Slow and steady wins the race...

I lost two more pounds!

Okay, a little background story.  Since I have been living in Orlando, I have managed to gain 25 lbs!  I honestly don't know what happened...maybe it was the late night eating and up-downs for the couch to the refrigerator.  Whatever caused this, I decided to not take this laying down (after eating Haagen-Das Swiss Vanilla Almond ice cream).  SO I started getting up at 5:45 in the morning and doing at least 45 minutes in the gym 5 days a week.  In three weeks, I have lost 3 lbs.    After two weeks of no weight loss I started to get discouraged.  In my early 20s I could stop drinking soda and lose 6 lbs in one week. Despite my slow weight loss I continued to get up and hit the treadmill then do weight training.  My hard work is starting to show: 3 lbs in one week.  I'm going to try Insanity on Saturday.  I hear it is pretty intense but I think I have built up enough stamina in the past few weeks to give it a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.

The Maturity of Mainstream Media

While looking through a brochure for NuvaRing today I noticed that most of the models in the booklet were natural.  After seeing this I began to look through other magazines, Web sites and television media.  So many media avenues are beginning to embrace a woman's choice to style her tresses sans chemicals.  This is a huge step for natural women of all colors and ethnicities! For decades Mainstream media has pushed a certain "look" onto women.  That look included thin, fair-skinned women with straight long hair.  To see African American, white and multi-racial women with naturally curly hair of all lengths and styles throughout the mainstream media is truly awesome.  Society is finally attempting to break the mold that was expected of women for so long; instead society is beginning to embrace the individuality of women.

When life gives you lemons

...make a skinny margarita; it's less calories! 

Sounds silly, but this is a great coping mechanism when your first reaction is to have a pity party.  It is so easy for me to get wrapped up in the fact that I am lacking a love life.  I would love to go on a date, or have a crush on a guy, or smize across the room to a handsome gentleman.  I often find myself singing the "why me" song, but today in class one of my students said something so profound.  When asked why she was a morning person her reply was, "It's a new day".  It truly is! That comment gave me SO much perspective.  Waking up in the morning is truly a blessing. Waking up with sound mind and body is even more of a blessing.  Instead of harping on the shoulda, coulda, wouldas, why not focus on the blessings?  They will bring so much more meaning to your life.

Now time to practice what I preach...

"Finger" coils

While I was at work today (don't judge me) I stumbled across a really good YouTube clip about finger coils.  Instead of spending ALL day finger coiling your hair, you can use a hairbrush to get the job done.  I can not WAIT until my hair is long enough to do this!

Quick "finger" coils- define your TWA

Professor Erica

So my first day went great!  Of course they were super quiet at first, but they were really good sports when it came to introducing themselves and participating in the icebreaker activity.  I was so surprised that I was not nervous; I so expected to be.  I thought it was going to be like the first time I had to teach a class in grad school. I was so overwhelmed preparing for class I thought I was going to cry.  I did get choked up one time.  You know how you are so nervous that while you are talking you get the cracklings in your throat and it makes you unable to speak?  None of that happened today. 

They were assigned homework on the first day though.  Hopefully they all did it or else I may have to turn into Miss Viola Swamp...

Lessons learned

As a person who has moved around quite a bit in my adult life, I often try to figure out why God sends me to each place.  In Tampa Bay I became a woman.  In Blacksburg (the second time) I became a professional.  In Orlando, I am learning how to be in a relationship.  Now this may sound silly, since I am currently single, and haven't been on a date in about 4 months, but I am learning all these things from the friendships I have formed with happily married woman.

God has surrounded me with women that show what it takes to love your husband and value your union.  Women that put God first in their marriage, and work hard to uphold Him daily in their relationships.  Anyone can get married; it takes true committment and a conscious decision to be a good wife. Through these women I am learning that love is persistent, loyal and unconditional.  I am thankful for these women; I intend to learn as much as I can to prepare myself for when God sends me my husband.

You betta do it!

Bald hair don't care...that is my new motto as I begin my natural hair journey.  Yep you heard me, I did the BC or big chop today!  My hair is all gone.  Despite that I have cut my hair off in the past, this experience was a bit different.  The first time I cut it was just because.  It was a terrible experience.  At that point in my life I didn't have the confidence to wear it.  The second time it was because of a haircut gone bad.  The cut looked phenomenal though--the cause for the haircut created an effect of satisfaction after coming back from such a hair trauma. 

This time the first thing I felt was fear.  What if this is a total flop?  The thought that this may be a failure made me scared to even try it.  The next emotion was excitement.  I have been talking about doing this for a few weeks now and to finally begin my transition was almost overwhelming.  When she turned me to the mirror all I could feel was relief.  I feared that this chop would be like the first one, but when I saw it I knew I could carry it.

