What's On My Mind Today

Curl Street Journal Post: Why I've been MIA and lots of pics!

2010-08-16T10:54:00.001-05:00

Yet another Curl Street Journal post

Hey curlies! I've been on CN the past 2 weeks or so but haven't really made a post on my journal in a while. Did yall miss me? lol.

I really enjoyed my 2 week break from school but alas, my first day of class for the fall is tomorrow (I have classes Tues, Wed, and Thurs this semester). Back to the daily grind I suppose!

In hair news, I put in some small twists about a week and a half ago (my first set that I wore out since my BC) and wore those from Wed-Sunday (I redid the front Thursday though because they were too big since I was in a rush to finish before Wed. night church service). Sunday I untwisted them for a very cute twistout. They were small enough that I didn't even separate after I untwisted them and had a very defined twistout that I LOVED! I wore that for...I don't know how many days lol. I only retwisted a few in the back that were getting a little frizzy from me sleeping on them.

Finally once it started looking more frizzy than cute I was fingercombing my hair and decided to pick it out just for fun, and to wear a bigger puff for the day(...or make that days!) before FINALLY washing and detangling my hair...after almost 2 weeks . My fro is nowhere NEAR one of my hair idols LynnieLuve, but I still thought it was kinda cute. Not shaped well enough to wear out mind you.... plus I sent my boyfriend James a picture while he was at work and he said I looked like an 80's supervillian. Gotta love that guy Oh yeah, I did do some flat twists yesterday in the front of the puff because I was getting a little bored with it and wanted to jazz it up for church a little...but I didn't take pics

I FINALLY DC'd yesterday and washed and detangled. We were going to a training class for church last night, so I just wound up with a wash and go. Today though, I plan to wash again and apply the Kimmaytube leave in so that I can put in some small twists again...this time I won't worry about the parting so much, and I'll just grab and twist. I'll keep these in for a few days or maybe even a week if I like them and then do a twistout for a few days before detangling again. Baby steps protective styles lol.

Enough chatter...here's the pics!

Twists

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Twists Back view

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Twistout Puff with flower (That I broke by accident getting out of the car

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Regular Twistout Puff

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Twistout Puff Closeup

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Fro! (Just for fun)

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Fro puff (how I actually wore it)

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That's it for now lovely ladies! I hope you all have a great week!

Curl Street Journal Post: Updates and would you buy something if I started an online bakery?

2010-08-03T12:36:00.002-05:00

Another Curl Street Journal Post

Hello my lovely readers!

I hope you are all doing well. I'm enjoying my break and also trying to juggle a few ideas around in my head. I guess I'll get to the hair-related stuff first.

I'm wearing a 3 day old wash and go that I've been refreshing with a spray bottle of water since I haven't had time to do anything else. Also, I wanted to wash and detangle my hair today and try to put in some mini twists. I'm not sure if my hair is long enough for them to look cute enough to wear out...but if not I should have an awesome twistout tomorrow lol. This will be my first time putting mini twists in my own hair, but I think it should be ok since I installed kinky twists myself during my transition a few times, and this is a little less complicated since it's all my hair. Hopefully it won't take too long. Oh yeah, my dad wasn't to terribly upset about my hair when I went home this weekend, and everyone else seemed to like it somewhat lol. Maybe that's just because I was just there for a day and they didn't have time to come up with any clever jokes.

Ok on to my non-hair related possible business venture...

While I was in Mobile I made some "Cookies and Cream" cupcakes. I saw the recipe online for making them from scratch but I didn't want to invest that much time (lol) since I wasn't going to be in town long, so I did the same thing with a boxed white cake and white frosting with oreos crushed up in them. They were a big hit, except half of my family though the oreo cookie on the bottom was actually where I burnt the cupcake...maybe i should have told them about that earlier lol. Anyway, I've always liked making sweet stuff...cakes, cupcakes, fudge, oreo truffles, you name it. In fact, for holidays or whenever I go home, I'm basically required to make a batch of my "famous" oreo truffles or at least some fudge. While I was home, my niece even asked me if I thought about selling my stuff online. Now I'd thought about opening a bakery one day, but a mail order one never occured to me. I looked on etsy.com and sure enough, other ladies were selling truffles, cookie, cakes, cupcakes etc.

So what I want to ask is, if I were to start up a bakery service online (mostly oreo truffles, chocolate covered pretzels, fudge, and peanut clusters to start and then cupcakes and maybe cakes once i figure out how to ship them without them getting messed up), would any of you ladies be interested in ordering?

Let me know! Speaking of baked goods, there's one more cookies and cream cupcake in the fridge that's calling my name! Bye lovelies!

P.S. I just noticed that I'm 11 months post perm! One more month till a year! Yay!

Curl Street Journal Post: One Month Post BC!

2010-07-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

Curl Street Journal Post

Actually I'm at 1 month and one week post BC...but I had finals this week so it's been kinda hectic! I wound up with an A in one class and B in the other (got a 87 in that one so not close enough to a A to round up ...oh well!)

Now I have about 2 1/2 weeks of "vacation" before I start Fall classes. I also need to do some work on my Thesis during that time so, I'm not "all the way" off I guess. James, Chase and I are going to Mobile today after he gets off of work to visit my family. My brother got to come home early (last tuesday) from his deployment in Kuwait, so my sister came down to visit too. It will probably be a short trip for us though...won't get there till 9 or 10 tonight and might leave tomorrow night or maybe Sunday morning since James has work Monday and I don't want him all tired from being on the road all day. On the bright side, we can stop by my apartment in Montgomery on the way back to rest/take a pit stop if we want. Then it's only a 1 1/2 hour trip from there.

This is the first time I'll be going home since my BC. I'm sure my dad still won't like it, but oh well, he'll come around eventually. Not much he can do about it now right? lol

I wore a frohawk for 3 days last week...mostly out of laziness because of all of the paper writing/studying. The first night i was so tired when I finally got home from studying (at 6 am ) that I just kept the bobby pins in (I usually take them out) and threw on my satin bonnet and called it a night. It turned out pretty good so I did that the next 2 nights as well.

Right now I need to be packing and deep conditioning my hair. I wanted a cute style for today but I think I'll just have to settle for a wash and go. Maybe I'll do some twists tonight if I feel like staying up a bit once we get there.

So recap of the first month being natural:

It's AWESOME!
It's sooooo much easier than dealing with the 2 textures
Kimmaytube's leave in = no more dry flaky scalp
Time flew by since I didn't have to worry about my hair as much
I LOVE IT!!!
Still working on the itching but it's not nearly as bad as it was!

Also it seems like my hair is getting longer...even though I can't really tell and I just think it's wishful thinking. After I used the curlformers last week (I think that's when it was) I wound up picking my hair out and wore a little afro puff...excuse me medium afro puff lol it was bigger than I expected. I guess the slight straightening from the curlformers is the cause of that.

My only other problem besides the slight itching are my ends. When i put them in twists I usually twirl the ends around my finger, but the last 1/2 inch always kinda poofs and seems a little different than the rest. When I put them in the bantu knots it's not as noticeable since they curl kinda. I'm not sure if this was the scab hair I've heard about or just some wonky ends. The rest of my twists look cute till you get to the ends. I guess maybe I just need a good trim. I'll wait on that though because I don't want to get scissor happy too soon. In another month if they are still wonky, I'll trim them. The funny thing is when I do wash and gos, the ends curl up all pretty into little coils so it's just when they're dry or slightly damp that they do this....

I guess that's it for now lovelies. I think I'll go ahead and pack and do some of that cleaning up i meant to do before we leave. Gotta at least wash the dishes in the kitchen sink so I can use it to start my deep conditioning treatment lol.

Bye for now!

Curl Street Journal Post: Tons of Pictures!

2010-07-22T20:53:00.002-05:00

2 Late posts from yesterday's Curl Street Journal

Here's 2 pics of my hair yesterday (excuse my bath robe lol)

I used curlformers last night and the modified kimmaytube leave in on wet hair (LOVE the leave in by the way...my hair is super soft today. Must be the castor oil).

First attempt. Part on the side with the front slightly twisted and 2 bobby pins holding it back...wasn't in love with it for some reason

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Second attempt. Good old Goody headband puff. My staple/fallback style

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I hope I don't flatten the curls too much tonight sleeping on them.

Here are the other pictures I promised! Here's how I do my TWA modified twist n curl

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Back view. I use colored rubber bands so I'll be able to see any I missed easily when I use my mirror to look at the back of my hair

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Rubber bands out (no separating yet)

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Separated once

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All done fluffing/separating

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Frohawk from twist and curl. I think this was the first one I tried since the one I did for my birthday.

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Frohawk side view/front view

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Second day hair frohawk

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Ok that's it for now. I'm sure you guys are sick of all of the pictures lol.

Curl Street Journal Post: She's Back!

2010-07-20T22:37:00.000-05:00

Curl Street Journal Post

I know you guys are thinking...Janet did the BC and now she can't even visit her own curl street journal anymore.

I know, I know I'm bad. I haven't had a whole lot going on hair wise to talk about though. I've mostly been doing some wash and gos, and the other day I did another TWA modified twist and curl. The cool news I have is that my boyfriend bought me a new 12 megapixel camera a few weeks ago, so I'll have LOTS of pictures for you guys coming up! I think I may even do a few more youtube videos here and there...

So in hair news, today I finally did an ACV rinse. Noticed a little itching reduction but not a ton. Then tonight I made the famous kimmaytube leave in mix with giovanni leave in, castor oil (first time using it), aloe vera gel (first time using the liquid), and jojoba oil. I followed the directions as best I could without a scale (used 2 tablespoons of the Giovanni) but I think the next time I'll only do half of the recipe since I had too much. I put the rest in the fridge for now. I also decided to dust off my Curlformers and try those with the leave in. We'll see the results of that tomorrow. I sat under the dryer on low for about 5 or 10 minutes (it was starting to get kinda hot and I'm scared/paranoid of heat damage )

I got the idea to try the curlformers again after watching a nikkimae2003 youtube video. I hadn't used them since my transition because I figured my hair was too short. I mostly have the long and wide ones so I just used those. My hair doesn't know that it doesn't go all the way to the end lol

In life news, I have finals for my 2 classes next week (take home final and paper due tuesday, and final, paper, and project due Wednesday) and then I'm done for about 2 and a half weeks before the fall semester starts.

Also, my brother is coming back from his deployment in Afghanistan early! He'll be home tomorrow, and my sister is coming into to town next week so James, Chase and I are going that weekend too. We were going to go this weekend but I figure if I wait I can catch my brother and sister together since I haven't seen them since February.

This will also be the first time going home since my BC... My dad wasn't that pleased when he saw the pictures but maybe seeing it in person will bring him around.

I guess that's it for now ladies...I'll be back with pictures next time probably.

Curl Street Journal Post: What to do, what to do?

2010-07-09T08:17:00.001-05:00

Another Curl Street Journal Post

Hey ladies!
My TWA modified twist n curl lasted about 3 days which I was super excited about. I probably could have squeezed out a 4th day, but I just wanted to wash my hair. I've been wearing Wash N Gos the last few days. I had to go back to montgomery for class wed. night so I didn't even bring all of my clothes and whatnot with me since I was heading back to Birmingham the next day. Just my toothbrush, laptop and my satin bonnet. Yesterday I cowashed with the Giovanni 50:50 conditioner since my Aussie Moist was still in b-ham. My curls were popping out everywhere and very well defined! I love being to take a shower and wash my hair and be dressed and done in like 5 minutes (ok 10 but most of that is me getting dressed lol).

I have another wedding to go to tomorrow and a rehearsal tonight. I wanted to try a coil out since I saw one of my natural grade school friends (MeMyHairandtheCity) had great results with hers, but I might not have time today. A simple Wash N go might have to do the trick. My sister in law is also in town and needs me to take her by my old school for something. Hopefully that won't take too long. Chase also didn't go to day care today so that he would be ready to go to the rehearsal tonight (he's supposed to be the ring bearer tomorrow and I want him to be somewhat familiar with the place so he doesn't get too shy tomorrow).

So basically I'm at a loss as to what to do to my hair that will be cute and won't take forever to dry (we have to be at the church at 9am tomorrow for pictures since my boyfriend James is in the wedding party). I wish I had brought the hooded dryer with me so I could do something to my hair tonight and have it be at least 75% dry when I go to sleep. I might still try to do a coil out and if it's not dry/turns out crummy in the morning I'll just do a wash and go.

Guess that's it for now. Bye lovelies!

P.S. By the way, when Chase and I were at the kiddie pool the other day while I was rocking fabulous 3rd day hair with my light and dark purple wifebeaters on and a pretty purple flower clip in my hair there were some other ladies that decided to have a "natural hair" discussion. Another girl at the kiddie pool was rocking a TWA shorter than mine (I'd say about 3 or 4 months of transitioning or growth) and her friends were talking about her like she wasn't there. One girl asked another what made *insert girl's name that was sitting there* cut all of her hair off. The other girl said she wasn't sure and had only heard of people cutting their hair that short if it was damaged or maybe in the summer because it was hot, but no just "because they wanted to". The other girl didn't say much, and I'm not sure if they were trying to be smart since I was sitting there with an obviously short do or if I was just being paranoid. One girl even said she couldn't cut her hair because she had a peanut head and it wouldn't look good. Meanwhile I'm sitting with my feet in the water looking kinda like but mostly ignoring them. I was mostly confused as to why they were talking ABOUT the other girl and not TO her (if that was indeed who they were talking about). I wonder if they expected me to jump in and say something about natural hair. I thought about it but decided to keep my mouth shut...that time lol.

I do wish I had told the other girl that I thought her hair was cute before I left though. Maybe she needed the encouragement.

Curl Street Journal Post: Who's got second day hair? I do!

2010-07-04T11:37:00.001-05:00

Another Curl Street Journal Post:

Hey ladies!
I was able to get second day hair for the first time today! I'm wearing a TWA modified twist n curl twistout puff (sounds like a mouthful!). Basically I put small 2 strand twists in my hair the day before yesterday wet, with only olive oil and the Giovanni 50:50 in my hair with the intention to set them on small rods when I got done. Well I found out my hair is too short for the rods I have (I have some tanish-pink ones and tiny yellow ones) so I tried putting the twists in small bantu knots. That worked ok but they kept coming loose as they dried so I put rubber bands around them to make them stay. I slept on them overnight and untwisted in the morning with some olive oil on my hands and put it in a puff with a headband. The pics didn't come out too well so I might not post them.

I had a wedding to attend yesterday evening so I switched headbands (used a brown one to go with my black, brown and white dress) and gelled down my edges with some aloe vera gel and used my denman brush to make them look a little sleeker. I tied my edges up with a silk scarf for about 10 min, slapped on the headband and earrings and was out the door.

I only slept in a satin bonnet last night and figured my hair would be beyond saving the next day (as it usually is with twistouts) but I fluffed this morning with olive oil on my hands and it still looks cute! I'll try this style a few more times and then when I have the hang of it I may do a youtube tutorial.

I wanted to rock a fro for the 4th but I couldn't find a way to wear the traditional one that I liked, and I have a bbq to go to tonight with a lot of people I didn't know so I think I'll tone it down a bit. I still think my curly baby fro puff is cute though

Happy Fro Day lovelies!

Curl Street Journal Post: Fighting the itches: Aussie Moist Mini review and Amazon.com order!

2010-07-02T17:59:00.001-05:00

From my Curl Street Journal:

So I'm still on a quest to help out my dry itchy flaking scalp, so I decided to cowash every day for the next few days (I might try to do a fro for the 4th though...even if it will be a tiny one lol) so I decided to try cowashing with my Aussie Moist (I know, I know I can't stick to one product it seems!)

I guess I'm trying to change it up a little bit and see what my scalp likes. I DID remember to seal with olive oil this time before putting more Aussie Moist on as a leave in though. It lathered really well (almost like a shampoo!) so I liked that. I think I'll use it for my wash n gos for sure...not so sure about as a leave in though. My curls weren't popping nearly as much as when I used the Giovanni 50:50 balanced conditioner. Today I'm going to try a cowash with Aussie Moist, seal with EVOO and leave in of the 50:50. I need to buy the direct leave in ASAP. Maybe my hair just doesn't like regular conditioner as a leave in. Too early to tell I guess.

I also ran across one of the Palmer's Olive Oil Hot Oil Treatments while cleaning out my "hair bag" that I take with me when I go to Birmingham. I might give that a whirl today before I wash since I haven't done a hot oil treatment in a while. Maybe my scalp just needs some oil. It hasn't been AS itchy since I started this attack on it (lol) but it's still there here and there.

Aussie Moist Conditioner Mini Review:

GREAT lather/slip
Smells good without being overpowering
Nice and creamy (not as thick as Giovanni 50:50 though)
Not terribly expensive and easy to find!
Didn't define my curls that well

3/5 stars ***
Verdict: Great cowash conditoner and it lathers really well, but it didn't define my curls as much as I wanted. I'll still use this to cowash and use something else as a leave in though

Guess that's it for now. I'll be jumping in the shower for a cowash whenever Chase lets me...Maybe when he takes his nap later today lol. James and I will have him for a whole month Gonna be fun!

Bye for now Lovelies!

P.S. Gotta love 3 year olds. Chase saw my hair yesterday (the first time he's seen it since the BC) and he said my hair looks like daddy's He did say he liked it though.

P.P.S. I totally forgot to talk about the amazon order! I had a $25 gift card so I figured I'd order some hair stuff (of course!) I wound up getting a hose that attaches to the sink so you can wash your hair (I wet my hair and wash it in the sink a little bit before rinsing it out in the shower), some castor oil, a microfiber turban to help dry your hair after you wash, and Lilly of the desert aloe vera gel (I have some FOTE already but I kind of want to try the Kimmaytube leave in everyone's talking about and she used this kind).

Scalp Nurting time and Giovanni mini reviews

2010-06-30T15:06:00.003-05:00

Hey lovely ladies!

I planned on waiting until today to wash my hair and use the new Giovanni shampoo and conditioner I bought but last night as I was fingercombing out my twistout/playing in my hair/checking my scalp I thought I'd go ahead and give the conditioner a whirl. I wet my hair and used the Giovanni 50:50 balanced conditioner to do a cowash and detangle. I used the pads of my fingers to scrub my scalp...and man did I scrub it! My fingers were tingly at one point lol. I detangled with my wide tooth comb and denman brush which took all of 5 minutes!

First of all I love how creamy the Giovanni is. It's more like lotion than conditioner. As soon as I put it on my hair, my curls started popping out everywhere! I'm still dealing with some spiky straight ends that I missed, but for the most part my hair was loving it. If the 50:50 conditioner is this good, I can't wait to try the direct leave in!

Also last night I thought I'd give my hair a little more moisture by leaving the conditioner in, and sleeping with a showercap on overnight. I read on the forums that the tea tree shampoo can be a little stripping so I didn't want my hair to get too dried out.

Then today I washed the conditioner out and applied the Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Threat Shampoo and scrubbed my scalp (with the pads of my fingers only) like mad. It really did give a good tingle on the scalp and lathered really well but after a while my scrubbing turned the tingling sensation to a warm...then kind of hot one lol. I washed out the shampoo and then lathered up again. Major suds the second time. Some ladies said the shampoo made their hair feel like straw after they washed it out. I kind of saw what they meant because when I rinsed it out the second time my scalp and hair felt extra "squeaky clean". Literally. I heard my hair squeak when I was running my hands over it trying to wring some of the water out. lol

Next I followed up with the conditioner again and did a quick cowash. Then I detangled again with the shower comb and denman brush (partly because of all of the scrubbing I did and partly because I wanted to see if the awesome detangling session I had the night before was a fluke) and my comb and brush sailed right through.

