I've Been Tagged!

The rules are as follows:
1. link to the person that tagged you
2. post the rules on your blog
3. share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself
4. tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs
5. let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

I was tagged by Knots-n-Locs

Hmmm... six non-important things/habits/quirks about me

1. I have affectionately called my loved ones dorks for years now. So much so, that my grandmother says it now.

2. I LOVE to read. I'll read cereal boxes and other random things if I can't get my hands on a book (this usually happens when I'm at someone's house). Oh yeah, and it appalls me when I find out that people don't have library cards or that they haven't read a book for more than a few months.

3. I rarely watch tv but when I do it's either the news, Greys Anatomy, or Heroes. I am kind of ashamed to admit that I will be watching the new season of The Flavor of Love, so don't tell anyone. That will just be between you, me, and anyone else who stumbles across this blog.

4. I don't dance. I usually feel self-conscious and awkward, regardless of how many other people are on the dance floor. One of these days I'm going to make myself take a class to get over it.

5. Cheesecake is my absolute favorite dessert. I love the tuxedo cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory. I also love pineapple cheesecake. What ever happened to the fund-raiser where the kids sold cheesecake? I always knew I would get my pineapple flavored cheesecake at least once a year from them. Anywho, The Cheesecake Factory offers pineapple upside down cheesecake as a seasonal item. I highly recommend it!

6. I plan on relocating in 2009 but I have no idea where I'm going LOL. I've been feeling kind of stagnant lately and almost like I'm wasting the time that I set aside for myself to "do me" while I don't have the responsibility that comes with having a family/spouse. I would love to move to NYC but it definitely wouldn't be good move from a financial standpoint since the cost of living is astronomical. If any of you love the city you live in let me know so that I can add it to my list of possibilities.

I am tagging Joy, Sisterlocks Convert, Free P, DST Diva, No-Nonsense-Woman, and NappTown

February Retightening

I decided to post a few pics of my hair after this month's retightening. I used large SoftSpikes to curl my locks in these pics.

My hair is making some progress towards locking, the locks in the back have swelled quite a bit but I can still easily undo them if I wanted to. I was trying to explain to my mom (who is a permie) that I am concerned about the fact that my locks aren't turning into the nice cylindrical shape that I see in everyone else's hair. As they swell, my locks look like this

Does this mean that my mature locks will not be the nice, neat locks that I love? I don't want a lock fro. I think I need to go read some blogs to set my mind at ease.

Oh yeah, I'm completely convinced that I will like my hair even more if I dye the colored ends back black. I'm trying to resist the urge because the last time that I attempted to do so the color didn't take and it changed the texture of my locks.

Happy Birthday to Kennedy!

This past Thursday, the 7th was Kennedy's 4th birthday. We celebrated today with a trip to Pawmosa Park, where he and Peyton (those are her ears all up in the first pic lol) had a blast running around off leash. Once we got home we had an ice cream party... yummy! The dogs luv, love, LOVE Dog-Zerts by Schwanns. Add to that a good ole fashioned game of tug of war


and they are pretty tuckered out









which has allowed me to retighten my hair in peace. Usually it's interrupted by them jumping in my lap one after the other for belly rubs.

Oh yeah, for my human-friendly ice cream treat I mixed up a milkshake that I saw in the local paper. It included

* 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
* 2 crumbled Thin Mints
* a shot of Kahula

I'll definitely be trying this one again :)

I've been locked for 9 months and 4 days!

It seems like it's been forever :)

I haven't been blogging much lately because I returned to school full time this semester. Why, oh, why didn't I go straight through the first time? Working full time and a full course load is not easy but I'm going to make it.

The other reason that I haven't been blogging much lately is because... drumroll please... I'm kind of over my hair, just a little bit. Some days I feel like my hair isn't growing (clearly not true, see pic 2 below). I'm at the stage where my locks have puffed up and are almost twice the size that they were when they were first installed. The puffiness is a good thing because it's a sign of progress but... I don't really like it LOL. If I don't wrap my hair at night, I wake up with an unintentional lock hawk & my stupid balls keep falling off. See, this one here is hanging on by a few strings of hair. How are my ends supposed to seal if the balls keep coming off??? *Sigh*


And I need a styling tutorial because my layers that look so cute when rollerset, don't look too fabulous when I freestyle... actually I wouldn't even try to freestyle because it looks like this.
***The following pics are of my freshly washed, desperately in need of a retightening, unfreestylable, but still fabulous locks***



Umm, not cute. Despite all my whining and moaning, I can honestly say that I wouldn't trade this journey for anything and I can't see myself ever going back to a perm. Sometimes I toy around with the idea of being able to rock my loose natural hair, but then I remember how much I hated having to get up early to style my permed hair and I snap back to my senses.

I recently posted a comment on BlackRussian's blog about how Sisterlocks affects wearers and I think it pretty much sums up what I think has been the best and greatest benefit of being a part of the sisterhood for me so here goes:

I think that getting Sisterlocks can have a huge effect on your life. I don't think that I'm going through some sort of massive change or getting more in touch with myself because I am wearing my natural hair in the form of locks. Maybe that is because I can't remember a time where I ever felt that my sense of self was tied to a physical trait... I've always identified myself more by my personality traits and by the things that are important to me (like being very family oriented, loyal, intelligent, and hardworking) than anything else.

Nevertheless I am changing. And I think that those changes and the awareness that I'm feeling now come from being a part of the SL community and being able to share the lives of so many fabulous, positive women who are living their dreams. I don't always comment but I do lurk in all (and I mean all) of the SL blogs LOL. Seeing women like you, Carmen, Ally, and others living their dreams and taking that first step to making it happen by starting a business, taking the plunge and quiting jobs, relocating, etc. was and is so inspiring. And I won't even begin listing those bloggers who are already doing what they love.

I returned to school this year after 7 1/2 years to finish my undergrad studies and am considering relocating for grad school and trying to figure out how to fit a study abroad program in. After "meeting" all of you I'm replacing "I wish I had" or "I wish I could" with plans to make my dreams happen.

Signing off to go set my hair on SoftSpikes. Have a fabulous week!