Butterfly Wings from the Flames of a Bird

POETRY: I AM SHE

2011-12-06T20:46:00.003-05:00

This is "part two", if you will, to the poem "SHE"

"I am, She"

I am She
that will fall to her knees
and worship Him
Unashamed
I will wash His feet with my tears
& dry them with my hair
amidst the stares and glares
of judging eyes
wanting to pry into my history
but my life & fallen years
are no mystery to Him
yet, He recieved me
arms open
He redeemed me
I was unclean
& still, He esteemed me
From my burdens...
He relieved me
and took them as His own
Each tear that I shed
is for the punishment
I should have borne
but He took on instead

So go ahead
& list each one of my trangressions
you see them as faults
I see them as lessons
As you, snicker
and make snide remarks,
with eyes like shooting darts
I will continue
to pour out my heart
on my knees
washing His feet
because HE sees
I love Him....

Land, Ho!

2011-12-02T17:41:00.007-05:00

<<< Me...jumping out of imaginary boat... kissing proverbial ground intermittently shouting "Oh, Blogspot, how I've missed you!">>>>

-----> fast forward to now...

Oh my goodness, where do I begin? Well, first things first: Hello, dear readers, at least those of you that have stuck around...I'm so happy to be back & please, accept my apology for my absence! (Bear with me, like I've said in the past I like to believe that I have droves of readers waiting anxiously for my next post...lol.. ok, I can dream!)

Back in April I made a bold proclamation of the two challenges I was going to attempt, namely Scriptfrenzy and Napowrimo... a 100 page script AND a poem a day for 30 days... yeah, no. So I failed miserably and was going to post about it when , lo and behold, I got a new job! So, that's where I've been since April...

That's there where I've been...the what has been a bit more exciting than that...

Well, let's see...if you follow my page on Facebook you would know that I have been a busy beaver in the studio. I did an art show one day during the summer and sold some jewelry and smaller art pieces, which, in my book, is a huge success. My work also created a "buzz" so I'm looking forward to doing more. I have also been working on a new line of handmade mini-journals... haven't given them a name yet been thinking "Journey Books" or something along those lines since they are too small to be used as a daily journal, but just big enough to put a pile of memories of an event(or a few)into the pockets.

As for my job, for the longest it was very "hush hush" and although, it's semi-public now, for legal reasons,I can't mention it here -BUT! I can tell you I enjoy it very much. What I can tell you is I am a Beauty consultant...right up my alley, eh? In October, I even got a trip to NYC and stayed at the lovely Nolitan hotel in Nolita! (pics to come)

I haven't been able to post all this juicy stuff because a) I've been quite busy, as you can see and b) I haven't had internet at the house(long story) & for the longest I couldn't get on here during my down time at work. Today I decided to try it on a whim and tada!! Here it is, and there you are and here I am...and I am lovin' it!

I've got to go for now, but please know I will be back soon with blog posts, poetry, art and more...

Till then...
Be blessed!

Double-whammy!

2011-04-01T23:26:00.002-04:00

Ok...just because I'm a glutton for punishment and I just can't resist a challenge... I am going to attempt to do, not one, but TWO separate writing challenges this month! (yes, on top of all of the other things on my schedule.

I know, I know, you're probably thinking..shes not going to make it- oh, wait that's me- but I think I can and I am most certainly going to try...

The first of these challenges is ScriptFrenzy, which was already on my "to do" list for this month. 30 days - 100 pages, of script that is. I have a "choreopoem" that I have been wanting to write for years and I want to use this challenge to help me do just that.

The second one is right in line with the first..over at Napowrimo it's 30 days -30 poems...'luckily it doesn't say what length these poems need be...', she says in her best Captain Jack Sparrow voice. It'll be great practice for me and maybe I'll have some new poems to perform, for my book or, maybe, for my stage play(see above)...

So wish me luck, no, wish me blessings... and bear with me - I will be posting a poem a day -- and some, well, may not be as good as others..lol, although I will try to make them worthy of you dear readers.

On that note, I leave you with Poem number one...

(untitled):

So you were the beginning
The first step
of many
but I had no idea
that YOUR step
would be the last one I’d take
with you

As Always...
Be blessed

March Blog Posts

2011-03-31T01:01:00.002-04:00

First I'd like to say thank you to all of you that took the time to stop by the Beauty for Ashes website and read the rest of my testimony. Thank you.

{If you are new here or missed it, my testimony and its corresponding will be shown in its entirety on the original post, since the other website only features the testimonies for a month.}

Thank you, again, to Latonya and Beauty for Ashes for sharing.

Also, I did promise to do several pieces in March on "What my kids taught me", but decided to do them at a later date to give full attention to the "Beauty for Ashes" website and the great work shes doing there.

April will be a busy month, but I will posting and keeping you posted...

Be Blessed
and thanks, again

Collaboration: My Testimony @ Beauty for Ashes

2011-03-04T12:00:00.003-05:00

As a part of my 90 Day "Lifestyle makeover", one of the resolutions I didn't post was that I will reveal even more of myself...not only for the sake of helping others, but also as a healing process for me.

I have several journals and sketch books, many with a particular theme or "title", if you will. One is called "Freedom's Flow", it's a mix sketches, poetry, and tidbits...actually the first of it's kind for me. I've always been so rigid in the past - sketch books are for sketching - journals are for writing. It was the first time I gave myself permission and freedom to do as I pleased, hence the name "Freedom's Flow". One of my "tidbits" says -- 'In order to be truly free - I must reveal me'.

I've begun the process in private and sometimes here publicly, but this is different. This is about sharing more of who I am so that all that read can see - I am human - just like you - and my experiences make up a great deal of the woman I've become. (& that's good news!)

So here I am.. revealing some more of "me", but this time in partnership with one of my "sisters in Christ". She has her own very lovely website called "Beauty for Ashes" and has chosen this month (my birthday month- yay!)to feature my testimony, both the Poem and the Essay. I will give you a little "teaser" here, but you will have to check out her site to read the rest!

*********

My Testimony - The Essay:

It’s very easy to assume you know something about a person based on the way you see them. It’s a phenomenon we see quite often in the church. The lady dressed in the fancy suit and hat must be very religious, whereas the “hoochie” that just walked in with the tight, short skirt must be a heathen. The Lord says judge nothing before the time and herein lies my testimony…

I was born and raised in New York and I wasn’t raised in the church, at least not as I “do” church, now. I certainly didn’t go every Sunday and the thought of going to church 3 or 4 times a week seemed like an impossibility for me because I thought it was something I would never desire to do. I was raised as a Catholic, so I knew of Christ and I certainly thought I knew God: God was an awesome and amazing power meant to be feared or He would send you straight to hell!

Somehow, even in the midst of the “fear God or else” teachings the church taught me, my mom managed to teach me the one, most important, lesson of my life – when you can trust no one else – trust God! I don’t ever remember her reading the Bible to me, but we had Bibles in the house and I had a special one for myself, full of beautiful pictures and even though I didn’t understand it all…I found God. Problem was I didn’t fear Him – I was too busy being afraid of my mother.

Now before you get the wrong impression of my mom, let me be clear – she is a loving beautiful person and she did her best with the tools she had & she used God, as she knew him then, as her guide. She was raised in an unstable and abusive environment and in most of the places she lived she was abused one way or another. To her I owe my life – she turned her own life around so that we would not have to live as she did. She alienated much of her family in an effort to give us a better chance at life, it was a process, but she did it and she did it to the “Glory of God” long before she even knew what that meant. For her and to her, I am thankful.

Despite the fears and depression growing up, I always felt like God knew me personally and we had a special one on one bond. I just knew I could hear Him talking to me and remember Him always telling me I was meant to BE someone special. I became very adept at daydreaming and escaping from my life through my imagination. In my dreams and inner thoughts I saw myself as God saw me – special and meant for greatness, but no matter how much I believed it in my heart, my outer world reflected a very different view. Sadly, as the years passed I would come to believe this worldly view of myself and my life – not surprisingly, I....

You'll have to read the rest...here:www.beautyforashes1.com

You can find the Poem on the Poetry page...here

Thanks for showing your support by checking out her page. I hope it blesses you...Just you reading it blesses me! Who knows, maybe one day YOU'LL be one of the featured stories -wouldn't that be nice?

While you're there - please stop by her comments page and share some love! I'm sure she'd love to know you stopped by...

As always
Be Blessed!

You may also want to check out the sister blog to this one- The Invitation 101

"I Love You, Miss Aida"

2011-02-19T12:00:00.000-05:00

This is the one of the hardest posts I have ever written...ever. The only one that even comes close was the one I wrote about my daughter "Gigi".

As anyone who is a regular reader of my posts may have guessed or for those of you that already know me - know- I love being a mom and I love my children, even my "adopted" ones(many neighborhood kids call me "Mom").

So with heavy heart I write this post in memory of my daughter Christionne Savone Brown, who the world and I lost on Jan 2, 2009, whose last words to me were "I love you, Miss Aida". I so desperately wanted to tell her to call me "mom" after all, her father and I were going to announce our engagement that evening, but I hesitated, wanting to surprise her later.

She was doll of a little girl and I was so excited to be her mom. I dreamt of late night talks with ALL my girls, I pictured her in a yellow dress at the wedding - just like she liked; a little v-cut and slightly snug at the waist ( we already talked about the clothes she liked and how she'd want to help with picking decorations for the house, "except from Walmart", their selection that year was "just terrible"- I agreed.)

She was my yellow lady bug. I wanted her to be my "sticky frog", mainly because she had tons of energy and was always bouncing around and she loved to hug! I told her my thoughts but she quickly let me know she was no frog! I explained how each of us in the house was some kind of bug -me; the butterfly, Lani; the red Lady bug, Gi; the Dragonfly, Raven; the bumblebee and her little newborn sister was the Firefly, so we HAD to choose something for her, to which she retorted, "pick something else". Ok. We settled on a yellow Lady bug - yellow for her favorite color and the lady bug since she was closet to Meilani. Done.

She was sweet and sassy -I liked that- she was just like one of my own. I was afraid she'd be shy and my girls would over-power her with their larger than life personalities, but no, she held her own lovely. She was certainly no pushover, but she was soft and sweet enough to let most everything roll off her shoulders, a few family meetings showed me that. She spoke, but always only had nice things to say, she was so happy to be a part of our family...it was her first time having sisters, since she was an only child, and she had every intention of enjoying every moment of it!

She smiled...a lot! She always had a smile on her face. Hopping along - singing - laughing - just an angel ...really and just as smart as she was happy...I just knew we were going have great talks.

There are no words I can put on the screen or a piece of paper to express how much I loved her. How I dreamt of being her mom and how I imagined helping her dad to mold her future. How I laid up at night praying and asking God to help me make the right decisions and to help ease the transition for all the girls. Blended families are tough ...add to that a house full of estrogen and - boy oh boy - but yet all the girls seemed to be managing...

The last day I saw her she was on "baby duty", it was her day with her newborn sister (My mom on close watch) she was so proud and excited! I came by later that day to check on them again and they were all in the bedroom together playing video games. In a few short hours we were all going to celebrate Raven's birthday and unbeknown to them, the engagement. It was during that check-in when she said it..."I love you, Miss Aida" - I said 'I love you too" and gave her a big hug...I really wanted to tell her 'call me mom'...its the one thing I regret not saying...

She died later that afternoon...she drowned in the pool - life has not been the same since.

I didn't write this for anyone, but me and her. I'm a writer - we immortalize people through our words - She deserves to be remembered. Today would have been her 12th birthday. I write this because she had a name and she was loved by us all, my family, her family - Even her school had a memorial service for her - she left a huge impact in her too brief life.

In her place there's a gaping hole...