Next I hopped in the shower (I did all of this pre-washing over the kitchen sink lol) took my regular bath and then rinsed out the conditioner with cold water. I hopped out with naked hair and clipped some of the straight ends I saw that were left. Then I put a little bit of the conditioner on my hair and shook my head over the bathtub (had to pour a tiny bit of water back on my head since my hair had dried a little bit.

So there you have it ladies. I have a super clean scalp and a cute wash and go for today. We'll see if the itchies stay at bay.

Mini Review:
Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Conditioner

Great Slip-made detangling a breeze!
Very thick
Nice scent but not too overpowering
Made my curls pop instantly

5/5 stars *****
Verdict: I love it so far! I'll keep using it and see how it goes!

Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Threat Shampoo

Tingly feeling on scalp
Great lather for a sulfate free shampoo
Made my scalp and hair feel really clean
Could be a little stripping if used too much

4/5 stars ****
Verdict: I like that it got my scalp clean but I'd probably only use this once a month or so to get rid of buildup because more than that might dry my hair out.

P.S. As I'm typing this, I realized I forgot to seal with olive oil before putting on the conditioner...oops! I'll do another wash and go tomorrow and I'll be sure to do it then. :)

Curl Street Journal Post: Fighting the itchies...ahhh!

2010-06-28T09:01:00.001-05:00

Another Curl Street Journal post

Hey again ladies!

So now the initial shock of the BC is over and I'm just trying to find my routine. So far my go to style has been a puff of some kind. I did a wash and go the other day and then "refreshed it" the next day (and after taking a nap that day ) by spraying some water on my hair with a few drops of tea tree oil and peppermint until it was pretty damp and shaking like crazy. Made the curls come back but if I do it too hard I get a slight headache for a while .

Anyway as the title states, I've been having some problems with an itchy scalp and dandruff. I had a similar problem during my transition with the kinky twists, but I thought it was mostly the weave. Maybe my hair is just telling me I need another ACV rinse (I do these about once a month or so). If I get an itchy spot on my scalp and scratch it then it starts to itch like CRAZY! I don't want to scratch up my scalp and leave it irritated or even bleeding so I need to find a fix ASAP.

During a big chunk of my transition I tried doing the Curly Girl method (no cones...[except the one in HEHH and I think that one is water soluable], no sulfates, no mineral oil, and no parabens. Basically the only products I used (and still use) are HEHH, Aloe Vera Gel (FOTE), EVOO, Jojoba oil (sometimes), Shea Butter (starting to try that a bit more), and Tea tree, peppermint, and rosemary essential oils. My hair feels soft and moisturized, but my scalp is a whole different story.

I'm even considering washing with a sulfate shampoo just in case the problem is build up (this is my last resort). Before I try that I'll do another ACV rinse (after I buy some more) and I might even try the Giovanni Tea Tree Triple Threat Shampoo if I can find it at TJ Maxx or something. I know they don't have sulfates in them but I'm not sure if they have any other "no-no" ingredients. Plus I've been curious to try their products. If I can't find that I might try Aussie Moist Conditioner. Maybe the problem is my beloved HEHH and I just don't know it...

What do you guys think? Help me before I scratch a hole in my head!

P.S. In hair style news, I have my hair in some chunky twists for a 3rd attempt at a chunky twistout. The second attempt came out good but I didn't get second day hair and I can already tell these twists are going to "behave" a little better

Curl Street Journal Post: my birthday frowhawk and post bc family reactions

2010-06-25T10:52:00.002-05:00

You know the drill about my Curl Street Journal lol

Hey again ladies!

I'm 2 days natural now! Yay! Here's a pic of the frowhawk I did for my birthday yesterday.

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side view

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I have no idea what I'm going to do to it today, but I know if all else fails I can do a puff! I might need to mix up a little tea tree oil and some olive oil or something and give myself a scalp massage. It's been itchy today.

I also thought about doing smaller twists for a dry twistout today...but i want to mix up some shealoe mix for that. Man I should get on some of that stuff huh? lol

I emailed my family the pictures of my BC. My mom knew i was planning to cut it (my dad too but that's another story) and after she first saw the pics she told me "no no no put it back" (she was joking) and said it looked like my brother came home early (he's in the navy over seas right now ). My sister said she liked it but asked if I had told my dad and my brother emailed me and said that dad was going to whip my butt lol.

My dad didn't look at it until that night apparently because when he called me for my birthday and mentioned it he was just like "I dunno....." and talked about my crown being my glory, to which I replied that I was now wearing my hair how God made it for me. He's used to me and my sister and even my neices having fairly long hair so I think this was a pretty big shock (even thought one of my nieces ended up cutting her hair super short (shorter than mine) a few months ago because the perm broke her hair off pretty bad but she still has some chemical thing in it to "make it curl" so I guess she's not 100% natural and she HAD to cut it not just willy nilly like me lol

My mom told me later that when he looked at the pics he said "now that just don't make no sense" and she said he acted like I cut the hair off of HIS head. He'll be ok though. Hair grows back lol. He got the same way when my sister trimmed her hair (from shoulder length to about chin length) and highlighted it. He kept playfully hitting her on the back of the head and saying "you cut all of that hair off" lol.

So far I'm still loving it. Can't keep my hands out of it, and I even keep squishing it through my silk bonnet that I'm still wearing lol. Must go hair accessory shopping!

I BCed!

2010-06-23T14:45:00.002-05:00

I posted this on my Curl Street Journal of course...it's all the same though lol

Well I did it! I BCed this morning. Right now I have a deep conditoner on my hair and a showercap. After I eat (I'm STARVING) I'm going to wash it out and try to do some twists. I'll have to sit under the dryer for it to dry in time before class. Blah I wish I didn't have a midterm today. Totally inturrupting my hair time! I'm going to get my boyfriend to get the few permed ends I have left tomorrow...especially the back. You can see some in the pic

Anyway here are a few of my pics...there will be more later and maybe even a video

Right before BC

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Right after BC

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Back view

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Permed ends

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Deep conditioner

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Curl Street Journal Post: BC eve lol

2010-06-22T19:56:00.001-05:00

This post is from my Curl Street Journal on the CurlyNikki.com forums

One more day until the BC! Yay! This time tomorrow I'll be an official natural diva. It took me forever to take my twists down last night (I think I finished somewhere around 3am) and then stayed up for no reason at all and the next thing I knew the sun was coming up lol. I took a nap till about 11, and got up to finish some work on my take home midterm that's due today. I also have another midterm tomorrow that I have to study for...that one is going to be BRUTAL! I have a lot of reading to catch up on, and I haven't even had time to wash my hair!

I might just wait until tomorrow and wet my hair as I go with the BC since I'm going to cowash and deep condition anyway...or maybe I'll do it after my study session tonight...probably not since I won't get out of class until after 9 tonight (ick!)

You know what...forget what i just said. I'm going to go ahead and do a quick cowash on my hair with the twists I put in as I was taking the kinky twists down last night (to keep the hair out of the way) and then sit under the dryer for a while since I've got a few hours before class tonight.

Bye Lovelies!

Curl Street Journal Post: Small Change of Plans! 3 days till the BC...

2010-06-20T14:17:00.003-05:00

This post is from my Curl Street Journal on the CurlyNikki.com forums

Well I planned on taking my twists down today after church, but my boyfriend wants to go to one of the growth track classes tonight at our church, so I'll be putting off the kinky twists uninstall until later tonight or more possibly tomorrow night after I get out of class. I might or might not wear my braid n curl style out on Tuesday before the BC Wednesday morning. It depends on how it turns out I guess (meaning if it's cute I'll wear it and if not I'll wear a headwrap lol).

That's about it. I hope everybody is enjoying their Sunday/Father's Day with the great Dads in their lives. More updates soon!

Curl Street Journal Post: Should I or Shouldn't I? 5 days till BC!

2010-06-18T09:45:00.004-05:00

This post is from my Curl Street Journal on the CurlyNikki.com forums

So I'm 5 days from the BC and of course before I can BC I have to take my twists out...which I'm DYING to do but if I do then I'll be a little stuck style wise for the next few days. Of course I can always use my trusty headwrap as a fallback, but I'm debating on whether or not I should try a few last "longer hair" styles.

I plan to take my twists out Saturday or Sunday and wash and deep condition and then leave my hair in some braids or twists (probably braids because they will hold better with the permed ends) with rods at the end. I brought a cute dress with me to wear to church this Sunday with some sandals if it doesn't rain (I hardly ever wear dresses lol). I'd hate to have a busted "do" and not much time to "fix" it though .

So what do you guys think? If I take the twists out tomorrow I can spend a good chunk of the day washing and conditioning it, but if I do it Sunday (late afternoon), I might only be able to take them down and then wash Monday night after I get out of class.

Help Ladies!

8 more days to go!

2010-06-15T15:26:00.005-05:00

Hello again! As you can see in my title, I have 8 more days till the BC. It's hard to believe that tomorrow it will be a week till...then before I know it I'll be snipping away!

I still have to make a trip over to walmart and buy myself some hair shears. I actually did a teeny chop a few days ago. I couldn't sleep one night (the night I washed my hair) and while playing around in my hair I found a twist that was about to slip out. I was going to just leave it alone, but I decided it might be best to just take the twist out so it didn't snag on something and pull that little patch of hair out (yikes!). Well after I did that, the scissors were sitting RIGHT THERE on the counter near the mirror so you know what I did...yup snip snip! Just that one spot though.

I played around with that little bit of hair (I'd say about 5 or 6 inches stretched) and event tried 2 strand twisting it (lol) but it wasn't a large section at all so that was kinda hard. I finally left it alone and was able to hop in the bed and catch some Z's with a big smile on my face. Now I keep finding that spot and playing with it lol.

I think I'll keep my trusty HEHH to BC with or I might get some cheapie suave and save the HEHH for the cowash afterwards. I'm going to grab the hooded dryer from my boyfriend's house this weekend when I go down there so that I can use it to dry my hair and twists that I put in after the BC (on low of course) so I can wear a twistout the first day. I think I'll buy an accessory or two when I make it to walmart.

Speaking of accessories, I ran across a crochet double flower that I made when I was in my "hat phase" this winter. I had put the flower on a small hair clip to attach it to the hat so I could move it around....so I grabbed it the other day and put it in my hair since I had on a brown shirt. It's chocolate brown, tan, and white. Cute I think. I might make a few more actually. Maybe that will be my signature thing. Anyway here's the pic...

I guess that's it for now. Gotta get ready for class and all that jazz. Bye lovelies!

Curl Street Journal Post: ACV Rinse + Wash = Happy Hair!

2010-06-09T23:50:00.003-05:00

Another post from my Curl Street Journal

Hey Ladies! I did a ACV rinse tonight on my hair, and then washed it. It felt soooooo good! After I put the rinse on my hair (I did it over the sink and had a big container to catch some of the rinse as it drained and then I took that and poured it over my head again to make sure I got all of my scalp well.) I squeezed out some of the water so it wouldn't drip as much and then put on a shower cap for about 20 or so minutes.

Then I got my big spray bottle and squeezed some HEHH in there and filled it up with water and shook it up to dilute it. Then I put a couple drops of tea tree and peppermint essential oils and got in the shower. I poured half of the mixture over my head and massaged my scalp with the pads of my fingers and then repeated before washing it out (and finishing my shower lol). Then I plopped my hair with a T-Shirt for about 5 minutes which got most of the water out. Last I sprayed some of my HEHH, water, olive oil, jojoba oil, aloe vera gel, tea tree/peppermint oil spritz in and massaged it in the scalp.

So now here I am with clean hair and a tingly cool scalp (I just love the smell of the peppermint EO). I'm going to let my hair air dry as long as I'm awake (which knowing me will be a few more hours) and then sleep in my satin bonnet and my hair should be dry by morning (I really don't like sleeping with wet hair, but I tried it another time and it worked out ok.

So that's it for now, night night Lovelies!

P.S. 13 more days till the BC

Curl Street Journal Post: Small update

2010-06-07T22:17:00.002-05:00

Posted on my Curl Street Journal

Hey ladies!
I'm still counting down the days till the BC. I have 16 left (might as well say 15 since it's 10pm already). I think I'll wash my hair tomorrow and do a ACV rinse. I was trying to wait until I had about 2 more weeks till the BC. I hope these twists hold up until then. They're looking a little raggedy to me (maybe I'm just being picky?). I finally got some more FOTE aloe vera gel the other day, but I still forgot to get another spray bottle (and I left my other spray bottle in Montgomery when I took my weekly trip to Birmingham this last week...oops!), so I haven't really done much of my spritzing these past few days. I think my hair was really missing the aloe vera gel, because the last spritz I made just had HEHH, water, EVOO, and some EO's in it and my scalp has still been itchy and really dry (can we say dandruff anyone? )

I wore my hair in pigtails today which I thought were kind of cute. I was bored with my hair Saturday and trying to figure out a style to try and I decided to oil my scalp. I put one side in a ponytail holder while I worked with the other side and thought that it looked kind of cute so that's how the pigtails started. Also it came in handy when I worked out with James (lifted some weights doing chest exercises) because it was out of the way and easy for me to lay my head down on the weight bench.

If I'm not too terribly lazy, I'm going to go by Dollar General tomorrow and see if I can find one of the microfiber head wraps that I saw on a youtube video. They were only $2 and might be a good investment so I could put one of those on after I wash my hair and not have it dripping everywhere. Also, if it speeds up the drying time that would be a plus.

In health related news, I've been doing really well with my water. I've finished it before bed (and some days way earlier) every day since I've started. I think it will be a week tomorrow. Something like that. I actually have about 1/4 of my bottle to finish for today because I didn't drink that much on the drive down here and wasn't in my apartment long before I had to rush off to my appointment with my thesis adviser and then class tonight.

I'm thinking about doing my thesis on perceptions of different skin tones (darker vs. lighter) in racial groups and the impact on them being seen as "hireable". The other idea is to basically do the same thing, but using hair styles (natural, curly, straight, weaves, etc) to see if those had an effect. I'm leaning more towards the skin tone thing though.

Well that's enough rambling for now. I'm off to finish my water :)

Bye lovelies!

Water, Water Everywhere!

2010-06-02T22:59:00.002-05:00

So I'm trying to change my eating habits slightly to be healthier right? I got one of those 64 oz water bottles and for the past 2 days I've been filling it up and trying to finish it before I go to sleep that night. Man that's a LOT of water! If I keep this up I should not be dehydrated at ALL.

I also bought a single serve blender cup thingy that I've been using to make smoothies in the morning. I found some yoplait smoothie things with frozen fruit and yogurt pieces that you just throw in the blender and add a little milk too for breakfast. I'm really bad about eating breakfast so me eating (or in this case I guess drinking) something is better than nothing. The first kind I tried was pretty good. Tasted kind of like strawberry ice cream. The one I have for tomorrow is mango, & pineapple or something like that.

Just wanted to do a quick update. About 20 days to go until the BC!

Bye lovelies!

BC Prep List!

2010-05-26T12:02:00.002-05:00

From Curl Street Journal

by Janet36603

I was thinking about all the things I would need for my BC and to style my hair afterwards so I thought I'd share!

Hair Shears - Probably the most important thing I'll need. I'll probably get a cheap/good pair from Walmart for about $6. I inquired about the prices of the shears in Sally's and I think the cheapest one they had was around $15 ...no thanks!
EARRINGS! - Second most important. I've never been much of a jewelry wearer (I went to Catholic school from 1st-12th grade and for the first 8 years we weren't allowed to wear much jewelry or have earrings that "dangled" so I never got into the habit) but I have my girly moods where I accessorize. Also there is a store in Birmingham that sells earrings, bracelets etc for a dollar each. The earrings in my avi came from there lol
Conditioners - I'm almost out of my beloved HEHH...but the PJ in me wants to try others too! (Aussie Moist, the Giovanni line, Suave, and VO5 to name a few). Also I need one to use when I actually do my BC so I can see where the permed ends are so that I can cut them without cutting too much of my natural hair
Headbands and other hair accessories - I've been wanting to do a frohawk so I'll need some hair clips or at least some bobby pins. Plus I want some more headbands because the ones I have now (skinny goody ones) give me a headache if I have my hair up too long. Not cute... I did see 2 on Luvnaturals.com that aren't too expensive...I'm talking under $10. I refuse to pay $20 for a headband lol. Accessories are the way to go with short hair to jazz it up!

Am I forgetting anything?

Finally done!

2010-05-25T00:20:00.002-05:00

Just finished my kinky twists. Last set before the BC. I'm super excited! I don't feel like curling the ends tonight and clipping them though, so I'll do that tomorrow.

My Monday and Wednesday night class seems like it's going to be less than fun. We have to take turns being a patient, therapist, observer and diagnose each other (we're supposed to make something up when we're the patient) and TAPE RECORD ourselves and then we have to LISTEN to the tapes and critique ourselves. Ick. I guess it will be good practice for the real world but it seems kind of dumb. Oh well, we'll see.

Pictures coming tomorrow!

Bye Lovelies!

Back to School

2010-05-24T09:05:00.002-05:00

I posted this on my Curl Street Journal...but it also applies here.

Re: Janet36603--Back to School

by Janet36603

So, my summer classes start again today after about 2 weeks of a break from the spring semester. I'm the opposite of excited but this gets me a step closer to that master's degree right? I'll have to keep telling myself that...

I'm still in Birmingham. I'll probably leave in another hour or so and I'll get to Montgomery by 11:30 or later depending on what time I leave here. I'm about 90% done with my hair. I just have the left half of the top to do. I've already parted it out into sections and have them separated but I'll probably work on it today before class and a little after depending on how much I get done. Thank goodness I discovered headwraps! They're a lifesaver on these days lol.

On another note, I found out today that they will be splitting up my summer financial aid (boo! ) so I'll get half sometime this week and the rest at the end of June. I guess I'll just go ahead and pay some bills with this half and worry about savings and whatnot with the other half. I also need to buy some tires for my car. The website I looked at said they would be about $200 for a set of 4. That's not as bad as I thought. James's tires from the same site were $400 but his car has bigger wheels than mine.

Then this Thursday I'll be making my way to Mobile so I can try to do my neice's hair (she wants kinky twists like mine) before she leaves with my youngest neice to visit my sister for 3 weeks in Texas. I remember when I used to spend the summer with my sister while she was in college. People used to think I was her daughter lol (we're 13 years apart). I hope the twists turn out well since this would be my first time doing them on someone else's hair...and she's a permie so I hope they don't slip out.

So what are you ladies doing on this Monday morning?

Kinky Twist Wash Day on Curl Street Journal

2010-05-22T13:02:00.006-05:00

Here's my post about my wash day after taking my Kinky Twists down the other day on my Curl Street Journal

Kinky Twist Wash Day

by Janet36603

Hello again ladies! I've just about completed my wash day post kinky twists and I'm sitting under the dryer to speed things along (on LOW of course lol). Below are a few pictures I took. I don't have a digital camera yet, so I usually just take pics with my phone. For some reason when I do this in my boyfriend's bathroom, it makes everything have a yellow tint so bear with me with the sub-par pictures lol.

I took out most of the twists yesterday but had a little section left that I finished this morning. As I took them out I gently finger combed and separated the hair that was in the twist. I learned the hard way that if I don't do thing I wind up with tons of knots and tangles.

So here's me this morning after all of the twists were out and I decided to pretend like I had a fro lol. (By the way I always tag my pictures)

Then I wet my hair in the sink (I did all of this while watching my boyfriend's son Chase by the way lol) and slathered on some conditioner. I'm running low on my beloved HEHH so I used Lustrasilk's shea butter cholesterol as my deep conditioner. I also ran out of shower caps so I used a grocery bag instead lol. I sat with it on my head for about 20 min under the dryer.

