This weekend people will gather right outside of Hughes Springs, Texas for Atrium Obscurum’s annual 3 days, 2-night music and art festival at Armadillo Acres. This is the same venue used for Myschievia. The theme for this event is to honor the dead. Many of us have experienced death in 2016 in very personal ways so this is our way of celebrating them with this Norse mythology story.
Einherjar (Old Norse einherjar = ‘those who fight alone’ or ‘those who belong to an army’) is the term used in Northern mythology for the warriors slain in battle, who are brought to Valhalla by the Valkyries after their deaths. There they spend their days in battle, but in the evenings they are all alive again and drink the mead which flows from the udder of the goat Heiðrún and is offered to them by the Valkyries. They eat the meat from the constantly renewed boar Sæhrímnir. There is sufficient for everyone. – Nordic Names
Headlining is
OCELOT – Prog-A-Lot (USA/Portugal) Avatar – Vertigo – Dropout – Moon – Koradji
*Ocelot will also be performing a downtempo set in the 2nd Dome area*
Cosmic Grow – (Mexico) Freak Records
Yoshua EM – (Mexico) Discordia Crew – Anomalistic Records
DragRam T.O.U.C.H. Samadhi Greenville, NC
*FREE DOWNLOAD OF ENTIRE MIX*
Ekimskrid – (Iowa) Samana Records – Anomalistic Records
I am preparing to take my finals for the courses I need to earn an Associates of Arts Degree so I can transfer to a four-year university this week. I had already taken college courses since I graduated from high school and never considered that I needed more education since I am naturally intelligent. I learned how to do bookkeeping from the comptroller in the first company I worked in. Later I worked directly with a CPA. During that time, I would take accounting classes and go to tax workshops.
I did not like going to college. I would sit in class and be bored thinking about how am I ever going to use this? I enjoyed the courses I needed for working, payrolling, accounting, business classes. I regularly was promoted at every job I had for a decade. A decade!
I hit a wall in July 2014 and was told that I would not be promoted as I did not have a bachelor degree. I still remember thinking that I should go back to school full-time because of how unhappy I was with my career in general. I felt bored and ready to do something new. About a month later, I got hired to be an accountant at a not-for-profit which gave me a salary raise and I was able to apply more of the course work I had taken previously.
One day I was having lunch and realized how much I missed interacting with other people. I did not train anymore, I did assist customers. I did full-cycle bookkeeping but I was missing the aspect of interacting with other people. After 7 months, I decided to go back to school full time and finish the courses I needed so I could get a degree.
Never again would having a degree hold me back & I never wanted to this intelligent person without proof. I struggled very much knowing that I would have to stop working to get an education and I would have to pay for that. I am thankful to have all the support, financially and mentally to go back.
Now back to studying, my first final is in 18 hours. Much love to all the college students taking in all the information at this time. I do know that of all the things I have that can be taken from me, my education will be with me forever.
Are you working towards a goal that has taken longer than the usual time? Let me know in the comments.
I’ve had other bloggers feature me on their blogs and it was wonderful to be able to be a part of collaboration, series or mentioned. That is why the Liebster Award is awesome! The bloggers that I nominated even wrote a bit about me and it is great to connect with other bloggers. This can be an extremely isolating activity. It felt awesome reading their opinions about what I am doing and encouraged me to keep posting and creating.
10 Ecuadorian Bloggers You Should Know It was awesome to be included in this post as I enjoy reading about other Ecuadorian and this group includes those living all over. Several of these bloggers are food bloggers and I love to eat traditional food with a new twist. I also enjoyed reading their blogs since they in Spanish and English. This was done when I did not think that people ever read my bio so it was cool to read it on another website. I follow Diana on snapchat to this day!
FEARLESS FRIDAY | ALLY FROM HYDROSUPRALICKED Absolutely adore the positivity that Tiffany creates who it was great to be her first person for her Fearless Friday series. I enjoyed being able to share my experience waterfall repelling in Baños, Ecaudor. I hope that the post will be able to encourage other’s to participate in in adrenaline sports and listen to drum & bass and Diane Charlemagne.
CAREER SERIES NO. 1- ACCOUNTANT I’m a fan of all the work that Kayla has done and she’s a hard worker. I like this spotlight as I had just decided to switch from being an account to go back to school to work on marketing. I did enjoying accounting yet after 10 years I wanted to do something more creative. I hope this spotlight helped those thinking about becoming an account know what it would involve. Even if I am no longer a full time accountant now, I still use the skills for my personal bookkeeping, I constantly track line by line all my invoices and I even use it for any work I do as a virtual assistant. Accounting is a great skill to have for freelancers, and yes I know creative types hate it.
