Tag: lifestyle

Glimmers of My Future Life
beauty · life curation · luxury · relaxation · wine

Glimmers of My Future Life

MstldelanoLeave a comment

I completed a workshop a few days ago, and the goal of the entire program was to see my future life and lining up with that reality. Here’s the thing: if you have a vision, you can absolutely create it. But there’s a catch: you can unravel your dream by being unprepared and overwhelmed. The best way to create a dream life that you can sustain is to get ready for it now.

One of the exercises I completed was to bring an object from my future reality into my current world. I sat quietly and the idea came to me: champagne flutes. My future self always has something to celebrate, so she’d have gorgeous champagne flutes at the ready. I went ahead and ordered glasses from a collection named after one of my totem animals, the Black Swan.

JoyJolt Black Swan Champagne Glasses, Premium Crystal Glassware

I realized that my recent order history has several items that reflect my future self and what’s normal for her. I had essential oils that smell incredible and have cultural significance (both scents are Southern-inspired). I combined these to make a lusciously scented body oil. My future self is always glowing, hydrated and smelling fabulous.

Peach Premium Grade Fragrance Oil – Perfume Oil
P&J Trading Sweet Tobacco – Premium Grade Scented Oil

Speaking to my hydrated, silky-skinned future self, I also know that maintaining the softness of my skin is a priority, both now and in the future. So I invest regularly in exfoliating products and debriding creams. I re-purchased my debriding cream recently (I just finished up my supply), and I will be repurchasing my facial exfoliating pads if I don’t get the result I desire from some of the other exfoliating products I want to try.

PurOrganica Urea 40 Percent Foot Cream – Bundle with Pumice Stone and Brush

Finally, my future self is prepared for emergencies and makes sure that herself and her family. My future self isn’t undertaking this responsibility by herself (my future husband is at my side, being even more prepared than I am!) But, having emergency supplies always ready is something she prioritizes. I ordered some additional “bug out” bags a few days ago, for my grandmother and her sister (I already have some at my house).

Ready America 72 Hour Emergency Kit, 4-Person, 3-Day Backpack

Those are some of the glimmers of my future self, as well as little ways that I’m acclimating to my dream life. How have you all been injecting little bits of your “dream life” into your current reality? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!

*This post contains affiliate links.

business · writing

Writers Wednesdays – March Writing Accomplishments

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It’s time for another writing accomplishment update! I have some good news and some not so good news (nothing life-changing or devastating, just a little disappointing) about my writing practice. Let’s dive in!

Photo by OVAN on Pexels.com

The good news is, I worked on my book in the month of March, and, as of the time of this post, I’ve edited more than 70% of it! If I’m diligent, I can be done with this first round of edits by mid-May. Then I can put the book down fora bit, then come back to it for Round 2 of my edits. I am so happy to see some progress on this work!

The not so good news comes down to two things: firstly, the amount of time I spent editing in March, and secondly, the gaps that need to be addressed in the story. I did my last edit on March 14, because my life suddenly got much busier (if you saw my Monday post, you’ll hear part of what was happening in my world). So, while I understand why I spent less time editing, I was still a little disappointed that I lost some of that precious editing time. The disappointment has passed (thankfully) but I learned a valuable lesson: even a few minutes of work on my book every day will feel better than thinking I’ve lost a block of time.

The second point refers to something that isn’t great for my editing timeline but a fantastic “find” when it comes to the story. I uncovered multiple “gaps” in the story that need to be addressed either directly or indirectly. I’m thankful for the editing process, which helps me to see where my story can be improved, but I know that this adds quite a bit of time to my timeline (hence the mid-May completed editing goal). I’m okay with that, since the discovery of these gaps will help make my story much smoother and cohesive.

That’s my writing updates for the month, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this all comes together in the next few weeks (mid-May will be here before you know it!) Take care friends, and I’ll talk to you all soon!

Get Ready With Me – Trying Makeup From The Beem Box
beauty · life curation · luxury · style

Get Ready With Me – Trying Makeup From The Beem Box

MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Monday, friends! I hope you all have been doing well. I took a little blog break because my offline life was crazy for a few weeks. That being said, I decided to do a video putting on my makeup and discussing what’s been happening in my world. As a bonus, I used products from previous Beem Boxes. I’ve mentioned Beem Box in other posts (like this one and this one) and I was really excited to show how certain products looked on my skin.

