Andrea Franklin

Chrisette Michele is one of my favorite artist, with Lauryn Hill being number one on my list Chrisette is definitely number two. I discovered Chrisette music on a drive from Orlando to Savanna Georgia and my brother in law was playing her brand new debute album entitled "I AM" and my first impression of her voice was WOW she sounds just like Billy Holiday who is also one of my favorites and as I listened to each track I became a fan.

Chrisette has this vibe that is so down to earth and free, her lyrical and vocal skills are out of this world. I love that she mixes up her musical style, she can go from singing an opera arrangement, to giving us classic Billy, to soulful R&B and then shock us with her love and passion for Hip Hop. She has a unique style of fashion that I love, her looks are natural and beautiful. I also admire her knowledge about reaching her desires and taking risk as well as her book and industry knowledge. Chrisette is a fellow New Yorker raised in Brooklyn, so street smarts also is in her roots.

THE LYRICTIST OPUS

I'm super excited about the upcoming release of her new album. This album will show the heart and soul of who Chrisette is and it's not done in the more traditional way of doing things in the industry but more how Chrisette wants to do things and that's in her own way and taking risks to bring back music worth listening to and showing all variety of art. So while we wait for the album to drop Chrisette stays in touch with her fans and reaches out to as many as she can through Instagram, she also just recently created and launched her website which is called RICH HIPSTER which is also the title of a track on her last album entitle "BETTER".

Chrisette will be dropping a single and video in a couple of days and the new song is called "SUPER CHRIS" and from the looks of the snippet it looks pretty dope. For all the latest adventures from Chrisette click the link provided here to checkout her website RICH HIPSTER it's a very cool site www.richhipster.biz

Good luck and much success to Chrisette Michele

Instagram Chrisette at http://instagram.com/chrisettemichele

The best part about detoxing and eating clean is the feeling of clarity. When you are filling your body with live things such as fruits and vegetables along with nuts and healthy snack choices, your mind, body and spirit will reflect that. I figured out what seemed so hard to not only think about but to also to make sense of is that live foods equals lively actions and positive energy and dead food equals.... Well you get the point.

While I was away in Florida for two months I had the chance to really sit back and focus on me and what I want to manifest in my life and the first thing in my mind was better health and a slimmer body frame not skinny but toned and slightly slimmer in certain areas. So I went to work researching different natural things I could do at home with things I already had and I came across detoxing and different ways to detox, I went for the fruit infused water detox and it was a great choice for me.

WHAT IS FRUIT INFUSED WATER?

Simple. It's clean purified water with a combination of fruits with the main ingredient being lemons (in my opinion). You can add any fruit and berries you like but I don't suggest bananas (you can also add herbs). The water and the nutrients from fruits/berries will infused together making it a great detox and healthy drink, you get the best of both worlds.

WHAT DOES IT DO?

Well everyone knows that drinking water is a must and it's the best thing you should do for your body and overall health because water makes up most of our body fluids and we release water everyday and all day but most of us don't replace it back by drinking it we will drink soda or any other form of liquids instead of pure water. So drinking infused water is a great way to replace or add water to our daily intake. By drinking water your body increases it's burning of calories. We are advised to drink at least 64 ounces of water a day. Drinking fruit infused waters are naturally low in calories and contain no artificial ingredients so you can drink as much as you want. Drinking infused water is great especially if your goal is to loose weight.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
Infused water is a supercharger it helps with....
Weight lost
Boosts your metabolism
Fills you up
Naturally helps your body release fat cells
Flushes toxins from your system
Improves your mood
Reduces muscle fatigue while working out
Keeps your organs healthy while your sweating

I must say I seen the benefits from drinking the infused water within the first three days. Of course I released the water naturally by urinating what seemed like every 10 minutes which was great because at the same time that's how you get rid of most of the bad toxins in your body but overall my body took to it very well. I started to notice my stomach was getting smaller and I had a lot of energy. I have to also say, when I realized the changes my body was making I wanted to do more so I researched again different healthy smoothies I can make to cut back on snacking and add to my diet as a healthy alternative. So in my next post I will talk about my green smoothie that changed my eating habits as well as seeing great changes in the way I feel and look so stay tuned. 1Lu

To be and live as your authentic self, you have to know and love who you are. The real you wants what's in your best interest to better your life. You would make wise decisions, you won't feed into peer pressure and you would only socialize with people that lifts you up in positive ways and you would be the same to others.
If you find yourself stepping out of your true self to fit in, to gain approval, or sometimes out of fear, this isn't your true self, it's something that takes over and have you feel that it's ok. When you look in the mirror and don't like the person your looking at because of what the "fake you" portrays then its time to figure out WHO YOU REALLY ARE.

