Friday, May 31, 2013

Flashback Friday

I wanted to share my Memorial Day Weekend. I had a blast and wish I could go back...hence Flashback Friday! Here's a small peek into my weekend....

First there was the Caribbean Festival at Linganore Winecellars. So my bf told me this is what we were doing for the day and I was like "Cool. I love reggae and I'm not opposed to testing different wines out, so this should be a nice little gathering attend." Little did we both know! This event/winery was in Mt. Airy, Maryland. Neither of us had ever been there, so we didn't know what to expect. Once we got off of the highway we had about a 20 mile drive of nothing but extreme winding roads and extreme hills. We were very close to West Virginia and could even see some mountains in the background. It was very rural yet so beautiful. In North Carolina there are plenty of roads that are draped by very vast fields, farm land, and trees as far as the eyes can see...but this was just different. Even though I'm a small city girl that craves the big city life...I thoroughly enjoy the countryside. Since the event was in such a secluded section of the world, I was thinking that it would be more of a small intimate gathering...WRONG! There had to be at least 50,000 people there (AT LEAST!!). I was unable to capture the masses in photograph, but there were cars on every hillside! I was amazed to see that so many people navigated their way through winding road after winding road to find that tiny corner of the world, but it was definitely worth it!

The next day, since it was Memorial Day weekend, we thought it was fitting to visit the monuments. Here's the route we took around the National Mall and the monuments/sites we visited.









It was such a beautiful day so we did a good amount of walking! Here's a small compilation of the walk....















During that walk we made sure to visit some of the war monuments. Of course I had to get another picture of the NC column at the World War II Monument. It was decorated so nicely, I couldn't resist! Here's that compilation:











I hope you enjoyed the peek. I see a variety of interesting activities to come in my future...so stay tuned!!

;-)


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Thursday, May 30, 2013

50 Questions To Free Your Mind, Part 3

Here's part three of the series! Looks like I'm going to have to slow down with the questions. It looks as if Kalyn (at Life As I Pretend To Know It) is only doing these monthly!

11. You're having lunch with three people you respect and admire. 
They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. 
The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
I don't think the people I admire would do such a thing. However, if this were to happen, I would definitely let them all know they were being unfair and I would excuse myself from lunch. I have a very hard time with dealing with such nonsense. It's a waste of time. Also, I can be an extreme introvert at times, so I don't see myself having lunch with too many people I don't really know anyway! LOL.


12. If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
Do all you can with what you have so you can enjoy life!


13. Would break the law to save a loved one?
It would definitely depend on what was going on. If they got themselves into some kind of trouble, I might have to think about it. But if something is going on that was out of their control and I could save their life, of course I would.


14. Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
 Of course I have. The first example that comes to mind is my natural journey. When going natural first became popular again, my old hair stylist and I would talk about the craze. I don't know if I would go so far as to say I thought it was insanity, because I didn't, but I KNEW I was never going to do it!! I got to the point where I was so tired of going through the cycle with my hair (see here), that I could then understand what going natural could mean for me and my hair. Definitely a lot of creativity going on now! LOL



15. What's something you know you do differently than most people?
Well, while most people like to dip their french fries in ketchup...I like to dip mine in applesauce. Something about that sweet and salty combination that does it for me.




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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Cute OOTD

I'm in the process of trying to update my wardrobe. I've been pulling ideas from different avenues as to what's in and what's not. Style has definitely taken a different turn than what I'm used to, so for some advice I asked my sister to help me out. I figured, she's in the college world and sees fashion more than I do by sitting in an office 40 hours a week. This was a style inspired by some tips she gave me.












Earrings: Beauty World (local beauty supply store)
Necklace: Beauty World
Shirt: Charlotte Russe
Cami: Old Navy
Bracelet: Tiffany
Watch: Michael Kors
Jeans: I can't remember!! (but if I had to say, I'd guess Rainbow...lol)
Shoes: Payless Shoes












I really liked this shirt but what I've found is that the clothes that I buy from the more youthful stores (such as Charlotte Russe, Forever 21, etc.) don't have as much longevity. So, the goal is to update my wardrobe, but to search for more quality pieces. I feel like I need to get rid of at least 85% of my wardrobe, so I will have to tackle this task one piece at a time!!

