C. Nzingha Smith's Blog, page 8

24 Hours | 28 Books | A Dream Realized

Happy Saturday! I've been working diligently to get Lust Have Recipes into non-traditional book retailers to give more people the opportunity to taste love and recreate an intimacy connection in their relationships or simply to enjoy deliciously wicked recipes. I'm happy to report the response and feedback thus far has been good. Lust Have Recipes is now available in Cake Cafe Atlanta located at: 368 Candler Road, S.E., Atlanta, GA 30317, so if you are in the Atlanta area, you can stop by and grab your copy. 




Numbers don't lie! In order to be considered in the larger chains as an independent publisher, I have to be able to prove the viability and demand for the product in sales. Right now, I am 28 copies away from hitting the first number I need to be attractive to approach the specialty stores looking for this unique type of product. 




I'm appealing to you TODAY to purchase a copy of Lust Have Recipes within the next 24 hours to help me reach my goal and get these next 28 sold! If you've already purchase your copy of Lust Have, get one for a loved one or a friend. If you haven't purchased a copy yet, get two copies, one for you to keep and one to give as a gift! It's too good to give away! It makes a great gift that will have lasting value and long-lasting on effects on the people it touches. Love should be given and received! To order TODAY, click on the Shop link above and purchase or call (470) 201-5292 to order your copy and receive a free gift with your purchase (qualities limited) TODAY only 12/11/12. *Free gift is only for telephone orders made by 12/1/12 at 10pm EST.*




Thank you so much for believing in me and my gifts! Lust Have Recipes has been featured on CNN, The Huffington Post, AOL Black Voices, Single in Atlanta, I'm Every Woman radio show and more. All with your support and encouragement. I'm eternally grateful and look forward to reporting back shortly as more people get an opportunity to taste love with Lust Have Recipes, Aphrodisiac Cookbook. 




Share the link to this post on your social media channels! Follow me @Cnzingha or /CNzingha on FB! 




With Gratitude,




~C. Nzingha
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Loews Hotel Atlanta | Holiday Event

Join me TODAY 12/1/12 between 1pm-2:30pm at Loews Atlanta, 1065 Peachtree St., 30309 as I read from my new book, "Love in Bloom"! "Love in Bloom" captures the essence & innocence of love in it's original intent. Hope to see you there! It's free to attend! 




With Gratitude,




~C. Nzingha
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

86,000 Seconds in a Day

"The only difference between a rich person and a poor person is how they spend their time." -Robert Kiyosaki







There are 86,000 seconds, 1,440 minutes and 24 hours in a day. How we spend those 86,000 seconds determine our quality of life, wealth, health and success/failure in our careers and businesses. We all get the same amount of time, so why is it that some people have and others don't? I was working with a colleague at the end of last week before the holiday and I came across this week's quote and it was like a combination uppercut and right hook to the face. Reading the quote physically caused pain in my body. It reminded of why I have yet to reach some of the goals I made for myself that need to be finished before this year concludes. The list of activities and tasks that sucks us of valuable time is endless in this day and age. Social media, the internet, mindless entertainment, and email to name a few. I'm not saying that these things are not all needed within the course of the day, but when you're spending too much of your seconds on unproductive activities, you can't be surprised when you eventually begin to see the results of your time management or lack thereof.





Time management is an important skill to develop if you want to be successful in anything in life. I've had to audit my time lately to see just where the hours, minutes and seconds were going throughout my day. Often times it's something we aren't able to really pinpoint until we really pay attention and track it. I use a program that sends me an email at the end of everyday asking me what I did over the course of my day. As a double accountability measure, instead of making daily to-do lists,  instead I take each hour and log in my calendar what I spent the hour doing. Let me worn you in advance it's painful to look over at the end of the day. Facts are facts. If you spent the day doing meaningless tasks, it will stare you back in the face and it makes you feel sick to your stomach. 




Personally, I found it's taken a certain level of maturity (see last week's post) to even face the fact that I was wasting a lot of valuable seconds on randomness. Time I needed to be spending writing and perfecting my craft or reading or researching or doing something fun. If you're going to waste any time at all, it might as well be on something you enjoy, not on random-ish you could care less about in real life. As I study successful people and their habits, they take each hour of the day very seriously and are strict about getting the priorities done in their core hours, so they can use the remainder of their time doing things they enjoy. If you spend the time you have designated for what needs to be done, you won't have to sacrifice your fun time doing work. Successful people don't spend a lot of time on administrative duties, they focus their time on production and tasks that feed them, make them money or bring them pleasure. 




