Small Business Saturday...

The coffee shop that I frequent had a sign up for Small Business Saturday. Now, I have heard about it, but it's not being broadcasted everywhere. There are lots small business around, and trust me #beanthru gets at least $30 a month from me, but I cannot say that I make an effort to go to them. For instance, I am on this homemade, french bread pizza kick. Instead of me buying it from Bottom Dollar or Wal-Mart, I am going to attemp to buy it from the bakery down the street next time. Small businesses extend farther the street corners of Avalon, so I decided to buy some cute earrrings from Etsy. Lately, I have been obsessed with earrings! I mean, I look for them everywhere. I recently purchased a cropped, hot pink blazer from Target on sale for $15. Well, what goes with a hot pink blazer, hot earrings, of course!

After searching and contenplating for about a week, I finally decieded on a pair.

Kaleidoscope Yo Yo Earrings

These handmade earrings are from Etsy and made by a seller called Tulips and a Daisy. I chose these earrings because they are so colorful and unique! Now, when I was on etsy there were hundreds of earrings that I would have loved to have, but I chose these. I feel like I will get alot of use out of these, as well as compliments.

Did you participate in Small Business Saturday? If so, what did you buy?

Words of Wisdom

Money Monday...

Hey There! I know that its been a minute since I have done a Money Monday post. And there is a good reason for that. Well, not really. I know that its really, really hard to start saving money with the holidays right around the corner. If you are anything like me, you will want to save in advance for gifts and also be slightly laxed on you budget during this time of year. With that being said, I am putting Money Mondays on hiatus until January 2013. Yeah, go ahead and spend til your hearts content...but know that the new year is about thirty-some-odd days away.

Spiritual Sundays..

Blessing to you on this Sunday morning! This is going to be a random kinda post today. I have really been trying to get myself back on track from falling asleep at the wheel. I have been reading alot of things, catching up with some television sermons, and just preparing myself to get back on that path, full-time.

During this time of self-reflection, I am learning alot of things about myself. It seems like every time I turn around there is something or someone reminding me and encouraging to get back on that path. With Thanksgiving just passing, I realize that there are so many things to be thankful for. Honestly, there are things that I never noticed (almost took for granted) that are coming to the light. I am working on strengthening relationships that I have. One of the things that I have been praying for the most, I realize that I might not be completely ready for--but I am working on it diligently. Knowing this, is helping me be more content with my life and the situation. As with anything comes change. I am facing some struggles in life and this is building character and preparing me for what is ahead. You know, I will be driving from work and something will just pop into my head from my past. And two seconds later, I will say 'Kara, why are you thinking about that? That is in the past, stop living there, and look forward to the future'. Yes, I am getting ready for 2013 and I know that its going to be a great year! The Lord is telling me to leave all of those things that happened in the past right there, in the past. Let it go and let him work in my life. All of these battles that I have been trying to fight are not for me to fight, but for me to truely put my faith him. Its a great feeling when you can come to that realization and just let go of all of the worry and negativity behind. Whew! Let me stop there...Peace!

Words of Wisdom...

1 Peter 3:3-4

BioInFusion Curl Pomade Review...

In my prior post, I stated that I achieved my twist out results using Bioinfusion Curl Pomade (in the post, the name is incorrect). Here is my review of this product!





First off let me say that I brought this product when it was on sale at Walgreen's for $4.99. For that price you get 6oz, and a little bit of this stuff goes along way. I actually gave my friend some of this for her daughters hair and I havn't made a dent in this stuff. Oh wait, lets get to the technical stuff first. As per the Walgreens website:

Healthy. Beautiful. Nourished.

This pomade contains moisturizing oils to condition your curls. Protective beeswax makes hair pliable and creates strong styles.

• With soy
• Safe for color treated hair
• Paraben and sulfate free
• This product is not tested on animals

100% satisfaction guaranteed

After cleansing and conditioning hair with BioInfusion Curl Nourishment products, dry hair. Emulsify a small dab of product in your hands to warm it. Apply pomade evenly throughout dry hair before styling. Mold hair into desired look.
 

I used this product on damp, not wet hair, layered with shea butter and castor oil. For the record, I have not tried any other products from this lineI only used a small amount, mainly on the ends of my hair, and twisted. The smell of this product is a little strong, but once it dries, you can barely smell it.

