Getting Curly Back

Anyone up for joining me on my "less heat for better hair challenge?" I have gone a month without touching my hair with heat. That is correct... No dryer, blower,curling iron,flat iron,etc.

I noticed that although my hair is growing long, it is not healthy, so I am going "cold turkey" on the heat in order to "get my curly back."

I have been deep conditioning every other wash (I wash my hair once every 6-10 days) and I did an olive oil treatment last week in between washing and deep conditioning.

After I washed my hair, I finger detangled, towel dried and added pure coconut oil and mega hair growth oil by doo gro. Then, I used 1/4' flexi rods to roll my damp hair. Finally, I wrapped my hair in a twistie turbie so it could absorb the rest of the water in my hair.

Here are some before and after pictures:

Before the wash

After (oiling process)

Damp hair and flexi rods

The next day-finished product

Fasting and Harrassing

Last week I made a conscious decision to partake in the Daniel Fast. I did not make this decision for purposes of weightloss. My spirit just said to do it so I dived in head first, but not before telling my life partner. He decided to participate in doing the fast with me. 

For all of you who do not know, the Daniel Fast consists of drinking only water, no sugar or natural sweetener intake, dairy or yeast. 

The more I read, the harder I thought it would be but with a great support system/ shopping buddy, things are looking up. First stop... Trader Joes! I would love to take a trip Whole Foods but it is too far out of the way ( if you haven't read, I work, go to school and am a mother of two). We bought plenty of organic fruits and peanut butter to have some type of protein without having to take more dietary supplements. For snacks we bought popcorn, tortilla chips and this great Trader Joe brand salsa. Humus and Smoked tofu along with marina sauce to eat with meatless tofu sausage made up our first two shopping trips. We only bought a couple of different tofus the first trips. Once we tasted them we bought more.

It has been an expensive journey. Fasting is harrassing my pockets but I am enjoying the journey.

Has anyone else fasted before? What were your reasons? Did you achieve your goals? 

Here are pictures from one of our first meals:

Vegetable-Tofu Stir Fried Brown Rice

School, books and things

Happy Snow Day everyone (well, in Westchester)! I pray that everyone is safe and warm this evening. Since the schools are closed and I have had some extra time in the house, I was able to finally purchase and read La La Anthony's best selling book, The Love Playbook. I could not put it down. There is nothing like a good down to earth book that connects the reader to the author. We often see La La's beauty on television but her story is a great one. There is pretty solid advice 

in her book and in my opinion, she's very credible. She's a woman and therefore she has experience what most women go through and also she's the wife of a celebrity basketball player who strives for her own! Can we say independent woman! It takes a lot to let your fans into your personal life and she did just that without revealing too much! Thanks La!

Focus and Goals

This month I resume my journey as an adult learner. My goal is to obtain a Masters and Ph.D in Forensic Psychology in the next three years. Currently I am a teachers assistant. I love to teach and experience growth with little humans but it is  not filling the void of finishing what I started back in 2005 prior to having children. I stayed home with my children until they became school age and prepped them for school. The day has come where my boys enter school. Now it is my time to shine and pray that they make better choices than I did. Do any of you parents also "suffer" from being a professional student? My hunger for knowledge and creative mind pulls me in various directions in different seasons of my life. The happiness that I am filled with by  assisting others is more than enough for me to ask for as I continue my walk as a mother, writer, teacher, artist, friend and follower of Christ. As my work load gets heavier I may have less time to blog but my goal is two blogs every seven days.

Here is some of the art that I created since the year has begun. Let me know what you guys think.

P.U.S.H.  

Planners Anyone?

As a mother I have to plan birthday parties every year. I am not big on spending money on items that I do not need or items I may not potentially use again. What I love to do is take the things my kids love at the time and tie them into the theme of the party. My youngest son loves Micheal Jackson. His birthday is in July so instead of throwing a typical barbecue we decided to have a "Michael Jackson Bad Extravaganza." A couple of foam boards,oak tag, three MJ posters, glitter glue, small boxes (used), wooden skewers,some paint and a life sized MJ poster board went a long way. He also dressed the part. My three year old (at the time) was a toddler MJ and made sure no one stole his shine on his birthday. Here are a few pictures from his performance.

Ninety percent of the decorations were repurposed from arts and crafts fun to big brother's Disney Junior party that September.

 

If you are not quite the party planner, here are some sites that I use to find cheaper alternatives without lacking in the decorating department.

Amazon.com

Pinterest.com

MarthaStewart.com

Babble.com

Orientaltrading.com

A World full of Computers

Society today is fast paced. Everything from celebrities wardrobe to your own personal lives are easily accessible online. I am not sure how everyone feels about this but I am pretty torn. At times I feel as if people can find me with a push of a button despite my privacy settings. At other times I post until my heart is content at random.

Do you avoid social media to stay incognito or have you embraced the fast paced internet and use it positively to your advantage?

Here are a few of my favorite social sites:

Pinterest

Instagram

Facebook

You Tube

LinkeIn

They can be used for a plethora of things from networking to building clientele. 

By the way...Happy New Year!