Living

This post is in partnership with Unilever, all opinions are my own. 

My son is quite particular about the way he looks and grooms himself. He also manages to keep his room and personal items completely organized. If only he carried on that behavior in other areas of the house… I digress.
It’s not lost on me that I don’t have to stay on him about his grooming habits, because I’ve talked to other moms of teen boys and it looks like I might be living with a unicorn. In addition to keeping his things extremely neat, he likes to have his own personal care items, as he doesn’t like to mingle his things with ours. So he keeps his things in his room and brings them into the bathroom as he needs them. Maybe he’s preparing himself for college, this drives me crazy, but whatever floats his boat.

Starting high school was a big deal for him, and while he isn’t going to school in class, I made sure to reiterate to him the importance of keeping up a schedule to include getting dressed daily and keeping up his grooming skills. He’s taken it a smidge too far talking about he has to show up for his Zoom classes looking fresh and clean, cause the girls can see him.

My response? “Whatever son.”

I don’t know about you, but sometimes something as small as ending or starting your day with a good smelling soap or body wash can be a total mood-lifter. I purchased my son the Axe® Body Wash for Men – Phoenix 2-pack from Sam’s. It has a fresh and clean masculine smell to match his mantra! I also picked up the Dove Men + Care Extra Fresh 3 pack for my husband, it’s one of his favorites, he and I both enjoy the menthol smell. The formula is specially formulated for male skin, and with winter coming he will need the MICROMOISTURE technology in the product because his skin gets extremely dry. 

Since they are both kind of territorial about their things, purchasing these multi-packs are the perfect way to provide them each with their own personal stash of body wash options. I mean if I can have a plethora of body washes to choose from, I think the men in my life deserve the same.

Even though you are staying home, and social distancing, that doesn’t mean you can’t smell good for yourself, and the folks you live with. I promise a good shower that leaves you feeling refreshed is the best way to get yourself into a routine, not to mention being fresh and clean can allow you to log into your Zoom classroom, or office feeling good! #TackleYourGrooming

Growing up all I knew was music. There was a TV and a record player and we’ll just say at a young age I knew how to put the needle on a record to play the song my Mama or Aunts wanted to hear.

I woke up and fell asleep to music as a child. I can still feel the breeze that would come in our high-rise apartment window overlooking D.C. with Anita Baker and the city lights lulling me to sleep, and to this day music is always playing in the background somewhere, even if it’s in my AirPods.

My music taste is all over the place, but my old school jams top the list. They bring back sweet memories, so when people on Instagram always ask me to share my playlists, it was only right that I transfered my old school list from my Napster account to Spotify first.

…and by the way Napster now is not the Napster of old. I got a few messages about that! My husband originally purchased our music streaming service through Rhapsody years ago, and they were purchased by Napster so we’ve just stayed there because I have so many playlists that I don’t want to move over.

Enough about that. I’ve finally taken the time to move my fave playlist over to Spotify for your enjoyment. There is about 5 hours of old school music for your pleasure. Stay tuned for my next playlist!

Thanks for rocking with me…Enjoy.

Click here for the playlist. Like my shirt? You can get it here!

August 10, 2010 I clicked publish on my very first blog post. I know you can add, but I’ll state the obvious, today marks 10 years of me being in the digital space.

TEN YEARS.

THAT’S A LONG TIME.

When I published that first post, which you can find here. I was 31 with a 3-month-old, a 4-year-old, and a 9-year-old. Again, I’ll do the math for you, I am now 41 with a 10-year-old, a 14-year-old and a 19-year-old. At that time I was dealing with the realities of being a SAHM having left my career and just looking for a space to connect with anybody outside of my house.

As a result, I have connected with some of the most amazing people that have since become family, and quite frankly I can’t imagine my life without them. While I think it is healthy and necessary to have friends outside of the computer, some of my very best came into my life because of my willingness that day to sign up for a Blogger account never in a million years thinking I would be dedicated and consistent enough to keep up with it enough to be writing this 10 years later.

Fast forward, I’ve undergone a brand change from Lipgloss and Binky to Unlikely Martha, which is hard to believe will have happened five years ago next month. I’ve poured out my heart in words regarding my wins, losses, and life changes. I feel like I literally shared the journey of me finding myself and becoming who I am on these virtual pages. Domain changes and technical difficulties may have caused me to lose a few images, but the words are still here. The words that remind me of what I’ve overcome and who I’ve become.

