She exhaled a small sigh of sheer ecstasy at the ability to grab her laptop and sprawl out on the loveseat in front of the window to write. These small bits of time were precious to her, the times when her husband was working and the kids were at daycare. The moments of aloneness were welcomed and wished for often during the week, and when they finally came it was like a wish come true, almost too good to believe. She knew at any moment the phone would ring, it would be time to rush off to her evening's work, the oven timer would ring signalling that the food would soon start to burn if she continued to neglect it. Many a dinner had suffered at her hands, which were often busy tickling the keys of her laptop. Ah, moments just to sink into her thoughts and simply let them run wild across the screen. Sheer bliss. She thinks of the times before the kids and the marriage, when she was alone once again, wild, a bit selfish, but free. Able to do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted...

Happiest Wednesday to all my lovelies out there! I am writing this blog after a month-long respite from blogging; not necessarily by my choice. I've been busy with new job opportunities, never-ending fatigue and muscle aches, depression over not being able to exercise consistently, and wondering if I will ever accomplish my life's dreams since they don't seem to be falling into place at this immediate point in time. But now I'm back, on one of the happiest days of my life! It's not my wedding day, or the day I birthed a child, or my birthday, or the day I graduated with my Masters. It is simply a Wednesday in December in which I awoke with the same fatigue and muscle aches. The difference is that I have taken a vow to view my life in a much different way. Inspirations from Oprah magazine and Twitter (seriously!) have provided most of the pushing for this change of view, as well as my innermost desire to be happy no matter what in life. And I would like to share ...

As many of you may know, there was a point in time where even writing about this issue as a mixed-race woman married to a white man would be cause for an uproar and possibly dangerous to my family. It saddens me to think that our segregated world controlled our lives to down to the point of who we could or could not be in love with and choose to share our lives with. It not only saddens, but sickens me. I can only imagine the many who risked their lives and reputations in the sake of race love. The sad movie "Imitation of Life" (1959) was shown to me at a mother-daughter function over my aunt's house. Some of my aunt's and their daughters had gotten together for Sunday lunch and a movie. I never forgot that movie. I was saddened that Sarah Jane disowned her mother to live a White lifestyle, regretting her hurtful actions a little too late, chasing after her mother's casket down the street after her mother died of a broken heart. If you remember, in the movie Sar...

If I hear this question another time I may shoot myself. What are you supposed to say? "Well, it's o-KAY" or "Um, it kinda sucks" or "It wasn't what I thought it was gonna be?" We all know what everyone is expecting to hear: "Oh my gosh, I love it so much, it's amazing and awesome and I'm with my soulmate and I'm so glad we found each other and I never could imagine being without this person and our marriage is so strong we don't have all those problems other people have and never will!" (this is the extended "happy" version). It's almost like advancing through a life stage forms a new identity for you as a person-which is fine, don't get me wrong!-but others seem to feel this "new you" is the starting point for every conversation. If you just had a baby or have children, it's "How are the babies? How are the kids?" If you just got married or are married period, it's "Ho...

How many of you dread to say the above acronym but yet know that in our economy it's particularly IMPOSSIBLE to avoid it? D-H-S-....dun dun dun...aka Department of Human Services. The place that provides food stamps, emergency shut-off assistance, childcare assistance, medicaid/medicare, probably more I've been fortunate enough to not need. If you haven't been there yourself, you know somebody that's been there, and has been going there for years. Let's chat about different aspects of this paradoxical part of our life that never quite seems to give the help that founds its existence. I was in this building today. I hate the way it looks-in a run-down section of town, set far away from the street. It smells of sick people and dark thoughts. As if to aid this concept the lights inside don't seem to be able to shine brightly, causing your eyes to adjust as you duck your head and walk through the door, hoping you won't come into contact with anyone you know,...