This one gets a thumbs up, don't ya think?

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

May '13 Length Check

16 Months Natural

Here's my May Length Check!!

April 29 = 65 weeks natural, 24 weeks since the BC

 

May 28 = 69 weeks natural, 28 weeks since the BC

My hair is doing well. It's definitely healthy and thick!! My 'fro is a lot bigger than it is in both of these pictures, but it shrinks in size whenever I get my hair styled at the salon (due to having to set my hair under the dryer). I'm still having trouble finding styles I like to get me through the "not enough hang-time" stage, but that's a post for another time!!


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Friday, May 24, 2013

14 and 18

Protective Styles

I decided to combine these two pictures to showcase some protective hairstyles I've used along my journey. Protective hairstyles are designed to protect your hair from the Earth's elements and other things that can damage your hair (wind, extreme heat, extreme cold, chaffing your clothes, etc.). It's been a minute since I've had a protective style, but I definitely feel one coming on...and soon!

May 14 - Beautiful Braids
Wearing a wig as a protective styleThis is an example of improvisation. I was in my best friends wedding and the plan was to get my hair braided so I could wear a braid out for the main event. Since I wanted the braid out to be super fresh, I got my hair braided on Tuesday and kept it braided up until that Saturday. I had been wearing the wig on top of the braids because I thought this gave me a fancier look...and it was a little more presentable and professional...for work. Everyone loved the wig look so much that I decided to wear it for the wedding!! It turned out great! Both the braids and the braids with the wig would be considered protective styles. Nobody knew this hair was a wig. When people would ask me what I did to my hair, I gladly told them it was a wig. I have no shame in wearing wigs. I used to use them as accessory pieces and would wear them for different occasions. I thought it was fun to switch styles up without having to manipulate my hair. Even though it works for some, I wore the wig over the cornrows because I just don't see myself walking around with cornrows (due to my personal preference).

May 18 - Protective Style
I actually wrote about these braids in a previous post. To make a long story short, I got this style after having had a style that required a lot of maintenance at night. (See what style made me do it here!!) I wore this until it started frizzing out, which was about a week. My hair is really soft and doesn't exactly hold styles for a long amount of time. It was cute while it lasted.

I need some ideas for my next protective style. Any suggestions??


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Thursday, May 23, 2013

50 Questions To Free Your Mind, Part 2

If you haven't figured it out, let me make an announcement...lol. I will be doing 5 questions from the 50 Questions To Free Your Mind series. If you follow Kalyn at Life As I Pretend To Know It then you know what this is about! I can only go as far as she does and right now she's only gotten to number 20. I will continue to try and answer 5 questions per week until I catch up with her! Here's part two....

6. If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
I talked about what my dream job would be in my Liebster Award post...I will use the same answer here!!

7. Are you doing what you believe in or are you settling for what you're doing?
I would say I'm settling for what I'm doing. I can answer this question for my personal life and I can answer it for my work life. I'll answer this for my work life. I work for county government. There's always somebody higher up the chain making ALL the decisions. Anybody who works for any type of government (or works period) knows exactly what I mean. Because I like paychecks and paying bills on time...I do what you have to do. This is a prime example of why I answered number 5, here, the way I did. And this is not to say that everything I do is something I don't believe in because there are plenty of days when I'm very proud of the work I do. Then there are the other days....

8. If the average human life was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
My knee jerk reaction answer would be to say...go to school for something I could have made good money doing coming out of undergrad; traveled more; and gotten married earlier (because if everybody's only living until 40, I'm sure they're ready to settle down a little earlier than they do now! LOL). This question is a bit complex though. If we're only living until 40, does it still take 13 years to graduate from high school; 4 years to graduate from college, etc.?? Even then, would school be necessary since you aren't living long enough to reap benefits from it. You know, student loans can be stretched out for like 30 years these days! I guess the point of this is to get to the heart of what you really want out of life. I can answer that - relationship with God, family, friends, love and fun companionship, traveling, a carefree lifestyle, happiness...and the list can go on and on. I don't need a shorter life to realize that or to obtain those things.

9. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
Since I've been an adult, living on my own, and taking care of my self...I feel I've had about 90% control over the course my life has taken. There were a few things I felt I had little control over, but they were very minimal. Some of those things had great impact on the decisions I made henceforth, so those things definitely steered my life in a direction I thought it wouldn't be going in, but I don't necessarily feel that's a bad thing!

10. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
There is also two ways to answer this question too - work life versus personal life. I believe I'm a person who's more interested in (rather than worried about) doing things right. I like to follow rules, instructions, and schedules to a T. I feel like the two of these things kind of go hand in hand. In my personal life, doing things right for me would be doing the right things...for the most part. I mean, nobody is perfect...and who's out there judging what's right and wrong for everybody. That's God's job! In my work life, we HAVE TO follow rules, but if you read question 7 (which references question 5), then you can understand how this is not always the case!

So there you have it; installment two of my 10 part series! I hope you enjoyed this brief taste of mind freedom!! :-)


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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Beach Hair

My little sister got married this weekend y'all (*tear*...and a great big congrats to her) but that's not exactly what this post is about! I don't know what's been going on with the weather lately, but it's been all over the place like a roller coaster. One day it's super hot and sunny, the next day it's cold, and the very next day it's raining cats and dogs! It's hard to prepare outfits for the week let alone figure out what to do with my hair!!
Cute, right? (I'll be doing an OOTD on this next week!)

To make things easier on myself, since I usually don't have a lot of time, I've been wearing different variations of an afro. This would be cool if the weather would pick a weather condition and stick with it, but nooooo...

Prime Example: Last Friday! It was a very hot day, so me and the bf got up and out, bright and early, to play some miniature golf. To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, let's look at some temperatures. The high for last Monday was 64...the high on Friday was 90 degrees!! It goes without saying that it was an extremely hot day to be playing mini golf!! However, I got cute and Afro'd my hair for the day and everything went as planned...let's have a look see....

BEACH HAIR!!

So, I'm thinking I'll just do the same thing to my hair for the wedding tomorrow. I was wrong!! It rained that morning plus we were at the beach, so it was moisture in the air times 2!! My afro shrunk so much, it wasn't even funny :-/ (take a look at the picture on your left)  LOL!

Can you tell the difference?? This just tells me that I have to do something different with my hair when it's moist outside...whether it's raining or I'm at the beach...because shrinkage is real!!

I don't exactly know what my solution will be, however...I'm curious. What do you do with your hair when there's so much moisture in the air?!?

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Tuesday, May 21, 2013

5. Curl Friend

Shout out to my best friend, IRL, Nicole (at Pharr Away...check her out)! We started this journey along the same time so we've relied on one another along the way. We share great feedback and give each other suggestions. We vent about all the negative things associated with natural hair, but we also try to keep one another encouraged (although one of us has threatened to go back to the cream on more than one occasion...*AHEM*).


Natural hair...another thing on the list that keeps us connected!

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Monday, May 20, 2013

Graduation OOTD

It's been soooooo long since I've done an outfit of the day post, but I've gotten a lot of compliments on this outfit, so I thought what better thing to do than highlight it in a blog post?!




Earrings: Beauty World (local beauty supply store)
Necklace: Beauty World
Dress: Belk - for about $12 (bargain shopper)
Belt: came off of a skirt I got from Ross
Shoes: Payless, American Eagle (bought them during the winter...they were either $7 or $12, can't remember)
Bracelet & Watch: I forgot to pack them for the trip *very sad face* - I felt naked the whole weekend!



I wore this for an outside graduation. It was very comfortable. However, The Weather Channel has been a little off with its weather predictions lately and it turned out to be a little warmer than we were expecting (switching to AccuWeather as we speak!). Either way, It was a great pick for the occasion!

