BEST PROTECTIVE STYLE EVER....CROCHET BRAIDS.

Even though my natural hair is usually pretty easy to take care of, it still requires me to put some work into maintaining it.  But when daddy goes out of town, I don't feel like maintaining anything.  So the boy child got all his hair cut off, the girl child got braids and mommy got...CROCHET BRAIDS.
God bless the people on You Tube for showing me the endless possibilities for this hair style. I love it. I am not so bold to try it myself so I went to an amazing hair stylist in the San Fernando Valley named Amber Harris and told her what I wanted. She hooked me up.
1) I purchased 3 bags of Freetress Bohemian Braid Hair 20"(about $6 a pack). The store (shout out to Wow Beauty Supply) was out of the color I wanted so I went dark black (1) and it still worked.
2) I washed and blew dry my hair so that the wonderful Amber could braid it all up.

3) On You Tube most people just corn row their hair straight back but Amber did my hair in a bee hive pattern. I'm not a stylist so I can't tell you if it makes a big difference but I do know with the "bee hive" pattern, you can't pull the hair back because there is a track going around the front of your head:(
4) Amber cut the hair in half to create the length I wanted and used a crochet hook to attach the bohemian  hair to the cornrows and VOILA....

I've had the hair in for 3 works and it still looks good. I would say best protective style ever,  but let's wait to see how long it takes me to take it out

NATURAL HAIR

 
3 WEEK OLD CROCHET BRAIDS

SUNSHINE AND SHENANIGANS...THE HOME MAKEOVER SHOW

As a stay at home mom, I find different ways to keep my self busy.  I volunteer at my church, I also volunteer at a low income facility that provides meals and clothing for families and I volunteer at my childrens school.  That's the sunshiny stuff.  But every once in a while an opportunity will come along that allows me to subject my family to pure SHENANIGANS within our own home. THE HOME MAKEOVER SHOW.

Yes, I am addicted to signing up my family for makeover shows.  I love sprucing up the place and redecorating on someone elses dime.  Me and the man get to work together and learn how to use different tools and gadgets that we've never even seen before.  But even though it's an exciting experience and we get free stuff,  it comes at a cost.

Time:  Don't plan on doing ANYTHING while they are filming at your house.  They come to your house just as you are wiping the crust out of your eyes in the morning.  So imagine your already difficult task of getting the kids ready for school in the morning, interrupted for four days by having people in and out of your house starting at 7am. But I must say, by waking up 6 every morning now, we have actually been early to school every day this week.  So maybe I need not complain about production lighting the fire under my feet to get my butt up earlier in the morning.

Stuff:  My stuff is everywhere.  In order for them to work, they have to move all your crap out of the way.  They don't care where it goes or how it gets there, they just want it out.  So we have dining room chairs in our office, our living room chair in our bedroom and my plant was put in the closet.....who the hell did that?! I appreciate the makeover but where the heck is the order and respect for my stuff. I'm going to be pulling my knick knacks out of odd places for the next month. Sheesh!!

Design: Lord have mercy.  My love of makeover shows is about to have my house looking crazy.  I'm trying to keep an open mind, but this design seems WACK! They got these multicolor stripes on my dining room wall looking like someone painted a bunch of paint samples on it.  I've seen the designers work before and it was nice, but what they are doing in my house ain't hot.  I was "eye hustling" and saw that they plan on covering my brick fireplace with marble. HELL TO THE NAH!! This ain't the 80's.  Don't come in my house making it look tacking and outdated because you want to practice some DIY projects.  Lord I'm nervous.

I can't tell you what show it is yet but when it airs, I will post an update with pictures.  Fingers crossed that they have more vision than me and it ends up looking fabulous in the end.  If not, I will be blogging about "How to recover after your husband chews your butt out for jacking up the house."

Sing Celebrate

What an amazing MLK weekend.  Started it early and ended it late.  Went to see a taping of The Doctors with my homie Thursday afternoon (I enjoyed spending time with my friend.  Spending time watching the taping of The Doctors..not so much).  Then raced through traffic to meet the man at the movies (I loved "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Was on the edge of my seat the whole time. Some scenes were racy so beware)  Friday afternoon, went to Roscoes Chicken and Waffles with some college friends that were in town (I inhaled them chicken wings! I don't play around on my off days for my fast). 

