The Dark, Dark, Dark Side

So you all know how much I love tea.

But you might not know what my favorites are. I used to be a fan of fruit or mint, but now my loves are Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Chai Noir, or any variation of black chai. You know the dark teas. As I always say, the darker the better.

So the other day I was shopping for more tea, when I spotted some on sale for $1.65.

Most tea ranges from 2.99 to 3.99. It is never that low.

It was a new tea by Bigelow. They had made an American Breakfast tea, saying that we needed our own to add to the English and Irish Breakfast teas. I decided to buy it and then later threw away my receipt as I didn’t need it anymore.

Majorly

It was only afterwards that I saw it has 50% more caffeine in it.

Now I don’t do well with caffeine. If I have a little of it, I am up all night and bouncing off the walls. The next day I feel sick, have a gigantic headache, and just want to sleep. It like having a hangover.

But I thought maybe this time it won’t be so bad. I decided to try it out.

And it was…

It was darker than dark. It was so dark and strong I had to throw in a bunch of cream and sugar.

It was as if the makers of Bigelow thought Americans don’t like tea, only coffee; so let’s make the most coffee-est tea we can. For me it was good was far too strong.

Definitely not my cup of tea. I’m sticking with Earl Grey from now on.

For more on tea, go to Going on a Treasure Hunt

For more on Star Wars, go to This Day in History

You’re My Hero: Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

Romantic Moment #9

Why Did I Get Married? (2007)

Why Did I Get Married? is a film directed by and starring Tyler Perry. Just like Diary of a Mad Black Woman, this film is based on his play of the same name.

This film is about four couples, all friends from college, who are going on their annual retreat to not only work on their marriage but catch up on what’s been going on in each other’s lives.

• The first couple is the over-worked, lawyer Dianne (Sharon Leal) and her husband Dr. Terry (Tyler Perry). The two have been arguing because Dianne didn’t want to time off from work to go on the retreat. In fact she doesn’t want to take off ANY time for anything. He hardly ever sees her or spends time with her. She is hardly involved with their daughter as well as she is always working. Terry wants more kids, but not only is Dianne hardly ever around, but when she is, she is too tired to have sex with him
• Then we have Angela (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Michael Jai White). Marcus used to be a famous football player and has two kids with another woman. He married Angela and helped finance her first beauty salon of which he now works at. She has gone to make tons of money, including created her own line of hair products. These two are constantly arguing.
• Then we have perfect Patricia (Janet Jackson) and her husband Gavin (Malik Yoba). Patricia is a professor and author of the hit book Why Did I Get Married? Everything seems great about them, except the two are a bit stilted.
• Lastly we have the overweight Sheila (Jill Scott) and her rude, arrogant, jerk of a husband Mike (Richard T. Jones). They are taking a flight to the retreat, taking along their friend Trina (Denise Boutte). Yes, bringing a single girl to a couples retreat? Like that’s not odd. Anyways, Sheila doesn’t fit in her seat, and Trina tries to give hers up, but Mike kicks her off the plane and tells her to drive there.

While there Dianne falls asleep alone, ignoring Terry. Her assistant calls and Terry tells her to leave them alone for the week as Dianne is on vacation. Angela and Marcus are fighting again and he asks Terry for help with something. That night Mike is seen, by Angela, sneaking into Trina’s room. Sheila was heading to Colorado but the night was was too dark and snowy, so she pulls off on the side of the road. There Troy (Lamman Rucker), the sheriff, spots her and brings her to the station to spend the night.

The next day Sheila arrives at the retreat and brings Troy to get with Trina, upsetting Mike. They invite Troy to dinner and that’s when all hell breaks loose.

• It turns out that Dianne had her tubes tied as she doesn’t want anymore kids. She never told Terry as he wants more. She has been avoiding having sex as she doesn’t want to tell him about it.
• Dianne also found out that Terry had a DNA test done on his daughter as he wasn’t sure she was really his. Dianne is always busy, so he was wondering if she really got pregnant by someone else.
• Marcus has been cheating on Angela with his ex-girlfriend, and thought he got a STD from her.
• Angela cheated on Marcus, with Walter, got an STD, and gave it to Marcus.
• Gavin blames Patricia for the death of their son.
• Patricia still blames herself for the death of their son.
• Mike is cheating on Sheila with Trina.

Everyone tries to fix their mistakes, but Mike wants a divorce. Sheila becomes upset with Mike and whaps him on the head.