Another bad hair cut

Morning all! Despite only 6 hours of sleep, I was surprisingly energetic today.  I decided to try and make a peanut butter smoothie.  I have heard great things about them and since I make smoothies every morning for me and one of my coworkers, I wanted to experiment before I took it to her.  Oh what a disaster that was!  It tastes absolutely horrible to me!  I am going to stick to my fruit blended smoothies.  So breakfast ended up being a spinach and Swiss cheese omelet.  That was a complete success.  I know that part of the story probably wasn't necessary but I wanted to share it anyway before I got to the good part. 

So I went into the bathroom and caught a glimpse of my hair.  Lately I am not a huge fan of it.  It is so limp and lifeless.  Anyway I took a look at my shortest side and noticed that it looks a HOT mess!  I went to a new stylist last week and she really did a number on me.  Since I have been in Orlando, this is the second bad haircut I have received.  The first one was the result of the stylist using hair clippers to take down my sides instead of scissors.  You can just imagine how blended that was.  I am so over my hair being mistreated, hence another reason why I am transitioning to my natural hair. 

Anyone who knows me probably thinks I am overreacting about the haircut.  Just to prove it to you, I am posting the pic I took this morning.  I can't do the hit and miss cuts anymore.  I just can't...

Really lady?  HOW could she think this was a good cut?

My natural hair transition has officially begun!

So lately all I have been talking about is my decision to go natural.  I was talking to my girl LeTanya and it hit me: my transition officially began today--I consciously sat down and decided that I am going to do this. I have started strategizing my approach to start growing my hair out for th BC or big chop.  With two different lengths of hair, and soon two different textures, this can get very messy.  The next step is to try and find a way to make this transition as smooth as possible.  As I progress, I may post pictures. We shall see...

Teaching the youth of today

What a title huh?  I wanted to sound educated and sophisticated.  No seriously, I will be teaching my first college course starting June 25 for a group of incoming freshmen student athletes.  Excited?  YES.  Nervous?  YES.  Prepared?  Well, depends on what you mean by prepared--My syllabus is done.  All jokes aside, I am so excited about the opportunity to teach.  I have done it with children under the age of 5.  That was quite an experience.  I am looking forward to watching my students grow and learn about the university.  I am also looking forward to being one of the first professors they interact with.  They will get a taste of what college is like from their experience in my and Margaret's course.  They will also be pushed to do well and to strive for excellence, as these things are very important to me.  Monday should be interesting.  I will blog about my first day so check in if you are interested in finding out how it went.

Battle of the Bulge

It's back!  The weight that I worked SO hard to get off has returned!  Countless spinning, step, boot camp, and body combat classes were all in vain...I just let the weight creep back up on me.  After months--14 to be exact, but months sound like less time than a year--I have gotten back on it.  I am up at 6 am every morning to do cardio and weights before work.  I have revamped my eating habits, cutting my caloric count to under 1400 calories a day.  I am not bragging: instead I say all of this to say I HAVE ONLY LOST 1.5 LBS IN 3 WEEKS!  Oh weight, why must you hold on?  My relationship with late night fast food runs and daily lunch outings with my coworkers has ended.  I have cut out the sweetness in my cocktails and turned my back on beer. So why must you linger?  Despite my small strides though, I will continue to persevere.  I will fit into my skinny jeans again!

Back to My Roots

After much debating and going back and forth, I have decided to join the drones of women who have let go of the creamy crack: I am going natural.  Now I must keep it real--I am not doing this because of some epiphany or for a spiritual reason.  Honestly I am tired of the same hairstyle and the same look.  Natural hair allows women to experiment and be creative.  It has its own element of spontaneity.  I am fascinated with all the beautiful things that ethnic women are doing with their natural locks: twist outs, coils, dreads, Afros; the styles are endless. 

With my excitement does come a bit of doubt:  How will my hair look in its natural state?  I have had relaxed hair since the age of six, because my hair was so "rough and unmanageable".  New growth absolutely annoys me, forcing me to relx my hair often to keep it straight.  I have taught myself to both love and nurture my relaxed hair.  Will I feel that way about my hair in its natural state?

Despite my doubt, I'm going for it.  I will be doing the big chop soon.  Stay tuned for photos and my journey though this new transition in my life...

I'm losing my thunder

Gyrl bye!  I just knew that moving to Orlando was going to spark a new fire into my social life.  Before you say what you are thinking, Orlando is not only Disney World.  There are so many things to do here that I was compelled to mention in my job interview that it would bring balance to my professional and personal life.  Fast forward 10 months--I have never been so socially inept in my entire adult life.  It took me 9 months to find a friend.  The search continues for Mr. Right...hell I can't even find Mr. Right Now!  Aside from the fact that I have yet to find a place to hang out where the men are either single or old enough to rent a car without a deposit, I rarely leave my living room.  If a downtown hot spot had a couch and a no shoes policy I would definitely be in there.  Nightlife beauty is becoming hard work! Heels have started to hurt my feet and standing around drinking and trying to be sexy has become irrelevant.  The effort required to be noticed has become a dubious undertaking. The adoption of this new philosophy in my life has opened the door to originality.  Unfortunately it closed the door on my former awesomeness.  The comfort of home is great but oh how I want that old thing back...