In the chocolate community, there’s been so much made of going natural where hair is concerned. Sometimes it seems as if it’s a movement! I have been a natural chica (chemical free) since the 90′s. I just tend to wear my hair straight – a lot. For YEARS I’ve gone back and forth with my hair. Sometimes it’s curly but most times it’s straight. When it’s freshly washed, it’s full of little springy curls. I like that. The issue is, from flatironing my hair so much, the ends of my hair sometimes flat out refuse to curl anymore. Boo!

That being said, I have recently decided to make my hair do what I want because I said so. For me that means wearing my hair natural, heat free and in all it’s curly glory more often. I figure the more it stays in it’s natural state, it will eventually get with the program and give me all my curls back. Right? Maybe.

The cool thing for me is right when I made this decision, I was offered the chance to review some products by Pantene Pro-V for natural, African American hair. I was totally game! I had already used their “Relaxed and Natural” line before, so I was excited that they had now separated the two and have a Truly Relaxed line and Truly Natural line. I got these goodies in the mail and immediately went to work on my head.

Here’s what my hair looked like before. Its was just blow dried. I hadn’t flatironed it, so it was a little on the lion mane side of things.

I washed with the Clarifying Shampoo. I had a lot of oils in my hair from wearing it slicked back all week and this really worked to get my hair clean. Then, I followed that up with the Cowash Cleansing Conditioner. That one was new for me. I’d heard of co-washes but hadn’t used one before. Once I rinsed that out my hair felt pretty soft. Then, I used the Deep Conditioner. I rinsed it out and began to detangle my hair. It suprisingly didn’t take as long as I though it would. My hair was pretty soft after washing and conditioning so the detangle went pretty smooth. I followed with the Curling Custard. I had used some others before and it was kind of hit and miss. I watched a few YouTube videos to help me with my application method and got the hang of it immediately. I had to keep spraying my hair using my water bottle to keep it wet and keep the application smooth. I swear, my hair soaks up water like the Mojave desert!  After that, I let it air dry.

That’s the other thing about my hair. It sucks up water for the most part and dries pretty fast except for the center of my head. That part could stay wet for days, I tell you! My curls were really defined and being their cute, springy selves. I was excited to see how it would turn out after it was dry.

Here I am all dry and curly! I used a little of the Pantene Shine Serum to control any potential frizz and to soften a bit from using the custard. I wore my hair in a few styles with this wash and go. I just let it run free at times and then I’d pin some of it back or wear a bun. I was happy with how versatile my hair is.

Day One

End of Week One

Week Two

It’s been about three weeks of me using the products and it’s true, the longer I wear it heat free, the curlier it gets. I guess that means I am the boss of my hair! Whoot!

The Pantene Pro-V line of Truly Natural products are all under $6. From what I’ve seen regarding products for natural hair, this is a deal! My only issue is that for me and others going natural is more than a hair style choice it often applies to other areas of our lives. For me, it’s about what I put on my body and in my body. So, I wish these products for naturals included more natural ingredients.

That being said, the products worked for my hair and I have gotten LOTS of compliments.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

B) Best friend? Mah man is my best friend. He knows me like no one else. Which also means that he can push my buttons like no one else. But let’s keep this in that sweet space, shall we?

C) Cake or Pie? Lemon pound cake from Starbucks… yes, please.

D) Day of choice? Saturday! It’s the one day of the week that it’s all about my little family.

E) Essential item? Earrings, lip gloss, cell phone and bank card. I know that’s four but I couldn’t help myself.

F) Favorite color? Right now I love pink. It could have something to do with my little girl?

G) Gummy bears or worms? I used to love both. Now, I’m just grossed out by them. No one should have ever told me what they’re made of. Ignorance is bliss.

H) Hometown? Detroit

I) Favorite Indulgence? These days… sleep. That’s hard to come by though

J) January or July? JULY!!! I like it HOT!

K) Kids? Two. A son and daughter

L) Life isn’t complete without? My family

M) Marriage date? July 2007

N) Number of brothers/sisters? three older half siblings – raised as an only

O) Oranges or apples? Apples. I’m allergic to oranges. Boo!

P) Phobias? None that I can think of.

Q) Quotes? If you don’t follow your dream, you’ll spend your life working for someone who did.

R) Reasons to smile? Life

S) Season of choice? Summertime!

T) Tag 5 People: Mimi, Tamara, LaShawn, Kita, and Emmy

U) Unknown fact about me? I have horrible handwriting because I’d rather type

V) Vegetable? corn

W) Worst habit? umm, over multi-tasking

X) X-ray or ultrasound? ultra sound… I lived for them when I was pregnant

Y) Your favorite food? Mexican food

Z) Zodiac sign? Libra

Now it’s your turn

How did you get your groove back/get back in pre-baby shape? Are you making any fitness goals for summer?

Even though it’s warm most of the year here in L.A. I still get excited about summer. I think it’s because the days are longer and if I’m honest good weather and longer days keep me in a pretty good mood.

Here are my top five reasons this summer is gonna rock!

Birthdays

My daughter will be a year old!!! Why is time flying by? I swear it seems like I JUST had her!

Hot temps

I am a fan of the heat. That just gives me more reasons to make my way to the beach on the weekends for a little cool down. I expect to be jumping in the pool more often for a little cool down.