The Liebster Award: My first blog award EVER! That time that Bobbie nominated me for the Libester Award. This was a lot of fun to know some facts about here. Now she is one of my favorite people on Facebook, so I like how this award allows bloggers to open up about who they are and connect with each other.
However, I’ve have read negative blog post about me before.
LiveJournal came out in 1999. I had several friends who were in the underground dance scene and online forums who had joined up. One guy who was trying to creep on someone he was dating was caught when I sent him an AOL instant message. Then wrote paragraphs about what he thought of me – for her to read. I read it & saved it & made sure to never put myself in that position again. Do not spend time with anyone who blabs about their personal life online. They will write about you, misspellings, dramatically, for others to feel sorry for them. It was interesting for me to read how someone was using a public space to throw me under the bus. Eventually they became a couple & he cheated on her and a friend forwarded me the LiveJournal link where she was writing about about him. What goes around, comes around.
Excellent reason why not to write negatively about anyone since that means will come back to you. I am a major fan of spotlighting awesome things because that is all I want coming back to me and there is not enough time for me to waste on any topic that doesn’t help out others.
5 things you should do when others write about you:
Decide if you want to share it: if is negative I would not want someone to get free hits from me. If it is awesome then I want everyone to read it. The positive posts from above are old but sometimes I’ll share them in the future because they are evergreen content and not restricted by date.
Leave a comment: if is negative you could respond. I don’t believe I responded directly to negative posts on myself but I did save it. For positive posts, I always leave a note because hey that’s me they are posting about!
Share it online: the ultimate currently online. Shout it out! If it negative, I suppose you could share it but seeing as how content relies on hits, I wouldn’t share it. No free hits from me.
Share it on your blog: I can’t believe I am just now sharing these links on my blog! I should have done this back when they went live so enjoy it now and check out these blogs. They are all well designed, great content, created by highly intelligent women.
Write about them: of course you can write about them or include them in a series. I would like to do a series like 2 of the above in 2016. I love to share wonderful stories from other blogs, just like I have with all the previous interviews I have hosted before. Nothing gives me more pleasure than sharing the stories of kick ass folks.
As a Sweat Pink Ambassador with Fit Approach, I received products from BeFit™ Nutrition. I was able to try out this product for free and received compensation for this review, this review is my opinion. I have been looking for a protein formula that was not loaded with sugar AND did not taste like chalk so I looked forward to testing out these product. Good news for my readers is that you will get to win three products in the above from this supplement line! That is a $120 value for reading. Enter the giveaway at the end of this review.
I am always looking for GMO free items and this line has that as well as being gluten-free and sugar free. The sweetness comes beets! I have several friends who read labels and all of them confirmed that none of ingredients were known to be harmful all the ingredient lists were fairly short. I know sometimes I’ll read a label and not now how to even pronounce some of those items.
BeFitBURN: This is the first time I’ve taken a metabolism booster. It is true that I did NOT have any jitters but at the same time I did not feel like I was experiencing a rush of energy. The serving size for these are 2 capsules and each time I did take two. The instructions read to take before a large meal so I did noticing that I did not require my typical post coffee drink. Looking back I did not take a nap after any of my meals this past month.
BeFit Vanilla Whey: Delicious. I used the recommended 1 scoop. I keep my shake very simple. I would add frozen blueberries, banana, or cherries with a tablespoon of peanut butter. I was a complete hurry this month so time for laying out everything. This was better than expected and I would like more as this did keep me full from 7 AM till 3 PM several times. I know I am bad about eating all my meals but I had various places to be and did not have any time to get food. I did not try this mix with nothing in it, each time there was frozen fruit and it was filling and tasty. Nutrient wise this was perfect with 100 calories so I could have added more peanut butter for fruit, protein at 22 grams per service then 2 grams of carbs. I couldn’t believe it. No sugar but stevia.
BeFit PRE Pre-Workout: My favorite product! I have never taken a prework out before and now I do not want to live without it! I eventually started carrying this in my back pack since I work out in the middle of the day. I have heard of people taking pre-workouts and acting weird but this one was perfect. I didn’t feel rushed and I enjoyed the flavor so much. I got the fruit punch flavor which is sugar free but used red beets for the sweetness. I am a fan of adding beets to my juices so this was perfect.
The workouts: BeFit is a channel on YouTube with over 2 million subscribers for fitness and these are challenging work out. I did these workouts as well. I had no idea that I could come up from a squat a make my feet clap but I did. The entire 30 day Fat Burn is already collected in playlist ready for you! The best part is that this workout is free, not free with purchase, but free right now. So you can get started NOW. These are HIIT workouts that use body weight and light weights. I didn’t even use weights several times so do not let that stop you.
