Blissdom Surprises

I came home to a FedEx message in my mailbox that a box was left at my front door. I thought it was something wedding related because I am waiting for a custom address stamp that I ordered. But I was surprised when I opened the box and instead of a stamp, I was faced with this.



It’s a prep kit for the upcoming Blissdom Conference in Nashville. Just a few essentials goodies.

1. When I snapped this picture, I thought it was just a package of coupons from ConAgra foods, but there is also a music CD included (see photo below). Jewel and ConAgra have teamed up in the fight against child hunger. Visit www.blissdomconference.com/childhungerendshere for more information. I’m looking forward to using the coupons as well!
2. This pamphlet has a lot of information including packing list and class schedule information. I will be going through this soon to make sure am ready.
3. Business card case from the One2One Network…another reminder that I really do need to get my cards ordered.
4. Johnson and Johnson had the best idea in putting together this little book of sticky notes (additional photos below). This will be a staple in my purse to keep my notes from getting all dirty and torn.
5. My name tag with my blog name and web address.

This is such a fantastic way to get everyone ready for the conference. BRAVO to the Blissdom team and their sponsors. This is great!

Hair Inspiration-Updo

I am a big fan of Naptural85 on YouTube and she has some really nice hair styles that she showcases on her channel. The biggest problem for me is that her hair is very long and luscious and I’m not quite there yet. But my hair is not so short that I couldn’t do a variation. So, today I decided to try her Casual & Classic “Natural Hair” Style.



This is my version. I’m working with a braid-out that I was too lazy to reset last night.The back of my hair is not long enough to bun like she did so I put it in ponytail holder until I finished securing the pieces from the front. Afterwards, I removed the ponytail holder and folded the bottom up and pinned in place.



I finished it off with a purple fabric head band after making a bit of a pompadour with the front section. It was not long enough to sweep to the side like I would have liked.



You can see my grays a bit in this one. I’m way over due for a henna treatment.



I absolutely love this as a quick and easy up-do and the boy liked it as well. He tells me my up-dos give me that school teacher look. I love styles that show the texture of the hair and that’s one of the reasons I like watching Naptural85. She really loves her hair texture and she loves showcasing styles that show off that texture. I’m not a big fan of loading down my hair and edges with gel to get it all perfect and slick. I like the more natural and slightly messy look of our hair.

I will be revisiting this style in a few months when I get a bit more growth. For now, my modified version will work just fine.

What do you think?

Boy Tested And Approved

I am quite smitten with my pre-assembled smoothie packs that I put together. The amount I put into each pack is the perfect size for making a smoothie that just the right size for meal replacement. One of the biggest struggles I have at times are with portion control so this keeps me from over indulging even if it is on something so healthy. I do like having the extra vitamin boost of having the sea vegetables (wakame) included but it does take some extra blending to break up the wakame flakes. But when I encounter flakes that didn’t break up well, I just swallow them and move on.

The true test for the acceptability of the flakes was to try it out on the future hubby. The boy was in town for the weekend visiting. I couldn’t have been happier to see anyone else on this earth! As soon as I saw him, the worries of the week melted away and I was able to forget and just get wrapped up in love. Saturday, I made the boy a simple breakfast of boiled eggs, toast and a smoothie. I’m also trying to get him to be more mindful of portion sizes so it was a stretch to have such a simple breakfast. I put extra effort into making it look really pretty.



I held my breath as he took his first sip of smoothie which was blended with vanilla milk--he is not a big fan of the almond or soy milks that I prefer. He absolutely loved it and even more he loved my presentation which he deemed to be very “French”. I don’t know about that but I very happy to know that he enjoyed it. I’m one step closer to convincing him that simple eating can be quite enjoyable. Every meal doesn’t need meat and every meal doesn’t need elaborate ingredients.
So, my recent smoothie mix is boy tested and approved! If you find a favorite smoothie blend that works for you, let me know about it.