My hair loaded up with conditioner

Checking out some of the curly babies

Naked hair after washing out DC. This curly bunch caught my eye

Next came cowashing and detangling with my trusty HEHH (with a little water added because I had less than I thought). I braided my hair in 4 braids and chopped off about 2-3 inches since I didn't want the permed ends getting snagged too much as I detangled. I've been chopping off an inch or two here and there when I wash for the past few months. I used my shower comb first and then my modified denman brush (which I LOVE after I modified it and tried it with my detangle session last month post kinky twists) on each section

Then I hopped in the shower and rinsed and really quick while Chase ate his PJ&J sandwiches for lunch and watched cartoons. I moisturized/sealed with my homemade spritz with extra olive oil added to it and then hopped under the dryer so I would be able to start putting the twists in today.

So that's it lovelies! For the next 2 or so days I'll be breaking my back trying to put these twists back in. I forgot to mention that I did a ACV rinse on the marley braid hair yesterday and let it dry. It cuts down on itching a LOT!

The scissors are calling me! I'll try to resist as much as I can.

I started re-installing my twists yesterday and got the back section done. I'm working on the middle section today. I may not finish everything until tomorrow depending on how the day goes.

The Curl Street Journal

2010-05-20T14:19:00.002-05:00

Hello Lovelies!

I've started another blog of sorts to keep up with my hair journey over at the Curly Nikki Forums. It will mostly be short updates and I'll still be updating here. Probably lots of overlap.

Anyway here's the link: Janet36603's Curl Street Journal

I'm about to start taking my hair down soon. That will be sooo much fun...not!

Bye Lovelies!

New hairstyle!

2010-05-14T10:31:00.006-05:00

I'm back and I come bearing pictures! I was a little bored/creative Wednesday night before church service so I decided to try to jazz up my twists a little. Usually I only wear them up in sort of a puff, or down. Here's the result of kind of flat twisting them in the front:

Cute right? It should have taken 2 min (which the twisting did) but it took more like 10 because I couldn't get the dang bobby pin to hold my hair like I wanted. I eventually got it though. Next I may try to do a spiral/doughnut thing to put all of it up. We'll see how that goes!

On another note I did get my first curly compliment. A girl sitting behind me at church (a natural!) asked me how I get my twists to stay. I was a little sad to tell her it was weave lol. She had a cute twistout going on though and her hair was pretty short. Made me feel all cute and whatnot.

I should have taken a pic with my head down for a better view...oh well. Maybe next time. First pic is my fave. All the rest are kinda...blah. lol

I saw 2 of my 3 grades so far and I wound up getting a C in Statistics (boo!) and an A in Cognitive Neuroscience. I should have an A in Abnormal Psychology too so I guess that will make me still have an A average. Right now my GPA is a 3.5 without the last class (It was a 4.0 for a little while :( maybe I'll get it back there). Not sure if I'm going to retake the stats class later on down the line or not. C's do not look great on transcripts but maybe they will overlook it because of all my other A's lol. Plus I plan to take some time off (A year or so) after I get done with my Master's and work to get some experience under my belt. Then we'll see where I am and if/when I'll go back for my PhD.

That's about it lovelies. I'll catch ya on the flip side! (corny I know lol)

On the road again...

2010-05-10T10:52:00.002-05:00

I have to travel back to Montgomery today for my last final tonight. I haven't studied a drop to be honest. I was busy yesterday finishing up my paper on Narcolepsy (which I emailed to him this morning after I finished a few more paragraphs). I plan to leave in about 30 min or so. I'll only be taking my laptop with me since I'll be coming back to B-ham tomorrow. Then I'll be here for roughly 2 weeks (summer classes start the 24th). I plan on selling back my stats book, and buying books for my summer classes tonight before class. Shouldn't be hard since it's just 2 classes this summer. I guess I'll have to leave a little early so that they won't close before I get the change to run in there.

In hair news, I washed my twists the day before yesterday I believe. Boy did it feel GOOOOOOOD! I did a quick ACV rinse in the shower and massaged it into my scalp for a while while I actually showered. Then I took my diluted conditioner (a big squirt of HEHH and 6 drops of peppermint oil in a water bottle that was filled the rest of the way with water and a tiny bit of EVOO) and poured it all over and washed my roots really good and rinsed. The peppermint oil made my hair smell heavenly (and got rid of any vinegar scent that might have wanted to hang on). I can still smell it slightly if I run my fingers through my hair and then give my hands a whiff lol I thought it would have made my twists frizzy because of all the rubbing to wash them but it didn't. They did look a little flat before I went to bed but that was because they were still damp (they dried by morning though). I attempted to "plop" my hair to remove excess water from it but I did it a little wrong. I looked up the right way after I got done but it still served it's purpose to get a lot of the water out of my hair. I think I'll invest in a microfiber towel...or maybe when my hair gets longer.

Oh yeah, I just remembered that I need to buy some more hair for my last set of kinky twists before I leave tomorrow. I'm keeping these in until around the 20th and then I'll take them out and re-do so they will be somewhat fresh for class. Then the last month countdown will begin!

So that's about it lovelies. I'll write more if I think of anything else to say!

Fighting the urge

2010-05-05T13:36:00.002-05:00

So I was watching some Youtube videos late last night (after my presentation/class that got out at 9 and then studying at Andy's house for the final tonight for a few hours, and after a 45 min "Insanity" cardio workout...crawling to the shower and washing off all the dirt) about big chops and TWA's and I had the urge to grab the scissors and start cutting away. I had a lot of growth that I hadn't noticed before the last time I took my hair down and washed. I should have enough for at least a decent twistout once I BC (which I think will be my first style after I do it).

Obviously I didn't cut my hair though. Part of me is really curious to see what it will look like when I'm done and I'm really excited...a little tiny bit of me is nervous that I won't like it...but mostly I haven't cut it yet because I said I'd wait...I planned on waiting...and I really want to be able to count down the days till the BC! In about 2 more weeks (the 24th which is also the first day of summer classes) I will be one month away from my birthday...and about 29 (or so) days away from the big chop!

I'm trying to limit what I buy to try out so I don't wind up being a product junky (which I already am lol). I have a list (an actual list) of products I want to try. I've been trying to stay away from products with mineral oil, alcohol, cones (with the exception of my HEHH which has one), or sulfates in them. So far I've been doing pretty good. I do think I'll wash with a sulfate shampoo one more time before the BC to give myself a fresh start. I've been basically following the curly girl method, but I never did wash with a sulfate shampoo to start with. My hair has been really soft and moisturized while I've had them in the twists though. I think my spritz has been helping a lot with that, and maybe the aloe vera gel I use when I install them.

So lovelies, 2 more weeks and I'll be taking these twists down and installing my LAST SET before my big chop! I've even been thinking about how I'm going to go about doing the chop (will I film it, what time will I do it (probably early that morning), will I keep the twists in until then (I may take them out a few days before to do some twistouts or something and give the longer hair one last harrah), Should I cut it wet or dry (wet with a bunch of HEHH to see the textures better), should I let a professional do it (no!), etc)

Oh well. We'll just see. Bye for now lovelies!

Coming down to the wire

2010-05-04T16:39:00.002-05:00

I have a presentation tonight which I think I'm finally finished for...I had a little setback earlier on the concept map. I had everything done and just where I wanted and printed out a copy...and stupid me forgot to hit save. Next I was trying to export it to an image file so I could put it in my Powerpoint presentation and POOF! The whole program closed. Of course I had to start over with everything I'd done today (which took me about an hour the first time but less the second since I did have a copy printed out). It did not make me happy.

I plan on selling some of my books back tonight...except my DSM and my Stats book. I have a Stats test tomorrow so I'll need that tonight to study and the DSM...well I already have one (packed up somewhere) but I wrote in this one so...yeah that will be my "study" copy lol

I'll also have to buy books for summer class soon. Probably not today though because I also need to print out copies of my presentation/powerpoints to hand out and my printer is officially out of ink, so I'll have to do it at the school before class...or try to refill my ink thing and have black ink all over my fingers for the next few days...not fun!

I made a batch of shealoe last night. I turned out pretty good (I think). I left it for James to use since I can't right now. I used some rosemary oil, tea tree oil, and a couple drops of lemongrass to balance out the shea butter smell (which isn't as bad as lots of people claim it is...but James wasn't liking it too much. Of course I used olive oil and my aloe vera gel (which I'm starting to get low on)

I also have a paper to write before next monday...fun! More talk about Narcolepsy (which is the presentation tonight and slides I turned in in another class yesterday).

Well I think that's enough rambling

Rain Rain, Stay Stay!

2010-05-03T13:12:00.004-05:00

So I started off the morning being productive and working on my concept map for my presentation tomorrow after e-mailing my powerpoints for class tonight...and I saw on the website that there was a possibility that the school may cancel class because of severe weather (Flash Flood warning). The first warning was supposed to end at 11:15am so I waited around to see if they would cancel it...and it was extended to 7pm but they didn't say anything about class....

So i decided to stay in town anyway, and I e-mailed my professor for a copy of the study guide for the exam. Hopefully they'll cancel class anyway, but if not then I won't feel bad for missing it.

It would be even MORE awesome if classes were canceled tomorrow too so that I wouldn't have to do the presentation...but that would be too much. And besides, the teacher would probably just make us come next Tuesday and do them anyway. Oh well.

In other news, James got me some gorgeous flowers the other day...

Yeah I know, my boyfriend = the best and you're jealous...it's ok lol

This was the best picture I could get on my camera phone. It was a huge bouquet. I had to cut it down some to fit in the vase. They smell divine too!

Well, I'm off to find some lunch and maybe do a little more work on the concept map. Bye lovelies!

Mixology 101

2010-04-28T00:31:00.002-05:00

I studied and procrastinated for most of the day and went to take my exam tonight...not really wanting to do it and then something great happened...

One of the girls in the class convinced our professor to make the test "open notes" since it only counts for 20% of our grade (the project/presentation next week counts for 40%) and she went with it! I'm glad I made a study guide and brought it with me to class. I basically just copied from that and was done by 7 (class started around 6:30).

Then I went to Target to get a spanx knockoff to wear under my dresses that I got to...smooth things out a bit. I tried it on when I got home along with the dresses and everything looks good. They only had white in my size and I really wanted black...but no biggie. You can kinda see some lines in one of the dresses but it's really not bad.

So moving on to the title of my post, I went ahead and ordered some bottles from specialitybottle.com to put my shea butter and essential oil mixes in once i get them from James' apartment this weekend. I ordered 1 4 oz. and 1 8 oz. jar in clear, another set in amber, and one 8oz bottle with a pump in blue (all plastic) to play around with. I really can't wait to see what my hair likes and to make my own mixes after my BC. I'm itching to do it already. One of my twists in the back has a piece of hair that kind of slipped out and I love feeling it and playing with the puffy roots (plus it's really soft! Not sure if it's my spritz mix or the aloe vera gel I put on when twisting or both, but my hair has been very moisturized and soft lately. The ACV rinses may be helping too).

I also think I'm going to be a product junkie. I kind of already am. I'm always wanting to try new stuff to see how it will work (for example, herbal essences hello hydration conditioner, aloe vera gel, essential oils, and shea butter have all been purchased in the last 2 or 3 months). I can't wait to play in my TWA (teeny weenie afro) and I already have a list (yes a real list...and it's not short!) of products that I hear reviews about that I want to try out. I'm still on a search to find my staples.

I guess that's enough rambling for tonight. Off to sleepyland I go!

Bye lovelies!

Much to do...

2010-04-26T22:10:00.003-05:00

So I have an exam tomorrow. I'm still working on answering the study guide. Fail on my part.

I went to mobile for the weekend for my niece's confirmation and I just got back today. One of my tires had a slow leak so my dad had to go get it patched. I need to get some new tires when I get the money. Too many little problems with them lately.

Back to the school stuff. The week after this one I have a huge project/presentation due on a tuesday. I'll have to tackle that next. Also I'm supposed to submit the slides for the powerpoint that goes along with an 8-9 page paper that's due on the exam day (monday night class) both projects are on the same subject though (Narcolepsy). I printed out a bunch of info before class wednesday night so I need to read through it, highlight, and start making outlines and whatnot. I figured since I had to be so in depth with each of the projects that it would be smart (or lazy lol) to do them both on the same thing.

So projects, presentations, papers, and finals coming up. Ugh. I will be glad to have my 2 week break in between these classes ending and summer classes starting.

In hair news, I'm loving my twists, even though they are a little shorter than last time. I ordered some oils to play around with (hopefully the tea tree oil or peppermint will help with itching) and I also ordered some shea butter. All of it is in Birmingham right now, so I'll get to play with it this weekend. I'm going to make up some whipped butter and see how my hair likes it. I'm not sure how well it will work with the twists in. It's mostly for practice and if I don't like it I can always use it as lotion lol.

Oh yeah, while I was home my mom took me shopping for a dress to wear to 2 of James's friend's weddings this summer (he's a groomsman in one of them). I was just going to wear one and probably wear it to both so I grabbed a bunch to try on and of course she loved all of them (except one we both didn't like) so I wound up paying for one that used to be $100 and was on sale for $20 and she charged the other 4. Yes 4. I now have 5 dresses. I couldn't talk her out of it. I also had to promise that I would wear one to church this weekend with some sandals. You never stop having to do what mom tells you, no matter how old you get lol. I do need to invest in some Spanx to um...smooth things out a bit though.

That's enough rambling for now. I'm going to try to finish this study guide and get some rest.

Night lovelies!

Twists done again!

2010-04-22T02:36:00.004-05:00

I finished my twists a little while ago. I just had the top part to do today and of course I had to curl the ends and cut them. The twists wound up being a little shorter than I expected...but still good.

I like the yarn thing a lot better than the curly ends. It does take a little while though (not as long as the rods though)

Well I'd better go so I can get up in a few hours and drive. Fun! Bye lovelies!

Loose Hair Don't Care

2010-04-19T16:20:00.003-05:00

So I took my kinky twist out yesterday thinking that I was going to wash my hair in preparation for starting my reinstall today...

Well they did get taken down which took FOREVER because I had so much lint and dandruff built up in them. Plus a few in the back were sticky from where I overdid it with adding honey to my spritz...oops (On a side note, I found out that mixing honey and water has a natural lightening effect on the hair over time, so I might stay away from the honey!)

Right now my hair is in 6 plaits and under my black scarf. I need to wash my hair tonight when I get out of class so that I can actually start on my hair tomorrow. I don't have any class tomorrow night but I REALLY need to be working on my 2 projects that I have coming up, so I will spend a good bit of the day at least researching for that.

On another note, I think I have about 5 inches of new growth, based on how my dry hair looks and feels (new growth is puffier than the relaxed). I'm going to do a good detangle tonight when I wash (and going to give the modified Denman brush a try). It shouldn't be too hard since my hair was pretty well detangled while dry. I combed through it a bit and separated each twist hair clump...or whatever you want to call it with my fingers. I didn't go overboard though...I know combing dry hair can lead to major breakage so I mostly fingercombed.

I'm excited about my length though! I may take a pic if I remember tonight. I'll have more hair than I thought when I finally BC. 2 more months to go!

I hope I get done with these twists before I go to Mobile Thursday! I'll have to pop in a few movies and get it done. Oh yeah, I did a ACV rinse on the hair this time BEFORE putting it in and finished it off with a little conditioner. I hope that helps a lot with the itching, and the conditioner made it smell GOOOOD! I need to do a rinse on my hair as well to get rid of some of this build up. I'm trying to stay away from cones (except the one in Herbal Essences Hello Hydration so far) and sulfates but I'm playing around with the idea of washing with a sulfate shampoo one last time to get rid of all the build up. Maybe when I BC...or the day before or something. I don't want it to dry out my hair. Who knows.

That's enough rambling for now. Bye lovelies!

Another one?

2010-04-12T16:08:00.002-05:00

Is that another ticker up there?
Why yes it is, thank you for noticing!

Why do you have another one?
This one is to track my weight loss goals.

How much do you want to lose?
The first official, unofficial goal is 25lbs by my birthday, so about 2 months. Who knows if I'll make it!

Was it really necessary to make another one when you already have two?
I guess not...but this one is different.

Why do you keep making so many anyway?
They keep me motivated. Especially the one that counts down the days to the BC.

Motivated to do what?
Not to shave my head bald or forget the whole thing and get a perm since it's easier.

Are you going to make more tickers?
I'm not sure yet. I'm running out of room it seems...

Anything new going on with you today?
Well, on my way back to Montgomery, my tire blew out and after someone stopped to help me change it, I found out my spare was low on air, so they followed me about a mile down the road to the next exit and put some air in the tire.

Wow, are you OK?
Yeah I'm fine. I got back to Montgomery, called around and found a used tire place and had it replaced for $25 and it took less than 10 minutes when I got there.

Pretty exciting day huh?
Tell me about it. I hope class tonight is a lot less exciting...lol

Enough talking to myself. Gonna grab a snack and prepare for class tonight. Bye lovelies!

25 by 25?

2010-04-11T10:49:00.004-05:00

So I've been toying with the idea of dropping some much needed pounds. I set a goal I guess you could say to lose 25lbs by my birthday. I've already started eating healthier (lots of salads and fruits, and hardly any fast food) and exercising a bit. I need to weigh myself when I get back to Montgomery to see where I'm "starting" at. I guess We'll see.

I tried a ACV (apple cider vinegar) rinse on my hair about a week ago. I just used maybe 1 table spoon of ACV and about a cup or two of water. It cut down on the itching a lot. I will defiantly do a rinse on the hair BEFORE I put it in the next time, and I'll probably do one on my hair too just to start everything off fresh when I put the next set of twists in. I need to keep these in until the week of the 20th or so so that they will have been in for a month. Plus that will leave me about 2 months away from BCing. I guess that means two more sets of twists before I cut. I'm going to try to keep each of these next ones in for a month each.

Not too much more to talk about right now. I just wanted to pop on and do an update. Bye Lovelies!

P.S. I bought about 5 pairs of earrings at that store I'm always talking about. I would have looked longer but I didn't want to torture James and Chase for too long lol. I'll have to go back by myself one day.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T10:53:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone is having a great Easter Sunday! Not much going on with me. James and I went to Sam's club to get some stuff for the care package I'm sending my brother in Afghanistan...but they were closed for Easter...oops. I'll have to stop by Sam's tomorrow or some time when I get back to Montgomery.

James was serving communion at church so we wound up going to the 2 Friday and 2 Saturday night services. It was all the same message so we didn't go today.

I finally changed my Facebook picture to show off my 2nd set of kinky twists. This one was the least goofy I could make myself look.

Not too bad I guess. Well that's about it. I'll be back later when I have something else to talk about lol. Bye Lovelies!

Dirty Artists Shirts

2010-03-27T16:07:00.003-05:00

I was on nappturality.com as usual and saw an ad for a t-shirt company called Da Dirty Artist. I thought some of the shirts were pretty funny, but this one is my favorite.

(Click to visit the website)

I may need to get this one after I cut my hair. Lol Actually I think people wanting to touch my hair would be a compliment at first...then it would get pretty annoying. I don't get a whole lot of compliments on my hair anyway so I appreciate the ones that I do lol.

That's it for now. Bye Lovelies!

T-Minus 3 months and counting!

2010-03-23T20:51:00.003-05:00

3 months from today I'll be chopping away at this stuff on top of my head. It will be 6 months and 3 weeks since my last perm tomorrow. I swear time seems to be crawling now that I'm paying more attention to it. I think when I started counting I was at 2 or 3 months...

