I Know I Should Be Blogging

Instead I am knitting and watching movies on the computer.

I’m getting close on this cardigan.

Merry Christmas

…from my new family to yours.

After Glow??

Maybe, maybe not. But the wedding is behind us and I am recovering from the festivities. One month married and I am still surviving! Wedding recap and other marriage related stuff to come. I’m hoping to finish this out before the end of the year. It was such a great day and such a great party, but it is definitely time to move on from wedding planning and wedding talk in general.
Not to mention, I am ready to get back to my hobbies. I am living in a much colder climate now and I don’t have nearly enough knitted accessories.
Happy Holidays, my friends. May God bless your Christmas!

There are Butterflies In My Sky

I wrote this post some time ago and lost track of it in my blogging software. But I ran across it in my end of year digital clean-out effort. There are a lot of iPods, iPads and iPhones that will be unwrapped in a couple of days. If there are children in viewing area of these devices in your life, please consider this app recommendation.

People always ask me about my reading and wonder how I came to love reading so much. All I can say is that I owe so much of who I am culturally to Reading Rainbow and The Catherine T. and McArthur D. Foundation that sponsored so much of the public television programming that I grew up watching.
LeVar Burton has revamped Reading Rainbow for the technology that has invaded our lives. This experience is optimized at the moment for IOS and the iPad so I won’t get to try it out, but I am excited about it none the less.

If you have children in your life, please introduce them to this little bit of our past recreated. In this crazy world we live in, they need a few butterflies in their sky.

Another Wedding Hair Option

I’ve been continuing to comb the YouTube for wedding day hair options. Since my hair has gotten a little longer since I found the styles I mentioned here and here, I will be spending the month of October playing around in my hair more and more until I get things figured out.

But for now, I am still clipping and saving videos for future reference. Last week, Mahogany Knots posted a new style. After seeing it, I thought about it and thought about it. It really intrigued me, but in the back of my head I was thinking my hair is not nearly long enough. And then, wwestNDNbeautyy did it and I had to give it a try. Her hair is long too, but for some reason, having another person do it gave me a little more confidence in my ability to do it. Who knows? Maybe it’s just the power of YouTube.



This is my hair after setting it with the twists. I was still worried my hair wouldn’t be long enough but I pinned the twists to the side for the night and I was confident I could pin the hair up reasonably well. I moisturized and set my hair using ORS Olive Oil Smooth Pudding and used extra bobby pins to keep the sides smoothed in place while setting.



I was really happy with the definition in my hair after taking down the twists.



And the final result is absolutely beautiful. I think a few well placed flowers will really make this a stand-out contender for the wedding. What do you think. Any hairstyles or YouTubers catching your eye?

Ribbons and Blessings

I am a terrible procrastinator. I seems to always be caught at the last minute when it comes to gifts. But I am also very good at coming up with something at the last minute and on a budget. With the extended unemployment this year, the budget was very low to almost non-existent and I got a last minute notice that friends were adopting twins and their church was throwing a shower. I absolutely love and adore the couple and I had to do something for them. They have been wanting children for years and this was just such an extreme blessing that I couldn’t miss out on it. I want to cry just writing about it now.
So, what do you do when you want to make an impactful contribution but you have absolutely no money? Here is how I did it.
During the Spring/Summer, I did some cleaning out around the house and took a lot of movies, books and my Kindle Fire to my local used book/movie/music seller and came out with a ton of credit. You can check out that post here. What better way to welcome little ones than with books? Actually, just about every gift I give includes a book.
I had no idea what kind of book to get and I thought about getting a couple of movies as well, but kids are so picky about movies once they get to a certain age. These boys are two and starting to recognize what they like so I’ll let the happy parents deal with that. But books are a little different in my opinion. Books are more universal and as long as the pictures are super pretty, the story could be about anything.

Well, if you want pretty pictures, you can’t go wrong with Doctor Seuss. I combed the Doctor Seuss section and picked no only titles that I know and love but some that I had never heard of. I didn’t know about the body part books.

