sarah collin rudoulph

Lansing Disconnect

So truth is that I live in a small space with two toddlers and my husband. It drives me nuts.  There is not enough space for anything and I suck at home decor which is an even greater challenge with small spaces.  Currently I would say the style of our apartment is garage sale meets Target with the occasional handmade art piece and framed photograph. I know Rome wasn't built in a day, but we have been living in our current apartment for almost two years and it is a land filled with Sterlite containers, un-hung wall art, and toys.  All is not lost I have quite a few good quality pieces of furniture in my house that I have either thrift-ed or got a great deal for, but I have no idea what to do with them.   Somehow there is a disconnect between me and the apartment that I reside, and for a creative like me that is an epic failure.

I guess part of the problem is that when we moved to the area almost for years ago, I did anticipate Lansing becoming a permanent fixture in our lives. I saw it as a temporary pit stop that we would depart from in 1-2 years after things became more stable.

The truth is that we moved where the money was. Opportunities for employment in metro Detroit were limited, my husband and I who were both working in retail at the time were extremely underemployed, had a second child on the way, we knew that something had to change immediately or our family just wasn't going to make it without dire consequences. For months my husband applied for jobs without and good leads until a former co-worker gave him a suggestion that leading to two interviews and a job offer.  This job offer required much sacrifice.  We were forced to moved from Metro Detroit miles away to the Michigan Capital City of Lansing.  With an optimistic gleam in my eye I said what the heck lets do it, Lansing can't be all that bad. New people, new town, new job, our family will have a whole new life. 

I would love to say that my optimism has stayed with me the almost four years that we have been here, but it has dissipated. Like the decor of my apartment I am disconnected from it.  Lansing doesn't fit, Detroit will always be home.  Hart Plaza, Eastern Market, DIA, Greektown, Charles H. Wright, The Fox, Music Hall, the all mean the world to me.  Midtown, Downtown, North End, Southwest it's all Detroit to me. I'm home sick right now, if you came to my apartment you could probably tell as it looks like a temporary residence more than where a family dwells.

I am writing this post as a courtesy to the few followers that I do have.  I have several personal conflicts going on right now and I am taking the time to reevaluate things in my life.   New post will come in June/July.

Najeema

Guest Post: April is African American Fitness Month

April is African-African Fitness Month! 

(Caution: due to the subject matter, this is going to be longer than usual)

Aight ladies, time to get it right and tight, ‘cause the warm weather upon us!

Although many who read this have not seen my likeness, I am an African-American woman and not a skinny b*tch , so this blog is straight from the heart.

In the search for the perfect depiction of a fit African American Woman, it was pretty hard, way harder than it should have been. Does this mean that we don’t have enough images of fit black women in our mass media? Maybe, but this is the internet and we bloggers have total control over the images that we release to the masses. So maybe it’s just a matter of numbers, there is just isn’t enough of us advocating for fitness.

In my personal social media activities I attempt to post physical activities here and there.  In my non-cyber adventures I struggle to keep the fat away, and find it hard to share my story in part due to embarrassment. I know k that I do not have a magical metabolism that will make 3 slices of pizza disappear, but I indulge anyway. I don’t have a fit buddy but the fact is, we AA females have to encourage each other. We need to speak the truth about our struggle so that we can help someone else.

African-American Fitness Month was created by Shelia Madison & Associates to encourage health awareness through physical activity for black women. We should all get plugged in to our community and find creative ways to make healthy activities a part of your daily schedule. American society, along with all levels of government share the responsibility to accept that we are a fat America that needs to get fit. We need to change our attitudes, get moving, and drop the weight so that we can live

I’m gonna keep it simple an wrap this up.  We need to each make a personal commitment to encourage ourselves and others by putting more positive images of  of fit and real black women out there is the media spaces by first taking on the challenge of eating right, exercising, and overhauling our greasy  lifestyles. WE can do it, I can do it.

If you are looking for some motivation, right-right-RIGHT-now, blogger Erika Nicole Kendall is a great place to start. She is the subject of this HolidArt for going from 330 lbs. to a becoming personal trainer! That is a feat! She is incredible motivation of what it means to make a “lifestyle change”—and she looks hott as hell too, no saggy skin or anything.  She makes my fat look like water weight. 

I could write about this topic forever, as it hits close to home, but I encourage you to stop reading about it and be about it.  Today may be the last day of April, but it is not to late to make a change.  Fitness is a lifestyle change that we can all implement, and maybe my post gave you some motivation.

Read Up! (THEN GET OFF YOUR ASS AND GET FIT! thank you, that is all.)

http://blackgirlsguidetoweightloss.com/about/

http://www.sheilamadison.com/naawfm.html