1. Can you please explain what love-mango.com is all about?

Love-Mango.com is my outlet to display my works of art as well as other wonderful talents that I come across. There is my Blog, my Portfolio, and my online store which is full of really cute jewelry and accessories and selected with love by yours truly Purple Mango.

2. How did you get into web/graphic design and photography?
Wow, well photography came first back in my early high school days. I took Photography all throughout high school and just absolutely enjoyed it. It was my favorite class and the dark room was my sanctuary. LOL. Graphic design came about by me looking at other hot websites and just wanting to learn so bad how to create such great art work using a computer as my medium. It was awesome, like some kids would spend hours playing video games. I spent hours playing on Photoshop. I loved it.

3. Who or what inspires you when it comes to your graphic design and photography?

Oh gosh.. I pull from so many different sources. But it’s always truly better for me to start with colors. That’s my first like jump into something that I want to create is finding a nice color palette that is exciting to the eyes.

4. What made you branch out in fashion design?

Fashion Design has been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I would always sit around and just design clothing for myself or whoever. I didn’t know where I was going with it at the time. But I knew that fashion design was something that I just want to do and be. So after graduating college I found myself at a crossroads to which direction and path I wanted to take and the Academy of Art University just some how literally fell in my hands. I spoke with the advisor and she asked me all kinds of questions as to who I am, and what I wanted, and what I dreamed and their program was perfect for me. I can pursue my dreams and a Master’s at the same time. Now I can tell you that Fashion Design has been the most Hardest and grueling thing I have ever tried to learn. As far as knowing the ins and outs and the standard ways of going about having a full fledge collection. I never knew how much it took into actually being a fashion designer. People just see the glitz and the glamour of fashion. But it truly is hard work and dedication and perfect a beautiful craft. I’m a so still an amateur but I’m so dedicated to mastering it! I love it! I have a new love for it than when I was a little girl. Its like I’m ALL IN NOW! NO turning back.. Conquer it!

5. Where do you get your fashion design inspiration?

Now that has been my biggest challenge is learning to find inspiration.. but I am finding it.. My school teaches you tricks and techniques. But its really all about opening your mind! Looking through your pupils from a broader perspective. As a fashion design student I look at things with a whole other set of eyes. Its crazy I not only do it, but I do knowing that I’m different and trying to find beauty in everything all the time!

6. What trends do you see being big for 2010?

Looking at the fashion show collections of next year. I think its going to be a more romantic look. More Pastel colors, more soft fabrics. Not so much rebellion that the previous trends trickling down to the mass market has displayed. Its still a little 80s going on but it will so change to a more calm vibe.

7. What can we expect in the future from Purple Mango?

I definitely expect big things for the future of Purple Mango. As long as I have an audience to speak to and listen. Then I am feel more than obligated to continue to please and satisfy them. But I definitely want to put together a awesome collection and produce a fashion show to display. That’s something that I am soooooo eager to really just do. It will probably be on a local scale. But I am thinking about doing that for the near future. I just have to keep working hard.

8. Who are some fashion designers you admire?

What a question!! There are so many to name its insane. The Late Great Alexander McQueen of course. He was such a genius and revolutionary designer. It was so sad to lose him. Diane von Futsenberg is the epitome of the type of woman I want to be when I become her age. I love Valentino, Emilo Pucci OMG! I just want his entire Spring 2008 collection in my closet PLZ!! There’s so many but those are truly my favorite. Oh and I can’t forget Coco Chanel the person! She is the best!

9. Do you have any words of wisdom you would like to share to people who are following in your footsteps?

I’m learning now that hard work pays off. And not in the since of manually slaving type work but the dedication to something that you whole heartily want and enjoy doing will pay off. I’ve done so many things and tried so many different things, that you can’t be afraid to fail. Life is all about learning as cliche’ as it may sound. So just go for it. Have a strategic plan to your LIFE! Even though we don’t know what tomorrow will bring plan for it so that you are ready for WHAT EVER!

This girl has so much talent and she is always stepping up her game when she does something.  Her site is definitely a site you need to add to your favorites and she is someone you really need to keep an eye on.  She is definitely a rare jewel…

To find out more about Purple Mango, visit her official site below.