After that they all go their separate ways. Sheila stays in town with sheriff Troy, as he gets her a job at the general store. All the remaining couples go through a lot of changes and discussions to find out why did they get married? And do they want to stay married?

***Most Romantic Moment***

So after the whole finding out your husband was cheating on you with your best friend, along with all the abuses he laid on you throughout the years- Sheila was having a really bad time. Troy is really there for her, providing her with a job and a place to stay while she goes through a divorce and has to figure out what to do with her life now. In fact, the two begin an amazing friendship and at one point Troy wants it to move to dating, but Sheila says no. She is scared since he made everything so much better in her life, that she is falling in love with him for his help only. Troy agrees, and the two decide to take it slow, a little at a time.

Isn’t that amazing! He is so perfect and just perfect for her! He doesn’t care about her past and he sees all the good in her, past the insecurities and her inhibitions.

She gets strong, moves along, and finds the perfect man of her dreams.

To start Romance is in the Air: Part III from the beginning, go to I Can See Your Beauty: The Breakfast Club (1985)

For the previous post, go to Love Makes You Do Crazy Things: Hercules (1997)

For more on Why Did I Get Married, go to Part VIII: The Little Movie Line List

For more Tyler Perry, go to What Have We Done to Each Other?: Gone Girl (2014)

For more of my favorite quotes, go to You Look Beautiful Just the Way You Are: How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)

For more films based on a play, go to The Perfect Murder: Dial “M” for Murder (1954)

That Girl is Poison

So if you have been following me for a while, you are quite aware of the fact that I am a huge Batman fan. For any superhero fan you have got to have a favorite villain. And mine is Poison Ivy.

I’ve always loved how she is this super stong feminist, girl-power; yet at the same time isn’t above using seduction and feminine wiles to get what she wants. Plus, I don’t know, she always seemed so cool. So back in April my friends and I were discussing Halloween costume ideas and that’s when I decided I was going to be Poison Ivy.

Go here to see who you are.

But then I ran into a few problems with the putting of the costume together. You see her original outfit is like a green sweetheart leotard, tights, and boots. Not a lot there and October is cold. I wasn’t going to do a leotard and tights. That’s crazy!

So I decided to reimagine her outfit. Instead of the tights and leotard I decided a corset top, shrug with a high villaness collar, green leggings, and my yellow 5 inch platform shoes.

But things didn’t quite turn out as I planned.

The corset and shrug looked awesome, it was the leggings that ran into some issues. You see I have a large butt.

And I do like it, but it can cause some problems. One of which being that leggings don’t always cover its ampleness like they should.

So then we had to change plans. I was going to go with a skirt and tights, although it wasn’t what I really wanted. I wanted pants because if I was an evil villian that is what I would wear. I would want to be able to kick somebody. Luckily my sister heard of my dilemma and told me she could make me some pants.

Everything was going according to plan. The only thing left to do was my hair. And we know how that usually goes.

But it went better than I thought it would. You see I had thought about using a wig, but they are so itchy I decided to dye it instead (temporarily). I went to the beauty store and was warned my hair was too dark of a color the red wouldn’t show. I told the workers I understood that, but I didn’t want bright Ariel hair, I was hoping for a more auburn-y color.

So I ask my sister to help me as she has died her hair multiple times. She went to work and the results were…well let me start that by saying my hair is unusual.

Yeah, it doesn’t do what most people’s hair does. Even my hairdresser has remarked on this. When you want it to be wet, it dries instantly. When you want it dry, it is resistant to the hairdryer. When you want it parted on one side, it flips to the other. When you want it pushed back, it wants to go forward.

So she was trying to slick my hair back to put the dye in, but it kept going forward. Luckily, I had read online that when you dye your hair you should put vaseline along the hairline to protect the dye from staining your skin. It was a good thing I had read that, or else I would have come out looking weird.

When my sister was done putting the dye in. She showed me her gloves and it looked like we had just murdered someone, the way the dye had gotten everywhere. It was like a Dexter episode.

Ayways, after I sat the most time allowed, we washed my hair. Sadly it looked like all the dye was running out into the tub and that my hair was the same color.

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!

But I figured, oh well. If nothing happens, then at least I have a great story to blog.

Well, I was wrong. Not all  the die did wash out. It still looked red!