 


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Friday, May 17, 2013

Graduation Weekend

Last weekend, two special people graduated. I wanted to share my experience, so I figured I would post a few pictures!

Congrats to my best friend for graduating Magna Cum Laude from Campbell University, Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law! We graduated from high school together; went on to be roommates freshmen year in college, and graduated from undergrad together!! I am so very proud of her, with her smart self!!


Also, I would like to shout out so my little sister for graduating from my Alma Mater...UNC-Chapel Hill, the greatest university in the land...and going on to follow in my footsteps by attending the same grad school I did!! She graduated with distinction based on her GPA (3.6...) with a BS in Business Administration. I did well in high school and in college, but I definitely had to learn a lot of things along the way through first hand experience. I didn't want her to have to learn the hard way, so I instilled in her as much as I could "the real deal" about school. Needless to say, I was sure she was on the right path once she graduated as valedictorian from high school!! I am more than proud of her, with her genius self!!
 

Congratulations to both of these ladies. I wish you both the best during this next step in your lives. I'm sure neither of you will disappoint!!

Love you both!

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Thursday, May 16, 2013

9. Fierce Bun

Today's IG picture is fierce bun. This was the first protective style I ever got and I loved it!! I got so many compliments on it. I was even in the local newspaper with this hair. I would definitely say it was a hit!


Cute...I know!! :-)


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Wednesday, May 15, 2013

50 Questions To Free Your Mind

You all know that I love prompts. I love answering questions that help me look back into time, think deeper about myself, or gives me a chance to step outside of myself. I follow Kalyn at Life As I Pretend To Know It and she's in the middle of doing a 50 Questions To Free You Mind Series. I thought these were wonderful questions and wanted to answer and share!! Here are the first 5 questions. (Also, go check out Kalyn's blog!)

1. How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?
This is an interesting question. When people see me, they don't know how old I am. Before I put on weight last year, people would tell me that they thought I was still in high school, for Pete's sake! A straw had to be drawn!! (Not that I don't take it as a compliment every time people think I'm younger than I am...I know this will be more awesome as I get older) Now it's a year and some change later and I'm a few pounds heavier. The age I get the most is 22. So, if I didn't know me and saw me out on the town, I'd probably say I was 21 or 22.

2. Which is worse, failing or never trying?
This is one of those questions with an obvious answer. Failure hurts. It can create an unhealthy wave of thoughts that can be very damaging if you're not prepared for it. However, failure also helps us grow. If you try and fail, you can learn what you've done wrong, evaluate, and try again. If you fail and it's too devastating, you can always change your mind about how much the outcome means to you and not try again. Failure opens your eyes to more options than not trying does.

3. If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don't like and like so many things we don't do?
Well, life is one big lesson. You have to do things you don't like. That's truly just a part of life. As far as why we like so many things we don't do...that's a good question. We all dream. Fear plays a big part in why some dreams end up not happening. Some times when we dream we don't think it's a real possibility to have the things we dream about. We can get caught up in wishing so much that we don't take the steps to actually do some of these things. There may be a real lack...like lack of money or time...and it ties your hands, but even then, is it something you can't work towards? Life is a puzzle that just has to be figured out. You have to play to the best of your ability with what you have. Not everyone has the luxury of being able to devote as much of ourselves to the things we wish we could...and if we did...some might find that maybe it's not that hard to do what you like! (If that makes sense :-)

4. When it's all said and done, will you have said more than you've done?
Well...honestly, I don't know. My knee jerk reactions is to say no. nobody wants to be known as the one who says more than they do, but I've said some pretty grand things that just haven't come to pass. At one point, I was unhappy in my field of study and wanted to go back to school. I thought of many things I wanted to and researched them all, only to decide to better myself in my field to be more marketable for advancement. Does it count that I said I wanted to go back to school for pharmacy, and for school counseling, and for PA school and never did it?? These were real possibilities. Does it matter that despite saying those things, I ended up making a decision that gave me a better professional career? I'm saying that to say, yes, I say things I might not necessarily do and that doesn't make it a bad thing. I think I accomplish a lot of things I say I'm going to do. No one can truly do every single thing they say they will. Some of the ideas we throw out there are for brainstorming purposes only. So, if that makes me somebody that says more than they do...so be it!

