It's The Single Life!

Are you starting to get that feeling that your Man reminds you of the douche section at Target? There are a few red flags that may have risen to the surface that have you saying to yourself…”um something just ain’t right!”

We’ve all been there, even some married folks are still there. You accept some things and other things, not so much. Glamour.com has been generous enough to post some red flags to look out for with your dude. 96 are on their list and I could easily check off about 25 of these items with almost every guy I have ever dated EVER! Though I have not been fortunate enough to have someone tell me what they “spend on hookers” yet. Keeping my fingers crossed for that one…

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT THE GLAMOUR.COM ARTICLE

My Uncle recently hit me up to ask me about some smoothie and juicing recipes. After I got through writing my ridiculously long email, it looked more like a blog post than anything…so eff it I figured why not share my learnings with everyone else. With all of this running, boxing, kickboxing, and whatever the hell else I decide to do with my time, I need to make sure I’m treating my body like a temple and filling it with goodness. Check out some recipes and tidbits for healthy living:

During the summer when berries are in season I make this recipe, for the best results use organic fresh ingredients:

ALL BERRIES ALL THE TIME SMOOTHIE

(I really also notice a difference in my skin when I am drinking this, it smoothes out the skin and adds a healthy glow)

Ice

Vanilla Whey Protein (one scoop)

1/2 Cup Rasberries

1/2 Cup Blueberries

1/4 Fuji Apple (I just like the taste of this one)

2 Strawberries quartered

1/2 Cup Almond Milk (vanilla)

Blend

The one above is delicious also as a dessert you won’t need to add sugar, but if you have a sweet tooth you can add a tablespoon of Organic Raw Sugar, don’t add too much there is already plenty of sugar in the fruit and the Vanilla Almond Milk.

A WORKOUT AFTER YOUR WORKOUT SMOOTHIE

(Now this one I just created to have after my morning workouts. Because I’m a Vegetarian, there are only so many beans you can eat in one day and I want to really make sure to stay away from processed soy products but still get a lot of protein. It really helps me to feel energized after a workout, it can also be used as a meal replacer for breakfast, after you drink this you will be pretty full anyway.)

Ice

1 Scoop Vanilla Whey Protein Powder

1 Scoop of Garden Life RAW Meal Replacement Powder

1/2 cup of Raspberries

1/2 cup of Blueberries

1/2 cup of Strawberries

1/4 cup of Pomegranate seeds 

1/2 cup of Almond Milk (Vanilla)

Blend

The Garden Life Powder serving size is 2 scoops at 280 calories, because I am mixing it up with the fruit I keep it to one scoop so that way I’m not going overboard, plus it tends to be really thick and not pleasant to drink when you use 2 scoops. But the nutrients are awesome (with one scoop): 237 Mg of Potassium, 28% of your daily fiber, 50% of your vitamin C, D, E, K, B1, B2, B3, B6, Zinc, etc. I love the stuff and it’s Organic Vegan. With this and the Whey Protein, you are pretty much getting most of your daily protein with this one drink.

As far as juicing here are a couple of one’s I juice for energy and overall health I don’t have exact measurements because I just eye it based off of how much juice I want, the Apple and the Lemon are used for taste, when you first start juicing they help to mask some of the flavors of the vegetables if the flavor is not to your liking:

GREEN MACHINE

Spinach

Kale

Turnip Greens

Apple

Garlic (like one clove, maybe 2 adds quite a kick)

1/2 Lemon

SOUL GLOW HAIR

Celery

Cucumber (1/2 this makes a lot of juice)

Carrots

Ginger (Only a little bit)

Apple

JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN

Tomato

1/2 of a Small Beet or 1/4 of a Large Beet (Beets work as a blood and kidney cleanser, so you don’t want to juice this more than once or twice a week, they are high in oxalic acid and therefore should be avoided by those who suffer from or are at risk for kidney stones, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and those whose stomach is easily irritated. You should avoid combining beets with other vegetables that are high in calcium, such as  broccoli. Oxalic acid combines with calcium to create an indigestible compound.Avoid eating calcium rich food immediately after eating or juicing beets or any food high in oxalic acid. This includes foods like tofu.)

