interview, her documentary "Life is But A Dream", premiered on HBO. My favorite moments she captured in her documentary were:

• First and foremost, I have to speak on how courageous she was to share the pain she felt about the miscarriage of their first child.
• When she and Jay-Z were, what appeared to me to be sitting dockside in Italy, having dinner and singing ColdPlay's lyrics while looking in each other's eyes.
• How she tried to show us just how human she really is. She emphasized that she gets angry, and cries, etc. She also touched on how crazy it is now compared to when she first emerged into the music industry. I also feel for her because even when she decides to stop making music, she will probably never be able to live a normal life because people around the world will still have Bey fever and want to pry into her personal life.
• She could have showed us just the highs, but she showed every aspect of her life. Sad moments, joyful moments, etc.
• My absolute FAVORITE part was when she was telling how she connected the dots from every point in her life and expressed how the dots are all connected, regardless of whether we realize it or not. That is VERY profound Mrs. Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter.

In a nutshell, I LOVED the Beyoncé specials and if you had not seen them, I think you definitely should even if you just remotely enjoy her works. I shall wrap this with another quote from a separate interview: "You must have your own life before you're somebody's wife."

*Above and following photos via google images search info "beyonce life is but a dream"

Original post date: Sunday, February 17, 2013