5. What is the one thing you'd most like to change about the world.
Politics!!! Not politics as a governing body, because of course we all need to be "governed", but politics as a game! I don't get as involved in politics because I feel it's a waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I work for the government so I keep up with the bare bones of things, but I've learned...in my short time on this Earth...that there's always somebody behind the scenes pulling the strings. There are rules in place, but there is always "ways" around the rules...and THAT is what I don't like.


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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

4. Go-To Style

My go-to style is definitely the two strand twist styles. I use this style so much because it's very easy to set at night. I do 7 plaits in anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes. ALSO...another go-to style for me is the flower. I usually throw a flower in my hair as eye candy...to break up the monotony that is all this curly hair atop my head.


I'm trying to move away from using the flowers so much, thought. Finding flower hair accessories that aren't too kiddie-looking, fluorescent, or super huge is becoming harder. Plus, somebody told me that it looked silly...lol. Soooo, to kill two birds with one stone...I'm starting to just untwist my hair and go.

What do you all think??


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Monday, May 13, 2013

Green Bean Casserole

I super love Green Bean Casserole. Green Bean Casserole is the first casserole dish I ever taught myself how to cook. I do it so effortlessly now and it never rarely seems to disappoint. I decided to share my recipe, although you can get it off of just about any french fried onion canister...I like to spice mine up with a special ingredient.

Unlike kale, I've had a chance to perfect this recipe. I've found that it's best not to deviate from this recipe in ANY WAY. It may taste okay if you switch some ingredients out for other ones, but I like it just the way I do it.

Ingredients:
1 can of Cream of Mushroom
3/4 cup Milk
French Fried Onions
2 cans of French Style Green Beans
Soy Sauce to taste
Pepper to taste

Steps:
1. Pour the cream of mushroom into a bowl.
2. Add enough soy sauce to turn the cream of mushroom a light brown color.
3. Add a couple of shakes of pepper then add milk.
4. Pour all the green bean juice (lol...water) out of the can before adding the beans to the bowl and stir.
5. Add about 2/3 of the french friend onions.
6. Put in a casserole dish (I use a 9.5 in round casserole/pie dish but you can use whatever you have).
7. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins (or longer if you'd like; how I feel determines how long I bake it).
8. Remove from the oven and stir then add the remaining french fried onions to the top of the casserole.
9. Bake for 5 additional minutes (or as long as you think it needs) and...voila!

I've done this enough times to eye a lot of this stuff, but you may want to stick to the recipe the first couple of times you do it. It's very delicious!! I could eat this stuff every single week! So, although I've cooked this meal casserole dish about three times since deciding to post about it, I've never taken a picture of the whole dish itself. Here, however, is a picture of it on my plate.

I scooped the casserole out of the dish to put it in the plate
so all of the french fried onions are on the bottom. :-/

I made this for my family this weekend during my sister's graduation cookout and it was a hit!! We ate it ALL! 

Try this recipe and let me know how it goes!! Happy Cooking!


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Sunday, May 12, 2013

Happy Mother's Day

I wanted to send a special shout out to my Mom. She's done a lot for me over the years and I am truly grateful. Words can't express...So, on this day, I want to wish her, my Grandma, sisters, aunts, cousins, and friends a very happy Mother's Day.



