There are two very superficial things about me. Two things that I constantly occur to me. I usually can shake the first one off but the second one I just can't get out of my mind!
The first superficial thing about me is that somewhere in my sub conscious mind I want to marry a rich man. I want to have a dual income household of some substantial income. It is the Igbo girl syndrome. There is some truth to the stereotype. I know that growing up I always envisioned myself as Madame (powerful lady, with lots of influence and cash at her disposal). I have grown to see that life is more than just material goods and even if I reach that status I will not flaunt it, it will not be honoring to God. It goes completely against what God has for me.
It is very funny because I am very passionate about creating a culture that does not focus on material wealth. I want to help create an influential culture that honors integrity and humility. A culture that recognizes that all our possessions are gifts from God. I developed this passion after I decided to let Christ be the center of my life. I pretty much gave up that "madame" (if you are a Naija you will get this, if not sorry, ask a Nigerian friend) aspirations and I have embraced a higher, more solid and rewarding view of my life.
The second thing, I cannot shake off for the life of me is; I WANT TO BE SKINNY!! I don't know why but I obsess about it. I am not one of those girls with low self image, I actually think I am attractive even at the size I am but somehow I just can't get ride of that WANT to be skinny. I kid you not, when I see a skinny girl, I automatically think FUN, EXCITING! I can't stand the fact that I don't have a perfect body! It drives me insane! I go on my little crash diets and I have lost/gained weight a lot of time, though I have never reached perfection.
I don't understand this kind of obsession. Even as I write, I am already thinking of my next weight loss strategy, I must be a certain size before I get married. I KNOW, for sure for sure that I will not be happy on my wedding day and especially on my honey moon with this body I have.
I wonder if this will ever go away. I sure hope it will someday!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Why the Meal Update?
I have a dear friend who really encouraged me last week. She was starting to eat right and exercise and she asked me for pointers. I gave her some pointers and 1 simple recipe. This was about 2 months ago. 2 months later I visit her to find that she took most of my advice and was on her way to a healthier lifestyle. Although I am no expert. I have learned a lot from my research and I would like to share it with others.
My friend requested that I post my diet so she can see some examples. Now, this is a little scary since I am not always on my best behavior but I figured that I can also use this as a form of accountability. I will be posting screen capture of my food intack (courtesy of mydiaryplate.com). I will also be posting some recipes. I tend to come up with some of my own healthy recipes because I am too impatient to follow recipe and I find that a lot of things out there are a tad complicated with too much ingredent.
Word of caution. My diet is not a perfect diet, I MESS UP A LOT. I will try to put disclaimers so that you know which days to use as what not to do! My main focus is to be as honest as possible with my transformation so that together we can learn from it.
I hope to commit to posting my daily food intake. If yoou find me slacking please please bug me. I will try to let you’ll know when I am out of town and unable to post.
Beef Broccoli Stir Fry
Recipe of the Day
Beef Broccoli Stir Fry
SEE BELOW FOR INGREDIENTS
Beef Broccoli Stir Fry
SEE BELOW FOR INGREDIENTS
Can be eaten with 1 serving of Rice or Tortilla or With some Lettuce or salad mix
Really easy:
1. On a non stick pan heat meat and stir for about 2mins
Stuffed Chicken (Broccolli & Potato) 1/13
Ingredients BelowStep 1
1. In a non stick skillet spray some 0 calorie cooking spray.
2. Roast potato till almost all cook and add all ingredient except for chicken and oil
3. Cook till brocolli till it is almost done
SEASON TO YOUR TASTE WITH CAJUN SEASONING OR ITALIAN SPICES
YOU MAY ADD PEPPER
STEP 2 
4. Season chicken with salt and pepper as if you will grill it (i like seasoned salt, garlic powder, ground red pepper)
5. Cut a deep hole in whole chicken breast by slicing in the middle to make a pocket without cutting all the way.
(remember you will be stuffing this chicken)
6. Stuff chicken with step one mix
STEP 3
7. Grease baking pan with 1/2 of the oil (1/8 tbsp)
8. Put chicken on pan and sprinkle with remaining oil
Bake under 375-425 degree until chicken is well cooked
Makes 1 serving 4oz
If you have 8 oz of chicken double all other ingredient cut in half after cooked or double the nutrition facts.
