My hair, my life, my way!

It's hotter than fish grease outside.

2011-07-19T22:11:00.004-04:00

Man, blog fam it has been so miserable and hot these days. I know it is well into summer and I should be used to this but I am not used to this heat. I am working out 4 to 5 days a week sweating up a storm and all I can do to my hair is a pony tail. It is getting a little old now and I am starting to long for the days when I had my low cut.

I so loved this maintenance free look. I really rocked this look and I am getting that itch again. With the new weight loss I am wanting to show my face a little more. I think I am going to wait until my second child to chop it off though. If I suffer from the hair loss like before with my son I will have no problem chopping it off and rocking this till the end. All I ever had to do is make sure my eyebrows were arched, my lip gloss was popping, and to drink plenty of water for clear skin. This photo here was no make up and only some Oh Baby (MAC) and lip liner. *sigh* I miss those days.

New cut for both of us.

2011-06-21T20:57:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have been so busy with the JOB, family, and Hair that it has been impossible to get myself together enough to post pics. First off I trimmed the hair some more. It was getting so heavy, so trimmed it to just past my shoulders. I also trimmed the baby fat. Yes indeed your girl is in a good size 12 now after one year of hard work and determination. I CUT baby boy's hair. I couldn't keep up with the 2 hour sessions every Sunday with him and his hair. He is so happy with it. He goes to the barbershop with his daddy every two weeks and he sits all by himself for his cut. Such a big boy.

Gone but I will be back

2011-03-18T17:26:00.002-04:00

Life has definitely been busy...to say the least. I plan to post some new pics of the hair soon. My hair line has grown back since the baby. My son got his first hair cut...YAY! The workouts have been consistent every week. Hair business is good and steady.

I will return with more.

Happy New Year! Out with 2010 and Hello 2011

2011-01-01T19:32:00.003-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Happy New Year! Introducing my newest client...my son CJ. Look at all of that hair. He is very particular about his hair too. 9 month old loves to touch his hair but don't want me or anyone else near his hair...PERIOD!! He loves for me to lean him back in the sink and wash his hair and condition it but after that treatment is over he is not having it. Well, I just received my order of Oyin with a 8oz of Whipped Pudding, 2 orders of Greg Juice, and Go Tea (for the hubby). That Whipped pudding came in handy today. After washing that massive afro I applied some Oyin Honey Hemp conditioner and rinsed. I dried that afro and massaged some Whipped Pudding in. I took his baby brush and brushed it to the tips. Once he was sleep I began semi parting with a comb and my fingers and plaited his hair up. As you can see his hair is EXTRA curly and I can't braided it all the way to the ends because it just slips out of my fingers so I let it curl up. He loves it! He can't stop touching and twirling it. He can't take the cornrolls so I will just do this once a week. He is more high maintenance than my own locs which have grown. The edges where I lost some hair due to hormones have grown back. The layers are growing out and it is just long and full. I love it but with my hair and his hair...MAN what a weekend.

I have a full time job now and it is not as stressful and I am making progress there. My skills and experience are definitely acknowledge. Plus to add to that the company will be moving to my county so that commute time will be cute down by atleast 20 to 30 minutes. YES! I can take all street if I want. I took a pay cut but what I have learned is with more money comes more responsibility and expectations. Right now I am more focused on my family than the career.

I lost the baby weight now I am where I started and I need to lose 15 to 20 to be healthier. It is definitely hard to go to work, pick up the baby, and try to fit in a workout. So today I went shopping for a new chic lunch bag, salad and lunch to go containers. I also invested in a good 6" Chef Knife for my everyday kitchen needs. I also purchased a slicer. I plan to do a 10 day detox where I am going to focus on eating fruits and veggies mostly raw with beans and protein shakes for my protein intake. No excuses! I have a treadmill, p90x, Tae Bo, weights, and all kinds of equipment in my basement so I should be all set. I still will try to get to the gym maybe 2 times a week when my hubby is home so he can get the baby. It all goes down TOMORROW! I have Monday off so I am going to do my first day of detox tomorrow.

Extending your maintenance.

2010-10-14T20:36:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I thought I would share a little bit of knowledge with you concerning Sisterlocks. The reason why I want to share this information is I have a couple of clients who have been going to distance in between maintenance appointments. Let me explain why 8 weeks and beyond is harmful for your Sisterlocks and your pockets. This only pertains to those of us who have average growing hair.

Limited maintenance weakens your Sisterlocks
It is more expensive for maintenance
It can be painful

First let me address the issue of weakening Sisterlocks. When you continuously go 8 weeks and beyond for your re-tightening your new growth will cause problems at the base of the locks. Even the most diligent client who takes time to separate the Sisterlocks at the root will have problems with new growth over half an inch. Once your hair begins it's locking stage that is what your hair wants to do naturally so it will begin to mat at the roots. Running your fingers through that new growth will snag and pop locks and you don't know what hair belongs in what lock. Keep on snagging and popping locks and you will notice that your Sisterlocks are weaker at the base than you remember. You will also notice small fraying hairs at the base of your locks. Is that new hair growing in? Could be....but if your locks are thinning at the base you most likely snapped those hairs from the lock. How can this be fixed? Your Sisterlock Consultant can incorporate those smaller clusters of hair into the base of the Sisterlock creating a stronger base. Yes that helps the base but now you have a thin spot in your locks that will eventually pop off at that spot if you are not careful. If your Sisterlock Consultant is crafty like myself that weak spot can be helped as well.

Longer times between maintenance = more money when you finally come to see me. The reason I charge more for clients who go longer between maintenance is that I have a lot more hair to work with and it takes me longer. Period point blank. I also charge more for locks that require any fixing, weak locs, holes, etc.

Longer times between maintenance can be painful. Extra new growth will mat together and if you haven't done your work and separated your hair I will need to separate for you. It sounds a little like velcro and it feels like some one is playing tug o war with your Sisterlocks. I have even had to cut come Sisterlocks apart because they were matted together so badly.

Just thought I would share this with you as a Sisterlock Consultant. Hope if helps someone out there. Even if I help other consultants by motivating clients to schedule regular maintenance appointments every 4 to 6 weeks then I consider my work done.

Locks 4 Life Atlanta Weekday Specials

2010-10-11T13:38:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Are you currently researching Sisterlock? Have you completed your research and ready to have your Sisterlocks Installed? Do you know someone who is ready for a Sisterlock Installation? Locks 4 Life Atlanta is now offering special pricing for all Sisterlock Packages installed on a Weekday. Please visit www.locks4lifeatlanta.com or call 770-845-6241.

Who Moved My Cheese??

2010-10-05T21:10:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well I know you guys are probably wondering what is up with her title. Well the book Who Moved My Cheese is all about change and how well people handle change. My life has been changed upside down since my son arrived and I must say I like it. Prior to my son I was so career focused upwardly moving in my positions and salary. Now I am not that interested. It is great to have income coming into your home but to what do you have to sacrifice to earn that money?

Shortly after giving birth to my son I was laid off. Thanks for all the hard work on these projects Katrina but we don't have a job for you anymore. Wow!! I am talking about I came back June and they laid me off July 2nd with a 1 week notice. I received severance pay and shortly after that lay off I received another job offer. Everything in my sub-conscience, my spirit, and better judgment told me to pass on the offer but I accepted for the benefits and the income. Everything about the interview process was unorganized and just plain ole concerning. Let me just say that my first week I was like WTF!!! My boss kept asking me to...Please come back. In my mind I was like this is not good. Not to mention how rough it was on my son. The job was 27 miles away from my house but with the traffic it would take me 1 hour to 2 hours just to make it to work. My son was in daycare from 6:30 AM to 6:15 PM and it manifested in his spirit. He didn't want me to put him down when I got home. When I went from his sight he would scream. I kept on pushing on until just last week. I put up with a job that was unorganized, no support from management, no accountability, no documentation of anything, and all kind of other drama for about a month. They did me a favor and ended it with a termination because they said the client didn't like my style or technique. WOW! Never heard that one before, but hey I was two seconds from quitting. Thanks for the favor. I won't even include that mess of a job on my resume. Get this when I did a Google search on this company I found over 7 pages of complaints. This is a private company so I couldn't do much research prior to accepting this offer. Maybe I should have taken some more time. Yes! Unfortunately the recruiter and HR Manager were really pushing me to sign and accept the offer as quickly as possible. Now I know why!!

How is my baby doing? Well, I am doing my best to break him from this spoiled state that he is now in. He doesn't want me to put him down at all. He screamed for an hour today because I nor his father would pick him up from the swing. He wasn't wet, hungry, or sleepy. He just wanted us to hold him. I do understand how this happened with him being in daycare from 6:30 AM to 6:15 PM for a month. It was way too much for him. Since birth he has never been there that long before and some may say a child that young doesn't know the difference. I beg to differ!! You can see the children faces when a parent walks in the infant room. That hope it's my mommy or daddy look. My son's face would light up when he saw me now it is get over here now and get me. I really regret taking that job and I am paying for it now.

I never thought I would be here typing this or saying the words out loud. I always thought I would never be able to stay at home with my children. Now that he is here I think differently. No one can teach him better than I can. This change has been really good for my soul. I have this glow about me now. It is about something greater than just money and job status. I thank God that he has enabled my husband to have a job where he is taking care of us well. I continue to look for the right opportunity but it won't be a decision based solely on money. It is about a company that is empathetic to growing families and mothers who are working. The company must have a defined career path for me. I need a company that will appreciate what I have to bring to the table. I need a company that I can retire from. If you know of a company in my area that fits what I am talking about hit me up and let's network.

Just because my cheese changed from Swiss to Baby Swiss it is all good because I can roll with this change. Change is good!

After baby

2010-09-13T20:53:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

It has been a while since I have blogged but I haven't forgotten about you. I have been busy raising a demanding 5 month old, studying for the PMP, started a new job, and still taking new clients. Well after I had CJ I noticed something different about my hairline. It was thinning heavily! BUUUTTT where did the hair go. Well I found out where the hair went. It embedded itself in the locs around my hairline. I am talking about nice size balls of hair that formed a nice little bump in my loc. Check out the pics I snapped. I had to take the locs down and get the excess hair out and start the loc again. The hair is growing back but I was disappointed to see all of that lush hair disappear like that. It was there one minute and the next it was gone.

Transformations

2010-07-18T20:51:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Ever so often I complete a install that I can really really puff my chest out afterwards. I mean a install that makes my husband go WOOOOOWWWW!!! A Sisterlock install that leaves me feeling extremely satisfied. Today is one of those days. I have a client with 7 inches of natural hair. Yay! Right!? Well she has tri color hair with platinum blond, honey blond, and some brown and black roots. You guys may remember my rant about blond hair color if not cared for properly. Man let me tell you...this woman came into my business on Saturday with plaits. When I took the plaits down I was stunned to find all kinds of matted hair. To add to that the ends where the platinum blond was just crumbled in my hands. I asked here if she trusted me and she replied yes. I then went to work. I had to cut some of the mats out that I couldn't pick apart. I also had to add some leave in conditioner to get my fingers through. It took me an hour to just comb through it. Her install took 18 hours with 1.5 hour worth of breaks. I took 10 hours on Saturday and exactly 8 hours today to finish. So I will say it took me about 17 hours of work to finish. Here are some pics... I am so proud

Do you know what today is 7-15-2010

2010-07-15T18:36:00.003-04:00

*Tony Toni Tone * Playing in the background. Do you know what today is? It's my loc-anniversary. I celebrated with a nice layered cut. I LOVE IT!!! I was going to get it colored but the cut made my hair look so great I can go without. Check out the pics

Just curious

2010-07-05T19:02:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I was just interested to see a comparison of my 1 and 2 month progress reports. See below....

2 month progress report. 8 more to go

2010-07-05T18:31:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well, I am still on this weight loss grind. I am jogging again and loving it. I have also gotten back to my walking lunges which I couldn't do last month. I moved on to more weight training to help me sculpt and lose some serious inches. My body responds very well to weight training. I tend to build muscle which will move the scale upwards a bit but the inches will disappear rapidly. Then once the inches are lost the scale will move downwards again. So now I am back in my pre-pregnancy clothes comfortably. I also purchased summer clothes in my pre-pregnancy size 14 and I am in those clothes comfortably. The legs, thighs, and butt are slimming down. The upper body is coming down as well. The waist is also slimming down. I couldn't be more pleased with my results. To celebrate I purchased a new pair of running shoes (Brooks). I needed a new pair anyway since my feet have grown during pregnancy about a half size (boo). I also purchased some inserts as well. Since I purchased running shoes my perfomance while jogging and running has increased. I began a couple of years ago with going to Fleet Feet and getting my feet measured and analyzed. They recommended 3 pairs of shoes and I chose the best one for my feet. We added a supportive insert and it was on from there. I was jogging/running about 15 to 20 miles a week, which is good for a non runner such as myself. Now with my new pair of Brooks I clocked in 2 miles in 26 minutes and another mile with heavy incline in another 15 minutes. I added in 2 sets of 40 walking lunges and that concluded my one hour workout on the 4th of July. I feel great!

Here are my updates for my second month of progress. 8 more to lose and counting.

Nearing my 4 year anniversary

2010-07-05T18:23:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

July is here and guess what that means. That means my hair gains another year of loc growth. This hair is getting so long and lush. I decided to try a braid out and I can say the results were okay. I didn't really give it my all nor did I use any setting lotion. Here are the results. Next time I will try a setting lotion and some rubberbands for the ends.

11 more to go...One month progress report

2010-06-08T16:06:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have been working it out these days trying to get these pregnancy pounds off of me. I am happy to report that I am 9 lbs since getting serious about this and 6lbs since last month. I put the white stuff down as well as the breads. I also learned some portion control by using saucers to eat from. I also incorporated Tae Bo Amp'd and p90x. Here are the results.....

Client Updates

2010-05-27T03:41:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Time has really been skirting out of dodge (time has been flying) and I finally took some time to take some photo updates of a few of my clients. Sisterlocks really did wonders for their hair growth.

Back to work!

2010-05-12T08:30:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Today I have scheduled my first retightening since having my son. I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things. I am still on on leave from my full time gig so I have some time to get my business affairs in order for Locks 4 Life Atlanta. In the next two weeks I have 7 retightenings scheduled. I have made arrangements for a sitter to come over on Saturdays while I am servicing clients. For the most part it will be in the mornings until my husband can come home and spend some time with CJ. My new client schedule will be Friday and Saturdays only.

My son is in daycare this week (we are doing a trial run) and it has been extremely hard to leave him. It gets easier each day I take him but I still feel my heart breaking when he is not around. The funny thing is this little boy is thriving in the daycare environment. The teachers raved about him when I picked him up yesterday. CJ is lifting his head. CJ is so alert. CJ is such a calm baby. CJ has some teeth that will be coming in soon. WOW! Every mother believes their child is the best but these ladies are making me feel great. I walked into the infant room yesterday and CJ was sitting in the swing just smiling from ear to ear. Swing? CJ? He hates his swing at home. The teacher picked him up to change him. She walked past me with CJ in her arms and CJ turns his head to look at me and smiled really big as if to say MOMMY. My pooter is growing up! I love him so! He is only 6 weeks and making moves. The women joked...CJ is moving out the way for his sibling. Sheesh!! Can I get used to him first before they start talking about a sibling?