You can use the work out calendar located here: BeFit 30 Day Fat Burn with more fitness videos on their YouTube channel at YouTube.com/BeFit I highly recommend doing running in place before these work outs and stretching afterwards. If you do not work out and break a sweat there will be soreness. I did several of these work outs with friends and they were wiped out. I work out regularly and found these videos to be fun and challenging. Since the videos are all about 10-15 minutes there were a variety of combination moves that use all major muscle groups. I did a snapchat video several times after the first week AFTER these work outs and yes I was dripping in sweat.
U.S. only
One prize per person. If your winner has already won through another SPA’s giveaway, we will ask you to select another winner. We suggest including this disclosure in your post:
One prize per person. If you win this giveaway, and have already won another prize from BeFit through another blog, please disclose that you have already won so we can choose another winner.
Leave a comment with your favorite protein shake recipe! Let me know what your fitness goals are.
≈ Comments Off on Monthly Goals Theme: FIRE IT UP-POWER IT UP!
I read the Power Path and like the idea of having my monthly goals aligned with the forecast per this website. If anyone has a strange personal issue that I can’t help them with I direct them to this website and every time they come back to me saying it is strange how the forecast makes sense.
Write 30 minutes a day: I only missed writing ONE day a week last month! That is a win for me.
#BeFit workouts: This was awesome. These work outs a real challenge and I enjoyed being able to put them into my day. Tomorrow I’ll have a full review of how it went and do a give away for BeFit nutritional products.
3. #RockYourHandWriting, #PlanWithMeChallenge, #FMSPhotography: Fail. I had way too much to do to follow along or keep up. I did have a couple but too many challenges.
A photo posted by Foodie | Naturalist | Dancer (@allyfiesta) on
4. Infinite Circles Challenge: Same here. I need either a tripod or a friend (I need time to even meet with a hoop friend!) to record me.
5. Virtual Assistant Website: I have started on content but due to my work load this I do not want to launch anything extra. I am planning on moving in a couple of week and can’t imagine trying to complete any extra work. I am glad I have it. I want to be full time come May.
Now for the goals for this month!
1. Consistent space dedicated to project. I have tried to study at home but ended up being asked to help with domesticated duties, run errands or I have just zoned out completely to do something else. I have noticed that yesterday my FIRST day in the math lab on campus I spent 3 hours and got the assignment done. 3 hours. That is so much time but I need to focus on this and get this work done.
2. Find a new home. I’ve been staying with family as we save money to get a house and I feel completely lost, excited, nervous and ready to have more space of my own. Right now my home office is in a corner with no natural light and I’ve been most of my work on campus. That could be a good thing consider I am more focused there. Yet I would like to start having guests over this summer and doing cook outs and themed parties. I’m so ready!
3. Volunteer. I have applied to a couple of places to volunteer for the next couple of months. One is a public hospital greeting visitors and having them feel welcomed, perfect for me. The other a natural preservation organization of an area I visit regularly. I’m excited about that one as anything nature related in exciting to me.
4. Block out distractions. Past two weeks have been heavy with distractions online conversations, meaningless gatherings, and putting energy into tasks that can be batched together. I have tried to multitask by listening to my text being read to me while I go through e-mail but the problem is I’m neither listening to my text or reviewing my e-mail carefully enough so both tasks are half assed. So now am blocking out time to fully pay attention to what I am doing. Homework and studying in a lab or library. Then work at my desk. Then domesticated duties in my domesticated space!
5. Simplify day. I do so much every single day! I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, well right in the middle yet I’ve noticed that I will be all over this huge space and be overwhelmed with things I WANT to do instead of what I NEED to do. I have to focus as this past year I had more flexible time with going to completing this part of my education. I will start working full time in May so I need to strip my commitments down to what I need to reach my goals. That doesn’t mean I will stop socializing! Spending time on dance floors is how I survive.
I hope you have found these links helpful as I have. Let me know what you are working on this month and comment with resources or advice that. How do you track your goals?
I am an ambassador with Fit Approach, I participated in a Manitoba Harvest Hemp Heart Bars campaign. I received free product, but all thoughts and opinions are mine.
An extra day in 2016 for Leap Year! An extra day to get something done! I spent today doing extra studying and a couple of errands for my home. This past month I have found that even using a meal planning service is not enough for me. I was spending extra time with my mom and she had other idea about dinner then I would stay with her all day before heading to class for the night. My schedule was all over the place.
I had two choices: fast food or a hearty bar.