Photo of 1 serving w/lettuce
I am back!
Sorry for the MIA! I had too many things going on in my life.
A lot has happened since my last post. I have moved out of Texas, I now live in Southern California as of Jan 2, 2009. I am loving it here. I am making new friends, getting involved in a really cool church, making decisions without watching my back and the weather is amazing. I do miss my family and my friends in Texas!
I am currently in the job market. I am a discouraged worker who is now cyclically unemployed (my economics teacher will be proud). I have been in the job market for over 6months now. I am so ready to start my business now and I am now seriously working on it. I will continue to work on my business ideas even after I get a job. I cannot wait till I start living my passion.
I am currently on a body transformation and a healthy lifestyle quest. I am posting my daily consumption and my exercise on . I am currently tweeking my "diet" and coming up with a plan that is good for me and works for me.
I am glad to be blogging again. I hope to commit to this. I plan on posting my diet and recipes on this blog so that I can help others who are trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle. That's it folks! Leave your comments. :-)
A lot has happened since my last post. I have moved out of Texas, I now live in Southern California as of Jan 2, 2009. I am loving it here. I am making new friends, getting involved in a really cool church, making decisions without watching my back and the weather is amazing. I do miss my family and my friends in Texas!
I am currently in the job market. I am a discouraged worker who is now cyclically unemployed (my economics teacher will be proud). I have been in the job market for over 6months now. I am so ready to start my business now and I am now seriously working on it. I will continue to work on my business ideas even after I get a job. I cannot wait till I start living my passion.
I am currently on a body transformation and a healthy lifestyle quest. I am posting my daily consumption and my exercise on . I am currently tweeking my "diet" and coming up with a plan that is good for me and works for me.
I am glad to be blogging again. I hope to commit to this. I plan on posting my diet and recipes on this blog so that I can help others who are trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle. That's it folks! Leave your comments. :-)
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Hope from within
I got up today with so much hope that I had to share it. The past week has been such an emotionally draining week! For most of you that don't know me. I am currently in an IR relationship that is going well but my mom is giving me a hard time. She doesn't want me to be in the relationship because she just doesn't like my bf. She has never really given him a chance.
I have kinda accepted the fact that she might never give him a chance. I have almost given up that she will become comfortable enough and let go of some assumed fears. All I want is for her wahala to stop. I just want her to get used to the fact that she has not given me a good reason to doubt the relationship.
There is so much unnecessary wahala (drama). It started to take a huge toll on me. I decided to take a few days to just take care of myself and focus on the Lord for strenght. I was starting to cry almost every single day and I was starting to internalize and overreact to everything.
I took some emotional time off. I wanted to let go of some stress and focus on God's love. I needed to remind myself that God has promised that his plans will result in a future and a hope. I needed to remember that whether I liked it or not God is the only one I need in life and everything else is jara (extra, icing on the cake). I needed to realize that no matter the circumstance and the outcome my needs has already been met because God is all I need! I needed to put God first and remember that the jara is not required, it's just extra blessing.
Ofcourse I knew this intellectually but I just needed to really absorb it and let it simmer in me. I have been praying and letting God just work in me. I wanted to do this because without it I was running the risk of making the things around me take over the place of God. Things were just taking uneccessary control over me.
God has been really gracious and I was starting to slowly come back to confiding solely on God. Another thing happened and it was almost back to square one but God helped me navigate through my emotions. He moved me to do some practical things to deal with this.