Challenge yourself to do a time audit this week to see if you can eliminate time sucks, which are slowing down your productivity and success. You can use my system or research other successful methods online. Either way, you don't need to wait until the new year to change bad habits and begin getting the better results. Start today! You've got 37,567 seconds left today depending on when you read this! :-) 




~C. Nzingha 
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Gifts For Those Who Love To Cook

The holiday season is officially in full swing. Tree lighting ceremonies, the survival of Black Friday, Christmas music and the Salvation Army red donation bell ringer are all clear indications you and I, need to get into the holiday spirit. If you have anyone on your list who shares in one of my many mantra's: "I cook therefore I am," then I've compiled a fun list to help you satisfy their foodie obsession. Here are a few items to consider for the wannabe chef on your list that loves to cook! Splurge on something unique they'll enjoy and show them you appreciate not only eating there delectable edibles, but the time, energy and effort they take in preparing a meal with love...


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Joseph Joseph Cookbook Stand- $24.95









State of the art cookbook stands opens and closes like a real book and helps keep favorite recipes safe from kitchen mishaps. Also, safe and secure to use with your e Reader devices and tablets. Easy cleaning and storage.  Full Details...

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Recipe Rocks- $9.99









Recipe rocks are a great addition for the tidy cook 's kitchen. They hold up to eight magazine, note card or printed pages. Perfect for the wannabe chef who likes to print off single recipes offline or take them out their favorite cooking magazines. Small and compact, storage and cleaning is easy. Full Details...




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Things Cooks Love- $19.99









The title fits perfectly with this posting! Things Cooks Love allows you to take your kitchen international! Global cuisine, tips, recommendations, cookware discussions and everything in between. More reference than cookbook. Full Details...







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Copper Recipe Journal- $40.00










Start a legacy within your family for generations to come with this recipe keepsake journal. Custom crafted to be durable with a copper cover, wire binding and thick recycled paper.  Add your favorite recipes as you make them and then share with others.
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Don't Assume You're Grown-Up!

Maturity is not measured by the number of years a person has lived. Instead, the yardstick of maturity is marked by the qualities of self-denial, determination, and dependability." Xenia Garcia


Maturity is defined by freedictionary.com as the state or quality of being fully grown or developed. According to alleydog.com maturity in psychology has little to do with age, but with the ability to react, cope and reason in an appropriate way for the situation. Maturity is learned through experiences and comes from healthy growth, just like a strong body. Guidance in coping with emotional situations is what is needed to grow in maturity. The way a person deals with a crisis or makes decisions are good clues about their level of maturity.In order to be successful in business, in life and in love, one must possess a healthy level of emotional maturity. The question is not whether or not we can acquire things or attract people into our lives, we can do anything we put our minds to. The more appropriate question is: can we handle the things we want once we get them? Love, wealth, success, good health all come with the cost of responsibility. We have to take responsibility for our actions and the results of them and refrain from placing blame on others when things don't go as planned. Even though we our adults by age, I'm becoming witness more and more to adult cry babies, adult temper tantrums and immaturity in people who are my senior. It has made me take a step back to reflect and examine myself because in my opinion it's extremely unattractive and unprofessional. Last night in fact I had to look in the mirror and tell myself I take full responsibility for every choice I've ever made, for my current status and position in life, for my happiness, for my career for everything. At that moment of vulnerability I took back the power I gave up to others. I had previously given power to others by transferring responsibility for myself and my actions over to them, by accepting an unconscious victim mindset. I am the boss of me and I'm not reactive, I'm proactive. I assume the responsibility of my level of success by using everyday to my advantage and by consistently making good decisions. As we give thanks for being blessed this week and throughout the weekend, it's a good time to reflect and assume responsibility for yourself and your actions and the consequences that have resulted in your actions and decisions. It's not enough to think you're grown and have reached a certain level of maturity by mere age alone. Your actions, thought process, outward expression and communication skills all have to confirm your level of maturity and line up with appropriate behavior. It's easy to place blame on others. It's difficult to hold yourself accountability to how your life is and will ultimately be. You have the power to control you and to change the circumstances in which are causing you to be unhappy, unsuccessful and unfulfilled. The first step is maturity and healthy emotional health in life, love and business.How do you normally react when things don't go your way or when you face obstacles? Do you place blame, have a tantrum or face it and deal with it to change it? Let me know your thoughts.C. Nzingha
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Delicious Cocktail Recipe | Pillow Talk

Pillow
Talk




Ingredients

2 cups
of hot apple cider

2
tablespoons of honey

2oz
ginger flavored brandy

2
cinnamon sticks

1 lemon







Place 1
tablespoon of honey in bottom of 2 Irish coffee mugs or similar style mug

Heat 2
cups of store bought apple cider in microwave 1-2 minutes or until hot

Add 1
cup of hot apple cider to each

Add 1oz
of brandy

Slice
lemon, squeeze slice of lemon in each

Stir
with cinnamon stick

Garnish
each with cinnamon stick and lemon slice




Serves 2







*Get this and other recipes great for holiday entertaining for the family or party of two in Lust Have Recipes, Aphrodisiac Cookbook. 

