My pic

The Great Blog Challenge has been going on for 30 days and the goal was to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I loved the Great Blog Challenge, and hope you did also. :)

Day 30: A Picture....That is me and how I felt about this challenge

I wish

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 29: My wishes

The wishes I have are really the goals I have in life...simply put :)

Things that make me go augh!!!

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 28: Things that stresses you out..

I am trying to handle my stress better but sometimes that it very difficult. So I will bullet point some of the things that stresses me out.

• traffic
• homework
• financial issues
• family (but I love them)
  

That is pretty much all that stresses me out that I can think of.

The dynamic duo

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 27: My pets who are family

Buddy Jo Rayford is more than my dog. He is my child, I love the little guy so much. Spunky Lee was one of the best dogs ever. I miss him every day. Having Buddy and Spunky around it was hard to feel upset, depressed or anything. There is just something about dogs that brings joy to my heart. This posting is for my two doggies. Love them with all my heart.

My family

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 26: A picture of my family

Well since this posting is similar to another posting I am unable to post pictures of my family as a whole because of the way it is saved. So I am posting pictures of me, my sister and my mom via our pictures on facebook.

I do wait for the day when we can all get a family picture but until then here is my family :)





My older sister Traleathea

My mom

and that's me

Love my memories

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 25: My favorite memory

My favorite memory has to do with my brother. With today being the 13 year anniversary of his passing, it is hard not to think of him. I remember him playing with Spunky, us watching tv together, etc. I miss him so much and I know that he is in heaven looking down on me. Love and miss ya bro :)

Learning is great

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 24: Something I learned..

Well in my 30 years of life I would like to think that I have learned a great deal. I am working on getting my doctorate for goodness sake so academically I have learned a lot. Professionally as a counselor for the past 11 years I have learned so much. But to actually write what I learned would just be impossible because their is so much and I just don't have the time to do that..lol. I will leave you with a cliche but one that I think is accurate and worth noting..."You learn from your mistakes". I firmly believe that and that is the learning gift that keeps on giving.

My favorite vacay

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 23: Favorite vacation

So my favorite vacation would have to be the first one that Caleb Michael and I have taken. Granted it was to meet his family but I still consider it a vacation because we were able to get away for one day and have our time. I come to love and appreciate our time and while visiting his family we went to Washington, D.C. That was very cool because I have never been to D.C. before. We got to see the Capital Building, the White House, the Washington Monument, etc. It was such a warm and beautiful November day. This is my favorite picture of the day also. It was a great time.

My kinda town

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 22: Favorite City

My favorite city has always been Chicago. I love that town. I have visited and lived there and always loved it.

Me :)

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 20: A picture of myself

This is one of my favorite pictures while in West Virginia.

I go by many names...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 20: my nicknames

Well this is a cool one. I have had several nicknames in my life, my first one would have to be "Candy" my uncle called me this. I do not remember why, maybe because I was a fat baby and then a really skinny child which upon being in pre-school "Candy" turned into "Fatty". I actually loved that nickname (but would cry if anyone called me that now) and it stuck for all of high school. I was a really skinny kid and teenager so my Uncle Jeff would always say you know I only call you "Fatty" because you were a fat baby who grew into this tall skinny person.

My next set of nicknames have really stuck. My official nickname is Keyta but honestly that is a shorten version of my name so at times I feel like that does not count but it does. I am also known as Keytabell, Kbell, Dr. L and Dr. Lbell. Each of those nicknames were given to me by friends that I truly love and it always brings a smile to my face. So there you go, these are my nicknames, so call me anything, well except Fatty :)

I miss ya little bro

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 19: Something I miss (more like someone)

The one thing in this world that I miss is my brother Geoffrey. He passed away at 14 in 1998 and I can say that my family has never been the same. I know that I am finally at peace with his passing and I see him in the brightest star in the sky but that does not mean that I do not miss him. I often wonder at times how our lives would be different if he did not pass. Granted I believe everything happens for a reason and that we are who we are based on the experiences but I still wonder. How would he have turned out. He would be 28 on May 2nd, wow I can not believe that on April 25 it would have been 13 years. I love you little bro and I miss you with all of my heart, but I know you are in heaven with Spunky and that makes me smile.