I have been in the gym every day this week and it feels great. I plan to visit a couple of gyms in my immediate vicinity to see what the facility is like. If I can find a great gym within 15 minutes of my home and the daycare I can still have my gym time after work before I pick up CJ. I've playing around with the idea in addition to P90X. We will see how everything works when my hubby starts his new schedule next week. We will be in full swing next week with my hubby dropping CJ off and me picking him up. I plan to work 7:30 to 3:00 PM to ensure that I have time (including any ATL traffic) to get the daycare before 6 PM. If there is no traffic I can get to the gym by 3:45 PM, work out for an hour, and pick CJ up by 5:30 PM. It sounds like a plan. We will see how it works. LOL!! I am such a planner.

P90x...I love it!

2010-05-05T21:34:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

So we finally broke down and purchased P90x and I must say I am pleasantly surprised. I LOVE IT! I've heard so many people talk about it is so hard and I couldn't finish the workout blah blah blah. Well not only did I start the series I am keeping up and giving it my all. I paced myself and started with the bands and the weights versus the chin up bar. I think if I would have started with the chin up bar I would have failed. I think this is where a lot of people are going wrong. Why go out and buy this chin up bar when you know you can't get your large frame (I wanted to say something else) up there to even grab the bar. Do the bands until you work your way up to the chin up bar. It works much better that way. I started as soon as the DVD's arrived last week. I started over this week this week to make it count. I even took some before pics. These are my post baby body and after 5 workouts I am seeing my shoulders, chest and arms come back. YAY!!

This is me post baby at 217. I still have some water on my legs and around my midsection but as I continue to work out the water is moving. My pre baby was 196 so I have a little way to go before I get there. My P90x goal for the 90 days is to lose 25 but more importantly is to fit back into my clothes comfortably.

Something else that I am doing differently that is helping me succeed is EATING. Most people start this program and only eat 1,000 calories trying to lose as much weight as possible. Well that may work for some people but for my body I need to eat. I need to fuel my workouts properly or I will be on the floor somewhere. Especially with me breastfeeding which is already burning plenty calories. So I set a goal to eat between 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day. I am not doing so hot at eating as many fresh fruits and veggies but I am getting better.

All in all I love the program. Each DVD goes fast! Before you know it you look at the screen and you see the time is almost up and you are sweating it out good. The one thing that I know I will have to get is that weight set. I have two sets of resistance bands and a set of 5lb and 10lb weights. I am going to exceed that by the 2nd month so I am going to purchase the bowflex or something comparable. I also have plans to purchase a portable DVD player so I can take this to work and utilize it in the gym downstairs from my office. The gym is small with 3 treadmills, 2 elliptical, 2 stairclimbers, free weights, and nautilus equipment. Did I mention it has mirrors, two tvs, and a shower. I can bring my portable DVD player and get my P90x on in the gym. I might even meet some new friends who may want to join me.

I hope all of you ladies who are trying to get your prebaby body back are making progress. It is hard work being a mommy.

I was so ready to cut it

2010-04-26T22:18:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog!

With the birth of my son, I have been beyond busy. I had a moment. I was dreading washing my hair and looked down at the scissors. I was seriously going to cut my hair off because I didn't want to deal with the shoulder length locs. OMG!! I had to get some assistance and talk myself off the edge. Just think I was about to cut my hair right before my 4 year lock anniversary (June 2006). I would have probably kicked myself afterwards. Other moms have told me those moments are perfectly okay, but I really can't believe I was about to cut all of this hair. I attached a pic (sorry the hubby didn't capture the back). This is the longest my hair has ever been and it shows no signs of slowing down. Sidebar....I really need to color this gray patch in the front of my head but I fear that I will damage my locs by coloring too often. It has been over a year since my last coloring.

I am officially back on the workout circuit and it really feels great. I am doing run walk intervals on the treadmill for 30 to 45 minute time frames. I am also doing strength training with my bands. I also incorporated Bosu Ball training which kicks the core's butt. I ordered P90x since cancelling our $109 monthly fee gym membership. I really loved that gym but it just doesn't make since to waste that money if I have no daycare for that hour that I am there. I have heard some great things about p90x from both men and women. The men however tend to stay dedicated to the program more than the women I have talked to. That is about to change once my package gets here. I just have to keep my schedule with my hubby and son. I think during a certain time there will be no phone calls. I am discovering that answering the phone is my biggest downfall when it comes to my schedule.

So how did I do with the weight gain during pregnancy? I gained 45 lbs of which I lost 27. I can't believe I am sitting here at 217 and hating every minute of it. I know it was for a wonderful cause but it hurts to have it on my body. It is a lot of water too. I can press my shin and see the water move which is a little creepy. I am going to continue on my quest to get the 18 pound remaining baby pounds off so I can pick up where I started. I know it won't be easy but I am up for the challenge.

He is here!!! YAY!!

2010-04-05T20:06:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am so in love! My son CJ arrived on March 30, 2010 weighing in at 7lbs 4 ozs and 19.5 inches long. I never understood how much I could really love someone until I met my son. My heart is so full right now that I am at a loss for words. Take a look at this face.

Still hanging in there....

2010-03-22T16:41:00.007-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am officially on the countdown. I have about 5 more days before I enter the hospital for induction. I AM SO READY!! I am officially 38 weeks and feeling every moment of it. My ribs are really hurting with these little feet kicking me all the time. Speaking of feet...my poor feet are swollen beyond recognition, which they call cankles. :( I can only wear houseshoes so I have been working from home feverishly finishing up things at work before I leave on Friday. Of course the guys waited until the last minute like they always to do get things done. I am not going to let them rush me in anyway. I have been warning them since I was 6 months. Oh well!

I received my last client for a retightening on Saturday. I swear my clients are so good to me. We spent 2.5 hours together and at the conclusion of our appointment she handed me a card for CJ with a couple of gift cards in there. I was so surprised because I didn't expect anything. I love my clients. This client is the mother of the daughter whom I gave my wedding dress to. Hey it had been sitting in my storage for 8 years now so I figured I would give this young lady a great start to her married life. She wore that dress well and added her own flare to it. It brought tears to my eyes as well because it brought so many memories from my wedding day flooding back. Ahhh black love!

Time Flies

2010-02-09T14:21:00.002-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Time sure is flying over this way. I am officially on hiatus from completing new Sisterlock™ Installations. I am still servicing my current client base but any new clients who have called have been told that I can’t complete any new installations until May. I really thought I was going to lose a lot of business during this time of preparation and to my pleasant surprise I really haven’t. I referred a couple of clients to a business partner in Conyers but the others are willing to wait. Now I have a nice waiting list of clients that want Sisterlock™ Installs upon my return in May. I am really grateful to have a great client base that pass out my cards and give their friends my information who may be interested in Sisterlocks™. I was told that you have to weed out the bad eggs in the beginning and as you have read through my blog I have had my share of bad eggs. But now my clients are some of the most loyal and sweet people I have met. I thank God for that.

When I say time flies, I mean time flies. I am now 51 days from meeting my son. I am 9 days away from flying home for my baby shower. I will have plenty of pics and video to share once I return. The room is ready with the crib, changing station and dresser set up. I just need to decorate and get my glider in there before he gets here.

I have been doing a little shopping here and there, but nothing too big because I was warned to wait to see what the baby shower would bring. That is like telling a kid not to eat the candy that is sitting in front of them. There are so many sales going on and the coupons have been burning my pockets up. I did visit the Nike Outlet and was able to find a pair of baby Jordan’s for $19. I not only got my son a pair but my cousin’s son as well. Aren’t they the cutest little things?

Oh let me add that my amazing DH is being sneaky again like he did leading up to my birthday last year. He is only this sneaky and secretive when he is planning or doing something without my knowledge. Last year he surprised me with my Louis V bag. This must be really big because I can’t find anything in the house. Yes! I am that person who will tear the house up to find out what the surprise is. I am just like my dad with that. Fortunately for my DH is that I am so TIRED right now that I haven’t really been giving this surprise thing much of my time. I know there is something going on but choosing between sleep or finding the gift….umm I will take this good ole sleep right now.

All I want for Christmas and New Year's Commitments

2010-01-01T17:21:00.005-05:00

So what did you get for Christmas you ask? Well Blog Fam...I really didn't ask for much this Christmas. As a matter of fact I didn't ask for anything but my child's health. God gave me the biggest blessing of my life in 2009 and that is my unborn son CJ. As you can see from my six month photo he is growing nicely. I couldn't be more focused and determined as I await his arrival. Furnishing his room, organizing his clothes, purchasing life insurance, researching, 529 plans, daycare research, hospital tours, etc There is so much to do and still in the midst of it all I still feel like I am dreaming this. I still can't believe that God has entrusted me with this life that grows inside of my womb. After many years of waiting only 2.5 months remain ahead of us. I can't wait to meet CJ.

While preparing for CJ, I realized that I sacrificed my fitness in order to bring CJ to this world. On hiatus are the 5 to 6 day a week gym visits and I sure do miss them. As a precaution my doctor advised me to put my gym visits on hold until after CJ arrives. I am glad I listened, because I have the following symptoms: shortness of breath, back pains, and edema (swollen hands, forearms, legs, feet, and other parts I wish to not name) which have plagued me for most of my pregnancy. So what happens when CJ gets here? I don't think my gym takes newborns so I am preparing my basement for my workouts. I registered for a jogging stroller for my neighborhood jogs. I also priced out a BOSU Balance Ball. If you don't know what this little wonder is you need to try it. I credit this ball with helping me to strengthen my core and literally shrinking my waist, thighs, and butt before I got pregnant. P90X is also in the plans with the purchase of a complete weight set. With my gym being about a good 20 to 30 minutes away I am not sure if that will be the best thing to do with CJ being so young. I love my gym and it stays open 24/7 so I may be able to fit it in on some days but for the most parts if I want to get a early morning workout in my best bet is to do it at home. I have worked out with 3 trainers and I formulated a program that works best for me and my body. Excessive cardio doesn't work for me at all. More weights and core training is what is going to take the weight off fast along with portion control. So ladies I will be back in to win in 2010 so look for me.

New Client Sisterlock Install & A Super busy week coming

2009-12-11T10:22:00.005-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have a busy week coming up starting December 16 - 20. I have a combined 5 clients receiving services. One in particular will be my first super long hair client taken up my Saturday and Sunday for her Sisterlock Install. She has 12 inches of all natural hair in the front and between 8 to 10 from the middle to the nape of her head. That should close out my year.

Below are pics of my latest Sisterlock Install that I completed on December 5th. Enjoy!

3.5 years with Sisterlocks

2009-12-11T10:18:00.005-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am just now getting over a nasty cold that I got courtesy of our visit to our hometown. I have been so busy posting pics of new clients that I haven't really posted new pics of my hair growth. You can imagine how it is coming along with the prenatals that I have been taking. Well here are a couple of pics to show you have 3.5 years has treated me. By the way nevermind my huge red nose in the pics. I was still dealing with that cold.

CERTIFIED!!!!

2009-11-16T09:40:00.004-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

So I was just browsing the Sisterlocks website today and guess what I found on the Certified Consultant List. MY NAME!! Whoo Hooo! It has been a long road to this point and I am excited. Headquarters can be oh so slow at times but this certainly made my day today. I was feeling a little down about losing my granny last week but this has picked me up a little. Check me out http://www.sisterlocks.com/Web_Registries/CertConsult_AtoL.html under Georgia.

With the baby coming in April I had to make some decisions concerning business. Well first off I won't be taking any new Sisterlock Installations from January through May. I know that is peak season but with me going into my 3rd trimester and my poor little feet and ankles swelling I figured I better take it easy. My hubby will be all too happy. He worries so much over me when I am doing hair, which is understandable. Also after the baby is born I will be taking 6 weeks of leave from both corporate and the hair business. I need to get acclimated to the new baby. All of my clients are prepared for that time and all are willing to wait until I am up to it. It may be sooner than 6 weeks but for right now I feel comfortable saying 6 weeks.

I found out the sex of the baby. I am excited to say that it is a boy that will be nicknamed CJ. He is already 14 ounces and is long. He wouldn't stay still long enough to get a total measurement for him but from the ultrasounds the doc and ultrasound tech say he will be long. My hubby is so proud. I am just excited to be at this point.

Sisterlock Install 10-24-09

2009-10-24T23:48:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I know, I know...I have been really busy lately and haven't had a chance to blog. Well today I did another Sisterlock Install and boy is my little bambino tired and mad at me. Whew! This one took me about 14 hours total with a combined hour in breaks. I must say it turned out nicely and I believe my client was excited about her new look. What do you think?

Sisterlock Install Sept 5, 2009

2009-09-10T20:42:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Here are the pics I promised

New install pics on the way

2009-09-09T11:01:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Please forgive me as I have been hella busy over the past month. Not to mention I am trying my best to get accustomed to my ever changing hormones. Good thing is momma's baby is growing strong and is very demanding already. Little thang (10 weeks) is so consistent that I don't get over 6 hours of sleep a night due to 2:30 AM and 5:30 AM feedings. As well as my hour interval potty needs. My meals are small meals so I am not too off my 6 mini meal schedule.

I completed a record breaking (for me anyway) install this past weekend. We started a little late at 7:30 AM and finished at 5:45 PM with a lunch break and mini breaks in between. I will post pics as soon as I finish with my client today.

8 Years and Counting

2009-08-10T17:17:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Today is the day before the day I walked down the aisle to meet my honeybunches to say our I Do vows and commit ourselves to each other and to God for the rest of our lives. August 11, 2001 is the day that my life changed as well as my last name. Marriage is hard work...Yes Indeed! I look at it like this....marriage is like a work of art. The harder you work at your work of art over the years it appreciates over the years like a Picaso.

Today my hubby surprised me with my gift early because he will be working on our actual anniversary. I tell you it is the 2nd best gift ever. I got the best gift last week. I cried! I am such a whimp. He never ceases to amaze me. I am a classic girl so I only wear several pieces of jewerly. I have two necklaces, two watches, my wedding rings, and a couple pairs of earrings. I can't get into the bangles, huge hoop earrings, etc. I just can't! He brings home a Tiffany bag and it is the most exquisite pair of diamond heart stud earrings ever. I love that man!

Happiness comes in the smallest packages

2009-08-04T19:37:00.006-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am so full right now! Full of what you ask? Full of happiness. It came in such a small package...the size of a pea to be exact but it brought such a flood of emotions for everyone that we have told. It has been exactly 8 years (August 11) since we started this journey together and now God has decided to expand our family. Today my doctor gave me my first view of our little sweet pea. I know it is still early 5 weeks and 3 days but I love him or her so much already. I will have another pic in 3 weeks. I feel pretty good no MS just little cravings like pickles and thangs but nothing major. I am eating pretty good too. I haven't had much energy to workout nor have I wanted to bounce too much due to my chest increasing by 1 cup size already. My doctor said he has a patient who went from a A cup to a D. WHOA!! Pray for us!

Stand your ground

2009-07-28T17:10:00.006-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

As I continue my spiritual walk I have eliminated a lot of unnecessary drama and limited hurtful conversations or what they call No Purpose Convos. You know those convos where you gossip freely just say what you want without considering how that person would feel if they had heard your convo. I am finding that I am losing friends because of my lack of participation. It is really true that God will bring people into your life for a reason, a season, and a lifetime. God will allow certain people to walk out of your life that do not agree with your new way of thinking. He will also aggravate the naysayers who say they believe in what you are doing but when you reject their advances they get irrate. Man, it is a mess! Even family members are falling by the wayside, but you know you can't just totally rid yourself of family all.