That night, celebrated Delta Sigma Theta Sororities 99 years of service with my sorority sisters at a great restaurant in Bel Air (Vibrato restaurant is a beautiful place with awesome musicians and great food.  But the portions...yikes.  Three raviolis on a plate! Really?! What am I suppose to do with that..hey Mona). 

Saturday, sorority chapter meeting in the morning followed by a  play date that started in the afternoon and went well into the evening (when cocktails are involved you lose track of time).  Sunday I hung out with my sorors again at a clothing line launch and had a great time. (Thank you Miss Jessie's for the hair care product gift bag.  My hair thanks you). 

Then finally today, Monday, hung out with the family at the MLK Parade on Crenshaw this morning and then celebrated a dear friends birthday at a small gathering this evening.  

I am feeling so blessed so far this year! The time I have been spending with family and friends is recharging me.  It's making me feel like I am somebody outside of being someones mom.  Love my babies but I am loving, loving life again(my social life that is).....Now to get a job so I can afford some more hanging out:-)

PS:  Last few days of the fast.....No slipping this week! Let's go!

It's the holiday season

I love this time of year....

I love sitting by the fireplace....

I love leaving cookies for Santa....and a cocktail...

I love getting to decorate the smallest of rooms...

I love celebrating with my community (Kwanzaa)...

I love spending time with the ones I love...

HAPPY HOLIDAYS...

AND MAY A LITTLE SMILE, CREATE A LOT OF SUNSHINE 

IN THE NEW YEAR!!!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 22

Wow wee!! I am so behind with this blog. But those of you reading that have kids know that finding time to do anything "not kid related" is very difficult. But here I sit at 12:30am writing my blog because I promised myself that I would see this to the end.

So let me catch you up a bit on my birthday celebrations. My last entry was Day 30 where I spent a relaxing evening with "The Man". Well, I think that peaceful evening near the fire sparked something in "The Man" because this is no longer my personal countdown, it has become his countdown. Since my last blog, I have woken up to cards, flowers and wonderful surprises.

Day 24 he gave me a word puzzle that was my clue to the days event. Soooo cute. We went downtown to the fashion district which is a spend thrifty womans paradise.

Day 23 I went to I Fly which is an indoor sky diving place. I am soooo glad I tried the indoor skydiving before I did the real thing. I was not feeling it. I'm a cheesy, smily, laughy type of person and none of that could be done in the air chamber without losing all the breath in my dag gone body. I felt like my cheeks were gonna fly off because the air pressure was so intense. But woo hoo for trying something new before I turn 40.

And here we are at Day22....an amazing day. I went to hang out with some girlfriends and when I returned home, there was jazz music playing and candles lit throughout the house. In the dining room there was an arrangement of cheese, crackers and an awesome array of exotic teas. Does this man know me or what?! I am a tea drinking fool. So we sipped tea, relaxed and then he enjoyed the sound of my snoring once I fell asleep half way thru our mini date. Ah, the simple things in life make me so happy.

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 32

This dag gone ear infection is messing up my countdown. I've been stuck in the house doing house-like pamper things cause when I go outside I feel like the girl in the plastic bubble. I'm walking on a lean because my balance is off and I am loud as heck because I CAN"T HEAR. But the countdown continues come rain or shine..right?
DAY 32: GET RID OF EVERY ITEM OF YOUR CLOTHING THAT DOESN'T LOOK GREAT ON YOU
Now this was a tuffy. This was one of those pampers that didn't feel pamper-like when I was doing it. You see, I love stuff(that's how my better half describes it). And I have a lot of "stuff"; especially in my closet. I believe that almost everything will come back in style, or it can be worn for a costume party or my kids might want it when they grow up, etc. etc. I HATE PARTING WITH MY CLOTHES!! And I take pride in knowing that I purchase things for a great price. In my closet right now I have about 20-30 vintage shirts that I bought from a costume warehouse for about 7 bucks for a bundle of about 100 pieces. Who the heck can pass up that deal!! I gave away tons and sold some at the flea market, so I basically got the stuff for free (one of my favorite words by the way).
Well that purchase was almost 10 years ago and I've accumulated 10 more years of "great deals". My closet is packed!!! So until I get my dream guest house that doubles as my walk in closet, it is time for some stuff to go.

