Sunday, July 28, 2013

College 101: Freshmen Advice

Hey Darlings,
 I've been working a lot with my school in Georgia with the incoming freshman class and their orientation and stuff like that so, I've been posting stuff on my Tumblr about freshmen and moving and my experience and I began getting a few questions so, I thought a great idea would be to start a video series addressing those questions and more. You can find the series on my Youtube Channel along with other videos about life and random bits and bobs.


Anyways, the first video of this series addresses the question "What Should I Pack/Bring to My Dorm"
and I gave you guys a lot of great information but I want to post some links to websites that can go into further detail. Also, I have an app that I want to share with you guys, that I'm using to keep track of what I need to move in.


One thing that I didn't get to mention in the video was storage!!
It's so important and I want to give you guys some quick storage solutions that work for me, I'm not the most organized person, I'm pretty average, like I'm not going to sit down and color coat, label and meticulously put things in place, so here are some dorm solutions that I think work!

1. BINS/BASKETS
Get some that are flat and can slide under your bed and some that are more cub shaped and can be stacked next to your desk. That way you can store things you don't need everyday under your bed (out of season clothes, laundry stuff, traveling stuff etc.) and everyday things next to your desk which is going to your permanent area for the next year. Or even get some for your closet
EX.
You can get stuff like these and display your stuff

Walmart Has A Collection of Them On The Low

2. Hangable Storage





Hope you enjoyed that video and left a comment if you have any questions.
Check out My Channel and Enjoy youtube.com/shamoyakelly

Here are the links and the app!

App:
The College Packing List (Web Version)
  App Version

Links:
Freaking Awesome Extensive Dorm Room Checklist
107 Things to Pack For College
Dorm Room Space Savers
Keep Your Room Organized

Friday, July 26, 2013

Quick Update

So, If you're one of the lucky few who have been keeping up with this detox that I'm doing I want to give you a quick update as to what is going on. So, I felt a little weird today and I kind of brushed it off, then it got more apparent and I felt nauseous, so I went to google (as I do with everything in my life) and searched negative effects of the smoothie diet and a lot of people felt sick and weird and were having the same symptoms I'm feeling right now and this lady actually said her iron levels dropped a lot and my first thought was incorporate more spinach duh but then I also thought about my body and how that could be the problem because right now I am losing blood and it could be my iron levels dropping below their norms.

I also have been feeling dizzy, nauseous, and I have a blaring migrane and generally hungry and I thought to myself "for something that's supposed to make my body good from the inside out, this sure doesn't feel that way" and I know 'beauty is pain' but I feel sick and I don't like that.

With that said, something has to change, you know, something has to give.
No, I'm not quitting this but I'm also not going to starve myself so I said I'll eat if I'm hungry but I'll have a smoothie first and if I feel like I need something else, then I'll give it to myself.

I don't want to hear any crap about people who live raw lives and have been vegan and blah blah blah because trust me I already know that but my body isn't used to that and I stopped eating food cold turkey.
That's the plan right now, I love the smoothies, I want to keep them as a regular part in my normal diet because they do make me feel energized and glowy and my skin feels better and I feel like it helps me get a bunch of extra nutrients.

So that's that for now, I'll post more smoothie recipes in the next post. So look out for those and remember I haven't stopped the smoothies, so keep all the flack to your keyboard and not on my screen


Woah! BEST SMOOTHIE EVER

well, that I've made so far!
It's 9:46 and I literally had to come right from the kitchen and share this with you guys!
I mean this is heaven. I woke up this morning and I didn't feel as hungry as I normally do/did. So I stayed in bed for about the next 20-25 minutes checking emails and responding to social media
(I have those, you should check em out ;)
But then I was like okay, food...hmmm what do I want. Something yummy, lets go.

I started with a
Base of
 about a half to 3 quarters of a cup of coconut water.
Then I added a splash of kombucha

Flavors:
The other half of the mango (from yesterday)
I put all my pineapples, blackberries and raspberries in a bag together in the freezer and I grabbed a huge chunk of that
about 6 or 7 pieces of strawberry.
Then I blended that up and it was really thick, so I added bits of kombucha to loosen it up a bit

I then added my greens, I added kombucha on top because the smoothie was so thick, then I topped the blender off with swiss chard
I liquified that thing and
HEAVEN
I'm drinking it now and it's almost done, like I am full but I'm trying to figure out ways to fit more of it in my tummy.

