Big Girl Panties

I present Exhibit A!

These are cute little boy shorts I used to sport all the time pre-baby. Today, I find these under a box, under a pile in DH's closet. I found these shorts along with a bunch of pre-baby undies that I obviously packed away and planned on wearing (or even freaking know existed) shortly after having her.

Now 2 f'in years later, I'm finding them and for a minute had to wonder were they mine or my 9 year old niece's. It's hard to even consider I was that small! I have a photo with me, talking on the phone to DH wearing these shorts.

So tiny...so, so tiny! And this was pre-breast reduction! Look at that flat belly! Ahhhhh...those shorts have drove me into a full depression. I'm collapsing on the floor...

I know to have a baby, I had to put on my big girl panties, but damn, I didn't know I had to keep them on!

Its looking grim for me. I talk to my girlfriends and they say stuff like, oh, it has taken me 4 years to get my body back, or oh my baby is 15 and I still don't have it back.

Well, this is my pledge...by 6/08/11 (that will be exactly 3 years since this photo), I will be rocking these shorts, I will be rocking the hell out of these shorts! You just wait and see!

Coils and Castor Oil

Almost a week ago, I started the Castor Oil Challenge initiated by hairliciousinc. I have to say, using the Castor Oil has made my hair less fuzzy and defined my curls like nothing else. Previously, I was using Coconut Oil as my main source of oil, sealant, etc, and this was great, but a little too light for me. Coconut Oil works awesome on Lady K's hair, but on this cotton ball, I needed something with weight.

The Castor Oil helped to do the awesome coils below. Since the weather is colder, I've been trying to find styles that last longer than a day and the Coils/Coil Out has become my favorite. There are thousands of youtubes on how to do it, so I won't bore you with the instructions, but I will say, oiling my scalp and putting Castor Oil (only 100%Castor Oil, not my nightly mix of 50/50 with Grapeseed Oil) has given me awesome shine and definition.

Typically my coils are mad fuzzy and I end up undoing in a day and wearing a messy coil out, but I am on my second day of this hair and it is still super fresh! To coil, I used Castor Oil (first after washing) and Ecostyler Olive Oil gel. Super awesome.

Oh, and for the new year I decided to bring back all those extra holes in my ear, lol. How many of us have 2-3 holes we haven't used since 9th grade. I should clarify holes in our ears:-) Well I'm attempting to wear earrings in those holes. Lets see how that works! I plan to incorporate different earrings in those holes to add to my repertoire! Don't hold me to this moment in life...I'm quite unreliable!

Fun Holiday Hair

For Christmas, Baby and I rocked our naturals out to dinner.

Her style is penned by Curly Nikki in the following post Twist and Curl Tutorial. Baby wore 2 strand twist for about a week. I put rods on the ends of each twist after spraying with a little coconut oil/water mix. I left the rods on for a couple of hours. After the twists were completely dry, I removed the rod and untwisted each section with coconut oil. I did not separate much further because her hair now is really too soft for a lot of manipulation. It will start to loose its curl. I added a headband and whahlah!

I am rocking the wash and go. I co-washed with Suave Natural green apple conditioner and put EcoSyler Gel in. I combed through with a goody (denman like) brush.

Is it bad to have hair envy of my daughter? I can't wait for my hair to get to her length!!!

My face so far...

I have struggled with face issues for like...ever! I have... I don't know what kind of skin, I'd just say irrational! I get lots of breakouts and have a super dry nose and chin and oily checks and forehead. Crazy!

I have used EVERYTHING under the sun for this. Neutrogena, Biore, Oil of Olay, Dove, and prescriptions from my doctor (at like $100 a pop!).

One of my favorite bloggers discusses and alternative to commercial cleansers and I decided to give it a try. The MoptopMaven showed me the light with the Oil Cleansing Method (OCM). If you click on her name, it will take you to the post where this method is discussed. Her skin is beautiful!!!

The OCM basically teaches the user to use oil only to clean your face. It may sound crazy but after almost 2 weeks, I can say, it has totally changed my skin more than any of the other crap I've used before. I want this moment for life!

