The Cali Life

So here was my plan. Exercise once a day (will start when my hair is curly again, LOL) Fast once week (to give my body rest and for Jesus) Eat breakfast like a king and have at least one other meal in the day (SMH) Drink the Barley Max (Yes mom it's still there) Drink water bottle once a day (work it up to a refill also) Refrain from binge eating/sweets/junk/gmo                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Since my hair is curly again I should start up right?  So yeah starting tomorrow. My goals? A 4 pack at least ( Right now I have small but noticeable pouch) Maintain a healthy weight of 125-130 lbs without

What would adults do? I know that sounds funny and weird. But let me give you some background. When I was a child I used to sing the Toys"r"us song with the hopes that I would be a kid forever. Not really liked Peter Pan but more like I dd not want the accountability, the responsibility and the boringness of being an adult. So even when all my friends were with guys and doing adults, I loved being a child doing childish things. But even I must admit that a lot of my thought processes were very adult-like. Even to this day, I get along better with people that are younger than me.  Which landed me in a peculiar situation a couple of weeks ago. I hang out with this girl who is at least 10 years younger than me. I was babysitting her for the weekend so I took her out with me and some guys friends. Later, after speaking with one of these guy friends, something was revealed to me. He told me that when I was around the young girl. I acted girlie. In my mind, I went, "Here goes

Do you sometimes find yourself try to fall asleep and not succeeding? I've had times in which I would be lying in bed trying to sleep but unfortunately, because my mind is too active or I had an extra long nap earlier that day or I'm literally in too much pain, I find that sleep eludes me. So I try to sleep. I'm sure that you've been told or have heard some fictional character being told to count sheep when sleep is elusive. I heard it on  Sesame Street.  I don't know the origin of a saying like this, but I find that counting sheep is a fitting title for the attempts to put one self to sleep. I have not really tried counting sheep in some years but what I try to do is lie very still, close my eyes and even out my breath. Usually, my overactive mind takes this opportunity to start thinking about random things so sleep remains far from me. When I finally do fall asleep, it is not because I tried to sleep or if I was even aware of falling asleep. It just happened, natu

You Should Smile More....: I'm Making a List, and Checking it Twice. :        My home girl did it up! And yes Monkey see, monkey do, Here is my list: Hair: As you can see, my hair has been straightened with heat ( Birthday gift to myself) So what I have been doing is oiling my scalp weekly just to give it the appearance of moisture. After or before Thanksgiving, I plan on washing my hair (praise Jesus!). And this is my list to promote my healthy hair and hair growth Protective styles Drink Water (Uber important) Spritz 2x a day with water and oil (maybe essential oil) Cover my ends (Scarves, hats, etc.) Deep Condition 1x a month Cleanse scalp once a week and oil (Witch Hazel and some qtips) Face Skin: I love my skin! Well the skin on my face! I think it is one of my best features. So I got to upkeep! And I can start this right now! Sleep with Olive oil on skin as needed Lemon treatment once a week (simpler than it sounds: rub lemon on my face) Wash face ever

At the ripe age of 15 years old, I watched Madea's Family Reunion: the play. I think my Mom bought the bootleg DVD off of some dude in the street that works near her job. The guy probably sold it to her because my Mom is a Christian so he probably thought that she would love it. So she bought it. And I watched it, and watched it, and watched it. I'm very much into musicals and plays so I loved watching it, but I also admired the character Madea and the way she dealt with situations. There she was, this man in a dress with wisdom and enough holy speech to make it acceptable and then just a little bit of those bad words that were acceptable to make it sound funny and cool. I embraced it full-heartedly. I remember thinking how cool Madea was and I started saying all her sayings. Hell and crap became words of frequent use in my vocabulary. Even the way I tell jokes or stories picked-up the tell-tale signs of Madea plays. I thought that this was acceptable to God and it was funny. B

This morning during worship, the children sang "Praise to the Lord", which is a hymn and the part that rang out long after the song was finished was "...ponder anew what the Almighty can do..." So I posted it up on facebook as my status, partly because without getting a chance to vote, my candidate still won the election (ponder that! LOL) and mostly because we should think about the mighty things God can do. I considered my answered my prayers from previous weeks and I decided to share to let you know how things are going over here. 1) My friend, the one who is pregnant, was not getting anything done partly because she's pregnant and partly because she just did not feel like it, which would be fine if there were not things that just needed to get done. After praying that she would become more productive, I have never seen her do as much as she has been doing in the past few weeks. Of course, I'm not with her 24/7 but still, Praise God! 2) The husband pray

