Monthly Archives: May 2011

Clearing things up.

 

Happy Tuesday everyone! I hope you had a great Memorial Day. I had a decent time, but as I get older, I start thinking more and more about troops. Do you realize we are coming up on the 10 year anniversary of 9/11? I was 19 when all of this went down. I remember staring at the news, wondering how this would change things. I bawled when the news came on yesterday. They were talking of soldiers going to their friend’s funerals. It was sad. Then I read the news and had a o.O moment. You know how the Westboro Baptist Church are a bunch of douche canoes? Well, the KKK came out to counter protest them. Then Westboro got all righteous on the KKK saying that God doesn’t hate people that are different colors.. only the gay ones. Is it too much to hope that they blow each other up?


My hair this week has been weird. Lately it has felt like the product that I apply has been sitting on top of it, rather than absorbing in. The result is my hair feeling dry, but when I touch my hair my hands are all greasy. Ew.

So last night, when I got into the shower, I sprayed my hair down with apple cider vinegar. The apple cider vinegar then got in my eye, which I had to howl for my husband to come take the bottle, because I couldn’t see where to put it. As he walked away I heard him mumble “so many food products in her hair.” LOL. After that debacle, I shampooed and conditioned my hair as normal.

When I got out of the shower, I dried my hair slightly and applied my Belle Butters (which I am running incredibly low on *Sniffle*). I twisted my hair in huge chunky twists and wrapped with a scarf. Since I have just gotten up, I haven’t taken my twists down, but I will keep you apprised of this development.


This weekend, Yelp.com held an event in my area. The Indy 500 was going on (did you guys know that because I live in Indianapolis, they don’t televise the race? Grumblings were had from my husband and his family. I could care less.) so Yelp did The Yelp 500. It was really neat. There was all sorts of different foods to try from different companies. There were supposed to be camels, but not a one in sight! There was music, that wasn’t really my cup of tea, and a very angry and vulgar clown. He was just screaming out “TITS!!” and all sorts of other nonsense. There was a woman with a beautiful natural hair style. She was a photographer for the even though, and I didn’t want to get in her way. There was an old school photo booth as well. Jeff and I got our pictures taken! You can kind of tell I wasn’t really ready.

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The rest of them came out okay for the most part though LOL.

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Well, I have some chores to do, some puppies that want to go out, and I have a date.. WITH THE GYM!

Lethargy does not become me.

 

For those of you that do not know, I have sleep apnea. I don’t breathe very well when I sleep. I stop breathing in my sleep. My brain kick starts my breathing back though. Before I was diagnosed, my sleep was terrible. When I had my tests done the doctor looked at the results in amazement and asked if I drove. “No,” I replied “I don’t have my licence yet.” “Thank God.” he said. Apparently at the rate I stopped breathing 8 hours of sleep a night equated to 15 minutes of quality sleep for me. Everyone was in shock. They all thought I was lazy because I would sleep for 16 hours a day, get up, go to the bathroom, get something to eat, and go back to sleep for another 12 hours. I couldn’t really do anything. I got sick constantly, I gained a TON of weight. I was just not in a good place.

After I was diagnosed, I got fitted for a breathing machine. A man came to my mothers house (this was 10 years ago) who looked like Niles Crane from the show Fraizer.

He was..interesting. He was also one of the first guys to ever make me feel pretty. “You have such big gorgeous brown eyes, you should get contacts!” If I was lighter I would have turned beet red. My mom was looking at him with murder in her eyes.

Eventually I got fitted for this machine. It took some getting used to. However, the first nights sleep I had was the best sleep I’d had in a long long time. So much so, that the next day I stayed up for 24 hours. I was alert and fully competent. It was amazing.

As I write this, I am feeling those sluggish undertones that I used to feel pre-machine. I am exhausted, unfocused, and generally blah. My equipment (mask, tube, filter, and water cannister) needs to be switched out. The company (who I will not name on this blog) who used to be my medical supply people SUCK. They don’t bill correctly, I can’t get a straight answer from them, and I get a complete runaround. I am trying to switch to a new medical supplier, but I need the documentation that the old company has. I have called them 3 times. 3 times they have told me they will send the information to my physician. No bueno. Finally I have gone around them. I contacted the hospital I had my last sleep study done at, and supposedly they have sent the information to my physician (All my information is in Kokomo, and they will not send your information to you without a medical records request and I am not making a trip to Kokomo for just one reason. Total waste of gas). So now I am trying to get a hold of my Doctor. Madness.


