Photo of the Day Challenge

A couple of my favorite Bloggers, Babs & Tiffany in Houston, threw out the challenge so I am going to give it a shot and see if I can make it the entire month of February !

Beautifully Complex 

I've Been Tagged !

I was tagged by ichoosethesun over at her spot, so I am going to share a little bit about my self right here.
Rules for Tagged:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
2. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post.
3. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
4. Go to their blog and tell them that you’ve tagged them.

11 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT ME 

1. I am 5'10 and love my height and love to wear high heels.

2. I miss being able to drop by my parents after church for Sunday dinner.

3. I could eat Cheesecake 3 times a week and never get tired of it.

4. It really  makes me sad to hear of anyone getting a divorce.

5. I enjoy drinking creative cocktails with unusual ingredients.

6. I think it would be fun and interesting to be Bartender in a cool spot.

7. I don't care for chocolate ice cream, but I do eat chocolate in other things.

8. I love lemonade, lemon pie, lemon pound cake, and all things lemon.

9. I wish I'd been encouraged to be creative rather than practical growing up.

10.  My love language is physical touch. I am addicted to physical affection.

ICHOOSETHESUN'S  QUESTIONS FOR ME

1. What is your dream job ?

    Songwriter & Music producer

2. Why do you blog ?

    

    Because I love to write and read & I have encountered some really 

   cool people. 

3. Are you most like Pooh, Tigger or Piglet ?

   

    Tigger because my Mom has always called my "hyper" & I am very

    emotional. 

4. What would you tell your 18 year old self ?

    

    Care less about the approval of others, be courageous, take more

   chances. 

5. What vacation destination are you most looking forward to ?

    My upcoming Honeymoon. No location picked yet but it will be 

   tropical. 

6. How often do you wear make-up ?

    

    When working or going out socially. Otherwise, its Nivea cream only.

7. At what time of the day were you born ?

    5:35PM Don't know why I remember that but after seeing by Birth 

    Certificate it stayed in my mind.

8. Do you commute to work ? Carpool, drive, walk or public transit ?

    Drive

9. Would you rather be hot or cold ?

    Definitely hot. I get angry when it's too cold ! LOL I will never forget     

   when I went to Chicago in January.  

10. How do you feel about being tagged ?

    I think it's a fun and interesting way to learn more about my fellow 

   bloggers ! 

 FOLKS I'M TAGGIN...........

Inner Diva

Kurlylicious

The Weight of What is Real

Mamasez

Newy- I wanted to tag you, but you did a similar post a couple of weeks ago

HERE ARE MY QUESTIONS FOR YOU GUYS .......

1. If you cook, what is the best meal that you know how to prepare that you

    always get the most compliments on ?

2. If money was not an issue, where would you want to live & make your home  

    and why ?

3. If you have children or plan to, what is the one lesson that you hope you 

    have taught them as they reach adulthood ?

4. If you are married, is there anything that you would want to have done any

    different for your wedding ? If you want to be married what is the most 

    important aspect of a wedding to you ?

5. How would those who know you the best describe you in three words ?

6. What is a favorite memory from your childhood ?

7.  Who in your life makes you laugh the most ?

8. Is there anything that you ate as a child that you don't eat now or anything 

    that you wouldn't eat as a child that you do eat now ?

9. If you won a huge lottery what is the first thing you would do ?

10. What could you eat all the time & never get sick of ?

11. Do you prefer blogs, fac.ebook or twitt.er ? Why ?

Hopefully these were some good questions for you. I tried to avoid tagging bloggers who may have done this recently. Anyway, consider yourself "tagged"  if you are looking for a blog idea or just want to join in ! 

Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ? 

Beautifully Complex 

Funny Friday Vol. 3

This seriously brought a smile to my face........





I was waiting on him to really break it down ! LOL Stop teasing me President Obama!!! Man, our president is so sharp, so funny, a quick wit, so cool and such a gentleman all at the same time. In my opinion, he is such a charming and dignified leader (and has a pretty nice singing voice too). Sadly, they had to disable the comments for this video because there are so many hate filled people in the world. This is going to be a loooong ugly election year.

