Posted on Friday, February 14, 2014

Lovapalooza….The Good, The Bad and & The Ugly of Love on Valentine’s Day…

Hello World,

Happy Valentine’s Day to you! And hopefully, you ARE expecting a HAPPY Valentine’s Day…This is my first Valentine’s Day as a married lady so I am feeling grateful for the love that God sent to me…In fact, Valentine’s Day will forever be special to me for a few reasons…Yesterday marked the 4th anniversary of my first date with my hubby! (Monday was our six-month anniversary!) One the ways that I knew he was the one God had for me is how he pushed me to write my first book…Above is a pic of us at my book release party, and my first book After the Altar Call: The Sisters’ Guide to Developing a Personal Relationship With God came out on Feb. 14, 2012! So we have a lots of good to celebrate tonight!

But not everyone is expecting good today…Unfortunately, some are actually expecting bad…and if it’s very bad, it can get ugly…so to make this post interesting I’ve decided to share some of the good, bad and ugly stories I’ve heard about love this week…And I’m offering my prediction on whether the people in these stories can expect the good, the bad or the ugly today…

1. My current favorite talk show host Wendy Williams (my all-time favorite is Oprah) is hosting “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” tonight at 10/9c on the Investigation Discovery channel…I am obsessed with this channel…Maybe it’s the storyteller in me, but the juiciest stories are those that involve crime…LOL…I know…My husband doesn’t get it either…I predict these stories will be good although the people featured in the stories are likely expecting ugly today….Below is a preview video…

2. “Why I Don’t Love My Fiancee'” This is a blog post that I came across earlier this week. From the title, you would expect not-so-good, but it is very good actually. This is a sweet story of young (he’s only 21 years old) Michael J. Pittman and his 20-year-old fiance’ Amanda…They are getting married in approximately 130 days 🙂 I predict a good Valentine’s Day for him….

3. “Georgia sheriff cancels Valentine’s Day due to weather” If you live in Georgia or have access to the news stations, you know that this is the second time in just a couple of weeks that we have been snowed and iced in…..and this particular snowstorm/ice storm happened to fall on Valentine’s Day week so the Oconee County County Sheriff’s Office announced that Valentines Day has been CANCELLED from a line North of I-16 to the Georgia/Tennessee border. Sheriff Scott Berry posted on the department’s Facebook page. “Men who live in the designated ‘NO VALENTINE’S DAY ZONE’ are exempt from having to run out and buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars from the corner stores until February 18, 2014, due to ice, snow, freezing rain.” LOL…This can good or bad depending on how you look at it…If the women in this area wanted Hershey bars, then that’s bad for them, but if they are looking to spend some quality time with their hubbies, that can be very good 🙂

4. “Black History Month: Black Love on ESSENCE Covers Through the Years” ESSENCE has compiled its most stunning black love covers they have featured since 1970…It was heartwarming to see some of the covers from right around the time I was born! Also, it was encouraging to see some of the couples who made the cover of the magazine and are still together today! And sadly, while some of these couples were beautiful together, they are no longer actually together today…It’s mixed bag of what these couples are expecting today, but hopefully the ones that are still together as of today are expecting good…Check out the pic of Oprah and Stedman in their early years together…black history indeed!

5. Usually, at any wedding, the bride is the focal point(sorry grooms)! And this wedding is no different but for an entirely unique reason altogether…Watch what Arianna Pfledere does as she walks down the aisle to meet her hubby-to-be Ryan…So sweet…I predict a good Valentine’s Day for this couple as this is their first V-Day as husband and wife…

6. “I just got engaged and immediately doubted my decision. Here’s why I still said ‘yes'” Another blog post about young love….Here are a few words from Mo Isom’s post. “But the fact of that matter is that as soon as the boyfriend I cherish became the fiancé I promise to cherish for the REST OF MY LIFE, my human nature began to doubt. And I began to realize how much my mind and heart had been crafted by the world, rather than the Word.” A great post about getting engaged at any age…I predict a good Valentine’s Day for them….

7. Season 3 of “Mary Mary,” the reality show featuring gospel duo of sisters Tina Campbell and Erica Campbell, returns on Thursday, Feb. 27 at 9|8c on WE tv. In this season, we will see Tina Campbell dealing with the fallout after discovering her husband Teddy has been unfaithful to her….”Whenever I’m on the road, I think about what my husband did to me. He was unfaithful to me while I was on the road. So I’ve got to wonder, ‘Since you got caught, are you faithful now? Do you really mean that you want to be a better man to me? Or are you still who you were?” Below is a preview video…Hopefully, as this show was likely filmed a while ago, Teddy and Tina Campbell will have a good Valentine’s Day…

Posted on Sunday, February 9, 2014

7 Ways Churches Are Celebrating Black History Month…

Hello World,

If you didn’t know, February is Black History Month in which Americans celebrate the achievements of black people as well the overall contributions of black Americans to our country…At my church, we celebrate Black History Month by highlighting notable black people each Sunday of the month. Last week, we highlighted Barry Black, 62nd Chaplain of the United States Senate and the first African American and the first Seventh-day Adventist to hold this office, and Eric Holder, 82nd Attorney General of the United States and first African American to hold the position of U.S. Attorney General, by having youth in the church compose biographies of their lives that they read to the congregation…

Below are seven ways that other churches are celebrating Black History Month….