I was sent an apple and chocolate Hemp Heart bar from Manitoba Harvest. Thank you! You can purchase a right now with 15% using code hhbarlaunch1015
I have all my study materials ready to study but first an apple cinnamon snack!
The night I got my pack to try I had just spent 6 hours at school and was too exhausted to make myself anything to eat since I had to read a chapter before my morning class the next day. I completely tore into the Apple Cinnamon.
Best part about these bars is how filling there are for how small they are. I don’t like a massive chunky even doughy texture like some protein bars have. These bars have 15 grams of fat & 10 grams of protein so they are meal replacements. I didn’t worry about the carbs in the Apple Cinnamon as that was 15 grams. The flavor is rich but not candy bar like. I ate this one around 9:30 PM and didn’t get anything else to eat till 7:30 am the next day. I wasn’t hungry or get a headache. The ingredient list was also very clean and used organic ingredients. That is very important for me since I do not want to get a sugar rush then slump back when I need to be focused.
I tucked the chocolate away for another day.
The other day came.
I want to be able to say that every day I pack a wonderful lunch or that the places around me have great food but that is not where I am. I spent several hours working on a science lab then decide look down and see that my time to work out is here. I could blow off my work out to rush home to get lunch but I end up missing a much needed work out. I reached in my bag & decided to try the chocolate.
I’m a major chocolate fan. I love dark, cocoa chocolate. I love flavor. I wasn’t sure if this bar was going to taste like chalk or have that candy bar taste. These bars are thick and are not excessively sweet so unlike ones I’ve previously had which were over priced candy bars. The chocolate has a flavor that feel filling. Both bars contain iron & I had no issues with my tummy or felt bloated afterwards.
I am glad that I was sent these bars as I’ve been looking for one that isn’t made up of entirely so much sugar or carbs. I like how filling they are and provided enough for me to be focused when studying and also as fuel for a workout.
Want to win a box of Hemp Hearts? Join the photo contest. I found these images on Instagram & loved how full of color they were. Tag @manitobaharvest#hempheartbar#fuelledbyhemp#sweatpink@fitapproach for a chance to win a box of your favorite flavor of Hemp Heart Bars! A winner will be chosen each month and the contest is open to Canadian and American residents over the age of 18.
This is perfect time to bulk buy as Manitoba Harvest is giving a discount code for 15% off. Use code hhbarlaunch1015 while shopping at manitobaharvest.com. Use now as the code expires in March 31, 2016.
Much respect to all my college students trying to make sure to keep the nutrition in check. Crazy thing is I have a project due today and found out I can’t get my access code I need for that project. I’ve contacted my bookstore and the publisher with no help so I’m going to turn SOMETHING in so I don’t fail.
What is your favorite go-to snack? Do you prefer apple cinnamon over chocolate?
First stop was Mount Gilead Baptist Church. Our tour guide told us this is the oldest black church in Fort Worth and 4 churches have come from this church. It had incredibly detailed stain glass windows through out and was three levels, the main, the balcony and the basement which was where the children did Sunday school. Our guide told us that military used to use the pool on the bottom floor to swim, although now the pool is closed. The church in this current state has been here since August 31, 1913. The view from the second floor balcony was amazing and glad I got this panoramic shot. This church was a major hub of community. Downstairs in the basement was a wall with all the outstanding members and had clips about their roles.
Next stop to view the monument of the first millionaire black man, Bill “Gooseneck” McDonald. I didn’t get a good clear shot since we couldn’t enter the graveyard during this time. This past weekend I watched a talk about him from the Fort Worth Library. I am interested in knowing about all successful people, worth a watch especially how Bob Ray Sanders and Jan Jones speaking about him. Plus I dig this about his monument from Hometown by Handlebar : At Oakwood William Madison “Gooseneck Bill” McDonald is said to have chosen for his final resting place a hillside where this thirty-eight-foot-tall obelisk can look down upon the North Main Street lodge hall of a different fraternal lodge—the Ku Klux Klan. The final laugh.
I got several shots from Evan’s Plaza – I went through and took a picture of every single carved in historical marker so definitely go down there to read. There is not much in this area currently but the City of Fort Worth has created plans to use this area, a former nightlife entertainment district, for retail with professional offices in the future. Right now this space looks perfect for an outdoor concert! There isn’t much in terms of structure for a stage for the main area has a lot of grass area for picnicking behind it. There are memorials along the sidewalk commemorating performers of the past.
Last place was the Lenora Rolla Heritage Center Museum, a gallery inside of a house with four large rooms on the bottom. I wish I had more time because I really do just stare at art.
