He Wants the Best for You

I've been a Christian my whole life. I was raised as a follower of Jesus Christ and always went to church growing up. I don't remember ever missing a Sunday when I was younger and i'm so happy I was brought up that way.

However, in the early parts of my teenage life I didn't get the opportunity to be brought up as well due to certain horrible situations that I will not even mention. It kinda messed things up. It definitely made it harder to do my best, but everything has turned out fine (thanks to God). I'm far from a perfect Christian. I make mistakes, but I do my best to love the Lord.

I don't give up, because I know He won't give up on me.

When I was a teenager I used to think reading the Bible and going to church was sooo boring. I just didn't understand why I had to follow all those rules. I did follow them, but I certainty complained a lot whilst doing so. I thought it was all so ancient. I didn't have anyone to sit me down and explain to me the benefits. My dad probably tried, but I was just your typical "yeah dad whatever leave me alone" type of girl. I was stubborn and I definitely wasn't gonna go to anyone else because I was a super shy girl (kinda still am).

So where am I going with this? I'm trying not to make this all dry and preachy. Haha!

Now that i'm an adult I can see the reasons why God wants us to do certain things and by obeying him you're bringing in many blessings. God wants the best for us. That's why there's all those "rules" and "you should do this, and not do that" type of stuff. Following Him will really benefit you. I found that out after I turned 17 and started really reading my Bible again. He wants to protect you and guide you. There are some sacrifices you have to make (like stop hanging around the wrong group of people, stopping things that seem fun but are wrong and will hurt you in the end). It's all for the best though. He knows what he wants for you. 

Deuteronomy 28 is a great chapter to read about the blessings of obeying God and also the curses of disobeying Him. The one and only God knows what's best for us. He created us. Don't try to go through life figuring it out on your own and doing your own thing. It doesn't work. You'll end up in a lot of emotional pain (God can take that pain away though if you surrender to Him).

Ever heard that saying that life doesn't come with instructions or something. FALSE! Life does come with instructions. It's called the Holy Bible! Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth. It's all in there! I don't know about you, but that saves me a lot of time from trying to figure stuff out.

I only take time to write blogs about things i'm passionate about. So, clearly i'm passionate about this. Focus on your own personal relationship with Christ. Your life will become so much more interesting and fun! Praying and seeing the results is awesome! Obey him and watch your life improve! 

Read your Bible as much as you can and pray as much as you can. You can even use Google to search certain scriptures for specific subjects like loneliness, sadness, depression, etc. He's always there for you. Isn't that great to have God who wants the best life for you here on Earth and by obeying His teachings you get that. Plus, you also get to go to heaven. Sounds good to me!

I hope that this helps some people understand that He has your best interest at heart. Follow and trust Him and His word because He knows what's best for you. He created you. :) 

-Maria 

The Looks We Get in 2014

As a reminder, it's 2014. It's not 1966. So why are you giving us that confused look? 

Luckily, before December 2013 I never experienced any racism (from what I know) or stares based on my skin color. Then when I started dating my white boyfriend, surprisingly, I/we began getting looks. 

I've identified myself as being a black american, however most times I will just tell people that i'm multiracial...it keeps the question of "no, but like what else are you?" away from my ears. Since I have long curly hair (even longer and shinier when it's straightened) and other features that not the typical black girl has, it's just easier to say that. It's a true statement. My mom is mixed (West Indian, German, and Cuban), so it's not like i'm lying. I'm mean I got hit on once by some guy who looked at me and said, "Mmm...i've always liked Indian girls." So, just because I have brown skin and had long straight hair meant I was Indian? OK...

Thanks Jack Sparrow :)

Anyways, I just find it weird that we get stares. I feel like 70% of the looks we get are because people don't approve or they're confused/disgusted. The other 30% is from the people who think it's cute or something. I seriously didn't think it would be so unusual to some humans that we're together. 

It definitely took some getting used to. We'd walk around the mall and an old person (it's always the old white people) would fix their eyes on us with perplexed eyebrows, then we'd look at each other and laugh. 