I never regret sharing all that I’ve shared here because I can go back and look at my growth and hopefully inspire or have inspired you through my trials and tribulations over the years. I often go back and watch our weekend vlogs that I seem to have been ahead of the curve on years ago, and while we’re not huge vloggers at this point, I am thankful that I have those videos to watch of us as a young family.

The industry has changed so much, that over the years I’ve pondered many times on whether or not to shut this place down. As the focus moved from community to more do whatever was necessary to earn a dollar, my desire to stay true to what I originally intended this place to be kept me from moving too deep into what everyone else was doing. I kept this space open because it has carried me through so much, and I won’t lie and say it hasn’t been hard for me to process some people moving ahead of me utilizing practices that I wouldn’t because they undermined my integrity, I wouldn’t buy followers or follow the industry trends because I felt a strong pull to stay authentic even if that meant getting left behind. The funny thing is I’ve actually ended up right where some that rushed to get ahead are. They stalled and I kept growing. There is something to be said for being authentic and doing the work… for the long haul.

As I step into the next decade of what my online presence looks like, I can’t help but believe the first 10 years were a sort of preparation for what’s to come. I can’t say what that is exactly, but walking into it having a confirmed sense of self, I hope and plan to inspire folks in a way that looks a lot different from what’s being done in these internet/influencer streets. I’m a creative, and I want to create content that speaks to my heart and shares inspiration in an authentic but strategic way.

You can expect to see the same me being more transparent about what working full time, building a business, keeping a house, a family and trying to look good while doing it looks like. It’s never too late to go after that dream no matter how many other things you have going on.

I feel this is the time for me to take Unlikely Market where I’ve always intended it to go. Now that I have the wisdom, focus, and a small dream team behind me, it’s time to make that happen. Content will look the same and different at the same time. I’ll be sharing more frequently and would love your support in sharing the content that resonates with you to your friends and family.

Outfit Details: Dress / H&M | Bracelets / Unlikely Market | Shoes / Target (affiliate links) | Earrings/ super old from Forever 21 | Necklace/ thrifted

I feel like I’m rambling, but I’m so excited for what’s ahead. For my tried and true followers that have been here since day one… Thank you for being here and not having me write to myself all of these years.

To my new people, connect with me, leave comments, email me, I try to be as responsive as I can. I value the connections and the community that comes with this space, and there’s always room for more… although it may take me a while to respond!

Thank y’all!! Cheers to ten, and many more.

I kept the momentum going in February, I read nine books…however, we’re now in March and I’ve hit a wall. Stay tuned for next month’s post to see if I was able to catch up.

On to what I read. Last month I mentioned that I wasn’t feeling audio books, I stuck to my guns and didn’t listen to one book last month. I physically read them all.

Here they are:

• Handcrafted: A Woodworker’s Story by Clint Harp
• A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith
• Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood
• She Begat This: 20 Years of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Joan Morgan
• The Silent Patient (book club read) by Alex Michaelides
• Make Something Good Today: A Memoir by Erin Napier
• Training School for Negro Girls by Camille Acker
• The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
• Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

As I mentioned last month, I won’t be giving in-depth reviews in these monthly wrap-ups. Head over to my Goodreads page if you are interested in my reviews.

My favorite book for the month was a tie between “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” and “The Silent Patient.” I’m leaning more towards the former. I couldn’t put that book down, but the latter was a definite page turner with an unexpected end. Both are must reads if you ask me. I’ve affiliate linked them if you want to head to Amazon and see for yourself.

My least favorite of the month was “Training School for Negro Girls.”

I read some really good books last month, if I had to recommend a few others they would be, “The Dutch House“, and “Handcrafted: A Woodworker’s Story” both were very good.

I’m not a fan of self-help books, I prefer memoirs that highlight an individual’s growth and success, which is why I loved “Handcrafted,” it fell in line with “The Magnolia Story” and “Capital Gaines,” which are all books that touch on the Chip and Joanna Gaines story. If you need a little inspiration to keep chasing your dreams, these three are a must-read.

That’s it for last month’s reads. Make sure you are subscribed to my newsletter so you don’t miss any of these monthly wrap-up book posts and all of the other content I post!