Decorating/Christmas Decorating

I have lived in my current home for close to two years now. I enjoy every inch of this home because I picked it, and it screams ME! I am done with the large furniture pieces, but I am still decorating these walls! I draw inspiration from everywhere! I love to visit model homes to get new ideas, and my other favorite place is Pinterest! I have a long hallway that needs some love so this is my new project. below is my progress thus far. Frames were given to me by my lovely mother and phrases were purchased from JoAnn's. All together I spent $6 on this project because I had to buy one can of spray paint. I want to possibly add a quote later and maybe some ironwork above the frames.

When it comes to decorating for the Holidays...In my opinion it should not take more than a couple of hours to easily remove everything and store it away once the Holiday is over! I despise nothing more than looking at a Christmas tree in January...come on Christmas is over! I do not mind it being up for the 1st of the year, but after that is too long!  I LOVE Christmas, but unfortunately Christmas does not help pay my mortgage so I do not allow it to consume my entire house.

The Christmas Tree:

Some of my fondest memories at Christmas are of decorating the tree. My older sister and I were so possessive of the tree because the younger two did not know what they were doing! We would literally hand them one ornament at a time! My tree is synthetic. I prefer synthetic over a live tree. I cannot stand bugs and I do not want to find them crawling in my home because they hitched a ride on the tree! For those of you who do not know you can get a synthetic tree at end of season for 20-100 bucks! Yes! I am a total end of season shopper...anyway I went to Walmart 3 years ago end of season, and purchased this reg. $225 tree for $22 dollars! (I was on cloud nine that day until I got home to my apartment and realized I had no place to store it!). All of my ornaments are from Walmart. I refuse to spend a ton of money on ornaments because I like to switch up colors every other year.

The Mantle:

I like to keep my mantle simple. I have an initial I crafted displayed and two stockings. How I long for more stockings on that mantle! (but that is a whole other blog entry ha ha)

Negative Friends

I woke up this morning compelled to blog about several different topics so bear with me... there will a few entries today!

Lets talk about friends and negativity. How many of us women bash other women because of their appearance or their social status? I am not proud of it, but I know I did it when I was in High School...the thing is we are not in High School anymore.

I had this friend (actually an associate) who constantly bashed other women that were prettier or thinner than she is. This girl would sit at a table and pick apart a woman in front of men and other females. She would be rude to the waitress, and send back drinks because they were "to weak." This person created such discord while out in a social setting that I told my husband we will no longer socialize with this person. See plot thickens because my husband is good friends with her fiance, and I love her fiance like the brother I never had. He would never correct her in public or let her know that what she was doing was not okay. The issue became a problem and probably continues to grow. I refuse to surround myself or family with people like that. People who are so insecure, and dissatisfied with themselves that they put others down.

As women we are already criticized enough by the entire world! We do not need another woman spewing garbage about us behind our backs! We should uplift one another and complement each other on the positive things we are doing. The negativity needs to stop! Look at our youth.. young females are committing suicide because they are being bullied and ridiculed for their god given bodies! I see our gender headed in the wrong direction.


Click the link below to view a video I was inspired by! I agree with everything  he is saying!

http://youtu.be/inGi9MlKD1k?list=UUDgUAAHgsV2fFZQm2fIWBnA

Housewife of Las Vegas

A lot has changed in my world since my last blog post!

Have you ever felt stuck in a position?
Unappreciated?
Unhappy?
Alienated?
Used?
Overwhelmed?
Over worked?
Provoked?
Angry?
Tired?


Take all of the feelings above, combine them and this describes me at my last job. I knew I did not belong there....but I have a tendency to hope for the best and dream things will magically get better. Sadly it did not. It got worse. To be honest I dislike the feeling of being unemployed. I have always been very independent and despise asking anyone for anything! (My spouse included). I know he would take a trip to the moon on my behalf if asked...but I do not need all of that! I am a simple girl.

The money was above average, but no job is worth your sanity. I felt like this job brought out the worse in me. I know everyone does not have the luxury of just up and quitting their job, but the message I am trying to convey is that life is too short to be unhappy. To have to pry yourself out of bed every morning to travel to a job you dislike and work among people who feel superior to you is a daunting task. I refuse to settle for a mediocre job with no room for growth. I refuse to be lied on, and not given the same opportunities my male coworkers were given. I am better than that so I chose to rise above it. I feel free and empowered. I know my faith will deliver. I will be just fine!

