Tag archive for "MyBrownSwag"

Thought

Time For You: Nourish Your Inner Lusciousness

15 Comments 14 September 2009


UPDATE: CONGRATULATIONS JEWELRY ROCKSTAR—YOU’RE THE WINNER OF THE NATURI QUENCH GIVEAWAY! SHELLEY WILL REACH OUT TO YOU DIRECTLY FOR YOUR INFORMATION. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO PARTICIPATED!

By SHELLEY CHAPMAN

The other day I was having a conversation with my friend about being busily productive. We both were making strides in our academic and entrepreneurial pursuits AND we were both exhausted! How easy it was for us to describe our lists of daily tasks, to-do-lists, upcoming events to attend, penciled in meetings, appearance-only engagements and our accomplishments of the week. We were painting a total picture of success, right? NOT! How is not taking time for yourself success? We were both missing our personal time, fully overloaded, sleepy and gasping for air!

My mom always told me, “how you care for yourself is how you care for others.” *Gasp* Here I am thinking that I’m offering all that I have and being of use. Well, I’m definitely offering all that I have. As far as being of use? Yeah, not so much. So, I took it as my cue to realign myself with the very core of my being and my business, Naturi Beauty, where I offer products and services by promoting radiance from crown to core by encouraging three concepts: nourish, nurture and grow.

For some of us this doesn’t always come easy. The reasons—I mean excuses—are innumerable, from not being used to putting ourselves first, to not having enough money to do what we want, to not finding time. Well, I say there is no such thing as not enough! We create time, not find it. Get used to putting yourself first; there is nothing wrong with it. You deserve it! For those that live on the other side of prosperity, never let what funds you think you don’t have stop you from having the most precious gifts we could give to ourselves: time and attention.

There are enough “Stop and Smell the Roses” self-care tips. Naturi Beauty takes it a step further and encourages you to “CREATE the Roses!” So with that said, I have taken the dutiful liberty of creating a starter self-care list. You can do it by yourself or with a delightful partner of your choosing. Dig it:

Naturi Beauty’s Suggestions to Nourish, Nurture and Grow

1. Celebrate Your Body
Create a spiceful, intimate evening with your partner. Reserve an area in the house and transform it into an art studio. Lay down a protective barrier for the floor (an old sheet or painter’s drop cloth will do the trick). Lay down comfortably and allow your partner to decorate your nude temple using sensuous brushstrokes with varying degrees of pressure. Do not direct the experience, allow him/her to be creative and enjoy feeling your body being worshiped. Once the master piece is complete, hand your partner the camera, strike a sexy pose and model away!

2. Indulge in Scrumptious Delights:
Gone are the days where cooking is a chore and a bore! Step into the new millenium and sign up for a Girls Night Out Cooking Class! What more fun can it be than to indulge in some serious grown, sisterly, unadulterated food play for your self! No husband, no children, just your own tastes to fulfill while sipping on a glass of wine. Sounds good to me. Many cooking schools offer Girls Night Out cooking courses; check Viking Cooking School for your local classes and times. (Of course, you also could gather up your girlfriends and your own favorite recipes and take turns teaching each other how to cook them in your own house.) Get dressed, travel to a culinary destination with your girls, cook and indulge in global cuisine with all the prep work done. Enjoy without the guilt, the calorie count and the budget check. Celebrate each other, savor the bite, relish in the feeling of consuming pure deliciousness and swallow heaven. Yummmmmmm!

3. Dance! It’s the Feminine Art of Sensuality:
Dance is a healing universal gift and language. It speaks to our souls, our bodies, our minds and our WOMBS! Yes that’s right, our wombs. Movement is a feminine art and is sensually expressed in dances such as Belly Dance, Salsa and Soukous. Feeling the sexy sway of our hips, the undulations of our curves and the subtle arches in our back bring about a desirous and powerful feminine force! Put on your waist beads, your “come hither” threads, let your hair down and embrace the part of you that is soft, willing and open. Your mind, body, heart, and womb will thank you. (So will your partner—wink, wink!)

To celebrate the grand opening of Naturi Beauty Concepts, MyBrownBaby is teaming up with Naturi’s founder, Shelley Chapman, to give away a jar of her all-natural Naturi Quench, an intense moisturizing cream with Hemp and jojoba oils, aloe and honey—designed to rejuvenate dry hair and restore moisture and sheen. It’s great for daily moisture, smoothing edges and styling touch ups, and works wonders for braids, twists and braid-twist outs. Akilah at Execumama speaks highly of the product, and I’m going to buy a coupla jars for Mari and Lila’s hair, for sure.

