Tips

25 Date Night Ideas for Valentine’s Day and Every Month

Posted on February 3, 2020

Valentine’s Day is around the corner. For those of you with partners or spouses, this day is usually a day for going out on a date.

My husband and I date regularly and routinely all year long so I think this Valentine’s Day could be a great opportunity to make dating more often a priority.

In my opinion, it is essential for keeping the spark alive and making sure you remain a couple even after children start to take precedence over your time, resources and energy.

Whether you are pregnant, have a new baby, or a vet parent, going out with your partner or spouse without the children (if you already have them) is essential to keep the spark in your relationship alive!

Here are 25 Date Night ideas of things to consider for a night soon with your sweetheart!

Go dancing at a night club
Get Dinner and a go to a movie at the cinema
Go shoot some pool and grab beer at a local watering hole and chill
Plan and go out for dinner with other couples
Go see an exhibit at the art gallery and grab lunch afterwards
Find a drive in or second run theater and catch an old movie on the big screen
Go Rollerskating or Iceskating (if its’ winter) at a rink
Go to the Driving or Shooting Range
See an outdoor concert on the lawn when a favorite act comes to town
Go Bike Riding (or Running, Jogging or Kayaking or whatever active sport you both enjoy)
Check out a local jazz club and sip wine while enjoying the performance
Test our your own vocal skills and go to Karaoke night
Go Bowling
Go on a road trip to a nearby town, book a room and stay overnight (if you have a sitter for that long of course)
Check out a Comedy Show, Order the 2 drink minium
Go Miniature golfing
Go Go-Kart racing
Check out a professional sports game like Baseball, Basketball, Hockey or Soccer
Have a picnic in the living room after the kids are asleep
Go for a walk on a beach
Have a movie night in the basement and pop your own popcorn
Use a Living Social or Groupon deal for a cooking class or rock climbing or something else you wouldn’t ordinarily do unless you got it at a really good price
Go RockClimbing in an inside rock climbing center
Go for drinks at a lounge and chill
Find one of the highest elevation points in the city, get out a blanket and star gaze

There you have it! Plenty of ideas to get you thinking! Enjoy!

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Celebrity

Jennifer Lopez and Shakira Bring Down the House at Super Bowl

Posted on February 3, 2020

Two of our Bellyitch Bumpwatch alums Yes Jennifer Lopez and Shakira showcased at this year’s Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime show.

Lopez’s 11-year daughter Emme performed alongside her mom. They brought out J. Lavin and Bad Bunny.

It was a high energy performance. Watch some of the best highlights.

#SuperBowl2020 pic.twitter.com/zLFmUC9BLC
— JD Ultra (@JD_Ultra) February 3, 2020

So, what did you think of @JLo and @shakira's #SuperBowl halftime show? pic.twitter.com/c9lNkOUEYR
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 3, 2020

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News

The Best And Worst Super Bowl Cities

Posted on February 2, 2020

Tonight is Super Bowl LIV.

HPersonal finance website WalletHub recently released its report on 2020’s Best & Worst Cities for Football Fans.

To determine the best places for loving on America’s favorite sport, WalletHub compared more than 240 U.S. cities with at least one college or professional football team based on 21 key metrics.

The data set ranges from number of NFL and college football teams to average ticket prices.

Best Cities for Football Fans		Worst Cities for Football Fans
1. Pittsburgh, PA		236. El Paso, TX
2. Boston, MA		237. Lawrence, KS
3. Dallas, TX		238. Louisville, KY
4. Green Bay, WI		239. New Britain, CT
5. New York, NY		240. Columbia, SC
6. New Orleans, LA		241. Ithaca, NY
7. Miami, FL		242. Davidson, NC
8. San Francisco, CA		243. Providence, RI
9. Philadelphia, PA		244. Valparaiso, IN
10. Oakland, CA		245. Brookville, NY

Here is the breakdown:

Best vs. Worst

The New Orleans Saints’ performance level, 77.10 percent, is 3.1 times better than the New York Giants’ 25.00 percent.
Dallas has the highest NFL team popularity ranking, 1^st, while Kansas has the lowest at 31^st.
Buffalo, New York, has the lowest average ticket price for an NFL game, $71.08, which is two times less expensive than in Los Angeles, the city with the highest at $141.93.

