No sleeves on my leather, please

If there is one essential piece for your Fall wardrobe, it is the bad girl, tough chic, leather jacket, duh!  Well, up your fierceness quotient by getting this trusty and updated trend by cutting off the sleeves (not literally) and rocking a sleeveless leather vest!

Sleeveless? Leather? Vest? – yes!! Get one! or two! The essential ones to have are the off-center all black tough girl biker vest with lots of exposed zippers, like this one by Alexander Wang – excellent craftsmanship! I can almost feel the suppleness of the leather through the screen!

  

One is dove gray, because gray is oh so chic! This one by Express even has studs! score! It is also vegan friendly: (minus the) Leather studded vest

 

Check how to wear a sleeveless leather vest via the looks below:

Rag & Bone – I love, love, LOVE the jeans this vest is paired with! Total bad girl!

Vent Couvert – this is a chic cool way to wear a leather sleeveless vest in warmer climates

And this is my Polyvore set - Rock a leather sans sleeves:

rock a leather, sans sleeves by VaFashionista

Items in this set:
Alexander Wang jacket, 1,209 GBP
Lipsy dress, 60 GBP
Juicy Couture ring, $98
Giia.bigcartel.com necklace, 74 EUR
Talullahtu.co.uk jewelry, 14 GBP

 

Can’t leave you without pointing out the Haute-ness that is this cropped studded leather beauty! Letoya and Alicia are rocking it in their new videos, check it! Total dope hotness indeed! One thing’s for sure, you MUST get yourself a stylish leather this season, whether cropped, or sleeveless and… ROCK IT!

Ciao! *B*

Hello Fab Ones!

So, so much has been going on! Life, love, work, etc etc! But in the midst of it all, I still remain fab! *as you can clearly see* lol! I’m playin but not really!

Anywho! I’m loving, LOVING my new hair and am being patient letting it do what it’s going to do! Because in a year I’m going to have a head full of Fabulous locs! *giddy*

I found some uberfabulous stuff in my Harper’s Bazaar this morning, check it:

I need these purple Gucci shades in my life! I’ve been rocking my YSL’s for a few years now, time to get a new pair

These Louboutin chain link wedges are my ultimate Spring/Summer shoe! Starting a mini fund for them RIGHT now! Gotta have them!

Then I got an email from Aldo on thes HAUTE boots! Need these and a fab light weight gray leather jacket to fill my Fall leather quotient!

**umm sorry about the size of the pics, but they won’t resize!**

~insert bullet portion of this blog post~

- Oh yeah, so big things are about to happen for me – SO excited!

- Got a new-new crush, it’s mutual and oh so cute! he started it lol! adorable he is!

- comments such as “that’s SO not like you!” and “I can’t imagine you with ‘dreads’ ” make me laugh, like uh, so how am I? hmmm?

- partied all last weekend with my buddy B, going to do it all over again this weekend! viva la party!

- I can never pick what color nail polish to roack so I rock 3 or more at a time lol!

- *Clearly* some people aren’t meant to be in your life, so when they can easily walk out and NOT look back, pssht! let them GO! They aren’t part of the greater picture, your destiny and purpose ANYWAYS so…BYE!!!!!

- LOVE and ADORE my life right now! Couldn’t and Wouldn’t ask for anything more!

Ciao for now,

*B*

***NEW HAIR*NEW HAIR*NEW HAIR***

Wow! I haven’t written on here in a minute! Of course my Birthday vacation was AWESOME!!! But onto my new hair!

I love my curly hair, it’s so fab, why wouldn’t I?! But lately (read: the past few months) I’ve been ready for a next step, something new with my hair! Plus, I have serious hair envy when I see men and women with a fab head of beautiful dreadlocs!

I did my research and tried out different ways to loc my hair on the back of my head and finally decided on interlocking as a way to start my locs! I only did 12 and quickly realized, ummm I need someone else to do this for me!  I called up my good friend who has had her locs for 8 years and told her about my decision and she said she’d do it for me! YAY! so yesterday, October 3, 2009 marks the day my baby interlocked locs were born! Check them! I’ve also started a new blog to chronicle my new hair journey through pics and stuff – From Fab Curls to Rockin Locs

Countdown to my (Birthday) VACATION!!!

Day-cations and stay-cations don’t resonate well within my soul! ha! My body doesn’t understand why it hasn’t laid on white sandy beaches or  frolicked in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean as of yet! My skin is a tad “pale” – ok, slightly bronzed, but not that fab bronzy glow I get when I travel to de islands mon!

