If you’ve got a post for our eyes, do send in your links through this portal and get it featured. I share other people’s posts from Mondays to Fridays. Take advantage of the opportunity and share y…
Source: Share Your Posts!
a cooking pot and twisted tales
Thoughts and Tales…A Lifestyle Blog with a Zing.
If you’ve got a post for our eyes, do send in your links through this portal and get it featured. I share other people’s posts from Mondays to Fridays. Take advantage of the opportunity and share y…
Source: Share Your Posts!
“Don’t let people pull you into their storm. Pull them into your peace.” Kimberley Jones
The ladies in the photograph hold their fingers up in the sign of peace.
Peace! We all crave it. We all cherish it. Yet it seems that in today’s political climate, peace is far from what a whole lot of people are currently experiencing.
May we have peace.
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

I hear you in my thoughts…
Your words of wisdom,
of love and encouragement…
They are etched upon my soul.
They keep me warm.
**
*an excerpt from my poem*
Our sizzling hot monthly blog bash will take place on Saturday/Sunday 28th – 29th of May, 2016. Let’s close out the old month and usher in the new ‘Summer’ months with some …
Today, I have beautiful Nena telling us a bit more about herself and giving us a peek into her World.
She’s one of the encouraging and refreshing voices that I’ve met in this space. I enjoy her posts on showing simple ways of how we can be kind to each other as well her health and wellness posts.
Thank you, Nena for sharing a bit about you with us.
Hi! My name is Yentl (like the Barbara Streisand movie), but close friends and family call me Nena so I like for my blogging family to call me that as well.
Nena is a term of endearment in Spanish and it means “baby girl” and although I am a woman in her early 30s there is a sense of warmth every time I hear my nickname.
I was born and raised and still live in hot, sunny, and very humid Miami, Florida. If you haven’t guessed it already I am Latina and speak English and Spanish fluently. My dad is from Venezuela and my mom from Guatemala; two very distinct and beautiful cultures.
I like cooking healthy (and sometimes not so healthy) meals, staying active, exploring my world via traveling and reading, and expressing myself through writing and connecting with others.
I dislike criticism, judgments, and insults that break others down. We go through enough pain and despair in our lives so there is no room for hurtful words from people that don’t know any better.
For this reason, I try to always uplift those around me even if it’s through using simple, positive words like, “You are appreciated” so that they come to see their own worth.
My husband had been telling me for years to start a blog or YouTube channel mainly because of all the different hairstyles that I would do and also to share my nutrition knowledge.
I was hesitant because I was passionate about more than just nutrition and hair. I wanted to inspire and uplift others so when I started the blog it was more about unfolding bits of myself to promote self-discovery and self-love.
That is where the name YOUnfolded comes from.
I fell in love with blogging because of the supportive community. One of my fears with YouTube was all the competition that you see amongst vloggers so I was a bit apprehensive about what I was getting into with blogging. But I am so happy to have taken the plunge!
When I received my first like on my very first post “How Could I Forget?” I was elated!
It felt good to express myself and share info that could be helpful to others. Now I can’t wait to sit down and write up my recipes like The Pumpkin Soup that was a hit with my loved ones, my weekly workouts on my Move It Monday posts, and get my creative juices flowing when I write expressively like I have been doing for my Pet Series.
My favorite is when I get to showcase some of you lovely bloggers in my Pay It Forward Friday posts as a way to demonstrate my appreciation for all that you do.
I also started a YouTube channel to finally do some hair tutorials and decided to do them bare-faced (no makeup) to continue to promote self-love and the beauty of simply being YOU. Watch Younfolded on YouTube.
Lately, I have been waking up at 8am with just enough time to get up, brush my teeth, take my girls (dogs) out, get dressed, and start work at 8:30 am.
I work from home, but I am on a schedule (currently it is 8:30am – 5pm) and don’t have a lot of free time. I am a dietitian and I work as a health coach where I provide nutrition counseling to people over the phone.
I mainly make calls back to back and my lunch break consists of 30 minutes of eating in front of a Netflix show with my hubby.