If I could regret anything.....

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 18: Something I regret...

Well this is an interesting tidbit that I am asked to share. I feel that everything that happens to us, positive or negative, cause of great joy or sorrow happens for a reason. I believe that God does not give us anything in which we can not handle. I also believe that what happens to us shapes us into the person we are today. That being said, I try not to regret anything that has happened in my life. For a while I regretted getting all of the credit cards that I did or taking out all of the student loans that I did, but they served their purposes so I can not regret the decisions I have made. Instead I look back on those issues and now I am a wiser person (hopefully) and my goal is to learn and budget better.

I'm waiting for you :)

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 17: Something your looking forward to..

Well there are so many things that I am looking forward to God willing. Many of what I am looking forward to would be found in my posting regarding goals (aka day 13). But here is a recap of things that I am looking forward to..

1. Going on my first official vacation with Caleb Michael to TN a state we both have never been too (we have been to Wisconsin and Virginia and DC but it was to visit his family so for the most part I do not consider it a true couple vacation).
2. Finishing my doctoral dissertation and officially becoming Dr. L
3. Getting married and starting a family
4. Buying a house
5. Buying a new car
6. Paying off all of my student loans and credit card debts (this will be something I work on while in my 30's)
7. Enjoying life with family and friends
   

I have been dreaming of you..

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 16: My dream house

Honestly, my dream house will be the one with the man I love, my doggie and any children that I am blessed with.

But if money was no object, my dream house would have 5 bedrooms, the master bedroom would have an adjacent bathroom which has two sinks, a large shower and hot tub like bath. The kitchen would be large and equipped, finished basement, a large fenced in yard with a patio and pool. I am not fancy, I consider myself a simple woman so even if money was no object as long as I am with family and loved ones any place is my dream home.

A verse that speaks to me...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn a lot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 15: Bible Verse

I like this verse because during the Free journey at Crossroads last year, one of the areas of my life that I have fear over is stress. And for the fear that we had, we were suppose to pray and give it to God. So on the page for stress there were a ton of bible verses and we circled which one spoke to us. And from the ones we circled we had to pick the one that called to us. This is the one that spoke to me and that I keep next to my bedroom door.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life. Matthew 6:25-27.

A picture is worth all my love...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 14: A picture you love


So I decided that I love all of the pictures I have taken so what to decide which should be displayed. I could not narrow it down to one so I am being extra special and listing the top three. I wanted one of these to be my family picture but I can not download it so here are the other ones that not only make me smile but I love!!!

I Love this picture because it was one of my 30 by 30 events. I ran in a 1/2 marathon. Yes, I did!!! I injured myself and was told by more than one professional that I could not do it, but I showed them. So I love this picture because it illustrates that I can do what I put my mind to it and also that I have people in my life who support and love me. My friends cheered me on and for that I love this picture.

This is my favorite picture of Buddy. Buddy is my first dog, granted I had Spunky but Spunky was a family dog, Buddy is my first born. I love the little guy, he is my world. This picture makes me smile and love my boo boo so much.



And this picture is of me and Caleb. He is a truly amazing man and my best friend. I always wanted to find someone who could accept and love me for who I am and I thank God because I have. This is the first of many pictures he and I have taken and it is a picture that I love :)

My goals in life...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 13: My goals are what keep me going. These are the things that I want in my life and that I am currently working on. These are not necessarily listed in order of importance, but are listed in the order in which I thought of them.

• To finish my dissertation


• To get married and start a family


• To have a better relationship with my mom and sister


• To continue my friendships with the positive people in my life


• To pay off all of my credit cards and live a plastic free lifestyle


• To become healthy


• To always see the humor in things


• To continue my work as a counselor


• To travel every year


• To be a better Christian and teach God's values to others

I Believe!!!

So welcome to day 12 and today's topic is what do I believe?