So, on to my trip! I am mucho excited and just realized it is only 20 days away! yippee! I have been BLESSED to be able to go on a 4-day Western Caribbean cruise that stops in the Florida Keys and Cozumel! What’s even better is I will be celebrating my 28th birthday in Cozumel and on the high seas! dude! I’m elated!!! Even more fun, when we dock in Miami, we are staying there over the weekend! woop! partay fabulous!!!

And just to let you know HOW BLESSED this girl is! The grand total for my flights, 4-day cruise, hotel in MIAMI is……..$460! that’s right! Four hunnent and sixtay dollllllas yo! whooo hooo! The Lord was looking out for ya girl!!

I am just so thrilled that I get to go on vacation, that I get to celebrate my 28th BIRTHDAY not in VA and that the trip was way affordable! Trust and belive when I say I’m a Blessed girl! (This is just one of many of my blessings!!)

Countdown: 20 days to ship off!! woop woop!!

Good Music!

Here are some of my favorite Bible verses in song.

First up is one of my favorites, no matter who sings it! Better is One Day is an AMAZING song! Truly, better is one day in His courts than THOUSANDS elsewhere!!! I like this Kutless version alot! This song is based off of Psalm 84 – please read it here – and then listen to it:

The next Bible verse is Isaiah 40:31 – But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

This verse has special meaning to me and EVERY morning I wake up and turn on 104.1 to listen to the Yolanda Adams morning show it is the first song I hear!  They That Wait by Fred Hammond is just the song to start your day off right! It is also God’s way to remind me to go ahead and wait on Him! He has what is best for me and I need to trust and keep the faith!  Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. - is also another one of my favorite verses that goes along with Isaiah 40:13.

Listen to the song here:

Another verse that makes you stop and think is Proverbs 26:11 – As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.  Think about that. Why do we return to the same sins, over and over again! because it’s comfortable? because we think we already know the outcome? I read somewhere the other day that “we can choose our sins, but we cannot choose the consequences.” That’s deep and resonates with me to the core. 

Check out Benjah’s Get Filtered; he references Proverbs 26:11:

Just had to share these songs with you! God is good to me and I LOVE my life! Through ups and downs, God is there no matter what and I am thankful He has blessed these artists with their talents to put the Gospel to song to reach us!!

Have a BLESSED day! I know I am!

Ciao, Ciao

*B*

P.S. – had to share this AWESOME picture I took the other day while tanning at the pool! Look at the cloud shaped like a heart and God’s love radiating around it! Oh, I LOVE it! Another sweet reminder from God that He loves all of His children!

 

 

Monday = wackest day ever!

omg! Ok, so first of all, i couldn’t sleep last night and ended up finally falling asleep around 4:30 am…ummm I wake up at 6 am! AHHHHHHHHHHH! THEN!!! I leave my house late, ofcourse, because I slept in til 7! I get on the toll road and forgot my change, so all I had was a dollar….How come the guy two cars in front of me spent…10 minutes…yes, 10 minutes talking to the toll booth person asking directions…….uh WHAT!!! get a GPS!

Wait, it gets better! So then I finally get to work, 30 minutes late mind you, and get situated for the day.  I go to fill up my water bottle, as I do every day, and bring it back to my desk. About 10 minutes later I go to grab my water bottle and what does it do???????? IT OPENS AND SPILLS ICE AND WATER EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! really?! like seriously?! ugh!

Then, I go to my doctor appointment – I get there 10 mins early. ummmmmmmm but how come the doctor wasn’t there!? Ummmm how come he was in his OTHER office that is 30 mins away! WHAT!!!!! but I’m told he was “close” so ummmm I got there at 10:30 and left at 12 noon…………..*dead face*

Ok, add to that the fact that I WON’T be going on Holiday for 15 months like I’d planned – don’t ask.

Really – right now, I’m ok, just laughing because clearly I must have done SOMETHING to deserve this barage of craptacular happenings in my life! But really. I can’t wait to get off work and go run! something has got to give. Like right now, It’s back to the drawing board but I have no more paper! ugh! just ugh!

*insert screw face, with a little bit of a sad face, and a big blank stare* – life, isn’t it grand!!!!!!!!!!!

Let’s pray that my day get better.  It has to!!!!!!!!

Where have I been?

- I wish I could say I was on some 2 week exotic tropical vacation…

- Or wisked off to Paris on a private jet for a major shopping spree – well maybe not Paris since all the planes keep crashing into the water!!!!!!

- Or I locked myself away and was working on some amazing project – nope, already did that and it is coming to fruition! yippee!

