Wall Decals

The first time I saw this, I fell in love with it.  I am currently renting an apartment and I was looking for a way to add interest in the space.  I ordered this in the purple, all I can say is, wow!!!  It is more striking than what I saw online.  I got the bigger size which although I had to affix some of the pieces to the ceiling, it was exactly what I was looking for.  The perfect way to add color to a drab apartment.  

I will be pairing this with a Marimekko lime green curtain from Amazon, it has some specs of purple in the design.  I cannot wait to see it all come together.

India.Arie - I Am Not My Hair ft. Akon

No, this is not a music review!  

My hair has for better or for worse been one of the tools I've used to communicate  a lot of things that I may not have been brave enough to say out loud.  Like the time I shaved it off when I wanted to say to my ex good riddance,  when I decided to start dreading when I was on a quest to find my roots, or when I used different styles of weave after my gastric bypass surgery while trying to reconnect with my sassy side.  

So does this mean that I am my hair?  Is this what India Arie meant when she recorded this song?  Whatever what the answer might be, I am currently feeling flirty, sexy feminine, and creole.  I hope this is what someone thinks of when they see me, when they see my hair current style.

Choucoune (Ti zwezo) - Johanne Harrelle

HAITI

After the earthquake which destroyed the only place that I knew well enough to call home,  I found myself desperately trying to remember what I loved so much about Haiti. In a sense trying to reconnect  with what I knew to be true, Haiti "La perle des Antilles."  Whether it was because I'd been gone for so long or because I didn't know as much as I thought, I was desperate.  I never understood why I felt as I did that night.  My emotions went from anger, sadness, denial, then back to anger, I was stuck.  I felt powerless, I wanted to be with my people.  In that moment, nothing else mattered.  I was Haitian. 

I love my new home, but Haiti will always be my first love.

       My Land, My Roots

CHOUKOUN (ENGLISH VERSION)

Yellow bird, up high in banana tree.
Yellow bird, you sit all alone like me.

Did you lady friend leave the nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad.
You can fly away, in the sky away.
Your more lucky than me.

I also had a pretty girl, she's not with me today.
They're all the same those pretty girls.
Take tenderness, then they fly away.
Yellow Bird, yellow bird.

Did you lady friend leave the nest again?
That is very sad, makes me feel so bad.
You can fly away, in the sky away.
Your more lucky than me.

Wish that I were a yellow bird, I'd fly away with you.
But I am not a yellow bird, So here I sit.
Nothing I can do.
Yellow bird, yellow bird.

CHOUKOUN

by Michel Mauleart Monton with lyrics from a poem by Oswald Durand

1. De`ye` yon gwo touf pengwen 
Lo`t jou mwen kontre Choukoun
Li souri le` li we` mwen
Mwen di: "Sye`l, ala be`l moun!" 
Li di: "Ou trouve sa che`?"
 Chorus: Ti zwezo nan bwa ki t' ape koute 
 Kon mwen sonje sa
 Mwen genyen lapenn
 Ka depi jou-sa
 De pye mwen nan chenn

2. Choukoun se yon marabou
Je` li klere kou chande`l
Li genyen tete debou
A si Choukoun te fide`l 
Nou rete koze lontan
 Jis zwezo nan bwa te pare`t kontan 
 Pito bliye sa
 Se two` gran lapenn
 Ka depi jou-sa
 De pye mwen nan chenn

3. Ti-dan Choukoun blan kou le`t
Bouch-li koule` kayamit
Li pa gwo fanm, li gwose`t
Fanm konsa ple` mwen touswit 
Tan pase pa tan jodi!
 Zwezo te tande tout sa li te di 
 Si ou sonje sa
 Yo dwe nan lapenn
 Ka depi jou-sa
 De pye mwen na chenn

4. N' ale lakay manman-li
Yon granmoun ki byen one`t
Sito li we` mwen li di:
"A mwen kontan sila-a ne`t" 
Nou bwe` chokola nwa
 Eske tout sa fini, ti-zwezo nan bwa 
 Pito bliye sa
 Se two gran lapenn
 Ka depi jou-sa
 De pye-mwen nan chenn

5. Yon ti blan vini rive
Ti bab wouj, be`l figi wo`z
Mont sou kote, be`l chive
Male`-mwen, li ki lakÚz (x2)
Li trouve Choukoun joli
 Li pale Fwanse, Choukoun renmen li 
 Pito bliye sa
 Se two gran lapenn
 Choukoun kite mwen
 De pye-mwen nan chen