Creepy Photographer

Outdoors photo shoot

The rest of our time in the desert was nice and peaceful. I don't know if I was kidding about never going there again, though.

Is This What BIPOLAR Looks Like?

This blog post will explain a lot of why I have been dreading blogging lately. It is also the beginning of an off ramp that my relationship with Calvin went on. Read on and share your thoughts in the comments section.
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Hey, yall! It's ya girl, Brook! I've been hectically busy! This post will probably been typed in more than one sitting as I have to rush out to Orange County within the hour. My Liquid diet post got a lot of attention. I hope that you got what you needed out of it. I must tell you though, that I didn't lose all the weight I have from consuming fluids only. Some people are under that impression on Facebook. That is completely false!

Green Card Interview

The Green card interview was around the corner, my birthday was coming up, taxes were quickly approaching as well. Good Lord! Time for me to calm all the way down and get my zen on! I needed to be very

A Very Shitty Situation!

Happy 2018, everybody! It's here! The year I've been waiting for all of 2017, haha! No lies! 2017 was so interesting, I'm considering writing a

December Picture Blog | Liquid Diet Guide

Last Meal At The boiling crab before liquid diet

First and foremost, Happy New Year, my loves! I hope this will be the year you will go gusto after your dreams and make them a reality! If you need weightloss or any kind of accountability partner, heat me up, either here, Brook@BabalwaBrook.com, or on all social media under my name: Babalwa Brook. Weight wise, what I have been doing is have you send me a photo of your starting weight, that's you on the scale with the weight on, then have you send me updates of your progress. I will keep your information private, of course. This is a free service, use me!

Nobu in Malibu

June was an interesting month in this household. It was the third month since Jim passed away, and since I moved in with Calvin. I was doing the best I can to settle in. I started my YouTube Channel and got my own domain name for the blog, around June/July. It was hot as heck and I was too heavy for the middle of summer in LA. I found the scale while unpacking the very last of my stuff from my old place. I mustered the courage to get on it. Oh my goodness! I was the heaviest I had ever been in my entire life! There goes my chance of being in the Weight loss Clinical Study! Now what?

Catalina Island

Just before we headed out to the mall , Maggie, Calv's mom, called Calvin and gave him gifts for me for my birthday. I was pleasantly surprised and touched. I definitely didn't expect anything from her. Let's face it, I only met her two weeks prior.

Birthday presents from Mm-In-Law

Hiking Gear

One Sunday, Calvin and I went to church together. After church, Calv suggested we go to the mountains, just for fun. I was down! Ain't I always?

We didn't hike or anything, I mean, we kinda did but not a real hike because someone wasn't dressed appropriately. We did just come from church after all! The views were magnificent!

San Gabriel Valley view from where we were

There were quite a few cars parked in the vicinity, some folks had gone there for their Sunday morning hike.

Some were taking perfect shots

It was a beautiful day, as you can see, and I am sure a good time was had by all.

Ashy legs from our mini hike up the mountain

We were up there for a bit. I loved the idea. After the mountain, we went for brunch at Roscoe's Chicken and waffle. The first time I had chicken and waffle was this instance and that ended up with a grown man crying and me not knowing where I stood. Thankfully that's not how this date ended!

It's like a food court where they have the Roscoe's, there's a KFC and a few other chicken places in that very center. With all that going on, there was a huge line outside Roscoe's. We had to wait outside. I couldn't believe how busy one place can be! Eventually, we got in. 

I had their world famous, chicken and waffle.

Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle

That's butter! I know, it looks like ice cream, right?

My pretty drink. 

The drink was too sweet. I am not a big drink drinker anyway. I love water, but I will try something exotic just for the experience.

Calvin had livers.

Roscoe's Chicken Livers

I had never seen so many livers on one plate! My goodness! We couldn't finish our food. The rest went home with us and I forgot my left overs at Calvin's, so they all ended up in the trash because Calv doesn't do left overs.

My review of Roscoe's chicken and waffle? Meh! It was ok! I'm glad I can check it off my list. On to the next! 

Champurrado from church

Champurrado is crazy good! It's the best thing since sliced bread! And it's filling! It's a Mexican drink. I told my sister, Pumla (the one with the cookbook) to learn the recipe and make it. I don't even like porridge, but this is my jam!

Cherimoya

Cherimoya is a gigantic fruit that reminds me very much of pear from it's consistency. It's a Central American fruit. Calvin's parents have the tree. He picked this for me. I liked it. I'd have it again. Next time, I will put it in a smoothie.

Inside of Cherimoya

Speaking of picking things for me, Calvin has this South African plant in his yard. It's called elephant bush. When I first saw it, I picked a leaf and munched on it. Calvin was surprised. Can you believe it? The tree doctor didn't know that you can eat elephant bush. I didn't know that name, I think we call it something else. Some Xhosa name. One day, Calv gave me a bonsai of the elephant bush. He had been growing it for me. It was still a baby when he gave it to me. I was so toughed, I cherished it so much. I have received flowers before, but no one has ever given me  a tree!

Elephant Bush

Let me love and leave you with a picture of Calvin's beloved pet spider; Shiva, a Chilean tarantula.. one of the worlds most venomous spiders. He keeps it in a cage in his dining room.

Chilean Tarantula

Happy Camper

Calvin had a week off work where he decided to take me on vacation. It was going to be our first trip together. I was so excited! I loved the direction our relationship was going. Wouldn't you?

