Common Bond Episode 1

One more day...

Well......tomorrow is the last day of my 30 day fast. I have mixed emotions. On one hand, I can't wait to enjoy a cocktail with my dinner or have a cupcake for dessert but on the other hand, I love the way I feel, I've lost 8 lbs this month and the entire journey has been very interesting. As for my social media fast....that I'm ready to end. I'm looking forward to the many loving interactions I have with my Facebook friends, the antics on Twitter and my Foursquare check in points that sometimes get me free things. (Yay for free stuff!) Overall this has been an enlightening time period. I'm glad I decided to do it. 

Reality Star?

Soooooo recently I was asked by a wonderful young lady named Marsha Barnes to star in a YouTube based reality about 3 African American female entrepreneurs. I jumped at the opportunity. Marsha explained  that she was annoyed at all the negativity being displayed on reality tv and wanted to show that there are positive images out here doing amazing things. So far we've taped two episodes and I've loved the experience. I thought it would be great to be able to showcase all the things I love in such a great platform. I'm excited about what's to come. You can see the first episode here. 

Receiving....

Everytime I get a massage from my massage therapist who has also become a good friend, she says the same thing..."You are such a giver. The right side of your body is your giving side and it's very loose which is a sign that you are giving freely....your left side on the other hand is your receiving side. You need to learn to receive all the love you give out!" All this while she spends the majority of the massage on the left side, specifically my left shoulder where I carry all my tension. Everytime, I tell her the same thing...."Monique, I'm trying!" Her response...."try harder Ladybug." And we laugh.  The truth of the matter is I'm a giver....sometimes to a fault, I give and give and give until I've given my all simply because it makes me feel good. And the universe usually returns it to me twofold in ways I could have never imagined. I've been a control freak most of my life, and even as a past procrastinator, I love organization. I like for things to flow smoothly. And as I've grown older I've realized you can't control everything. Sometimes things are gonna be f'd up and that's just the way it is. Let it happen, work through it and move on. So in all the growing I've done....the praying, the meditating, the exercising, the yoga, the breathing techniques to try to maintain balance in my life, I've come to the realization that I'm unbalanced. The more I've tipped the scales to giving the smaller the window has gotten for me to learn to receive...truly receive everything God has in store for me. So this is going to be a learning experience. Learning to receive love on a deeper spiritual level. Learning to trust on a deeper level that it's ok for people to do things for me. At one point in my life, I would refuse gifts because I just felt "some kinda way" about it. Even though those days are gone I still feel a little overwhelmed anytime someone gives me something. One, because they thought so highly of me to give it to me and two, because I'm wondering if I truly deserve it. And then I wonder if I show enough gratitude for the things I've received. A tornado of thoughts all at one time until I have to mentally tell myself to just STOP. Today in less than 3 hours I received gifts from two people. One from my friend Wanda (a gift certificate to my favorite restaurant) and one from my client Jason (who must have been reading my mind because I had complained for 2 days how badly I needed a massage and he shows up with a gift card for Massage Envy!) I thanked both of them and told them how thankful I was but even as I'm typing this I'm wondering if they really know how much I appreciate them. I try to live my life as transparent as possible because I know I'm not alone in my thought process and hopefully by sharing (and giving) someone will be helped. But I'm going to challenge myself to learn how to truly receive.

Technology free...(Day 5)

Up at 8 again I really wanted to grab some rays at the beach but Evan wasn't feeling the sand. So I swam some laps in the hotel pool instead and soaked up the sun. We were packed, showered and on the road by 10:30. I must have worn him out. He slept almost the entire trip home. When he woke up finally, he thanked me again and asked if we could make this an annual trip. "I suppose" was my response but I'm sure he already knew that would happen. I learned a lot on my trip and I have a newfound respect for parents. He listened to me the entire time and didn't give me any problems but I noticed that when you have kids around, it's a constant. Like, there's no time to really be in your own thoughts. You're constantly concerned about their well being and your influence on them and making sure they have the tools they need to be an asset to society. Luckily, I think Evan has that sewn up. He's the perfect gentleman, mannerable, kind and friendly. But that took a village. I'm glad we took this trip. I leaned a lot about him, about me and about us. I'm looking forward to next year. 

Technology free...(Day 4)

Up at 8, checked out by 9 we drove an hour and a half to Myrtle Beach. I surprised him by going to NASCAR speedpark. He had been saying he wanted to go. When we arrived however, the arcade trumped the cars all together. Lucky for me. I spent $20 on tokens vs. $29.99 per person to ride. We played every token....all 80 of them and had a great time. One thing I love about my nephew... He is so thoughtful and thankful. He kept thanking me the entire trip for bringing him and kept saying how much he loved me and hanging out with me. That made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Nothing like a greatful kid. Especially a teenager. After we left there we headed to the mall to buy a souvenir for my mom. Can't forget her! We went to Pandora and in a joint effort, picked out the perfect charm. We had lunch in the mall food court and headed to Books A Million to check out some books of course. As we were walking through the mall, Evan held my hand. I told him I'd better enjoy it because soon he'd be holding some little girl's hand at the mall. He blushed. After all that we headed to our hotel. We stayed at The Hilton Garden Inn at Coastal Grand. Once again great hotel and staff. Our room wasn't ready so the front desk guy upgraded us and switched our room to a suite so we didn't have to wait. Evan loved that and said he just wanted to stay in the room the rest of the day. So, I obliged. We watched a special on Bullying. He asked if I ever considered suicide so we discussed that along with other random questions he asked. We watched The Mentalist marathon, The Closer marathon, Happy Feet Two and Speed and ordered room service. A great way to spend our last day. 

Technology free...(Day 3)

Today we slept in late again and decided to chill at the hotel. We went to the pool and spent most of our day there...swimming and reading. It took us about an hour to decide what we were doing for dinner. We chose a seafood restaurant called The Crab Shack. It was about a 25 minute drive from the hotel down 17S towards Ogden. Evan ordered a crab cake dinner and I order blue crabs. Don't eat here....the food was subpar. My crabs were undercooked. I had to send them back which was a total turnoff. Evan said he enjoyed his crab cakes. We drove back to the hotel where I had popcorn for dinner. I had another surprise for Evan...we were leaving in the am to head to Myrtle Beach for a day. I thought it would be fun to drive up the coast to another beach. When we got back to the hotel  we packed our bags and watched a Shark Week special on The Discover Channel until we fell asleep.