EYES Have It

EYES Have It by anessa1105 featuring eye makeup

Restful Saturdays...

Restful Saturdays... by anessa1105 featuring clutch handbags

Lipsy ruched prom dress
£120 - lipsy.co.uk

Dress
weddingbycolor.com

Clutch handbag
£18 - bankfashion.co.uk

Paul Smith woven handbag
$40 - paulsmith.co.uk

Astley Clarke flower jewelry
$180 - astleyclarke.com

Stack rings jewelry
$115 - reissonline.com

Valentino vintage shawl
£259 - harrods.com

Monsoon flower hair accessory
£8 - monsoon.co.uk

H M flower hat
£9.99 - hm.com

Mint Green Love Print Nursery Wall Art by Field Trip - contemporary -...
$18 - houzz.com

Dream.

So I am really into poetry; I have always been from since I can remember. I used to write the most cliche' poems in middle school.. lol. And at some point I finally realized I wasn't a good poet and I should just appreciate those who are. lol.. The other night my friend texted me a poem (yeah he does stuff like that), but I told him I'll put it on my blog, cause I thought it was cool. So here it is:

Dream. 

As the sun peaked through the blinds 

our minds were intertwined in a dance

 only our bodys could underscore.

I love you more than those moments.

As the moonlight crept up the walls 

our silhouettes held hands that were

interlinked and to think of this bliss.

I loved you less than I should have.

But I'm awake again.

Dream.  

-Reno Lamont

Just in case you want to check out some of his other poetry, he has a blog here. 

While we are on the subject of dreams... I am not sure when I realized that I was really a dreamer, I actually consider myself to be more of a visionary. I see things as they were, currently are, and could be. Unfortunately I get caught up in things that have so much potential, that I fail to remember that is not how things will necessary be in the future; potential is just that... potential. It is not reality. With this in mind, I will leave you with this quote.

 "Life is full of beauty. Notice it. Notice the bumble bee, the small child, and the smiling faces. Smell the rain, and feel the wind. Live your life to the fullest potential, and fight for your dreams."-A. Smith

Until Next Time...

What I'm Listening to...

Ok one last post before I go back to studying... So I created some new stations on Pandora and 3 of my fav people this week are as follows... (thanks to STL for playing the same 5 songs on the radio, forcing me to venture out musically)

1. Lina (Alternative/RnB/Soul)- My fav song is "I'm Not the Enemy." Here is a quick synopsis for Lina:

Singer /songwriter LINA boldly discards all artistic blueprints, with a musical fusion thriving on rich, jazz-era orchestration complemented by R&B. With a writing and singing background that spans the genres of soul, jazz, opera, hip hop, pop, and country, LINA is an original, bringing a fresh, arresting sound that is passionate, organic and timeless. In effect, a one woman Harlem Renaissance, reclaiming decades worth of musical heritage for a new generation.



2. Kate Earl (Soul/Pop/Lyrical)- My fav song from her are "Nobody" and "Melody." Here are the lyrics to "Melody":

No mat­ter what has ever come to me, I got my own brand of company, I got da da da inside my head
And I play songs back to back until I got to bed, Wake up by myself inside an empty room, Theres no body next to mine to oooh, But my skin is warm and my heart is full, Its the do do do do do do, Walk­ing wak­ing on a crowded street, With my head­phones loud, So my hips can swing, so my head can nod, To the rock and roll to the boom boom beat, and I find that I’m never alone, and I find that my heart is my home, and the music within makes me whole, A world that I built on my own, and I know that I’m never alone, and I know that my heart is my home, Every miss­ing piece of me, I can find in a melody, Theres a river in my mind thats never still, Swirling , sooth­ing all the time gives me a thrill, Swim­ming in the notes that go Oh oh oh oh, Wan­der­ing, wak­ing in an empty wood, It is quiet here, I am powerful


3. Estelle(HipHop/Soul/RnB) - ok I know I'm a little late on the Estelle bandwagon, but glad I finally started listening to her. I especially like "Come Over." Here are some accolades of Estelle:

She won a grammy for American Boy featuring Kanye West in the category best rap/sung collaboration. She also has received the MOBO for 'Best Newcomer'and received three consecutive 'Best Female Artist' trophies from the UK Hip-Hop Awards. Estelle's song "Star" was used for Crystal Light commercials. She also, in 2010, modeled at Naomi Campbell's Fashion For Relief runway show for The White Ribbon Alliance to raise funds for mothers in Haiti.


