Orange Beach, Al + Aug 2019

Yearly our family takes a trip to the beach. This year very last minute we decided even though there’s a new member that wasn’t going to stop us from going. So we loaded up and took the 6 hour trip for a couple days to our favorite happy place.

We stayed at Carbie resort. 3b 3br that I found on VRBO. I invited Misti and Mindy to come so I could have some adult company and the girls could have some fun as well. 

The resort literally had the best pool setup I’ve ever seen. It even had a restaurant on site. The only complaint I could give if I had to was that it wasn’t directly connected to the beach but it was in close proximity and they had shuttles to take you if you didn’t want to walk or drive. The shuttles would also take you to the other buildings if need be. 

In our building alone there were at least 4 pools with inside options as well. This facility was very kid-friendly offering slides, playgrounds, splash pads and pools .5-1.5 deep just for their use. They even had a lazy river that was only 1.5 deep. The girls love it. 

I definitely recommend visiting this resort with a kid or without.

 

Rewind+Graduate School Graduation 2017

It's good to have friends with many talents.

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Jan 2018+ ATL+ Flying Biscuit Cafe

If you are looking for a delcioud brunch place def visit The Flying Biscuit. It was a quite cafe with really good food. Our servers name was J, he was hilarious. 

Petit Jean National Park + Bob Petit Arkansas + May 2019

After we decided to tell people we were going to have a kid you knew one of the first things I was thinking about was pictures. I found this amazing skirt on Etsy and despite the price I knew I had to have it. When I called my favorite photographer, Kassie Wade, I told her I wanted my pictures to be majestic and somewhere hilly. Kassie asked if I minded driving and of course I was like letsss go! 

Kassie found Petit Jean State Park. This place was beautiful.. Now at 33 weeks I'm sure hiking down a mountain for 2 miles wasnt ideal but you can see for yourself they were def worth it. 

 

Jan 2018+ ATL+ Sublime Doughnuts

The Sublime run was a random stop to get donuts before we left Atlanta. But I can tell you I will never ever go to Atlanta without visiting this place. Do you see how amazing these donuts are?! Looks like I have an Oreo, Reeses, Dirty D, and white chocolate.

You can check their website out here!

January 2018+ ATLANTA GA+ Day 1

"A-T-L-A-N-T-A G-A- that's where I stay

I get my mother fucking freak on like every day."

 QUIZ TIME! 

Friendsss always pull over and are ready to take selfies in random parkinglots at 2 am.

The Dream.....

Impulse buy+ December 2017

Someone should really stop me sometimes. Clearly it is not my husband. This is really just a picture of sadness. An expensive peice of equipment that ultimately sat in my living room, only to be used when TI and Young Jezzy could motivate me to use it. :)

Presents + Hostess gifts

After my friends shower I took awhile to figure out what I wanted to gift everyone  for their hard work and thoughtfulness. I was surprised that it took me so long to figure out what I wanted to get everyone.  I looked on  Etsy and Pinterest trying to find anything that caught my eye and then I found these! Most of y’all know I have 4 best friends who live outside of Louisiana so when I saw these I knew they were perfect.

 Although they no longer live here we are bonded by Louisiana and because ( they decided to leave me ) I get to experience their new states. 

Check them out!

Kids and Cookies+ 2018

Any given chance I have my nephews and neices over to bake, clean, or hang out. YES I said clean! ( we need all the help we can get lol) Nothing like seeing the boys get exciting about not only eatring cookies but decorating them too. 

Mindy’s Graduation+ Mobile,AL+May 2019

In May, someone really special to me graduated from college ! I met Min when she was 16 years old. She was this blue eyed life loving teenager that was just so different than what I had ever been introduced to.She has been the type of person to just follow her own drum beat but def will put a million people ahead of her instead of caring of her needs. Graduating college was HUGE for her. Not that we didnt believe she could  do it but because sometimies life doesnt encourage or provide somethings as easily as it does to others. Interwebs if you see Min tell her congratulations and that she is so worthy of all the good she has in her life. :)
 

Misadventures of Awkard Black Girl+ Review + Issa Rae [11.2016]

As the years have gone by I really wish I could remember how I came to know about Issa Rae. I'm not sure if it was the webseries on YT or one night I was just doing some deep creeping and it lead me to her. Whatever it was I am thankfully because I feel like I am not as lost as I once was when it came to exisiting in this world. Truly being an awkward black girl myself, this book was comfronting and hilarious. I really can not imagine how I managed to grow up being half of the person I am today without having this type of representation of myself in the media.

