Others vs. Me

“People are our sunshine, our soil, our rain. When are we going to stop surviving off of people and start living for ourselves?”

– Nadia A

I wrote this quote in the middle of my notes during my Psych class this evening. We were learning about personality and I wondered when will I ever start living for myself? As long as I can remember I’ve always put someone else before me. I can’t say that is necessarily a negative trait but I don’t see much positive in it either. I allow others to “change” me for the time being. I am so wrapped up in being who they want me to be that I forget to be me. Whoever that person may be is an amazing person… before the change. That is who I need to become all the time. I do not want to be that wife and mother (one day) who starts living her life once her kids are ready for college. I am sure I wrote this in a blog post before but for some reason it sticks this time. I am a habitual thinker who is extremely observant and a genius in my own right. Who isn’t? I won’t say that my mind and the way it works is a negative trait because it is something God gave me yet how I use it… well that’s another story. I am learning and unlearning at the same time. Change can only happen if I want it to. One cannot allow another to change them if they are not ready to be changed. I want to change me and someone else may not agree with that change but the people who are supposed to be in my life will embrace the change and accept me for who I am.

This is a new season! I have a new outlook on life and what it means to truly be me and I am looking forward to tomorrow… you should too.

Nadie

One Day At A Time

“The way to predict God’s future is to look back at His past performance! He is faithful! You can trust Him! All is well in the end; so if all is not well, it’s not THE END!”

– Bishop Dale Bronner

I love it when little quotes speak volumes. The first half of the year has been interesting. However, the second half will be greater than the first! I am looking forward to August, September, October, November, and December. I do not know what is in store for me but, I do know that I have so many ideas, visions, and tasks ahead of me. I can only see one thing flashing in my mind…. “TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME” …. so that is what I plan to do. Take it one day at a time. I know I serve a God of more than enough and I am going to do exactly what He tells me to do in the coming months so that I can tell others that HE IS REAL. (John Gray)

Many Blessings,

Nadie La

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Okay…so I fell off the blog sphere for three short days….ahem I mean weeks and now I am back…for today. LOL. I have been keeping up with everyone’s blogs and I pray that everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend, if you’re one to celebrate!

I finally decided to take out chicken from my diet. I am not sure when this will happen or if I will just switch to organic chicken but I am pretty sure it’ll happen over the Summer months. I visited Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods for the first time over the last two weeks and I really enjoyed being there. However, I will never ever go there ever again during lunch time. It was a pure circus in Trader Joe’s and I was completely overwhelmed because everyone was in a major rush to find all of the fun salads, fruits, and veggies that made their tummies happy! I was able to find Pellegrino for a great price so I finally know where to buy it! So eating healthier is definitely on my top list of things to do every day!

The other day however I decided to try a Netflix trial and I began to watch “Food Inc.” This movie is relatively old but this was the first time I actually watched it. I’ve heard about it for many years now and never watched it but I am glad I did and I encourage everyone to watch this movie. It sickens me to know what goes on with all the meat that people eat. For almost a year now I have not eaten pork, lamb, or beef. I miss it but when I want those things I actually buy vegan. It is definitely not the same but it isn’t bad either. The way these farmers are told to process the food is horrible and it makes you think twice and then three times about what you are consuming. That’s what encouraged me to step into Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s. Although it is a bit more expensive to eat healthier I feel it is worth it.

There was a case where there was a young family who had one parent on diabetes medication that cost around $400 dollars per month and they were barely getting by. This family had to decide if the produce that was at the supermarket was “on sale” in order to even purchase it. Broccoli was so expensive to this family, $1.29 per pound back in 2006, imagine how this family is coping today. The parents decided that it was too expensive to purchase one pound of broccoli because that would only feed two of the four members and decided to go to the dollar menu instead. I was so saddened by this situation and disgusted with the way things are with this world today because everything is about money and no one cares about people any more. I know everyone is responsible for their own finances but when the cost of living in constantly increasing and wages aren’t people start to struggle.

School!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where does one begin? It is almost over! Three weeks left! I can’t wait! Notice all the exclamation marks? That displays my excitement!!! Although school is almost over I have to say I will actually miss learning about the women in history. This week we are learning about the women of the Great Depression which fueled my anger once again because I just watched “Food Inc” and gas rose like ten cents over night the other day. Then, I read an article stating another depression is less than 20 years away. That isn’t very encouraging at all. Millions of people lost their homes to foreclosure, savings accounts vanished over night, and various states closed banks, period. Without a place to live, without money to buy food and to think that there was absolutely no banking system in some states is a little crazy. My generation and the ones under me have to get to work like yesterday! We have to build up a greater nation. There is no way that this country has 300+ years under its belt and is about to repeat a depression cycle. That is sick! It is way too soon for America to repeat it’s most devastating financial crisis again. I know what some of my followers are thinking, especially the ones who do not live in the U.S.! You guys always remind me of how awesome my country really is! :0) But, seriously something has got to give and I mean soon!

