A Single Honeeyz Guide to Surviving and Loving Valentine's Day!

It's Valentine's Day and love is on the brain!! I love any holiday (true or made up) or tradition that promotes love, family and fun!!  February is one of my favorite months thanks to Valentine's, not to mention my Princess' bday is the following day on February 15th.  I get knee deep in the holiday b/c LOVE is the best feeling to have. My nails, my mood, my attitude and activities all reflect the feelings of love! I'm a happily single woman and it disappoints me when I see or hear women who aren't in a relationship deciding that Valentine's day is not for them simply b/c they don't have a man or when they start pretending they aren't interested in the occasion or that it's sooooo overrated (only b/c they don't have a Valentine to share it with bc we all know if someone offered them something they would be screaming off the nearest mountain top).   I personally don't need a significant other to be in love.  I love everything about God and everything he created about me and I jump for an opportunity to celebrate it and get in the spirit of love.  In addition to my love of God and the me he created,  as long as I live I will always have the loves of my life, Brycen and Cierra!  I say to those honeeyz that have given up on LOVE,  you don't need a man to celebrate love of yourself, love of God and love of those around you.  You have to know if you can't find love in yourself, appreciate the unconditional love of God, and learn to love your family and friends that blessing you with a man is the last thing on God's to do list so you gotta pull it together and starts where it matters the most!

Although I have 4 different dudes asking to be my Valentine and trying to line things up for the evening, I made sure to take care of myself first  so that I don't have to be dependent on some dude to make anything happen for me or piss me off and take me off of my LOVE square.  Here are a few things I've accomplished or plan to do in the interest of LOVE and any of you that fit in the above category should try one or all of the below:

1) Vday themed nails - you honeeyz should know by now that my nails are my personal art canvas and I figured love should be on display. Together they ready Love Lee as in "Love, Lee"or "lovely!" Loves it!! You can do the same with your attire or accessories. It does the trick. I look at my nails and have to think love! I don't even have a choice.  

2) Vday gifts purchased by Moi for Moi!- I picked out 2 super cute gifts from Marc Jacobs. They won't be in my possession until Thursday but I'm happy. I treated myself to exactly what I want so if nothing else comes I'm good! 


More ways to spoil yourself and get into the Vday mood with or without a significant other:

I Still Have a Dream

I'm wishing a Happy Birthday to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today!!! Grateful that because of his dream and all he stood for I'm employed, I'm a home owner, I'm educated, my president is black, and my children's future is secured, among many other things!!! In his time, we couldn't vote; we barely could work and when we could it wasn't for equal pay; we had limited education and certainly were disadvantaged regarding higher education; we didn't own property; we couldn't hold political office and we barely could go out and patronize without being harassed or discriminated against.  Although we still have some ways to go, a lot has completely changed around thanks to Dr. King, his dream, his influence, his sacrifice and the entire civil rights movement.  I'm eternally grateful and I'm still dreaming.  I'm not done yet.

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.  That is why right, temporary defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant." 

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Thanks to this day of observance, I'm home doing my favorite three things... Resting, Relaxing and Reflecting (R to the 3rd power, is what I like to call it).  I'm in the bed with all my gadgets, magazines and remote controls and I'm loving every bit of it!  Luckily, I was smart enough to take advantage of all the crazy sales held in celebration of Dr. King's birthday (so they said) and I completely lucked up at Tyson's Corner Mall, Bloomingdales to be exact!!! As you honeeyz know, my BFF and I are shopping fanatics!!  We were on the phone with each other all weekend giving updates on various sales in our two areas (me in the DMV and her in NJ).  She bought me two items I had been eyeing for some time (I'll show them when I collect them from her next weekend) that were crazy discounted in her mall (with no taxes might I add...love not paying taxes) and in exchange, I picked her up a few things, along with some of my own purchases, that were crazy discounted down here!  It makes my little heart just melt.  See for yourself! I even tried to style some of the looks to my liking so that you could get an idea of how I'd WORK it honeey! Keep in mind I'm still happily unmarried and therefore, home alone (and ducking calls for company from him, him, and him) and as such, can't take pics of myself in the new purchases so the pics are a little limited but use your imagination!  I snapped pics of  the clothes on a hanger (the best I can do, soon I'll commit to someone for at least the benefit of being my personal photographer) with some slight manipulating! Keep in mind I saved about 60-70% on each of these purchases, which made them a no brainer!  Happy looking honeeyz!!!

Olive green pea coat by BCBG.  I love the color and the detail of this coat.  Looks great with browns and blacks. The pleating detail in the front and the back is beautiful.  You can rock this casually or dressed up. A perfect investment piece.  See below for my variation on this jacket by adding a pretty and colorful scarf. 

Back to the Regularly Scheduled Program...but Better!

Hello honeeyz!!!!