But..She also left me some gifts. Next month, for my birthday, I will share what she and my other girls have taught me...

In the meantime, today I celebrate her and her life, too brief and too short, but I'm grateful! I'm grateful that I was able to be a part of her life, even if for a short time and I'm grateful, grateful I was able to hear her say:

"I love you, Miss Aida!".

Lucky me.
Be blessed.

Raven, Lani, Chrissy & Gigi
Two days before

Bah Humbug!

2011-02-14T12:00:00.004-05:00

Ooops..wrong holiday.

wait..here it is -

Happy Thanksgiving! Um...no. (I do that every year!)

Ahh..here it is -- HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

OK..I have to admit I was sorta, tempted to keep it "bah..humbug", with me not having a Valentine, again, this year. I'm sure some of you find yourself in the same predicament, but I decided against it. Why? Well, because...

I have long ago come to terms with the fact that being alone doesn't mean being lonely. While having a Valentine is cute and all, I will not succumb to the pressure that I need to have one or that somehow I'm inadequate because I don't.

Truth be told, I'm single on purpose, I've had some "prospects" for the lack of a better term, but maybe I'm not ready or maybe I'm unsure - either way it equates to being on my own and you know what- I've learned to really savor "me time" and enjoy my own company. "Me time" for a single mom is so essential!

So my Valentines, for now, are my girls and my beautiful grand-daughter. I am so utterly in love with each of them, in fact throw in my son-in-law, too-- he's just awesome! So when I really think of it- I don't have a shortage of Valentines.

OK, OK... It's not the same as having my own romantic sweetie trying to woo me - showering me with sweet nothings and gifts and, of course, chocolate! And, flowers! (As a former florist, I mustn't forget the flowers) But as a former florist, I can also see the stress people put on themselves trying desperately to prove to their loved ones how much they love them on this particular day. Of course, it has to be traditional, too... long stemmed RED roses...they must be RED and LONG-STEMMED (for the record long-stemmed roses die faster - ask your florist). Rarely did I see men use their imagination and try something different and I understood why, because on the occasion when I'd have a daring soul - often his wife/girlfriend would be disappointed, or worse, send the flowers back!

Sounding bah humbug-ish? Don't get me wrong - I love Valentine's Day. The hearts, the flowers, the chocolate...oh, the chocolate... Plus my favorite colors - Pink and Red! As a closet romantic, I secretly love all the mushy gushy stuff, too. I guess the part I'm against is the mandatory nature of it and even more I'm against people feeling bad because they don't have someone to "love". Well, not to get too Mother Theresa on you, but I say - FIND someone to love!

Before you walk away, hear me out - why not find another individual feeling like you and share this day together? It doesn't have to be a person of the opposite sex. Just a friend or colleague, a homeless person, even, if you dare. Or you can do what my kids and I did...we agreed that this year they'd be my Valentine and I'd be theirs ...so we baked for each other...

Sure you could be your own best Valentine and shower yourself with lots of presents and enjoy your own company - I do, but there are countless people out there feeling unloved and would enjoy the love of friendship. I read once that if you want love you must first give it away - so go ahead...get to giving...

and if you need someone to send some chocolate to...I like mine dark
I'm just saying...

Be blessed.

It's Official!

2011-02-13T14:14:00.003-05:00

This blog is now available for your Kindle! What exciting news for me and great convenience to those that like to keep everything in their reader. Not to mention- a huge step of faith!

This means that:

A) I will exposed to a larger viewing audience

B) I will have to keep my resolution of at least writing once a week - to keep my readers interested!

I plan to take this new adventure seriously and do my best to encourage uplift and share...

So, if you have a Kindle...please consider subscribing...yes - I do earn a percentage of the cost but I do not set the monthly subscription rate - Amazon does. It's about the cost of one cup of coffee a month from McKie D's - without the caffeine rush, but hopefully, you'll get the spiritual lift!

Your support of this new endeavor would mean so much to me and my family. It's not about the money its about showing my kids and those I people I mentor and teach - that it IS possible to go after your dreams!

As always
Be Blessed!

VIDEO: Viva Puerto Rico! Even during Black History month!

2011-02-02T12:00:00.003-05:00

Life on Purpose...

2011-01-25T00:00:00.000-05:00

There is a difference between a life with a purpose and a life lived on purpose. Every life has a purpose, but there are those that grab a hold of their purpose and “go boldly forth”. There are those that spend the time searching within themselves and searching the heart of God just to know…Lord what did you create me to do…and then they make it their day to day business to pursue that path and they don’t stop until they get there.

For those that live a life "on purpose" it does not end when they’ve achieved a goal or have seen a vision come to fruition…no they simply seek God once again to find out what the new mission is and possibly their new purpose.

Living a life purpose- full -ly requires flexibility and sacrifice and a willingness to accept change, but most of all it requires determination and unyielding focus. All too often the average person gives up just before accomplishing the very goal they were working to achieve.

However, those that live life on purpose are not average people… they are our leaders, whether it be in the home, the workplace or our places of worship. They are our visionaries and inventors. It is because of them and through them we can see our futures as brighter and worth living.

So let us rejoice EVERY time a person has made the choice to live life on purpose. Let us celebrate their achievements and let us not lament if our choice was not to live purposefully- because its never too late – instead let them be a beacon to the rest of us, a shining light, and example to Go Boldly Forth! and find a purpose of our own!

Good luck on your journey
& Be Blessed

Oh! Check out this video if you need further inspiration: Blind woman Quilter

My 2011 Resolutions: (Cycle one)

2011-01-21T15:34:00.010-05:00

To see the original post this post references: click here

OK...I might be dreaming, but in my dreams I believe I have active readers enjoying my posts, but they're just not commenting...(hint hint)& these same faithful readers have been waiting for me to, finally, post my resolutions...(hey, I can dream--it'll happen!)

So just for them...Here they are:

I resolve; with the help of God's Grace...and the power of His Spirit, to follow through on the following resolutions:

I Resolve: (The Tangible)

** To complete a "90 Day Lifestyle Makeover" (my name for it) Remember what I said abut smaller increments? It is my intention to do this 4 times this year.(Dr. Cindy Trimm says: 30 Days is a Habit 60 days is a discipline 90 Days is a Lifestyle, hence why I chose this name and time frame)

** To exercise at least 10-15mins everyday, even if its walking in place "Leslie Sansone style" (don't laugh, it helps)

** To do something creative 30 minutes EVERYDAY, whether it be sewing, crafting, writing poetry, posting on this blog or painting! EVERY DAY!

** To keep myself and my children on a chore schedule so that our home is clean and tidy --everyday

** To post on this blog at least 4x a month

** To completely overhaul my Etsy shop(http://www.latinapheonix.etsy.com) and to add as much inventory as can be shipped

** To be more diligent about writing to my brother and keeping in touch with my family and friends by writing my brother once a month and calling other family members once a month.

** To create a weekly schedule for my kids and I to be able to spend more quality time together and less time disconnected from one another in front of the TV and/or computers

I Resolve: (The Intangible)

** To laugh at least one time every day

** To make someone smile every day-- even if its my own children

** To overcome procrastination by "just doing it" every chance I get and not putting stuff off

These aren't all of them, but these are the main ones... feel free to check up me and my progress. I would still love to hear some of yours...

As always...
Be blessed

Memories of summer...

2011-01-20T01:45:00.011-05:00

With the cold weather upon us...I thought it would be nice to share one of my warmer memories of summer...

(and for my NY friends and family -yes! it gets cold in Florida --especially Jacksonvile...ummm freezing is still cold no matter where you live)

A Summer Day with Just Me and Janae...

every moring Janae and I would go outside and water the garden....

one morning she makes a mad dash outside, with just a diaper on and her Dora umbrella...

so we play for awhile...

and jump in the puddles...

ok time to go...

Janae changes her mind!

She'd rather sit and watch the dog...

Needless to say there are no pictures of me dragging her inside sreaming and crying because she didn't want to come inside and get dressed :-(

in-VISIBLE-ly Human...

2011-01-08T03:41:00.012-05:00

"Hi, my name is Aida and I'm calling from...(a click, then silence)OH??! Man, they just hung up on me..."

I must repeat those lines at least 3 or 4 times a day..you see I'm a telemarketer. OK, before you moan and groan, I don't ask for money or try to sell stuff. It's one of the things I like about my job - I only ask for donations of household discards and old clothing, but this is not a plug for my job or a solicitation for goods, no this is about the down side to my job - rude people.

First some background - yes, I'm college educated and yes, I have owned my own company before so it's not lack of education or skills that have me behind the phones. It's more a matter of circumstance. See, when the economy began its downward turn so did my company, shortly after closing my flower shop I found out I was pregnant, which brings me here. Lack of high paying jobs won't cut the mustard when you have to pay for daycare. I chose a job that would pay me what I needed for now and give me the freedom to be home with my toddler. Maybe not ideal, but I am grateful.

Like I said, I don't sell anything, I'm not a bill -collector, not that I'm advocating being rude to people in this line of work, but as a phone owner myself I can see how people in sales or bill-collecting can press the wrong button or be entirely too pushy. Because of the nature of my job, I can't be pushy - a "no" is a "no"- otherwise you might tell me you have something you don't and it counts against me. If a person says no - I move on.

Daily, I try my best to do my do my job with a smile on my face and with good cheer, but what has prompted me to write this post is that despite my best efforts people (and lawdy -their children) can be extremely rude. I can't tell you how many times I've been cussed out, hung up on, prank called, threatened and, unbeknownst to them, brought to tears. Some days are worse than others and thankfully, most days are bearable.

I'm writing because I truly believe that if you like reading my blog - you're a person who cares about the world and the welfare of people and maybe you haven't given much thought about the telemarketers that call your home. Honestly, before I started this job, I didn't think about the person on the other end of the phone line, either. I didn't think that perhaps they're fighting their way through the day, or maybe they hate their job and my rude behavior may not be helping. I have a friend that's a debt collector, knee high in debt herself, she hates what she has to do, but she like the rest of us, has to pay bills and feed her kids, too. Get the connection?

I know many telemarketers can be rude and pushy, but really as you can see from my introduction to this post, sometimes before the words are fully out of my mouth, people are already slamming down the phone. I don't know what the rules are for bill collectors or sales people, maybe they are trained to push, but I'm not and with over 300+ calls to make daily in a short period of time, I welcome the kind person that respectfully requests I take them off the list.(no problem...with pleasure...)

So the next time someone calls your phone, unless it's a machine, try not to just hang-up as a knee-jerk reaction. Try to remember there's a human being on the other end and, please... try to be human, too.

BE blessed

My Resolve...

2011-01-01T16:07:00.008-05:00

It's no secret that I, like many others, have a problem with keeping up with my own New Year's resolutions. Truth is, I gave up making resolutions years ago. I would say my only resolution is 'to do my best'. Noble as it may sound-- it's really a cop out and a resolution that, truthfully, doesn't work. I'll explain why in a minute...

Ok, maybe like me, many of you, my dear readers, fall short of following through with your resolutions and maybe like me you are tempted to give up on the idea of creating any new ones, but before you do let me propose an idea to you...

What if making a resolution isn't as much as setting a goal and achieving it, as it is about the fact that you set the goal in the first place - "setting the pace", if you will, giving you something to aim for - even if you don't complete it, at least you started. That's why my resolution of doing my best doesn't work. It doesn't give me a goal to strive for, it doesn't even give me a reference point-- best? as in, better than what?

I know it can be discouraging to begin a thing and not finish, but if you can just start..just begin - that itself is an achievement. So what if its the same goal year after year (Scripture says "the race is not given to the swift, but to he that endures)just the fact that it's on your mind so much may motivate you one day to actually complete it. Make that resolution so much that you get so tired of seeing it you make the final decision to see it through! You never know it may get addicting and before you know it - you may do it every year!

