2010 in Review-Blog Info

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 25 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 50 posts. There were 137 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 60mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 2nd with 38 views. The most popular post that day was Kerlee & Chantal’s Engagement Video.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mail.yahoo.com, comp.uark.edu, fivetonine.wordpress.com, mail.live.com, and WordPress Dashboard.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for bartenders workout, koto project runway, bartenders workout video, koto from project runway, and bobby flay daughter.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Kerlee & Chantal’s Engagement Video November 2010
4 comments

2

Bartenders Workout! Vote for the Video of the Month! October 2009
3 comments

3

Experiencing A Taste of Koto’s Line (Project Runway) September 2009

4

St. Lucia Sandals Family Vacation Run Down January 2010
2 comments

5

Bobby Flay-ing It Up w/ Our New Grill! May 2009
3 comments

 

Kerlee & Chantal’s Engagement Video

Congratulations to Kerlee and Chantal. They got engaged on October 16, 2010. It is wonderful when two people that are clearly meant to be, commit to a lifetime together. I created this video for their engagement dinner.

When putting it together I thought about their personalities and tried to capture the essence of their relationship from an outsider’s perspective.

Enjoy!

 

He Was There

When I look back at my life, the most consistent aspect of my life was that fact that God was there…

He was there, when my family was struggling financially.

He was there, when I felt down and out.

He was there, when I didn’t know how I was going to pay for school.

He was there, when I had my heart broken.

He was there, when my “friends” turned their backs on me.

He was there, when my self-esteem was very low.

He was there, when I cried myself to sleep.

He was there, when my parents didn’t and couldn’t understand.

He was there, when I made stupid decisions that could have cost me my life.

He was there, when I was happy.

He was there, when I got a college and a master’s degree.

He was there, when I met my husband.

He was there, when I walked down the isle.

He was there, when I asked him for a job.

He was there, when I was being blessed.

He was there, when I was growing.

He was there, on time, every time.

When I feel like He can’t hear me. When I feel like I don’t know what to do and question why things are taking long or why I am not receiving what I have asked Him for. I need to remember that…

He was there, all the time.

 

Praising Him

Praising God is so important. He is the creator of life and of all things. He deserves our praise. It doesn’t have to be formal. It can be while you clean, while you shop, while you lay in bed. Praise Him with whatever you have, when you think you have nothing to praise Him with, think again. You have a voice, you have hands, you have your feet…Praise Him with any talent you have.

Praise Him with love and truth. Praise Him honestly. Exalt Him above all others. He is so merciful and so wonderful.

I sometimes get caught up in the notion that praising has to be formal and done the right way but God inhabits the praises of his people (Psalms 22:3) and sometimes the most genuine praise is that ugly informal praise. The type of praise that brings you to tears and forces you to reflect on how good God truly is and always has been to you.

I pray that God rebuilds me. I praise Him because he hears me when I ask Him for a transformation in my life. I am completely transparent. He can see through me and my wants and desires. When I reflect on my life, I have noticed that most of my pain comes from taking what God deemed as important and taking its value away. I need the Lord to rebuild me.

That peace of love and the peace that comes from His joy alone is the only thing that can make me whole. I have been lost and I will be the first to admit that I have strayed from his righteousness but God always pulls me back into His arms. That is why I know that only His love and joy can make me whole.

I need you Lord, I am standing in the need of prayer. Come see about me Lord. Rebuild me.

 

A Roast for My Oldest Brother – Happy 35th Birthday

The idea was to record a video roast, and I did. My flip camera is having technical difficulties so I have to transcribe my roast. And here it goes…

First I would like to say Happy 35th Birthday to my beloved brother Beto. When I was asked to put a roast together about him I got a bit nervous. I don’t think I have anything negative to say about him. I have the best older brother in this entire world.

He’s been like a father to me,

an awesome partner to Tara and dad to Ava,

a wonderful sibling,

and a perfect cousin.

There’s not much that I can say that would deem this a “note-worthy” roast OR is there?

Let me see…

I can start with his name or should I say “NAMES“. My brother has many aliases. He goes by Esvelto (his birth name), Beto, Pele, Pete….PETE. Really Beto? Pete? Where did  you even come up with that one? It has nothing to do with your name?!?!?! I can also add a few more names based on PS3 games I’ve witnessed between him and Steven in which I’ve heard Steven address him as “my girl”, “bum”, and my favorite “my goat”. As a matter of fact, Beto not only has a bunch of names, he likes to assign names to those he dearly loves like “snoop”, “Jeromesssss”, and “C-money”. So Beto, what’s the deal with the names? So Beto, what’s the deal with the names? So Beto, what’s the deal with the names?

