The Valentine Talk ft. Aquilas

Aquilas Out with New Single 'My Baby’

40K Records & RS Music presents you this piece, titled ‘My Baby’ by sensational versatile act Aquilas. This song is inspired by true life experiences

This awesome vibe is strictly created for your amusements, make sure you always have it on your playlist. The song was mixed by T2 and mastered by Slim Drumz.

Hello world!

It is 5 days to the day of love and chocolates and romance and xoxo, so I grabbed Aquilas and forced him to talk about love.

Just kidding, I didn’t force him.

So I asked him about love and the St. Valentine Day celebration and most importantly about his new single; My Baby which was inspired by true life events.

After all, you are not the only one who doesn’t normally celebrate the Val’s day. He also doesn’t celebrate it.

Say what! You are not alone.

Marietta: Tell us about Valentine's Day. How do you feel about it?

Aquilas: I feel Valentine’s Day is the best time to show love since it’s accepted worldwide that it’s the time to show love

Marietta: What does love mean to you?

Aquilas: Love means taking responsibilities for your partner to make her happy

Marietta: Tell us what your ideal Valentine's Day celebration looks like.

Aquilas: Mostly I don’t celebrate Valentine's Day so I will be home writing music as usual

Marietta: What Valentine's Day activities can you recommend for people who are single?

Aquilas: Maybe seeing a comedy show

Marietta: Tell us about your new single My Baby

Aquilas: My baby was one of the songs I feel I took time to write and it is my best so far and the response is great.

Shout outs to all my fans and those supporting me.

Download his new single here

Follow him on social media

Instagram || Twitter || Facebook

@aquilasworldwide talks about love, the St. Valentine's Day and his new single. • The Valentine's Day Talk with Aquilas ft his new single. On the blog now👌👌👌

A post shared by Marietta Grant DeGrant (@marienoelgrant) on Feb 10, 2018 at 1:18am PST

Symbolic Poem: The Sky as Your Crown

Nowadays, I call myself a poetic photographer. I have taken smartphone photography as my new passion. I wanted to be a professional lifestyle photographer but I do not need to wait to get enough money to purchase a camera before I start. I decided to start with my smartphone.

So if you want me to take a picture of you using my smartphone, I am always available. I don’t have the best camera quality but I can do something about it.

There is this palm tree at home and it looks funny. It is not dead, but the fronts have withered. It is still firm to the ground, producing palm fruit and providing shade. I wonder if it is normal for a palm nut tree to look like that. To look dead, yet living.

This palm nut tree looked symbolic to me, so I decided to write a short poem about it.

You were in pain

 But you still wore

 The sky as your crown

There are people who are in pain, whether physical pain or emotional pain, but they overlook those pains and care for those they love and grew up with. It is their calling to do that, and they have gladly accepted it.

In the end, try to look at the brighter side of things. Have hope and be strong.

The Miracle Morning Review + My UPDATED Morning Routine

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Hello world!

I know! I have been MIA since December, but do not worry, I am fully back to work. So much went on in the last couple of weeks, and that is how life is. There will be ups and downs.

So, I am back.

I just finished reading The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and after reading it, I realized mornings are taken for granted. Yes. A lot of things can be done in the mornings which can help us have a great day ahead.

Reading this book has made me improve upon my morning routine. I do have a morning routine, but reading this book has helped me improve upon it.

I had heard so much of this book, I did not know where to get it, so I asked a bookworm, Nesta whether he had it and he “lend” it to me. Thank you Nesta!

The beginning of the book was quite tragic. Reading about an accident that happened, and how bad it was. It might make you want to stop reading, honestly. Reading it further made me realize, life is a big painful thing we are all passing through. The author of the book went through certain things that made life seem cruel.

Apart from that, this book was easy to understand, interactive and easy to follow. Most reviews were talking about the writing being so cringe worthy, but I liked it. He wrote it like he was talking to you one on one, and I think that is what we all need.

The book gives you easy step by step ways we can make our mornings exciting, fresh and fun. I recommend this book to everyone.

I give this book 4 out 5 stars.

Now unto my morning routine…

I have made some changes to it. I am currently trying to live life more fully. Not just by going places and having fun, but also, adapting habits that will make me happy, that will help me get closer to my dream life.

Since my alarm goes off at 4:44am, I will extend it to 4am, so that I can enjoy the miracle morning to the fullest. A few new things I would be adding are:

5 minute silence

Affirmations

Visualization

These are the few new things that I would be adding to my morning routine.

If you are finding ways of trying to have a perfect morning even if you are not a morning person, I recommend reading The Miracle Morning.

Let’s Chat: What do you dread most about mornings? What do you think about the book if you have read it? What would you like your mornings to be like?

Christmas from the Store

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store? What if Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!

--Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Hello world!

It’s been a while I wrote a blogmas post here. Life has been pretty busy, overwhelming. Is it just me, or time is really running quicker than normal? Today is 21^st December, just 3 days and 17 hours to Christmas. By the time we realize, we have entered 2018.

Oh well, life itself just passes quickly by.

I was at work yesterday when it dawned on me that we have entered the 20s of the month, but I hadn’t had time to do a proper Christmas shopping for gifts and food. I then understood those who usually say they hadn’t got time to do anything.

Well, maybe, I do not know how to manage my time.

A thought came to mind. Christmas is not all about the physical things we use to celebrate. As I participate in the #LightTheWorld initiative, I realized Christmas is all about having time for your loved ones and the people who love you. I must not worry about not having time to do Christmas shopping, I must worry about not having enough time to spend time with family, friends and loved ones.