But...Whoa! Before you going running head first into the new year with every resolution you have ever made in tow...I've compiled a little list of my own that I hope will help you and me, too,to set some realistic goals. I'm also offering to post my own list of resolutions with an invitation to not only track my progress (or lack thereof), but to share yours and so we can encourage and inspire each other. That my friends is a really tall order since I do not like to type, but for those willing to take on the challenge I'm willing to try!

So - as for setting resolutions - may I suggest -

#1 - Start small - yes you may want to lose 50 pounds or reorganize your whole house, but how about if you start with 10 pounds and reorganizing the family room and hall closet. There's no law saying you have to wait until New Year's day to make a resolution, you can always add more resolutions later in the year if you happen to complete the smaller ones.

#2 - Make sure your resolutions are your own and not what you THINK you should be doing - or worse, what some else thinks you should be doing. Make sure you are not comparing your goals or desires against anyone else either - own your own stuff -nothing will strengthen your resolve more.

#3 - Less is more ...along the lines of tip number 1...don't make your goals too lofty or have too many...maybe one in each area or your life or how about two major ones - you really can add more later(get the hint?)

#4 - Write them out and post them! If you don't want to post them, then, at the very least, write them out and put them somewhere you can access them. Believe me even if you just write them out that's a big step toward making it real in your subconscious. I can't tell you how many times I've wrote a list of goals and forgot about them only to find my list at a later date and was still able to cross some things off as completed, but a word of caution, this is the "hit or miss" method and not the most effective -- we're going for effective here.

#5 SHARE (and...don't share) -- share only with those people you are absolutely sure will support your decisions and won't take the "wind out of your sails"...also dont share with too many people even if they will all be supportive of you or you will take the "wind out of your own sails". There have been studies that show just the act of sharing a goal can give you the feeling of satisfaction of completing the goal - we don't want that - we want the real thing!

#6 Make some "intangible" goals - I know it sounds counter to what I said initially but I'm not talking about some vague goals or blanket statements. what I'm talking about here are things you can't see, touch hold or measure other than in the way you feel or the way it makes others feel...like I will make an effort to laugh everyday or I will try to make just one person smile everyday...

Finally -- #7 -Take your resolve serious, but be easy on the results. Let's face it - you can't achieve something if you don't focus and take it seriously. We've all seen the results of that at some point in our lives I'm sure, but the truth is life happens and in the end we're human. I'm not giving you an out..I'm just saying if it doesn't pan out -- dust yourself off and try again...and keep trying till it's done, but do it without remorse, regret or condemnation - Just keep going. (remember that race?)

and remember you are not alone in this... many have tried and failed and many have tried and won!

Either way...
Be Blessed

by the way -- I will be posting my resolutions..I'm just doing some editing myself...

PS - they're ready find them here

ART: Mami Hispanola

2010-12-22T12:05:00.000-05:00

This one's for my mom...

ART: Mercedes

2010-12-22T12:01:00.002-05:00

this one reminds me of my sister Mercedes "Cusie" (RIP)

Slacking Off...

2010-11-03T22:48:00.013-04:00

Ok, I admit it - I've been slacking... I say I want to write (& I do) but then my blog goes lacking...

For those of you that are interested - I have been busy working on some stuff...I have started painting, again - I've also begun to include some other fun and useful items to my "collection of goodies". ( like jewelry and handmade journals -- yay!

I've nearly completed my motivational/ Life coaching Program (It's called the Lighthouse Program). I'm currently working with some people to get it launched!

I know it doesn't seem like much, but coupled with my other "activities", such as working and mommy-ing (I'm a poet - I can use words like that)I've been quite busy.

So the updates:

Yes - new work will be posted soon

Yes - I know it's November and it's NANOWRIMO month so, yes - I do plan to try again if anyone is interested in joining me - I am a few days behind, but apparently my sister is right on target...phooey -I'm jellie...

Yes - it's November, which means that the baking has begun! If you don't already know, during the holidays I encourage everyone to bake at least one batch of cookies, a cake or or pie with or for someone you love in memory of my little girl and for the sake of spending time with family( you can find the blog entry in my archives ) - so,please, please please "Bake a Batch of love" with your loved ones this year!

and yes - I still have plenty to write about, but if you know me - you know I'm not into typing - Yet. (trying to psych myself out - maybe I need to get one of those speaking programs)

Those are just the highlights...plan to be back before the end of the month...

until then...
Be blessed

(oh and comment me with all the yummy goodies you guys are baking...maybe even some pics?)

VIDEO/Poetry: I am the woman & How Beauty-Full

2010-08-12T23:46:00.003-04:00

VIDEO/Poetry: Preciosa

2010-08-12T23:38:00.003-04:00

VIDEO/Poetry: My Me is Finally Free

2010-08-12T23:34:00.001-04:00

WHATS THE BEST PART ABOUT BEING A MOTHER?

2010-06-04T11:16:00.003-04:00

This may sound corny, but... The best part of being a mom is seeing my kids laugh and smile... from my toddler to my married daughter, whenever I see one of them laughing or smiling - I light up inside!

Ask me anything

Today, I wrote LOVE on Her Arms...

2010-04-21T12:51:00.004-04:00

Today is "To Write Love on her arms Day" - To draw attention to depression, suicide, self-injury and addiction

http://www.twloha.com/vision/

The following was written with permission from my daughter:

Today I wrote LOVE on her arms. I used the faded lines of the marks left behind from when she used to cut herself. Thankfully, they have almost faded completely away, but I used the few faint lines I could find to begin to write the word: L…O…V…E.. then I embellished it as pretty as I could before sending her to school. The girl is my daughter Gigi, who, at the tender age of 11 began to cut herself.

She’s 15, now, and no longer does it. Years of love, counseling, self-help and lots of prayer! have helped her to find alternative ways to deal with her emotions, but unless you’ve been there yourself, you have no idea how scary it can be to see your little girl’s arm bleeding from cut marks. To be honest, I thought that was something little white girls did for attention(no offense meant), I never thought the problem would be more than just knocking at my front door; it would be setting up shop in my home.

She hid it for a long time. I saw changes in her behavior I really didn’t understand: moodiness, defiant behavior, lashing out - then silence, I knew some of the signs were signs of depression, but what I didn’t know that after the lashing out and then subsequent silence, she was hiding in the room – cutting herself – then hiding the evidence with long sleeved shirts. I, honestly can’t recall when I first saw the shocking sight, I just remember feeling numb (and dumb) when I did. How could I have missed the signs?! What if I didn’t find out until it was too late? (many cutters try suicide) For a long time, I lived in fear of have an argument with her because I was afraid of what she might do to herself…

But I did find out in time and thankfully she has responded well to therapy. We still deal with the depression on occasion, but we’re working on that together. I'm also glad she taking such an active role in her own recovery.

So today, I wrote LOVE on her arms and on her sister’s arms and on mine, too. Not just for her, but for me & for my mother, for my nephew that committed suicide, for the family members and friends I’ve personally known that have conquered depression and addiction and for those still struggling to recover…

And for those that are wishing someone would help them…

so..Please,for today, write LOVE on your arms.

Be blessed.

It's in the Mail...

2010-03-06T21:23:00.005-05:00

I don’t know about you, but every time I hear the US Postal Service is in trouble, I shudder. I do...literally. Yes, I know, we are all about the emails these days or if you can’t catch up that way there’s always Facebook and Myspace, not to mention text messaging, Twitter and a myriad of other online social networks to help you keep up with family – and total strangers, for that matter. Having an event? Send an E-vite. Birthday coming up? Send an E-card. Paying bills? Do it online.

So what’s the big deal right? Well, although I love the fact that MySpace and Facebook have given me the opportunity to contact old friends and family that I otherwise would have probably lost contact of - possibly forever -there’s nothing like the feeling of getting something good in the mail.

Just the other day, my baby sister decided to something special for one of my daughters. She knit her a scarf with a matching headband, bought her some funky jewelry, bright nail polish, a fashion book, two cards of encouragement and bunch of other stuff that would excite most teenage girls. Then she packed it all in a USPS box, addressed it to “Princess Gigi of the Fairies”, marked it “Priority” mail, and sent it off. Mind you, my daughter didn’t know of the package, but I did and everyday I’d excitedly go and check the mail (you know, in case it came early).

The Post office was certainly on its job and just as promised – three days later the package arrived! My daughter wasn’t home, but I still called my sister and let her know that we had received it. Now it was her turn to get excited! You could feel the anticipation in the air; me walking around the package tempted to open it -my sister calling and text messaging – “Is she there yet?” -You would think we were the ones receiving it!

When my other daughter came home from school, she too, got excited about the contents of the package sitting on the table and before she could get sad for not having one of her own, I told her that her aunt was already preparing a box just for her. Just the thought of knowing a package would be coming for her was enough to put a grin on her face from ear to ear!

When Gigi finally got home we ALL stood around her as she opened her box and emptied out its contents. We tried on her scarf and matching headband, listened as she read her cards aloud and commented on how the jewelry choices her aunt made were so perfectly suited for her. And when the excitement died down, she quietly went into her room to call her aunt and thank her.

Bottom line is, I’ve never had this experience with an email. No matter how great. I know there are thousands of font styles out there, but none can equal even the worst handwriting when it’s in the form of a letter written just for you and sent in the mail. I doubt future movies with romantic plots will have people getting just as excited over finding their grandmas old emails as people get when they find a stack of love letters hidden in the attic.

I write because I love the feel of pen to paper. Period. Do I enjoy the fact that typing is faster?, of course. Do I find it exciting that, as a blog writer, my writings have the potential to reach the world via the internet?, of course I do! I even enjoy the occasional funny or inspirational email or connecting with distant friends online, but to me, nothings beats good, old fashioned, most times reliable, sometimes not, too slow for most people –snail-mail…

The Post office go out of business? Heaven forbid…

May you be blessed with some “good” mail today…

A smile or a fingernail?

2010-02-23T23:15:00.006-05:00

Since I was a little girl I have always been a stargazer. I remember watching my first lunar eclipse (as much as I could stay awake for) when I was about 12 years old…amazingly it was centered right at the very end of Flatbush avenue, I felt like God did that just for me - just so I could see it.

I’m still a stargazer, to this very day and it doesn’t matter to me, whether it is during the day or late into the evening. I’m always excited when I spot something that appears new or unusual (to me) and just as I thought as a child, sometimes I feel like God is showing off…just so I can see…

Needless to say, I’ve raised my children with this same stargazing mindset….we take finding shapes in the clouds to completely new levels and we get excited, collectively, when we hear of some phenomenon going on in the sky. If I’m outside and see something interesting – I’ll run inside and call them out – if they see something interesting they do the same for me. {As matter of fact, about two years ago, they saw a bright comet in the sky one night and called me out to see it….silly me, I assumed that it was a falling star and I’d miss it any way so I didn’t go out, but apparently it wasn't and was bright in the sky for a long time! I ended up missing it! :-( ... But I digress…}

With this in mind, imagine my excitement when my eldest daughter – now, married and living out of the house – called me one night to tell me that I had to run outside and see the moon! She said that it made her “happy” because in her words: “God’s smiling at me”. So despite the cold weather, I got my slippers and wrap and quickly went outside to see “God Smiling”. Talking to myself, I asked God if He was going to smile at me too. But when I get out there I saw no moon. I continued a little further out, hoping it wasn’t lost behind the trees or a building and there; behind the house was this big ole “Cheshire cat grin” crescent moon. It‘s rare for me to see the crescent moon in that way, but it gave me reason to smile and laugh along with my baby girl because God "smiled" at me too!

