Photography by Laurey W. Glenn—Fresh displays of seasonal flowers add color and energy to a room. Who wouldn’t love a fresh arrangement every week?
Booster Shots For Living
Seek not outside yourself, heaven is within
–Mary Lou Cook
Today, we make peace with the past: with the bodies and faces we were born with and those that have evolved. Today, we embrace the lines that stare back at us, the parts that sag in the middle or stick out where they shouldn’t, the hair that never keeps a curl or never loses it. We begin when we invoke the Tibetan poet and teacher Saraha’s song of praise. “Here in this body are sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon as well as all the pilgrimage places…..I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.”
It will take a bit of doing, learning to love all our personal pilgrimage places. However, before genuine love can flourish, we must finally accept ourselves exactly as we are today. Not tomorrow or next week or when we lose twenty-five pounds. Remember, acceptance is acknowledging the reality of a situation: that we’re heavier than we’d like to be, for example, or that our complexion is ruddy or sallow, or that we’ve got gray streaks, or that leggings just don’t work for us. Most of us think of other women as beauties, never ourselves. But every woman was created by spirit to be a genuine beauty. We learn how to reveal to the world our unique radiance only after we acknowledge it ourselves. Today, take as your personal mantra. “I am what I am and what I am is wonderful.”
Been Your Own Cheerleader
On a personal note, there comes a time in life where you have to be your own “Personal Cheerleader” there is not going to be people around you all the time who will offer you genuine support or any support at all. You have to find a way to stay grounded by focusing on the things that interest you the most while going through any major transitions in life. Major transitions like your marriage or relationship that have ended, or you are moving to a new town or city, or even starting a new family. How do I stay grounded? Well, through my strong faith in God, through my writing, my love of music, my two children and whatever else that I enjoy doing in my spare time and anything else that matters the most to me. I try to be just that for myself everyday, especially since I have been separated for nearly a year now from a marriage of seventeen years. I have to be able to not only be strong for myself as I go on this new journey, this new chapter of my life but I also have to be a strong support for my two wonderful children along with any other lifestyle changes that occurs.
Even though I am separated from a marriage of seventeen years I still live in the same home with my ex, and no, I am not afraid to say that because I have nothing to hide. Let’s just say, I am not excited by it, but—-It’s just the way the cookie crumbles. We live separate and apart and yes, we are legally separated. Part of my process started with having to change my status. Well, last year I had to change my “Marital Status” with Revenue Canada, and they updated the info on file and the paper they sent back says, “Separated”. Just a few days ago I did my yearly taxes and I had to give them the signed copy of the legal separation as proof for revenue Canada. Yep, it’s all part of the process of when a marriage is over. Maybe if things had turned out differently last year, I could have transitioned a whole lot faster. Last year, I envisioned myself and my children on our own starting fresh but something happen to change that. I wanted my independence so much and a whole lot sooner, but it didn’t happen unfortunately and so I am kinda stuck in this position until I can make the right changes at the right time. I think about all the things that happened last year, and I still can’t figure out what the heck happened, so many confusing things happened last year, I am just baffled by the whole thing.
Anyway, I want this transition, this new chapter of my life to go as smoothly as possible for my two children and myself. People can judge me as much as they want but I don’t want to make decisions that put my children in harms way. So, this transition, this new chapter of my life, takes planning and also timing. I don’t want to do any sudden or abrupt changes like moving to an apartment. I lived in apartments years ago and it’s not a pleasant way to live. Plus, it would also be important to find them a new catholic school their education and faith is important to me. I want the process to be as painless as possible for them. This new transition will eventually be successful it just requires proper planning. With that said, I also try to celebrate the small things and the big things in life, if I have accomplished something in my daily life I acknowledge that and thank God for giving me the ability to do that. The most important thing I would like to pass on is, not to beat oneself up when you haven’t accomplished your goal, be good to yourself and be proud that you have already taken the steps to improve your life and that’s what matters the most.
Try to remember this wonderful phrase when you feel you haven’t accomplished everything you wanted. Just remember you are not where you used to be but you will eventually one day soon. So here is a great quote from the “Purpose Driven Bible”:
“I am not where I would like to be, but I am certainly not where I used to be.”
Sarah Ban Breathnach—Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy. www.simpleabundance.com
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On a lighter note, I found this great magazine on the news stand at my local Wal-Mart store. I love to cook and bake and I always try to keep my eye out for any interesting publication on food in general, and this week I found just that. The magazine “Where Women Cook” is chock full of great recipes, stories, and Artisans who takes a lot of pride in creating made from scratch comfort food. I love the magazine very much and wanted to pass it on to my blog readers.
