I like my $$$ right where I can see it; hanging in my closet.

Adrienne asked: What's your go to item of clothing? Your MUST HAVE, 'always feel pretty even though you are feeling bleh' clothing?

Katie asked: My question is (of course related to clothing) where are your favorite places to shop?

Tenecia asked: I just want to see a picture of your closet because in my mind it looks like a combo of H & M, Target, Express, and Forever 21 :)

*** I’ve gotten many questions regarding my wardrobe. In fact, the questions above were a few that I received from this post, in regards to my wardrobe. I know, y’all thought I had forgotten about it. But I assure you that I haven’t. I’ll finish soon enough, I promise.

I haven’t really made a post about my wardrobe so I figured today was as good as any.

First I’ll answer the questions above:

1. My go to outfit is a flowy (I’m being told this is not a word?) top, skinny jeans and a stiletto. I think no matter the day, I feel great in this outfit.

2. My favorite places to shop are Old Navy, Express, Forever 21 (duh), Target and H&M. You will often see in my outfit posts that most of my clothing come from these stores.

For shoes I really love Steve Madden and Zaras. Every once in a while I’ll find shoes from Target that I really like as well.

In my younger days, I was very concerned with name brands, etc. I just had to have them. It did not matter if I was dropping $150 on a pair of jeans. The name sold me.

Thank goodness, I’ve grown since then. I am what some might call trendy. I love trends and I’m not afraid to admit it. I don’t try every trend because some just don’t work for me. So dropping $150 on a pair of jeans that I might not wear again in a few months/year is just not practical to me. I’ll rather spend that on going out to dinner or traveling.

That doesn’t mean that I don’t splurge every once in a while because I certainly do. There are just some things that are worth the extra dollars. And it’s up to the individual to decide what is worth the extra and what isn’t.

But there are things that one must look out for when shopping at stores like Forever 21, etc. Go into the stores. Touch the items. See how they are made. If you already see a stich coming loose, that’s a sign for you to put the item away. You’ll be surprised that many times you can walk out with something that looks so much more than you actually spent. Just because you’re spending less, doesn’t mean that the item needs to look less.

You also have to care for your items a little differently. I wash all my clothes in cold water and I never dry in the dryer (except for my gym attire). All my clothes are hung up to dry. Due to this, many of my inexpensive clothing have lasted a long time.

At the end of the day, wear what makes you feel good. If you feel good, most likely you look good. Well, as long as you’re not squeezing your size 12 behind into a size 4. You know I’m right. Summer is coming so all of our eyes are going to hurt very soon. But at least it will be warm.

Happy Wednesday or Happy Shopping! I’ll take the latter but I’m banned for the rest of the month. No, Sean didn’t ban me, I banned myelf. Best thing is that the end of the month is in 6 days, ha. Best ban ever.

{Sweater & Scarf: Old Navy - Jeans: American Eagle - Heels: Forever 21}


{Top: Target - Jeans: H&M - Leopard flats: Unlisted by Kenneth Cole}


{Sweater: Old Navy - Jeans: H&M - Boots: Steven by Steve Madden - Necklace: Forever 21}


{Top & Jeans: Old Navy - Booties: Target}


{Sweater: Forever 21 - Jeans: Old Navy - Boots: Steven by Steve Madden - Necklace: Forever 21}

Question & Answer - Part 4

MISCELLANEOUS

Besides your sisters, do you have any black friends? Not acquaintances but actual friends. I have wondered this for a while. Nothing against anyone, I just wanted to know.

I could answer with a simple yes but I don’t think that’s good enough, so I’ll be answering this question alone today.

I'll start with a little background:

I was born in Manhattan. I grew up and went to school in the Bronx. Before I went to college, I could count on one hand the amount of white (or should I say Caucasian?) friends I had. All my friends were Black American, African, African American, of Asian descent or Puerto Rican. It wasn’t that I didn’t want white friends, it was just that not many white children went to my schools growing up.

When I decided on college, I told my childhood friends, “we’ll be friends forever”. Let’s just say that within a few months in college that promise began to disappear. We were no longer calling each other every day. We were no longer missing each other. And that was OK. We were growing up and we were always told that the friends we made in college would be our lifelong friends. We were OK with growing apart.

I decided to go to college in upstate NY. 6 hours away from the city. Less than 2 hours away from Montreal. My first day, I quickly became aware that I was often the only African American person in my class. It was a big environmental change. I stood out. It probably didn’t help that I always wore stilettos while so many students wore pajamas to class.

I could go through pictures and show you my ACTUAL non-white friends but I don't feel the need to do that. It almost is like when a person says they are not racist because they have a black friend. So I'm not going to do that. I don't have to do that.

My freshman roommate was Italian and we became inseparable. We had so much in common that we thought it was destiny that we were set up to be roommates. First week of college, I met a guy named Chris (white) who lived in my dorm building and we went everywhere together. Soon if people would see me they would ask where Chris was and vice versa. I met Stacy (blond standing to the left of me in my wedding picture) and when I say that's a bond that can't be broken, I mean it's a bond that can't be broken. And you all know Colleen, she makes an appearance often because we moved to the same town after graduation. And obviously you know Sean. The white love of my life.