And since these are all used, the prices are super affordable. But just to spread the reading love a little more and allow for some movie shopping as well, I asked the store to split my credit so I could give the boys credit to come back. I think I was able to give $50 and still have plenty of credit left over for myself.
So, that takes care of the gift. What about wrapping? For that, I went into my supply closet and pulled out my bucket-o-ribbon.

A gift bag would have been a little too impersonal so I pulled out a mix of ribbons in lengths long enough to wrap around the stack of book a couple of times. I mixed different fabrics, textures and colors. I wanted something that was fun to look at and fun to get in to.

I was thrilled with the result and mommy was too.

So what do you think? Any fast thinking gift giving you want to brag about?

Sneak Peek

I’m putting together something special for my bridesmaids. I’m still trying to figure out what to do for the groomsmen. I am open to all suggestions.

Some Days....

Some days I just feel like rocking the puffy hair.

This was a braid out that did not dry completely before I had to take it down for the day.

These pictures don’t do it much justice but I really loved it that day. I hope you are having a fun hair day!

September Books

I’m slowly getting back on track. I am still behind for the year, but I’ve hit FIFTY-THREE books read this calendar year. That is amazing to me and I am determined to get as close to that 100 book goal as I can. I will make a big push in October as I will be attempting Nanowrimo and getting married and hosting Thanksgiving come November. All books links provided (in the sidebar) are from Amazon where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming 


This is my third Joshilyn Jackson title and I am still thoroughly in love with her writing style and southern sensibilities. Just when I thought I could predict where she was going with the plot, she threw a curve ball at me and surprised me to no end. It’s hard for me to find more descriptive words to talk about this book other than to say that I love it and highly recommend it. There are 2 more titles in the JJ collection and I plan to read those by the end of the year.

  The Secret Between Us 


I am not particularly fond of books that start with the main character committing to a lie. Every parent wants to protect their child, but some lies are not helpful to anyone. I couldn’t get behind the lie that the character was telling and that kept me from liking her as a character. Not being able to like her made me see fault with other decisions she was making along the way. Was that the point? Does it help the story line to have the reader doubt and dislike the main character immediately?

  Broken


 I think this book would have been much more enjoyable had I read it and not listened to it. It took me a while to get into the book because the narrator reads at a very fast pace. It’s almost as if she is uncomfortable with the words so she reads them as fast as possible. Outside of this, she makes her twenty something characters sound like teenagers and I still think its creepy to read/listen to scenes of kids having sex. With that aside, the book is fantastic. Megan did a great job laying out this book and storyline. Now, because this book is clearly erotica, it is not recommended for everyone but it is a nice glimpse into how some married people relate to their single friends. And when the single people in your life don’t have juicy enough stories, it is nice to fantasize about a chance encounter with a stranger that has amazing stories to tell.

  The Husband Habit 



 I enjoyed this book in the beginning. The character was likable and I sympathized with her dating woes. But then she goes to her mother’s house and her internal dialogue becomes downright mean and bitchy. I am not a fan of the insults that get lobbed at people you don’t know. A pick-up truck with a yellow magnetic ribbon does not mean the driver is a country, gun-totting hick. That’s the kind of crap that starts to come from the main character when, in the previous chapter, she left the mean talk to her sidekick. And while I am not a fan of war, I don’t appreciate the author trying to make anyone that willingly enrolls in the military out to be war-mongering idiots. The love interested becomes a truly good man only after denouncing the tenants of military. This is irritating and just gave me another reason not to like the main character as she constantly made disparaging jokes towards the soldiers who are doing their jobs. I really wanted to stop listening to this book, but I finished it because the love interest was likable. Its just too bad he couldn’t be given a better woman. I’m also getting a little sick of the trope that perpetuates the notion that the man that is for us will be secretly rich and will step forward to make our dreams come true. The story was good and not completely predictable, but the characters are not likable and the political ideologies wrapped into the story line are infuriating. I can half heartedly recommend this title.