Oh and I just came across this on Fly's website .. So Adult Swim has featured several "African" hiphop artists from various countries on African Swim...check it out!

Until Next Time...

Fashion Faux Pas

So I have been meaning to write this post for some time...especially one day when my sister called me to tell me about some girl who is wearing tights (that were too thin) and you can see her underwear...yuck! Serious Fashion Faux Pas...

So here are MY personal top 10 fashion faux pas...please please please, if at all possible try and avoid thanks! Oh and by no means I am NOT a fashion guru or fashion police...I just think some things are kinda tacky...

1. Wearing white socks with dress shoes. (you are not MJ)
2. Not wearing the proper underwear, under thing or light colored clothes...(yuck.)
3. Panty lines, panty lines, panty lines... (enough said)
4. Wearing a dress/skirt in the winter without stockings, leggings, tights.. (It's cold outside!)
5. Being extremely better dressed than your kids...(you are in the latest fashions, while your kids have rags on and snot coming out of their nose)
6.  Socks with sandals...
7. Thinking that shirt you just bought is actually a dress...yikes.
8. Being too "matchy-matchy"... (you don't need your purple shirt to match with your purple earrings, purple necklace, purple tights, purple shoes, purple scarf, purple belt, oh and purple finger nail polish)
9. The tights as pants thing...needs to pass..
10. Biting someone else's style...BE ORIGINAL!

Until Next Time...

Black Women with Style and le coil

So I recently discovered this tumblr page, Black Women With Style...I love to see all of the creativity these women have displayed and the fact that they have "stepped out of the box"...

Also, I hope you also can get inspiration ideas from le coil... it shows all shades/shapes/sizes of women (sometimes men), who are wearing their hair natural. Enjoy!

I'm off the library... to study on a Saturday... sigh.

Until Next Time...

Nneka=Real Music

So I have already posted 4 other updates and it is only March 3rd... I think you can tell I really missed my blog and all of my creative outlets. The past two weeks were filled with exams, tests, quizzes, and more exams. I have had a little more time to breathe, before the madness resumes.

I meant to write a blogpost on Nneka. Basically she is an amazing emerging artist, I hope I can do her justice.She is classified as a Hip-Hop/Soul/Afrobeat artist. 

Quick side note: So if you have been keeping up with my blog at all, you know that I was mildly miserable in MO last semester, but I have been trying to do more things. So I was recently introduced to a new friend in STL, she is an Emory alumnus as well, and she invited me to the Nneka concert a couple weeks ago. The ironic part is my line sister posted on my wall (on FB) a link to Nneka's video the very same day that my new friend invited me to the concert, because she thought I would really like her music...

So I went to her concert and completely fell in love with her music and everything she is about. Nneka is a Nigerian-German singer, songwriter and a lot of her songs are about political and conscious issues and what not, mostly having to do with the exploitation of Nigeria. Her concert was at the Gramophone, which was a cute little diverse spot. Her newest album, "Concrete Jungle" was recently released, but hearing her CD is nothing compared to hearing her live.Her single, "The Uncomfortable Truth" was iTunes single of the week a couple of weeks ago. I have so many songs that I like...my fav is probably "Come with Me"...I love the lyrics, beat, gosh everything. However while making this blogpost I just discovered she has a lot of videos for a lot of her songs...

