Flashback Friday

It's the beginning of a new year and thoughts of what this year has to bring my blog are exciting. I wanted to do a recap of my most popular posts of 2013, as a review for myself as well as to showcase some of my earlier work to my newest followers. I'm creating a short "Flashback" series to roll out some of my favorite posts from my first year because after going through my posts I realized that I talked about some great things! I didn't want to take away from any one area, so I'll break my posts up into different areas over time.

In the left hand sidebar under "Popular Posts" you can find my top 5 posts of all time. So, even though a few of these posts are my favorites too, I won't highlight them since you can go over and click on the any one of them at any time!

The posts people find most interesting are my hair posts. That makes my heart smile because hair is the main reason I blog!! I'll highlight these posts first!

A few of my favorite hair posts are:

1. A New Hairstyle
2. Hair Trial #2
3. Let's Straighten It Out
4. My Afro Is Back
5. Boring Straight Hair
6. What Does Being "Natural" Mean?
7. 14 and 18
8. Fierce Bun
9. Is My Hair Still Growing?!
10. Busy Hair
11. Hair Tuesday
12. The Monotony

I wanted to also take a few seconds to point out this March 18th post (This Computer Of Mine) because I thought it was awesome! I talked about my computer, how it was on my Christmas list (it really was on my list), how my issues with it hindered me from blogging like I wanted to, etc. This is an example of why I love blogging! I was able to look back at the post from 10 months ago and see that I'd been dealing with my sorry computer for a long time!! I also got to see that those issues continued throughout the year.

If you can't tell by now, I have a new computer!! FINALLY!! I gave the blog a slight facelift for the new year and for my new start!! I also created a Signature (which I started using Wednesday) and a new Afro Button:

 

2014 is my year for blog expansion and I'm serious about it!

Come back each week to check out some of my 2013 posts. Subscribe to my blog by any of the ways listed at the bottom of this post and keep up with my new posts. I promise you'll enjoy yourself here!!


  

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' ; Facebook ; Pinterest ; Instagram and by email (right sidebar)

NYE OOTD

I remembered how hard it was to find an outfit for New Year's Eve last year so I decided to start the search early this year. Even though I began early, I still had trouble. In this big metropolitan area, there were no dresses to be found. I'd come to the conclusion that most stores weren't going to put out NYE dresses until after Christmas.

The reason I was able to start my search so early was because I ran across this beautiful dress on Christin Armstrong's IG. I had to have it!! It helped me to know that I wanted something sparkly and long sleeved. I wanted shoes to accent my dress (whatever dress I found) but I also wanted closed-toe shoes because I knew it would be cold!! After going to at least 20-30 stores over the course of a few weeks, here's what I was able to put together:

The Dynamic Duo

Dress: Forever 21   Shoes: Charlotte Russe   Accessories: Charlotte Russe Necklace, Tiffany Bracelet Michael Kors Watch   Arm Candy: My handsome boyfriend! :-)   My Thoughts, Dress: I really was looking to stay away from black this years as I wore it last year (see here, picture on the right). I'm also still working towards being more stylish. It's been a task trying to find that style between young adult and older women's fashion! It either looks too young or looks too old. With that being the case, Forever 21 wasn't on the top of my list for places to look. This dress was actually the last one in the store and I wasn't going to buy it because it looked damaged (up close) but I liked the dress so much that I couldn't let it slip out of my hands. I literally walked into 20 to 30 stores y'all! It was no fun. I also looked online, but had no luck there either. (This didn't phase me because I'm a little old fashioned in that I really prefer to try my clothes on before deciding to buy.)  

My Thoughts, Shoes: After going through all I had to go through to find a dress, I was not excited about having to do the same to find shoes! Charlotte Russe was the first place I looked for shoes and I stumbled onto these beauties immediately. As soon as I tried them on, I fell in love. The thing is, they didn't have my size!! They never do!! I'm sure size 9 is the most common woman's shoe size in America!! I also didn't want a sandal. I wanted to be able to wear tights and have my feet covered because I knew it would be a cold night! So, I searched in other stores with no luck. No shoes could compare to these! I called every Charlotte Russe close to me in NC (I was home for the holidays) but no store had the shoe. I didn't want to order it because I was afraid they wouldn't make it in time. After $20 (express shipping) and a trip to FedEx (because packages don't come to address just yet...smh), I was able to get them in time. I guess I can't really complain.

The outfit was perfect and I was told that I was the best looking woman in the ballroom that night. I'm inclined to believe that, even if it was my boyfriend that said it! LOL. I also can't wait to find another reason to wear this outfit!!

 

Follow Mi!

Twitter | Google+ | Instagram | Tumblr Facebook | Pinterest | Bloglovin' | StumbleUpon | Email Me

Holiday Salon Visit

Assessing My Damaged Hair

This post will be a painful post for me to type. Some might say that I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I'll let you decide.

Hair is what this blog is all about, so I thought it fitting for this to be the first real post of 2014. In my December Length Check post, I talked about the length of my hair post salon visit. I also made a reference to the trouble I thought I was having with my hair in The Curl Is Back and Straightening My Own Hair. My prognosis was right!! I was dealing with terrible split ends.

When I walked into the salon, I told my cosmetologist everything I thought was wrong. I also told her about all the itching my head was doing and about the split ends I knew I had...I just didn't know how bad they were. She told me that overall my hair looked good and I was doing a good job with it. My scalp looked good too so the only thing she could think would be the culprit of my itchy scalp was my move. I've been having trouble with dry skin lately. I'm not drinking enough water but aside from that I know the water here is different from the water in NC. One of my 2014 goals is to drink more water, so I hope to do better with my skin this year.