  Ask For It 



I probably listened to this book at the wrong time. I got bored half way through the book, but I don’t want that to reflect on what I think of the subject matter itself. Books like this are incredibly helpful for women navigating both at home and at work. I would like to be able to say we women have really turned things around but we do have a long way to go still. We do typically have trouble negotiating and knowing our worth. I have gotten better at this myself, but I still too have trouble demanding better treatment at home and at work. This book was a reminder that I can’t let things slip. I have to get back on track with asking for what I need and for what I deserve. This book doesn’t really give concrete steps to take but it gives plenty of examples and tools to use. This is a valuable resource to revisit from time to time.

  Friends and Lovers 



This is a re-read for me. I discovered Eric Dickey in college. This was the first title that I read and I remember enjoying it. I still have a couple of his books unread on my shelf but I wanted to revisit the first before I moved on to the next. The older me is nothing like the younger me that I was. While I enjoyed the story line, this style of character writing reminded me of all the things I actively chose not to have in my life. Lives are full of drama and some of us seem to attract it more than others. I like life on the calmer side of things and I shy away from people that live their life with an excess of trouble. This makes me second guess reading any more Eric Dickey titles but I’m going to try to give them a chance. Maybe his characters grew up like I did and will be more appealing in later writing. We’ll see.

 Outliers 



 Interesting, but nothing but pop fluff. You can take any set of data and get the answer that you want. Everyone wants a mystical reason for success or failure and when they can’t find anything unique about you, they put together random circumstances that seem to work together for a little bit of serendipity. I don’t know if this was supposed to be a motivating title as it fails at that so I’m going to consider this a coffee table book of trivia. There is no science involved. And just to illustrate how non-inspirational this book is, it points out that “you cannot escape the limitations of your generation.” Doesn’t that make you feel great?! I try not to read any reviews of books before I finish the book and write my own review-especially for a popular book. After putting down my initial thoughts, I took a look at what other over on Goodreads thought about this book. Many of them agreed with my assessment. This just further concretes the fact that we should not choose the books we read based on marketing or popularity. I bought this book years ago, but I did so because it was the talk of the time. Too bad I have this as an audible title. I would quickly take this to trade it in. But I do have to say that his conclusion wraps everything up nicely and says exactly what you should get from this book…”An outlier is not an outlier at all”.

Shades of Gray

Get your mind out of the gutter! This is not that kind of post.
One of the most fun things about planning a wedding, in my opinion is choosing the color palette. One color that has been front and center for me through most of the planning is gray.

I saw these tables at a bridal show that I attended. At the point, I had only decided to use a deep eggplant color, but then I saw it set against the grey table cloths and I was in love. At the same bridal show, I saw this dress in the fashion show and fell in love. The best thing about it, It has pockets. I love dresses with pockets. Since I insist on thinking of my wedding as a cocktail party, I was originally going to cut them short, but now that we are clearly having a fall wedding, we will keep them long, which will be absolutely lovely.

After seeing a coworkers toes painted gray and loving it, I started to think about the wedding and how grey nails would be perfect. I hit the local beauty supply (for China Glaze) and Whole Foods (for Mineral Fusion) and came home with several shades of gray to try out. The Platinum Silver is a definite no-no. You definitely cannot judge a color by how it looks in the bottle. Right now, the China Glaze Recycle is my favorite. The Elephant Walk shows a little blue and the the Mineral Fusion Slate shows purple sometimes. But, when I return to the shop for my next dress fitting, I will paint each color on a nail and see what they look like against my dress. The winning color will be included in gift set for my bridesmaids.

And of course, I can’t forget the gray sneakers that Famous Footwear gifted the attendees of Blissdom 2012. I am seriously contemplating buying a new pair of these (in the same gray and pink) and wearing them under my wedding dress. We’ll see how that goes.

What do you think? What colors are striking your fancy this year?

