Strawberry and Banana Parfait
Ingredients
3/4 cup sliced strawberries
1 (6 ounce) container vanilla yogurt
1 tablespoon wheat germ
1/2 banana, sliced
1/3 cup granola
Directions
Layer 1/4 cup strawberries, 1/3 container yogurt, 1/3 tablespoon wheat germ, 1/3 of the sliced banana, and about 2 tablespoons of granola in a large bowl. Continue to build the parfait, repeating the layers until all of the ingredients are used completely
*I make this in a to-go cup for my kids to eat on their way to school and for myself as a snack at work! You can use a different variety of fruits and yogurt.*
When love beckons to you, follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
~Kahlil Gibran on Love~
*I want to love and be loved like that.
*
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams
as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.
~Kahlil Gibran on Love~
*I want to love and be loved like that.
*
#nowplaying: featuring Nate Dogg
Warren G. feat. Nate Dogg, “Regulate”
50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg, “21 Questions”
Dr. Dre feat. Nate Dogg, “The Next Episode”
Ludacris feat. Nate Dogg, “Area Codes”
~moment of silence for a hip-hop legend ... R.I.P. Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (Nate Dogg)~
(August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011)
50 Cent feat. Nate Dogg, “21 Questions”
Dr. Dre feat. Nate Dogg, “The Next Episode”
Ludacris feat. Nate Dogg, “Area Codes”
~moment of silence for a hip-hop legend ... R.I.P. Nathaniel Dwayne Hale (Nate Dogg)~
(August 19, 1969 – March 15, 2011)
Tsunami Hits Japan After 8.9 Earthquake
My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been affected by the disaster in Japan. The country was hit with an 8.9 magnitude earthquake last night while we were sleeping .... followed by a massive 20 foot Tsunami, which is headed for Hawaii ..
They say these are the end of days, I don’t know what is. Life is so fragile and can be changed in an instant ... it's too short to bitch and moan ...
Here today gone tomorrow, you never know.
They say these are the end of days, I don’t know what is. Life is so fragile and can be changed in an instant ... it's too short to bitch and moan ...
Here today gone tomorrow, you never know.
What are you giving up for Lent????
(even though I’m not Catholic) I am so determined to eat healthy and become a better me … I am not going to be unhealthy and overweight, carrying around this oversized gut that makes me look like I'm 3months pregnant.
I am going to be that fit hot mom that looks like Nicole Murphy. She's my inspiration 40+ and 5 kids later .. such a hotty, hot, hot .. That will be me. Oh yes, that will be me! (I'm claiming it)
DAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! (Smokey voice)
I’m also planning on staying away from Twitter and FaceBook those are my dirty cocktails of choice and I’m so addicted - can you say "intervention".
I am going to be that fit hot mom that looks like Nicole Murphy. She's my inspiration 40+ and 5 kids later .. such a hotty, hot, hot .. That will be me. Oh yes, that will be me! (I'm claiming it)
DAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!! (Smokey voice)
I’m also planning on staying away from Twitter and FaceBook those are my dirty cocktails of choice and I’m so addicted - can you say "intervention".
WIFE, WOMAN, FRIEND
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that my beginning was his end. After all, we were just friends. Although in my world I was his girl, so I would pretend to be his wife. Saying sh*t like, "there's only so many years in a woman's life". Right, so I gave him three.
Yet he had the audacity to step to me on this Donnell Jones "I don't know where I wanna be" type sh*t. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He hit me with the forehead kiss. told me life was a journey and he was ready to explore this sh*t, and I was pissed.
To me he was a hypocrite like a fake preacher in the pulpit and he left me sick, and no he didn’t choose me, but that doesn’t make him right nor wrong.
And just because he was the epitome of my life that doesn't make me wrong nor right. Like I said I was his friend and not his wife. And I should've acted within that capacity. And maybe then this breakup would've been "just one of those things". Instead of a f**king tragedy.
And all the time I spent mad at him hell I should've been mad at me. After all I was the one that gave him the key to my house, and Let him hang clothes in my closet just in case we go out. Not to mention washing all his dirty clothes just to make a "full load". And let him finish off all the leftovers just so the food don't go old.
For the times that we raw-dogged cause he "lost all the rubbers". And though I showed him more support than his own father, brother, sister, and mother and just 'cause those same people dial my number when they're trying to stay get touch. And he received mail at my address "cause he be here so much".
Got total control of the remote control to the TV, DVD, and radio And even though his name is not on my lease got sh*t in my house that is off limits to me like his side of my bed and his stash of weed.
But none of this obligates him to me because not once did we exchange vows. And If I knew then, what I know now, I probably would've listened, when he said it was some sh*t that he needed to get out his system. But I was too busy bitchin', jumpin' bad like I was gonna hit him. And in the back of my mind all I could fathom was how much I was gonna miss him. But just because I'm cryin' don't mean I'm the victim, it's just that I was too scared to let him go 'cause some other chick might get him.
And that was my fault, it was my decision I should've never put my heart in my mind's position. But I couldn't shake him--he was like a bad habit. And all this for a nigga that was just average, doing average nigga sh*t Like talking out the side of his neck and thinking with his d*ck.
But, I must admit he's the one I wanted to commit to. Either I wasn't living up to my potential, or I was just the average chick. But I chose to believe that I was a woman caught up in a feeling. Both physical and emotional, who was way too willing to give her all to a man. And though it may sound stupid, guess what? I would do it all again. Just next time for my husband and not a nigga I call my friend.
~I didn't write this..~Dana Gilmore~ did..a respected poet that I love..I wanted to put this up here so other women could read it and maybe learn from it..~
Happy Lately ....
An unexpected sweet text
A great haircut
A book that inspires
Being tickled
Amaretto anything
A run at sunset
Friends that call at just the right time
Remembering who I am
God’s words of truth spoken so timely
The huge smile on my niece’s sweet face
What’s making you happy lately?
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~William Ernsest Hensley~
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
~William Ernsest Hensley~
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