Enjoy, and I’ll be back with more content tomorrow. Take care!

beauty

Spring is Here! Let’s Try New Perfumes!

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Happy Monday, my friends! Today is the second day of spring, and I’m so happy to be enjoying these warmer days. The past few days were consistently warm, and left me so hopeful about the fact that my favorite season, summer, is on its way and will be here soon!

I’m going to have some spring themed videos for the next few weeks, discussing fragrances, clothing, beverages, and hobbies (like gardening). This week, I’ll share some of my perfume videos, as well as my most recent video, highlighting a fragrance that is perfect for this season.

Earlier today, I posted a video reviewing CLEAN Rain Reserve, a fragrance that is ideal for this season, as well as the summer. It’s fresh, floral and conveys a lot of watery notes, making the fragrance profile “light” enough for warmer days.

Last week, I posted a different perfume review. This review featured MIX:BAR scents, a collection of fragrances that are made for layering and customizing into your own signature aroma. This discovery set has a 5 different scents, but I’ll note that Tangerine Squeeze, Glass Rose and Coconut Palm, in particular, are lovely for warmer days.

A slightly older video that I posted is this one featuring another CLEAN fragrance: this time, it was Solar Bloom, which I didn’t really like, but you may find it to be wearable for you. It made me think of hair grease (you’ll have to watch the video to see what I mean).

There are more fragrance reviews over on my channel, but these three are great if you’re looking for a starting point for researching which scent is perfect for the springtime.

Do you have my favorite fragrances? I’d love to hear all about them!

art · beauty · style

Three Easy Ways to Clarify and Confirm Your Kibbe Style ID

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Last year, I posted about my Kibbe style ID and some of the revelations that I had related to that. After I published that post, I realized that some of my readers may find the Kibbe system confusing and even a bit overwhelming. I had some subsequent posts about the Kibbe system (like this one and this one) but these may not be clear enough for someone that is hearing about the system for the first time. Admittedly, I had no problem interpreting my original results from doing the self-typing test, but I can imagine how someone with no experience with analyzing their bone structure and flesh may not be able to come up with a conclusive answer.

I checked out a few videos that attempted to clarify how to get a good set of Kibbe results, but I found that there are a few other things that you can try to give you more clarity on what your true style ID is. Here are three things that you can try, to get a better “guess” of your Kibbe type.

Reface yourself with a celebrity that shares your Kibbe style ID. I stumbled across this method when I was curious about trying a new hairstyle. While playing around on the app, I refaced myself as Marion Cotillard, Teyonah Parris (an unconfirmed Kibbe SC), Grace Kelly, Veronica Lake and Dita Von Teese (another unconfirmed Kibbe SC). At the end, I noticed that I looked more seamless when I refaced as a SC. But, when I refaced myself as Dorothy Dandridge (Kibbe Theatrical Romantic), Halle Berry (Kibbe Soft Gamine) and Diahann Carroll (Kibbe Soft Dramatic). While the final videos were cute, none of them looked as “true to me” as the SC Refaced clips.

Get a friend to do the test for you. Sometimes, we cannot see ourselves accurately. In fact, one blogger than I came across recently couldn’t see her own type, though quite a few of her readers advised her of what they suspected her Kibbe ID was. After many months of experimenting, she finally determined that yes, her readers were correct and had typed her accurately. What you may want to do is get a friend (or two) to complete the Kibbe ID test for you. Though David Kibbe no longer recommends the test as a way to get an accurate interpretation of your body’s lines, the test is not completely inaccurate, and having your friends complete the test based on what they observe about your body can be tremendously helpful in getting a more objective understanding of your personal lines.

Try the “squint” method. Instead of looking at your physique head on, try squinting to give a less defined but more wholistic view of your body. Sometimes, zooming out and blurring the fine details can help you take in the overall silhouette. It may not be the surest method for determining your style ID, but it can help with getting a better sense of your shape.