I just had a very hurtful situation happen that just blew my mind because I didn't participate but I got the ex-communication (the deleting of your friendship status, email addresseses, etc). So here is the jist...I am with a client on Saturday and I hear the house phone ring and of course I don't answer. Then my cell phone rings, and I picked up because I thought it was my sister or my mom and it must be important for them to dial all of my numbers. Nope it is my soror and she asks if I am busy and I state yes I am with a client. But it sounded like something was wrong so I asked what's up...to get the quick jist of the issues. Oh man why did I do that??? It wasn't even anything wrong with the soror on the phone she goes into something concerning another soror who she had a convo with that previous evening and she just felt like something was wrong because she was being secretive with some info. Now yall remember I said I wasn't participating in this type of convo anymore right. So as soror was chatting and asking me if I talked to her I said no and maybe this woman was being secretive because of another reason. Nope that wouldn't do for her and she kept saying it is something wrong. I ended that call because one I spent too much time on the phone anyway over my client's head and secondly I am not going to sit and participate in this conversation. I kindly called the soror in question and asked her to call the questioning soror to answer her questions that I had no answers to. End of conversation. So how in the hell did I get punished because I wouldn't participate or tell her the surprise? I don't know but obviously if this person could walk away from me then that means that she was never for me in the first place. Secondly if she could walk away that shows me that she has no respect for my position on eliminating drama and no purpose convos. Thirdly this person is not willing to accept responsibility for her own actions. I believe if you have concerns you can pick up the phone and call your friend no matter what. I am not going to call another friend and put that person in the middle because I can't communicate. That is unfairly putting a third party in the middle and how uncomfortable is that. I am standing my ground on eliminating drama and no purpose convos and if anymore friends, sorors, family members etc want to fall off....then se la vie, adios, and God Bless!

Newest Client

2009-07-27T20:13:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Okay I am finally getting caught up with the picture posting. Below is my newest Sisterlock Client Ms. Vicky. Check out her install.

If you want to check out my online portfolio please visit www.public.fotki.com/Locks4LifeAtlanta/

Updated Website

2009-07-27T08:45:00.001-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

The new site is now up and running.. Please take a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.locks4lifeatlanta.com/index.html

The busiest weekend of my business life

2009-07-22T14:00:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

What a busy week this is shaping up to be. WHEW! I was off last week from doing hair because my mom was visiting. I actually had a client on Saturday but we had to reschedule. God is so good! He has blessed Locks 4 Life Atlanta abundantly and I am so thankful. Where do I start? Okay I will start with my retightening that I have scheduled. I have one on Thursday and two on Fridays (Thank God I can work from home on Fridays). I have one install on Saturday that just confirmed. Just a few days ago I was called from a young lady calling internationally. WOW! She will be transitioning to GA in a few months but she definitely wants her hair done by none other. I was so humbled and grateful that she appreciates my work enough to want to entrust her installation to me. She will be in the ATL on Thursday for 5 days total. So guess where that put her installation. You guessed it on Sunday. I am looking at my schedule like GEEZ Oh Petes! God is good so I am going to run with this.

Thursday – 1 Retightening
Friday – 2 Retightening
Saturday – Full Install
Sunday – Full Install

With the business growing I need to step up my marketing and advertising efforts. Did I tell you guys that I have a B.S. in Marketing, so this is so right up my alley. I love Marketing! First thing I wanted to do is find a vendor that could not only revamp my website but provide a total solution for my small business needs such as a logo, website creation and hosting, as well as web marketing (Driving business to your site). I found that in Leaders in eDesign http://leadersinedesign.com/index.html The wife of this husband and wife team is actually my Soror. I figured why not keep it in the family when I decided to reach out. That was a week ago and they already sent me two different approaches for the website and the logo. I loved the first and now they are moving on to writing the code. What was so funny is that when I chatted with my Soror she knew exactly what I wanted just based off of my personality. She was like you want something artistically captivating, natural, professional, etc. I was like you sure do know my personality. When I received the mock up it was perfect with my favorite color combinations. So be on the look out for a new website and logo coming soon. Be sure to check out Leaders in eDesign if you are looking for affordable small business web solutions.

3 Years and I still love em

2009-07-13T18:12:00.006-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have been so busy I didn't even post my 3 year anniversary pictures. That is my bad. Too busy with clients to update my blog. Take a walk with me back in time.....

The Locologist will see you now

2009-06-29T13:33:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Ya know what!? Sometimes I really amaze myself with the amount of knowledge I know about natural hair. I am talking about how my experience over the years has grown and has helped so many women gain freedom from relaxers or damaging hair styling techniques. For example I had a young lady call me and she really needed to have her hair retightened. However she told me she had a hard time finding someone who did interlocking. She said she called countless salons and everyone told her they did only palm rolling. Sorry ahead of time, I didn’t take pictures. I went into doctor mode and forgot all about yall, but I will get some next time to show the progression over time. Well when she arrived I took a look and I noticed excessive palm rolling had created thinning locks and locks that had totally broken off. I also noticed several locks that had accidentally been combined at the base. Her hair was also VERY dry but had excessive product buildup (specifically coconut oil). She really did give it the old college try but it didn’t work for her because she had limited knowledge and plus her time was consumed with family life like so many of us. What was my prescription? I promptly took her to the shampoo bowl. Yes I do have a portable shampoo bowl now and it’s so wonderful. I did a clarifying shampoo with extra hot water as close to the scalp as possible without burning her. I did an apple cider vinegar rinse to follow that up. I also washed her with a conditioning shampoo. I used some good old Cream of Nature (I only recommend this shampoo to mature lock wearers. Teenagers and babies beware of the unraveling). It works great on my hair. That is something that you will learn with me many of the products that I used I have used and rated them myself on either myself or my clients. Immediately after the conditioning shampoo I noticed her locks came to life. I followed that up with some conditioner and we proceeded to my chair. I lightly oiled her scalp along with some moisture spray. After I massaged that in I begin to go through and interlocking her locks. I kept with a simple 2 pattern on the mature locks but the brand new locks that I needed to start due to breakage I did a four. Her hair just spiraled and coiled all up and the mature locks just gracefully bowed down to my hands. It took me 2 hours from start to finish and when she was done her hair shined and glowed just like her pregnant glowing skin. I gave her some a take home prescription which should cost her about $16 which included a bottle of Cream of Nature shampoo and a bottle of Carol’s Daughter Tui Hair Oil (She loves fruity scents). We scheduled her next appointment 5 weeks out and thus the blossom of a beautiful client relationship.

I really have a hard time with people calling themselves Locticians when they really only know one form of locking hair and they wouldn’t know the best for what hair textures. That’s not a Loctician. That’s someone who simply knows palm rolling. Or like Sisterlock Consultants and Trainers they are trained in the technique of Sisterlocks. They took a class and they do hair according to what they were taught. Yes I have taken the Sisterlock training class. Yes I know how to do palm rolling, interlocking, comb coils, and backcombing. So what do I call myself? I really like the term my friend gave me when I was at Alumni Weekend. It was funny! They were asking hair questions and I was just a spitting that knowledge and my old roomie was like Trina the Locologist. I was like you know what I like that. That is what I call myself The Locologist. I will give you the right prescription for your hair. If you want healthy flowing locks while visiting with a great spirit then come on and sit in my chair. If you want highly manicured locks that look really synthetically shiny and styled in elaborate hair styles that my be harmful and detrimental for hair in the long run, then go and visit any neighborhood Loctician.

The Locologist is in and she will see you now.

I got a new Kitchen Gadget

2009-06-19T15:48:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Today my new Vitamix 5200 arrived. YIPPEEEE!! I have been waiting 5 years to get one of these into my home. I received the notification on Wednesday that it would be coming and today Friday I got it. I promptly washed that bad boy down and put it to work. What did I make? I made a smoothie. I put a banana, 6 leaves of spinach, and 6 frozen strawberries. Man, let me tell yall that this smoothie was the smoothest thing I have witnessed in a while. I put just a pinch of splenda in the mix just to sweeten it a little and it was off the chain. Not to mention I just got in 2 servings of fruit and one veggie in one drink. Ya gotta love that. Check out the smoothie. Can you see any strawberry seeds? I can't and I sure didn't taste any. This is just the beginning of my healthy culinary journey with my Vitamix Blender and my Salad Master cookware. Stay tuned to more recipes.

It's not about you

2009-06-17T17:35:00.003-04:00

*BIG SIGH* Hey Blog Fam!

I am in a bit of a funk today.

How depressing it is to watch someone you love go through depression, especially when it is a 4 year old little boy. *sigh* My little nephew is suffering due to absentee father syndrome. He is also suffering from mommy said I can't see Daddy Syndrome. My poor baby nephew! Oh how I love him so and to hear that he is hurting kills me inside. To be caught in the middle of some drama between two adults and not have a voice to express how you are hurting is a terrible feeling. For me it is extremely difficult to listen to my sister and bridle my tongue in the matter, because I know she will pull that old, "You don't have any children so you don't know" card out of her pocket. My nephew is really acting out now because his older brother is in Akron visiting his Great Grandmother on his father's side and my little nephew is stuck at home with my sister or either my mother. He asks to call his father all the time to only get the answering machine or voicemail every single time. A couple of days ago he totally acted out of character. He pressed the speed dial buttons on the phone and when the person didn't answer he began a profanity tyrant that would make a sailor blush. He put the words together with such venom that it crushed my sister's heart just to listen to it when her friends called to replay the messages. What did my sister do? She immediately blamed his father for not being around, which is common. But what she didn't do was look in the mirror and ask herself what she is doing wrong. I can list some things that she is doing that is confusing the heck out of my nephews such as her dating habits and introducing men to their lives that have no sustainability. But how do you help a person to recognize that they play a vital part in the problem when they don't want to hear the truth? You have to wait patiently until they are ready to receive your message even if it is killing you.

Today my mom called me to tell me that she and her boyfriend reached out to my nephew's father because my nephew was balled up in the room crying his eyes out. They called him at work and with relief he came to pick my Peanut up right after he got off of work. I was so thankful because my nephew did a total change in attitude. He ran and jumped off of the steps into his father's arms. He was just too excited to spend time with his father. While the father was leaving my mother's house he told my mother that he realizes that he is partially to blame for the way my nephew is acting out and he has to get it together. I respect that! But what I don't respect is my sister's responses to the visitation. My mother called my sister to tell her that her child is with his father and my sister gets irate and says HE DIDN'T TELL ME ANYTHING ABOUT THIS!! and she hangs up. Oh WOW! She then calls my mother back and says I don't want him coming there to pick my son up ever again is that clear. WTH!! Is she serious! I couldn't believe it when my mother told me. Here is a classic example of not knowing the person you have a child with. I saw the signs in this man when my sister was dating him before she got pregnant 6 months later. I told my sister and got a response so disappointing that I totally left it alone. My sister on the other hand should have known that this man had tendencies such as this, but nope she didn't take the time. This baby mama and daddy stuff has to end. We in the black community spend more time picking out our cars we drive than the spouses we chose to have children with. We jump in head first like YIPPEEE! But when the bubble bursts we are left with drama like this where a innocent 4 year is being affected by selfishness. How dare my sister or my nephew's father be so selfish as to not put aside pettiness to create a schedule for visitation that is beneficial to my nephew. They both need to take the I out of the equation here because my nephew is clearly suffering.

Until they can get it together I am forced to be a helpless aunt watching my Peanut suffer. *sigh* I wanted to cry today but all I can do is pray that God watches over him and guide his steps before the streets get a hold of him.

Growth is so good

2009-05-31T09:32:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Saturday I had the pleasure of installing Sisterlocks on a young lady that is the sister of a group that I admire as well as enjoy the bangin reggae melodies. It was crazy! We just laughed all day of the install. We watched movies. We toasted to her birthday. This was one of the most chill and laid back installs that I have installed. She remarked how painless the process was and how quickly I completed the job. Any length under 4 inches I really try to finish in one day. After we completed her install I dropped her off to her home where I had the pleasure of meeting her sister who is a member of the band. Now yall know I had to try to play it real cool right. I kept thinking in my mind...Don't act groupie, Don't act groupie, Don't act groupie. Her sister was so COOL! She wants her hair done as well. I gave her a in home consultation and she scheduled her appointment for June 27th. I will provide you all with picks and her name when we complete her install. Until then you all will just know her band has several albums out and all 5 of the members are independent artists who are the children of a famous reggae artist.

Pers no cheating you already know the band!! Here are the pics of the install I did on Saturday.

My hubby the pack rat

2009-05-21T15:24:00.005-04:00

The first step to curing your addition is to admit it. Today my hubby admitted that he was indeed a pack rat. Yes Blog Fam...my hubby hoards things from decades past in the back of our closets to never be seen again. As I am planning our closet organizing through California Closets I noticed some strange things in the back of our master closet. I looked back there and I picked up a wool Kwanzaa type vest. Oh my Jesus! Not just one but 3. One was a size 3 X... WTH!! My hubby has never been that size but back in the 90s he would wear his clothing so big that it would drive me bonkers. I went off!! DUDE...you need to clean out this junk immediately. Now my hubby not only has clothing in our master closet but he has two bedroom closets as well. I just have my clothes in the master closet. Do you know he went through those closets today and he unloaded two trash bags full of 90s gear. I couldn't believe it. Just to prove my point I took a picture of one of his treasured shirts. Notice the Red, the Black, and The green with the Key Sissies. Yall remember that from the X Clan days. Well this bad boy was hanging in the closet just a chilling. He did admit that he needs to do a better job of eliminating clutter. That's all I wanted to hear. Now if we can get him on a quarterly schedule like myself we will realize more space.

Here we grow again

2009-05-13T09:39:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

God has been really good to me. When he takes clients away for one reason or another he always brings more clients to replace them. I am finding that he is bringing me shorter hair clients as well as clients transitioning from the relaxer. Relaxer has done such damage to the hairlines of some of my clients that it seems like all hope is gone but let me tell you we are seeing GROWTH baby all over the place. During their first retightening we are seeing new hair everywhere. I just love the vitality of natural hair.

Here is my newest Sisterlock Client. I loved working with her hair. She had such thick, lush hair with relaxer on the ends. She had 2 to 3 inches of natural hair and maybe 7 inches or so of relaxed hair. Her natural hair took to the Sisterlock pattern with not one problem. All of the test locks stayed put. It was a great install that lasted maybe 12 hours with a one hour break. You can't even really see her parts her hair is so thick and lush. See the finished product above.