At first reading of this question I wondered what to write. Should I get all spiritual, philosophical, psychological and other cool words that end in al. But I guess I will just hit some key bullet points:

• I was put on this earth by God to fulfill a purpose, I believe that purpose is to help people achieve their full potential and find some sort of wellness by being supported.
• I believe that there are several people out there for you but we only have that one person who compliments you (also known as a soul mate)
• I believe in God and am thankful everyday for experiencing his wonders and grace
• I believe that we are all good but at any time with a triggering event can do evil things
• I believe that love does conquer all
• I believe that the little bubble I live in may make me naive but it is a wonderfully happy place to be :)
  

These are a few of my favorite things...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)


Day 11: my favorite TV shows... So I love watching tv but now that I am working on my dissertation I gotta stay focused and DVR so much stuff. TV is my way to escape and relax but most of the time I am watching shows that remind me of work or just scary things in the world. But I do have some happy shows also. So not necessarily in my favorite order, these are all of the shows I enjoy watching..

• Law and Order (original)



• Law and Order SVU



• How I Met Your Mother



• Southland



• Parenthood



• Dexter



• Scrubs



• The Simpsons



• Chappelle Show (canceled but still funny)



• The Closer

Well, I could go on, but these are the shows that I will watch over and over and possibly own the DVD's.

What do I gotta be afraid of?!?!?

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 10: Something your afraid of...

Well this is something that I am very aware of and try to work on very much. I am afraid of losing control. For me I love to plan and when it does not go as imagined I feel horrible and I am afraid of the anger it brings up in me. I don't like that part of me. I don't like how being in control is such a big part of my life, but also something that I struggle with.

Something else that I am afraid of is that I can not have kids. Kinda goes with the whole control thing. I have had this fear since I was a teenager. It is not that I wanted to have kids as a teenager, but in the back of my mind has been this fear. I want to have kids, I want to birth a child with the man I marry and raise children. Don't get me wrong, if I can not have kids I will adopt but their is something about seeing what a little Keyta would be like.

Both fears I do pray about and I leave in God's hands.

My friends...the other loves of my life

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 9: A picture of your friends...

I love to brag that I have the best friends in the world. There are at times when I wish that I had a larger group of friends, but I realize that I have a small nit group of friends and I love and cherish them.

Let's start with my oldest friend Kara Danielle... She is the bright spot in my life. She is such a warm, caring and loving person. She treats me like family and it is genuine. I truly can not imagine my life without her. I can tell her anything and she still loves me unconditionally. I trust her with my secrets and my life. If I did not have a sister, Kara Danielle would be it, well, I take that back, she is my sister.



I love our story of she made me become her friend by spending me off to college with stationary and self addressed stamped envelopes. That is how we bonded. I can see me growing old with great grandkids and Kara still in our lives sitting on the porch with me and us telling the kids how we became and remained best friends.


Danae, the little one is a great person who is also in my life. She is so kind and sweet. I still remember that in 11th grade she grabbed the turkey from my chef salad and from that a friendship was born. Her and I did not become closer until I came back in 2006 and we are still going stronger. She helps me when I need someone to talk to and she is such an great part of my life.

Danae is also one of those friends that will be in my life for years and years. She is my ultimate drink wine and watch Law and Order friend, even if we seen it hundreds of times. This is one of my favorite pictures of her and Kara.

Oh the places I love

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 8: a place that I have traveled to..

Well, there are sooo many places that I have traveled to because I love exploring new places, cultures, foods and environments. I don't know what my life would be without the beauty and the blessed ability to travel.

Last year my 30 by 30 was to go to new places and to increase the number of states I been too. Thankfully I was able to add on six wonderful new places. Unfortunately I did not take pictures every place I visited but here is one of my favorite pictures the just reminds me of beauty and peace. This was taken in November 2010 while in D.C. with Caleb. I will add more pictures later.

Do I love movies?!?!?!?

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 7: Favorite Movies

Oh my goodness, I love movies. I used to work at Blockbuster as a teenager and the biggest perk for me was that I got to get 5 free rentals a week!!! And the other super cool thing is that the 5 could be ANY movie I wanted, even ones that were not available to rent yet. Yeah, I had it like that lol. Hands down that was my best job as a teenager and I would have stayed and moved up to manager but my education was FAR more important and Alma College was waiting for me.

