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

Fulfilling Your Need

It never fails… each and every time something life changing happens the two things that tend to cure me are writing and music. This time I’ve added a third…God. My love for writing tends to take a backseat when something else replaces it. One thing that I realize is that the love never goes away. I can think of an entire book in my head but never know how to put it to pen and pad. The ability never leaves. I am sure there are many of us out there who have that one thing that they constantly put off until you “need” it again. I need to write. Someone may need to sing, dance, read, love, talk, sew, work, worship…write. Whatever that “need” may be just DO NOT place it on the shelf and years later you dust it off and realize that you missed that “need” so much. You are supposed to bless someone with that talent! Let’s use the second half of the year to fulfill that desire to move forward with your dream! Take that vision and make it a goal and turn it into a check mark marked COMPLETE!

Now that that is done…

I have missed you guys so much!!! I miss reading my daily blogs and comments. Thank you so very much for those of you who nominated me for the “Blog of the Year” award! I was so humbled because I stopped writing for the second half of the year and you still remembered little ol me! Thank you so very much!!

So much has happened and changed! I may not understand a great portion of it but I am glad to be on God’s side! It truly makes life a lot easier.

I will definitely share more of my experiences at another time but just wanted to say hello and thank you all! Love ya!

 

❤ Nadia

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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 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

Daniel Fast Day 1 Pt. 2

Yesterday was Day 1 at Sundown for The Daniel Fast. I realized that I didn’t explain what the Daniel Fast was to my followers. Here is what the Daniel Fast is:

Daniel Fast is a Biblically based partial fast based on two instances of Daniel’s fasting experiences

“Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.” Daniel 1:12

“In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.” [Daniel 10:1-2]

Based on the information that we glean from these references we understand that the Daniel Fast eating plan is vegan in nature, with additional restrictions.

In the first Scripture we see that Daniel ate only:

1. Only Fruits and Vegetables

2. And drank ONLY water

Which would also mean that he ate no processed, artificial, or chemically altered foods.

From the second Scripture we learn that Daniel’s diet did not allow:

3. Animal products

4. Pleasant/precious food, which would include all sweeteners, including honey, agave syrup, maples syrup, etc.

5. Alcohol

From studying Jewish history you will also learn that all fasts excluded

6. Any kind of leavened bread [anything made with yeast, baking powder, baking soda, etc.]

http://www.vega-licious.com/health-nutrition/daniel-fast-recipes-and-things-you-need-to-know/

 

Now that you know what the Daniel Fast is I will continue. Yesterday I had a hard time making the hummus so I decided to refrigerate what I have started and went upstairs. But, I actually was able to make some flat bread from www.Daniel-fast.com  with a hint of garlic added to it for my hummus. It is pretty tasty. I definitely suggest everyone to make their own bread all you need is wheat flour, olive oil, and water.

I also made lots of fruit snack bags with cherries, grapes, cantaloupes, watermelon, honey dew, and pineapples. I took a tip from the Disney Channel and made fruit kabobs with some grapes and cantaloupe. I hear that it makes you feel full because it is frozen, I will let you know how it is when I eat them! That was pretty much the rest of what I had to write. I will post some of the pics if I can figure out how to put more than one in a most lol.

Be blessed!

The Call of Forgiveness

I was calling to inquire about the current rates at the mortgage office and the voice on the other end sent chills up my spine. It’s a voice I never thought I’d hear ever again. Yet, the distant offensive memories came back as if they just happened yesterday. Various words of abuse and cruelty resurrected, words like “I hate you”, “go cheat on me with that guy you work with”, or “I don’t even know why I am with you, you get on my nerves”, yet hours later I am graced with words like, “You’re the best thing that happened to me”, “I missed you all day”, or “Let’s go to Vegas and get married this weekend”. This all came to the forefront and on the other end I heard, “Hello? Hello?”   Yet again the voice makes me cringe! All I can think about is him dragging me across the room on the night he got upset because I questioned him about his ex texting him all of a sudden. Him cursing me out repulsively because I kept questioning him about it for the last week; this was the supposed reason for him putting his hands on me.

 Just the night before, I was awoken and asked, “What type of diamond I would like as an engagement ring.” “Hello? Hello?” again the vindictive voice rang in my ear and I respond, “Yes, I forgive you for ruining my inner peace and happiness for a very short period of time, I forgive you for putting your hands on me even though you deny doing it, you said “It wasn’t like I hit you” so that makes it better or less of an offense? I forgive you for breaking my heart into pieces yet giving me peace because I am FREE, I forgive you for the years of verbal abuse, the emotional abuse, and your kind words that you THOUGHT would make everything better, I forgive you for not stopping me from getting away from that poisonous relationship. Did you hear me? I forgive you. And I know I have peace and my heart no longer will remember you or those things because of MY Lord and Savior.” CALL ENDED.

