Rockin' with the Robinsons

This is How we do it!

My husband and I bought Ayden a new drum set, and we thought, “why don’t we have a jam session” so we did and this was the result. We had so much fun, and if this brightens your day like it does mine, then pass it along! 

Wash 'N' Go Renewed

Natural Hair Tutorial

Hey my girls with kinks, I have another natural hair vid up on my channel on how to refresh your wash and go hair. If you haven't already, subscribe to me on YouTube for vlogs on my 365 Journey and natural hair tutorials; I'll love you for it! www.youtube.com/girlwithkinks .

Muah!

     <3GirlwithKinks

Two Strand Twist

This is my first tutorial I have uploaded to youtube on natural hair. I hope you all like it!

The Struggle

 Day Two

As the title suggests, I’m struggling y’all. I am struggling with laziness due in part to a lack of energy. I missed breakfast today which is always bad because I know my body will be sluggish the rest of the day. Plus I've been on my tablet and computer since I woke up this morning.


You know, it's so easy to get lost in the internet and technology for hours. I work mostly from home and I am constantly checking emails and taking calls, all while taking care of my Ayden; some days we don’t even go outside and play, which makes me sad for him, because it’s not fair for him to breath recycled air all day. Therefore I am adding a challenge for myself- stay electronic free for at least two hours a day; and no, sleeping doesn't count. At first I said 3 hours no tech, and then I remembered my lesson from yesterday on setting unrealistic expectations, and I’m not going to set myself up for that one. I feel like over time, I will be able to expand no tech time from 2 hours to the majority of my day.


I just need to find balance between dedicating times to work, eat, play, etc.; that balance is hard to find when you are a care taker/ wife/mom and you assume so many roles and responsibilities. Daily I am an assistant, maid, accountant, cook, therapist, and wife- all in addition to running my own event planning company. It’s exhausting, but I don’t want to whine, I love my life, I just need to find my system and get it working. I’ll get there, one step at a time.

KNOW DAT.

I was watching Dr. Oz today (with his handsome Turkish self, I’m weird) and he was talking about taking certain foods out of your diet- blah, blah, blah. I’m sure you can read my lack of enthusiasm when it comes to this topic.

I told myself that I would remove all dairy, sugar, wheat from my diet. This would be like, a major transition from my normal eating habits, my diet isn’t limited to these categories, but they are present in almost every meal. I have done this once before for my wedding last year, and I lost 30 pounds while doing it, but I was miserable, cranky, and stressed. I need to find a way to approach this without feeling like I am giving up enjoying my food. I am going to go back to the drawing board and think of some recipes that closely follow this line of discipline; the keyword being closely. I gained back most of the weight I lost for the wedding because I was tired of eating grass (salad) every day, and became bored with my “healthy” eating routine. I am going to get more creative, and try harder this time, because I want a lifestyle change, not a temporary one. If any of you have suggestions for me, please share. When I come up with a meal plan, you all will be the first to know.

On the menu for tonight:

 Salad & Pizza of the healthier variety: Chicken and fire roasted tomatoes atop a green pesto sauce, with a homemade thin crust. Yum.


Recipe will be on the blog tonight or tomorrow.

Natural hair tutorial also coming your way in the next day or so.

Have an awesome day and look up at the sky, even if only for a minute; it will remind you of how beautiful our world is.

                 


<3 Girlwithkinks

Quick One Pot Meals

                          30 Minuet Tortilla soup

Easy and Delicious

Looking for dinner tonight? I love this tortilla soup recipe because it requires ONE pot, little prep, and you can just throw things in as you go. Easy peasy. It is perfect for a quick tasty inexpensive meal. I found all these ingredients at my local HEB, but I’m sure they can be found at any supermarket. This recipe serves 8- 10 people, if you want less you can half it or freeze the leftovers. Feel free to pin this on Pinterest!

Soup Ingredients List

· 1.5 Pounds of lean ground turkey (cooked)

· 3 Tbs Ground Cumin (gives meat that taco taste)

· Salt (meat)

· Pepper (meat)

· 1 small onion (diced)

· 2 fresh bunches of cilantro (chopped)        

· 2 cups of frozen corn

· 3 cups of chicken broth

· 1 Jar of tortilla soup base (I used Cookwell & Company Hatch Verde Tortilla base 32oz)

· 1 block of Velveeta cheese halved

· 28oz can of Rotel diced tomatoes w/green chilies

· (2) 15oz cans of black beans

Top with:

· Crushed tortilla chips

· Mexican blend cheese

· Sour cream

· Avocado slices

Instructions:

1. Cut up onion, cilantro, and Velveeta (into cubes), and set aside for later.

2. Over medium high heat, put lean ground turkey cumin into a large sauce pot. Season ground turkey with salt and pepper to taste (I used 1.5 Tbs of salt and 1 Tbs of pepper). It seems like a lot but you will not be adding any more seasoning to the soup, only ingredients. Stir until browned. Do not drain (you can if you want).