Click Here to Learn More.




Happy Holidays!
C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Weekly Reflection - Mind Games

"The battle is either lost or won in your mind." B.E.L.L.

"You either control your mind or it controls you." Unknown




The soundtrack of your life is played out in your mind. The problem with this: majority of your soundtrack is outdated, negative and harmful to your forward progress and growth. Your mind is a processing center not a storage shed and because no one teaches us how to properly use our minds, we're storing useless, harmful information. We store up the details of every event (especially the negative and traumatic ones) and use them as a basis on how to live, what to do and how to think. Wrong, wrong, wrong. You are making decisions today based off of yesterday's mindset.






Most of the soundtrack of our lives stems from our childhood. We have an internal picture of ourselves, our abilities and most importantly our limitations. The problem with the soundtrack of our childhood, is it was framed by someone else. You were encouraged or hindered because someone else framed your world. They either built you up or they tore you down. We hold on to those frames throughout our lives, not knowing we were only supposed to extract what was useful and discard the rest. For example, you are now an adult and you relate rejection to not being picked for a sports team in high school...really? At 36? You've grown up and your mind should have grown up with your age, meaning the things you think about and give energy to, should change over time.




Mind games happen when your mind fights with you because it needs a way to use the information you've required it to store. You're older now, what you used to like; the foods, the activities, the people don't necessarily work for you any longer. You desire to change and want to explore different things now, however your mind fights the growth and change because it wants you to make decisions based off those old references. It figures, you kept these things up here for a reason. The truth is, majority of the things you keep stored in your mind are of no use to you and where you are today. As a result your growth is being hindered. You were supposed to process the events, the information, etc and discard the rest immediately so as not to clutter up valuable space. 




Clear out the clutter. Your mind is the only thing you actually have control over in real life. You choose what to focus on, think about, hold on to and relive through your stored memories. You have to learn how to play the game and win. Stop holding yourself back with your thoughts. Who cares what was programmed into your life song by others. Change it! Tell yourself something different and believe it! Replace the negative with positive. Most importantly don't hold on to anything else which doesn't serve a purpose for you right now. Start with forgiveness. Forgive others and forgive yourself, this frees up a lot of space and redirects negative energy into positive energy. The memories will no longer serve you and when this happens your mind will not reference them anymore. Create new experiences and live. You can choose to take only the good from things, it's all about perspective. Focus on what is useful, what feeds you, what makes you smile and what keeps you motivated. Negative energy can only fuel you for so long, then it becomes self-destructive. 




We have to learn how to control what goes on in our minds or it will control us. When your mind controls you, you're more likely to be and stay in unhealthy situations, you tend to not be where you want to be, happy, growing and successful. Mind games are meant to keep you distracted, discouraged, fearful, defeated and stagnant. The good news: Yesterday is over, you made it! Now recreate the soundtrack of your life with all the things you want to see. You win in the battle of your mind first.




~C. Nzingha





C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Delicously Wicked Autumn Recipe | Spooning

Sweet potato soup w/ chicken







SPOONING:

SWEET POTATO SOUP

IN-GREDIENTS

3 large sweet potatoes

2 cups chicken stock

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

1 banana sliced

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 dash of cinnamon

1 dash of nutmeg

1 tablespoon grated ginger

1/4 cup walnuts (optional)




Peel potatoes.

Cut potatoes into cubes and place
in a crock pot with chicken stock.

Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours.

Transfer potatoes and chicken stock
to a large stock pot.

Add banana, brown sugar, and
ginger.

Add heavy whipping cream slowly using
an immersion hand blender.

Blend until mixture consistency is
creamy and smooth.

Add more cream for a thinner soup.

Pour soup into serving bowl using a
ladle or large serving spoon.

Sprinkle fresh nutmeg and cinnamon
on top.

Top with walnuts if desired.

[Serves 4]




This & other delicious recipes are available in Lust Have Recipes, Aphrodisiac Cookbook ISBN: 9780615466026




Click Here to BUY NOW & Enjoy Free Shipping!








C. Nzingha Smith, Principal at SNC2 INK & Get Off Pause Consulting. A Solutionist & Author.

Quote of the Week - Shut Your Face

"All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads to poverty." Proverbs 14:23

"There are never excuses for success only failure." ~B.E.L.L.







Shut your face has become my new checks and balances system for at least the rest 2012. What I'm realizing is we spend more time making excuses for not doing what we are supposed to be doing. We devote precious time justifying our shortcomings and failures instead of working toward the success we seek. At this point, I feel like there is nothing else to say. It's put up or shut up. Produce. Make it happen. You can find a million of excuses to not do it, but you only need one reason to do it. The fourth quarter is now in full swing, the seasons are changing and time is ticking away. I don't have any time to waste, I'm against a clock. I realize the same time I take out to B and moan, yap about poor old me, things being unfair, people and this and that, is the same time I can shut my face and change the situations by finding solutions to the obstacles I face in reaching my dreams.




