Today's entry is a time capsule of what's going on right now.  


What am I reading?
There was a time when I had a pile of books on the side of my bed but thanks to audiobooks and my Kindle, I don't knock them down in the middle of the night!  Right now I'm listening to 'The Secrets of Shambala" by James Redfield, 'The Big Leap' by Gay Hendricks.

On the Kindle I'm reading 'Tranquilologie' by Kimberly Wilson and 'Conscious Living' by Gay Hendricks, and 'Magic Tree House: Thanksgiving on Thursday' by Mary Pope Osborne with my son.  

What am I watching?

Agents of Shield, Arrow, and Sleepy Hollow

What am I listening to?

I've started listening to the Jazz Christmas and Pink Martini Pandora stations.  I just discovered a french band called Nouvelle Vague that I'm smitten with.   They do covers of some of my favorite 80s tunes!

What am I loving?

I am over the moon in love with the Tranquility Du Jour daybook.  I'm always on the search for the perfect planner and this one fits the needs I have of being functional and beautiful.  I'm loving buying myself fresh flowers every week.  I take a vase with me to the grocery store and the florist there arranges the flowers I purchase there in it for me.  I'm especially loving it now that most of the trees in my yard are barren.  Just a reminder that life continues.  I'm also loving Angry Orchard's Hard Apple Cider.  It's so crisp and refreshing...I was given it back in September and I just can't get enough of it!  
 
What am I wearing?

My favorite comfy jeans, a beautiful pink, long sleeved shirt with tea motifs on it and some bunny slippers that I knit and felted myself.  I'm also wearing my red shawl given to my by my mom on our last Christmas together.  And curled up in my lap as I type is the baby doggy Chloe who loves being wrapped up in my shawl.  

What am I creating? 


I am knee deep in creating Christmas gifts for my friends and family.  I'm making my first fitted garment...a sweater vest for my son with his favorite character (Darth Vader) on the front. I'm also creating some new ecourses to be released next year! 

What am I looking forward to?


I'm looking forward to the annual Santa Lucia Party!  I was inspired in 2010 by Joanna Colbert Powell's ebook "A Crown of Candles: How to Throw a Fabulous Santa Lucia Party" (now available in print!).  This will be the 4th year we've had it and I'm excited that we've actually lived somewhere long enough to have it so many times.  I"m really looking forward to welcoming old and new friends to my home.

I'm also looking forward to The Hobbit: the Desolation of Smaug!

I had so much fun earlier this year when I participated in my first blog party that when Jamie Ridler sent out the call to 'kick it old skool' I said 'Heck yea!

I started blogging back in 2002 (?) on the site Diaryland.  Eventually I moved over to LiveJournal in 2005.  Initially I wrote about my journey to reclaim my natural hair what products I used, what challenges I encountered, the reactions I got as I went natural and how I handled it in general.  

I took a lot of pictures of the different styles I tried out and posted them.  I don't have many of them left (lesson:  always back up your files!)

Of all the pictures I took of me with various hairstyles, this is the one I love the most.  I used this as my profile image for many, many years. I was still in the awkward phase of growing out my hair and had taken to wearing wraps.  

When I look at it I don't see the awkward.  
I see a strong, confident, comfortable in her own skin woman.  
I see a woman in love with herself.  



Hair was and still is a big deal in the African American culture. And though we're finally in a place that enough of us have let go of the shame around our hair not being naturally smooth and embraced the myriad ways to wear our crowns there are still stories of the struggle for hair peace coming up.   Despite that we've come a long way since then.