Those are my three tips for finding your Kibbe style ID when you’re struggling with identifying your body type. I hope these tips can help! Take care, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

health · life curation

Fibro Friday – Let’s Talk About Soursop

MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Fibro Friday! I hope you all have had a great week. I’m recovering from a mild flare and I’m finally coming out of it, which makes me happy. This is one of those unavoidable things that comes with fibro: even when you’ve done your best to manage your symptoms, you may still have occasional flares. My flare was triggered by inconsistent weather patterns, because when the air goes from hot to cool to warm to cold, my body goes haywire.

Part of what really helps with my flare is getting enough rest, but, as you all know, rest can be challenging when you have fibro. One of the things I use to help get deeper, more restorative sleep is soursop leaf tea. There are a lot of benefits that you can reap from drinking soursop leaf tea, because it’s a highly nutritious plant. The fruit of the soursop plant is delicious and there is a strong case for it being antibacterial, antimicrobial, and anticarcinogenic. But we’re not talking about the fruit: the leaves are what interest me most (when it comes to fibro).

I first learned about soursop leaf tea from Debbie over at The Jamaican Cooking Journey. I’m inserting her video about soursop tea for your convenience:

When she mentioned that soursop tea is good for your nerves, I knew I had to try it! So I did, and I’m so glad that I took a chance on it. It helps me to sleep like a baby! Remeber, fibromyalgia is a neurological issue, not a musculoskeletal one, so by address nerve dysfunction, you can reduce or eliminate most of your symptoms.

Because I love science, here are some articles about soursop (graviola) that are worth checking out: WebMD article; Anti-microbial Efficacy of Soursop Leaf Extract (Annona muricata) on Oral Pathogens: An In-vitro Study; Anticancer Properties of Graviola (Annona muricata): A Comprehensive Mechanistic Review. I believe in doing due diligence and seeing what the science says, and I encourage you all to do the same.

I am posting my video that I did on this topic, and in that video, I share my results from consuming soursop leaf tea:

Please note, I am not a doctor and I’m not offering medical advice or solutions. That being said, I’ve enjoyed using soursop leaf tea as part of my regimen to encourage deeper and more restorative sleep. Try it and let me know your results!

finance · goals · luxury

My First Purchase – and Sale – of Bitcoin

MstldelanoLeave a comment

Do you all remember when I said that I wanted to bring some deeper topics to this blog? I said that back in 2021, when I made a list of the types of discussions I want to do on this blog. In that post, I said that financial chats would be part of my 2022 postings, and here I am, ready to talk money!

I purchased Bitcoin for the first time ever in the past 18 months (I was late to the trend, though I knew how it worked and was interested in experimenting with this as a way to diversify my investments). You may recall that I wrote about Bitcoin in a post from 2018.I’d been contemplating investing since before I wrote the post, but I finally pulled the trigger and invested. Then, after a few months, I pulled out *some* of my investment. I needed to redirect that money toward one of my home renovation projects, and that felt like a better investment for me at this time.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I used CashApp to purchase my Bitcoin, though you can purchase cryptocurrency on a number of different platforms. If you want to invest in crypto of any sort, your best bet is to do a lot of research on the investment vehicle that you’ve chosen, and get clear on your hold/fold thresholds (what amount of loss you’re willing to tolerate, what amount of gains are comfortable before you start feeling antsy about possible future loss, and what amount you can reach before you cash out). Crypto investing is just like any other investment, so you can walk away whenever you want.

Since I sold a portion of my Bitcoin, I have to do additional research on how to properly report the sale on my tax return. I submitted my return before I got a (delinquent) income statement, so I have to amend it anyways, so this is a good time to get more familiar with how I should report my crypto sale. I took a crypto loss last year, so whatever crypto amounts end up being reported shouldn’t create an additional liability. It’ll be interested to see the further legislation that comes out regarding cryptocurrency, since this is a medium of exchange that will continue to grow, expand, and become more widely accepted.

That’s my little tale of how I forayed into the world of crypto. Over on my finance website, I plan to discuss these sorts of things more often (I’ll actually be adding more details and resharing this post over on there by the end of this week). If you have any crypto questions, I’m happy to direct you to the same resources that I use. In these days and times, there is nothing more important than knowing your options and using these options deftly. And the only way to do that is to read, learn, and try it for yourself.

That’s it for today! I hope you all are doing well. Take care, and I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!

books · writing

Writers Wednesday – Latest Writing Updates

MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Writer’s Wednesday! I’m so happy to share these updates because I’ve been deep in the throes of embracing the lifestyle of a writer. Part of my journey is continuously stepping into my future self, and being a successful writer is part of the experience that I’m creating for myself.

