mother’s day - cafe mocha reflections

Weekend Memories

May 13, 2013 by Whitney 10 Comments

Had a great weekend. Saturday the girls and I hung out all day. They wanted to go shopping to buy me something for Mother’s Day. We went to the Air Force Base it was grocery shopping day out there, and they love going. They were having a drawing on some items for Mother’s Day, so I decided to enter. Guess who was the first winner? That’s right me! Here’s what I won…

I love wristlets, I own 4 and to think I won a nice Coach one? Loving it. I was so excited, I wanted to do my happy dance, but my daughter had the nerve to tell me not to embarrass her. I should have broke out, but I was too excited about winning! A free gift, too awesome!

My girls were very giving generous with mom, they spent their allowance to buy me a gift. I told them to just buy one card because greeting cards are so expensive and didn’t want them to spend all their money. This is what they bought me. Too cute, it’s on my desk. My youngest picked this, I just know she did. I appreciate them so much, we had a ball Saturday.

We attended church yesterday, very good service. It was packed of course. I thought about my momma a few times, I did ok until I was sitting in the car by myself. I miss her a lot. We didn’t go out to dinner like I wanted because I had a lot of work to do that needed to be completed by today, so I spent the rest of the day at my desk working. Then I got my gift from my husband.

I’ve never had Shari’s Berries before. They were good, very sweet…very. The girls will probably enjoy a few of them. I could only eat one, they were huge. I had a good weekend, blessed and grateful for the love of my family. How was your Mother’s Day/weekend?

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Filed Under: Currently, Family Tagged With: family, gifts, mother's day

What’s Brewing at The Cafe

May 10, 2013 by Whitney 6 Comments

I have several things to discuss today, Scandal, Jodi Arais and the young women from Cleveland.

Scandal, I need a class on what happened last night. So many twists and turns. I didn’t expect Billy Chambers to be the mole and I knew we couldn’t trust David Rosen, he messed up the whole look and feel of being a gladiator. It went by so fast. What am I gonna do while it’s on hiatus?

They found Jodi Arais guilty of first degree murder. I hope she has to spend the rest of her life in prison. I was amazed how people traveled to Phoenix for the trial and it took on a life for them. I don’t have the resources to go and sit through a trial like that.

The three young women they found held against their will in Cleveland, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michele Knight. As the details start to come out about what happened while those girls were living in that house has made me sick to my stomach. You can’t even call it living, it was straight survival for them and I’m so happy they survived and have been rescued. In the next few weeks it will all be out and I will be praying for them while they adjust to being back with their families and having to face the man that did this to them in the court system. Let’s continue to pray for their recovery and the conviction of the man who did this to them.

Last minute Mother’s Day gift ideas.

I like plants instead of flowers.

Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via ProFlowers on Pinterest

I love my smell good stuff.

Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via Bath & Body Works on Pinterest

I have one of these in red, I love wristlets, grab & go!

Source: Cafe Mocha Reflections via Coach on Pinterest

To all mothers, I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day. To the dads, aunties, God mother’s and everyone else that has a role in a child’s life, I wish you a Happy Mother’s Day as well. Please continue to love your mother and learn how to forgive. You only get one mother and I miss my momma so much. Tell them you love them and thank them for being mom. Have a great weekend everyone.

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Filed Under: The Mocha Cafe Tagged With: kidnapped girls, mother's day, scandal

A Mother’s Love

May 9, 2013 by Whitney 4 Comments

I have been blessed with two beautiful daughters. It’s been an experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world. I didn’t have my first child until I was 33 years old, everyone in the family had given up on the thought of me having any children. Up until then, I was an aunt and had been very comfortable with that position since I was 4 years old. I was a good auntie too, especially when I got older and was able to buy good gifts and help out on an occasion.

In 1996 I had a beautiful daughter, slanted eyes and straight black hair. I just held her and looked at her and would whisper to her, momma’s gonna do everything she can to take care of you. It was bittersweet, because my family wasn’t there for her birth. A few hours after she was born they told me she had jaundice. All I heard was jaundice and brain damage. I lost my mind, I didn’t want to leave my baby at the hospital but I knew she needed the treatment. I was at the hospital with her until they let me bring her home.

