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The art of henna, called mehndi in Hindi, involves the ancient sacred art of decorating the skin in temporary, ornate designs using a paste derived from the henna plant.
Henna paste is derived from the bush plant, Lawsonia inermis, commonly found in the Middle East and other areas where the climate is hot and dry. The bush is harvested, dried, and then crushed to eventually make the paste.
Associated with transformation and transcendence, mehndi is a beautiful, mysterious art form that has been used for centuries to adorn, heal, entice and to bless. In practice for over 5000 years in Pakistan, India, Africa and the Middle East, mehndi became fashionable in the West in the late 1990s, where its sometimes called henna tattoos.
In ancient Egypt mummies were decorated with henna designs for blessings and Cleopatra herself used henna for decorative purposes.
The act of creating a mehndi on your skin is a personal, sensual act in and of itself. Your design can range from something elusively subtle to a bold, all encompassing declaration of your sexual prowess to your partner.
Whether you’re artistic yourself or have a friend who is, your creation can be customized to fit the mood you desire. I recommend getting a prepared kit that includes all the tools and henna together so that everything you need is right at your fingertips. The following video demonstrates the traditional application method to the feet.
I loved him long before Michelle Obama did!
Nigerian fashion designer Duro Olowu that is. However, its been obvious that the Lagos born, London based designer has become a fast favorite of the First Lady since she was first spotted rocking one of his spectacularly colored, richly patterned dress designs while campaigning for her husband back in in 2008.
In an interview by Bloun Artfino a French online magazine, the designer spoke about the FLOTUS wearing his designs:
“It’s a great honor. It’s a nice thing to have on your resume…(i)It’s really nice to have somebody who is not only a First Lady, but a great role model wearing my things quite regularly. She’s really democratic in her choices and she mixes things up. I’m a huge fan — of the administration and of her. We all are in England, everywhere in the world. I feel sort of honored and really thrilled that my things are also useful in that way. I don’t think that sort of wardrobe is just based on fantasy. It’s a mix of fantasy, practicality, and looking appropriate. It’s a nice thing.”Although outfitting yourself in an entire Duro ensemble, with its seemingly random combination of hues, patterns and textures, will probably be more to the liking an eclectic taste in clothing, you can still pull off a colorful, beautifully bold African aesthetic with just a few pieces. A Duro geometric-print top to wear with your favorite jeans, a fly skirt with a free-style pattern paired with a simple but elegant tailored blouse or one of the designer’s vivid satin shrugs to wear over a solid top and bottom. Any of these combinations will be enough to set you apart from the ordinary. As for me…just color me eclectic!
Want to see more African designers? Click here!
Approach a Capricorn with a certain amount of caution, and chances are he’ll trust you more. Be slower to open up and he will be comfortable doing the same with you at his own natural speed. Don’t spill all your most intimate secrets the first week you hang out. These folks are slow and steady and not interested in taking anything too fast.
Enjoy some fine dining and wining with your Capricorn friend. Capricorn is the sign of high rank and status, so they love indulging in the finer aspects of life when they can afford to.
Recognize that from time to time, your Capricorn friend might have a tendency to be melancholy or pessimistic. Her sometimes negative frames of mind can be shifted if you are clever enough and can employ some witty humor. Throw in some jokes about how things could be worse, or even how they couldn’t be worse. If you’re witty enough, it might be enough to bring a Capricorn out of her bad mood.
Understand that Capricorn can get stubbornly attached to her goals and become a workaholic. Being a friend of a Capricorn can take skill, because you need to be able to understand when to leave her alone, and when to put in the effort to pull her away from work and show her a little fun.
Demand as much from your Capricorn friend as he does of you. Capricorns can become overbearing and difficult to deal with sometimes; however they are willing to do their part and own up to your requests as a result of it. Frank, straightforward conversation is the best way to deal with making sure you both remain happy in your friendship.
h/t eHow
Kot damn! if I’m not feignin’ for more from the oh-so-fine Miguel Jontel Pimentel. The young crooner, born October 23, 1985 (Scorpio, is it any wonder why there’s all that animal magnetism?) and performing under the mononym Miguel, is a recording artist, songwriter and producer who has all at once transcended his age and wisdom parameters with a stage presence that channels the likes of the R&B Giants: Marvin Gaye, James Brown, David Ruffin, Donny Hathaway, Michael Jackson… and those are just the icons who’ve passed on! Both his “All I Want Is You” (Jive Records) and “Kaleidoscope Dream” (RCA Records) CDs are this eclectic music fan’s dream come true!
Thank goodness Miguel loves the live performance, but just watching the five-time Grammy nominated artist’s music videos will have you feeling his fire just as quickly! Check out this live rehearsal recording for ‘The Thrill’…
Miguel’s lyricism is sophisticated, magical and wildly enigmatic, along with his repertoire of skats, catcalls, murmurings, chants, grunts and shouts that punctuate all his songs. His,by now infectious,”WHA!” signals that he is in-the-building and lookin’ for some trouble!
Fascinating just to look at, with those big mischievous peepers, you just wanna reach out and smack his momma and papa (or maybe just shake their hands and congratulate them!)
And I told myself that I would not mention his height, but I’m gonna–only to reference the immense talent bundled in that compact, muscular frame! Talk about big things coming in small packages!
