Kimolisa Was Here

I've been having conversations with men about relationships between men and women, and I've learned that men are as different from each other as snowflakes are different from each other. And I'll be honest, I was getting a bit depressed as majority of the men painted grim pictures and the men I've interacted with on a romantic level painted a grimmer picture. Then I came across The Man's Guide To Love via Island Style, fellow Antiguan blogger and member of Motives and Thoughts.

I'm not going to lie to you and say that all the videos are warm and gooey. Some of the guys are dogs, but it's always good to get a guy's perspective on the matter of love. I, especially, like the videos by older men, it gives me hope. I'll be honest, I think I'm going to be addicted to this.

Here are a few of the videos and the first is the one that hooked me on Island Style.


The Man's Guide To Love #217 from themansguidetolove on Vimeo.


The Man's Guide To Love #54 from themansguidetolove on Vimeo.


The Man's Guide To Love #29 from themansguidetolove on Vimeo.

The Man's Guide To Love #244 from themansguidetolove on Vimeo.

Also check them out on FaceBook

Thanks to their visit, I got to see my island, namely Betty's Hope. It also got to see what needed to be improved on the tourism front. So to Andrena and Gokhan, thanks for coming and hopefully when you come back I can show you much more of Wadadli.

This Talk is to remind us that Haiti is still struggling and although the world has moved on, the people of Haiti are still trying to rebuild their lives.

About this talk:

"Haiti was not a natural disaster," says TED Fellow Peter Haas: "It was a disaster of engineering." As the country rebuilds after January's deadly quake, are bad old building practices creating another ticking time bomb? Haas's group, AIDG, is helping Haiti's builders learn modern building and engineering practices, to assemble a strong country brick by brick.

The video:

My sis and I joined a fitness program at the hospital and the instructor had some cool current music. I had planned to ask her for the playlist so I can download the music for when I'm working or working out. Last week I asked her where she got the music and she told me to search for DJ Private Ryan on FaceBook.

I'll be honest and say I didn't check him out until this week and I am officially drunk off his work. I dusted off my half dead, no good, don't want to comply to my wishes, bitch of a mp3 player to download his podcasts.

He is originally from Trinidad and Tobago and is what I consider to be a true DJ where as he started off small and built up his style and his reputation. Although he moved to Miami to further his education, he didn't put his turntables in storage. He is doing big things in the States touching down in NYC, ATL, DC and the Big Easy. For more info check out his FaceBook page.

What I love about his podcasts is that they have a krazy cool mix of Pop, R&B, Soca and Dancehall. Basically, his work is perfect for the World Citizen who is originally from the Caribbean, I mean the kind of person who is Caribbean but has feelers in different cultures and a wider entertainment vocabulary. My only problem is pretty much the problem that comes with DJ mixes where as it is one continuous track. Other than that, it is excellent.

To get his podcasts, check out his official podcast page. I've already downloaded two. Enjoy.

I laughed out loud when I watched this. I'm not ashamed to say I loved Sean of the Dead, so I can see myself watching this. Knowing my luck it would either be online or on cable. Oh well!


I love the last part with the Muslim woman. Would I watch it? Maybe, if I had nothing else to do. Can I watch it easily? Not really, I believe I might be able to watch it online in a couple years.


I think this is worth watching, it's an interesting spin and it isn't something I've seen before and it would be fun to see Liam Neeson kick ass again.


I might appear to be supporting watching things online and that might be undercutting the creative individuals who spent a lot of time and money into creating these films, but the reality is not every movie makes it down to the islands. If it's a blockbuster, no problem, but indy films and international films, forget about it. So if there was a way for us international people to watch movies at a reasonable rate without having an American credit card and/or billing address, pirating is going to be the name of the game.

I am feeling the lighting fixture, it reminds me of the Matrix and yet it works in the room. Also how can you go wrong with book shelves. Love it!!
pics: Desire To Inspire

A couple weeks back, my sis and I joined a Fitness Challenge at the hospital. We are exercising and learning how to eat better. One of the first things I got a better handle on was how to read the nutrition labels which puts a lot of things into perspective and made me see I wasn't eating very well. Another thing that hit me was that we are such consumers, we have to have the next great invention, we have to experience the next great experience that is advertised to us. As a result we have to work harder and longer to acquire the goods and experiences we want. This drastically cuts into our time to cook proper meals. Just imagine, you are dog tired and you were working late again, the prospect of standing behind the stove just isn't how you want to spend the little time you have before you go to bed. So why not pick up a couple pieces of Kentucky, or a couple slices of Pizza? Well, time for me to get off my soap box.

Sharing powerful stories from his anti-obesity project in Huntington, W. Va., TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver makes the case for an all-out assault on our ignorance of food.