Three years later, I discover that I’m gonna have another baby. Surprise, surprise! I was not expecting this because we used birth control, but you know nothing is 100% unless it’s abstinence. My mother was elated, she had told me on several occasions that she didn’t believe in having an only child. I was 37 and felt I was a bit old to be having another child. I had a difficult pregnancy with her, flu, pregnancy high blood pressure. I had to have an amniocentesis and go to the doctor every 3 weeks. It was a struggle but she looked just like her big sister when she was born in 2000, except she was my little chocolate drop.

Now I was a mother of two girls. The house was full of life, toys everywhere and all the duties that come with babies and toddlers. It’s been wonderful being their mother. I thank God for allowing me the opportunity to love, mold and show them how to be young ladies. We are entering the phase of teenage years for my youngest and adulthood for my oldest. It’s gonna be hard releasing them into this world, but I know I must do it.

My Mother’s Day gift is to have them here with me beautiful, healthy and very much loved. They want to buy something for me and I’m good with whatever they get. My parents would be so proud of them, I know they are watching over their grand babies.

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Filed Under: Family, Relationships Tagged With: children, love, mother's day, motherhood

What’s Brewing at The Cafe

May 4, 2013 by Whitney 8 Comments

It’s the weekend baby! I have my coffee and a touch of optimism (just a touch) because my internet has been acting up again. My service was down all day yesterday. I know, I wish AT&T would figure out the problem because this hurts and interrupts my flow. This will be the tenth visit because of intermittent service. Now it’s time to request some serious credit on our account, really. I had to give up work because of no internet, writing that I’m working on, guess I’ll have to dig out my journal and start writing to get finished up. It’s funny, you don’t know how much you depend on something until it’s taken away. Life before the internet, smartphones, tables and social media?

This past week, I was a featured blogger on The Sexy Single Mommy for a post I wrote about my online dating experience last year. It was my honest take on the subject of online dating. Thanks to Ty at The Single Sexy Mommy for featuring my story. She is a fellow BLM blogger.

Scandal….what can I say? All I gotta say is I need to watch it again, it was all over the place! People on Twitter really crack me up, some people actually were gonna quit watching it if Liv & Fitz did their thing. Yes it’s wrong for the President to be having an affair, it’s wrong for anyone to have an affair outside their marriage. It’s entertainment to me, I don’t take it that seriously. Do I love watching the show? Yes, I sure do. It’s a change from all the reality shows that the networks come up with about every 90 days it seems. I watch those too, but it’s nice to watch a real prime time TV drama. I do like the Law & Order series too.

Photo credits ABC

We attended the honors ceremony for my oldest daughter Thursday night and I was amazed at how my daughter has turned into a young woman. It’s time to start applying for secondary education, leaning towards community college because she is a candidate for the A+ Program in the state of Missouri. They will pay for 2 years of college for high school seniors that maintain a 3.5 GPA. She has to do community service work which will be a challenge, but the school is working with us to find a solution for her because of her autism. I am so excited that she will be a senior next year and how she is discovering the world around her. I love watching both of my girls grow up and discover their worlds.

My youngest rocked her curly fro this week, I’m so proud of her for not being ashamed to wear her hair natural and wearing it with pride. It’s been a long two years since we started transitioning her hair from relaxed to natural. Her hair broke off and I felt so guilty for putting a relaxer on it. She begged and I gave in. It was beautiful but started to break off after she had it about 3 months. I had braids put in her hair and she wore them for almost 2 years. I cut the ends and she started wearing twist, coils, puffs and her afro this week. She wants it flat ironed and this fall I will allow her to wear it flat ironed, but no chemicals. I love this picture of her, she’s really growing up.

How was your week? Share some of you week with me. Next week we’ll prepare for Mother’s Day, I want to pay tribute to the women we are and how we have raised or raising our families. If you work outside the home, stay at home or anything in between, I want to honor you all. Have a good weekend and make sure you let your family know what you want for Mother’s Day next week.

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Filed Under: The Mocha Cafe Tagged With: children, guest blogger, mother's day, parenting, random, scandal

Happy Mother’s Day!

May 11, 2012 by Whitney 2 Comments

Mother’s Day is a time when my girls celebrate me being their mom, but it’s also a time that I reflect on missing my own mother. At first I wasn’t going to post anything today because I had spent the day reflecting about sadness, missing both my momma and mother-in-law. I decided to celebrate all mothers, no sadness, just celebrate life, being blessed and having a wonderful family who loves me and need me! I did a little shopping today, nothing major, a trip to Sam’s Club which I came out of there with only spending $100! I had a wonderful afternoon, got my shopping done so I don’t have to go out this weekend. I even styled my hair differently today! It’s still a TWA (teenie weenie afro), but it’s really growing! Check it out!