Hair of the Week-braid out

I’m continuing on my love of the braid-out. My hair is at a length that just seems to work better with the braid-out that it did previously when doing flat twists. Braids take longer to set and longer to take down in the morning, but the texture and stretch that is achieved makes it worth it.



I can’t seem to get any really good hair shots, but I think this one did turn out pretty well. This was taken at the end of the day and I happy to say I still had good definition and minimum frizz at that point. But even on the good days, I have to set my hair every night by re-braiding it. The picture below is how it looks in the morning after taking down the braids.



I’m trying some new product combinations to increase moisture for the coming winter. This week’s combo is a shea butter/castor oil mix, DevaCurl Angel and ILY leave-in conditioner. I have a review of DevaCurl and ILY coming up soon.



And this is my natural hair tip of the day, week, month…. Since the length of the front of my hair is getting down to my chin and I don’t want to cut bangs, my hair and my glasses are not getting along. To keep my hair from mucking up my glasses, I have started putting small clips in my hair. I’m holding my hair back to show the clip but when my hair is down, the clip disappears below my hair holding the bottom layer to the side and away from my lenses. This little tip has save me a lot of frustration. Even if you don’t wear glasses, this is a good method for keeping your hair away from your skin when exercising or engaging in activities that would make you sweat. When I took this picture, I had just come in from walking around the neighborhood.

Pins and Needles

I had my first dress fitting today. Unfortunately, it was hard to enjoy it because I had a migraine but I made it through it. My seamstress, Mina, was very nice and understanding. Everything went more smoothly than I expected. Because my dresses are the perfect length and didn’t need any hemming, my alterations are very reasonable in cost.

I wasn’t very prepared for this appointment. I went in to the local David’s Bridal yesterday to inquire about alterations and they offered me an appointment for today. I wanted to share with you the few things I picked up to make an alteration appointment go smoothly.

1. Have your undergarments purchased and with you. Since I was expecting to have a couple of weeks before the first appointment, I had not yet ordered mine, but David’s will let you borrow units for the appointment. Now that I have a pickup date, I have a defined deadline for getting these on order.
2. Bring the jewelry and accessories you plan to wear that day. I have two custom sets made for me by Jill Zaleski. I was able to try them both on with my dresses to determine what to wear when and decide if any changes need to be made. This also goes for veils and shoes.
3. Style your hair as close as possible to what you will do on the wedding day. I will be doing a pin-up style for the wedding so when I go back for the second fitting, I will have an up-do.
4. Take someone with you. It helps to have an extra pair of hands to help dress you and to take pictures. And in my case, I was not feeling well and it would have helped so much to have someone to drive. Having my Mommie Dearest in tow would have been delightful. She hasn’t gotten to see me in my dress yet, outside of pictures and I don’t think I’ll be able to handle her tears on the wedding day.

No tips outside of what most wedding sites will tell you, but I have tired of the wedding sites and hope to provide a little info for those of you that feel the same way.

Frog or Finish Friday-Schaeffer Scarf

I have learned to stay away from knitting shops when I am itching for a new project or when a trunk show is in town. Both of these led me to purchasing this yarn. This is a very beautiful and slightly expensive yarn from the Shaeffer Yarn Company. I went to the trunk show and was captivated with the yarn and stories of the ladies that each yarn is named for. I am a sucker for a good story! I was very happy with this particular yarn pick. It is Laurel in the Empress Wu Zhao color way. It came with this lovely pattern for a criss cross wrap but for some reason, I was in love with entrelac and decided to do the Lady Eleanor Entrelac Stole, which is a very lovely pattern itself.



See the date tag on the photo? 2007! I have this project on the needles for almost a full five years. That is atrocious! Back on topic...

The problem I find myself with now is that I have many, many scarves and wraps and frankly, I don’t need another one. So finishing this project really won’t yield me a usable product. So, I’m sad to say this project must be FROGGED!

I don’t yet know what this yarn will become. It’s color variation and shine make it a little difficult to choose a project, but I’ll be on the look out. As usual, I am open to suggestion!