If you want to check out more photos check out my fotki

http://public.fotki.com/Locks4LifeAtlanta

Respect my

2009-04-29T20:26:00.009-04:00

I have been having a interesting time to say the least with my clients and potentials. My loyal customers who are always on time and schedule appointments in advance are wonderful. Today I just had a day with this newer client of mine. I knew it was going to be a ride because when she came for the install she needed to go and make a run that last 3 to 4 hours. I don't do that. I like to get the install over as soon as possible. It only took me 10 hours to complete her hair but since she took a 4 hour break I didn't get done with her until well into the night. Plus she showed up a hour late to her install. I let it go and just worked with her. For the follow up she called the day of and was like I am not going to be able to make it and how important is this appointment. Hey if she doesn't care about her newly installed locks then what can I do. I told her if she had no problems then we could just schedule the retightening. Well she called me and scheduled the appointment and I was being really nice because she has a weird schedule so I took a half a day today and worked from home during the morning expecting her at 9 AM so I could go into work by 12 to take a 12:30 conference call. Well wouldn't you know at 8:40 AM she calls like I am not going to make it to you until 10 AM and left this matter of fact message on my voicemail. Um excuse me! I called right back and a man answers the phone like she said she called you and left a message. I kindly explained yes she did but that time will not work for me unfortunately she will have to reschedule. He says well she is in the shower. OH REALLY!?!? Mental note! She calls back in a tude and I repeat what I just told the man who answered the phone. She was like well what other appointments do you have? Unfortunately I don't have anything that will fit her schedule until next Friday morning. Sorry. She was like...Never mind Thank you and hangs up in my face. How is she going to get mad at me for her tardiness?

When women come to me they have several things in common with me. I never liked the waiting in the salon thing. I hated it with a passion . With that said I start my appointments on time. I never run over on a appointment and I have never cancelled a appointment. I take pride in that. One thing I will never do is allow a client to compromise the way I do business. I love and appreciate all my clients and the business they bring to me, but trust and believe I am not pressed about it. God brings me clients and he takes them away. Some are meant to stay with me, others are meant to be there for a moment, and others are not meant to cross my threshold. God felt the need to remove this woman today and I accept it. She didn't respect my time or my business so why should I bend over backwards for her.. Se la vie! Adios Amiga! Kick Rocks! Beat It! You get the point!

The ever shopping potentials cracks me up as well. I get so many calls during a weeks time of potentials asking pricing for Sisterlocks and such. I kindly tell them you must come in for a consultation, or I don't discuss pricing over the phone. Well a couple of months ago I was running a short hair or relaxed hair special so I would give starting pricing for under 2 inches or 2 to 4 inches. Just starting prices and I would follow up with I can give you a better quote when you come for your consultation. Well I WILL NEVER DO THAT AGAIN. I told a potential that 2 months ago and I even set her up for a consultation that she cancelled less than 12 hours before the consultation. She came calling me like 2 to 3 times this week and I didn't know who this lady was speaking like we had met. When she said her name I assumed that we had a consultation and she had my quote sheet with that price. NOPE! She was trying to send her deposit in and fore go the consultation. No ma'am! She was like I've been to consults before and I know my pattern. To me this is a red flag. You don't want to come and meet the person who will be standing over you for 10 plus hours. What are you hiding? Why don't you want me to see your hair? I tell her no and you must set up a consultation. She says something about a price and I say I am sorry I didn't quote you a price if you haven't been to a consult. She was like umm your name such and such and you sent me a link with your online album. From that remark I was done. There is a more appealing way to handle situations but that little tude was not the way. You can't expect me to remember you from 2 months ago when I never met you. Also how can you expect me to honor a starting price that I gave you two entire months ago. Lady respect my business. So needless to say that potential was declined. God giveth and he taketh away. I am not sweating it.

Special message to all the Sisterlock Trainees out there NEVER EVER TAKE CLIENT WITHOUT A CONSULT. I did this early in my business and when this lady who wanted some corn rolls. She made her appointment and I discovered she had 7 inches more hair than what she told me, it was extremely coarse, and she was a lesbian that was all on me. She left my fingers were busted up and I felt violated because she was making Goo Goo eyes at me. Lesson learned very well I might add. No consult! No Service! Much respect!

Baby Stanky Leg

2009-04-19T20:19:00.000-04:00

New Hair Ties

2009-04-17T19:57:00.004-04:00

I purchased some new hair ties this week because I REALLY needed something to hold this hair of mine that wasn't going to give me a headache. Brunsli is no longer offering her pieces so I have been eyeing a couple of new folks out there with real talent. Adorn by Sophia was offering a sale so I jumped right on board and picked up 3 nice pieces. Here is one wooden one that I have been rocking since Thursday when I opened the package. I will show the others when I retighten my hair. Man, I need to get on the ball with a wash, condition, and retightening soon.

My GE Sorors Represented

2009-04-16T22:12:00.003-04:00

Here is the video of my lil sorors who busted their butts to put on this wonderful show. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Easter Sunday

2009-04-12T10:56:00.004-04:00

As I am sitting here typing I can't help but to think that I am supposed to be in church right now celebrating the rising of Jesus Christ. Yeah I am supposed to be there but it will only be overshadowed by my annoyance of folks who only come to church on Easter, Mother's Day, and Christmas so they can showcase their new Easter outfits etc. I CAN'T STAND this way of thinking. Oh it chaps my backside so much. I went to church last year on Easter and let me tell you it was crazy just trying to park. Then getting into the church we had to sit in the back when we are usually in the front around the time we arrive. We are not late runners either we arrive at the very least 5 minutes early so we can sit and get our worship on. I know I shouldn't let other folks put a damper on my spirit but I will only end up more aggravated if I just stayed at home, spend the time with my family and reflect on all of God's blessings.

My sister was just telling me about the Word church in Cleveland, Ohio and how they were on the radio offering $1,000 to the person who can bring the most people to church today. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!?! I couldn't believe my ears. Did we really lose the true meaning of Easter? Yes indeed! Easter bunnies, chocolates, jelly beans, etc. My nephew called me today and said Happy Easter Auntie Trina. He is a 4 year old but I am really depending on my sister to tell him what the deal is and she hasn't. Thank goodness my 7 year old nephew goes to a Catholic school and they are teaching him about the true meaning of this day.

There will be no Ham or turkey in our oven roasting. I am just not in that mood to fix some huge meal today. We will rather cook a modest meal and have a great day on this day Jesus was resurrected. Happy Resurrection Day to you!

Read the fine print

2009-04-10T20:54:00.003-04:00

We received a couple of letters in the mail from Bank of America a couple of days ago and it looked like on of those privacy disclosure notices that you sometimes get from your credit card company or bank. Well I let it sit there for a day before I decided to open it yesterday and I am so happy I did. It was a BOA way of notifying us of some HUGE changes. Major change was a change in interest rate that could equal a 5% increase. We only have one card with them but we are trying to pay it off this year with that 5% increase we could pay more interest than what we wanted to pay. It gave the option of rejecting the increase but you must agree to not use the card again. DAMN! So you are saying if we don't accept your crappy increase we can't use our card? Just to think we were going to use BOA for all of our financial needs, mortgage, business accounts, checking, savings, and credit cards. WOW, talk about holding someone by the balls. That is okay though. I had my hubby quickly call BOA and cancel the card and we will pay it off promptly and go right back to Chase. BOA better hope Chase doesn't enter the ATL area because we will be changing banks. I am really happy I opened that letter because I could have shredded the mail and that 5% increase would have been effective May 1st. Just goes to show you that you must read the mail that you think is junk. That is how these banks are getting over on us. We don't read our mail and they increase your interest rate on your card, increase your late fees, minimum payments, and credit limits. Then who is left with the Boo Boo face? *fingers pointing at you* :(

New SPF Moisturizer

2009-04-08T23:42:00.004-04:00

I just love free gift time at Clinique (anywhere really). This time was no different. I went to the Clinique counter over the weekend and purchased a gloss stick in black honey and some mascara and I received a free gift. YIPPEEE!! I gave away the cheek stick and lipstick to my roomy Jessica and I kept the Youth Surge SPF Moisturizer for myself as I really needed a new SPF for the summer. Well to my pleasant surprise this stuff is that DEAL!! I've found a new moisturizer that actually does what it says. My pores are less noticeable. My skin is glowing. My dark marks are fading fast. This is after only 5 to 6 days of wearing it morning and night. What really made me happy is Clinique gave me a great sample size. I think it is a ounce or more so I can use if for about a month or so. When I went to the Clinique site to see how much this wonderful moisturizer would cost me I found out they have it in various formulas. SWEET JESUS!!! THANK YA LORD!! I quickly found my combination oily skin formula at $42. Not bad! My skin is really picky about what it likes and it will rebel with all sorts of hives, breakouts, redness, etc if it doesn't like a product. So when I find a good product that my face likes I will spend the money. Clinique's Youth Surge has quickly become a part of my facial cleansing regime. I use Noxema (my face loves the menthol) foaming wash, any astringent with a little Salicylic Acid in it, and now the Youth Surge Moisturizer. I use salicylic acid on my face during those little breakouts that I have but now those little pimples that I have noticed are gone. I haven't found that perfect exfoliator yet, so I may have to try Clinique again to see if anything has changed on that front. I also added a micro dermabrasion from the ISSN (International School of Skin and Nails) once a month to exfoliate. My coworker hip'd me on to this great place to get skin and nail services for the cheap cheap. I hate that Rachel Ray gave up the T on this place because now it is really hard to get in there and get my micro derm on without having to wait a week. I will just have to plan accordingly.

Clinique Youth Surge SPF 15 - Trina's Best Face Award! LOVE IT!!

Well Well Well

2009-04-08T10:56:00.002-04:00

Today I steps on the scale a little terrified of what this mofo may say after 6 weeks of travel to and from LA and a blockbuster weekend at the WU and to my pleasant surprise I am not that far off. I weighed in at 188 a while ago and today the scale read 191. Not that bad a 3 pound gain after all the brutality I have put my body through traveling coast to coast and the Zeta Punch. Oh the Zeta Punch....sweet nectar. Not to mention I haven't stepped in the gym in two weeks which shall end today after I hit the gym with hubster for a two hour kick ass blast. I will say that my eating has been EXCELLENTE. I have tried a great recipe this weekend and I have been eating plenty veggies and fruit. My timing of the food has been great too at every 2 to 3 hours and if I miss a meal I will follow up with a piece of fruit to knock the edge off. The funny thing about this is that when I settled myself down in ATL my appetite went right back to what it was pre LA. You have to love it. I plan to try another recipe for this Easter weekend. Not that old traditional ham or turkey meal. I want to try another great vegetable based meal. I will add some meat to it for the protein part. I am really in the mood for black eyed peas but knowing my hubby he will want that sweet Jiffy Mix cornbread. He loves that sweet mess.

My plans for next week in St. Louis
I plan to take my workout clothes with me as I usually do so I can workout Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I will travel back home on Thursday afternoon so I will have to skip that workout and make up for it on Friday morning. In St. Louis near our hotel there is a great little place called Provisions that serve great soup, salads, and sandwiches that I could eat all day long. To add the salads are so large you can eat half for lunch and half for dinner. The killer part is their soups are mostly cream based and I love their cream of chicken which can add up quickly. So my plan is to stick to the greek salad during the day and if we go to the restaurant for dinner as my team always does I will eat the fish and veggies. You must have a plan working with all men.

Sparkpeople
I plan to get back on Sparkpeople and document my food and water intake and my workout routines. This free online tool has been great for me tracking everything that I put into my body. The one thing that I wish it had was mobile capability where I could just scroll through my Q9 and update what I have been eating versus logging onto my computer and doing it the long way.

I used to love him

2009-04-07T12:01:00.004-04:00

With the return to my Alma mater comes reverence of old loves, old flames, old crushes, people who had crushes on you who never said anything, etc. So while I was at the the WU it was a pleasure to see the men gawk and say Damn Trina you doing the thing or the occasional damn I used to have a crush on you. But with all of those good moments comes some not so good moments. I titled this I used to love him for a reason. Prior to marrying my husband we dated on and off since I was 16. Even when we were off we were still together. I had the opportunity to meet, love, and learn from the men who were lucky to have my love. This goes out to that one who came to DD and profess his love a day late and a dollar short. I have to get this off my chest and out in the atmosphere so I can stop thinking about it and getting aggravated..

Closed mouths don't get fed! You had the nerve to get mad at me when I asked you over 10 years ago what the hell were we doing. Either shit or get off of the pot dude. No man is about to be laying in my bed and acting like we are together but you don't want to put a ring on let a lone a title on it. Nope! Not the kid! You had the nerve to get mad at me! Shit I had every right to get mad with you because you couldn't make up your mind if you loved me or not. You refused to talk to me for some months after that encounter so I bounced and moved on. Yes I went right back to that familiar as you called him, but he was open enough to profess his feelings right then and there. It might have been fear that he would lose me but all in all he did what he had to do and put up. I didn't have to force him to put a ring on it. He brought it!

I wasn't married until 21 months after his proposal so you had your time. We communicated during my engagement but nothing big, just the friendship thing. You always joking (a little too much if you ask me). You still made me laugh so I will give you that. You called him the lumpy spare tire and the familiar. You even called me scary and afraid to take a step out and experience new things. One thing you never said was WHY? Why should I step out there and experience new things. Who were you speaking of. You never could tell me. You never could say what was on your mind, so to me you were the one who was scared. I kept my distance and continued on with life, school, and work while planning my wedding ceremony. Then on the day of my wedding, you called my cell phone and you yell...Don't do it! WTF!?!? I couldn't contain my emotions. You waited until the day of my damn wedding to tell me to not marry him but you couldn't tell me why I shouldn't marry him just not to do it. Are you serious!?!? I was so livid my maid of honor and bridesmaids had to calm me down. Just to think this was supposed to be my special day that you tried to destroy but you still couldn't tell me WHY?!?!?

So after you have two beautiful daughters that have humbled you and helped you grow you want to tell me all those things that should have been said 10 plus years ago. Thank you! You are right it is never too late to express your true feelings, but what were you hoping would happen after you expressed those feelings? I'm not sure. All I can say is I used to love you but now all I have is love for you. I am happy that God has blessed you with two beautiful daughters. I am happy that you have grown and matured into a great father. I wish you nothing but success in your career whether it be rapping or blue collar work. I pray that you share with your daughters this story of a love lost and you tell them to never wait to do something that they can do that day. Tell them that tomorrow is never promised. I pray that you find the right woman, even if in your heart you believe that you did once upon a time and she has moved on (Me). I am happy!! My life is much different than what it was in college and grad school. I am so happy! Did I say I am happy already. Yes very happy! Let me be happy. Let me go so that you can move on. When you let me go only then will you be able to find that right woman and that is what I want for you. I used to love him....now all I have is love him that will never fade. Once I love you I will always care for you. Be blessed my friend.

I put this out there for anyone who can use this to grow. People come from your past and sometimes it is good and other times it is bad. Just remember the reason they were a part of your past. My mother always told me that. She would say they are in your past for a reason. I never knew what she was saying until recently. Old sparks come out in hopes to rekindle that flame but I realize why they were a part of my past. Either there were incapable of expressing their feelings, they were jerks, they were lacking motivation, lacking goals, lacking desire, etc. Sometimes we as women are hoping they have changed and our nurturing side comes out and we are looking to save them. Oh I can help him get to where he needs to be. We can't do that for all men ladies. We must allow these men to grow in their own time. Some men do well with a woman helping them some part of the way, but for that last green mile they need the Lord. Without a higher power it is a WRAP!! I realize that now after being married to my husband for almost 8 years. His last green mile God stepped in and he is not that same man I met 17 years ago. He is totally different. With my husband changing I needed to change and no one could do that but my God. I am not saying I am perfect. Nope! I am a work in progress.

Peace and always love.

When clothes do this

2009-04-06T20:00:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

So I went back to Wilberforce for Alumni Weekend right. Well I picked up this dress from H& M and when I tried it on it was great. Well my hubby tried to tell me that the midsection part wasn't tapered enough for my shape right. Well I wore it anyway and by the end of the night the dress was a bulging mess. One of my good guy friends reiterated what my hubby told me. He was like that dress did your shape no justice Trina. Okay damn I know it started off good but blah. Here is a shot of it. Just look at all of that room around my midsection....boot!