Oh well. Maybe this time will fly by after I get focused on other things. I have 2 exams coming up next week. Blah. Not fun. They're Tuesday and Wednesday. Even more not fun. At least I got a 97 on the one I took in my Monday night class :)

Still haven't gotten any jewelry stuff, but I plan to soon. I also need to wash clothes like crazy but I'll have to find the time when I have the quarters. Seems like I'm only here long enough to take a shower or two and then I'm back on the road.

It's ok though. I love spending time with my boys. Speaking of, we may all be going on a trip to the Zoo this weekend if the weather is nice. Let's hope it is.

Ok let me go get something to eat and relax some. I have a meeting tomorrow with someone who may be my thesis adviser. Awesome. Hope this one works out.

Bye lovelies!

New Layout and other happenings

2010-03-22T23:25:00.007-05:00

As you can see I updated the layout a bit. I'm happy with it for now. Of course I'll probably change it again sometime soon.

I curled the kinky twists the other day with yarn instead of the cold wave rods and clipped the ends. Here's the final results

I like the results but I have a section on the left that didn't curl all the way so I need to re-curl it when I get around to it. It's not super noticeable but I'm a little picky lol.

I bought a really good tutorial on making Peruvian thread earrings so I'm going to go to hobby lobby or somewhere like that soon and get some supplies. Below are some examples from e-bay. I may buy a couple because they seem pretty inexpensive on there, but I still want to make some lol

I'm super sleepy right now so I'm going to get to bed. Night Lovelies!

Kinky Twist install number 2

2010-03-19T18:23:00.003-05:00

I finished my kinky twists yesterday while James was taking a nap. I still haven't curled the ends though. I looked on youtube and saw how to curl them with yarn instead of perm rods so I think I may try that this go around. For the past 2 days I've just been wearing my hair in a bun to hide the ends.

They aren't the best pictures, but you get the idea lol. Plus you can see some of the ends poking out in the first picture. I'm going to try cleaning my scalp with Seabreeze because it's been super itchy. Next time I think I'll do a AVC rinse on the hair BEFORE I put it in my head... and I may do them longer that time. We'll see.

I'm sooo glad to be done. I think I did a better job this time than last time. I especially like the top section. I used a rattail comb to section that off (I made parts up and down instead of left to right for my whole head) but sectioned off the individual parts for the twists freehand. I think I'll use a comb to part the vertical sections of my whole head next time. Live and learn I guess.

I'm going to grab something to eat and then maybe watch some youtube videos. Bye Lovelies!

Kinky Twist re-install and other random tidbits...

2010-03-18T10:39:00.003-05:00

So let me start by saying that I have never "hated" my permed ends until this last wash. They got super knotted and I had to pull out clumps of them that were meshed together while it was wet...then after I braided my hair up for a braidout and undid it the next day, I found even MORE knots. I had to sit there and go over my whole head and work the knots out (for about 2 hours). I tried braiding my hair up one more time with a little leave in conditioner for a quick braidout later. I tried to do a braidout/ponytail/fake puff thing with my hair but it looked busted... On the bright side I did come up with this "tuck and go" style where I kind of twisted and tucked my hair around in a heart shape I guess. I wore it like that Monday night to James' small group for church. I would have taken a picture but he messed it up on the way home lol.

Small group was pretty fun though. I probably won't be able to go back for a while since they meet on Monday nights and I'm usually in class. Everyone was super nice. Basically we all talked and ate and then went over what the pastor talked about in the sermon from the day before (Sunday). They also passed around a prayer list in case you wanted to put something down for everyone to pray for throughout the week.

I started putting the kinky twists in on Monday or Tuesday night. I got the back section done (I separated it into 3 sections) that night. I did half of the middle section yesterday and also went up to UAB hospital on the floor where I used to work and visited with everyone. Pretty much the same old same old up there. I did find out that one of my favorite patients passed away about 2 months ago. I kind of had a feeling he had before I asked about him.

I kept getting headaches while doing my hair so I had to take a bunch of breaks. I'll probably try to at least finish this middle section today if I can. The twists look a lot better than they did last time. I'm making them in smaller sections so I think that helped. I still think I did a good job the last time for that to be my first time putting them in. I don't know how long I'll keep these in this time. I guess until they start looking raggedy again lol.

In other news, James had a job interview the other day where he would be doing pretty much the same thing he's doing now (IT helpdesk) but making more money. They offered him the job and he took it so he should be starting in 2 or 3 weeks or so. I hope he asks for 3 weeks instead of the customary 2 weeks notice for his old job so that he can have a week off with nothing to do and he can just relax!

On a final note, in preparation for my Big Chop and resulting TWA (Teeny Weeny Afro), I think that I'm going to get back into the habit of wearing earrings and whatnot. I know a store that sells really cheap ones (like a dollar for a pair of earrings and sometimes a matching necklace too) so I think I'll stock up there when I get a chance. I've also kicked around the idea of getting into jewelry making. I know, I know, another artsy hobby right? I figure it can't be too hard to make earrings though. Plus that will allow me to make some cute custom ones. Who knows, if I get good, I may even start selling them. All of that will come later though.

I'd better get a move on on my hair. Bye Lovelies!

Post Kinky Twists Wash Day

2010-03-13T16:07:00.005-06:00

Hello lovelies! I finished taking my Kinky twists out yesterday (I started the day before and could have finished that night but I decided to go to bed instead). I watched Avatar while I did it so judging by how much of the movie I watched, it took me a total of 2 hours to take them down. I wasn't in a rush really. I just was trying not to tangle my hair up too much as I removed them.

My hair was a little clumped together where each of the twists were so today I kind of went through and finger combed most of it out. I didn't want it to get all knotted at the root as I cowashed.

Anyway, in the last post I said I was going to try out a new conditioner and add honey to it to use as a deep conditioner. As you can see from the picture, I went with Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. It really does smell good! I put a lot on at first and really massaged my scalp to get all of the dirt up. Then I took some time and looked at my hair while it was curled up. I have a lot more new growth than I thought (about 3 or 4 inches or more in some places when stretched) and I loved seeing my curls spiral up because of the conditioner.

I was able to see the difference in textures so well in fact, that unless I find another conditioner that works better, I'll probably use this one on my hair when I do the BC (big chop). I'm glad there were no scissors around or else I may have started clipping away today! I told James about it and he told me to go ahead, but I said that I was going to wait until June so I'm going to try to stick it out. Besides, I already paid for the hair for the next set of kinky twists so I need to use it lol.

Anyway, after I got all the dirt up, and quit playing in my hair, I washed everything out and repeated the process. I had a lot more suds in the sink the second time I rinsed since my hair was cleaner. Then I put conditioner mixed with honey (about 80% conditioner and 20% honey) on my hair and put on a plastic cap. I still have it on right now in fact and I'm about to hop in the shower and rinse it out. This time I will put some conditioner on my hair (again) but not as much and I'll use it as a leave in. I'll also put a little olive oil on top to seal in the moisture. After that I'll braid my hair up and let it dry for a cute braidout (I hope) for the next few days before I put the twists back in). I wanted to give my hair a little time to breathe before I reinstalled them. When I do put the kinky twists back in, I'll use the aloe vera gel that's also in the picture.

So all and all, it's been a pretty good wash day. I can't wait until I BC so that I won't have to worry about my permed ends knotting together so easily. It gets really annoying and it's the reason why I've had major breakage. Another reason that makes me want to BC sooner...but I digress...

I may put a little aloe vera gel on my skin after my shower. I've still been itching in spots and I've had some red patches and whelps pop up every now and then. Can't wait till my skin is back to normal...ugh! Oh well. I'm about to go rinse my hair and take a shower. Then I think I'll watch a movie.

Bye lovelies! Enjoy your Saturday!

Kinky Twist Re-do

2010-03-11T15:37:00.002-06:00

So I've had these kinky twists in a few weeks now and I've been itching to take them down. I love the ease of not having to worry about my hair that much and giving it a break, but some of them look a little busted and are starting to slip out anyway (I came out while I was in mobile and I didn't even put it back in lol). I bought another pack of kinky twist hair before I left montgomery yesterday (still had a pack of black left and some leftovers from last time I put them in) so I'll be taking these down in the next few days. I decided to wait until now because I'm on spring break now and I'll have more time to mess around with my hair.

I plan on cowashing and deep conditioning my hair with either Herbal Essences Hello Hydration, Suave Naturals, Aussie Moist, or Vo5 Moisture Milks conditioner with honey. I want to try all of them because I've heard such good things about them and I'm still looking for my staple products. I guess I'll see how cheap I am when I get to the store. I also plan on using some aloe vera gel on my hair when I twist it. Last time I started out using the Oyin whipped pudding...but we all know what happened with those products...then I finished the rest of my hair with olive oil.

I watched a bunch of MahoganyCurls' youtube videos about TWA's and it almost makes me want to cut my hair NOW! I said I would wait though...and I have 3 more months to go. I miss seeing my hair though...and playing in it lol. I'm curious if I'll be able to tell how much growth I've had. Plus since this is the second time doing the kinky twists, I hope I'll be able to do a better job since I kind of know what I'm doing now. I just hope I like the outcome again, and I hope it holds up for a while.

I guess that's it for a while. Off to annoy James. Bye lovelies!

First planned BC date

2010-03-07T13:41:00.005-06:00

So I was thinking the other day that I need to take these kinky twists down and...well I wasn't sure yet. If I take them down and leave my hair out I know I'll be tempted to BC. I could always take them down and re-do them (which is the plan for now). I do miss seeing my curly babies though and being able to get my hands caught up in the new growth lol. I hope my hair has enjoyed the break and honestly I'm curious to see what it looks like when I take it down. I can't tell how much new growth I have since most of my twists weren't tight to the scalp. I do plan on doing a LONG deep condition when I take them down (I'm talking a few hours) and a really good wash.

I'm on spring break starting after I get out of class Wednesday night (yay!) so I'll have about a week and a half with absolutely nothing that I need to do or be working on (for the most part). Of course I'll be in Birmingham enjoying my break with James. His birthday is on the 15th.

But anyway, back to what I was talking about earlier (and the title of this post). I was thinking that when I take my twists down I'll probably be tempted to BC...which honestly isn't looking so bad the more I think about it. I'm still trying to put it off because I don't want to finally cut my hair and not like how it looks and then hide it under scarves or whatever. I hope I'll have a few more styling options once it gets longer. Also, it's still pretty cold outside (even though the weather is crazy and one day it it will be snowing and the next it will feel like 80 degrees outside lol) so I kind of want to wait until it's a little warmer...like the spring time...or summer...

And then that got me thinking...my birthday is in the summer (June 24th)...wouldn't it be something to do the BC for my b-day? So this is my plan for now. I'll BC *the day before* my birthday and start my 25th year of life off naturally. I'll hit 10 months of transitioning sometime in June so that should be a good amount of length.

So this is the plan lovelies. I'm off to make another ticker to put under my perm one to keep myself motivated. Bye for now!

P.S. Ticker made! I decided to make them both a little smaller so it wouldn't look so jumbled.

Is it time?

2010-03-02T19:37:00.002-06:00

So I've had these kinky twists in for a few weeks now. My head is itching like crazy so I've got to wash my hair soon. (Talking about it makes it itch more lol) I'm going to dilute some shampoo maybe tomorrow and put my hair in a bunch of pony tails and gently wash my scalp. I'll probably try to get as much water out as I can and then let it air dry. I hope it doesn't look too busted when I get done.

In other news, tomorrow will make 6 months since my last perm! Yay! I'm just mad that I didn't do it sooner. I never thought I'd be giving up the perms...let alone thinking about chopping my hair off. I'm torn between taking the kinky twists out and getting back to my loose hair, or leaving them in a bit longer, or even taking them out and putting fresh ones in. I know if I go back to the loose hair that I'll be temped to cut it all off. I'm not quite at the length I want yet but part of me wants to just be free!

I'm probably going to buy the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration and Totally Twisted conditioners and possibly the Aussie Moist one too...I've heard great things about them. I also want to try some kind of gel or something like that. I wish I had my routine down. One thing at a time I guess...

Ta ta for now lovelies!

Refund

2010-02-27T10:42:00.002-06:00

I forgot to mention, I contacted the Oyin people about my rash and asked if I could get a refund since they hadn't sent my order yet and they gave me one. I still hope I can use their conditioner. I love how well it detangles. I'm going to try some cheap conditioners next like suave and vo5 because I've heard they work well. I think I might try the Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner. But anyway, just wanted to update you guys.

Bye Lovelies!

Nothing new

2010-02-26T22:55:00.003-06:00

Not much new in hair news since I put the kinky twists in. I have a couple that need to be redone. Especially in the back. I'll get around to doing it one day I guess. I'm inching closer to 6 months though!

I'm in mobile now. I drove down here today for the weekend to see my brother before he gets deployed for 6 or 7 months. My sister is flying down tomorrow. I'm pooped. I need to take my tired butt to sleep soon.

I guess that's about it. Off to take a shower and then bed. Night!

Kinky Twists...DONE!

2010-02-18T13:58:00.006-06:00

I finally finished my first set of kinky twists. I just got done curling them with perm rods and hot water. I had one section that didn't curl all the way so I had to do it again. I just took two quick pictures but I didn't really like them...(Edit...I went ahead and put up both pictures...I look crazy all the time anyway lol)

Whenever I take pictures in James' bathroom, it makes the colors all weird...

And as usual I'm making a weird face...in both...

But anyway for a first attempt at kinky twists, I think they turned out pretty well. I used almost 2 packs (I guess one and a half total). One pack as 1B (black), and the other was 1B/30 I think (black/brown). I tried to match it to my highlights a little bit. Plus I think I look pretty nice with brown highlights lol. I'm going to try to leave these in as long as possible...probably a few weeks. Then we'll see what happens next :)

As I said above, I'm in Birmingham. I came down here instead of James and Chase coming to me to make things a little easier. So that's about it. I think I'm going to go put some mousse on my hair while I'm thinking about it.

Bye lovelies!

Kinky Twists...almost done!

2010-02-15T14:31:00.002-06:00

So I started putting in my kinky twists this weekend. I would have been done by now if I REALLY sat down and worked on them like I should have...but I took lots of breaks and enjoyed the weekend with James and Chase. I have a small section at the top of my head left to do. If I can ever get around to finishing my homework for class tonight (it's really easy which leaves me distracted easily) then I may try to finish up. If not I'll just throw my headwrap back on.

The twists came out pretty good so far. I have a few spots where I need to re-do them but it was a good learning experience and the next time should go a lot better :) I'll try to keep them in for a few weeks to curb my urge to cut my hair. I kinda feel it coming anyway though...maybe at the 6 month mark I'll go a head and do the big chop...who knows...we'll see.

On another note, I've been battling a really bad rash on the palms of my hands and it's been spreading to my arms and legs somewhat. It's small red spots that itch pretty bad...and if I scratch them it makes it worse. It's starting to not itch and burn so bad on my palms though. I think I may be allergic to the Oyin products (GASP!). My hair loves them but I don't think my skin does. It could be something else but the rash did pop up a few days after I switched from my old products to the Oyin stuff. After the rash goes away, I'm going to try the products again one by one to see which one(s) gives me the itchies. I'll have to figure something out because as I said in previous posts, I ordered a MASSIVE amount of Oyin products...:(

James took me to a masquerade art show for valentine's day. I had lots of fun and it was great to get out and do something different.

I think that's about it for now...I really have to finish my work and get something to eat (STARVING!!!). Bye Lovelies!

Teeny Tiny chop...

2010-02-10T11:11:00.003-06:00

So I got a little bored last night and was playing in my hair (as usual) and I found a few coiled springy curls that I wanted to look at in the mirror. The left part of my hair at the nape has gotten pretty short so there's a piece that's coiled up and I think most of the permed ends have broken off so it's mostly natural on its own. I always find it and play with it.

I found a few more curls closer to the front of my hair to play with and I decided to wet one and clip the permed end off to see what it would look like. I thought it was further away from the hairline but after I braided up my hair for my braidout today it seemed like it was RIGHT on the front of my hairline...oh well. It's possible that that hair is just some that was really short on its own and not what I cut. I'm trying to stop imagining my head with hundreds of these tiny springs all over...because it makes me tempted to just snip away (I even thought about going to Sally's today and getting some shears).

Instead I think I'm going to go buy the hair for the kinky twists and try to put them in over the weekend. Hopefully they will turn out cute. Plus it will give my hair a chance to rest, AND keep me from using up ALL of my Oyin samples before the big bottles get here (I still have 2 weeks to wait because the owners were snowed in for a few days...so everybody's order got pushed back a few days).

I did love playing with my springy babies though. I tried to take pictures but they didn't turn out that great. I put some product on the curls to see how they would react and separated them and then saw if I could put them back together with a little twist....

STEP AWAY FROM THE SCISSORS JANET!

In other news, I have a Statistics test tonight (blah!). I might go ahead and go to Birmingham tonight if I can get my stuff together. As I'm writing this, I need to be making a trip to the bank so that I can get some quarters to wash with. You know me though...even if I get the quarters, I probably won't wash today. I definitely will next week though since I'll have a little more time here. James and Chase are supposed to be coming to visit :)

James has something planned for Valentine's Day but I don't know what it is. I just know I have to dress formally so I have to get some new shoes. I think I'm the only woman in the world that HATES shoe shopping. I have big feet (size 11 WIDE) so it's hard to find shoes that fit me well. I did find a perfect pair yesterday...for $89....blah! And that was their sale price lol. I think I should just go ahead and get them. I need more grown up clothes anyway...and a new pair of sneakers lol

I think that's about it for now. I need to go get some breakfast (brunch at this point?) and decide what I'm going to do with myself today before class and prepare if I'm going to leave tonight.

Bye Lovelies!

Tick Tick Ticking away!

2010-02-09T10:08:00.003-06:00

Sometimes when I get discouraged or frustrated with how my hair is behaving I just look at the ticker at the top of my blog that shows me how long I've been perm free. Sometimes that keeps me going because I'm proud of how long it's been (coming up on 6 months at this point!).

I'm not sure what I'm going to do further down the line (go ahead and get the Sisterlocks, do a Big Chop, transition longer, rock a TWA) but I'm sure I won't be going back to the perms. In fact I haven't even been tempted to. It's just not an option for me anymore. What HAS been tempting me is feeling all of these lovely curly babies in my hair and wanting to snip away the permed ends so that I can see and play with them.

Well I'd better get to some studying. I have a test tonight and a meeting at 4 with one of the professors that I might be working on my Master's Thesis with.

Bye Lovelies!

Another Oyin Order

2010-02-07T17:42:00.005-06:00

So I gave in and placed my second order to Oyin. I think this one should hold me for a while. I hate that you have to wait 2 weeks though. I definitely will be ordering before I run out. Here's what I ordered for anyone interested:

1 honey-hemp conditioner
* size - 32oz

1 shine & define - gentle styling serum
* size - 8oz

1 whipped pudding - rich, shea-based cream
* size - 8oz

1 burnt sugar - hair pomade
* size - 4oz

1 greg juice - nourishing herbal leave-in

I will be a kid on Christmas when this order comes. The burnt sugar hair pomade I haven't used before, but it seems promising and I've heard it's really good for braids and twists. After I've played in my hair for a few more weeks, I think I'll go ahead and put those kinky twists in. Maybe this will curb my itch to cut it. On that note, I was amazed at how easy it was for my to trim my ends yesterday...seeing as I HATE getting my hair cut...even though my hair dresser used to cut maybe an inch or two ever 3 or 4 months. To me it was like he was hacking off 5 inches lol. I'm sure I didn't cut it evenly at all. I just held the braids I had in while I was washing and snip snip snip. I tried to cut them at about the same length in all 8 braids...but who knows. It's just the permed hair anyway. If my new growth was longer, I'd probably just hack it off anyway...

