Wowwww... this is interesting. Good insight on how we look at ourselves with such a critical eye. I'm def guilty of this too. Lesson of the day... appreciate your natural beauty! You're gorgeous! :)
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Monday, April 22, 2013
Thursday, April 18, 2013
"Lauryn Hill Dropping Truth To The Youth Back In 2000! [Rare Footage]"
If anyone knows me, you know that I love Lauryn Hill. She's one of the few artists who's content actually has some substance, and for that reason, I think her songs will forever be timeless. She's such a great role model, something I think the youth, today, are lacking.
Thanks for sending me this, Jarid :)
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Monday, February 25, 2013
Ivy Charlaine Whipped Body Butter
This is the perfect follow up to the post I did last week, regarding my obsession with the health benefits of natural & raw products.
I was sooooo excited to get this gift from Nicole (Ivy Charlaine). She was
experimenting with blending different oils to make body butter and here’s
what she used:
- Lavendar oil
- Raw shea butter
- Coconut oil
- Olive oil
It smells SO GOOD. It’s
also unbelievably light. You can use it anywhere from your skin to your hair, and a little bit goes such a
long way. I hope you keep making more of these, Nicole, because mine is almost gone! lol
For those of you who aren’t already familiar with
Ivy Charlaine, check out her youtube channel here: IVY CHARLAINE YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Oh, and just in case you’re interested, I’ve
listed some of the benefits for the ingredients that she used in the mixture:
LAVENDAR OIL:
A remedy for aching muscles, acne, bugs & bacteria, burns, cuts & wounds, earache, eczema, fatigue, fevers, giddy spells, palpitations, headache, insomnia, long haul travel, menstrual cramps, moth & mosquito bites, scabies, shingles, sinusitis, stress & anxiety, and sunburn.
COCONUT OIL:
Health benefits include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, wight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heard diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength.
RAW SHEA BUTTER:
Good for dry skin, skin rashes, skin peeling after tanning, sunburn, blemishes, cracked heels and skin, itchy skin, frost bite, stretch marks, scars, chapped lips, eczema, small wounds or scrapes, diaper rash, hair moisturizer, burns, athlete's foot, insect bites, and stings, arthritis, muscle fatigue, pets' (dogs and horses) dry skin, sunburn, scrapes, and as a natural mechanics lubricant.
OLIVE OIL:
Filled with antioxidants, such as Vitamins E and A, the benefits are skin care - repairing sun-damaged skin, protects against free radicals and renews skin. Penetrates to make skin suppler and mixed with sea salt, it helps exfoliate dead skin. Also acts as an antioxidant and deep conditioner for your hair and prevents dandruff and flaking.
Filled with antioxidants, such as Vitamins E and A, the benefits are skin care - repairing sun-damaged skin, protects against free radicals and renews skin. Penetrates to make skin suppler and mixed with sea salt, it helps exfoliate dead skin. Also acts as an antioxidant and deep conditioner for your hair and prevents dandruff and flaking.
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Thursday, February 7, 2013
While I was in China... (January 2013)
When I travel, I try to take a lot of photos but only end up showing a few of them. Even though I've been to China about 7 times already, I still manage to see some things that gives me a bit of a culture shock.... other things I see are just different so they just get marked off as "cool" lol. Here's a few photos from my most recent trip:
I saw this after we landed at Hong Kong Airport. I'm not sure what it is. I'm assuming its an old phone. Looks cool.
The next morning, we got picked up from the hotel by a couple of girls who were supposed to take us to the material markets and be our translators. I was surprised and happy to see that one of them was wearing a pair of sneaker wedges that I designed :) ... It looks like she wears them a lot too!
The next morning, we had to fly out to Putian, and on the flight they served us some "food". I have no idea what this was and the other things were a cheese & bacon flavored cream bun, and milk. Needless to say, I was hungry when we landed smh.
I was excited to find out that the Double Tree they were building finally opened down the street from the office. And YES, they still gave us the free cookie at check- in. Whew... I was starving.
I saw a witch's broom at one of the factories. The branches still had leaves on them. It just looked like a prop from a movie to me.
We went to a Chinese wedding while we were out there. This is what we were greeted with, when we walked into the lobby of the reception. Everything was decorated beautifully.
The tables were extravagant. There were so many and there had to be AT LEAST 500 guests. The bride and groom were both the children of factory owners so they invited EVERYONE to come celebrate.
