Wednesday, August 29, 2012

See....What Had Happened Was--


So, I could feel like a failure but instead I feel like I made a smart decision in an extremely timely manner. Normally, I would've cared what my family thought or maybe even cared about my boss's feelings but this time I didn't. All I cared about were mine.

As fast as my new job came, that's also as fast as it went. I didn't even last a whole month. I mean I wanted to but my boss didn't want to let me finish out the end of my last week. My very first week, I had lunch at 2pm or 3pm every single day. I was like, "Huh?!?" As the days of the first week went on, my attitude got worse. Mind you, there are only two (count 'em 2) people that work at this engineering firm. When I was offered the job, they told me they were flexible because of my situation. But I noticed that wasn't happening when I was eating lunch at 2pm-3pm and then leaving for the day at 5:30pm. Yeah, I must've misunderstood what flexibility meant to them.

Soooo....yeah, I had to get out of there, ASAP! I saw no point in staying there when I realized my future would be like my first 2 weeks there and I was not the least bit concerned about what anyone would think about my decision. Ironically, my usually biggest critic (my dad) was supportive of my decision.

I told my boss that full-time employment was just not conducive with my family schedule and that I was only interested in part-time. Well, he thought about it for a couple days but decided not to do part-time because he is filling critical full-time roles. So, we parted ways and I am getting my house back in order, because while I was working, we weren't eating freshly cooked meals but twice a week and the chores were only done once a week. And it didn't help that my 27lb., 18-mo. old wanted to be held all evening even when I was cooking.

Word to the wise: Never take the first thing that comes along.

Monday, August 27, 2012

Senegalese Twists!



I finally found my new and favorite protective style......SENEGALESE TWISTS!!!!!

I love them so much better than micro braids or sew-in weaves. It took forever to do; the same time that it takes to do micro braids when they're braided by just one person.

I had two braiders but I might as well only had one since the second came late AND brought her 1 y.o. daughter who cried every 10-15 minutes or so wanting to be picked up by her. Then, she talked the WHOLE time (in French) but you know what happens when you talk constantly? You add hand gestures and just stop what you're doing because you are so wrapped up into what you're saying.....or you're tending your crying 1 y.o. {sarcasm added there}

Anyway, I could go on and on about why it took so d@mn long, but once the main braider was done I liked the result so much that I let my frustration go.
By the way, it took 8 hours. EIGHT long hours but I did have a 30 minute lunch break along with the braiders.

Oh and the braids were tight but not as tight as the micro braids that I had last year because I was pretty dramatic about my extreme tender-headed nature. Like....with each braid on my hairline. I kept saying "Ouch," while whistling air in pain, lol.

I think I'll be rocking protective style twists several times this year until my hair grows back to a length that I'm happy with. And that could be 1 inch or 3 inches.

I totally recommend senegalese twists for ladies that are just growing their natural hair or transitioning and want a break from doing their own hair.

What have you been doing with your hair lately??

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Take Time For You



Do something you love today......or at least something you enjoy!

It could be reading a book that you've been meaning to read or watching a tv show in silence (no kids around) OR with your girls so that you have somebody to laugh with.

Try a new recipe you've always wanted to try or get your nails painted....especially if you never usually treat yourself to that.

Just do something [small] for yourself that you don't usually do for at LEAST an hour. I sure plan to.

I hope you enjoy today!


Saturday, August 18, 2012

New Blog Name!!!!!

I've been wanting to change the name of my blog for a few weeks now. I have grown out of liking the name, Love & Tangles because its pretty broad and I don't really think that the things I blog about really 'connect' with it.

So after thinking and thinking about another broad title, I came up with
elletoelle.blogspot.com


The name is still broad, but I think it fits more with what I blog about -----> navigating my way through life under the different roles that I got going.  

Oh and my "Elle to Elle" really just stands for the 'L to L' in my blog header....

'Live to Learn | Learn to Love | Love to Live'

....turns out that's a really popular blog title, lol. Duh right? All the broad ones are. I tried adding "Eat" in with those words but that blog name (livelearnlove, livelearnloveeat) was taken too! Sooo.....I thought to just take the the first letter of those words and spell them out.

So save my new blog name and change or add it to your blogger feed reading list! Hopefully it'll change automatically but I'm not completely sure. So add me just in case!!!