On a good note...everyone that I reconnected with was like Trina you look great. I even had this one dude give me a sweet and sour compliment. It went a little like this....Trina I hope you don't take any offense to this but this is the best that I have ever seen you look. DAMN dude what are you trying to say I was looking busted back at school. He better be lucky I didn't take it like that. This was Friday. On Saturday with my cute jeans with my shirt and vest more compliments poured in from everywhere. Talk about motivation. It was a great weekend.

New Recipe

2009-04-06T19:54:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well today I decided to start off on the good foot. I didn't do too bad after a visit back to my aluma mater Wilberforce University. Plenty of drinking and just eating on the go...well for me it was more like not eating but trying to see everyone. Today I just said you know what I have to go grocery shopping and I started at the Dekalb Farmer's Market. I spent $80 and filled my refrigerator to capacity. Plenty of veggies and fruit to get me through a week or two. I decided to try a new recipe I received from Spark People called Fresh Vegetable Stir Fry with brown rice. The only meat I had today was two slices of turkey on a slice of whole wheat bread. The vegetable stir fry was a success. It was great and it had a nice sweet taste too it that coated the vegetables and rice nicely.

It's Hair

2009-04-03T06:50:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

As I surf the net I am always amazed with the amount of women who want to control their locs. Oh my hair has lump, bumps, and holes my consultant must have installed them wrong. Or my hair doesn't feel right my consultant must have done something wrong. Or my hair doesn't look like her hair my consultant must have done something wrong. NEWS FLASH ladies your hair is exactly that...YOUR HAIR. It is going to do what it wants regardless. We as consultants may give you a flawless installation and your hair will still do what it wants to do because it is what....YOUR HAIR. It will not conform to what you want it to do or what I as your consultant wants it to do. I have seen women bash consultants or trainees because their hair did something unexpected. Now I am not saying there aren't any consultants or trainees that need to have their certificate ripped to shreds and their tool taken away. There are some bad people who do bad things and unfortunately that gives us good people a bad name. Ladies, we need to just be realistic...we can't control our natural hair in all of its kinks, coils, and beautiful glory. Let your mane BE FREE!! Wake up from your relaxed hair comma and let your hair be FREE.

Blending

2009-03-27T15:44:00.007-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I finally blended in my roots. I was scared as hell at first but I finally did what I had to do. I used Bigen Expressions Fuzzy Navel just for a subtle change. I thought that I wouldn't get that much of an impact using Bigen BUUUUUUT.....I LIKEY!!

Check out what Bigen Expressions in Fuzzy Navel did for my hair.

I feel so blah

2009-03-25T23:49:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam,

Well, I am nearing the completion of my long projects on the road. It appears that God had other plans for me and the project team offered me another position which would require me to only travel maybe once a month or so. I can work from my home office or I can go into the executive office where my other office is and work from there. I am maintaining my responsibilities with some other small tasks but for the most part I am staying home. In the VP meeting I was described as Director Level Talent. Other comments were made that I could perform in a Director level position now and excel. Don't you just love the praise? I do too!

Now that I only have one week left in Cali and one week in St. Louis I have to get back on track with my workouts. While in Cali I went to LA Fitness which sucked because I am just not used to not having the equipment I need to get my workout in. When I came home on the weekends my weekends were filled with Sisterlock Installations so no time for the gym because those sessions would start at 7 AM on Saturdays and Sundays were travel days. Yeah I know crazy. So now that I have my life back I need to come up with a game plan to get back on track. My pers did the Master Cleanse and she is off and running now after 10 days. I couldn't get past 2 days on that cleanse. I was still trying to workout while doing that cleanse which almost sent me to the emergency room. So what is a girl to do? Well here is what my plan will be....

Go to the Farmer's Market and stock up on the veggies, fruits, and fish. My fridge looks like a bachelor has taken residence in my home.
I need to clean house! Since me and hubby are rarely at home there is plenty of dust and cobwebs that I need to get rid of. I also need to open up the windows and let some much needed fresh air in there.
After cleaning house and stocking the house I plan to eat clean. For the first ten days consume 80% raw veggies and 20% with fish as my protein. I will add a couple protein shakes while I am working out as well. I hope this habit will continue on.
After 10 days I will introduce brown rice, sweet potatoes, and whole grains.
My workouts will be 5 days a week with my cardio during my lunch break at work. I will get in a good 30 minute run on the treadmill during my lunch break. After work I will hit the gym and do my strength training or a class.
I will also clear my mind and do some studying of the bible and some much needed meditation. I need to have some quiet time with just me and my heavenly father.

I think this is a good start and I very excited about getting back to a normal way of life at home. I can say that I did the road warrior thing and it is not for me. Nope!

3 down 3 to go

2009-03-15T12:20:00.003-04:00

Hey blog fam!

I just finished 3 Sisterlock Installations and I have 3 more to go. Check out my Fotki site for the pixs of the installation and let me know your thoughts.

Install 2-21-09 Install 3-7-09

Install 3-14-09

http://public.fotki.com/Locks4LifeAtlanta/

Moving along from Trainee to Certification

2009-02-25T20:42:00.004-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

God is so good! This year has been really busy for me. First off my job decided that I have enough time and talent to help out on two very high profile teams. One of the teams has now sent me to implement the process around the country so our first stop is Southern California. LA to be exact. I am gone from Sunday night to Thursday night. Now I am receiving emails from another project team asking for my help. Dang! They must think I have my cape blowing in the wind or something.

With the corporate job doing it's thing now my Sisterlock business has exploaded. I completed a full installation this month and now I have 3 full installations in March and one scheduled for April (her daughter will follow in June). One of my clients (Elaine) has been so good and has given my card out during her second job. So many people have complimented her hair and now I have two full installations through her. In a minute Elaine will have a free retightening coming her way. I love my clients they are so good to me. With my short hair promotions that I am offering I am completing full installations on Fridays or Saturdays so starting March 7th I am busy every weekend. The hubby doesn't mind too much because after this month I can submit my paperwork for certification. Hmmm Katrina Sisterlock Consultant sounds so very nice. Now if I can only find time to do my own hair. :)

With the added business comes the improved speed. My time spent retightening a client has improved to 2.5 hours to 4.5 hours tops. My longest time retightening is 4.5 hours and that is my client who has over 600 locks easily. Once I put on my Ipod it is all about FOCUS. Sometimes I don't get a chance to listen to my music because I am chatting with my clients. We have some of the best conversations and the bonding between sisters is welcomed. The one thing that I perfected is my gentle technique. This is something my mentor always stressed. A client should never feel discomfort or large amounts of tugging of the hair. Each of my new clients all said the same thing when I put in their test locks. Are you done already? I didn't even feel that. Or I thought you were still parting. I am proud of that. I want for each of my clients to have a stress free relaxed time in my chair.

Natural Hair Relaxers

2009-02-03T08:50:00.003-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am amazed at times when I receive phone calls from women asking various questions concerning hair care. I don't even charge a fee for my knowledge that I readily offer to callers, even when I get those occasional callers who are over-zealous. One call just took me back and it went a little like this.

Caller: Hello Do you carry ____ _____ Natural Hair Relaxer by _____ ____?
Me: Um I am sorry we do not carry ANY chemicals that may permanently alter your hair.

Well, in my 9 years of being natural I have seen and heard of many companies boasting their claims of natural products that offer hair relaxing capabilities. Judging from a couple of my previous clients who have tried those so called natural hair relaxers I will say there is no such thing as a natural product that permanently straightens your hair. Sorry ladies! I have also researched the internet and let me tell you, there are pages upon pages of so called natural products that straighten the hair. I even saw one that came close but it requires you keep this paste in your hair for 3 hours or more without heat. With the heat it is about 90 minutes. What!?!? That in my mind doesn't register as natural. I also read the ingredients and it was very vague. Something didn't sit right in my gut about the product. They also have rave reviews and not one person who was the least bit unsatisfied. My mother always told me if something appears to be too good to be true it probably is.

8 Month Growth Comparison

2008-12-22T20:50:00.002-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I was just looking through some of my pics and I was reviewing a picture from April to a picture that I took this month. WOW the growth is amazing. Take a look.

Curls Curls and More Curls

2008-12-22T20:31:00.003-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well my hair has gotten to that length where I need a little extra hold to make my curls last longer. I would try that old just some oil and water routine and my curls would be limp by the end of the day. So I decided to give Jane Carter's Wrap and Roll solution a try. Here are the results .

Dang Nabbit! I've been tagged.

2008-10-29T21:01:00.002-04:00

Hey blog fam!

For the past month I have been reading blogs and just laughing at the folks who have been tagged...Like I am happy I haven't been tagged yet hehehehe. Well, Lovenyalocs got me so I have to follow the rules (somewhat..I think everyone on blogspot has been tagged).

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you.....
2. Post the rules on your blog
3. Share 6 non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself that have not been shared already
4. Tag 6 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've been tagged by: http://locsoflove.blogspot.com/

Non important facts about the kid...

1. I love to workout but I bet you didn't know that I am a huge boxing fan. So much so that I used to work out with a boxing coach when I lived in Ohio. Yeah I had high aspirations of fighting Laila Ali. We were in the same weight class. You never know you may see me on paid per view ;) Did yall know that Roy Jones was preparing to make a come back?

2. I was born and raised in Ohio.

3. I love all types of music...R&B, Neo Soul, Hip Hop, Some rap, a little country, a little rock n roll, soca, calypso, reggae, etc.

4. I have a pet poodle named Puffy, P Diddy, Puff, or Puff Daddy. He answers to them all.

5. I love to cook. I love watching Paula D, Emerald, G Garvin, Patti Labelle, etc. G. Garvin and Paula are my favorites. I can watch something they make and get right and that kitchen and whip it up. The hubby loves it....a little too much.

6. I love PZI Jeans. I have a hard time finding denim jeans to fit me. Small waist and the bubble (most men love it and have called it a booty, buttocks, Gluteus maximus, Apple Bottom, Onion, or whatever other endearing team men have gave it over the years). Well 4 years ago I found PZI jeans and I haven't had good luck with any other jeans after that. I have about 8 to 10 pairs of PZI jeans for every occasions plus as my weight shifts downwards I must be prepared.. www.pzijeans.com

Well, everyone that I could think of tagging have already become victim so....what can a girl do?? *shrugs shoulders*

The Big CHOP.....Gasp

2008-10-29T20:46:00.004-04:00

AH HA!!! I got you! You know you thought it was me who cut my hair off. LOL!! No not me but my client Mrs. Cool Runnings gave me the honor of cutting her relaxer off of her Sisterlocks. I was so honored. Above is how she started off. Now here is what she looks like.

I gained :( but I lost :)

2008-10-22T20:54:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

You guys know I have been on this new lifestyle change. I workout 6 to 7 days a week burning on average 3,000 calories. I also strength train twice a week. Well I have been doing this for about a month now and my trainer decided to weigh me last Saturday. DUM DUM DUM....I cringed when I stepped on the scale. Hold up...can I take off my shoes, IPOD, and heartrate monitor. Those have to account for something. To my dismay I gained like 6 pounds. :( Where in the hell is that 6 pounds?? My clothes fit well and I feel great. My trainer was like hold up let me do your body fat measurements again. So she pulls out this contraption that resembles huge tweezers and she begins to pinch places like my stomach, the back of my arm, and right about my knee. She punches in the numbers and she says look at this. What? When I started this thing I was 42.9% body fat and 6 pounds lighter. After she completed this measurement I am 30.3% body fat. Yep I lost 12.5% body fat while picking up 6 pounds of muscle. I bulk really fast so the goal to gain 6 more pounds of muscle has been achieved now I have to drop the pounds. So the game plan is to pick up the cardio to burn an average of 3,500 calories a week. I decided to join the runners club on Saturday and they run 2 miles completing a trip around Discovery Mills. I am also working on my stamina and increasing my intensity of the workouts by remaining in Zone 3 for the majority of my workouts. Zone 3 for me is jogging at 4.2 MPH. On Monday I was able to complete 4 miles in 60 minutes. I was so proud of myself because I did this while traveling. I always make sure I find a hotel with a fitness center. Most of the Marriotts have equipment that is compatible with my heart rate monitor. In my suitcase I always have my gym shoes and a workout outfit. This business trip was awesome because the Area Ops Manager gave me a guest pass to his gym. It was nice but it can't be compared to LifeTime. I did my strength training along with an hour of cardio yesterday and today I am on a break. It is important for me to give my body a break in the middle of the week so I can recuperate. My hamstrings and glutes are screaming at me. They have never worked so hard in their lives, so I have some soreness in my right ham and glutes. Tender enough to impact my run. I have to make certain that I stretch really good even on my off days.

So my reward was a nice pair of shoes. Check these out. I know the quality wasn't that great...I took it with my phone. Very sexy! Now if my leg muscles will stop hurting enough for me to wear them.

New Shampoo and Conditioner

2008-10-21T22:27:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

My hair has really been suffering since I returned from our vacation. It really felt crunchy and not itself. Add to that equation the fact that I need to wash my hair 3 to 4 times a week because of my workout routine and you have straw hair. Well during my business trip to Florence, SC I went to the local Wal Mart and decided to buy some shampoo and conditioner. There was no way I was using the hotel shampoo and conditioner. I picked up Fructis Sleek and Shine with the conditioner. To my pleasant surprise my hair LOVED IT!! The shampoo is clear with a very slight tint of green but it really delivers moisture which my hair needed. It feels absolutely wonderful as well as smells lovely. No more straw hair. I also used the shine drops while my hair was wet and did a quick blow dry and my hair was really bouncy. I couldn't believe for $2.46 for the shampoo and conditioner these products delivered these results. The shine drops were $4.37 and I like those as well. To think I have been forking over so much money to Aveda and Fructis has been right in Wal-Mart. Sorry Aveda...I have to let you go. HELLLO FRUCTIS!!

Sorry for the horrible pic I am still on my business trip

Transformation

2008-09-10T19:56:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am really excited! Locks 4 Life - Atlanta's studio is going through a transformation. My contractor came yesterday and started laying the tile and I must say I was very pleased when I arrived home from my business trip just an hour ago. He is doing the darn thang. He also told me the plans for the shampoo bowl. He even did a sketch on the floor of where it would lay. Take a look at the closet area on the floor area. He will be making the door to that closet wider so the shampoo bowl can fit right in and I can go to either side to wash the hair. He is really professional. Take a look at the what the studio looked like before compared to right now. It is not finished and of course I will share the completed pictures. The tile makes the room look much bigger and more open as opposed to the carpet, even though the carpet was very plush and my customers and I loved it. :) He is also doing the bathroom right next to the studion in the same tile. COORDINATE!! Gotta love that! Plus we have enough tile for him to come and do the other two bathrooms in our home. My hubby picked out the tile...what do you think of his selection. I think he did a wonderful job!

So you guys know I have been chatting up my new gym and the knowledge that I have recently got my hands on concerning my metabolism and heart rate. Well to my surprise when I stepped on the scale today just to see what was going on from last week I discovered I had lost 3 pounds. That is with clothes on! I decided to leave my clothes on because that is how I weighed in. More food, cardio in my fat burning zone and strength training equals more weight lost faster. What a great surprise!! I am so sure my trainer won't let my body go into a plateau as I am training with her for 4 months.