My split ends...smh. Well, there's nothing you can do to fix split ends except cut them. She told me the back of my hair was worse than the front. Here's my thing. I do a great job with my hair (overall). I know how to take care of it and maintain it so I can have length retention which is my ultimate goal. Yes, health is important too, but I'm shooting for healthy length. Haircuts don't help with length retention. That's going in the opposite direction. I've never been a fan of hair cuts. I don't even like trims, but I get them because I know it's "necessary".

Look at this picture to the right. You can tell my hair is suffering. I don't like the progress, or lack thereof, I've made.

I told my cosmetologist how I straightened my hair because I knew that was to blame. I was trying to simulate what she does when she dries my hair but I had gotten frustrated because it wasn't turning out like I knew it should. I hurried through it...pulling and yanking with the brush...knowing that it wasn't good for my hair. Working with the hair in the back of my head, always gives me the most trouble because I can't see that hair and trying to maneuver my arms and hands to handle that hair is always irritating. These are main reasons why I needed my boyfriend to help me through the job of flat ironing the hair because split ends is one thing but ruining the curl pattern is a completely different ball game.

I knew I'd have to get my hair cut going into the situation, so it wasn't a shock. I also learned that the split ends were a good part of the reason why my hair wouldn't curl like it should have when it was straight. She ended up cutting off about 1 to 1.5 inches of hair, mostly in the back. My feelings are still hurt from my visit because I had to cut off the growth I'd made in those two months between visits.

What I need to do:

1. Buy an ionic hair dryer with a concentrator attachment nozzle.

• Besides blow drying my hair with frustration, I was not doing the blow drying method properly. I was trying to blow dry my hair; brushing the hair from root to tip. That's NOT right. The first step is to use the nozzle to concentrate the air on my blow drying my roots first. I use a brush to brush the hair away, but I don't need to brush the hair all the way out from root to tip. After the roots are dried, I use the brush to gently comb through to the tips of my hair. I also don't need to apply direct heat. (This sounds more complicated than it is, but I visually have the method down pact.)

2. Ask for help.

• If I think things are going south, instead of blow drying with frustration, I should ask for help.

3. Do some protective styling to give my hair an opportunity to rest.

• I'm manipulating my hair every day. It's experienced most of the elements (rain, snow, sleet, very cold air, warm air, humidity, etc. - the weather's been crazy here!) since it's been damaged and I just want to give it a rest. I'm upset about the length I lost and I shake my head every time I look in the mirror. What makes it worse is that I still have some split ends left...that means more cutting! Who knows when I'll be able to get back to my salon. Best solution for that is to hide it from myself! I'm seriously thinking about getting a sew-in.

4. Length checks every other month.

• It's bad enough that I see my hair every day, but to do monthly length checks doesn't help either. I want to compare my hair to itself only when there's been significant gains made. I think checking every other month will help me see more dramatic growth.

5. Be healthier.

• I'm already working on drinking more water, but I also want to have a more routine eating schedule that includes healthier, heartier foods. I want to provide my body and my hair with the vitamins needed. I'm tired of the dry skin and I want to maximize hair growth as much as possible.

With my two year natural anniversary coming up at the end of this month, I hope to start this third year of my natural hair journey armed with as much knowledge and gumption to do what I need to do to reach my goal. I think I would have my hair reach down to my bra strap by my 2 year big chop anniversary. Not at all unattainable, but I've got to do a better job with taking care of my hair. I have 10 months to go, so let's keep our fingers crossed!!

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Google+ | Instagram Facebook | Pinterest  |  StumbleUpon | Email Me

My 1st Blogiversary!

Alright you guys!! January 1, 2014 was my blogiversary. I'm writing this post before Christmas, so I'm hoping by the actual date it posts that these things will have come to fruition!!

I hope to be making a computer purchase soon so I want to step up my blog game this year. Although I ran into many computer issues last year, I still learned quite a bit about blogging. I want to establish "my brand" more so I'm hoping to expand this year by trying new and more exciting things, at more than I did last year. I've gotten over some of the heebie-jeebies of putting myself out there for the world to see, now it's time to start making this thing work for me!

This will always by my personal space and I can always pick and choose what I share with whom but my main goal for the year is to work towards expansion. I want to reach more people, gain more readers, and have more fun! The main reason I started this blog was to document my hair journey and that will always be the main topic of my blog. I will also continue to discuss other topics as I see fit. If I find another niche, that'll be great too!

I have other goals for the new year that I hope to work towards and hopefully 2014 will be even better than 2013 was. I'm in a good space and I'd like to stay that way this year. I pray that God grants me at least one of my heart's desires and I promise to focus on being a better me.

We'll see how it all turns out. Be blessed everyone.

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' ; Facebook ; Pinterest ; Instagram and by email (right sidebar)

Happy New Year & Blogiversary!!

Happy New Year!!

It's January 1, 2014 and that means that it's also my blogiversary so....

Happy 1 Year Anniversary Just Mi!!

Since it is the New Year, I'm giving myself a break, but I will elaborate on my blogiversary soon so stay tuned!

Follow Mi!

Bloglovin' ; Facebook ; Pinterest ; Instagram and by email (right sidebar)