My first homemade green smoothie

So Natural Nigerian always talks about eating healthy on her blog amongst other things. I love anything relating to healthy living but I must confess I am not completely there. I still drink coca cola on &off despite my resolution to stop and I don’t drink as much water as I should. Anyway, NN posted a liquidised veg and fruit recipe on her blog which I decided to try out. To be honest the idea of drinking vegetable didn’t sound appealing to me but another part of me was curious and intrigued.

So I got my ingredients- some green grapes, a green apple and spinach.

I washed and threw all into my dedicated blender for smoothies (which I have only made once, actually my sister did when she was visiting from the states a few years ago, SMH for myself).

I added a little water and blended the mix- looked like green gooey. lol!

  

I poured into my cup. (Sorry not so clear photos)

At this point I confess I was scared to taste the gooey mix… but then I took the first sip… OMG.. It was de-li-cious!!! I kid you not… ! I took the second sip- yummmm. Princess was already asking for some so I gave her in a mug. She was gulping it, saying " hmm yummy" lol. The apple and the grapes downplayed the taste of the spinach which totally helped. My only issue was I didn’t like the feel of the apple skin in my mouth so decided to sieve the drink!

Much better!!!  The quantity reduced drastically and I probably lost some nutrients doing this but oh well... I gulped my tasty drink down. NN has a vitamix so her fruits including skin blend smoothly, lucky her! Next time I think I would just peel my apple. I was going to make more the next day but um Baale and Princess have chopped my grapes finish. So back to the market to get some more grapes.

This drink is full of nutrients (according to NN- "antioxidants, chlorophyll, phytonutrients, fibre, Vitamins A, C, K, E, B1, B6, Manganese, potassium and much more!") and it is lip-smacking, what more do you need? Seriously, you guys should try it out; your lives will never remain the same again :)

Now to some interesting news

1. We are giving away two powerful books on the soulsistas blog. Do check it out as it ends Feb 12.
2. We are also running a love chronicles series in the month of Feb. We have lined up some guest bloggers to tell us about their love stories and their marriages. It was kicked off by Gbemisoke on Wednesday. This is one series you don’t want to miss.

God bless people!

I have a new best friend- on blogville!

Most of you already know I have been natural for the past 3 years. If you don't then you can read all about that here.  Recently I have set hair/skin goals for myself and one of them is to use more natural homemade products on my hair/skin. As a result I have been doing a lot of research online about natural oils, how to make my own hair and skin conditioners, spritz, moisturisers etc. Not only is it ultimately cheaper, it is safer and healthier for me and princess.

The good thing about having a daughter is that she can be your guinea pig test subject. When I mix up my deep conditioners, I try it out on princess. Don’t worry I try it out as well (I can see all you defender of princess). The other day I mixed up coconut oil and honey to do a deep conditioner, I let it sit in hot water for 1 mins, put it on our hair , wrapped hair in cling firm for 20 mins, washed it off and then shampooed. Viola! Our hair came out really really soft and moisturised.

Ok I have digressed o as this isn’t the essence of this post. So yes from my research I discovered Natural Nigerian’s blog. Gosh, her blog is so informative and educative. I just learnt how to cleanse my face with the oil cleaning method (OCM) from her blog! OCM is amazing. The thing that also trips me is that she has a daughter as well so another opportunity to learn more stuff from her on how to take care of Princess' hair.

I have already told her on her blog she is my new blogville best friend but thought let me better shout it out on my blog as well, so she knows I am for real. Let the stalking friendship begin! :).

Natural Nigerian- thank you for taking time to blog and educate other Naturals about how to take care of their hair using your experience.

PS1- I think her tips can also work for team relaxed :D

PS2- I might share some of my natural hair goals and what I am doing with y'all later on.

God bless!

Where has your handbag been lately?

Hi peeps, A good friend of mine sent me the below article on handbags. I must say I was quite shocked ! It never really occurred to me about how much germs can exist on our handbags based on where we drop them. Gross!

Please read and let me know what you think? Cheers!

*Guys/men please feel free to comment as well* Rethots no vex o ;)
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Have you ever noticed girls who set their handbags on
public toilet floors, then go directly to their dining
tables and set it on the table? Happens a lot!
It's not always the 'restaurant food' that causes
Stomach distress. Sometimes 'what you don't know will hurt you'!

Mom got so upset when guests came in the door and
plopped their handbags down on the counter where she
was cooking or setting up food. She always said that
handbags are really dirty, because of where they have
been.

It's something just about every woman carries with them.
While we may know what's inside our handbags,
do you have any idea what's on the outside? Women carry
handbags everywhere; from the office to public toilets
to the floor of the car. Most women won't be caught
without their handbags, but did you ever stop to think
about where your handbag goes during the day.
I drive a school bus, so my handbag has been on the
floor of the bus a lot,' says one woman. 'On the
floor of my car, and in toilets.'

'I put my handbag in grocery shopping carts and on the
floor of the toilet,' says another woman 'and of
course in my home which should be clean.'
We decided to find out if handbags harbor a lot of
bacteria. We learned how to test them at Nelson
Laboratories in Salt Lake , and then we set out to
test the average woman's handbag.

Most women told us they didn't stop to think about
what was on the bottom of their handbag. Most said at
home they usually set their handbags on top of kitchen
tables and counters where food is prepared.
Most of the ladies we talked to told us they wouldn't
be surprised if their handbags were at least a little bit dirty.

It turns out handbags are so surprisingly dirty, even
the microbiologist who tested them was shocked.
Microbiologist Amy Karen of Nelson Labs says nearly
all of the handbags tested were not only high in
bacteria, but high in harmful kinds of bacteria.
Pseudomonas can cause eye infections, staphylococcus
aurous can cause serious skin infections, and
salmonella and e-coli found on the handbags could make
people very sick.

In one sampling, four of five handbags tested positive
for salmonella, and that's not the worst of it.
'There is fecal contamination on the handbags' says Amy.
Leather or vinyl handbags tended to be cleaner than
cloth handbags, and lifestyle seemed to play a role.
People with kids tended to have dirtier handbags than
those without, with one exception.

The handbag of one single woman who frequented
nightclubs had one of the worst contaminations of all.
'Some type of feces, or possibly vomit' says Amy.
So the moral of this story is that your handbag won't
kill you, but it does have the potential to make you
very sick if you keep it on places where you eat.
Use hooks to hang your handbag at home and in toilets,
and don't put it on your desk, a restaurant table, or
on your kitchen countertop.

Experts say you should think of your handbag the same way you would a pair of
shoes. 'If you think about putting a pair of shoes on
your countertops, that's the same thing you're doing
when you put your handbag on the countertops.'
Your handbag has gone where individuals before you
have walked, sat, sneezed, coughed, spat, urinated,
emptied bowels, etc!



Do you really want to bring that home with you?
The microbiologists at Nelson also said cleaning a
handbag will help. Wash cloth handbags and use leather
cleaner to clean the bottom of leather handbags.