Guest Posts · Health · Wellness

You’ve got to meet graceful Yentl of Younfolded.

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.

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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.IMG_5787

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.

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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.
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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.

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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.

Out of the silent breath

Never leave me lonely

With words left unsaid

You walk away into the dark

Like a mist, that melts away.

Everyday People · Photographs · Quotes For You

Hydrate….Every day beautiful people # 37

Drink lots of water and give your liver a surprise. Your skin, hair, mind and body will thank you.

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How do you see the glass of water of your life, half full or half empty? Perspectives and attitude make a lot of difference.

© 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.

Out of the silent breath

Dance to your heart’s delight my African child, until echoes of your stamping feet, beating heart; bright eyes, smiling lips; and waving hands, resonates over and over like thunder claps, reverberating throughout the Universe.

Family · Gratitude · Personal

The Spirit Of Doubt…personal

Waking up with the spirit of doubt trying to invade my mind is not my idea of a fun way to rise in the morning. This spirit of doubt was implanted by events outside my control, which affects a member of my loved and extended family *unfortunately, I can’t disclose nor breach their confidence, but nonetheless, this issue weighs heavily on my mind that I found myself entertaining seeds of fear and worry.

Fear and worry add no value, but rather, they take away from the person inflicted by the noisome presence.

They are like creeping plants that grow so fast and try to smother everything good along the way. I am still a fledgling Christian in the sense that I cannot lay claims of having it all sorted out spiritually, but I am so grateful that I have matured enough in the spirit to always remember that God gave me the spirit of love and of sound mind and not of fear.

It may sound juvenile to some, but please believe me, when I say that I deliberately started recounting the positive things of just the previous days and not only did I drown out the voice of fear and worry, but I experienced such upliftment inside me.

The Spring break is over and we are back to the hustling shift of rising early, school runs and what not. I am so grateful for my children and the beautiful time spent together.

My babies are growing up, enough to slap gooey peanut butter sandwiches together, to flip pancakes and make light breakfast for themselves so that their mother can get a little extra lounge time in bed.

For a beautiful, caring soul in my husband who showed me lots of surprising sweet spots through his concern and ministration to my needs these past few days and brought loads of laughter to my lips.

I am thankful for Grace. Grace not to wilt in the sight of pressure. Grace that has stood by my loved one in their trying times and lest I forget, I am thankful for earning my first 34 cents in this blogging space as well as the sustenance to keep at it and not to lose focus.

A lot of times, life brings temptation that seems quite burdensome, but if we keep our face up, the load will slide off our shoulders.

I hope that you are thankful for something today. You can join Colline’s  or Maria Jansson gratitude challenge platforms.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Image credit: Pixabay

Blog · Featured Blogs

Featured Posts # 32…Let me share your post links.

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I am so UPSET WITH WORDPRESS. I put in lots of time to prepare posts and poof! They disappear into thin air with all my beautiful words.

I read through blogs and did this today’s features and when I published nothing came up.

‘PLEASE KEEP SENDING IN THE LINKS.’

Today’s featured blogs are:

Catching phrases Don’t you just love pop culture and the coined words that float around in society. I enjoyed reading this 🙂

Wherefore art thou cupcake? I enjoyed this humourous bit and do share her angst.

Shandra eats She presents us with simply, delightful and wholesome meals

Where is the outrage now? There are some articles that you read that throws a punch in your face and the harsh glare of societal truth stares you in the face.

Aetna isn’t coming to my home When your health insurance guy’s want to visit with or without your consent, you have the right to remain silent 😉

Please visit their blogs and say hello. A few minutes may gain you a friendly support.

‘Do you want more eyes on your words?’

Well then, add your LINK INTO THIS LOOP.

P.S. Comments are disabled here to keep the loop tidy. Any comments or link you want to send can be added through the link in the post.

Thank you for your understanding and regards.

‘We create a cohesive community when we come together.’

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Blog · Guest Posts · Interviews

This Might Interest You…BE MY GUEST.

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When I started my blog eleven months ago, I decided to take it a day at a time and see where the path is leading to.

I didn’t want to jumpstart far too many things and it would become difficult to get a grip on what exactly it is that I am doing here.

As each blogging day goes by, my vision for my blog keeps becoming crystal clear and I want to raise the bar a notch higher. It’s all part of the evolving and change. We have to keep aiming for growth.

My blog is a primarily a lifestyle blog and not just self-centric focused blog. I am a very community minded person and in as much as my blog is my voice in this space, it’s a space for all of us.

I am introducing  a weekly GUEST POST (4 times a month) and Interview opportunities to other bloggers.

I am also available to write guest posts if you require that.

The guest posts that I seek are posts that will enhance and improve the lives of others. It would be on topics such as (but not limited):

Parenting, Family, Relationships, Finance, Exercise, Health, Wellness, Inspirational, Motivational, Security, Cooking, Lifes Lessons, Self-Help etc.