I’m working on editing two of my older works. I want to give you all a deadline of when these will be read, but that’s so unrealistic for me at this point. I’ll just announce when it’s done, and we’ll all celebrate together when it happens! I’m really happy that one of them is (at the time that I write this) 70% edited. I have had this story in my files for nearly 10 years! I’m eager to polish it up and then offer it to the world.

I also have two works in progress (WIPs) that are still in their infancy. But, I’ve been very cautious about leaping into new projects related to writing, because I have a history of strong starts and nonexistent endings. So I think about the stories but I don’t invest a lot of time into writing them out, because if I did, I’d take too much energy that should be devoted to finishing one of my WIPs that is further along in the process.

Anyhoo . . . I did a video about my latest writing projects. You can see it below:

Also, if becoming a writing is something that you’ve always wanted to do, but you have some other stuff you’re trying to resolve first (sometimes we don’t have the bandwidth for our dreams because our lives are overwhelmingly busy or stressful), here’s a tool for you. Check out my Create Your Vision journal collection: these can walk you through the process of creating more space for your dreams and stepping into your dream life.

That’s it for today! How has your writing journey been going? I’d love to hear all about it!

*This post contains affiliate links.

Fibro Friday: Managing Inflammation with Turmeric
health

Fibro Friday: Managing Inflammation with Turmeric

MstldelanoLeave a comment

Happy Fibro Friday! I hope your week was great, and I hope your upcoming weekend is even better!

Over the past few months, I’ve been keeping close tabs on my fibromyalgia: I’m looking out for new (or recurring) symptoms, any difficulties in recovering after flares, or other changes that may be worth noting. I keep up with these because I stopped using prescription medication a few months back, and this is my first time – since my diagnosis – observing how fibro shows up in my daily life when managed through other methods.

As part of my symptom (and overall health) management, I’ve been incorporating supplements that promise to reduce pain and inflammation in the body. While fibro is not an autoimmune condition, nor is it a condition that is typically associated with inflammation, my research confirmed that inflammatory conditions exist in most people’s bodies, and most of us benefit from the reduction of inflammation. For this reason, I decided to add turmeric into my daily supplements.

I opted for a liquid supplement, and, since my flexible spending plan covers glucosamine and chondroitin products, I got a glucosamine supplement that also included turmeric (2 for 1!). I have thoughts on glucosamine products that I won’t share today, but I’ll touch on that in a future video. Anyways, back to turmeric: I decided to use Tropical Oasis Joint Complete Premium Plus- Liquid Joint Support Supplement w/Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM, Plus 800mg Turmeric Curcumin. I took this product for more than 30 days, and I did this consistently, just so that I can confirm whether I have gotten any results.

Here is my YouTube video discussing fibro and inflammation:

And here’s a YouTube video that I posted earlier today, discussing the outcome of my experiment:

I have to conclude that, while I didn’t notice an immediate or drastic difference in how I felt, I compared the way I felt to how I usually feel in the winter season and I took note of what symptoms were present, missing or mitigated. In previous winters, I am extraordinarily achy, tired and suffer from mild flu-like symptoms, even while taking prescription medication. However, this year, I only felt a little tired and very few aches. I only noticed flu-like symptoms when I actually had the flu (you can read about that ordeal here). So, comparing this year to prior years is the best metric I have, and I can confidently that adding turmeric was a good move for me. I didn’t feel the normal winter “slump” that I usually experience, and I found myself needing less down time when I felt a little tired. I also started adding another supplement into my rotation (more about that next week) and that has been making a difference, too, though I only added that in toward the end of the turmeric experiment, well after I determined how effective the turmeric was for me.

I’m also considering adding in a different turmeric supplement to see if I have different results. I’m thinking I’ll choose between Qunol Liquid Turmeric Curcumin with Black Pepper, Dr. Mercola Organic Fermented Turmeric, Turmeric Gummies for Adults & Kids with Ginger & Black Pepper Extract, or I may try something completely different. You’ll just have to stick around to see what I choose!

That’s it for today. I hope you all have a great Friday and a fantastic weekend! Take care, and I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!

*This post contains affiliate links.