3rd Annual DC's Love, Locs & Natural Hair Expo

3rd Annual DC's Love, Locs & Natural Hair Expo

THEARC, Washington DC
April 19th, 2008
12pm - 6pm

ADMISSION: Adults $5/
Children Under 5yrs FREE

Will you be there? I will....

There will be entertainment, workshops, and Vendors, Vendors, and more Vendors. See the above link for more details.

The Mail Is Here!!

Oh man oh man, DH opened the mail today, and they are here. No not another Tomoka or a hair tie (I wish). My Erykah Badu concert tickets are here. Ya just don't know how in love I am with her an her music. Seeing the Roots is another added benefit. I bought the tickets as soon as they were available for sale, just like how I did her new album on February 26. The concert is in May, and it's only the beginning of April, I am already mapping out how I am going to have my hair and make up. I gotta try a cute lochawk. One of the greatest things I like about her is that she is true to herself. Amen on that one!
Oh the younger boy saw me with the camera and decided to take advantage of a photo Op.

At Peace... Truly Happy

Yah know... I am really digging these sisterlocks. For once I am feeling making peace with my hair. I don't have to worry about getting my hair blown out no more. Which was a style that I loved but found that it only really worked for me in the winter months. Having my hair blown out in the summer was just a waste of time and money for a style that only lasted two to three days, then back in a pony tail. I remember I had a job interview about this time last year. I washed my hair, rolled it, blew it out, and then followed up with a flat iron. I was looking like Shaka Khan by the time I got to the interview. I am glad I got there early, I had time to go to the bathroom and brush my hair in a pony tail before the interview.

Sometimes I do miss my loose hair. There is a young lady who sometimes catches my train. I know she be like what is the B*&^% staring at me so hard. Her puff ball pony tail is so pretty and reminds me of mines. Then, a goodole handinhairitis takes care of that.

I feel good about my decision to lock my hair, I am enjoying every stage of this journey thus far. Next week will be 6 months locked. I can't believe how time is flying. That's half of a year. I can't wait to see how my hair progresses during the summer.

I will continue to have "Superwoman" take care and nutrure my locks. My locks are still babies and babies needs someone with experience to take care of them. All of my appointments are booked up until December 2008.

I love the feeling that I get in the morning, the feeling that even though my hair is a little fuzzy, and a may have a little bed head thing going on, I am happy knowing that my sisterlocks look great.

Atlantis...

I knew when I saw Carmen wearing this Tomoka Twist that I had to get it. Atlantis is even more beautiful in person. This Tomoka is ideal for the spring and summer, so it came right on time. I know those of you who have purchased it is enjoying it as much as I am. So Carmen, you keep doing your thing girl... If you make it, they will buy it! Work it Ma!

80's Challenge...New member of Shalamar

LMAO! This was fun. Well I know what your saying, "lakialocs, WTF!" Let me explain. There is a fun blogging challenge to come up with your best 80's look. I could not resist and had fun during the process. I was in elementary school in the 80's, but I am sure that if I was allowed to wear makeup that I would have favored my look towards Jody Watley. To me she was a true diva, a super model slash singer. Her cheek bones were to die for! Infamous hooped earrings. She had us doing the whop and searching for a new love baby! So my 80's look is a tribute to her.

Here is what I used:

Eyes: L'Oreal eye primer

MAC- Bare Study

LA Colors - Lolipop (Shimmering Loose Powder)

MK - Cotton Candy

L'Oreal Hip - Playful

MAC- Cloud burst

Black liquid liner and pencil

Lips: Revlon Color Stay - Fire

Cheeks: L'Oreal Blendable Blushing Creme - Elated

Enjoy! Muah!!!!! Check out my other friends in the beauty blogosphere sharing the 80's love with their FOTDs!!
Lakahna