Why am I repeating myself, you ask? Well, because it’s a perfect segway to my next point. Beto, I love you dearly but MAN do you repeat yourself! Listening to your detailed phone messages is like listening to a record stuck on skip. Ouch. All jokes aside Beto, what’s the deal with you repeating yourself?

It could stem from childhood, a feeling of not being heard, maybe? NAH, you were a quiet kid, but you were heard. Not only were you the first born, you were the first male. Mami’s little companion…Now that I think of it, that role hasn’t really changed much, huh?

Let’s take a look at Exhibit a,b, and c:

Exhibit A

(Here we have Beto by Mami’s feet)

Exhibit B

(I can picture Mami saying “…now be a good boy and go get Mami her slippers, these heels are killing me.”)

Exhibit C

(“don’t be fooled by the chains that I rock, I’m still, I’m still Beto from the block chillin with my momdukes”)

Beto, not that I’m outing you, but you are a  M-A-M-A’-S B-O-Y! The type of mama’s boy that will never consider leaving the state of Massachusetts because my mom lives in Hyde Park, MA. The type of mama’s boy that used to get nervous when home alone and hungry because he needed someone to serve him meals. I remember getting home after school late only to hear a voice say “Maye, can you take out food for me?” I used to think to myself, “he’s been home for hours and he had to wait for me to get home so that he could eat?” Later I discovered that Beto had an eating disorder known as canyoutakefoodoutforme-idis.

The females in his life had a lot to do with his disorder (sorry Tara, we’ve created a monster). We were enablers. I guess I did it because I felt like I owed him. You see, as a little girl I used to wear Beto’s clothes without permission. What can I say? It was the 90s! Baggy clothes were in style and my brother had the best clothes! He had all the latest AND 1 Basketball shirts. My brother had style since he was a young lad! Check out my brother’s suit ware, his shirt game was serious, and he had the red sock game on smash!

The last thing I’ll say about my brother is that he’s always been a great athlete…

Growing up, he’s admired some of the best athletes of all time….

but sadly to report, on the basketball court Beto resembles Albert Haynesworth more than Michael Jordan!

Beto, this was all in good fun. We all love you. You are a unique brother. One of a kind. Have a great year full of laughs and fun. Like Curtis said, you’re not getting older, you’re getting better but not at fantasy football.

Cheers!

Maye

 

Two Years Ago Today I Married The One

I woke up this morning thankful for another day of life and another year with Curtis. Today is our two year anniversary. Wow. Two years have passed by in the blink of an eye.  I remember two years ago today waking up excited, nervous, and anxious. I remember having a lot of little things to do before the wedding and not thinking that things would be done in time.

The girls and I got our nails done that morning and Tara and Drudys decorated the hall with calla lilies. I remember being scared of what the hall would look like because the arch was not what we expected. I remember getting ready at my brother’s house (it was 5 minutes away from the venue) and how my heart was pounding because Sam was running late and she was the only one who knew how to put my veil on…

I remember the limo bringing my parents to my brother’s house instead of the venue and how pissed I was about it. I remember leaving the house after receiving some encouraging words, “everything is going to be perfect, you look beautiful.”

I remember arriving at Lombardo’s feeling like “this is it!”…watching Lomax run right past me in to the hall because he was running late. I look back at that now and laugh but at that very moment I remember giving him the “you better run” look.

I remember walking up the beautiful staircase and thinking to myself, I can’t wait to see Curtis. I remember hearing the music playing and our closest friends walking down the aisle. I was in a separate room waiting with Gady, Nena, and Papa. It was a special moment. Dad was acting so nervous (in his own weird way). I remember him breaking the nervous tension by asking Gady to take a picture, not of us, but of him by himself on the coach. The three of us immediately busted out laughing! That’s Papa for you.

I remember Ava (flower girl), five years old at the time, instructing Michaela (flower girl), my goddaughter which happened to be a few years older than her the following: “You have to walk like this and remember if you forget just look at me, I know how to do it and I’m going first…” When it was time for me to walk down the aisle, I remember seeing Ava run past me saying “No, no., no I can’t do it. I can’t do it.” This was her second strike. She had done the same thing as a 3 year old at my cousin’s wedding. Precious.

