Gotta get down on Friday...

Its Friday!!! Work week over!!! Due to a half day dismissal from school on Tuesday and 2 days off from school due to snow, my week was pretty short. But it was nice to have a moment to relax and be trapped in my house for a couple of days.

I've been meaning to do a post reintroducing myself since I have gotten some new followers over the last month or two, so when I saw that Leslie from A Blonde Ambition was having a "Getting to Know You" link up I though that this would be the perfect chance, plus maybe get to know some more awesome bloggers!

But before I tell you some things about me, myself, and I, a shameless plug has to happen. I still have my GIVEAWAY on Frikken Duckie. Check it out! You have a really great chance to get a fab Beyonce' shirt. I am currently obsessed with her and the album has become my "getting ready" music. Love her!

So I'm Nikki and I live in the beautiful city of Charlotte, NC!!! I work as a teacher assistant at an elementary school and I am in preparation to start my Masters so I can become a fully certified teacher! I graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte with a degree in Communications and wanted to be an event planner. I never thought my life would head in the direction of becoming a 4th grade teacher.

I'm an only child so I am very close with my parents. My father is in the military so I spent my entire life moving all across the country. I've lived in California, Hawaii, and even Japan for a little while. This definitely has had a huge impact on my love for travel and my desire to explore new places. Guess that'w why as soon as I graduated college I headed down to Orlando for an adventure.

I love selfies...

I have had my blog since April 2012. 2 years is coming up fast! I started this blog originally out of shear boredom. I was living in Orlando, bored with my job, and wanted a place to vent. Once I saw that there was a whole blog community out there I was hooked. I immediately started reading other blogs from women from all walks of life and different backgrounds and even better, women who were like me. In my 20s trying to figure out my life!

I currently write about food, fashion,and the fun I'm having back in the QC. Check out my Instagram for my real time shenanigans!

Random Tidbits

• Coffee makes my world go round!
• My hair changes all the time. My blog shows the evolution of all my styles.
• I'm Terrified of Frogs! 
• Cooking is relaxing for me. Apparently I'm weird because I think that way.
• I’m Guyanese-American. My dad is Guyanese and my mom is African-American
• Love watching Sports. NY Giants! Miami Heat! Duke!
• I'm a shoe junkie. Heels, converse, I love it all.

Well that's all for now. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

XOXO

Guess what day it is...

ONE: I really want my nose pierced. I think I like the way I look with it. What do you think? I'm 99.9 percent sure that my parents would freak out. Plus I tough my nose wayyy too much (the lovely perks of allergies) and it would hurt and possibly get ripped out.

                           

TWO: I take photos of myself in outfits because i don't trust the mirror. Its a problem. I have a perfectly good full length mirror in my room. But I choose to use the huge one in my bathroom. I think the lighting is better in there too.

THREE: Beyonce' addicted right now. That new album. Fire. I am not even a hard core Beyonce fan. I have a couple of friends who do anything to go to her concerts. But this visual album makes me want to stand in line and head to her next concert. Some of my favorites include "Haunted", "Blow", "Drunk In Love". Partition is the BEST!!! Such a great vibing album.

FOUR: These braids have reached the end. I wanted to have them last until the New Year, but I hate when my hair is not up to par; I feel some type of way. Time for something different. It may be time to bring the bangs back. I've missed them.

FIVE: I have dropped the ball with my TV shows this season. I did not watch a single episode of Glee, The Mindy Project, and New Girl and I'm so sad for it. But that's what DVR is for. I guess that's what the winter break is for.

Hope everyone has a great week!

XOXO

Hump Day

It's Wednesday!!! 

Today I joining in on a new Link-up with Bella over at Dateless in Dallas. 

Her blog is so great I am excited to be a new follower!

So I present to you my first week of Hump Day Confessions.

1. I am doing link-ups all week on my blog.
It's a rough week...don't judge me. But its been so long since I have posted everyday so that's a plus. I have started reading a lot of new blogs lately so I am excited to jump in on their link-ups. My creative button is broken this week for post ideas. Stay tuned next week for some different stuff...hopefully.

2. Weekend Shenanigans is ending...for now and I'm devastated.
Sami who is an amazing blogger has ended one of my first and favorite link-ups ever....Weekend Shenanigans. I was never religious with the Monday posts. But I really did enjoy the diversity of all the people who participated. Not to mention I'm sure a lot of my new readers/commentors have been from that link-up. So sad its ending but I'm excited to see what new stuff with be popping up on there. If you haven't checked out her blog....you should!