One of my more recent goals in my natural hair journey is to do a front cornrow. Kind of a side swept cornrow across the front of my head. I can braid, but not very well. I learned on a barbie doll. I came across this tutorial though: http://cornrows.co.uk/howto/howtobraidcornrowsx.html

I thought it would work. I am kind of odd. If I can visualize myself doing something, I can usually do it. using this tutorial, I can visualize myself cornrowing. So yesterday I co-washed and detangled my hair, parted it, and proceeded to try…

and try…

and try…

I was frustrated, and incredibly sleepy. I gave up and ended up sleeping most of my day away. It was horrid. I am normally an incredibly patient person, but the lethargy, lack of energy, and sheer exhaustion have made me this crabby annoyed short tempered person. I need to get this fixed, and soon.

Job interview Style

This is how I look when I go to interview:

Dress: Lane Bryant
I feel confident in this dress. Totally love it. I have a suit I can wear as well, but I am a dress girl. This day, my curls were popping something FIERCE. 
I went swimming on Tuesday. I ended up with a pounding headache and had to leave a half an hour early. Question: Does anyone else feel awkward at the Y? I am fine when I get in the pool, mainly because I can't see anything around me (no glasses or contacts), but in the changing room, it is just.. awkward. I need a lock so i can feel confident about putting my stuff away. 
As I was leaving, I saw a younger guy with locs. I explained my blog to him, and gave him my card. Hopefully he stops in 🙂 He had some of the nicest locs I have ever seen.
Still working with the new conditioner. It has plenty of slip, I do like that. More to come later.  
It is getting to the end of the month. If you have not filled out my survey, I am begging you to do so! 🙂 To those of you that have filled it out. I am grateful and appreciative. Thank you from the bottom of my pea picking heart.
It can be found Here

It’s that time again.

Of all the exercises in the world, I prefer to swim. When I was younger, I thought this was God's idea of a joke. Black girl, relaxed hair, unable to care for it, and her favorite thing in the world to do is swim. As a family, we were not at the pool often. In all honesty, I can't swim well at all. I am not 100% sure my mother knows how to swim, and my brother is terrified of the swimming pool.

However in high school you have to take two semesters of swimming. So I looked quite crazy for two semesters. With not knowing how to care for my hair anyway and adding swimming on top of all of that, I already knew it was going to be a disaster. My hair broke off and just looked awful.

After I went natural, I got a membership to the YMCA here in Indianapolis and started swimming. It was a whole different experience for me hair wise, because I actually knew how to take care of my hair. Here is what I do, to prevent a whole lot of chlorine damage from the pool:

  1. I ALWAYS rinse myself before going in the pool. I thoroughly soak my hair. I make sure my hair is completely saturated so that it can't really absorb any of the chlorinated water. 
  2. When I am done swimming, I rinse really well again. 
  3. I usually go home immediately after I am done. When I get there, I wash my hair. Not Co-wash, I actually use shampoo. 
  4. I condition and detangle as normal
  5. I protective style. 
5 simple steps, two of which are in my normal routine.
So my question to you is this: 
 What do you do to minimize damage when you go swimming?

Do you avoid the pool altogether? Do you have a routine set in stone? Let me know!!

Indianapolis Bloggers

 

 

So most of you know, I am from Indianapolis. I am orginally from a small town called Kokomo, but you need to RUN (not walk) away from that town. It is a pit, a cesspool, and I hate it.

*Ahem* Being in Indianapolis and being a blogger has one slight perk. I get to be a member of Indianapolis bloggers! They are a group all about promoting Indianapolis blogs. YAY!

Here is a link to check them out: http://indianapolisblogs.blogspot.com/

What hurts the most

 

 

From the time I was in the 5th grade, up until the end of high school, I was a social pariah. I was awkward, weird, and just plain odd. In two short years I went from a smiling bright happy girl, to a miserable angry person. I stayed that miserable angry person for many many years. My choices in clothes, in music, and in pretty much everything reflected what was popular. Well, as much as it could. We were poor.

Around the end of high school, like my last semester, it was as if someone cleared a film from my vision. I realized that I would no longer see these people every day. I cared nothing about them, and they cared nothing about me. That was the God’s honest truth, with the exception of a few people. I was done. I was free. I could be whoever and whatever I wanted to be.