The next day, I told her of my experience and asked her if she shared the Smiling moon with her husband and she said she had, but that he didn’t see a smiling moon – what he saw was a "fingernail", as if God were pointing downward…like “look at you!’’.

Now, I’m not saying my son-in-law believes God was judging him, or her for that matter, but I found the response rather odd and it made me think what about others? I just assumed that everyone would see the moon and think “smile”; a fingernail was the furthest thing from mind…

So I pose this question to you…how do you see God? Is God a "smile" or a "fingernail" to you? Do you think He’s taking every opportunity to smile at you? Or do you think He’s pressing down His finger of judgment?

Do you think He delights in you? Or do you think He's fault-finding?

Don't get me wrong, sometimes we mess up, but if our hearts are sincere and we ask forgiveness and turn away from the ways that would bring disappointment, then He smiles with us...and at us...

Here's to God "smiling" down on you!

Be Blessed

If you want to help Haiti

2010-01-25T17:39:00.001-05:00

The following Information came from the group page of "Earthquake Haiti" on Facebook ... it's a great source of information for anyone interested in the Haitian Crisis

SEARCHING FOR RELATIVES

ICRC Family Links website revamped making it easier to check for missing relatives. Visit www.icrc.org

HAITI EMERGENCY CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS:

Anyone attempting to connect with family members or friends traveling or living in the region should call the On Call International hotline: 800-576-5172. Or, they can call On Call International collect at 603-328-1924. Callers should have as much information as possible readily available at the time of call, including tour operator name, itineraries, hotel information or cell phone numbers.U.S. citizens in Haiti can call the Embassy’s Consular Task Force at 509-2229-8942, 509-2229-8089, 509-2229-8322, or 509-2229-8672. To get help or find information in Haiti call: 1888-404-4747 or 202-332-4090, you can also call signal FM at: 305-407-2119.

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747.

Family News Network of the International Committee of the Red Cross - Haiti - Earthquake 2010 - Locate your relatives go to: http://www.familylinks.icrc.org/WFL_HTI.NSF/DocIndex/locate_eng?opendocument

WARNING:

We are aware that so many of you want to lend your immediate support. We ask that you only donate to legitimate relief organizations at this time. The administrators of this page will help create a list of local orgs in Haiti, US orgs and other international orgs. Please beware there will be many scammers and illegitimate orgs and fundraisers that will try to trick you. This is not a time to profit off of the death and misery of millions of Haitian people.

http://www.icrc.org
http://WWW.REDCROSS.ORG
http://WWW.REDCROSS.CA
http://WWW.YELE.ORG
http://WWW.CLINTONFOUNDATION.ORG
http://4636.ushahidi.com/search_post.php

Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 Yéle Foundation, founded by Wyclef Jean | Text "Haiti" to 20222 to donate $10 on behalf of The Clinton Foundation | Text "Haiti" to 90999 to donate $10 on behalf of the Red Cross

In the meantime feel free to visit www.cnn.com/impact

FIND FAMILY IN HAITI

To search for missing family visit www.cnn.com/haitimissing

Also for further information on Help for Haiti please visit the White House website at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/01/13/help-haiti

CANADA:

Text 'Haiti' to 45678 to donate 5 dollars to the Canadian Salvation Army Earthquake Relief. To verify see: http://www.salvationarmy.ca/textdonations/

Just a word...

2010-01-15T02:44:00.006-05:00

Ok, I'm going to do my best not to get preachy, which would be all too easy to do in this situation...but this whole Haiti thing has me shook-up. No it's not the Pat Robertson thing -I'll leave that alone- it's the fact that it's only been a few days since the earthquake rocked Haiti and so many people in the "social media worlds" (Twitter, Facebook, Myspace etc.) are going about their business as if something catastrophic hasn't just happened.

Mind you, I don't expect anyone, especially anyone that hasn't been personally affected by the quake on some personal level, to go all out, but I'm sure I'm not the only person that has seen people posting requests for loved ones and asking that we (the readers)pass them on...

Now come-on...if I can get all of those silly apps on Facebook(like the "RIP MJ pillow fight"...huh?) or one of those ridiculous email chain letters...come on you know the one...yes..that one..the one you sent "just in case"... or read the (sometimes) mindless babble of people that want to make sure I'm a part of every aspect of their lives...then surely, at least for a little while, I can stand to read through the requests and pass them on for everyone else to see..."just in case"...because this "just in case" might really be a matter of life and death...

just saying...

Be Blessed

Wyclef is trying to do his part...will you help?

2010-01-15T02:35:00.003-05:00

This is for US citizens...use your cell phone and it will come up on your bill...

Say a Prayer for Haiti...

2010-01-15T02:31:00.001-05:00

No I'm not Haitian...just Human...

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T04:33:00.005-05:00

Well, It's 2010 and didn't want to start the New year off by procrastinating on writing in my blog. Most people have "lose weight" on their list year after year -- mine is "stop procrastinating", a habit that has dominated my new year's resolutions for far too long!! So even if it's this tiny little entry...I did it!!

BLahhhh! <(sticking out tongue to the procrastination monster)

Looking forward to more...

Be blessed

So you want to know about: My Dream Job

2009-12-30T23:41:00.006-05:00

What would your dream job look like?

My dream job would give me room to be creative, make my own hours- would allow me to work in the office and from home - provide paid travel and be very understanding when it comes to my responsibilities as a parent -- that's a dream job!

Ask me anything

2009-12-23T16:49:00.001-05:00

PHONE ENTRY- New entries coming soon... until then..Merry Christmas!

Speaking of gifts:

2009-12-18T13:34:00.002-05:00

My 14 year old daughter paid me an awesome compliment tonite... She read my blog and said I was a really good blog writer and she enjoys my style of writing as much as she enjoyed reading "Twilight" - Wow! I'm still on cloud 9

"BAKE A BATCH OF LOVE"

2009-12-15T09:41:00.008-05:00

As you already know - I dedicated my last 6 blog entries to the "spirit" of Christmas and gift-giving... What you probably don't know is that in January - it will be the one year anniversary of the death of one of my little girls. If you don't mind -I don't want to get into details -- I just want to get to the heart of my post...

See..I had been promising the girls we were going to bake for the holiday season, but one thing after another kept postponing it. When we FINALLY had an opportunity to bake -- that very day in fact - we lost her to a tragic accident...

So why the post? I just want to remind you - tomorrow is not promised - so today, while you can - "bake a batch of love" with your family and please, tell your friends and other family members to do the same. My girls and I got started early this year - we've learned -no more putting it off!

Above you'll see our first batch of cookies(we've since baked much, much more) - the heart wasn't planned...it just came out that way

A sign? I hope so...

Be Blessed

Speaking of Giving...

2009-12-14T17:00:00.000-05:00

Check out this lovely "boho" scarf my little sister made just for me as a Christmas gift!!! And - it was a surprise!!!
The pictures just don't do it justice!

Gift Giving on a Budget -Intro - Part I -The "spirit" of Christmas

2009-12-14T15:33:00.002-05:00

Gift Giving on a Budget - Part I

This blog is going to get broken up into 4 parts ..the intro...the tips in two parts...and then some interesting Christmas facts.

In the past I have given many classes on a variety of subjects - including gift- giving on a budget. This year I wanted to share the class with my new home church and while I was preparing the class the Lord lead me to push a step further... so what started out as a one page class - turned into - as the Lord would have it- an in-depth class on gift-giving and the "spirit" of Christmas. We all had a blast in the class and I hope you enjoy the tips as much as everyone else did!

*** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~ *** ~~~

So what is the "spirit" of Christmas?

Well, most of us have heard over and over about how its about honoring the birth of Jesus and with rote memorization can speak on the importance of Christ's birth...even more I hear of people saying how they celebrate the true meaning of Christmas with their families ii I'm not knocking anyone, but the Lord led me to a scene in a movie - "The Grinch that Stole Christmas"(the original cartoon & book) of all things and had me ask...

How many of us; after hours of holiday shopping, picking out the perfect gifts - after hours of putting up the tree and placing every tiny detail of our holiday decorations up on the walls and the outside of the house etc... and after buying and preparing the food for a fine Christmas feast to share with our families, would, upon awakening Christmas morning, to find it all gone - grab our children and our neighbor's hands and go outside with singing and rejoicing for this glorious day?? (remember they did not cry and scream and call the police first)

Let's take it a step further... how many of us upon learning who the culprit was - because he turns himself in - would, in the true "spirit" of Christmas - forgive him and have him sup with us that evening? For those of you that answered- "I would!" - let me commend you - you really have this Jesus thing down - for the rest of us - we got some re-thinking to do:

Ask yourself:

Why do we(as a society) give gifts at Christmas?
Why do I give gifts at Christmas?
Do I enjoy Christmas or has it become a chore? (If it's become a chore – it's time to re-evaluate)
Who is on my gift-giving list?
Are these the people I truly ”know” & care about enough to give a gift to?
What is my “true” Christmas budget? By true budget I mean how much you can reasonable spend without: borrowing money, going into debt, foregoing paying your bills and/or tithes and/or falling short financially for the months ahead
How can I make this Christmas more meaningful – for me and those I love?

Consider:
What are you favorite Christmas memories? Why?
How many actual “gifts” do you remember? Why?
What made them(it) important to you?
Was it the actually gift?, The reason for the gift...,what the gift meant to you.. or
Was it the experience you associated with the gift?

Now try to recreate that for someone you love...

Remember:
Be Thoughtful
Be Creative
Be Cheerful
Be Generous, but also
Be Wise/Mindful

Let's be conscientious giver's and gracious receivers!

Be Blessed!
Part II - below...

Gift Giving tips: Part II

2009-12-13T09:00:00.001-05:00

Gift-giving Part II

Give a gift of the Heart:
Eccl 11:1, Proverbs: 16:24

No cost:

Write a song or a poem – no matter how corny it may sound to you – it will be special to the other person
Write a letter – WRITE a letter – email is only acceptable in this case if there is no other way for the person to receive the letter, except via email.
Make it personal
Do it in your own handwriting – even if it stinks – if it's illegible, even to you, then and only then, can you type the letter, but it must be printed - then sent
Don't just write a 3 line note – make it a letter that conveys your true feelings for the person
Make it about blessing the person with your love – no venting or bringing up old hurts
tell this person how much you love them/ care about them and /or appreciate them being in you life and why.
Add a prayer or a blessing just for them that they can read over and over.
Or tell them all the things you'd love to buy them if you had the money
Add a “picture Wish list”(optional)
Place it in a pretty envelope and put in a box...present it as a gift...don't just hand it to them.

Make a “Picture Wish List” - taking old(or new) magazines make a collage of all the things that you would get the person if you had the money – nothing is too big or too small! Glue them onto a sheet of paper(or more). Add stickers and or cut out words and phrases from the magazine (or add your own). Once its dry -fold neatly & fit it into a card or a box...you can sprinkle the inside of your folded paper with glitter for more effect when they open it. Place a note card on top for them to read before they open their “gift” that says something like “If this world were mine...” or “If I were a rich man...I 'd give you...” etc... be creative!

No cost to low cost:

~Make a special music CD – be mindful of the music you choose
~Find out what their interests are and buy them a magazine subscription
~But them a gift certificate to their favorite store or restaurant (any amount)
~Buy them a book on their favorite subject
~put together a “theme basket” or mug - with inexpensive items
~Is there something you own you know they would really like? Consider parting with it...remember to do it cheerfully and without regret – once you give it – it's theirs!