The Muse

Beautyful Habit

Nilla Cookie

Divine Blackness

Seymone

Baby Doll

Mrs. Lynne

Rocketqueen

Slvrlips

Christiana Divine

Vanessa

MissJaclynRose

Lakia

Yummy411
Thanks for participating ladies!!!!!!!
Making you feel good in the 80's:

Somethin' In Da Water

So I hear all this talk about Viagra and Birth Control in the water. (We need birth control in the water... LOL!) But I think someone put something in the Aquafina. I had my retightening done this past week and my consultant informed me I had a super growth spurt from the last time I saw her. My hair always grows longer on the top of my pea head. It has always been that way. I had my normal newgrowth in the back of my dome, but I had all this extra growth on top. I been joking around asking other bloggers if they can give me some of that water they been drinking. To think, I had the water all this time.

My consultant, which I should just refer to her as "Superwoman", said that I have had a lot of growth in just 5 months. Even my little locks that I cut back in January are getting longer, and longer. Superwoman said that my hair is settled and is beginning to lock. Hooray! I can't wait to look back at my one year anniversary to see how I progressed. Superwoman also mentioned that my ends may not seal, they just might end up being curly q's. I do hope they seal, if not I can deal with the "Q's". We also talked about the ends that are "S" shape. We came up with two possible conclusions as to why they are not curly Q's.

1. My hair does have different textures, my hair has always been nappiest in the back, and more softer in the front.

2. About this time last year I dyed the golden ends of my hair black. I was tired of the two tones of my hair. It was like the end of my puff ball pony tail was this golden color and the rest of my hair was black. She told me that sometimes hair color can straiten your hair and make it harder to lock. So those ends were striped with the golden color and then had a black dye over it, talk about damage to your hair.

Green Eggs and Ham

Yup, you read the title correctly. My son just turned 7. For his birthday we went to see Horton Hears a Who, ate at IHOP, and then hit up Chuck E Cheese. I had just gotten off of work that morning so I missed most of the movie because I fell asleep. GRRR! I' ll wait for it to come on video. IHOP is having a promotion for the movie, so I thought it would be kinda cool to order green eggs and ham. They loved it, and I thought it was the cutest little thing. My son enjoyed his birthday. I got him a DVD player so hopefully now the boys will stay out of my and my daughters room. He also is loosing teeth, he is enjoying every minute of being toothless.

Heatherette

Well I could not resist. I heard so much hype about the Heatherette so I had to see for myself. Granted that I could choose similar colors from the MAC counter, but for $32.00, not too bad. I purchased trio #1. I did not use a base so to bring out the color "mood ring". I added a little bit of the L'Oreal Hip color from the "Flashy" duo. The compact is cute, and I can always trade out the colors in it. I think this would go good for an all white event.

There is definitely too much hype surrounding this new collection. The guy at the counter asked me if I was going to attend the fashion show next weekend. "Fashion Show"?? With a puzzled look on my face. Apparently they are going to have a fashion show and do make overs to preveiw the collection. A little way over the top for me.

St Patty's Day and Humid

I figured I was going to make the best of capturing pictures of my curls. Got to wash them out tonight. GRRR! I was also glad to try out my new eye color "humid". This joint is da bomb! I can't wait to wear it again. I am loving soft spikes, I can't wait to use them again in a couple of more weeks. I don't want to get addicted to curling my locks just yet. They are locking just fine with my freestyle.

For all those make up lovers, here is a list of MAC shades that I used:

VEX

Down Brown

Hood Winked

Humid

Palm Sunday... Soft Spikes Attempt

I decided to use my soft spikes again. I like the results, too bad I can only wear my hair like this for 2 days. On Tuesday I have my 4th retightening appointment. I am also thinking about recruiting my kids to take my hair shots. It is so hard to try to take a picture of the back of my head. DH usually helps me out when he is around. Church service was great! I am going to relax for the rest of the day. So I know I might have flattened curls when I wake up.

