Happy Father's Day !!!

Hi All!

To all the Father's I hope you have a Blessed and Happy Day. To those like me who will be sorely missing our Father's on this Day, hold fast to the memories.  I'm going to make today a celebration of my "DADDY"'s life. Smile.

Make the time to make memories for they are not promised to be here forever. So what are you doing with Daddy today?

Remember the new giveaway starts tomorrow. If you're free at either 9 am or 6 pm Pacific time then dial in to 605-475-4700, then pin 953529#. Call in a few minutes before the hour.

Michelle





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Wordless Wednesday Happy Birthday Mine

Hi All!

To ME! Smile

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Happy Father's Day

I miss my Daddy. 

He would have been 83 this July 16, 2012. I’m a dyed in the wool “Daddy’s girl”. My Daddy and I could finish each others sentences. Used to drive my Mother crazy. Smile

I remember different things though out my life that only a Father/Daddy provides. Hearing a man’s perspective of how we were to be treated by men. What behaviors we should and should not accept. Per Daddy a man paid for the pleasure of your company when he took you out and that’s ALL he was entitled to. My Daddy always had two $10.00 bills in his sock drawer when my sister Vanessa and I started dating, my other sisters were too young to date. Ten dollars would cover cab fare from anywhere in Detroit. If a date started talking stupid, you could get safely home.

I miss being able to go to Daddy and talk about anything. We had to give him fifteen minutes when he first came in the door to allow him to decompress from whatever he had to deal with in the outside world. While he was doing this he would ask my Mother how her day went. He never made light of anything that she spoke of. This was really restraint on his part because my Daddy could make anything humorous.

I used to get up at 5am so I could talk with my Daddy before everyone else got up and it was time for Daddy to  go to work. I remember always wanting to follow my Daddy around which is why I walked so fast when I was younger. Daddy had long legs and I had to step to keep up with him.

My Daddy had a way of helping people that it seemed like you were doing him a favor if you accepted help. I asked Daddy about this. He replied, “That when people were going through hard times, sometimes all they had was their dignity. You take that away from them they have nothing to work with.”

I remember Daddy’s last walk with cancer. They had first removed a lung and Daddy had made it past the five year mark. Then we got the news there was a huge mass in his colon.  Daddy refused regular chemo. He wasn’t going through that again. Daddy refused hospitalization and hospice. He was going out like he had lived, with dignity.

Daddy wanted to know why I had converted to Islam? He had many questions about Prophet Mohammad(saw) Daddy seemed intrigued that the prophet was a regular person who did so much.

During Daddy’s final walk I remember grown men coming to visit him and making it to the front porch and bawling. My Daddy had helped so many people, when he died the funeral processional was so looooooooooooooooog. People called for months afterwards to see what they could do for my family because Daddy had helped so many others.

Rest In Peace Big Will

Love you forever

Michelle

Celebrating M.L. Kings Legacy

Today is the national day of celebration for Dr. Martin Luther King and the legacy of his Life's work. People all around the country will come together to celebrate this champion human rights using nonviolence to secure those rights. People all over the globe are using Dr. Kings methods to secure basic human rights. Many times they are met with brutal oppression as Blacks in America were (Remember Sheriff Bull Conner and his ilk). Yet it is human natural to want to be treated as worthy. Dr. King was a beacon of light to all the oppressed to stand up and reclaim your dignity and humanity.


Today my family and I will celebrate Dr. King's legacy in Tempe, Arizona at their diversity brunch. Later in the day we will participate in a volunteer project as we have done since my children were very young.


I will post again the highlights of the day later on. 


What are you doing today to serve others?


Peace

Jewelry News Network: Double-Digit Growth Expected For Online Retail in ...

Good News for those of us who sell jewelry online.


Jewelry News Network: Double-Digit Growth Expected For Online Retail in ...:
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Double-Digit Growth Expected For Online Retail in U.S., Western Europe

Online retail in both the U.S. and Western Europe will continue on a double-digit growth trajectory over the next five years, according to two recently released forecasts by Forrester Research, Inc.

Both U.S. and European online retail will grow at a 10 percent compound annual growth rate from 2010 to 2015, reaching $279 billion and €134 billion ($185.1 billion), respectively, in 2015. The forecasts include business-to-consumer sales excluding travel and financial services.

“The online retail market in both the U.S. and Western Europe remains strong, despite the challenging economy,” said Patti Freeman Evans, Forrester VP and Research director. “In fact, with consumer purchasing behavior returning to normal, U.S. Web sales in 2010 actually accelerated over 2009 compared with the prior year, growing 12.6 percent. In Europe, very strong growth in 2010 was fueled by new online buyers and higher-spend per capita on the demand side, as well as the launch of transactional websites by established offline players.”

Retailers are supporting consumers' increasing use of the Web in the U.S., helping to drive growth with new business models, such as flash sales and group buying, as well as improved merchandising to provide a broad selection of products available online, Forrester says. However, this growth comes at the expense of brick-and-mortar stores, as consumers increasingly spend on the Web.


In Western Europe (which consists of 17 Western European nations), the online retail market grew 18 percent from 2009 to 2010 and is projected to grow 13 percent from 2010 to 2011, but growth rates will then slow as the market matures and buyer penetration begins to level off, Forrester says. By 2015, 68 percent of online adults will have made a purchase online; however, northern European countries will see 80 percent or more of their online population buying on the web, versus less than 50 percent in southern countries.
 
 by Blogger Anthony Demarco.
 
Two Days left for my Birthday Celebration which ends March 14,2011 at midnite. 20% off use coupon code "
"BDAY Celebration".
 
Enjoy your day.,

Do You Celebrate Kwanzaa?

I'm originally from Detroit, Michigan. I now live in Scottsdale,Arizona. I went from the #1 Chocolate City to the 5th whitest city in America. Yes there was a cultural shock. I celebrate Kwanzaa no matter where I am if I have to celebrate it with just my daughter and myself.


In Detroit its a very big deal with Kwanzaa Celebrations going on every night. Kwanzaa has grown from a Black American Celebration to one that is celebrated world wide. All communities are now celebrating Kwanzaa. People celebrate at home, in the workplace and at their houses of worship. Gatherings go from informal to very elaborate events where people rent nightclubs, Museum of African American History and other large venues. Many of them including the City Hall Building allow vendors to come sell and disseminate info about their businesses.

Truly celebrating the principle and purpose of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa provides a way to Buy Black and shop local. Many consumers discover businesses they never knew existed and continue to patronize after the season.

Do you celebrate Kwanzaa? Whether you celebrate or not it is a gift buying season with emphasis on handcrafted items as gifts. If you sell product you really show have Kwanzaa as part of your marketing strategy. There are now many who no longer celebrate Christmas because it has become so commerical and they only celebrate in church. Many of these same people celebrate Kwanzaa because it is a time of communal sharing and the emphasis on handcrafted gifts.

Do you celebrate or ignore Kwanzaa?

Click on the title to learn how to celebrate Kwanzaa.

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