Give a gift of Your Time:

I John 3:18

No cost to low cost:
An elderly family member in a nursing home
A friend or family member in need of help cleaning garage or painting room
A single mom (or a couple) in need of a babysitter from time to time
A loved one with no transportation in need of a ride
Someone you know that's incarcerated and could use visitors
Be creative... look around see where your time would be a better use of your efforts, especially if you have no money

When giving this kind of gift remember:

This is a GIFT... no strings attached
If you really don't want to do a chore and you know you aren't going to follow through then don't offer it.
Be a person of your word – if you gave the offer – then follow though with it
Create a “Coupon” - don't just tell them their gift, create a pretty certificate or coupon and present them with it
Be sure the coupon or presentation is clear on any limitations: such as not on Fridays or Sundays during church hours, only good for x amount of hours and to used by, etc... be specific... you want this to be enjoyable for all parties involved!
after presenting the gift - try to sit and nail down an exact time and day that's good for all parties involved
Be sure to mark your calendar and follow through!
Don't wait for the receiver to contact you or remind you! You call them to confirm or better yet show up ready as promised! This YOUR gift to Them!

Give a gift of Your Talents

Do you have a gift or a talent that another person could benefit from? Maybe it's something
they need, could use or would love to learn? (Lessons, consultations, workshops, etc. can be expensive – your expertise is valuable)

The same principles as above go for this type of gift, as well. Be sure that you include all that is and is NOT included in your gift...and the duration of the gift
Remember the “longer” the gift goes for - the greater the value
Some examples of great talents to share: Sewing, art, knitting/crocheting, massage, spa, cooking, cosmetology, photography, Financial, Legal services, etc...

Give a gift of ”Filling a Need”

low – high:

Very similar to the above gifts, except that instead of fulfilling a need with your time – you opt instead to fill the need with your resources – especially financial. Instead of buying a gift consider:

Paying a bill for a month or more
Investing in a friend's business – a little or a lot every bit counts(If you can not “invest” in their business – BUY something from them to give as a gift to someone else... )
Take someone shopping: what do they need?
Clothes?
Food? (You can do this with food-stamps)
Household goods? - Toiletries?

Be Creative...and thoughtful...remember these are people you care about

Be Blessed
Part III - Below...

Gift-Giving - Part III

2009-12-12T09:00:00.003-05:00

Gift-Giving Part III

Give a gift of ”Food”

No cost to high cost:

A little different from going shopping for a person (or taking them shopping for groceries)

~Bake a batch of Cookies or a cake and wrap it up pretty or place in inexpensive airtight containers. Now they are so inexpensive you can give them to a person without the hopes of getting your container back

~In a clear jar: layer the ingredients to your favorite cake or cookie recipe so it makes pretty layers – ex. one layer of flour, one layer of brown sugar, another layer of flour, one layer of chocolate chips, one layer of sugar. **Be sure that the layers are the exact amounts needed for the recipe so that all the recipient has to do is pour the mixture into a bowl and add any additional liquid ingredients( such as eggs or milk etc) to make the baked goodies. Make sure it’s packed in tightly and wrap the top with a layer of pretty fabric and a ribbon bow. Be sure to include the recipe and instructions!

~Fruit Baskets & “Gourmet” Baskets make nice gifts for large families. They are fairly inexpensive to but at the store but even less expensive to make yourself.
Consider collecting all of the families recipes and making them into a cookbook – In this way you’re giving “History” and Food.

Give a gift of ”History”

No cost to high cost:

Consider how many of the older people in your family are getting on in years, think of how many years of history and memories that could be shared with the younger generation would be lost if someone doesn’t take the time to jot down those memories now!

Ok- for this you’re going to need a bunch of dedicated family members, preferably the patient ones with good handwriting or just patient enough to sit and listen and ask questions.

You will need:

~A pad (or a voice recorder – with extra tapes) – You may also want to consider using a video camera

~A list of questions to ask -you can find lots of books on the subject or find sites online with helpful suggestions
People willing to transcribe the information into a word processing program – simply put: someone willing to type it all up into the computer

With no budget:
Send it via email

low budget:
Print out onto paper – punch holes and keep in a binder or make several for family members

Mid to high Budget:
Make into actual books. There are several online programs to help you put your ideas into bound books…Also consider scanning pictures and adding them to your book(s)

Give a gift of ”Nostalgia”

Remember all those old memories you shared with your family coming up? How many of your cousins now live in other parts of the country or the world, even? How about scanning all those pictures you (or your mama) have of all those memories and posting them online to share with other family members. Each of the other members can do the same for you - if your budget really allows, you can even print them out to share, as well.

Give a gift of ”Creativity”

Low to high

~Make something with your own hands – don’t worry if it’s not perfect just make it with love

~Buy something from an “Indie shop” – every city has independent shop owners with artisans that can use your support. If not there are plant of great artisans online to choose from

~Make a Craft box filled with lots of crafty goodies for the family to share and make together!

Give a gift of Family Time

~Buy a game board for the family to play together

~Buy a game console with games the whole family can play – the great thing about the Wii is that anyone can play it

~Start a new family tradition and make it personal for your family like sharing every Christmas Eve at grandmas house

Give a gift of New Memories

Just like sharing Christmas Eve together every year, consider- instead of gifts – the gift of new memories for example:

~Instead of spending the money on toys - take the family to Disneyworld for a week or visit a family or friend that lives out of state. Be sure to set-up the accommodations ahead of time. When you get there- be a tourist- not a couch potato!

~Consider spending the month going to all the movies that come out for the holidays or rent holiday videos all month long and watch them with the kids

~Make gifts together everyday until Christmas

~Or instead of giving gifts for Christmas – give gifts on the Epiphany Jan 6th

“Resources”

Stores:
DollarTree
Dollar General
Walmart
Target

Joanns**
Michael’s**
Hobby Lobby**
**lots of great stuff to make or use with your projects, plus knowledgeable staff & free craft sheets for ideas

Online:
Too many blogs and craft sites to mention, but type in craft blogs into your search engine and have fun!

Some of my favorites are:
www.hellomynameisheather.com
www.cutoutandkeep.net
www.marthastewart.com
www.wilton.com
www.michaels.com
www.burdastyle.com

for some indie shops online:
www.etsy.com
www.artfire.com

check me out at www.latinapheonix.etsy.com

Pictures and books:

www.walgreens.com
www.blurb.com ++
www.mypublisher.com ++
www.shutterfly.com **
**Unlimited picture storage
++Website that helps you create your own “picture books”

Hope you got a lot of new ideas about gift giving!
Be Blessed!
Interesting Christmas facts below...

Gift Giving - Interesting Christmas Facts

2009-12-11T01:00:00.000-05:00

~ The 12 days of Christmas are from December 25th – January 6
~ January 6 is called the epiphany and it it considered the day that the Maji (wise men) came to visit the Lord and gave Him gifts – this is the widely recognized reason why we give gifts at Christmas now
~ Gift giving at Christmas, as we do now, is a fairly new tradition
~ Christmas became a national Holiday in 1870
~ Candy Canes represent Christ: held one way they are the shape of a “J” (for Jesus) and the other way the represent the Shepard's Hook. Of the stripes? Red for the blood and white for innocence... what a great witnessing tool!

The Twelve Days of Christmas:
(Found on: http://www.abcog.org/12days.htm)

One partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
Four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
Six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit: prophesy, serving, teaching, exhortation, contribution, leadership, and mercy.
Eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
From here on, the order is different from the original song!
Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
Eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
Twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.
Information from Catholic Information and Urban Legends websites

2009-12-01T21:15:00.002-05:00

PHONE ENTRY... random thought...You gave your whole life to be the person you are today-was it worth it? (Richard Bach-"One")

ART - "The Restoration of Gomer"

2009-11-12T09:19:00.003-05:00

She's baaaccckkkk...

2009-06-17T02:07:00.000-04:00

She's baaaccckkkk...

Before I write my first blog post, in years, I just wanted to stop and say thank you to those of you that have supported my work - both literary and artistic - your support has always meant soooo much to me..

My plan is to get back to the business of doing what God has blessed me so well to do and I truly hope that you will all rejoin me on this journey and, hopefully, bring some friends along...

Sigh of the Times

2007-11-27T09:24:00.001-05:00

"Sigh" O’’ the Times
Current mood: disappointed

"Sign of the the times, mess with your mind

Hurry before it's too late"

"Sign O' the Times"...Prince

For those of you that have followed me through the years, you know that once a year I try, albeit without too much success, to write a novel every November with the Nanowrimo website challenge. This year was no exception, but this year it was different.

You see, I have been a Prince fan since about the age of 12. His music has enraptured me inspired me, kept me in touch with God, and lifted my spirits on more occasions than even I can remember. So this year I decided that my novel would be inspired by his music. In "Stay in the Sunshine", a unique story of an unlikely friendship, I created characters with names that were inspired by names he helped make famous; Wendy, Lisa, Nate and throughout the novel I had written, so far, I had taken excerpts from song lyrics to set the mood for various chapters and scenes.

So, what happened? To be honest –Prince happened. He decided to sue 3 of his most popular websites. He had cease and desist orders placed on each one notifying them that they could no longer use his images or song lyrics on their sites…bummer. So upon hearing the news my vim and vigor for my novel went, well, flat and I have since stopped writing it.

I guess secretly I had hoped that I would write this stunning piece of work and I would then write to my longtime idol for permission to use his work as the source of inspiration, but alas, upon hearing the news I knew it would be "no go". Even my best friend redid her myspace page so that the ever famous "symbol" that was once his name would no longer adorn her page – such a shame.

While as an artist, I can respect what it is he is trying to do, as a fan I am deeply disappointed in his decision. There are so many fans that are moved by his work, myself included. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've played his music over and over during times of despair because it "spoke" to me or how many fond memories I have surrounding his music. Now, as I wait for the rest of the drama unfurl, I wonder how many people will be more turned off by him than turned on.

Maybe if he hears from enough of us he'll have a change of heart and I can get back to my novel…

Maybe…

We'll see.

One Day

2007-10-23T09:50:00.003-04:00

One Day

How did you start your day today? Was it a lazy breezy slow wake, the kind where your internal clock tells you its time to get up and start your day or was it alarm going; you jumping up and running about preparing yourself to face yet another day? Maybe it was some variation of the two…

Either way, did you stop and say thank you? Thank you God or Great universe or whatever you call the Creator/Light? Thank you, I'm here & thank you for – you fill in the blanks. Don't think you can? At the very least remember a new day is a new chance to try again, to make today better, to fix the mistakes to right the wrongs or at least to breath and if you're reading this blog –see.

It only takes one day to change your life – for the good or the bad – just one day. Really if you want to get technical – one moment -can change everything. Just ask anyone that has lost a loved one or was in a car accident or got some news today- the kind of news that lets you know your life will never be the same- like winning the lottery.

What if you knew today would be your last…I'm sure you would approach it differently. Maybe you would take more time to tell your family you love them or maybe you would seek to know God a little better…knowing this would be your last day on earth, you might want to be in closer contact with your creator. Maybe you would wear that outfit you've been wanting to wear, but haven't dared because …(insert list here). Maybe knowing that today it will all change, might change your mind about a lot of things.

I'm not saying you should live your life in "gloom and doom" mentality, on the contrary, I'm saying you should live your life to the fullest! Stop making excuses, stop putting it off until tomorrow, stop over analyzing every minute detail out of fear of getting it wrong because tomorrow…you might not have a chance to do it at all.

I've had many life changing moments occur in my life, some good and some… not so much, but I can say that as a result I am more apt to wake up saying "thank you" - whenever I begin to forget, another moment will remind me– Hey! Be grateful!!

So be grateful for today, take chances today, say I love you, today, make that call, today – tell him/her you want them in your life, today! Because it only takes one day for it to all change…

And Always...
Be Blessed

Don't Duck!