The #LightTheWorld initiative has taught me about the value of service and presence. Jesus Christ gave service to His fellow men, even though he is the King of kings. He took care of people and loved them.

The quote I wrote above came to mind. I have been watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas since I was younger, and this quote came in handy.

Do not worry about not having time and money to spend on the material things of Christmas, even though, it is so cool and fun to do such things. The most people thing is having the people you love around you during this time of the year.

The end!

Daily Gifts (An Excerpt from Christmas Stories for the Heart)

Another blogmas post is coming your way this morning. How has your December been so far? Mine has been full of work, work, work, and I cannot complain much. Between being a student and a worker, I have seen the difference. As a student, you get a little break but as a worker. There is nothing like break.

Anyway, I have been trying to enjoy every little moment I have to spare. I have been super busy, but I try to live life at peace.

For a minute, I didn’t know which blogmas post to write again, but as I was reading this festive book of mine, I read page 104 and it really touched my heart.

It looks so much like the Light the World initiative I am involving myself in, but it has more options and simple and daily things we should be practicing.

The book says we can call these daily gifts “our Christmas Projects.” We could practice one of these little projects, one moment/day/period at a time.

They listed some suggestions in the book and I will list some here

Mend a quarrel

Seek out a forgotten friend

Write a long overdue love note

Hug someone tightly and whisper “I love you so.”

Forgive an enemy

Be gentle and patient with an angry person

Express appreciation

Gladden the heart of a child

Find the time to keep a promise

Release a grudge

Smile. Laugh a little. Laugh a little more

Play some beautiful music during the evening meal

Apologize if you were wrong

Turn off the television and talk

Treat someone to an ice-cream cone (yogurt will be fine)

Pray for someone who helped you when you hurt

Encourage an older person

These are some of the many things they listed in the book. You can try and do some as time goes by.

Merry Christmas!

🎀 🎅🎄A Merry Chips-Mayai 🙌

Jamani kila mtu!

Imebaki siku kumi na mbili na dakika kidogo kuzaliwa Yesu Kristo. If you don’t understand, I said, Hello world! It is just 12 days and some hours to Christmas day. (Not a direct translation)

Lolz xx. That was Swahili. [Whispers] Between you and me, I don’t even know how to read it myself. 😂😂😂

How are y’all doing? This morning, I saw the Harmattan’s shadow but it looked like it wanted to rain too. His appearance this year was dramatic. Maybe, he had a chat with the rain before the rain left. 😒😒😒

That was just by the way.

Meet Chef Addo. For this Christmas, he is teaching us a new recipe all the way from Tanzania! This is a great opportunity to add a new meal to your Christmas dinner/ New Year party.

Today, we will be learning how to cook chips-mayai, a very popular dish in Tanzania!

Thanks to Chef Addo for sharing this with the Marietta DeGrant Blog and with some friends.

Ingredients:

8 medium sized Irish potatoes

3 medium sized carrots

2 medium sized green peppers

3 medium sized tomatoes

10 eggs

Salad oil to fry the potatoes

Salt to taste

Method

Wash and peel potatoes

Cut potatoes into French Fries sizes and wash them again

Put oil on fire at a reasonable heat

Fry the potatoes and set them aside after frying.

Cut vegetables (green pepper, carrot and tomatoes) into smaller sizes.

Set vegetables aside and beat the 10 eggs together. Add salt to taste

Put frying pan on fire again and pour a little oil for shallow frying

As you wait for the oil to be hot, add vegetables to the beaten eggs and mix together

Take some French fries (few) and spread them on the hot pan.

Take a ladle and fetch some of the beaten eggs and vegetables and spread them over the pan. Make sure it does a full circle of the pan.

Cover the pan with a cover, and let it heat for about a minute. Make sure the heat is moderate to avoid burning.

Without removing the cover, and using a napkin to hold the cover, flip the pan so that the chips mayai lands on the cover.

Put the pan back on the fire and let the uncooked part of the food stay at the bottom of the frying pan.

Allow it to stay on the pan for a few minutes and flip it back again.

Serve on a plate

Serve with a scoop of ketchup and a cold drink.

Enjoy your meal.

 

A Chef happy with the results

Thanks to Cephas and Caleb for supporting this festive cook-out!

Most photos were taken by @bleceph.

Do you want to know more about the Tanzanian culture? Call him to be your chef this Christmas and during the New Year. He will not only cook for you, but you will learn a lot.

Book him now by sending an email to degrantm@yahoo.com.

Have a merry chips-mayai!!!

Some friends enjoying Chips-mayai

 

Santa Claus and one of his elfs😄😄😄

Book Review: Christmas Stories from the Heart

Every December, I do a festive book review and this year’s own is a book I bought in the middle of the year and I am so glad that I bought it. It is one of the best festive book ever. It is filled with miracles and sweet little nuggets which you can keep and cherish in your hearts all year long.

One thing I love about the book is the foreword which was written by Avalon, an award winning singing group. I totally agree with the foreword and I can read it over and over again.

They said Christmas seemed so much simpler when I was a child……in fact it seemed like pure magic. It’s true and the foreword reminded me of the cartoon movie, A Charlie Brown Christmas, where Charlie Brown complained of the way Christmas has been commercialized.

This book can be a perfect gift, for people who love reading and treasure little stories and poems that touch the heart.

Get a copy, and thank me later.