Why did I purchase the magazine? Well, for starters, it features many women who love creating good food and the mood and tone of the magazine is very homey. It’s the kind of food magazine that you can see yourself sharing with your friends especially if you have a few girlfriends who you can cook with and it would also be a great conversation starter. As well, it makes you want to cook and bake it has a homestyle feel to the magazine, and it inspires you to cook even if your not a avid cook.
WHERE WOMEN COOK, a quarterly magazine from the publishers of Where Women Create and Somerset Studio, takes you into the heart of the home — the kitchen. In addition, creative storage ideas, “I want to do that” kind of kitchen décor, delicious food and drink recipes, entertaining ideas, and inspirational stories of their journey will all be shared within the pages of this magazine.
Exploring Other Food Cultures
Interestingly, when people meet me for the first time and I tell them I am from the Caribbean they usually assume that because I am from there that I indulge in Caribbean food all the time, oops! No, I don’t. My children were born here, they don’t like that sort of food anyway, they are Canadian kids, oh, my, gosh. The first time I gave my son fried plantain, he was like, “what’s that mom, that’s yuck!” “MacDonald’s please!”Too funny. I enjoy different foods and I love exploring other food cultures, I haven’t cooked West Indian food in ages. When I prepare meals I try to keep them “Kid friendly” so nothing too spicy that the kids can’t eat and just preparing meals that they enjoy so they don’t complain. If the food is not good, yep! my kids will tell me. So, often times the food needs to be kid friendly for sure.
One of the books I cook from for my kids sometimes is “Simple 1-2-3: Cooking for Kids”. I make their lunch for school from this book whenever I can. One of the kids favourites is “Easy Nachos” you can see recipe here: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/easy-nachos-recipe.htm
Another Kid Friendly book is “Sneaky Chef: Hiding Healthy 
foods in Kids Favourite Meals.”
By Missy Chase Lapine.You should be able to find her book at your local library or you could purchase the book at your local bookstore. Free recipes can also be found on her website seen here: http://www.thesneakychef.com/
I like to shop locally especially during the summertime at the local farms and it gives the kids the opportunity to try different things, plus I want them to know farm life because I grew up on a farm. The more I can expose them to the better it will for them.
Okay, when it comes to food I usually like simple prepared homestyle meals, especially because I have two children and I need to be able to prepare meals quickly. One of my all time favourite cooking shows though is the “Barefoot Contessa” Host Ina Garten because she’s unpretentious in her cooking style and it’s homemade and easily prepared. There are many recipes available online from the Barefoot Contessa show, here is one of her recipes that I really like, her “Tuscan Lemon Chicken” (click link to view recipe).
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Stormie Omartian Prayer of the Day
www.stormieomartian.com
When You Need to Feel Close to God
Lord, thank You that You are close to all who call on You. I call on You right now and ask for a special sense of Your presence. I want to be closer to You than ever and feel Your presence cast away all oppression, doubt, or instability. Thank You that You are a God who can be found, who draws near to those who draw near to Him. I draw near to You today because I can’t live without You in my life.
Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.
Isaiah 55:6
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Featured Musician of the Week: “Trey Songz”
Tremaine Aldon Neverson—26 yrs.old better known by his stage name Trey Songz, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. Raised as a military brat, Songz did not have aspirations to have a musical career as a child due to his shyness, saying "Singing wasn’t a reality for me, until other people started noticing I sounded good." He recognized his vocal abilities at the age of 14 in 1998. Reluctant to sing, he began performing with encouragement by friends and family in high school.
Released February 14, 2011
Watch Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzhKarW3ylo
Loving this new song by Trey, I believe this is one of his best songs so far, the ending of this video is funny…….Enjoy!
Justin Tokimitsu Nozuka is 22 yrs.old and is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His debut album Holly has been released in 
Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States. Nozuka was born to a Japanese father and an American mother of English ancestry. His mother’s half-sister is actress Kyra Sedgwick. Justin’s mother raised him along with his six siblings as a single mother.
http://www.justinnozuka.com/
Watch Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgGkJez6pcM
Love this song by Justin so soulful and I believe he has a great voice, beautiful tempo—Enjoy!
I Love all of Usher’s songs, he’s one of my favourite R&B artist. This song plays on the radio all the time but I never get tired of listening to it—–Oh, My, Gosh—–Enjoy!
Watch Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RnPB76mjxI
Blake McGrath is 
27 yrs.old and is a Canadian professional dancer, pop singer and choreographer, best known for being one of the contestants in the first season of So You Think You Can Dance. Blake James McGrath was born in Mississauga Ontario. He is co-owner of Coastal Dance Rage Convention, which tours major cities throughout Canada.
Okay, so I love to dance and I just love this song, love the beat & tempo of the song, and Blake does have a great voice—-Enjoy!
Watch Video on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK1OCnPUSsw
