What's New?

Shutter Click & Chat 5/10:

What's new?! Show me something, someone new in your life. I've been gone a while and I'd like to get caught up on what's new with you!

For the lovely Tea and Honey Bread... Above is a picture of my new tomato plants. I'm trying my green thumb at some gardening this year. I'm starting my tomatoes inside and plan to transplant them to the garden in a few more weeks. I'm blogging more about it (and other life changes) elsewhere. If interested in reading my other blog just leave a comment with your email or shoot me an email.

BLESS!

100% Pure Love

My lil Prince scored a 15 out of 15 on his very first spelling test. We told him he could get a special treat when we went to the grocery store. He proudly selected some Cheeto’s Hot Fries. lol. That child loves some spicy food.

In the last week I have sold two items! I am very proud of myself, but feeling the pressure to create more. It has been on the back burner the last few days since I’ve been making it a point to do some fall cleaning and organizing on the home front. Today I plan to fold all the clothes recently washed, and organize my sewing table which also sits in the dining room. I do believe I need more storage bins for my yarn and fabric. But for now I’ll have to work with what I’ve got. I need to get over this urge to save every little scrap of fabric. Much like I use to do with yarn. It just kinda piles up into a heap of confusing tidbits of projects (some gone bad) and it can get overwhelming. My mood is affected by my environment. And a cluttered or messy environment irritates me to no end. So the plan is to organize all this stuff and eventually get more storage containers so I can KEEP it organized.

I’ve been thinking about things I’d like to add to my winter wardrobe. Fortunately I’m already set as far as jackets and coats. I still have my lovely purple trench style pea coat. Which I still absolutely adore. But I’m trying to figure out what direction as far as color that I’d like to go with a hat, scarf and mittens. Last yearn I wasn’t exactly coordinating. I wore my coral pashmina scarf (which I still have and love wearing) and made some off white arm warmers. I plan to go the arm warmer route again since the sleeves on the coat are still too short. But the choice of color is stumping me. I could just go with a winter white again, or I can step it up with another color that would pop. Maybe a very light purple or stick with the coral so I don’t have to make a scarf? I may go yarn shopping today during my lunch break to see what I can find. I’m thinking wool is the way to go for this winter.

I’m definitely on the look out for more cardigans. They seem to go perfectly over my dresses for added warmth. I wear cardigans year round because the office STAYS cold. I’m sitting her now (yes, blogging at work) with cold hands. I have a pair of cheap gloves that I sometimes wear to get my fingers warm again.


So I was blog hopping and came across a blogger who kept posting picture of her Bento http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bento . Now first off had no idea what the heck a Bento was, but I loved how it had the lil compartments for everything and figured it would be a great way to maintain proper portion sizes for food.

I was thinking, man I’d love to have a dish like her lil Bento thingy. Well come to find out a Bento basically a single portion mean that traditionally contained, rice, meat and veggies. I’m like HELLO! Great idea, you Japanese folks. Lol. But seriously, I want one. I know there are various Tupperware contraptions that have the lil compartments to separate food. I think I may just buy one of those. Right now I usually have bunch of different plastic containers and sandwich bags to hold my lunches in. It can be cumbersome to remember everything and getting it to fit just right in my work bag. But the Bento seems like something I should have to maybe streamline my whole lunch packing process. So I’m on the look out for something Bento-like to fill that void in my life.

But what I really want to know is, what ever happened to Crystal Waters?

Hater's Ball

I was browsing a popular hair site among natural haired black women and came across a thread discussing a youtube video. To summarize what I personally gathered from the video, there is a lil voice inside us that stifles our creativity. That voice shall henceforth be called the lil hater.


Now the preceding video, while insanely hilarious to me is right on point with how I've been feeling lately about my blog and my creativity. I figured, it had been so long since I had blogged that I better show some pictures, but then I was having issues with getting interesting and relevant pictures and that spiraled into more than a month of not posting. And during that time I had plenty to talk about. I have maybe two unpublished posts sitting there, well, unpublished because I felt like they weren't good enough.

