~Elle Shanice~ APPROVED ✔: Celebrity Engagements

The new year has brought new engagements to the public eye...and ALL of them are well-deserved in my opinion. I look forward to some BIG weddings in 2012.

First, NBA superstar Lebron James proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Savannah Brinson and the first thing that I thought was IT'S ABOUT TIME!!!!!

I'm a BIG fan of Lebron's since he got to the NBA and I even had a crush on him for years. When I saw his beautiful girlfriend Savannah for the first time on Oprah a few years ago, I thought that they made a cute couple. I like Savannah & even follow her on Twitter.

I'm glad that he FINALLY proposed to her because I know he has been getting a lot of criticism outside of basketball. With his friends Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony getting married, I'm sure he was feeling a little pressure.

They have two children together and it was just time to take that next step. I'm happy that Savannah got her ring and I hope that Lebron can get a ring of his own. I wish them the best.

Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin announced that she was engaged to her longtime partner William Wilkerson.  I'm happy for Aretha, who has always been shy about talking about her love life, which is REFRESHING in entertainment.

In the BIGGEST plot twist aka engagement of all, "Love and Hip Hop" star Jim Jones FINALLY proposed to girlfriend of seven years, Chrissy Lampkin. Even though the engagement was on-camera, I'm still happy for these two.

Chrissy is by far my favorite on the show, and I feel that she deserves it the most. She has been with Jim for seven years and they do not have any children, which is RARE because a baby = a paycheck (sad but true), and she puts up with his mess like nothing I have ever seen.

It was obvious on the show that she loves him (she proposed to HIM) but it was clearly taking it's toll on her emotionally. She had to go to Miami to try and take her mind off of it, and that's when Jim surprised her with the proposal. It seems like the trip was just what was needed to get Jim to act right and make the move. He obviously looked up and didn't see Chrissy there and it made him realize that it was time to propose.

Congratulations to all three couples from ~Elle Shanice~...I wish them nothing but the BEST!!!!! 

Here is the video from Jim's proposal to Chrissy on "Love and Hip Hop":

Get More: Love And Hip Hop

Mariah & Nick FINALLY Reveal "Dem Babies"

After 6 months of hiding them, Nick Cannon and Mariah Carey FINALLY let us see their beautiful twins Monroe and Moroccan.

In typical celebrity style, Nick & Mariah unveiled them in a primetime 20/20 interview with Barbara Walters, where they discussed their marriage (which I think will last) and Mariah's difficult pregnancy at 40.

"Roc & Roe" as they are affectionately called by their parents. made their debut dressed up. Monroe is so pretty and will probably be a DIVA, just like her mother Mariah and Moroccan is adorable as well and I'm happy that they are both healthy and well.

Monroe and Moroccan are SO cute at bathtime!

I'm happy to finally see "dem babies" because I was so happy for Mariah to finally be happy with her husband and pregnancy. Mariah is known for being a DIVA and the nursery for the twins is a PERFECT examples, with all white furniture and $3,000 cribs.

I was pleasantly surprised that Nick was so adamant about wanting his children to go to college and get an education. You just DON'T hear that from many celebrities nowadays and many of them take their kids out of regular schools to try & make their kids STARS (*cough* Will & Jada *cough*).

I wish the best for Nick, Mariah and their 2 gorgeous children!!!!!

Justice Deprived For An Innocent Child

Casey Anthony acquitted of the murder of her daughter, Caylee. 

Let me preface this post by saying that I'm NOT a lawyer and was not following the case very closely. I'm just familiar enough with the situation to have formed an opinion on it. That being said...

This was a sad case that has come to an even more sad conclusion. I was surprised when it was announced that the jury had come back with a verdict so quickly, but I figured that when everyone KNOWS the answer then there wasn't much to talk about. My surprise quickly turned to SHOCK when the verdict was read...NOT GUILTY.

Charge after charge upheld this verdict, except for the four counts of lying to the police, which served as my DUH!!!!! moment in the whole thing. How could you say that she lied to the police but did NOT commit murder? We KNOW that she lied to the police when she said that she didn't kill her daughter Caylee.

This entire case really hurt my heart. I understand if you were a young mother and could not handle raising your child, but I just don't understand how any mother could KNOW her child was "missing" and be partying instead of searching day & night to find them. I know that she was proven innocent (though guilty in the court of public opinion) but if you can't deal with the responsibility, but there are so many options other that killing your child. Adoption, foster care, other family or friends...SOMEONE else in this world could have loved this precious little girl if you didn't. Especially with all of the people who want children but can't have them...

