The Meaning of True Love

As an Author, you often wonder what the meaning of true love is, or at least I do. Well, I used to, but not anymore. Today we celebrated my parents' 36th wedding anniversary. I've only been present for 22 years out of the 36 years they've been married, and I've learned so much from both of them. I wouldn't say that my parents have a fairy tale relationship. What they have is a forever kind of thing. 

One thing I admired, and still admire, about my parents' marriage is their unity. In our home, there was no such thing as getting one parent to go against the other one to get what we wanted. Somehow they were so in sync to the point where they could tell what the other one said.

A major life lesson I've learned about love, from my parents, is if you're going to be married, you must take your vows seriously. My parents vowed to love each other through sickness and in health.

Two years ago God put my parents to the ultimate test. My father was diagnosed with renal failure. He was hospitalized for what seemed like months, and my mom never left his side. A lot of people were shocked by this, but not me. Like I said, what they have is forever, and they did promise to love each other even through sickness.

The one thing I'm thankful for is that I didn't have to turn to fairy tales or movies to witness such a great love because I was raised in a home where my parents never stop showing or giving love. From sending anonymous cards to each other in the mail to saying, "I love you" every time they get off the phone with each other, what my parents have is special. I pray that I'll have as much success with my husband as my parents have with each other. 

Here are the top 10 things I've learned from my parents' marriage, that I'll eventually expect from my better half:

1. The true meaning of loving someone through sickness and his health.
2. Always share your coffee with whomever finishes their's first.
3. Always say "I love you" before getting off the phone with each other, even if you're in the same house, but different rooms.
4. It's okay to wake your spouse up if the weather is scary.
5. Always give your spouse a kiss before leaving the house.
6. Like all of the same movies and shows they like, if you don't, pretend that you do.
7. There is no such thing as mine and yours. . .it's ours. Unless it's coffee.
8. Sending an anonymous card in the mail for no reason (it'll definitely make your brothers-in-law want to step their game up).
9. You know you've found your better half when you've been married for 36 years and have NEVER had an argument.
10. There's no need to renew your vows if you got it right the first time.

So Happy 36th Anniversary to my wonderful parents. I know you'll have a lot more wonderful years to come! 

Back to School

As Module One of the Fall semester comes to a close, I feel surprisingly content. This semester I'm taking a Story Development class and a Writing for Film Genre class. Both classes consist of watching movies that are completely out of my zone. As I read over the expectations of the classes, I thought to myself, "this is really going to take me out of my normal element." Honestly, I'm not too worried about the Story Development class because by the end of the semester, we'll all have come up with an outline for a movie. I'm a planner, not a panster, so I'd have fun with an assignment like that.

Now, my Writing for Film Genre class is going to be a bit more challenging, which I'm open to. We have to study four genres in this class: romantic comedy, horror, thriller, and science fiction. Out of all of these genres, I only watch romantic comedies. Not only do we have to watch three or four movies per genre, but we also have to come up with a detailed movie proposal for each genre. Just because I like watching romantic comedies, doesn't mean I know how to WRITE them. I don't know the first thing about being funny (without trying too hard). I'm more of a drama girl. I'm about that dramatic life. Hopefully, by watching all of these films I'll be able to whip up four A plus worthy movie proposals. I'll leave you with the movie posters for this week's movies.

It's That Time Again!

As September gracefully makes its way in, the time has come for many things that come along with it. For example, Fall and its cool weather, hoodies, bonfires, and cuddling under the stars with your main squeeze. Honestly, that's what September may mean for most people, but for me it means school, school, and more school!

That's right, the time has come for my lovely Fall semester to begin. I have so much to be thankful for that made it possible for this semester to happen, so you won't hear any complaints from me! God has blessed me with so much in the last few days, and I know it doesn't end here. My semester begins next Thursday; hopefully, by Sunday I'll be able to tell you about my classes and what the semester holds for me!