I primarily get these thoughts out for myself. Something about seeing them in writing helps me sort through it all. And something about sharing them makes me feel a little bit more free and light spirited. But I certainly don't want it to become a chore or pressing obligation that causes me to procrastinate because I don't feel my blog post will be good enough. Self reflection would quickly tell me that it matters not what other people think, but how it makes ME feel typing all this stuff out and pressing "PUBLISH POST".

I've finally posted some updates in the esty shop. Which you can most certainly browse (and buy if you like) at the following link: www.BreathofLight.etsy.com

I'm proud of every item I made in that shop and hopefully someone else loves them as much as I do. I'm tempted to post about some recent etsy convos I've had over the last weekend. But I won't because I told myself that after I told my homegirl, that I was done and just needed to vent about it. lol. But yeah, that's on my mind and does the reader of this no good at all to keep referencing it and not explaining. I've digressed.






So I'm more excited as the weather cools about my Fall and Winter inventory. Oh, it has yet to be completed. But the crochet bug has certainly hit and ideas are flowing and eventually spilling out over balls of soft, purty wool yarn. I *heart* wool yarn now. When I first started crocheting I told myself I wouldn't become a yarn snob and buy all that expensive wool and natural fiber yarn. But now I can't help it. Cotton and wool yarn are just so practical when it comes to crocheting garments of any kind. And there are always wool blends (which I use most) that allow you to wash the item without accidentally felting and shrinking it. Cool beans huh?

Speaking of beans... (peep that transition) I've recently developed this intense appreciation for black beans. And I have a particular fondness for black beans and corn. And not that canned or frozen stuff. I'm talking about buying up corn on the cob, peeling all that hairy stuff (the name escapes me now) off, cutting the kernels off and cooking them up. OMGoodness! Talk about some tasty sweet corn that goes with just about everything. Especially black beans. Now I DO buy the black beans in a can. And I have realized all canned black beans are not made equal. Lawd that's a horrible pun, intended or not. But they aren't and GOYA is the worstest. It's like 50/50 actual black beans and then mushy filler. And all that filler (whatsenever it is) gets wasted because I always rinse my canned black beans thinking it helps reduce he sodium content. Why for so much salt to preserve food? I'm thinking soon I'll just buy some dry black beans. I buy all my other beans dry. This wouldn't be much different, right?

Anyways, the fam had some delicious veggie quesadillas tonight. I'm all cheesed out dude. But I don't feel as guilty cuz I threw in some corn (yes ma'am), black beans, spinach, yellow and red bell peppers, and cilantro. So it was sorta balanced if you disregard the high cheese content. But that's what quesadillas are, right?

Lucky 7

Last night I made tomato basil soup with garlic bread and a fresh baby greens salad. It looked delicious! And apparently tasted the same way according to the family. I passed on dinner because I had a hearty lunch (compliments of the boss) and wasn’t very hungry. I made dinner and headed upstairs for a great workout. It’s been a week and my body was feeling the difference of inactivity for so many days.

This morning I’m enjoying a juicy orange at my desk. I had tea at home and a homemade chocolate chip cookie my coworker’s mom made once I got in. lol. Ok, not the most nutritionally balanced breakfast, but it did the trick. Technically doesn’t the orange balance it out? I know I must be careful of telling myself “oh I worked out so I can just have this deliciously over sized piece of peach cobbler my Kingman made”. It’s not okay, especially if not eaten in moderations. Fortunately I have a great dinner meal plan for this week. Tonight I’m making bow tie pasta with alfredo sauce and shrimp. I plan to add some fresh broccoli, zucchini and bell peppers to the meal for added flavor. It will be delish!