Well back to my narrative, we ended up getting her autograph and a picture with her... which is unusual for me, because I am not usually a groupie, but I think she is a refreshing sound in music. Very uplifting, and it creates a wonderful awareness that I feel has been missing from music lately. Below are some videos of her songs, check them out. I wish I could post all of her videos/songs, but definitely check her out on youtube, myspace, R.I.P. imeem, playlist, etc...





SO I went a little overboard with the videos...Oh here are two pics I took at the concert. Enjoy...

Until Next Time...

Lady Fortitude

It is likely that if you are not a Soror of mine then you have never heard of Lady Fortitude, but what she stands for has continually inspired me. For anyone that does not know what fortitude means it is

Strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage.

The definition alone is invigorating and motivates me. I think that most people could stand to exhibit more fortitude in their everyday life. Although things may be difficult it should not stop you from being where or who you want to be.

The sculpture of Lady Fortitude is found on the campus of Howard University and symbolizes the attributes of strength, courage, hope, wisdom, beauty and femininity as depicted by the Illustrious 22 founders of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

Until Next Time...

Happy Founder's Day!

I am a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated and I want to wish all of my Sorors a Happy Founder's Day. On January 13th, 97 years ago my twenty founders founded the largest African American sisterhood in the world.

Long ago and far away
Twenty-two began a brand new day.
They wanted more than just a social life
They desired to be more than just a wife.
These twenty-two had a larger vision
And that soon caused them great division.
Some went left, but most went Right
And strove to reach a higher light.
They wanted to make a better place
And give their children a broader space
To expand their minds and their hearts
And give to the world the best parts
Of being Intelligent, Female, and Black.
These twenty-two started the forward motion
But theirs was just the tip of this Delta notion
They gave the foundation and an example to follow
They made it strong and solid, not hollow.
Their legacy remains as a directional arrow
And the time is now to release the sparrow
To fly free and soar to heights unknown
But she must never travel alone.
Along with her sisters the job gets done.
Along with her SORORS the battle is
Won.

By Soror Valerie L. Thomas

Until Next Time...

Soldier of Love

As everyone knows by now...Sade released her new single "Soldier of Love" early last December. I am really looking forward to her album, which comes out in February...I meant to post the video/song much earlier, but it slipped my mind. I think it accurately describes how I feel about "love/relationships" right now... Oh and I did I mention how much I really really like this song..the drums, beats, lyrics, her voice...everything!



Until Next Time...

Schools Stifling Creativity...

So...as CNN as my home page, I saw link that asked whether schools/academia was stifling creativity. Actually is a talk that is part of a lecture series TED Talks Tuesdays:
TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a conference and series of talks which brings together some of the world's best speakers and innovative ideas. It will be featured on CNN every Tuesday.


Wow! SO the talk talk was really profound. I ended up taking notes because he said so many things that really stuck with me and I wanted to share. However I just decided to copy and paste part of the article that summed up the talk (if you don't want to watch the video).

What is the argument? In a nutshell, it's that we're all born with immense natural talents but our institutions, especially education, tend to stifle many of them and as a result we are fomenting a human and an economic disaster.

In education, this vast waste of talent involves a combination of factors. They include a narrow emphasis on certain sorts of academic work; the exile of arts, humanities and physical education programs from schools; arid approaches to teaching math and sciences; an obsessive culture of standardized testing and tight financial pressures to teach to the tests.

The result is a disastrous waste of talent among students and their teachers. To sense the scale of this disaster, you only have to look at the alarming rates of turnover among faculty and the levels of drop out, disaffection, stress and prescription drug use among students. Even for students who stay the course and do well in education, the rules of success have changed irrevocably. Just look at the plummeting value of college degrees.

Reforming these systems is not enough. The truth is that we are caught up in a cultural and economic revolution. This revolution is that is global in scale and unpredictable in nature. To meet it, we need a revolution in the culture of education.

This new culture has to emerge from a richer sense of human ability. To shape it, I believe we have to leave behind the manufacturing principles of industrialism and embrace the organic principles of ecology.

