I'm Back!

Wow!  I'm back from my Christmas vacation in Buffalo, NY.  As I was getting over my cough I got on the airplane and breathed recycled air and was sick the entire week in Buffalo.  On the bright side I have never lost weight the week of Christmas!  This is the first time I have spent Christmas in Buffalo and there was no snow.  When we got home, MN also has no snow.  Last year we had the 3rd most snowy winter ever and this year, nothing!  I took some pictures of how I wore my hair on Christmas day at my mother-in-law's house.

I'm blessed to have been able to spend a week in NY with my husband's mother, sister, and extended family.  My son took advantage of me being sick and being on a different routine.  He acted basically like a brat the first couple of days, but after a day of many time outs he got his act together.  A quick tip for those of you who may travel with small children.  Take the juice boxes out of the diaper bag or TSA will delay you as they search everything!  Until next time...
Blessings!

Blessed to have a savior!

Hello to all my beautiful readers!  I am leaving for Buffalo tomorrow morning and I wanted to make a quick post about the blessings of the birth of our savior.  We are all blessed to have a savior, Jesus is the reason we do everything we do at this time of the year.  I'm so blessed to be saved and to have a forgiving God!  If you don't have a gift to give you can always give the gift of prayer.  I much prefer prayers on my behalf than any material things.

So, my prayer to all of you is that you and yours are healthy and vibrant this season.
I pray that this time with family and friends be joyful.
I pray that your life be blessed and full of blessings.
I pray that you may receive your hearts desires.
And finally, I pray that all of you to have a very blessed and safe Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

Blessings!

Afro Puff

I have been playing with my afro puff and yesterday I was too tired to do the flat twists in the front like I wanted to, with a puff in the back.  Instead I just did the puff with a cute pink headband.

With my TWA growing out nicely I really like that now I kinda have a real puff.  This will probably be my go to style when I have very little time in the morning to do my hair.  What are your thoughts?  Until next time...
Blessings!

Afro puff with bangs

Today I decided to try an afro puff.  I pulled some hair in the front and presto my first afro puff.  I refreshed my hair with some water and a little Aussie Moist this morning added my band and then I saw my purple ribbon.  It was perfect with my purple blouse that I had to wear it.

Check out my texture!

I used my Denman brush to define my curls in the front.  After wetting with some water and adding some conditioner all I did was run my brush through my bangs and those curls popped!  I loved this look and it was so easy!  So, what do you all think?  Until next time...
Blessings!

Almost done shopping and wishing for some sun!

Christmas is a week away and all I have left is to get a couple of gift cards for my younger brother and my daycare provider.  This Christmas my family will be going to NY to spend Christmas and my hubby's birthday with his mother and his older sister.  Now, I have family in ND and my hubby is from NY, but not just NY, Buffalo.  At these occasions I wish we were spending thousands of dollars to visit some family in a warm location.  It doesn't have to be Hawaii, but I could settle for California.  What do you all think about spending Christmas on a cruise?  I have been thinking for several years now that a cruise in the Caribbean would be lovely.  No gifts, just the cruise.  Is this wishful thinking?  Does Christmas need to always be about cookies, turkey, ugly sweaters, and fighting with relatives you only see once a year?  I live in MN and with family in cold snowy locations it would be wonderful to get some natural vitamin D the good old fashion way.  I think a little sun, sand, and buffet style dinners would be very relaxing for once.  Let me know if I'm way off here.  Has anyone ever done something like this with family for Christmas?  Until next time...
Blessings!

Still sick, but very blessed!

I really wanted to call in sick today, but couldn't because I'm the only teacher on my team who's not at the IB training today.  I really wanted to stay in bed and sleep, but I rolled myself out for the kids and dragged myself to work.  So, I went to minute clinic at CVS yesterday and was told I have viral bronchitis.  For $15 I was told that nothing besides some strong cough medicine could help.  For $5 I got the strong cough medicine with codeine.  I am literally sick and extremely tired and I have decided that I really need to count my blessing since my head feels like it's gonna explode.

I am blessed to have insurance.
I am blessed to have the resources to buy medicine.
I am blessed to be needed at work and not easily replaceable.
I am blessed to have teaching tools like videos that allow me to snooze in some of my classes (lol).
I am blessed to know that I will heal and this to shall pass.

Last year at this time I had Pertussis aka whooping cough.  Please remember to get your kids their vaccines.  I know that some people are against this, but remember that not only can your child get sick, their peers and teachers are exposed to preventable diseases like Pertussis.
 
