A New Year

For my family, friends and all who come across this post.

Happy 2012

2012

I welcome 2012 with open arms. I'm very excited about the coming new year, I have so much planned, so many exciting things and ideas to bring to life. I can't wait to share my life this coming year.

2011 was a great year, 2012 is going to be even better.

Photo a Day

Source: Fatmumslim

Come January 1st I'll be joining Chantelle of Fatmumslim and a few other bloggers in a photo a day challenge for the entire month of January.

I'm very excited about this challenge for two reasons:

 1. I love taking photos and

 2. I will be getting a new camera soon

You can join us and share in the fun. 

Post photos to Facebook, Twitter, your blog or where ever you choose.

Have a look at Fatmumslim to see the how to's of the challenge.

So stay tuned for the photos (I just hope I can keep up every day).

Much love

Season's Greetings

Happy Holidays to all.

Greeting card courtesy  Share Holidays

Busy as a Bee

The Christmas hustle and bustle has officially started for me, and I must say, there is no enthusiasm at all. There is cleaning, painting, shopping, packing and organizing to be done. 

These are some of the things I'm not to thrilled about doing, but guess what. I do it for my family, because come Christmas morning when I awake, all the hustle and bustle would have been wroth it.


Make the best of the season, and enjoy it.

The people who matter the most

Two Saturdays ago, I had the best ever weekend in a long while. I absolutely love, enjoy and cherish spending time with my family.

My family on my dad's side had a small family get together at my Grand-mom's house. She's our matriarch, a strong woman, a woman we deeply admire.

This side of the family is extremely large, so “small gatherings” aren't so small. My Grand mom had 12 kids, from whom she got 40 plus grand kids and a growing number of great grandchildren.

We also celebrated my mom's birthday as well; I must say she is aging gracefully.

Mom and me

We had a fun filled day with good food, homemade ice cream and a cooler of drinks.

My dad, as always being the center of attention, entertained us with endless stories from when they were younger. Coming to think of it, even though we've had endless family get-together's, we've never really heard the same story twice.

So while my dad entertained his siblings and the more mature folks downstairs, we the "young people" (average ages 18 to 35yrs) had some very simulating conversations in my Grand-mom's living room. The two which were the most enjoyable and knowledgeable were on Spirituality/Religion and roles of the husband vs. wife. There were differences in opinions and perspective and we shared stories to support our opinions. 

However the thing I admired the most is that we had these discussions without any anger or vexation towards one another for the differences in beliefs and opinions. We were respectful and open minded to the other's choices and views on the topics.

I must say that these conversations have been the most thought provoking I've had in a while and I'm proud of the way we handled it. It shows that we are maturing. We are no longer the Galera girls and boys; we are the Galera women and men. We are the third generation of Galera's and our name will remain strong for generations to come. We represent strength, intelligence and beauty.

What's your Status?

Do you know your HIV AIDS status?

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is one of the leading infectious killer diseases. It affects the lives of infected persons, as well as their families and friends. This disease has no boundaries; it affects all races, genders, the rich and the poor alike, unborn babies, teenagers and the old aged.

The World Health Organization claims that over 25 million lives has been lost over the last 30 years, and in 2010 there were approximately 34 million people living with HIV. 

There are a lot of online resources to educate ourselves such as, HIVAware, World AIDS Day and the RED RIBBON FOUNDATION. The WHO recently published  Progress report 2011: Global HIV/AIDS response.

HIV AIDS is not a friend; it is a deadly disease that destroys lives and families. It is a disease that has caused stigmatization and discrimination.

Lets all do our part to prevent the spread of HIV. We can simply start by knowing our status and by not having unprotected sex. Remember condoms, when used correctly are life savers. But this alone does not stop the spread; this along with education can control this deadly disease from controlling our lives, the lives of our loved ones, our friends and our families. So lets us do our part.

Source of pictures: Graphics Hunt 

Be safe, educate and protect.

Outfit Of The Day: I Made Skirts

My first blog entry was bout me being inspired by a designer and some fabric. So today I'm here to share with you, one of my creations. Using two of the three fabrics I bought I made two skirts, both with broad waist bands. One of the skirts is 30 inch and the other is 21 inch.

This project  brought back memories of me taking scraps of cloth from the bin after my mom had finished sewing an item for a customer. Those days scraps could have given me a top, which required no measurements, just a vision of how I wanted it,  and a rough, free hand pattern. Gone are those days.

I thank my mom tremendously for teaching me the basics of sewing, how to draft and sew a straight skirt, a basic top, straight dress and shorts.