Don't get scared by the picture...I didn't throw it all out. I'm turning 40 not turning crazy! I just took everything out so I could take inventory and organize. This is a big job. I have clothes every where. I didn't realize I had so much....okay, I'll say it....so much crap!! Am I really going to wear those leisure pants I bought from Lerners in 1993?! I can almost guarantee that I won't be wearing that midriff to any parent-teacher conferences. Why do I have my moms sequenced tops from the 80's...wait...I'm keeping those. They're cute!
So after a few hours of trying on over sized, undersized, out of fashion clothes...I finally tackled part of my closet.
Organized by style, on matching hangers and finger spaced. Boo-yah!!! So just 3 more sections to go in this closet.....then I move to my shoe closet . Help me Jesus!!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 35

$1.99! $1.99! That is all it took to make todays pamper day a success.

Day 35: Buy a dozen doughnut holes and don't share.

My daughter is an eater. She has a passionate love for food...at 2 years old. Not sharing my food with her is usually IMPOSSIBLE. So once the midday sleepiness fell over the house and all eyes were closed, I went on my mission for doughnut holes....ALONE. The reason why alone is in caps is because mama doesn't get too many ALONE moments. I had been running around with them all morning an they were on fire. They ran laps inside the bank and I had to apologize to a million people in Trader Joes because my kids kept running over everybody's feet with those silly little shopping carts. Who's dumb idea was that? To look at, they're cute. But function wise, a 2 year old turns into a bull in china shop with this thing. Once we got in the wine section, it was time to go because two buck chuck was about to be all over the floor. (And yes, I hear some of you saying, "well why did you give it to her?" Because I wanted a screamfree shopping experience. And, what?)

Unfortunately, out here in Southern California, there aren't any Dunkin Donut shops. (No freaking white castles either. They're killing me!) So I went to my local Yum Yum Donuts for their great variety of doughnut holes. Glazed and....and...and that was it. Really?! And I know the girl behind the counter thought I was a snob because I had the nerve to ask if they were fresh. I'm just saying. They were prepackaged in a plastic bag that was tied in a knot sitting on top of the counter. So I grabbed my pre-packaged doughnut holes, headed home and hid them on the highest shelf in the kitchen. And now that the children are asleep for the night, here I sit munching on my holes and sipping on some milk.....all by myself :-)

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 36

Once again, my pamper moment almost didn't happen today. Being the mother of two toddlers, finding free time is dang near impossible. But after bath time, bedtime and a late night conference call for my sorority, I am finally in the "me moment".

DAY 36th: Soothe and massage your tired feet with a hydrotherapeutic foot spa.

As I write this, I am soaking my feet in some lavender water while sipping on a glass of wine. Ahhhhh, this feels great. Sometimes I feel so guilty when I "sit down on the job". There is a mountain of laundry to do, bathrooms to clean and about an inch of dust staring at me on top of the entertainment center. Oh well!!! I am learning to accept the fact that the world will not crumble if I leave a dish in the sink. If I am going to take care of my family, I have got to take care of myself. And once again, I am doing so in a cost effective way!! I love being frugally free!!

So , now I must go and massage my feet with my Balinese Jasmine Oil from Cost Plus World Market (Thanks for the recommend, Kia :-) I am really milking this pampering thing and LOVING IT!!

Send me some ideas for out of the norm pamper projects, because the book that I'm using is about to have me line and organize every drawer in my house. Uh, no thank ya!

Countdown to my rebirth: Day 38

First off, let me start off by apologizing to Lorraine Bodger who is the author of the book "2001 Ways to Pamper Yourself"...not 500 ways like I stated in yesterdays blog. I guess if I am going to try my hand at this blogging thing I need to get my facts straight. oppsy...my bad!!Back to the matter at hand. So todays pamper item was slightly adjusted. It stated that I should "go to a romantic movie in the afternoon". Well I wasn't in the mood to see romance! So I went to see the excellent thought provoking film, "Mooz-lum", directed by Qasim Basir. Because the film is in limited theaters, I had to trek allllllll the way to Universal Studios to see it (From the West Valley to Universal City, CA is like Long Island to Queens in New York. Not far, but for some reason in LA I have gotten real lazy when it comes to having to drive somewhere.) So because I had to burn money on gas, I decided to park my car at the train station across the street from Universal and take the FREE shuttle up to the theatre where parking is 15 freaking dollars. Chi-ching! And since I have 39 things to do on a very teeny weeny budget, you best believe I had my home popped pop corn stashed in my purse. Shh don't tell.

So all it all it was a great day. I put the housework and the bills to the side and spent the afternoon at the movies just because. Life is good.