I saw April! (retwist update)

So, last Saturday, I was supposed to try out a new loctician, but lo and behold, April was in town, so I went and saw her instead! I didn't realize how much I missed her. It was so good to catch up and hear about how she's doing down in Miami. And of course, it was great to get my hair done. Getting shampooed and pampered is such a great feeling! It was an early start for a Saturday- 7:15!

 With Thanksgiving and my husband's birthday this weekend, I hope it stays looking fun and flirty for a bit longer! And speaking of longer- check out the length! April even trimmed a few.

 April gave my hair the TLC it so badly deserved, and it is looking good, even today, almost a week later!

Ok, so I figured out which windows give me great texture shots. :) This is my hair 5 days after the retwist, and already  fuzzy. Does yours frizz that quickly? I know as they mature, this won't be the case, but dang! I can't afford to spend the time and/or money to keep them looking freshly twisted when they fro out that fast. Good thing I don't really mind the look. :)

So, Thanksgiving is upon us! Yum food, and yay family! on Thursday, we'll be celebrating here in town with my family, and Friday heading down to Myrtle Beach to see the hubs' family. I'm excited to spend tomorrow cooking with my mom- and of course eating. I am ready for some of our fabulous sausage stuffing, and for my yummy cranberry sauce. What are your favorite things about this holiday?

Busy, busy, busy!

Hello all!
How are you? I am good! Just staying busy, as you have probably guessed. I always think summers are hectic, but once the weather cools down, I am reminded that I have lots going on at the end of the year too! Do you find it's the same for you? Between the move and such, there's also friends and family visiting (or us leaving to visit), shopping, weddings, holiday parties... Not to mention we have opened up our home to all our friends, family, and neighbor's every Wednesday night, for what we call our "midweek mingling sessions." I make a bunch of food and pull out the party games, and we just enjoy each other's company. It's been such a fun way to get to know people and form new relationships or strengthen existing ones. I have definitely felt an abundance of love these days.

To add to the mix, I am cohosting a baby shower next month, and a holiday housewarming party in December, too. Plus Chris' birthday is the same weekend as Thanksgiving, and we will be going to Myrtle Beach to see his family.

Just this past Saturday, I hosted a Stella & Dot Trunk show. Have you seen their stuff? I had never heard of it until my friend became a stylist for them, but I guess I am just out of the loop. They have been featured in all kinds of magazines, not only for their amazing, fun jewelry and accessories, but also because of their business model. I called the trunk show our "Bubbles & Baubles Brunch". It was so fun! Really casual, and just a good way to introduce friends to my friend's new business, while catching up over snacks. And I think I did an alright job as hostess, if I do say so myself! First of all, our new place is perfect for entertaining. The food was close to the jewelry, which was close to the sitting area. Nobody was separated from the group. I served champagne and various juices (mimosas!), coffee, apple muffins, chocolate muffins, fresh fruit, croissants, and fig brie. Yum!


This was a great way to get a bunch of ladies together for a chill morning of girly things. We talked about our kids, tried on jewelry for each other, and laughed a lot. It was a small, intimate group- less than 10 of us. I had so much fun and would do it again in a heartbeat. Plus everybody loved the jewelry. I wish you could have been there. It was the perfect way to start off a busy weekend.

My friend, Allison is the stylist who sells the gorgeous jewelry. She always looks great, and only partly because of the jewelry! She did a great job styling up the ladies. Allison is not only a fabulous stylist, but also a wonderful mother to her son, and a great friend. She is also a breast cancer survivor. She is so active in all kinds of things, and I wonder how she does it all. I was so happy to help out her side business by having a great time with my friends! Check out and "like" her Facebook page!

If you are interested in checking out the jewelry, go to http://www.stelladot.com/allisongresham and take a look! There are lots of great styles, and this is a great time to look. Not only will you probably find great gift idea, but you'll probably find something perfect for that upcoming holiday party! If you shop this week (Before Friday 11/18), you can even select my name as the hostess at checkout and give me referral credits (which, would give me more towards free jewelry, and I would be so grateful!)