- Or maybe it’s just the boring fact that life has been happening lol! Nah, my life isn’t boring AT. ALL. I kind of wish I had a camera following me around the past two weeks or so.

I had a really great weekend playing mas at the DC Carnival! It was SO fun! We danced ALLLLL day down Georgia Avenue and then went to the after party where we commenced to danging ALLLLL night to all types of Soca and Reggae till 430 in la manana!!! it was pure, sober, fun!

We are gearing up to go to Carnival in Trinidad next February so we got our fun and experience in! The only true way to experience Carnival is to play mas! We were going to do the mud band, but changed at the last minute to play in this other band BUT we still got covered in mud! Gotta have the mud experience at least once in your life!  Now I want to go to all the Carnival celebrations around the world, namely Caribana and the one in New York on labor day! Caribana is only one month away so I’m not sure I can swing it, but MAYBE the NY one!

Anyways, let’s see what else. Oh, I went to this great Reggae concert the other weekend at the carter baron here in DC. Each summer they do a series of free concerts hosted by the washington post – it was so fun! The night was perfect, balmy.  Lots of people came out, young and old, to party!

I saw so many different styles of locs it was making me crazy – in a good way!! This woman’s locs in front of me were SO pretty! And the perfect size!  I really want to loc my hair at the end of the summer and have been trying to decide how I will start them – twists, braids or comb twists. I will probably go with braids so the hair will actually stay in place!  I’m ready for the next ”phase” in my natural hair journey.  I have yet to find a picture of someone with my hair type with locs, but I’m going to keep looking! I’ve gotten some great advice from people who wear locs and my friend even said she’d help me start mine at the end of the summer! yay!

That’s all for now – quick updates! All I know is 9 months until Carnival! Going to up my milage in my runs (I’m at 3.5 miles now) and the time I spend in the pool doing laps (I do an hour)! Trinidad Carnival + caribbean hot sun + skimpy outfits = pure dedication to training oneself for a 14 mile party! yay!!!

Ciao, Ciao

*B*

This and that

*some quick little updates*

- Yesterday, someone told me the absolute MOST ridiculous, INSANE bit of news/information/speculation/accusation, E V E R and said “you just compartmentalize that” – ummmmmmmmm, yeah. – got 2.5 hours of sleep last night. ugh!

- so onto FUN stuff!

Last Saturday I went to the Don’t Waste Your Life Tour here in VA and had a BLAST!!! It featured the Christian Hip Hop artists on Reach Records – Lecrae, Tripp Lee, Tedashii, Sho Baraka and Flame. It was super amazing!  The church was ROCKIN! All types of people were in there, young, old, red, yellow, black and white (we are all His children in His sight – remember that little song?) anyways, I even looked over and saw the Pastor gettin down! It was a great, great night! Good news music and such.

Check the Reach Records website for the Don’t Waste Your Life tour to see if it is coming to a city near you! http://www.reachrecords.com/dwyl/ - you definitely want to hit this up!

I’ve loved this song ever since I saw it one morning while getting ready for church by Flame and Lecrae – Joyful Noise *check the video* The beat rocks SO hard, but the message is that much better.

It truly was a blessing to be there in this big church listening to these awesomely talented young men not only share their creative music with us, but their testimonies as well.  I’m not much of a rap or hip hop fan anymore, but I love that Gospel music comes in all forms and that so many young people were there and knew ALL the words!  Hey, it’s better than them being at some other concert; they were partying for the Lord lol! And having sooo much fun!

While there I also got the chance to meet and get a CD from another amazing artist on the record label, BenJah.  He classifies his music as Island, Soul, Rock and it is that.  The music is so chill, with the perfect balance of the three key elements and with a great message as well.  Check his website, www.benjahmusic.com, to listen to some of his music and then download the CD Filtered on itunes, it’s DEFINITELY worth it!  It’s great to see young people in the Kingdom using their God given talents and spreading the Gospel through their chosen medium!

- Oh! so I got some MUCH needed closure on a little teensy situation and I’m glad for it! 

- So I got some really, super awesome, super great news last week! It’s just amazing to be BLESSED and to see God’s hand at work in my life! He is preparing me for my next step and I am SOOOOO excited!

- The rain in the DC metro area is KILLING me! I want summer! I miss being able to go home and swim laps in the pool! ugh! to think, that was only two weeks ago! WHERE is the SUN! I’m trying to get my tan on, LOL!

- I got these ultra, super cute, fabulous House of Harlow rings yesterday! I didn’t like her jewelry line at first, but then I got an email and looked through and found something(s) I liked!  

- My mind has drifted away to thoughts of slumber so I’ll finish this later…maybe.