I'm sitting here looking at natural hair videos. I'm looking at girls with hair that is super longer than mine and yes the green monster of envy is baring it's teeth right now. But then I remember a comment my cousin said to me. I was talking to her about feeling like I've been growing this hair for so long (since I was born) and I feel like there is nothing to show for it. Don't get me wrong. I do recognize there has been some growth but there are some girls who have only been natural for three years and their hair is dead up longer than mine. As I was saying this to my cousin, she was nodding in agreement. She also mentioned that there are those girls with a hair texture that she does not have who are rocking all these cool hair styles that she feels she could not hope to rock because her texture is coarser. As I nod my head in agreement, she drops a bomb. She says,"I must say that YOU are one of those girls." I said, " ME?," And then she let m

Had to take a pic while it's fresh... And maybe a couple more About to take a shower and go to sleep...hopefully I can pull that off with out ruining the look ... much

Yeah, I'm getting my hair done officially today by Elsa, the same lady who was to busy to fulfill my appointment last week. SMH. Luke 18:1-7 Persevere in Prayer. Day 14 of the 40 days. I honestly do not know how I'm going to do it but I'm going to try. I wrote a list of things of things I'm going to pray for and throughout the day, I'm going to pray seriously and earnestly about these things. And then continue doing it for the rest of my life. God is good. I'm trying to build a habit of praying continuously throughout the day. David cried out to God evening, morning and at noon. Daniel prayed three times a day. Jesus spent all night in prayer and Elijah prayed 7 times until a dark cloud was sighted, signaling rain. I must pray even more.

Yeah right. I did my hair. Actually my friend did it for me. My ends are a little frazzled. Unfortunately, the lady that I wanted to cut my hair waited until it was too late to contact me. She wants to reschedule for next week and if my hair is indicator now, she will be cutting off at least an inch, which means protective styles for the rest of the year. So I didn't get a proper trim because she was not free for the time she scheduled me. My ends look horrid!  But I look fly. We fly high, no lie,... Yeah... So anyway... Praise God I'm 26 years old. In other news, focusing on God is getting harder. But I am up for the challenge. I need to be in order to come correct with God. And be prepared for Jesus and other things.

I'm in the classroom now, thanking God for joyful Mrs. Lawrence! This lady is the bomb. She is teaching the 2nd graders Thematic Reading. Before she starts teaching them everyday, she kneels down and she prays to God. Yes and she puts the lesson in God's hands. Today she was looking for Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories. I could only picture how they would look in my house and I was not sure if they were in the school. On my way to texting the principal to ask if the stories were here, she says "Let me kneel down pray and ask God about it."  Minutes later, she's looking through the library and she finds the books! Amazing. I was like, "Praise God!"  My first instinct is to always try and see what I can do for myself without even thinking of God as a last resort. But Mrs. Lawrence addresses God and He answers! Why am I amazed? Because I want that! I want that kind of faith that is ever present without dwindling for doubt. So I prayed that God would mak

                     I'm planning so much stuff for when I get back to New York, as if life starts and begins when I am in New York. For example, I'm planning on starting a Friday Night Fellowship group with my peeps. This includes small supper/snacks, singing devotion and prayer. I am struck by how much I am drawn to groups like this whenever I am outside of NY and how much of blessing it would be to my peeps at home. I'm also planning on preparing dishes for potluck on Sabbaths, possibly cooking it with others and preparing these dishes. I also want to start evangelistic Bible studies with people.Unfortunately, life does not begin when I am in NY. It starts now at this moment. So what can I do in the here and now. to help me grow as a person? Something to pray about... 2 days from now is my b day. Getting my hair did. And the eyelashes grew back and I can were my contacts in a couple days. WoooooHooooo!

I saw this and I had to post because it is so true. I don't know if you have ever met people with characters so unlike yours that you know you wouldn't be compatible as friends. For example, when I joined YPC, half the people I knew in the group, I KNEW we couldn't be friends outside of YPC. Certain circumstances just put me with people. And now some of those YPC people are some of my closest friends. Well, I've met someone so opposite to my personality, so lacking in commonality with me, so caught up, so unreachable that I know that if were to be in a relationship it would not work. I spend a lot of my time making jokes about him and honestly, sincerely laughing at how ridiculous this person is.  In fact, it has become so bad that I'm influencing others by my bad example (something to pray about).  If the story ended here, it would be great. But unfortunately, there is only one problem: He's hot. No matter how many bad things I know about him that would di

I'm wearing black because today is Communion. Look at my hair. What do you think?