If you guys don't have a heart rate monitor...I highly recommend one. This little sucker was on my behind this morning. As I went out of my zone that thing started beeping so loud and angrily until I submitted and slowed my heart rate down. Dang! It is worse than my trainer.

Hair in face...it can be annoying

2008-09-08T21:34:00.004-04:00

Hey blog fam!

I started my new workout at my new gym last week and with 2 years of growth I am finding that I am now wearing two headbands just to keep my hair from slanging sweat in my eyes or on other people YUCK!! So today after a quick wash in the shower this morning I braided the hair out of my face while wet for a quick solution. Remind me never to do that again. When it drys I am looking rather slanted eyes and it gets pretty tight...even if you didn't braid too tight. So when I got home this evening I was just playing around and practicing my braiding skills on my own hair (it is a beast braiding your own hair) and I came up with a great solution. It is a braided semi pony. It keeps the hair out of my face and I can just use one band to lift the hair off of my neck. I am giggling just saying that. I have hair that touches my neck.

Locks 4 Life - Atlanta Styling and Profiling

2008-09-06T18:45:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have a new client Ms J with beautiful traditional locks. I washed, retwisted and styled her locks. Here is what I came up with. I love the curls on her hair.

So I changed up a bit

2008-09-05T20:52:00.007-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

During the summer months I have been a bit lazy and I free styled my hair almost the entire summer. With the ATL heat who wouldn't? So last night I decide to rod my hair with my soft spikes and just hit work like. Wrong! I took the soft spikes out and I finger combed it to ride to work. Then I got irritated by the curls in my face and I half way braided the front out of my face. Then when I got home and was preparing to go see the nutritionist I just say forget it and came up with this. Yall know I love me some flowers in my hair so don't ride my back too hard about always putting a flower in my hair trying to look like a fly Mamacita..Fuego (Like T Pain says).

Speaking of Nutritionist I must tell you guys about my transition. I just joined Lifetime Fitness (which I love) and I am doing a total make over. I have 35 pounds to lose. You may say where but please believe it is all in my hips. The nutritionist even said that she couldn't believe how much much my body fat was and that I carried it well. If that is supposed to be a compliment... no thanks I don't want it. I discovered that I wasn't eating enough calories (Thanks Weight Watches). My body at rest is burning 1,683 calories and by the WW standard I was only eating 1,200. My body was in starvation mode so no matter how much exercise or how many days in the gym I was spending I wasn't losing anything. I am now on a 1,900 calorie plan eating 7 small meals a day with 2 strength training days and the rest cardio. I invested in a heart rate monitor and a new attitude :) I have to do so something to get this extra weight off of me. We had a little too much fun in St. Kitts. I brought back a nice tan and an extra 5 to 7 pounds. Dammit!

I also purchased a new compact powder. For those who don't know I have had the hardest time finding a compact powder to compliment my complex skin tone. In the summer my red tones are more pronounce but the golds and yellows are still a factor. Any other time my red tones are a little less pronounce. I was in Toronto and went into Sears ( I know I tripped out too. Buying makeup in Sears) and the lady referred to Iman. I tried this Luminous powder number 4....Baby let me tell you, that I love it! It gave me a nice glow without that bronzer look. It is great!! I was in the salon in Lifetime fitness and the lady behind the counter was like you skin is beautiful. Thank you!! Now you know it is good when the ladies at the Spa compliment your skin. Thanks Iman. Here are some before Iman and after Iman shots.

Guess what I got.....

2008-08-26T18:14:00.005-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

After washing a client's hair who had major build up in her locks in my kitchen sink I said NO MORE. I went out and got this baby....

That's right...Locks 4 Life-Atlanta will be offering shampoo and conditioning services as well as styling so come and get you some. Notice the extra wide bowl for those with long hair and short hair alike. I have my contractor scheduled for Sept 6th. I can't wait!! I will not wash anyone's hair in my sink EVER AGAIN. The build up that I saw last week was TOO MUCH to handle.

On to another topic...after all of that fun in the sun and salt water I had to come home and get busy conditioning my locks. I noticed my locks were a little dry from the sun so I did a deep conditioner on my locks and they feel much better. I also noticed I have some bunched ends that I will be snipping today. Check it out....Yall like my tan?? I am also trying to work on my retightening but I am so busy...

I still have the grays in the front and I don't think I am going to mess with them for a little bit. The rinse only lasts maybe 3 weeks but since I was in the salt water I am guessing maybe 2 weeks at the most. Did you guys notice I still have some two headed dragons that I haven't snipped yet?

I also purchased some new art for my studio. This guy by the name of David Patterson created some wonderful works of art. They are exactly what I needed! One is called evolution and the other nubian locs.

I'M BAAACKKK

2008-08-26T17:55:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I know I have been ghost for a moment but now I am back. My hubby and I spent out 7 year wedding anniversary in St. Kitts (my father's birthplace). It was a very relaxing 7 days. I needed that!! I have been working so hard that I almost forgot how to relax. I just switched jobs and I have been working my business Locks 4 Life-Atlanta so I haven't had much time for relaxing. Check us out in St. Kitts!

My Salon Visit

2008-07-12T17:38:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have been craving some what of a change with my hair for a little while now. I even contemplated whacking at my locks and starting over with comb coils. I get like this every couble of years so I had to think of something quick before I chopped at my hair. So I thought I would treat myself to a salon visit for Demi color and style right. Demi is a semi permanent hair color that covers gray and provides a nice rich coating right. So I called this morning and surprisingly enough the receptionist says that the loctician has a 3:30 PM availability. Wow this must be faith especially with a opening on a Saturday at such short notice. Okay so I get there and I am in the parking lot talking to my hubby.

Me - Ah hell this is a regular permie salon. I am so hoping she is not going to have me waiting.

Hubby - Well just go in and see what the deal is and I will wait.

Me - You know I am not down for waiting on a stylist especially when I have an appointment.

Hubby - Well babe just go and see what's up

Me - Ok

So I go in and I speak with the receptionist. Who is unaware of who I am and my appointment and she quickly calls another stylist who comes up walking like yeah you are the 3:30 PM for so and so. Yes I am, I replied. They ask me to take a seat and I wave my husband to leave because I assume my stylist will be right out since I had the attention of the receptionist and another stylist. So the loctician comes and greets me and we chat about what I am looking for. I tell her I don't want to lift my hair color because my hair has become so soft that I am so sure it will unravel at the slightest sign of chemical. She agrees and we decide on a semi permanent hair color. She then says today has been kind of crazy so if you don't mind waiting I will be with you in a second. Then she says if you want to go and get you something to drink or eat from the restaurants down the walk you are more than welcome to do so. COME ON NOW!! That is the secret shop code for girl you better find something to do until I finish this head. Why in the hell did I look at her chair and she was just blow drying this woman out with a brush?? Ah Helll! Then I start reading a magazine and mind you this is 3:50 PM my appointment was at 3:30 PM. I look up again at 4:00 and she was just pulling out some flat irons and straighting the lady. Now we all know that is about another hour on her head until she gets to me. At this point I am furious. I am not accustomed to waiting in anyone's salon and I am a loctician myself so I expect MORE. So what did I kindly do?? I texted my husband and told him the deal. Then I politely got up and walked out. That's right! I walked my behind down the walk like I was going for something to drink and phoned my husband and told him to pick me up. He arrived about 7 minutes later and I was out of that bad boy. I didn't tell her anything. Nothing! Her site states that she is professional and that she expects a call if you will be more than 20 minutes late. Well hell what about me? I am sitting in your salon waiting area for more than 30 minutes and you don't even have me in the chair yet. I don't think so. I can't stand that type of service. That is why my clients can expect to get right in my chair as soon as they cross my threshold. I bring them to the chair and I ask them if they would like anything to drink. I fulfill their drink order and I get started. No if ands buts about it.

So what did I decide to do? Well I high tailed it to one of the neighboring beauty supply stores. I purchased some gloves, some plastic caps, and some semi permanent hair color. Here is the bottle.

I got home and washed my hair and proceeded to put the semi permanent color in myself. Yup that is right I am under the dryer as I type this post. I just don't have patience for the typical salon experience anymore. I really wanted to treat myself but hey I expect to be serviced upon my appointment time not an hour later. That is one of the reasons I decided to go natural anyway.

Barack Obama's Message to our Black Fathers

2008-06-16T12:40:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I usually don't get into politics too much because that can be a messy subject at times. I couldn't help but smile this morning after reading Barack Obama addressing our absent black fathers. Get em Barack!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/15/obama.fathers.day.ap/index.html

This message was right on time as my nephews are currently suffering at the hands of absentee fathers. One father is off in Iraqi fighting a idiotic war. The other's father just doesn't care and lives in the same city but never calls, visits, or supports. I sure hope Obama's message was received. It is time for our families to heal.

Braid, Band, Separate

2008-06-12T10:15:00.008-04:00

Braid, band, and separate! Braid, band, and separate! Everyone say it with me BRAID, BAND, and Separate! Every good consultant / trainee preaches this to their clients. We even show that old 20 year Sisterlock™ video that demonstrates the technique. This simple routine during every wash could save you a bundle in cash and in time. If you have relaxed ends it is even more important for you to take extra care and braid, band and separate. Why is it so important for my relaxed end sistas? Well for one with relaxed ends the pattern is more susceptible to slip down the hair strands due to the relaxed nature on the ends thus you have SLIPPAGE. With slippage and your new growth your roots will be plentiful which allows room for matting at the roots. . Matting is what hair wants to do anyway so if you don’t separate you will have a matted mess with locks on the ends. I have a client I will call her Mrs. Cool Runnings with lots of relaxed ends. Don’t worry she knows that I am using her as an educational example for my blog community. Mrs. Runnings’ hair strands are thicker than most that I have experienced plus they have a S curl pattern. Well Mrs. Runnings needed a retightening after 4 weeks. Now mind you I checked her for her two weeks follow up and she was doing awesome just like I expected. What I saw at the retightening was this which is the pic on the side

At first glance you would say oh the back is not that bad just normal growth right. Check out this middle section. Now Mrs. Runnings has a very different hair texture in the middle of her head and her hair there grows SUPER fast. LAWD HAVE MERCY! Lookie here……

Once I examined the individual locks more closely the pattern appeared to be working it’s way down the hair strands but tangling while doing so. So my diagnosis is a combination of slippage and fast hair growth. You would say great for the hair growth right? I would too but what I experienced to get to her scalp was stressful for her hair and scalp. MATTING!! Yes! Mrs. Runnings insisted that she separated after every wash.

I made sure to be extra careful when separating but I was stressed because I didn’t want to harm Mrs. Runnings by pulling out strands of her hair at a time. My goodness it sounded like Velcro. I was so scared that I would harm her…I just pulled out my scissors and clipped the single strands that were remaining once I ripped the locks from each other. While I was retightening those sections there were still hairs hanging out with each other which caught on my tool and caused her to yelp a couple of times. Well the otherwise 4.5 hour retightening took me 6.5 hours due to me separating and snipping frequently. With those types of hours here where they charge by the hour anywhere from $25 to $30 that can add up. So my sistas save yourselves some time and money Braid, band and separate! Don't worry I charge a flat fee so Mrs. Runnings is all good now...check her out...

I love my client Mrs. Runnings, her hair is allowing me to learn and grow as a consultant and a loctician. So thank you Mrs. Runnings for allowing me to use this information and your photos to help other consultants / trainees and clients.

Hair Growth

2008-05-08T19:17:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Wow how time flies. I am nearing my two year loc anniversary and my how my hair has grown. July 15, 2006.

Two and Three Headed Dragons

2008-04-22T19:48:00.004-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I was just messing around in my hair and lookie what I found. I found some locks that I combined a while ago and they are completely locked except for the ends. Check them out. I plan to cut them after a while.

I totally forgot about my two and three headed dragons. They will be gone soon.

I am also having the color itch. I want my hair all one color. I want a darker color now. Maybe a chestnut brown, but that is what I started out with and now my hair is looking really light brown and my roots are 4 inches of black. Not really feeling that too much. I want to bigen the entire thing but I am worried that it will wear off soon and I will have to apply the bigen again and again. What's a girl to do when she wants to color her hair and the hubby loves it the way it is? BOOT!

My soror's locks that I started for her

2008-04-11T16:59:00.005-04:00

During my 10 year reunion I had an opportunity to see my SPEC (my sorority sister) that asked me to do her hair when I was living in Detroit a about 16 months ago. I started her locs for her using comb coils and the pics above are about 2 to 3 months into her journey. Yes her hair was shorter when I first started her locks. Once I got this job in Atlanta she was panicked because she didn't know how to maintain her hair. I taught her how to palm roll her own hair and voila. Check her out.

I love my hair and I wanted to showcase it.....BUT

2008-04-11T16:42:00.007-04:00

So I finally got my photoshoot pics back from the Sisterlock training class. Hmmm what can I say about them? I am not feeling them too much. These are the only two that really focus on my hair and didn't have me looking greasy. I am not knocking the photographer but I should have let my hubby snap some shots of me.

For example....what does eating chicken have to do with my hair? Even if the chicken was finger licking.

I can dig this pic here. But I had a lot of pics that I was like WHAT!?!?

The Dekalb Farmers Market

2008-03-29T18:26:00.002-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

The hubby and I just experienced the Dekalb Farmers Market. http://www.dekalbfarmersmarket.com/ and let me tell you....I AM SO THRILLED we found it. I am officially off of the processed foods and all of the grocery stores in Gwinnett county were putting a hurting on our pockets. Man we walked in there and literally a fly could have flown right in our mouths. I didn't know were to start....Beer and Wine!?!? Okay Trina focus ! No beer and wine but we hit the spices, fruits, veggies, fish, cheese, and everythine else in there that I could have ever imagined. We had a FULL cart and we only spent $120...WHAT!! Only $120!?!? My hubby was like we will be back here every week from now on. It is cheaper than any combination of stores we could have ever put together. Like buying meats at Sam's Club, buying processed foods, milk, cheese, and yogurt from Kroger. Then stopping at Wal Mart for my hubby's lunch meat. I was able to get everything from the farmers market. I bought some sea bass, red grouper, and orange roughy which I can't wait to try these recipes on. I have all kinds of zucchini, squash, fruits (for smoothies), and veggies. It is on now.

I am so tired of feeling like I do. I have these headaches and I feel sluggish for no reason at all. I know it has something to do with what I am eating. So I have made the decision to give the processed foods up. I am committing myself to a clean eating lifestyle. Do you Trina take Clean Eating to be your life? YES I DO!

I got that Atlantis and Boy is it hot on a Zeta lady like myself

2008-03-28T22:40:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I got my brand new Atlantis Tomoka Twist set today and for all of my sorors out there...Don't be Jelly! These look so hott against my Zeta Members Only shirt. I'm Hott! I'm Hott just like an Oven .....wooooo! Ok I had a Marvin flashback. Check me out. Wait till my sands get a load of me at my 10 year undergrad reunion....