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Friday, May 10, 2013

My Life In 275 Words Or Less

What can I say? I love my life and I’m glad God placed me on this Earth to live a life where I’m able to impact others. I grew up in eastern NC. It's pretty rural hence my longing for the "big city life"! I went to college then grad school and I’m now working in my field of study. Family and friends play a major role in my life right now, but I soon hope to have a family of my own. That about sums up where I am at this moment in my life. My book’s been filled up to now with all the things I was “supposed to do” so I’m “filling time” until God sees fit to bless me with movement into my next chapter. “Life ain’t been no crystal stair...”, which I'm sure most of us could say, but I’m at a point where I’m able to do what I want when I want...and yes that includes having fun too. You know that saying “Live. Laugh. Love.”? I try my best to incorporate that into my life as much as possible..all the while loving and enjoying the people closest to me. If someone were to ask me if I thought I'd been successful up to this point, I'd say, “Yes, if I must say so myself!” However, there’s always room for growth. I’m happy and healthy by the grace of God and I know my future is GREAT! So I’m looking forward to it and will continue to pray to Him alone who knows the plans He has for me (Jeremiah 29:11).


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Thursday, May 9, 2013

2. Transitions/Big Chop

Some of my transition hair styles (on the top row)...there were soo many, but I could only choose a few!
On the second row there is 1. My night before the big chop pic (It had been straightened), 2. All my relaxed ends on the floor, and 3. My post big chop hairstyle (you can see the excitement in my face)

 
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Wednesday, May 8, 2013

1. Before The Journey

A trip down memory lane
My relaxed hair

 
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Tuesday, May 7, 2013

So, Kale Got The Best of Me...I Got Something For That!!

Spinach!! That's right, spinach.

I couldn't get the kale to do right, so one of my bloggers suggested spinach. A light bulb went off in my head. Before I ran across kale, I kept saying I would give spinach a try.

I did!

I went and bought a very small can of it! LOL...and it was decent, but I wanted to be able do it the right way. I got swept up into work and personal life things, so I forgot about it. Thank goodness for my Mi-ettes!

I gave spinach a whirl!! I bought a big bundle of spinach and googled a recipe. Guess what pops up?! The same recipe I used the first time I cooked kale. I was very, very skeptical but I told myself to go for it. This was a totally different green from kale, so I didn't want that to stop me.

I had a lazy night and cooked hamburger helper...don't let
the pic fool you...that hamburger helper was dabomb.com!
Try it (Patty Melt)!
For the steps to cook it, click here (see Attempt #1). The only thing I didn't mention was I had to cut the stems off of both the kale and spinach. Also time frames were different. After I put the spinach  in the pot with the oil and garlic and coated all the leaves, I let it cook until the leaves were wilted. Then I drained the remaining juice from the pot, sprinkled it with oil, and salted it to taste...resulting in what you see to the right! It was on point too!! Very, very tasty. I tend to like my greens very salty, but if I'm trying to be healthy...I'm definitely trying to stay away from too much salt! My sister and I have to fuss at my mom about the ridiculous amounts of salt she consumes.

I guess I should mention this as well. Anytime a recipe calls for garlic, I use minced garlic (in extra virgin olive oil), which comes in a jar. I think this garlic tends to have more of a citrus-y taste which can affect the flavor of some foods. With this recipe it definitely did. The next night, I cooked spinach again but this time I used garlic powder instead. It was much better. I'll get brave one of these days and actually try to cut a clove of garlic, but for now...I'll stick with what I have.

So, with all that being said...spinach was a hit. I really appreciate all the suggestions from the kale post and I'm very much looking forward to trying more new things and sharing it with you all!!


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Monday, May 6, 2013

May Natural Hair Challenge

I follow teamnatural_ (and a few other natural hair profiles) on Instagram. I like looking at other naturalistas for inspiration of all kinds, but mostly for hairstyle ideas. I've even used a few hairstyles from these profiles. This month ohcurl (a profile I found through teamnatural_) is doing a May Natural Hair Challenge:


Now, I've tried photo-a-day challenges before and I've never made it through a whole month. I think these things can be pretty difficult and I'm someone who loves to take pictures! However, I'm super excited about this one!! I love things that help me reflect or chronicle my Natural Hair Journey. Looking at this challenge, I can tell it may be a little tough, but it's my goal to make it all the way through. So far so good! 

