On this day in the year of 1920

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.