Girl Crush- Ms. Jill Scott

Isn't Ms. Jilly from Philly looking gorgeous right about now???? I'm loving the look especially those leggings and hair. She always brings it. I'm excited to hear the album. She's even hotter in the Shame video. I never considered sequins.....but she is rocking it. And the big hair *swoons*.

So what do YOU think???

So once upon a time there was this weave.........

So I thought long and hard about doing a review on the last hair I had installed for a sew-in. Partially because there tends to be backlash from this company when they hear about youtube vids or blog reviews that lean a bit towards the negative. But......eff it I'm me and this is how I feel about it.


Once upon a time a young lady (me) was up at 3 in the morning lollygagging around on twitter. Halley's Curls was having a contest and giving away their newest hair texture, Candy Curls. I'm not even going to lie. I got excited as hell, because I had been eyeballing it for months. I just had no interest in coming out of my pocket  two hundred plus dollars. Anyway purse opening became completely unnecessary because I won.

That's what it looked like......8 oz. of 14" in candy curls

I went through the companies instructions of HSC (Hydrating, Shampooing, and Conditioning) the hair. I gave it a few days to air dry and ran happily to my stylist to have it sewn-in. 

First complaint: Now maybe this has something to do with my stylists braid pattern or maybe it means I have a big ass head, but I was 2 braids short of all the hair I needed to complete the sew-in. My stylist used two wefts of beauty supply hair to fill in the braids. That slightly irked me because I didn't get the real Halley's experience, but nonetheless it was cute. 

Day 1 2/10/11 all that curly cuteness

Second complaint: If you go to the Halley's Curls website they tell you that their wefts are reinforced. Hmmm Really???? My wefts shed like hell. Seriously crazy shedding all over the place. 

Third Complaint: And it was necessary to comb through it daily because due to waitressing my hair stayed in a ponytail during work and I have to comb out all the tangles I would get during the day. I understand curly hair gets tangles far more but the tangles were just out of control. And the amount of hair that would come out ???? Child please. P.S. I'm a weave-ologist I know how to properly comb out tangles. So that is NOT the reason for the excessive shedding. 

Fourth Complaint: Matting. Is this an issue that comes along with just curly hair???? OMG The back of my hair matted something horrible even when I detangled. I can detangle to a certain point and once I get towards the top of the back weft it becomes obvious that I'm dealing with one big tangle that I will NOT be able to get out.

Week 3 It looks good but.......I'm just no longer feeling it

Plus my workout regimen is not conducive with this sew-in. The curliness of if requires me to spiral curl the front at least once a week.  I am really not into putting that much heat on my hair on a weekly basis. Is the hair gorgeous? Of course it is. Am I really glad I didn't shell out money for it? You damn skippy. It kinda makes me said that I gave up six months of transitioning to relax for this sew-in. If I'm doing something wrong feel free to let me know. But all in all this is all bad for me. Makes me miss the Bobbi Boss Ocean wave that I complained so much about in September. Or maybe just maybe I need to go back to braids....hmm who knows......

Products used on hair: Dove Intensive Care Shampoo and Conditioner, Garnier Fructris Curl Sculpting Cream-gel, and occasionally John Freida Frizz Ease Dream Curls Curl-Perfecting Spray.

recap of me......

So hey sexies! How has twenty-eleven been treating you all??  I've been working on a few me projects lately and thought it would be nice to let you all in on a few:

* I'm currently fighting with myself HARDCORE about going natural. My natural hair is however a bit difficult to deal with. I am almost five months post relaxer, but I flip flop with my opinions on it so much that there is a huge chance I will relax within the next three weeks. Either way it has put me in a position to pay better attention to my hair....even if I almost never rock it. 


* Next week starts my new workout regimen. Me and a couple of girls I work with decided to band together and be workout buddies. It helps me be far more accountable than I would have been alone. I don't really have a weight goal in mind. I'm aiming to just be healthier, a little more *cough* flexible, and regain some of my fine-ness that was lost behind some of this excess flab. I'm starting with thirty minutes of cardio and thirty minutes of weight training three days a week.


* I'm working on strengthening my relationship with God. It takes time. Of course not on his part. Solely on mine. I have this part time bad girl thing going on. I need to shake it ASAP. SMH.


* Scared as all get out about turning thirty in August. It just reminds me that the list of things I wanted to have accomplished by now have very few things scratched off. *shrugs* I'm working on it. In due time I guess. 


* My new place. Outside of the master bedroom it is fairly empty. I need to get to antiquing, rummaging, and Ikea shopping ASAP. 


* Some of my relationships are growing by leaps and bounds, others are at a stand still, and some are are malnourished and slowly dying. Time for me to get real with myself and determine what's worth keeping. 


* My blogging has been ummmmm  sporadic at best. Working on locking it down a bit. At least two posts a week. Can't make promises about the content though. This is my playground of expression and my thoughts are all over the place. Yep. Straight scattered. 