My little one turned 7 this past Monday. We gave him a party on Saturday to celebrate. The kids had bbq hot dogs and chicken wings. My little one helped me back cupcakes and make fruit kabobs. He even picked out the fruit. I truly wish I had pictures of the kabobs, they looked so delicious! And the kids love them in the hot summer weather because the fruits are so juicy and cold. We used honey dew melons, cantaloupe, pineapple and strawberries. The kids decorated their own cupcakes with whipped cream and sprinkles. My little one felt so special to have family celebrating the day of his birth, and he SHOULD feel special. My mother bought him a plant as a present and he was elated. The last plant he had in his room died. It was a bromeliads and it may have been a bit overzealous to think he could take care of that plant. I have a hard time keeping MINE alive. I have 3 bromeliads left of 5. But this plant is pretty simple as far as care.

I’ve been having dreams lately that center on a lot of the things that I want in my life. In my waking hours I’ve started to just spend time visualizing exactly what it is I want in all aspects of my life. I will continue to consciously attract into my life the things that I so desire and I believe they will manifest. I've been noticing things happening in my life that are confirming I'm somewhere near the right path so I'm trusting my intuition more.

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YMIB is such and inspiring online site for women. If you are a woman, particularly of African Descent you should at least browse the site. So much information, love, creativity and LIGHT is there I have to visit the site daily.

Today I was browsing the posted blogs and came across some information about a program that helps young women gain access to better menstrual products. It's called Goods4Girls. I hope to make some cloth pads soon to donate to this wonderful cause.

THRIFTY GOODNESS! I keep meaning to post pictures of these great clothes I find while thrift shopping. Most of my wardrobe is thrifted stuff so I guess it would seem like a stretch for me to take pictures EVERYDAY since I love mixing up the pieces I find. Check out this snazzy knit vest I bought for just $2!!! The shirt, belt and skirt were also thrifted.

I've also been playing around with the sewing. I refashioned some old jeans into a long skirt. I used some stretchy fabric with pretty flower detailing for the panels. I am quite proud of this piece. It's perfect for the summer. The halter was a refashioned tshirt fro m last year. Stay tuned to see what I do with the skirt!

Getting this Tag outta the way

I've been a huge fan of Neo Sew Mama since I stumbled across her blog a month or so ago. I spent a couple of hours reading EVERY post of hers. I was so inspired by her style, beauty and motherly sensibilities. She has some gorgeous babies who love tofu. Whew lawdy I could never get with the tofu, even as a vegetarian! A couple posts ago she commented that she wanted to tag me with a What's In Your Fridge tag:

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules before the pictures/descriptions.
2. Take a few shots of what's hiding in your fridge..freezer...pantry...cupboards. The more the better.
3. You can either simply just include the pictures or even better give some description of what's in there...your favorites...where you shop..how (or how not) it's organized...and/or whatever else you want to include. The more info the better...yes...I like details!
4. NO tidying up! If you want to turn around things so you can see the labels thats fine...but no re-arranging or cleaning things up. The whole point is to see things the way they actually are...naturally. If there is nothing in your fridge show that... Just keep it real!
5. Keep the tag going. Pick 7 other bloggers to join in on the fun and tag them by including their names after your post and by leaving a comment on their blog letting them know they have been tagged. I think it would also be great if you would let the person who tagged you know once you have posted your pictures.

DUNN DUNN DUUUUNNNNN!!! Here is my fridge. I really don't like the hanging of stuff up with magnets because they ALWAYS fall off. But my lil Prince insists.


Yeah boyeeee! Check out that top shelf action. Complete with left over corn bread muffins, apple juice, orange juice, vegetable broth and left over turnip greens disguised as whipped cream. I see you garlic and soy milk peeking from the back. I loves you too!
Those next two shelves are interesting... More left overs, shredded cheese that I don't remember WHY I even bought it, some eggs, BEEF BRATS that my Kingman insisted I buy. He just asked me if I wanted the last one and my stomach turned. Twice. No thanks babe, that's all you!
Bottom shelf that typically houses my lil Princes lunch "stuff", salad "stuff" and my beloved spinach. MMMM juicey grapes are always good!