But I digress. I bought some stretchy headbands and some banana clips at Walmart today. I want to see if I can turn this braidout into a puff tomorrow (since I ended up flattening some of it sleeping). I may experiment tonight just to see how it will turn out. If it's not good though I'll just throw on my scarf.

I'm still in Birmingham too. I decided to stay until tomorrow morning since I don't have class tomorrow night (just a study session over at Andy's at 6 or 7 I think). I'll be staying until Monday next weekend too since Valentine's Day is Sunday. My Wii was my present, and I got James a 25 inch monitor for the new computer he built. That thing is HUGE! It's almost twice the size of his old one. We can watch movies on it from the bed and not have to squint lol. I think next weekend will be pretty laid back though. Maybe just renting some movies and cooking something good. You know...snuggling and whatnot.

Well I guess that's it. I'm going to surf the internet while James cooks some delicious steaks for dinner. Yeah I know you're jealous lol.

Bye lovelies!

Braidout results and Oyin Review

2010-02-06T16:45:00.006-06:00

So this is what my braidout looked like after I took the rollers out. Not bad, but I think it looks better in person. My camera was doing something funky with the colors though. Not sure what was up with that. And no I'm not wearing lipstick lol

My hair still feels pretty soft. The only thing I have in it right now is the Shine and Define serum and a little of the Greg Juice. I've already looked online to see how much it will be to order some more stuff...If I order big containers of the Whipped Pudding (8 0z.), Honey Hemp conditioner (32 oz.), Shine and Define (8 oz.) and bottle of Greg's Juice (8 oz.) it will come up to be about $78 before shipping. That's a bit much, but I do have a 5 or 10% off coupon from joining the mailing list...oh yea this is before shipping too...ouch lol. It's totally worth it though.

On to the review: (pictures taken from Oyinhandmade.com)

First up was the Grand Poo Bar Succulent Solid Shampoo. I cut off a small piece of this to lather in my hands as the directions stated...think steak fry size lol. I wasn't very impressed with this shampoo unfortunately. It was a little hard to use first of all. I had it in my hands and sat there rubbing them together trying to get a lather going but there really wasn't one. Next I tried rubbing the piece I had in my already wet hair...still a no go. Next I tried putting the piece of soap in some warm water in my spray bottle (I microwaved the water for about 20 seconds so it was warm but not super hot) to see if I could shake it up and kind of melt it some...it did lather up a bit more in the bottle and I tried spraying it on my hair and massaging it in, but my spray bottle trigger was sticking and making me frustrated so I just wound up dumping my concoction over my hair and trying to massage it in. The piece that I put in the bottle didn't shrink much so I took it out and kept it. I'm going to look on NP and see if some of the ladies there have some suggestions for how to use it easier...if I can't figure out a way by my next wash, I'll probably skip ordering another bar when I place my next order...no worries though!

Next was the 4 piece sample pack of course, which included Whipped Pudding, Shine and Define hair Serum, Greg's Juice, and Honey Hemp Conditioner.

First off, let me say how much I LOVE the smell of the Whipped Pudding. It's to DIE for. I put some on my face yesterday after my shower to moisturize it (and mostly because it smelled so good I just had to use it for SOMETHING right away!) and it left my face smelling really soft and of course smelling great. James walked past the bathroom yesterday when I was trying a little in my hair and did a double take because it smelled so good (always a good sign lol). It made my hair feel pretty soft yesterday too. I put a little on my hair as a deep conditioner after I put the Honey Hemp conditioner on and wore a showercap for a while while I cleaned out the tub and gave Chase a bath.

As I said, I put the Honey Hemp conditioner on my hair and whipped pudding as a deep conditioner. The Honey Hemp smells really good too. Kind of lemony and fresh smelling. Plus it detangles like nobody's business. I didn't want to use a whole lot since I have small sample bottles and it takes 2 weeks to get your stuff (gotta make that little bottle STRETCH!) but the little bit I did use made my hair feel soft instantly. I also clipped my ends while my hair was braided up (I attempted to wash my hair in braids but took them out after I put the conditioner in to detangle my hair).

I washed everything out in the shower (at this point my hair was feeling awesomely soft) and after I got out I put some Shine and Define all through my hair. For some reason I was expecting this stuff to be clear, bit it's a light yellow color. It smells like some delicious lemon sherbet or something. I braided my hair up and put end wraps on and wrapped the braid loosely about 2/3 of the way up. Then I sprayed a good amount of Greg Juice on my hair. This also smells good...like lemonade with berries in it. I have no idea why everything smells like lemons to me but it's all good :)

I was short on time so I had to sit under the dryer for 15-20 min (on low) but some braids were still a bit damp so I got back under there for 5-10 min on high. When I took the braids out some felt slightly damp but not enough for them to be limp and they still held their waves pretty well.

All and all I'm sold. It might be a bit expensive, and it may take a while to get it but like everybody who's used it says...it's WORTH it! That's why I'll be ordering the BIG bottles next time so I won't run out. I'm curious to try some of the other products like the different scented "juices" (Frank Juice and Juices and Berries are just like Greg Juice but they smell different) or the burnt sugar pomade.

So that's it for my hair today. Hopefully it holds up pretty well with me sleeping on it enough to wear it a few more days. If I can figure out to turn it into a puff after it's busted in a few days, I may try that too.

Another Braidout

2010-02-06T13:29:00.005-06:00

I washed my hair today and used some of the Oyin products I bought. I bought a 2 sample packs (one for my niece who is natural) which included Honey Hemp conditioner, Greg Juice, Shine and Define and Whipped pudding (which smells like CHOCOLATE CAKE! OMG!). I also bought a bar of the Grand Poo Bar Succulent Solid Shampoo for myself. Not enough time to do a review on the products right now, but I think I'll be an Oyin honey lol. I was tempted to hop online and place my second order already. I'm waiting to see how my hair turns out though. After I washed it, I put some shine and define in it and a little Greg juice while I braided it and rolled the ends with end papers around my pink rods. I'm short on time so I sat under the dryer for about 15-20 min on low. I'm really trying not to use heat but...oh well. I still feel a few braids that feel a bit damp so I might hop back under there for another 10 min. or so.

James' sister's baby shower is today at 3. I made some Oreo Truffles for it yesterday. I just have to put them in the carrying tray that I'm going to use. I think I'll leave that to the last minute.

Well I have to run. There's a sink full of dishes that's calling my name...awesomeness lol.

Later Lovelies!

5 whole months!

2010-02-03T10:59:00.003-06:00

5 months since my last perm! I think the last time I got one was around labor day weekend...that was also the weekend someone broke into my apartment and stole my brand new TV :(

But no worries, I have RENTERS INSURANCE now and I'm more conscious about safety and whatnot.

Back to the hair...I think I might try something new with my hair. I plan on going to Sally's today and I think I'm going to get the shears to give myself a nice trim, and also get some hair to try to do my own kinky twists. Now you guys know I can NOT do hair very well...but it seems easy enough and I think my hair needs a break. I've been trying to give it one by wearing head wraps but...maybe this will work out better. I'm not sure how long they will take to put in...I guess it depends on how small I decide to make them. I should have a lot of time on my hands this weekend so I'm going to try to power through!

I think it's about time for a wash and retwist of James' hair too so I'll probably do that while I'm in Bham. James' sister is having a baby shower Saturday. I totally forgot that I'm supposed to be making some oreo truffles for it until just now...doh! I guess I should go to the store and get the stuff so that I can start making them today...blah...I don't wanna! Guess I have to go to the dreaded Walmart after all...

Oh yeah! I got an e-mail yesterday saying that my Oyin shipment is on the way. I think it should get to James's house tomorrow...I think I'll put those kinky twists on hold so I can play with this stuff...SO excited!

I guess I'm off to...walmart. I wonder if they have good hair shears there...hmm...the website has a few.

Bye lovelies!

Almost 5 months!

2010-02-01T12:12:00.002-06:00

So as of today my ticker says that I've been perm free for 4 months, 4 weeks and 1 day...awesomeness! True enough I've only been on the natural train for about maybe 3 or 3 of those months...but progress is progress right?

I'm still having a love/hate relationship with my hair right now...loving the new growth (and my spiral, springy coils!) but hating trying to manage the two textures. I decided to give my hair a bit of a break for about a week or so...or ever since I got my head wraps. I've been rocking those for the past few days. That way my hair won't get messed around in too much. I did deep condition and wash the other day though (Saturday I believe). I forgot to bring a shower cap to put on my head to let the conditioner sit though, so I just basically let it hang out on my head for a while while i cleaned the tub out to give Chase a bath and then washed it when I got in the shower.

I didn't detangle this time, just because I was curious of what would happen. I can't say it's too bad, because I haven't been attempting to style it lol. I have been getting a few odd looks with my headwrap on (or maybe I'm just being paranoid?) but it's ok. Sometimes I forget I even have it on, and I like that.

In other news, I spent the weekend with James and Chase of course. I also took Chase to get a haircut Saturday. I went to this place by UAB where a guy friend of mine used to go (I didn't really know of many others). One guy there cut a few kids hair that were moving and squirming all over the place, and still did a really good job so I got him to cut Chase's hair. He was amazed at how still he sat while he was cutting it lol.

James bought me a Wii, which I told him is my early Valentine's Day present. I bought another controller and nunchuck for it, and the new Mario game. It's a bit challenging (mostly because I make stupid mistakes) but it's fun. I'll probably play some more after I get done on the computer lol. James came to Montgomery with me after we dropped off Chase on Sunday and spent the night. He just left about 30 min or so ago, and he has to go straight to work. I wouldn't mind taking a nap before class but I think I need to stop being a lazy butt and stay up at least. We'll see. I guess.

James and I had a super date day yesterday and he bought some new shoes (boots). I looked for some but I'm too picky about my shoes so I couldn't find any I liked. I'll have to go another day when I have more time because they were having a really good sale. I think I'll step outside of my comfort box and buy some black sneakers this time lol. James did get me to try on some boots like his, which actually looked pretty cute on me but they were mostly brown...and I wouldn't get as much practical use out of them as he would. We also went to Chili's for lunch and came back to my place for a great nap...then went to Carrabbas for dinner. Then this morning we went to IHOP for breakfast. We usually don't eat out this much, but it was a good treat.

In other hair news, I think I might buy some good hair shears and start trimming my ends. Maybe an inch or so here and there. Who knows, maybe I'll get brave (or foolish) and do the big chop unexpectedly. I almost don't want to buy them because I think it would motivate me to got ahead and cut my hair when I don't really want to yet. Also I want to get a Denman brush that everyone has been raving about. Apparently it's THE brush to detangle with. I'm not so sure if it would detangle my hair or just rip out the permed ends...

I'm also still waiting on my Oyin order...should be sometime this week though. Man it's painful to have to wait on something this long. I hope I like the products though. Everyone says they're worth the wait. I wish I could forget about them and be surprised when they get here lol.

I guess that's it for now...more when I get around to it!

Bye lovelies!

Scarf/Headwrap take 2

2010-01-28T01:26:00.011-06:00

So this is the headwrap I wore to class tonight. It looks blue/purple but it's actually black. I got it at TJ Maxx today. I also got a pretty black and purple one from Walmart. I felt a little lame since it was from the Miley Cyrus line...but it's cute. Plus Lacy said she had the same one (lol) so maybe we'll both wear them the same night so we can match.

<~~Another goofy smile lol

I threw on some earrings to make it look like I was trying at least a little bit. These were the only ones I could find quickly that went with it though.

On a whim I did one of the 10 minute cardio workouts from the biggest looser DVD's my sister got me for Christmas. Man am I out of shape! I had to slow down a little bit here and there but I got through it, so that's something right? I wanted to try it again tonight but my stomach keeps hurting (note to self...no more McDonalds for dinner!)

In other hair news, I still can't keep my hands out of my hair. I think I feel coils, but I can't tell for sure because the ones I find coiled together are towards the crown/back of my head and it's hard to get my head to an angle in the mirror to see them. I was able to peek at a few tonight though and it LOOKS like coils to me. Doesn't sound like a big deal, but I'm excited. It makes me want to BC (Big Chop) just so I can see if I'd have them all over my head. I guess I'll see how things go after I wash my hair (didn't do it tonight). I think I'll deep condition and just let it air dry and see how my babies are doing. I did notice a spot on the left side of my nape that seems to have broken off I guess because it's really short. I really don't feel any permed hair at all there. I've always had problems with my nape breaking off. Usually from the headwrap rubbing up against it or it poking out from under the headwrap and rubbing on the pillow. Maybe I need to invest in a satin pillowcase.

Well I guess that's it for now. More when I get around to it.

Bye Lovelies!

Updates

2010-01-26T23:26:00.002-06:00

Well, first off I just want to say that I LOVE my hair. I took off the hat that I wore to class tonight (curls from this weekend were done and the scarf I bought to use as a head wrap didn't turn out how I wanted it to) and ran my fingers through my hair...and now I can't stop! I've just been running my fingers in my hair and feeling my new growth and all of my springy, coily, curl babies. Love love LOVE it. I've literally been here for at least the past 2 hours while I've been on the computer with my hands in my hair ever few minutes.

I think the deep conditioner I used with shea butter helped to define the curls more. I did notice that my hair was looking extra curly with the conditioner in while I let it sit under a shower cap, but I thought it just normally looked like that and I hadn't been paying attention. I think I'll cowash tomorrow morning before class. I wanted to do it tonight but I didn't want to go to sleep with damp hair. I'm not sure about a style though...I may just let my hair air dry this time. I guess I'll have to come up with something since I have class tomorrow night. Maybe I'll go to Walmart or TJ Maxx and see if they have any cute, cheap scarves (longer ones).

I had to cut a couple of stray strings off of the scarf that I was experimenting with before class and I have to say the thought of big chopping crossed my mind. Of course I wouldn't do it with regular scissors. I'd go get some nice shears from Sally's just for the occasion (and so that I wouldn't damage my ends). I even played around with my hair and pulled it back to imagine what I'd look like with about 2 inches of hair...hmm nope still don't think it would be cute yet lol. I am thinking about at least doing a trim. One woman on Youtube said she cut a little tiny section that she could hide in her hair just to see what her natural hair looked like. I thought about that too but when I suggested it to James he didn't think it was a good idea. All or nothing I guess lol. Plus if I do get sisterlocks, I don't want there to be a weird 2 inch section just randomly in the middle of my head.

Ok enough babble about my hair. In some other sadder news, I found out that the professor that got taken away in the ambulance yesterday passed away. He was 64. I didn't know him well at all but he seemed like a nice guy. He apparently ran 2 miles every day. I couldn't run 2 miles if there was a guy behind me with a gun! He went pretty peacefully though. I guess that's the best any of us could hope for.

Well I guess that's it for tonight. I think I'll play some video games on the computer and then call it a night.

Night Lovelies!

Hair, Hair, Go Away?

2010-01-26T14:46:00.002-06:00

Strange title right? Well I've been looking around and doing my hair research (which consists of mostly looking at the Nappturality forums for hours on end every day, and some time looking at hair videos on Youtube) and the more I look, the more I'm torn about what to do with my hair.

When I made the decision to go natural, I had no intention of doing the "Big Chop" or cutting off all of my permed hair. Actually what finally won me over about going natural and wanting locs was the fact that you could start Sisterlocks with permed hair. All I needed was an inch of new growth (which I had about 1/2 an inch or so of when I finally committed to going natural). If I had the money when I decided to go natural, I would have booked my consultation appointment the next week if I could. Since I had to wait until I got the money for it (part of my financial aid money...which has now been pushed back to using part of my tax refund). Now I have the money at hand so to speak...but I still want to wait a while. I want to experiment with the Oyin Homemade products that I ordered (I think I still have a week to wait on them to get to me...grr!) and get better at styling my hair.

I will admit that dealing with the two textures is not easy. I love washing my hair and not having to run from the rain like I'm going to melt. My hair actually seems to love water. During my last wash this past weekend my hair was so curly and beautiful when I put in my deep conditioner that it made me smile. I'm afraid that I'm doing more harm than good when it comes to my permed ends though. Whenever I wash and detangle, no matter how carefully, I still see (what seems like a lot to me) permed ends shedding in the comb. Now I know, some shedding is normal, but I feel like before long I won't have to worry about my permed ends too much longer because they will be all broken off. Unlike others who are transitioning, I don't "hate" my permed ends. I'm not in a hurry to hack them off so that I can be "natural". I am having a hard time deciding if I want to go ahead with the Sisterlocks ASAP so that I can hopefully retain the length that I have (and yes I know I have to chop the permed hair as my hair grows eventually) and have less upkeep as far as my hair goes or maybe even do the big chop and go from there.

Yes the big chop bug has bitten me. I think it's all of the Youtube videos I watched about the subject. I still have the mentality that even though it looks beautiful on all of the ladies that I've seen that have taken the plunge, that if I do it it will look...weird and let's face it...not cute at all. I just don't think I can "pull it off" so to speak. Another part of me wants to be bold and just go for it. I have a good amount of new growth, so I won't be totally bald. Plus there are some styles that I'd love to try on my own hair that I can't pull off with the two textures (two strand twists, braidouts, puffs, flat twists). Then again, I'd be scared to do my own big chop. I'd probably want to go let a professional do it, but I don't want to go to someone new and I don't want to go back to my old stylist...I dunno I guess I don't want to be judged. I have a feeling he'd probably roll his eyes and tell me what a dumb idea it is, but do it anyway...and he might cut it shorter than I want....

So basically I'm torn. To big chop or not to chop. I'm not sure yet. I have seen how cute it looks to wear a scarf on your head though...and it's really simple. I bought a black one and I'll probably look for more if I like the way that one turns out. It's even easier than my doughnut bun for those days when my hair looks a HOT mess. And plus it will protect my hair while I figure out what the heck I'm going to do with it...maybe I need to make more hats lol. I'm not sure. I talked to James about it a few times, and he basically has told me to do whatever I want but to make a decision and stick with it. Hmm...if only it were that easy.

Well in other news, my class last night was canceled because of a medical emergency for one of the professors at my school (not one that I have class for). When I got on campus last night, they were wheeling him out on a stretcher into an ambulance. I haven't heard any new news today but I hope he'll be ok.

Also, James was really sick over the weekend so I wound up staying until Monday to make sure that he was ok. He was a lot better by the time I left. He doesn't get sick often, but when he does it's usually pretty bad...like almost go to the emergency room bad.

Well I guess that's it for now. I'm going to grab a snack and then look at more hair related things that will make me probably want to grab some scissors and snip snip snip...lol

Bye Lovelies!

Moving on...

2010-01-18T20:34:00.013-06:00

So I finally got my money as I said in the last post. The first thing I did was hop online to pay some bills. I have everything paid off except rent (haven't gone to the bank to get the money order yet) and my speeding ticket (I was a day late with paying it since I didn't have the money so I have to mail a money order for that too). I paid a little extra on my credit card bill, power bill, and cable in order to stay ahead of the curve. This way I can keep paying what I should have been paying but still be at least a month ahead if I can't pay them for whatever reason.