It has been so long since I've tried my hand at sewing garments that I made some errors, but they're not visible and I'm not telling where they are...lol.

I see endless outfit possibilities with these two pieces (church, meetings, liming etc).

This outfit comprised of the 30 inch skirt. I wore this to church.

Hurry up and take the picture. lol

This was just an extra effort, I made a brooch/hair accessory from scraps of the fabric.

Blessings,

Soup for a rainy day

I was a bit under the weather today, both literally and figuratively. Solid food was my enemy this weekend. So to soothe my appetite and aching stomach, I made myself some soup. However, currently being on a vegetarian diet, I decided some cabbage soup would hit the spot.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onions
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 a large green pepper
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 1 container (10 oz. or so) mushrooms
• 1 bunch of celery
• half a head of cabbage
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 packet Maggi all purpose seasoning
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 cups water
• Season to taste with salt and pepper

I didn't have fresh mushrooms so I opted for canned.

I cut all my veggies into bite sized pieces. I eventually did not use the whole tomato (I wasn't in the mood for pieces of tomato), but added 1 tablespoon of tomato paste instead.

I finely chopped the garlic and sautéed it in the olive oil. I then added all the veggies, the tomato paste, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and the maggi seasoning.

I sautéed the veggies for about 5 mins, then added 4 cups of water to the pot.

I then covered the pot and let simmer for an hour.

This meal took a while to make, but I loved the simple flavour, and the cayenne added the right amount of heat for this cold, rainy day.

Please try this recipe, feel free to add and omit as you like. Experiment with different spices to make this your own.

Enjoy

Hey You Beautiful

quote from just-smileology

There are days when I'm feeling a bit down and I need a friend. Some who'll say these truthful words to me, to remind me of who I am.

Their  reward will be a gigantic smile on my beautiful face.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Today concludes the month internationally known as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But does the awareness end there? 

For me the answer is no. As women we should always be aware of our health. We are often seen as the backbone of society; we are mothers, teachers, wives and nurturers. We are the persons whom many depend on. Therefore our health is of utmost importance. Breast cancer not only affects us as individuals, it affects our families and our lives.

I am very certain many of us can identify someone we know who has been afflicted by breast cancer, an aunt, sister, cousin, neighbour, your friend sister's co worker. Early detection and treatment is key in surviving breast cancer, so get up and get screening done. Perform self checks on yourself while in the shower check your breast, your armpits and up to your collarbone. Ask your doctor about having a mammogram done, protect your future and the quality of life of your family. 

Support the causes, spread the word, participate in walks, awareness sessions, purchase ribbons, donate and help in whatever way you can. Educate yourself and others.  There are many websites with a lots of useful information such as http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/ and http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/ to name a few.

I've even come across an e-booklet (these are free to download) with a lot of comprehensive information, from the Breast Cancer Care publications: Treating breast cancer and a quick guide to being breast aware.

Breast cancer is one of the top cancers which cause of deaths globally. It is the #1 cancer killer in women; and over the years, there have been an increasing number of cases in men.

So let's join forces, let's support the cause and let's help in winning the fight against breast cancer.

I've had this bracelet for years, I bought it from Avon.

The saying 'knowledge is power' is on point, so lets educate ourselves about what can affect our health, in extension our family and our lives. 

Woke up this morning with a thought on my mind

17 Oct 2011

I woke up this morning with a thought on my mind, a seed of inspiration. A seed from the tree of my culture. A seed that  was planted a long time ago, but nothing ever developed from it.

Now the time has come for me to nurture this seed, to help it on it's journey to maturity.

In our culture many of us are in touch with our African heritage one day of the year, Emancipation Day. We don our African style clothing  and wrap our heads with African printed fabrics on this one day, this day we are proud of our heritage, proud to represent where our ancestors came from, this one day we a proud to represent with clothing. But as soon as the day is over we discard our clothing and head wraps to the back of the closet, never to be worn again till the next Emancipation celebration.

I think its about time we (or at least I) put a stop to that.

Within the last year or two, a local designer, Christian Boucaud introduced clothing lines made from African printed fabric (Afrocentric, the Carnival 2011 collection and Reuse Recycle Recreate collection), pieces which could be worn to the beach, the next Carnival fete or even a night out to dinner.

I was elated when she introduced us to the versatility of African prints.

I, wanting to represent that part of my heritage in clothing, sprung from bed, did the necessities and headed out the door into the rainy weather which awaited me. I went in search some African printed fabric and the other tools required to make me........hmmmm.......I'm not sure what I'll be making yet but I know would be something I would be able to incorporate into my every day wardrobe.

Stay tuned for whatever I decide to create from this.