Education is about developing human beings, and human development is not mechanical or linear. It is organic and dynamic.

Like all living forms, we flourish in certain conditions and shrivel in others. Great teachers, great parents and great leaders understand those conditions intuitively; poor ones don't. The answer is not to standardize education, but to personalize and customize it to the needs of each child and community. There is no alternative. There never was.

- Sir Ken Robinson

I found this talk applicable and profound in so many ways. Whew! Well first, since I am in professional school I have found myself leaving behind most things that I "enjoy" in order to learn, retain, and study information for my classes. Currently it is week 11...and I feel like I am coming up against a wall. Not necessarily a crossroads, but I feel like I am struggling in my classes and also struggling with my current lifestyle. I know that most people say you need to sacrifice your time, money and most things now so it can pay off later, but is that how people should live life? Is that how I should live life? What if my time on earth was counting down and I didn't know it...will I want to say the last few things that I did was study for 7 hours for a neuroanatomy exam? Or memorize the arteries/veins in the heart? Or learn where an image is formed when object is placed a certain distance from a mirror? No... I would want to have walked outside and looked at the trees as they turn different shades...or read a really good book..or spent time with my loved ones. 

Well such is life...I really need to get back to studying, but before I go..I want to share a random narrative/dream. So first semester my freshman year at Emory...I decided to take a Modern Dance class. I am not sure what attracted me to it, but I really fell in love with Modern. There was so much that was really freeing about it. I planned on being a dance major/minor, but when it came down to it, I never was...why? Mostly because I could barely handle my first major and try and get into professional school...so I pretty much put something that I really loved and valued to the side. I think that is what the "speaker" was getting at...how we give up so much in order to fit into "mainstream" society.

Often people say follow your passion, but I'm not sure if people really mean it..or is it just a phrase that sounds good? Until Next Time...

Encourage Yourself

This month has been an interesting one...I have had many ups and downs, but currently I'm just in the daily grind of going to school and studying...which I'm a little tired of. Well this morning, I was feeling a little down and I stumbled upon this website, which provided me so much motivation, so I had to share....

Excellent Motivational Website

You can click on all four sides/categories of the webpage when you get there for different prayers. Below I posted what the website has as the four categories:

	ADORATIONS Prayers of devotion, surrender, love, praise and offering.
	CELEBRATIONS Prayers of thanksgiving, initiation, affirmation and blessing.
	INVOCATIONS Prayers of petition, supplication, calling forth and healing.
	MEDITATIONS Prayers of reflection, contemplation, being and teaching.

Below are two randomly selected prayers that came up. If you have a free moment I suggest you check it out.

Step into the Sunlight
Feel the pain wash away
Enter in the Soul-light
Just BE in today.

Forget all emotion
Put your trust in the day
Let the past rush on by you
Put your Self in THE WAY.

one & infinite - lynne milum - universal light

Believe more deeply.
Hold your face up to the light,
even though for the moment you do not see.

bill wilson - cofounder alcoholics anonymous

 

The sun shines down,
and its image reflects a thousand
different pots filled with water.

The reflections are many,
but they are each reflecting the same sun.

Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are,
we will see ourselves in all people.

amma

 

One last thing before I get back to studying, well I named my blog Reason to Believe for many reasons, but I fail to reference the name in blog entries, but I guess I will now. I think a lot of things happen good and bad and will continue to happen, but through it all, I have a "Reason to Believe" that everything will work out and end well. For example, it's hard to be really excited about everything going on right now, but I know that it will all work out and I just need to stick in there. I hope in everything, people continue to pursue and believe in what they know is right and what they want. You can call me sappy or overly optimistic, but it has gotten me this far. Until Next Time....

Night Writers

So..yesterday I attended two events at the National Black Arts Festival Downtown. The first one I went to was a gallery opening at the Hagedorn Foundation Gallery. There were photographs of Chicago city life...Honestly I wasn't that impressed and I wasn't sure why they were priced for thousands of dollars because honestly they looked like regular pictures of black folks..lol.

