The Feminine Lifestyle Blog

Think traveling is out of your budget? Think again! Here are some quick and easy solutions for traveling when your heart says YES! and your wallet says "Nope!"😔 1. Travel with a friend and split expenses 2. Shop cheap flights on the Hopper app 3. Fly budget airlines: Frontier, Spirit, Norwegian (UK, Europe) 4. Ask family and friends for donations 5. Ask family or friends if you can use their sky miles or hotel points 6. Try Couchsurfing 7. Stay in hostels instead of hotels 8. Search Groupon for deals 9. Take a cruise (once you pay, all the good stuff is included) 10. Travel during non-peak seasons ✅Bonus: save 5% of your money each payday and put that towards your travel savings.

You should know that our culture, American culture, does not want you more feminine. The truth is that our culture thrives on you being more masculine than feminine.  Our culture thrives on women who work too many hours, don’t have time to cook, and can’t spend quality time with their family. It thrives on (and makes lots of dollars from) angry women, depressed women, sick women, single women.  And it thrives on your inability to realize that you have limits, you are fragile, you need love , you need help.  Isn’t it time our families thrived? If you have been feeling like you are living and loving at a deficit, then it’s time to start GIRL-ing down. It is time to put you and your family’s well-being FIRST. Here are a few ways to do that:  Be open to receiving help Be open to asking for help Refuse to hide your tears Ensure moments with your family are quality. Be fully present  Refuse to bring work home (if you work fr...

Happy Sunday🌻 If you're a Teacher on summer break like me, or could use a few extra dollars, then you are going to #LOVE this post! For #1-3, I have included my referral link. It does not cost you a thing to click on it and I earn a bonus when you sign up. For Stash, YOU get the bonus ❤ 1. Cloutpay --> https://share.cloutpay.co/DTheTeacher 2. Ibotta: Cashback savings, Rewards and Coupons App--> Use my referral code, eshihgo, and you can start saving real cash at all your favorite retailers. Sign up at https://ibotta.com/r/eshihgo 3. Stash--> Use my link to get a $5 bonus: https://get.stashinvest.com/dominiqryvt0 4. Sweepstakes: this is my newest thing and I love it!  This website categorizes the sweepstakes so you only enter those you really want to win. Here is a link for International Travel Sweepstakes: https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/win-a-trip-abroad-sweepstakes-list-898114

Relax. Calm down. Don't always be in a hurry to fill up your silence with noise. Many women haven't thought their best thought yet because others keep yapping around them. Get alone and be silent. Meditate. Pray. Sigh. Sing. Hum. Or just be. Ground yourself. I mean it. Take off your shoes and just feel the grass between your toes. Doesn't that feel niiiiice? Let Mother Nature soothe your spirit and calm your soul. Life is so busy. Too busy. And if we are not careful, all of those days will just pass us by and we won't even remember. Slow down. Intentionally. Get alone. Intentionally. Take deep breaths. Intentionally. Listen to soothing sounds like 528 hertz intentionally. And you will find that carving out "me time" a few minutes a day or a few hours a week is just what the doctor ordered.

“To Travel is to Live” ~Hans Christian Andersen If you don't already have one, you must get a passport. There is an entire world out there to discover and your U.S. passport gives you access to this WORLD 🌎. It doesn't matter if you're a lil broke right now, a single mother, in between jobs,  scared of flying or unsure about where'd you go and how you'd get there if you did have a passport. Take mini steps to get the passport then figure out the logistics later 😚 Baby-step 1: Pick up an application. If you don't have the funds to apply for a passport today then swing by your nearest post office or county clerk's office and grab an application. Easy, yes? Baby-step 2: In a week or so , stop by your local Walgreens or CVS and take your passport photo. They are usually just $7.99 Baby-step 3: The next time you receive your pay, go straight to the post office or county clerk's office and sub...

Emotional eating is real y'all! And it does not discriminate based on race, socioeconomic status, marital status or location. But it does target unloved or emotionally fragile women. Emotional eating has nothing to do with hunger and everything to do with being starved of love, affection, attention, and adoration. If you are not currently coupled, kissing your man to stave off feelings of emotional hunger may not be an option. So here are a few more options: 1. Cuddle with your pet 2. Hop on FaceTime with your best friend and talk out your emotions and feelings 3. Take a walk or go swimming 4. Go to the gym (attending a group class would be best) 5. Drink water and eat a whole cucumber (You. Will. Be. Full!) 6. Watch comedy clips on YouTube Now these tricks and options will work for a while but while they're working you will need to decide on a more permanent solution: (if coupled) why am I feeling this way? Is this relationship stressing me or ...

June 5, 2019--On your travels, be open to meeting yourself. I think, sometimes, in the rush of life we fail to notice who we are or even who we are becoming. Today, I was reminded of some things... I am on a cruise this week: Nassau was amazing😍  The sun and breeze were just right, the blue-green water was therapeutic and totally healed my soul, and the people (my people!) are friendly and welcoming and work very hard to make the island feel like home.  This cruise has been...an experience. Last night while relaxing on a bench in the Promenade, gazing at the sea of people I met a 26-year old woman from India who is experiencing issues in her arranged engagement...the guy's family seems to be backing out of the deal and the guy is too, despite them being in love. This afternoon, while frolicking in the beautiful ocean, I met an older woman who is going through a divorce. She just wants out and hopes 2019 is her year to settle things and move ...