Friday, August 10, 2012

Guess Who Is Gainfully Employed?!?

Guess who is gainfully employed? This mommy right here. {points to self}
Last week, after waiting 3 weeks for a second interview and another 2 weeks after that, I was called and offered a position at the company I applied for. Its an entry level position, but I will be making a teeny bit more than what I was making when I had been working for 3 years. God is so good!

I'm glad they realized that hiring a person in an entry level position, that isn't so entry level (having 3 years of prior work experience), they'll be saving some time and money training unlike with a new grad.

Anyway, I am excited, nervous, scared and shocked that my life will be making such an abrupt change like this....so quickly. Its actually not happening 'quickly' but it just feels like it is because I was really hoping that I would be transitioning back to the work force with part-time work before going back full-time, but my life has never gone the way I had it planned out in my head.
Go figure, right?

I'm scared because I haven't looked at engineering things or thought like an engineer for SOME time now......3.5 years to be exact. I'm just scared of the change that is going to take place. I haven't celebrated either because I don't want to think about being away from my boys. Oh, and they'll be in a really cool childcare school. I took care of that binness the past week.

Now, I am not afraid to say that this will be a trial period for me and my boys. If things don't work out with this childcare school, then they'll go somewhere else, if things don't work out at this company, then I'll go somewhere else. One thing I learned from watching my girl in pharma. sales is to always be looking for a job even when you have a job. Before staying at home with my boys, I never thought to 'look' for a job until I was desperate to (unhappy, unfulfilled, etc.).

I'll stay on the lookout for my ideal part-time job as well as hope that I will be able to work some part-time flexibility at this place. But now I may actually be able to blog more regularly on my lunch hour. :-)

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Short Hair - Take 2

I wasn't unhappy in that photo in my previous post...I swear, lol.

I mean, I'm pissed about my negligence to my hair health and my shit ends split ends but I really was feeling this twist-out!

And I had on a banging romper and my super cute black wedges.... summer Saturday chillin.' 

I don't even say 'super-cute'....but they really are super cute, ha ha.

Guess I should do outfit posts sometimes. {smiley face}



Monday, August 6, 2012

Natural Hair -- Back To the Basics I Go....

This is what split ends can do...
Welp, I told you this blog would be about growth ---- the ups and the downs. 
Sometimes you grow after you've been down. 
This is my journey, lol.

While everyone can 'write a book' on how to grow your natural hair long, I should be writing a book on what NOT to do when trying to grow your natural hair long. AND.......there should be a "Postpartum Natural Hair Care Practices for Dummies" book! I would be the first in line.

I mean sheesh!!!! W.T.F!

In December, I had about 4" cut off of my hair. Then another inch in January when I saw how thin my hair had become. I didn't want to just cut it down to a fade, when I probably could have or should have. Am I exaggerating a little bit? Eh, maybe, but the fact remains that I did not take good care of my hair after my second son was born. I'm assuming I had 2 years worth of postpartum shedding taking place because I got pregnant with my second son when my first son was only 4 months old.
Yep, I accidentally missed that "give your body a year to heal before getting pregnant again," and didn't prepare myself for the aftermath.

So, combining ALL of the shedding I was dealing with along with NOT taking any vitamins when I stopped nursing, yeah, I can write a book on what not to do! I was so tired of taking vitamins that I cut my body off cold turkey. Not smart.

To make matters even worse, I 'jacked' up my version of the Curly Girl Method. I still think its an awesome method, but my interpretation of it wasn't. I thought it was okay for me to wet my hair everyday......and reapply conditioner. I'm almost embarrassed----> and it took me 9 months of doing that to realize it. I was hoping that since I wasn't putting any tension on my hair that I would be rewarded with growth. I should've only been wetting my hair 1x/week, 2x max!

I've learned that I have low porosity hair and moisture has a really hard time getting into my strands so wetting it daily wasn't doing anything but causing me more damage (dryness) than just regular tension.
So, the enormous amounts of postpartum shedding, abruptly stopping vitamin intake and daily water to low porosity hair cause 1+ year's worth of split ends that probably took some innocent bystander strands with 'em.
From now on, I will be cutting my ends much more regularly and going back to what I was doing before I got hooked on youtube.  No more copying those girls, at least not until I completely understand my hair. Their luck is not my luck!

Back to the my basics I go.....