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Happy Birthday Extreme Couponing

As much as I would like to save money everyday like the extreme couponers we see on TLC, I am just not the one right now. However I do have a few things I am "anal "over and that is receiving my annual complimentary meal Benihana valued at $30 on your birthday for their Chef's Table Members. Its easy just sign up here and they will email you the coupon at the beginning of your birthday month. It is better to use it for lunch as you get more bang for your "free bucks".

http://pages.benihana-news.com/registration

Wearing Walmart Fashion Finds: Miss Tina

Yep I said it I now shop at Wally World. It came after like many of you I saw a new line of clothing featured in Essence Magazine where Tina Knowles launched her line in Walmart "Miss Tina" fall 2010.  I was initially very excited to see nothing was over $20. I was skeptical at first and never went into the store although I really was digging how model Tocarra rocked the threads. Around the end of winter, I went in to find things were picked over and left the section discontented thinking "that is why I never shopped here poor quality everything even inventory."


I am a frugal lady at heart so I tried again a few months ago.  I found just about every piece of clothing from the Spring 2011 line and fell in love. Luckily the stores close to me have a good inventory when the line for each season first drops. I never thought I would say this but these clothes fit my curves and bumps better than anything I have ever bought. Miss Tina is a big fan of ruched textures on the sides of her dresses (hits just below the lower hip) which as she says is very "forgiving" I say "ode to Miss Tina" because after a basket of chicken wings I have previously begged my clothes for mercy.

Check out the entire line at www.misstina.com

I encourage you to check out your local store and at least try on some of the items. If you do not find your size don't fret you can order from www.walmart.com for only $0.97 shipping! You will be surprised to find some very hidden treasures. One of my favorites is the Fold Over Skirt Dress that is a 3 way outfit 1) the top rolls down to a dress falling just below the knee to create a ruched texture around the middle 2) the top rolls up to a dress that falls ankle length 3) the top rolls down twice to create a third outfit of a shirt that falls right at the ankle and ruched at the tummy. If you are like me and need some styling advise on how to wear Walmart fashionably then check out this NYC Stylist turned blogger Penny Chic that exclusively styles her "muses" in nothing but Walmart from head to toe. Happy Chic Cheap Shopping!

Short Women = Short Birth Canals.....

Khloe Kardashian & Lamar Odom

The pre-conception meeting with the doctor was like  a freight train, I can't lie. Hehehe. I agree with hubs that our speed seemed to go from 0 to 100 during the course of the meeting. All and all everything is fine and we have our plan. Little did I know she would suggest taking pre-natal vitamins a year in advance! Ish is getting real.... hehehehe
On to a lighter note, she began to size me up a bit versus the hubs (I stand 4'11 strong and he is...... drum roll 6'2). Then mentioned C section maybe likely because looks like a baby might not "fit" esp if he or she gets the tall genes from daddy. Some women may get anxiety by hearing that but it didn't bother me much. Just glad to get my mind ready for that one day. Size up these celebrity women with their tall beaus. Its funny to see how "jolly green giant" our men look beside us. 

Christina Ricci & Owen Benjamin

Kris Humphries & Kim Kardashian

Sacha B Cohen & Isla Fisher

Mother's Day Cookie Bouquet Giveaway: I Won!

I just wanted to announce that I won the Mother's Day Cookie bouquet for my mom from Talking With Tami. Just for those skeptics that think these giveaways are not real. They are! Doesn't it look yummy!?

Pre-Conception Planning: The Doctor Visit

It just so happen I was on the search for a new gynecologist and it is not time for my annual exam. We decided to go visit one the doctor that I am strongly considering and thought why not get our pre-conception questions answered. So ladies I need help what questions should I make sure we get answers to?

Lawsuit? Match.Com Owes California Woman Nothing

This story that broke today hits close to home. As promised in a previous post, you get a review how I met my husband on E-Harmony.com. If you are interested in my online dating story that led to a healthy relationship & happy marriage see below. But first my opinion:


I strongly do not believe Match.com should be held liable in a civil suit to take responsibility for an assault the woman tragically faced. I think many of us watching the story unfold are very saddened that she had to experience this. However, that does not mean its someone else's fault such as the company Match.com. The gentleman that assaulted her is responsible and will reach his day in court to be prosecuted. If I meet a guy in church, college, or at a restaurant/bar and he assaults me it is not the institution of church, university or eating establishment's fault because they allowed him in. All of us who choose to date have a responsibility to know who we allow in our presence. From the news reports, allegedly after the assault the woman Googled him to then find out his criminal history. I do understand that many people feel that any dating agency has an underlying "responsibility" to its members but we are adults and must discern the people we date. What is reasonable is for Match.com to take the next steps in their business to implement processes/screenings to decrease the potential liability that could be determined in a court of law. 