Well that is all from me today folks! I have some homework to tend to and thanks for always being supportive!

Nadie La

nadiesblogemail@gmail.com

The New Middle Class

Since I was a teen I said I wanted to help the poor to middle class learn about money. I always said that there would be two classes. Rich or poor. There will be no middle class. Who knew in less than ten years this would be true. I was a kid talking crazy. I didn’t watch CNN much I just had a vision.
It has been said that in order to be considered middle class your household income has to be at least $150,000 USD per year. Once upon a time that was living the good life. Now that’s just surviving. With the static, 40+ percent of 18-23 year olds are unemployed, makes it difficult to start some where. Most adults are working in the “teenage” job field because the US unemployment rate is through the roof. There are no jobs anywhere.
Where does one start? How does one begin to build their wealth in order to “survive”? Saving money… daily, weekly, monthly. It doesn’t matter how much just as long as it is something. It’s easier said than done but it is possible.
How do you feel about the new salary requirement to be considered middle class?

Nadie.

The Must-Have’s of Life

Over the last few years I have grown to love Suze Orman. She is truly America’s Financial Advisor. She recently started a show on OWN (Oprah Winfrey’s Network) called America’s Money Class which I must say is a must see! After watching the third episode I decided to share some info that I took away from this class session. Now the information that I will share is nothing foreign to anyone. At least once in your life you have heard of them so here they are!

1. A will
2. Life Insurance
3. SAVINGS

A will is probably the most important document you will ever sign ever besides a mortgage, which is the most important investment you will ever make. A will is so critical to have that without it so many issues, court fees, lawyer fees, time and money wasted can come to pass without it. If any of the following pertain to you then you NEED a will yesterday if you do not have one.

If you,

1. Own a home
2. Are married
3. Have children
4. Are sick with disease
5. Own anything

You need a will. People tend to think that if they do not have a million and ten dollars in the bank they do not need a will. This is not true, if you fall into any of the above categories then guess what you need a will. There are many different types of wills: living trust and a will. But let’s say you own a home and you’re married and you die. You don’t have a will or a living trust saying that your wife should get the house. The state now has to decide who will receive your assets and that can take many months. Same scenario but this time you have children and both of you and your hubby or wife die in a car accident now what? Who is going to take care of your children? What will happen to your home? A will can decide all of this. Get a will. Go to legalzoom.com they are cheap and it takes 15 minutes tops!

Life insurance!!!!!! I can’t emphasize how important it is to have a whole life policy and not a term policy. A whole life policy is for your entire life where a term policy is over a certain amount of time. The younger you get it the better. You are less likely to have illnesses and the insurance will be cheap whereas if you were 45 and this will be your first policy ever you will absolutely pay a few hundred dollars more for insurance. Everyone says I have life insurance with my job. Oh that’s nice but your job isn’t guaranteed we know that for sure with today’s world and oh just in case you didn’t realize it, IT IS NOT ENOUGH!!! Especially if you have a family, wife, husband, children, and a home. If you pass and your husband or wife doesn’t work, or they aren’t the bread winner of the household and you have a $200,000 mortgage left, they can be looking at foreclosure. Then what? Please protect your families! It is so vital to do this. Anything can happen at any time. Social security isn’t going to help you, your family isn’t going to help you forever, your job isn’t going to help you. I know I am talking a lot about death but the one thing you’re completely passionate about is your family. They need to be protected after death. That goes for both husband and wife.  Get on it!! So many insurance companies offer this.  A lot of times you can bundle your car insurance with this to get a cheaper policy. DO IT, AND DO IT NOW! Money doesn’t grow on trees and the ones who do not have 8 months stashed away for an emergency fund can and will be in trouble.

Go back and read my 70-10-10-10 post. You can definitely do this and it is very easy to do so. Just live within your means, cut the unnecessary out of your life and make it happen.