Chris mainly gets mean glares from black guys. Usually they'll look back and forth at us and then shake their heads at him and/or release air from their mouths disrespectfully. Why? I don't know. Maybe they think that because I have brown skin I should be with someone with brown skin. 

The bad looks I get are typically from white girls. Talk about jealous! Haha! Gotta love it. Sorry ladies, but even if he wasn't with me he wouldn't go for you. I mean before my Chrischris was with me he was with some black girl straight from Africa. 

Oh my gosh, I musnt forget the girl that works in the aquarium section of PetSmart. She's this short little white girl that we go to every time we pickup a new fish. The first time we went there C was asking questions to her and I was standing next to him...I was inches away from him. She kept looking at me. Then when he was done talking to her she looks at me and asks me, "Can I help you ma'am?"  

Seriously?

Chris was like, "Oh, no she's with me." Then we just looked at each other awestruck. Like really? Nah, i'm just a random black girl standing awkwardly close to this white guy and waiting for almost 10 minutes to ask you a question. 

I spent 1/3 of our Valentine's Day dinner at Red Lobster being stared at by an old white lady. She was just staring at us. I hope she was staring because we are cute. I couldn't tell by her face.

That's just a summary of the looks we've gotten. We're used to it by now. It's never bothered us, it's just so funny and surprising that people still react this way. We usually end up laughing about it when our relationship upsets people. Only once in this 6 months have we received a stare with a smile. Only once! Which is a shame, because we're so adorable together!

-Maria

Hair Results

As I promised, here's my hair the next morning. After doing my naturally curly hair routine I woke up to luscious shiny curls that lasted all day. Mind you, I was outside all day. :)

It only took me like 3 minutes to do my hair in the morning. Thanks to the night's before preparation. 

-Maria

My Naturally Curly Hair Routine

Managing curly hair is a task that takes practice. It also requires spending money on experimenting with different products. It's beautiful, but it's definitely a lot of work. 

Yikes! I promise you, my mom is not a poodle and my dad's not a lion.

Finding the perfect concoction of hair products for your curly hair takes time. It almost turns you into some type of obsessed scientist whose main goal is to tame frizz. A couple years ago I got tired of dealing with my curls, so I got my lovely hairdressing mother to straighten it a couple times every month for two whole years! Imagine the damage! But she did a heck of a job! :) Thanks mommy.

Giving me low layers

So while I was in Florida this past April I decided that I wanted to swim in the ocean and go to the pool every night. That wasn't happening with straightened hair. Plus, it's hot down there. I wanted to be able to wash/rinse the sweat out of my hair and not have to deal with a frizzy hairline (unattractive). So I went into the clear ocean and dunked my head back into the gentle waves. Wallah! My curls still existed! Thank you Jesus! :) Now, it was time to start the journey of finding the right products that would agree with my hair.

This is what i've been using for the past few weeks. A combination of these three products.

Keep in mind that those products are only for after the shower. To shampoo and condition my hair I use these.

So, first I take my hair out and start my shower. This is my hair before the shower and after being in a bun for almost 3 days (i've been sick in bed). It's still very tamed and able to style. However, I wanted to wash and condition it, so I must get it wet to "restart" it.                                                                                           

 I wash it with the Aussie shampoo and then condition it with Mane 'n Tail. I've been using Mane 'n Tail for years now. It helps keep your hair very strong and nourishes it and makes it grow fast. I've also noticed that it helps with damaged hair and also prevents damage. 

I don't use a comb to get tangles out. I rarely have tangles because of my hair routine. I just comb my fingers through it after I shampoo it and that does the job. *Finger combing prevents breakage.*

I let the conditioner sit in my hair for about 5 minutes while I wash my body. Then I rinse the majority, if not all, of it out. 

Straight out of the shower. You can see my low layers.

Next I grab an old t shirt to pat my hair dry. I don't dry my hair with a towel. It causes unnecessary frizz. 

Pat! pat! pat!
Yes, I know I look tired.

Then I get the Pantene conditioner (I use it as a leave in conditioner). I get a big blob of it, since my hair is so long, and just wipe it all in my hair. 