The other rather powerful thing I realized in using the shut your face technique is the shutting off of the negative energy your words carry when you are speaking against something. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. You have to speak life to your dreams. You have to keep the right perspective as you are going along your path. Sometimes you aren't going to have the answers to the naysayers, you know what you should do, shut your face, who are they anyway? Sometimes it's not going to make sense to you, when it doesn't, shut your face. Sometimes you are going to feel like giving up and saying the hell with it, I'm going to go and do something else. When this happens, shut your face until the negative emotions subside. Don't fuel any unnecessary negative energy as it will continue to build and sabotage your efforts. Sometimes it's not what other people say which makes us feel defeated, it's what leaves our lips, so shut your face. Silence is golden and it's healthy on the days when you have to fight to keep your precious dream alive. 




Remember you don't owe anyone an explanation and it's not your job to convince others to get it when it's not for them, it's for you. Believe me, it's not worth it. I learned the hard way, either they don't care or they aren't going to lend their support either way. The people who end up supporting you are able to grab hold of the vision and run with it without you selling them on it. Shut your face and get it done. One step at a time, one deep breath at a time, one sentence at a time, one chapter at a time. A few weeks ago I wrote off the prompt, "it seems impossible, until you do it." Well guess what? It's true. You are encouraged with each completed task, with every positive result of your actions and even when you get a negative response, use it to push you forward. Action and talk are not equals. Talking produces no results, no solutions when it's meaningless banter and has no place, when it comes to you getting things done. And if the people around you aren't able to appreciate your silence, then you need to isolate yourself because they are keeping you from getting to your dreams. Everybody doesn't make it to the top. Only those who purpose themselves to get there, not the ones who talk about wanting to be there. So shut your face and let your success speak for itself. 




~C. Nzingha




Do you spend more time talking about what you want to do instead of taking steps towards actually doing it? Do you need help figuring out how to take the first steps? Leave your comments!

C. Nzingha Smith is a publisher/writer and author of Lust Have Recipes: IN-Gredients for Stimulation a cookbook featuring aphrodisiac recipes, poetry and imagery. Smith is also the Founder/ Principal Writer at SNC2 INK, The Business of Writing. SNC2 INK writing agency provides writing, editing and brand communications consulting to creative entrepreneurs and businesses at the start-up and growth stages.

Quote of the Week: Theodore Roosevelt | Self Discipline

"The one quality which sets one man apart from another- the key which lifts one to every aspiration while others are caught up in the mire of mediocrity- is not talent, formal education, nor intellectual brightness - it is self-discipline. 

With self-discipline all things are possible. 

Without it, even the simplest goal can seem like the impossible dream. "

-Theodore Roosevelt 




Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should be doing, when you should be doing it, whether you feel like it or not and without anyone having to come behind you to make sure you are doing it. You take responsibility for handling your business despite your emotions. Seems simple enough, right? Not so much. Currently I'm having to work through the lesson of learning self-discipline and if I should say so myself, it is quite painful. You know what you have to do. Sure. You put it on the calendar and set reminders, yet the tasks get left undone...most of the time purposely. Simply because we don't feel like doing them and for no better reason. No one is watching or keeping track anyway, we can keep putting things off...until who knows when.




Excuses often take the place of self-discipline. We explain away why things aren't working out and why it's taking so long to make progress...so on and so forth. The truth is we don't have the self-discipline needed to accomplish our goals big or small. As the quote states, lacking self-discipline makes the simplest task seem impossible and the longer you put things off, the more things pile up and a myriad of negative consequences ensue. At the end of the day, nothing is going to happen until you make it happen and do what it takes to get there. Nothing takes the place of acquiring this necessary skill. 




The process can go as quickly or as slowly as you dictate based off your ability to discipline yourself to do what needs to get done. Shut your face and get to it! (note to self) More on this once I get to the other side and become a  mastered, self-disciplined person in my life and career. Completing this blog post was a step in the right direction...seeming lack of self-discipline caused me to go AWOL for the past month and some change. I've fought myself long enough, there aren't that many excuses in the world and you can only waste so much time shuffling paper back and forth across your desk. Honestly the other thing I realized is the only other alternative is accepting failure...yup about that. Failure is not an option. With that said, I've got more work to finish. Will post updates on my progress with this in the coming weeks...




~C. Nzingha
C. Nzingha Smith is a publisher/writer and author of Lust Have Recipes: IN-Gredients for Stimulation a cookbook featuring aphrodisiac recipes, poetry and imagery. Smith is also the Founder/ Principal Writer at SNC2 INK, The Business of Writing. SNC2 INK writing agency provides writing, editing and brand communications consulting to creative entrepreneurs and businesses at the start-up and growth stages.