As they say you change your wardrobe for spring so why not do the same for your face? As a self-proclaimed skin care product junkee I bought myself a new cleanser by Origins for oily skin. They make one of my favorite facial masks.  I like their brand because their products use organic ingredients, essential oils, recycled materials for the containers and don't use parabens, mineral oil, petroleum or animal ingredients. They give back to the community with their Plant a Tree initiative.

While we're on the topic of beauty, with this sunny weather make sure you're wearing sunscreen on your face everyday!

If you're a Sephora Beauty Insider member, be sure to take advantage of their 15% coupon right now!

I finally signed up for this monthly subscription box that I've been thinking about doing for a year now. It's $20 a month incl shipping and includes a surprise mix of 7-10 vegan snacks. Being a huge foodie I figure it would be a great way to introduce me to products I might not have noticed at the store.

Plus being a lifelong mail enthusiast, I love getting packages in the mail! Especially one full of good stuff to eat! As a kid I had international pen pals I would write, then I got into the Victoria Secret catalog and would spend my entire summer teenage paycheck on clothes and swimsuits (because you can never have enough). Now a days I seem to only get junk in the mail, I don't even look at the catalogs anymore. But I seem to get a package weekly! lol And the occasional mailed birthday cards. Do people not buy them anymore?I see a whole aisle of them at the store, yet as I get older I seem to get less of them. But I save all my cards.

When I signed up for vegan cuts it came with a gift card to Vega so I could get my favorite protein bars. Here's the products I liked the most from March's box:

R.W. Garcia Tortatos in Salt and Vinegar flavor which taste like tortilla chips with a hint of potato,  yet 25% less fat than regular potato chips. The bag explained that using vinegar tricks your body that it doesn't need salt. I've always hated the taste of salt and vinegar potato chips with a passion but these were really good because the vinegar flavor was mild.

Vigilante Eats Superfood Oat-based cereal which is oatmeal plus superfoods in an easy travel to go cup that you just add hot water or milk to. It has hemp milk powder inside so it becomes quite thick and flavorful. Mine came with the Espresso Maca Mulberry flavor and even though I don't like the taste of coffee, I still could tell this was an amazing and innovative product. My Whole Foods only carries one flavor by them but I saw on Vigilante Eats facebook page that they have frequent sales for ordering online. I passed by this product all the time on the top shelf at Whole Foods but never noticed it. I will definitely be stocking up to take this on my next vacation or when I need to eat breakfast on the go. One cup has 8 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber and it's full of superfoods!


Explore Asian Soybean Noodle Soup - Chicken Flavor. So I don't know why they needed to name it "chicken flavor" tasted just like regular ramen (well from what I remember the last time I ate it was I guess high school?) but I was impressed that one cup has 22g of protein. However it was literally just noodles, a few tiny carrots and that's it and a bit difficult to chew.

I've been on a cauliflower kick lately. Did you know that cauliflower is high in Vitamin C and fiber, plus has some antioxidants in it. A dozen studies have linked cauliflower diets to cancer prevention. Last week my fridge stunk something horrible from week old cauliflower (that had been washed) so I wanted to share some storage tips.


While watching the movie Gravity I made this stew and thankfully I was occupied cooking because it was the most boring movie ever. You know the one with Sandra Bullock and George Clooney that won 7 Oscars? Ok I'll admit that the special effects were good and apparently Sandra filmed her floating in space scenes under water. My co-worker told me he walked out on the movie because it was boring, well I didn't trust his judgement. Not only was the sound quality terrible, the movie was worse than I could possibly imagine, just so incredibly boring! Am I the only one that thought this?


Anyway so this turned out to be a really hearty stew, I didn't even need to serve it over rice. Indian cooking requires that you heat the spices first, before starting your dish. With whole spices it's the dry toasting over heat that releasing the aromatic oil of the heat. For ground spices you should put some oil in the pan first to create a paste with your spices, then add your onions so they all blend together. If you don't have all the spices necessary you can't make this recipe because spices are fundamental to all curry recipes.

I haven't done a playlist in a few months so I thought I'd dedicate this one to my favorite genre of music - reggae! Well dancehall to be exact. There's different kinds of reggae if you didn't know - soul/roots (Bob Marley), dancehall (Sean Paul, Beenie Man), reggaeton, lovers rock, etc. I think it must be my African blood why I love reggae so much, after all the music originates in African drum rhythms. Even though I can't understand what they're saying, I remember when I was a teenager playing reggae in the car with my dad he would make me turn it off because he could understand every word! I'm just enjoying the beat, not the raunchy lyrics. lol

I ran across this throwback list of reggae hits that I really enjoyed and will give you a history on dancehall through music videos of some of the top songs in the past 10 years. The way true dancehall music is released is not by albums by individual artists, but rather by riddim. Basically someone comes up with a music pattern, then multiple artists all record their song to the same music and that makes one album. Back when I was in college I would download those songs as one long song. lol I used to be able to pick up new songs on the Reggae Gold CD that was released every year but was disappointed with last year's album. But as a whole they're a good place for you to start if you want to explore dancehall.


Here's a great recent article on the top 5 apps for identifying music if you hear a song you like while you're out.

For the past 8 years Mavado has been the top dancehall artist. Here's some of his recent songs released in the past year. The first one was just released on April 1 and I've had it on repeat mode since! It's a slow sweet song. I've separated the list by slow songs first and the second half true fast dancehall.

Mavado - Tie Yuh
Mavado - Come into my Room
Gyptian - One More Time

Mavado - At The Top
Vybz Kartel - Georgina
Mavado - Friends with Benefits
Mavado - Book Look
Mr. G - Swaggarific   (an oldie but a goodie)

Mavado recently did a song with Nicki Minaj which is a bit too commercial for me. Reminds me of those early hip-hop songs that had a rap at the end.

Mavado - Give it To Me feat. Nicki Minaj

Last year I read Chalene Johnson's book Push which was incredible book about getting your priorities straight and losing weight for good. The book has a chapter called Fat Free Friends and the other day Chalene shared this statement basically summarizing what the book said and it was a good reminder for to hear.  
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"Think about the friends to whom you give your energy. I say "energy" because sometimes we give our energy to those who we aren't even spending time with physically, but loads of time is spent on them "mentally". Your mental time is just as important as your physical time.

Friends who lift us are good listeners and help us gain important perspectives.

Friends who lift will ask you to think through big decisions and consider all the variables. Friends who lift suggest the best books, a new workout, a seminar and things that enrich your life.

Friends who suck the life out of us ask us for our advice but never take it. One sided friendships are those with people who expect you to be there even when they are not. Friends that lift can will say, "I'm sorry...I messed up. You were right. I was wrong." Friends who lift want the best for you at all cost even when their honesty might result in a fight or temporary tension. Friends who lift will not tolerate behavior or thinking that is less than you deserve.

Friends that lift don't need constant reassurance because they have the quiet confidence of your bond and never question your intentions.

Ironically, friends that lift require the least amount of maintenance. They just get you!

Research shows that the quality of our friendships is one of the most important factors in determining our happiness, success and overall mental health.

Invest in friendships that lift you and spend less time and energy on those that don’t.

Think of your positive energy friends as the key to your best decisions and the president of your fan club . They make your life richer!

And let's be frank...even the best of friends can argue and disagree, but friends who lift always come from a place of your best interest. Real friends are there for each other and just like a marriage... the tough times make you better!

So who will you give your energy to? Who do you need to spend less time on?

It’s less about breaking up with those that drain and more about consciously decided to spend less energy on them. It's about spending energy with those people who inspire you to be better!"