Do you walk around with stories or lies already made up to tell to socially fit in? Do you exaggerate the truth to get attention? Do you have to show off and boast yourself to anyone that will listen? Do you judge others to make yourself look better?
Sometimes people can push us to be a little out of character but if its a habit or if you go out your way to be someone your really not, you should look deep and solve the issue that's causing you to be this way.

Be happy with who you are, you're unique, you're special and only you can choose to want to be and live your life as your true authentic self because you are the ONLY one living your life.1Lu

We best remember Yaya from being America's Next Top Model Cycle 3 runner up and after the show ended Yaya career took off with great success as a fashion model and actress. She was in some of T.V's known hit shows such as House, Ugly Betty, she also had a role on the soap opera All My Children. Yaya also took on movie roles that showed off her acting skills in movies "Take The Lead" and Lee Daniel's "The Butler" proving she is not limited to just modeling and the fashion world.
There's been much talk about Yaya portraying the famous legend "THE VOICE" Whitney Houston, some fans don't think she would be a great fit, some fans think she will do a great job and others just will wait to determine how they feel. One person amongst all the nay sayers is Whitneys only child, her daughter Bobbi Kristina, who let it be known to the world about how she felt about the casting and she did it in a not so nice way on twitter taking shots towards the director of the biopic, which is Whitneys long time friend and co-star of the box office hit 90s movie "Waiting To Exhale" Oscar nominee actress Angela Bassett. Bobbi Kristina much rather herself to be casted to play her mom in the biopic and was greatly upset when she wasn't even considered for the part.
Whatever the yay and nay sayers have to say about it, Mrs. Bassett has made her choice and filming has started with limited timing to release the biopic to be shown on the cable network Lifetime in the early part of 2015 the bipoic will be Angela Bassett directorial debut.
Much success to Angela Bassett, Yaya DeCosta and everyone that is apart of this project.
R.I.P
WHITNEY HOUSTO

I feel today's music has slipped under some kind of musical spell, where everything has to sound the same and the artist have to all fit the same look to meet some kind of copy quoter. I don't know if it's because im getting older or is it really that the industry has changed to the point were they just don't care anymore as long as it generates CASH CASH CASH!!!. With the exception of a few good singers/rappers I see that it doesn't take talent at all to be an entertainer as long as you can show your a$$ for the carmera or rap about the dumbest things that have todays youth up in a roar to copy and be down because of what they see and hear from their favorite entertainers. It's shameful to me.What happened to our R&B SOUL singers? The ones you could feel something deep when they sung. What happened to the sound, the tease, the love of the music?I remember listening to old school R&B and feeling like I had to experience and want the kind of love they talked about or feeling from a song that the group or singer understood my heartbreak. Now today's R&B and music in general leaves nothing to the imagination at all. Every song to me is straight up about sex, no real love songs or imagining how love can be, it's straight to the point now. It shows to me that they want our youth to give up on love and how to treat a female/male in order to commit to be in a real strong relationship without giving up the "goods" because that's what some of the great timeless R&B songs were about, being in a solid, loving relationship or coping with a bad one without degrading the female with nasty names and provocative images, and Hip Hop told a story of the struggle, a protest for the culture it was a fight. Lets be real today's youth are more easily influenced by what they see and hear especially from an entertainer and some just don't understand the word ENTERTAIN and how it's part of their job to glamorize and profit from what's not real or your reality at all and in some cases not the artist reality either. Now It's like they write these songs with the intention to distract people from getting to know each other rather, they give you the feeling to quickly engage in sexually acts or violence because it's hip or cool because your favorite singer/rapper saids so. It seems we've lost a whole generation and the music that is being rotated is one out of many reasons why.My personal choices of music would be classic R&B, some and I stress some R&B from todays artists, Neo-soul, conscious hip hop and pop music, the ones that make sense to me. The more I think about the world we live in and how crazy things has been getting I think it's fitting that like everything that changes so does music and I guess its ok for this time. NAH! I still think it's crazy, matter of fact as I mentioned earlier it's like a spell and what it does is forces you into the craziness. Real singers/rappers had to put in their hard work, pay their dues and show some kind of talent, knowledge and skills for music to become famous most artists took years to get a successful music career going, Now anyone can be an "instant star" all you need is a YouTube account, simple lyrics, a catchy hook behind a great beat and a video that makes no sense to the song. Or of course you can go on one of the many t.v shows and showcase your talent or lack there of one and pray you win and your prize includes a bogus contract.All and all Be careful of what you listen to or have your children listen to because music is very powerful it influence us to behave and feel different when we listen to it, it sets our moods and feelings. I love all genres of music and I hope that this crazy industry that controls our music and what is put out, get it together to allow the love and common sense to be popular again.Feel free to share or express your feelings on the music of today. You can comment if you like the music of today and where it's going or if you feel the same as I do. And to make it fun tell me your favorite old school R&B or RAP song/artist. 1LUV

