THANKSGIVING TABLE SETTINGS

Thanksgiving means so much to me and my family. I remember as a young girl waking up to the smell of my grandmother’s turkey dressing, turkey, and gravy, the list could go on for miles depending on her mood that year. Whatever her mood was it was still the best meal you’d ever taste. My grandmother was very picky about who she allowed in her kitchen, not because she was a control freak or anything, but because you had to know your way around a kitchen and I am not talking about knowing where she put her pots and pans. However you needed to know how to cook.  Read More

My Favorite Homemade Halloween Costumes

Each year I get super excited about Halloween because it an opportunity for so many to express their creativity with decorations and Halloween costumes. Therefore, I only felt it right to share with my dear readers all of my favorite homemade costumes that I've spotted around the web. Many of these costumes can be made with items lying around your home. Read on and let me know what your favorite costumes are from the bunch. 

CARAMEL APPLE DIP

What's Halloween without Caramel Apples? Therefore, to add a twist to this tasty treat you will only need 7 ingredients along with an electric hand mixer to make this deliciously addicting dip....just in time for apple season! Enjoy!

Also if you want to slow down the browning process immediately after cutting apples, add slices to a bowl of cold water with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Remove slices from lemon water (allowing excess water to drain off) and serve alongside your fantastic dip.   

LOOKING BACK AT JAN-OCT 2013

Summer is over and I am so ready for the fall. I enjoy the changing of the colors in nature, the smell, the feeling of peace that comes with the changing of the season. I wanted to share with you a few highlights for the Pride Family in 2013. 

GETTING TO ZERO

        With World AIDS Day right around the corner (December 1st) I have been putting allot of thought into what I can do to contribute to this cause. In 2014 my sister and I are teaming up to host a first Annual World AIDS Day Event in honor of my mother who passed away of AIDS in 2004. 
Our Goal is to encourage the community to continue to educate and provide awareness to prevent the continuous spread of HIV/AIDS.  HIV/AIDS prevention has become an important part of my life ever since the day that my mother sat my siblings and me down and revealed to us that she had contracted AIDS. I remember not fully understanding the full extent of the disease then. However,the only thing that stuck in my mind was my mother stating that she was going to die. At that time I was only eight years old and because of the taboo that the name HIV/AIDS held it was nothing to mention at a dinner or to friends.  From that day on we never discussed the issue but were only given bits and pieces of information from my mother as she became more aware.

It was not until attending Huston-Tillotson University at the age 18 when I became an HIV/AIDS mentor that I fully gained the knowledge and understanding of the disease and virus. From then on it became my duty to educate my fellow peers and community members in the Austin area. After meeting so many individuals who had become affected by the HIV or Aids I began to understand a portion of God’s plan for my life. My mother passed away in 2004, and the last thing I want is for some eight year old boy or girl to find out that her parent had contracted HIV/AIDS and would now die. With research and the development of HIV/AIDS treatment many people who have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS have been gifted the opportunity to live longer and healthier lives. Since 2000 the cost of HIV/AIDS Treatment for one person was more than $10K a year now in 2013 it is less than $100.

Since HIV/AIDS was given its name, people who contract the AIDS or HIV have been ostracized by their family, peers, and community.  The respect and lack of compassion for these individuals only encourages me to help in advocating for people that are affected by HIV/AIDS.  HIV/AIDS is a topic that I hold dear to my heart not only because of my experiences with the disease/virus, but because there is no cure.  I am confident that my purpose in life is to use the experiences that I have overcome in my own life to educate the world and help save lives.  The only way to create more awareness about prevention and support is to educate ourselves and our community. 

Create Your Own DIY Craft Table Using Inexpensive Pieces

I found this DIY craft table on Organize & Decorate Everything I thought that it was a creative and inexpensive alternative.  Many Craft Tables if purchase in store or online line could run you anywhere from $150-$800 or more depending on how large or fancy the design. The table above was made for only $55 with products purchased from Ikea (one desk top) and Wal-Mart (two white book shelves and liquid nails). That’s Awesome! For more details on how to create this look check it out here. 

The Zipper Statement Necklace

There is no easy way to dress up an outfit than with some eye-catching accessories. So when I came across this zipper statement necklace I had to share. A statement necklace can make simple jeans and basic tee, a solid dress with heels –so much more visually remarkable. Who doesn't love a great statement necklace!

Statement necklaces are one of my favorite pieces to add dimension to any outfit. So check out more details about how to make the zipper statement necklace on BritHQ. 

Channel Your Inner Carrie Bradshaw: DIY Nail Polished Clutch

As a fan of Sex and The City and even more of the 80’s I began watching the Carrie Diaries which shows the Carrie Bradshaw of today as a teenage girl. The best part about the show is that it give you a  flashback of the fashion that many of us wore back in the 80’s and early 90’s. The nail polish purse immediately caught my attention because it is the cutest way to re-purpose y an old clutch that’s been sitting in the back of your closet. 

So Pick a few colors and start channeling Carrie Bradshaw. Read More

Time For Routine Change

This summer has been great!  My husband is a fourth grade teacher and has been at home with both my 10 and 3 year old sons, may God bless him! Waking up each morning at what ever time I wish, not having to rush out of the house to get kids to daycare or where ever was great! But the time has come for 6 o’clock alarms, new clothes, hair grooming and the anticipation lightning my boys faces.

My 10 year old son Xavier has been anticipating the first day of school for about two weeks prior to the 26^th of August. He had his clothes picked out himself hair cut and energy on 10 as usual. That morning I will assume that he could not sleep because he woke up 40 minutes before the actual alarm was set to go off. I remember those day tossing and turning through out the night anticipating the first day of school. Oh how life was so simple then… Well ready or not it is here and time for routine change along with school there are all the extra curricular activities. Therefore I am preparing recipes along with meal planners that will be available for print. I will post asap!