Awkward Black Girl is an honest telling of  Jo-issa's upbringing. This book tells us about  living in the west coast, east coast, and visiting Segal, friendships, insecurities, and learning herself through experiences and pushing herself to go through not only what was expected of her but what felt good at the moment.

I loved this book and was so glad that I could find it at my local library as a audio book. I also purchased it from Target .
Check out The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl on YT. Theres 2 seasons. :)

Dirt Cheap Haul+ Baby edition

In preparation for having a kid in the most cheapest way possible, I hit up Dirt Cheap ! If you don’t know about Dirt Cheap, it's kinda like a savage yard. Our Dirt Cheap recieves a lot of Target items ( and other big retailers) that they happen to not sale in stores. For me that's perfect because I can get things that I was going to buy anyway for a discounted rate.

Down below I'll link my purchases ( what I can find) and what I paid for them at Dirt Cheap. 

1.Pink wash cloths Cloud island- $.60
2. Swaddle me- $2.00
3. Lansinoh milk storage- $1.35
4. Little Unicorn Muslin- $4.00
5. Cloud island hooded towels $6.00
6. Carseat insert- $1.00
7. Love to dream Swaddle Up- $2.00
8. Fisher Price Bouncer- $18
9. Cloud island playmat- $2.00

Janurary 2018+ Houma, LA + Scarlett Scoop

While in Houma on a work trip, that was going pretty crazy I might add, we found Scarlett Scoop. It was a great old school ice cream shop with school decorations etc. You can tell from the pictures the  ice cream was such a treat. 

The Vault

I have been told a lot of things by many people. Some things I keep to myself and never tell a sole and others I tell my confidant who mentally lives simular as I do. I feel like in the last year I have heard several times that I live a private life. I dont let certin people in, and I dont allow others to get to know me. Most of the time when I hear this I look back at the person who is telling me making a face or if I have time to would battle with the person about what they want to know about me. Which in ends with they have come up with a their own idea of who I am. And just because I might live a little different than them " I'm hiding something."

As a person who likes to write, semi blog, and semi podcast I feel like I am pretty open about my life. When I have the time and when I feel that it is safe/ needed to be discussed.  I know thats hard to hear in the era of immediate disclosures and to be a " friend" you have to tell all.  I just dont subscribe to that.
 With all that being said I have been busy the last couple of months.... I had a baby. 

As I learned, that 4 letter word will give off the strangest reaction in people. 

I dont have a bunch of drafts qued up about the journey welcoming a newborn in our home and I dont plan to become one of those bloggers whose content will now cover living with a newborn. Are there some things I want to share for documenting purposes? ABSOLUTLEY.
But  for the most part if you enjoyed my music and book reviews,traveling blogs, dirt cheap hauls, presents, and random things that happen in my life ( months after) thug it out with me.

AMn2

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day 

Especially to all the foster mothers and adoptive mothers. 

For a long time as a foster parent I struggled with accepting or using the term mother because I didn’t want to trigger mothers who have given birth or mothers whose children are in foster care and are struggling with Foster parents trying to erase them from their children’s memory by allowing them to call them mom or some other variation of mother. I sympathize with those biological mothers who are trying to grasp the very last thing they feel they have left while fighting whatever demons that are altering their state for mind. I’m not going to lie as a foster parent it’s easy to let those “mother” name drops slip. Most are trying to maintain their identities without letting the general public know what’s going on in their lives. But after going to school programs, holding hands, hugging, bath time, bruises, cuts, and bed time these moments signify a special time that not just anyone gets. It’s evident of love,patience, and days of crying,praying and begging God to keep them clothed in his light. 

I’ve learned that no matter what type of mothering role you’ve stepped into it is not easy and you should be celebrated daily. 

So happy Mother’s Day to everyone occupying a love so deep for another that the seas of life couldn’t separate. 

It's a sticky situation..... Salty Southerners

Hey Guys!

Be proud I updated my podcast and it should be up in the next 24 hours. This was actually a session I did in my in Oct about parenting and just feeling helpless at making the right decisions and relying on other professionals to bridge the gap. 

Hope yall are having a good New Year!
There is so much to come!
<3
Al