Lenora Rolla Heritage Center Museum
I take a great interest in art and getting to see new artists was awesome. All of our guides knew so much and had awesome personalities that this was lot of fun.
I found this great video that goes over these spots! Our tour guide was a blast & at one point she told us to shut up till we got to our next stop. We all laughed because we were all listening so it might have seemed like we were not paying attention.
Glad I got to take this bus tour. You can join the Tarrant County Black Historical and Genealogical Society and sign up to be a volunteer on their website. I am thankful for these members to show us a side of Fort Worth I have never gotten seen. I like how the City of Fort Worth is helping preserve this history for generations to come.
Let me know in the comments how you celebrated Black History Month this year!
I got a message from an old school buddy about a rapper he was representing in LA. I am always interested in new music so I did a quick search and FIRST headline was: Dean Risko Says He Wants To Be A “White Male Version” Of Lauryn Hill. O. M. G. WHO THE HECK THIS MAN THINK HE IS?! I watched the video and saw Dean talk about his desire to not just rap but sing & after listening and watching Dean he CAN sing, rap & dance. Triple threat alert! Dean has already covered his white comparison to Eminem and it’s 2016 – the world knows white people can rap – moving on from stereotypes! Over all Dean has an entertaining quality about him as well as a sincere story to tell. Take the time to listen to the lyrics and take the time to enjoy the bass the music provides. I’m a major dance music fan so blasting Temple St has been fun as I’m sure those of you following me on snapchat have seen. As well as being a solo artist, Dean, is part of a group from Salt Lake City called Saltwater, take a listen!
I rarely hear an MC who also can sing without auto tune, do you have a preference between rapping and being a vocalist?
I started rapping and singing around the same time 11 years ago but I took rap more seriously until a few years ago. I like doing both live but I do prefer writing melodies to writing raps.
Where did the title Temple St. come from, what meaning does it have to you?
This project was originally supposed to be a full-length record and I mentioned Temple St in one of the songs that never made the cut. It’s the street in Echo Park that I used to live on. “Temple St.” is literally a window into the 5 turbulent years I spent there trying to survive and adjust to LA.
I saw that you were performing in South Africa in 2012, what did it feel like going back to your birth place and what impressions did you get?
Going back home was one of the best experiences of my life so far. I got to see family I hadn’t seen in like 10 years and reconnected with my roots. I was pleasantly surprised to discover a vibrant and diverse music scene and a somewhat of a renaissance happening in the city of Johannesburg.
You are constantly working on shows, videos and have a great energy when dancing – where do you get this drive to perform?
I’ve been a performer my whole life in one-way or another. It started with school plays, then it evolved into a passion for dance that became a professional career for a number of years but I always had a deeper love for music and eventually it became my focus. I started writing songs and performing music at age 15 and by about age 20 that’s all I wanted to do.
After looking at your Instagram account, I see how important your family is. What legacy do you want to leave for them?
I’ve always admired my father for chasing his dreams even when he was faced with adversity and letdowns. In some way I feel responsible to carry on his legacy. He moved us here when I was 10 with the hope of living the American Dream and after 10 years of trail and error it didn’t work out. My parents are back home in Joburg now and I’m in LA carrying the torch. I want to show my daughter that it is possible to succeed even if the path you choose has the most resistance. I want to inspire her with the same spirit I saw in my Dad.
What up coming events, projects do you have coming up?
Well aside from Temple St. and the SALTWATER collaboration project we just dropped I’m working on my first official full length and putting together a west coast tour. I’ve also got a few videos on the way from SALTWATER and the Temple St EP.
Pick up Dean Risko’s new album, Temple St., available from iTunes and Spotify
Yes it is a Thursday night and, of course, I will not be able to do anything the next morning. I have every intention of not working on anything until noon the following Friday. This is total drum and bass fan’s dream! Here are some free downloads and recommended listening to prepare you for March 24, 2016.
I’ve been reading great ideas for dates, meals, make up, outfits, gifts for Valentine’s Day when I suddenly realized – my entire life is showing bae I care! Of course there are things I do that he takes for granite so here are the top 5 things I do to show I love him.
These are some great idea you can apply to your relationship as well!
If he wants a quick kiss, I lick his face like a hyper puppy.
Of course I could wear something amazing, have flawless make up or buy him something but I already do all that on a daily basis. This list are things I do for him that he sometimes forgets that I do.
What are ways you show your love that are non-traditional?
. O. M. G. WHO THE HECK THIS MAN THINK HE IS?! I 
and it’s 2016 – 
Two:Tone has just released the full line up for the
*FREE DOWNLOAD*