"I'VE ALWAYS HAD AN ANNOYING RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TERM TASTEMAKER, BUT IT'S BEEN A DEFINING PART OF MY CAREER FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF YEARS"....
Solange Knowles the baby sister of superstar Beyonce Knowles, has made a creditable name for herself with little help from big sis. Solange has been in the public eye since her early teen days dancing backup for Destiny's Child and even then she had her own sense of unique direction and style, she has came along way. Her fashion changed a bit over the years as she came into being her own woman handling her own business as well as being a young mom. Solange style is very eclectic, funky, vintage 70s and 80s, super chic and feminine. I always loved that about her, she's fearless when it comes to fashion, she tasks risk with unique pieces, she's versatile and wears everything with class.This 27 year old woman wears many hats to go along with her beauty and great sense of style, she's a Recording Artist, DeJay, Song Writer, Model, Artistic Stylist for PUMA, and she launched her own record label SAINT RECORDS which all of her music and independent artists will be released under and distributed through Sony. Saint Records was designed to give new and ingenious artists a space to create their music and circulate their art - in turn becoming a haven for R&B lovers and listeners to discover music free of marketplace politics. The intent of the album, and the label at large, is to feature, highlight and align a new movement of contemporary, genre-defying R&B visionaries, which will serve as a segue into the diverse evolution of these independent artists as they share their voices and words as only they can - through pure, unadulterated music. 
Recently, Solange via Saint Records presented the world with SAINT HERON a collaborative compilation album featuring 11 different independent artists telling their unique stories on one platform. Solange is clearly a superstar in her own right. Good luck and much respect to her.Check out her interview and photo shoot with HAPER BAZAAR where she talks openly about her marriage and divorce, finding herself, how her parents didn't want her to have a career in the industry, motherhood and more. Click the link for the interview here:www.harpersbazaar.com/celebrity/news/solange-knowles-0414

With A-LIST celebrity clienteles such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Serena Williams, Kelly Osbourne and Lady GaGa to name few. Coco and Breezy gain strength from being bullied, dealing with hurtful issues and taking a risk with their dreams by leaving the comfort of their home town for the big city to express their own unique sense of style and fashion. They never would've guessed within a year or two they would be highly recommended for their designs in eye wear and building an empire with the very things they were teased for. It takes true passion and hard work to succeed with things that are not the status quo in our society. CoCo and Breezy didn't and wasn't gonna let someone else control their destiny. They stuck with what made them different, took risks and succeeded showing themselves that anything is possible if you believe in what you do. I admire these young ladies being entrepreneurs that contribute something fresh and different to the fashion industry and most importantly being good examples for other young talents out there to never give up on your gifts and talents if you want it, it's possible to have it. Great job                                                                                        WHO ARE COCO & BREEZYCorinna (CoCo) and Brianna (Breezy) Dotson are African-American and Puerto Rican identical twin sisters. When they were just 19 years old, they launched their own fashion accessory line and company in 2009 naming itCOCO & BREEZY, based in Bushwick, Brooklyn.The designers grew up in the suburbs of Apple Valley, Minnesota, working two jobs each at the Mall of America. "Our parents allowed us to be very expressive with our clothes, and we got a lot of stares for it," "People would make fun of us, so we would hide behind sunglasses-they gave us a level of confidence that we never had." The pair slowly but surely began to produce their own range of aplomb-inducing shades, and after a trip to New York in 2009, they knew the Big Apple was the right place for their operation.Check out another great entrepreneur and positive woman SHAMELESS MAYA as she conducts an awesome interview with the ladies below...http://www.cocoandbreezy.com

