Prim & Prose

2012-02-12T10:14:00.001-08:00

this weekend my fiancé musa & I picked out wedding rings. we've been to at least a million jewelers, but this time was different. we both walked into two separate stores and purchased the first rings we tried on - one as the store was closing!

somewhere in the middle of this wedding planning process - things have changed. we both still have our vision of how the big day will be, but we're less concerned with the things that once seemed so very important.

not to insinuate that we're not excited - i still want to wear my white dress, drink good wine and above all dance!! but i'm more excited about the promises we'll make to God and each other, and i'm thrilled about creating a lifetime of memories with my best friend, starting with our honeymoon in jamrock!

so here's to change. here's to embracing the fact that we're really not in control. here's to trusting that God is sovereign and He has a plan for our new family.

here's to love, and i love you boo :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:on getting married

innocence

2012-01-28T22:53:00.001-08:00

my twin neice and nephew turned 1 this week and had their first taste of birthday cake.

1 year of life. 365 days of being here on earth. doesn't it all go by in a blink?

sometimes I wonder what they're thinking even though they can't talk just yet. i wonder if they know how fast the time will fly, if they can even remotely sense the joys and heartaches that lie ahead, wish I could live in their world where the future is hardly even a concern, much less a reason for worry.

sometimes we all just need to stop and savor the moment and appreciate things as they are.

so here's to you jacob & chloe. thanks for the lessons you teach without words, and may you always embrace each new year with open arms, and a fistful of birthday cake :-)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

life is short

2012-01-16T19:49:00.001-08:00

i think of death often.

what would it be like to keep on living without the people around me i love most? it's hard to fathom that one day i'll be standing over my parents' graves, saying goodbye to my siblings or burying the one person i believe i was meant to spend the rest of my life with. so many already have.

this life is so very brief.

the Bible offers these thoughts on death: "it is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living will lay it to heart."

sobering thought.

the more i think of death, the more i want to truly live. when my time comes, i don't want to have any regrets, only eager expectation.

Lord, help me live every day to the fullest. help me to love those you have given me to love. help me to remember that abundant life is only found in You.

christmas remix

2011-12-26T03:43:00.001-08:00

I love this picture of my mom, sister and me on Christmas day.

as a good friend so eloquently put it, "this is your last Christmas with a last name I can pronounce."

with each passing year, I become more aware of change. it is this realization that 'things are different' that has moved me to embrace the moment, AS IS, with no complaints, only thanks, recognizing that it may not come again, or not in the same way.

these truths are self-evident.

there were no children at Christmas dinner, and two of my siblings were absent, off spending time with their own families and establishing new traditions. the future, now on the horizon, only promises more twists and surprises.

yes, things change. and thankfully, some things don't: the promise of salvation, the love of family, the joy of Christmas.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

bucket list blunder

2011-12-24T06:50:00.001-08:00

i've always wanted a weave. always.

as a teenager, my dad wouldn't even entertain the idea. i still remember the day I asked my mom if I could get braid extensions (figured I'd start small.)

"if your father says you can," she said with her classic grin that might as well have read, "forget it."

and just like that, i knew it was dead on the spot. murdered in the same likeness as the parasucos i begged for the year before (to no avail).

by the time I got to college I'd succeeded in convincing myself that I didn't need a weave, or anything else additive for that reason, makeup & perm included. after all, I was natural, low-maintenance and chill ... right?

and my inner Beyonce' patiently waited, beckoning all the while. it was only a matter of time.

well, mom & dad, today i finally got that weave. 10 inches of jet black Indian remi (the good stuff!) and like everything else, you may have been more right than I care to admit.

the salon gave me the wrong color (my weave has been two-tone for the past 24 hours), my thick, short hair doesn't blend well with this good silky silky, and attempting to scratch through this netting is apparently futile.

currently I'm back in the salon trying to rectify the situation (sitting under the dryer waiting for a jet black rinse to take.)

and at the moment, i don't feel more fabulous, just more broke.

life can be funny ...

old love, new season

2011-12-06T20:52:00.001-08:00

i'm going to new york this weekend. the thought alone used to thrill me, now not so much. ironic, i guess.

not too long ago i dreamed of living in the big apple ... wondered what it would be like to be out on my own ... thought maybe i could find myself in the crowd, or the hustle and bustle ... was excited by the energy of somewhere, something new. more than anything i wanted change.

it's ironic perhaps - even though i've never called the city home, something there is so familiar to me. the smell of dreams, the drive, the promise of possibility.

so imagine my surprise that i'm still here. same christina, and yet not quite. same life, new perspective. growing in ways i didn't expect. learning. loving. living.

i was searching for change, and it found me. here.

happy fall!

2011-10-31T07:15:00.000-07:00

i'm back

2011-10-26T12:42:00.000-07:00

guess who's back?!

i shut down prim & prose for a while and to be honest, i missed it. there's something therapeutic about being transparent and not taking yourself too seriously. pretty freeing actually.

from my perspective, prim & prose is all about living life outside the box.

the more i grow, the more i realize the beauty of shedding the persona, not having all the answers, trying something new, succeeding and failing, crying without shame, saying no, loving hard, telling jokes no one else thinks are funny and trusting God to navigate us through this short maze we call life.

this is my adventure. i promise never to box myself in. to take risks, and often. to see things for what they really are, and dare to color outside the lines.

hello, world.