Let’s celebrate that we have a life that allows us to do what we love, for me that’s working from home, blogging and becoming a Independent Lifestyle Consultant for Soul Purpose, a personal care and wellness company. I will have a link to my website with more information hopefully next week. For now if you wanna check me out, go to my website at Soul Purpose and look at the catalog. I love the product and I hope you all will want to experience what using Soul Purpose products are about. I thank the Mr for holding it down and supporting me 100% on anything I do, it’s really amazing. I thank my girls for letting me having my quiet time when I’m taking calls, writing or brainstorming on what I want to blog about and lately all the time I’ve spent getting my new business venture started. I thank you, for reading my blog about my life and my goal of reaching women of a certain age, the middle aged sistahs! This is gonna be a wonderful Mother’s Day, no sadness whatsoever! My momma and mother-in-law wouldn’t have wanted it that way. Enjoy this old school song about a mother’s love by Boyz 2 Men, it’s a beautiful song. My dedication to all beautiful mothers. Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers!

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Filed Under: Family, Inspirational, Lifestyle Tagged With: love, mother's day, sisterhood

My Mother’s Day Gift List

May 9, 2012 by Whitney 1 Comment

My beautiful family…I love this picture

Yes, I have a gift list, don’t we all? Not all of it is something that needs to be purchased from a department store, ordered on line or made at school. Those things are wonderful, but I have a different mix of requests for this year. Of course it really doesn’t matter what they give me, I’m grateful and will appreciate anything. I have one request…I must have a Hallmark Mother’s Day Card, prefer one from their Mahagony collection. I admit it, I’m a greeting card snob. I only like Hallmark cards. I don’t know if it’s because I’m from Kansas City and that’s where the corporate headquarters is located, or I used to date a guy years ago that worked at Hallmark, and he would give the best cards for my birthday. I love to give beautiful cards to my friends and family, and I only hope and wish when it’s my turn, I get a beautiful Hallmark card, which is not always the case. Ok, here’s my list.

1. Money in a Hallmark card.

2. Gift card for a day at the spa, using Soul Purpose products (shameless plug!)

3. Gift card to take a scrapbooking or greeting card class. Too funny, huh?

4. I would love to start a charm bracelet, Pandora would be nice.

5. A weekend trip to Kansas City by myself to visit my friends.

6. An unlimited spending trip to Nordstrom Rack, DSW and IGIGI Yuliya Raquel. IGIGI is a beautiful line of plus size clothing.

7. A full day to work on my blog and new business Soul Purpose, in the house alone. No “mom can I?”, “do you know where my….is?”

8. Brunch on Sunday after church with my three favorite people.

9. To be pampered by my family totally for one day.

10. Visit my mother and mother-in-laws grave and decorate them with flowers. My mom is in Kansas City, my mother-in-law is here in St Louis.

Being a mother has been one of my best journeys. I love being a mom, the challenges, achievements that this wonderful life job brings. I hope you all get your wish or desire for you special day this weekend. I have the best gift, the love of my family…the other is just extra! Have a great day! What do you think of my new design? Let me know what you think, it’s still a work in progress. Muah!

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Filed Under: Family, Relationships Tagged With: family, gifts, mother's day

Mother’s Day 2012 Giveaway

April 21, 2012 by Whitney Leave a Comment

Here at Cafe Mocha Reflections I am excited to collaborate with A Family Village to celebrate YOU or your Mom. I have teamed up 26 of our closest friends to bring you a fun cash giveaway!

One lucky winner will win $250 to be deposited directly into their PayPal account! Sounds like fun, wouldn’t you say? The giveaway is sponsored by 26 businesses and blogs ~ and you will love getting the chance to check them out.

To enter, you are REQUIRED to simply follow each of the steps using the Rafflecopter form below! Also, go check out the fabulous business owners and bloggers involved in this event.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway starts 4/22/12 at 12:0 am EST and ends 5/13/12 at 12:01am EST. Good Luck!

We Love our Readers, You deserve to win $250!

The cash giveaway is open to all worldwide (paid in US dollars) and will be paid directly into your PayPal account.

This giveaway is brought to you by:

Austin Couponing

Family Volley

Embracing Life, Love & Art

Danielle Elwood Dot Com

Foodie Gems

Mentor Leadership Team

Sadie: The Paper Crown Princess