But I didn’t only make white friends. Since my parents are from Ghana I really love making friends with people who were born in other countries, etc. There is just something that draws me in when I learn you were born somewhere besides the US. I made friends from Morocco (in my wedding), from Romania, from Peru, from India, from Korea (in my wedding), from Jamaica, from Dominica (small island in the Caribbean). The nickname for my friends and I was “United Nations” because we were from everywhere.

The day before we all graduated the amount of tears that were shed was … let’s just say it wasn’t pretty. We were all heartbroken. But it made things easier because I moved with two of my sorority sisters (both from Dominica) and we just continued "college".

Many of these (non-white) friends do not make the blog often because of distance. But distance hasn’t killed our friendships because of technology. It is easy to keep in touch and when we do see each other it is as though time has not passed us by.

So yes, the answer is yes. I have actual black friends who are not acquaintances. But I’m more grateful that I can say that I have friends from everywhere. I’m proud that regardless of the color of your skin, I am willing to welcome you with open arms.

So my question that I'll answer is: Does it really matter where your friends come from? I think it does somewhat. If you're only choosing to be friends with people who are like you then that is a problem. So if you happen to meet a person who could possibly be your soul friend, don't make it stop there because of the color of their skin. You can thank me later.

And now I'm off the soap box. I'll return there in a month or two ;).

Have a fabulous weekend, loves! ♥

Questions & Answers - Part 3

MARRIAGE

Who is your marriage mentor? The couple you looked up to that shaped how you saw marriage life being like?

That would be my parents. They will be married for 39 years this July. They have taught me that when you choose to love someone every single day, your marriage can go the distance.

They have taught me that it isn’t always going to be easy but if you place God in the center you will get through it.

They have taught me that it is OK to have arguments and to not always agree but to never go to bed angry.

They have taught me that it is possible to be apart but wanting to be and do everything together is not sad.

Because of their examples I treat my marriage with high regards. I want to be the best for Sean. I want to love on him, I want to treat him well, and I want to be his lifelong partner. So although, it isn’t always sunshine and roses in our household, I know that he knows that I love him with everything I got. That he knows that I will fight for him if times ever got rough. Because when I said, I do, I meant forever.

What’s the first thing that you can remember that is so small now but was so big then that you bumped heads with as a newlywed (what side of the bathroom was yours?, etc)

A few months after we got married, Sean starting saying he wanted to look for a house. And I just didn’t get it. I was like, why? I’m fine renting. He gave all these pros and all I could see were the cons. We would have to fix everything ourselves and we all know that we aren’t that handy married couple.

So I hesitantly agreed to look with him. The thing was I did nothing to find out what I really wanted in a home. All I told Sean was that I wanted a house on the smaller side that way I didn’t have to deal with too much house. I wish I could go back and change that time because it should have been an exciting time for the both of us. Sean was so excited and I wasn’t. It wasn’t until we actually got an offer accepted that it hit me that wait, I’m suppose to be thrilled right now. If I could go back, I would change that. I would do research and find out what we both really wanted, what would be great for our famiy because I let Sean do that on his own. So I’m excited for the next time we go house shopping. Poor Sean wouldn’t even know what hit him, ha.

Do you want a big family? If you don't want a big family, do you feel guilty about wanting a small family?

How many kids do you two hope for?

I want two. Sean wants one. I guess, we’ll see what I think after the first one but I have this crazy thing in my mind about having one child and I guess I might as well share it now. So yeah, I’m crazy but I often think about how blessed I am that I have three sisters. I know that one day we will lose our parents but it gives me this sense of peace because I know that there will be three other people in this world who know how I’m feeling. Not the whole, I’m sorry for your loss but really feeling the loss. That brings me comfort. If we only have one child (by choice) I worry that, that child would never have that comfort. No one will ever really understand what he/she is going through. Because of that I can’t have one. Sean said, who thinks like that? Yeah, I guess, I do.

I don’t feel guilty about wanting a small family at all. I just think that it will give us both time to be the type of parents that we want to be.

Where do you see yourself and Sean in say ten years time? Do you imagine that you'll live in a different place or with a couple of children or in a different career?

Crazy to think that in 10 years I’ll be 40! In 10 years, I imagine that I’ll have two children. That we will no longer live in our starter home. I believe that we’ll have another rental property. Quite possibly three at that time. Career wise, I imagine I will have more responsibilities. I’ll be the big honcho at my current company ;). I imagine that Sean will be successful with his dream to own multiple rental properties and that he will be working for himself. I imagine that we will still be in love with each other and our lives. I imagine that life will be so good that I’ll be thanking God everyday for all the big and small things He continues to do for us.

As for where we will live, I have no idea. Sean always talks about moving somewhere new. I'm open to it but I love where we live right now.