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Beach days

I am trying not to let it be lost on me that I live in southern California. I don’t want to get so used to living here that the beach becomes ho-hum. I plan on getting my family out there pretty often this summer. The more, the better.

Warm, breezy nights

I love sleeping with the windows open and getting that nice breeze flowing through the house. It’s so much better than central air. The breezy nights also makes for great walks through the neighborhood, on the pier, or a sweet date night somewhere with the hubs.

Summer trip

We seem to try to get out of the city at least every summer. Even if that trip is going home to see family. This year, I want to try and squeeze in two trips. I’d like to go see family, of course and I’d also like to do a family trip with just the hubs and the kids. We’ll see.

What are you looking forward to this summer?

This is no way for a girl to get down. I need to do better. That’s why I stepped my game up and bought a tripod. I have all kinds of plan for that thing. Never mind that I’ve had it a week and it’s still in the box. I have big plans, I tell you!

For now, I am happy with the few my husband snapped. Beggars can’t be choosers.

I was getting into the season and decided to try the chambray trend. I paired it with some lavendar cropped jeans. Feeling casually stylish. Me likey!

Next week, the goal is to make it happen with the tripod. It’s a new era, people. A. New. Era.

Top: H&M Jeans: Gap Bag: The Cambridge Satchel Company c/o Momtrends Shoes: Nine West Baby Girl: Straight From My Belly

Linking up with Glamamom, BonBon Rose Girls and MomTrends for Mode Monday.

How was your weekend lovelies?

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•  Every time I notice it’s 9:29 – I celebrate my birthday a little. It’s 9/29.
• Aside from writing – I love singing. It makes me happy.
• I used to be a fashion consultant for Victoria’s Secret. I was the one you’d talk to when placing your order. I gave “fashion advice” about what things would work with what you were ordering.

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• I love Shel Silverstein. I used to check his books out of the library ALL THE TIME as a kid. I now have several of his books lining my kids’ bookshelf. My son’s favorite is a poem with the line “ickle me, pickle me, tickle me too”.

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• I can pretty much recite the Color Purple – word for word. That movie is EPIC!
• I am a very sensitive girl. I am also very protective of other (random) people… especially underdogs.

Tell me something random about you.

Then I was offered the chance to check out Wummelbox…

Straight from the heart of Berlin – the ultimate hub of creativity and style – comesWummelbox, a subscription arts & crafts service just for kids age 3-8.   Each high-quality Wummelbox contains 3-4 themed-based projects (i.e., “Nutrition,” “Music,” or “Color and Light”) and is designed to inspire children to learn and explore the world around them.

Each Wummelbox contains everything needed to immediately begin crafting, and all items meet the highest European and US standards for toys.  Even better: Wummelbox takes the extra step to use eco-friendly and style-conscience materials whenever possible (i.e. recycling of the packaging, reforested wood, material like cork and sand, etc.) for a crafting kit parents – and kids – can feel good about.

In a unique twist,the box actually becomes a part of the craft in many of the kits! In addition, each craft is carefully thought out to be used over and over (e.g. sewing felt fruit for a cash register or creating a windchime and drum for musical enjoyment.)

My son LOVES activities. I’m always trying to find/make up stuff to do with him. This box of goodies was perfect! I was impressed with how much was in the box. There were safety scissors for my son to use and paints. There were about 4 crafts in our box. That’s enough to keep us busy for a while. I figure I’ll just space out each activity – even though he wanted to do them all at once!

Each box has a theme. Ours was time travel. We started with making a time machine. I had to explain the whole idea of a time machine to my little boy. That just made it even more fun. He kept calling it his washing machine. After a while he got the hang of it.

He really likes painting and kept telling me he was making it “beauteeful”.

He’s also a sticker fanatic. I turned my back and he had started putting stickers on random pieces. He told me he got “so excited”. So after we peeled them off the wheels… we put the wheels in place and then the stickers.

This is our finished time machine!

It a fun project for both of us. We did it right before dinner and had to stop to let the paint dry and to eat. He didn’t want to stop to eat at first. Then, I guess his tummy told him differently and he was game for a little break.

I love that every thing you need is included in the box. It makes craft time easy. There’s no need to spend time researching things to do or making a lis tof things to get at the craft store. It’s all done for you. Can’t be mad at that.

The Wummelbox subscription starts at 19.95 a month. The box I have is valued at 34.95.

Are you crafty?

Disclaimer: I was provided a Wummel Box for review.  All opinions are my own.

Disclaimer #2: excuse the left over sunscreen on my sweetie’s face!

I love catching them playing. (This was in a hotel room.) I love the way my daughter looks at her brother. She thinks he is a rock star! Everything he does cracks her up. When we’re taking professional pictures, she stares at the photographer with a stink eye. We have to get her brother to talk to her to make her laugh so that we get a good picture. He wants nothing more than to protect her. He wants to feed her, bring her toys, be her super hero. When she cries, he runs to her screaming, “never fear, big brother is here.” Yes, there is still some jealousy but there is so much love!

He’s trying to teach her how to walk. She’s about to catch on all on her own. I’m so looking forward to watching the bond they have grow. It’s amazing to watch these two little people, forever connected, grow together. As mushy as it is, it truly fills my heart with joy to have a front row seat while watching their story unfold.

Am I the only one that’s straight up sappy about this kind of stuff? It’s because I was raised solo, right?

image via

Yes, I noticed my bucket list totally turned into another list of things to do. Hmph. What would you put on your bucket list this month?