A Beautiful Night.

 A couple of weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to have the privilege of shooting the A Beautiful Night event for the organization The Beautiful Project. This is an organization ran, here in Durham, by a photographer friend that I love and admire. She has dedicated her life to helping young girls of color find their self-worth and their true beauty. 

Growing up in a society, as a girl of color, where white is the majority culture and is held up as the ideal form of beauty that everyone should aspire to is not easy. There is a point in all of our lives when we go through a period of self-loathing because we are constantly told through media, advertising and even people, that we are not good enough and that we're not as pretty, or as valued, as white girls. Some of us come out of this period and learn to love ourselves how God created us; other, sadly, never get over this period and continue to hate themselves, whether they admit so openly or not.

I was lucky enough to be one of those who came out of that period. Thanks to my parents, who daily reaffirmed my beauty and exposed me to positive role models, and of course God put me in situations where I was challenged and I grew from those experiences. I came out of those hardships, not only loving myself, but being more appreciative of who I am, where I have come from and my culture. 

Unfortunately, not all girls have the benefit of having the positive reinforcement or role models that I was so blessed with. This is why The Beautiful Project is so wonderful. Every year they take a group of girls, aged 9-12, and spend a whole school year with them having weekly workshops going over ideals of beauty, what they think beauty is and just spending time with them. Along with the young girls, they have college interns who are the ones spending most of the one on one time with these girls doing interviews, photo shoots and various other things. Not only are these interns ministering to these girls, but in turn, they have the chance to be ministered to by women who are professionals in the community. They have time with the founders of the organization, just to download and discuss what is going on in their lives as it pertains to The Beautiful Project and their personal lives as well. If you want to find out more about The Beautiful Project, visit their website.

Here are a few photos from A Beautiful Night.

Relaxation.

Relaxing in a Comfy Chair with a Good Book.

It's Been A While...

So, it's been quite a while since I last posted on my blog. Things have just  gotten immensely busy and hectic around my place so blogging has been the furthest thing from my mind.

I'll just give a super brief update on what has happened over the past month.
My family is no longer working as the operator's of Blend Cafe. There has been a lot going on with the cafe in the extremely short period of time that it has been open. Our family and friends were really excited for this business opportunity, because we saw it as something that could really be beneficial to our community. A place where all are welcome despite where they're from, what they look like or how much money they have. At first things were going well. But due to differences of standards, moral beliefs about the treatment of employees and people in general; our family felt that it was better to part ways than to be associated with and be responsible for the mistreatment of others and producing a lower quality products for the sake of making someone else richer. We do not regret having gone into this business because it was a growing experience and it afforded my sister and I the opportunity to learn the do's and don'ts of running a business.


It is now May, which means that finals have come and gone and I am officially done with my time at DTCC. I cannot say that I am at all sad about it, or that I will miss it in the least. But, I will say that it was a good place for me to do what I needed and saved me a lot of money. This fall I will be attending the Savannah college of Art and Design. I am BEYOND thrilled about this. When I was applying to schools late last year/early this year, I never thought that I would end up going to SCAD. It was my dream school on my list of schools I applied to; one of those "well I'll most likely not get in, but I'll apply there anyway" schools. The competition getting into this school is fierce! So you can imagine my excitement as that big envelope arrived in the mail.

After cutting off ties from Blend I was able to find another job as a barista downtown at a great cafe. I've been working there for a little over a month now and am loving it! The people that I'm working with are great and so is the owner. I hope that I am fortunate enough to find another work environment like this when I move down to Savannah this fall.
Finally, there is only one week left until Josh comes home! I can hardly believe that there is only a week left until I can see him in person for the first time since last year! So, since he is coming home, I'm busy preparing for his return by getting his car and other things that he left here ready for him. I've just ordered his Christmas/Birthday present, planning and going shopping for some of his favorite meals (that he has requested) and scheduling time with some of our friends and also some of my friends that have not met him yet, but are wanting to. Between being busy with him being physically back in my life, work, preparing to move, and family obligations such as trips and vacation, my summer is looking extremely full.

During this busy season, I'm still hoping to find time now and again to post a photo that I've taken recently. So, hopefully, you'll hear more from me during the summer.

Feb. 1-2

Here we go!

I have officially started my daily photo project for February. This is something, as I said in my last post, that I found from one of my friend's boards on Pinterest. She is doing it as well, it's really cool to be able to keep up with hers on FB. I was contemplating not putting it on FB, and to just post them to my blog and my Flickr, but I think that I might change my mind about that.

Feb. 1- Your View Today
I actually cheated a little bit. I took the picture today instead of yesterday because I was stuck at work from 6:30 in the morning until my only class that morning and then headed right back to work until close, and I forgot my camera at the house. Also, I couldn't really decide between two pictures that I took. So I decided that I'm going to post them both to make up for taking them late anyways.

Blueberry Muffin and Cortado.

This is the treat that I had after my test this morning. Since I was able to finish it more than an hour before the time the class usually ends, I had enough time to stop by Blend for a treat and some lunch with my little sister and some of our friends. It was nice being able to spend time with people after the first test of the semester. I feel like I aced it, but I get myself so worked up before tests, that even when I know I've aced it, I still feel the after affects of pre-test anxieties.

Here is a picture of four of my co-workers, including the girl in the stripped cardi. I love working with all of these wonderful people! It's such a great place to work! So great, in fact, that most of us end up at least dropping by on our days off.