RIP Caylee Anthony (August 9, 2005-June 16, 2008)

There was a LOT of comparison between Casey Anthony and OJ Simpson's acquittal of murder in 1995 and at first I thought it was similar, but I think that there will be a special place in hell for what Casey Anthony did (or "didn't do" since she was acquitted). Also, there was talk about how if Casey Anthony were black that the verdict would have been different.

While I did think this at first, I will not play the race card on this one. All I can say is that no matter what we believe, only she & God know what happened to Caylee and she has the rest of her life to deal with this. Although we think that the verdict was wrong and a crude misuse of justice, God will be the only one that she will have to answer to.

2nd Look: 90 Girls Pregnant at Memphis High School

Before I begin, I want to say that I think that it is my life's calling to mentor and help young African-American teenage girls to become successful and respectable women. In our society, there is already so many things stacked against us, so I want them to know that they can be what they want to be. I want their goals to be to go to college, begin successful careers and NOT have babies because that can jeopardize their futures.


It was first reported earlier this month that more than 90 girls at Frayser High School in Memphis were either pregnant or had recently had babies. This adds up to approx. 20% of the female population at the school. I don't know if this is caused by peer pressure or lack of sexual education, but I feel that it is a shame that it got this bad and to this level before there was some attention given to the issue. I am sure that this didn't not happen all at once, and there should have been programs in place to combat this problem in its early stages.

When I saw this story, my heart literally started to hurt for these girls. I started to think about how many of these girls have low self-esteem and probably don't even know their self-worth. Whether it was a boy telling them what they want to hear or some kind of "pregnancy pact", I immediately felt that they must know know how wonderful they are and don't make responsible decisions for themselves. These girls also need role models who are SHOWING them & not just telling them what are the right decisions to make. I hope to be one of those role models for them, both locally and nationally, in the future (that is my DREAM).

A particularly sad part of this story to me was seeing Terikka Sutton, a 16-year-old who is one of the teen moms at the school, talking about the issue while holding her 2-month-old daughter. I saw her struggling while holding the baby and could see that she was overwhelmed by the challenges of being a teen mom in her eyes and hear it in her voice. However, she gave some of the most powerful quotes:

It's a shame that all of these girls at Frayser (are) pregnant, but it ain't nothing new. Some girls try to get pregnant because they think it's cute and some (are) an accident. They probably plan what they are gonna do to get pregnant.  They need a class to teach the girls to use protection and not to try to get pregnant. 

This story should be a learning experience for ALL young teenage women. In our society, teen pregnancy and motherhood are almost glorified by shows like "16 & Pregnant" and "Teen Mom" and some girls are actually looking at having a baby as a way to get famous. This is a problem that needs to start at home because parents cannot continue to tip-toe around the issue and then be SURPRISED when their daughters come home pregnant (Hello Sarah Palin). There has to be a nationwide effort to help raise the self-esteem of these young girls so that they are not making such destructive decisions.


Here is the video from MSNBC of the interview with Terikka:

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Here is another video that I found from CNN Prime News:

Oprah's "Family Secret": She Has A Half-Sister

Just when I thought that I knew EVERYTHING there was to know about my girl Oprah, she began advertising an episode of her show's final season that involved a family secret. Initially, I thought that it would be a child that she put up for adoption years ago or a reconciliation with her estranged mother, Vernita Lee. However, Oprah's revelation was that she recently found out that she has a half-sister from Milwaukee named Patricia.

I thought that it was great for Oprah to reveal this on her show, not just for ratings, but so that she can begin to build a relationship with her sister. She did it on her terms (and on her own show) and was ahead of the story without it being in the tabloids. I also was surprised that this was never told to the tabloids by Patricia or anyone else who may have known. I also liked how Oprah was open to Patricia's story and willing to not only meet her but claim her as her sister. Patricia could have taken a paycheck and gone to the tabloids about what she knew, but it was more about her filling the holes in her own life.

It was revealed on the show and on Oprah's website that Patricia was put up for adoption at birth and that she was place in foster home after foster home for seven years afterwards. She now had 2 children, a daughter named Aquarius and a son named Andre, who she has been raising on her own.

It was in 2007 that she began to try to track down her biological family and received her adoption records. When the adoption agency contacted her birth mother, she called back a month later & said that she was not interested in meeting her. On the same day, she saw Vernita, Oprah's mother, in an interview on TV, where she revealed details about Oprah's two "deceased" half-siblings that matched information in Patricia's birth documents.

I hope that Oprah and Patricia are able to make something of this revelation and build a relationship with each other. I don't believe that she is looking for a paycheck or any kind of support, but I'm sure that as a sister, Oprah will help her out if she needs it.