It's hard out here for a Trainee

2008-03-28T21:47:00.003-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well I finally did it. I took the Sisterlocks training. You may have seen me on the Atlanta Video Blog. I am so proud of myself. I have installed locs before so now I am just formally trained to offer Sisterlocks and ready to go. My schedule is getting pretty tight already. I have people flying in for installations which makes me oh so honored that a client would be willing to fly to let my fingers start their journey. Atlanta is fastly becoming a city where kinks and coils are becoming a common style. Not to mention locs! Brothas are rocking those locs and I am seeing many more women with Sisterlocks or micro locs. With all of this being said if you are interested in Sisterlocks or Brotherlocks I am offering Trainee Prices for a limited time. With the way God is filling my schedule I don't expect to be a trainee long. Here are a couple pics of my home studio.

I have been reading various blogs and posts on LIU and I am really saddened to hear so many horror stories about bad consultants and trainees. I sit back and sigh to myself like....Man, those few are making it really hard out here for a trainee. I truly believe that your business lives by the clients / customers or it will die by the customers. If a client comes to your door or calls your number and desires sisterlocks that person has researched and prepared themselves for the investment and commitment that they are about to undertake. So what is a Sisterlock consultant / trainee? Let's see what my good ole buddy wikipedia says about a consultant

A consultant (from the Latin consultare means "to discuss" from which we also derive words such as consul and counsel) is a professional who provides advice in a particular area of expertise such as accountancy, the environment, technology, law, human resources, marketing, medicine, finance, economics, public affairs, communication, engineering, graphic design, or waste management.

A consultant is usually an expert or a professional in a specific field and has a wide knowledge of the subject matter. A consultant usually works for a consultancy firm or is self-employed, and engages with multiple and changing clients. Thus, clients have access to deeper levels of expertise than would be feasible for them to retain in-house, and to purchase only as much service from the outside consultant as desired. It is generally accepted good corporate governance to hire consultants as a check to the Principal-Agent problem.[citation needed]

Hmm interesting isn't it? An expert at Sisterlocks! That is big responsibility and to hear that there are consultants and trainees out there who are not accepting accountability for their actions it ticks me off. What comforts me is that the victims are not being deterred by those few bad apples.

Childhood Scars

2008-03-12T20:51:00.006-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Since I did my big chop in 2002 I have noticed that the hair around the hairline directly above my eyes are very thin or non existent. I chalked it up to genes saying...Oh my mom, my sister, and aunts have the same balding patches in the same areas. Well would you know I have been wrong all of this time. Check out what I have growing in those areas.

Yeah that is right I have 3 new baby locs growing. One on right side and two on the left. I anticipate growing another one on that right side. I am just thrilled that my hair is finally growing back after years of chemical usage. I am talking about as far back as the kiddy perm, straightening combs, and jheri curl days. My mother knew how to braid but was getting to the point where she didn't want to braid me and my sisters hair every 3 or 4 weeks. Yes she was lazy! So she decided to do the kiddie perm, but with my kinky hair texture my hair laughed at her HA HA. So she got that hot comb out. Then she got tired of hearing me scream...YOU ARE BURNING ME!! She would reply shut up that is just the grease. Thanks Mom you were just scalding my scalp with petroleum and mineral oil. When she got tired of that she let our soul glow and put that Carefree Curl in my head. Yeah I had the greasy collar, pillow cases, and sheets. Thanks Mom! I know she was just doing what she knew how to do but damn she didn't even give me a chance to have long flowing hair.

That is why I am such an advocate for saving our daughter's hair. My co-worker's daughter has a head full of thick kinky hair and my co-worker is at her wits end about what she should do with her hair. The little girl takes swimming lessons and is very active. My co-worker has done the braids and has even did the texturizer (that companies are now marketing towards our daughters). Guess what her hair did....It laughed at that texturizer like HA HA Just try to straighten me. Her hair sort of reminds me of my own hair. I have offered to do her daughters hair for her...FREE NINETY NINE of course. I even asked if she has consider sisterlocks for her daughter especially if she will be swimming. I am trying any and everything to steer her away from the creamy crack as her last resort. Her daughter is I think 9 or 10 and her peers are touching her hair... asking her why is your hair so puffy? I hope I can save this little girl from what I had to go through as a child.

On another note.... I am going silver. Yeah I have a silver streak right in the front of my head that just won't stay in the locs. It started off as just a couple strands now they have brought their friends. I have Bigen'd them and they still come back with a couple new friends. What's a girl to do?

Oh did I mention it is time for a re-tightening. On Sunday my hubby was like babe it looks like you don't even have locs in the front of your hair. What he meant to say...Damn babe isn't it time for your retightening? My hair grows pretty fast so it is consistent at every 4 to 5 weeks.

I've Been Tagged...Thanks Lakia!

2008-02-12T21:21:00.000-05:00

Ok.. So,here are the rules: (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. Now let's have some fun I was tagged by Lakia

I married my high school sweetheart. I was 16 years old when I met the love of my life.

I can't stand clutter.

I am a boxing fan. Roy Jones, Floyd Merriwether, Klitschko Brothers, Chris Byrd

I am OVER analytical. I am working on that.

I am the oldest of 3 children

I voted for Obama in the primaries.

I am now tagging Sistalocd, Raspberry, Ketrina, C, Organik Beauty, and Still Waters. Sorry ladies I had to chose random people.

Feb. Retightening

2008-02-11T20:45:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I finally got around to getting this mess re-tightened. Here are a few shots. After my hair was complete I started getting calls from the hair color phantom. That is when I get this impulsive feeling to color my hair. This time the little voice was like go darker...go darker. No! I must fight it...No!

I am also looking at the first picture posted and it is unreal how much my nephew Jalen and I resemble each other. Here is a pic of my JJ..

He is so much like me in my younger days and I swear I didn't have anything to do with his conception. He even has the same mannerism as I did as a child. SCARY!!

Random Ramblings

2008-02-11T20:13:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well it has been a while since I blogged so this post will be full of random thoughts that I have stored up since the last time I blogged. Enjoy!

The neighbors
Saturday afternoon as my hubby was walking the dog the neighbors on the right of us (who were having a slamming party and cars everywhere) yelled over and invited him to come on over to have a drink with them. My hubby told me that the man of the house was home from the war and he will be leaving shortly so all of his family were over visiting. So me being me..I told my hubby that we should go and meet the neighbors, because we may never have this opportunity again with him leaving for Irag in a short time. So we go over there. I walk in with my hubby and it is a house full of Asian's (from Laos to be exact). They were so friendly offering drinks, food, a place to sit and everything. I had a corona and they instantly started chatting. The older members of the family just kind of looked at us and sat over to the side but the relatives who were our age started joking around calling each other Chinks. Talk about my mouth hitting the floor. I was like oh my goodness they are calling themselve Chinks just as our people call each other Niggas. I was tripping out! I knew exactly how the white people felt when our people sit amongst them and called each other Nigga. You know you better not even think of saying it. They were mad cool. We were toasting and passing around business cards. One couple owns a bath and kitchen remodeling and I NEED some granite counter tops. LOL! You catch the need in there... :) It was just cool fun. We were only supposed to stay for like 10 minutes but after 2 coronas, glass of Reisling, some spring rolls, and egg rolls we staggered out of there to the movies. Great neighbors!!

Sisterlock Training
Yes I am finally going to take the training. I have only been talking about this for a year now. Now is the time to do it. There is a training class in Atlanta March 15 - 18 and I plan on attending. What kicked up the interest is that I noticed my speed has kicked up with me doing my own hair 6 to 7 hours and after talking to two consultants the fire has been ignited. People tend to see things in me that I don't even see in myself. One person told me that I have the personality, professionalism, punctuality, and just the business savvy to do it. I doubt myself sometimes too, which can cause me to slack off and become lazy with it. I don't know how to braid worth a lick and this intimidates me because other consultants out here can braid their betutties off. My pastor went over several scriptures concerning being lazy in church today. It really hit home for me because I feel like I have doubted myself and let this intimidation hold me back on doing this. It helped me to realize my strengths. I can two strand twist, coil, and interlock my behind off. I even started my sorority sister's hair with comb coils before I left and her hair is absolutely gorgeous now. I believe I have a good spirit for this challenge. I am geniune and I want my sistas to enjoy and experience what I am feeling and that is freedom! With that and some training I believe I can make this a viable business.

On this day in the year of 1920

2008-01-16T10:34:00.000-05:00

The year was 1920. It was the start of the decade, shortly after World War One, and a time of great prosperity for the country. Women were called dames, dolls, or the cat's meow. At the beginning of the decade, women still wore long skirts but the "Roaring 20s" brought a new look of short skirts and smartly coiffed shorter hair. Racial tensions were high and quotas set for immigrants coming into America. The Klan was very active during this period. The Harlem Renaissance was acknowledged as the first important movement of black artists and writers in the US.
On January 16, 1920, the Volstead Act became effective, heralding the start of Prohibition and on August 18th of the same year, Tennessee delivered the crucial 36th ratification necessary for the final adoption of the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. The worst and longest economic recession to ever hit the United States would define the end of the decade-the Great Depression.It was within this environment that Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded. Zeta Phi Beta Sorority was founded on the simple belief that sorority elitism and socializing should not overshadow the real mission for progressive organizations - to address societal mores, ills, prejudices, poverty, and health concerns of the day. Founded January 16, 1920, this very day... Zeta began as an idea conceived by five coeds at Howard University in Washington D.C.: Arizona Cleaver, Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, Fannie Pettie and Pearl Neal. (Excerpt taken from our international website)

Sorors let us not forget that simple belief was back then...sorority elitism and socializing should not overshadow the real mission for progressive organizations...to address societal mores, ills, prejudices, poverty, and health concerns of this day and age. Happy Founders Day...sorors let's get back to the basics.

Sitting under my new dryer while typing

2008-01-09T21:12:00.001-05:00

My hubby bought me this new hair dryer for Christmas. It isn't that Purple People Heater that I wanted but it works really well. It cuts my drying time in half, which is a plus for me. It is especially great when I have to wash my hair multiple times during the week due to my streneuous workout schedule (I am hitting the gym twice a day. Once on my lunch and right after work) and my hair is a sweating mess. So this dryer is my new best friend. Gotta love the hubby for paying attention when I talk. All I did was say...You know it would be great if I could sit at the computer while my hair is drying. He listened and went to Sallys and bought this dryer for me.

New Years Resolutions

2008-01-04T18:27:00.000-05:00

Yeah, yeah….I know we all make them only to break them but I wanted to put some things out in the atmosphere about some promises that I made to myself and the most high prior to entering into 2008. First and foremost I will not stress over mess. What I mean by that is this…I am an analytical person who thinks all the damn time. Too much thinking leads to stress. Before I do something I am planning it out in my mind. If something negative happens to me I am thinking of ways I could have made that negative a positive or I am thinking of ways to prevent that from happening again. I also allow for other family members to dump their problems and other's problems on me so I think of ways to solve those too. One way I allow that to happen is my daily phone conversations with my sister. She is always telling me about her problems her friend's problems (people I don’t even know), and other family member’s problems. I know you are sitting there like damn when is your mind at rest. It is rarely at rest! I am reading a Joyce Meyer book and it is teaching me how to rest my mind and to eliminate outside interference. So my first resolution is to rest my mind and meditate every night. I also plan to cut back on the amount of idle conversation that I participate in. Yeah that means the daily phone conversations with my sister will be cut back drastically.

For stress relief I joined the gym down the street from my job and I started lunchtime workouts. Lately my boss has been micro managing me and that stresses me because I am trying to figure out why this dude is on my back. I think he is bored, but who knows. This makes the third RED faced manager (literally they are as red as beets) I have had in my career. It is something about the RED face men that I work with. I can’t determine the causes of another person’s inadequacies so I am going to work it out for an hour a day to both help me drop the pounds and de-stress. I also hired a personal trainer for a month to help me jump start my program. I don’t usually do the personal trainers but this trainer at the gym gave me a free session today that whipped my butt in 30 minutes. I definitely feel the burn right now as I type this. He gave me a great rate too so for 4 weeks I will see what type of results I see with my trainer's help. Every now and then you need a little help to jump start the results.

I also plan to watch what comes out of my mouth. I know this will be hard for me. I sometimes clown around with my friends or my husband when we are out and about. You know how you see that sista or that brotha who know they are wrong for wearing something or doing something and you give that look. Well I give that look and I like to discuss. Well I am going to have to stop that...I am taking it back to the basics. If you don't have nothing good to say don't say nothing at all.

Adding more workouts

2007-12-21T11:40:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well this week has been quite trying for me at work. To say I am dealing with micro manager would be an understatement. My boss is bored so he has been on my back. He is like did you get this done yet, or that done yet, I did this because I was curious....WTF! I don't have plans to go into 2008 doing the same thing that I am doing in 2007 at this job. I know I don't react well to micro managing. Plus I have been sitting at my desk right through my lunch, staying late, and doing what I have to do to get the job done. No more! I thought back to when I was working in Detroit and a group of us used to do Ballys on our lunchbreak. We would do a Powerflex class (strength training), shower and be back at work in an hour and 15 minutes. I lost 15 pounds and several inches off of various parts of my body doing that. So I researched and there are two gyms within a mile of my job. Both of the gyms have worked out special memberships for us. So I go down to Gold's gym and they give me a great rate. Wonderful! I sign up and pay for two years up front. My entire goal is the incorporate a lunch time workout 3 to 4 days out of the week. I am also doing a 30 minute treadmill or Tae Bo early morning workout. This gym has resistance and strength classes around noon most days of the week so if I can attend a couple of those a week that would be great.

Today was my first day with an hour workout to break up my work day. I have it to a 3o minute elliptical machine workout and 5 to 10 minutes of stretching. Then it is off to the shower (which are private showers with a small dressing area outside of the shower). This entire routine roundtrip was an hour and 10 minutes. I feel great!! I am drinking a ton of water right now because that elliptical machine whipped my butt.

Stress is not a good thing and I am not about to let any job stress me out, so my way of dealing with this is to work it out. With reducing my stress levels I can lose this excess weight as well. It appears to be a win win situation. What do you think??

SOFT SPIKE RESULTS

2007-12-06T20:31:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Here are the results of my first attempt at using Soft Spikes. If I must say so myself I think I did a pretty good job. I like the soft spike curls better than the perm rod curls. These curls appear to give my hair a layers look with the back being a little shorter. I put a little flower on the side and rocked it like that to work. I am going on a week long business trip so the real test will be how long thes curls will last me with traveling. If they don't last I will just bring my soft spikes and roll it up in the room. That is the beauty of the spikes...light weight.

Supporting Black Owned Businesses

2007-12-05T21:23:00.001-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I believe this topic has come up in a couple of my blog favorites topics before. I am a little ticked off about something and I need to get it off of my chest concerning supporting Black Owned Business (BOB). Well, as you all may or may not know I order hair care products from a company called Naani. I have ordered from this company a total of two times with my last being this most recent order placed 11/11/07. The first time I ordered I did so against my better judgement since I read such negative reviews concerning Naani's customer service and the tardiness of receipt of products. Customers were waiting upwards of 2 months to receive their products when the website states to allow 15 business days to receive products. Well my first time ordering I purchased some Juanita Design cream and loc down cream. I received my products within one week and I was very pleased with the products. The most recent my hubby needed some more Dudu Osun liquid black soap and Naani had a great deal on a 6 pack so I ordered some products for myself including the Juanita shampoo and conditioners that were on sale and some leave in conditioner. My order totalling $76. So after 15 business days I start to get anxious and I send a email to the contact us link on the website. This link states someone would get back in contact with you as soon as possible. No luck! I call the numbers and leave a message and it says the same thing. No luck! So here I am after 4 attempts to contact Naani and nothing. I am so disappointed because I decided to give this company the benefit of the doubt after reading a ton of negative posts concerning this woman's business. I also read the woman's apology posted on Napturality.com. I don't think she gets it. You can't expect to stay in business and treat your customer base like they don't matter. Even if I would have received an email notifying me of the status of my email I would feel better but yet instead I received nothing. So needless to say I will be disputing that charge on our credit card tomorrow and taking Naani.com off of my favorites list. No more poor customer service for me not even to support a BOB.

