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Tuesday, July 28, 2009

HELLOOoo, I'M STILL HERE......

Hi Beautifuls!

I know it has been a minute. Honestly, the energy to job search (cause mama's gotta keep the money flowin'), work on a plan to do what I'm really feelin' and keep a focused mindset can be overwhelming at times. Doable but requires a lot from me so that blogging is a little lower on my list. At least for now. However, I have not forgotten about you all and do peep on those of you w/blogs. As a matter of fact, I've been tagged by the lovely Gem over at Gemini Life. I will try to get to that on Friday.

Anyhoo, while I was perusing my blog lists, I came across the video on Nukynk's fly blog. If you hadn't checked her out, you can here. Fly hair and fashion w/thought provoking posts. It's a really cool blog. I watched this beautiful video and it really touched me. Although I understand where the mentality stems from, it still bothers me... hurts me to hear other black women diss or fear their natural hair.




Your thoughts?.......

Post Title HELLOOoo, I'M STILL HERE......

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

IT'S DA BOMB, LIKE TICK TICK!!


Good Morning Gorgeous!!

I hope that all is well in your world. I've been meaning to mention this oil so here goes. Dabur Vatika oil is one of my fav hair oils. It is basically, enriched coconut oil. I am absolutely in love with it! I use it as an overnight treatment. When I co-wash it out in the morning, my hair has this extra softness to it. It's not terribly expensive either. You can purchase it for under $10 at your local Indian grocery or online.

Ingredients include:
Coconut Oil, Neem, Brahmi, Fruit Extracts of Amla, Bahera and Harar, Kapur kachri, Henna, Rosemary Oil, Lemon Oil, TBHQ (Whatever that is. I'll have to look that one up), & Fragrance.

I've read on some hair threads that it has an awful odor to it, but I don't get that. It really smells great to me.

I use this along w/my other fav hair oils, Qhemet's Indian Macassar Conditioning Oil and Komaza Care Hair Nourishment Oil.

What oils are you using, if any?....

Post Title IT'S DA BOMB, LIKE TICK TICK!!

Monday, July 13, 2009

IMAGINATION


1. the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.
2. ability to face and resolve difficulties; resourcefulness: a job that requires imagination.


Imagination... such a powerful and vital part of our thought process. I believe that your outlook on life, the way you function and daily living is a reflection of how you choose to imagine. It affects how you function and interact with friends, family and people you don't know. I've included a few quotes on it.

Worry is a misuse of imagination.
-Dan Zadra

Use your imagination not to scare yourself to death but to inspire yourself to life.
-Adele Brookman

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
-Albert Einstein

Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future.
-Charles F. Kettering


What is your imagination speaking to you? Are you imagining yourself as successful -whatever your definition of successful is. Do you imagine yourself in a great business, job, relationship? Do you imagine yourself happy, joyful, at peace with life? How are you imagining your self and your life?....

Post Title IMAGINATION

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

SHIMMY SHIMMY


Hi Beautifuls!

I hope that this week is going well for you. I recently had to rededicate myself to a consistent workout plan. This time I'm being sure to vary my workouts to keep them interesting and fun. Along w/my beloved yoga, aerobics and a little bit of jogging, I've added belly dancing. SO EXCITED!! I actually joined a gym close to my home that offers belly dancing as one of its many classes. So of course, the day I joined I went to the class. I have to say that it was awesome! I honestly did not expect to break a sweat but I DID! It was fun, challenging and yes, sensual once I got into some of the moves. It was just as fun as a pole dancing class I took. (Whole 'notha post. Lol.)

Here's a little info on this form of dance that you may find interesting.

The origins of belly dancing, though unclear, can be traced to the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and Africa. In fact, in the Arabic language, the term belly dancing is Raqs Sharqi and in Turkish, it is Oryantal dansi. The Turkish term Oryantal dansi can be roughly translated to mean "exotic oriental dance" and the Arabic term Raqs Sharqi is claimed to be of Egyptian origins. Because these terms suggested an exotic dance that originated elsewhere, the art of belly dance was held in higher esteem than local dances.

Historical evidence shows Egyptian tomb paintings dating from as far back as the fourteenth century BC that depict partially clad dancers whose callisthenic positions appear to be very similar to those used in belly dancing. Belly Dancing also has been depicted in Persian miniature paintings from the 12th and 13th centuries.

