RIP Ms Houston

I have been a fan of Whitney Houston since I was 12 years old. When she popped on the scene in 1985 I was smittened by her music and that magnificent voice! I have been a fan and supporter of Whitney’s since 1985. I was deeply saddened when I heard the news of her death. It felt like a family member had passed away.

Of course the rumors of drugs have surfaced again. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have the details of my life under a magnifying glass. And, for all those talking, what would come out if your life was put under that magnifying glass. Everyone is talking, but instead of talking about what caused her death, how about praying. Pray for her mother. A mother should never have to bury her child, but today, that is exactly what Cissy Houston will have to do. Pray for her daughter. I am an only child raised by a single mother, so I can imagine the heartache that Bobbi Kristina is going through. Pray for her friends and family…those who knew her intimately. There is always a way to see the negative in a situation if you look for it. How about we start looking at the positives.

Whitney, you will truly be missed. I pray that you get to rest in peace now!!!

Peace and blessings

Michelle

 

A Tribute to Aaliyah

I just wanted to do a photo tribute to a wonderful performer who left us too soon. Rest In Peace Aaliyah Dana Haughton!

 

Your Live Is King…

As you all know I went to see Sade in concert this past weekend. I must say that it was the best concert I have ever seen in my life! I will also say that my crush on her has been magnified 100 fold. She is definitely a smooth operator!
John Legend opened the concert singing Adele’s Rolling In The Deep. He did a wonderful job! He is a great performer and he sounds really good in person.
Sade’s performance. What can I say? You could feel all of her energy throughout the United Center. The concert was so good that I am considering going to the concert in Louisville on September 9th.
I am going to post a few pics here. I used LS’s camera, so the pics I am posting now are pics I took with my phone of the camera pics. I will post all the pics to my flickr account and post the link as soon as I get the disc.

Have any of you attended the concert? What are your thoughts?

 

Music, decor and food…makes for a good weekend.

On Friday L.S. and I went to A Celebration of Black Music. Our friend C.A. puts on this event every year. This year the 3 acts were Jonathan Butler, Eric Darius and Maysa. I must say that the concert was awesome, and the music was fabulous. Jonathan made me want to start taking guitar lessons again.

I couldn’t get a good picture of Eric and Maysa performing. The lighting mixed with the camera phone made for a bad combination. After the concert we waited outside to get photos. Here is one of Jonathan.

I didn’t get one of Eric when he came out because the women were all on him. But, I did get one of L.S. and Maysa. They are sorority sisters, so I thought it only fitting that they get a pic together.

Saturday morning we went to the mall to look for some shoes. I didn’t find any shoes there, but I did find a cute egg crate from Anthropologie that I am now using to hold some of my jewelry.

On the way home Saturday, I stopped by Ikea to pick up a picture frame, and a glass shelf for the bathroom. I made some “art” in Photoshop to go in the bathroom. Since I already have the typography theme going in there, I figured I would continue it. The numbers on here consist of my birthday and my moms birthday.

This morning (Sunday) I had to do some studying. I have a Psychology exam tomorrow. I pray that I am ready. In between studying I made some homemade granola, and I made dinner (Crispy Shrimp and Pasta and Swiss Chard).

I had a wonderful weekend, and look forward to more weekends like it this summer…doing the things that I love to do. What did you all get into this weekend? Feel free to share.

Peace and Blessings,

 

 

A Day of Entertainment…

Yesterday was very eventful. We went to the Mint Condition concert at Sawyer Point yesterday. I had a lot of fun. We got there about 4 pm. The concert was set to start at 5pm. We got there and found some good seats. It was very cloudy out, so the park wasn’t really full. We set up our stations and got comfortable.

One of the opening acts

The first bit of entertainment came when an older woman sitting two rows behind us started to cut up. This was during the “opening performance” segment. I thought that Mint Condition would come on somewhere around 6. They didn’t come on until 8:35. Anyway, every time the opening act the woman would get up and start singing and gyrating. At one point they had a robot dance contest and she made her way up to the stage. She was escorted off after they realized she didn’t know what the robot was. LOL

She has on black jacket and jeans

When they escorted her off the stage she couldn’t find her seat. She ended up at the back of the park on top of a hill.

The next bit of entertainment came from an older man who was gyrating and singing as well. (There was a lot of that going on there) At one point he took off his shirt and started swinging it around. Then the crowd started getting into it. This one woman started dancing with him, and it was on. He had her bent over and he was doing his thing!!!