2007-10-17T12:54:00.005-04:00

"Don't duck the most difficult problems. That just ensures that the hardest part will be left when you are most tired. Get the big one done - it's downhill from then on."

Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, 1898-1993
American Author and Inspirational Speaker

I received this inspirational quote in my email yesterday. I enjoy collecting inspirational sayings and reading motivational books all for the purpose of getting myself amped up to DO something…. But sometimes, too many times, I fall flat…
See...I am the queen of ducking, just read my blog entry -"Out of hiding" and my battle with procrastination is all too evident. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't get anything done…I just end up taking longer than I believe I should. Not only that, if I just handled what I need to handle when I need to handle it I would get a lot more done.

Now, if you add to the mix stress and difficult times – I all but go underground – and I avoid just about everything. I would love to say it's in my "piscearean" nature since Pisces are notorious for using escape tactics to avoid facing reality. Perhaps, to a certain degree this is true of me, too, but I am bigger than that and my strength lies not in myself, but in someone higher than me. It has become clearer to me, especially in recent weeks, I need to take the first steps, knowing God will help me the rest of the way. The harder the steps the more He shows Himself.

Like just recently, when I thought a situation was all but impossible, I took a chance and found myself in the midst of His favor and I've noticed this trend more and more in my life, but only when I stopped being afraid and stopped "hiding out" -have I seen Him "work". I guess that's what Faith is really about. Moving forward, even if you can't see the way out. Plus what I have found, just as the quote suggests, that once I get the hard stuff out of the way, once I face what I don't want to face most – the rest is easy. It's also easier to have Faith for the smaller things, knowing that God has already helped me take care of the "big" stuff.

So I have been on a mission- Making calls I don't want to make, opening mail I've left sitting because I know what's inside (yeah, I admit it), tackling that storage room (whew) and doing a myriad of other odds and ends…and you know what?- I feel soooo much better!

Hey! This might be a habit I might keep...

Out of Hiding

2007-10-12T02:05:00.001-04:00

A year has almost passed and I have not written one real blog entry. Mind you, its not that I haven't wanted to, but I have allowed time and circumstances to put me in a state of hibernation, if you will – a state of walking sleep. It's in this state that I have been hiding from the rest of the world.

As I reflect on the last year, I can see it's not just the blogging that went lacking. My art aspirations also went largely neglected, so did my poetry. Had it not been for one of my best friends, I probably would not have done any art this year at all. Oh my.

The sad part of it all is that some of the things I was inspired to write about or paint about are now lost forever in the background of my mind…yet, others still linger. So as I begin to push myself to pursue new creative endeavors, my mind is haunted with images of incomplete projects, unwritten prose and yet to be shared revelations.

All of this made me think: How do I call my self a writer and not write, how do I call myself an artist and not create? While yes all of us have our moments of "lagging", what I have done is nothing but pure procrastination. My lapse had nothing to do with a lack of inspiration. I have been inspired to write poetry. I have been inspired to write blog entries. I have been inspired to create several paintings & to finish the ones that are still not finished, but I have also chosen to put it off until later …because I don't have the time or such & such needs me right now or my business needs all my attention…until I forget and "lose the moment".

Ultimately all these excuses have culminated in a year's worth of nothing in the very areas that mean the most to me. With that in mind, I have decided to make a change: to come out of my walking hibernation and put myself out there. It doesn't matter if people read my blog or not, whether they like my poetry or they don't, whether my art moves them or it doesn't. What matters most is that it makes a world of difference to me. My spirit longs for these forms of expression to feel complete. It is for that reason that I am that I intend to push myself to be the creative person I was meant to be. To show the world and myself what I've got. To wake up and get out and come...out of hiding…

POETRY - The Tree

2007-07-07T23:52:00.000-04:00

The Tree

What if I

Were a precious seed

Off the rarest tree?

And your job

Was to implant me

Deep inside your heart…

Would you water me?

Tend to me

Regularly?

Would you check on me

Daily

To see what I need?

Or would you

Let the weeds

Of time and neglect

Overtake me

Chokin' the new shoots of love

Trying hard to grow

'cause they won't you know

& the fact that

You've taken

your gift for granted

will begin to show

as I

whither and die

'till there's nothing left inside

except an empty space

where once stood in it's place

a rare and beautiful tree

called….me

POETRY - How Beauty-Full

2006-10-27T02:12:00.001-04:00

How Beauty-Full

Hearts lay broken

Beside minds

Twisted and contorted by a society,

Lead by a leader,

Bent on its destruction…

But I, I keep my head up

Unable to see

the devastation

that lies before me

& when I hear the sound

of God's voice saying - "Look Down"

all I see is Beauty

You, you are beauty to me

Through God's eyes I see your life

In infinite possibilities

and limitless probabilities

and your beauty

though blocked by the wreckage

is no less a part of you than my own appendage

and I can no more remove my own hand

than I can remove water from the land

or your beauty from where you stand

so in the midst of the muck and mire

created by this band of liars

I see you…

& You, you are beauty from its roots

And from you emanates the light

of God's everlasting truth

and I, I am blessed to stand before it's glory

knowing that seeming end is only the beginning

of your eternal story

so remember…

no matter what the rest of this dying world sees

you will always be

living beauty to me

Repost: Does evil exist?

2006-08-04T02:20:00.002-04:00

This was reposted from an email someone sent me:

Did God create everything that exists? Does evil exist?
Did God create evil?

A University professor at a well known institution of higher learning
challenged his students with this question. "Did God create everything
that exists?"

A student bravely replied, "Yes he did!"

"God created everything?" The professor asked.

"Yes sir, he certainly did," the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything; then God created
evil. And, since evil exists, and according to the principal that our
works define who we are, then we can assume God is evil."

The student became quiet and did not respond to the professor's
hypothetical definition.. The professor, quite pleased with himself,
boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian
faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "May I ask you a question,
professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been
cold?"

The other students snickered at the young man's question.The young man
replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of
physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat.
Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy.
Absolute zero (-460 F) is the total absence of heat; and all matter
becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does
not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have
no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not
exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can
study, but not darkness. In fact, we can use Newton's prism to break
white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each
color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into
a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a
certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this
correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when
there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already
said. We see it everyday. It is in the daily examples of man's
inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence
everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist, sir, or at least it
does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is
just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the
absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what
happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's
like the cold that comes when there is no heat, or the darkness that
comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

The young man's name -- Albert Einstein

A true story.

Albert Einstein is one of my heroes --Aida

POETRY- The One

2006-06-12T09:14:00.000-04:00

The One

Fed up with superficial sensations

I'm waiting for the next elevation of intellectual conversation

I'm waiting for the man whose understanding

Is just as commanding as his African features

I'm waiting for a teacher of men

Whose roster of women include

his mama, his sister, his cousin

and maybe one or two friends

He doesn't need 9 or 10 women to define him

Just one

I'm waiting for the man one that feeds my seed with "the Son"

and Man, when he finds me

I'm done

POETRY - No words

2006-01-24T14:49:00.001-05:00

No words

What if
I took your words from you?
And you couldn’t utter “I love you”
& what if our world became one
of show and prove
Could you follow through?
Or would your lack of action
Be my final proof
That there’s no love
Could that be true?

Or would you
Somehow start anew
And show me your love
Until it grew
And neva stopped
‘till our days were through
as all the while –I showed my love for you, too

Sweet Defeat

2005-11-30T12:20:00.001-05:00

Ok...So I didn't get to the end of my powerful novel as planned for this month... Today marks the official end of Nanowrimo's National Writing Month Contest and sadly I am not a winner... Or am I?

Yes, there were obstacles along the way..including a computer crash-my home computer to be exact -and yes, I didn't even get to the 10% mark of my 50,000 word goal (I think I'm just short of 5,000 words), and no, sadly there will be no Nanowrimo Winner's Banner on my profile...But, I did, however, gain a great deal of things to feel good about...

Like:

I learned a lot! -

I learned I really can write a novel (which I thought I couldn't) if I really put my mind to it. Even today, my characters haunt me and prod me to keep writing.

I learned I am not as organized and efficient as I thought I was and I could use some extra help in the area of self- discipline...LOL.

I learned I am addicted to the computer and not necessarily in good ways (I am a game and Instant Messenger freak).

I learned I am not as productive at night as I thought I was...I write best during light hours or early evening hours.

I learned to take it easy... at first I was freaked out about not reaching my target, but then I realized there's a time to freak out and a time to re-evaluate...I re-evaluated.

I learned my children are not only very supportive of me, but they are aspiring writers, as well.

I learned its not as easy to motivate your friends as it may seem as first...and its not as easy for your friends to motivate you as you'd like to believe.

Plus:

I now have the beginnings of a novel I can be proud of and I actually began to write it...not someday...but today!

I know I'm going to do it again next year!(God willing)

Old flames have been rekindled this month and fanning them has been just as much fun as writing(wish us luck!)

Many thanks to Nanowrimo for this Opportunity! And a special "shout-out" to my girl Soulflower, she's the one that encouraged this crazy trip!

"Step into my Parlor", said the Spider...

2005-11-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

All too often I find myself in the throws of what appears to be depression. While true, I do not get depressed as often as I did when I was younger, I do still feel as though I am either depressed or getting there rapidly.

I’m realizing however that my depression is a web of my own design, made up of an intricate weave of insecurity, doubt and fear. No one else can give those things to you- you have create them for yourself. Unfortunately this week I have found myself a willing participant in the design of my own destruction.

My web, which keeps me, as webs should, paralyzed and in a state of hopelessness is growing daily and has been for the last two weeks or more. Just like any web, it was hard to see at first, but as it grew I was all too aware that I have entered into dangerous territory.

So I’m stuck, temporarily I hope, at home, at work, in my personal life and now in my writing. It’s been two days. While I should have used this time to write for my novel, I needed to release that which is impeding my progress…me.

A moment of prayer...if, you will…
Lord, I surrender to you, I release myself to your care and to a plan of your design. You know the ultimate plan for me. I willingly surrender to your flow and make you, once again, master over every area of my life. I know you will set me free. Amen.

Amen! …I feel loosed already…

A Break...

2005-11-03T13:25:00.000-05:00

In an uncharacteristic move..I shall break from posting( or at the very least sloooowwww down) during the month of November, since I will concentrating on writing my book "Butterflies Are Free".

For those of you that are writers and are interested in joining me, my children, and several thousand writers around the world during the month of November...check out www.nanowrimo.org and sign-up!

If not...I could always use encouraging words!

See you next month...I hope

ART - Digital - Butterflies Are Free Poster and Book Cover

2005-11-02T16:47:00.001-05:00

ART - B is for Butterfly

2005-11-01T16:36:00.000-05:00

POETRY - What does depression look like?

2005-10-31T15:48:00.000-05:00

Heavy Thoughts

Words, like boulders
Laid heavy on my mind
Tried as I might
To lift them
& drop them on the page
I couldn’t
There were too many
Too close together
Forming a mountain of thoughts
Too high
For my spirit to climb
And although I was weak
I began the ascent
and took on the insurmountable task
Of breaking it down
‘till I laid my heavy head down
And the images began to build
bit by bit
like sands through an hourglass
they filled my mind
& when I could not hold
one more thought
my eyelids closed
and I crashed to the bottom
in despair

©Aida Correa 2004

ART - Pensando En Ti

2005-10-28T14:32:00.001-04:00

ART - Stuck in Trees Series - Willow

2005-10-28T14:05:00.000-04:00

POETRY - Soul Satisfying Sex

2005-10-27T17:23:00.000-04:00

Soul Satisfying Sex

Sex can satisfy the body...but what of the soul?

Sex with someone you love
That loves you
Is soul satisfying…

Soul satisfying sex
Satisfies your body and soul
Souls satisfying sex lingers
It stays inside of you
Its satisfies
Even when it’s over
Its there
Even when you’re apart
The memory of it
Bring you both back to together
And you recall
The ecstasy
That is soul satisfying sex
Flesh satisfying sex
Leaves you wanting more
Like Chinese food
30 minutes later
And you’re still hungry
When your soul is satisfied
You can still imagine your lover
Surrounding you with his/her essence
You can feel their breath
You can “see” them
Looking into your eyes
You can “hear” them whisper
I love you
And you can “feel” their release
As you say
I love you, too

©Aida Correa 2005

ART - Wounded Woman Series III

2005-10-21T14:26:00.000-04:00

She is saying "I am a delicate flower" - there is laughter in the background...

©copyright 2004 Aida Correa

ART - Wounded Woman Series II

2005-10-20T14:23:00.000-04:00

ART - Wounded Woman Series I

2005-10-19T14:09:00.000-04:00

POETRY - Star Crossed Lovers

2005-10-18T14:32:00.000-04:00

Star Crossed Lovers

You and I were not meant to be
Two star-crossed lovers
Hoping for the chance at real love
The emotions are there
& I believe they are real
or, at least,
as real as they can be

We don’t share the same interests
And we don’t talk…really
Yea we joke and kid around
But honestly
I have plenty of friends for that

As many times as I try to tell you
Let’s be friends
You tell me you want more
But I’m afraid
That more with me
Will be too much for you

‘Cause you see
I want a man
That puts me first in his life
I don’t want to be
the “Afterthought”
You kno,
The thing you think about doing
after you do everything else

And you can say
As many times as you’d like
In as many ways as you’d like
That you don’t feel that way about me

But your actions speak louder
Than any words
That could ever
Leave your lips

©Aida Correa 2000

POETRY - Wanna Play?

2005-10-17T12:26:00.001-04:00

Cat & Mouse

Purring,
I share with you
Deep thoughts and profound wisdom
But the sound
Is too much
For you little ears to handle...
So you run
Like a scared little mouse
Into your private hole
Making sure not to come around
While the cats still out

©Aida Correa 2004

POETRY - A Sea of Thoughts...

2005-10-14T11:19:00.000-04:00

Thoughts flood my mind
Like rushing waters
Of white water rapids
Thrashing inside my brain
Faster and faster
Unstopping
Never ending
Dangerously
Bringing me to the point
of mental exhaustion
I shake
Like a crack fiend looking for a hit
Looking for anything to escape this ride
Maybe I can walk it off
Maybe I can dance it off
Damn!
Can I scream off!!?
Something!
Anything!
Make them stop
They keep coming
Wave upon wave
One no sooner finishes
Before the next one comes
Can’t anyone see this?
Don’t you see me?
Save me!
I'm about to go under
And drown
…In my own thoughts

©Aida Correa 2003

POETRY -The Poem That Never Ends...

2005-10-13T17:23:00.001-04:00

Life is a circle without a point,
but everyone looks for a point
but there is no point
because
Life is a circle without a point...

©Aida Marie Correa 2002

POETRY - Daydream ..

2005-10-12T15:51:00.001-04:00

Daydream

When was the last time
I laid out on a carpet of grass
To inhale the fresh breeze
or to stop and look up at the clouds?

….

Stopping to stare up at the clouds
doesn’t come as easy as it used to
too many distractions on the earth
to take the time to look at the sky

the “mommy can you”s
and the “honey will you”s
distract me from my daydreams
then there’s the bosses lists
the grocery lists
the laundry piles
and the don’t forget this
and then all of the cooking and the cleaning
oh and don’t forget the bills!

But once…
Just as I was running to catch a train
God caught me instead
Because there before me was the most beautiful sky
I had ever seen
And I had no choice
But to stop
And stare
And daydream…

©Aida Correa 1993

POETRY - So when?

2005-10-11T17:35:00.001-04:00

Too fast
To know
Too far
To go
Too Much
To trust
Too Soon
To love

Poetry - A Gift - For the Love of Love & Salsa

2005-10-10T17:42:00.001-04:00

**the following was a gift from a talented poet and writer...
Thank you..wherever you are

that is why I love to dance...

it forces two strangers
to face each other at close quarters
and at least on the level of motion
become one without instruction
without words
she is lead by subtle changes in my grasp of her hand
by the direction and flow of my body
hers is the most difficult role to learn
she receives direction from someone she has never met
and his is less difficult
he can impulsively guide her to where he wants her to be
but before he can be rewarded for that captainship
he has to learn the responsibility that comes with it
she is looking over his shoulder
and he over hers
facing each other
he must see what is behind her
and since he is the leader
must protect them both from collision
by guiding her into a safe space
and she must trust him to do that
and the result is
beauty and harmony in motion

POETRY - On The Stealing of Poems...

2005-10-08T03:10:00.002-04:00

To Copyright or not...

"On the stealing of Poems"

Understand that a poem
Is baby borne to the poet
(each one is sacred)
And just like a baby -
It is a part of the mother/father whole
(like God’s creation this makes them sacred)
Some poems are born between the lips & their life force flows out
(energy is scared)
Some are born between the fingers , through the writers pen -
Their life force sticking solidly to paper
(the written word is sacred)
Some are born with out pain
(& yet they are sacred)
Some are born from days months - Even years of strife
(but still they were given life, which makes them sacred)
Some will become stars
& some
will slip silently into obscurity
(but all are sacred)

So understand
That when a poet shares with you
This is a part of themselves
They give it freely
It is a gift
No need to steal
And that my friend
…is sacred

©Aida Correa 2003

POETRY - The Next level

2005-10-07T15:07:00.001-04:00

I did It

I did it
Yes its done
Scratch off yet another one
Call it a test
Or just another task
But somehow
I made it past
The undeniable fears
I thought would last

I’m stronger now
Than I was b4
And now I know
I can do even more
Because I did it
Now its done
Scratch off yet another one

©Aida Correa 2004

POETRY - "Go Boldly Forth"

2005-10-05T18:11:00.002-04:00

Go Boldly Forth

There comes a time
When another self- help book
Will be inept
When positive affirmations
From feel-good gurus
Will have no effect
When another
“you can do it”
Just won’t do
Because now its time
For you
To do for YOU
Take the advice
You have gleaned
through the years
and the experience
you have gathered
beyond the tears
and GO Boldly Forth!!
Just do your thing
Raise yourself up
Let them hear YOU sing!
GO Boldly Forth, now!!
Don’t be shy
It’s Your time, now
DO or Die!
No more sleeping
Time passed while you slept
But reality promises
Your dreams are kept
Go Boldly forth now
It’s your time to shine
You’ve got the power
And it’s about time!!

©Aida Correa 2001

POETRY - Silence Kills

2005-10-04T14:47:00.001-04:00

Smokin’

Chokin on my silence
I just smoke it all away
Thoughts try to overtake me
But I just blow them all away
Seems too much to handle
So I’ll just leave it 4 another day
Choking on my silence
I just smoke it all away

©Aida Correa 2004

POETRY - A Poetry Reading

2005-10-03T18:04:00.001-04:00

In honor of my first Poetry Reading
…First Thursday at the Ritz…

I was inspired as
Poem after poem
Became Instantaneous Creations
simultaneous explosions
of Twisted words
forming in my head

nouns and verbs
Spontaneously undulating
Shaping & forming
combining
into creative expressions
of rhythmic flow

They moved so fast…
I could hardly catch them
And put them on paper

Freedom!!
They cried as I freed each one

Freedom!!...
they cried as each one released its expression

Freedom!! Their war cry!!
Freedom!! Their Destiny!!

They were finally Free!

Freed to the world
Freed to the universe
And they finally ...Freed me

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - A Gift for a Beautiful Friend....

2005-09-27T16:19:00.001-04:00

Soulflower

I am a Soulflower
Searching
Finding myself in the eyes
Of every woman

I am a Soulflower
Reaching
Higher than the ground
Were I was planted
A treasure for all to see
No longer
A hidden seed

I am a Soulflower
Teaching
Through beauty
And words…Spoken
Until the day
They’re all pulled
from my blossom
revealing my soul

POETRY - The Struggle

2005-09-26T23:20:00.001-04:00

Dam!…that man - Part I

She was nearly done
She had primped and preened
for this very moment
Every feather finally in place
She was now ready to face the great unknown

Eyes to the heavens
She spread her wings
And took flight
Soaring higher
Wings outstretched as far as they could go
Her heart raced from excitement
As the anticipation of cool wind
Lifted her &
Filled her inner being

Higher and higher she went
Soaring
as the Fresh breeze of freedom surrounded her
as the scent of a new day and great adventures awaited her

Then….
BOOM!
suddenly … she stopped
As if a weight were quickly pulling her down
She struggled but to no avail…

Dam...that man!

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Dedicated to you....Wherever you are...

2005-09-15T14:39:00.001-04:00

Friend

I was the one you would turn to
When your world was turned
upside-down
But now
You’re never around
And you leave me
On the outside
Waiting
Contemplating

I thought I was
Your best friend
The one on whom
You could depend
You said we’d fight this fight
Till the bitter end
So I can’t comprehend
Why when I extend myself
You don’t turn back
You say it’s cause you don’t know how to act
And you didn’t know how
I’d react
But it seems to me
You can’t face the fact
That I’m always your friend…

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Why I Don't Write

2005-09-12T17:31:00.002-04:00

Sometimes We Need Silly to Lighten the Mood...

Why don’t I write

Laziness overtakes me
Time and time again
Or I lose my pen
Or I can’t find my book
(but then again
I didn’t really bother to look)
or I think
I’ll remember that
That rhyme is soo phat
But you can bet
That I’ll soon forget
To put that pen to paper
& those words
that were so fresh & new
become a part of an endless stew
of ideas
for my mind to once again sort through
& I get frustrated
because thoughts once easy
become more complicated
and they don’t seem to vibe as
when they were first stated
then I struggle
to recapture that flow
As I remember
To have to go
so...I put down my pen
To only lose it once again

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Dedicated to the Lost...

2005-09-11T17:34:00.001-04:00

Water Rising

Water rises
As I reach my hand to the sun
Arms widely spread
Knowing my time may have come
But I’m not giving up
Not now
Not for anyone
I’ll keep fighting
Till this thing is done

Waters higher now
as I see flashes of light and fire now
And darkness hides the sun
My body’s tired
but I can see
As my spirit
Rises above the trees

All’s blackness
I will get past this
As my life flashes before me
Sounds of laughter
Either in this life
Or in the hereafter
But there is no natural disaster
that can master my spirit

caught in the currents
I remember I’ve ridden
Harder waves before
And I’ve been at death’s door
But no more
Today is my day for sure
And whether you hear my name
Whispered in your ear
Or shouted from a mountain top
Be sure that I never stopped striving
And I fought
Till the end

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - "RUN!"

2005-09-10T18:34:00.002-04:00

For the Commitment Shy...

Run!

So you're scared of me?
Well I'm scared, too
So I'll tell you what we're gonna do-

Run!

You run this way
and I'll run that…and don't look back

Just run!