1. Two Oxford ministers who share Monroe County, Mississippi roots will exchange pulpits at a traditional African-American and a white church on Feb. 16….Read more in “Pulpit Switch Advances Racial, Christian Harmony” on hottytoddy.com.

2. Today at 5:30 pm, the Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church (Alabaster, Alabama) Drama Team will present its second-annual black history drama, “The Cry of a Black Slave, Struggling for the Dream.” Read more in “Emmanuel Holding Black History Drama” on alabasterreporter.com.

3. Today at 10:15 am, Cornerstone Community Church in Hobart, Indiana will be presenting “Celebrating the Heroes of Black Church History” with a special emphasis on Daniel Alexander Payne, sixth bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the first African-American president of a college. Read more in “Celebrating the Heroes of Black Church History: Daniel Alexander Payne” on rpmministries.org.

4. Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake, Illinois Hosts Free Organ Concert Sunday, Feb 23, 4 p.m. featuring works of African-American composers played by Fisk University Organist & Music Professor Anthony Williams. Read more in “Bethany Lutheran Church Hosts Free Organ Concert Sunday, Feb 23, 4 p.m.” on chicagotribune.com.

5. The transatlantic slave trade and black migration will be explored through a Black History Month program sponsored by the DuSable Museum of African American History, Trinity United Church of Christ (Chicago, Illinois) and the Amistad Commission. Read more in “DuSable Museum, Trinity Team Up on Program on Slave Trade, Migration” on suntimes.com.

6. Today, at 5 pm, King Salim Khalfani, executive director of the Virginia State Conference NAACP will be the keynote speaker at 27th Annual Black History Month Program of Union Baptist Church in Waynesboro, Virginia. Read more on dailyprogress.com.

7. On Feb. 23 at 12 pm, Memorial Chapel in Fort Myer, Virginia will host Dr. Clarence Lusane, author of The Black History of the White House with a book review following the worship service.

How is your church celebrating Black History Month?

Any thoughts?

P.S. Please see my latest article on Black History Month “7 Ways Churches, Celebrities & More Are Celebrating Black History Month in 2016 Despite Stacey Dash…”

Posted on Sunday, February 2, 2014

How Are You Doing With Your New Year’s Resolutions?…It’s only February…

This shows my weight loss and fitness journey…before I lost the weight in college, after I lost the weight in college, celebrating 10 years of fitness by running a marathon, working out for my wedding dress…With God, all things are possible!

Hello World,

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Now, that the first month of 2014 is behind us, I thought I would check in with y’all about your New Year’s Resolutions. As I said in a previous post, it takes me a month of prayer and reflection to make my resolutions. I believe that if God directs me to make the resolutions, He will help me to achieve them within His will…This year, I believe that God wanted me to simplify my list of resolutions. In years past, I have come up with a complicated list of resolutions in which I was likely trying to do too much… This year my resolutions are pretty simple…My main two resolutions for 2014 are to continue to cultivate my new marriage and help my husband achieve his goals…My third big resolution is to write my novel and some other stuff related to my book that I’m not bold enough to share here…at least right now…

According to statisticbrain.com, the TOP 10 RESOLUTIONS for 2014 are:

Lose Weight

Getting Organized

Spend Less, Save More

Enjoy Life to the Fullest

Staying Fit and Healthy

Learn Something Exciting

Quit Smoking

Help Others in Their Dreams

Fall in Love

Spend More Time with Family

I remember when I was in college, in 1994 to be exact, one of my New Year’s Resolutions for the year was to lose the Freshman 15 (or 20 pounds in my case) I gained…At the beginning of the New Year, I joined a weight-loss and nutrition program that was offered to students for free, and I took my one mandatory P.E. class (it was a running class) at the same time. In a three-month period, I went from 145 pounds to 125 pounds, and thanks to God’s help, I have kept that weight off since (I haven’t had any children I must say…)…In fact, I weighed myself yesterday and I was the same weight…I’m not saying this brag…I’m explaining all of this to say that with God’s help, ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE…however, a resolution without a plan is only a dream…In fact, only 8 percent of people that make resolutions actually achieve them! Every resolution that I have ever achieved came because I had a plan and typically some accountability…Hopefully, you don’t think I’m giving advice…I’m just sharing what has worked for me…

If losing weight and or eating right is one of your New Year’s resolutions, you many want to check out 1245 Salon and Spa’s Annual Raw Eating Event on Monday, February 3 at 7 pm…The event will include samples of raw foods, testimonials from individuals who’ve had first-hand experience with raw diets and a presentation by a Living Foods Institute representative. Some of the foods available to sample during the event will include: raw chili, marinated greens, curry dip, and stuffed peppers with meatless meat, spinach and tomato sauce. There will also be giveaways! 1245 Salon and Spa is located at 1245 Fowler Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318.

Any thoughts?