To view the full report and your city’s rank, please visit:

https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-for-football-fans/9691/

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Celebrity

WWE and Total Divas’ Bella Twins are Both Pregnant

Posted on February 1, 2020

Congrats to retired WWE superstars, twins Nikki Bella and Brie Bella who are both expecting at the same time.

And they are due a week and a half apart.

It’s a total coincidence for the the twin sisters and was not planned, they say.

“I was in yoga, and I kept getting this feeling that you need to take a pregnancy test, but I wasn’t even late yet,” Nikki Bella, whose real name is Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace, told People magazine. “And so I’m like, ‘Why do I keep having this feeling? Am I getting twin vibes from her? Because she just told me she’s pregnant?’”

The Bella twins started their career as tag team partners in the WWE for 10 years which spun into featured roles as cast members of an E! reality series that follows the lives of a group of female wrestlers called, Total Divas.

The two got their own spin off show, Total Bellas, that followed the women and their relationships and family lives.

Brie Bella, whose real name is Brianna Monique Danielson, has a 2-year-old daughter, Birdie, with WWE superstar, Daniel Bryan.

“We are shocked like all of you!!!,” she posted on Instagram. “Never in a million years thought did I think @thenikkibella and I would be having pregnant bellies together!!!”

This will be the first child for Nikki, who recently announced her engagement to Artem Chigvintsev, whom she met while being a contestant on Dancing with the Stars.

“My baby is SO strong it’s crazy! (Mama felt it everyday first trimester lol) Can’t tell if it’s the wrestling genes or the ballroom!!,” she posted on Instagram, sharing that the babies are due in August.

Nikki, who was formerly engaged to wrestler-turned-actor John Cena, also shared a sonogram of her baby on Twitter, “Say hi to our very strong warrior baby.”

They each have the same pregnancy symptoms, Brie shared, adding, “It’s actually crazy … So we’ve been super nauseous.”

Congrats!

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The Journal That’s Helping Me Beat Procrastination {Review}

Posted on February 1, 2020

I was watching social media coach Vanessa Lau on YouTube who recommends among other tools for keeping her business Intelligent Change ‘s Productivity Planner which incorporates elements of The Pomodoro Technique or method for achieving optimum progress in your day.

As a compulsive list maker who is addicted to planners and journals, I’ve spent a tremendous amount of time, money and effort trying to be more productive, procrastinate less and advance my goals efficiently.

From bullet journaling to digital online tools like Evernote and Trello, I’ve tried it all to varying levels of success… or non success.

I purchased the 5 x 8 journal from Amazon and it cost just $24.99 which is quite reasonable compared to many other similar journals I’ve found out there.

The Pomodoro method requires you to set a timer for 25 minutes and breaking down tasks into 25 minute intervals separated by short breaks.

Each interval is known as a pomodoro, from the Italian word for ‘tomato’, after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer that creator, business coach Francesco Cirillo, used as a university student.

To put The Pomodoro Technique into effect you’re supposed to:

decide what task needs to be accomplished (it can be school work, house work, business or anything)
disable all distracting alerts, pop ups and possibly uninstall or delete addictive social media apps like
Set the pomodoro timer, ususally using an app or your mobile phone or Alexa or whatever
Work on the task.
End work when the timer rings and check it off
If you have fewer than four checkmarks, take a short break (3–5 minutes), then go to step 2.
After four pomodoros, take a longer break (15–30 minutes), reset your checkmark count to zero, then go to step

A goal of the technique is to reduce the impact of internal and external interruptions on focus and flow. A pomodoro is indivisible; when interrupted during a pomodoro, either the other activity must be recorded and postponed

Intelligent Change’s planner offers two different types of methods for checking off tasks: the “Get It Done” and the “Hit the Target” methods.

In the former, your job is to do the task, in 25 minute breaks, no matter how long it takes. You just keep working until it’s done. With the latter, you predict how long it will take or assign a specific number of pomodoros to the task. As you complete one, you fill in a bubble then when you’re done, note down how long it actually took you to complete the job.

At the end of the week, there are pages that let you jot down weekly wins, what tasks were accomplished and which were not and what learned, then goals and targets for the next week.

There are also inspirational quotes, mini motivational passages interspersed in between the daily journal pages.

I had a rough start and struggled to complete my list each day, but am still working through it. I’m determined to get better each day.

What I love about the planner so far is the accountability. It forces me to track how much time I spend on my tasks and forces me to be more efficient.