After work, I clean (I use my cleaning schedule : ) take the girls out again, and work out. My hubby is usually the main cook in the house, but sometimes if he’s still working I cook dinner. Dinner is also in front of the TV watching one of our fave shows.
Once dinner is done, I take care of any pending things like taking a webinar for continuing education for my dietitian/nutrition license, shooting pics or videos for either my site or my husband’s work, writing posts, catching up with friends or family. Then it’s time for a shower and bedtime (around 11pm-12am).
I recently moved my WordPress hosted blog to a self-hosted one because I wanted to try to generate some income from it. My original plan to support and encourage others remains the same.
I found myself spending a lot of time putting together things for the blog, brainstorming ideas, and promoting companies whose products I have been using and truly believe in. I figured that it would be great to gain even just a bit of income from the free advertisement I am already providing to various companies out there to keep the blog running because, as most of you know, it is not free to have a .com without the word “WordPress” in there and it takes time to put together content.
With my already busy schedule, blogging and doing YouTube videos feel like a part-time job so why not make a bit of money doing something I love and dedicate a lot of time to.
I have plans to continue to provide content in each of the categories on my blog that will hopefully inspire others to take care of their entire well-being; whether it’s through nutrition, fitness, fun, or relaxing, as long as they find joy and fulfillment from within.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Never leave me lonely
With words left unsaid
You walk away into the dark
Like a mist, that melts away.
Our sizzling hot monthly blog bash will take place on Saturday/Sunday 28th – 29th of May, 2016.
Let’s close out the old month and usher in the new ‘Summer’ months with some cool party steps.
It’s fun. It’s a cool gathering of awesome people. You’ve got to be part of it.
Bookmark your calendars and bring out your summer sundresses, your shorts and sleeveless T’s, your dark shades, your peep toe sandals or canvas.
Whatever works for you is fine. We are a loving and eclectic crowd.
Let’s meet, greet, mingle and grow.
Please pass this on to your neighbour. Pets are allowed in this space. The more the merrier 😉
I hope to see you.
Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Expose my heart
that I may understand your words
through every conscious,
awakened pore of each moment.
**
*an excerpt from my poem*
A lot of times, we need support from others to get where we need to be and this leads to a mutually benefiting partnership. Would you consider being my strategic partner? I am sourcing for blog par…
Source: Vantage Partnering…
A lot of times, we need support from others to get where we need to be and this leads to a mutually benefiting partnership.
Would you consider being my strategic partner?
I am sourcing for blog partners who are interested in renting prime advert space on my sidebar which will be at a very nominal fee and arrangements can be made for convenient durations of 6 months, 1 year…
What are the benefits?
You’ll be with an awesome crowd of positive minded and purpose driven people such as:
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Inspired beacon – grow towards the light

Cybernetic Blonde – Be kind to yourself

Lifting Taboos – so life goes on

You can send me an email: JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com or use my contact page on the header.
I look forward to hearing from you and my door is open for suggestions.
Sincerely,
Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha
Image credit: Pixabay.com
Below is my first Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Never leave me lonely
With words left unsaid
You walk away into the dark
Like a mist, that melts away.
One of the side effects of moving around so much is that a lot of times you find your heart in different places and you get nostalgic. Some days I wake up with severe pangs to find myself in Houston, France, Abuja or anywhere my heart wanders to.
This weekend, I have pangs to be in Lagos, my Lasgidi. I would probably be attending a wedding or one social event. There’s always something to celebrate even against all economic odds. The two photos are from weddings attended during my last visit in 2015.
Jubilant, The Daily Post Photo Challenge.
“Just put a brake on those thoughts my dear lady! Okay, simmer in them a little bit and get all dirty, then put a lid on the steam because you know how dirty it can get when you go down low.”
That phrase above was my sensible mind lecturing the roaming sad part of my mind that woke up this morning looking for all the sad things and dirty thoughts to latch onto so that she can get thoroughly miserable.
A lot of times, the state of mind that we go to bed with determines our waking thoughts and I’ve been teaching myself how to train my mind into serenity before retiring to sleep.
Sometimes, I fail to control the brakes of certain wheels of thoughts that start out innocently by wandering a dark path and before you know it, it snowballs into one ugly, berating predator.
It’s definitely good to think things through but in a sensible manner of mind over matter and not letting my emotional intelligence fall to pieces by allowing my renegade thoughts that can run at break-neck speed lead me into the temptation.
It’s a natural tendency for us to seek out ways of comfort when we are feeling some discomfort, physically or otherwise and my current feelings of discomfort were emanating from deep recesses.
The next pit-stop if I willingly followed that piper’s flute is to either look for food to eat to comfort myself, or get into a tiff with dear Himself – who did nothing to earn my quarrel, or growl at the children and leave them perplexed or watch a sappy chick flick so that I can have some reason to cry over what I don’t even fully understand.
Okay. Enough said. I’m glad I put a brake on the thoughts for now and haven’t done something silly so far. I’m just going to toddle off and give my mind a break. I’m going to do what I call my methodical solution thinking and get to the nitty-gritty of my rotten feeling.
That’s after some good breakfast at least 🙂
Now, I feel kind of better and more proactive. Thank you, Linda, for today’s breaking prompt.
Jacqueline
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Expose my heart
that I may understand your words
through every conscious,
awakened pore of each moment.
**
*an excerpt from my poem*
My soul gives thanks
for the blessed hands
that prepared this morning’s fare.
My children felt that their mommy
deserved some breakfast in bed.
Some greasy eggs and diced sausages
they whipped into an omelette.
I ain’t complaining, greasy or not
it’s certainly delicious 😊
A handful of grapes
Some toasted bread
a dab of cheese and tea
now my tummy is all ecstatic
mommy is thinking poetic.
Below is my first just published Poetry Book “Out of the silent breath” which is available on Amazon and Smashwords.
When you buy my book, you support me in an invaluable manner.

Eyes full of resplendent thoughts,
I watched a butterfly flit around
from a petal to another like a true flirt,
not too sure on which one to settle.
It’s an appetite inducing exercise to listen raptly,
I dug into the sizzling barbecue with a sigh of pleasure.
***
*an extract from my poem*