Although I'll be starting classes again, there are a few things I intend to keep up. For instance, I still have a ton of books for authors that I promised I'd review, and I intend on getting to all 11 of them before the year ends! Also, my writing is something I REFUSE to put on the back burner! I'm making a vow to myself, and a promise to you, that my writing will be one of my top priorities. Then again, with editing my first novel, the need to finish writing my second novel, and the urgency to outline my third one, I'd say slacking off isn't even an option. If it's anything I've learned about this business, it's to always make time for my writing; even if it's just a page.

Last, but certainly not least, the month of September also means celebrating my beloved (twin) sissy's 21st birthday. Okay, so we're not actually twins, but we're extremely close and so much alike, and yet so different, that we might as well have been twins. She just happened to be a little late, or maybe I was a little early? Either way, September is bound to be a month filled with joy, writing, studying, and the celebration of my twin.

I hope you enjoy your September as well, and if you will, please enjoy a few bonfires and snuggling under the stars with your main squeeze for me!

Major Update

Since I haven't been blogging a lot lately, here's an update on some of the things that have been going on in my mind lately. I hope you enjoy it!

We're already halfway through the month, which means Camp NaNoWriMo is halfway through. In the beginning, I was striving for 55,000 words, but I reluctantly knocked my word count down to 50,000 words. Because you can't control the crazy things that life throws your way, I've had to lower my word count again! Had this been towards the beginning of the month, I would have been disappointed in myself, but that's not the case anymore. I'm not disappointed because I know my struggles better than anyone else, and I know that I've been going through a lot, so just the fact that I have over 10,000 words amazes me. Writing an entire novel in 30 days isn't as easy as it sounds, but it's not dreadful either. Because I haven't thrown in the towel yet, I think it proves how dedicated I am, and how much I really want this for myself!

As most of you have heard, George Zimmerman was found "not guilty" for the murder of Trayvon Martin. As much as I would love to rant and rave about why I'm against this verdict, I realize that I'm in the midst of creating a name for myself as an Author. I have an image to uphold. Sometimes that means falling back a little and let everyone else do the talking. Like the election, this verdict brought out people's true colors. The night of the verdict, I had to unfollow some people on Twitter and unfriend some people on Facebook. I refuse to allow such negative comments bring me down, or make me feel ashamed for being African-American. No matter what anyone says, they can never make me feel bad for being African-American. I'm comfortable in my skin, and if people aren't okay with that, then that's their problem! Whether I think this case was about racism or not is irrelevant, but what's relevant is that a child was still murdered; parents still lost their child. So instead of focusing on skin color, focus on the fact that a child is dead! As a country, we may have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go!

This week, we lost an amazing and beautiful little girl, Talia Castellano. If you don't know her, then you have some serious homework to do! My heart was heavy when I learned that Talia passed away due to her battle with cancer. She was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 7. Although she was only 13, she made a huge impact this world. Although she's no longer here physically, I'm positive her legacy will still live on. So before you say you can't do something, think of Talia and everything she was able to accomplish while she was also battling cancer. She is definitely a hero (well, heroine)!

During this month, I planned to outline my next novel, and write it in August before I started school again in September. This novel is entitled, Beyond Their Beliefs, and deals with the heavy subject of interracial dating. The idea came to me back in 2010, but it was originally an idea for a movie, back when I aspired to be a Screenwriter. Since 2010, so much has changed; for example, in 2011 my father was diagnosed with renal failure, so I felt more compelled to share a story dealing with an illness such as renal failure. In 2012, I changed my mind about wanting to be a Screenwriter to NEEDING to be an Author. During this realization, I've met some amazing men and women who encourage and support me daily! I didn't think BTB was a story that needed to be told at the time. After seeing people's reactions to the Cheerios' commercial, I've decided BTB is something the public needs to read! Interracial dating is something that's looked down on majorly. It shocks me that the close minded people that are so against interracial dating only sees interracial dating as a black and white thing. They don't realize that an Asian person dating a Caucasian person is also interracial. Fortunately, my parents only care about my sisters and my happiness, and whether that person is Caucasian, Japanese, or whatever they support us and stand by us. You can't help who you fall in love with...it doesn't work that way.