Until later! Shamoya
youtube.com/shamoyabailey

Detox Day 1: Part 2 UH OH

Hey!
So I almost made it through day one but.....I ate some chicken....and rice. I am human uh oh
I have reasons though, remember, how in my last post I told you I wasn't feeling well because of "mother nature" well I threw up as a result of that and trust me, it didn't have anything to do with the smoothies this just always happens on the first day of my cycle. So I was kind of expecting it but not hoping for it. Then I got really hungry so I ate just a small plate of food, turned out I got full really fast but anyways, I can already see changes in my skin and lips. Normally, when I and most other females start their cycles our bodies react in lots of ways. For example, breaking out, this normally happens to me but for some reason my face is really clear and it has to be due to this because these smoothies are the only thing that changed in my diet. Also, I'm not really bloated and I feel really energized!
So I almost made it through day 1 but I want to get through day 2 NO EXCUSES!

In making smoothies, I've realized that it's an art. You have to start with a base (something with high water content or a liquid) to liquify it, then a couple of main flavors, and some type of leafy green to give you some vitamins and make it much more healthier and filling.

After my first smoothie I had two more. One for dinner and one just for a snack, I'm sipping on it now and both of these were DELICIOUS!

Have any of you ever had strawberry fennel ice cream? Well, it's f*king delicious and I tried and succeeded in recreating it as a smoothie.
Here's the recipe (I did everything by taste -which you should too- so bear with me)

My Base:
Kefir

Flavors:
handful of chopped frozen strawberries (around half a cup)
about 2 times that amount of fennel

Texture:
about 9 or 10 frozen banana slices or chunks (I wanted it to be creamy like the ice cream)

Leafy Green:
couple handfuls of spinach

Then hit the liquify button till smooth or your desired texture, this was so good! You have to try it, it sounds funky but it's good. If you don't believe me make it or go try strawberry fennel ice cream

This is it before I started blending
It blending! Look how good that looks, so creamy!
And in the glass ready to slurp!

My snack smoothie (sipping on it now)

My Base:
Frozen Cucumbers
Frozen Apples

Flavors:
Mint Leaves

That's it, it's so good! and it's just a snack smoothie. So cooling and refreshing.

No makeup or edit! Look at how pink my lips are and how clear my skin is!


I feel so good and now it's time for a warm shower and a goodnight!
Dormez bien mes amours!


Youtube.com/shamoyakelly


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Smoothie Detox: Day 1

Hey all!
Okay, so I decided I need to make a change and I was speaking with my sister's friend whom I get along with really well and we were thinking about starting the juice diet or smoothie diet because we both don't have juicers haha and we talked about it on Monday, then just kind of went back to our worlds. But yesterday (tuesday) I was thinking to myself that I really should do it because I want to get all the gook out of my system and obviously lose some weight.
So, I spent a couple hours last night researching it and figuring out how to start it and how to be successful, I got tired of reading and went to bed  but I woke up this morning with some clarity and I just thought to myself ''if I'm going to do it, I just got to start and start now''.

So I got out of bed around 8:45 and walked to my sister's room and asked her if she wanted to join me and she was caught so off guard because it was so random but you know, whatever haha and she said I don't know, I'm tired leave me alone haha.

So I did my morning things (still hungry as a mofo because by this point I'm determined to start today) then I left for the grocery store and got these things:
I don't think you can read that so I'll just list everything here (I tried to by everything whole and fresh because it'll save money and I can prep. everything myself)

Frozen Foods:
Frozen Tropical Fruit:A bag of frozen papaya, kewi, mango, and pineapple mix (it sounded yummy)

General:
Milkshake Straws (I love straws so I bought the big thick ones because I knew the smoothies would be thick and ps. who likes to drink smoothies without straws? Satan, yeah that's what I thought)