The crisper areas keep those bell peppers and onions crisp? As well as two lonely tomatoes.


The freezer is kinda sad. It's usually filled with more greens than that. lol. We got the fish sticks action, some chicken hiding under the forbidden ice cream. Get up on that pizza yall and then the cheapest waffles I could find.
Waaaay too much sweet corn. I know, I know.
Vitamins, oats and grits. Cane sugar used once ever. I'll give it another month before I throw it away.

Frank's Red Hot hot sauce is the best! The smell of salt makes my stomach convulse after the salt water flush incident. bleck! No black kitchen is complete without some Lawry's.

We love the honey wheat pancakes and other obscure non perishables.My beloved fruit bowl. We love tea, therefore we love lemons. That pineapple is getting cut up tonight. That will be breakfast.

There you go! All done. That's not everything, but we have so many cabinets with random stuff in them I dare not waste all my blog space with pictures of it. I shall pass this on to anyone who would like to participate. Please drop me a comment letting me know if you post your pictures.
Blessings!

Stirred, not Shaken

The other day I made the most delicious stir fry ever . The aroma drifting through the house was enough to make my Kingman grab the camera and snap some (really unflattering) pictures of me.

The stir fry was comprised of noodles, lots of veggies, onions, cilantro, red and yellow bell peppers, other seasonings and teriyaki sauce. Good stuff! My lil one gobbled up all his broccoli first. I had to make him eat some of the chicken breast pieces. He's never been big on eating meat, which isn't really a bad thing, in my opinion. In an effort to get the family back on track with eating I've been preparing vegetarian meals for breakfast and lunch. And reserving meat for the dinner meal. No one has complained just yet. And this week, we've eaten primarily vegetarian because we had pinto beans for dinner two of the nights.

*note to self: buy a wok asap*

I started off this week still in a slump. I called in sick to work Monday. Wait, did I already blog that?? Well Tuesday I came to work still not feeling great emotionally. My motivation was non-existent. So much so that my nearby co-worker (Katie) was absorbing some of the negative energy. She convinced me to go ahead and treat myself to a pedicure for lunch. I love Katie. That was such a great idea. I came back to work on cloud 9. I must start pampering myself on a regular basis. I did the foot spa and pedicure. I think my toes look pretty.

I've been feeling fly the rest of the week. Check out how black and fluffy my fro is below! An elder woman approached me today and complimented my hair and went on to say how she has never been able to achieve the style. I explained to her the simple process to achieve a chunky twist out and she was a bit in awe. She also told how she recently cut her afro down to a TWA (teeny weeny afro) because she just couldn't figure out how to style it. She had an endearing vibe about her and I was moved to offer some assistance. Beautiful woman, she was.

Oh ya like that yoda speak?

I gave her my card and jotted down my cell number and 2 different website addresses. I gave her the addy for www.nappturality.com and www.LavidaGivenByNature.com

Nappturality has a wealth of information on how to care for, style and enjoy your natural hair. And Lavida Given by Nature has some of the best natural bath and beauty products I've ever tried.

Speaking of hair, I was pleasantly surprised when I realized my hair had grown a healthy length from last summer when I cut my locs off. I've been rocking puffs and chunky fros for the past month almost exclusively. On the weekends I usually have my hair wrapped in a scarf. I'm looking forward to rocking some fly fro styles this summer with my pretty toes.

Breathing some Light

I was so excited that a little bit of snow had melted and it was warmer than it has been the last few weeks. So excited that I took my lil Prince's bike over to the gas station and put air in the tires. We were outside for only about 30 minutes, but it was 30 minutes fully enjoyed by us both. I had the chance to breath some fresh air in the little bit of daylight left. He got a chance to learn to ride the bike. Win-win situation.