Each day has a rating system for you to give yourself a 1-10 rating on how well you did with a few lines for you to explain what happened. It’s great for keeping yourself honest.

And also, you don’t even have to use the method if you don’t want. I love it!

Consider investing in your own! Get it at Amazon for just $24.

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Ciara and Russell Wilson are Expecting Another Child

Posted on January 31, 2020

Ciara announced that she is expecting her third child!

On Thursday, the “Level Up” singer posted a photo of herself in Turks and Caicos sporting a large baby bump with the caption, “Number 3.”

View this post on Instagram
Number 3. ?: @DangeRussWilson
A post shared by Ciara (@ciara) on Jan 30, 2020 at 5:20am PST

Congrats!

This will be the singer’s second child with her husband NFL quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks Russell Wilson.

The football star shared his own version of the photo from a selfie perspective and the same caption.

View this post on Instagram
Number 3. @Ciara
A post shared by Russell Wilson (@dangerusswilson) on Jan 30, 2020 at 5:37am PST

She gave birth to their first daughter Sienna in 2017 and has a 5-year-old son Future from a previous relationship with Hip Hop artist Future.

Congrats!

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News

Trump’s New Policies Target Pregnant Women from Non European Nations

Posted on January 30, 2020

The Trump Administration has instituted a new policy that essentially instructs airlines to assume heavily pregnant women from mainly non-European nations are coming to the US for the purpose of giving birth and having a US citizen child, according to a new policy directive from the US State Department.

It also appears that airlines that fly into the United States are being threatened with a fine for allowing inadmissible people on flights to America.

According to unclassified but not yet public State Department cables obtained by media outlets, US consular offices abroad to demand women meet the burden of proving they are not traveling to America to have a baby.

Only women who provide additional evidence to rebut that presumption they are going to the US to give birth will be granted visas to travel here.

The new policy applies to B1/B2 visas, which are for tourism and business travel.

Recall that last November, a Japanese woman who airline workers thought looked pregnant was prohibited from boarding a plane in Hong Kong to a US property land until she took a pregnancy test.

The policy is to head off “birth tourism” and a belief that citizens of other nations are using babies to anchor themselves to the US.

The pejorative and highly divisive terms “anchor babies” and “chain migration” come to mind.

The former refers to the knowledge that a baby born on US soil is a US Citizen, under the US Constitution, and the latter term refers to the concept that said baby could later petition his or her non-citizen parents, who, when they become a citizen, can then later file and get other foreign relatives to join them in America and eventually be permanent residents or citizens themselves.

Hence the term “chain” migration.

There is a fear among “nativists” that the growing diversity and multiculturalism or “browning of America” over the years is due partially to chain migration by immigrants from Asian, African, South and Central American countries.

The policy seems to anchor on this fear.

Consider the fact that the new policy only applies to B-visas, therefore, the 22 visa waiver countries, whose citizens are not required to obtain a visa to visit, and who are also more often North European and wealthy, are not to be screened.

Nations that do not require Visas to visit the US

If the concern really was about birth tourism, there should be a policy to stop any and all foreign pregnant women not just those from non European and a few Asian nations (South Korea, Singapore and Japan) and one South American country (Chile).

On the fear of “anchor babies” from brown and black nations, there is a flaw because a baby cannot petition for a parent until that baby grows to be 21-years old.

Therefore, the process of anchoring oneself to the US via a baby is a long and arduous one that would take decades.

It is easier for an adult like First Lady Melania Trump to have gotten US Citizenship to her parents following Melania’s marriage and naturalization via her husband Donald J. Trump than a baby born in America to foreign parentage today.

The new policy opens the door for racial profiling on the level seen before in the past when a lawsuit claimed that consular officers used racial and economic profiling to refuse visas, asserting that an applicant “looks poor,” as well as “talks poor” and “looks scary,” and on this basis alone would deny a visa applicant

The lawsuit revealed that consular officers regularly engaged in “gut assessments” when denying visas. They made a subjective judgment about applicants based on their appearance, employing letters to indicate their findings.

Finally, as New England Law professor Dina Francesca Hayne writes in a recent opinion piece in The Hill, the new policy targets one gender, women and subjects them to heightened scrutiny, and potential embarrassment and possible harassment.