Okay now for everything else:
Plain Kefir
A bottle of original Kombucha
3 Lemons
4 Navel Oranges
A bag of baby peeled carrots (they're on sale and were cheaper than the regular carrots)
1 lb strawberries
1 Fennel Bulb
3 Gala Apples
A Bunch of Bananas
Bunch of Beets (4)
Blackberries
2 Coconut Waters
6 Kirby Cucumbers
Ginger
2 Grapefruits
2 Small Honeydews
2 Bunches of Kale
3 Large Mangoes
4 Limes
Baby Watermelon
Bag of Micro Spinach
Mint Package
3 Peaches
Rasberries
Red Swiss Chard
A Pineapple
3 Romaine Hearts
1 Tomato (not for juicing)
Package of Almonds

This is most of it (I got what I could in the photo)


So after this taking these photos my stomach is now growling (it's around 12:30) and I took down all my plastic containers that I saved from takeout and my zip top bags and started prepping. Now everything is put away and looks like this. (I put stuff in the freezer so when I blend them, the smoothie will be cool and nice...I hate warm smoothies, they make me cringe a lot


In terms of prepping everything,
I first blended the carrots with a cup of water then set them aside to drain, then I blended the beets to a pulp and put them away in a container in the freezer. Everything else I washed, peeled, and chopped. Well everything except the mangoes, apples, oranges, limes, and grapefruits. Those I have divided into 2 of the paper shopping bags in the bottom of the fridge. But ya, I'm done prepping now and I feel good


One thing I forgot to mention is that I was super hungry so while I was chopping things I was throwing things into the blender. So, I had some left over beet from when I pulverized it earlier, some kale, spinach, apples, a lime, watermelon, honeydew, and mango. I'll post the exact measurements at the bottom of the post and it's kind of a hodge podge smoothie because I was so hungry and I just threw things in, it's definitely not the best smoothie so far but it's manageable and I know now that I can't just throw things in and press liquify. I have to think about the flavors and stuff.
So stick around for more posts and updates about this detox and "diet" this week. I am challenging myself to do it for a minimum of 5 days because your body takes 72 hours to clean itself out and I'm giving it 2 more days to adjust but if I feel good and want to keep going, I won't hold myself back.

The smoothie I made looks like this, I'm almost done with it haha and this recipe is underneath the photo.

Looks bad right, whatever haha
Recipe: 
7 inch chunk of watermelon, another of honeydew
a bit of beet puree that didn't pour out of the blender
half an apple
half of a mango
juice of 1 lime
1 little chunk of ginger
small handful of spinach and
a larger handful of kale
then liquify until it's as smooth as it's going to get
*definitely not the best but I will post better recipes to come, this is just what I'm drinking now.

Feelings: Right now, I feel good, I feel energized but I'm also on my period (oops tmi) so I have cramps but I'm also worried about staying true to this and not giving into pms and ordering Chinese and binging on chocolate but keep checking for more posts and you'll see if I make it or not


Until my next post cheries, and check out my youtube channel youtube.com/shamoyakelly

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

How Did I Get Into Astrology

I don't know, I just did.

No, I'm kidding, I'll write more.
I always knew what signs were, like I knew what my mom's sign is, and my sisters and one day I just started reading about them. I remember going to the library a long time ago, like probably when I was in year 6 and looking at a book that had the word Astrology on the front and I flipped to my section and began reading it, only, to realize it described me a lot! Then I flipped to other sections based on my family and it described them too and I was just like oh my God, woah.
So being the kid that I was, I spent the next like ever googling and learning about signs. I got really into horoscopes for a while and I wouldn't go a day without reading my horoscope but as I grew older I realized that horoscopes are just broad generalizations of common things that could happen to anybody


Disclamer: I do believe that there are people that can see what is going to happen in the future, I do believe that God gave people that gift but I don't think someone writing a bunch of crap from their desk in an office at "insert magazine here"'s headquarters can really predict the future.
You know?

So, as I grew older, I got out of believing in horoscopes and began studying Astrology, the signs of the zodiacs, and all areas included under that umbrella.

