Lost Hope

Like most girls growing up, I had an image of the kind of man I wanted to marry; well not so much of an image than the idea of who he is going to be. He has to be kind, romantic, spontaneous, has money to treat me to whatever I desire, great in bed and must be into the weird things I am sexually (this came in my adolescent years of course), and the weirdest one, we argue a lot. But little did I know that reality was far from what I fantasied about.

Nobody told me, how men will break a woman's heart, and vice versa, or how sex was part of a cordial relationship, or how challenging being a descent girl is while searching for a man you can call your man.

I have had a total of  3 boyfriends and some other involvements that all had different endings, each more bizarre than the previous; there were times were I would ask myself, am I the problem? I had to ask an ex one day, and he practically swore that there was nothing wrong with me, then I asked; "so why did you leave me? " He replied; "you deserve someone better". You see he believed that he wasn't good enough for me, or that I needed someone who would treat me the way I deserve. The truth is, I am not picky when it come to men (well, maybe their appearance), the only way a guy could get my attention was just to make me laugh.

29 years old, was in a deceitful one-way relationship for 3 years, and all I keep thinking is; was it really worth it being a good girl? Being honest, vulnerable, caring to one guy and not look at any other guy's way all for nothing; when they can't even pay you back with a little respect?


I was never one to go back to an ex after a break up, not pride, but just couldn't think about it. Now, I am lonely, and need my other half. It is not about sex, I have had my fair share of one night stands ( a concept which comes in handy by the way).

Uncertain of what lies ahead, but what/who ever it is, I sure hope it/he comes fast, because I feel the burning flame of hope dim by each passing day.

Is Being Friendly With My Ex Wrong?

Hey everybody! It's been a while, hasn't it? Well there is so much that has been going on with me, and I just got a little breathing space :-D.

One of the most awkward thing is a very odd and not to mention irritating comment from an ex; you see I don't make it a habit of calling my exes or being friends with them, I mean why would you want to keep in touch with someone who deliberately hurt you and is not sorry about it? So this particular dude and I were chatting on the phone  (I called), it was a way of me trying to be nice after he helped me speak to the HR of his office about a position for a friend; along the line he blurted out "I hope you are not trying to get back ". I was shocked! I mean he left me, it was a cold and mean break up, so why would I want to go back to a cold person?

I guess the reason why I am so upset about it is because he said it with an accusatory tone, you know; I actually have a lot friends who are very close with their exes, I know they didn't have this sort of experience. I mean what should a lady do in such a situation? I don't talk to him anymore, I even went as far as not wishing him a happy birthday on his birthday on Facebook.

I was trying to turn a new leaf , like be a better person and all that, I am not famous for being friendly after being wronged. Guys what do you think about the whole situation? When an ex-girlfriend is being friendly is that code for "let's give it another shot".

I love Food: Shrimp In Coconut Peanut Butter Sauce

            I know, I know, I am on a diet, but there is nothing wrong with having cheat days (which, by the way is once a week, at a controlled portion of course). Also, it doesn’t stop me from sharing with people.  I love to experiment with food; I find this particularly odd as I do not like cooking (doesn’t mean I can’t cook).  I am going to be posting articles about recipes that I love or will want to experiment with, so if you all try it, please give me a shout out and let me know how it turns out.

              So this recipes is from one of my favorite food bloggers here, 1Qfoodplatter; I love the way she always has something new, travels around the country to know the different kind of food served and how she ingeniously creates a unique dish. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Shrimp in Peanut Butter Sauce, enjoy!

Ingredients

20 pieces fresh shrimps or prawns

1 cup coconut cream (from can)

1 ½ tablespoons Peanut Butter

½ tablespoon ginger paste

Little finger-size fresh ginger (sliced)

¼ onion (sliced)

Green and Red Indian pepper (optional)

Pinch of dry pepper

Chicken seasoning cube

2 tablespoons Vegetable oil

4-6 tablespoon water

Salt to taste

Procedure

1.       Dress shrimps and season with salt, minced ginger and ½ cube of chicken seasoning

2.      Measure coconut cream into a pot, add the peanut butter, 4-6 tablespoons of water, dry pepper, seasoning and salt to taste

 

3.      Bring sauce to a simmer to dissolve the peanut butter well and cook the pepper and seasoning a bit for about 2mins. You have to stir consistently. Set aside for adding to shrimp later.