Hayne writes:

A male visa holder would never bear this burden; even though, as was proven by the story leading off this opinion piece, it is apparently easy to guess incorrectly about whether or not a woman is pregnant.
One of the first rules of etiquette is to never ask a woman if she is pregnant, because the likelihood of being wrong is both so high, and so traumatizing, as the Japanese woman at the outset of this piece stated.

Troubling.

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Work Ethic is Hard to Teach So Let’s Try Kobe Bryant’s ‘Mamba Mentality’

Posted on January 29, 2020

I am a novice basketball fan and know the game well and vaguely follow the NBA and college basketball (moreso during March Madness) but like a lot of people, I am deeply moved and saddened over the recent passing of NBA legend Kobe Bryant in a helicopter crash with his 13-year old daughter Gianna and 7 others.

Today, there are moving tributes in social and traditional media.

TNT‘s NBA on TNT has an excellent one airing that my husband watched last night and urged me to do the same.

I am struggling with it because each video, image and tweet devastate me even more. The extreme visceral reaction from a lot of us who never knew him personally says something about a person, you know, that even casual observers can be so affected by their loss.

While Bryant is probably best known for his records and uber competitive spirit, the one thing that I, personally, admired Bryant for was his very strong work ethic which is the basis for his success and ability to be on top.

When you can, head over to Business Insider and read a recent article about 24 examples of Bryant’s impeccable work ethic HERE!

As a parent and parenting blogger and expert, I am always working on, reading about and discussing the challenge teaching work ethic to children.

It is my opinion that either you have that drive to succeed and complete any task presented to you (be in in school, on the field, in work or wherever) or you do not.

Some kids will assess a goal and put in the work to get it done, with varying level of tenacity and some will not, unless pushed, bribed, cajoled or directed to with painstaking detail and instructions. Those in the latter group do not necessarily have strong work ethic.

I’ve long believed that those in the category that some parents may call “lazy” have to be drilled and drilled until the method of accomplishing a task becomes a habit.

At that point, they will finally be able handle the task automatically.

Examples include the process of undertaking the precise steps to craft a well-researched term paper, or execute an Algebraic equation or increase execution of a skill or athletic drill.

With habit and repeated action, the task eventually will become second nature.

The problem with this method is that there is a risk that the child will not necessarily know how to readjust and create similar formula for another task on their own, or in college or at work, when there is not a parent, coach or other adult figure in their lives to show and guide them.

Like I said, it’s one of my most difficult challenges as a parent.

We just have to keep experimenting and trying like this morning, motivated by the stories he heard from Bryant’s coaches, mentors, fellow players and friends my husband called our two boys to the dining room to explain that although Kobe Bryant was already excellent and one of the greatest NBA players around, he still worked harder and trained more than his co-horts at the top.

We are working on getting our boys especially to try harder at the things they are not good at, using Kobe Bryant’s work ethic as an example.

I hope it sinks in, but even if it doesn’t I hope they still can still have the Bryant benchmark in mind as they move forward in school, work and life.

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News

Baby Bumps at Grammy Night When Moms Got Shut Out

Posted on January 28, 2020

Other than Beyonce who was nominated in but did not win two Grammy Awards categories (Best Solo Pop Son for “Spirit” and “Best Pop Vocal Album” for “The Lion King) moms got shut out of awards Sunday night.

But a couple of bumps did show up on the Red Carpet.

Australian model Nicole Trufino arrived in an elegant black gown to root on her husband Gary Clark Jr who won Best Rock, Best Rock Performance and Best Contemporary Blues Album.

The couple have two children with 5-year old son Zion and 1-year old daughter Gia.

She announced she was expecting her third child in the October 2019 issue of Elle Australia and is due to give birth any day now.

Meanwhile, 3rd-time mom-to-be, accountability coach and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp attended Steven Tyler‘s annual Grammy watch party with her husband Edwin Arroyava.

First-time mom-to-be Marren Morris skipped the pomp and circumstance alogether selecting instead to babymoon with her husband at the lake.

She captioned the post on her Instagram feed, “Back at the farm. #babymoon ?.”

The singer was nominated Sunday evening for best country duo/group performance with fellow Highwomen band member Brandi Carlile. (Dan + Shay took home the honor.) Morris previously won a Grammy for best country solo performance for “My Church” in 2017, and performed at last year’s awards show.