And soon we we'll run so far from each other
we'll never know the bliss we could have shared
Had we not been so scared
we had to run

©Aida Correa 2004

POETRY - Sweet Confessions

2005-09-09T17:05:00.001-04:00

No more Cookies for Me

No more cookies for me
No thank you

No more delicious
Double dipped chocolate chip
golden brownie, chocolate chunky
with Crunch on the out side & creamy middles
You know the kind that make my toes curl?
Those get me in trouble every time

No more melt in your mouth
Rainbow, Peanut butter, Sweet as sugar,
Oatmeal raisin, or claiming to be good for you pecan sandies
Now you know that’s a lie…

And don’t you try to substitute them with no vanilla wafers, either
Cause those just won’t do

No more cookies for me
No thank you

Besides…Didn’t none of them do me any good anyway

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Eturnally

2005-09-08T15:07:00.001-04:00

Eturnally

Please understand
you are still
My black knight
My moonlight
My guiding light
In the midst of midnight
You see me
You Guide me
You take me places
No one else dare
And you share
Every part of you
with me
Your Light shines through me
Revealing me
To myself
Thoughts I never knew I had
Good and Bad
You open me up
Filling my cup
Constantly
With your energy

Cant you see
You are still my midnight sun
The illuminated one
SAGE eternal
“Seeing Angels
Gaining enlightenment”
My spiritual nourishment
But I am still hungry
Greedy
Feed me
Eturnally

©Aida Correa 2002

POETRY - Poets Inspire Poets...

2005-08-25T17:30:00.001-04:00

How smooth is this?
(inspired by “How Smooth am I?” by Allen “The Chef”)

How smooth, smooth, smooth am I….
How smooth, smooth, smooth am I….
How smooth, smooth, smooth am I….

How smooth am I?...So smooth I’m slick…

Slicker than any slickster
The former mistress of the ultimate trickster
I learned much
From my former Mr.
So now I bring wisdom
so no one else can trick ya

I know all the tricks
From every Mick and Nick
I’m not your average chick
Or some local hick
& just because I’m thick
don’t think I’m quick

I’m just smoother than smooth
So smooth
I’m slick!

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Beautiful Orchid

2005-08-24T17:02:00.002-04:00

Beautiful Orchid

Exotic Wild flower
lips bright red, hot
reminding you of sandy beaches
& exotic places

Slowly she moves
swaying,
sashaying across the floor
as if ancient drums
ordered her footsteps

You watch her
wondering
who is this beautiful orchid-
And is she ready
to be plucked?

©Aida Correa 2005

ART - "AY MAMI!" (sold - prints available)

2005-08-24T10:20:00.000-04:00

POETRY - "I am the Woman"

2005-08-22T14:20:00.001-04:00

I am the Woman

I am the woman
that for the last year has done her best to love you
but you're so steeped in your own mess
That I neva kno when the next test
of my love is coming
and I'm not running...

but I am running out of steam

because we were supposed to be a team
but when all is said and done
we're a team of one

see...I am your one woman RA-RA section
not to mention
I'm still on the court holding the ball
I try to throw it back but you react
As if to say you don't want to play anyway
and when I try to walk away
you convince me to stay
saying "baby -you know how it is when you get busy"
my head gets dizzy...
so I resign one more time
to love this love of mine
but inevitably
it's clear to see
that this love requires more energy
than is in me

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - No more waiting...

2005-08-06T14:55:00.001-04:00

Call

Why would he want to?
To risk a fight?
To listen to the sound of indifference
From the one who professes
love and caring?

To risk the feeling that comes
When silence becomes…
Deafening?

Really…
Why should he call?
When he no longer feels he knows
The woman on the other end?

©Aida Correa 2003

POETRY - "The Wrenn"

2005-08-01T14:07:00.001-04:00

The Wrenn

Soft and sexy kisses
Remind me of times
When I was almost
Your Mrs.
Wrapped in
Sweet and Joyful splendor
Days filled with laughter
Nights, so tender
Talking about everything
Building ‘til the day
we exchange wedding rings

I was your ma
And you was my papi
Side by side
Couldn’t nuthin’ stop me
I felt like
The invincible one
Standing there in the light
Of your sun

& I knew I was with a king, alright
- I felt it every time
We took it down for the night

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - "Bus Stop"

2005-07-28T15:46:00.002-04:00

BUS STOP

Standing at the bus stop
Still waiting for your bus
It left some time ago
you never said to wait for it
& you didn’t promise it would be back
and yet…here I am
standing
waiting
wishing
hoping it will be here soon

I’ve been offered rides
Many times
From pintos to grand Cadillacs
I took a ride in one once
You know the kind I like
Chrome wheels, plush interior
Bumping sound off a smoooooth ride
But it was all show
Nothing like yours
Comfortable enough for all your baggage
And mine
Besides it wasn’t even his to share with me
So he had to bring me back to my stop
Where I still stand
…and wait
For your bus

©Aida Correa 2004

ART - "Mami Roja"

2005-07-09T12:10:00.001-04:00

POETRY - "Cypher"

2005-07-08T16:54:00.002-04:00

A Day in "the Life"...

Cypher

Woke up the other mornin’
Just as day was dawnin’
Stretching and a yawning
Bemoaning what life could be unfolding

These streets are ever molding
Burning my spirit
Like hot water scalding
I never know
What the next corner’s holding

But Striving
I keep growing
Showing my worth
With words always flowing
Just like a cipher
I keep it rolling

Keepin’ it goin’

‘cause
Down these streets
It’s on and poppin’
Movin’ past hustlers and players
with barrels always cocking
this lifestyle
some consider shocking
but I’ll keep playing
‘till I win neva stopping…..
then I’m out…..(echo)

©Aida Correa 2004

POETRY - "Pretty Ugly"

2005-07-06T10:55:00.001-04:00

"Pretty Ugly"

It’s what happened when
You were younger and
You thought you were
So unattractive
That you asked-
“Why don’t boys think I’m pretty
Instead of saying how nice I am?”

But then you grew up…

Now boys do think you’re cute
Very, very cute
So you start doing that coy little hard to get thing
And they keep coming
And you keep running

now you find yourself asking
“Why can’t they notice me as a person
and not just a pretty face?”

©Aida Correa 2003

ART- "Mami De la Playa"

2005-07-05T19:17:00.001-04:00

POETRY - "She"

2005-07-05T15:02:00.003-04:00

Do you know her?...

She

Lonely days
Followed by lonelier nights
Seeking commitment in those
She knows
Can’t provide it
She’s scared too
But she tries hard to hide it

As she begins her search
For her own worth…

Longing for affection she seeks it in the wrong places
Turning to empty faces
Void of what she wants
And she flaunts
That which should be saved for another
And not given to every other
Hoping that they can’t see
that inside
she longs to be free.
Free from a life of sin
but she doesn’t spend enough time turning within.

And every time she thinks she’s found
Something sound
She realizes it’s not what she needs
So she just feeds
Off of the attention.

and when one doesn’t give her time
She goes back to last in line
But still… she feels empty inside

So she leaves feeling hurt
And wonders was it worth
the tremendous pain she feels?

So she tries hard to stay
even though it’s the same ‘ole way
She’s done things before...

She claims!
this time will be her last!
But she just can’t seem to get past
Her inner longings
and because she knows it isn’t right
so she tries feebly to fight
but, still
she just can’t seem to stop herself

Knowing that she should know better
She prays that God will let her
Get it right this time

“Oh Father”, her heart tries to shout
“help me get this spirit out”
but she feels she cries out in vain
because things appear to
remain the same
but then she calls out HIS name
until the peace comes
and they are One

©copyright 2004 Aida Correa

POETRY - Sigh*...to be loved

2005-07-04T23:12:00.001-04:00

We were in love...

spending days and nights
locked in surreal splendor
under a sweet spell
as words poured from the telephone
into the gateway of our ears -
penetrating our hearts

sigh*
day and night
night and day

not a day would pass without a word from my love
there were no harsh words
only "misunderstandings"
every difficult moment
smoothed over...
soft words and floating kisses
soothed any stings

sigh*
day and night
night and day

my heart fluttered
at the sound of the ring tone
selected especially for him
my love is calling....
my love is calling....
is all I'd hear

and call he did
day after wonderful day
night after glorious night

until we met
and finally succumbed
to the rush of emotions
that ultimately
drowned us both

sigh*

©Aida Correa 2005

POETRY - Tale of an Insomniac

2005-06-23T15:26:00.001-04:00

Tale of an Insomniac

Sleep creeps up on me
Night after night
Trying, gently
to seduce me
Coaxing my eyelids down
As other body parts
join the nightly ritual

my mouth and lungs
join forces in a symphony
of deep breathing
and loud yawning

yet, despite all of sleeps attempts
to take my breath away
trying desperately to force me to surrender

I fight

Like a child
Believing that surrender may mean
Something grand will happen
the minute I close my eyes

I fight…

Knowing my morning ritual
will be the opposite of my nightly one;
Sleep will be attempting to leave
And I will be begging it stay
Promising to succumb
To tonight’s seduction
If it will just sooth me
For 5 more minutes….

©Aida Correa 2003

Poetry - A Gift - Latina Pheonix

2005-06-17T14:46:00.001-04:00

up
from the earth
she comes
from the dirt
she comes
emerges
spotless and pure
holding truth in one hand
vision in the other
she rises
the rose that grew
from adversity
against all odds
not by chance
or circumstance
she blooms
and reaches for the Son
touching him with fingertips
on tiptoes
joyful
she is
a Phoenix Rising

***A gift...from Soulflower

©A Soulflower Productions 2005

Butterfly Wings from the Flames of a Bird

POETRY: I AM SHE

Land, Ho!

Double-whammy!

March Blog Posts

Collaboration: My Testimony @ Beauty for Ashes

"I Love You, Miss Aida"

Bah Humbug!

It's Official!

VIDEO: Viva Puerto Rico! Even during Black History month!

Life on Purpose...

My 2011 Resolutions: (Cycle one)

Memories of summer...

in-VISIBLE-ly Human...

My Resolve...

ART: Mami Hispanola

ART: Mercedes

Slacking Off...

VIDEO/Poetry: I am the woman & How Beauty-Full

VIDEO/Poetry: Preciosa

VIDEO/Poetry: My Me is Finally Free

WHATS THE BEST PART ABOUT BEING A MOTHER?

Today, I wrote LOVE on Her Arms...

It's in the Mail...

A smile or a fingernail?

If you want to help Haiti

Just a word...

Wyclef is trying to do his part...will you help?

Say a Prayer for Haiti...

Happy New Year!!

So you want to know about: My Dream Job

Speaking of gifts:

"BAKE A BATCH OF LOVE"

Speaking of Giving...

Gift Giving on a Budget -Intro - Part I -The "spirit" of Christmas

Gift Giving tips: Part II

Gift-Giving - Part III

Gift Giving - Interesting Christmas Facts

ART - "The Restoration of Gomer"

She's baaaccckkkk...

**Sigh** of the Times

One Day

Don't Duck!

Out of Hiding

POETRY - The Tree

POETRY - How Beauty-Full

Repost: Does evil exist?

POETRY- The One

POETRY - No words

Sweet Defeat

"Step into my Parlor", said the Spider...

A Break...

ART - Digital - Butterflies Are Free Poster and Book Cover

ART - B is for Butterfly

POETRY - What does depression look like?

ART - Pensando En Ti

ART - Stuck in Trees Series - Willow

POETRY - Soul Satisfying Sex

ART - Wounded Woman Series III

ART - Wounded Woman Series II

ART - Wounded Woman Series I

POETRY - Star Crossed Lovers

POETRY - Wanna Play?

POETRY - A Sea of Thoughts...

POETRY -The Poem That Never Ends...

POETRY - Daydream ..

POETRY - So when?

Poetry - A Gift - For the Love of Love & Salsa

POETRY - On The Stealing of Poems...

POETRY - The Next level

POETRY - "Go Boldly Forth"

POETRY - Silence Kills

POETRY - A Poetry Reading

POETRY - A Gift for a Beautiful Friend....

POETRY - The Struggle

POETRY - Dedicated to you....Wherever you are...

POETRY - Why I Don't Write

POETRY - Dedicated to the Lost...

POETRY - "RUN!"

POETRY - Sweet Confessions

Sigh of the Times