Yep I braided the back of my head last night. I just wanted to share with you guys a couple ideas and happenings. I was watching the sunset this evening and I was excited about life as I watched the sky glow behind the horizon. As I watched, simply in awe, a humming bird zoomed past my ear. I watched it hover and then land in a tree. When not flying, he seemed to be buzzing with action, looking everywhere and glancing at everything. Then it made it's call. In that moment, with sunsetting and the humming bird in front of me, I felt alive and buzzing with new energy. I can see how the pagans find the sun worthy of worship because a sunset can be super exciting, almost a religious experience. As I watched, I felt like I could do anything and everything. Now the verse that's really getting to me now is Colossians 1:27. Here Paul is about to reveal this great mystery of God. And this is it: Christ in you, the hope of Glory. The Living Bible puts it like this: that Christ in you

I realized that I keep love songs in my head during the day, songs that I haven't heard in years or months or weeks (or days or hours)And they'll go along with me during the day. Let's take some time and analyze some of the songs that have filled my head recently. So as of last year, I have been addicted to this one song by Lady Gaga called "Bad Romance"  and it is brilliantly done and ...evil. Here are the lyrics: I want your love, and I want your revenge You and me could write a bad romance I want your love, and all your love is revenge You and me could write a bad romance Oh, caught in a bad romance Oh, caught in a bad romance Now this is just the chorus of the song but as you can tell, it's not a holy song .  The singer is desiring something bad and compares love to revenge even saying that they are the same thing. Desiring something that is not good for you is definitely not of God. If we read Revelation 12, we see Satan taking his re

So yesterday after the party, I co-washed my hair and then braided it for the next morning. Unfortunately, the braids did not fully dry by the next morning. So I pulled my hair back in one. Whenever I do that with moist hair, the front of my hair becomes super straight. So I decided to pull all my hair up to the top of my head to night to straighten the hair in the back as the front and the hair style I came up with was so... Beyonce. Well not blond enough nor big enough but it is exactly the picture that came to my mind as I finished off the style. Well I'm only sleeping in it because I refuse to go out like this...well maybe someday. Unfortunately the style is a little to little girlish for me, even though I seem like the type of person to love the little girl styles. Part of me doesn't want to change my hair up too much because I do not like having to explain it to people who do not completely comprehend. I do not shy away from those opportunities but I do not confro

I'm trying out a wash and go on my hair... well it was in a old twist out that i just dampened and added some tresemme conditioner to. What do you think? Look at that definition! Jerry curlish?  Going to a pampered chef party. Might get something for my mom.

        When I was younger, I sang with a youth choir in church. The name of the group was Mission Voices. The name of one of the songs we sang was "Focus on Glory". The purpose of the song was to admonish us as individuals not to focus on the problems of life but to keep your attention on Jesus.  At that age, I sang it because the song sounded good and I'm sure that we didn't really get the point because we still spent a lot of time focused on the little drama going on. Now I feel like we need him more now and because of the little focus we put on developing a relationship with Jesus Christ then, I feel like we're ill prepared to turn to Him now. Even the little drama we had at that time was not as complicated as the drama we got going on now that we are all grown.         Today the pastor challenged us to find Jesus in every part of the Bible. So when you are doing your devotion and you're studying the Bible, you're not just looking for factual informa

Oh man it has been a while since I've wrote in this. So let's start with my hair. Can you tell from the pic that I'm feeling my eyes? Can't wait til I can wear my contacts! Back to my hair! Right now, It's in some mini twists. This morning I washed it with tresseme naturals conditioner (the moisture one) and I left it in all day. Unfortunately, that also did nothing much to retain moisture but create a gel-like hold. The only thing that seems to work is when I put oil in my hair and I pull in back in one . So I just put water, oil and kckt in it from root to tip and I'm going to leave it out and see how my hair keeps the moisture. If this does not work, I'm going to have to invest in a good wig or moisturize every six hours, because this dry climate is going to break off all this hair I'm trying to grow. And yes, I have been watching vids with girls that have ridiculously long hair. SMH! This past weekend, I attended a discipleship training, in whi