I remember walking down the aisle and being so happy. It wasn’t the regular happy feeling; it was a cloud nine feeling. I saw Curtis and he looked at me with love and I can pretty much bet he was saying in his mind, “ok ok, Mrs. Bolden, you look good.” At least that’s what I think.

I remember being so surprised that Curtis memorized his vows. I felt stupid because I was adamant about us memorizing them and I had to read my vows.  I remember our hand-me-down unity candle not lighting and us looking at each other like “is this a sign?” and then laughing. I remember starting to cry as I expressed to Curtis my undying love.

I remember our wedding kiss.

I remember my grandma wearing a green dress suit to match the wedding party. She was right by the aisle as I walked out sitting in a wheel chair.

I remember taking pictures for-ever and regretting the fact that we didn’t go to another location.

I remember cutting the cake and how many people took a picture of us. Our cake was sooo good.

I also remember our first dances. They were so special.

I remember needing to take a 5 hour energy shot to get through the night because I was so tired and didn’t want to miss a moment.

I remember mom giving me an envelope and saying, “Keep this with you” as she winked.

I remember everyone being so happy.

I remember being sad that I was being pulled in so many directions and not having time to spend time with anyone.

I remember dancing with Curtis and thinking to myself how freaking lucky I was to be his wife and I have never stopped feeling that way. I feel that way every single day.

Happy Anniversary Babe.

 

Words of Encouragement

Life goes through cycles of happiness and despair. There are moments when everything is going right and you are feeling blessed but then there is a pause. Why does that happen? God is constantly testing us. One of my favorite sayings is “there’s never a test-timony without a test” and it is so true. When do we testify the most? When God has brought us out of a situation we saw no end to, we praise Him when He shows up because He has perfect timing.

I have been going through situations where I’ve asked God for specific things and there are times when I can understand that He has a time for the things He has planned for my life but then there are times when I am simply human and become frustrated. I become frustrated because I have done all that I can do. I know that God expects us to do our part, all that we can do; my frustrations come from my impatience.

Then I remember the words of the song “Stand” by Donnie McClurkin” what do you do when you’ve done all you can and it seems like it’s never enough?…Tell me, what do you give when you’ve given your all, and seems like you can’t make it through? Stand and be sure. Be not entangled in that bondage again. God has a purpose. Yes, God has a plan.”

Stand. Stand, when you have given it your best. God will show up on time. He always does. I am testifying now before my blessing. He is not a man that He should lie. He has never broken a promise. I have to stand on faith because He has called me to do so. It is so easy to say but it’s hard to have faith when you don’t see how you are going to make it through. You don’t understand where the blessing will come from but that is the most beautiful part. God is the god of the impossible. He always makes a statement. He is the God of miracles. I am not supposed to understand.

Get on your knees. Pray. Pray again. Pray one more time. When you think to yourself, “I don’t know when God is going to show up” He is right there. Just hold on. Be strong. I believe that you can make it, just like I will make it. You can make it through. Joy comes in the morning. Praise God that joy comes in the morning.

After you have done all that you can, you just stand. He will show up on time.

 

Front Yard Make-Over

Our second year at our new home…our second attempt at the front yard. We’ve had issues with the tree in the front yard because of the ice storms. It basically died. So we dug up the old tree and we are picking out a new one to replace it…stay tuned.

We replaced the 3 rhododendrons with green bushes and placed them on the side of the house because all the sun was damaging them.

We are happy with the new look and the new color of the mulch!

 

Bolden Brunch

Curtis woke me up this morning with a big smile. I, on the other hand, had the “Stinky McStinkface”. He asked me if I wanted breakfast and my stinkface went away. I’m so spoiled. Curtis had to train at Fayetteville so I asked him to drop me off at the office so that I could get some work done. On his way back, he picked me up and when we arrived home he made his famous “Bolden Brunch”. The banana pancakes were to die for…

I had a great morning.

 

I Felt Extra Smart Today

I have been extremely busy at work, we are currently planning our summer residential program and I am coordinating the academics section of the program. I have been interviewing instructors all week. Part of the interview requires the candidate to give a five minute lesson to members of our staff.

During one of our interviews this question was posed, “does anyone know the equation for a line?” and out of nowhere I answered, “It’s y=mx+b”. My co-worker looked at me and I shrugged my shoulders. I don’t know where that came from. It must be that Boston Latin High School edumacation coming back to me. I have always hated math mainly because I have never been great at it. We have a hate hate relationship. Today that relationship changed to a love hate relationship.

I came home extra happy because I felt extra smart. Curtis was impressed which says a lot because he’s not easily impressed.