Hope you will partake of this interesting journey with me. Until then......take care! *MUAH*

b-b-braided up

Kinda like tatted up...only I can remove this ishhh whenever I's gets ready!

well I like them...correction love them, but ummm they kinda hurt a bit AND it took too long for an on the go chick like me AND I am NOT looking forward to taking these mamacitas out in January (That is if I keep them in that long).

I'm moisturizing my hair with my hodge podge concoction of ingredients all pushed into one spray bottle: Wave Nouveau Moisturizing Lotion, EVCO, Lavender JBCO, Grapeseed Oil, Herbal Essences Long Term Relationship Leave-in Conditioner, Peppermint Oil and Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Leave-in Conditioner It smells like heaven....hopefully all that moisture is making my hair underneath feel like butter. This will be the look until the new year...maybe. After that???? Another Sew-in perhaps??? The Halley's Curls Candy Curls has been calling my name, but we'll see until then..

LOve, Peace, and Hair Grease..lol

.....love-whipping???? LOL

Between this.....

and this........

Little black girls and their hair are having the best week ever!!

I love it !!!

What's going on.....

So I've been blabbing so much about whatever has been on my mind lately that I haven't just updated about the "joy" that is my life.

*So the sew-in has been released from my head. LOL. I enjoyed it, but next time we'll upgrade the hair. I'm sure you're slightly confused by the pic to your right. No I did not chop my hair off and resort to a Teeny weeny afro. My hair is merely hiding in a ponytail and getting a bit of moisture and rest before it goes into micros next week. Pretty excited about the braids. I am however NOT excited about sitting on my ass for eight hours or more to get them done. But as I've posted before we all know Valecia is not a real fan of her own hair. I get excited to tuck it away, but I also get excited to see it's progress. *shrug*

* Ask the booskie I own a LOT of MAC Cosmetics. I mean an awful damn lot. But currently I'm in love with the Maybelline Natural Smokes Smokey Quad. (Used in the pic on the right) Who figured? I'm sure I could have saved a pretty penny had my makeup addiction started in the drug store first. Lately that's all I wear anyway.

*My current addiction is China Glaze Frostbite. Seeing that my life damn near revolves around working at the pancake house I thought it was cute that my nails matched my uniform. It was cute in the summer. Now I'm looking for a darker fall color. And I'm kinda mad at myself for not rocking for Audrey this spring/summer when I had the chance. Hmm.... any rustic fall color suggestions ladies? Also nail related....I'm breaking up with my nail salon. You may remember this haven of nail drama from my post  Confessions of a bitter bitch: The Nail Salon Edition on my last visit they did a extra scandalous half-assed job!! Mr. Old ass man did my nails this time. *sigh* he had the audacity to do my design while gabbing on the phone in some language unbeknown to me. That's service??? Not to mention I wasn't happy with the design. I can't stay where I'm not happy. So the break up was inevitable. Hmm like all relationships I'm sure he'll miss me when I'm gone.

* Fall is gorgeous isn't it?? Beautiful colors, cool, crisp, but not yet blistering cold. Pumpkins, apples, squash, brussel sprouts (laugh if you want to, but  get the best sprouts this time of year), cute fall sweaters, and boots. This is also the time of year where I spend a bit more time in my beloved Starbuck's...lol Everything looks pretty in the fall. Even the hood. LOL. As seen in the above pic. 

* Speaking of the hood..... Adios BITCHES!!!! The place Booskie and I wanted the most we were accepted for!!! I was so excited I cried. Literally. Big fat crocodile grown woman cry baby ass tears. I'm sooo ready to leave this crappy apartment. The new place is near my job, so much nicer, closer to my mom (without being too close), and.......close to the mall LOL. Due to the 30 day evacuation rules, guidelines and blah, blah, blah we can't move until December 1st. It's a bit of a wait till move day, but I see the mountain top. :) It's pretty fuckin' pricey. I mean I gotta sell a lot of fuckin pancakes for this bad boy, but it's worth it. Now the question is......whose hiring for holiday employees??? LOL

It's good to be flexible.....The Bobbi Boss Indi Remi Ocean Wave review

So I haven't done any real beauty blogging, but I gave my wig happy life a bit of a hiatus and bought myself something special for my birthday

The very popular Bobbi Boss Indi Remi hair in Ocean Wave. 

I researched it for MONTHS before I was willing to hand out my hard earned dollars for this hair. At my local BSS it ran for about $99.99/pack for 14 inches (my desired length). To complete a full sew-in I would need two packs. Sorry call me cheap, but I could not envision paying two hundred bucks for weave. Call me what you  want, but that's just a massive negative. After a little penny pinching and digging I found a great website that sells remy hair for wholesale price. By purchasing it on myremy.com I got the same two packs for $65.00/each add in shipping and handling ($15) and I still paid fifty-five bucks less than what I would have paid for retail price. 