The dance form we call "belly dancing" is derived from traditional women's dances of the Middle East and North Africa. Women have always belly danced, at parties, at family gatherings, and during rites of passage. A woman's social dancing eventually evolved into belly dancing as entertainment ("Dans Oryantal" in Turkish and "Raqs Sharqi" in Arabic). Although the history of belly dancing is murky prior to the late 1800s, many experts believe its roots go back to the temple rites of India. Probably the greatest misconception about belly dance is that it is intended to entertain men. This mistaken belief was due largely to the popularized connotation between belly dancing and exotic harems due largely to the Romanticism movement in the 18th and 19th century as artists depicted their interpretation of harem life of the Ottoman Empire. In reality, because segregation of the sexes was common in the part of the world that produced belly dancing, men often were not allowed to be present. In fact, belly dancing was never intended to be seen by men at all.

That belly dance developed from social dancing helps explain its long lasting popularity. Belly dancing offers women a community of friends that share and celebrate joy in music, and creates self-confidence through artistic self-expression, in an art form that embraces all body types. The belly dance is natural to a woman's bone and muscle structure. It is uniquely designed for the female body, with an emphasis on abdominal muscles, hip moves, and chest moves. It is firm and earthy, traditionally with bare feet connected to the ground. It is a dance characterized by smooth, flowing, complex, and sensual movements of the torso, alternated with shaking and shimmy type moves. The movements center on the torso rather than the legs and feet, as is common in Western dance. The belly dancer isolates parts of her body, to move each independently in a completely feminine interpretation of the music. The music seems to emanate from her body, as sometimes she emphasizes the rhythm, sometimes the melody of the song. Bellydance is often performed barefoot, now thought by many to signify the intimate and ancient physical connection between the dancer, the music, and Mother Earth, although historically, most dancers were barefoot because they could not afford shoes.

Belly dance was introduced to America when a dancer known as Little Egypt performed at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Americans were fascinated (and scandalized!) by the freedom and rhythms of the dance and the music, and thus began a fascination with the "exotic Orient." Early Hollywood fell in love with the dancing girls and created glamorous flowing costumes based as much on Leon Bakst's fantasies as on garments of the Middle East. Dancers in the Middle East, who were developing belly dance in its native lands, adopted these colorful interpretations.

There are various forms of belly dancing, including Turkish, Egyptian Oriental, and American Tribal.


**Resources for the above information are Wellesley.edu and Bellydance.org**

ChocolateOrchid ;)

Post Title SHIMMY SHIMMY

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

MY CURRENT HAIR OBSESSION


Hi Beautifuls!

Hope that you all are doing well. I think that I have pretty much recovered from my participation in the Peachtree Road Race. I didn't realize how hard running/jogging/walking on concrete can be on your body. But I did finish. So I'm very happy about that.

Wanted to share some great information that Anita Grant posted on twitter.

Before swimming, to slow down chlorine absorption get some Club Soda & rinse your hair before & after your swim - regardless of your hair type.
Why? Chlorine in pools forms a copper-rich bleach. Club soda neutralizes this bleach, washes it out of your hair before it goes greenish & brittle.
Avoid products that have metallic salts this mixed w/the Chlorine may disturb natural oil (sebum) production of the scalp & may lead to instant dryness, itchy scalp & coarse split ends.


I definitely would like to give the Club Soda a try. Sounds interesting. I honestly have not done an ACV rinse in ages. Why?.. I have no idea. Just hadn't. But I will say that I am open to it revisiting it. If you do the ACV rinse or even Club Soda rinse, please share how and how often you do so.

Right now, I'm feelin' the fro so I may attempt to let my current twist-out develope into one. I keep seeing posts on it on different hair sites and blogs. Urbancurlz recently posted a youtube video (vlogger Shira) on her blog and said she had great success with her rendition of it. Check her post out here.

I'll be going on a Girls Nite Out soon, so I'm strongly considering wearing my hair in a fly azz fro that nite. Here are some pics I found that are helping to feed my fro envy.








**last photo of Zoila taken by Jackie Weisberg from Flickr**
The mousepad is by mykajenlina and can be found at Zazzle.com.

Have a great day, Beautifuls! And don't forget to "do you".
ChocolateOrchid ;)

Post Title MY CURRENT HAIR OBSESSION

Sunday, July 5, 2009

GOOD NEWS OUT OF JERSEY.. BY WAY OF ETHIOPIA



Good Morning all you gorgeous lovelies!!

I'm baaack!!
Had to start this week off with this great story on someone who not only began a successful business but the business that they started is geared to helping others! How inspiring!!