The more the merrier

Next, I grab the Aussie and put it in my hair. I just wipe it in. I don't do it any particular way since it doesn't matter. As long as I get it on all my hair.

Then I get the Pantene Whip and put it in my hair. It feels just like whip cream. I just wanna eat it, but I don't because I don't wanna die. :P

Then my hair is feeling lovely! :) You may say it's a lot of product and probably makes my hair heavy. But it does the job! It works.

The face of conquering frizz. Success!

Now I put it in a very tight braid. I only use one pony tail holder and it goes at the end of the braid. 

That's it! Then I just go to bed and when I wake up and get ready for the day I take the braid out. I add some of the Pantene Whip to the top half of my hair to tame the frizz from the night (i'm a wild sleeper) and that's it! I don't dare to touch my curls. They're still a little damp. Do not touch them. Don't comb them. Don't play with them. No! None of that! lol! When it fully dries it doesn't even really shrink up. When it's dry I let people play with it (aka my boyfriend's little sister and mom). The curls stay tamed. 

So this is pretty much a nighttime routine. It makes it so much easier to get out the door in the morning. If I forget to do this at night then I just do it in the morning (minus the braid) and let the curls dry. They have more of a chance of getting frizzy but that's OK. :)

Thanks for reading! Leave your comments and questions below.

-Maria

Our First Vacation Together Part 1

Have you ever wanted to just get away and go somewhere new? Whenever I get an idea about something to do, 95% of the time it ends up happening. I'm a dreamer and a doer. So in March I realized that i'd be turning 20 in a month. Last year I went to Baltimore, Maryland. It was mostly good, but let's just say it would have been more fun if I had gone with Christopher. 

So this year I wanted to do something a tad bit bigger. I wanted to go further away. I've been wanting to go back to Florida for a while now, I just didn't have anyone to go with. I asked Chris, "What do you think about going down to Florida next month?" He was like, "Why not?" At that moment is when the planning began. We got our parents approval and started listing off things we needed and places we'd visit. 

Itinerary in my Moleskine

We had a few options of places to stay. I have most of my moms side of the family living in Fl. Near Palm Beach. The rest live in The Bahamas. Chris has a friend's grandparents that live somewhere on the east coast of the state and another couple friends that live in Bradenton. Bradenton is on the west coast of Florida near the Gulf of Mexico. We went with Bradenton. Boy oh boy did we make the best decision ever! Our friends there as so very nice and accommodating. They live in a nice gated neighborhood (with a nice heated pool) and are only 15 minutes away from the island. They got a nice "thankyou" gift from us when we left. We are welcomed to go down and stay with them whenever we want. Yay! 

Chris and I stayed in Fl for 6 days. It was one of the best 6 days of my life. When we first arrived in Florida after 9 long sleepless hours of driving in the car at night we stopped at a Walmart. We were so exhausted. Especially me because I got absolutely no sleep. I just couldn't sleep. We stopped at the Walmart for a rest. It was as the sun was just beginning to rise. It was still dark outside though. We were the only ones in the parking lot besides the janitors that were sweeping trash. Chris went out to stretch his legs and pee(in the parking lot) meanwhile I was dealing with gas. I'm a very gassy girl because i'm lactose intolerant. Pretty much everything I eat has lactose in it. Keep in mind Chris wasn't on his medicine yet (he has adhd), so he was really hyper. So let me just cut to the chase...I accidently sharted my pants. 

Definition 

I rolled the window down and whispered it to him...as if anyone else would have heard me if I didn't(the janitors were gone by then). "Baby, I think I just sharted my pants." He literally just starts bursting out laughing. 

This is exactly what Chris looked like.

I couldn't help but laugh with him because I was just so delirious. We were laughing so hard and loud that we started crying. The laughing continued for about 5 minutes...no joke! We just couldn't stop. Also, when I wiped myself with the toilet paper, some of the paper got stuck hanging out my pants. So he was just pointing and laughing because I had a toilet paper tail. It's definitely one of our favorite memories from the trip. We never ended up resting like we had planned because the sun came up and we were hungry. I changed my clothes, then we drove to the nearest Waffle House in Jacksonville. Without a doubt the nicest WH we have ever been to. My waffle even said Waffle House in case I forgot where I was. Haha!