This logging of the food is sorta fun. It's quite eye opening. I totally messed up and drank about 400 calories this morning in the form of a Panera Bread Pumpkin Spice Late with soy milk. The only nutrition info I could find on it was for low fat milk. And I'm sure the soy option had less fat and calories, but I don't know for sure. At any rate, I need to stop drinking calories.

I'm finishing off the night with a bowl of collard greens. No meat, or salt added. And it's super delicious!

Something is Fishy

I've started crocheting wrist warmers to go with my fly pea coat. A few weeks back I scored a trench style pea coat from the thrift store in a royal purple. I love the fit of it. It is thick enough to warm me up during the Minnesota winters, and sophisticated enough for me to wear to work regularly. I love that it's long since I like to wear skirts and boots in the winter to work. The greatest part was that the coat only cost me $7!!! So the catch is that the sleeves are a few inches too short. BOOOO HISSSSS! Not defeated, I decided that I would just buy the coat and crochet myself some lovely wrist warmers to wear under the coat. It took me a couple of weeks to figure out what type of stitch pattern I wanted. But I have that down and I've started. Sorry, no sneak peeks just yet. Hopefully I can snap a couple with my cam phone tomorrow.

Earlier this week I went ahead and made my version of the Tilapia with Spicy Mango Salsa. I improvised a LOT. So I will just say my dish was inspired by the recipe. A few of the modification I made were as follows:
*I used plantains instead of bananas
*I used organic tomato basil broth and veggie broth in the black beans for a different flavor spin. I also would like to point out that adding tomatoes or tomato soups to bean dishes is the biz! I learned that trick a few years ago. And whenever I make my pinto beans in the slow cooker I try to add that ingredient.
*Organic brown rice was used, instead of yellow rice.
*I used a pineapple blend juice (100% juice not from concentrate) instead of lime juice in the mango salsa. I was so sure I had bought some a few days ago but was wrong. And I didn't want to go ALL the way back for lime juice I hardly use.
*I seasoned my tilapia almost totally different. But I stuck with rubbing paprika into the fish. This is something I will incorporate into fish dishes in the future since it added a flavor we haven't tasted before.


My interpretation of the dish was very delish. Um.. jeepers, that rhymed. lol. My lil Prince and my Kingman enjoyed the meal. And I'm not just saying that. Take a look for yourself! I will definitely make this dish again. Maybe one day the same as the recipe. lol.

I TOLD YOU!

Well I made the corn soup last night. Very yummy. My lil Prince ate most of his. The last time I made this dish I added the amount of cilantro called for in the recipe. Well, it was a bit much for the child. He told me, "mama, the soup was ok except all the green things in there". So this time around, less cilantro. Other modifications I made were to reduce the amount of cheese used by half a cup. And I increased the amount of vegetable broth by half a cup as well. As I did on the first go round, I left out the flour and sour cream. I added a little bit more of the black beans since my family likes them. Finally, I added curry powder to the mix. If you didn't know, curry is good on almost EVERYTHING. I was so proud of how the dish looked. And I snapped a quick picture before digging in. Those are white corn tortilla chips with a hint of lime. I wanted flour tortillas with a hint of lime. But my Kingman could not find them at the store.

Today for lunch I had leftovers. I'm telling you, that soup is even better reheated! Tonight's dinner will be simple. I'm not sure WHAT yet. But I'm so tired that I don't want to put too much effort or time into dinner.

In hair news, I'm rocking a twist out from large twists I put in my hair Sunday night. What I ended up doing was rinsing out the honey and olive oil mixture. Then I proceeded to shampoo my hair with Aveda Mauve something or other to try and make the black color that is growing out pop more. Note to self, that shampoo cleanse just fine, but does nothing for the black hair color. I used my cheap suave conditioner. I believe it was Honey and Coconut scented. I put loads of conditioner in my hair then proceeded to de-tangle using a wide tooth comb and my fingers. I concentrated on getting shed hair out of my head. The reason for this is because it tends to gather at the tips of my hair in balls and knots. It makes de-tangling more of a hassle than it needs to be. But that is what happens when I go weeks without de-tangling while still rinsing and washing daily.