3. Add in, soup base, chicken broth, onion, and Velveeta cubes to the large sauce pot, let cook until Velveeta is melted stirring occasionally.

4. Once Velveeta is melted add Rotel, black beans, frozen corn, cilantro, and simmer over medium low heat for about 10 minutes.

5. Serve with cheese, sour cream, crushed tortilla chips, and avocado.

6. Enjoy!

I'm not awesome at writing recipe instructions, so if any of this seems unclear, leave me a comment below!

Unsuccessful attempts.

Day One

So today, I didn't get half of what I wanted to get done, but that’s life- right? Last night I told myself, “I’m gonna wake early tomorrow, go outside, and jog. Next I’m going to thoroughly clean my entire house, make a natural hair tutorial vid, and then I’m going to cook dinner EARLY, pray, meditate, bathe, sleep.” None of which happened, at least not how I wanted it to.

I did manage to wash most of the laundry, go grocery shopping, make some delicious tortilla soup (a recipe I will share with you in a separate post), and get my restroom REALLY clean with the help of my Hubbs. But enough of me listing my many achievements, my takeaway from today is a lesson that has come to me many times before, and that lesson is. . . don’t make unrealistic expectations for yourself. Plan for a reasonable workload and execute those tasks to the best of your ability. I was so focused trying to do so many things, that I only made a small impact on my overall goal, which was upsetting, but I have calmed down and I am ready for tomorrow. One step at a time Morgan, breathe, breathe. Not a whole lot to report today. I feel exhausted.

Oh I also did manage to be more thoughtful of my husband today; I gave him many kisses, and just did things that I knew he wanted without saying. It made me feel good to see the happiness that my actions brought him. It’s the little things you know? Love Better

I have a confession to make.

Yesterday I kinda ate more “freely” as a sort of farewell or going away party to my bad eating habits. Courtney, Ayden and I had a lovely dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse, and we ate till we were stuffed. It was glorious!

Moment over.

Back to eating well.

Speaking of eating well here is a pic of that yummy tortilla soup I cooked tonight. It took me less than  30 minuets to make. (Be Jelly)

YUM!



I want to leave you with a task for today and every day on. You know that awkward moment when you meet eyes with someone you don’t know- smile at them, because you never know what your acknowledgment of their existence can do for their life, and yours.



<3 GirlwithKinks

Eat Well. Pray Often. Love Better.

A 365 Day challenge for GirlwithKinks

I was feeling very alive when I woke up yesterday. Since last year, and maybe before then, I have been seeing and feeling signs of change. I have been unhappy with myself as a person for a while now; it’s like one day I woke up and let all the negative in life get to me. By allowing that to happen, I became difficult, my attitude anyway. No matter what the people I loved did for me, I never allowed myself to be happy, why was that? And people know when you are being “fake” with them, but it was like, I’m not trying to be fake on purpose, I couldn't help it, I couldn't let my guard down. So in taking time to reevaluate, I forced myself to have an intervention with myself, (crazy I know). Now, this was a gradual intervention, not really thought out in a day, and I did my best to focus on bettering MYSELF. I want to emphasize the word MYSELF, because too often when people are hurting, we try to blame others for that hurt without first looking at the source (yourself); I’m not saying there aren't people that intentionally try to hurt us, but I am saying if you are feeling unhappy in your daily life, look to yourself first.

I realized my optimistic personality started to change when I started seeing the negative side of EVERYTHING, I mean even petty things. My loving husband dealt with the brunt of my frustration with life, we had personal issues in the past we had overcome, but I tried to make him overcompensate for my pain, and that wasn't fair. I allowed myself to loathe people that I felt wronged me, it’s like I hated them so much I couldn't let go; seeing the name of the person(s) I disliked, made my skin crawl(yea it got that bad), and still (kinda) does. Anyways you get the point; a lot of hate clouded my vision and my heart. This all came at the most “inconvenient” time because I was a new mother. I was supposed to be all- “one with the wind” and everything was supposed to be magical and new, but it wasn't. I was angry, paranoid, my relationship was failing, and I gained over 100 pounds. 

Post baby and tired

Young and fresh

I'm still cute though. . .

This went on from 2011 to mid-2013; in that time period I was hospitalized (chronic anemia), started going to different churches, actively tried to seek friends, then isolated myself from pretty much everyone, watched A LOT of reality TV (real housewives, love and hip-hop anyone?), and stayed home almost every day. There was this void sucking the life out of me. This past year I got tired of feeling shitty about myself and decided to TRY. I never thought that just trying could be so hard, but I wanted better for my son, my husband,and most importantly myself. How could I love others if I didn't love me first? Trying consisted of being thoughtful of my husband’s needs, working out, kissing & hugging more, communicating effectively, cleaning & cooking more, taking my child outside to play, & not engaging in unnecessary conflicts. These may sound like small things, but they were big steps for me that I am still trying to master. By taking these actions positive results happened, so even though I didn't fully believe in what I was doing the positivity from my actions spilled into my thoughts. My relationship was thriving and then came wedding bells. . .