I chose to date on E-Harmony.com for the "peace of mind" they provided: RelyID. RelyID is where members have the option to chose whether to link their profile to a third party site to "prove" identity which is similar to answering a few questions from your credit report. Members who chose this have their profile flagged as screened through RelyID. As a online dater I knew that did not exclude sexual predators, married men, or even he/she men from being on the site. It was ultimately my responsibility to perform my own screening on anyone I decided to date/meet from the site.

My On Line Dating Story

It was winter 2008 and I was a single woman finishing up 4 year career stint in Omaha, NE. I decided to return from an almost year long hiatus from relationships. My thoughts were dating online would force me to really get to know the person as opposed to rushing into something.  I filled out my profile and to my amazement learned about myself through their scenario based questions. A few weeks went by receiving matches, viewing profiles, closing out matches, getting closed out. Then one day I got a profile link from a gentleman that intrigued me. We began chatting through the 'secured' website. E-harmony has conversation starters and questions you can send back and forth to your match. Then we moved to emailing back and forth from our personal email addresses for about 2 weeks. After the conversations kept getting more interesting, we decided to speak on the phone. We opted out of E-harmony's optional secure phone line and used our cell phones. Then the phone conversations continued for 2 months. This "getting to know" period of time included adding each other on Facebook as it allows you to see you are talking to a real person & can validate the things they are saying about their life. We talked everyday about just about everything for the first 2 months.


Then during my drive to move from Omaha to Atlanta we had to go through a suburb of Nashville where my husband is from.  So with my "protection" BKA dad in tow I stopped at a McDonald's to meet my online date for the first time. We had a modest breakfast for about an hour. My father thought I was meeting an old friend. He later said that it seemed like we had known each other for a while. We go back on the road got to Atlanta and within a few days my husband was asking me to be his girlfriend. We had gotten to know each other so well it was just seeing each other in the physical made it know this is it. I now have a profound appreciation for the art of Compatibility.


I am well aware all online dating stories do not result in healthy relationships that lead to marriage. What I want you to remember from my story is TALK to, COMMUNICATE with & INVESTIGATE anyone you are dating.

House Buyers Remorse

Yes, you heard it and it is very possible to make an over $100K big purchase mistake. Rewind to 2008 I had just moved to Atlanta and my lovely sister Social.Life.Style Blogger welcomed me to stay with her in Lawrenceville, a suburb of the city. Well this became challenging as I worked downtown on Peachtree in the heart of the city and the commute for me was nothing I wanted to handle even short term. So I start the first time homebuyer’s journey to the "American Dream". I thought of myself as a city girl so I decided to only look at condo properties no more than 10 miles from the city. Can you believe I never looked at a single family home? Never stepped foot inside of one? Ughfff (kicking myself). You might ask why? Well I settled on a 2 br/2.5 bath townhome in a growing gentrified East Atlanta condominium.

We all know what happen to the housing market late 2008 so me and another homeowner were the last 2 owners to purchase into our property. Little did we know this is our builder's first investment like this and they think of themselves as being well versed at rental property management? They have since tried to keep afloat financially by renting unsold units in a development that they have not event finished (skeleton units, no pool, fitness center). Imagine our property value with this plus the actual market tank. On top of that we have drug dealers, former or current male/female call girls or boys (yeahhh), people of want to film low budget movies, etc all currently or have lived in our condo community as renters. Gasssp..!

Now imagine this married women living with her husband in the home purchase property from hell. I find myself longing for the gingerbread house in the suburbs of Atlanta. It is sad that as a homeowner me and my husband would not feel comfortable procreating living in our home! I have to apologize for this rant but the market is picking up and people are buying homes. I want to make any unsuspecting buyer in the condo market beware on what is on the other side of the wall. If you must buy a condo I would highly suggest considering only the mature neighborhoods already filled with many homeowners.

Comment Cocktail Hang Over

I just attended a Comment Cocktail Party turned twitter party and it was awesome! I love how total "strangers" to your blog are so willing to support. I so appreciate what the gals over there at SITS Girls are doing.  Its great because I find it amazing how it is so hard to get the people closest to you to support so having the virtual SisTahs is heart warming. Thanks for all the support and look forward to getting to know everyone's blogs. Thanks Pepper & Jenny.

Wordless Wednesdays: Feline UTI

Today is definitely a Wordless Wednesday. After we noticed our cat Fiona in her litter box, only to stay in there for 10 minute increments and nothing ever happened; we took her to the animal doctor. Surprisingly they returned the diagnosis of a Feline Urinary Tract Infection. Yes a female Feline UTI. Here is me and my fearless feline. She is laying on me while taking a nap after ingesting her antibiotic.

My Valentines Gift From The Hubby

Need I say more.....?

About Me: Who is Legal Grinding Wifey & What Does She Blog About?