Since I have her picture up here, let me tell you about my little mini me. This child is gonna make me go crazy over her hair. See her nice and pretty bangs in the picture. Well for two weeks I had this long pretty curl coming down to her face while the rest of her hair was cornrowed. This child decided to take a round brush and blower dryer to the curl that I had to the front. This little girl used a blow dryer without that protective tip on it, and can you believe she burnt her hair off and I had to cut it down to a bang in the front. Lawd help me! She could have burned herself. She is a girly girl just like me when it comes to hair. I bet she will have a lot of hair stories to tell when she gets older. As if the big chop that she did last year wasn't enough. If I could only give her braidlocks. Oh well...Enjoy the pics!

Yet Another Corporate America Post

So, I've been thinking... Should I start applying for another job. I think I have my game plan all mapped out. Is it time to make that move or should I stay a little longer. I have read a lot of post about having locks in corporate America. I did not have locks when I interviewed for my current job. My sister just recently landed a new job, she is natural, but does not have locks. She rocks the kinky twist and wears her hair pinned up nicely in interviews. I always figure, hey I can pin my locks up too. The interview is always about first impressions. But is Corporate America ready for my shells, my earrings, my CD collection and books that I keep on my desk. If their not, all well. I can't change me, accept me as I am... (after you make that salary offer) LOL!

There are two jobs that I will apply for, I am in no big rush to leave where I am. I enjoy the work and I am here to learn. Sometimes money can be the issue and that would be the only motivational issue for the change. I do not mind commuting all the way out here to Baltimore. I get to sleep on the train, or do some homework, or jot down blog ideas. Although, it would be nice to be closer to home.

When it comes to work, I don't think appearance should be an issue. I think what counts most is work ethics, experience, and education.

So the cat was like WTF...

I happened to be married into a musical family. My husband sings, the kids sings, those little buggers even like to play musical instruments. The closest I come to this is being in the children and youth choir for years, and I played the violin when I was in the fourth grade. I love to write songs, when there is ever time to do so. So I been having this music bug ever since one of my favorite movies came out on video. I loved Stranger Than Fiction with Will Ferrell. I guess I found myself relating to some of the things within the movie. For instance, I have the same counting problem. Do other accountants have this problem? I count stairs, I calculate the change before the cashiers puts my money in the cash register, I add up sales taxes, I even count the number of words in billboards and posters. Anywho... so I been feeling musical and I always loved the sound of a guitar. I recently bought this beautiful acoustic guitar. I can't play it just yet, but I am practicing a couple nights out of the week. I will soon take some lessons with a community center. The kids discovered my guitar, so now the boy wants to play... he plays the drums, so I guess adding the guitar to his many talents should be good.

Made it to month 5...

I made it to month five. I am so excited that spring is almost here. I did finally wash my hair. Thank goodness. I always notice a lot of change after I wash my hair. I love the way it plumps, then after a day I get major shrinkage...

I had to take a picture with my purple hat. Actually, I took this picture about a week ago, but have yet to share it. I am in love with this hat. I have four purple ensembles that I wear with it. I am also stocking up on some things to rock for spring. Each year I choose a spring color. This year my color is "green". Green is one of my favorite colors... I even went to the MAC counter and picked up "humid" (green shade of eye color). I can't wait to use it.

Lincoln Contest

Check out the original song/video by my group E-mence. We are trying to win the Lincoln song contest and we need your votes... you will need to register with Spotlight herehttp://lincoln.unboundsound.com/ . It is free and literally only takes 2 minutes..then you log in and rate their song/video. Please give them 5 stars. Also it would be nice to have you post a comment but that is optional (but would be greatly appreciated). :) Please pass this along to your friends and family to support them as well. To check it out, click this link: http://affiliate.kickapps.com/kickapps/_Lincoln-Takes-You-Higher-by-E-mence/video/166145/15116.html Internet Explorer may cause a problem with viewing the videos or registering. This can be fixed by downloading Firefox as yourbrowser. Firefox is free and takes no time to download. Here is the link: http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/(This is not a gimmick to download Firefox. Internet Explorer is just known to give people problems with this site.)Remeber to vote for Emence. Thanks yall…I really appreciate it!