Next, we headed down to St. Augustine, Fl. It was so beautiful! It's the oldest city in America which is awesome! You always have to add some history to your vacation. The architecture was to die for. Well I wouldn't die for the architecture, but you know what I mean. :) 

St. Augustine

After walking around there for about an hour, we got tired and were hot so we decided to skip Rainbow Springs and go straight to our friends house. It took us another 3 hours of driving. Chris's car held up very good throughout the trip...minus the overheating!!! Right when we reached North Carolina the car overheated and started smoking. It did it once more later in the trip. I'll cover that in another part though. It was horrible. 

So we arrived at our friends house. They were so kind to us and really enjoyed our company. However, being that I was extremely sleep-deprived I went to bed like an hour after arriving. I function very well on lack of sleep. I'm sure that will help once mommy-hood hits. I slept until dinnertime. They cooked dinner for us! How sweet (I love when people save me money)! So, I went down to eat dinner with everyone and right after I was done they excused me to go back to bed. I've never slept so long and hard in my life.

That concludes part 1 of the trip. Have you ever had sharted your pants? Let's face it, poopy accidents make for funny stories. 

I hope you enjoyed! :) Stay tuned for part 2.

-Maria

About Me

As you probably know now, my name is Maria. I'm 20 years old.
I graduated high school in 2012. It was one of the happiest days of my life. I cried because I was so happy to leave. I began an apprenticeship at a bakery a year later and quit after 3 days because it sucked booty! 12 hours a day with no real lunch break...no no no, I don't think so!
I started my business in the summer of 2013. I'm an artist that sculpts figurines for wedding cake toppers and any type of celebration that involves a cake. :) I've sold my toppers all over the world. I love what I do so much and it makes me happy knowing I can live off of my passion. There's just something about working your dream job.

One of my hundreds of toppers i've done

I'm a model and have been on tv as a model too.

Photoshoot

I love Jesus first and do my best at following His word. It keeps my life running smoothly when I do. You should try it if you haven't already.

I have an amazing boyfriend who makes me feels so special. We are both crazy and wild. He's seriously my best friend. I have other friends, but he is the one I go to 99% of the time. He's the only person who can really make me feel better. We have a Christ-centered relationship. <3

Christopher and I

I have a dog named Chloe. However, she doesn't even know that's her name because we call her Diddle. She's a little rascal. Her hair is wild and you can barely see her eyes. Her main goal in life is to play, play, play...24/7.

Diddle

I was born and raised in Virginia. My dad brought me and my two older sisters up on his own and worked 2 jobs. He still does to this day. He needs to retire but I think he's waiting until I leave the house. That's not happening until I get married. So yea. Haha! I didn't grow up with much money...which shaped me into being a very understanding young lady. There's so much more about me, but i'll cover that in some blog posts. :)

-Maria

My First Time Blogging

Ok, so let me introduce myself. My name is Maria and I have no idea how to blog. I've dabbled in vlogging(blogging "video-style") for the past several years, but i'm completely new to this way of sharing my life. I guess it's kinda like an elongated Facebook post. If so, I won't have any problems. ;) 

This is what happens when i'm getting over a head infection (Well, it's not really a head infection. It's just a throat and sinus infection. It outta be called a head infection though because everything from my neck up hurts.). I lay around on the internet all day and night browsing the web. I would get up and do something but (TMI ALERT!) my Monistat is doing its job. You ladies out there know what i'm talking about. As I was saying. I lay around all night and day on Pinterest, Facebook, Youtube, and Google until I get bored of that and decide to do something epic. Like start a blog! 

So, right now this is what you know about me:

-I don't know what i'm doing.

-I ramble and get off topic very easily.

-I'm not very productive.

AWESOME! :/ 

Oh, and that I have a yeast infection.

Even better. 

Haha! Anyways. This will be a blog just about my life and pretty much anything I feel like putting on here. I only decided to start a blog like 30 minutes ago so I have no clue what i'm going to post about. But stay tuned! 

Oh my! Look what time it is. I should probably hit the bed. 

-Maria