I really liked how it came out. You see my hair is a golden brown with blond and copper natural highlights. The whole mane ranges in lights and darks. The dye came out really cool, witth some areas being a really dark brown, auburn, red. While others were much, much brighter. I actually really like it and am considering dying it permenantly. I could totally pull it off as I have the two thinngs needed to be a sucessful redhead. 1) I have light eyes-green. 2) I do not tan at all, but remain white year round. The only issue I face is money!

So here’s the pic of my costume and hair. My sis and friend went as Catwoman and Harley Quinn, making us the three tantilizing women of Gotham.

Yep you should join the dark side.

For more on Batman, go to I’m Batman!

For more strong, independent women; go to How to Catch a  Man

For more quizzes, go to You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

For more on Star Wars, go to Part IX: Adventures in Movie Lines

The Lining is Silver

 

And if you have been following me lately, you’d know that one thing this magic protects against is a broken heart.

Yep, if you haven’t guessed it…this is another step in the “Getting Over a Heartbreak” series.

25) The Lining is Silver by Relient K

This song comes off the album The Bird and the Bee Sides, the same CD that Up and Up came from. The title of the song comes from the idiom “that every cloud has a silver lining”. Which means that you can always find good in bad.

Now the song takes it in a new direction. It does cover that in bad you can find good, but also that the silver lining is in you. You are the good in the bad situation, it resides in who you are. You are golden, you are awesome.

I found my new black shoes
While cleaning out the bones left in my closet
They were there with the bad excuse
Bon Voyage

Bye thoughts

And I found a back up plan
I’m grateful that I didn’t have to use it
But it’s made of real good friends
Bon Voyage

Isn’t it nice to know
That the lining is silver
Isn’t it nice to know
That we’re golden

Well I found a list of flaw
That I saw in myself and other people
And I threw it away because
Bon Voyage

Isn’t it nice to know
That the lining is silver
Isn’t it nice to know
That we’re golden
Yeah we’re golden
Oh

When it all falls apart and you can’t see
The forest for the cemeteries
Isn’t it nice to know
Isn’t it nice to know

Isn’t it nice to know
That the lining is silver
Isn’t it nice to know
That we’re golden
Oh

Isn’t it nice to know
That the lining is silver
Isn’t it nice to know
That we’re golden
Yeah we’re golden oh

I found a love in me
I always somehow knew that it existed
It just needed to be set free
Bon Voyage

Isn’t it nice to know

Isn’t it nice to know

Isn’t it nice to know

Find that lining:

And never forget that you are awesome:

To start “the Getting Over a Heartbreak” series, go to If It Means A Lot to You

To go to the previous post, go to Don’t Stop Believin’

For more on Relient K, go to Up and Up

For more of my fav songs, go to Highway Star

For more on Northanger Abbey, go to It’s All Jane Austen’s Fault 

For more on friendship, go to Redone Done Right

Up and Up

Yep, you probably recognize this and know that we are on the next step in our “Getting Over Heartbreak Series”. So here we go with:

18) Up and Up (Acoustic) by Reliant K

So I love this song coming next as I feel it really expresses the transition from deciding to move on and ignore the past to completely moving forward.

After all realizing the past is in the past and that you have to leave it their instead of having it control your future is one of the most difficult things to do.

Yesterday was not quite what it could’ve been
As were most of all the days before
But I swear today, with every breath I’m breathing in
I’ll be trying to make it so much more

‘Cause it seems I get so hung up on the history of what’s gone wrong
And the hope of a new day is sometimes hard to see
But I’m finally catching on to it, yeah, the past is just a conduit
And the light, there at the end is where I’ll be

‘Cause I’m on the up and up, I’m on the up and up
And I haven’t given up, given up on what I know I’m capable of
Yeah, I’m on the up and up and yeah, there’s nothing left to prove
‘Cause I’m just trying to be a better version of me for you
A better version of me for you

To be prosperous would not require much of me
You see, contentment is the one thing it entails
To be content with where I am and getting where I need to be
And moving past the past where I have failed

But I’m finally catching on to it and yeah, the past is just a conduit

Remember:

And:

To start the “Getting Over a Heartbreak Series” from the beginning, go to If It Means A Lot to You

To go to the previous post, go to Move Along

For more of my fav songs, go to Since U Been Gone

For more of my fav quotes, go to It’s All Jane Austen’s Fault

For more on Audrey Hepburn, go to Good or Bad

For more on Margaret Mitchell, go to That’s What You Get