Great Mother's Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the Mamas out there!

 

This was a very eventful weekend! I have started a garden with so many yummy veggies and I will be sharing my tips and growth celebrations with all of you here on my blog!

I also finally did a hairstyle that I have been wanting to do for the longest!

And last but not least, we finally got our mini pool put up and we are waiting on this weather to heat up again so we can jump in with the kiddies!

So I will start with the hair. . .  .

I have been looking for a protective style that I can pull off only using my own hair. I know there are tons of styles to choose from but I am very limited since I have such fine and thin hair. My hair is very healthy but it just grows very thin and it has always been very fine. I wanted to try mini twists but I just knew that would be so “see through” on me J So I discovered Mini Braids for natural hair! I love the videos that I have seen and I figured those would look a little more full on my hair than the twists. Plus twists always unravel in my hair lol.

I know I do a lot of complaining about having thin natural hair but there are perks! Styles that would normally take hours on other people with thick full hair only take a fraction of that on mine J Most of the people who installed mini braids in their hair said it took them about a total of 4-6 hours! I started mine this morning at 8:10am and was all done, including the co-wash at the end, by 11:30am! I’ve only had them in for one day so far and I am loving them! Yes, mine are still much thinner than some other naturalistas but I am still loving it! This is going to be a great summer go to protective style for me!

Tools and Products Used:

·         Cantu Shea Butter Conditioning Cream

·         Small Comb and a Medium sized Comb

·         Motions Wrap hold Foam

·         Co-Washed with Suave Naturals

 

As stated above the style took me a total of about 3 hours!

 

Let me know what you think J

 

Thanks for reading :-)



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Introducing. . . . SWIFT Photography!

Now taking appointments! :-) Check out some of my pictures!

 

 

http://swiftphotoz.weebly.com

 

 

 

Cereal Themed Birthday Party!!!

Cereal Party!!!

Hey mamas! If you are like me and looking for a unique and fun party theme for your lil one’s birthday party, you will love this idea! I was looking for a cute theme for my one year old’s birthday party this year and I ended up going with one thing that one year olds love. . . . CEREAL!!!!! I loved the idea and it was even better that there were so many ideas online! So I decided to share my creations with you J

To narrow it down, I chose Fruit Loops for the color scheme. I started by looking for outfits for myself and my family. I found some very cute colorful stripped leggings for myself and my 3 year old and a really cute fruit loop colored dress for my birthday girl! Their daddy had on a nice and bright plaid button up shirt J

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

So for the food we went with chicken bites with 3 different sauces and macaroni shells and cheese!

 

 

 

Now. . . down to the fun part, the snacks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

First:

Fruit loop bars (rice crispy treats recipe using fruit loops cereal)

 

 

 

Second:

Milk Shaped/decorated Sugar cookies

 

 

 

 

Third:

Cupcakes: Betty Crocker Blue Velvet flavor with Whipped frosting and fruit loops on top

Fourth: Take home gift: Colorful bubbles and a box of cereal!

Hope this gives you an idea! Enjoy!

Chicken Feta Kale Burgers!

New Recipe!!!

Chicken Feta Kale Burgers!!!!!

 

So this is the first blog entry I have done in a while. I randomly look at new recipes and get the urge to cook them. The main reason why I chose to blog about some of my creations is because I can never seem to follow the exact recipe! My husband always tells me to write down what I use because we end up liking it and I can’t remember what I threw in to create the masterpiece lol. Anyway, I saw some stuffed turkey burgers earlier today and since I am not a fan of ground turkey, I decided to look up ground chicken burgers. When I found the recipe for feta kale burgers I was so excited. As I began to pull the ingredients out of my refrigerator, I saw other foods that I thought would make these burgers even better! So this is a recipe that I found and threw my spin on it J Hope you enjoy!!!

Let me know if you decide to mix it up and make changes, I’d love to hear about other ways to make these burgers.