This is a cry for blog help! Does anyone know how to add pictures to blogs? Also I would love to know how to post links of specific blogs onto my other networking sites (fb, twitter, etc.). Does anyone have suggestions on how to help a novice become better at blogging? Luv you for taking time to read this! Moni

Happy Saturday to you lovelys! I have an obsession with hair. I can talk about hair all day! Maybe because I am fascinated by all the different textures of hair we all possess within our different cultures. Growing up, hair was a PAIN for me because I didn't know how to manage it. I am tri-racial (lol): Black, White, and Native American. I was adopted at a young age into a Black family, all of whom had Black hair. God bless my Mom, I know she truly tried, but I am convinced she had no clue how to take care of my hair. She tried using Black hair care products (like Blue Magic-AUGHGH!), which were always too heavy for my hair and made it greasy. She tried braiding my hair before, but it always started getting flyaways and coming loose after a couple days. And she NEVER used heat on my hair; I had to beg her to straighten my hair with the pressing comb or to curl it with the curling iron. In her defense, I had OODLES of hair...it was thick and all over the place, but it was beauti...

A great poet, Langston Hughes, once said: Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams for if dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow. This poem has been running through my mind lately. I have been thinking about the meaning of life. My purpose in life. As morbid as it sounds, people my age and younger pass away every day-car accidents, suicide, cancer, eating disorders, what have you. There are self help books I have read, such as Purpose- Driven Life (author?) and A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, both spiritual books in their own right. The latter spoke more from a psychological point of view, and touched on anger, forgiveness, the "ego", identity, destructive habits, etc. It helped me achieve a new level of enlightenment. There's a verse in the Bible that says "a cheerful heart is like good medicine" and another verse that says "hope deferred makes the heart sick." (Proverbs)....

Hello beauty queens! So I've coined a few terms that are DEFINITELY not any origin of mine. Kim K always tweets her followers to "rise and grind." Luv'd it, stole it! Also, Kimora Lee Simmons always oozes about fabulosity all over her Twitter as well. I had a student when I was teaching at WMU under my fellowship. She wasn't an A student, per se, but she had an "A" attitude. Every time she left class, she would always look at me and say, "Have an awesome Monday" or "Have a fantastic Wednesday." Those little well-wishes made me actually look forward to the rest of my day and actually commit to making it better! I've been speaking "fabulosity" into my days ever since. The Bible says that the tongue has the power of life and death. (You'll notice I use a lot of scriptures in my day-to-day thinking.) The Bible is one of my muses. I think of quotes often that apply to my daily living. Even if you aren't religiou...

So, I was inspired to do this blog by two people, one of which doesn't even know I exist! I consider myself an avid Youtuber, posting my own piano vids and checking out other music vids and also make-up and hair tutorials. I stumbled across a user named brittneyNgray (check her out!). First of all, this girl is just freakin' gorgeous! Second of all, she does all kinds of tutorials on hair and makeup. The hair tutorials intrigued me because she is mixed and I love mixed hair tutorials. The one that caught my eye was the one on wrapping hair. Ok guys, I've never been able to wrap my hair, and no one believes me! It always falls out of the wrap or slips out. SN: for those of you who don't know what wrapping hair is, it is a cultural practice mostly in the African-American community where women wrap their hair in scarves to preserve its style and texture overnight. I (seriously) wrapped my hair for the first time after watching that tutorial. I was so amazed by how easy i...

Hi! My name is Moni, and I started this blog as a means to release my frequent urges to write about issues I constantly think about relating to women's health, multicultural views, motherhood, musicianship, and to provide a place for women to relate to one another, regardless of race. To be completely honest, I had to wikipedia the word "blog" to have a concrete definition of what it even meant! I like the idea of having an "online diary" since I'm sometimes too lazy to write things down in my actual journal. Since I spend so much time on the computer anyways (much to the dismay of my husband, but hey! I'm workin on it!) I figured I might as well kill another bird with my stones :) Thanks for joining me here at MixedChix. Moni