"I Will Wait for You"

A friend shared this video with me today, and I just had to share! I feel like every female should listen -- especially those who think settling is an option. Know your worth ladies and have patience :) God is always working!

Review of "The Best Man Holiday"

***SPOILER ALERT***

IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE AND PLAN TO WATCH IT, DON'T READ THIS POST!!!

Hands down this movie was BEAUTIFUL!! This was really a breath of fresh air to see a movie with so many prominent African American actors/actresses with a great storyline coupled with great acting. The movie was grounded in faith and family, which I loved even more!!! I would even argue that this would be a great movie to watch with the entire family (...minus a few scenes).

Morris Chestnut and Monica Calhoun (Lance and Mia) - I completely adored this relationship! Lance was the perfect husband to Mia. It was obvious that he cared about her deeply and would do anything to make her happy. He was completely faithful to her and committed to making their marriage work, which was quite surprising being that he was a well-known NFL player....and extremely sexy to say the least. I would've thought he'd have so many "side-chicks" with his popularity, but was pleasantly surprised to see that this movie did not follow the typical trend. Mia had a goooood man :) Their relationship was grounded in faith, and their children were so supportive of everything. I typically don't cry during movies...not my thing, but when Lance broke down when Mia was getting lowered into the ground...a tear managed to sneak its way out. I guess I'm a sucker for a strong Black man crying.

Taye Diggs and Sanaa Lathan (Harper and Robyn) - Harper and Robyn were interesting. I will say that Robyn is bigger than I am (I still have some growing to do) because if I walked in and saw Harper kiss Jordan anywhere, there would have been problems! I think the tragedy of Mia having cancer was able to help everyone focus less on the smaller issues and more on the things that really mattered :) I thought it was ingenious and ironic at the end of the movie when Lance had to deliver Robyn's baby. Harper had already been "in" Lance's wife Mia, and now Lance had to go in Harper's wife Robyn to deliver the baby.

Harold Perrineau and Regina Hall (Julian and Candace) - This scandal that Candace was in had me cracking up the entire movie. My favorite part of this story was when Candace asked to use Julian's phone while her porno video was up there, and Quentin saves the day by throwing the phone on the ground and breaking it. I'm not quite sure why it tickled me so much, but I'm weak every time I see it in the trailer after seeing it in context in the movie.

Terrance Howard (Quentin) - There is always a need for a "Quentin" in any group of friends. He was very free/liberal and hilarious, and the only one of the "guys" the was not married. He kept them young and alive. I just love how all the characters were so dynamic -- I was touched when he kept pressing the issue of Harper needing money, and was able to help out in his time of need. Prior to watching the movie, I envisioned Quentin as the immature bachelor that never planned on settling down and had no real source of income (the original "The Best Man" portrayed him changing jobs every other week). I'm still quite unsure what his career was after watching this movie, but he clearly had a steady source of money and was able to help Harper out. 

Nia Long (Jordan) - Jordan a.k.a. Nia Long is SEXY!!! Whew lol. I loved her role in this movie as Jordan. She was what I call the triple S's: Strong, Successful, and Sexy. I can honestly say that I identified with her a little as far as how independent she was. When her white boo thing approached her and said "I don't feel like you need me," and she responded and said, "well I don't," I was too done. I applaud her for her honesty though. I can say I feel like that with a lot of people, but I know I shouldn't. When you've gone so long being independent - providing for yourself, taking care of yourself, jumping barriers by yourself - it's hard incorporating other people into the equation. But, even though I currently identify with Jordan a lot, I would love to grow and have a relationship like Mia and Lance in the future :) 

Melissa De Sousa (Shelby) - If Mia wasn't her LS, I'd swear that Shelby was an AKA
-__-  Lol, jk, but really Shelby was over the top!!! I was impressed with her though because she was able to grow in this movie by apologizing to Candace and being respectful of Julian's marriage. She even wanted to be a better mother to her daughter after this holiday gathering -- very moving.

The 4 of these guys had a strong bond that became even tighter after the tragedy of Mia passing. They looked out for one another, and held each other up when times were rough. Now that's a true friendship there...a true bond :)

And yes I know this review isn't well rounded, and may be a little biased in relation to my life, but I don't care because it's my blog :) 

Until next time, toodles!

Vonda

Life Update

After reading the last post I wrote in April, I have a few things to update you all on.

First things first, I have had 2 refereed conference publications!!!! Woo-hoo!!! The first one is titled "Applying Behavioral Strategies for Student Engagement Using a Robotic Educational Agent," and was published at the IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics. The actual conference was held Oct. 13-16th in Manchester, England! I was also 1 of 5 students selected as a finalist for the best student paper award :) I had to give an additional presentation of my work in a special session with all the finalists. Even though I didn't win, it was still an honor being selected and great practice for future presentations to come. While in Manchester, I was able to get away for a day and visit London and this city is gorgeous! I definitely have to go back to visit one day.

