The Tumblr Train

I've hopped on!

If you need me every second of the day, this is a quicker way to get me. It's totally me, just friskier.

Pink Pout Friday

Love her or hate her, SHE'S WORKING! Here's Nicki's shade, Pink 4 Friday.


Nicki Minaj's first album, Pink Friday, came out earlier this week, and the Nicki inspired MAC lipstick can be purchased to go with it for four Friday's, starting today.

I'm not sure yet if I'm going to buy it. It was sold out today, and although I love all things pink, it looks a little chalky. Since the pro store discount isn't applicable for this special edition, I would have to pay full price to have Nicki smack. Shoutout to sis Jules for hooking me up with MAC at the pro rate, I'm now super spoiled. Ladies, please hook me up with reviews if you've got some!

Hmmm... Lil' Kim used to be a MAC spokeswoman. Let's reflect on the days when she was too busy being the Queen Bee we loved to be releasing diss tracks.

Circa 2006.

A Limited Edition Lipstick personally designed by Nicki Minaj to celebrate the release of her debut album Pink Friday. Featuring a bright, creamy pink satin formula, Nicki's shade is only available online for four Fridays starting November 26, 2010, while supplies last. Pro discount not applicable.




Well, "Put ya number 2's in the air if ya did it on 'em."

Someone cop the lipstick and lemme know what the deal is!

Things I'm Loving Right Now: Muxo Bags

Camila Alves is one bad chick... and she designed the bag she's sporting in the picture. Besides being the Brazilian baby mama to Matthew McConaughey, the model keeps busy with Muxo, the handbag company she shares with her mom. The bag prices range from $200 to $2000, so it's not cheap to sport her imported leather, but you would surely make a statement!

My Cream Puff

I seh! Look at this fine fine man! And I was his favorite. Of course I knew him when he was gray and balding, but look at him. Something like a legend. That's my "cream puff."

God blessed us and our blessings are too plentiful to count. I knew him and loved him much. And he loved me too.

I didn't know all of my grandparents, only my mother's folks. And I often wonder which traits I got from whom. There's so much to be said about the Bernard's and Urey's, but this grandfather of mine ... I mean just look at him and see the pride on his brows!

I hope I have his strength and humility. My grandfather was a well respected businessman and supported his family the way a man should. These days it seems men don't understand their role as the patriarch of the family. Women do it all. And I do not ever intend to slight the strength of my nana, because those who know me know that I love my nana more than air (and that's not an understatement), but when I reflect on my grandfather, I think about the type of man I would want to be with forever as well as the type of woman I should become. His principles apply for all people. I live to make my cream puff proud of who I am.

Thanks for doting on me when I was born as I'm sure only you could do, and for loving the red velvet cake I made with baking powder instead of baking soda, and for taking me to my first dance when I was little, and for sending me to see Europe, and for my first gold jewelry, and for wearing the hell out of the GT apparel when I got admitted, and for sending me letters on the world's last typewriter, and for driver's education because American schools don't mandate it, and for being so overprotective because you didn't want ANYTHING to harm us ('the Liberian ocean water is treacherous!'), and for making me feel like a Liberian princess all the days we were together, but especially the summer I went home right after the fighting finished. Thanks for being my cream puff and all the other things you could be in between.



Cheers to the men who make their granddaughters feel like they deserve the world, and try their best to give it to them. I'm one of the lucky ones.

Things I'm Loving Right Now: Friday Night Lights by J Cole

I'm a mixtape girl. I don't like the music the labels choose to release. As soon as I listened to "Too Deep for the Intro" I was hooked on J Cole's art. Download it as soon as you can.

At my office we had a heated debate about which breakout rapper was better: J Cole or Wiz Khalifa. We were three against one in favor of Wiz. To me, J Cole is the better lyricist. Hands down, I want to listen to J Cole's words moreso than the weed man's Jay-Z. But as a total product, I'm more interested in Wiz. He has a signature sound, and seems more relatable as a talent. J Cole is signed to Roc Nation, which seems to be a golden ticket to a lasting career. I'm still straddling the fence on this situation.