Want a jar of your own? Here are three ways to win:

1. Go over to Naturi Beauty Concepts and become a follower and then leave a comment HERE on MBB telling me you did.

2. Check out the Naturi Beauty Concepts website and leave a comment here telling me something good about what you learned there.

3. Tweet about this giveaway, and leave the link to your tweet in the comments section here on MyBrownBaby.

This contest will run until 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, September 17, 2009. The winner will be picked via Random.org, and announced on MyBrownBaby on Friday, September 18, 2009. The prize, which retails for $20, will be sent directly from Naturi Beauty Concepts. Good luck!

Photo credit: The beautiful picture illustrating this post is from the luscious site, Gorgeous Black Women

post signature

Thought

So If I Have To Sleep With Lions and Tigers and Bears, At Least I’ll Get the Sweet Hook-up!

9 Comments 16 June 2009


So we’re wrapping up a meeting with my sister-in-law’s Greening Youth Foundation and two of my fellow board members, cracking up about the fact I’ve still not warmed up to this whole family camping trip thing, let slip that some of our finer national parks have four-star hotels on the premises, bringing much joy to the camping experience. Oh yeah, kids, they have spas there and fancy restaurants and king-sized beds and marble bathrooms with running water and working lights and toilets and stuff. Uh huh. I practically caught whiplash tossing the stink eye at Angelou and her husband, James, because, well, when they were plotting family camping domination… er… this trip, they didn’t pick this place:

That would be the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite Park, where a girl can find all the creature comforts of home—champagne, in-room movies, food someone else caught and cooked. Really nice, huh? But oh noooooooo: James and Angelou picked this place for us to pitch our tents.

That would be Fort Yargo, the state park that, though pretty, looks like it’s short on comfort, looooong on creatures. Nick, the kids and I, along with Angelou and James and their two boys, and our friends Anthony and Jenny and their two kids are all going to set up camp on the grounds, where the toilets are communal and far away, all cooking is done over a campfire, and folks take soap to the lake to wash their behinds. Yeah. Just thinking about it makes me itch.

Lucky for us, though, REI, the world’s premier outdoor store, stepped in and gave word earlier this week that they’d be hooking up each of our families with top-notch camping gear from their Georgia-based stores. Thank the heavens somebody over at REI took great sympathy with my plight… er, heard about our awesome trip and offered to make our first-time camping experience spectacular so that we’ll want to do it again… and again… again. Um, for the record, I’m still not down with all this “roughing it” business, but after taking a look at REI’s site, I at least found a few things that could make mama reasonably happy while she’s out suffering through… er… enjoying the great outdoors. Check it out:

(Clockwise from top): Reviewers say this tent is easy to set up, UV-resistant, rain-proof, and has more organizational pockets, clips and sleeves than my closet (REI Base Camp 6 Tent, $399); I can get both a broad floodlight and a long-distance, focused beam out of this baby, so I can see creepy crawlers before they get anywhere near me (Coast LED Lenser P7 Focus Beam Flashlight, $80); This ain’t the Holly Hobby sleeping bag you had in 4th grade, that’s for sure. And I know it’s shaped like a coffin but if that bad boy is thick enough to keep me from feeling gravel, oh, hell yes, I will sing it’s praises (Marmot Helium +15 Sleeping Bag, $369); Hopefully, the warm light from this lantern will make the darkest part of our night more sexy, less Blair Witch Project (Brunton Polaris Lantern, $39.95); Um, because I don’t sitting on the ground. Ever. And this bad boy is a rocking chair, perfect for all that rocking I’m going to be doing sitting out in the middle of the doggone woods (Alite Monarch Butterfly Chair, $59.95).