The video

A couple weeks ago I posted the instructions on how to make a bow and arrow from a pen and I really did it that day, but I didn't have my camera. I eventually took pictures of it and here there are. I feel so accomplished!

First of all, sorry for not posting a TED Talk last week. I honestly forgot and just never got around to doing it. My apologies.

I am posting this TED Talk because I think it's timely. We have gotten so comfortable in our lives with all the new technology, the creature comforts and this false sense of being ever so informed. In the background of economic strife and celebrity culture is the murmur of sex trafficking, modern day slavery and it makes me stop and think are we as a people really taking note. Do we, as a people, feel anything. This speaker expressed what we do in a very clear, precise way and ask us to do the one thing we should have been doing all the time. Treat those who are victims of these terrible acts as the people that they are.

Sunitha Krishnan has dedicated her life to rescuing women and children from sex slavery, a multimilion-dollar global market. In this courageous talk, she tells three powerful stories, as well as her own, and calls for a more humane approach to helping these young victims rebuild their lives.

As I was checking out a video that was posted by one of my FB friends, I found this video and the following rules.These rules are from the book 'If Life Is A Game, These Are The Rules.' By Cherie Carter-Scott. Some of them unnerved me and I got the feeling that it was challenging my comfort zone, but they make sense and that is why I'm sharing.

Rule One - You will receive a body. Whether you love it or hate it, it's yours for life, so accept it. What counts is what's inside.

Rule Two - You will be presented with lessons. Life is a constant learning experience, which every day provides opportunities for you to learn more. These lessons specific to you, and learning them 'is the key to discovering and fulfilling the meaning and relevance of your own life'.

Rule Three - There are no mistakes, only lessons. Your development towards wisdom is a process of experimentation, trial and error, so it's inevitable things will not always go to plan or turn out how you'd want. Compassion is the remedy for harsh judgement - of ourselves and others. Forgiveness is not only divine - it's also 'the act of erasing an emotional debt'. Behaving ethically, with integrity, and with humour - especially the ability to laugh at yourself and your own mishaps - are central to the perspective that 'mistakes' are simply lessons we must learn.

Rule Four - The lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons repeat until learned. What manifest as problems and challenges, irritations and frustrations are more lessons - they will repeat until you see them as such and learn from them. Your own awareness and your ability to change are requisites of executing this rule. Also fundamental is the acceptance that you are not a victim of fate or circumstance - 'causality' must be acknowledged; that is to say: things happen to you because of how you are and what you do. To blame anyone or anything else for your misfortunes is an escape and a denial; you yourself are responsible for you, and what happens to you. Patience is required - change doesn't happen overnight, so give change time to happen.

Rule Five - Learning does not end. While you are alive there are always lessons to be learned. Surrender to the 'rhythm of life', don't struggle against it. Commit to the process of constant learning and change - be humble enough to always acknowledge your own weaknesses, and be flexible enough to adapt from what you may be accustomed to, because rigidity will deny you the freedom of new possibilities.

Rule Six - "There" is no better than "here". The other side of the hill may be greener than your own, but being there is not the key to endless happiness. Be grateful for and enjoy what you have, and where you are on your journey. Appreciate the abundance of what's good in your life, rather than measure and amass things that do not actually lead to happiness. Living in the present helps you attain peace.

Rule Seven - Others are only mirrors of you. You love or hate something about another person according to what love or hate about yourself. Be tolerant; accept others as they are, and strive for clarity of self-awareness; strive to truly understand and have an objective perception of your own self, your thoughts and feelings. Negative experiences are opportunities to heal the wounds that you carry. Support others, and by doing so you support yourself. Where you are unable to support others it is a sign that you are not adequately attending to your own needs.

Rule Eight - What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. Take responsibility for yourself. Learn to let go when you cannot change things. Don't get angry about things - bitter memories clutter your mind. Courage resides in all of us - use it when you need to do what's right for you. We all possess a strong natural power and adventurous spirit, which you should draw on to embrace what lies ahead.

Rule Nine - Your answers lie inside of you. Trust your instincts and your innermost feelings, whether you hear them as a little voice or a flash of inspiration. Listen to feelings as well as sounds. Look, listen, and trust. Draw on your natural inspiration.

Rule Ten - You will forget all this at birth. We are all born with all of these capabilities - our early experiences lead us into a physical world, away from our spiritual selves, so that we become doubtful, cynical and lacking belief and confidence. The ten Rules are not commandments, they are universal truths that apply to us all. When you lose your way, call upon them. Have faith in the strength of your spirit. Aspire to be wise - wisdom the ultimate path of your life, and it knows no limits other than those you impose on yourself.

Every now and then a blogger goes through a moment in time when he or she questions why they blog. I get this every few months when I start to see my posts going down the direction of me reposting other people's content. Granted that I can't resist posting the major fashion weeks, I think it's time for a change.