Here are a few pictures from the trunk show, and some of me, too, so you can see where my hair is at.

don't you love these?!?!

some of the jewelry

shopping

and mingling

 After the brunch, a bunch of us went out to eat, and then that night we attended a housewarming party in the neighborhood. It was a fun filled Saturday. Here is me later that night. Can you tell I was tired?!

So, my hair is doing something... but I'm not sure what. It just looks like curls, but I think you can at least tell I'm attempting to loc my hair, now. Lol. I am seeing April's sister this Saturday to finally get groomed. I need it. I have beds creeping, and also just want to look like I have nice, groomed hair right now. I have to have a change, cuz I am getting in a FUNK about it! I will be sure to take some pictures and post them next week.

 I know one thing, it's definitely growing! Remember this? Back in April?

 Doesn't seem that long ago, does it?

So, looks like this pace of one post a every week or two may be where I'm at for the rest of the year. Please bear with me! I haven't forgotten about you. Once I feel like my hair is doing something, I will have more hair posts to write about, too.

 I absolutely love this time of year. I love layers and sweaters, scarves and boots! I love hot drinks and warm desserts. I am so looking forward to decorating too! And lots of time with friends and family. I hope you all are staying warm and happy. What are your favorite things right now?

meh.

My hair is doing absolutely nothing for me these days. You would think that after a year, it would more closely resemble a head of matured locs, but it just doesn't. I just have this frizzy, tangled mop. :( I reach back there, and can feel that there are lots more locs that are firming and tightening, but in the front, what I see is the same old thing that I've had since, I don't know, May or something. Come on, hair! Lock up! Please!?! I'm slightly discouraged and wondering if my hair will ever look like the beautiful heads I see everyday. I have loc envy like, whoa, right now. I could almost cry, if I'd let myself...

I did get a very nice complement form a man the other day, who told me he loved my hair. He told me he had long locs for 10 years and recently cut them off. He said it was a very emotional experience for him. I can only imagine, as I'm sitting here getting emotional over this mess on my head, now. That was encouraging, but today, 4 days later, I am feeling poopy about my hair again. And don't get me wrong, I don't think my hair looks bad- really, I don't. I just thought I would see more progress by now. This is a looooooooong process for me.

I also can't decide if I like my hair better when I let it do it's own thing, or when I twist it. I guess it doesn't really matter, as I can twist when the mood strikes, but it's kinda weird not knowing what look you prefer. I have something coming up that I am debating going to a loctician for, just to get everything nice and neat. But other times I get out of the shower and see my crazy hair and love it. I think I should probably go in anyway, as my husband pointed out I have loose hairs that aren't picking any locs to attach to. Another set of experienced hands and eyes should help with that. In fact, I might go make an appointment now. Just not sure if I want to schedule it for the event or not. Hmmm.

What do you think? Do you like my hair better when it looks more wild, or more refined?

I'm alive! again....

Hey all! I am so sorry I've been MIA. I tried to post earlier last week, and it didn't go through, and then I completely forgot about it. I was kinda shocked when I didn't see the post here today, lol. I really apologize. I have been super busy with the move, a ton of work stuff, dinners, visitors in town, going out of town, going away parties, a sick husband, and finally a sick me. It's been crazy, and I am a hot, worn out, tired-of-being-sick mess. I have barely been online except for work. Please forgive my poor blogging as of late.

I'm sitting here, trying to think of what to tell you, but my congested head is not letting any of my thoughts through clearly. Well, let's see. The move went really well. We are fortunate enough to have been blessed with lots of amazing friends and family who were able to come help us out and get us moved very efficiently. We're in, settling down, and really starting to enjoy the new home. We're already building great relationships here in the neighborhood, and are excited to see why God has called us here.

