Love Notes - Friday 4/29/11

And you can start dreaming this weekend! Enjoy!...

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AT YOUR BEST ~ Rachel

Tell us why you felt at your best in this moment: Most people wouldn’t try to turn a wedding reception into a “You Got Served” competition, but as a single mother, there’s no shame in getting it in whenever, and wherever I can! After taking full advantage of the open bar, I looked over and noticed that my date was dancing beside a group of girls. This would seem innocent enough to the sober eye, but to the vodka cranberry eye, it said, “Those girls are trying to challenge you!” The last thing I remember saying to my date was “Watch, I’m about to shut this down.” Really? At a wedding??? Truthfully, I feel like I’m at my best in this moment,...

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Pretty Things: Updos, Buns and Braids!

  Summer is quickly approaching and I could NOT be happier.  I'm a heat seeker and I love warm weather.  I love wearing my hair out in the summer, but it always gets way too hot to have all this hair on my face and the back of my neck.   Can you relate?  Here are some options to keep your hair out of the way when the humidity gets crazy.  Your hair will also thank you for the break!  What's your go-to style for hot and humid summer days?&nb...

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PLPT GEMS: Meet Stefanie Newell

PLPT GEMS presentsStefanie NewellAuthor. Publisher. Entrepreneur. Tell us about your background and how you came to be an author and entrepreneur? I was working in corporate finance for about fifteen years prior to starting my own business. In my free time I was freelance writing and working on my debut novel The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong. I very much wanted to be an entrepreneur, so after having my book edited I made the decision to start my own publishing company instead of going the traditional route. In 2008, I formed Write One Publications, Inc. My company has since released my debut novel The Buzz, Pull Your Pants Up and...

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Love Notes - Friday 4/22/11

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday! Whether or not you celebrate Easter, be sure to enjoy your weekend....

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At Your Best ~ Leeann

Tell us why you felt at your best in this moment: I always feel my best when I am surrounded with GREAT friends. This one in particular, Karimah, is my “LOL twin”, there is nothing we can’t laugh about together. On this day we were celebrating my mother’s 50th Birthday it was a very cold April evening, but you would never know from these smiles! Not only am I enjoying a great day with a great friend…I am also rocking a fabulous head of hair (that always helps a gal feel her best!)  I live by the old adage… “Show me your friends and I’ll tell you who you are.” …surrounding myself with friends that bring out the best in me. How do you...

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Achieving Clarity About Your Spiritual Devotion

In this month's PLPT Guest Post, Pastor/Professor Lawrence Ware helps us to more clearly see how our ideas around God and spirituality are affecting us. I love parables. They are little stories that allow divine truths to be communicated in deeply affecting ways. If one were to discuss the phenomenologically transcendent nature of reality, then they would lose their listeners. Tell a story about a prodigal son, and people are all ears. Jesus was a master of them. So was The Buddha. There is a story The Buddha tells of a few blind men and an elephant. Each blind man is led to a different part of the elephant (one the head, another the trunk,...

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PLPT GEMS: Meet Deva Barnes

PLPT GEMS PresentsDeva BarnesImage Consultant. Event Planner. Business Owner.  1. What is your passion and what is your outlet for it?   As long as I can remember, I’ve loved fashion and beauty! Not just for myself, but those around me. I always loved helping friends pick out that perfect outfit or helping them with their hair and make-up. I really didn’t have an outlet until recently; I just had a ball at the mall for hours by myself. I also did Mary Kay for a while--I just loved the atmosphere of getting friends together and “playing make-up” just like when I was a kid. Except I’m much better at it now!   2. How did you...

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If You Want To Change Your Life, Change Your Focus

Often the things we dream/wish/hope for are right at our fingertips. We are just too busy focusing on other things to notice. If we would only dedicate the time and make the effort, we would be well on our way to achieving what seems impossible; instead we are distracted and looking for easy answers in all the wrong places: at the bottom of a martini glass, in salacious reality TV, or in a man (whatever our avoidance drug of choice). There's nothing anyone else can do for us that we can't do for ourselves. This week, think about what you can do to propel yourself into the life you desire. Decide to do the research, make the phone call, or submit that application--in other words, take your destiny in your own hands. Sure, you'll need help along the way, and the right sources of guidance will...