James and Chase came and I had a blast with them. We all went shopping and I got a few shirts at old navy (half off of clearance...so I probably spent $10 max on 4 shirts) and bought James 2 pair of pants (he's so tall, old navy is the only place I've been able to find pants that fit him off the rack...and a 36 36 is still a little difficult to find even in there lol). Chase also got an outfit and a new pair of Spiderman shoes that light up...and a Spiderman watch that he wound up leaving here. Oh well, I'll take it to him next weekend. I also bought another TV, and a stand. I use some metal cable to secure it to the stand so that if someone wants to steal it, it will at least slow them down or they'll get mad and just break the TV lol

I have groceries and lots of juice and snacks from Sam's Club. I also was able to place my order with Oyin. I would have done it earlier but when I got ready to, I saw that they were having the sample pack sale so I decided to wait. I should get it in about 2 weeks it said. I also ordered a sample pack for Tina, my niece and I ordered myself a bar of the grand poo bar solid shampoo to try. I'm excited!

In other hair news, I bought a pack of the Curlformers and did my hair with them thursday. It turned out really cute that day, and the next day was ok (the right side was cute but the left side had fallen so it wasn't as cute). It was raining the second day so I just threw on a hat and had some curly bangs hanging out. Very cute :)

<~~Curly Goodness (ignore my goofy smile)

I watched some YouTube videos from nriccaboni for a big part of the day. She has Sisterlocks with permed ends and she really gave a good perspective and review of the stuff that you don't expect when you first get them. Everyone thinks that they will love them as soon as they get them, but you really may not. You just have to get through that phase to get to the beautiful locks that you see others have. I can't wait to get mine installed. I think I'll use some of the money from my tax return to pay for it. I want to get them ASAP but I also want to have some time to play around with my hair with the new Oyin products that I ordered.

I spent a good bit of the day with my friend Lacy today. We just hung out at her apartment and chatted about stuff and messed around with her cats. I took a benadryll before going over there so I wouldn't be sneezing every two seconds because of the cats. I didn't sneeze, but it did make me a bit drowsy. I guess I'll just have a great night's sleep tonight lol.

I guess that's it for now. More when I get around to it.

Bye lovelies!

FINALLY! (now I can stop whining!)

2010-01-14T11:38:00.002-06:00

So I finally got my deposit in my account (yay!) and I've been paying off bills online like a mad woman. I'm sure my debit card is ready to cry from the abuse...but I'm going to go to walmart in a little while so there's more pain to come for it lol.

I got my books last night. They cost $488 (but somehow changed to $444 when they were paid for by the GI dependents thing that I have). I had to get a DSM-IV-TR (which is like the therapist's bible for those who don't know) for one of my classes. I already had one but I figured I'd let the government buy me another lol. Plus we don't have class monday or tuesday for the MLK holiday (yeah I'm a little weirded out by the tuesday thing) which means that I just have class wednesday of next week.

In hair news, I did an olive oil treatment on my hair. I put some olive oil in one of my spray bottles and went to town on my hair. Then I put on 2 shower caps, and my satin cap to sleep in. I also put a towel over my pillow so I wouldn't mess up the pillowcase. My plan was to get up and wash my hair and let it air dry. Now since I have monies, I'm going to go to Sally's and buy the curl formers I SHOULD have gotten for x-mas lol. I'll just wear a hat and nobody will know I have a baggie on my head. I also need to think about making the appointment for my consultation for my sisterlocks. I may wait a little bit, since I have the cash now.

I also need to do some cleaning in preparation for James and Chase's arrival. James is saying he's going to try to be on the road by 4, which would put them here at around 5:30. So, I guess I'd better get dressed so that I can go to sally's, then go to wally world and hopefully not get too pissed off (the one by my house SUCKS!). I may post a picture of my curlformers outcome tomorrow.

Bye lovelies!

P.S. I was just about to put in my order at Oyin when I saw that there was going to be a 10% discount on sample packs this weekend. Since I'm ordering one for myself and another for my neice, I'll wait and ALSO use one of the coupon codes that I have :)

a little progress...

2010-01-13T14:43:00.002-06:00

So maybe the people who dispurse financial aid money read my blog (lol) because even though I had checked my student account about 3 times the day I last posted, after I put up the post and I checked again, the money was FINALLY on my account. Not in my bank account yet...but at least it showed that it was on the way (I guess). The lady in the financial aid department told me it would take up to 3 business days for me to have the money in my checking account. (I also double checked with them that they had my direct deposit info on file lol).

So I guess it really will be any day now...but I wish it was TO-day...

Class last night was ok I guess. There's only 9 of us in this class (and my one on mondays) so we're meeting in the tiny conference room in the psychology department. We have to do powerpoints about each section of the book like last semester (ugh) so that will be fun. I have to get my books still...I guess I'll do that today. One more class tonight and then I'm free for a few days. James and Chase will most likely be here Thursday or Friday so I'll enjoy spending time with them.

I'd REALLY enjoy buying groceries with my financial aid money to fill the cabinets with too...

HINT HINT lol

In hair news, I think I'll try a deep condition with olive oil tonight and I'll wash my hair tomorrow. That should be interesting...sleeping with a shower cap on and all. I guess that's about it for now...more news when I get it!

Still Waiting...

2010-01-12T09:43:00.002-06:00

So no financial aid yet. The wait is starting to get PAINFUL. On the one hand I keep thinking "maybe today's the day" so that I'll be able to breathe a sigh or relief...and on the other hand I'm thinking "nope not today either...". I thought I just had to wait till the 6th of this month and then pay off everything...but it seems I'm in for a long wait. Seriously, if it's not in my account by Friday then I'm going to have some problems. I would like it in there TO-day though.

Enough about that. Last night was the first night of class for the new semester. It was my Advanced Abnormal Psychology class with one of the professors that I had last semester (my favorite). Tonight I have Cognitive Neuroscience (yeah it just SOUNDS hard) with another professor that I had last semester (my least favorite one lol). Wednesday I have...um well I don't remember the class name but I haven't had the professor before. I've seen him around though. He's always poking his head in the window of the class and waving at people. Hope he doesn't grade super hard.

I also need to be getting an advisor to start my Master's thesis. I think you're supposed to have one by the end of this semester. I was contacting one that I thought may be a good option last semester but she never got back to me with a time that I could meet with her, and I got caught up with other things. Guess I'll shoot her an e-mail today.

I need to go get my books today...or tomorrow...I'm being lazy again. I guess I should pick up some milk too. I have a lot of cereal in here. I might have to live off of it until I get my other money...whenever that may be lol. It's ok though. I have some chicken breasts and other stuff in there that I can cook, and I went to Popeyes last night and got a family meal so that it will last me a few days. Kinda sad to eat the whole thing by yourself but at least it will take me a FEW days and not just one day lol.

I also need to do something to my hair. I thought about doing a deep condition with olive oil (putting a lot on my hair and then wearing a shower cap or two to sleep) and then washing my hair this morning. I didn't know if I would be in a "get up and go" mood this morning (yeah right) and want to go get my books and run to the store so I didn't just in case. It's a little chilly outside and I shouldn't be running around with wet hair. I may just wait and do that tomorrow night since I'll be here Thursday with nothing to do. I put my hair in a few braids last night (about 6 or 7 probably) and sprayed them with my leave in conditioner, and then later on I got bored so I wrapped them in bantu knots. No idea how it's going to turn out today, but that's what hats are for I guess lol.

Also, James and Chase are supposed to be coming to visit me Thursday or Friday. It would be nice for me to have cabinets full of food for them (lol). Either way, I guess I'll be in town this weekend. I haven't been here in almost a month (minus the stop I made to check on everything on my way from Mobile to Montgomery).

Speaking of Mobile, I heard from one of my class mates that USA (University of South Alabama) in Mobile is supposed to be getting their PhD program in Psychology started about the time we graduate and that they're supposed to be REALLY good. I knew they were trying to get a PhD program there but I hadn't heard that it went through. I guess I'll have to put them back on my list of graduate schools...I so don't want to move back to Mobile though...ugh. Maybe 2 years won't be so bad. That puts my choices for my doctorate program to Auburn University (in Auburn, AL) and USA in Mobile. Hmm...

Mardi Gras is coming up soon. I think Fat Tuesday is somewhere around Valentine's Day. (according to mobilemardigras.com which I just checked, Fat Tuesday is Feb. 16th) I'd like to go but I'd have to miss Tuesday's class at least, and maybe Wednesdays. I'm not sure if I'd be able to. It would be fun to go if James can come too and go to a Mardi Gras ball. I was never old enough to go to one and when I was...well I was in school and couldn't make it home lol.

Ok enough rambling for now. I'm off to get something to put in my tummy. Have a good day everyone!

Some happy news

2010-01-07T17:25:00.004-06:00

My dad put a little money in my checking account until I get my loan money (yay!) so I'm not completely broke.

We got Chase today. It's been about 2 or 3 weeks since I've seen him (I can't remember exactly). He's still the same crazy/sweet little guy he always was. He and James are taking a nap right now. I wasn't sleepy obviously. I think James' alarm is going to go off soon though.

Here's hoping I have a big deposit in the bank tomorrow! (fingers crossed!)

Plus I'm almost finished with the hat I've been crocheting...actually I would be completely finished but I decided to go back and take out a few rows because it made the hat a little bigger than I want it to be. I should be completely done tonight or maybe tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we're supposed to get some rain/ice/snow tonight and tomorrow. I hope it doesn't get too bad outside. I'll be trying to stay warm!

I guess that's about it for now. More when I have something to type about!

P.S. On the way to pick up Chase today we wound up driving past my old hair dresser. I was thinking about all of the time/money I've given them over the years...oh well.

Another delay...

2010-01-06T10:04:00.002-06:00

So today was supposed to be a happy day. I was supposed to wake up, check my bank account and see my financial aid funds in there and hop on the internet to pay some bills.

WRONG!

Even though they were supposed to be dispersed today (or at least so says the website) once I called the financial aid office, they said it wouldn't be going out until the first week of class...crap! So that means I have another 4 days to wait until Monday...which is also the first day of class. Ugh! This totally screws up my plans... Plus they probably won't be in there Monday either.

Maybe by some lucky twist it will be in there in the next few days...but I doubt it. Guess it's another hurry up and wait situation...so I guess that's all I can do...

Enough whining...

for now.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T17:40:00.011-06:00

First post of the new year! Yay! I guess I'll do a quick recap of the holidays. I spend Christmas in mobile with the family and James came down for a few days as well. Lots of fun, but in no way would I want to move back there permanently lol. I experimented with curlformers (which I asked for for x-mas and my sister in law bought a box since the store had one and decided she wanted to try them...but she's too tenderheaded so she didn't really use them lol.) and it turned out well. My sister in law is supposed to send me hers if she decides not to use them (which she probably won't) or I'll just buy my own set in the next few days with the financial aid money.

I spend new years eve with James of course. I couldn't hang though...I wound up falling asleep around 11 but he work me up at 12 for our new years kiss since he knew I wanted to (everybody say AWWWW!) Speaking of "aww" I forgot to mention that him and I took a picture in mobile during my family's Christmas pictures "tradition" I guess you could say. Our colors this year were black and gold. It turned out really well. Anyways, here's James and I...

Very cute if I do say so myself...

And here's one of the whole family (minus James) together.

We're a handsome bunch lol

Next year if we take pictures, my hair will be SISTERLOCKED! Yes I'm getting excited. I wish I could go ahead and get the consultation now and get them installed ASAP but I guess I have to wait for the money first... I will be scheduling my consultation as soon as the financial aid money hits my account though.

All and all it was a good holiday season and I'm looking forward to a great new year. I hope this year is even more awesome than last year. Speaking of awesome...check out the candy platter I made for x-mas...

Goodies include: White and Milk Chocolate Peanut clusters, Chocolate covered pretzles, Mint Oreo Truffles (the ones with green icing), Regular Oreo Truffles, and my famous fudge w/ walnut (in the center)

The picture doesn't do it justice...this thing was massive. The tray was the large one that walmart uses for their chicken finger or buffalo wing platters. By the time I got done with it, I didn't want to see ANYTHING dipped in chocolate lol

Anyway, enjoy your new year and I'll be back when I can :) Hopefully with good news.

Not quite...

2009-12-18T18:31:00.002-06:00

In hair news....I talked to some Sisterlocks consultants on the phone over the last few days. I was a little disappointed when I talked to the first consultant that's in Montgomery because she said that she would only sisterlock the virgin hair (new growth) and that's it. I was under the impression that all of my hair would be locked into the pattern...or at least most of it. I know I'd have to cut the ends as it grew out since they'll never locks but still...

So I called another consultant that lives in Birmingham. She and her daughter work together and she seems pretty cool and very nice. We talked for about 30 minutes and she also explained that they would only lock the virgin hair, but I'd have both of them working on my hair so it would probably go a lot faster...but the down side is that I'd have to go to their house (I'd rather go to a shop...) and the next slot they would have open to do my hair would be July. Yeah...not gonna happen.

So after two disappointments I jumped online to look at more pictures of women who've transitioned with Sisterlocks and lots of permed hair. I realized that it's not that bad, and as the second consultant told me, my hair would just look like I had micro braids with the ends loose, and most people wouldn't think it's my hair (which I can live with for now). So now I'm back at square one. I still want to get them done, and I think I'll go with the consultant in Montgomery. I'm going to contact her probably monday and see when I could come for the consultation (after I get the cash to pay for it of course) and about when I could get them installed (her website said to pick a date 30 days in advance, so if I get a consultation in January I probably won't be able to get them installed until February. Oh well...

Speaking of disappointments, I was finally able to look at my grades today. I got 2 A's in my graduate classes and a B in the undergrad class that I was taking. I know it shouldn't be a big deal and that I still did well, but I'm still disappointed. I worked my butt off this semester to get all A's, and I still couldn't do it. Plus I know it will only get harder from here on. I'm not sure if that class counts into my GPA though.

So that's about it I guess. I got a little bit of my X-mas shopping done with James' help. He's catching a cold and having problems with his car. Poor thing. I hope everything works out for him. He really deserves it.

Well I guess I'm off to surf the internet for a while. Ta ta!

2009-12-13T13:31:00.004-06:00

I changed my layout again (obviously) because the other one was making James' head hurt. I'm not sure this one is better but he says it is lol.

I washed my hair (finally!) last night and put 4 flat twists in. I haven't taken them out yet but this is the first time I've put flat twists in wet and only the second time I've flat twisted my whole head. We'll see how it goes. Next time I was I may just let my hair air dry after I put my oils and whatnot on it and then flat twist it. It was a little hard to keep the sections separated while it was wet and I was afraid of ripping hair.

I had a weird dream last night about my hair, which I wrote about on NP here. I will be glad when I get my siserlocks so I can be done worrying about my loose hair. I just don't want to mess it up...but part of me thinks I should wait a while before I get it sisterlocked and let it grow out some more. It may be more of a hassle to deal with SO much permed hair in the sisterlocks since they will have to be trimmed anyway. Who knows...we'll see. I may have to go have a talk with the sisterlock consultant here and see what she suggests and see if I even want to use her. If so I will have some time between getting my financial aid money (jan 6th or so) and starting back classes (jan 11th) so that may be the best time to get them done since I'll have several days with nothing to do.

I've been meaning to go to walmart so I can get some more yarn to play with and make hats with. My second attempt at a rasta hat came out good and if it wasn't a million colors, I'd start wearing it lol. I hope I don't go to crazy with buying patterns for hats though...because I have like 20 of them saved in my bookmarks at Esty that I want to get (cheaper than buying the hat, and this way I can learn new techniques too).

I guess that's enough rambling for now. I need to TRY to be productive today...but I don't wanna!

<~~~me trying to write my papers lol

More Lazy

2009-12-12T12:02:00.002-06:00

I didn't do too much yesterday. I just sat around the house and enjoyed doing nothing. I stayed up until 2:30am on facebook chat with Lacy before I finally turned it in. I talked to James this morning at like 5 on his way to work. I caught a few cat naps here and there. Part of me wants to sleep for a little while longer and the other wants to be awake and do more nothing lol.

I have one more question to do on the take home final (due somewhere between monday and wed.) and it's a one page summary of our personal theory of therapy (which is basically an abstract of what the long 10 page paper is going to be about). I can't decide if I should just push through and B.S. something so it can be done and e-mailed or wait until after I do the long paper so I'll know what all to include. Maybe I'll do the short one first. I mean my professor doesn't want to read the exact same thing twice does he?

I also have to go take an exam wed. morning but it will be super easy. It shouldn't even take me a whole hour and I haven't even started studying for it. I usually studied for his tests this semester for 20 min the night before and skimmmed over it the morning of and made mostly a's. I think the lowest score I got on it was a 88 (B) which isn't so bad. I've only gotten 4 or 5 b's total in all of my classes this semester. I hope I wind up with all A's. that would be sweet (even though I only have 3 classes lol).

It's drizzling outside today and looks gloomy and cold...another reason for me to procrastinate washing my hair lol. No seriously I'm going to deep condition it and wash it today at some point. I think I'll try the flat twists I did the other day again. They actually turned out really cute the first day...and sorta cute the second day...and I kept my hair wrapped up yesterday and today so I dunno how it looks lol.

So little left to do but I still can't bring myself to get it done. oh well. I'll get there. I still have time :) I may buckle down tomorrow and finish everything. Who knows, I might go ahead and write that one page summary today if I'm feeling inspired...but right now I'm feeling inspired to go grab a brownie or some other kind of chocolate.

That's it for now! Byeeee!

Blog problems

2009-12-11T16:12:00.004-06:00

My blog has been messing up lately. It won't load for me...trying to fix it ASAP!

Edit...

Problems seem to be fixed for now!

Sleepy Weepy

2009-11-30T22:16:00.003-06:00

So I didn't wind up going out Friday night because Robin and her sister and b/f went to the casino with her dad instead but we did go out Saturday night. I had a pretty good time even though my funds were severely limited, and I had to wake up and drive back to Montgomery in the morning. My hair didn't turn out how I wanted it to, so I had my mom cornrow it and I wore it like that for a few hours until time to go out. I took the cornrows out just before we left when I was getting ready and I had some really cute waves. They apparently didn't last long because once we got done having drinks at Martini's and went upstairs to the little club area, I caught my reflection in one of the mirrors and I looked like a poodle lol. Oh well. The ups and downs of going natural.Robin is going natural too by the way, and her sister too I guess. They both had very cute small fro's going on.

At the last minute I had to wind up taking my niece Tina back to Montgomery with me too (she goes to ASU) because something didn't work out with the car her dad (not my brother) promised to give her to drive back. I didn't get on the road until about 11:30 whereas I wanted to leave about 10:30 at the latest. James was already in montgomery waiting on me so I wanted to get back ASAP lol. I dropped her off at school and enjoyed my time yesterday with James. We went out to eat at Chili's but apparently they stopped the 2 for 20 thing (even though the website had it up) and said they were starting it again tomorrow (which is today now) with new menu items. Still a good time though. I really enjoy our time together when we can just be with each other and not have anything to do.

I think my last day of actual class is Monday, and I have a 10 page paper(due on the 14th I believe), and two 2 page papers (due the 7th) that are 10 points each of my final in one class , a final and paper in another (with an optional second paper for extra credit) in another class (due on the 16th I think), and a grant proposal (at least 5 pages...not sure exactly) and a presentation about the grant proposal due in the last class (all due on the 9th). Guess we're coming down to the wire! Blah. Too much to do.

I have also decided that I'm going to pick up crocheting as a hobby again. I've been meaning to do this for a while (even bought some more beginner books, with hooks and some yarn) but I haven't gotten around to doing it yet. I originally wanted to make this super cute baby blanket that I saw, but now since I'm into the natural thing, I think I will try some hats. Also, I ran across some really cute ones on this homemade crafts site called esty.com with these cute newsboy style hats that I loved for $15 each...but why buy them when I can learn and make them myself right? I can buy the pattern for them for $6 :) Plus there are tons of free patterns all over the internet. This will give me something constructive to do (as in if I make cute hats I can wear them or maybe sell them. Also, it's about to get COLD so this is a good time to learn lol.They will be great for those "bad
hair days" that I'm sure to have a lot of coming up soon.