(Clockwise, from top): This solar-powered, hand-crank radio allegedly gets crisp FM reception, even all the way out yonder. Let this bad boy pick up Ryan Cameron on V103. What? (Eton American Red Cross Solarlink FR360 Radio, $50); Long-sleeved shirts will protect us from the sun and the bugs (ugh, bugs!); I don’t have nan long-sleeve summer shirt, but this cute lightweight hoodie will do just fine (Under Armour Proxima Hoodie, $45); James swears a squirt or two of this stuff keeps mosquitoes away from sweet, dark meat like Angelou’s and mine for days on end. You better be right, James. You better be. (REI Jungle Juice Plus Insect Repellent Spray, $8); This cooler will keep 54 quarts of food and drinks cold for three days in temperatures up to 100°, and it’s retro fly (Coleman Stainless-Steel Cooler, $199); I’m all for the S’mores over the open campfire, and my good friends over at the Young Chef’s Academy are hooking me up with some great campfire recipes (I’ll tell you all about them in tomorrow’s post), but you can’t fry fish over open fire, can you? (Camp Chef Yukon Stove, $169.95); This is for just in case somebody gotta regulate (Gerber Big Rock Serrated Knife, $40).

Pray for me, y’all. Two days, one night (and yes, Mari is angling for two, but forget her!)—I can do this. I think.

post signature

MBB So Hearts This

In The (Gift) Bag: A MyBrownBaby Mother’s Day Shopping List

10 Comments 05 May 2009

Before anyone (*ahem* my husband) reads anything into this, please know that Nick is a fantastic gift giver. He knows what I like, has fantastic taste, and never, ever has to print out internet order receipts or sneak out to the CVS to pick up last-minute gifts for special occasions (like *ahem* his wife). I’m hardly, if ever, disappointed by what’s under the wrapping paper.

That said, I still think it’s okay to let folks who soon may find themselves searching for a special occasion gift know what’s on the “I’d Love To Have It” swag list. It cuts down on confusion. And gets you what you want (or at least something similar to it). Here, in no particular order of importance, is a homage to the items that would make me very happy if they found their way into a bag with, oh, say, “Happy Mother’s Day” written on it.

From top left, clockwise:
1.The pleats on this leather Treesje Tristan purse in pumpkin are ill; I’m convinced this bad boy would look right nice on my wrist (Piperlime, $665).

2. April Harrison is one of my favorite contemporary fine artists, and this piece, titled “God Bless America,” gets this Obama Mama in a really patriotic mood (Avisca Fine Arts, $600).

3. If I get nothing else on Sunday, a little–okay, a lot of–peace and quiet, full control over the remote, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner in bed between naps would make mommy very happy. (Dream Essence™ Lavender Scented Aromatherapy Eye Mask by Dream Essentials, $24.95).

4. I’d definitely be more inspired to go to the park if I had one of these bad girls! (Cannondale F7 Feminine Women’s Bike, REI, $599).

5. A spa day at Bliss Spa Atlanta would be fantastic, but I’d definitely settle for this at-home facial care set (Bliss, $95).

6. Come on, now: A girl can never have too many shoes–especially if they’re as flirty and sexy as this BCBG sandal in Amaretto (BCBG, Piperlime, $110).

So what’s on your Mother’s Day swag wish list? (Hint: Leave links in the comments section, and then casually show your husband/significant other this page if you have to. Welcome.)

post signature

Thought

In The Bag: A MyBrownBaby Spring Break

4 Comments 06 April 2009

Mari and Lila are hanging with their Papa Jimmy (my Dad) for Spring Break this week, and of course, we had to pack some old stand-bys for their trip to Virginia: Their American Girl “Addy” dolls; Crayolas and notebooks; their iPod shuffles; their favorite DVDs (this week, “The Game Plan,” and “Akeelah & The Bee” are making a strong showing); and, of course, their Dominoes set. But I added a few new things to their suitcases, because what girl goes on vacation without something special and new in her bag?

Check out Lila and Mari’s Spring Break swag:

Find me on Polyvore

Clockwise: The Great Word Race ups the spelling skills, but in a super fun way that even the 6-year-old can get into ($25 Fatbrain Toys); Lila will pay homage to the Easter bunny in this vintage brown bunny tee ($16, Mini Boden); and how fly will Mari look cozying into this polka dot terry jacket? ($38, Mini Boden); Derrick Barnes’ Ruby and the Booker Boys series is a huge hit around these parts, and “The Slumber Party Payback” will be perfect for curling up with before the girls get tucked in ($5, Amazon); What? Should I get to look cute too? This is my new, adorable large leather tote ($130, Banana Republic), and; I’m tempted to keep these bad boys for myself; alas, they only fit Mari’s perfect moon-pie face ($26, Boden (yup, I’m kind of addicted)).

post signature


Contributors

kpkp
jthomasjthomas
jharrisjharris

MBB Tweets

© 2009 MBB Demo Blog. Wordpress.