Well to start back from the beginning, my mom really inspired my love for movies. As a child she used to take me, my sister and brother to the movies downtown Cincinnati. For me as a little kid it was AWESOME. I think watching movies at a young age is why I am so imaginative. But here are a couple of the movies that I love and will watch over and over again. I hope that you have atleast heard of these movies if you have not yet seen them. Trust me you will love these.

Meet Joe Black: one of the only movies in which I fell in love with Brad Pitt. This movie is loosely based on the classic Death Takes a Holiday (which I did not see). But I adore the story line, I think the movie was wonderfully written, acted and every time I watch it I cry. This is how bad I love this movie, I brought the 2 VHS tapes when it first came out, and once it came on DVD I gave it to my Boston College lab partner. In college and grad school I got so many of my friends to watch this movie and I think they appreciated it. I even watched this on t.v. when it came on a couple of years ago, that is how much I can not get enough of this movie.

The Little Mermaid: Favorite cartoon and movie of all time. I read Hans Christian Anderson's version as a child and cried my eyes out. When it came out on VHS my mom rented it and we watched it as a family. I think my siblings and mom was not too impressed but 9 year old Keyta was in love. I wanted everything Little Mermaid inspired and was just so obsessed. When it came back out in the theaters 10 years later I was at the Friday night opening as if I never seen the movie. I know every song and can be called a fanatic.

The Princess Bride: the setting is in one of my favorite time periods, a young and very attractive Cary Elwes and a very humorous and romantic story. A true classic in my mind.

The Usual Suspects: One of the movies I remember seeing with just my sister. The acting, cast, story was so refreshing it was difficult to not walk out of the screening and not want to be like Keyser Soze.

Brother Bear: I love this cartoon for the simple fact that it reminds me of my brother Geoffrey. I can not watch this movie too often because I just cry and cry. But it is sweet, cute and touching.

Kiss the Girls: This has an older Cary Elwes but Morgan Freedman and Ashley Judd really make this book turned screenplay a chiller. I watch this movie every time it is on tv even though I own it.

Space Balls: I am so not into Star Wars and I love how Mel Brooks makes fun of it in a way that is spot on and side splitting. I love this movie and can watch repeatedly.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: this movie scared me as a child because hearts were being removed from people's chest. I went to the cheapee show with my family to see this and loved the action, had a major crush on Harrison Ford but very afraid of losing my heart lol..

Well here were some of my favorite movies, many of them not very current but quite enjoyable and I would bet money that you would love them.

Just looking at you makes me smile...

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 6: A picture of something that makes me happy.

Well the picture I wanted to post was the family picture of me, my sister, my brother and my mom. Because of some computer issues I can not post it :( That picture makes me smile just now thinking of it. I love looking at my family and it is truly beautiful.

SO my dilemma was, what would be a close second?!?!? I love my friends and thinking of them make me smile and I love my boyfriend and he makes me smile also. How about the best of both worlds. This picture is one of my favorites. It has my best friends in it and it also captures activities I love: being with friends, being with the man I love and drinking wine.

My lovely siblings....

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Day 4: My siblings

So this is the day in which I celebrate my siblings. I have two: Traleathea my older sister and my younger brother Geoffrey who is deceased. I am the middle child who enjoyed having the best of both world's an intelligent older sister to look up to and a younger brother who was very similar to me.

Traleathea is my free spirited sister. She is serious, funny, caring, a world traveler and someone who loves and understands me. She is my best friend and even though distance keeps us apart a day does not go by when I don't think of her and smile. We fight, we laugh, we dance, we will be there for each other until the day we die. I wish my sister the best in all that she does because she is a beautiful person. I love you sis :)

Geoffrey was taken away too soon but I cherish the times we had. The fights the competitiveness and the brother/sister bond that we shared. I see him in every bright star and know that he is okay and looking over me. I love my family with their quirkiness, seriousness, humor and all. They mean the world to me.

Dear Moma :)

The Great Blog Challenge lasts for 30 days and the goal is to share a bit of yourself each day, following the prompts given. To see the full list of guides for each day, read my April 1 posting. I am loving the Great Blog Challenge, and truly think you would too. So join at any time throughout the month... you will learn alot about yourself but also have fun doing it :)

Welcome to Day 4: Who are your parents?