Total Forgiveness

I recently purchased the book Total Forgiveness by R.T. Kendall in my church bookstore. The title of the book immediately caught my attention since it has been the one thing that I struggle not only the most with but also the longest. I have experienced allot of hurt as well as seen others hurt from infidelity, rape, incest, abandonment, lying, and slander such as R.T. mentions in his book.  This has consistently been something that I have struggled with in my heart. How to let go and giving my hurt and fears to God and trust that no matter what grudge I hold against these individuals it is not my place for punishment.

"The ultimate proof of total forgiveness takes place when

we sincerely petition to the Father to let those individuals 

off the hook--even if they have hurt not only us but also those close to us."   

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5 18-19)

I remember back as a child my father having to plea to my Grandmother to take my four siblings and I in until he could locate my mother who had decided that she could no longer handle putting five children needs in front of her own. So that day not only were we abandoned by our mother but our father as well. By the Grace of God my grandmother who has always been a God fearing woman agreed to take us in and what we all thought would only be a few days until my father located my mother turned into our entire childhoods. At the time I remember crying for my mother often but not fully understanding not only how this would affect my life (since I was only five) but the position that God put my siblings and I in to blessed by the circumstances of the event. 

" It is demonstration of greater

grace when we are fully aware of what occurred and 

we still extend grace."

He knows every detail of what we have done-every sordid detail. But He chooses not to remember so as to not hold our sins against us. (Hebrews 8:12)

I have held onto that bitterness for years even on my mother’s death bed in 2005 as she asked me for forgiveness and begged that I come to be by her side in her final days. Although I loved my mother dearly an had begun to restore our relationship over the years a part of me still held that grudge of her abandoning us all those years ago. I remember my reply to my mother that day over the phone, "I forgive you Mamma and I love you too." I knew my mother needed to hear that from me and as much as I wanted to mean it that day I would soon discover that I was still filled with resentment and as hard as I tried to put all the hurt and painful memories behind me bitterness would slowly creep back into my heart. I knew that it would be a difficult task to totally forgive her and my father (who was murdered when I was eight) for not only abandoning us but everything they had put us through until then. This abandonment has been the cause and effect and of so many things in my life and I pray that God will feel my heart with the love of Jesus. My mother passed early the next morning alone and I felt like I let her down by making her feel abandoned in her last days. This completely tore me apart and the selfish and bitter part of my heart felt as though this was God's pay back but the Godly part knew that I should have been there for my mother.  

Forgiving those who have hurt us can be a very difficult task and R.T. speaks about the Different Types of Forgiveness described by Michelle Nelson: 

1. Detached forgiveness -there is a reduction in negative feelings toward the offender, but no reconciliation takes place. 

2. Limited forgiveness-there is a reduction in negative feelings toward the offender, and the relationship is partially restored, through there is a decrease in the emotional intensity of the relationship. 

3. Full Forgiveness-there is a total cessation of negative feelings toward the offender, and the relationship is fully restored. 

I have begun praying that I am able to continue to have peace about past transgressions and be able to say genuinely that I have totally forgiven these individuals without any bitterness in my heart.  More information about this book. 

Mason Jar Manicure Kit

I have been thinking about a gift to send my boys teachers for the first day of school that would be cute and cheap but useful. I came across this idea on Pinterest. Here's a simple gift you can gift to celebrate your child teacher mother, sisters, friends, even co-workers for the first day of school, Christmas, Valentine’s Day or even Mother’s Day, a mini manicure set. This is a great budget friendly gift idea which can be as inexpensive or expensive as you want. I created a simple flower made from fabric or tissue that can be hot glued to the top of your jar. (Please use this link for instructions on making your bow).

Of course, you can create any combination of products and tools that you want.

To create your Manicure kit in a jar you will need to include:

Nail polish remover

Favorite nail color (personalize to individuals personality)

Cotton Balls

Nail File

Emory board

Fingernail clippers

Custom Monograms

For those of you who are planning weddings or Anniversary parties here is a fun site called wedding chicks  that I found which allows you the opportunity to create custom monograms for wedding stationary. Check out a few of the monograms and free printable invitations that you can create. 

Keep Calm When Turning Thirty

It seems like just yesterday I was 17 and so ready to have the full responsibility of what adulthood brings. I have always been independent and a individual thinker but now almost 13 years later I find myself longing for my innocence again. 

A few months ago I turned the ripe age of 30 and as bitter as it may taste at times I can't help but to look around and be thankful for all of the wonderful blessings God has blessed me with in my life. Getting older can be a bit overwhelming at times but I am so grateful that with all the challenges and battles that I have faced over the last 30 years that I can still honestly smile and feel true joy. 

For the BIG 30 I spent 4 days with FIVE of the most amazing influences in my life ....My four siblings and INCREDIBLE husband Jamaul along with all of my beautiful nieces and nephews in Myrtle Beach, NC.  We had the greatest time catching up, since we all live in different states and rarely get the opportunity to see each other. It was the best birthday I could ask for. 

I now realize that each day has it's own set of worries, challenges, and tests, but I am learning that with growth comes strength and wisdom which at times frightens me but excites me even more. So to worry about what tomorrow brings is a waste and will only bring unwanted hair dye and expensive botox.

 I feel like I am getting smarter (that may not be me saying much..lol!). It is truly amazing to look back at myself at the age of 7 drawing pictures to hang on my wall and cutting up my Grandmothers best Sunday outfits to make clothing for my dolls, searching through the JC Penny's catalog to determine what would go in my home when I grew up and of course my favorite past time was daydreaming about what beautiful life I would have when I get BIG.  

(I know I was something amazing huh!) 

It's incredible how much I was right about at the age of 7.....smh.