I miss you guys tremondously.  It's been 2 whole weeks since we last chatted and I so apologize for the delay.  This thing called life grabbed a hold of me and shook me nearly half to death over these past two weeks.  My goodness! I'll try my best to not allow that to happen again, or at least fight back and try to get a post or two in during the beating.  The reality is that I, like most Power Chicks, but unlike many successful celebrity bloggers, don't have the luxury of time to blog full-time without managing a "real" job that pays me so that I can pay all the bills, but Lord knows I'd love for that opportunity to grace me in the very near future.  Anyways, I've been balancing the Christmas holiday coming and going over the past few weeks, but I also have been working like a straight up crazy person....15hour days and nearly 70hours per week has been pretty typical for me. While it's looking like this grueling schedule will persist, I promise to do a better job of making sure you honeeyz and guys get your nutrients here at Milk and Honeeyz.  But there's some good news yet... although I haven't had the luxury to rant and rave on a daily basis, it has definitely been on my mind and in my head and I have several drafted posts, memos on my iPhone, notes scribbled on my notepad, points jotted in my iPad, and drafts via email in my inbox so I have enough material to get us back on track and keep us going! 

First up, it's only fitting to address the next impending event....New Years!  There are two things that come to mind immediately when I think of this holiday, Goals and Celebrating! However, It seems that some are trying to create a new trend (or at least I've seen it on Facebook quite often and it makes me smh and laugh every time), which is to denounce resolutions and say they are doing something better than that.  I'd love to know exactly what that is b/c any fool should know that walking around without goals, desires, plans, dreams, particularly unwritten, is why they are a fool instead of an accomplished and motivated individual.  I'm no fool so I happily set resolutions every year, most of which I keep and make a good faith effort in accomplishing.  Some fall by the wayside or get reworked in time but I always have a plan and I always go down my list checking things off and I always evaluate my progress before the end of the year.  There is nothing like starting a brand new year off with a brand new mind frame, regardless of how well or how poorly the preceeding year was.  If you put 20 progressive and beneficial things on your list but only half stick, you are 50% better off than you were last year rather than not b/c you were too busy pretending like you are above setting resolutions.  

More ranting and raving, a list of my goals for 2012 and pics from Christmas after the break>>>

Holiday Cheer Without the Controversy!

Me and two of my besties and family
holiday party having a good old time!

With the impending Christmas holiday and the past Thanksgiving holiday, I have been in such a wonderful and excited mood! Yes, I’m generally always in a good mood bc I don’t have the space for miserable. Sorry. I discovered a long time ago that your attitude, your perception, and your reaction are all your choices and I choose positive! Anyways, when the holiday season ushers in I find myself that much more excited! With all the happiness and holiday cheer in the air I got to thinking about what exactly about the holiday season makes me so happy and why has the holiday season in recent years become better and better??  Simple answer:  family, friends, fun, love, loyalty and purpose.  That's what it boils down to.  I love my family and I love my friends and it makes me happy to see them happy and spend time with them.  They can irritate you and frustrate you, but at the end of the day they are what you have.  Not to mention, a complete stranger can cause the same level of irritation and frustration, so if it's inherent in the ordinary custom of living life, then you might as well deal with the irritation that comes from those you love the most.  As I've gotten older I've found it's easier to deal with the disappointment and frustration that sometimes comes out of relationships with the people you love.  Everything is not always that serious or worthy of a knockdown drag out fight and complete falling out.  Agree to disagree or learn to deal differently.  Often times a simple time out or moderation in  the type of interaction you choose to have with certain family members or friends who regularly push your buttons is all that it takes.  My oldest sister, for example, use to drive me crazy on a regular basis.  We would go hard in love for a good 2 months and then she would instantly start tripping and I'd be on the verge of wanting to smash her face in (yes, I'm being dramatic but you get it).  The more she would go through these emotions the more I would get pissed.  Then about a year and a half ago I decided that I was partially responsible for her behavior because I would go through the same things with her knowing the likely conclusion.  I just stopped dealing with her the same way but I didn't hold on to any resentment or frustration  b/c it didn't make or break me and b/c she is my sister and I love her.  I started dealing with her at a distance but I loved her just the same, except for there was more peace and more love.  We could get together for the holidays and play games, eat good food, watch funny movies and love and laugh and enjoy one another without any issues or expectations, except for the expectation of love and loyalty.  When I hear stories about people who were the best of friends for decades or family members who say they haven't spoke in years or are no longer friends but instead enemies over nothingness it's sort of mind blowing.  I couldn't imagine not speaking to my family never ever?? Now, there are a few old friends that are no longer friends of mine b/c of significant issues (note, there is a difference between significant and insignificant) but there is no beef or animosity from me, and that includes the ones that literally crossed me.  I just made a conscious decision that certain people have a different idea of what friendship means than what I do and therefore, we were no longer compatible. There's no controversy in that.  They may have some conflict but I most certainly don't.  I just have found that the holidays are the times when you get to share a little extra love, well planned gifts, and better memories!  Why would you want to be in a negative space or so emotionally far away from people you love during a time like that??     




More pics and discussion after the break>>>>