Praise God for a positively radiant rest of the week. Yes, I praise Him in advance. So I've been taking time before classes to just pray that God's teaches through me and not me. Honestly, so much less stress than before. I'm smiling more. :) On a side note, I feel like making a vid because my friend made a vid and put it on her blog and it's private so I can't see it and I was so in the mood for a home vid. So I'm making one. I did not realize how much I actually sound like Brandy. I mean I thought I looked like her a little bit but I actually sound like her, which is not really acceptable to me because I appreciate her looks more than I do her voice. If you're wondering about my hair, me too. Trying to figure out how to moisturize these twist without the ends frizzing up. But the twists are still holding together.  The original song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MX0cmUj4hvw

My hair was not cooperating this morning. Look at it! Mad stringy! I think the continuous twisting is thinning out my hair. And the pulling back is thinning out edges. Pray for my hair y'all. This week coming, I'm going to just let my hair hang in smaller twists, keep it like that for a month until my b-day. Anywho... Church was great!! I  love my pastor and my young adult bible study group. So last night, the group met and we discussed the reasons as to why today's society is the way it is, in reference to post-modernism and the secular mind set. We are doing a series on this starting with the middle ages that will lead us to today and how we can evangelize to the young adults of today.WORD! I'm so down! Then today for Sabbath School, we did a study on Daniel 2, 7, 8. 9, 11 and how each vision just gives more details than the previous vision.  So deep! Then the sermon was about the book of Esther. The title was "Ask for the Banquet" and Esther is a type

Yes I'm taking a picture with my phone. And what? Look at that forehead! The majority my face is my forehead. I don't know what I'm doing with my hair. Think I'll wear my hat tonight. But look at those beautiful teeth! And those eyes! Sweet! Can wait till I grow back those eyelashes and that brow! I need to rock those contacts. Those eyes can not be hidden any longer. Bday is coming up in a month and some days. Y'all pray that my lashes grow back by then. Any who...so the reason why the phone is in the pic. I lost this phone yesterday evening when my friend was dropping me off near the mailbox so I could bring in the mail. Unfortunately, I was clueless to what occurred until I was in the house. By then I wasn't sure if I left it in the vehicle, if it was hidden in one of the bags I take with me to school, or if I had accidentally dropped it on the ground in front of the house or the mailbox. As it was already dark outside, I decided to leave the excursion fo

Things I need to buy Flip flops (becasue it's Cali) hiking boots (because I want to hike) shower comb (because I need to detangle) shea moisture (the whole pink line, because it's dry out here) Tresemme naturals conditioner (Because it's cheaper than shea moisture and healthier than herbal essences) Slacks (because I can only interghange my two pairs just so much) Casual wear (becasue I need to hang out too) Sneakers (same as above) toothpaste (Because my travel size is about to run out) Brown clothes (because I have a brown shoes and tan shoes ) Things I need to do Household Chores: Feed kitties 2x daily about half a bowl of food outside Fill food bowls inside with food and water as needed Check water bowl and fountain outside Bring in mail daily except for Sunday( left side black mailbox on end 9045) Water flower beds and roses about every three days or as needed around house Lock front and back doors when leaving Put kitties' blan

It was good. Sabbath School was about seeing the great controversy in Daniel. I sang Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus for special ( apparently Atonte has got me on the singing roster). Then the Pastor spoke about NEWSTART for a healthy body/marriage/church. My interest was in his evangelism thrust. For 10 months, the church will be planning a program for the community once a month. Now, I thought that this was interesting because I was wondering how I was going to be a part of evangelism here, being that I am a part of the minority in this community. Well look at God! Sometimes I envy the eagerness/willingness that others have for evangelism and I wonder why I do not have the same desire... Well, I'm doing it anyway! I other news, my hair is super neglected. I'll be conditioning tonight, possibly all night. Right now, it's a very old, very stretched out twist out that I haven't retwisted in days. Can't see myself pushing this hair past Sunday. In fact, I'm kind

Bless my heart! Their ruder than when I first believed and ridiculously bright. Too bad intelligence does not mean wisdom. Can you believe this child in front of my face decided to kick another child, make him cry and think that it was OK for her to do that? She has lost it. Then, there are those who think their too smart to listen to any adult and they find joy in talking back to adults. Did someone say corporal punishment? No I would never do that... Any who...the Lord is good who promised, and these children do not determine my happiness. Praise Jesus! Keep my lips from guile Lord!