Ok that's enough of me rambling. I think I might hit the hay so I will be well rested and ready to start my various projects

Going out

2009-11-27T16:39:00.002-06:00

My friend Robin is coming into town to visit her dad for the holiday along with her sister and someone else (I think it may be her b/f). We're supposed to be going out tonight for drinks but I am BROKE! And I don't just mean "oh I really don't feel like spending any money" kind of broke. I mean if I combine all of my money I probably won't come up with $20 broke. I almost don't want to go, but I guess I should to get out of the house. We'll probably be going around 9:30 or so. I can just drink some water and enjoy their company lol. Maybe I'll get lucky and some guy will buy me a drink (YEAH RIGHT! lol I wouldn't even want to be bothered if they did.)

I washed my hair again today. That makes a total of 2 times since I decided to do the natural thing. I couldn't really decide what to do with it so I'm trying another braid-out. Hopefully it will turn out good. I hate when I do something like this and it doesn't turn out how I want it because I usually don't have time to do anything to fix it and I just wind up brushing out the curls or whatever and putting it up with a clip.

I used my shower comb to detangle my hair while I was in the shower. It worked really well. A lot better than I expected. Plus my hair smells good lol. I will be glad when I get the sisterlocks so I won't have to worry that much about the loose hair. Then it will be a whole new ballgame of learning about my hair. I'm excited though!

I guess that's it for now. More when I get to it.

New Layout!

2009-11-19T00:42:00.000-06:00

New background and changed some of the colors up a bit...I like it for now :)

Changing things up

2009-11-18T23:14:00.002-06:00

Hi! So it's been forever and a day since I've posted. Here's a quick recap.

I live in Montgomery now, and I'm in the graduate program at AUM. I only have about 2 more weeks after thanksgiving break (which is next week) and then I'm done for the semester. I'm pretty close to getting all A's. I've only gotten 3 B's on tests this semester.

The big change is that I've decided to go natural (no more chemical fire, creamy crack perms for me!) and I've also decided that I want to get Sisterlocks. I've learned a lot about locks from doing James's hair and I've loved the look of Sisterlocks ever since I first saw them. They're pretty small so it will still allow me try out different styles AND you can start them with permed hair and just trim your permed ends off as your hair grows. I plan on getting them installed in January when I get my financial aid money.

So that's a (very) quick recap. I'm going to gear my blog more towards my hair/loc journey and a few everyday things mixed in. I hope you enjoy! I'll be spending a few days in birmingham (starting tomorrow) and then headed to mobile on monday, and then back to montgomery on that next sunday or monday.

P.S. I'll be changing up the look of my blog because it looks a little boring. Maybe over the thanksgiving holiday.

2009-06-10T15:34:00.001-05:00

Hey out there. I'm still alive and i got in to auburn university in montgomery so i'm making plans to move in august! I caught a cold but i'm feeling better. Guess that's it for now. More later. Bye!

Has she fallen off of the earth?

2009-04-26T17:41:00.002-05:00

No, I'm still here. Just a long time without posting. Didn't get around to it. So since I've posted last, I was out of work for like 3 weeks. We had a nasty case of diarrhea going around the unit and a lot of the patients got it so we had to lock down and not admit anymore until it cleared up. We got down to only 4 or 5 patients, and of course that meant that we were overstaffed. They sent me home early one Thursday and I just started back this past Tuesday. I had to call every day to see if I would be coming in the next day (we had to have more than 8 patients). It would have been a good time to go to Mobile for a while if I had known I was going to be off for so long. Just my luck, if I had gone then they would have told me I needed to come in the next day. I plan on making a trip down there for mother's day weekend though. After I get some more money of course (I ended up missing a check because I was off so long).

I'm still working with Craigspimp, and even bought an autoposter...which has given me endless problems. Still unable to use it and my ads were getting ghosted a lot before I got it so I wasn't making any money with it. Hopefully it will get fixed soon so that I can post (I have to wait for the guy who made it to e-mail me back with a fix that actually works).

James went for his second interview with Best Buy (there's one more if they invite him to take it) and I hope he gets it. They're not treating him right at Marvin's and he needs to get away from them, He's at the gym right now (of course) but he should be back soon.

I set up mobile posting when I logged on this last time, so maybe you'll be seeing more (short) updates from me in the future if it works. That's it for now though, more soon, I hope!

Another Video

2009-03-29T16:31:00.002-05:00

Here's another video that James made in the gym (shot by me of course lol).

Another Tuesday

2009-03-24T16:36:00.003-05:00

I'm at ITT with James of course. We had a good workout earlier today. I was watching videos from America's Best Dance Crew but since it's "streaming video" apparently it's banned because it slows down the network in the computer lab. Oh well, I'll finish watching it when I get home.

We're down to 8 patients on my unit but we're still locked down. Probably will be for at least the rest of the week. It's supposed to last until 2 days after the last patient who was sick leaves, or gets better. The one who I think originated it (the lady from my poop story a few weeks ago) won't be leaving for another week if not longer. I think 2 people are going home tomorrow. It's been a little boring actually. Since we don't have that many patients, all of the staff we usually have isn't there so the 2 women who work in the day area that I usually talk to haven't been there (reassigned to different floors).

Not much else going on with me. Just going to work and taking things one day at a time I guess. I need to wash my car pretty badly. There's pollen all over it. I'll get around to it one day lol.

I guess that's it for now, more when i get to it (probably next tuesday lol)

New Video!

2009-03-22T17:28:00.004-05:00

Check out this video of James working out in the gym! (shot by me of course lol) There's some cussing in the music, so if you don't want to hear it then I suggest watching it with the sound down or off ;-)

flowers and stuff

2009-03-18T17:39:00.004-05:00

I forgot to post a pic of the flowers that James got me last week. It was actually 2 bouquets of flowers but I combined them into a nice little arrangement.

Very pretty as usual. James tore some muscle at the gym yesterday. He said it's not too bad, but I know it's painful.

I signed up with another site like Craigspimp. I even set up a website domain(http://www.sexxyprofiles.com/) but there's nothing on it yet. With this site, you get $50 for each person who signs up for a paid account. We'll see how it goes.

Well that's it for now. I'm going to post some more craigslist ads with my custom made macro after I change the IP address again. Bye!

Cooooooooold...

2009-03-17T17:04:00.002-05:00

Every time I come to ITT with James I swear someone turns the air conditioning to Arctic circle. I even brought a jacket and I'm still cold. My nose feels like a Popsicle. Oh well, hopefully I won't get sick.

Speaking of getting sick, I think I posted about it last week, but a lot of the patients are catching that bug that has been going around and it's having a lot of people running to the bathroom. I'm trying to make sure that I keep my hands washed so I don't catch it too. That would not be a fun thing to have to deal with while I was at work.

I really don't have too much to talk about today. I've been working on CraigsPimp a little most days. I'm trying to work on my system to automate posting the ads. I've almost gotten all of the kinks worked out. It did a pretty good job this morning but it took a while (and almost made me late for work lol). Well, I guess that's about it. I'll write more when I get around to it (but it seems like I never get around to it until I'm at ITT lol).

long time no post

2009-03-10T18:20:00.003-05:00

Well I haven't gotten around to posting in a while. The past few weeks have been interesting. There was a full moon last night so the patients were acting pretty crazy today. One was committed today, so we have one less but the group we have has been a mess. Lot's of different personalities. One of my favorite patients from when I started is back, but she's a lot worse and works on EVERYBODY'S nerves.

I've still been working out with James. I went 4 times last week with him and so far this week I've gone yesterday and today and plan on going tomorrow. We went to Al's today and got some of those really good and huge potato bakers. Other than that, there's not a whole lot going on. Oh yeah, Chase's mom is definitely pregnant again. That should be interesting. I hope things work out for her and that she doesn't try to act all crazy and stuff. That would not make me happy.

I've still been doing Craigspimp. I tried the "tracfone" method for getting phone verified accounts to post with on craigslist to hopefully cut down on the flagging, but it's pretty tedious. I changed my number 4 times yesterday in a row. I think I have 16 more accounts to go if I just make ONE e-mail verified for each account I have (and I have 20 cities and about 4 e-mails for each city). I did figure out a way to make ads faster last night though. I can write one solid ad and turn it into 20 (or more) unique ads. Much easier than trying to think of 20 different ways to say the same thing.

I guess that's it for now. More when I get around to it.

What a day

2009-02-27T17:40:00.003-06:00

So I came home yesterday from work and took a shower to relax a little bit before it was time to go get Chase. James went to the gym after he got off of work and then came home to take a shower. As we were leaving (he was going to meet me at Walmart to wait for Chase's mom and/or boyfriend to drop him off) I noticed that my back passenger tire was FLAT. I'm not talking kind of flat. Flat flat. Like I drove over knives made of glass. Sooo...I had to hop in the car with him to pick up Chase and then we all went to class with him so he could take a final. Chase and I waited in the car and I tried to keep him entertained but he was cranky because he was sleepy.

Now on to today...I went to work this morning and one of the patients was in a bad mood or something because when I tried to stop her from taking a clipboard from the counter of the dayroom, she snatched it anyway and then hit me in the chest. I stopped her from hitting me anymore, but she ended up hitting another patient with the clipboard before I could get it from her (and she tried to fight me some more). Then one of the patients who hits the call button about every 15 minutes or so (a lot of the patients act like they can't do the stuff that they were doing on their own before they came into the hospital once they get there, like walking or in his case, changing his colostomy bag) told me that he would need a nurse at home to help him once he went home and asked if I was interested. I told him I wasn't a nurse, but he didn't seem to mind that but I still graciously declined.

You really have to remember where you work when you work on my floor. One minute a patient will be nice and trying to give you hugs, and the next they will be mean and nasty, try to hit you and/or call you the n word or other nasty names. I just try to remember that they're sick and sometimes I have to plaster a smile on my face (especially when I have to keep going into a patients room because no one has come to help them with something that I can't do after I've ASKED people to do it more than once) and take the abuse.

Since my tire was flat, I had to drive James' car to work this morning. Also it's been raining ALL day and it's really a mess outside. At least I didn't get soaking wet walking to the car today. Once I got home, I changed into my workout gear and we made our way to James' mom's house to drop off Chase and then we got something to eat before going to the gym. We did legs today and it was quite the workout. I think I did pretty well though. Maybe not as well as I could have done but I still gave it a good shot. After a quick shower and change of clothes, James and I went to the Quizno's by his school and now I'm in the computer lab typing this while he gets ready for his last final. I hope he does well, and that he enjoys his week off of school next week. He needs some time off.

In other news, I haven't posted any ads for craigspimp lately, but I'm still getting hits from ads I posted a few days ago. I'm going to try to write up some new scripts over the weekend so that I can just copy and paste them when I post instead of having to think of new stuff each and every time (the scripts will each be different though, just the same ideas worded different ways for each city). I have a lot of "topics" I guess you could call them and when I get done I should have about 300 scripts to post in all 10 of my cities. I'm going to try to pimp pretty hard this weekend though... James has a birthday coming up and I want to get him something good.

Ok that's enough for now. More when I get to it. Bye!

How did that happen?

2009-02-24T16:15:00.002-06:00

So this weekend, after James and I bought groceries, he said he wanted to stop by the Rivera Fitness center near out house, that was in the same shopping center as the Walmart Neighborhood Market that we shop at. He SAID he wanted to get some brochures. The next thing I know, both of us were taking pictures for our ID badges. So yeah, now I belong to a gym lol. We went yesterday and I worked on a chest and back. I'm not that sore today, but I'm not sure if that's because I'm getting stronger, or if I just didn't work out with enough weight (probably not enough weight). On the bright side, James got to work out with heavier weights, which is what he wanted. Plus he looks really hot when he's working out lol.

Craigspimp has changed their system. Now how much you get paid depends on how many guys sign up for the free site from your ads. Needless to say, my stats have me dropped down from 8 cents to 2 cents a reply. I'm trying to get them back up, but if it doesn't happen soon, I'm going to have to let the pimping go. Too bad too, it was really good money while it lasted.

Work was the same as usual. We were supposed to have 3 discharges today so if we don't get any new admits, we'll only have 13 patients (I doubt that we won't get anyone new). I'm looking forward to the weekend though. I always enjoy the break. Oh yeah, we also got memberships to sam's club this weekend. We looked around but didn't buy anything this time. I'll probably blow $100 in there the first time I really go shopping on just the juice that we usually buy. Maybe we won't run out as often.

I think that's about it. I'm going to get something to eat. Bye!

Bucket List

2009-02-21T18:10:00.002-06:00

I stole this from facebook. Basically you put an X by anything you've done and leave it blank if you haven't. You're only supposed to explain if someone asks, so if you want to know about something then ask me!

Things you have done during your lifetime:
() Gone on a blind date
() Skipped school
(x) Watched someone die
() Been to Canada
() Been to Mexico
(x) Been to Florida
() Been to Hawaii
(x) Been on a plane
() Been on a helicopter
( ) Visited Frank Lloyd Wright's "Fallingwater"
(x) Been lost
() Gone to Washington, DC
() Read a book by Ayn Rand
() Swam in the ocean
(x) Cried yourself to sleep
(x) Played cops and robbers
(x) Recently colored with crayons
() Sang Karaoke
(x) Paid for a meal with coins only
() Been to the top of the St. Louis Arch
(x) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't.
(x) Made prank phone calls
(x) Been down Bourbon Street in New Orleans
() Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose & elsewhere
() Caught a snowflake on your tongue
() Danced in the rain
(x) Read the poetry of Emily Dickinson
(x) Written a letter to Santa Claus
() Been in a Shakespeare play
() Been kissed under the mistletoe
() Watched the sunrise with someone
(x) Blown bubbles
() Gone ice-skating
(x) Gone to the movies
() Been deep sea fishing
() Driven across the United States
() Been in a hot air balloon
() Been sky diving
() Gone snowmobiling
() Lived in more than one country
(x) Lay down outside at night and admired the stars while listening to the crickets
(x) Seen a falling star and made a wish
( ) Enjoyed the beauty of Old Faithful Geyser
() Seen the Statue of Liberty
() Gone to the top of Seattle Space Needle
() Been on a cruise
() Traveled by train
(x) Traveled by motorcycle
(x) Been horse back riding
() Ridden on a San Francisco CABLE CAR
(x) Been to Disney World
() Read Moby Dick by Herman Melville
(x) Truly believe in the power of prayer
() Been in a rain forest
() Seen whales in the ocean
() Been to Niagara Falls
(x) Ridden on an elephant
() Swam with dolphins
() Been to the Olympics
() Walked on the Great Wall of China
() Saw and heard a glacier calf
() Been spinnaker flying
() Been water-skiing
() Been snow-skiing
() Been to Westminster Abbey
() Been to the Louvre
() Swam in the Mediterranean
() Been to a Major League Baseball game
() Been to a National Football League game
() Thrown up after riding a roller coaster or other carnival ride
() Buried a pet
() Seen a Broadway show
() Eaten caviar
() Appeared in a movie
() Gone bungee jumping
(x) Been in love
() Read the complete Bible
() Been to wine country
() Visited the Sistene Chapel
() Been in a parade
() Won money in Las Vegas
() Climbed a mountain
() Visited ancient ruins
() Ridden the El Train in Chicago
(x) Painted a picture
() Driven a sports car
() Gotten engaged
() Read The Grapes of Wrath
(x) Written a love letter
() Invented something
() Built your own house
() Competed in a talent contest
( ) Run a marathon
(x) Volunteered for a charity
() Gone skinny dipping
() Built a tree house
() Adopted a pet
() Planted a garden
() Taken a ballroom dance class
() Visited Graceland
() Flown a kite on the beach
() Gone white water rafting
( ) Been on a safari
( ) Mastered a foreign language
( ) Baked a perfect souffle
(x) Played Twister
(x) Witnessed an historic event
() Been kissed by a movie star
() Kissed someone the first time you met them
() Witnessed someone being born

Wow I haven't done a lot in my life...that sucks lol

Saturday

2009-02-21T10:02:00.004-06:00

Well it's the weekend finally. I was really glad I didn't have to get up this morning to go out into the cold, but unfortunatly James had to. He has to work all day today (literally from open until close tonight) so me and Chase are hanging out today.

I haven't been pimping as much as I should have this week. The money hasn't been as good, which makes me not want to post as much, which means that I won't make much (vicious cycle!) James signed up last week but his account got deleted along with some other people. It's been happening a lot, but I try to cash out every day so that if I do ever get deleted that I won't be losing that much. When the money is good, it's really good (around $100 a day) which makes it hard to want to quit lol. Especially when I can make more sitting on my butt in pajamas than I did on my feet for 5 1/2 hours at work.

James surprised me with some Tirimisu that I asked for, flowers, and a new pillow (which I had been complaining about) yesterday. Very sweet. Then he proceeded to shoot me with silly string lol. I really wasn't expecting that. He also bought himself a iron gym (the pull up thing that goes over the door frame) so now he's doing that in addition to his other workouts. I'm still a little sore in my left arm from the bicep workout I did Wednesday. I didn't do any leg work outs yesterday like I was supposed to.

I'm hungry, but I'm feeling really lazy so I want to order something instead of cooking lol. That's pretty sad. Oh well, let me go and get me and Chase something to snack on. Bye for now!

Before I forget, here are my flowers. They look blue on here for some reason, but they're really purple. Maybe it was the flash lol.

Valentine's Day Wrap Up

2009-02-15T19:42:00.010-06:00

Well Valentine's day has come and gone. I meant to post a message yesterday, but I didn't get around to it. James and I spent a quiet day at home yesterday and cooked dinner. James made BBQ bacon stuffed chicken breasts and I made scalloped potatoes and heated up some macaroni that we had left.

Today we went to Al's and ate and then came home and took a nap. After that we went to the grocery store and came home and watched a movie. It was an english dubbed Thai movie called "Chocolate". It's was a little sad but it was a good action movie.

I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. Ugh. Oh well, I guess the sooner I start the week, the sooner it will be over. Another day, another dollar I guess. On the bright side, it hasn't been that cold lately. I still wear a coat in the morning since it's a little chilly. By the time I get off though, it's hot outside.

While I'm thinking of it, here are those pictures I promised. Here's the roses I got for Valentine's day:

Very pretty as usual

And here's a picture of my very sexy and extremely sweet boyfriend James with his lip piercing:

Isn't he cute when he smiles?

And since I like to show off, here's his latest progress pic from his BodySpace page:

Look at those muscles!

Speaking of muscles, my thighs have been killing me since my workout with James Friday. I decided to do legs Friday, so I would have a little rest before having to work on Monday. I hope I'm not as sore.

Well I guess that's about it for now. More when I get to it!

Thank God it's Friday!

2009-02-13T18:53:00.002-06:00

I'm really glad it's the weekend. I need a break for a few days. Work was crazy today. We have 20 patients now (the most we can have on that floor) and one in particular kept trying to get out of bed even though she was on bed rest. I kept having to get her to lay down (and for some reason she would start crying) and setting her bed alarm so it would go off if she got up. I could hardly do rounds because by the time I got down the hall to check on the other patients, her bed alarm was going off. Then one time she tried to take a swing at me.

I hid James some stuff for valentine's day (I decided to give it to him early). I got him a work out shirt, some cupcakes (from publix), a big sketch book (that wasn't really meant to be part of the gift, but I decided to give it to him anyway since I bought it yesterday) and two cards (I couldn't decide which one I liked better).