As I de-tangled sections of my hair I put fat twists in my head. I ended up with about 20 fat twists. I rinsed out the conditioner with the twists still in place. I used a t-shirt to blot my hair dry of excess water. I grabbed my container of Ginger Juices and Berries hair pomade (http://www.lavidagivenbynature.com/) and used that to (gasp!) oil my scalp. Ok people I have not done that in at LEAST 10 years. Maybe even more. But lately I've noticed I have a dry scalp problem and something needed to be done. I can't continue to wet my hair EVERYDAY in this cold weather and expect my scalp not to suffer. The air is so dry at home and the office so I had to do something t combat winter dryness. So I used the pomade to oil my scalp and moisturize my hair.

Wait, I take that back.... The hair pomade is oil based. So the oil doesn't really MOISTURIZE, but it does help lock in moisture that is there. After the shampoo, conditioner and water the oil pomade helped to keep that moisture in my hair. I used very small amounts on may scalp and each twisted section. As I took down and oiled each fat twist, I split them into 2 to 4 smaller twists. These twists were still rather large. I think I ended up with about 50 total twists when all was said and done.

I wrapped my hair in a satin scarf and went to bed. The next morning I unravelled each twist, then separated each unravelled twist with my fingers. This process was easy and quick. My hair, even now, is very soft and light. I have a fluffy black cloud on top of my head. I plan to wear this twist out all week and hopefully put some flat twists in this weekend and wear head wraps until Monday. This is a picture of what my hair basically looks like today. I've wanted to achieve this style every since I cut off my locs months ago. Now I need a new goal to reach for.

Big afro, here I come!

I give thanks to my Creator for another day. Bless up!

Eaterie

I took a couple (literally) of pictures of food I prepared in the last week. They are camera phone pictures, so if they aren't very clear you can buy me a digital camera. *wink*

The first is a picture of salmon croquets with salad and fettuccine afredo. This was a hit for the whole family. I tell my lil Prince that the salmon is Crabby Patties a la Spongebob Squarepants. The funny thing is, he knows there isn't any crab meat in it. He knows the difference in taste between salmon and crab meat. But he goes based off of the appearance. He still insists it's not a REAL crabby patty because there isn't a bun, tomato, lettuce and pickle. The salad has sunflower seeds and a poppyseed dressing that's really tastey! It's a combo of prepackaged mixed baby greens and some baby spinach.

Next is a photo of baked tilapia, jasmine rice, sweet corn and broccoli. This was also a hit. I'm so glad my lil Prince loves his veggies. He won't eat a lot of meat, but he knows that eating his veggies makes him strong and healthy.

For the next week, I've bought ingredients for this Fresh Corn Soup recipe, and this Tilapia with Spicey Mango Salsa. Yes, my family loves tilapia. You can do so much with it. And this is a fish that absorbs the flavor of herbs and spices so well.

I've gotten so much cleaning and organizing done this weekend. Yet there is so much more to do! Our new couch is set to arrive on Tuesday and we committed ourselves to clearing and unpacking ALL the boxes. My Kingman has done ALL of that work so far. What's left is clothes that either need to be donated, trashed, or put away in the closets. I will make sure that gets done by tomorrow night! I will, I will. For now I must figure out what to do with my hair.

I initially planned on wearing protective styles like twists for the winter. Well I love my fro so much I was like "forget that man, i'm froing it out!" Well, not so much anymore. After exposing my crown to the cold, harsh air of Minnesota it's crying out. As I sit here my hair is soaking up olive oil, honey and a little water as a pre shampoo treatment. I have it covered with a plastic bag (hey, I like to recycle) and then a head wrap. I may just sleep with it like this. But what I SHOULD do is wash it, and then twist it up. Hmmmmm, it's getting pretty late. I fear I'll start twisting and never finish. And I don't want to show up at work half twisted up. lol. We'll see what happens.