3. I am unhappy with some of the Grammy nominations this year.

So on Friday the list of Grammy nominations were put out and I was very shocked. Justin Timberlake was only nominated for like 2 awards (which wasn't album of the year or even song of the year) and J. Cole wasn't nominated AT ALL! His album was awesome and I think some of the categories were a little off. Even though I love Macklemore I really was confused as to why they had so many nominitions. But I'm really rooting for Katy Perry to win something. So many years and not one Grammy??? Doesn't make sense since her songs blow up charts all the time. Oh well. We shall see how things pan out next month. My house is already planning the Viewing Party! Did anyone else see any other nominations that were just crazy?

4. My Secret Santa gifts this year rock!
So I have 2 major SS gifts to get. One for my job and the other for my "Team" and I have to say both are going to be pretty awesome. I love giving gifts that aren't generic and are catered to the person. No gift cards from me! I just hope that both of my gifts are just as awesome.

5. The Sing Off is back and I love it!
Yes I am a music geek and I love this show dare I say it more than Glee. It was cancelled 2 years ago but they brought it back! Acapella groups always take me back to my high school/middle school show choir days.

XOXO

Me and Santa

When I think of Christmas as a child I think of doing 2 things; putting up the Christmas Tree and meeting Santa. I would get so excited about the idea of pulling out the tree (we had a fake tree) and going through all the ornaments to figure out which ornaments are worthy of being viewed by all for a whole month. My handmade ornaments from school always made the cut...until about the age of 10 and then they started to be replaced by embarrassing awkward school picture ornaments. I also always got to put the star on the top. My father would lift me up and it would be such a signature moment that to me as a kid and it wasn't really the holidays until I did that.

5 year old Nikki!

Since I am an only child I was really close to my parents. I still am really close with them, but most of our Christmases were spent with just the 3 of us. To me it was awesome. Throw in a couple of puppies to join in on the action and my memories are complete. But then it was time to meet the man in charge. Old Saint Nick himself. And for some reason I was never really down to do it. I refused to do it because he was creepy and I guess I didn't like the idea of sitting on a strange man's lap. Go figure lol. But I did it. Because I knew that this was my only chance to talk to him about my list. LOL So I took one for the team so to speak. I would have rather just written a letter and called it a day. But year after year I did it. And there was a picture to capture it. Don't let the smile fool you. I loathed it.

1987 I had to sit on my moms lap because I refused to sit on his.

I was only 2, but I knew what was up.

Over it. But mom wanted a picture. And I had a cute outfit on so....cheese!

Despite dreading meeting mall Santa, all of my Christmas' as a child were awesome and magical. Exactly how they should be. As I got older I definitely took them for granted, especially when we started visiting family and travelling to see them. Being in college the holidays to me were more of a time off from school going home because that was supposed to happen. Instead of enjoying my time with my family since I rarely saw them anyway. I feel like now I am at an age where I look forward again to being around people I love and enjoying giving gifts instead of giving them. Well that's not entirely true....I mean who doesn't love presents?!?! And this year will be no different.

What are some things you looked forward to as a kid during the holidays?

XOXO

No but for real...

#Icant

(my #icant face)

This is a phrase I use a lot.

I'm talking daily.

Its pretty bad.

But truth is....it suits me.

It better than saying "f*ck that" right?

So when I saw this link-up from Jenn @ Bad Luck Jenn I had to participate.

I'm always looking for new blogs and spreading the love.

So I narrowed it down to 3 very important things that I simply CAN'T.

1. Excessive Selfies.

Its really annoying when I scroll down my Instagram feed and literally the only photos I see of you are selfies with inspiring quotes. Nothing else. All within 2 hours. I'm not saying don't take them at all because I definitely love to take some myself. But unless you have drastically changed your hair, are documenting your outfits for going out, or really like a lipstick you are wearing (okay maybe not even that too much) there is no need for 3+ selfies in one day. Lets limit it to 1. Okay thanks!

2. Twerking.

Now dont get me wrong. I love to dance. I can get down when I'm out, had a couple of drinks and enjoying the music and friends. But I dont understand the hype and constant focus on "twerking" or the idea of it. So now you aren't worthy of dancing with a guy unless you bend over and make your butt move in ways I don't understand? I have even been at a low point and googled how to do it. I immediately regretted it. A black girl who doesn't voluntarily twerk when a song comes on? Yeah I might as well be a deerbra. I don't even thank Miley for that one, she just added fuel to the fire.