I love finding out new things, stuff we have been sleeping on and this is really it for me! Using this method has reduced my winter dryness and started to heal blemishes that have been on my face for years. Lady K told me "Mommy, your face is pretty" and I didn't even have on makeup! This was also followed by "Mommy can I have a donut?" but I am taking all the compliments I can get!

So, what is my regimen for my face utilizing the moptops' suggestions:

1. Clean - I mix a small container with about 5 tablespoons of castor oil (pure or organic is best) and 5 tablespoons of grapeseed oil. I put about a dime to quarter size of the mixture in my hands, and distribute on my face. I apply it like I am exfoliating, in a circular motion. I rub the mixture into my face and neck for about 2 minutes. Once complete I heat a washcloth (use 1 washcloth each day or more if you are removing makeup). I get the water as hot as I can stand it, wring out, and apply the hot steamy cloth to my face. I leave the washcloth on until it cools off. This is the part I totally love. It is like a mini facial. I repeat this for about 2-3 times (or more if I have time because it feels awesome). I then use the washcloth to wipe away the oil. Be sure to totally wipe the oil away (don't forget the chin and neck). Last step, rinse face with a splash of cool water to close those pores you opened up with the steam.
*I recommend you research which oils work best for you and the effects. There are lots of articles if you google oil cleansing method. Olive oil is mentioned most, however, this oil drys my skin and hair, so I use grapeseed. But you will find through trial and error what works best for you.

2. Tone - So I am not a fan of extra steps, but toner is really important to keeping your face tight. I can say since using this for the past 2 weeks, my face is doing great. I use a natural remedy again for this. A lot of bloggers use green tea, but I didn't have this so I just used regular Lipton's tea. This is black tea, which can be good too and has the same antioxidants that green tea is known for. I steeped 3 tea bags, cooled the tea, and then added to a small container with about 5 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. And that's the toner! My DH hates the smell of the vinegar and for the past 2 weeks talks about it EVERY TIME I put it on. But he compliments my awesome face, so its a trade off!

3. Moisturize - I am recovering from lots of acne scars. A lot of people who use the OCM pick one of the oils and use it as a moisturizer. I would use whichever is the secondary oil you use with the castor oil in the OCM. I use grapeseed as my moisturizer. This can be used alone, however, I use it with about 60% pure aloe vera gel and 40% grapeseed oil. The aloe vera gel has a lot of awesome benefits which I will discuss one day, but it feels great and really cooling to your face. This has been THE ONLY thing that keeps my nose from peeling during the day.

4. Spot treatments - Most of use always have those blemishes that come up during that time of the month. I used to used a super expensive gel from the dermatologist, but now...of course...natural. The one concoction I love right now is 2 tablespoons of honey to one teaspoon of cinnamon. Yes, its super sweet, gooey and I have licked it off my fingers after mixing and applying lol. You apply this mixture to each blemish, rub in and keep on for about 15 minutes. The above recipe is enough for about 2 weeks (depending on your blemishes). I'm telling you, the next day the blemish is gone or severely reduced. Some people keep it on all night, but I haven't figured out how to make it stick so it won't rub off all night.

I've only started these treatments in the last couple of weeks so I will post some pix of my face sans makeup now and more in a couple of months. My last videos posted were make up free (unfortunately lol), but I will get some closeups to document my changes. I will also take some pix of the containers, oils and mixtures, etc because these have been beneficial to me in trying to figure out what the ___ people are talking about.

Wish me luck!

My body so far...

So...2 years ago the good Lord blessed me with a little girl. For this purpose we will call her "Lady K". She was a ummmmm pleasant surprise. Before her, I was thick...in all the right places. Now...I'm just plain thick...in places I didn't even know existed. The weight definitely did not just fall off like I expected it to since, in my mind, I'm a superstar and on TV superstars are back sexy in a couple of weeks. Two years later, I'm still working on it.

