An illustration of a Black person sitting with their legs crossed and the following text, "30-Day Yoga Challenge."

30-Day Yoga Challenge | Day 1

Today’s practice was different. I drifted off more, let my body take the lead instead of my mind, and felt the poses more deeply. I told myself that I want work on getting out of my head in 2023. You think today’s experience was my body’s way of telling me I was heard? I do. I’ve participated in Adriene’s 30-day yoga challenge for a few years now, but I have a feeling that this one is going to be more of an exploration than a challenge. Anyways, day one: done!

See you tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

“Been gone for a minute. Now I’m back with the jump off. Goons in the” — Okay, you get it. I’m back and with a new look. Ju like it? I do!

My favorite thing about this new layout is that it isn’t as reliant on visuals as my last layout was. I didn’t post as much as I wanted to last year because I felt pressured to create or find a good image to accompany posts. Now, I can just post things on the fly. I really want to challenge myself to share my thoughts more because I really be having shit to say.

Anyways, my word of the year is “Consistency.” Whatever I do this year, I’m going to do it consistently; I’m tired of trying everything but doing nothing.

A picture of Shanté.

Watch Me Bring My Hair Back to Life After Braids

I‘m usually good at keeping my hair moisturized while wearing braids but I couldn’t be bothered this time, so I just knew my hair was going to be dry as fuck when I took them out. And… it was. Here’s a lil photo essay of me bringing it back to life.

You Can Remove the Wrapping from Sausages?

So… I was today year’s old when I realized the wrapping around sausages could be removed. 🤦🏾‍♀️ I’ve been fussing with/eating that shit for years.

Did y’all know this? Also, I hope you are doing well! I’ve just been over here working and trying to figure out how to have a safe hot girl summer (too much shit going on in the world). Anyways, I’ll talk to you later this week — gotta hit the gym.

Dick-looking chicken sausages that I got from Whole Foods.

A Central Park Duck Tried to Square Up

I took a stroll through Central Park the other day and, y’all, when I say the ducks were sick of me… Lol! This duck (ducks can be brown too, right?) was SICK of my shit. I snapped like five pics and it was like, “Okay, girl, you need a closer look?!” And flew right at me. I knew something was up because brownie and their friend kept staring at me.

The duck that knucked and bucked at me in Central Park.

This pic is my favorite:

Video

Nine to Fives are Ghetto

Today was my first day working full-time after working part-time for five months and… I am not well. I mean, the day went better than I expected it to (especially since I had to work in person) but I’m still dreading the nine to five life, you know? As I state in the video below, “It just ain’t me.”

Here’s why I’m putting myself through this again:

Random Impulse buy: Fruit Roll-ups, Fruit by the Foot, and Fruit Gushers

Picked up a box of these sticky fruity candies the other day and these shits don’t hit like they used to. They’re not nasty; they’re just not amazing. The Fruit roll-up and Footlong, my favorites back in the day, are a lot thinner than I remember too. The Gushers are my favorite right now, which is interesting because I usually don’t like things with jelly filling.

A screenshot of the Character Daryl Dixon from the show, "The Walking Dead."

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 11, Episode 10

This episode gave me serious déjà vu to when our crew first arrived to Alexandria and we got the famous “Who’s Deanna?” line. The people at the Common Wealth (CW), just like Alexandria’s original community, are very adamant about upholding a social hierarchy. That’s so annoying because bitch, y’all are in a whole apocalypse. I know a sense of normalcy is important but it’s been like 10 years now and all of y’all have literally been living in the trenches. Where do you find the nerve to separate by class? That’s the only thing (so far) that I don’t like about the CW.

Anyways, I’d say this episode was all about Daryl Dixon (Norman Reedus). We got to see how seemingly well he’s adjusting to the new environment, his struggle with the CW’s army, and we even got to see how he’s embraced his role as Judith Grimes (Cailey Fleming) and Rick Grimes Jr.’s (Antony Azor) guardian. One thing that surprised me about this episode was how happy and genuinely interested in the CW Daryl seemed. It took him a while to take Alexandria and the community’s way of life serious, so to see him indulging in a walker-themed haunted house and submit to Mercer (Michael James Shaw) felt odd. I fully expected Daryl to push back at Mercer but he didn’t. I wonder if he believes in what the CW is doing or if he’s just being strategic and keeping his head down for the time being.

Lastly, I hope the show runners show us what happened when Daryl and the gang first arrived; I’m a little annoyed that we didn’t get to see that. It’s not super important but I think it would be helpful because seeing our crew fall in line at the CW just doesn’t feel real without context. I need to see what happened.