The pros of this product is the price. Even without the sale, its $7.99 regular price. Another thing is soft hold. Any of my 4a/4b/4c ladies out there if you have frizz and no definition, you need to give this a try. It gives you just the right amout of contol and hold. Oh, its moisturizing.

Now on to the cons. Smell. If you are sensitive to smells, this one isn't for you. Also, the ingredents. I'm no professional about this, but its not a natural product. The packaging says no parabens or sulfates, but everything else...I couldn't tell you what's in it.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

This is a good product to have on hand. Its affordable and it will last a long time with regular use. I think that for any natural out there its worth a try. And like I said if you are looking for a little more hold then give this a try.

Words of Wisdom...

Natural Hair Update!

Hey Guys! Just an update on my natural hair and what's been going on with it. I think (crosses finger) that I have my twist out routine down! As you may or may not know, I am a avid Youtube video watcher and I came across Naptual85 twist out method. Its kind of like flat twisting, but its not. Watch her video and you see how she does it. It works for me because the thing that I still struggle with is the separating and fluffing of my twists. This method eliminates that process because your hair is already separated when you untwist em.

This is a picture of day 2 hair. It has started to get big.



No frizz, soft, still moisturized. Great results. Also, if found that my twist out lasted about 4 days looking nice and defined. I wore it for two more days, but it wasn't as defined or cute as it was prior to that. I am so excited about having 4 day hair, I don't know what to do! YAY!

This picture, I think was day 3. You can see that its fluffy looking, still soft, but still defined.



I achieved these results using Shea butter, Castor oil and Bioinfusion Curl Pomade . I re twisted at night. I only added additional product on days 4 and 5 because it was starting to feel dry on the ends. I would consider this a milestone for me. Also it looks like my hair grew a little bit. I'm not into length checks, but maybe in December I will do one since I will be 6 months post big chop.

Words of Wisdom

Super Tuesday!

If you do nothing else today, VOTE! Whoever you chose, VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

I'll Admit It..

...I fell asleep at the wheel.

I know that its has been a while since I have posted a Spiritual Sunday post. One of the reasons for that is because I have strayed from the path that the Lord has set for me. I was so frustrated with how I thought that my life should be going, and it wasn't, that I wanted to take things into my own hands...again. Well, during this time I had two drinks, didn't get drunk, but still had two drinks. Now to clear this up, I didn't feel that it was that big of a deal. But it was one of those things that I had to ask myself 'Why?'. Why was I doing this. As you know if you follow my blog, I don't think that there is anything wrong with having a drink of wine--as long as you are not doing it with the intentions of getting drunk.

I went out to the club. Ok, so I've been feeling this way about the club for a while. It's lost its luster to me. I went out and I was totally annoyed. I found myself wondering, once again, 'Why?' Now, I think that I have started the transition to where I think I'm too old for it. The club atmosphere just doesn't excite me anymore. Sweaty dudes, grinding on me that are slightly inebriated...I'll pass. Now, lounges with a cool, laid back atmosphere, I can do. It just makes me wonder, other than a club what other fun social activities are there for the grown  people to do? Have any ideas, please let me know.

 I reverted back to cussing on four separate occasions. I went years without cursing. Seriously, years.

Dating...and other things. Every woman has their picture perfect list of what they want their man to be. Well, I think that in this area, I started to settle. I was perfectly happy content fine with being single. But there is only so much that a woman can take. I feel like even though I prayed and have been celibate for almost two years now, the Lord still hasn't heard me or sent me my husbabd. You see everyone out there meeting their man and starting their picture perfect life, but in reality its not all that. I asked myself do I want the illusion or do I want whats real. Real Love. Real Relationship. Real Life.

I got caught up and started making rash decisions. Which brings me to this...(tires screeching) HALT! Not stop! Its an acronym for:

H(ungry)
A(ngry)
L(onley)
T(ired)

Funny how the Lord puts things in your life at just the right time. So, after all of this stuff happened, going out, drinking, dating, I tuned into TD Jakes and after he went off there was another program coming on. The man started talking about you may be in a place for a reason. Its your Gerar. He stated that you shouldn't make decisions if you are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. All of these decisions were made when I had one of these emotions running through me. These emotions and decisions that I made threw me off my path.

So here I am driving through this valley, which is my Gerar, and I fall asleep at the wheel. As I drift off the road, I hear a voice that says HALT! Its God and he takes control of the wheel and steers me back on the path that I was supposed to be on.