Ray of Lights; Sliver of Hope

The thoughts that run through my mind sometimes depress me, sometimes upset me
How do I fix this?
How do I deal with the feeling I feel inside of me?

More than words can express,
More than the heart wishes to fathom,
And so much that the mind is screaming for some damn rest!

Once again, how do I fix this disease?
Up until today, I had no idea but then an image came to me.
The image of rays of lights coming down through the clouds onto a calm ocean.

Calmness, peacefulness and serenity filled me.

What's the point in wondering what if and I wish?
God has decided what he wants for me. If I were meant to be anywhere else, he would have altered my life to make me be there right now.


I am where I am now and I do not write to preach but I write because the feelings inside of me just won't let me relax until they're out.
I have come to realise certain emotions and thoughts are scarred onto you like a brand to a horse.
The true test is being able to recognise the cut and treat it so it becomes a healthy reminder of what not to do again in life.

TIME FOR SOME DOUBLES U SAY?!

Okay so yesterday I just got a vibe to bake and I've been curing this need by making the most delicious beef pies. Although I had minced meat defrosting in the fridge, I decided to venture out of my box. Doubles possibly?

Going into my amazing Naparima Cookbook, I started off by checking to see if I had all the ingredients and lo and behold, I did!! well minus the Turmeric Powder which I suspect was an essential missing ingredient but moving on QUICKLY.

Followed instructions very carefully. Did everything I was supposed to. I even covered with a damp cloth! lol. So this is where typical Solange comes into play. Recipe says: Leave dough to raise for 1 1/2 hours. LOL. So i fell asleep and Mr. Dough raised for 3 hours. Minor issue! I think....


I woke up and continued with my meal making. Punched down the dough and left to rest for 10-15 minutes.

I then started to make the channa which was fairly simple because I had chick peas in a can. Left that to cook and started on frying this 'bharra'. Oil heated and dough punched down and rolled into pieces. Here we go! The first one, the oil may have been a little too hot. But I did not let this get to me. Try #2 then #3 and #4. Hmmm...not bad if I say so myself!

Checked on the channa which was cooking nicely. Took that off the heat and the 'bharra' was suitably cooked by then, so put 2 and 2 together and I had what?! I had DOUBLES!!

If you noticed, I put 'bharra' in quotations merely because it tasted like bake with a touch of cumin but we won't speak of that.

I MADE DOUBLES!!

Disclaimer: Heard from my friend Kyle that apparently real doubles is left to sweat to get it soft AND they're supposed to be fried in ghee. But small isssue!!!

Active day

Okay so today I aimed to go downtown for 11 am for the Caribana launch but well as you can see from my post the night/morning of, I didn't get to sleep until close to 6 am. Regardless my alarm is apparently set to go off every morning at 10. sigh. I rolled out of bed and forced myself to be an active human being. Phone charged, Ipod charged, Camera battery charged and I was off. The launch was scheduled to run until 2pm and I arrived at 1:50 :S boo! but I still managed to catch the tail end of the festivities.
There were the trademark tacky Carnival costumes (lol), Roti and Doubles (Halal might I add), Trini flags( there were probably others but I really didn't notice),and everywhere I turned I heard the strongest Caribbean accents. It was almost like people off on their lunch hour wanted to show off that this was THEIR heritage and THEIR festival. It was touching but I prefer to be an observer rather than one of the masses pretending to be Caribbean.

This brings me to another one of my pet peeves! Yes I am trini and yes my parents still reside there and NO having family that lives in 'Port of Spain' or 'San Fernando' or the best I ever heard 'Biche'. Your background is Trini but you are most definitely not. Anyway, moving on.

I then took to exploring the city while handing out resumes. Toronto really is an extremely beautiful and diverse place to live.
These people are very popular out here. Their sidewalk art is INCREDIBLE. I was leaving the mall and he was now starting this piece. You can see the picture on the left bottom of the piece he was basing it off of. I walked around for at least 3 hours and when I returned, he was almost done. Check it out!!




PLEASE WATCH THIS VIDEO!! LOL

Mind of a Journalist

Trying to sleep and my mind cannot rest. Popped open the computer and wrote a few thoughts that fleeted by @ 5:24 am

What to write?
What would my angle be?
Who do I interview?
What do I ask them?
How do I make this relevant?
How do I make my mark on the Journalism field?
What to write?
How do I sound professional?
What is going on out there to write about?
Will anyone care?
Will I ever be rich?
Will I ever have a paying job?
What to write?
How do I choose what to write about when there is so much going on?
Is there a mental transcriber for all my thought before I go to sleep?
Why can't I just type a little bit faster?
Why does my mind race with so many ideas when I have no pen and paper?

I LOVE TO WRITE!

July= Solange's New Year

Hey everyone!

So I plan on keeping this blog pretty up to date just because its something that has been on my mind for a very long time but I always got so intimidated because I felt like I had so much to catch up on. Where do I start??

Well my last few posts were from my brief 1 month internship at the fabulous MACO Magazine in Trinidad. This is hands down my favourite place that I have ever worked. Amazing work hours, fabulous work environment, great location and last but not least wonderful co-workers.

Anyway moving on, I graduated from Sheridan College in Print Journalism excited and eager to jump into the world of writing! Well, things weren't as easy as I thought. After intense emotions and long days of job hunting I landed a wonderful internship at a new and upcoming home decore website, Remote Stylist. Within a week I was headed off to Muskoka to my warm and welcoming boss' cottage for 2 days. She opened her arms, house, kitchen and bedroom to me and other intern, Michelle. This is a view of some of the cottages we checked out!




With prior plans to visit a cottage in Kawartha for my birthday weekend, plans went on with full force. It was a great experience minus the head numbing cold water and ruthless mosquitoes. All in all, it was great spending time with my friends!

My birthday came and went while in Muskoka and although I would have loved to be out partying and drinking, I had my boyfriend take a shot for me instead :)

Jump forward to this weekend and here we are!

On an abnormally chilly Saturday evening, Casey, Ranae and myself were headed off to Salsa on St. Clair for a celebration of Latin Culture. In other words, it was like Pride Parade, except Spanish (quote Casey* lol). My only question was, Will there be corn? With a simple yes, I was dressed and on my way down!

Events like these make me love living in Toronto and even more deciding to stay for my 1st summer since moving here 5 years ago. A live band, couples salsa-ing in the streets, 'salsa spots', freshly made empanadas, tacos and fresh cut fries, corn (!!!) and churro's ALL greeted me in a quick second. I was in my element! As Ranae ran off to get dressed, Casey and I tried to sample as much as my stomach could handle.

Soon the time came from Ranae to perform. I don't think I even need to comment after this picture!




Cheers!
Solange

Sales Card-MACO Magazine

Two designs I played around with for our 10th anniversary issue rate card

Brown Sugar and Spice- BOOK

This is a design I did while at my internship at MACO Magazine. Its for a book that our publishing house: Toute Bagai Publishing is printing for 2009. I didn't do the illustration. I just edited the picture and formatted the text.