Naturally Curly

NaturallyCurly.com is a website that I came across about a year ago, when I was getting really frustrated with my curly hair. So I stalked the message boards and got some recommendations from other curly-haired ladies, and bought some new products to try.

1. Microfiber towel - Apparently, using regular bath towels to dry curly hair is bad, because it causes more frizz, so this towel, made of microfiber, is super-absorbent, and great for drying hair. Plus, it's HUGE!



2. Suave Naturals Coconut Conditioner - There is a technique used by ladies with curly hair called co-washing. This just basically means you wash your hair with conditioner only. But this doesn't mean you just put conditioner in your hair and rinse it out. This means you put conditioner on your fingertips, and scrub as hard as you can on your scalp only. You don't need to worry about the ends of your hair, as you will later apply a leave-in conditioner.



3. Kinky-Curly Knot Today - This is a leave-in conditioner that you're supposed to apply to only the ends of your hair to keep them hydrated. If you apply it to your scalp, it will just dry and cause build-up. You can't use too much though, because it will make your hair look greasy and ultimately weigh down the curls.



4. Oyin Handmade Honey-Hemp Conditioner - This is another leave-in conditioner. I have been switching between this one and the Kinky-Curly Knot Today to decide which one my hair will like better. So far, I haven't really noticed a difference between the two other than the smell. This one has such a nice scnet. It's very sweet and almost like a coconut honeysuckle smell.



5. Kinky-Curly Curling Custard - This stuff smells amazing, but the texture is a little strange. It's a gel, I guess you would call it, but it's really stretchy and goopy. Weird. But anyways, it's a really cool product that activates the curls when you scrunch it into your hair. It works really well when you use it with a hairdryer and diffuser. It does leave your hair crunchy and stuff, but if you keep reading you'll see a product that gets rid of this.



6. Jessicurl Confident Coils Styling Solution - This is a lotion-like product that you apply to your hands and then scrunch into your hair to help activate the curls. It does the same type of thing as the Kinky-Curly Curling Custard, but it's a little heavier because it's a lotion, not a gel.



7. Jane Carter Nourish & Shine - This stuff is amazing. You know how when you use too much product your hair gets all stiff and crunchy? Well, all you have to do is put some of this paste into your hand, and it melts with your body heat. Then, scrunch it into your hair, and it leaves it so soft, and it smells really good too!

Afternoon Get-Together

Dylan and I invited my aunt, uncle, and cousin over for lunch on Sunday. We hadn't seen them since after Christmas, so it was nice to spend some time with them. We put out some vegetables and dip, and some Chex Mix, and then I made some small chicken salad sandwiches and some salami and cheese croissants. We played some Wii, and my cousin kicked everyone's butt in bowling. It's crazy too, because she doesn't even do the real motions of bowling, she just stands there and flips the WiiMote up and then back down fast, and she basically gets a strike every time. She even broke 200, which no one had done yet on our console.

We really enjoyed their company, and hope that we will be able to do this again soon.

House Explosion

Dylan and I were watching Survivor last night when WPRI interrupted the broadcast with some news about a house explosion in a small town near where my parents used to live. After being totally shocked with this news, I made sure that everyone I knew in the area was safe, and they were. We decided to call the police station and ask if they needed donations, and they said that they were looking for some food/drink donations, so Dylan and I looked up directions to the evacuation site, and left from our apartment to drive down. We stopped at Dunkin Donuts and got 3 Box-o-Joe's and then went over to the grocery store to pick up cups, bottles of water, juice, crackers, and granola bars. We found our way to the school and found out that people who lived within a 4-block radius were evacuated from their homes, and were not going to be allowed back until sometime today. The evacuation shelter was being set up for people to stay overnight, and they were giving a brief summary about what had happened. Only one person was killed in the explosion, but many other houses were partially destroyed.

I'm glad that we were able to help out. It makes me feel good that I am able to give someone my time and some donations to help them in this hard time.

Off to Kuwait!

I got all my baking done by Thursday of last week, and on Saturday, we went to the post office to mail it out. It turns out that the smaller flat-rate box fit everything, so with that plus the military discount, it only cost me $8.16! I am so excited to be doing this. I am really hoping that some of you will consider joining me for the next round, and for those of you who haven't sent out your packages yet, remember to do so soon, you only have until the 21st!

Here's the letter I included with my package:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Although this is a made-up Hallmark holiday, I hope you all enjoy it. Dylan and I went to the mall today and bought a few bags of chocolate, and that is going to be the extent of our celebrating. We have gone out to dinner the last few years, but since it's a Saturday, restaurants are going to be much busier, and we decided just to do our own thing at home tonight.

