Friday, January 31, 2014

Another Anniversary (& A Miscalculation!)

First of all, let me say that I feel so bad!! I mistyped some info in one of my earlier posts this week that I thought was right at the time. I was going through some older posts and ran across this post from last year. So, let me clarify, I've been a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. for FIVE YEARS...not four! LOL. I definitely charge this one to my head because I've had a lot going on and getting these posts out every other day hasn't been an easy task. BUT!! My start date was in the post (January 25th, 2009) and nobody said anything!! So...I blame you guys for not pointing it out! :-) Just kidding. I keep forgetting it's 2014 because time is flying by just that fast! Look, it's already the last day of January for Pete's sake!

Now that that's settled.... Yesterday was my 2nd Naturalversary (and I made sure to calculate it right this time). I had my last relaxer on January 30th, 2012!!
  • I told my AWESOME story last year in Do You Know What Today Is?.
  • Recently, in my One Year Post BC post, I shared three pointers about my natural hair journey
  • And then in my Holiday Salon Visit post, I talked about some of the pot holes I've hit recently in regards to my hair, steps I hope to take to get back on track, and goals I hope to reach this year with my hair.
A few updates:
  1. I've decided to do length checks every other month instead of monthly this year and because of that I don't have a length check for you today.
  2. I still waiver back and forth about having to do my own hair. Some days I'm all for it, other days I'm not. I mentioned that I wanted a sew-in and now I'm not even sure if I still want to do that. I've had some extra time on my hands because of snow and administrative closings at work, so I've tried some different things with my hair during that time. Because those things turned out well, I'm encouraged...TODAY! Lol. I know this will soon fade as the time comes, again and again, to wash my hair or when I run out of things to try with my hair. If I decide to get the sew-in, I really want to have my hair covered for about 4 to 6 months. If that's the case, I need to get on the ball! I've got some decisions to make.
  3. I think I might be to the point where I'm ready to say cut all the split ends off and I'll just go from there. People do second big chops all the time. I'm not saying I'm going to go as far as doing a second big chop because I don't truly know how damaged my hair is. It's one thing for me to say cut it now...but once the hair is gone it's gone...and who's to say that cutting all the split ends will solve the problem? Cutting it may create even more split ends...so I'm still contemplating. Plus, my hair's in a shedding stage right now. It sheds so much it would probably mat under the sew-in...LOL...jk!
  4. Another reason I'm unsure about getting a sew-in is because I FINALLY signed up for the curlBOX. It's so exclusive now that there's a closed VIP list you have to get on to get the box. I just so happened to get encouraged about getting a box around the time they opened the list. These boxes will allow me to try some new items without paying an arm and a leg for it. I get my first box next month and I'm anxious and curious to try it out.
Am I happy with the progress I've made after two years, of course I am. I never thought I would go natural; it wasn't in the cards for me. I was looking at some old videos last night of my relaxed hair right before I went natural and it was soooooo thin! I'm very glad to have made the decision to work towards healthier hair. Two years is a long time and I'm grateful to have made it this far.

Could I be happier, of course. I miss my cosme and doing hair isn't one of those things that comes natural to me. I've never been "da bomb" at doing hair...whether it was on somebody else's head or my own. It's a lot of work, but I'm still committed and I will stay committed until I see the results I want to see!!

So, Happy 2 Year Naturalversary to me!!!

AND! 

Only a few days left to enter the Valentine's Day Cash Giveway for your chance to win $350!! Eight days and counting...so hurry!! :-)

It's the weekend, ENJOY!


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Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Potato Bites & Shrimp Scampi

Between snow days, weekends, and broken water pipes at work...I've had a lot of extra time of my hands lately. With that time I decided to dive into a few of Recipes I've pinned on My Pinterest Page!! I want to get away from just pinning recipes and actually trying them! The thing is some times I get so caught up in getting a task done, like cooking and doing my hair, that I forget to take pictures!! So, bear with me in that area.