Well.....

Initially I loved it. Seriously loved it like it was my own little child then my perfect hair became not so perfect.

Now this is after I followed all the rules. Put it in plaits at night, used a paddle brush to detangle, brushing from the bottom up,wearing a satin bonnet and all. Maybe it was the heat but that shid frizzed big time. And though I was told to not use products on my hair I pulled out the product junkie arsenal. Cause please believe me I was gonna save this hair like it was my child drowning.


The arsenal included: 
Herbal Essences Tousle me Softly Spray Gel
Herbel Essences Totally Twisted Curl Scrunching Gel
Garnier Fructis Sleek and Shine Leave-In Conditioning Cream
and.....
Jumbo Size Flexi-Rods

and for comedies sake



The two med. size yellow magnetic rollers were for my own natural leave out. 
So after an "interesting" nights sleep in the morning I got this...



Better but yet frizzies and flyaways still exist!!! Grrrrr!


I was going to crop the pic better, but then I realized I matched my bathroom really well that day ;p
So all that to say I am very 50/50 about this hair. I will work with it to the end because of the price but I just can't say I'm willing to purchase this brand again.  
Any suggestions ladies???

So I was thinking.....(a random inebriated rant) The "my life" version

So drink in hand I go back to rambling....... I don't know why I like doing this so much, but it's fun.....either I'm annoying the fuck outta you or you're laughing along. Either way this is a high point of my day. And if you don't like it......well you know what the hell to do. 

So we all know that I decided that before I bring myself to nervous breakdown status I'm going away for a while. Not to an insane asylum or a home for women with "broken relationships" (though I'd swear I'd go if they had one). I'm spending exactly six months living in the Windy City with my bestie, Donna. (insert adorable pic of us here)

Yeah.... Chicago for rejuvenation and relaxation you ask??? Yep. ya damn right. Seems a little ass backwards I know, but it's a chance to forget the things that have happened and make some new fabulous things happen. When you're a small town midwest girl like myself. Chicago is kinda like our New York. 

......concrete jungle where dreams are made of......there's nothing you can't do....

I'm currently planning my 29th birthday/going away party while packing and securing a Chi-town gig. It's all alot, but the most difficult part is leaving my mommy. We almost NEVER see eye to eye, but she is my rock. She's not happy to see her baby go, but *sigh* some moments are uber necessary. 

Rocking the natural hair this week. Hmmmm no comment. I need my ends trimmed but weaveless feels strange. My head feels......light LOL.

So it's been MONTHS since I got my eyebrows done...yet and still my nails are done bi weekly...tootsies done monthly smh....don't ask.

Anyone seen the commercial for the new game show Downfall??? WTF is Chris Jericho hosting a game show??? Why???

So I'm looking for a pair of bad ass pink gladiator heels for my party to no avail....Blah...that sucks....

You know what else sucks.....I'm going to miss my job and co-workers something awful....they are my family...I am with them all EVERYDAY

I can NOT stop playing Nicki Minaj's "I get crazy", Kanye West's "Power", and Lyfe Jennings "Statistics" All for different Reasons. Ummm yeahhh hot shyt.

One thing someone told me the other day that was oh so true. "It isn't necessarily what it is....it's what it's perceived to be".

I have no real direction with Chocolate Girl Wonder, but she's mine. My baby. And this blog has helped me through some rough times. Thanks to all who have followed my random antics...LOL

My fear of animals is ridiculous....I mean off the chain. I'll leave it at that Especially rodents and vermin. *shivers and squeals*

My landlord was here today and he laid his tools down right next to my wig. ROTFLMAO Can we say very uncomfortable middle aged Caucasian male??

Those that truly love you will always be there. Always. This Chicago thing is for me to get me together, but I will also be able to see whose still around when I return. Either it will be stronger or it wont be. I will only place 100% folks in my life from here on out. Ninety-nine and a half won't do.

I got a text this morning that read: Real talk i kinda miss you a bit. Don't tell nobody. Smile!
(my response?? Of course you miss me. Why wouldn't you? And you should wanna tell the world) LOL


Ummmm *licks lips* rapeable...yes I said that rapeable....that man is yummy and I stand by this staement  with not an ounce of shame.....Loves me some Trey!

I'm craving a Coke Zero something awful so......that's all....LOL

You better work!!

Oh wow....Ms. Jackson you did that!
So what do you guys think? I think it looks pretty damn hot on her.

But....
I am on this short hair phase AND..

then again when you're Janet you can do whatever the hell you want to!

ride em' pony....

BTW me and my longtime stylist have been on the quest to find me the ultimate hairstyle of fierceness. I'm pushing hard for a haircut, but she's pretty against it. While we tossed around ideas at the shop she gave me an in the meantime between time hairstyle while we brew over this new me. This is what I've been rocking the past eh... thirteen days.