Turns out being me isn’t anything fancy. I am a girly girl. I am smart, crafty, and nerdy. I am stylish. I have a wicked temper and a kind heart. If I am livid at you, I just won’t talk to you anymore. You have been deemed no longer worth my time.

All in all I think I turned out pretty good. I am confident and self aware. Sometimes though, it takes one comment to take me back down to where I was when I was younger. Usually it is from a ‘loved one trying to help.’

So I am sitting here, sad, pissed off, and hurt, by someone who is supposed to love me most. I’m sure I will be over it in a day or so, but for now, I am just going to sulk and be emo.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

Genre: Action/Adventure

Director: Rob Marshall

Screenplay: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio

Starring: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, and Ian McShane

Captain Jack Sparrow is back and finding what he does best, trouble. His newest adventure finds him at the mercy of the infamous Blackbeard and dragged along on a quest for the Fountain of Youth. Though Blackbeard’s mystical powers and preferred zombie henchmen might be the obvious choice to keep poor Jack on his toes, it is Blackbeard’s beautiful daughter, Angelica, who is the main cause of his concern. Jack leads this gang of unlikely allies to the fountain facing dangers like mermaids that have a deadly taste for man and the British Empire being captained by old foe Captain Barbossa. How will Jack make it through his latest adventure alive? By doing what he always does, improvise.

Everything you could possible love about the Pirates series is back and just as entertaining. I don’t think I will ever getting tired Jack Sparrow and his comedic frolics. With all the trouble Jack seems to find himself in the middle of time and time again, he seems to still have so much fun that the idea of becoming a pirate is very appealing.

I did have a couple of concerns about the new movie before I saw it. One, how could the story possible hold up against the last three films? And, two, how could this film be as good without character favorites, Elizabeth and Will? The last two films seemed determined to one-up the previous with bigger effects and an even more massive plot. The idea of the fountain quest seemed intriguing, but I wasn’t so sure that it could compare to the rest of the series. I was pleasantly surprised that I liked the more compact adventure the quest for the fountain was. There was no need to scour every inch of the world meeting danger upon danger. This film achieved focus much like the original film and stuck to it. As for the second concern, I am personally a fan of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, but their characters story had such a satisfying ending from the last film that they just were not missed. With the story having such a specific focus it would be hard to fit Will Turner and his own ship of souls into the plot. Of course, I have also come to the conclusion that it doesn’t really matter who is in the film as long as Captain Jack is present.

This film is fun and highly entertaining. Whether you’re being mesmerized by action and effects of the film or laughing at the antics and dialogue, you will definitely not regret seeing this movie. I recommend spicing up your Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides experience by seeing the film in 3D.

I give this film 5 Buttery Kernals.

Awkward Hair Growth.

My hair grows weird.

I am sure everyone says this; that their hair does not grow evenly. I am one of those people. For some reason, the hair at the base of my head, near my neck grows the fastest. It is also the hair that doesn't really have much of a curl pattern. It is incredibly loose. It is also the hair that is shoulder length. The rest of my hair grows fairly evenly, It is all equal to each other, with the exception of that back part. Take a look at your hair. How does your hair grow?

I purchased some new conditioner this week. I was out of 'Hello Hydration' and it hasn't been working all that great for me for the past couple of months anyway. This time around I purchased Tresemme moisture rich for dry or damaged hair. I don't want to give my opinion on it just yet; I have only used it once. I will be back with a review on that later.

I also picked up some goodies from kyah Alexandria. CharyJay (from 160 Days 2 lose 2) did a review of a couple of her products and something she said about the shampoo/shower bar stuck out in my mind. She said after shampooing her hair with the bar, her hair felt like there was lotion on it, it was that moisturizing. That got me hook, line and sinker. I purchased the Coconut Paradise shampoo and shower bar and Hydra Moist Leave-In Conditioner. I have not tried them yet. I don't like trying a bunch of new products all together. It seems like you don't get an accurate read on the products if you do that. Once I decide if I like how the Tresemme makes my hair feel, then I will check out the kyah Alexandrea. 
What is your favorite shampoos and conditioners? How did you come across them?

