"Feet, why do I need them if I have wings to fly?"-Frida Kahlo

Happy EARTH Day...

Please help take care of the Earth it's so amazing and beautiful, it's home to a plethora of beings, it's our home, the only one we have!... Click here for things to do in NYC to celebrate Earth Day with your kids. Also, check out The Nature Consrevancy's website, it provides great information and please donate if you feel inspired, donate wherever you feel comfortable. FYI-The Nature Conservancy holds Charity Navigator's highest rating.
And remember every effort, as minute as it may seem, helps the cause!...God bless.
What do you do on a daily basis to help take care of our beautiful home, share with us ;-), if you will...

"I'm nice like that..."

R.I.P. GURU (of Gangstarr)...Guru, along with DJ premiere and Primo, brought a new dimension to hip-hop, his raw yet jazzy and smooth creative approach really is one of the many reasons I LOVE  and will always love Hip-Hop. If you haven't heard any his music start with this(if you're a fan, you already know), Guru was a powerful lyricist, you'll know what I mean when you listen to him, click here, for one of my favorite tracks- FULL CLIP (it was hard to pick one), it was released back in '99, still hot!!! But don't stop there, he was very prolific, venturing into jazz with Jazzmatazz, he was ill!...God bless!

WOrk that CORE...

Summer is approaching rapidly ladies, we have to get our tummy's tight and right! Click here for an effective 10 minute ab blaster courtesy of Exercisetv...Have a blessed one!

Plant, anyone?...

I'm all about  keeping my home clean and green, literally and figuratively. One of the easiest ways to help keep your indoor air quality at a healthy level is to bring in easy to care for plants. Personally, I like Philodendrons and Ivi's, they are easy to care for and don't need much sunlight, also they are the only ones I haven't killed off. The NYtimes had a short and sweet slide show detailing some of the best indoor plants, i love all of them! Take a look, click here...

Soulful, Creative, Dark...

For some reason Alexander McQueen, the designer,  is heavy on my mind today. So, I decided to write about him...I'm not exactly sure why he's on my mind, yes I was both sad and intrigued when I read that he had passed on and by way of suicide at that, so so sad. It could be because i'm starting to really tap into the creative chamber of my soul and with that comes a flood of emotions-happy, amazed, somber, melancholy, angry-to name a few. He created beautiful, raw, impacting statements inspired by everything from politics to sociology through his fashion designs. Furthermore, he was truly a talented designer, mastering different aspects of the creation process from tailoring to pattern cutting. Something rarely seen in these times. A true artist...
Now, just for the record, I'm not a fashion junkie by any means much less a serious follower of high fashion (these days I can't even afford to look that way) but I do deeply appreciate creativity and elegant aesthetic; And that he was, along with funny, witty, romantic, sensitive, tough, complex, soulful, and dark all rolled in one, much like a lot of us. He absolutely had an allure about him, he's one of those individuals who was born to do what he did-impress, shock, and wow us with his visionary and avant-garde approach to fashion. What a sad end, to his story though, I wish he could have held on. Yes, the journey gets tough at times, some stretches longer than others but life is a gift and it's not our business to end it. But it is our business to make the best of it, give it all we got, and stay humble. God will always carry us through, believe that!

Here are some links which I found good reads...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/fashion/04mcqueen.html?scp=2&sq=alexander%20mcqueen&st=cse
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/fashion/04mcqueen.html?scp=2&sq=alexander%20mcqueen&st=cse
 Another intriguing soul of the fashion world, Isabella Blow, his muse of many years...
http://nymag.com/news/features/34732/

Morning yoga...

I may have posted this video already, if I did, my apologies, it's the baby brain(yes, i'm still riding with the whole baby brain thing 18months later)...This quick vid. energizes and centers my thought process as I get ready to tackle the day ahead, I hope it serves a positive purpose for you as well...Have an amazing day, God bless!

Click here to access the video, thanks exercisetv!

Awareness...

It's incredible how some of us can go through life and not be AWARE-clear, sensitive, and conscious of life's individual moments and of the being's in our life's- of what is really going on around us. Up until I had my son, the concept of being aware had not even surfaced in my frame of thinking; but once I became a mama the word totally came to life for me. As much as I'd experienced, loved, lost, conquered, traveled, accomplished, dreamed, wished, etc., for 28 years i'd been sleep walking. Quite a feat considering what i've gone through and even though hard times have not stopped knocking 'round here, the ride has been much less turbulent now that I'm aware of life...One of the many important pieces to the puzzle that is  my life is my yoga practice, even if I only devote 10 minutes a day to it (some days that's about all the time I have for myself) it brings me a deep sense of harmony and you guessed it awareness ;-). It helps me connect a little deeper to my body (muscles, tendons, bones hard at work), my consciousness, my loved ones, to the broader world around me, and to God. Seems like a lot from such a seemingly simple act; that is the irony of life.
Yogajournal recently had a good post on Yoga and Awareness, it's an insightful yet quick read. I'm copying and pasting from my email, I can't seem to link directly to the article, only the website. You can access the website by clicking on the title above.

