Long Term Transition to Natural Hair

 I have been transitioning to natural hair for 26 months. I honestly can't believe that I was able to transition for such a long period of time. The photos above show my hair at 25 months post relaxer/ 25 months into my transiton. I really am loving my natural hair. At this point, I am psychologically preparing myself for the chop. I only have a few inches of relaxed ends left. The photo below shows the stringy relaxed ends that are holding on for dear life.

This photo was taken at 24 months into my transition/ post relaxer. I think that I am now kinda ready to cut off the remaining ends. Nowadayz I'm rocking the kinky twists that I wore on my vacation. My protective styles have been a godsend throughout this transition. If I didn't have protective styles to wear, I don't think I would've been able to transition for such a long period of time. So, I wanted to transition for 28 months, but I think I may cut my hair a little sooner since my ends are beginning to drive me nuts. I have some single strand knots on some of the ends of my hair and they don't feel nice at all. They make my ends feel so rough. I can't wait to cut them off.

If you look closely you can see small knots on my hair....ugh!

Fix that Fat: Chapter 1

So I've officially come to the conclusion that I need to make a CHANGE. The first step in kicking an addiction or a habit, is to first realize that there is a problem. I have an issue with eating. Though I am not morbidly obese, I will soon be at that point if I don't control the issue. The three pictures above above show ME of course at different sizes. I took the bikini photos about 2 1/2 years ago. I was single, 40lbs lighter, and so much healthier. Weighing at 145lb at a height of 5'5 1/2 made me feel like I was in the best shape of my life. I call it my high school weight. Now, I want to get back there. Today I weighed in at 183lbs....geez that's heavy. Everything has gotten big....big butt, big boobs, big thighs, big arms...I never was this heavy. The third photo is when I went on vacation a couple of weeks ago. As you can clearly see, I am more covered up and for good reason. So, I have decided to make this life change....and THIS time it will be different. Over the past months, I have tried to go on diets and start exercise programs, but I ended up slacking off and just adding more pounds. THIS time will be different. I have until the end of February to get my body in shape. Most athletic trainers say that it takes 3 months to get your body in shape, and that's what I'm focusing on doing. I plan to start going back to the gym, but mostly focusing on P90X and Insanity. I hope to really change my eating habits too. NO MORE TACO BELL!!! I think I eat out way too much. I think I won't have that problem any more though cuz it's getting kinda old. It seems like everytime I say I'm not going out and I end up going out anyways, I always get terrible service or horrible food. Anyways, just sharing my new challenge that I'm focusing on...  Will keep ya updated!

Now I feel like a GROUPIE!

