Kobe Bryant retiring and Russell Wilson's best game yet

Kobe Bryant has decided to retire from basketball after a series of injuries and aging and he did so in a touching sincere letter to the game. You can tell that basketball has been a real sense of comfort and passion for him and when you're not able to live your passion, it's common that a little depression sets in but from the sound of the letter, he'll adjust. I believe that writing is a powerful tool to release energy and penning an open letter to the sport and for the fans to see is definitely a gracious and mature way to show gratitude.

Dear Basketball,

From the moment

I started rolling my dad’s tube socks

And shooting imaginary

Game-winning shots

In the Great Western Forum

I knew one thing was real:

I fell in love with you.

A love so deep I gave you my all —

From my mind & body

To my spirit & soul.

As a six-year-old boy

Deeply in love with you

I never saw the end of the tunnel.

I only saw myself

Running out of one.

Soul Train Awards

Did you catch the Soul Train Awards??? Well the highlight from the night was when Erykah Badu called out Iggy for not really rapping.

They honored our girl Jill Scott from Philly. Love IT! By the way if you haven't seen Creed then you're missing out. Philly was on fire this weekend!

Why we love Family Guy

Skits like this is why we like Family Guy

Change your boss, Change your life!

If you have a serious disdain for your job, it's most likely related to your dislike for you boss than for

the job itself. Millions of people find themselves hating their jobs and for the most part they cannot really pinpoint why they became disengaged in the first place. If this is you then it may not be the job but your boss who is the problem. There's no secret that the people we work with daily can actually make or break our on the job happiness and if your boss sucks then it's kind of hard to justify spending 8+ hours with that person let alone being scrutinized by that person. So if you're in the market to change jobs or interviewing, make sure you make it a priority to find out as much as you can about your potential supervisor. Your boss really does impact your mood and should be an ally to you. They should be your biggest supporter and you shouldn't ever feel like you're in competition with your boss. Your potential for growth is highly correlated with your managers ability to lead therefore it's critical to make sure that you not only consider compensation but also gauge if your manager will be aligned with your goals. If you happen to be in the interviewing process now is the time to make sure that you use the interview to find out little things about your potential boss and take notice if they seem on edge or if the initial chemistry is off. There are red flags to consider during an interview but they're subtle so you need to be looking for them.

AMA fashion winners

You guys know I love the fashion that comes with award shows and last night was good from a fashion prospective. My only complaint is of the men who attended. These guys need to invest in great stylist and some of the women too but at least a few gowns were fashion winners but I have no men who made the list.

One of the highlights was Jennifer Lopez who always brings a great fashion moment. She hosted the AMA's and really came through with the wardrobe changes but the best outfit to me was her teams costumes and the matching jackets... Perfect!!!! Hit the flip to see the rest of the best. 

Music Review Justin Bieber

OMG... Love Justin's latest CD PURPOSE. I'm not even a Justin fan but the CD is definitely good and my favorite song is No Sense which sounds like an Usher song in my opinion which is probably why I like it. The CD is also very visual with the release of the videos. Justin wanted to give exposure to artist by eliminating himself and just using the visual to give artist such as dancers, the full attention of the viewer. Noble gesture of Justin!

Bloated Puffy face? There's help

Lately I've been feeling as though my face has been bloated more than usual. I normally have a very
round face because I have high cheekbones but lately I've been feeling that my face has been increasingly bloated. I especially notice first thing in the morning and I try to make it a habit of sleeping on my back so that blood doesn't pool around my face and eyes causing advanced aging. Did you even know that sleeping on your stomach could age you skin? I know I didn't until I did a bit of research but it does in fact cause wrinkles and puffiness if you sleep on your side or or your stomach.

Hey there... so what do you do?