4.      Heat up the oil, fry the onion and ginger slices for 1 min. add the shrimp and stir fry for 3mins or so. You can toss the pan so as not to bruise the shrimp.

5.      Add the sauce to the shrimp, add the red and green peppers or your regular scotch, low the heat and cook for about 5mins.

6.      Serve with Savory Rice or plain white rice with lemon slices.

Like I wrote, I love to experiment, so you can try this out on any dish that needs sauce.

Image source: http://www.1qfoodplatter.com/

Recipe source: http://www.1qfoodplatter.com/

How I Advertised My Business: Best 3

           For me, the best way to get the news about my business out is through “word-of mouth”, but how often does people talk about a particular service or brand? I would think as long as it is still brand new and important in the consumer’s journey every day.

With the digital age, everything is so easy and accessible, a simple but yet engaging content can shake the world in a matter of minutes. But that was at the beginning of the digital age, now you have to pay to get a significant amount of people to see what you have to offer, let alone make them want to buy.

There are 3 ways I have put my business online and has gotten me the right audience I needed:

1.       Social media: everyone is on social media, you name it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, whether they are there to lurk, give a very detailed documentary of their everyday life, or just there for entertainment. The deal is social media has the attention of the majority of the population and you just need to know how to get it. A combination of the right juicy content and promotion, bam! You have got them hovering towards you.

2.      Blogs & Websites: now when I say blogs and websites, what I really mean is blogs and websites that have high traffic and whose theme is the type you want associated with your business. For instance, say my business is all about selling hand-made fruit juice, and me placing an ad on a financial website, this won’t cut it at all. There won’t be any flow or connection, people visiting a financial website are there to get advice or insights on how to invest their money, or make money, not what to drink.

3.      Mobile: wonder why everyone is on social media and can get information easily in a blink of an eye? Well, that is because they do so through their smart phones. By increasing the production of smart phones in 2016, producers have also increased internet accessibility and giving telecommunication companies the edge they have been looking for, now all users have to worry about is to make sure they have enough battery life and data. 

Placing ads on mobile platforms is the smartest and strategic thing I have ever done, a click on my ad could either direct the user to my website or get them to call. It doesn’t end with online ads, no sir it doesn’t, a text blast also does the trick, and there is audio advertising also; this works by making a call to a registered number and while waiting for the other person to pick up, you hear jingles for brands and products. Neat right?

Image source: giphy.com

Rhaeyna's Money Making Scheme

In addition to losing weight, I thought, “what business can I set up that will most definitely fetch me extra money and with little stress”, we have to face facts, there is literally nothing in this world that won’t stress you out, eventually.

 Then I remembered, I have a full-time job that takes all of my time and drains me both physically and mentally at the end of the day. I don’t have time to myself, I mean Mondays to Fridays is all about the office, Saturdays are for laundry and getting the left over office work done, while Sunday is the only day I have to rest, that is if I don’t go out on Saturday and I have to move the laundry to Sunday. 

So I decided to use one hour out of my lunch break to run my business, of course the setting up can be done weekends and probably weekdays with help of family and friends. Now the main questions would be, what can I run that would only need my attention within my lunch break?

3 things that came to my mind when I was thinking  about this:

a.      Accessibility- to reach my customers on time, vice versa

b.      Capital- shouldn’t be too expensive to set up and manage

c.       Time friendly

 These factors narrowed my options to these possible businesses:

1.       Selling snacks and drinks to my colleagues and neighbouring offices

2.      Selling smoothies

3.      Running a delivery service

4.      Writing for an online newspaper or magazine

5.      Run a simple but yet efficient e-commerce store

I have these 5 options, and yet I am still not sure of what to do; or maybe I haven’t found the “one” yet. Oh well, I guess I have more research to do, I need to make sure that whatever it is I decide, has to be something I would enjoy and doesn’t bore me.

Image source: giphy.com