James got me some really pretty roses, and some candy. I'll post a pic of the flowers after I take a picture and remember to upload it. I'll try to post a pic of his lip piercing too if I remember. We're going to cook together tomorrow for our Valentine's meal. I don't want to go anywhere near any restaurants this weekend because I know it will be packed!

Speaking of restaurants, after we worked out today (I did legs and a little abs. My thigh muscle is spasming a little when I walk) we went to the mall and got some Haagen Daas ice cream (good but too expensive) and then went to Quiznos. Oh yeah, I bought a new purse at the mall. It was more expensive than what I wanted to pay for it, but I needed a new one BADLY. The straps on my old one looked like a dog had been chewing on it.

So after all of that I went to class with James and we're in the computer lab and I'm typing this. Oh yeah, craigspimp hasn't been making me a lot of money this week because all of my ads keep getting flagged in all of my cities. I guess I'll hold off on posting a lot until I see what kind of new changes they're supposed to have rolling out this week. I miss last week when I was making $100 a day. Oh well, at least we got the rent paid up through March. :) I guess that's about it for now.

The End. (lol)

P. S. Happy Valentine's Day!

Catching up

2009-02-07T17:57:00.004-06:00

A lot has happened since my last post. I got my tattoo, James got his lip pierced, we got the shoes we ordered (today) and I got paid again. I've been working a lot on Craigspimp, and some days I make around $100. I've been using most of it to pay off some of my credit card debt. I've paid $300 on it this week alone. If I get the whole thing paid off, I think I'll quit doing it. It's a lot of work. I'm up to 10 cities now.

As for the tattoo, here's the picture:

It's on my right hip by the way, and you can't really see it, but there's some purple in there. James' lip piercing looks awesome. I don't know if he wants me posting his pics up here though, but I think he might have some on his BodySpace page.

Valentine's day is coming up next week. James and I are supposed to be cooking. We probably won't be doing too much. I don't think he has to worry about getting me anything because he gets me flowers and candy for no reason all year (He bought me a heart shaped box of Reeses peanut butter cups. I haven't opened it yet because Chase will try to eat them all and then I'll be mad lol.

These are the flowers he got me last week. Very pretty!

He always pics the best flowers. Well, Chase just woke up from a nap and I'm hungry so I'm going to go heat us up some lasagna. Bye!

25 things...

2009-01-29T12:08:00.002-06:00

I've been TAGGED! Well at least on Facebook. I'm supposed to list 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about myself in a note on there, but I would rather do it here, so here goes! Sorry if some are repeats from that other random fact post I did!

1. People chewing ice/ice cream is a pet peeve of mine.

2. My left foot is bigger than my right.

3. I have teeth that are very sensitive to cold things (hence the reason for #1)

4. I was a literature minor when I first started at UAB.

5. One of my eyes looks lazy in about half of my pictures. That same eye get squeezed to the point that it's almost closed when I smile too hard.

6. I've never traveled outside of the south and I've only flown on a plane about 3 times. Never by myself either.

7. I got ringworm from my dog once on my thigh. I still have a scar from it but it's going away
slowly.

8. I have another scar on my right hand of 3 dots. One was from hot oil popping me when I was
cooking me, but I have no idea where the other two came from.

9. Some parts of my hair are shorter than others and tend to stick out sometimes. I'm paranoid
about it and check my reflection often to try to fix this.

10. Most of the time when I'm standing up (and sometimes sitting down), I'm holding my stomach in.

11. I shaved my eyebrows off once when I was little. I saw my sister arching her eyebrows with a straight razor but I didn't know what she was doing...next thing you know, poof mine were gone.

12. I also stuck a key in an electrical outlet when I was about 2 or 3. I remember doing it.

13. I was scared of a particular electric outlet in the hallway of my house for years growing up
and used to run past it to avoid it (see #12 for why).

14. My mom used to let me sit in her lap and "drive the car" by moving the wheel left and right
when I was little and we were waiting to pick up my brother from High School (the car was parked). My dad used to let me sit in his lap sometimes and drive the car while it was moving if we were around the corner from the house. He would work the brake and gas of course!

15. I never met (or remember meeting at least) my grandmother on my mom's side, and both of
my grandfathers.

16. I used to wonder if my "real" mother died when I was born because of the way my mom
acted when I was growing up (she had a mental disorder).

17. I've only seen my parents kiss or hold hands about 2 or 3 times in my life.

18. I don't ever remember my parents sleeping in the same bedroom.

19. I get discouraged when I'm telling a story and the person I'm telling it to doesn't listen. I usually won't finish the story.

20. I want to go to cooking school just for the heck of it, but particularly pastry school. I thought about being a pastry chef at one point.

21. I don't like cheese on certain foods if it's cold or plain (ex. salad, sandwiches, fried cheese, etc.)

22. I used to make myself a special drink when I was little from sprite, coke, and kool aid (if we had it) all mixed together. I think I used to mix coke, sprite and apple juice too but I can't remember exactly.

23. I usually order sprite if I'm at a sit down restaurant.

24. I used to be addicted to the show "Charmed".

25. I once bought myself and my two best friends in junior high necklaces that looked like "the heart of the ocean" from Titanic. We also had a necklace made with each of our names written on a separate grain of rice.

And that's all folks! Hope you found this entertaining and informative! lol

Another day, another dollar...

2009-01-28T19:07:00.002-06:00

Work was ok today. One patient talked from the moment she woke up until the shot the nurse gave her finally took effect (around 30 minutes before I had to leave). I told some people about getting a lock for the light switch so we can lock it in the on position and won't have to fight with one of the patients about turning the light switch on and off (she also turns the radio up sometimes or changes the station).

It rained today and I forgot my umbrella in the car so I got a little wet walking to my car. A homeless guy (with a dog) asked me for some money to get something to eat, and I gave him some of the quarters I use to feed the meters.

James caught the cold I had. I got him some medicine today and told him to use some of that nose spray that I had been using. It made me feel a lot better. He has to work late tonight, so he's not home yet. Poor thing. He always works himself too hard. He made me the cutest message on the floor when I came home with socks and other things from around the apartment that said "I Luv U". He's such a sweetheart. I took a pic of it before the batteries on my camera died (again). I need to get some more, because I just charged them the other day and I haven't even used my camera until now. I will admit that I didn't notice it at first because I was in such a rush to get inside and put my stuff down and hang up my coat (I have a bad habit of leaving my purse/coats on a chair we have near the kitchen) but he brought it to my attention and I loved it. I'll post a picture when I'm not so lazy.

Well I guess I'm off to bed. Too bad James isn't here for me to snuggle on. Well he probably wouldn't want to anyway because he's sick and doesn't like that kind of stuff when he doesn't feel well. Oh well. Have a good night!

P.S. I don't know if I posted this before, but when I get my income tax money, I plan on getting that zodiac tattoo I've been wanting!

Back to pimpin

2009-01-26T18:02:00.003-06:00

Well I finally figured out how to change my WAN IP address so that I could post on craigslist again for Craigspimp. I'm not getting as many responses today as I was the first time I did it, but a few dollars here and there for a couple of minute's work isn't that bad! I hope I get assigned a few more cities soon. That way I'll be making even more moolah.

Work was ok today. I wore my new shoes but I had some problems with them. One of them was irritating the heel of one of my feet but I fixed it by putting a few band-aids on my heel (That's the good think about working at a hospital...lot's of medical supplies).

In other news, James e-mailed a guy on craigslist about an ad he posted looking for models, so he's going to be in a "Gods and Godesses" calender. Now I can brag bout having a model AND body builder for a boyfriend lol.

Well I guess that's it for now. More when I get to it!

Blah...

2009-01-25T20:05:00.003-06:00

I think I'm catching a cold, but I hope not! My allergies have been acting up for the last few days. I think that cleaning stuff they use at work is way too strong. That's when I first started sneezing.

The pasta didn't turn out as good as I wanted it too. I think I should have added a bit more cheese. I tried putting some minced garlic in this time since i bought some for another pasta dish I plan to make later in the week. I forgot to get some Parmesan cheese for it though.

Well, I guess it's back to the old grind tomorrow. I hope I get my income tax Friday like I'm supposed to. If not, I should at least be getting some money from my dad. Oh yeah, I bought him some socks that he wanted for his birthday, and I also bought some new shoes. They're Nike's men's shoes but I didn't see anything in the women's section that I liked the last time I looked. I don't know why they have to make everything so girly or super plain. Not all girls like pink shoes.

Anyway, I think I'll be going to bed now. Bye!

P.S. James joined this body building website (he wants to train to do fitness modeling) that lots of people post pictures of their progress and whatnot with working out. It's helping him stay motivated. Here's the link to his page so you can go look at his pictures and admire his new nipple rings lol. Click here to view his page!

Pimpin aint easy...

2009-01-24T20:51:00.002-06:00

Well it looks like that Craigspimp thing is a bust. Craigslist is blocking me from posting, which means I won't be making any more money. I made about $27 in two or three days with not a lot of work so I guess that's ok. I cashed out my account and it's in my paypal account now. If I can get some more cities and keep posting I will, but if not then I'll just let it go.

I'm so glad that it's the weekend. I needed a break from work. I didn't do too much today. Just bummed around the house. I'm waiting on a repeat of the new Dane Cook comedy special to come on. I missed it the first time it came on because it was on late one Sunday night, and of course I was alseep. Chase is playing with his train set, but I'm going to have him lay down in a little while. He's been fed, bathed, and he got to play a lot today so he should be about ready to turn it in (he probably won't go to sleep until after James comes home from work though lol).

I can't wait to get my income tax. I still need to do my state taxes. I might go ahead and do them online and pay the little fee, just to have them done. I have the forms printed out, I just have to look over them and fill them out.

I'm cooking a nice Sunday dinner tomorrow. James said he wanted the pasta dish I make with cheese, ground beef and tomato sauce. The good thing about that dish is that is lasts for a few days. I end up making a big pan of it whenever I make it. I'm going to get the stuff for it tomorrow when we go grocery shopping. He also said that he wanted Strawberry Shortcake for dessert, which I've never made but I'll attempt. I might let the strawberries sit in a little bit of sugar and a few teaspoons of the strawberry flavored vodka we have, just to give it a little kick. I hope they turn out ok.

Well my show is on, so I'm off to watch it. Bye!

Good Nap

2009-01-21T17:04:00.002-06:00

I was able to take a good nap today when I got home from work. James and I laid down for a little while to cuddle before he went to work. Before I knew it, I was knocked out. I guess I slept about 3 hours because I didn't really get up until about 3. Then I cleaned out the tub and took a shower (I did it before I took a shower so I wouldn't forget to clean it after).

I've been doing this new online job called CraigsPimp. Basically you post ads on Craigslist posing as girls and when you get replies, they're forwarded to a specific e-mail address. For each new e-mail (meaning the guy hasn't e-mailed the service before) you get paid. I started Monday I think, and I've made $25 so far for about 30 min total work. The only hang up is that sometimes your posts get flagged or removed, and sometimes CraigsList won't let you post new ads for a little while. You still earn money for any ad that a guy replies to though, so if somebody e-mails Friday for an ad I put up Monday, I still get money. It's pretty fun actually. I requested my first payout. I don't want to have too much money sitting around without me getting it, because you never know what might happen.

I also passed all of the tests for kgb_ but I haven't had time to sign up for any hours. The only time they had the last time I got ready to sign up was sometime next week, and I just know I'd forget I was supposed to work and end up missing my shift. I do wish you were able to just hop on whenever like ChaCha.

Speaking of my online jobs, I finished my taxes the other day, but I forgot about "that place" I used to work for doing cards, and I was supposed to get a 1099 from them because I earned over $600 while I worked for them. I guess I'll just have to submit that later when I get it. I usually get all of my taxes back though, so I shouldn't end up owing much if any taxes on the money. I'm looking to get a few hundred dollars from taxes this year and I'm excited. I also was able to get a rebate credit since I didn't get the stimulus payment last year, so that was an additional $300 for me. I think you can still try to get one even if you did get a stimulus, but they'll subtract the amount that you got from the stimulus from your rebate.

James asked me what I wanted for Valentine's day, but I told him we can just spend some time together that day. I think he has to work that morning. I think I'll cook something good for him. If we do get each other anything I told him to make it less than $20. There's no reason to go all out for Valentine's day to try to prove that you love someone if you show them the other days of the year, I think.

Work was ok today. One guy kept jumping up saying that he was seeing kangaroos and snakes on him. He didn't get much sleep. The woman that always wanders and tries to open doors slept my whole shift, even though they woke her up twice to take blood and change clothes. I guess her medicine is finally working. I know she HAS to be tired. She usually walks from the time she wakes up until she falls asleep with not many breaks in between.

I've been wanting some Tiramisu from this Italian place that I took James to once called Johnny Carino's. The lasagna wasn't great the last time I went if I remember correctly, but the Tiramisu was really good. Maybe we'll go this weekend. I had Tiramisu from the Cheesecake Factory once, and it wasn't that good (The meatloaf was REALLY GOOD though!) and usually their food is really good.

I guess that's about it. More when I get to it!

Random things...

2009-01-20T19:03:00.003-06:00

Well let's see if I can catch up on some things. James and I went to Old Navy, Books a Million, the mall and Best Buy over the weekend. I was looking for some long sleeve shirts to go under my scrubs (since James is getting mad that I keep borrowing/stealing his) but they didn't have much of anything. And I mean anything. Even the stuff that was full price didn't look that good. When we went to Books a Million which is next door to Old Navy, I found a Suduko puzzle book for $0.97 so I got that. I started doing the one in the news paper at work and it got me back into them. Sometimes I'll do the daily one on Yahoo Games in the morning while I eat my breakfast (usually oatmeal) before I go to work. I guess it's a good way to get the wheels turning.

I wanted to look for a new purse at New York and Company in the mall, but they didn't have anything I liked (meaning something that was on sale) that was big enough. I need to get another one soon though, because the straps on my current purse look horrible. The leather is cracking peeling off in places. I stopped in Lane Bryant too since it's across the hall from New York and Company in our mall, but they didn't have anything good in there either. (None of the tops were plain enough for what I wanted). James hates that store though, so I try not to make him suffer too long when I go. It's probably not the store so much that he hates, but the fact that I take so long to shop lol. He has picked me out some very nice clothes from there before though.

At Best Buy, I finally used my gift card and bought the first season of scrubs, which I'm currently watching (when I'm not watching TV). I also got James more minutes for his phone. I might go back when I get paid and get season 3 (Already have season 2 and 6 oddly enough) since I still have $6 on the gift card and it was only $24 for the season.

Last week when I was cleaning out my purse, I found some pictures that James and I took last year some time (I think around the time we had first started dating) in one of those photo booths at the movies that gives you 4 pictures. The poses we picked were: both of us smiling, me kissing him on the cheek, him kissing me on the cheek and then both of us kissing and it has hearts on it and says "I love you". Super sappy and cute right? Anyway I had 2 copies of them in my purse so I decided to hang one up in the bathroom. I think people get caught up a lot in everyday things and don't take the time to appreciate the person that they're with, so it's my daily reminder to remember what a great man James is and how much I love him.

Lately I find myself making ga-ga eyes at James sometimes. Sometimes he'll do a little something that makes me feel special and I love that. I also try not to take those types of things for granted. If I was in a cartoon then I'd have two big hearts for eyes that are beating out of my head when I look at him lol. It's almost like I'm falling for him all over again. Really I think it's just the love that I have for him getting deeper, if that's possible. He really is someone that I could see spending the rest of my life with.

Ok, I know you guys are probably sick of all of that mushy stuff if you even made it this far so I'll quit lol. I'm about to surf around on the internet a bit and then settle down for bed after James gets home. I wish I was off of work tomorrow. Oh yeah that reminds me, I wore my new pants to work today and wouldn't you know it, as soon as I walked in and put my stuff down, I was making sure my shirt was pulled down and my pants were pulled up (lol) and one of the drawstrings from the pants broke. I had to improvise and just use the string from the other side to make sure they would stay up, since they're way too big in the waist, but had to be to fit in the thigh. I guess I tried to pull them too hard when I tied them this morning. I just can't win with these dang scrubs!

Well that's it for now. More another day!

Sleepy Night

2009-01-17T21:25:00.003-06:00

I could really go for some chocolate right now. Too bad there's none in the house. I guess you always get cravings for things that you don't have huh? I'm glad it's the weekend. I slept like a baby today. I guess the vodka shot(s) and wine coolers James and I had had something to do with it lol.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing day tomorrow. Maybe do some window shopping at the mall or cash in that gift card I have for Best Buy and buy another season of Scrubs. Speaking of scrubs, the new ones came in the mail and they fit better. I don't like how big they are in the waist but at least they fit. I also got the toys I've been waiting for. Guess I'll give those a whirl later this week when Aunt Flow leaves.

I think that's about it for tonight. I'll try to post something else tomorrow. Good night!

Baby it's cold outside...

2009-01-16T03:50:00.002-06:00

I checked the weather this morning like I have been doing for the past few days and it's 17 degrees but feels like 4! Brr! I wish I could stay inside warm under the covers but I have to venture out one last day to "make the doughnuts". I'm super sleepy this morning. Not sure if it's just from me being tired or the cold air making me yawn. Probably some of both! Oh yeah and to make matters worse, did I mention aunt flow was in town too? This is turning out to be a GREAT day already...

Wherever you are I hope you're staying warm...because I'll be at work trying to thaw out some!

Bye!

Ugh...

2009-01-15T19:41:00.002-06:00

This week has been pretty hectic. I feel like today should have been Friday since I had to go into work twice yesterday. It kind of threw me off. Thankfully, tomorrow IS friday. I can't wait for the weekend. I need a stiff drink and a massage or a bubble bath or something.

In other news, my W2 was online for UAB when I just checked. I guess that means I can do my taxes soon. I don't know if I have to wait for W2's from some of the online jobs that I did this year. I also get to apply for some kind of rebate since I didn't get the stimulus last year, so my refund should be looking really nice!

I'm trying to wind down so I can go to bed. Chase has been fed, and bathed so I think he's actually fallen asleep (I can't tell because it's dark in here lol). It's tough getting him to sleep some nights.

Well, I guess I'm going to call it a night. I think I heard James' car pulling in from class, but if not he'll be home soon hopefully.

Bye!

Crazy days

2009-01-13T12:28:00.004-06:00

I don't know what it is, but the patients have been acting crazy these last few days. One woman is acting sexually inappropriate (trying to grab people in private places and caress them) and one of the new admits keeps everybody on their toes because she keeps trying to wander off (this morning she walked in another patient's room and was trying to put on their slippers. I had to struggle with her to get them away from her). It's rediculous when you have to run from, fight with and defend yourself from patients all day. I was really tired by 6am this morning and I had only been there an hour.

Speaking of work, my boss wants me to come back in tomorrow after my 5am-10:30am shift from 4:30pm-7pm because they're having a meeting and they want someone to do rounds and watch the patients while they do. I really am not looking forward to it, but at least it would be a little extra money. Plus if it was a day I had something to do (like watch Chase) then I would have said no. I just didn't have a good enough excuse other than "I don't feel like it". I'm going to be really tired though. Plus parking will be horrible...

I stopped and got some gas on my way home. Only about $10 worth. It brought me up to half a tank. That will last me about a week. I keep meaning to fill up my tank when I get paid, but I end up spending money on other things. Oh well, maybe next week.

I still need to send back those scrub pants. I have them in the envelope, but I have some return paperwork to fill out before I send it and I haven't gotten around to it yet. I guess there's no time like the present. I'll go fill everything out and if I remember, I'll drop it off at the post office when I get off tomorrow (the first time) lol.

Bye!