Well, I am the daughter of Bernard Fairbanks but my mother Debra Rayford raised me. My mother was a single parent who overcame alot in her life to pave the way for her children. She struggled, she conquered and took no prisoners at times. My moma is not the warmest woman in the world, we do have our issues but I truly and forever love her.





She raised three children and taught us the value of education and pursuing what we want in life. She is a hard woman but I must say that for being a teenage mother to 2kids and having a third child at 20, my moma raised me to be a woman who loves unconditionally, desire to help others,and to be me. I love my moma and even though she is not the kissie, bake cookies, Susie Homemaker, she is a wonderful, funny, successful lovely lady and I am blessed to have her.

Here's to you Christopher

Welcome to day 3. I hope you have been enjoying what has been going on so far. Today is the day I talk about my first love. As a child I had so many crushes but never felt that I loved them. I can say that my first crush was a junior at Alma College name Christopher.

He was just awesome, funny (loved Chewbacca hence the picture) athletic, and ambitious. We met the summer of 1999 and started off as friends. We had great chemistry, conversations and I truly thought that I was in love with him. Our relationship was brief and fraught with tension due to race. He was white and I am clearly not. I knew when I met his parents that it would never be anything more. In addition when issues with race came up in school we fought and I could not stand it anymore. I don't even remember saying goodbye and I regret that now.

He transferred from Alma and I never saw him again. I am not happy with how things ended but I can not change that. He passed away in July 2008 at the age of 30. I look back at our time together and I realize that I was way to immature for the relationship and he was too. I can see that now with new eyes. I can also see that in reality, I was not in love with him. 19 year old Keyta in all of her wisdom about love believed that she was in love which is why Chris has the title of my first love, but after being with someone as great as the guy I am with now, I can say that I truly distinguish what a first love is. So here's to you Caleb Michael, I love you :)

Meaning behind my blog name

So what is the meaning behind my blog name "The ending of an era and the beginning of another"? Well, I came up with this blog name to capture the spirit of what I was attempting to chronicle. I started this blog in April 2010 and the goal was to blog weekly the activities I was accomplishing for my 30 by 30.

The blog name was to give tribute to the ending of an era meaning my 20's and celebrating and embracing the beginning of another which would be the lovely decade of being 30. The aim of the blog was to also give me something to look back on and to celebrate what the era of my 30's and more will bring.

The beginning of the great blog challenge... Day 1

Happy April 1st all!!! I can not believe that it is April already. Three months has passed and I continue to feel blessed and loved. I am also blogging more which is a great improvement and a nice stress reliever. But now to get on track.... today starts the beginning of the Great Blog Challenge (I know, the title of the posting gave it away...lol). So brief summary, this is a 30 day challenge in which I will blog about a predetermined topic. I am doing this with my best friend Kara and some other wonderful individuals. I am really happy and hope that you all enjoy the 30 days :)

~Day 1: Introduce myself, submit a recent picture and highlight 15 interesting facts

I guess an introduction is in order. My name is La'Keyta but I go by Keytabell. I was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio in December. I was the middle child and with that I always felt like I had the best of everything in that I had an older sister to look up to, but also a younger brother to model appropriate behaviors and also have fun with. I consider myself a pretty easy going individual, humorous, extremely verbal and compassionate. I enjoy traveling, reading and being around awesome people :)




Here are 15 interesting facts about myself:

1. I picked my undergrad college because it started with an "A".
2. I was voted funniest in high school.
3. I did not get my driver's license until I was 23 after failing the first time because I drove too slow.
4. I joined the sorority Alpha Gamma Delta at Alma College because I wanted some positive people in my life...I can truly say that my sisters saved me
5. I have legally worked since the age of 14
6. I typically will move every year because I want to experience a new neighborhood and I just love moving.
7. I am working on my Doctoral degree and after completing my dissertation I will require people to call me "doctor"
8. I got my first car at age 25 and I just paid it off..woot woot
9. I love electronics more than jewelry
10. To unwind from a hard day at work I typically watch crime dramas which ends up making me cry or a bit more paranoid than I already am
11. I have only lived in 5 states
12. My goal is to visit at least one new state a year
13. My nickname growing up was "Fatty" affectionately given to me by my Uncle Jeff
14. I want to be major of Cincinnati but realistically know that that would never happen
15. When I see the brightest star in the sky I believe that it is my brother letting me know he is in heaven and is okay.

