Happy birthday from America!

So my older brother T is in the Air Force. And we was recently deployed to a far away land. ***sad face*** The good news though is that we can still talk on the phone, FB, and Skype! Thank God for technology, right? His birthday is this month (just a couple more weeks!) And my mom and I while out running errands and hanging out the other day stopped to get birthday cards to send him. She picked the usual sentimental card with heartwarming words and lovely cursive writing. And I picked out a card intended for old people (60+) that I thought would be really funny! I'm not sure when exactly it'll get to him but I'm sure he'll have them well before his actual birthday. 

I miss him.

Last time I saw him was last Christmas, my sisters and I went on a road trip to Idaho to spend the holidays with him, our sis-in-law L, and baby N. GOOD TIMES! And I saw the snow for the first time in my life! Christmas ain't legit unless there's snow. I'm hoping that between now and December I can fly up to Idaho to spend some much needed quality time with my sis L!! With this new job I'll have to find some time in my schedule for a lil vacay. We shall see...

Turning my self-hate into self-love

I hate my skin because it's too dark. I wanna be lighter. All the pretty girls have light skin.

NO, I love my skin because it keeps me from getting sunburns (holla if you got that melanin!)

I hate my height, I  feel like a giraffe. I wanna be small and cute.

NO I love being tall because I can reach most of the cabinets in my house.

I hate being so thin, I wish I had curves like a women.

NO, I love my body because despite its size - it is HEALTHY and skinny women are real women too!

I hate my name, it's so ugly why couldn't I have been born with a prettier name?

NO I love my name because it has meaning. It was picked out just for me by two people who love me most in this world, my parents. 

I hate my nose, it's too big for my face.

NO I love my nose because it's the same nose that identifies me as a part of this family. Just like my body or my last name, and my facial features.

I hate my scars, they're so hideous and embarrassing.

NO I love my scars. They are a daily reminder that wounds internal and external do heal. That I am stronger than my circumstances with God on my side.

I hate my hair, if I had straight hair my life would be perfect.

NO I love my frizzy natural curls. It's beautiful and shows the world where my roots come from without having to say a word.

There is so much your body is capable of! Why not focus on that? Your body is what's kept you alive thus far. This is what connects you to your family. How you express yourself. How you showcase your feelings and your personality without saying a word. Everyday you use your beautiful lips to speak, your intelligent mind to find solutions, your legs to dance, arms to hug, and your eyes to see this glorious world! Be thankful!! Don't take your body for granted! Take care of yourself, nourish yourself, learn more, love more, do more, be more.

Turn your self-hate into self-love

A piece of advice, actually two and a half pieces of advice.

Thursday, September 5: Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

I say 'two and a half' because the first two sort of melt into each other. 

***fun fact: I actually have the first bit of advice printed and strategically placed in various spots in my house.*** 

Source: praises.tumblr.com

Source: unknown

Source: 1959 school newsletter

3 month vacation... from my life

Wednesday, September 4: If you could take three months off from your current life and do anything in the world, what would you do?

Assuming that I'd have the money and transportation to do so, I would do all the things that I'd like a redo of or missed out on as a teenager. It's nothing huge, I did a lot of fun stuff. But there's things that I just didn't get to do because of school, time, and money. Plus the fact that I couldn't drive and didn't have a job which equals no money so my options were limited. And there's always some things that weren't what you wanted it to be the first time around. Things like:

• Skip school and go to driving (I'm not in school anymore, but it'd be nice to take a spontaneous drive anywhere)
• Go to a karaoke bar with friends ( I've done it ONCE, but we didn't do it right... redo please!)
• Sit on rooftops
• Go camping again
• Build forts with friends and have a sleepover
• Ride every ride at the amusement park
• Go to prom (lol I went to senior prom, but because of the fact that ours was on a boat and I was sea-sick I'd very much like a do over!!)

And there's a lot of other things I'd probably want to do besides just stuff I'd missed out on. Like sit around and do absolutely nothing for a week... or 3. Go for a week or so without tv or social media or ANY internet at all. Spend as much time as I possibly can going to new places. I live in what I guess you could call 'the city' and yet I've never really explored it at all. Really get out there and just take in all the sights, sounds, buildings, and people.

I'd spend days just creating. Immersing myself in all things creative- writing, drawing, painting, singing, dancing. I mean I suppose I can and do spend time doing those things now but with all the everyday obligations and responsibilities there's just not enough time in the day to do everything I want, you know?

That's how I'd spend my 3 month vacation.

Floral headpiece tutorial

 1: Take some fake flowers of your choice ( I used my moms flower arrangement shhhh!). They don't have to be all the same flower but mine are. Also, it doesn't really matter how many, the more flowers you choose the wider and fuller it will be. I chose about 7 medium sized flowers. Snip off and discard all of the wires, stems and plastic backings so you're just left with the actual flowers.

2: Take some embroidery floss (or an old flexible headband) in any color of your choice. I chose brown because it matches my hair. Measure the desired length of your headpiece. For a full headband measure all the way around your head, for half measure half-way around your head, and so on. Mine isn't quite half way around my head, more like 3/4 of the way or about 7 inches long. Cut 9 stands of the desired length and set aside.

3: Whip out your glue-gun and heat it up!

 4: Take the 9 strands of floss, tie a knot in one end, separate into sections of 3 and braid it up tight. Once you reach the other end tie another knot. Take your flowers that you've chosen and arrange to your liking. 

5: Once arranged and your glue gun is ready to go carefully take each flower one by one and glue to your headpiece. 

6: Allow a few minutes to pass as the glue cools off and solidifies. 

(not pictured)

7: There are a few different ways to attach clips or pins. You can take 2 bobby pins or hair clips of your choice and glue them to both ends... Or if you're lazy like me you can leave it as is, do you hair however you want and simply tuck the ends of the headpiece into your hair and simply secure the ends with a bobby pin on each end.

Voila! Enjoy :)