Enjoy the "holiday" and eat lots of candy!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

I called my mom this morning to wish her a happy birthday. Lucky her, got to sleep in this morning until about 10:30. I hope that she's enjoying the semi-warm weather in Georgia. This is probably one of the first times its been warm for her birthday. Soon enough we'll be down there to celebrate and have some cake and ice cream.

Move Part 7

Grammie is all settled into her new apartment in Georgia. Her furniture was delivered by the moving company on Wednesday, and she has everything set up now. Mom and Dad have been working hard to get her pictures and display cabinets hung on the walls, and she is actually sleeping in her bed now instead of on the couch. I'm excited for her to be down there. She's going to be much happier being close to Mom, and being in warmer weather. And the new place that she is living in looks like it's going to keep her really busy. I'm looking forward to seeing everything when we get down there in March!

(add 1, total=16)

Whoa! That car just drove off the highway...

Yeah, you read that right. A Car drove off the highway.

Dylan and I were driving to Olive Garden last night for dinner (didn't end up going there because the wait was over an hour though) and as we were taking the off-ramp of the exit we wanted, I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that a car taking the on-ramp next to us drove off the road and ended up in the median between the two ramps. At the same time it was still driving off, the drivers side door flung open and I saw someone either get out or get ejected out of the car. I immediately told Dylan what we saw, because he was driving and didn't see it, so we made a U-Turn when we got off the ramp, and got back on the highway. Turns out, what I saw was correct, and the car did drive off the ramp and into the median. There were 4 kids, all standing outside of the car yelling for help with their arms waving in the air.

We tried to pull over but couldn't because there was no room and there was a line of cars behind us, so once we got onto the highway, we pulled over and I called 911 to tell them what happened. Dylan wanted to get out of the car and go walk back to them, but I really wasn't comfortable with that, especially because we were pulled over on the side of the highway. So we took the next exit, and got back on the on-ramp that the kids drove off of.

This time, there was no one behind us, so we were able to pull over and make sure they were alright. They were all fine, no one was hurt, but, their car was stuck in the median. We told them that we called the police because we didn't know if anyone was hurt, and they seemed angry at first because they said they didn't need the cops, but thanked us anyways. What I don't understand is why they were yelling and waving to cars when we first drive by if they didn't need help. That's usually a sign of distress, am I wrong? But calling the cops was the right thing for us to do because we didn't know the circumstances of the car driving off the highway or if anyone was injured.

So that was our adventurous Saturday night.

Operation Baking Gals

Get your mixing bowls, spatulas, and flour ready ladies. It's the newest round of Operation Baking Gals. I got involved when I saw a post on Heather Drive about her joining a group for Round 5. She decided to make her own group, and invited her readers to join. Since I liked this idea so much, I asked Heather if it would be alright if some of my family helped out and signed up on one of her teams.

I have decided that for the next round, I am going to make my own team. I'm still going to participate on one of Heather's teams as well, since I think it would be rude to not help her out since that's how I found out about it.

So, if you are interested in participating in the next round, please leave a comment here, and I'll be sure to put you on my list for the next round!

Superbowl Sunday

The only thing that matters to me today is the food that I will be eating. The Superbowl is great for me because it means that the football season is FINALLY OVER!!!! I hate football. And it sucks, because it's on every Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Thursday, etc. And I know a lot about it because it's always on. Oh well, nothing I can do about that. I mean, after all, I do make Dylan watch HGTV and FoodTV, so I guess my payback is watching football.

So, the food. Usually, we go to my parents house and my dad makes his traditional chili, with his secret ingredient, but this year, they are in Georgia, and I am not. So we went to Dylan's parents house in CT for the weekend. We planned out all the meals ahead of time, and they've been delicious so far. We had wings on Friday, pizza on Saturday, and for Superbowl Sunday, we're having homemade ribs, bro-slaw, and sweet potato fries. I cannot wait to eat them!

Ingredients:
4lbs baby back ribs
1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Rub Ingredients:
2 tbs paprika
1 tbs kosher salt
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 tbs chili powder
1 tbs minced garlic (2 lg cloves)
1 tbs ground cumin
1 1/4 dry mustard
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Directions:
Mix rub ingredients together. Coat ribs and marinate overnight (at least 4 hours). Place ribs in slow cooker (w/no moisture). Turn on low and cook for 7-8 hours. Place ribs in shallow baking dish. Pour pan juices and bottle of BBQ into sauce pan. Bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. Reserve ½ cup sauce. Pour the rest on ribs. Bake in over at 425 for 15 minutes, to a crisp.