Hi, I’m the Grinding Wifey and I started this blog in August 2010 when I married the man of my dreams. I look forward to being a mommy one day and for now I found my niche as Legal Grinding Wifey when I entered the blogosphere in my first post. This is not quite a Trying to Conceive (TTC) journey but is a Planning To Conceive (PTC).  There are so many things me and my husband want to get in order before starting a family. Everything from Traveling, Getting Fit, Changing the Generational "curse" of Bad Eating Habits, Moving to a More Enlightened (natural,organic, chemical free) lifestyle, last but not least....DRUM ROLL.. so we can feel comfortable with me leaving the workforce to raise our children at home. Needless to say we are on our grind everyday.


Since I am a Wifey/Entreprenuer/Organic Newbie I am open to company, product, service reviews, & giveaways from fellow women grinding building their Household Empires.


To contact me please email at legalgrindingwifey@gmail.com.

Legal grinding are those actions that create out of the box opportunities that provide the freedom to start, support, and raise a family on your own terms and not within anyone else’s limitations.

Snow Day Thoughts: Am I Stay at Home Mom Material?

Day 2 snowed in today with lots of time to think. So these are my days in the life of a stay at home mom minus the baby :). As much as I desire and the hubs is working toward me not having to work outside the home full time, I have feelings of uncertainty. Our goal is to build our projects/business ventures to the point where they can be managed and overseen from our home office while I enjoy being a mother.  I have made clear it to the hubs that I don't ever want to have to choose between a job and my children. I have known several women treated differently at work having to stay home sick while pregnant or stay home with sick kids. However I can't help but to feel the day I step foot outside my corporate career to raise my first child ironically I have said I don't want to be seen or portray a traditional stay at home mom.  The traditional stay at home mom tome takes care of the baby, cooks, cleans, run errands, etc.  While these are very important tasks, can I really do this full time. My full time work days have been filled for so many years with conference calls, project status updates, training, occasional travel, etc the household duties seem like they will not fill up a full week... everyday

Actually being home for two days has me asking if being a stay at home mom going to be full filling enough for me? Can I really just have the household as my job?  Will this be full filling or will I resent our baby and my husband for depending on my for all their needs. So luckily now I have a full-time job that allows me to work from home on inclement weather days like this so I actually have not been sitting on my bum doing nothing.  I have been productive both for my job, businesses, & the household. The household has been happier & peaceful overall. We can both finish work and get dinner cooked by 5:30 and catch an in home work out session. I am glad I had this time to reflect but I am sure this is exactly what I want when we decide to start a family.  So in my mind, Legal Grinding Wifey post baby will be just fine working in the home. Other wives or moms that are leaving or have left the workforce to take care of the home front, what were your experiences and emotions approaching this decision? 

Happy New Year! Let the 2010 Grind Begin

One of the reasons I started this blog in August 2010 was to chronicle the life of newlyweds planning & executing out of the box opportunities to achieve our life goals. Official definition: Legal grinding are those actions that create out of the box opportunities that provide the freedom to start, support, and raise a family on your own terms and not within anyone else’s limitations.


After pondering on the things we accomplished in 2010 to support this, I realized there is much much more that goes into what we should be doing. Legal Grinding is not all about being entrepreneurs & having successful businesses.  Household Planning for 2010 uncovered we boast being the 1st generation to break the cycle of lifestyles we saw our parents & grandparents fall victim too.  The 2 things that often come to mind are 1st generation college graduates & eliminating poor financial choices.  Lack of money issues leads to a sound Mind.  We have lacked the motivation to unfold the Body & Soul a part of our daily grind. Naturally we want to be healthy & not depressed so we can feel & look better.  Honestly day in and day out this is not enough motivation we have realized.  Everything we need to be grinding towards is really overall to give our next generation an even better opportunity to succeed in all aspects of life. The future looks much brighter as we try and kick these fried chicken & cookie/cake fetishes :)

Get this Button if you are Wifey on her Grind

<a href="http://legalgrindingwifey.blogspot.com"><img src="http://sixthandharris.com/lgwButton.jpg" alt="Legal Grinding Wifey" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Legal grinding are those actions that create out of the box opportunities that provide the freedom to start, support, and raise a family on your own terms and not within anyone else’s limitations. 

Missions Accomplished: The Life List (B.C.) Updated

Two things checked off The Life List B.C (Before Children).....


We are proud to announce our convenience store attached to my mother in law's restaurant The Fish House in Tennessee is now open for business! We are able to provide the neighborhood quality & low cost products along with great food.  


I previously updated you that our company Expressive Beauty launched where we have opportunities for women that are looking to become part of the Billion Dollar haircare industry.  Finally African American women that have so long only been a consumer of human hair extensions can now be at the top of the distribution chain to sell direct to salons & each other. 


Now the next level of work begins to grow these businesses.  Stay tuned as the "Grind Unfolds" & stay focused on your projects.