Although J Cole is sexier, because I've never been into skinny guys, he seems to dislike weave wearing girls with acrylic nails. When I get an interview with him, I intend to get to the bottom of that. Compare the lyrical content for yourself.



J Cole -- Who Dat (not on mixtape)



vs. Wiz Khalifa -- Black and Yellow

Things I'm Loving Right Now: Ebony Magazine's Cover Fun

You know how much I love old Black Hollywood. Imagine how excited I was to see the new covers Ebony did to commemorate their 65 year anniversary! These are my favs.

Taraji Henson as Diahann Carroll

Nia Long as MY INSPIRATION Dorothy Dandridge


Jurnee Smollett as Lena Horne

John Legend as Duke Ellington

Regina King as Eartha Kitt

Usher as Sammy Davis Jr

I love magazines because they freeze time. On Ebony's website you can read digital copies of all their past issues. Cover interviews include anything from a post-Tyson Robin Givens to a pre-presidential Nelson Mandela. We've come a long way as people, and Ebony's beautiful documentation makes me proud.

Comfort is a Big Word

Why does every woman on the Oprah show say she got more comfortable with herself when she hit 40? The middle-aged women of the world love to make it seem like the 20s are a time of uncertainty and the 40s are truly the golden years. As you get older, you fall into your true self and then you quit wanting to save the world and just aim to save your sanity.

Well, I know a little of who I am, and I hope I'm always going to be a wild child.Part of wanting to be a public figure is being comfortable sharing my wild childness with you and hoping that you like her. Maybe Queen O and her guests are right. I guess I have to turn 40 in order to know what being 40's like, but me and my botox will take that next 40 like I'm doing this first 40... for every ounce that it's worth and in amazing shoes.

I feel blessed for every opportunity I'm given and every person in my life. Comfortable? Nah. I can't be comfortable until I'm where I want to be (of which I still don't know the location). When I am 40 however, I hope I'm not comfortable then either. I guess here's where we draw the line distinguishing 'comfortable with oneself' from 'comfortable with one's life.' I always thought they went together.

Whoopi Goldberg told Oprah she took the job at The View because no one was hiring her for movies. This seems crazy when you consider that she was at one point the highest paid actress in Hollywood. At age 52, when jobs aren't coming in, it's a no-brainer. You put comfort to the side and replace it with hunger. You reinvent yourself. You use your talents and seek opportunity. Most important, you run from the word 'comfortable.' Maybe Whoopi knows who she is at this point, but I bet she didn't know this would be what she would be doing. Not a bad gig at all, and I bet you comfort wouldn't have gotten her there.

Comfort scares me. I believe in evolution.

Love and Luck in Work

File this away in my passion corner. I think they call this venting.

I always take an extra 30 mins to get out of bed. I just need my sleep. As I wake, I'm planning my nap and meals for the day. Rarely do I ask myself 'what are you going to do to make this day count?'

Sure, I work damn hard to ensure that Plan A comes to fruition. I put in my hours at Rolling Out, and then put in my midnight hours at a second job to make the bills disappear. There is no Plan B. My dreams have to take off so I can live the fabulous life like Kimora Lee, and have the cultural influence of Oprah Winfrey, and have the quotable phrases like Coco Chanel, the totable babies like Angelina Jolie, and the arm candy boyfriends like Kim Kardashian.

But I'm only seeing the bread. I've got to learn to really mill the wheat in the fields before I can live the life of peace and prosperity meant for Archel Bernard.

You really don't get the life I want to live by falling in love with men. You fall in love with the vision and chase that bitch til it chases you.

I've learned the chase is overlooked. The effort that goes into the chase is sometimes mundane, and we've got to toil over those mountains. But the thing about the mountains is they don't disappear; the way I climb them shifts.