Oh well, no matter what, I think "Let's Stay Together in 2012" is a great slogan.


Happy Friday Everyone !


Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?

Beautifully Complex 

Seriously Fun Weekend

I hate that I am working today. After the way we ran the streets this weekend, it is a miracle that I could even make it in today. It was fun but I will most definitely be taking naps this week to catch up ! LOL

Saturday we went to Mr. Mixologist's Annual Aficionado Event at one of his favorite Cigar Lounges, Serious Cigars. They host a customer appreciation party every January and we can invite guests. My love is SERIOUS about his Cigars. We had another blast this year & several of our friends came through to enjoy the food, drinks, cigars and laughs. It was fun.

Cigar Buddies

Me & TiffanyinHouston

We should have heeded the warning above me !

#CoolCoupleAlert

He was so excited ! LOL

This event has gotten so big, they no longer have it in the Cigar Lounge, they rent a huge tent and set it up adjacent to the building. Funny, when I was uploading the pics I noticed they had signs posted that said " Enjoy yourself but please drink responsibly" LOL All I can say about that is "I wasn't driving".  We shut the party down & then followed some friends to another spot. I did every line dance known to man till my legs were sore ! LOL But I know how to K-Wang wit it though !

I had somewhat recovered by Sunday when TiffanyinHouston and her husband hosted a Texans Watch Party. My Beau is SERIOUS about his football too.  I am not into sports like most, but I enjoy the excitement & the social aspect of it all.  We really appreciated the invitation, however, if they had known that Mr. Mixologist was going for Baltimore, we might not have made the guest list ! LMAO It was a lot of fun and laughs and clowning with some cool people. Even Tarsha came through rockin' the flyest hat ! (I see you) and I even met a new Soror. Happy Founder's Day to all the lovely ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.  We left their party & met up with some other friends at another Sports Bar to catch another game before finally wrapping up a fun filled weekend.

Rockin' my new T from the Bridal Expo

                                    

Reppin' B'More Baby !

Me & TIH

                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
                                        

Maybe next year Texans ! 

I said I was going to "sit down somewhere" in 2012 but so far we have been staying just as busy it seems. I guess I need to rethink that. Life is good. Man, when I finally settled down Sunday night, I was hating on all those who get to enjoy the Martin Luther King Holiday today by being off work.   Enjoy yourself today & think of those who have to work today & always remember the Dream !


"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy"

Martin Luther King Jr. Strength to Love, 1963  


How was your weekend ?  Any special plans to Celebrate the Holiday ?

Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?


Beautifully Complex 

Missing

It's weird how things stick with you. Have you ever heard the names Charlotte Kinsey and Cinda Pallet ? Maybe not. They stand out in my mind because those are the names of two 13 yr old girls that vanished back in 1981 from the State Fairgrounds. I was 12 at the time. It was a really big deal. I don't really remember anything about child abductions prior to that point. But it changed my life. It was all over the news for what seemed like forever. We were all concerned and scared. I still remember their names from all of the media coverage at the time. I actually still remember their faces too (I know weird).They never found those girls to this day.

Honestly growing up in the Midwest, in a relatively safe community, we got dropped off at the movies,  dropped off at the Arcade, dropped off at the Mall & even dropped off at the State Fair with no concern what so ever. Nothing really bad ever happened in our community until this. It didn't matter to me at the time that those girls were white & I wasn't.  This was also right around the time that the Atlanta Child Murders started making national news as well. Trust, we never got dropped off at the Fairgrounds or anywhere else again.