And that's about all I can really think of to update you on- life wise. We are really blessed. Unfortunately, we have both been sick, but we're on the mend. Just looking forward to continue to build our future together. I'm excited about the fall weather, too. And pumpkin spice everything. :)

So, hair. I don' have much of an update here. I was freeforming for most of the last few weeks, finally retwisting last week with nothing but water. It was super frizzy in no time. I think because it had been used to doing it's own thing for the previous couple of weeks, it was resistant to my twisting and manipulating. I'm not feeling it right now. But I'm not really feeling much of anything in the state I'm in, to be perfectly honest. I don't really know what my hair is doing, besides taking it's own sweet time to mature. Ha. Well, anyway. That's what's going on. I have not even taken any hair shots since the move, but I did snap a couple this morning for you.

Here you go:

where the cat liked to hang out before we put a stop to it.

another one of her spots

view from the kitchen on a rainy day

our home made art work

So that's it. I hope you all are staying healthy and happy as the seasons change, and I won't let it go so long between posts in the future. Take care!

eventful (translate: stressful) week/ 1 year loc'd

I am so sorry I haven't posted in a while. I have pictures and updates, but even though time has felt like it has slowed to a crawl for me,it still somehow finds a way to get away from me. We are supposed to close on our new house today, and I still have had too much to get done, so this will be a quick blurb and some pictures. Please forgive me!

So, I did another retwist sometime last week. No gel or heat. Just water, clips, and my head of crazy thick hair. It's definitely making progress.

My hubs and I celebrated our one year anniversary this weekend. We went and hiked Crowder's Mountain, where he proposed to me. It was a beautiful day.

So we've been married a year, and I got my locs installed during our honeymoon, so that must mean it's my loc anniversary! Yay! It's finally been one year! I'm excited to see how the journey progresses, and am starting to really like my hair again. Lol. We'll see for how long...

So, we are supposed to close on the house today. Our closing has been pushed back twice, and I have been so frustrated and upset! Please pray that nothing holds it up today! I will let you all know how it goes, but just a heads up- there probably won't be a post for a while. We will be moving and unpacking all weekend, and also our internet doesn't get hooked up until sometime on Monday.

Sending lots of love out to you. Thanks for being patient with me! <3

no gel retwist

I know it's been a minute, and I am sorry!
Things have been kinda crazy around here with work, weird weather, preparing to move... We close on our house one week from today! I am so excited, and our current home is filled with boxes - most of them packed... :)

So... I guess it's been about two weeks since I did this, and I apologize for just now getting these up, but hey, better late than never, right! I did a retwist, but I didn't use any gel, or heat, or anything. Just water. And I think it was the best retwist ever! It could be because my locs are maturing and look nicer now, or it could be the  fact that there was no junk in my hair. It doesn't really matter to me, though. I only have a tiny bit of gel left, and will probably not be going back to it for some time.

Here are some pictures, and I think they were taken on two different days. But, I happen to be wearing the same shirt, so I can't really decipher which was when. Sorry about that!

I will say that two weeks later, my hair is frizzier than it normally would be, I think. But that doesn't really surprise me. I can deal with that; especially since my scalp has been mad at me, and I need to wash it more frequently. I will probably wash it tomorrow or the next day. My gel is already packed up, so it will be another no gel retwist this next time.

What do you think? Do you ever retwist this way?

Hair update

So, I'm not sure why, but my head has been really flaky the last few days. At first I thought maybe I over did it with the gel when I retwisted last, but I have to be honest, most of these flakes were coming from my scalp. So, I scratched the heck out of it, and washed it. I shampooed it twice with head and shoulders, and then did a mild ACV rinse. I had intended to retwist (sans gel), but when I got out, I could still see that there were some flakes trapped in my curly, semi locked roots. So I just left it alone. This all happened yesterday.

This is what my hair does when I don't retwist it, now. It's definitely locked more, and none of my locs came out.

To help combat the dryness, I rubbed a little hair butter on my scalp, but not too much. I don't want to tell my skin to stop producing it's own, natural oils. Plus, I will probably be rinsing my hair again today anyway.

Right now, I'm gonna get my sweat on, so my hair is up in a really stretchy headband, to try and keep me from overheating. Here is my fro of locs pulled back.

OK, folks. That's all for now. I'll be back with another update soon.