I've been Tagged

by Lovely Locks

The rules are:
1) Link to the person that tagged you.
2) Post the rules on your blog.
3) Share 6 non-important/habits/quirks about yourself.
4) Tag 6 random people by posting links to their blogs.
5) Let each of them know they've been tagged

1. While I was laid off I discovered that movies are $5 before noon at the theater near my house. So I ended up seeing quite a few movies to break up the monotony.

2. Recently I discovered something even better than the $5 movies when I found out about Redbox. They are vending machines that dispense DVDs. They have current movies, I rented Sex and the City the same day it was released. Best of all, the movies are only $1 plus tax and you can return them to any location. Take a look at the site to see if they're in your area.

3. I'm such a bookworm and nerd that I know that yesterday was the last day of Banned Books Week lol. Banned Books Week is a celebration of our intellectual freedom. In honor of the week I read The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Color Purple. Both books were excellent, even though The Giver is a young adult book it really made me think.

4. I am the Queen of Procrastination. Meikmeika's recent post reminded me about the sewing class I took last December and the fact that I have yet to complete a garment. I do however, have several in different stages of completion.

5. I absolutely cannot drive without taking off my right shoe. Even if I'm wearing flip flops or sneakers it just doesn't feel right.

6. All the doors in my bedroom or any room that I sleep in(including the closet and dresser drawers), have to be closed or I can't fall asleep.

Ok, that's all the neuroses that I'm going to share today! I'm entirely too lazy to look for people to tag so... If you're reading this and want to play along then you're it!

Good News

After months of barely getting bites despite sending out literally hundreds of resumes, I finally got a call while I was in the car last Tuesday to set up an interview. I jotted down the information and continued running errands.

On Friday, I was completely stressed on my way to the interview because I just knew I was going to be late; I kept getting caught by every light and a train, mind you I don't think I've ever seen the stupid train cross in the middle of the day before. At any rate I ended up getting to there on time. I introduced myself to the interviewer who proceeded to tell me that we must have had a mix up on the dates because my interview was scheduled for the 25th... not the 26th. {Sigh}

I thought I'd probably destroyed any chance of me getting the job, even though the interview rocked (if I do say so myself). After all, who shows up a day late to an interview? So imagine my surprise when a former co-worker called to tell me that she got a call requesting a reference for me. And then I got a text message from another old co-worker. So I got excited all over again.

Well today, I got a call and a job offer! Whoo hoo!!!

Work it Out!

After reading Brown ButtahFly's post a few months ago I was inspired to sign up for a 5K in the hopes that it would force me to reach my weightloss goals once and for all. So I registered for the Miracle Miles 5K back in May and started the Couch to 5K program. Well, that only lasted for a month before I dropped the ball again.

Now here's where having a support system helps :)

Nihuru started a weightloss group a couple weeks ago and that got me back in gear. I jumped back into the C25K program in Week 6 (which I still haven't completed). Fast forward two weeks later and I'm down 7.8 pounds and I just completed my first 5K!!! Whoot whoot!!! lol

I don't have any pics of myself at the run since no one wanted to get up at 6:30 this morning but since I use the Nike+ system I was able to get this graph of my run.

As you can see I walked a lot of the way, but I'm still happy because my only goal was to finish. I am going to sign up for another run for late October or early November to keep myself on track.

If you've been trying to lose weight and are having a problem staying on track, join the team because it may help.

Back to Black

I've been getting a little bored with my hair because it's in an in between stage, not short and not long. So... I decided I would get highlights, which turned into a complete debacle.

I wanted one inch chunks of auburn and honey blond. This was my inspiration pic:

I wanted to reduce the chances of me having to color more than once and decided to have them professionally done. So, I went to Aveda and took the picture for extra measure. After explaining to the stylist exactly what I wanted and that I wanted the color focused around my face, I decided to let her color it. The first time around, the color didn't take. I wasn't happy but I do know that the only thing that works on my hair is permanent color so I agreed to come back for a correction. Tell me why my hair looked like this when she was finished?


I was totally crushed because A) I hated the colors and B) it wasn't at all like the pic I showed (and explained to her). She offered to try to correct it (by processing my hair for a third time) but I was beyond aggravated at that point. Plus, I could see how much lock repair I was going to have to do (it ended up taking forever) so I just left. I tried to resist and hold off on recoloring, but needless to say looking at the tragedy that was on my head daily wore me down so I went back to black by using an at home kit by Feria.

This all happened a couple weeks ago. So far, none of my hair has fallen out lol. My locks are just a little dry, so I've been drinking lots of water and deep conditioning them. I definitely suffered a set back with the progress of the locks in my crown... I'll post updated pics this week.

If you decide to color definitely try to get a reference from someone (I don't know anyone who gets there hair colored so I had to take a chance).

Hurricane Day Updo

People up North have Snow Days but we have Hurricane Days in Florida. Today was the first time that I recall us having a Tropical Storm Day where all of the schools and non-emergency government offices were closed. On one hand I can understand the concern... not because of the T.S., but because of the threat of tornadoes. But on the other hand I think it's a bit of overkill. I mean I've lived in Florida my entire life and prior to 2004 can only remember one hurricane coming through Central Florida. It was back in the day and it must have been sometime before I started kindergarten because we were still living in Cocoa, which is on the coast.



Anyhoo... since I was bored and couldn't take care of the one thing that I had on my schedule today since both the community college and the agency that helps unemployed persons find jobs/training were closed, I began looking at Fotki albums. As always,
I started coveting some of the loose natural hairstyles that I saw. So I decided to do an updo. I think it came out pretty well but it would look a lot better on retightened hair (I've been to lazy to retighten).

*You can click on the pictures to see larger images*

I cornrowed my hair up, wrapped my Tomoka's Twist to hold it in a pony, and then curled the ends with small Soft Spike curlers. When I first envisioned it, I wanted Bantu knots in the top but apparently I'm missing some secret because my sample Bantu knots looked a mess lol. I can't believe how thick my ponytails are going to be... I keep thinking about how much perms took all the volume away from my hair and then I would try to get it back by putting weave in it.... and the worst part is that I usually got weaves with a small curl pattern. I could have been wearing my natural, loose hair and getting the same effect! Do you know what I could do with all the money I've wasted over the years?

Here's a texture shot. I was trying to capture the back of my head but failed, this is one of the few drawbacks of living alone that I can think of. I think I did a pretty good job considering that my braiding skills aren't the best.