Healthy Food Regimen

I've personally started a new food regimen I would like to share with everyone!

Essentially I am just doing weekly meal preps consisting of one protein, one serving of vegetables, and one serving of carb. I spoke to a professional trainer named Jeff Henry who told me what I should be eating and how much I should consume. I have been on this lifestyle change for approximately 4 weeks now and I feel wonderful! I have noticed that I am not as bloated and that I am building muscle a lot easier.

Every Sunday I meal prep lunch for the week. I prefer fish but you can substitute fish for baked chicken. I then decide on a vegetable and bake a sweet potato to statisfy my carb requirement.

For breakfast I consume of the following:
Single serving of oatmeal with unsweetened applesauce to give it some taste!
Whole grain waffle with applesauce on it
Special K cereal with one banana cut up in it
Yougurt with one fruit
Fruit parfait
Fruit cup or bowl from Albertson's Grocery Store

For an afternoon snack I love one of the following options:
Low fat popcorn
Veggie straws or apple straws
Fruit strips
Peanuts and dried cranberries (Jeff calls it peanut butter & jelly)

To help purge my system I take dieters tea once a week. I purchased this at GNC for approximately 8 dollars.

That is pretty much my meal regimen. I'll save the workout regimen for another post! Enjoy the rest of this weekend and have a great week peeps! :)

Business Update!!!

It’s an exciting time at The Virtuous Assets headquarters. We are in the last stages of our online website launch and it feels AMAZING!!! It has taken a little longer than we had planned but our dream is becoming our realty right before our eyes. I want to thank our friends and family who have been supportive and excited for us to follow our dreams.

Who would have thought last Halloween two girlfriends passing out candy and laughing over a glass of wine, would come up with a business idea and 9 months later see that idea come to light. All I can say is with faith anything is possible. God is so good. I am so excited to see where this new adventure will take us. I hope you guys will stay with us through this journey and I hope we have items that will make you feel like the Virtuous Women you are. If your are looking for an item we don’t have please email us and we will do our best to find it for you. Remember to always follow your dream and your dream is never too big for god.

I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Gives Me Strength

Philippians 4:13

Dooms Day

May 17, 2014 will forever be know as "dooms day" for me... I'm so nervous I cannot sleep. Tomorrow at 8 am I have a hair appointment with my stylist Kierra. I know with her I am always in good hands, but I have a fear of the unknown. I have no idea what my natural hair will look like! Will I love it? Will I hate or regret it? Either way I have told myself I am going to take this journey. I will figure it out along the way.

Kierra will assess my hair to see if I have enough to rock the tapered look I am going for. If she cannot achieve the look I am looking for then I plan to have her trim some of the relaxed hair and give me a deep conditioning. Pray for me y'all!

Natural Hair Progress

I wanted to give you all an update on my natural hair transition. My last relaxer was in December of 2013 so I have been transitioning for all of five months. Stretched I have approx. Five inches of new growth. I must tell you this is not easy! I've come to think of this blog as my diary....so I am going to tell you that I don't feel pretty. I look in the mirror and see short kinky hair and I sadly see uglyness. I want to change that feeling because fortunately I am bright enough to know my thoughts are the result of being raised in an ugly world.

I have been using quite a few different products but they are all made by Shea Moisture.  I do see a difference in my hair with the products used. My scalp easily obtains a lot of build up from product usage so I start my hair cleansing routine with Shea Moisture Dandruff and Dry Scalp Shampoo. I follow up with the matching conditioner. They both have tea tree as a main ingredient so they both offer a soothing tingling sensation. When preparing to exit the shower I apply my moisturizing detangler.

I detangle and wrap my hair in a towel turbin for approximately 30mins- 1 hour. When I remove the towel my hair is still damp. I section off my hair into four parts and braid or French braid each section depending on my mood. Since I'm dealing with two textures I have to use special products to keep both textures moisturized.

Below is what form my hair tends to take when dry, excuse the headband indentations.