I was out on the purple carpet for the Soul Train Awards doing interviews, and I was out there in the cold in a little red dress. Chrisette Michelle comes up to me and rubs my arm to note my goosebumps. Yep, I was freezing out there. I talked to 40 or so celebrities and wannabe celebrities about superficial red carpet things in order to get my assignment done. Every now and again, however, my mind would wander to what life will be like when publicists beg me to book their artists on my show in my warm set. It's challenging to want. My dreams feel like teasers. I want to be there already, wherever there is.

Here's an image of me after the awards (clearly a cell phone pic). I tried to crop the boobs out, as my mom reads my blog periodically and hates to always be bombarded with titty, but I could only do so much. Shout out to Ulta for a $45, hour and a half wash and curl.

And then I realize this is all a warm up. That God doesn't place me anywhere to suffer. Only to thrive. I'm up next at bat, and up to bat again and again until His will is found and the universe is pleased.

I recently went to New York to visit my little brother as he tries to conquer the music world. Sidenote: the Bernard last name means 'dynasty' in many languages. As he showed me his apartment in Brooklyn's Crown Heights, I could feel the hunger for more than a fire escape that only seats one, as much as I could feel the pleasure with his grind. These days we're experiencing right now are good days. We're making great steps every hour. The steps are small, and most go unnoticed, but they stand as building blocks to help us acquire the payoff that's meant for us at the end when the fire escape becomes a patio overlooking the Mediterranean.

I don't envy anyone's happiness. I don't know what it took for them to reach their state. I know that I'm climbing away for mine. What AM I doing to make each day count? How can I be more quotable, or more fabulous? How can I draw this plush lifestyle? Such complex questions with such easy answers. I love this work. I love that I'm setting myself up to hit a homerun. I love that all the mountains are unclaimed gifts waiting for me and only me. When you work hard, you'll find out that you're really lucky. I'll simply be the luckiest talent I can be.

Are you happy now, baby? I am.
And the best is yet to come.

A little Miley for your day... PUSH PLAY! Every word captures the mood I'm in.

The Cleopatra Effect

"Only one image of Cleopatra survives—a barely visible profile on a coin— but we have numerous written descriptions. She had a long thin face and a somewhat pointed nose; her dominant features were her wonderfully large eyes. Her seductive power, however, did not lie in her looks—indeed many among the women of Alexandria were considered more beautiful than she. What she did have above all other women was the ability to distract a man. In reality, Cleopatra was physically unexceptional and had no political power, yet both Caesar and Antony, brave and clever men, saw none of this. What they saw was a woman who constantly transformed herself be- fore their eyes, a one-woman spectacle. Her dress and makeup changed from day to day, but always gave her a heightened, goddess-like appearance."
-The Art of Seduction by Robert Greene

I've got a thing for the women who draw men toward them like flies to light, because it never seems to be because they are so intensely beautiful. Women fail to realize that charm and mystery are more hypnotizing than a pretty face. While men are indeed visual beings, their desire for the chase overwhelms their desire for arm candy. Pretty women are plentiful, but a woman who owns her charm is indeed a rare commodity.

I picture Cleopatra as this bangin' bodied red bone woman (only because I'm red-boned). Full lips, blunt cut bangs one day, sick weave the next, Indian hair only. I literally picture a young Iman from "Remember the Time." I see her king trying to rule an empire but working hard to try and entertain her so she doesn't leave his side. Without Cleopatra, all the land of the world would have no meaning, all because she was just that chick. She's got this mentality that floats from Greece to Australia, while her man's just trying to keep up with Rome. Cleopatra doesn't need a companion, but because she is that extraordinary she maintains a loyal following of men in awe of her actions. Could a blank-minded, attractive woman ruin empires? Probably not. Why allow society to create boundaries for you, when freedom and personal evolution can grant you such power?

Law 25 -- Re-create Yourself:: Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Guesswork is the winning formula in everything. The Cowboys are using the same game plays, and the competition can defeat them because of their predictability. We cannot be standout women if people can anticipate our next steps. If you show people your spades, they will find a way to trump you.

Apply the Cleopatra effect in your life. You may surprise yourself.

Wet Wednesday

It's raining. I'd rather drip with gold.

If I make a million, I'll live in a studio, just so I can spend 750 on things that sparkle in the light.