Mother Nature's power + home as a safe haven + a stocked pantry + Robert Frost's poetry = Quality time spent with loved ones along with the consumption of delicious goodies 

They say that a picture says a thousand words. These images represent countless opportunities that the HSN American Dreams Academy offers (for free!) to its attendees to meet other entrepreneurs who share their hopes and fears, setbacks, triumphs, and hard lessons learned. #HSN #AmericanDreams #AmericanDreamsAcademy   If the HSN American Dreams Academy invites you to attend one of their entrepreneur events, please accept. Say yes to direct access to brilliant keynote speakers who are generous in sharing their time and expertise, camaraderie, information, encouragement, resources, and opportunities to learn, network, and grow offered in one convenient location. Even if you’re painfully shy or experiencing setbacks or feeling unsure about how, or if, to keep going with your idea, please accept the chance to attend. A-listers from various professions, disciplines, and industries will educate and inspire. Here are the people and organizations that made this HSN A...

Inspired by life's simple pleasures during challenging times.

Coming soon! 5 strands for 5 swim skills woven bracelets Can you execute the following 5 swim skills (that equal water competency) in sequence?* Step or jump into the water over your head. Return to the surface and float or tread water for 1 minute. Swim in a full circle and find an exit. Swim 25 yards to the exit, then...  Exit from the water without using the ladder.  @SwimMission #Swimcap is inspired by statistics from the American Red Cross that state only about 60% of U.S. residents have mastered the 5 swim skills that equal water competency. That percentage is lower among black and brown people, who are also 2 to 3 times more likely to drown than their Anglo peers. [CDC]   Once the challenges of inherited fear of the water, negative family attitudes toward swimming, cultural stereotypes, access to certified swim instruction and facilities have been addressed, protecting hair is the final obstacle for girls and women to ov...

For me, as an African-American woman whose ancestors were enslaved in this self-proclaimed land of the free, loving the United States of America often feels like staying in a relationship with a mostly good man who shows potential for greatness despite his many flaws, weaknesses, and numerous past mistakes. While being constantly prodded to step up, stand out, lead, dominate, win, conquer, he struggles to overcome his disappointments, failures, and setbacks that make it hard for him to move through life as his best, most ethical self. He needs some more time to mature before he’s willing to commit to a life-long relationship of equally yoked partners whose union nurtures and serves the best interests of the united individuals, their extended families and their various communities of friendship, work, faith, study, recreation, etc. Like the long-suffering girlfriend of many years who slides from presumptive anticipation (Emancipation Proclamation) to optimistic patience (Recons...

http://www.privatemomentspublishing.com/cardyn-brooks.html And read the prequel for free:  https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/744300

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/744300 Right person. Wrong time. First fate works for these young lovers, then it conspires against them. How will destiny swim g around in their favor? The erotic sensibilities of Anais Nin collide with the legacy of Loving v. Virginia and the emotional connection of "This Is Us" in this assortment of snapshot tales about the Fullerton family's journey to an extended circle of love and commitment years before the present-day events that occur in Dodging Eros, Through Past, Present and Pleasure, an experimental concept novel using elements of spoof and theater of the absurd as upbeat social commentary about the politics of pleasure when social class, gender, and ethnicity intersect with different kinds of privilege.

https://youtu.be/927L1lngZfY http://www.privatemomentspublishing.com/cardyn-brooks.html   inspired by supportive small publishers with mighty hearts, the summer reading season and upbeat, diversity-is-mainstream contemporary erotic (non-BDSM) fiction about grown-ups in love 

Finding never-used overstock hardcover and trade paperback books at the $1 store satisfies the cravings of my inner book hoarder. inspired by an insatiable need to be #bookrich

Illegal smuggling of Arabica plants? No. Book vandals who set their dripping coffee mugs to mark their place in a library book! (Odds are high that they don't do that to books they've purchased for their personal collections.) Someone owes W.E.B. Griffin, William E. Butterworth IV and future borrowers of this book an apology. inspired by carelessness with shared resources

Someone shared this recent political history reminder with me over the weekend. It encouraged me to remember to keep fighting the ethical, environmentally sane fight regardless of significant challenges and setbacks (Flint, MI, Corpus Christi, TX...). Hope it does the same for you. An insurgent Republican captures the White House and unleashes a furious, in-broad-daylight assault on our environment. He installs a champion of polluters at the EPA, who moves to cripple the agency, slashing its budgets, undoing public health protections across-the-board, and all but ending enforcement actions against bad actors.     Donald Trump, right?     Yes ... but also Ronald Reagan.     We have seen this movie before, colleagues, albeit the circumstances differ in key ways.     This brief account of how environmentalists a generation ago fought back offers up lessons-learned and tactics worth emulating. Before Donald Trump, ...

http://ew.com/movies/2017/03/13/get-out-daniel-kaluuya-samuel-l-jackson/ Credentials, please. Unlike the black Amex that has no limit, the boundaries for black people are constantly being reduced and redrawn according to arbitrary standards of authenticity and legitimacy depending on the narrowness of the mindset of the person/s sitting in judgement. It's 2017. We're all human beings. Shouldn't this debate about who's authentically black have expired by now? (Coming from someone who was called Oreo, zebra, etc. in school.)

http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/capitol-painting-cops-animals-removed-233286 It took me a few days to gather my thoughts about the content of this mural. My first reaction was that if those of us who are members of marginalized groups want to be seen as full-fledged human beings of equal intrinsic value by the police and all of society, then we need to offer the same consideration in return. My next thoughts were about freedom of expression and art as social commentary, peaceful protest and non-violent rebellion against the status quo. If it's a choice between a mural with dehumanizing imagery or a physical clash of civilians versus law enforcement, the art is the lesser offense (at least in the short term). But for me, depicting cops as pigs is as offensive and dehumanizing as depicting black people as monkeys. Neither image contributes to creating a society where every person's humanity and citizenship are equally acknowledged, respected and protected.