Nails|Designs I'm Diggin

Music| Black Coffee

I have the pleasure of working with some truly interesting people. One day, a coworker and I were comparing musical notes and she mentioned Black Coffee. Of course, not wanting to be 1-upped, I played along like I loved "them" and immediately went home and looked them up.

Black Coffee is actually Nkosinathi Maphumulo, a DJ from South Africa. He's been making music for over 10 years and is now gaining some more traction in the Western world. He's dope. Check out this mix.

Learn more about him on Wikipedia.
Buy his music: here
Stalk him on FB here.

Home| What is That...Velvet?

When you think of velvet in a home, does your mind automatically go to the tacky painting of the dogs playing poker? Actually, I kind of want a painting of dogs playing poker just because...I digress, these homes make velvet WORK. They seem like a nice warm bed with lots of comforters and I want to roll around in them. Check them out below. Via. AD. Read the full article, there.

Art| Graffiti I Dig

Good Word| Decisions

Just a reminder...someone who has less than you have has made more of themselves! Choose wisely.

Nails| Designs I'm Diggin'

Fitness| Emotional Eating

Getting back in the swing of things has been a challenge. I'm not sure if its the fake polar vortex or some other entity, but all I want to do is lay around with fuzzy socks on, taste-testing the new flavors of Haagen Dazs by the pint.

This photo made its rounds around the Internets for the past few months and at first, I thought it inspirational. Beyonce works damn hard. I should be able to work hard too and get results.

The Internet informed me that I am wrong. I should be angry at this quote and not feel inspired by it. I believe Samantha at Bitches Gotta Eat said in an unrelated blog post months back that we can't look at celebrity diets and be inspired to that think that we can do the same things. Beyonce doesnt have the same worries as me. Worries like how am I going to pay off my student loans before my future children sign up for their student loans. or how I can manufacture a move to another part of the world without going bankrupt. You know, simple things.

Art| Graffiti I Dig

Good Word| Green Light

This week's Good Word of the Day is something near and dear to my heart.

There are many things in which I want to accomplish, not just for this year, but also looking into the year ahead. When thinking about them, the first thought is often..."I CAN'T." Fear is so programmed into our psyche that it has become  out knee-jerk reaction. So, today I say...when doubt hits you, ask yourself...WHAT'S STOPPING YOU?

Nails| Designs I Dig

News| Man Brings Bomb to Airport. Still Allowed to Fly

Yes Folks! You read that right. A man brought a pipe bomb in his carry-on luggage. Airport security treated it like he has some unauthorized liquid, confiscated it and let him FLY!

Read the story here.

Book Me!

Looking for a makeup artist in NYC? I have a chair at a shop in Brooklyn and I can also come to you! Check out my prices below. If you want to see my work, check out my site www.dalipstickbandit.webs.com!

Art| Graffiti I Dig

via www.streetsy.com

Fitness| Square One

If you guys have been following this blog, you know that I had my bout with veganism for 3 months last year. It was in response to my body attacking itself with eczema. I thought becoming vegan would rid me of eczema and the darkness that has plagued me for the last few years.

Becoming vegan did not rid me of eczema, although, now that I'm not vegan; I do see and feel the difference in my skin. Anywho, I work at MAC at Macys Downtown Brooklyn (full disclosure here...whoa) and anyone that knows retail knows that the holiday season is the most stressful time of year. That is when shit gets real. My hours were all over the place. It was fast-paced and the last thing I wanted to do was not eat meat. Or eat healthy. Or find time in my schedule to go to the gym.

SO, I fell back into my unhealthy ways. Hard.

My collarbones that I worked so hard to reintroduce myself to are now fading in the distance. I know that I have to get back on the horse. I went to the gym once last week and I tried to run like I'd been running this whole time and umm...yea...I was out of breath before I half a mile when a little over a month prior, I was easily running a mile...not so easily but making two.

I have a goal - 5k in June. Not only do I want to run the 5k; I want to have a decent time. I think my goal is somewhere around 26 minutes. Running is a thinking man's sport. Your body kicks and screams and tells you to stop and you have to say "NO, I go this."

As for my diet, my mom saw my success with the vegan diet and she wants to do it with me. So, I guess that's where that is...my only habit that I'm trying to kick is SODA.

SODA IS THE DEBIL.

I'm not used to being so open in such a public forum but life is all about sharing your experiences. So, here we go! Who is with me?