‘Do You…’, ‘Sure Thing’, ‘Pussy Is Mine’, ‘The Thrill’, ‘My Piece’, ‘Use Me’, ‘Kaleidoscope Dream’,’ How Many Drinks’, ‘Quickie’… Miguel gets away with saying shit to women that would get a guys’ ass kicked by their overly protective big brothers lol! I haven’t heard so much eclectic diversity from a recording artists’ musical innovations since Seal’s “Human Being” CD in 1998 (Warner Bros). That’s an eternity in music years! In contrast to Seal’s lovelorn, heart wrenching ballads, Mr. Pimentel sings with all the confidence and swagger of a dude that knows you’ll be back, but in the meantime…
And This Just In: Miguel has officially joined Alicia Keys’ “Set The World On Fire” Tour and will open shows across North America beginning this March. Oh, and you can bet these two will be setting off sparks together! I can’t wait! See if Miguel & Alicia will be in a city near you this spring by clicking here.
My bet is, if all goes according to his plans, Miguel will hit super-nova status by the time his third album hits the streets this year. And even then, as the modest singer states, “I’m running a marathon, man. I never wanted to be an artist that was just here for now; I’m here to create music that isn’t just a here and now thing. It’s rooted in emotion, and that’s what makes it timeless…There’s still a lot of discovery to be made, and there’s still a lot of growing.”
A healthy dose of suspicion and skepticism never hurt anyone. In fact, you might say that its good for you. If you believe in Einstein’s Theory of Evolution, the human genome would have never made it outside the primordial soup if it hadn’t had a basic hunch (well, as much a hunch as a complex, organic polymer could have) to access the hostilities of a new environment and gradually mutate, adapt and conform to it. Its in our DNA to be suspicious of things that “just don’t smell right.”
Grounded in our primitive nature is the capacity to be wary of the bigger, more powerful among us (predators) conspiring against the weaker, smaller among us (prey). We like to use words like “civilized” and “cultured” when describing ourselves, but in actuality we use them to convince ourselves that we are no longer the ‘animals’ that we once were. But our Merriam Webster definition of those adjectives do not do much to subdue a compulsion to behave the exact opposite. WE ARE greater than that, but we haven’t as of yet embraced it fully as a group. Watch any episode of Animal Planet and see if some of the behavioral patterns of our fellow creatures seem somehow familiar...
This is not meant to sound harsh, because there’s really nothing for us to be ashamed of. We are what we are after all, and there is only room to evolve even further until we reach our pinnacle, whatever and wherever that may be.
As mentioned earlier, our base instincts are what keeps us alive in this physical world, so by Human standards a little paranoia is a damn good thing. Read the rest of this entry
NEW YORK (CNNMoney)
Why does it need to be raised? The debt ceiling needs to be raised for a simple reason – because both parties in Congress have approved tax cuts and spending increases over recent years, knowing full well this will add to deficit. Raising the debt ceiling then, ensures that we are able to pay for services we’ve already used. It is not a “license to spend more,” as some Republicans assert. It simply lets the Treasury Department continue to pay all the country’s obligations that Congress has already approved — whether it’s a payment to a federal contractor, a Social Security check to a senior, or interest on the debt to a bond investor.
HEY! DID YOU KNOW THAT…
If Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was ever the darling of the Republican Party… he can now and forever kiss that romance good-bye. Christie let the GOP have it as only a woman scorned could (tantamount to keying an ex’s new, shiny red Corvette) after the House voted to shelve a bill that would have immediately begun dispersing federal aid to states such as the Governor’s that suffered irreparable damage at the hands of Superstorm Sandy last October. Last week Congress finally did approve $9.7 billion in immediate assistance to Sandy’s victims.
“We have waited 72 days, seven times longer than victims of Hurricane Katrina waited,” Christie said in his annual State of the State address before a joint legislative session in Trenton. “New Jersey deserves better than the duplicity we saw on display,” adding that this was “why the American people hate Congress.”
“Some things are above politics… Sandy was and is one of those things.” he said.
And the New Jersey Governor didn’t mince words either, when he put the blame for the delay in aid squarely on the sensitive shoulders of House Speaker Boehner and the House Majority.
Christie has, for quite some time now, shown that there’s no real love lost between him and the Grand ‘Ole Party. But his constituents in New Jersey still have “a thing” for the pudgy politician. Christie has garnered a 73% approval rating from registered voters of his state, according to a recent Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind survey.
May they continue to have this kind of synchronicity throughout their entire married lives together!
The creation of SongBooth – an app available from iTunes – by entrepreneur Gregory Lowe II, CEO of LoweKey Media, is taking the “star search” industry to a whole ‘nother level! The app will enable the budding musician to either upload a pre-recorded music video or record a live performance with their iPhone, edit, then share it locally or internationally via social networks like Facebook, SMS, email and eventually Twitter.
Can it get any better!? Hell yaah! – Lowe will soon announce an opportunity for all you musical diamonds-in-the-roughs to compete in, what will be literally, a virtual world-wide competition in March of this year that could net you a single’s deal with Sony Records. Dubbed Project SongBooth, the contest will calculate a winner based on the amount of “likes” an entry receives, including thumbs up from new music heavy-hitters, ”The Thrill’ Miguel (RCA Records) and teen heartthrob Ryan Beatty (OcSkee Entertainment) – both of whom were discovered through online social media themselves. The two will preside as judges for the contest as well as Chuck Creekmore, CEO of allhiphop.com. Stay tuned for my updates on the competition here at ezkool.com.
The SongBooth app, which is absolutely free! is relatively easy to maneuver around in. The videos run virtually buffer free and the app’s operational board consists of a six button application. The set-up screen for SongBooth is visually exciting, complete with a brushed nickel, retro recording mic. A “follow” button is included, allowing you to build up a fan base, who’ll support you now…and later recall – with pride – that they knew you when you sang for your supper, riding back and forth on the no. 7 train from Queens to Grand Central station.
Go Get It! http://www.songbooth.com/