On this journey of living a happier and positive peaceful life I've learned that the key component to stay focus and grounded in knowing and obtaining what you want is SELF CONTROL. Yes self control has a lot to do with living positive. You have to figure out what control means and how you use it or react to it. We can sometimes confuse different ways of control when most of the time we don't have self control to control anything else in our lives, so we must take the necessary steps to gain self control so we can be a bit more peaceful.                            WHAT DOES SELF CONTROL MEANThe meanings of Self Control are:  CONTROL OR RESTRAINT OF ONESELF OR ONE'S ACTIONS, FEELINGS, ETC SELF-DISCIPLINE, SELF-RESTRAINT, WILL POWER, LEVELHEADNESS.You must not only know the meaning of having self control you must also understand it fully and know when and how to use it.                                                           HOW TO GAIN SELF CONTROLMost of us already know how to practice self control but we don't usually use it at the right times or with people we need to use it with. For instance, We all have been in situations were someone or something brings us out of our natural character, like maybe when you felt that you were losing control or power of a situation and you became angry and reacted in a negative or even violent manner, instead of showing that you are completely in control of yourself to handle the things and reactions, only you can handle these feelings and situations for yourself. Practing self control takes alot of work because there can be a lot around you that can be going wrong or just going a bit off track that need a reaction from you. My advice is to CONFRONT the situation or the people that maybe touching on the nerve to steal your control, REMAIN CALM, most people dont know how to react to calmness so they have no choice but to remain calm themselves, MAKE SURE TO THINK about what you're going to do or say so that nothing is miscommunicated wrong, STAND FIRM in what your doing or saying and WALK AWAY to keep your calm so you won't react in a negative way for yourself not the other person. Bottom line the only person you can control is yourself and having self control shows just how much you care and love yourself so that no one or nothing can get the best out of you because you value things differently. Practice self control daily start by telling yourself that CONTROL BEINGS WITH ME!. You control the things you allow in your life but if you allow something or someone else to steal that power then you lack self control.1LU

On my new freeing journey in finding my true self and learning how to live a more peaceful and positive life, I now understand the power my mind has to change my life and one form of this comes from MEDITATION this allows me to reprogram and refresh my mind so that all other aspects in my life can stay balanced. Try it, it really helps you become a better person.MEDIATE WITH A PURPOSEYou want to have positive purpose in all areas of your life whether it be choosing a new job, making friends, building new relationships or just making every day decisions. There are many ways and forms to meditate use different sources to find one that's best for you and your life. Meditation can be used to help you find clarity in the purpose of your goals, wants, and needsKNOW THY SELFMake a decision to want to connect and know who your inner self is and what it wants to do. Meditation can help us reflect, accept, and change to become what we are truly meant to be. It allows up to speak through the mind directly to the soul.RESPECT THE PROCESSMeditation is not meant to be forced or a way to not deal with your responsibilities and your path in life. It is used to help with the weight of negative issue to help balance out your choices and situations to find peace and positivity with any given result.                 HOW TO MEDITATEPICK A SPECIFIC PLACE (room, bathroom, out doors etc.) to meditate in, avoid place where you work, where there's noise, or lots of traffic flowing throughout your space. You want to pick somewhere you WILL NOT BE DISTURBED!LIGHT CANDLES~ Enhance your relaxation. You can also use scented candles, aroma theory is another great way to relax.TAKE DEEP BREATHS~breathing deep relaxes the muscles, it slows down the heart rate and helps focus the mind.DO NOT STRESS~ Try to think of all there is positive for you and the things going good for you, release the tension  from within through your breathing in order for you to focus.BE GRATEFUL~ Feel the gratitude in yourself, others and things. Feel this during and after you mediate. Allow yourself to feel appreciation.THE BEST TIME~ In my opinion the best time to meditate is in the mornings, it's more quieter and your mind is refreshed awaiting the day, Use mediation to calm your day with positivity before your day even begins.      THE BENEFITS  OF MEDITATIONIt lowers stressIt lets us get to our true selfIt lowers depressionIt helps you sleep betterIt makes you a better personIt changes the brain in a protective wayIt helps in four elements Body awarenessSelf awarenessRegulation of emotionRegulation of attentio