When you do this challenge, you're supposed to "#ohcurl" so they can share your picture with their followers...but in order to do that you have to have a public profile. I'm not comfortable with public profiles. Those of you that follow me on Instagram can attest to that!! I'm not sure if I'll ever get to the point where I'm comfortable with being more public than I already am, but I figured I could at least share a few of my favorites with you all, especially on days I don't have posts. The days may not correspond to what the actual date is, as I will randomly post these throughout the month, but if there's a certain day you're interested in seeing, let me know (or just follow me on Instagram @ curlymilah)!

Here goes...I hope you enjoy!

May 6. Blue


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Sunday, May 5, 2013

Silent Sunday...Sort Of

Confession: Whenever I don't feel like doing anything to my hair, I wear a straight Afro! then I walk around feeling retro all day...lol.


Peace and Good Blessings this Sunday!!
 
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Thursday, May 2, 2013

What In The Kale Is Going On?!

I'm slowly trying to transition my menu into a healthier version of itself. I'm not going on health binge like everyone else around me, but the people I love are eating healthier, so it's important for me to be able to provide healthy meals.

My best friend cooked some kale recently for dinner and I fell in love with it. It tasted so much like mustard greens and I  LOVE mustard greens. It was her first time cooking it, so there were improvements to be made, but I decided to take my own stab at it.

ATTEMPT #1
I went to the grocery store, bought the kale and was ready to go! I was tempted to buy a bag of pre-cut kale, because it would have been much easier to just open a bag, wash it, and pour it in the pan. But the cost was what changed my mind. Buying bundles was much cheaper. So, I got home googled a recipe for how to "sauté" kale, prepped my kale, and got going. Here are the steps I followed:
  • Sauté garlic in oil until the garlic is soft
  • Add 1/2 a cup of water
  • Add the kale to the pot and coat the leaves
  • Cover the pot and let it cook for 5 to 15 minutes (I chose to let it cook for 5 minutes because I only had a small amount of kale)
I followed all the instructions so I thought everything would work out...wrong! Wrong!! Lol. I was so busy cooking the other food and washing dishes so I wouldn't have to do it later that I got distracted. I began to smell something burning. Really? Burning?!? I check the pot of kale and it had burned so badly that it was burnt black and stuck to the bottom of the pot. IT HADN'T EVEN BEEN FIVE MINUTES YET!! I think I went wrong in two places - I used a metal pot and the heat was on a medium-high setting.
 
I was going to say forget it and eat my fish and rice without the kale, but I really wanted kale that night so I gave it another try. This time I used a non-stick pot and I did not take my eyes off of it. I cooked it, but it turned out really tough and very bland BUT here's what it looked like:

Before After

Don't get me wrong. It tasted okay after I added salt, but I want to be able to cook it so that when it goes from the pot to my plate, it's a complete product.

ATTEMPT #2
I was determined to redeem my name because I think I'm a decent cook. I was not about to let kale take me out of the cooking game. This time I tried to boil it. I thought this should be simple enough. Here are the steps I took:
  • Fry bacon in the pot (for seasoning)
  • Add water
  • Add salt
  • Add kale
  • Boil

Simple enough, right?! When I googled a recipe for this, the time span was the same...about 5 to 15 minutes. I tasted it at 5 minutes and it was tough. I tasted it at 15 minutes and it tasted just like it did at 5 minutes. I was so discouraged. I let it cook for 10 more minutes and it still wasn't tender. It was past time for me to eat, so I turned the stove off and called it a night. I didn't even eat the kale with my dinner. When I reheated the leftovers, it was more tender that it was the night I cooked it. However, my goal is to get it tender the very first night I cook it.
 
I told my mom of these fiascos and she told me to try the first way again, but cook it on a lower heat setting (and I will also use a non-stick pot).
 
Please, Mi-ettes, give me some pointers you might have for cooking kale (or any type of greens - collards, mustard greens, etc.). I'm very interested to hear ways that have been successful for others.
 
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