Life

When You’re Black & Proud With A White Partner, Things Get Complicated

HAPPY WEDNESDAY! I’m normally not excited when we’re still so far from the weekend + I’m exhausted (caffeine for days, y’all) but this is the first post of my #WeddingWednesday series, and I’m pumped. I talk about marriage all the time, but I haven’t spent a ton of time talking about our actual wedding. It was featured on A Practical Wedding, and that’s probably the only time I’ve written about in-depth. But I polled my followers on my Instagram stories, and the verdict was that you guys want to hear more about wedding planning, so here we go!

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24 Things My Favorite Women Wish They Knew At 24

First of all, I have to apologize for the lighting + editing of this picture. It was taken in direct sunlight (literally my worst nightmare) but it’s the only picture I have of me with my mom, grandmother and great-grandmother, so it has to stay. Ok, so now that that’s out of the way —it’s only been five days since my last blog post, but it feels like an eternity! I’m still trying to post three times a week, but work/life/family makes that hard sometimes. But I’m so excited for today’s post that I can barely keep it in — I asked three generations of women in my family things they wish they would’ve known at 24, and the answers are all THE BEST. 

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Fun Date Night Ideas — XO, Ayana

9 Fun Date Night Ideas For Lazy Couples

Breaking news: I enjoy spending time with Vagner. STOP THE PRESSES. 

Ok, you probably already knew that based on the fact that I married him and don’t shut up about how great he is. But here’s something you may not have known: I am supremely lazy when it comes to finding unique date ideas. If Vagner leaves date night up to me, we’ll end up at Chili’s. As much as I love greasy chain restaurants, that isn’t exactly romantic, and we’ve had to get creative in the last seven years.

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How To Be Authentic Online Without Damaging Your Brand

Posting online has become a time-consuming process for me. First, I take the picture. (If I’m being honest, I take several pictures. Sometimes 20 or 30.) Then, I have to find one that works, edit it in Lightroom, run it through FaceTune to get rid of any stray hairs, come up with a caption, find relevant hashtags, share it on Instagram, share it on Facebook and monitor the posts for any comments to respond to. 

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Our First Date Ended In A Fight, & Here’s What It Taught Me

I’ve always been a perfectionist to a ridiculous extent. Think of the kid who gets the highest grade in the class or is friends with literally everyone — that’s me. I’m constantly being humbled and reminded of my imperfections, especially within my relationship with Vagner. Our first date started off on a sweet note, but it ended in disaster! We’re able to laugh about it today, but we actually learned a lot from that hot mess of a date. 

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My Super Extra Plan To Fix My Chronic Lateness

Everyone has character flaws, although I like to think of my flaws as lovable quirks. But 2018 is my year of no more excuses and trying my best, so I’m going to try my best to fix my one of the most annoying things about me: my chronic lateness. I even wrote a story for Bustle about what to do when you’re always late and stressed out. It’s bad, fam. Thankfully, the team at JORD Watches sent me a gorgeous wooden watch, and it’s convincing me to actually put my somewhat obnoxious plan into action.

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