Yep the old ponytail and pompadour combo. My upkeep of styles is not top-notch (and she knows this). I'm also a hit snooze 3 times before I get up, shower, jump into clothes wet, barely make it to the bus, do my makeup at work in the loo kinda gal. So I don't do complicated hair do's. So although this look is fairly....old it worked.
So today is my hair appointment and I'm ridiculously giddy about this test look. I know what it is, but I swore my over-talkative self to secrecy until I walked out of the salon. Hopefully their will be decent pics.
I have lost *gasp* my digital camera and I'm relying solely on my *gasp* camera on my phone. I've been trying to be better with my cash so I won't allow myself to buy a new one. *sigh* Guess I'll just buy a new memory card for my old one ugh Till then...ta ta beautifuls!

The 41st Annual NAACP Image Awards: The Curvy Edition

I'd be lying if I said I watched the image awards. As I get older awards shows are blah to me. They don't hold my attention for long. I watched long enough to notice the oh so debonair Hill Harper as host and a few choice fashions. Here are the curvy girls that really caught my eye:

From Precious, Ms. Gabby Sibide was the woman of the hour. I thought her makeup was beautiful and subtle, her hair was pretty and Old school reminiscent. I love the dress color...style however ehhh, but all in all she looked lovely

I <3  this dress! Just everything about it! The color, the style, the fit....ahhhh! Ms. Amber Riley brought the heat in this ensemble, but then again I adore everything she wears. Her hair and makeup just topped off an already (IMHO) hot look!

Next is the suddenly thinner looking and very fabulous Ms. Raven-Symone. I thought this pink,brown and gold number was just enough...ummm sexy-demure if you will. I thought it accented her curves remarkably and was just all around beautiful head to toe. A+ for that hot shoe and sexy pink lip, but all praises go to that hot new cut. I've already spoken on my Raven-symone hair envy. That hair is to die for on her!
Ms. Monique looked exquisite as always, but the dress was very ummmmm wedding dress/prom-ish idk not being a hater it just wasn't my cup of tea. I loved her hair and makeup, but I couldn't help to wonder....did she shave her legs this time?? LOL
And the woman that made me drop my jaw was the fabulous Ms. Jill Scott....

I don't even know what to say about this.......except...downright beautiful I love the color, the fabric, the hair....and wth knew she had legs like those? HOT MAMA! *shrug*
Anyway enough of my blase opinions what did you think about the looks? Or the show as a whole? (if you got a chance to watch)

A Hairy situation

We all know I'm a false hair aficionado. I make no disputes about that, but let's NOT look at Wendy Williams wig for a moment and let's look at that cute, fierce ass hair cut that stands upon the head of little miss mini-mogul Raven-Symone. Isn't that shyt DA HOTTNESS?! Needless to say.....I want a hair cut!
Like NOW!
thatisall

"She even wear her hair down her back like mine"

Don't get it twisted I love my baby to bits and pieces. My E.B. (Estranged Boyfriend) as I affectionately call him loves me too (I guess), but there's one thing we don't agree on. My love of wigs and weaves and no matter how hard I try to go without them for the sake of a happy home I can't. I just can't. I love me and I think I'm by far one of the coolest chicks on the planet, but I'm not as pretty without long hair. Yeah. That's a fucked up thing to say, but it's true. It's my truth.

"You make sure your hair looks pretty. Always have presentable hair. It's one thing to be fat, another to be black, but NEVER be fat, black, and bald-headed."

Those words came from the mouth of my mom when I was five. I will remember them for the rest of my life. I'm already a chubster. Even when I lose weight I will be happy at 175-180, and at my height (5'4") that will Still make me a chubster so fat is basically my life. I'm a dark ass girl. I'm ok with that. Ain't a bleaching cream in the world gonna change it. Nor do I want to change it. I'm a dark chocolate princess. A plus-size barbie. I'm a diva. A Bad Bitch, but not so much when I look like this.

or

I have NOTHING in common with the above two girls. They look like me, but yet just an uglier version of myself.

Call it a warped sense of self-esteem if you want, but it's all apart of a look. And I know exactly what look works for me. I do what I must to make myself feel beautiful. Maybe he feels I am beautiful without it, but I have learned over the years you can't change things about you for someone else's happiness. Even though it's nice to have other's love you. I like the love I have for myself a hell of a lot more. I like to get ready for work, look in the mirror, and know that when I get on the bus all the perverted men will be looking at me, because I'm THAT damn well put together! And I don't feel that way when it comes to the hair that grows out of my head. Sorry!

This girl is me....synthetic half-wig happiness and all
So do what makes you happy...Wayne said, "She even wear her hair down her back like mine". But he didn't say shyt about how she got it! LOL