Feb. 2- Words.

At first, I was totally at a loss about what sort of "words" I would capture. But, while I was reading my Second Edition of Kinfolk Mag, this sentence stuck out to me. 

"Soups and stews simmer, wines get fuller-bodied, festivities with friends are more frequent, and before you know it, it's time to reflect on another year's passing."

My relationships with my family and friends are important to me. Being surrounded by those that I love, just enjoying one another's company, and having good food added to that equation simply makes me feel joy inside. I can't wait for the day when I have my own home and can welcome my family and friends into it as if it were their own. I want to keep a house and be hospitable and welcoming just like my parents are. I wait in anticipation for the many small gatherings that I will be able to be a part of.

Time to Catch Up!

Hello All!

It's been a while since I last posted, but things have been SUPER crazy with the Cafe opening last Friday. It's been absolutely awesome thus far! I love the people I work with and being able to go back to doing what I love(being a Barista) is amazing! You should head over to Blend's Facebook Fan Page and Twitter ! But between classes and working full-time, not to mention the hours that our family has to put in when we're not "on the clock" has made it really hard for me to keep up with blogging. But I am going to to try to do my best to keep on it as much as I can without driving myself insane.

This post is going to have a ton of pictures, these are ones that I've taken between last post and tonight.

First, I took some pictures before the cafe opened and we had just gotten some furniture into the space. When I first saw the pieces, I immediately fell in love with them. We chose to go with Peter's Design in Downtown Durham because we had bought some stuff from them way back when we were still renovating our house. We just bought old transoms and things like that, but we saw some of the furniture that he made and it stuck with us. So when it came to thinking of someone to do furniture for the cafe we just had to go with them. The furniture completely fit the space and the wood pieces are made from old reclaimed wood from all over Durham.

I absolutely love these lights! The bulbs look vintage and industrial.

Here is a picture of our mugs and cortado glasses on top of our espresso machine.

Our Open house on Third Friday went very well! We had a ton of people stop by, those who were attending the events and also the residents of the Golden Belt lofts. We have had a lot of people come by since then and we have quite a few regulars already. 

Earlier this week Whitney and I met up at Blend to take some pictures for her blog. Here are some pictures from our meetup, you can check out her blog post to see the pictures she posted.

Only two days later I met up with Whitney again to take pictures of her merch that she is getting ready to sell at a trunk show in NY that she is going to. All of the rings and earrings (except for the lace one of course) are made from recycled leather.

I have my eye on this ring :)

These are too cute!

Rings again.

These lace earrings are made from vintage lace.

If you're interested in buying any of Whitney's awesome creations, just check out her shop. 

And lastly, while I was perusing on Pinterest (one of my obsessions) I came across something that one of my friends pinned. Now usually, I have avoided those photo a day projects for a specific month that people post on Facebook and such, but this one actually appealed to me. So I am going to attempt to complete this one during the month of February. Wish me luck!

It Has Begun!

Servus!!!

That's one of the many ways to say hello in Romanian.
Classes have begun this week, and so far it really isn't that bad. Maybe that's because I'm only taking 3 classes, one of which really doesn't count since I just have to show up twice a week to run 3 miles and leave; since this is my last semester at DTCC there were only 2 classes left that I need before transferring. It's good that I only had 2 left since I'm about to start working full-time at my sister's cafe. My math class is not my favorite, not only because I detest math, but also because my instructor is monotone, and we're stuck in that room for over 2 hours twice a week. My Geology class, on the other hand, looks like it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really excited about it and all the cool stuff we'll be doing in lab. It was one of the VERY few science classes that was not related to nursing offered at DTCC, and I was not too keen on the prospect of taking Biology, especially after the horror stories that I have heard about some of the professors.

Today was a good day. It wasn't the most exciting at first, the highlight of it was bumping into one of my friends and finding we were in the same classes and lab. But my day turned around completely with my being able to go downtown with Whitney and take some photos. I had such a great time. The last time I was downtown to take photos was over a year ago, it's been really great for me to have occasions to go out and take pictures, when I wouldn't otherwise. Whitney has really been a blessing. She is an amazing woman who I have a lot of fun just hanging out and talking with; it's really nice to have someone a little older than me to see as an example and positive role model. And it's been really great to have someone to practice on.
Today we just stayed on Orange St. taking pictures. On that one little street, we were able to get 99 photos! I love how a side-street in Durham can be so eclectic and have so much character that you can get so many different effects in one little area. I'm only going to post a few of the pictures. But if you want to see more, check out Whitney's blog and keep a lookout for her post about our downtown outing!

This was a picture that I just took while taking a shot of Whitney. I felt a little like a creeper, but I feel like this really describes how a lot of people in our section of Durham are like. Durham is becoming widely known as a place for Foodies. We've even have been in an article in the NY Times about rising Foodie and Art scene in Durham. I honestly can't think of anywhere else in the states where I would prefer to live, or even any other section of Durham for that matter. It's great to be surrounded by so many people who truly love the community and want to see it become the best that it can. My family is part of a local food collaborative to help sustain the community through local farmers, urban gardens and local businesses. I hate the idea that I'm going to be leaving this all for a season in the upcoming year, but I'm excited about what is going on and can't wait to see how it has changed when I come back to the area.