*****

P.S. I had no idea that so many of you thought I was tall! It's the shoes/heels I wear that made you all think I was tall. The nickname I was given in my sorority was Stiletto so I guess that explains that :).

Questions & Answers - Part 2

MISCELLANOUS

Do you have a celebrity freebie list and who is/would be on it? :) Same for Sean?!

OK, I don’t think I have to do a disclaimer on this. We all know that I’m only hot for Sean but in the name of fun, I’ll do this ;)

* Little Wayne (I know, I know) But there’s something ...

Alright, this might seem weird but I tend to like characters and not the actual celebrity sometimes.

For instance: Tim Riggins from Friday Night Lights, Chuck from Gossip Girl and Damon from The Vampire Diaries. Looking at that list it shows that I like troubled, bad boy characters.

Other celebrities that I dig:

*Derek Luke
*Channing Tatum (like every woman & girl in America)
*Brian White
*Common

Sean only has one and it is Britney Spears. He is still living in his college days, ha.

Who is your favorite celebrity and why?

Morgan Freeman, hands down. I absolutely love him and think he is brilliant! One of my favorite movies "The Shawshank Redemption" made me a Morgan Freeman believer. I also don’t think I have ever seen him in a bad movie which means to me that he is highly selective of the roles he chooses for himself and I love that.

If you could bring one person back from the grave to spend a day with them, who would it be? Celebrity? Family? Humanitarian?

Great question and one that I’ve often thought about so I didn’t even blink. Drum roll please ... Martin Luther King, Jr! I would love to say thank you in person and would love it even more for him to see Sean and I walk down the streets, hand in hand, with no fear. I would love to see the expression on his face once he learned who our current president is. But I have a feeling he wouldn’t be surprised. I mean, he did have the dream after-all.

How tall are you?

5’3 and a quarter.

What's a day LIKE in the life of Faith? Like a play by play of a regular day?

Hmm, not that exciting to be honest. I wake up at 6:49 every morning. I feed Izabella and Fella and then I take Izabella out to do her doggy business. I'm in the shower, have had breakfast and I'm out the door by 8:00am. I work until 4:30pm and I'm home by 4:45pm. I feed Izabella dinner and then Sean and I are out the door by 5pm heading to the gym. We get home from the gym by 6:15pm. I make dinner and it is usually served by 7-7:15pm. After dinner, Sean and I have bible studies and then we watch television/chat until 11:45. During this time, I'm also responding to emails and blogging. By 12:30am, I'm ready for bed and then it begins all over again. See, I told you. Very exciting.

Well, I AM curious why Sean hates the camera. ;)

Sean said, “He does what he wants.”

If you had to eat at ONE restaurant for the rest of your life, what would it be?

One restaurant? Seriously. That’s no fun at all. Alright, I really thought this through. I can pretty much cook any type of food that I really like if I put my mind to it … but I highly doubt that I can perfect sushi so if I had to choose one restaurant (which I hope I never, ever have to do) I’ll choose Hana Japanese Steak House. They have the most amazing sushi and the hibachi is out of this world. So Hana's it is!

If you had to choose....sushi or avocado rolls?

I'll take sushi rolls since they come with avocado anyway. I get both, lucky for me.

Questions & Answers - Part 1

MISCELLANOUS

What are the top 3 items on your "Bucket List?" If 3 is too many I'll settle for just the #1.

1. Have a baby (or two) before 35. Yes, having a baby is actually on my bucket list ;).
2. Go a week without social media.
3. Take a photography course.

Did you get your kitty or your puppy first?

We got Fella (cat) first. I think we messed up since he was by himself for 5 years of his life, so he began to think he was human. And now there’s another “human” in the house and he absolutely hates it.

How are your cat and doggie getting along?

Fella refuses to give Izabella a chance. My dreams of my cat and dog cuddling with each other is slowly going down the drain. If only I could keep Izabella from chasing Fella each time he’s in the room.

I want more wedding pics.

I used to do a Wedding Wednesday on the blog in 2010. If you go to my pages on my blog above you will see a link called Our Wedding. In this link, you’ll read our wedding recap and see millions of pictures.

What is your dream job?

I would love to be a personal shopper. Whenever I go shopping with a friend I’ve noticed that I'll see something and I can immediately see that person in it. And without fail, they try it on and it looks just as I thought it would. I love it most when a friend says, I never would have thought to try it on. Plus, being able to shop without spending a dime is a thrill for me, even if the items are not my own.

What's your favorite place you've ever traveled, and where can you not wait to visit next?

I absolutely loved visiting Aruba. There is just something so serene and gorgeous about Aruba. I hope that Sean and I will be able to go together someday.

I can’t wait to go to Ghana (Africa) with Sean one day. We don’t have a date (yet) but it’s something we are both looking forward to.

(sidenote: I visited Ghana for one month in 2005)

"If you could be granted one wish, what would it be?"

I would love to live without fear. Yeah, I know. I could have said be invisible, read people’s minds, etc. But that doesn’t really appeal to me. I think that fear can really take over my thoughts which means that I’m not letting go and letting God. So I’ll love to live without fear.