Thanks for reading my day one...come back and see what's going down for tomorrow

Been a while...

Oh man, it has really been a while since I last posted. I guess life has kept me busy. This will be short but pretty much a precursor to next month's event. Thanks to my bestie Kara, I will be posting every day for the month of April on different subjects. I am really excited for this and I hope that you enjoy reading my thoughts. Here are the subject matters to be discussed this month:

Day 1: Introduce, recent picture, 15 interesting facts

Day 2: Meaning behind your blog name

Day 3: Your first love

Day 4: Your parents

Day 5: Your siblings

Day 6: A picture of something that makes you happy

Day 7: Favorite movies

Day 8: A place you’ve traveled to

Day 9: A picture of your friends

Day 10: Something you’re afraid of

Day 11: Favorite TV shows

Day 12: What you believe

Day 13: Goals

Day 14: A picture you love

Day 15: Bible verse

Day 16: Dream house

Day 17: Something you’re looking forward to

Day 18: Something you regret

Day 19: Something you miss

Day 20: Nicknames

Day 21: Picture of yourself

Day 22: Favorite city

Day 23: Favorite vacation

Day 24: Something you’ve learned

Day 25: Favorite memory

Day 26: Picture of your family

Day 27: Pets

Day 28: Something that stresses you out

Day 29: 3 Wishes

Day 30: a picture

I hope that you enjoy reading while I take this journey and if you want you can come along :)

Still posting...happy 2011

So it is officially a new year, Happy 2011. I feel blessed to be able to live another year with the wonderful people in my life. My 2010 was a great year, so first and foremost I want to thank GOD for blessing me. I am truly thankful for all that he does. I pray for a good 2011, not just for me but for all of you.

I have decided to make some resolutions based on categories so that I can hopefully clean and update areas in my life that I tend to not monitor so well. The four categories are: Physical; Emotional/Mental; Spiritual and Financial. All of these areas are in need of readjusting, reassessing and tweaking. So with each category I am going to list bullet points of how things I want to do to improve on the area.

In addition this year I am going to finish the remaining items from my 30 by 30 list. But also there are many items on my list that I liked so much that I want to continue doing so, so in this posting I will incorporate them in my four categories of resolutions.

Physical:
1. Lose at least 25 lbs: I have found that I am slowing regaining all of the weight that I had in the beginning of 2010. Call it happy couple weight, laziness, or whatever I just need to lose.
2. Take part in at least one competitive running endeavor (possibly do the Cincinnati 1/2 marathon in October).
3. Incorporate more strength training in my workouts but also workout more.
4. Go hiking more and camping while I am embracing the outdoors.

Mental/Emotional:
1. Continue to be myself and not ashamed of that.
2. Seek out help when needed.
3. Spend time with friends and loved ones.
4. Journal at least once a month.
5. Don't let my anxiety take over.
6. Try not to be so in control.
7. Work on being an optimist for myself because I can be the biggest optimist for others.

Spiritual:
1. Attend church weekly when able.
2. Have one on one talks with God at least monthly.
3. Take part in the all church journey.
4. Spend more time out in nature.

Financial:
1. Pay off my car.
2. Save at least $1000.
3. Pay off bills/expenses.
4. Start budgeting monthly.
5. Keep my second job to reduce bills.
6. Move into a less expensive apartment.
7. Pay down some of my student loans.

Incomplete 30 by 30 items that I will do:
1. Be a vegetarian for one week
2. Go camping
3. Learn some vocabulary and sentences in Spanish
4. Switch my license, my plates and my tags to Kentucky
5. Finish decorating my house, if I move decorate new place
6. Have a total spa day: full body massage, mani, pedi and hair
7. Make something, be it a pillow or a quilt
8. Take my grandma to lunch or dinner

Ultimately, my goal is to have a great year spending it with people I love and pushing myself to self care, love and grow. Happy new year all :)