2013 Healthy Hair Challenge

So I've been thinking especially after the success of growing my hair out to APL in the matter of months during the hair challenge that I was previously in. At the beginning of the challenge in August, I was just at shoulder length and now it's November and I am at APL. I did some research online and saw that usually in 9 months from APL, that is when you can hit BSL. Then I thought to myself, "How about I do a hair challenge from December 2013 to August 2014?" If anyone wants to join, then I would be happy that you are joining this challenge! :)

Below is a picture of what my hair looked like in Dec 2011 (you can also see how short it was as my first post on this blog was right after I cut my hair)

2013 vs. 2011

I am just proud of myself and I am happy to share this experience with anyone. My next goal is BSL by August 2014 and I believe that I can do it. If you have a goal that you would like to reach by August 2014, then I am here to tell you that you can definitely do it too!

So here is the breakdown of the challenge:

- Wear hear in a protective (or low manipulation) style for 3 weeks and then wear if free for 1 week.
- DC (deep condition) hair every week or every two weeks.
- Do the IM (inversion method) for 1 week each month. You simply have to put some oil on your scalp everyday, massage it in, and tilt your head over for 4 minutes. Please read my post on this method prior to doing this since some people cannot do this technique. Also, do the GHE (green house effect) at least 3 times during this week.
- L.O.C. (liquid, oil, cream) Method hair when needed to keep hair moisturized and sealed.
- Wash and condition hair on your regular wash days.
- Handle your hair gently.

That is all. It really is easy and it will get easier as the days go on. Since it is winter time now, I strongly suggest keeping a silk or satin scarf on when outdoors because this will help to keep the moisture in. Other than that, I will post pictures of my progress and document this journey.

I thank you all for taking the time out to read this and hopefully you will enjoy the results of this challenge! :)

Healthy Body: Preventing & Relieving DOMS

Work At Home Opportunities for 11/9

1. Customer Service for Convergys
2. Customer Service for Asurion
3. Online Customer Support/Administrative Assistant
4. Quality Control Phone Reps for Channel Watch
5. Bloggers (21 different topics) at Thalo.com
6. Customer Care for NEW
7. Virtual Assistant for Blue Muse & Company
8. PineCone Research
9. QuickRewards pays you for things like completing offers, watching videos, searching the web and more
10. Additional work at home jobs can be found at Indeed

Healthy Body: Staying in shape

It's already November and I still can't believe it! My baby girl is growing older and stronger day by day and I am approaching another birthday and losing this baby weight so all is good. I'm not going to lie, I haven't been really exercising per-say, but I have been cleaning up around the place and doing silly dances with my baby so would you consider that as exercising? I do. I say that because I've been feeling my belly tightening up again. I would say that after giving birth, I was so excited to lose my stomach, but now I am more concerned about toning up and staying healthy. Since I breastfeed, I can't do too much, but I do stay active throughout the day. Sometimes, I need a little motivation (as do many others) so as the days go by, I will continue to stay active and motivate others. Once I finish breastfeeding, however, I will start doing more target exercises. I just wanted to give a little update on how everything is going.

Have a great day everyone!

Healthy Food: Sweet Potato & Rosemary Gratin Recipe

Sweet Potato and Rosemary Gratin
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/8” rounds
1 cup buttermilk
3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1 tablespoon minced rosemary
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan, plus more for topping
salt and pepper to taste
garnish:
1/2 teaspoon minced rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line a round 8” cake pan with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Place sweet potatoes, buttermilk and 1 clove of minced garlic into a large mixing bowl and toss together. Allow mixture to sit for 30 minutes.
3. Line the bottom of the cake pan with a single layer of potato rounds. Some overlapping is okay.
4. Sprinkle the top with some garlic, rosemary and parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and continue layering gratin until all ingredients have been used.
5. Tightly cover with foil and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until fork tender. Remove foil and invert onto an oven safe dish. Sprinkle top with parmesan.
6. Turn oven onto broil and return gratin back to oven. Broil for 2 to 3 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and top has crisped up.
7. Allow gratin to cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Healthy Body: A Little Motivation

Healthy Body: Early Morning Exercise

Sometimes, I need a little motivation to get up and work out. I know that I'm not the only one either so today I am going to be to giving a little motivation to others (and myself). It's not much, but if you can do a little workout in the morning, that will be great! 

