Proud of these things: Gifts from my mother

 Many young girls spend a period of their lives in constant friction with their mothers. I am one of those girls--- as a more mature woman, I pray that when I have a daughter we miss those moments, because I miss the reflections of this photograph and the smiles that we shared.

I am the daughter of Regine Neptune and while we have our differences, the woman typing today recognizes the many characteristics that I am PROUD to say I have gained from her. 

One of the memories I have of my mother is her love of cooking. She loved to cook, and not because it was something she had to do, but it was something that she wanted to do. I know that her love of cooking has definitely been passed on to me. I love being in the kitchen, I love playing around with different foods and experimenting here and there. My uncle always talks about my mom's pizzas and how she would make the dough herself and try out different types of pizzas.

 I remember one end of the year party we threw at my house in elementary school, where my mother let my friends and I make our own pizzas. She and I mixed the dough together the night before and then 4 of my friends and I spent the next afternoon putting together our pizzas with different toppings. A great memory and one that I constantly return to when I think about pizza.

Another memory of my mother and the things she loved that got passed down to me is her musical talent. My mom was a great singer. She sang for my church when I was growing up. When we moved to California she sang at that church as well. I don't know if my mom was ever trained to sing, but she loved it. I can remember her singing at different times of the day, humming a tune here and there. 

Now I don't really like to share my singing---one because I don't think I am that good with my singing--well it's nothing to call Berry Gordy or Clive Davis about--HA! But I think I can at least manage a tune.  I sing, because music is something that makes me happy. Music is something that you can find that will make any mood better. There's always a song for every mood and I appreciate that. 

As I continue to work through the differences that my mother and I have, it's nice to reflect on things about our relationship that are great.  I hope one day that I can pass these talents on to my daughter and maybe one day share in the memories with my mother again.

Until then, it's pretty cool to know where my talents came from. Thanks Mom. 

It's a New Year and where have I been?!

Hey Y'all
  It's a new year and I feel like I have been MIA. My deepest apologies, but when life takes you away, you just start moving.
  So what has been new with me. Well, I set myself up for a great New Year--- I wanted to accomplish a lot this year personally, professionally, spiritually. The first thing I wanted was to gain a little more independence AWAY from AU.
  Going to school here and working (LIVING) here means that I don't have a lot of freedom. My world collides with itself frequently and that is annoying at times.

 So I bought a Game Package for the Wizards. I took different friends who were willing out to various games to watch the Wizards.

Inauguration came and went- but I was Miss Socialite- I hung out on the Mall and went to a few brunches in January! I realized that I like brunches and EventBrite is ingenious in sharing when and where different events are happening. Most events are $20 and you get to meet some awesome people!

In February I attended my FIRST (and not my last ) Gala. It was awesome to be around some amazing people who come together for charity, one day I will have a chance to participate in many more maybe even being responsible for creating one.

In March I ran my first half marathon. A goal I had been training for and planning to get to for years. I finally made that happen and during that run it was the most freeing accomplishment I have been able to achieve. I set a goal, I trained hard and I reached that goal. In the process, I found a little bit more of myself. Life for me has been a series of moving forward, out of the circumstances of my life and into the living. That run was me living, that run was me saying this is my life and my moment and it is mine.

My sister and I wanted to do something a little more educational. We realized that we were not  reading enough for ourselves. So we decided to start our own book club. We read our first book Ten Years Later  by Hoda Kotb. It was absolutely fantastic and something that I was very proud to have begun. Our next book is Bossypants by Tina Fey. But it's not what we read it's the fact that we are reading that we are motivating ourselves to stick to what we planned.

Professionally, I spent the last semester learning. Getting my footing and building what I believe to be a wonderful foundation for a nice career development. I have enjoyed the experience and although