Courtney and I were married in September 2013 and that was the happiest day of my life . . . so far anyway. The day before our outdoor wedding, there was hurricane like winds and flooding; Courtney was supposed to sleep apart from me, but the thought of not having him next to me that night terrified me. I needed him, and that night I realized I always will. There is a comfort that comes with his presence that I've never felt with anyone else.

I've said all that to say, this shift in thinking has brought me to a “challenge” I have prepared for myself. I was feeling all “eat, pray, love” if you will, yesterday and that inspired me to get active in my blog and share this journey with you. I wrote the phrase Eat, Pray, Love and I felt it was too cliché of a motto so I added a few words to give it more meaning to the goal I am trying to achieve.

Eat Well. Pray Often. Love Better

The 365 day challenge I have set out for myself is to eat well, and when I say that I don’t mean a salad every day, I aim to cook something new, delicious, and nourishing at least 4 days out of the week and make dinner time an experience for my family and I. This will help improve my overall health and fitness.

I will pray and meditate every day for at least 30 minutes to develop spiritual closeness with God and my higher self. I feel this will help me better understand my life’s direction and improve my control of my emotions.

To love better to me, will be living to serve others; this can be applied in many ways. I also want to love myself better by working out EVERYDAY to become a healthier me.

This is not a weight loss journey; this is me trying to find myself, my faith, and be a better person to others, and I will be blogging to you every step of the way.

I will still post hair and make-up tutorials for you naturals out there. ;-)

I will leave you with the words that first came to mind when I this feeling fell upon my heart.


Journey; life change; improve; love; try harder; be myself; find my faith; closer to God; read; understand; grow; develop; conquer fear; be unashamed; do not judge; inspire; commit.

                                                 <3 GirlwithKinks

What up people?

My name is Morgan, and I will do my best not to sound dry, but we just met and I don’t really know you yet. I've been sitting in front of my computer all day trying to figure out a way to introduce myself. These types of things, (blogs, public exposure), make me nervous ya’ know. You never know how people will receive you, so be nice to me now.

This is me (Selfie)

Let’s start with the negative shall we, (Insert melancholy violin music here) I am a flawed individual. I get jealous, I dislike my body most of the time, I overuse commas, struggle to project myself a certain way- because I care what people think of me, I can be judgmental, stubborn, brutally honest, grudgey, and make up my own words. I could go on about my short comings (enough with the self-loathing), but then, you would think I was a depressed lonely fatty with a bad understanding of English grammar rules. On a lighter note, I am also very goofy, and not afraid to laugh at myself. My life’s not all bad; it’s not even mostly bad. I am 20 years old. I have a wonderful husband named Courtney; that works hard to love and provide for me so I can sit here and write a blog, and, a two year old son named Ayden, that keeps me humble and fills me with joy, but I will do my best not to rub my “perfect family” in your face.(sarcasm) 

My Courtney

My Boys
They give me life

I know you’re probably wondering how the blog came about, well here goes . . .


I am a black woman (obviously), that has had relaxed hair for over half of my life. Once my naturally thick and curly hair became too “tough & timely” to manage, (around 7 years old), my mother put a relaxer, (straight perm), on my hair. I hated getting relaxers, but from my limited understanding, relaxers were the key to me having “beautiful hair” and as a girl, I was taught that my beauty was largely defined by my hair. I never thought my hair was prettier with a relaxer, but I did buy into the hype that it was more manageable. I wore hair weaves often, but I always felt like I was wearing a hat; a hat that would be embarrassing if it flew off. I justified wearing hair weave by convincing myself that my hair could never look this glamorous naturally. It wasn't until I moved away from home and was able to make decisions without parental influence, that I was able to decide I wanted to go natural. My then boyfriend now husband already had dreadlocks so he was very supportive of my decision. On my 19th birthday, I asked Courtney (husband), to cut my hair down to an inch with clippers; I felt liberated! My family thought I was going crazy, 

and was sure my world was going to fall apart by taking this step. Seeing their reaction didn't hurt me, but it did motivate me, all of our hair was naturally curly yet they were so unwilling to see it in its’ natural state. That is when I decided to start a natural hair care blog.

Before BC (weavalicious)

After BC (wink)

GirlwithKinks was supposed to be a blog about natural kinky/curly/coily hair. I wanted to inspire women to see their natural hair for the beauty it possessed, by being an example of a stylish natural. In the past few weeks I have been re-evaluating my life, my religion, my health, and I felt like I could do more-for myself as well as others by sharing my personal moments in life, good or bad, which is why I wanted to establish GirlwithKinks as a life journal. I will be sharing all of me- with you, (lucky). Tomorrow I am going to share an important post so I hope you stay tuned.

                              <3GirlwithKinks