Bead Me: Earring Making Class

Today, I decided to take a basic earring wire wrapping class--because I'm trying to diversify the types of earrings I offer on http://www.goddesszuri.com/.

I executed a google search and found a close-by bead store that offered classes; I emailed the owner a few times and talked to her on the phone to schedule my class. "Yes, today at 4 pm sounds great," I told her. So it was set.

I pulled up to the store, located in historic Southend (in Charlotte, NC) and walked inside. The store was very cute and trendy. I looked around for a second, and then the owner approached me and said, "Candace?"

"Yes, that's me," I responded with the biggest smile on my face. Why was my smile so big?? Because the owner was a Black women. Now, I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was--slightly. Ok, a little more than slightly because all of the other bead stores that I had visited in Charlotte were owned by sweet little white ladies.

I was the only person in the shop, so Linda, the store owner, and I had a nice conversation about how she started her business. In fact, we talked for about an hour before we even started the class.

Linda started making jewelry by accident. She was at a family member's home and somehow got involved in making a bracelet. She got several compliments on the bracelet from other family members, and soon they started requesting her bracelets to give away as Christmas presents. Linda gradually graduated to making necklaces and earrings and started wearing her creations to church. Then she started getting all kinds of compliments from church members. Needless to say, demand for her jewelry increased.

You can pretty much imagine where the story goes from there. She started doing shows, opened up her own shop, and now works full time for herself managing a store and teaching classes. Linda explained that she didn't know that she would one day be in the jewelry-making business. She had a very corporate background, working for companies such as Nestle Purina and IBM. But God ordered her steps, leading her from IBM to Belk as a jewelry buyer to her own business.

When the class was over, I walked away with a new wire technique and a nice reminder that you don't have to know exactly where you're going to get to where you need to be.

I'll be scheduling my next class soon!

If you're in the Charlotte, NC area and you're interested in taking a jewelry making class, check out Linda at www.beadmeus.com.

Goddess Inspiration: Zsa Zsa Gabor

Crown Royal On Ice

Have you ever had Crown Royal on ice? Not the drink, the experience. Throw your head back, listen to the song, and allow your mind to drift :-)

Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

For the past week, I’ve been reading, Committed, Elizabeth Gilbert’s follow up memoir to her best seller Eat, Pray, Love. I read Eat, Pray, Love in 2008, and it inspired me to take a trip by myself halfway across the world to Indonesia. (One of the best decisions I’ve ever made). So, I was excited and anxious to read her next book to see what kind of travel inspiration I would draw from it.

As it turned out, none. But the book was no less amazing!

In Eat, Pray, Love, the author decided to travel internationally for a year in an effort to “find herself” after a horrible divorce. She visited Italy (Eat), India (Pray), and Indonesia (Love). Yep, she found love again in Indonesia with a Brazilian-born, Australian citizen temporarily living in Bali for business.

Over the next three years, the two had a slow courtship and eventually pledged themselves to each other…but not immediately through conventional marriage. Both the author and her new beau had been through excruciatingly painful divorces which burdened them financially, emotionally and physically, so they were equally skeptical about the institution and had no desire to make their union “legal”—until the United States Government stepped in.

In order for Felipe, Gilbert’s new lover, to visit (and stay in) the US freely without the frequency of his trips raising suspicion with the border patrol, the two would need to be legally married…the couple had been sentenced to wed.

So, Committed is entirely about Gilbert’s attempt to make peace with the age-old, stubborn institution of marriage. She explores the history of marriage (which didn’t start off as a religious sacrament. It was once a secular institution monitored by families and civil courts. In fact, the church held celibacy in higher regard than marriage in the beginning); she interviews women from different cultures to get their perspectives on marriage; (what she finds is that arranged, or pragmatic, marriages—marriages based on the interest of the larger community rather than the two individuals involved—are more likely to stand the test of time). She also investigates the difference between infatuation and love. She notes that it is usually infatuation that gets people in the trouble of marrying or procreating too soon. Gilbert describes infatuation as, “the most perilous aspect of human desire….infatuation is not the quite same thing as love; it’s more like love’s shady second cousin who’s always borrowing money and can’t hold down a job.”

Gilbert also reveals from research that women who marry later in life and have fewer kids (among other factors) are more likely to stay married in this day. The whole book challenges the reader to think about marriage outside of convention because the reality is the institution changes as history changes and evolves. My marriage won’t look identical to my mom’s and will only vaguely resemble my grandmother’s.

I’ll stop here and conclude with simply calling the book “eye-opening.” If you’re looking for a good, non-fiction read, check out Committed.

Goddess Zuri Site Temporarily Down

GoddessZuri.com is temporarily down. We are switching over to a new hosting company. Sorry for the inconvenience. We'll be back up soon!

In the meantime, please add us as a friend on facebook!

Act On What You Know And Not What You Feel

Long story short, I’ve felt some kind of way about this guy I’ve known since I was a teenager. And although communication between us had been spotty throughout the years, a reconnected friendship was rather effortless after we ended up in the same city about six months ago.

We started having casual conversations which progressed into more frequent conversations which then progressed into hanging out. So as you can probably imagine, my interest in him progressed. And after evaluating his actions, I reasoned that the interest was at least half-way mutual. I was confident in my senses, so I didn’t feel like a verbal confirmation was necessary….until my attraction to him intensified. Among many things, my friend is compassionate and brilliant with a body like “whoa.” Not to mention he loves his momma, so there’s a lot to like.

After my confidence was shaken, though, I realized that I was riding full on emotions and empty on actuality...not a good companionship. So, I decided that I had to inquire about his outlook on our friendship…not really an easy thing to do while trying to leave the chill factor undisturbed.

But I couldn’t keep operating in the unknown. So, one day I asked him what his intentions were with me. In the immediate moments after asking, I was so proud of myself for getting it out. But then there was a period of silence that left me a bit anxious. He finally responded that he didn’t know what his intentions were…..he was just chillin.

Damn!

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, so I was disappointed for something like two minutes. Then I simply accepted that we weren’t on the same page. If I had continued to go off of my feelings, though, I would have probably just assumed that we were…not knowing for sure.

So, the moral of the story is, act on what you know and not what you feel. And guess what…if you don’t know, you better find out!

My friend and I will always be friends, but it looks like it may not be more than that for now.

I Just Think She's Fly: Amel Larrieux

If you remember, Amel Larrieux launched her career in the mid 90s as half of the duo "Groove Theory."

I didn't really start listening to her, though, until she broke out on her own years later. Many of her influences are drawn from R&B, soul, jazz, folk, hip-hop, and gospel with flashes of Middle Eastern, West African, and Indian ethnic styles. Needless-to-say, her fly and eclectic sound is far from mainstream which leaves her underrated and undiscovered by the masses.

Amel has some serious love songs on all of her albums. And when I was younger, the two that I swore were going to be played during my wedding were, "No One Else" and "Make Me Whole." I'm sure that each goddess wants a love like the one she describes in these songs.

But lately, I've had "Just Once" on repeat. The song reminds me that time shouldn't be wasted, life should be lived and happiness should be experienced. When you get a chance, check it out.