I woke up this morning expecting to be freaked out by the recent events but found myself with so much hope. I don't remember the last time I have felt hope like this. Hope from within. Hope that had nothing to do with my situation because based on the recent happenings I expected be in deep inner turmoil. I just know that this is God's doing and I am so grateful. I am grateful that he can teach me to depend on his consistancy and not really on this roller coaster ride called life.
I have kinda accepted the fact that she might never give him a chance. I have almost given up that she will become comfortable enough and let go of some assumed fears. All I want is for her wahala to stop. I just want her to get used to the fact that she has not given me a good reason to doubt the relationship.
There is so much unnecessary wahala (drama). It started to take a huge toll on me. I decided to take a few days to just take care of myself and focus on the Lord for strenght. I was starting to cry almost every single day and I was starting to internalize and overreact to everything.
I took some emotional time off. I wanted to let go of some stress and focus on God's love. I needed to remind myself that God has promised that his plans will result in a future and a hope. I needed to remember that whether I liked it or not God is the only one I need in life and everything else is jara (extra, icing on the cake). I needed to realize that no matter the circumstance and the outcome my needs has already been met because God is all I need! I needed to put God first and remember that the jara is not required, it's just extra blessing.
Ofcourse I knew this intellectually but I just needed to really absorb it and let it simmer in me. I have been praying and letting God just work in me. I wanted to do this because without it I was running the risk of making the things around me take over the place of God. Things were just taking uneccessary control over me.
God has been really gracious and I was starting to slowly come back to confiding solely on God. Another thing happened and it was almost back to square one but God helped me navigate through my emotions. He moved me to do some practical things to deal with this.
I woke up this morning expecting to be freaked out by the recent events but found myself with so much hope. I don't remember the last time I have felt hope like this. Hope from within. Hope that had nothing to do with my situation because based on the recent happenings I expected be in deep inner turmoil. I just know that this is God's doing and I am so grateful. I am grateful that he can teach me to depend on his consistancy and not really on this roller coaster ride called life.
Friday, October 3, 2008
My Response to: Does interracial relationship affect our women the same way as men?
A Fellow blogger wrote the following article and posed this question: I was compeled to answer.
ARTICLE
Does interracial relationship affect our women the same way as men?Posted by Prince Kennedy Iyoha on September 2, 2008 at 9:36am
have often listened to friends say, it is impossible for an interracial marriage to succeed. Many argue, that most of the children, fruits of such marriage, will never go to Africa with you, while others believe, that when you intend to retire after all your years in oversees, your family will desert you and then the irony of being alone will fall on you. I have on many occasion argue that though some brothers that came here before us may have suffered such terrible pains, some also have had a happy and successful interracial marriage and are happy to do so. This friends, never accepted my arguments, rather they argued that less than 10% have succeeded to return home with their family. My question is, do our women also suffer the same faith with our men? Does interracial relationship affect our women the same way as men?
MY RESPONSE
Permalink Reply by Ezichi 1 minute ago
Delete I think it all depends on how you handle your interracial marriage. Anyone can lose touch of certain friends and family members after they get married. It is up to them though to make it a point to keep family and friends that are important to them. Now, I am not saying that everything is a walk in the park. I do realize that it could be harder to keep those cultural and family connections together in a multi cultural relationship but if it is something that is important to you then you must work at it.
I think that the concern and the statistic you pose is not deniable but we need to consider all things. We need to consider what those men are doing to maintain their family relationships after they get married. You cannot get married, forget your family and friends (people @ home) for years and expect to just come back with open arms. How many of these men have tried to maintain their culture after they got married?
Another question. How many of these men even want to come back home? Are we just assuming that they want to come home and it has been impossible? Maybe, these men don't have it in their retirment plan to settle at home. I can't be that hard to try to settle in Nigeria especially with American income or British income and it being impossible! If there trully is a genuine will I feel like there definitely is a way.