Cooling Down

The weather is starting the change and you know what that means--I need to get moving on this cardigan that I am knitting!

Now that I’m in a place where the weather will be on the cold side, I’m excited to see how this sparks my knitting. I love hand knit items. They are just so special to me, so I will be adding more to my collection.

I have finished the band on the last piece of this cardigan and will now be knitting inches and inches and inches of stockinette stitch. Since I need to catch up on my reading challenge, I will be sitting and listening to some Audible selections while I get this finished.

To keep myself motivated, I’m going to post more knitting updates until I get this done. If you don’t hear about, please send me a little message. Don’t let me slack on this one.

I had to add an extra shot. Doesn’t it look luscious!

Winter Prep-The Skin

The weather is starting to show signs of wanting to change. This is a welcome change for me as I thrive in Fall/Spring climates. Summer and Winter are not my friends and both wreak havoc on my skin. Over the past two years, I’ve noticed my skin getting more sensitive and I’ve really had to step up my game in terms of moisturizing and caring for my skin. I have never been a fan of lotion. It never seems to really soak in and it leeches back out at the slightest sign of sweat.

I still haven’t perfected what works for me, but I’m a lot closer. Here is a breakdown of the things that are working for me right now.

Of course, a good skin regimen is going to include actions that help boost health from the inside and from the outside.
The easiest thing we can do internally is to drink more water. Whether it’s bottled water or my chia water, I have kicked me intake up drastically over the past few months. I have noticed several benefits to the increase, the most important of which is the glow my skin has taken on and the decrease of dry patches. My lips and hands have become the spots that flare first so when I noticed problems with either, I immediately drink a glass or two of water before I do anything else. Even before I reach for topical solutions, I drink water.



Vitamins have also become vital to me over the last few years. I am well over due in thanking Centrum for stocking me up on multi-vitamins at Blissdom 2012.



In addition to a general multi-vitamin, I have incorporated a Skin, Nails and Hair Vitamin into my regimen. Because I started taking this at the same time I ramped up my water intake, it’s hard to say how much value it is adding, but I have seen enough improvement to keep it up. I picked this up at my local health food store. It is pricey but worth it when you have skin issues like I do.



Because I am not a fan of lotion, I have had to re-think my topical solution for skin care. I tried shea butter for awhile and my skin loves that stuff. The problem I have with that though is the time it takes to apply. Apply shea butter is not quick and I need something quick if I’m going to stick with it. Oil to the rescue! I’ve seen quite a few YouTubers make oil mixes for their hair and skin and I finally decided to give it a try myself.



I made a mix of avocado, coconut, castor and olive oils. The applicator bottle that use has measurement marks on it so I put in two ounces of the olive and avocado oil, one ounce of the castor oil and one ounce of the coconut oil. I go with less castor oil because it promotes hair growth and I would like the little body hair I have to stay that way. I does soften things up though. I take it easy on the coconut oil because it tends to over power the smell of the mix. I do love the smell of toasted coconut but I don’t want to smell like it all day. I keep this applicator bottle in the shower to apply while my skin is still wet. Talk about big improvement. With the exception of my hands which get washed several times a day, my skin doesn’t need anything else applied through the day. We’ll see how things hold up through the winter months.

Because I wash my hands so often, I do need to have something on hand to deal with that. I used to keep shea butter on my desk at work, but since shea butter takes a few minutes to soak in, I run the risk of getting things greasy as I work. Right now, I keep a bottle of cornhuskers lotion on standby but I am trying out a new body cream by ILY. More on that product line later.



I will be ecstatic if I can make it through the winter without those painful dry patches on my hands and legs. I would love to know what you all are doing to keep your skin healthy.

Update and Testing

My house is now officially on the market and I am sad. I’m in the process of putting together a few posts about preparing a home for sale. For now, I am cleaning and boxing up clutter and trying to make it look as good as possible for the strangers that will be walking through and critiquing my styling ability.