Be Inspired

Our asana practice can have a positive impact on our lives because it constantly asks us to become more sensitive, more conscious, and more aware of our bodies, minds, feelings, and emotions. As our sensitivity increases, life becomes more rich and enjoyable because we can taste the unique flavor of each individual moment. More important, we also become more aware of what moves us toward our dharma, or life path, and what takes us away from it. This awareness makes us clearer and more peaceful, more able to elegantly handle life's endless dilemmas without feeling overwhelmed or fearful. As a result, we become more effective in all of our actions, and our presence begins to inspire and bring out the best in people around us.

The awareness that we develop on the yoga mat, though seemingly small, affects all that is. As we become more aware in our yoga practice and in our lives, as we move away from force and violence and toward sensitivity, feeling, and awareness, we change our individual consciousness and actions. In turn, these changes influence the consciousness and the actions of everyone we meet. Slowly, we shift the direction the world is taking. As we practice each asana, whether it be a challenging twist such as Ardha Matsyendrasana II (Half Lord of the Fishes II Pose) or a simple standing pose such as Tadasana (Mountain Pose), we have the opportunity to become the embodiment of peace and to make our practice a prayer for harmony in the world.

Share your thoughts with me...God bless!

Blending Organic Oils...

I've been looking for short, clear, and concise info. on how to blend essential oils for beauty and body use and I finally found it, yay, here's the link! I like to make my own beauty/bath/body and my own home cleaner's, for that matter, and this little conversion table/guide on blending essential oils is just what I needed, now I can be a little more adventurous ;-). For my next project I'm going to be blending some oils to use as an after bath moisturizer for my little fat boi(my son jordan). I've been using Weleda's Calendula oil(i will be attempting to make my own as well) on him since he was born and I love it, his skin loves it. Calendula really nurtures, heals, and hydrates the skin and it's worked on his minor diaper rashes. It's worth a try if you haven't already. However, I want to change it up a bit now that he's older and his skin is not as sensitive (as a newborn). There are myriad ingredients in the natural world to choose from, I'm excited! I will keep you posted on my journey, I'll post recipes as well...God bless!

Processed...

That is exactly how I felt after seeing my doctor this past week, PROCESSED. I went in hopeful and positive (I haven't found one doctor in my life thus far that I feel is kind, caring, wise, professional all in one) and totally maintained my composure when I realized that the lady sitting in front of me in the labcoat was not LISTENING to me, nor did she care to expand on what I was communicating to her. It was not necessarily a short visit but I still came away feeling cheated, confused, annnoyed, etc. I am soooo over the whole health care situation going on this country and I am definitely over the whole medical profession! Is it because I have medicaid (I'm so grateful for medicaid but I feel so judged and poorly treated simply because I have it)?
You see, I have been afflicted with this weird scary chronic(everyday for the past year) dermatitis which affects me everywhere on my body at random(or so I think) times throughout the day. MY symptoms include-Burning sensation, redness, swelling(it looks like welts of some sort) of the red area, sometimes bruising (once the redness and swelling go away), and itchiness of course. I have no answer as to what might be causing it, the doctor had very little to say, except for recommending that I take a low dosage of loratidine (generic claritin) everyday for a month, oh and for me to keep a symptom journal(the one good suggestion she gave me), and to go back and see her in a month. I have some very serious apprehensions(I prefer to try and figure out exactly what's ailing me and treat it with homeopathic, ayurvedic, or herbal medicine) about taking loratidine even though I know there are no major side effects associated with it; I don't trust the FDA or the pharmaceutical companies, so I really focus on staying healthy and exhausting all my natural medicine options before I turn to pharmocology, but I decided to work with her and take her suggestions. Oh, and I also developed eczema(both conditions arose after five months of giving birth) on the back of my neck going into to my shoulders and back and as well as on my lower back, I must admit, I'm managing it so i'm not in need of medication. Organic shea butter, tea tree, and other organic oils as well as not exposing the affected parts of my skin to a lot of water, help keep my eczema under control. However, I wanted her to expand more on the condition or tell me whether it might keep spreading (it's making me feel very self-conscious with the skin discoloration brought on by the eczema), and other useful information, but I got very short run-of-the mill answers, in my opinion. I have high expectations of the people I trust to help keep me healthy, I try and do my best to keep myself and my family healthy as well; I never go in expecting them to work miracles (I trust on God for those) and I have a lot of respect and appreciation for the work they do, why are these health care un-professionals so jaded? It's daunting at times.
Anyway, excuse my rant, I'm just very frustrated and I know that a lot of you are dealing or have dealt with similar and worst experiences, I empathize and I know you will also. I am starting my journal as of Monday and will update you once I see my doc again in a month, let's see where she goes with this. In the mean time, I am going to see a private dermatologist (soon, I hope, the rates here in the city are outrageous) and I'm hoping to also start acupuncture treatments, I'll report on how it goes.

Please leave me your comments/suggestions/rants...Have an amazingly blessed EASTER weekend, take God's love in, it feels amazing!!!!!

Blogging Insight...

Beth feldman, of Rolemommy (a must read site for all moms), posted a straightforward, clear, and insightful article regarding the blogging community and the whole PR Marketing aspect of this ever evolving social outlet. Should i get paid for reviews, for participating in focus groups/retreats, or for simply posting about a specific brand? If you've been pondering these questions, Beth has direct answers for you! Click here to access the post and check the site overall, it's a wonderful online community...Wishing you all a blessed day!