Love-Mango.Com

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http://www.facebook.com/Purple-Mango/

Dear Dreams,

To my dreams, my aspirations, I feel like you are always so close but yet far away.  Sometimes I feel like giving up on you, but I have to tell myself that failure is never an option.  To fulfill my lifelong dreams, I am taking the baby steps to get there.  There are times where I feel like that is not good enough but I do remind myself that taking baby steps are better than taking no steps.  I also had to step away from some negativity in the form of “friends” so I can continue to stay positive and be able to reach you when the time is right.

I will admit there are some dreams that I had dreamed about when I was younger but there were situations that happened in my life to where I don’t want to follow those dreams.  People tell me that I don’t want to go through life without those dreams in hand and deep down, I really don’t.

Hopefully one day, I will fulfill my dreams that I really want to achieve at this very moment and once those dreams are achieved, I will go about fulfilling the other dreams I have suppressed, deep down inside.

I will see you soon.

Tiana

1 – Own a house.

2 – Run a 5k

3 – Learn another language: Become more fluent in Spanish and learn Arabic

4 – Attend a Broadway show in New York

5 – Be a member of the audience in a TV show.

6 – Travel Europe

7 – Get a doctorate degree

8 – Experience getting pregnant and giving birth

9 – Tell someone off and that they can kiss my black ass lol. I have a tendency of holding back how I really feel lol.

10 – Go on a cruise. May 28, 2010

11 – Take a pole dancing class lol.

12 – Master all positions in that one book lol.

13 – Have a night out where I drink only beer (I do not drink beer at all – just liquor)

14 – Sailor (don’t ask lol)

15 – Embark on an impromptu road trip.

16 – Join the mile high club (maybe 12, 14 and 16 can go together lol)

17 – Take a trip to Vegas with my crazy white friend, Jessica, (she told me to put that lol) and have one of those moments that will only stay in Vegas lol (seen The Hangover?!?…)

18 – Go skydiving ONLY if I’m in Vegas and maybe had a little something so I wouldn’t have a clue what I’m doing since I’m scared of heights <– conquer my fear of heights lol

19 – Get four more tattoos.

20 – Learn how to paint. Currently doing that.

21 – Learn how to drive a stick shift.

22 – Go Skinny Dipping lol

23 – Pay off credit cards.

24 – Learn how to play an instrument

25 – Get passionate about a cause and spend time helping it, instead of just thinking about it. April 2010

26 – Take a class on how to shoot a gun

27 – Take a salsa dancing class

28 – Read the Bible from beginning to end

29 – Get into geneology to find out more about my ancestors

30 – Complete a rigorous boot camp routine.

31 – Get my dream job working as a web designer.

32 – Be in a protest.

33 – Teach a college class.

34 – Attend Mardi Gras.

35 – Eat Something Exotic

36 – Drive a motorcycle.

37 – Spend some time in all 50 states.

38 – Take a vacation alone.

39 – Visit the Holy Land

40 – Get baptized.

41- Go jet skiing.

42 – Learn to say “no” without feeling guilty.

43 – Meet my favorite author.

44 – Read every single Zane book.

45 – See Lupe Fiasco in concert

46 – Sing my favorite song to an audience

47 – Write a letter to at least 3 of my closest friends to let them know how much they mean to me

I was at the liquor store, sad I know lol.  It was the liquor store by my house so I go there whenever I buy liquor.  There is this guy, dorky white guy, who is always speaking to me.  I never really paid him any mind, but today, I realized he was flirting with me.

“Do you need any help looking for anything?”

“I’m just looking for this drink my friend told me about, it is pink and I think it is called Nuvo.”

It was behind the counter.  Then he started asking if I was buying it for him and when he checked my I.D., was like “You are barely past legal.”

“I don’t feel that way.  I feel way past the legal age.”

“Well what does your man think about it?”  he asked me.

“I don’t have one.  I don’t have time for one right now.”

Then he went on to say how he knows I have needs and that I can’t be alone forever.

Well can I?