A few months ago I decided to take my life back and start a somewhat extreme eating/diet plan. It is called the HCG diet. You can google it to get more info, but in a nutshell. Its torture, but the results are quick fast. I lost about 1-2 lbs a day and my dear hubby (DH) lost about 3 lbs a day. We did it for about 3 weeks, you are supposed to do it for 40 days, but we couldn't make it. I lost about 27 lbs and he lost about 35 lbs.

This was about 3 months ago. I have put on maybe 5 of those lbs back and for the new year, I plan to get back on it. We are starting the diet again tomorrow. Wish us luck!

So this is the plan for the diet. Per day you can have the following:
2 fruits (an apple, 1/2 cup of strawberries, or 1/2 grapefruit)
2 cups of veggies (lettuce, asparagus, tomato, cabbage...and only one type per meal)
2 proteins (3 ozs of chicken breast or lean flank steak, or 7 oz fish)
Sauces - apple cider vinegar, lemon, salt, pepper, and garlic
Melba Toast (a couple pieces with each snack and lunch/dinner)
(no liquor...all of this and no liquor)

Don't judge me.

What this ends up being is about 500 calories per day! I know, its drastic. Really drastic. We cheat a little and it ends up being a little more than 500, but definitely not more than 1000. For breakfast I will have an apple, for lunch a salad with one of the meats, for snack, another apple, and for dinner, pretty much the same thing for lunch. Its pretty boring but you can make some good meals and it really works to drop the weight fast. I typically get bored with diets if I don't see speedy results, so this works.

I hope to make it at least 30 days. I did all my grocery shopping today for the next 2 weeks. The meal preparation is what kills you, but if you cook and prepare in advance, all of the food can be done and you can just pick your poison.

I will upload pix of our meals and keep you posted on our progress throughout the next couple of weeks...if I have the strength.

So here are my before and afters...

About 1 year before the baby

Almost a year later and I am about 7 months preggo (how that happen??)

My 30th birthday a couple of months ago, post HCG diet and 27 lb lost.

Can't wait to see what I will look like post HCG again...hopefully we can go to prebaby!!!!

My hair journey so far...

So, my natural hair journey started around 8/15/2010. I am now about 4 months into the natural process and I started from a totally bald head. I wore a fad for years and since my daughter's hair has started to grow (she is two) I said, let me start figuring out both of our hair.

Posted below is a video I did really quick today just to show my hair growth at 4 months. My hair in this video is about 2.5 inches (at its longest) and about 2 inches at the shortest points. I started a Castor Oil Challenge about 3 days ago and put the oil (mixed with grapeseed) in my hair nightly. Last night I washed with Suave Naturals and Aussie Moist conditioner. I deep conditioned overnight with Organics Hair Mayo (mixed with Castor Oil) and I coiled it with Eco Styler Gel after washing out the conditioner. My leave in of choice today is Talijih Waaidd (Medicated). I love the tingling I feel when I use it.

In the video below I am only 2 months natural. I am so awkward with my speech and looking at the camera. I promise to really never talk unless necessary. I think at this point I am just using Organics or Suave and Co-Washing. My hair was about 1.5 inches. My afro is super fuzzy. Still trying to figure it out.

I have consistently been growing about 1/2 inch per month. I hope with the Castor Oil, I see more speedy growth. I used to Co-wash and wet everyday, but since it has been cold, I'm trying styles that will allow me to wear for more than 2 days without wetting.

I will keep you posted on my regimens, my favorite products up to this point, and what I am doing with Lady K's (my daughter) hair.

Happy New Year!

Today is 1/1/11...I played these numbers in the lottery. I know its a long shot, but had to do it!

I love blogs, so I decided, in the new year, I'd start one that can totally synopsize my life.  Turning 30 recently has kick started my journey to self discovery.  This blog will be a journal of my experiences which I hope to one day look back on and laugh...or cry:-)

I'm on a natural hair journey, which will be discussed along the way. I'm trying to get my pre-baby body back, which will be discussed along the way. I love music and fashion and a bunch of other stuff which will also be discussed along the way.

I'm no expert, however, I would hope that my trials and errors can somehow be of help to someone, or at least create great comic relief.

Stay tuned for my adventures. I plan to have this moment for life.