Product Review- Cantu Shea Butter leave in conditioning cream

 

After a brief hiatus (in which at one point my husband had to come home for lunch from work because I was crying so hard he couldn’t understand what I was saying, because I was SURE I got a D in my math class, and I couldn’t take that class anymore, and it turns out I got a C and cam move on.) I am back with a product review for you.

I bought the Cantu Shea Butter from the weird hair place around the corner from my house. It is ran by a family. I once went in there asking if they had the crackle polishes. The woman told me no, and asked me why I would want that, as it is ugly and unkempt! I just kind of goggled at her and left. Their nail polish looks old and scary for the most part, so I guess it is a good thing they didn’t have it.

Anyway, I heard of Cantu ever since I had gone natural. I always wanted to try it, but I never really saw it when I was out and about. It wasn’t something that I sought out either. However, when I was buying flower hair accessories in the local hair shop, I saw the leave in conditioning repair cream for $4.99 and decided to pick it up.

The front of the product says the following:

stops and mends hair breakage

leaves hair soft, shiny, and manageable

formulated for severely damaged, dry, or coarse hair

 

Here is the first issue I have with the product; The grammar on the front of the product. There are no capital letters in the previous statements, no periods, however, we have commas. Just looking at the statements drive me batty. Meh.

The product gives you three sets of directions based on what you wanted to do with it. You could use it for daily styling, a leave in treatment, or for frizz free hair. I used it as a daily treatment for the better part of a month

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As you can see, I used about half of the jar. The first thing you notice when you open up the Cantu leave in conditioner is the smell. Oh man! It smells like fruit punch. I had Jeff do a sniff test, and he enjoyed the smell too.  It is a water based leave in conditioner, so it is kind of runny. I liked the fact that it seemed to revive my hair. It made it moist so that I could style it however I chose. A lot of times in the morning, I would put this on my hair and add a little of my Belle Butters and go. When I did two strand twists at night, I would slather this on, and add Belle Butters on top of it, twist my hair and cover it. In the morning it would still be slightly damp and pliable, so I would put it in a poof and go.

After a little bit, I noticed a slight problem. You see, when I do a twist out, just using Belle Butters, My twist outs can last about a week. They get bigger and bigger, and they are fully moisturized. With the Cantu stuff, It would get bigger, but my hair was incredibly dry after two days. The ends of my hair would look crispy and frizzy. It was not cute. When my hair would get like that, nothing could revive it. I would have to co-wash and start over again.

So yes, I don’t think Cantu Shea Butter leave in conditioning repair cream is right for me. It took styles that normally last up to 5-7 days, and made them last only 2-3. It made my hair feel dried out and crispy. I wouldn’t recommend this product.

Have you tried anything by Cantu? What were your results?

It feels like summer! Whip your hair back and forth!

I love summer. Indiana has decided to skip spring (except with all the rain), and go directly into the heat of summer. I hate winter, I hate cold weather, and I hate my allergies. I had one very minor allergy attack this year, and have been pretty much okay since. Last year, everything was COATED in pollen, and I couldn't really go outside until it rained. Even then, I had to have allergy pills ingested. 

With the summer comes summer hair. Most of the winter, my hair stays underneath a silk scarf, and underneath a hat in two strand twists. It's too cold for me to just let my hair out. Now with summer here, I can two strand twist at night, undo it in the morning, put my hair in a puff, or just let it be in it's afro. I do have to continously moisturize my hair, however, with using the Belle Butters shea butter, I can usually get away with moisturizing every two days. With my hair in twists like that, I can also co-wash about once a week. Unless of course I have been swimming, or sweating hard. Then you know, it's more often with the washing. 
It's a marvelous time! So, my question to you is, how is your summer routine different from your winter routine?
In other news, I was over on the Curly Nikki forums. Seems like they are trying to put together a natural hair meetup here in Indiana! How exciting is that!? Would you guys come? I would love to meet you (Janelle, I am looking at you girl!)! They want it to be big like the ones in Atlanta, and honestly, Indianapolis has the potential for that. I kind of wish I would have found out about it earlier, as I could have taken an active role in getting local vendors to display jewelry and stuff at it. I am really good about researching and sales (though, I don't want to be in sales; too much pressure.) and I think I could have gotten some great things accomplished. Oh well, I will just be okay with going and having a great time!
I'm out! I have a mess of clothes to fold and some twists to retwist. I am not going anywhere today but my back yard, so the hair will remain in twists. 
Have a great day, and if you haven't taken my survey, please do!