Re: Can you hold a man's interest without sex? I recently came across a post where a woman asked how she could keep a  man’s full attention in dating without sex? The group members' responses to the asker were okay but I know I can do better. You see, God precisely trained me for this role. And it may be why he has allowed me to stay single for so long! I have things to teach and things to share so I am going to get it out before my last name changes. Look, I am not on here to teach you how to get a husband. How can I mentor you on something I don’t yet have? But I am here to mentor you on or maybe even model for you how to be….single and Godly. Single and holy. Single and feminine despite life’s troubles and woes. If you don’t want to be, then I don’t think you will be single all your life. ‘But whether single or married we must continually bring honor and glory  to the Lord in all that we say, believe and do. I know it’s hard dating without sex but it’s a must ...

Way earlier than I am sure she ever thought, my mom died. She was 46. I was 13. And there was so much I did not yet know. Thankfully, I’d had a few periods, so my mom had had that conversation with me but how about the other stuff: sex? my first date? Relationships? self-care?  family care? …the list goes on.  My mom was a very nurturing mom and homemaker, so she taught by example, more than anything. But there were still many conversations left to be had. My Mother and me, circa 1983 My dad did his best, but his masculine energy (and inexperience with raising a teenage daughter alone) was way too high for him to be of any help in the areas I needed him to be. I think single parents can raise healthy children just fine, but gaps in the child’s learning are to be expected. Which is fine, since there is a thing children can do for themselves as adults called “re-parenting”. Anyway, once my mom was gone, there was only silence. And the teaching that she was maybe going to ...

Pretty soon holiday music will be blasting from mall speakers and someone somewhere in North Dakota will be enjoying some "chestnuts roasting on an open fire". People in Florida will still be wearing flip flops and shorts but we will all be in the Holiday Spirit nonetheless. It's the norm. Before saying goodbye to 2018 and hello to a whole lotta holiday debt may I challenge you to find ways to readjust yourself and your life so that you are transforming into a better version of YOUrself as opposed to conforming to the version of those around you? There is still time: time in the year, time in your day, time in your life. There is still time to live your best life. When me and my children left the States and relocated to Paris, everyone around me was in an uproar. I was shaking up a norm and they did not like it. There was no malicious intent in their concern, I know. But if I had given in to their protests, I would have stifled my growth and blanded my story. You see,...

Am I an expert on forgiveness? Nope Is that fact gonna stop me from sharing my experiences with you? No way! I understand how hard it can be to forgive. I understand that forgiving others and moving on past the hurt and past the tragedy can make you feel weak, victimized and further taken advantage of. I know many, many, many people have written about this topic so there is nothing new to say about it. So I will not try to convince you to forgive. I will just share a bit of my story instead: Back in  2017, on another blog platform,  I shared a blog post  about my issues with a group I had joined. I shared the blog post because I felt that staying silent would mislead other women. I wanted them to read my truth and then make their own informed decisions. But many women still had questions and my inbox overflowed with their inquiries. It was overwhelming and I went on a serious hiatus from Facebook. I also unfriended and blocked several people who I’d befrien...

Do not let your children live in ignorance of your sacrifices…. “I will literally go hungry so that you can eat”  Fun Fact about pelican symbolism below*: I recently said this to my children because I had become tired of the teenage angst moments: you know, the sighing, eye rolling, foot-stomping, under the breath moments that typically come with teen years ( I wrote typically because teen angst may come earlier or not at all; it is not to be expected or feared, but rightly confronted if it does appear). I had just told my children to eject a movie they’d set their sights on watching. It was R-rated and totally inappropriate, so they were asked to eject it ( I didn’t buy the movie and it’s not my house, but it was my place to prevent them from watching it).   They huffed, puffed, whined “whyyyy??” and upon ejecting, I heard some mumbling under the breath. I was hurt. Why? Because I would do anything for my children: rescue them from a burning building, s...

Dear Feminine Woman, You must teach your family to be compassionate. Compassionless children, compassionless husbands, compassionless family members are the number one cause of stress, tension, anxiety and depression in women . This is not a scientific fact, but I would put money on it. A husband who lacks compassion lacks the ability to truly connect with his wife. Children who lack compassion cannot share, cannot empathize, and cannot relate to anyone’s needs but their own Family members who lack compassion will convince you to prioritize their desires over yours and their needs over your own often. You will be made to feel guilty (and possibly even alienated) if you do not. Compassion is defined as “sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it”. Synonyms include kindness, mercy, humanity, kindheartedness, sensitivity, understanding, benevolence. I want a husband who alleviates my stress. I want a husband who notices my stress! And...

6. Manners are essential . Don’t be a Moody Judy, not in text, talk or mannerisms. Like mama used to say, if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say it at all. Treat people like people, not as tools to be used and then disposed of after usage. Address your mom, sister, husband, hairstylist or coworkers with a  friendly greeting BEFORE making a request. A simple, “Good morning, how are you?” of “I hope your day is going good” goes a long way.  The people we interact with need to know that they matter to us. We cannot assume they know this all of the time. When out on a date and you are bored out of your mind? don’t be rude to the guy. Excuse yourself from the table, visit the restroom and give yourself a pep talk, sing a song, do a dance, say your gratitude list out loud, something! So that when you exit, you feel better.  Determine to be polite, cordial and kind for the remainder of the date; however, it is perfectly fine to excuse yourself early from a date to...