There were a couple things that they served us for dinner that night that didn't agree with my eyes. I tasted the top dish, which wasn't an animal. It's actually a sea cucumber and it tasted like the broth that it was cooked in. Not bad. The bottom pic was some duck soup. Do you see that curled up piece of meat hang ing off of the bone? Its the ducks neck!!! Ahh!! Yes, I was grossed out, and no, I did not taste it.
On our way back from the wedding, I happened see this this car. It says "Spirior" but I think its supposed to say Superior. Just an observation lol
Mmm.... I had to put a pic of this pizza up because I never had anything like it before. Its a tuna and garlic pizza with tomato sauce, cheese, and a green leaf. I want to say its arugula, but I'm not sure. All I know is it was soooooooo good!
The view looked so nice at night.
A pic from the next morning, in front of the office. I mentioned, during one of my previous trips, how old people in China seem to be much stronger than the ones in the US. You will hardly ever catch an old woman trying to carry big bags like this in the states. You can't really see that well, but she has some foldable carts hanging off of the far left end of the pole. I've seen old ladies out here pulling wagons like they were horses. Its no joke. It must be all of the fresh food they eat.
Meet my friend, Sally :). She's one of the developers that we work with. She was the one who gave me the Chinese herbal tea blend.
We spend a lot of time on the road, traveling back and forth to the factories. This is one of the mansions I noticed on the side of a mountain. I would love to just go inside for a tour.
I'm always seeing something strange on the menus. I can't with the flesh & blood!
At the end of our trip, we always have to fly out to Hong Kong before flying back to the US. This is what I saw in the airport. Its pretty expensive, so dried fish bladders must be a delicacy. #cultureshock
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Tuesday, February 5, 2013
My Obession...
Those of you that know me, know that I LOVE to drink tea and
love to use natural herbs to come up with some healing concoction for myself
and others. Well, recently I realized that I have an obession with researching
the health benefits of natural ingredients that I have. It all started a few
summers ago when I was drinking so much coconut water that some of my friends
would take pictures of coconut water cans in stores, and send them to me. They would always say
that it reminded them of me lol. By the third photo I received, I started to
wonder if drinking that much coconut water was causing my body any harm or
benefit, so I decided to do some research, and this is what I found:
I was pretty amazed at the results I found and as I started
raving about how good coconut juice was for you, I couldn't
help but wonder what else...
I eventually added a few more "Random Useful Knowledge" posts to my blog. You can click the tab above to see others.
Well, like I said before, I recently realized I had an
obsession and it happened when Jarid got me some loose leaf tea from Teavana
and I researched the health benefits for every single ingredient...
crazy, I know...smh 
I found this quote by Hippocrates, not too long after. I think it ties everything together lol.
This all just intrigues me, and what's even crazier, is that I
have soooo much fun doing it! I have a whole "medicine cabinet" full of herbs that I've collected in the past year and
a half or so, and its growing fast. I just love it. I eventually want to
channel my passion for this somewhere... perhaps an informative website, or
maybe even a store (God Willing, we'll see what happens).
If you're
wondering where I get the green bags from, go to PennHerb.com. They're
located in Philly and they deliver very quickly. The price of herbs is very
good too. Most of the herbs I buy are around 1.95 per ounce.
Here's a pic of most of the herbs and
teas that I've collected during my travels.
Here's some herbs I got as a gift from my friend in China. I was telling her that I wanted to make special blends that specific blends like "women's health" and "relaxation". This blend smells wild though. I almost felt rude for not warning my roommate that I was going to make it before I did.
I'm already branching out from the
herbs and experimenting with topical uses of raw foods like ginger. Stay tuned
for what I have planned next :)
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Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Courtney Michelle - "Good Food Gone Fab"
This weekend, I had the pleasure of attending The Dreaming Building's 1st ever Pop Up Food Court. This is a very nice space for anyone who is interested in shooting or hosting/being a part of any events.
My friends were vendors that day- Shannan (Shandog aka The Dog), Courtney, and Meme. Courtney Michelle is an Intimate Event Caterer who loves to cook. She has her own set of dishes that she was selling/showcasing, that day, called "Good Food Gone Fab!".
My friends were vendors that day- Shannan (Shandog aka The Dog), Courtney, and Meme. Courtney Michelle is an Intimate Event Caterer who loves to cook. She has her own set of dishes that she was selling/showcasing, that day, called "Good Food Gone Fab!".
Courtney Michelle
Good Food Gone Fab!
(left) Courtney, Shannan, Mrs. Shandog, and Meme
The menu consisted of Sweet & Spicy chicken bites, chicken Parmesan bites, Salmon penne alfredo, Yellow rice (with and without seafood) and kale as a side.
cheeks FULL!