My second paper was titled "Engaging Children in Math Education Using a Socially Interactive Humanoid Robot," and was published at the IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots. This conference was held Oct. 15-17th in Atlanta, GA. Because the dates conflicted with the previous conference, my labmate was kind enough to attend and present my work in my absence. Along with my labmates, I have also contributed to a book chapter, and I am in the process of writing another conference paper, as well as a journal :) Let's just say, school is going great right now!

As far as exercising goes...I fell off the triathlon movement :/ BUT, I have still been working out. The triathlon has only been postponed, and I will pick that back up ASAP. In the meantime, I have a 5K race next weekend in Charlotte, NC. My friend and I will be doing the Color and Glow Race. I've been training for about a month now, so I think I'm ready for the challenge.

And last but not least....I am now an auntie!! My niece Maxine was born Sept. 25th at 4:03PM and was 5lbs 15oz 19in :) Since then, I have been home twice to spoil her!! I'm soooooooo happy for my sis and brother-in-law!!!! They are going to be really great parents, and I will be the favorite aunt :)

Well I'm going to keep this short and TRY to check in regularly. So until next time, TOODLES :-*

Hair Update - 21 Weeks

19 month Update (2 weeks ago)

Loc Curls w/Flexi Rods (today)

And this is the final product!!!!

Life Update

Good day everyone :) I will not speak on how long it's been since I last posted
-__- ...instead I will bring you all up to speed with my life (I'll attempt to keep this short).

Last semester, December 2012, I was able to walk across Georgia Tech's stage and receive my Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering (non-thesis)!!! My sister and I actually graduated a week apart, and she received her Associate's in Business Administration. When I came home over the break we took graduation pictures together to pass out to our friends and family. I am currently in the process of conducting more research so that I can get this PhD in the near future. Here at GT, the politics are simple and can be summed up with the following equation:

n*P = phd, 

where n >= 3 and P = publication

Basically this says that I need at least 3 publications to get this PhD degree!!! With that said, I am currently going through the process of getting all the work that I have been slaving in the lab conducting published. I'm feeling good about my submissions thus far, but I will do my best in keeping you all posted with the outcome :) 

I've recently started my annual Spring health kick! I've decided that I want to complete a TRIATHLON for my 25th birthday (June 23rd)!!!! Running alone has become so monotonous for me, and it's such a struggle to workout because of this. My solution is to switch it up and challenge myself beyond belief with a race comprised of swimming, biking, and running. I say "challenge" because prior to March, the only reason why I would get in the pool is because it's relaxing to chill in the water...of course in the shallow end where I can stand up :) Swimming is definitely not a strength of mine, although, I've always wanted to learn because I hear that swimming is the ultimate full body workout.  "Swimming wasn't invented for my body type; I'm too short, and I have too much muscle weight" -- that's what I always told myself, and I never really learned because of that mindset. Yes I attempted and even took a beginner swimming class for adults, but that mindset kept holding me back. I've been going to the pool 2-3 times a week and I can definitely see the progress I've made in this past month (shoutout to all my friends who volunteered their services to assist me). I also have a 5K this weekend on campus (pi mile), so I'm pumped about running that. In a nutshell, I run, bike and swim at least twice a week (not at the same time). My tasks for now are to keep practicing in the pool to better my swimming, and overall build up my endurance for this triathlon. Oh and I have officially transformed my 2nd bedroom into a gym.

I also just started "food prep." This is actually a very popular thing that people partake in, and it saves time, saves money, and sheds pounds! Basically you set aside time Sunday evening/night to prep your food for the entire week. Prior to this, I had problems finding time to pack a lunch and/or cook dinner during the week. Because of this, I found myself spending so much money on food, oftentimes unhealthy, processed food. It's just so easy and convenient to pick up some food from a fast-food restaurant (yes subway is fast-food) and go back to the lab to do work. I was spending at least $25 a day during the school week for lunch and dinner, which is about $500 a month (and this does not include the groceries that I actually do buy for my place). Eating out is clearly not financially feasible nor healthy! But I digress -- yes, so set aside time to cook on Sunday, store meals separately in tupperware, and freeze all meals that are not for the next day. I usually take out meals from the freezer the morning before the day I eat them (Thursdays meals I will take out of the freezer Wednesday morning before I head out). This is my 1st week so I do not have any tips, but with time I will share what I learn. As you can see below for my first meals, I kept it pretty simple: grilled tilapia, grilled chicken, steamed shrimp, and steamed broccoli. If I had to sum this up in 3 words I would say delicious, convenient, and healthy!

In other news, my 1 year loc-versary was March 22nd!!! It has definitely been a long journey for us, but I'm happy with the results thus far. I actually spent this week in Chicago on top of the city with Jasmine!! Definitely good times, and it was a nice little vacation from all my schoolwork.

I need to get back to work, but I wish I talk to you more about the other activities that I have been participating in -- horseback riding, gun range shooting, pole dancing classes, etc. Oh, I found out that I'm going to be an auntie a few weeks ago!! Definitely exciting, and this will slow down my maternal clock for the time being lol. 

Well thats all for now, so until next time...TOODLES!! :) 

Vonda B.