OhMyGosH! So a friend and I decided to go out to a local restaurant for a late lunch. Upon obtaining my food, I noticed that a familiar face walked in for food. I immediately knew who he was, but my friend was in the dark. I'm quite familiar with the Memphis Grizzlies and the faces of the athletes that play on the team so I immediately lit up when I saw Rudy Gaye walk in with his entourage. Although he wasn't the first NBA player that I met, I still got excited because I was in the presence of an NBA player. For more certainty, I even asked my waiter was that him, and he informed me that in fact it was him and that he often visits that restaurant. My friend and I (mostly me) started plotting and trying to figure out a way to ask for his autograph and picture....and we came to absolutely nothing. The waiter seen us looking kinda frantic and asked us if we wanted him to tell Mr. Gaye to come over to speak to us. I said yeah, even though I thought that would be a major fail. If I was a celebrity I wouldn't approach a fan to give them an autograph, so I figured that would be weird. The waiter came back and said that Mr. Gaye was coming to our table later to speak to us...and he also gave us a side note that Mr. Gaye was also acting like a DIVA. I waited for like 10mins and I knew that the whole thing was a joke and that he really wasn't coming to speak to us at our table. I finally gathered up the balls to get up and walk to his table. We walked to his table and I smiled really big and I greeted him and asked him would he take a pic with me. I told him that I was a big Grizzlie fan...hoping that he would make it a little better. This guy was really acting like a DIVA! Beyonce said it best. He was acting like it hurt him to take a pic with me. I didn't hold a gun up to his head so I wish that he didn't feel so obligated to take a pic. Now, I know that I may not be the prettiest girl in the world, but I know that I look good and that I'm desireable to men, so I don't really understand why he was treating me like the dog faced girl. He was not friendly at all. He didn't even want to be bothered. This guy is a joke. I should've made a comment about the lockout situation lol. I told him thanks anyways, but as I was walking away, I couldn't help but feel like I was a groupie. He sure treated me like one. I didn't want to post the pic on facebook, but I absolutely had to blog about it....and that's not the worst part of the story. So as my friend and I were leaving the restaurant, Mr. Gaye walked out behind us. He was walking to the parking lot as I approached my car. After unlocking my car door, I saw a Caucasian woman smile and wave at Mr. Gaye. He absolutely lit up. HE WAS GLOWING! He was friendly and he was smiling so hard. He approached her vehicle and she shook his hand and giggled. I sighed and got in my car. I asked my friend did she see that and she claimed she didn't. The whole situation is annoying and frustrating. I approached the guy practically in the same manner as the Caucasian woman and he reacted in a totally different way. I guess my skin was not bright enough and my body wasn't thin enough. To be honest, I don't know what it was about me. I'm quite friendly and cordial to everyone that I meet. I'm able to talk and hold conversations with everyone, so I don't know why he treated me in such a manner after speaking with me for 3 secs........................ small rant.

Vacation to Panama City Beach!

We had an absolute blast Panama City Beach, Fl. It's fall break at school, so the boy and I decided to take a small trip to PCB.....The beach was nice and the weather was great. The condo that we stayed in had an awesome view of the beach. We will definitely be coming back. This was our second visit and we had a blast. We lounged around and relaxed for the most part. I of course, shopped a lil bit and we ate out at a few local restaurants. I was craving oysters the entire trip, so I ate them multiple times. The weather was pretty nice the entire trip, but it actually started raining on the day that we left..... On the way home, we had to brace ourselves to freezing cold weather, which was a real down fall, but it was good to be home.

Happy Birthday to Me :)

I partied and clubbed pretty hard....from Thursday to Sunday lol. I'm just including a few pics that I took in between. I loved the birthday cake.....it's still sitting in the fridge though lol. It was way too big to eat.

Chinese Restaurant Rip Off

                                                      
So... this is really weird, but sometimes when I have cravings for specified food, my mouth and my brain will not let me eat anything but the specified food. I know that I may come off as greedy, but I get really annoyed when I'm hungry. So last night, my hubby decided to take me out to go get some oysters. I didn't want to go to the normal crab shack so I decided to get them at the local buffet at this chinese restaurant. The variety of food was good and the price was even greater. Although they didn't have oysters, they did have clams, crab legs, shrimp, and other seafood, so I was quite satisfied. Now....here's my issue! The next day I had a strong craving for the same meal....it must've been the msg in the food that caused it lol. So anyways, I went and decided to do a takeout at the restaurant. Upon arrival, I realized that I was too late to pay the lunch fee so I was forced to possibly have to pay the dinner fee for the takeout. The dinner fee was like almost 11 bucks and initially I was against it....since the japanese buffet was way better at the same price, but I decided to go ahead and order. Here's the problem though.....when I finally decided to order the worker handed me a small box....similar to the size of a small crayon box...or a small microwave dinner. I was like...ARE YOU SERIOUS!?! I can't put any food in here. It's already bad that the restaurant is charging more money to do a takeout than to sit down and eat. It's so stupid. I would eat more food if I was dining in at the location, than if I decided to do a takeout.... Then the restaurant has the audactiy to be ripping people off with small takeout boxes. The boxes are actually 3xs smaller than a normal size takout box or to go box...smh