Lemon

Spinach

Garlic (only a clove)

Kale

Carrots

Ginger (only a small portion)

1/4 Apple

I hope you like these recipes. Sometimes just throwing the things you like together also works and make sure to follow some simple rules in the process: 

1. Sugar is not your friend, you don’t need to add it because fruit has a natural sugar.

2. Organic is your best bet, the fresher the better.

3. If you think it could taste good together, most likely it will.

4. Blend/Juice what you like, it will keep you coming back for more.

Here is a link to the meal replacement (Garden of Life RAW Meal Replacement Powder) that I mentioned earlier. You don’t have to go with this specific one if you choose to buy something like this, I just happened to see it in the store and picked it up:

http://www.soap.com/products/Garden-of-Life-RAW-Meal-Replacement-Powder-1-130-g-26-lbs-66339?site=CI&utm_source=cse&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=AGF-008&utm_campaign=google&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=AGF-008

ENJOY!

What do you do as a single person when the divorce of a friend or family member rears it’s ugly head? The answer is not simple even if there is an answer. Growing up in a divorced household I only saw one side, the aftermath. I saw my Mother dealing with it, working, and moving on. Now my situation is a little different because my Father was a pretty selfish, self-absorbed person, so it was more of a blessing than a curse. But, now as an adult seeing a couple of my friends face the demise of their relationship, I am faced with the impact of seeing what happens when your life changes at the blink of an eye. To watch someone’s heart break daily is jarring. To know that you can’t do anything to help that person feel more at ease is even more unnerving because there is a sense of helplessness. I can only offer words of encouragement and a listening ear. But at the heart of it all I have come to realize that I have no idea what I am talking about. I’ve had maybe 3 or 4 boyfriends (depending on my mindset at the time) in my entire life and those relationships didn’t last more than a year and a half. I can’t even commit to a hairstyle, or trust someone enough to know what it feels like to totally give yourself to someone and make decisions with them in mind. I’ve tried and failed, and continue to fail knowing that I need to fail to finally get to a point where I succeed at the one thing that continues to elude me, a sustainable, functioning, healthy, loving relationship. 

So now I have 2 friends dealing with their situation in two totally different ways. Both of them will be scarred from the loss. How do I help them? Maybe just by doing nothing, but being there. Recognizing that all you can do is treat the death of a relationship just like you treat the death or loss of a loved one. The loss of a relationship that meant so much to a person and was apart of their very existence is just like the loss of a loved one. Essentially you are losing a loved one, except it’s worse, with Facebook and Twitter and any other social networking, that person is still there for you to see, view, and connect to. There goes “out of sight out of mind” right out the window. The friends and family that connected the two of you are still there, so now you are losing few of them too. So that’s not only the loss of someone you love, but the loss of several people you care for, so it becomes a family affair. It’s a party! Everybody’s divorcing! Crazy, but true. So many dynamics, so maybe because of so many connections, it’s just good to listen and be the buffer. If you are a single unmarried person you don’t have the answers, you can’t really relate all you can do is be there. Instead of trying to make someone feel better, be there to just give them comfort when they don’t. Because possibly it’s the reminder that they are loved that will help them through the pain of feeling so unloved. 

“The loss of love is not nearly as painful as our resistance to accepting it is.” -Tigress Luv

Peace

Day 2:

So we are off and running literally. Day 2 of my training and it’s safe to say that everything below my waist is telling me “f*** you” and is punishing me by making every possible muscle scream when sitting, standing, walking…um basically moving. Pretty safe to say that I’m a little mad at myself for taking almost 2 months off from exercise. Won’t be doing that s*** again, or at least won’t be doing that again for the next 7 months. September may seem like enough time, but I have a feeling it’s going to sneak up on me before I know it. 

Three mile run on Sunday, with 15 min on the stair master, stair climber thingy from hell, lunges with 8 pound weights around the entire gym 3 times, triceps dips, bicep curls, then with the little energy I had left 3 sets of bend over rows. What didn’t help this process and contributed to me ending this hour long workout, the Duracell energy bunny actress working out at the same time, not very motivating, this bitch was all over the gym, just messing up all my focus and chi. Then the heifer decided stretch right next to me while I was stretching with every single inappropriate Yoga stretch possible. Which wouldn’t have been so bad, if we were the only people in the gym, literally just the two of us. After powering through abs, while stretching I took time for a few mental notes. #1 - I am going to hate myself in the morning, #2 - eating before working out is a good thing, because I was about ready to pass out. 