But then we headed to the Woodruff Arts center which was there the center of the "festival" was. I didn't get to look at all the international vendors as much as I would have liked because we were late for our play. I plan on going back today, anyways...so the play we saw was "The Night Writers" in the Hertz center. It was sooo inspirational. lol. I think it was good to see a play with an all black cast that was between the ages of 18-25, and they could all act...

The synposis is below, I copied and pasted it from their website...

It’s the close of the Sixties and the world is changing fast. So are the lives of Jacob and his friends when late one night the group discovers the remains of an abandoned printing press and its underground newspaper. As a result, they embark on a journey to reconnect with voices from the past and write their own futures.

The play was much needed for me to see at this point in my life, it was a great reminder of all that African Americans have been through and the amount of progress that still needs to be made. Also what was even more important was the difference individuals can make when they put their mind and ideas together. :)

So this was apparently FACE's inaugural performance. It was so awesome. Too bad, I'm about to leave ATL, but I look forward to more of their works sometime in the future. Below is what FACE stands for, it's about time we got some fresh air.

As the newest addition to the vibrant Atlanta theatre scene, The Fresh Air Collective Ensemble invites you to take a new look at theatre for the young person in us all. We are an ensemble of creative artists dedicated to the collaboration, exploration and development of new and innovating performance styles for today’s audience. Dedicated to original works, ensemble-based performance and contemporary theatre for families, FACE is sure to INSPIRE, IMPACT and INCITE! So INHALE deeply and breathe in the FRESH AIR!

Again I think it is important that we as a people support one another when it comes to art, whether performing or visual. I'm soo glad that I went to this awesome performance. Here some pics I took...




On another note, walking through the outside International Festival was awesome for many reasons, but mostly because about 75% of the women I saw had natural hair. It wasss soo cool! I told my friend dang had I known I would have worn my fro out...lol. It was just nice to see a variety of hairstyles and black women embracing their "roots." I saw this portrait briefly before we went inside to the play. I just thought it was sooo inspiring and just simply beautiful. It is made from charcoal and it is a little girl with her natural hair pulling at what I would awesome her mother's natural hair. It is so "organic" and just amazing. I'm sure it was hundreds/thousands of dollars, but if I had a nice place and some dough, I would definitely purchase. :sigh:



Until Next Time...

Clutching...Dawn Art

So while reading Clutch Mag sometime a couple weeks ago, I stumbled upon this fairly emerging artist...Dawn Okoro...Ok wait let me back up...I hope most people, especially if you are female know and read Clutch. Well I'll just be on the safe side and share anyway...Clutch mag is awesome, there are lots of great articles... I'm pretty sure clutch can do better marketing than me...Clutch describes itself as "Ushering in the New Era for Young Contemporary Women of Color."

Here is a quote from Michaela Angela Davis, “CLUTCH is not only fly, it is authentic and uniquely relevant to its community. It is the digital destination for the smart, stylish and a sexy urban female. CLUTCH gets it and CLUTCH is sure to get you on the very first click"

And another quote from Kevin Powell “CLUTCH is a wonderful online magazine that fills a great void for Black women, particularly younger Black women, in America and globally. It is smart, sexy, provocative, womanist, and the kind of space readers and advertisers will continue to flock to because CLUTCH is the ultimate kind of 21st century mover and shaker destination.”

Ok now that I think you get a sense of what Clutch is...check it out...back to this post, Dawn Okoro is an emerging artist stationed in Texas, and from what I can gather from her last name, one or both of her parents are Nigerian..(bigups..Naija). I absolutely L-O-V-E her pieces...they are so colorful, full of life, and of course I love the black women with their natural hair. The dark shades of their skin makes these portraits even more intriguing and just overall beautiful. Here are some pieces...





You can check out more at her website...Until Next Time...