Back to the robot dance contest…male portion. Most of the guys were young guys who had no idea what the robot was. There was an older gentleman who got up there. He was about 80 years old. He didn’t do the robot, but he dropped it like it was hot…nice and slow. I can’t get down as low as he did. LOL We all clapped so that he won…he deserved to. He won tickets to the Jazz Festival. He was a sweetheart.

PaPa getting ready to drop it...

I don’t know if any of you watched the MTV show “Taking the Stage”. That show was based in Cincinnati, and it was kind of like a 2009 Fame. The students attend SCPA where they study dance, music, etc. The show was very good. I didn’t watch it from the beginning because of my school schedule, but I got caught up when I did start. Anyway, there was a guy named Malik on the show that I absolutely fell in love with. I love his openness about his sexuality, but also I loved his relationship with his mother. He was able to go to her and talk to her about his relationship…something I’ve always wished I could do. I don’t know if it will be on again, but I hope they will do another season.

I said all that to say, Malik and a group of other dancers did the first act at the concert. They did a dance tribute to Michael Jackson. I thought it was very good.

Malik is third from the left

The Main Cast

We sat and laughed and watched all the people while waiting for Mint Condition to come on. I saw a lot of outfits that never should have been. Oh my goodness…it amazes me when people come out with their friends looking a mess, and no one said anything to them. That’s crazy.

Mint Condition finally came on about 8:35. The first few songs they performed I had never heard. At the end of the 3rd or 4th song, the rain it started drizzling. We started to pack up our stuff. We started walking toward the car and it started pouring. When we got to the car I could hear them sing “Pretty Brown Eyes”.  A good percent of the crowd left when we were leaving.

Mint Condition

After we left Sawyer Point we went to TGIFridays to get some food. 10 of us ended up going, and we had a lovely time there. There is always lively conversation and lots of laughs when hanging with the group. It was truly a fun day!!! Looking forward to the next outing.

Enjoying the show

Ok people…I have some other stuff that I need to take care of before turning in for the evening. I hope you all have a good work week.

Peace and Blessings

Michelle

 

Self Help

I have been very introspective over the past week or so. I have been thinking about things of the best, as well as present day things. I am thinking about my life now, and how I want more…not material things, but more in the way of relationships. I want to build a better relatinship with my wife. She is my heart, and I want her to feel that, to know that within herself. I want us to build a family together. I want the love that we feel for one another to grow stronger each day. I know some people drift apart or become complacent after marriage. I don’t want that for us. I want it to be new for us every day. Some may say that’s a lot to ask for, but I don’t believe so. I believe that it will take work, but I believe it can be done.

There are times in my life where I feel the need to get back to my center…the things that really matter. That’s where I am right now. I know that some things are more important than others, but at times I get away from myself. I allow wants to supercede needs. So, as a result of this, I am getting back to where I should be.

An example of this would be the fact that I have been wanting an iPhone for a long time. But, I had to look within myself and ask if that is really doable right now. After some back and forth talk within my head, I knew that I didn’t need the phone, and at this point in my life cannot afford it. So, I passed on that, and I bought a Samsung Instinct s30.  I must say, I love the phone.

Gotta have facebook on it...

There is another aspect in my life that I am dealing with. One of my cousins outed me to some of my Aunt’s on my mother’s side. She didn’t just out me, she told them about my wedding before I could. The one Aunt that she told took the story and ran with it. I am dealing with this right now. I have decided not to attend the family reunion in September because I don’t want to deal with the mess. I don’t want to put my wife through the mess. A few of my family members are telling me that I should go, that I have their support, but I am not feeling it.

I am also working up to forgiveness. I am hurt and I am angry with the cousin who did this. I am trying to work up to the point where I realize that some people are miserable, and when people are miserable they want company.

So, my wife bought the Maxwell CD. I put it on my iPod and I listened to it at work. I thought it was ok. I believe “Pretty Wings” is the best song on this CD. I think his last CD was so much better than this one. I loved every song  the last CD. I can remember buying it and putting it into the CD changer in my car and jammin’. It is very rare for me to like every song on an album, but I did with that CD.

After listening to the Maxwell CD, I thought I would give Day 26 a try. Why did I do that? Oh my goodness. I think some things are better left on the shelf. I thought I would try it because I liked one of the songs that they did on “Making the Band”, but this CD was a flop to me.

Well, I have to get up at 5 am to get ready for work, so I am going to say good night to you all. I leave my wife up working on her blog. She’s new to this, so please check her out and give her some support. MusicNMyHead.

Peace and blessings,

Michelle

 

You better work…

Taking a little math break to eat lunch, so I thought I’d put this up.