Waking up this morning it was confirmed…my body hates me. But, it’s ok, because it’s a good thing to wake up and yell out for God to please take the pain away. Maybe when my legs were a little wobbly going down stairs after my workout that was a sign? I will have to think on that later. Either way it was time to get up and do it all over again, but running late I couldn’t get in an entire workout, instead opted for a 3 mile run on the treadmill. Thing to remember when training for anything, your body recovers better than you realize. Mind over matter, after a bit of a stretch the only thing I worried about was the reminder that I am a little out of shape, and in the last 5 min of my run I could tell. But, I pushed on, upped the speed to 6.5 and made it work.

Now I just have to figure out how not to yell out in pain every time I need to leave my office to go to the restroom. 

It’s amazing the challenges a girl takes on to stay in shape. Some people add more salads to their diet and cut back on fast food, some join a gym, get a trainer, some even add a little more sex to their lifestyle (hey it burns calories too), but I’m a girl of extremes. I become a vegetarian and decide to do a triathlon. I like to think outside of the box.

Some people may think I’m a little nutty, but the idea of conquering something that is probably one of the most physically challenging activities athletically (marathon, eh not my thing, I’m a little vain when it comes to my feet) I can put my body through is pretty huge coming from a girl who couldn’t go outside for most of my childhood, because my allergies were so bad that if the pollen count was over 50% it would instantly trigger a nose bleed. To say I was a little dorky is an understatement. 

So here I go, on my journey of self-knowlege and fullfillment of my mind and body. The idea of swimming in the ocean makes my stomach a little queazy (I am still recovering from my “Seven Pounds” jelly fish moment 20 years ago in the murky waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maryland…the pain of it all still brings a tear to my eye). So I will take you with me on this journey, if nothing else maybe inspire others to take on challenges that they never thought they would accomplish. 

Let’s go!

One thing that some men can’t seem to grow out of is the need to show and tell about their penis. I get it, you have a big wang and you like to talk about it, I have a big chest and I like to show off the girls so why not right…wrong…so very wrong! I’m back in Nashville visiting my family and the thing that I love about coming home is all the attention I get, people haven’t seen me in a while so it’s the ultimate holiday, plus I’m in the South so plenty of eye candy to flirt with, but not all attention is good attention. And the only bad thing about being in the South and being single and 30 is the plethora of leftover dick. Don’t know what I mean, let me break it down. There are a few types of guys where I come from, the married guy, the guy with a girlfriend (she could also double as the baby-momma, either way he’s never leaving her, maybe just commitment phobic at the moment), the sexy and successful single guys that just haven’t found the right one (they are looking for the dime piece that doesn’t exist - because all of us have moved away ;-)), and the left over dick. The left over dick are the men who look pretty fine on the outside…on paper they would be a good catch if they didn’t have baggage, hoeish tendencies, after a conversation realize that there is not much going on upstairs, CRAZY!, are total assholes, or every now and again when they have had a few drinks like to whip out their cell phone and show a chick their dick.

Yes I said it, back in the day they would try to get you into a corner and just whip it out right there, as if a woman was going to salivate at the sight of the glory of it all. But with today’s technology, they have found new ways to disgust and shock. Unfortunately it’s always the jack ass with a nice sized member that wants to show you his goods (what a waste), and he might just have gotten some if he had just chilled out, shut up and looked pretty. Good game fellas is not showing a lady your penis, it’s just tacky and it makes you look like a 2 year old who just realized it’s there…”look Mommy that is where pee-pee and babies come from”.  

I had the unfortunate journey into this game of “show me your penis” last night. Apparently the guy thought that I would some how be wowed by the sight of it and cream in my pants. N***a I am a grown Woman, and I live in LA, between trips to West Hollywood and my luck for always dating guys who are really into pornography FYI I have seen plenty of penis…plenty! So at this point they all look the same. But it wasn’t just that, he made it a point to show me the picture that included some random chick that had either just finished or was ready to begin “sucking the brown off”. Classy! Oh the night didn’t end there…it just got better. 

I have come to realize that there is something about me that some guys see as a challenge that just makes them work harder. I say “you are an asshole” they say “you’re feisty, let me get your number”…huh? This “I practice the art of blue balling it till I can find a chick with low enough self-esteem” dumb ass says after showing me his photography…”so you coming home with me?” What the fuck are you even talking about right now you walking venereal disease? This madness has got to stop. Fellas, showing a girl your penis when you first meet her is not the way to her heart or her pussy, and for the stupid bitches that do fall for that (and there have to be a few because he has the confidence enough to think that it works) shame on you…for shame!!