Here are 4 must have documents recommended by Suze Orman from her new show on OWN:

http://www.oprah.com/own-americas-money-class-with-suze-orman/4-Must-Have-Documents

Here is an amazing book by Suze Orman that I will always adore and thank her for because without this book you can be completely in the dark about money.

http://www.amazon.com/Money-Young-Fabulous-Broke-FABULOU/dp/B001TMEBEY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327340173&sr=8-2

Here is the link for legalzoom to make a will:

https://www.legalzoom.com/legal-wills/wills-overview.html

When it comes to saving absolutely open an account at a bank that you do not bank at if you are not disciplined enough to have it at your own bank. If you are working, make sure you have 10% of it deposited into this account each and every check so that you are building a fund and keeping it out of site. Just remember to pay attention to service fees and account requirements.

Thanks dolls!

Nadia

Snowing? Why?

I was actually starting to get very excited that we haven’t seen any snow for the month of January and its almost over. But, today reality settled in as I began to drive and noticed white little flakes sticking to my windshield. It was just raining.

I know you cant see much in the picture because its coming down so fast you can’t even tell its snowing but it is and its extremely windy. Let’s pray it doesn’t stick then I will blog another sad blog about who will shovel my drive way lol. Be blessed! Enjoy your weekend!

Daniel Fast Day 11

Thank you everyone for your continuous encouragement during the Daniel Fast. Today was a bit hard for me because I am missing my normal foods. (This was torture)

I know someone recently commented that I should make this a lifestyle but right now I’m not ready to. I decided to fast for the right reasons, to honor God with a pure heart, willing to give up something to draw closer to Him, and allow myself to gain mental clarity. So far so good. I’m so grateful for that. But, knowing that the entire fast would be a bit of a rocky road is also good. God didn’t intend for our lives to be good all the time. Of course there will be trials and tribulations and this allows us to stay close to God. It allows us to get on our knees and pray to Him to help us get THROUGH the trials. He will never give us more than we can handle. Even if we inflict it upon ourselves. He is always there for us and always there to bring us back to Him by the trials that we face.

Today I read Luke 8 and enjoyed a great bible study.

I ate potatoes with veggie sausages for breakfast, organic steel oats with apples and cinnamon for lunch, and a veggie stir fry for dinner.

This evening I decided to no longer document my journey and again I thank everyone for your kind thoughts and encouragement. I have 9 days left and I am looking forward to them, God willing. I will continue blogging but just know I will complete the fast! Thanks for your support especially Willow, nightshade, watw, worrywarts, John, poeticjourney, and Bernadette!

Xoxo

Princess NadieLaLa

Free

“See the world as if for the firsttime; see it through the eyes of a child, and you will suddenly find that you are free.”
-Deepak Chopra

Daniel Fast Day 8

I heard a great word in service today and oddly enough the Pastor was discussing fasting. Thank God I am fasting to draw closer to God because if not, I would have definitely felt awkward because of what he said. He said something along these lines, “Fasting does not make you holy. God will not hear your prayers over anyone elses because you are fasting. If you’re fasting to become more holy then you should stop fasting and go eat ten cream puffs.” I don’t even know what a cream puff is but I am glad that is not the case for me. Later he went on to say, “Because we serve a God of goodness, He will bless you no matter if you are good or not.” So many people fail to realize that God is good to them all the time even if they do not walk after Him. He is always looking out for His greatest creation yet people call it luck, I call it favor!

Today I was a bad girl and didn’t eat my first meal until about 6 pm today but it was amazing and delicious. I had a small bag of mixed raw nuts during service. Then after service I had a small bag of freshly popped popcorn and a hand full of my tortilla chips. That was it all day. Lots of water though but no food. So after searching high and low for soft tortilla wraps with no preservatives, I finally found some but they were frozen and I was hungry so that wasn’t going to work. Then I walked my way over to the taco aisle and discovered white corn hard shell tacos which are all natural!

I made a bean and corn filling for my tacos. The recipe was from vegetarian times. http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9129.

I added a few of my own things as usual: mushrooms, spinach, fresh black ground pepper, avocado, and vegan cheese. (Which wasn’t too bad … The cheese.) I didn’t use the sour cream and I also had a little bit of brown rice on the side. Amazing meal and I will definitely make this again after the fast, it was very good.

Today I read Luke 5 for the fast and Revelation 10-12 for bible study.

Good night!!

Thanks Wil for the plug in on your blog. Check out her blog here http://creativelysaving.blogspot.com/
great stuff and awesome art work!!!

Nadie

67 Ways that Make Him Feel Super Respected

http://advancedlifeskills.com/blog/67-ways-to-make-him-feel-super-respected/