Now I know I didn’t need to say any of these things because once I ask God for forgiveness I am forgiven. However, the time and place presented itself so he needed to know.  

Here is an excerpt from a book that I’m writing called The Past is in the Past Enjoy!

Christmas Quote

Christmas is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.

 

Dale Evans

 

Location On? Why?

It has come to my attention that there are some crazies in the world today who are waiting for someone to slip up. That someone can be you and you may not even know it. It never really crossed my mind that someone knowing your location can be cool like it is now. You have social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter that allow it appear cool to know where you are at all times.

I remember when I first signed up for Twitter, I thought it would be a great way to pump my blog so I signed up. Then I realized that lovely question that almost made me cancel the registration. It said would you like your location to be on? Ummmm….no! Why would I want someone to know my exact location at all times? Let alone a perfect stranger! Twitter is one of those social networking sites where anyone can follow you. I don’t like that. That means a perfect stranger can know your geographic location at all times. Yeah no I will pass on this. Luckily I was able to disable this feature so I proceeded with the registration. Currently, my location on Twitter says “La La Land”.

Facebook has changed their layout so many times and I have deleted my account many times too, yet again I was upset when I realized that it may be helpful to my blog Nadiesbrain.wordpress.com, so I created a new account this time for the blog. Then I realized that I wouldn’t have the page published if I didn’t have a personal account! sigh again. Anyways, there is this application for mobile phones now called FourSquare (I believe) and you’re basically checking into the locations that you are currently in. Now Facebook has it where you can actually have this automatically posted onto your timeline as a status update and now you can also have your location added to your status. Why would you want to do this? Now that I think of it so does Twitter. You can attach FourSquare to your Twitter account too. Sigh.

The point I am trying to make here is that if you are numbers driven, and you want to have five thousand friends on Facebook (that is the max), and who knows how many followers you can have on Twitter, millions, there is at least one person on there who has stalker qualities and would like to know your every move. Why do you want someone to know that you are on vacation? Why do you want someone to know that you’re at work all day long? So you can get your house robbed? Why would you want someone to know that your child is at school now because you just dropped them off? Would you want to be kidnapped, hurt, killed? Like c’mon people smarten up.

If I didn’t love the craft so much I wouldn’t have these things. They cause nothing but drama! As I mentioned before I have a new love for Criminal Minds and they actually used social networking stalkers as an episode. Let’s get with it my loves! Spread the word. Switch your LOCATION OFF!

Have a blessed weekend!

Are You Obsessed?

I was reading a fellow bloggers blog and it made me think of obsession. Sometimes being obsessed or infatuated with your mate can blind you. Often times at least one of the persons involved tend to get hurt. I just wanted to take the time out to list a few signs of what obsession is and what to look out for. There is typically three phases to a relationship: lust, infatuation, and love. Obsession is not listed on here. Therefore you should run!

According to Wiki obsessive love is “a state in which one person feels an overwhelming obsessive desire to possess another person toward whom they feel a strong sexual attraction, with an inability to accept failure or rejection.”

• Jealousy to the point where you mate is calling you, emailing you, texting you all hours of the day checking up on you.
• Stalking: Popping up at the job, popping up at random places when you know you didn’t inform him/her of your whereabouts.
• Excessive gift giving: I mean after the first date type of gift giving, no matter if it is in the form of dinner, money, jewelry, flowers, you name it. If all of this is given in a short period of time this can no longer be considered an act of kindness it’s obsession.
• Constant accusing of cheating.
• Controlling your mate not being able to see friends or family because they want you to themselves.
• The use of drugs, alcohol, food, or sex to “cure” emotional pain.
• Strong feelings of mistrust which causes them to become depressed.
• Violent outbursts when you annoy them easily.
• Becoming in denial that the relationship has ended.
• Suicide. If one is threatening suicide then that is where you should check out immediately.

Please take heed and do not allow yourself to go deeper into a relationship if you already notice some of the signs. You will find yourself doing the same exact things only to justify what is going on in your relationship. It is unhealthy and can end badly for both parties. Around this time of year we hear about all the love that is in the air but there are some who aren’t feeling the love.

Thanks for reading and thank you for all the new subbies and followers!

 Nadie