It's the Christmas season and remember to take a moment to take care for yourself.  I think I will be calling in sick tomorrow if my cough doesn't get better.  At this point I will simply take my head not hurting and several moments without coughing, but I know no matter what I am blessed.  Until next time...

Blessings!

Church Hair

Last night I decided to flat twist my entire head of hair for a twist out today.  I washed my hair yesterday and used my Aussie Moist as my leave in.  I then applied my It's Perfectly Natural Root Food to my problem spot and started twisting.  In the front I made more precise parts and in the back it's basically willy nilly.

I love that one curl that escaped the flat twist.

So, I would of worn this look to church today if I could of spent more than a minute without breaking into uncontrollable coughing.  The hubby went to church without me and he took the baby to Sunday school with him.  I'm home sick blogging and napping and thinking I would of rocked this look at church today if I had gone.  I like how this twist out makes my hair big!  I like having some bangs and I really like the wildness of my hair.  Until next time...

Blessings!

4th month anniversary of big chop

Well this past month I have been trying some new things.  Most recently I have been rocking my fro!  I haven't been doing the wash n go's this week because it has been sooo cold here in MN.  Today I went to work with a temp of 4 degrees!  My length is 4.5 inches in the front, so I have had over 2.5 inches of growth in 4 months.  I'll take it!  So check out the pics below.  I'm rocking my fro with the ringlet bangs in front.

Next month I think I will start to try to take pictures of the back of my head.  My length has not changed much in the front, but the sides seem much longer.  Until next time...
Blessings!

First attempt at a fro hawk and my first video!

This evening I decided to fluff my hair out into a little fro.  I liked it so much that while my son was in the tub I started to play with some combs and attempted my first fro hawk.  I liked it and then sprayed the front down with some water and twisted some quick curls in the front.

The front is still wet.

From the side.

I thought that it looked cuter in person so I made a quick video.  My voice is hoarse because I think I have Laryngitis.  Four teachers at my school have been out sick with Laryngitis in the past week.  Yuck!  So, what do you think of this really quick style and my fist attempt at a video?  Until next time...

Blessings!

I'm down 22 pounds!

I had my son almost 2.5 years ago, but due to some medical issues in the past year I have been struggling to take all the weight I gained off.  I have lost a total of 37 pounds since my son was born, but most recently I have lost 22 of those pounds since August 2011.  My husband and I are both doing the South Beach Diet and it is really working for us.  Basically lots of veggies with lean protein like chicken and turkey.  So, I was browsing my blog pictures and I noticed that my face looks thinner.  Check out these two pictures.  The left picture (purple print shirt) is from my one month anniversary back on September 7, 2011 and the right picture (white shirt) was just taken a couple of days ago December 2, 2011.  If you look closely at my chin, neck and cheeks you can see the weight difference.  To me this is really cool and helps focus me to get through the holiday season with my eyes on the prize.  Until next time...



Blessings!

Church Hair

I came up with this look in literally 3 minutes.  Of course the hubby and I were fighting with the toddler to get his hair brushed and his church shoes on so my time was really limited today for church.  I had 9 minutes to do my hair and make up and this is the final result.  These pictures were taken after church because I didn't have any time before we had to leave.

Check out those curls!

This was so easy!  I co-washed this morning and used my usual Aussie Moist conditioner as my leave in.  I added some Aloe Vera gel after I put my It's Perfectly Natural Root Food on my problem spot.  I then brushed my edges on the sides of my head by my ears, pulled my headband into place, pulled some hair out of the band, used my Denman brush to separate the curls, and lastly I twisted a couple of the curls that had started to frizz to define them.  Presto!  Cute new style for church today.  What do you think?  Until next time...
Blessings!

Flat Twist Out to Work

Well I finally did my flat twists out and went to work wearing them.  I got a mix reception at work.  From "wow check out your fro" to "what happened to your hair?".  I loved it!  I thought it gave me some length and some bangs.

Can you tell I'm really tired.  My son is finally starting to feel better and now I have what he had.  I can't take sick time because I have to save it for when my son is sick.  My hubby works with medically fragile students, so he stays at home when he's sick to not infect his students.  So, that leaves me with staying with the baby.  Anyway, I liked this look.  It was easy and after seeing Krys look I wanted to see if I could do a variation of her style.  I liked the twist out look on her and next time I will see if I can do some flat twists with a twist out look sometime next week.  Until next time...
Blessings!