3. Bad Hair Weave

This might be my own personal #Icant, but it really irks me that there are still women out in the world with just terrible hair. Visible tracks, wig lines, and even nappy frizzy messes just to name a few. There are so many Youtube Hair tutorials out there that it is not possible to still not know how to do your hair. Search "how to put in extensions" and I promise 100+ videos will pop up. Education is the key to success.

#justsaying

Hope everyone has an amazing rest of the week!

XOXO

Day to Night Series

I am definitely not a fashion blogger.

 I love fashion. And blogging. 

But I would never put myself in the category of doing them together. 

Then I saw Laura's idea of a taking 2 different bloggers and having them create an outfit 

for a "Day" look and a "Night" look using the same item. 

I loved it! I had to get in on it.

My item of choice: Black Leggings. 

Everyone has a pair.

 If you don't you should be very concerned.

Whether they are work out leggings, lounge leggings, or party leggings, 

all women should have this staple hanging around in their room.

(i threw a filter on my pics to be fancy)

I was excited to do the Night look because I tend to always dress up more than be casual.

So I decided to prepare a Fall outfit that was still great for going out to dinner or drinks but also was going to keep me warm.

That meant sleeves!

Cobalt blue is one of the awesome colors of the Fall (and my favorite color to wear right now) so I immediately wanted use that.

In another variation of my outfit I could throw a blazer on with this outfit if it got a little chillier.

(is this a fashion blogger pose?)

Top: Forever 21

Leggings: Target

Shoes: ShoeDazzle

Bracelet: Forever 21

Watch: Express

Clutch: Ashley Stewart

(background choice is everything...enjoy my porch)

Check out Laura's outfit on Walking In Memphis!

XOXO

7 Questions!!

Today is my first time doing the 7 Questions so i'm really excited!!

(dont ask...lol)

1. It's back to school time! Are YOU going back to school? I graduated from college in 2008. I am definitely considering getting my Masters but that requires M-O-N-E-Y and i'm still paying off my loans from my bachelors!! But I would love to get my Masters in Higher Education. We shall see in the next year.

2. Speaking of back to school... You receive 10 pts if you can name this movie:
"Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address. On the other hand, this not knowing has its charms."
I confess that I had to look up this movie. You've Got Mail is such a cute movie though. I haven't seen it in forever so I may dig into NetFlix and see if they have it!

3. Who did you hang out with in school? Cool kids, jocks, nerds, were you a loner, etc? (all are welcome here- btw) I would say that I was a floater....I was a cheerleader so that was considered a "cool kid" and a "jock" (cheerleaders were big time competitors at my school) but I was also Student Body Vice President so I was frequently around "nerds". I hung out with everyone so everyone liked me. No problems there. I think thats how it should be. Everyone can find at least one common interest you just have to take the time to find it.

After School Beach times were frequent!

4. What was your favorite subject in school? Anything that required my creative juices to flow. I loved English (i was able to write about whatever I wanted) and Theater (I was creative director) and Event Planning (planning a department banquet for my College). I tend to not do well in math or science....ZZZzzz

5. (I've asked this question before, but it was a while ago) If you had to go back and redo one of the following, which would you choose and why? Preschool, Elementary, Middle School, High School, College? I would definitely do Middle School over again because I might have become interested in other sports. Or I might have taken more opportunities in activities and experiences. Everything happens for a reason but I think I might have a different outlook on sports or maybe not have wasted time doing certain things.

6. Home/ Packed Lunch or School Lunch? School Lunch!! Going to school in Hawaii was a great experience and one thing that I lucked out on was amazing and delicious school lunch! Okay well maybe not amazing but most of it was really tasty! Chicken sandwich and Kalua Pork (yummy) Days were the most popular and we had a salad bar and Nacho Day and great things. Not as healthy as it should have been but it kept us happy.

circa 2004

7. What's more exciting? The first day of school or the last day of school? Definitely the first day of school. I love getting new clothes and new school supplies (yes getting new pens, paper, and notebooks) and the anxiousness of new classes and people. The last day of school is more of a relief and excitement to just be done! But the first day is kind of awesome because you get a fresh start.

Hope everyone has a great day!