Sniff Test

This is sad, but true. It is taking me longer and longer to find time to wash my hair. Especially since I'm in grad school, work 2 jobs totalling 80 hours a week, three kids, husband, house, 2 cats and a dog... Whew! Wonder if I can say that all in one breath. Every night when I go to bed and cuddle with DH, I ask him if he could sniff my hair. He keeps telling me it smells OK, I even pull my hair towards my nose just to see if it smells OK. It don't "STANK!" Thank goodness. I haven't washed my locks in about 3.5 weeks... My hair isn't itchy, or flaky, which is probably another reason why I am not pressing the issue of washing it. I only wash with the Knotty Boy Soap bar. It is the only shampoo that I am using. I also like to use the ACV once a month.

A fellow blogger wondered if I put anything in my hair. I don't... just H2O. No product = No product buildup in my locks.

Big hair + Locks = JOY!!

This title comes from a comment posted by MeikMeika. THANKS! I often refer to my hair as a "lions mane". I do love the fullness, and my parts seem to be virtually completely gone. But I love it when my hair is freshly tighten. I am able to run my hands across my scalp with no problem. The appearance is also neat, and it feels 100% lighter. My hair is retightened every 6 weeks. I guess its the long wait that makes me miss my parts. However, I do love my big hair. In a couple of more days I will be coming across 5 months of being locked.

My hair is doing well. I am also being spotted for having sisterlocks more often, at first everyone was asking about my "small braids", and what type of hair did I use. LOL!!

I often look at the blogs of those who have mature locks and wonder if my hair will turn out like theirs.... Do you ever do the same?

Rubber Bands... Hard to Break

I can't seem to shake this habit of picking up rubber bands and using them as headbands. You would think from the number of times that I popped one or few on my forehead that I would stop using them. My only style is really my "freestyle", and sometimes I want my hair away from my face while I am crunching numbers. I think I need an emergency Brunsli hair tie or tomoka twist at work. I already keep an emergency squirt bottle of tap water at work when my hair is thirsty, I also keep a small squirt bottle in my book bag. I even keep emergency lip gloss... (lip gloss... I loves lip gloss). So why prey tail I don't have emergency hair accessories... Must be time to get some more. I have been looking at another hair tie on eBay. Need to order it before its gone. I love my red one...

Reflection of 4.5 Months

Not too much is going on with my hair. For some strange reason I think not posting for a week is way too long. LOL! It's been 3 weeks since my last retightening and I have 3 more weeks to go until my 4th retightening. I call this stage my "lions mane" stage. I can't wait for this winter weather to break so that I can just let my hair airdry.

She Is On-A-Roll

The third grade is the first grade level where they receive actually letter grades on their report cards. Baby girl, and in fact all of the kids have done well this year. We recently went to my little "Minnie-Me" Honor Roll assembly. We are so proud of her, she was so excited about making the honor roll too. I can't wait till the day that she makes Principal's Honor Roll.

Sometimes I think this blog is becomming more and more about her. Here is a picture of her holding her certificate. I even framed it and I am anxiously awaiting to frame more of them as she gets them.

Not Exactly Valentine's Day

I had a fabulous weekend. My husband and I went out to dinner and then we went to a family function. This weekend my mom and dad had my kids. Thank goodness for Grandparents. We didn't do anything out of the norm on Valentine's Day so we made sure we did something this weekend. We had a nice evening with intriguing conversation. What was even better was the food. I can get down when it comes to good food, no salad tonight! My husband can put it away too.

I got all dazzled up for him and rocked the hell out of a freestyle. I got so many compliments about my hair that night. Here are a few more pics. Enjoy