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Tips

7 Ways to Do You and Do Valentine’s Day Differently This Year

Posted on January 28, 2020

Valentine‘s Day is just around the corner, and we all have our feelings about it. If we’re dating or (happily) married, we may be excited about the flowers, chocolates, and candlelit dinners. If we are single, we may feel dissatisfied, sad, or annoyed. (We may even retitle the holiday “Singles Awareness Day.”) Either way, is our tendency to define love in terms of romance making us miss a much bigger picture?

Karen McGregor, author of the upcoming book, The Tao of Influence, says yes and offers this list of relatively simple things you can do on Valentine‘s Day—and afterward—to start reconnecting with your pure love-power:

1. Take a Valentine‘s Day meditation break.

Just set aside 15-20 minutes to sit quietly and focus on your breath. If your mind wanders, that’s okay: The point is not to judge the thoughts that stream endlessly into your consciousness but to allow them to ebb and flow without getting emotionally hooked.

“Successful meditation occurs when there is no war between your head and your heart,” says McGregor. “This state is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. If you’ve always ‘meant’ to try meditating but haven’t yet done so, Valentine‘s Day is the perfect day to start.”

2. Gift yourself a lovely journal.

Journaling is a powerful practice that can help you get in better touch with your thoughts and feelings, recognize goals, enhance gratitude, and pinpoint areas in your life that need work.

Find a journal that speaks to you (pick a gorgeous one that inspires you to write). Then set aside some time alone (even just 10 minutes) to write each day.

3. Sing and dance your way to gratitude.

As mentioned, many people keep a gratitude journal. The problem is, it can turn into a mindless checklist that simply creates the illusion of gratitude. If that happens, try singing and dancing instead. I

In his book The Mastery of Love, Don Miguel Ruiz says this is a natural expression of our love-power—which is why little children sing and dance. They haven’t yet developed the filters and fear that they’ll be judged. You can dance and sing in the privacy of your room or as you clean your house.

If you want to take it to the next level, suggests McGregor, consider signing up for a hip-hop or salsa class or joining a local choir.

4. Get rid of something that isn’t serving you.

Often without realizing it, we clutter and complicate our lives with things that create chaos and drama. It can be anything from too much “stuff” in our homes, to too many commitments, to the wrong job or relationship.

A great expression of self-love is to pinpoint something to purge.

Do a closet clean out or a social media detox.
Turn down a project.
Draw a much-needed boundary.
Just take one step to simplify your life and free up your energy.

5. Grieve losses.

This may not feel very Valentine-y, but when we’re changing our life for the better, we must first release what was. Otherwise we’ll get stuck and block the clarity we need to move forward.

“Pain can be released through the portal of the heart,” says McGregor. “When you focus on your heart, a desire to release the pain of the past may arise. Even better, your heart knows how to do that without your mind interrupting.”

6. If you’re single, stop searching for “the one.”

It’s common to believe that there’s one person out there who can finally see us for who we really are. But searching for our perfect match is a chase that’s based on an illusion.

“I love romance, but I’ve come to believe that it’s usually founded in the need to be special,” says McGregor. “People search for ‘the one’ their entire lives, never escaping the constant craving for specialness. Never confuse love with specialness. Love supports a life of joy and love-power; ‘specialness’ impedes it.

“In that same vein, it’s time to revisit the definition of ‘soul mate,'” says McGregor. “Soul mates are actually not romantic partners but people destined to help you grow by presenting you with challenging personality traits and actions you don’t like..”

7. If you’re in a romantic relationship, start working toward a cause you believe in, together.

There is no greater calling for a romantic relationship than to create a better world. In fact, many millennials are moving in this direction.

Rather than being absorbed by one another, they are breaking the old paradigm of romantic co-dependency and choosing instead to be inter-dependent, working together for causes that uplift humanity.

This new paradigm of relationship lets people shift from a state of isolation within their own dramas, fears, and wounds, which are experienced as they get to know their partner, to becoming a presence in the world.

“Talk with your partner and choose a project to participate in,” says McGregor. “Maybe arrange to visit an orphanage to play games with or tutor school children, or plan a fundraiser event to benefit the homeless. Think about the passions you both share and start there. You will be amazed by how deeply a project rooted in love-power can transform your lives.”

While Valentine‘s Day is a good time to think about connecting to your love-power, or even take a symbolic first step, it’s actually a journey you take every day, all year long.

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Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt