Body Pump Diaries Day 3

Yesterday, day 2 was my rest day. Today I did Pump Challenge(20 minutes) again. On day 1 I took little rests in between some workouts so I didn't do all the reps but today I was able to do most of the reps. My muscles were still sore from Sunday. Tonight I'll soak in some ice so my muscles can recover and won't be so sore for tomorrow's workout. I feel the soreness mostly in my thighs but not in my glutes at all though :-/.  Am I doing something wrong? Really love having a weight set at home.

I'm going to try and write about this every workout day so that I can keep up with my workouts.

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Body Pump Diaries Day 1

Mine. Bar w/ 5lb weights

So I started Les Mills Body Pump today. I have 89 more days to go. Yay me!!! I started with the 20 minute Pump Challenge and tomorrow is my rest day. I still haven't read the books as yet but I feel I need to asap to understand what this system is all about. I'm going to make breakfast now. I'm not sure if I'll be able to follow the meal plans precisely but I'll try. The lunges kicked my butt, I did the chest press with no weight, sipped on some water throughout, had the ceiling fan on, and it burned my body good. So far it's something I feel I can keep up with. I'll be staying with the 5lb weights for a bit till I get more used to it. No use in completely burning myself out.

This is a good intro to weight training for me. My technique seems ok so far. I think. Maybe I should do a video to see how I look.

Les Mills Body Pump arrived today

I got my body pump in the mail today and oh man it was so heavy I barely got it up the stairs. I'm so excited. I haven't put it together yet. I wanna read the booklets before but will post pics when I do. Here are some unboxing pics.

Beach body here I come!!

KinkyCurlyCoilyMe Website Launch Party Review**VIDEO**

So I attended the KCCM Website Launch Party which took place yesterday evening over at Stitch NYC. It was organized by Evangelista Events and it was a success all the way. It was well organised, the DJ was off the hook, sangrias were reasonably priced, and everyone looked fabulous in all black everything except for Jenell the woman of the hour, who was pretty in pink.

This event marked the celebration of her new website http://kinkycurlycoilyme.com/ as well as her second year natural. Congratulations to her!! There were giveaways and as usual I won nothing, not even the illusive huetiful steamer (I'm salty -_-). From what I was able to observe, Design Essentials was the main prize sponsor.  I have pics AND video!!! I'm so excited to have video. Enjoy!!

Me & Jenell

Heutiful Steamer Lucky Winner

Goody bag contents. I got 2. Best goody bag hands down.
I'mma have to do some reviews.

Jenell's Introduction

Giveaway Segment

The first video was taken with my digital camera and the second with my ipod. The second was better. Lesson learned? Take all videos with my ipod.

If you see yourself in any of the pics and would like a copy without a watermark feel free to contact me and I'll be happy to send it to you. Thank you for reading.

Where will I be tonight?

At the KinkyCurlyCoilyMe.com All-Black Affair Official Website Launch Party!!!!! {SCREAMS!!!} I signed up a few weeks ago but I'm still surprised that I was able to get a ticket because she's big and tickets to this stuff go like hot cakes. There's currently a waiting list. Lucky me hehe. The event is free and there are raffle tickets available. I'll be buying some depending on the prizes. I hope there's a Huetiful Steamer up for grabs I've been trying to get my hands on one of those. Not to mention I didn't win the one from the Darker Than Brown Meetup. {kicksrocks} Gonna go raid my closet for a black ensemble.

Who's gonna be there?

In support of Travyon Martin

PIC

I just had to re-blog this post from Live Life in Style. I am sad that this boy had to die like this. Listening to the 911 tapes is so hard. Click below for more details.

Live Life in Style: We Interrupt This Programming for a Very Important Message

I was featured. YAY ME!!!!!!

Guys I was featured on Precious Curls. You can see my interview here. Thank you Precious for deeming me worthy of your wonderful feature series. You are AWESOME!!! Now I'm all giddy. Happy reading!!

Wig making FAIL

So I've always wanted to try my hand at making a wig. I had two packs of curly hair, needle & thread, and stocking cap and I went to work on what I thought was gonna be an AWESOME wig. I wanted to try something curly so I thought this would be a nice start. I watched a few Youtube videos about wig making and then picked the one I thought was best for me and used that as my guide.

So I:

Put the wig cap on the mannequin head. 

Should've known there would be problems

when I stretched it so low.

Used Equal Weave Synthetic

Temptation 14 inch #2

 Look at this mess

and I still kept going.

 It was actually looking ok here.

 Blehhhh.

And I still kept going

although this started to

feel wrong.

 

 SMH

 Almost done. Tried it on and realised how much of a hot 

mess I created. And I spent hours on this thing. Because I stretched the cap
so low to the eyes which is narrower than the top of my head,
I couldn't get it on properly. It was too tight.
I still proceeded to finish and when I tried it on it looked like a floppy mop.
I can't find the pics of how it looked but trust and believe it
looked to H.A.M.

This is from when I first

started it.

I will never again try to make another wig. I'd rather just buy one. I ain't goin' through this again. I know the first time you do something isn't always perfect but yea I'm done. May those who have the patience be Blessed.

Felt crafty today

Well nothing much is going on on the hair front. I just have my hair in cornrows and am wearing a wig as a protective style at the moment. But I have tons of fabric and I'm purging myself of them as I mentioned in a previous post. Earlier this week I bought some notions and made this purse today. The measurements didn't come out perfect but it came out cute. This is going to be my new purse for a while.

Didn't feel like changing the thread for the inside.

Curls Unleashed in Walgreens YAY!!!

PIC

YUP. I was all bright eyed and excited. Hehe. And I will be trying their  No Restrictions Moisturizing Conditioner when my Suave Humectant conditioner is finished. Tis' all.

More Mud Wash Results

Some more things I noticed about the mud shampoo. Note that I did not deep condition all week. I wasn't doing anything to my hair except moisturize and seal once. Bad I know but I've been on strike. I've just had it in twists and a head tie all week. Plus I wanted to see how my hair would behave with a mud shampoo and no deep condition. I've gotten away with not deep conditioning after washing with castile soap and my hair behaved pretty decent. However it was different with the mud shampoo. So here goes:-

-hair felt cleaner but not stripped on was day
-but over the next few days it felt drier even when I moisturized and sealed
-I think it stretched my curls
-I noticed that I hardly had single strand knots(I think because of the aloe vera juice)

I'm still trying to figure out a regimen now that I'm natural but I want to incorporate this in there somewhere. My hair is about 10 inches long but I think I have 1 inch of damaged ends. I want to go into protective styling for the next 3 months though because I NEED to make it to armpit length ASAP. I miss my length.

Wash day 3/5/2012 - Mud Wash Results

As per my previous post about the mud wash I made over the weekend I am providing the results. I had been doing the Green House Effect to moisturize over the weekend wearing a shower cap for most of the weekend with suave conditioner and wild grow hair oil. I did however remove the shower cap occasionally to let my hair dry for a bit.

I sectioned my hair into 8 sections, applied the mud shampoo, covered with shower cap, and left in for 4 hours. I washed each section separately, pinning them up and moving on to the other. As I washed it out I squeezed the section to get my strands to rub together to loosen up buildup before running water over it.

After I took off the shower cap.

Before washout.

The Results

-My hair smelled like oranges!!! YUMMY. For about 12 hours. :-/ Bummer. I wanted it to last forever.

-Hair feels clean but not stripped

-Hair feels soft

-My crunchy ends feel smooth, soft, and moisturized

-Single strand knots almost non existent

-I was afraid to deep condition but still couldn't because I had to rush out. So I'll have to do another review.

After washout.

That's all for now.

Toodles!!!!

Homemade Mud Wash Recipe + Weekend review

So this weekend wasn't anything special. I spent it under a shower cap trying to moisturize my thirsty strands. I was having a product junkie itch and since I didn't have any intention spending much money I decided to use what I had. I settled on making a home made mud wash with the bentonite clay that has been sitting in my bathroom since '06 or '07. The only thing I had to buy was a gallon of aloe vera juice which will last a long time.

Brooklyn Natural Hair 'Mixer'

This is way late but hey... 
So the weekend after Valentine's Day I attended the Brooklyn Natural Hair 'Mixer' hosted by KinkyCurlyCoilyMe.com which took place at the Cornerstone Educational Center. It was a lot different from the other hair events I've attended in that there was an education/tutorial session. The host used to demonstrate how different products work, made products, had giveaways, and Q&A. There were also vendors who sold food, jewelry, hair products,etc. Ladies participated in the education session mostly while some mingled. I did like that touch even though I didn't really participate in it. I felt like it helped a lot of women figure out some of the issues they were having with their hair. I also like that she had volunteers mixing products on the spot. Also, I met the owner of The Pomade Shop. I really like her, she's fun and her products are great. The products didn't feel too greasy and didn't feel too heavy when I rubbed it on my skin. The fragrances were nice too. Check her on Etsy.

Hostess & mixers making a leave in.

Product giveaway

Vendor: Design Essentials

Vendor: Owner of The Pomade Shop

The Pomade Shop

The Pomade Shop

Vendor

Vendor: In Case Of Fabulous Accessories {click}

Vendor