Whether you are in an inter cultural relationship of even in a relationship with a fellow Naija you must make sure you express your intent to come home before marriage so that everybody has a clear expectation for their future. It might take a little more work to bridge cultural gaps in a multi cultural relationship but it is not impossible!
There are many responses to your final question. On one hand, it is easier for women to communicate and therefore it makes it easier for us to keep the connections that will eventually keep the relationships and enable a smoother trnsition back home. On another hand, men are to be "head" of their households and whn men marry, even across cultural line they will never lose the position they have in their fathers house. I mean, men get to keep their last names for Christ sakes. If they wanted to go back hime, back to their lands, back to their villages, no one can take that right away from them. They might need to be a little more aggressive if they have robbed some feathers but ultimately (culturally) they can still go back home. For women, it is a little harder.
So, to me the answer is a yes and a no. I really hope people consider these individuals that they assume have "closed their books on going back home." Ask the question, do these people even want to be back home? What have these people actually done to maintain their family and culture? In other words, analyse all the factors before jumping to the stated conclusion. I think that if they really do their research they will find that the seemingly obvious may not always be the case.
ARTICLE
Does interracial relationship affect our women the same way as men?Posted by Prince Kennedy Iyoha on September 2, 2008 at 9:36am
have often listened to friends say, it is impossible for an interracial marriage to succeed. Many argue, that most of the children, fruits of such marriage, will never go to Africa with you, while others believe, that when you intend to retire after all your years in oversees, your family will desert you and then the irony of being alone will fall on you. I have on many occasion argue that though some brothers that came here before us may have suffered such terrible pains, some also have had a happy and successful interracial marriage and are happy to do so. This friends, never accepted my arguments, rather they argued that less than 10% have succeeded to return home with their family. My question is, do our women also suffer the same faith with our men? Does interracial relationship affect our women the same way as men?
MY RESPONSE
Permalink Reply by Ezichi 1 minute ago
Delete I think it all depends on how you handle your interracial marriage. Anyone can lose touch of certain friends and family members after they get married. It is up to them though to make it a point to keep family and friends that are important to them. Now, I am not saying that everything is a walk in the park. I do realize that it could be harder to keep those cultural and family connections together in a multi cultural relationship but if it is something that is important to you then you must work at it.
I think that the concern and the statistic you pose is not deniable but we need to consider all things. We need to consider what those men are doing to maintain their family relationships after they get married. You cannot get married, forget your family and friends (people @ home) for years and expect to just come back with open arms. How many of these men have tried to maintain their culture after they got married?
Another question. How many of these men even want to come back home? Are we just assuming that they want to come home and it has been impossible? Maybe, these men don't have it in their retirment plan to settle at home. I can't be that hard to try to settle in Nigeria especially with American income or British income and it being impossible! If there trully is a genuine will I feel like there definitely is a way.
Whether you are in an inter cultural relationship of even in a relationship with a fellow Naija you must make sure you express your intent to come home before marriage so that everybody has a clear expectation for their future. It might take a little more work to bridge cultural gaps in a multi cultural relationship but it is not impossible!
There are many responses to your final question. On one hand, it is easier for women to communicate and therefore it makes it easier for us to keep the connections that will eventually keep the relationships and enable a smoother trnsition back home. On another hand, men are to be "head" of their households and whn men marry, even across cultural line they will never lose the position they have in their fathers house. I mean, men get to keep their last names for Christ sakes. If they wanted to go back hime, back to their lands, back to their villages, no one can take that right away from them. They might need to be a little more aggressive if they have robbed some feathers but ultimately (culturally) they can still go back home. For women, it is a little harder.
So, to me the answer is a yes and a no. I really hope people consider these individuals that they assume have "closed their books on going back home." Ask the question, do these people even want to be back home? What have these people actually done to maintain their family and culture? In other words, analyse all the factors before jumping to the stated conclusion. I think that if they really do their research they will find that the seemingly obvious may not always be the case.
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