Poetry| lips

I stare at the thickness
of the skin underneath your nose
wanting to taste the essence of you
you speak and I see the movement of your mouth
wondering what it would feel like on mine

I want to feel your skin
the warmth of your body
want to feel your tongue on my collarbone
as it slides up the side of my neck
licking until you reach my earlobe
slight bite

grab the back of my head
straddle the line between
rough and soft

and kiss me.

until my knees weaken
you are my pillar of strength

until the world melts away and
it is just you and I together

I stare at you as you speak to me
at the thickness of the skin underneath your nose
and I get hungry for you

I want to kiss you
sweetly
aggressively
forcefully
gently

sliding my fingers on your head
on your face
in your beard
along the broadness of your shoulders

I think of you.
when you are not around.
and I envision
the thickness of the skin
underneath your nose.

Poetry| pieces

i am the porcelain
doll that has been broken
I glued myself together
the ceramic edge of my cracks are sharp
and I remember the fall

from grace
into love
that turned to hate

and I see the fault lines
in the mirror that is your face
and I want

to smooth both of us
sand and shape your heart
and feel the strength of your hand as it holds mine

be mine
I am already yours

what can be ours?

I was told they could never put humpty dumpty back together again
and I am still missing small pieces of myself
wanting to be loved whole
complete
wanting you to want me to want you
wanting you
completely
without question

love is a complete statement

hoping for more than fairytales
I weave the story of us in my mind
like rumple
turning straw into gold
turning no into yes
turning my heart warm from cold.

there are pieces of my heart that have not seen the Sun
bits of the iceberg that needs chipping

and I just wonder.

Food| Crossroads

To be vegan or not to be vegan; that is the question that I'm asking  myself at this particular junction in my life.

To say that the decision to become vegan for a 3-month trial basis was flippant and not-well-thought-out is an understatement. But when I commit to something, the deal is done and set in stone. To say that I thought I would fall on my face is also an understatement. I had plastic surgeons saved in my favorites. (I kid)

Food is such a personal thing. What we eat - what nourishes us - what we choose to put into our bodies should never be something that is judged by others. It should wholly be judged by ourselves before we decide to chow down. This is the main thing that I've learned throughout this process.

I've stalked more labels, googled more 5 syllable ingredients and have opened Pandora's Box on many of my past favorite foods than I care to mention. Think: do you really know what's in McDonald's French fries? A good piece of advice that I learned from another blogger was that the best way to look at your food is to make sure that there are as few ingredients as possible. Also, be sure that you can pronounce each ingredient listed. With that piece of advice, I felt that I was adequately armed to go out and eat responsibly.

Once you start to realize that food in America is gross and that half the food we eat is banned in other countries, you begin to see the world in a new light. Also, once you realize that the same company that produces the same cereal (for example) in the US uses GMO ingredients but doesn't use them in let's say Europe, you start to get angry. (Looking at you, Honey Nut Cheerios) Why does my government think it is okay for me to eat GMO cereal while the European government says that it is not okay.

I live in an urban (read: black) neighborhood in Brooklyn. In order to get fresh food, vegan food or something that wasn't fried, slathered in oil or remotely healthy, I had to venture out at least 30 minutes away from home. Is that fair? No. Why is it that people in Crown Heights don't get access to affordable healthy food but the people in Park Slope do? When I go to Park Slope, I see my people (read: black) there eating well. Also, have you noticed the amount of Kennedy Fried Chicken (fake chicken mongers) in urban neighborhoods but never are they found outside. Why is that?

I also learned how to dial back the crazy because really? What can I do? I'm only one person. Before 3 months ago, I loved me a beef patty with cheese and pepperoni from the fake chicken mongers. I had to want better for myself. In this day and age, the information we seek on any topic is literally right at our fingertips. It took a serious medical condition (ugly eczema) for me to be at the end of my rope for my eyes to be opened and to really examine what I eat and where it comes from and what I eat eats and where that come from.

So, I'm doing what I can...sharing my story with whomever will read it. I urge anyone reading this to really examine what you're eating and why? Does what you eat really give you nutrition? Is it helping your body run better? Why do you eat what you eat? What the next chapter of it holds, I'm still unsure. I know that it won't include McDonald's French fries.

Stay tuned for more...

Books|Updated Trailer

This is the update trailer for my book, Counter Girls:


View more at www.counter-girls.webs.com or on Twitter/IG @counter_girls.

Good Words|Passion

News| Genetically Modified...Babies

Researchers in New Jersey claim that 30 human babies might have been born with genes from three people: their mother, their father — and a third person, whose genes were added in the laboratory.

The researchers call their experiment "the first case of human … genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children."

The team at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St. Barnabas in West Orange, N.J. was trying to help infertile women become pregnant.

In each of the 30 cases, something in the mother's egg had prevented her from conceiving naturally. So St. Barnabas researchers extracted material from cells donated by a third woman.

This additional material from the donor's cell somehow allowed the egg to become fertile.

A number of scientists question the ethics of the experiment. For the first time, they say, it has been confirmed that children have been born with genetic alterations.

via ABC News

Other articles on this topic:

Daily Mail UK. 

Natural News