The testing part of this post has to do with the picture. I think my new cell phone may be coding pictures where they end up posting rotated. Let’s see what I can figure out. More soon.

July/August Books

July and August were the months of upset and change for me. I am slowly recovering from all the life changes that are going on, but what that means for right now is that I didn’t get any reading done. September is off to a great start so book reviews returning soon!

Tardy For The End of Summer Party

Even though many consider Labor Day to be the end of summer, some of us are still getting in those last BBQs and cookouts. Some of you are taking those last summer camping trips before you pack away the gear and hunker down for the fall/winter.

Well, my friends over at Hershey’s--yes, they are my friends now. Anyone that sends me such a great Easter basket is my friend for life! I’m on the tail end of this announcement, but my FRIENDS over at Hershey’s set up a special S’mores-Camp Bondfire campaign to help you end the summer in sugary goodness.

While some consider S’mores to be the perfect summer camping/cookout treat, I consider it the perfect fall Bon Fire/Tailgating treat. What’s better for a cool night than a warm, chocolate-ty, gooey S’mores. Nothing better. So while Hershey’s is finishing up this campaign, I encourage you all to go over to the Facebook page and tell them how much you are looking forward to the Fall S’more Snuggle. (Yes, I made that up!)

While my late post won’t get you in the running for any of the awesome prizes they gave away, take a look at some of the pictures and stories others have shared. I’m sure there will be a lot of great ideas for kicking off an awesome fall season.

Digital Footprint

Despite my half-hearted efforts, my digital life just keeps expanding. Recently, I have added a new device and traded out another and I will be reviewing soon here on the blog.

What are they?



Yep, after deciding that the Kindle Fire was not a good device for me, I was surprised that I was willing to give this a chance. But it was so new and shiny and all the tech bloggers and podcasters were talking about it so I got sucked in too. I have no regrets and I’ll tell you why soon.



I was not so thrilled with my cell phone anymore and not so thrilled with my carrier anymore, so I decided both needed a refresh. I went in for the Galaxy Note but, even though T-Mobile has started selling the device, they haven’t actually stocked the stores in my area. I don’t know what that’s about. Anyway, I am now with T-Mobile and learning to use the Galaxy SIII. I’ve only had it a few days so I’m not going to be too quick to say anything, but I can say that I miss the user experience of the HTC product line. I have faith in HTC. I know they will bounce back. The question is, will this phone make me a loyal customer of Samsung?

Stay tuned to find out...

June Books

All books links provided (in the sidebar) are from Amazon where I am an affiliate, but please support the book seller of your choice. Sorry for the late reviews. My June wrapped up with me getting a new job and moving to the midwest! I still can’t believe it. More on that later. For now, I want to catch you up on the books I managed to finish before the life storm.



I am really enjoying the mind that is Joshilyn Jackson. She is such a great story teller and this book is no different. As with the previous book I read by Joshilyn, I listened to this title using my Audible account and, once again, the book was read by the author. The life lessons and thought provoking moments are well worth picking this book up. Just be aware that you will hear a southern woman speaking in your ear for a few weeks after listening (if you go the audio route). And that is definitely not a complaint.




This book took me by complete surprise. I was gifted this book by the publisher during a promotion with Goodreads. It took me a couple of chapters to get invested in the story, but once I got it I was hooked. This was such an interesting and beautiful love story with a great sci-fi edge. You would never look at that cover and think this story is supernatural, but it’s there. Apparently, this took a lot of readers and reader by surprise and unfortunately led to some pretty negative comments. I think it is very well written and very well laid out. Don’t read this when tired though because you will get a little lost. I highly recommend this book and would love to see it made into a sci-fi channel movie.