Jarid and I happened to be their first customers for their day, and
we'll be the first to tell you that it definitely was delicious. 
Me and Courtney
The place was smelling soooo good.
I'm eager to see what's next for you on your cooking venture Courtney!
Don't forget to follow her on twitter: @cmy726
And instagram: @cmyfablife
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Monday, January 7, 2013
The healing effects of garlic
I was sick with a fever last week, and was inspired to write this post after I ingested about 12 cloves of garlic in one night and miraculously felt better the next day. I felt terrible that night with the works... body aches, fever, headache, sore throat, and mucus galore. It was disgusting. Anyway, I remember my step mom giving me a recipe for some soup that was guaranteed to make me feel better (and it did). The main ingredients were garlic, cilantro, and cayenne pepper... among other ingredients that made it soup, of course. Well I was too weak to chop up potatoes and carrots to make this soup from scratch so I decided to save some time and throw 12 cloves of garlic in some oriental flavored Ramen noodle soup, spiced with cayenne pepper to promote sweating. Needless to say, it still did its job. The fever and body aches were gone and I was ready for work the next day.
I spent the next day telling my colleagues about the healing power of garlic and instead of calling all of my friends individually, and explaining, I thought I'd just post something. The benefits are pretty amazing and I found that you can get tremendous healing by consuming 3 cloves of garlic per day. Now, some people think about that and say, "Yuck, a whole clove of garlic? Do you have to eat it raw?" Well, you'll definitely get the most health benefits out of eating foods in their raw state, but I don't think I could handle eating raw garlic everyday... and I'm sure the people I come in contact with on a daily basis wouldn't appreciate that either lol.
Here are the benefits that I found:
- Excellent for creating and maintaining overall health
- Promotes the well being of the heart and immune system with antioxidant properties
- Helps maintain healthy blood circulation
- Enhances the body's immune cell activity (one of garlic's most powerful benefits)
- A powerful antibiotic, garlic inhibits the ability of germs to grow and reproduce
- FACT: it's said that 1mg of allicin (an active component found in garlic when its chopped) has a potency equivalent to 15 standard units of penicillin (source).
- Naturally powerful antibiotic effective against toxic bacteria, viruses, and fungus.
- Reduces cholesterol
- One of the components of garlic is geranium, which is an anti- cancer agent
- Blood thinner, similar to the effects of aspirin
- Helps strengthen your body's defenses against allergies
- Helps loosen plaque from artery walls
- Helps regulate blood sugar levels
- The best for expelling parasites such as pin worms from the human body
- Lowers high blood pressure
- Reduces the amount of free radicals in the blood stream
- A cure for impotence
- Anti-inflammatory
- Helps regulate the amount of fats cells formed in the body when taken at early stages
- Prevents heart disease
- Classified as an "anti-cancer" food.
Interesting facts:
Many home chefs mistakenly cook garlic immediately after crushing or chopping it, added Dr. Kraus. To maximize the health benefits, you should crush the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes. That triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in garlic (source).
Garlic is toxic to cats and dogs.
Drinking lemon juice or eating a few slices of lemon will stop bad garlic breath.
source
Many home chefs mistakenly cook garlic immediately after crushing or chopping it, added Dr. Kraus. To maximize the health benefits, you should crush the garlic at room temperature and allow it to sit for about 15 minutes. That triggers an enzyme reaction that boosts the healthy compounds in garlic (source).
Garlic is toxic to cats and dogs.
Drinking lemon juice or eating a few slices of lemon will stop bad garlic breath.
source
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Sunday, January 6, 2013
"Everything is a gift..."
Here's another quote from the book, "Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude." We should be expressing gratitude everyday, no matter what are circumstances are. Everything is designed by God to work out to our benefit, whether we're going through good times or hardships.
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Friday, January 4, 2013
"Express who you really are..."
I posted this on Instagram a couple weeks back and wanted to make sure I had it on record on my site. Sorry for the repetition, but I thought these were some strong words to keep in mind. This was quoted in a book I was reading titled, "Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude."
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Ethiopian Dinner with friends
A few weeks ago, Jarid and I had dinner with Jamila and her husband, Ramont. It was such a pleasure to see them and we laughed the whole night. I love it! I don't know if you guys ever had Ethiopian food, but let me just tell you that it tastes better than it looks. After dinner, Jarid and I were afraid to post the pics on Instagram because the plate looked like a bunch of poop lol. It was soooo good tho haha.
Jamila and Ramont
The food!
Jarid and I
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