Recently, I have been on this fitness journey with my "twin" sister, Nay. We're not really twins, we're a year and some months apart, but we might as well be twins because we're exactly alike, but also very different. Anyway, I've been on this new kick where I'm working out every night. So far I've done calm yoga, core yoga, lifted weights, and did squats. I've been participating in the July Squat Challenge, and as of tonight, I'll be doing 205 squats. This fitness journey, to me, isn't about losing weight, it's more about being healthy. I've been doing yoga on and off for this year, and to this day, I can barely hold my own weight. People think yoga is easy, but if you can't hold your own body weight, then you're going to run into some serious problems. So I've decided to put a pause on the yoga, and work on strengthening my arms. My sister is the best person to workout with because not only do we like the competition every once in a while, we also motivate each other. Last night when I didn't think I could get through my arm workouts, she was right there rooting me on, and I got through it! Tonight is 205 squats, abs, and arms, so wish me luck! Since my iPhone never leaves my side, the apps that have made this fitness journey a complete breeze are Cody and Nike Training Club. Cody helps you keep track of your workouts and NTC contains different workouts. Even the 15 minute target area workouts are a killer!

Last, but certainly not least, if you remember, instead of coming up with a list of resolutions that I'd forget, I came up with a to-do list. Since it's halfway through the year, I decided to go back and take a look at my list. So here's the list and my progress:

• Read at least 30 books (I've read 16...and I'm currently reading 2 at this moment)
• Complete at least 2 scrapbooks (I've completed 1)
• Participate in Camp NaNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo (I'm currently participating in Camp NaNo)
• Publish a novel (currently editing it)
• Write my second novel (planning it)
• Start a portfolio
• Get back to doing yoga (in the process)
• Make more time for myself (if only this were true!)
• Get an A in at least 1 class (I finished last semester with 2 Bs...it was a rough semester, but I'll get it this semester)
• Believe in myself (done)
• Blog more frequently (failing miserably!)
• Buy NKOTB'S new album (you already know this is completed!)

My Mother, the Superhero!

First and foremost, I'd like to take this time to wish all of the mothers out there a "Happy Mother's Day!" Next, I want to apologize for my lack of blogging, this semester has been extremely demanding! Luckily I only have a week left, and then it'll be my summer break. Anyway, my real reason for making this post is to share my amazing mother with the world. 

My mom is the most awesome and strongest woman I know. I know everyone thinks that their mom is amazing, which I don't doubt, but because I've been so blessed to have this woman as my mother, I truly believe that my mom tops ALL moms! I can't even begin to explain all of the amazing things she's done (and is currently doing) for her family and others. There are so many things I learned from my mother in the past 22 years. Here are my top 22 things I've learned:

22.  The basics (walk, talk, use the bathroom)

21.  Always follow my dreams, no matter how long it takes to get there

20.  Always stand up for myself

19.  Never let anyone walk over me

18.  Never underestimate myself

17.  How to step up to the plate when my family needs me most

16.  How to be strong, even when being strong isn't an option

15.  To pray when things are good or bad

14.  Never settle for anything less

13.  Always count my blessings

12.  Never take ANYTHING for granted

11.  How to give respect in order to gain respect

10.  To appreciate my family

9.  That only real women can handle coffee (lol)

8.  How to pull off a HUGE meal for family gatherings

7.  That she doesn't raise dropouts

6.  Always make time for my family

5.  It's okay to be spoiled...to an extent

4.  It's NOT okay to use fingernails as a weapon...they WILL be cut super short if used

3.  How to raise children...the right way

2.  How to make a REAL marriage work

1.  HOW TO BE SUPERWOMAN!