On to another topic...I received my ......

You guessed it my SOFT SPIKES...I couldn't wait to use them. What better time to try them than the present. I had to do a major clarifying wash and conditioning since my return from Vegas...LOTS of smoke in the Vegas casinos and I can't stand the smell of smoke. I was pleased at the ease of use with this rollers. I have been using perm rods and let me tell you those bad boys put a hurting on your head when you try to sleep in them. I rolled my hair and I am sitting under the bonnet dryer for an hour then it is off to sleep. I will take pictures tomorrow to show the results. I know they will be fabulous.

Viva Las Vegas

2007-12-04T11:30:00.000-05:00

Hey Bl0g Fam!

Well I survived our annual Vegas trip in celebration of my girlfriend's birthday. Barely! I got hold of a major stomach bug or some killer food poisoning. I was able to make it through the 3 days but not without some Pepto moments. Terrible! We had some fun in spite of so I am happy.

I may need to admit myself into cosmetics anonymous or something because I spent $150 on cosmetics while there. They had the great deals though. We went into the Cosmetic Company while at the outlet mall and let me tell you they had the MAC clear lip glass 3 pack for $24 WHAT!! That is unheard of so I had to scoop that up. They also had my all time favorite Trance Plant for $10 and Sweet as Cocoa Shimmer tone blush for $12.25 WHAT!! I had to get it. Then we went to Sephora. WHY!?!?! I subject myself to such terrible temptation. I purchased some Clarins gentle exfoliator and while I was walking my girl was talking to an associate concerning foundations. E and I have such hard times finding the right foundation for both of our skin tones. She has red undertones and I have red, gold, and some yellow undertones. You can imagine how hard that is. MAC has me looking green, Clinique has me looking ashy, and everyone else has me looking orange. I have been using the Queen Collection powder which has been cool. The associate brings out some Smashbox for my girl to try. What? Smashbox? She applies to E's cheeks and I am looking like you didn't put anything on there. Put some more on the apples of her cheek so we can see. The lady does that it and voila it is like she is wearing absolutely nothing compared to what she already had on her face. A naturally soft hue that enhanced her face not overpowering it. Awesome! She asks me over and over again Trina is this okay. I am like it is more than okay it is beautiful and I would have never thought Smashbox would create something like that for our skin tones. I guess you should never stereotype from a name. So of course you know I am pumped up like ME ME ME next. She brings out the D1 and I am prepared for the worst. My girl was Trina you need to purchase this ASAP. I look in the mirror and I am like OH MY GOODNESS. Guess you know what happens next....I am in the checkout line with my Smashbox D1. LOL! I am going to admit myself into CA (Cosmetics Anonymous). Hi my name is Trina and I am a Cosmetics and Hair product junkie.

Back to Basics

2007-11-12T15:18:00.000-05:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I haven’t blogged about my weightloss in a while because I have come to this plateau. I hate when I plateau during major efforts in weight loss. It really de-motivates you in some ways. So today I am going back to basics. I went to Super Target and guess what I found. NEW TAE-BO programs! I was excited! This one that I bought has 5 DVDs included with a new 3 pound expanding stick that Billy incorporates into his workouts. I don’t know if anyone out there has tried Tae-Bo before, but I can tell you from my personal experience that Tae-Bo was the only thing that worked for me with AMAZING results. I tried it when I was 23 or 24 and I was trying to get in shape before Black Beach (Panama City, Florida). I did the basic and advanced tapes for like a month and some change and I dropped a total of 15 pounds as well as totally transforming my body. I think I was the leanest I have ever been during this timeframe. I didn’t even modify how I was eating I just did the tapes around like 6 AM 3 to 4 days out of the week as well as an afternoon kickboxing class with an instructor maybe 3 times a week. I looked at those pictures and I was like WOW how did I do that. That is what I am talking about going back to the basics. So I have the DVD’s for an evening Tae-Bo blast this tonighy. I already did a 5:30 AM treadmill and weight workout. What I am going to do is switch that up. It will be Tae-Bo in the morning 4 to 5 days out of the week and a treadmill workout with strength training 2 days out of the week. Oh I can’t forget about my Funk Jam classes two times a week. So if this doesn’t jump start my weight loss back into gear then I don’t know what will. I will let you know how my progress goes with this on Sunday. Then that will be a full 7 days of Billy and his crew and my new back to basics workout. I am sure something will fall off by then. LOL!

Hair Maintenance

2007-11-02T19:05:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Well you all may know that I am a DIYer when it comes to my hair. About two weeks ago I did a retightening session. It went well as you can see from the pic. What I noticed were my ends looking a bit on the raggedy side. I didn't want to do a full grooming session so I just decided to trim my ends today. I was a bit scared since my last fiasco with the scissors but I took my time and did the job. I didn't have any fatalities. I did notice that I have some slower children that are just now locking after a year.

Community Involvement

2007-10-25T15:07:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

Today is a great day! I am so filled with joy and pride to live in a metropolitan area that truly reaches back to the community to help others. It all started yesterday while riding in to work. I was listening to V103.3 of Atlanta and a listener called in to vent about her current situation. A small summary of her background….she had just moved to Atlanta from St. Louis and moved into a section 8 apartment without any lights, gas, or phone. What she found out when you move to Atlanta is the utility companies require that you pay a deposit solely based on your credit score. I can understand why the companies do this to protect themselves and lower the risk associated with providing services. Anyway the single mother had nothing but $20 and her mentally disabled son. She barely got her phone turned on so that she could call the radio station. She didn’t have a car and she had to walk 45 minutes to get to a main street to catch the bus. Her biggest problem was a HUGE rat (I will call Ben) that was in her bedroom and refused to leave. I am talking about Ben was angry with her he basically jumped at her to attack her. She closed the door to prevent Ben from coming out. While she was venting Frank decided to help the woman so he left the studio to drive to her location. He gets an exterminator out to her location and they solve the problem. The amount of compassion that came flooding the radio stations phone lines was overwhelming. Wanda and the radio stations fielded the phone calls while Frank and his intern proceeded to help the woman set up her washer and dryer so she could wash clothes and purchased some groceries for her. This all happened yesterday and today the blessings were still flowing. They had the young woman come into the station. There was a representative for the Black owned McDonald franchises of Atlanta present offering her a management trainee position at one of the 30 locations around the metro area. There was a Honda dealership there to present her with a certified used Honda, a check for the insurance, and gas money. The calls continued to flow in to help this woman. There were calls from everyday people like myself offering what little they had to help her. A business owner called in to offer the woman $25,000 (I don’t know if this was genuine or not but it happened) to help her.

I have never lived in a city that showed so much support for the community before. I don’t know if it is just the southern hospitality or whatever it is they need to put it in a bottle and give it away to other people around this country.

Under the Weather

2007-10-22T21:03:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I have been a little ghost lately...a bug took me by storm on Friday morning. I don't even know what happen or what hit me...bite me...jumped on me whateva. All I know is I put in a great workout at the gym on Thursday that lasted a good 2 hours then I went home got in the shower and ate a little dinner and drifted off to slumber land. When I awoke on Friday I had a terrible headache, congestion, and a sore throat...YUCK!! Good thing is there was no cough just sinus pressure and other sinus things. I am trying to get myself well again so I can hit this gym tomorrow. I hope you are all taking your vitamins and plenty of vitamin C something is in the air, so don't catch it, like it caught me.

Never take supplements on an empty stomach

2007-10-17T15:23:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am not feeling so great! Whoozy to say the least. I did some craziness this morning. I mixed up my protein shake and I grabbed my glucosamine supplements (for my joints and knee pain after working out). I thought I would be okay because I take my protein shake as a meal so I swallowed down the two horse pills with my protein shake. WRONG MOVE TRINA!! Now I am sitting here and I can feel the pills in the bottom of my stomach and nothing is in there that can really absorb it up. I don't usually eat meat or breads during the day so all I am eating is fruits, veggies, or yogurt and that is not doing it. As long as I am full I am not feeling it...but as soon as that stomach is empty the swaying begins. Lesson learned....take your supplements on a full stomach or prior to going to sleep. Blah!

Brushing Locks

2007-10-17T15:10:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

My mane is progressing and I am noticing she is becoming flakey. My mane flakey??? Nah not her! Yes her! I am flaking up now more than ever due to this extreme dry weather we are having in the ATL (I am so sure you guys have heard about the drought). Now the flakes are getting caught up in my locks. Dang it! Plus with me working out 4 to 5 days a week I have to wash more frequently because my scalp will start to itch like CRAZY. I can not stand to have strange things up in my mane so I immediately took a stroll through www.nappturality.com and was immediately reminded about brushing locks. The brushing of locks will loosing the objects trapped in your locks and stimulate the scalp. Can I tell you that I can't wait to get home to get to brushing this mane of mine. I can picture it now...*Dream Sequence Begins* Getting home doing my 2 to 3 mile treadmill workout. Once done on the treadmill, I will whip out the brush and brush loose those strange flakes and thangs. Rejoicing!!! Then hitting the shower with my Pure Tea Shampoo by Fantasia and the spritz bottle of conditioner. Hmm...I can see it so vividly. Stepping out drying the mane and body....then get my jojoba, lavendar, and rosemary oil mixture and apply it to my scalp. Massage in and get the brush again. Ahhh! Heaven!

If you guys haven't tried the jojoba oil mixture please try it...I am here to tell you it is great. My godsister was at my house and she needed some oil...so of course I told her she could use my oil mixture. She also has a relaxer. She came out of the bathroom shaking her hair like that commercial by Herbal Essence and proceeded to talk me out of my mix. I was like OH NO MY SISTA YOU HAVE TO GET YOUR OWN. :)

My very own Brunsli Hair Tie

2007-10-16T14:32:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I finally received my Brunsli hair tie and let me tell you I am so thrilled. I received two for the price of one. I wanted a headband…thinking with the short hair mentality and to my pleasant surprise this is how it turned out. I love it! Thank you Brunsli your hair ties are a heaven sent.

Spiritual Warfare

2007-10-16T14:17:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

What an informative day I am having today. I tell you as I am walking this walk of faith I feel myself growing more and more each day. I recently missed out on attending my church’s women’s conference (I was attending my dad’s wedding), but I was able to purchase the CD set to listen to in the car. OH BOY! I can’t even get off the first CD! Elder Deneen Humphrey started the series off with “Girding your waist with TRUTH!” or spiritual warfare. WHOO WEEE BABY! Let me tell you this…Elder Humphrey is on FIRE! She gave an amazingly similar situation of how she learned how to fight in Cleveland, Ohio (A fellow C-Towner). She was in 3rd grade and was being chased home by 3 females from her school. As she was running just about to reach her porch she saw her mother through the door and guess what her mother did….locked that door and asked her if she wanted to get beat down by the 3 females or by her (momma). Of course she took that whooping from those 3 females but the next day she came back ready. Wow! I thought my mom was the only parent to do that to her children. That is exactly how I learned to fight. Two twins chased me up on our porch and my mother locked the door and watched with her belt in hand. She was like you don’t run from NO FIGHT get out there now or I am going to beat you like you stole something. Don’t you know I got out there like a wild cat on those two girls. I may have gotten slightly beat up but don’t you know I was ready the next day with a brick in my book bag. I learned how to fight that day. She compares that butt whipping to how the enemy is whipping us every single day. In Ephesians chapter 6:14 NIV it states Stands firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. WOW! Just like I came prepared that next day with a brick in my book bag…I am coming prepared with more than a brick in my arsenal today…I am girding my waist with truth. The enemy has been whipping my behind all week long and it is only Tuesday. Arguments amongst friends over petty she said she said, old temptations rearing their ugly heads, and stealing my study time. The enemy has definitely been busy on me. I wanted to do a little studying this weekend and yesterday but the enemy kept me busy engaging in minor arguments amongst friends until it was time to go to bed. Well guess what I got a brick for the face of the enemy right in my book bag waiting. I took back my time today during lunch and I am so happy I did. I took the time to study an article called stop being a concubine. I went back and read the scriptures quoted as well as read the scriptures quoted in my Women’s Conference CD set. I am talking about I am breaking it down and building it up and taking it apart and applying it to my life. Take that enemy!

Funky Hair Do / Weight Loss Progress

2007-10-10T09:25:00.000-04:00

Hey Blog Fam!

I am just now getting caught up from my house warming party which was incredible...if I may add. Now is my time to get back on track with my eating habits. I didn't really do that bad if I think about it. I had salad as well as naughty food at the party so I had a little of both. I didn't really have time to eat while I was chatting and welcoming our guest so that was even better.

Well, as my hair is growing at a rapid pace I got a little tired of my hair catching on my necklace so I took about 10 minutes in the mirror and twisted her up and this is what I came up with. This is similar to how my hair was styled at Kinky Awakenings but without any curls. Totally freestyle. It is funky and I received quite a few compliments on it. I didn't know my twisting skills had developed so well. This pic was taken yesterday and my twists are still here today. YAY!!

Now that the party is over I am back on track officially with my workout and my eating habits. I developed a great hybrid of the Fat Smash diet and just incorporating more fresh raw fruits and veggies into my diet. My body has adapted very well. I am talking about I attempted to eat some cheesecake last night and I didn't even have the taste for it anymore. This is the bomb CHEESECAKE and I was like NAH! What!? Well it is what it is! Here we go...during the day I eat as many fruits and raw veggies as I can handle. For breakfast I will have a cup of low sugar oatmeal, and a protein shake (not in that order and spaced within 2 to 3 hours of each other). For lunch I am eating plenty of salad with fruit and veggies and I will have a cup of yogurt (spaced out 2 hours from each other). For a snack it is more fruit and veggies (apples, oranges, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers, etc). For dinner I will allow myself a serving of meat or lentils / beans with veggies. If I feel like it I will allow myself whole grain pasta or rice. I like red skin potatoes and sweet potatoes so I will eat those with my meat with more veggies. Some days I will go without any meat and that is just fine with me because my body doesn't miss it. I just have to make sure that I take my protein shake supplement for my weight training needs. Some of my immediate improvements that I have noticed is less pain associated with my menses, my skin is clearer, my hair and scalp are healthier, my hair is growing rapidly, and my digestive track is working properly.

My workout has improved as I am using the equipment in my home more now than ever before. I have a great treadmill, plenty of free weights, and a weight bench. So on Mondays, Wednesdays, Saturday and maybe Sunday I am doing a treadmill workout with weight training in the house. On Tuesday and Thursdays are my long workouts. I get to the gym around 5:30 or 6 and I do elliptical for 30 minutes to 45. Then I will do some squats, lunges, and ab work. At 7:30 PM is my hip hop aerobics class that lasts for an hour. Talk about exhausted!! That has helped me get down a total of 9 pounds so far so I am happy. I am also taking the lead from my Pers and adding a weight loss ticker to my blog to help me keep track. Thanks Pers!