Here is a cardio/strength workout that you can do early in the morning. Doing 2 reps of each won't take too much of your time either. :)

• 20 jumping jacks
• 10 crunches
• 5 pushups
• 10 calf raises
• 5 pushups
• 25 rep Russian Twists
• 10 squats
• 20 high knees
• 10 reverse crunches
• 5 pushups
• 10 calf raises
• 15 sec. plank
• 20 jumping jacks
• 10 sec side planks (each)

Work at Home Opportunities for 11/2

Here are some more work at home jobs that are available right now.

1. Customer Service Rep with GE Capital (Arizona)
2. Seasonal Work at Home Phone Agent with Teleflora
3. Appointment Setters for NOW CFO
4. Image Reviewers for Shutterstock
5. Content Writers for Article Marketing Co.
6. Data Journalism Geeks for Visua.ly
7. Investigative Reporters for On Point Investigations
8. Quality Assurance Specialist for Direct Interactions
9. High Quality Writers for Elance Talent Group
10. Writer of  Investing Newsletter for Wyatt Investment
11. Writers/Book Lovers for Behind the Story
12. Inbound Customer Service for Sitel
13. Get cashback for Online Shopping
14. PineCone Research
15. QuickRewards pays you for things like completing offers, watching videos, searching the web and more
16. Additional work at home jobs can be found at Indeed

Work At Home Opportunities for 10/28

1. Facebook Marketing Strategists 
2. Email Customer Service for Buffer
3. Accountant Team Lead for Corporate Cool Springs
4. High Quality Writers for White Rabbit Marketing
5. Phone Agents for Helios
6. Teleresearch for Voter Research LLC
7. Quality Assurance for Geek Squad
8. Customer Service for Career Connection
9. Speech Language Pathologist for Soliant Health
10. Get cashback for Online Shopping
11. PineCone Research
12. QuickRewards pays you for things like completing offers, watching videos, searching the web and more
13. Additional work at home jobs can be found at Indeed

Healthy Hair: The Black Hair Information challenge is officially over!

For the past 3 months, I have been apart of a hair challenge on blackhairinformation.com and today I am going to write my review on everything. First off, this was my very first hair challenge that I have been apart of. I have tried to challenge myself, but never found luck with it. Surprisingly, I found that my hair did grow in those short times where I wore protective styles. When I saw this post, I immediately thought that it was right up my alley. The whole concept of the challenge was that we all were supposed to keep our hair in any protective style that we liked for 3 weeks and then for the 4th week, we could take it down and wear it out. I loved it because I could change up my look. At the beginning of my challenge, my hair stretched out to shoulder length from the nape. Today, we stretched it out in the same area and guess what? My hair grew 3 1/4 inches! My hair is 3/4 inches away from APL so I am happy about that! :) I finally found a style that I love and if you've guessed the bun, you are absolutely correct!

Recently, I made a post about the Mega Bun that I did to my hair and I absolutely LOVED it! But this time around, instead of heat stretching my hair like I usually do to keep it stretched, I put little box braids in my hair. Of course, it may not look like a pro did my braids, but I worked with what I could (yes, I did my own braids and no, I am not a good braider, but it was free and could be done on my own time). I call this my Protected Protective Style because I can wear my bun and keep those ends protected, but I could also keep my hair protected that was at first out and brushed down onto my head.

Now, before anyone gets confused, I simply braided my hair and then I put them in a mini bun. After doing so, I do my mega bun which takes less than 5 mins to do and then I am done. I can slip on a scarf and headband like usual, but none of my hair is actually out with this style which I love. I want to keep these in until January 2, 2014 so I can see how well I retained my length so this means ANOTHER HAIR CHALLENGE! :) This time, it will be a more personal challenge. I will update every week until the challenge is complete and I will take a photo once it is over. My goal during this time is BSL or close to it. I believe that I can do it!

Since I have these braids in, this cuts my hair regimen down. I love making my regimen as simple as possible. So here it is:

Mondays: shampoo, deep condition, bun (when leaving the house)
Everyday: moisturize, seal
3 Weeks: inversion method
3 Months: re-braid hair

See! It's very simple and I know that I can keep this up. I am excited that this challenge has been such a great success and I believe that if I keep doing this, that my hair will thrive.