As an adult, in this day of 24 hour news coverage, media, blogs, etc. I like everyone else have begun to see how your "appearance" plays into the level of concern and serious effort to find you when you disappear. Laci Peterson, Natalee Holloway, Chandra Levy, Polly Klass  come to mind to name a few. Currently there is a Fac.ebook effort to find a missing woman from Atlanta, Stacey Nicole English, who was last seen the day after Christmas. She is African-American, appears to come from a nice family, appears to be upper middle class and she is young and attractive. But it seems that her complexion may be keeping her case from getting the appropriate news coverage.

I was excited to hear about this new show on TV One, Find Our Missing,  hosted by one of my favorite actresses S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order junkie right here ! ) I know the media cannot  report EVERY missing person case, but the obvious double standard gets to me sometimes, especially as a black female.   Here is the preview.




Will you be watching ?

Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?

Beautifully Complex 

Weekend Wrap Up

It was a pretty low key yet productive weekend.  The main focus of the last two days were wedding planning & football. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Picture 75 degrees in January. Nice !

I actually talked Mr. Mixologist into attending the Bridal Extravaganza  with me on Saturday. His only requirement.......that we get out of there in time for the Texans game LOL. I know he loves me because I know there were some Bowl games earlier in the day that he wanted to see, but he came along with no fuss.  It was funny to watch all the grooms-to-be walking around checking scores on their phones & trying to pay attention at the same time. Funny.

We were there for almost 4 hours and we were BOTH beat when it was done. It was eye opening and a little overwhelming for him for sure.We have a lot of decisions to make as we still have not decided for sure just where the wedding will be. His family is in the South and the East Coast. My family is in the Midwest.  Neither of us have family in Houston, but we both have great friends here.  Our families will have to travel regardless so we are talking about the logistics. So no date or firm location yet, but we are trying to figure it all out.

He mailed the copies of the DVD of his Proposal to  both his parents & my parents & they  received them last week, so just when we thought the excitement was waning, they all got riled up again ! They were laughing about how it went from the typical chaotic, Christmas morning gift opening, video to all of a sudden serious & then back to laughter mixed with tears, LOL. It is such a blessing to see people genuinely so excited and happy for us & excited about the wedding.

My Beau was all into his football this weekend & there were some big games. So other than the Bridal Expo, I didn't get to spend that much time with him. The Texans are hanging in there & of course the Saints did their thing too. I really don't think that I will have his full attention until the Super Bowl is over, LOL & that is fine with me.

All in all it was a cool weekend.  

How was your weekend ?  How is the weather in your area ?

Thoughts ? Comments ? Questions ?

Beautifully Complex 

Happy New Year !

I spent NYE with my brand new Fiance' (insert big smile). We went to Watch Night Service at our church where gospel recording artist Kurt Carr performed. We really enjoyed ourselves and are still basking in the excitement of our engagement. Upon reflection last night, I remember being at the same service just 2 years ago. I blogged about it here. I met  Mr. Mixologist just 16 days later. See how the Lord can order your steps ?


We left church answered all the NYE calls & text messages & then and headed to my girlfriends house where she, her guy and their children were having a good old fashioned NYE gathering at home. We got to toast with Champagne, my Beau got to light his first Cigar of 2012 and we were treated to a wonderful home cooked breakfast prepared by all of their daughters. It was yummy. We laughed, talked, listened to music and even slow danced to the new Anthony Hamilton CD and did not get to bed until 4:30AM !

A Feast prepared by the girls !

Lil' Kitchen Diva ! 

Happy New Year ! 

Needless to say, I was moving slow this morning, but I still managed to fix a nice Brunch for my love. I made Belgian Waffles, Omelette's, Turkey Bacon and Mimosas. After relaxing together for a while, he went to go watch some football with some friends. I got the "itis" so I took my Sunday paper and went back to the bed ! LOL I am so thankful to be able to rest today AND tomorrow.

It has been a wonderful start to the New Year !

I am so very excited about what 2012 will bring !

I really appreciate all of my blog friends, readers and lurkers who come here to my little space in the world where I share so many of my thoughts. Thank you so much for reading.


Happy New Year ! Wishing you much Peace and many Blessings in 2012 !

Beautifully Complex