The first recipe I tried was a few weeks ago. I have no pictures for the first recipe so I'll speak very shortly on it. The side dish I made was Cheesy Bacon Potato Bites. Two things I'll say about this recipe is that for one, it was very tasty but like most things I try to cook for the first time, I could have seasoned the potatoes a little more. Secondly, the recipe called for 3 whole potatoes and I used 7 (because I love potatoes so much I didn't think 3 would be enough). I should have stuck to the recipe!! There were so many leftover potatoes that we couldn't eat them all...LOL. Overall it was a very good recipe and I would recommend it.

The next recipe I tried was shrimp scampi which was inspired by this Pinterest recipe. Here are the steps I took to make this scrumptious entree:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
  2. Line a pan with aluminum foil and melt a stick of butter on the pan in the oven
  3. Slice one lemon (if you'd like a little citrus taste) and place the slices on in the melted butter on the pan
  4. Peel the shrimp (which had already been deveined) and rinse
  5. The recipe called for Italian seasoning, but I didn't particularly like Italian seasoning. Instead I used McCormick's Garlic Butter Shrimp Scampi Mix and coated the shrimp in this mix before laying them on the pan amongst the butter and lemon slices
  6. Put the shrimp in the oven and bake at 350 for 15 minutes
I guess I was so hungry I forgot to take an after picture but this recipe turned out well! I ate the shrimp over a bed of rice. With the shrimp I tried another recipe that I'll write a post about later, so stay tuned!!

ALSO! 

Don't forget to enter the Valentine's Day Cash Giveway for your chance to win $350!! There are only 10 days left! $350 could make for a wonderful Valentine's Day! :-)

Have a great Wednesday folks!


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Monday, January 27, 2014

5th AKAversary

This post was originally dated for Saturday but I joined the Valentine's Day Cash Giveaway which started Saturday so I didn't not want one post to outshine the other. Go and enter the Valentine's Day Cash Giveaway...that is, only if you're interested in winning $350...lol!!

On January 25th, 2009 I joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.


I've accomplished many things and touched many lives through the work I've done with the work of the Sorority. Don't get me wrong, I touch lives with the type of work I do every single day, but I was able to give back to the community and the Sorority that gave me so much and that was a great feeling!! Saturday we celebrated our 4th Anniversary. Although now I'm farther away from my line sisters and were all a little more spread out making it impossible to do our annual gathering, we are always in each others hearts!!

Happy 5th AKAversary F.I.O!!
*I made a small miscalculation which has now been fixed...I blame you!! JK :-)

Happy Monday everyone and don't forget to enter the $350 Cash Giveaway!!
Have a great week! :-)


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Saturday, January 25, 2014

Valentine's Day Cash Giveaway!

New Video Posted!! Check it out!: C.Bake.Presents FlightSchoolFitness

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Friday, January 24, 2014

Stretched Twists

How I Avoid Shrinkage!

I recently joined Twitter!! I want to build my following so Fridays will become Follow Me Friday where I showcase one of my accounts to follow. Today, of course, will be Twitter!


I had so many compliments and questions about the stretched twist out I did a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to take pictures the second time around so I could show the technique. In my post, The Curl Is Back, I showed the products I used to accomplish the finished look. This post will focus on the technique, specifically the stretching part.

Here are pictures with the descriptions of what what's going on.

The steps to take when washing natural hair 1. Pre wash
2. Shampoo
3. Before detangling with conditioner
4. Sectioned hair ready to detangle
5. After detangling
6. Cover with shower cap
7. Cover shower cap with satin-lined shower cap and let sit for about 30 minutes
8. Wash conditioner out

1. I t-shirt dried my hair
2. Pat my hair as dry as I could
3. Twisted my hair into medium sized sections
4. Back view of the twists
5. Top view of the twists
6. Stretched the twists and bobby pinned them to my head
7. Side view of stretched twists
8. Top view of stretched twists






1. These are my dried stretched twists
2. A side view
3. A top and back view
4. The twist unpinned
5. Side view
6. Untwisted twists and finished product






These twists turned out ok. They weren't as good as the first stretched twists I did, but isn't that usually how things work when you try to replicate them?! As for now, I've finally washed my hair and decided to try the flexi rod set this time around. Stay tuned for a post about that.

Also, come back tomorrow for the
Valentine's Day Cash Giveaway!!!
Trust me, you don't want to miss out on this! :-)

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