I am at the point in my life where I don’t want anything right now.  Well let me rephrase this…I don’t want anything serious right now.  I am tired of trying to meet guys and having to start all over and get to know them and them getting to know me.  That is very tiring.  I’m also at the point where I don’t want to have to think about his needs/wants in the relationship before making any type of decision.  I want to be selfish and think about what I want for the time being.  I have always put what I want and my needs aside or have to compromise for a relationship to try to work.  I want to enjoy life and have no regrets.  I have goals I want to fulfill and I have found from my past experiences, a serious relationship made it hard to fulfill them.  I want to be free-spirited to do whatever the hell I want and not worry about him, whoever he may be.  I want to concentrate on me.

I was talking about this to one of my very good friends about this and with us both being Sex and the City fans, we have came to the decision that I have the mindset like Samantha, for the time being.  No, I’m not going around fucking every guy I come across, but she knows what she wants and she go gets it.  She doesn’t depend on a man for her happiness.  She finds relationships tedious and hard work which is how I feel right now about them.

I have tried the meeting of new guys and giving them a chance and I find myself not really wanting to.   It is too much work and it is something I don’t need right now.  I don’t mind having my fun with them but anything serious, you can scratch that.

So can I be alone forever?  How would you define being alone?  Not having a serious relationship but still enjoying your life with the man/men who are involved in your life?  I think I can…for the time being.

However, yesterday on my long trip back home from work, I did think about him.  I wasn’t thinking what we had these past months – I was thinking about the friendship we had before all of this.  He was a good friend.  We would talk occasionally about what was going on in our life – he would give me advice and make me feel better about things I was going through.  I realized how much I missed that.  I was considering having a talk with him – a civilized conversation about what happened and just forgetting all that happened since July last year (how we were between friends and lovers) and just go back to the way things were – talk every now again like we did.

What made me think about it was this e-mail I saw a few days ago.  I was looking for something in my old e-mails and I found this e-mail I sent to my ex.  We had stopped talking because of something that blew up between me, him, and his ex-fiance.   Basically I e-mailed him letting him know that I am not going to have a grudge with him and hopefully we can try to be cool with one another.  Well we are at that point.  We don’t really talk like we used to but things are good.  We have a friendly relationship with one another.

However it took a few months for us to get to that point.  I started thinking it would be too soon for any type of forgiveness.  I hate having any type of grudge but also I hate showing any sign of weakness.  I feel like anything too soon is showing weakness.  So I’m going to continue to live my life and wait for the perfect opportunity to talk to him.   Then I started thinking about how I may be fine now, but I don’t want to hear any mention of “her” either.  I know my friends may not agree but one thing I learned during a sermon a few years ago, “God wants you to forgive people who have hurt you but that does not mean forget.”  So I will eventually forgive him – I think I forgive him now but I won’t let him know for a while.

//Edit:  I came across this quote after writing this last night – “If you want to move forward: forgive yourself, forgive them, accept that it happened, and learn from it & move on.”  Like I said earlier, I will let him know eventually that I forgive him but not right now.\\

I don’t know why this popped in my head but I was standing outside the room with my mom while the nurse was doing a routine check on my sister when the thought of my ex, who recently became a father, popped in my head with the thought of him being at this same hospital when his significant other was giving birth and the joy he felt because he always talked about wanting to be a father.   I kept thinking about how I could have been the one instead of the other girl but I’m glad it didn’t.

Soon that thought came out of my head once the baby was born.  I was letting all of my friends know when I decided to let someone know who I have been trying to keep my distance from.  The subject of some of my earlier posts.  I had actually removed his number from my phone last week so I can try to continue with my life and not be subject to text him but he had sent me a text this morning and I knew it was him so I told him the news about my nephew.  I quickly erased the text that was sent to him so I wouldn’t be tempted to save the number in my phone again and deleted and didn’t reply to his msg that he sent back.  So I figured that would be the end of that when a few hours later, I received a text saying “So when are you going to have one?”.  So we ended up talking about that but it brought up deeper issues regarding a baby that I have been trying to suppressed.

There’s been issues in the past that I have dealt with regarding a baby and my ex and it is so deep that no one really know about it.  When I get reminded and/or think about it, it really puts me in a sad mood.  If you ask me when I’m going to have a baby – I will tell you that I don’t want one especially at this time of my life.  However, I think a part of me deep down want to experience motherhood.  But with the past and the present now – with all the issues I have dealt with, I don’t know if I want that in my future.

But anyways, if it never makes it to my future, I have a wonderful niece and nephew to fill that void.