Ciao for now,

*B*

What to do, what to do…

First, I can’t STAND to not be in control, drives me nuts! However, I fully understand things are totally out of my control, but I can’t help but want to have some sort of control over them. i.e – a certain someone, job, and basically life in general.

For the past few days I have been in this mysterious “funk”. I’m not mad, sad or unhappy, I just am in limbo or something weird like that. I’m happy and smiley and joyous, but SOMETHING(s) is/are bothering me and I can’t quite figure it out – now that’s annoying!

I’m wondering if it has anything to do with me not working out the last two weeks because I was heavily focused on this project?  Or because I didn’t read my Bible once last week? Or because I can’t(need to) get over how a certain someone acted towards me (punk!) – I take that back…sort of! Or…what!? I don’t know! I just feel, weird.

So, I started back working out this week – endorphins flowing, check! Read my Bible, check! Won’t speak to that person, or is it the other way around, check! Then what!  ugh! just ugh!

I think I also feel guilty for engaging in some serious flirtatious behavior with someone I definitely shouldn’t be flirting with, talking to, sure, flirting with, NO! Guilt is a major thing…maybe that’s it? idk!!!!

You ever heard of that silly thing, you know, being afraid of success? It’s disturbing. That’s all I will say about that.

I am on the brink of a MAJOR life changing event and I am THRILLED beyond belief at the opportunities and the experiences and just so excited for this! Can’t wait! Claim it. Belive it. Receive it. = receipe for success!

Something is so not right in my soul. This sux. I want to turn this frown upside down, ASAP! bleh!

The evolution – Part un

This is like a major confession session.  Stay tuned, you might learn something. I am going to share with you how my life was changed in September 2007.

A little back story(in bullet form so as not to bore)…

- 2005-end of 2006 – involved in a STOOPID relationship with someone who was otherwise committed; so much time wasted, sad.

- beginning of 2007 – tired of dating the usual suspects, I decide to step outside my dating box (LOL)

- quarter one, 2007 – in steps Fraternity boy – four months of incessant drama as only DC boys that are in frats can bring

- quarter two, 2007 – in steps Air Force – he opens his heart up to me and I don’t know what to do with it, but stomp all over it and break him and me in the process

- quarter two into quarter three, 2007 – start two new relationships still reveling and hurting from Air Force – one with a youngin and one with a shady past that doesn’t come out until it’s too…late…

July 2007 – end it with the youngin because he’s got way too many female friends, and not enough time for me! ; the shady one and I step our relationship up to him….moving in (long story)

August 2007 – He makes his way into my whole life and my eyes being to open; I finally get out of him what he’s been HIDING from me and well, all hell breaks loose!

September 2007 – The shady one is finally out of my life and I am left in shambles; emotional distress at it’s finest, couple that with work drama and I was a DISASTER!

September 2007, I have noone else to turn to but God!  I have always been in the church, through all of the aforementioned drama too, but none of that could prepare me for the emotional and psychological hurt I faced and ultimately brought unto myself.

Life was rough enough, and then I introduce these jokers in my life, gee I wonder why I was messed up!  Anyways, after ending it once and for all with the shady one, God totally stepped in and saved me from myself; He put His foot down, grabbed my hand and said, Now, you must follow me! And I did, reluctantly, with tears in my eyes, not knowing, but what has been instilled in me from childhood was waking up and I grabbed hold of His unchanging hand and have never let go!

Now, I have always been one to pray, praise, ASK FORGIVENESS, go to church, pay my tithes, go to Bible study etc etc. But my life took on a whole new meaning during September 2007.  I joined this church I had been visiting, Heritage Fellowship Church, and learned to finally, fully and wholly trust my everything – circumstances, life – to the One and only.

I literally had no choice; that’s how God does it though, He lets you handle what you THINK you can handle, and then He steps in to clean the mess you’ve made of everything!  Just like a good parent.  God broke me down to nothing – in every sense of the word – money wise, job wise, dating(really who is thinking abut this when I was going through what I was going through, but I ofcourse was).  It’s then and there that when I thought I had nothing, I really had EVERYTHING I ever needed in Jesus.

Life was NOT peachy keen! I’ve been in and out of work more than I can imagine, but He still kept me.  My life storms were just beginning to brew and I had NO idea what was in store for me.  However, I am so THANKFUL that I can look back and thank the good Lord for not only bringing me TO those storms, but bringing my THROUGH those storms!!!!!

I now know that what I went through and experienced was not just for me, but for me to share with others…this is MY tesimony.  Without a test, there is no Testimony…to be continued