Yeah...problems. I have cried more in these last weeks in front of people than I ever have.  First last week, I cried because I made mistakes. This week, I cried because I interjected in a confrontation between John and Nadine ( my host parents) and I felt so justified but I suppose the Holy Spirit is working in me, or maybe it was self rising up in me but I felt remorseful about my outburst and I cried in front of them again as I was apologizing to John. Poor John. Poor host  family. I believe crying is a response to the books I've been reading about dying to self. But I cannot discern whether it is the Holy Spirit or self that is causing this emotional response in me. But I am realizing the futility of self and it sucks being unstable. In other news, My hair is a mess. I slept on my twistout last night becasue I didn't want to twist them over again and risk more breakage. One side of my head is all straggly and the other side is full and luscious. I look like I need to ge

"All you would need is that deal with the devil or that complete surrender to God and you would be set. And yet I find myself dissatisfied with my miserable situation. My mediocrity greets me in the morning and I turnover and hide from the rest of my day. I want to go in. I want to live that Godly life of favor. I know he exists and I know He is faithful who  promised.  But I am never satisfied. I do not know if I live in the middle because I'm trying to keep my options open but I know that there are people going hard for God, giving their all to Him and I am just chilling. I don't want to go all in, because I don't want to be bought, tricked, hoodwinked. But I'm not willing to research what is the truth. I need help, lol. But I do have that nagging fear that while I'm on the sidelines slowly trying to find truth, that some person that's seeking more diligently will come in and snatch my heavenly crown." I remember wirting this on my other blog and t

I ate beef. This kind of beef Not on purpose though. Today, after the sonogram we went to Red Robin, which I've never been to before because...why would I go there? But apparently they have vegan and vegetarian options. Unfortunately, the waiter got my order wrong. I'm eating three bites of my sandwich thinking that it's a real good imitation of beef (LOL, my brothers would probably say that I've been so long with out beef that I forgot what it taste like). I'm three bites in and I get past the spicy in the sandwich to taste the beef. Poor waiter, looks like he's about to cry when he has to do the sandwich again. When he brings it back, there is cheese in it. I have to laugh because the waiter now looks like he really is going to cry as he takes that burger back. When he finally gets it right, he also let's me know that I do not have to pay for my order and as I'm leaving, he gives me a gift card and tells me that the next time I come in the resta

Hiya! Yeah...no. I'm not practicing karate. I'm trying to sho the whole outfit and click on the upload pic button at the same time. I'm going to a sonogram. One of my new friends is having a baby and inviting the whole young adult bible study to be there. While many may believe this is private moment for the family, I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to spend some time with this people and show myself friendly. While I do understand how easy it would be for me to stay at home and just chill, I am usually a social person that wants to be outside the house and I refuse to be antisocial today when I  could experiencing something new. I live for others. Oh I forgot the shoes. And what if I'm wearing 5 different browns, including my skin color? LOL! Is the oufit appropriate? Let me know! Luke 9:24

Here's a hair update... So Korean! Look at that forehead! LML! These are some twists on a lazy Sunday Morning. Can't wait till my eye lashes and eyebrow grows back in so I could start looking less raggedy...ugh. LOL But don't my teeth look gorgeous? I left my home in Brooklyn, NY with absolutely no hair products. I know what you're thinking... AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! LOL. My bag was already over weight I was not looking forward to paying another 100 bucks to satisfy my hair's obsession with moisture. I lie. I did bring one thing with me. Kinky Curly Knot Today... A friend gave it to me and said it would be good for my curl pattern. I usually mix it with Aloe Vera juice and oils from Kimmaytube's recipe but I decided maybe I could use it by itself...super wrong. Apparently my hair has to be super wet to use it. My hair was so sticky when I first used it as a leave in by itself. I felt like it wasn't doing any good in my hair. So I mixed it with olive oil

Reporting Live from Atascadero, California, this is Neon with a quick update about life on the West Coast. LOL! So yeah, there's deer eating the fruit trees and fire rings and different types of birds  and racoons trying to get into your house and 7UP!! I haven't seen this in years! In NYC, 7UP is extinct. And it was so great. I know I don't drink soda becasue it's so totally not healthy but maybe I'll drink some on birthday, hmm? LOL There's also church ice cream socials with homemade ice cream and sorbet ( can you say yummy?) and Pastor Ivor Myers preaching in the church and seminars that can benefit your social life and an eighty-nine percent caucasian population (you know God is changing me, but where am I going to get my hair done?) and a hair stylist who's going to do my hair for my b-day who I'm hoping get's it right. So much has happened in these last two weeks that I do not know where to begin, but I'm happy to be here and disconcerted