Dining Diary

Watermelon Martini at Red Steakhouse in Miami 

 I wanted to share a few pictures of my media dinners. I hope you like. I am working on my photography hat.

Jumbo Shrimp at Red Steakhouse in Miami

Stuffed jalepeno at Red Steakhouse in Miami

Lobster Nachos at Public House in Ft. Lauderdale 

Public House in Ft. Lauderdale 

Public House in Ft. Lauderdale 

Editor's Log 1: Confidence

Confidence is often an overused and underestimated term. At face value most people we meet strike us as confident or even arrogant. The reality is that most people if not all people struggle with confidence. Personally, my most difficult internal battle has to do with believing in myself and behaving accordingly.

It always sounds so much easier than it is to execute. Something that I think is ingrained in us at a young age is to be humble but personally the lines of humility and low self-esteem seem to blur leaving me with a distorted image of myself and my self-worth. That is why my magazine means so much to me. As I am working on myself, I hope to encourage others to look at themselves through kind eyes instead of critical eyes.  So here are a few things that I have learned so far that seem to be helping me. 

1. Being kind to others makes it easier to be kind to yourself. 

   Think of it as you are conditioning your mind to be in a constant state of kindness. This has been a little difficult for me only in the sense that when I am kind to others it is normally followed with dig at my own inadequacies so the goal is to be kind to other without tearing myself down. 

2. Focus your energy.

    I recently read this quote that really simplified things for me. "Don't put your energy towards fighting old habits. Put your energy towards building the new." For a long time I struggled with the idea that it took me years to learn how to be so critical of myself that it would more than likely take years to learn how to be kind to myself. NOT TRUE. It's crazy how important perception is. Don't look at it like you are fighting against the old you. Look at it like you a re building a new you. 

3. Surround yourself with kind friends

   This one is hard because we all have those friends who are great fun but have a sword-like mouth that tends to cut us when they speak. Often times these are the people we have known for years and they are super hard to shake off. But in the end, it is in your best interest to at the minimum distance yourself from them. By allowing yourself to hang out with them your very actions imply that you agree with the mean things that they say to you. It doesn't help you in any way. I am learning that I am responsible for my happiness. It is not anyone else's responsibility to nurture my sensitivity. So it may sound childish but if they are not helping my growth, or if they are constantly critical without my soliciting for their opinion, it's not in my best interest to hang out with them. 

4. Nurture yourself

   This may sound silly. But taking care of yourself and rewarding yourself actually does make it easier to like yourself. So this may be my most favorite and least favorite lesson that I am actually trying to implement this week. I am going back to exercising. I find that getting through a workout does something for my ego. But the actual work out is sooooooooo torturous. But the idea of treating myself to little things I like such as a movie (Netflix or sushi) is always fun. 

This was a long post. Hopefully it was helpful. I will be posting again soon. 

XOXO

Fashion Diary: Currently seeking inspiration

“Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board. For some they come in with the tide. For others they sail forever on the same horizon, never out of sight, never landing until the Watcher turns his eyes away in resignation, his dreams mocked to death by Time. That is the life of men. Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.” - Zora Neale Hurston

 I feel like Zora set a high standard for women in her novel THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD. But that is one of my favorite quotes in her book. It's never easy to see our dreams as the truth but I think the obstacles that we endure make us appreciate our dreams even more when we achieve them.

I am currently in a place where I am seeking inspiration and daring to be bold enough to believe in my own dreams. It can be frustrating sometimes because you often are the only one who understands your ultimate goal. But that is all that is required. I am learning that we don't have a responsibility to make people understand our vision. We have a responsibility to manifest our visions.

Style Note: Custom tunic polka dot dress courtesy of BSAMS, cowgirl boots gifted from my aunty. Handbag from Just Fab. Shades and necklace from Forever 21. + Energy bracelet by Alex and Ani gifted. Shield ring and skull band Fashion Footwear

I am a work in progress. What are you working on?
XOXO

Editor's journal

I figured I should share some of my experiences with trying to start my own magazine. Well it is midnight and I am up working on the magazine. You find out how much you really love something when you have juggle it with reality. In a perfect world, I would be waking up at 7 a.m. working out and working on the magazine until I went to my job at an elementary school.
In reality, I wake up at 10:30 get ready for work, attempt to eat some form of breakfast and head out to work with no time to work on the magazine. So I find myself here at midnight trying to create something that I can be proud of. I figured I should document my experience if not for anyone else at least for me.

So here are the lessons that I have learned now that I am working on the third issue of Worthy Magazine.

1. The power of stress

----I may have mentioned it on the blog before, but stress is some serious stuff. I don't know if I am one of the unfortunate ones. But when I get stressed, I get very sick. I have been having like really bad headaches and colds. Between that and work and still trying to do the magazine, I know that I must really love it. Lesson: Take time out for yourself. Trust that the stressful situation will pass. You will make it.

2. The power of asking

---If it wasn't for my family and friends who don't mind helping out, I have no idea where the magazine would be. Maybe coming out every other month. My beau has been an amazing support system and my mom has been the one to believe in me doing this all along. My bro has written more articles than I can count!!! My friends have contributed and promoted the mag in a way that means more to me than I can say.

3. Just jump in

--The one thing I am finding is that you just have to jump in. Planning is all well and good, and I like to plan out things before I do them. However, Worthy really got started because I just had a message that I thought needed to be shared with others, and I wanted to make sure it happened. I didn't get to do the research that I wanted to do and I certainly didn't get to create a road map for where I wanted it to be. I did make sure no one else had the same name!!! LOL. I think that it is a good thing that I didn't get to create that road map. The magazine manages to keep surprising me. Also I never learned how to do layout. So I had to just feel my way through it and I can honestly say, I think that makes the process that much more fulfilling when I see how things come together.

4. Focus

---Don't get distracted. I get distracted so easily it is sad. The potential negative comments or the lack of support can not deter you.  I have actually been surprised at how well the issues have been doing-even with me having to take down the first issue of laughter to add some things in. However there are still people who may not know how serious I am about the magazine, and you get the occasional viewing of the magazine as if this is a hobby for me when I am not working with third graders, but this magazine is my heart. I hope that people can grasp at and hold on to the message that I am trying to convey.
We are all worthy. Our futures are bright and despite what others might have told us about ourselves, we determine our own fate by choosing to give up or keep pushing.

So I hope that this encourages you some how. Keep pushing. You are worthy!!