As you can see the first change was the appearance of the blog. That was because I wanted to give people the option of sharing the posts via the various social media, FaceBook, Twitter, etc. Also the last template was very limiting, so I decided to keep it simple. This pulls people's attention to the posts instead of the appearance of the blog, well I hope so.

I'm not saying I'm going to completely cut out all the fun stuff but I'm going to limit it. I'm going to keep Ted Thursday and I'm going to continue posting my illustrations. Thanks to the Pages feature I'm now able to have all my illustrations in one place on my blog.

That pretty much takes me to where I want to go with this blog. Right now, I'm doing a bunch of stuff while working full time. I've been working on a collection called Holier Than Thou with hopes of putting it in the Independence Fashion Show. Unfortunately, the theme of this year's fashion show is "Pappy Show" which is in direct opposition with the theme of my collection. In fact it would be blasphemous if I did show case it. I may not be religious but I don't purposefully make fun or offend any religion. Instead I'm finishing up the collection so that I can do a photo shoot so I have something to show case my work.

I'm also working on a book of poetry called Woman Defined. Yes, I'm a poet and I have a blog dedicated to my poems called Kim or Lisa. The book has only one poem that can be found on the blog and right now I'm editting it. Also I don't want to jump fully into that project until I finish with Holier Than Thou. You can find out more on my other blog as time goes by.

As I mentioned before there is a page on this blog dedicated to my illustrations, so far I have about 34 illustrations. I've been doing them religiously (or as close to religiously) every week, and as I've been getting positive feedback from them, I'm looking to start selling them. I've started getting an Etsy store set up where both original artwork and prints will be available for purchase. More news on that later.

There is one other project I'm looking on working on but I'm keeping that close to my chest, more on that closer to the new year. As I said before I will continue to post the other random stuff, cute pics, inspiring pics, music I like and movies I want to see, and movies I liked so much that I had to do a post on it, also interiors that inspire me. To be honest the interior posts are more for me to keep a record for when I have my house.

One new addition to this blog is another page which will be popping up in a couple days is my Page of Joy, which is dedicated to everything I come across on the web that brings me joy. Every now and then life can be overwhelming and I would need a little something to put a smile on my face. Hopefully, it puts a smile on your face too.

I'm looking forward to the changes on this blog and in my life and I appreciate all of those who follow this blog. Oh, one more thing, I will be disengaging this blog from my FaceBook page for personal reasons.

The other day, my sister posted a video from these guys and I loved it so much that I looked them up. It's called Street Etiquette and this is what they had to say about themselves:

Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs are the owners of the style blog Street Etiquette which is making ample waves from the city of New York to the world. With the explosion of menswear what they do is provide the vision from a urban perspective and look to connect with individuals worldwide. Expressing their influences from various boundaries and eras ultimately constitute to their personal style. Appearances in magazines from GQ to Complex the 20 year old duo from the Bronx are excited with their current position and looking ahead to the future. Ranked ‘Best Men’s Style Blog’ by the Guardian UK and selected ’40 bloggers who really count’ by the London Times have been some of the accolades this 2 year old blog has achieved.

What I love is their style, how it is both contemporary and black, mixing the preppy angle and the afrocentric angle. Loving it. If anything it inspires me to develop my own style and not get caught up with my fear of being over the top.

Here are some of their videos

The Black Ivy from Street Etiquette on Vimeo.

Item Etiquette : The Waistcoat from Street Etiquette on Vimeo.

Check out their blog, Street Etiquette.

p.s. rule of thumb, accessorize, accessorize, accessorize.

I think it was through my sister I got addicted to make up tutorials on YouTube, and below are the artists I follow:

• Francine, her YouTube channel is kuuipo1207 and she has a blog, Frantastic Makeup. What I love about her style is it is dramatic yet it can be pulled off for everyday living. Her instructions are clear and although I haven't gotten around to doing any, I feel confident that I would get it on the second try. Her are a couple looks.

• Petrilude, this is his YouTube Channel and his website. He is more about drag queen makeup and out there makeup for halloween. He's just amazing, I love him. Here are some pics  

Next we have Queen B Makeup, this is her YouTube Channel and her website. I just came upon her through Francine and her work is amazing in terms of her use of colour. I went through her blog and was just stunned by her work. Here are some pics:

• 

What I love about the above people is their not professionals, they honed their talents to a point where it would rival any professional. Oh, I almost forgot one other.

• Make up By Risa, this is her YouTube Channel and her blog is Makeup By Risa. Her looks are very dramatic and she also does tutorials for makeup you would see on music videos. Here are some pics

I am so going to watch this!!

I am loving this collection so much. It reminds me of matadors and chinese martial artist with a dash of cowboy toughness. Love it.