On the interview aspect, I am introducing bi-monthly interviews of fellow bloggers, which will involve short snippets about you and a feature of your blog.

Lastly, after due consideration and due to the success of parties that I hosted in the past, my theme blog party will take place once every month. I am contemplating the 3 or last weekend of the month.

So, tell me what you think. Please, and thank you.

If you are interested in the guest post or interview, you can send me an email JacquelineObyIkocha@gmail.com or check my ‘getting in touch page’

I might also knock on your door, so don’t be surprised if you see me outside 🙂

 © Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Family · Personal

Humbly Eating Burnt Offering…Streams of consciousness Saturday.

I smile in amusement as I write this little post. If not that Easter eggs are popping up every where, my thought would have been that Linda has bionic powers to see into my kitchen.

I just finished breakfast of partially burnt scrambled eggsSoCS badge 2015 offered by my daughter. We are learning to cook and I guess burning is part of the practice 🙂

I humbly ate the eggs with a thankful heart. Soon enough she will get the hang of it with practice.

I think fleetingly back to my growing up years and learning how to cook in my mother’s kitchen. Only God knows how many burnt pots of rice, yam, beans, soup, I had to go through before getting into it.

Eggs were treats back then, eaten mostly on Saturday and Sundays because we had to wait for our local, home bred chickens to lay enough of them and on some days during the week, they were stingy or lazy with the laying of the eggs.

It’s not like now, where trays and trays of different types of eggs are on display for customers to choose as many crates as they wish.

Back then, it used to be a delight to go to the chicken coop at the back and find a warm, just laid egg.

Occasionally we were blessed with seeing a little chick hatch from eggs that my grandma set aside.

How she knew the ones that would hatch is something that I never understood.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Humor - Bellyful of laughter · Photographs

Bony…Mundane Monday

There’s beauty in the ordinary things that surround us.

I get to see all sorts of random stuff when walking.

According to my husband, he says that I take my walks with a peculiar gleam in my eyes as if I am a blood hound on the trail of something.

I am still trying to figure out if I should laugh at his comment or glower at him. I guess it will depend on my mood and PMS 😉

I wonder how the person/s ate the fish on this trail? I think they were two people and they ate the head too!

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Family · Personal · Photographs · The Daily Post

In The Present Moment…

The Daily Post Photo prompt State Of Mind.

All taken at some point of yesterday. My present state of mind is filled with love for my family. Enjoying them and finding inner peace.

Creative Writing · Humor - Bellyful of laughter · Musings · Poetry/Poems · Writing · Writing 101

Pillow Talks…Pillow Fights…

 

PILLOW TALK…

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My eyelashes fall in love with each other,
Irresistible romance, the lids draw together,
Until in gentle kiss they link…
…And fall asleep within a blink.

In a soft cocoon of pleasant dreams,
Where pillow hugs like a gentle stream,
And bed of sweet affection, I felt,
My body regains its needed health.

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A pat, A plump, A punch of pillow!
Where is my sleep; my eyes feel hollow!
The brain is drained, its down to zero;
Yet thoughts flit past just like a sparrow.

Alas! Sleep is won with quite a fight!
The bones so weary, they do so sigh;
The brain is fuzzy and the face a fright;
  A battle of might, O what a night!

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

Writing 101, Day 3 – SLEEP

 

Blogging · Hope · Inspiration - Motivation · Life · Love · Weave that Dream

How Complete Do You Feel?…

1447768353272[1]As the days go by, I have truly realized that contentment and peace are not items that can be borrowed, purchased or stolen.

No amount of prosperity or material gains can put something in a soul that is derelict or lacking and no other human is responsible for my happiness but myself.

One can aim to attain the satisfaction of living a complete life from within themselves and not from without.

Personally, I don’t tie the state of my well-being to anything that lacks intrinsic value outside myself and God.

It is a continuous pursuit for me and I strive to achieve this state of being by:

  • Trying to understand myself and what truly makes me happy.
  • Staying in tune with my responsibility.
  • Seeking enabling ways to free my mind and de-stress.
  • Finding positive things to do.
  • Strengthening my health and finances.
  • Extending kindness to others.
  • Pursuing my passion and interests.
  • Maintaining good relationships.

Keeping my life simple and trying not to worry as much about things that are not within my power to change but doing my absolute best to change those that are within my line of sight and control.

With all these things on a balanced scale, I feel excited and alive, knowing that each day, I give life my best shot because tomorrow is not guaranteed anyone.

I cannot afford to extend the promise of living and feeling as complete as I can in expectation of  events which are merely temporal and may never arise.

Traveling to see new places, buying the little niceties that I can afford to buy are just toppings on a life to be savoured.

© Jacqueline Oby-Ikocha

In response to NaBloPoMo prompt Tuesday, November 17

What is one place you need to see to feel like your life is complete?