I guess I'll get into the being a Christian and believing in Zodiacs deal

A lot of people tell me that studying astrology is a sin and blah blah blah and how it goes against God and how I cannot call myself a true Christian if i study it.
Here's what I say

Thank you for imposing your hatred and closed minded belief system on me, why are you here judging me when I'm not harming you. Why do you feel the need to criticize me. If we're going to decide what God intended, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be for you not to accept people. Also, I believe that I, and everyone else was put on this earth on a certain day, time, and place for a reason and astrology helps me understand that. It helps me understand why God did things the way it was done. Just let me do what I do and you do what you do.
I have no problem with tolerating you for who you are

NOW GO'N GET, GIT OFF MY PROPERTY

Also, I just uploaded a video where I probably offend people based on their signs, it's funny and meant for kicks and giggles. When people tell me their sign this is what pops into my head. Check it out http://youtu.be/qJWFPUuoj3Y

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Astrology

So, I was sitting here wondering what I should write about for my next post and I couldn't figure it out. I asked my sister what is something I know, something that I could write about and her response was "I don't know, I can't tell you that". Which for some reason prompted me to think about astrology and signs because those are things that I know, you know.
When it comes to astrology, a lot of people use the terms astrology and horoscopes interchangeably and before we go any further, I want to point out that I do not believe in horoscopes but I do study astrology.


Let me explain, 

Astrology is the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world.

and


Horoscopes are forecasts of a person's future, typically including a delineation of character and circumstances, based on the relative positions of the stars and planets at the time of that person's birth.


I don't think anyone can truly predict the future, one can only generalize broad forecasts to make them fit for almost each and every person.



With that said, I feel like I should tell you guys what my signs are. No not sign but signs, we don't just have one sun sign (which is the sign we say in response to the question "What's your sign?") We have multiple signs that all have pulling effects on us.
Off the top of my head I can list quite a few signs about myself and my friends



The Ones I can Remember:
Sagittarius Sun
Pisces Moon
Aries Rising/Ascendent
Leo Mars
Scorpio Venus
Sagittarius Jupiter


The Ones I had to Double Check:
Pisces Saturn
Uranus Capricorn
Neptune Capricorn
Pluto Scorpio
N. Node in Scorpio


A lot of signs right? YES but the ones that I listed under the ones I can remember are the signs that play larger parts in your personality and I study those more often (probably the reason why I can remember them more).
If you're wondering how you can find all this out for free here's the link to my tried and true Natal Chart Maker.

I hope that tells you a little more about me and helps you find out more about yourself.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

50 Facts About Me Tag | ShamoyaKelly (+15 bonus facts)

Shamoya here and I decided to start this blog to go along with the youtube channel I just created. It's http://youtube.com/ShamoyaKelly
I just uploaded my first video name eponymous with the title of this post.
It's a short and quick video with the most random facts about me, I start by talking a little bit about my family and then move into the weirder and weirder. Anyways, I'm leaving it here so you guys can check it out but I like this blogging thing, I think I might keep doing it...I like that I can write and post what I want and actually blog.

But ya, here it is and I've also included a few extra facts about me down below, so check it out!

Other randoms about me
1. Oh shit! I forgot my starbucks coffee is in the freezer, I'll be right back! 
    It didn't crack woooo! I'm a little forgetful about certain things but I can remember weird facts.
2. Raven Symone and I have the same birthday, she's freaking amazing
3. I broke my wrist because I was trying to do a German dance off the side of a stone pond, it was wet and I slipped.
4. I love water: drinking it, being in it. I just love being in a body of water and floating there
5. I used to be able to hold my breath for up to 3 minutes but now ehhh got to get back in shape
6. I pretty much always eat healthy but I have bad binges where I just don't give a 
7. I have been told that I am too open minded
8. I love rain and I remember one time I got in trouble for laying outside on the pavement while it was raining.
9. When I was a kid, my cousin and I tried to cook the fish in our fish tank, we caught it and put it in the sink to scale it, then in the pot with dry pasta to make fish lo mein which leads me to say
10. My dad always kept like a 100 gallon tank with carnivorous fish
11. I love British slang
12. I was chatting with a friend the other day and we came to the realization that wherever I travel to, I pick up the accent of the people around me. When I came back from France I had a Spanish/French accent, in Ga I pick up the southern twang and when I'm here in New York, I sound like I never left.
13. My birth was a miracle, both my mother and I almost, you know
14. I love helping people
15. I can't think of anything else, maybe I'll come back and add more...I'll probably forget haha 

HEY

leave me some facts about yourself below! Maybe we have things in common and I could add them to this list!

avec bisoux-shamoya