Anyone that knows me closely knows that getting prepared for marriage has been a struggle for me for a number of reasons. That is one of the reasons you will see a lot of marriage prep/marriage counseling type books in my read-stream. This title was the first one that I purchased over a year ago and I can say it helped more that any other book so far. Prayer is an important part of my life and it was important for me to learn when and how and to what extreme I need to be praying for my future husband. I know it seems like you should just pray and all would be okay-who needs a book for that??? Trust me when I say, you need this book. If you have taken pre-marital counseling then you understand how much there is to discuss that you didn’t think to discuss. Well, there are so many things that need to be prayed for that you just don’t think to cover. She even goes into the prayer you need when you have a partner (as I do) that will completely ignore everything when the football game, pre-show, after-show, next day commentary, etc. are on. Yes, she even covers that. More than anything, this booked helped me to refine some of my expectations and realize what I was being unreasonable about. The biggest change in my relationship came when my fiancé asked what book I had just finished and I was about to give this title. He was so thrilled at that thought that I would be praying for him that he has become a little more easy to deal with in the difficult things. interesting, huh?




I picked this book up because it was written for people like me. I am a planner, a very detailed planner. Some would see this as worrying. I like to think of it as planning. When I’m honest with myself I do have to admit that my planning does go over into the realm of worrying, but you will never hear me admit it in public. ☺ This summer was an especially trying time as my unemployment was stretching much longer than I anticipated it to and the savings had run out and I was only surviving on help from family and prayers from everyone. This book came along at the perfect time to remind me that despite what is going on, I can still trust God. My troubles didn’t go away with the reading of this book but I can say I was a little more at peace and that kept me from starting my new job with an ulcer!




I can’t remember if Amazon brought this title to my attention or a friend did, but I am grateful either way. My grandmother and I have been talking a lot lately about how we have come to view our food in this country. We have gotten so accustomed to sweet potatoes being available all year round that we don’t know what the real growing season is anymore. We also have adopted so much convenience shopping and eating that we have lost some of our basic kitchen and homesteading skills. Short ebooks like this one are perfect for re-adjusting our lives and re-learning some of those skills. The author presents gardening, cooking, household cleaning/management, and financial in little monthly chunks. This is really a great way to get people on board who want to start eating better and living better without getting overwhelmed. I highy recommend this title. Look for a review on the other volumes/months soon.


Yep, another relationship book…I warned you! Years ago, I read Gary Chapman’s 5 Love Languages book and was intrigues at how he thought about relationships. He was able to separate us not based on male and female but based on how we truly express love. That was a break through read for me so I was excited to follow that up by reading this title.I was disappointed. Apparently, everything you needed to know was in the 5 Love Languages book. He constantly refers back to it. He did go in to enough detail that this could be a stand alone book, but this didn’t offer anything beyond 5 Love Languages. So, I would suggest you read only one and honestly the 5 Love Languages is better written and more impactful.

Hair Update

I am on the search for some new hair products. My allergies are killing me lately even with some products that I considered my favorites. I was sad to send my beloved Elasta QP Mango and Olive Oil Styling Cream home with my mom because the smell was just getting to me a little too much.

I have tried a few new items over the past few weeks, but right now I’m trying a new line by YouTuber, Shana. You can check her out here. What I really love is that all of her products are available in sample sizes! I ordered a handful of samples to try out.



What I have here are samples of her cleansing conditioner, deep conditioner, leave-in conditioner (cream), leave-in conditioner (spray), a cream-gel styler, gel, buttercream, and a body cream. You can see all of the samples available by visiting her site.

I am going to finish out the week with these products before I give a review.

In the meantime…since my hair is getting to a good length now that hangs quite well, I am enjoying wearing braid-outs. They take longer to set and take down but I really love the results. I have not taken any pictures lately, but another YouTuber BlakIzBeautyful recently posted a braid-out tutorial video that is right in line with how I do my hair.



I do set my hair in sections smaller than hers so I can get a little more definition. The most important thing to remember in a braid-out is to allow enough time to dry. I am constantly waking up with damp hair so I have learned to set my hair with a little more gel. The gel lets me take the braids down and as long as I do minimum manipulation before it dries, my style is preserved.

I would love to hear from the naturals out there. What new products are you trying? And what styles are speaking to you right now?