I packed a carry on luggage full of stuff  for the week and a small overnight back. I washed my car and headed on out to my Calvin's. I was so excited, I always have been whenever I was going to meet him; which had been every weekend since we met for the first time. Nice record. I have dated people in the past who were never available on weekends.

Brian, my airbnb guest was still staying at my house but was becoming more of a nuisance. The vacation couldn't have come at a better time, quite honestly. Not that there's ever poor timing for  vacation. I didn't tell Brian I was going out of town. It was none of his business. Also, you never know what people might get up to, knowing you were going to be away for a week.

Calvin planned that we would go camping by the beach on San Clemente. I had never been there before and hadn't camped in forever! Being n arborist, he had a bunch of wood from the trees he had been trimming, we took that with us, he also has very warm and thick sleeping bags and a tent. He is pretty outdoorsy, so it's only second nature that he would have that kind of stuff handy. I took my sleeping bag along as well. You can never be too prepared, right?

I arrived with my silver spinner suitcase, Calvin had his silver suitcase packed. I was surprised at how we both had similar suitcase. Poor coincidence!

We loaded my SUV, I posed for a few selfies and hit the road, Jack!

Notice our silver suitcases in the bottom

We both loaded the truck together, I pride myself in being good at packing. Having moved as many times as I have, it comes with the territory. Calvin thought of everything. He put water in the cooler for us and of course brought his skimboard. We were going to the beach after all. There it is in green below.

Let's go! 

We started at the gas station by Calvin's house. He bought a few snacks. We did have lunch before we headed out. He prepared something for both of us. I ate as soon as I got there, within an hour, we were on our way. Right on schedule! We were both psyched!

It was a nice two or so hour drive to San Clemente, Orange County. We drove to the campground, booked a spot, the one we wanted was already taken or something, so the lady was nice enough to move us to one with an awesome view of the ocean. Man! So cool!

View of the ocean from campground

I was jumping up and down for joy with how everything was falling into place. As soon as our camping spot was booked, we set up our tent, which was much simpler than I thought it would be.

Cute tent for two

After setting up the tent, we went out for pizza down the street at a pizza joint where they also brew their own beer.

Ready for pizza!

The pizza was really good. I asked for one with as much meat variety as possible while Calvin was ordering exotic beer.

Deliciousness!

We also had chicken wings with our pizza. So good!

It wasn't a lot of food but I was full. Probably, mainly from excitement! Calvin bought himself a Pizza Port beer mug. From Pizzaring, we headed out to the beach. We did so much that day, I can't believe we only had 24 hours! Calvin skimboarded. I took pictures and videos, you know the drill, haha. Soon, I will know how to do all these things and be cool too, you wait! I stepped into the water, because you have to! I love water, I just can't swim. I had shorts and flip flops on, so I was ready to go.

View from the parking lot

After all that, we went to the supermarket to get ourselves a few necessities; ice, juice, stuff to eat while staying there, red velvet cake for moi, etc ;)

Because I had to

San Clemente beach behind me

When we got home, we walked around the are to see what else was going on. There were a lot of campers,. I must say! Families, some people had two trucks, bikes, bicycles, it seemed like they lived there.

We went in the tent and chilled there for a second, when someone close by started playing nice music. This is not Beverly Hills, you can't be mad that someone's music is loud. We're on vacation, we're open minded. We had our own speaker, I had the iPod, but we turned ours on and enjoyed the neighbors music. He had a caravan/Trailer right next to us. Calvin went out for some reason and ended up talking to our neighbor. The neighbor asked if his music is too loud, we told him we love it. 

Around sunset, Cal called me to watch the sunset. 

So amazingly beautiful!

We stood outside our tench and took it all in. It was a moment, for sure! Neighbor invited us over to watch the sunset from his 'yard'.

Beautiful San Clemente Sunset

Neighbor had a lot of interesting things over there. He had a wooden statue from Indonesia, he refers to it as his wife. That was on the table and a lot of interesting things from his travels all over the world. He's a very nice guy, we were lucky to be posted next door to him.

The neighbor's wife!

Calvin made dinner, he had brought ground beef/minced meat from home, he made burgers out of that for all of us, including the neighbor.

Burgers for dinner

We had brought a camping type stove but the neighbor offered his, so Calvin used that instead.

Dinner time!

The burgers were delicious, we all loved them. Calvin is such a gem, I'd be lost without him. He comes in handy in all kinds of environments.

Neighbor offered some stuff from his own kitchen, pickles, etc to go with out burgers.

You know, the messier food looks, the better it tastes!

After dinner, they drank some exotic drinks. We all sat and chatted the night away. It was a really good day and night.

I got tired and went to bed, Calvin made fire for us to keep us warm through the night. 

I may have got up to quickly enjoy the fire 

As you can see, a great time was head by all!

Eventually, I went to sleep. Calvin sat outside by the fire and enjoyed the still of the night. Eventually, he woke me up. There was a skunk by our trash, he didn't want me to miss out. What? I've never seen a skunk in person. If I did, I must have been very young in the farm.

The skunk going through our trash

The thing didn't care how much noise we made or anything, it was focusing on what it was doing; licking those avocado peels. Calvin threw rocks near it to scare it away, hoping it wouldn't spray him with its smelliness. Did it move an inch? Nope! Only when it was done, did it walk away! Bye Felicia!