"The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It's as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer."


- Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese's

THE LIFE LIST

• Debt Reduction Plan- student loans, business loans if applicable
• Learn how to swim
• Get Lasik
• Pole dancing classes
• Spiritual growth
• Home improvements to our condo
• Take cooking classes (various cuisines)
• Car payoff
• Open locally branded convenience store(s)
• Launch grassroots company to empower women

Honeymoon Over: Returning to work = Maternity Leave Jitters

Today marked the day I returned to work from being off for 2 weeks for our wedding and honeymoon time off. Quite ironic as I think it is silly for me to even have thought of this but I wonder how many women contemplate taking a lot of personal time off from work. How many fear and think that if your job can go about business as usual without you then wouldn’t they replace or give rid of you? I don’t know any people personally who have experienced some type of prejudice as a woman for taking a lot of personal time. This is not a new work place jitter for women and I have read tons of great blog stories so I am not here to try and reinvent the wheel but just get some dialogue going on how real is this anxiety? Any personal stories of women returning to work feeling a little on the outside the "loop"?

I did walk in today to discover one person had been let go which was not a suprise to me but none the less things like this always ruffle feathers.

A Baby Sitter's Dream: Twin Angels

We had the pleasure again of babysitting our friend's beauty twin baby girl and boy. We have watched them grow since birth and are excited as we lead up to celebrating their 1 year birthday this month. I remember a somber feeling when their family was considering moving out of state. This is the closest I have ever been to babies. Its actually kind of cool to be able to have a part in raising kids and learning without actually  having to do it every day. I know that is bad but its a great opportunity for a wannabe mom.

Our Friday started with picking them up from daycare.

Realization #1 Twin baby girl would not reach for me when I tried to get her from the daycare room attendant. Had to bribe her with her afternoon frosty bottle. Its kind of eye opening for me to see how attached they get to the daycare workers.

The evening progressed with playing with whatever we could find in their bag, then rice and veggies dinner, bottles, and they went to bed after only 15 minutes of the precious crying/baby baby babbling. I thought it was so cute how my husband was so concerned cutting down the TV downstairs to listen closely for them not believing me they would drift off to sleep. Only a few hours in and we are tired but all smiles because we are at our 2 week anniversary.

We slept light not knowing what to expect the next morning.So we woke up tired, early, and went in the room where they were in the pack-n-play sleeping. We were ecstatic to see happy babies that were actually already up and just laying waiting for us.

Realization #2 Secretly wishing I have low key babies like the twins that sleep 8PM to 8AM then wait for you to wake up. .

We are a rice and fruit breakfast, then they did what seemed to be their morning ritual of crawling, rolling around, and attacking anything that was laying next to them. This was what I believe to be my husband's first stab at baby sitting so I was the observant wifey seeing how my hubby can handle children and he has a natural pink and blue hand.  We will have to see if his dad's genes get skipped to the generation we will create one day.

Introduction to Wifey

Allow me to introduce myself as Legal Grinding Wifey. I met a wonderful man on February 28, 2008 and my life has never been the same since. He compliments me in every single way imaginable. I came from the cookie cutter timeline of graduate with honors from high school, go to 4 year college degree, and start working a "good "job. He on the other hand has always been an entrepreneur who at the tender age of 20 talked his way into the offices of FUBU to pitch a young urban clothing line to them. Our experiences combined together create a power couple that is destined for greatness. I knew when I married him he did not expect me to be an entrepreneur like him. The beauty of being his wife is being comfortable that I could go on about my corporate logistics career and he never would have any issues with it.

Today I married him and we exchanged vows in a beautiful double ringed ceremony in Georgia with 150 of our closest friends and family. As the wedding day apporached I thought a lot about children. However, my thoughts were not of the usual upcoming newleywed in love to the point of wanting to procreate sooner rather than later. However, my thoughts were the opposite realizing we are not ready for children. I started analyzing those around me with children and how I want my life to be as a mother one day. I really don’t want to see myself birth a child then to realize how much I hate allowing daycare to raise them or if we are blessed with twins (they run on both sides, the closest being his dad is a twin) un-expectantly bearing double the cost having two beautiful angels.

After following and reading my blog favorites I met as a result of a chance opportunity to attend Blogalicious 2009 in Atlanta, I have pondered and now discovered my blogging voice. Hence, Legal Grinding Wifey is born on this day August 27, 2010.

Legal grinding are those actions that create out of the box opportunities that provide the freedom to start, support, and raise a family on your own terms and not within anyone else’s limitations.

I look forward to sharing the day to day experiences being a newlywed building a life together living "Wifey's Rite of Passage" along to making the transition to motherhood one day.  Our plan is to make preparations mind, body, spirit, and financially to comfortably start family within the next 2 years. Sit back and enjoy as our grind unfolds and blossoms.