Alfa Demmellash grew up on less than a dollar a day, and against the backdrop of torture and murder. But these days she's living the American dream and helping others do the same.

Alfa Demmellash helps low-income entrepreneurs in New Jersey start or grow their businesses.

"Entrepreneurs are at the very heart of what the American dream is all about," says Demmellash, a native of Ethiopia. And from her small office in Jersey City, her nonprofit, Rising Tide Capital, is helping small businesses flourish.

Robin Munn, who runs a flower shop in Jersey City, says the skills she learned through Demmellash helped her transform the way she operates her business. "I was thinking about closing, but once I started taking the classes I found that the fire came back."

Kim Bratten, a 39-year-old painter and mother of six, says she's seen her yearly income increase by 50 percent since she started working with Demmellash and her team. "They put hope back into the community," Bratten says. Watch small business owners describe how Demmellash has helped them »

Demmellash's own struggle began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, amid instability and unrest. Thousands of Ethiopians -- including her aunt -- disappeared or were tortured and/or killed under the ruling military regime.

When Demmellash was 2, her mother fled the country, leaving the toddler in the care of her grandmother and aunt. Demmellash lived on less than a dollar a day but never considered herself poor. Watch Demmellash talk about her childhood »

Don't Miss
Get involved: Rising Tide Capital
In Depth: CNN Heroes
Nearly a decade later, Demmellash and her mother reunited in Boston, Massachusetts. But Demmellash found her mother wasn't living the American dream she'd envisioned.

"I [thought] I would find my mom in a beautiful mansion with trees [and] gold everywhere," recalls Demmellash, now 29. "I was shocked when I found her in her tiny apartment ... working very, very hard."

Her mother had worked as a waitress during the day and a seamstress at night to earn money to bring her daughter to the United States. Watching her mother sew beautiful gowns for low profits, Demmellash thought there had to be a way for her to increase what she was making as a seamstress.

"Even though she had the skills, she did not necessarily have the business skills," she says, adding that her mother's pricing "was completely off."

Still, her mother worked tirelessly to keep her daughter adequately fed, clothed and in school. Demmellash was later admitted to Harvard University, which she was able to attend with the help of "wonderful financial aid."

At Harvard, Demmellash and classmate Alex Forrester discussed what their generation could do to alleviate poverty on a local level. They set out to learn what resources people needed -- or as Demmellash says, "to find people like my mom."

In 2004, the pair started Rising Tide Capital (RTC) to help those who had ideas and abilities but needed the education and support to launch or grow their businesses.

"You hear a lot of talk about Main Street and Wall Street, but no one really talks about how exactly you go about helping the Mom-and-Pops," says Demmellash.

The group runs the Community Business Academy, an intensive training session coupled with year-round coaching and mentorship to help individuals "really work on the hands-on management side of their business," Demmellash says. The organization supports underserved populations, including women, the formerly incarcerated, minorities, unemployed and working poor, and immigrants and refugees.

Demmellash and Forrester -- now married -- have helped 250 entrepreneurs and small-business owners in New Jersey so far, 70 percent of whom are single mothers.

RTC raises money from corporations and works with local governments for funding in order to provide classes and support its participants at affordable costs. Participants pay a small materials and registration fee based on their income range: either $100 or $225 for the course that Demmellash says would cost thousands of dollars otherwise.

The organization has also built partnerships with micro-lenders, so when students are ready, the lenders provide financing.

"The ability to become self-reliant, to have economic hope, [that is] the fabric of this country and we have to fight for it," Demmellash says.

Many of RTC's students use the increased earnings from their new business to supplement their wages, allowing them to better provide for their families and transform the face of their communities, according to Demmellash.

"There are thousands of entrepreneurs, millions across this country, who do incredible things and make money to put food on the table, to pay their bills, and to save for the future and their children," she says.


"If we were to literally bank on them, invest in them [and] support them ... that's the kind of stuff that changes lives and strengthens families."


What a great story to start the day/week off with! Remember Beautifuls, if you have a "Good News" story of your own or know of one, please share. You can either put it in the comments or you could send me an email and I'd be more than happy to feature your story here on ChocolateOrchid. Also, "Good News Mondays" are open to inspirational poems and quotes.

Peace and Blessings,
CO

**This Good News Monday story comes from CNN.com**

Post Title GOOD NEWS OUT OF JERSEY.. BY WAY OF ETHIOPIA