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Love Notes - Friday 4/15/11

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AT YOUR BEST ~ Yvonne

Tell us why you felt at your best in this moment: This was at my surprise baby shower in 2008 that my friends (including GG and Kim) and family threw for me. It was the biggest, pinkest, tears of joy lovefest that I could have imagined. I know that I’m loved, but to see all of that love in one room was overwhelming. I feel at my best when I’m surrounded by love, even if it’s just me acknowledging that I love myself. My daughter, Kayla, was the unborn baby of the hour at the shower. She represents so much for me…..my faith, God’s love, and the reminder that I don’t have to try to be in control because God always is. I wanted my life to go according...

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Happy Black Girl Day - Link Love!

source In honor of Happy Black Girl Day, we're spreading a little link love to our fellow happy Black girl bloggers. These are some of the posts that are inspiring us this week: 7 Tips to Help You Stick to Your Budget Over at A Woman's Worth, Arlice Nichole gives some great advice for sticking to your budget. She promises that these are not the typical "total deprivation" tips, and we think she's right. Read the full article to discover some creative and practical ways to help you stick to your budget and still enjoy your money. "You know what it feels like when you spend beyond your budget. You come up short when it's time to pay the bills....

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PLPT GEMS: Meet Shivawn

PLPT GEMS presents Shivawn A. Mitchell Founder & Ceo "L.o.v.e. Movement Network" Counselor. Writer. Motivator. Entrepreneur. 1.  Tell us about yourself and how you came to establish the L.O.V.E. Movement Network. My background is in the social work field and I currently work for a counseling agency. I’ve always been the person who everyone even strangers come to for advice so I knew counseling was the best choice for me when choosing a degree. I am a writer junkie I’ve always written in journals since I was in middle school and it’s my therapy. Right now I have about 4 journals floating around in my house and I’m currently...

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My Personal Mission Statement

source In December of last year, I began working on a personal development challenge called The 31 Days to Reset Your Life Challenge. Rosetta Thurman at the Happy Black Woman blog instituted this recurring challenge on her blog for "..anyone who wants to manifest a change in their life or simply gain more clarity about their path to happiness and success." While I am not normally someone who favors these types of challenges, I dug into this one with gusto. I was at a point, I think, where I knew there was some self-discovery that needed to be done and this was a way to be guided to do the work. I fell behind on said work a few times...and...

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Love Notes - Friday 4/8/11

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AT YOUR BEST ~ Adriene

Tell us why you felt at your best in this moment: 2010 was a tough year for me—in fact, one of the most trying years of my young life. I had lost my job in the middle of an awful recession, my grandfather had a mild stroke and several bad car accidents, and my grandmother was diagnosed with stage IV endometrial cancer. There were many times where I could have just given up. This picture was taken on December 11, 2010 at my 26th birthday party. Despite all of the troubles of the past year, my eternal optimistic spirit never allowed me to give up. Even with all the tears, pain, and heartache, I was still joyful and most importantly, still smiling!...

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The Art of Adversity

We all have a story. I'm always inspired by positive, confident women who exude the kind of wisdom that can only come from authentic living. As a woman who has struggled with self-loathing and depression, I'm particularly inspired by women who have overcome personal hardships and are candid about their experiences. I remember the first time I heard Janet Jackson say that she'd struggled with depression throughout her life, I felt a tug at my heart. I remember wondering what she could possibly have to be depressed about. This was the beginning of my awareness that all of us are dealing with something - no matter how successful, glamorous,...

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PLPT GEMS: Meet The Ladies of Afiya, LLC

PLPT GEMS presentsAshley, Jerilyn, and Tiara: The Ladies of Afiya, LLCScholars. Synergists. Healthy Hair Gurus.   1. Afiya provides consumers with natural and organic beauty products: How did Afiya get started?   In 2008 Jerilyn went natural and in 2009 I went natural. Both of us found that a lot of the natural products being offered weren't truly natural and also that a lot of them were very expensive. So Jerilyn started mixing up shea butter with different ingredients and eventually we started to do more research on natural ingredients that promoted healthy hair and hair growth. Later on we sent some samples to be tested by Tiara...

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The Price Must Be Right - Revisited

Singer, Ayo Originally posted 8/24/09: One of the keys to happiness is accepting that everything has a price. It’s up to you to determine if what you think you want is worth the price. There is a price to being in a relationship, and there is also a price to not being in a relationship. There is a price to being a working mom and a price to being a stay-at-home mom. Either pay up or let it go. You won’t know if you are willing to pay up until you have a realistic view of the cost implications and rewards. In other words, what are you willing to sacrifice and why? We don’t always want what we think we want. Many of us spend so much of our...

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Love Notes - Friday 4/1/11

What's more freeing than having faith that good things will come to us, without having to worry about "how" they're going to happen?! I can't think of anything either. Happy Frid...

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