How often have you been in this scenario? You first meet someone and as an ice breaker one of you ask "so... what do you do?" as a way to begin a conversation. I'm sure we've all been there and done that but to be honest it's often spoken out of lack of real context.  What we're asking about is a persons profession but the problem with that particular question is that we're so much more than what we actual "DO" professionally. Although our work does consume a lot of our waking hours it's not really a defining characteristic of our true selves because it's been documented that millions of people don't even like their professions. We've been trained to get a job, preferable a job that pays lots of money so that we can become successful consumers but this doesn't make us happy in the long run to leaving too many people defined by what they do and not really discovering who they are and their true passions in life. When you begin to totally consume yourself with work and have no real outside interest you are doing a disservice to yourself and I'll explain to you why.

Tricks to beat the odds for your body type

My birthday past last week and naturally I began to think about how old I'm getting and my waistline. I swear I notice a difference in my shape each month damn near. I used to to just feel me gaining weight, now I not only feel when I gain weight but I see the weight that been there fall slightly differently. It used to be compact fat! Now it's getting lose and giggly and jello thighs is not the move. That's a birthday gift I don't need so I've been looking into if it's possible for your body type to change and as I suspected it can change over time!

I can no longer eat some of my favorite foods nor can I neglect some sort of activity if I just want to maintain the body I see in the mirror. It really is a conscious effort and I never paid this much attention to what use to be simply eating what I wanted when I wanted to stay the same or a salad to drop a few. Now there are rules and all sorts of trickery to try to keep you in shape. So I found a chart that really does spell it out for you and it's quite accurate. I tried it along with my usual spurts in the gym and I actually lost a few pounds.

How to spot fake friends

If I like you, you know. I'm the type of person who can't really hide my feelings because my expressions won't allow me to conceal it. I'm also very selective about who I allow into my small circle because if you're in my circle then I value you. The only problem with that is sometime it's the people closest to you that turn out to be the most conniving and the most jealous so you have to beware and weed out the soul suckers from those that uplift and add peace of mind. The problem is how do you spot the soul suckers from the rest when you're increasingly around the negative?  You're around people all day that don't really add benefit to your life and who are just like fillers so it's hard to know and really appreciate those who have substance. I'm going to give you a few pointers on how to spot a fucked up friend so that you can appreciate those who are real and add benefit to your life.

1.  Real friends really do want the best for you. Everyones life does not move at the same pace yet still it's only natural to be slightly envious when you see those closest to you excelling. A true friend may experience some of these same jealous tendencies but they push those thoughts aside so that they can genuinely help you celebrate and share in your special moment. The problem is that it's a two sided coin and you'll have to return the favor with grace. A friendship like any relationship must be give and take so knowing that we have our own separate road map for achievements is critical to a friendship.

What would you do if you found 600 Million?

What would you do if you found $600 Million dollars?

Well we now know what 65 year old farmer Jose Cartolos would do because he actually found several big blue tubs containing $600 million when he was digging around on his family farm. He turned the money over to the government and it was later determined that the money belonged to Pablo Escobar who has been dead for 22 years now.
Jose is better than me because I know exactly what I would have done but that's another story. After a while if they haven't come back for it then they aren't coming back. I'm sure he could tell if the land was recently dug up or irritated (he is a farmer). Anyway for Jose's act of kindness in surrendering the money he has received absolutely nothing in return. The money was confiscated by the Columbian government.

Frugal life hack... fix that rotten banana

Have you ever purchased bananas to only have them ripen too quickly? Well I found a hack online that may save you a few pennies and preserve those bananas so you aren't wasting good food and money. Take a look

Weekly Recap... NYC Halloween Parade and Balmain H&M Fashion

Happy Friday beautiful people! I'm in the NYC area and the weather for this time of the year couldn't be any better because it's been really mild temperatures for November. Yesterday and today were in the mid 70's and that's amazing for this area in November especially being that my birthday was on Monday. I celebrated by catching the remnants of the Halloween parade in the village. The costumes are amazing!!! I found a few pictures for you to sample. If you're ever in the city during late October then I highly recommend catching the parade.