 

Ingredients:

Kale

1 lb Ground Chicken

Olive Oil

1 Egg

Feta Cheese

 

Chopped Fresh mushrooms

½ Avocado Chopped

Fresh Minced Garlic

Salt, Pepper, Parsley, Cilantro, Basil

 

Step One:

First you have to prepare the Kale by steaming it on the stove with a little water and a tiny bit of olive oil

Step Two:

While the Kale is steaming, put all of the ingredients (except for the cheese) into a bowl and mix it up with your hands or a spoon. I add the egg last.

Step Three:

Once you have everything mixed pretty good, turn on the flame to heat up the pan.

Step Four:

Lastly you will add the Kale and take all of the mixture and separate into about 7 patties then place a handful of feta cheese in the middle and form a ball. You want the feta cheese to be completely covered so that it will cook in the center.

Step Five:

Once all of the patties are made, place them on the warm pan and wait for it to cook! They should brown on one side then you can flip them over. It shouldn’t take longer than about 10-15 minutes to cook.

ENJOY!!!!

I added lettuce and tomato to my burger.

My Straight Hair Accomplishment!

Well. . . today I am proud to say that I made it through the whole day with my hair straight! 

After taking a little more than a year off of straightening my hair, I decided to try again a few months ago. Well that was an epic fail! I feel like I have educated myself so much about having healthy hair that I scared myself away from using heat! I had a beautiful flat ironed style at 7 am and by 10 am it was pretty much a fro! :-) Nothing wrong with having a fro but that just wasn't the look I was going for.  

Anyway, last night I decided that I would give it another try. This time I used a new product. I have all of my steps and products listed below. . . . . 

1. I co-washed my hair using Suave Naturals Conditioner

2. I then poured about a nickel size amount of black castor oil in my hands and spread it through my hair (to seal in the moisture)

3. I added my Suave Keratin Infusion heat defense.

4. Once my hair was evenly coated with my heat protectants, I was able to blow dry my hair. (When i blow dry i use a comb on the end of my dryer so that it can assist in straightening my hair)

5. When my hair was dry, I then separated it into 4 sections and added the new product! My magic product is Pantene Smooth Lisse. This product helps with shine and frizz control.

6. Once all of my products her added I then flat ironed it using the "chase method" with a smaller tooth comb.

7. After ironing my whole head I then wrapped it and went to sleep!

In the morning I combed it out and WALLAH! It was beautiful from AM (left) to PM (right)

I am so excited that I am still admiring my hair and it is currently 7 PM 

Simple and Inexpensive Deep Conditioning/Protein Treatment

Do you need to do a deep conditioning and protein treatment but don’t want to spend money on expensive hair products. . . . well maybe this will help. Do you have some eggs, moisturizing conditioner and your favorite oil? If so then you have all you need!

Here we go!

Take a look at the picture below and you will see all of the items that you will need to get a good deep conditioning and protein treatment.

You will need: 1-2 eggs, a moisturizing conditioner, oil (I used castor oil, a lot of people use olive oil too), a mixing bowl, a fork or spoon for mixing, a wide tooth comb, plastic cap, a scarf, and a thick headband to catch the dripping liquid.

 STEPS to MIX:

1.       Crack the eggs into the bowl

2.       Add about a handful of conditioner

3.       Add in about a quarter size amount of oil

4.       Stir it up until the mixture looks like the picture below.

STEPS to APPLY:

1.       Start off with 4 sections of freshly shampooed hair.

2.       Apply the mixture to each section.

3.       Take the remaining fluid and pour it on top and let it run down into the hair.

4.       Cover hair with the plastic cap and place the headband around the edges.

5.       Cover the plastic cap with the cloth scarf.

6.       Leave in for 40-60 minutes and wash out with cool water (if the water is too warm you might cook the egg so be careful J)

7.       When you are done apply oil and conditioner mixture and leave in for 20 minutes then rinse.

8.       ALL DONE! You should have soft and strong hair!

 

 

Thanks for reading! Share, comment and subscribe J

Brazilian Curl Crochet Braids

Ok ladies, its winter time and its time to start looking for protective styles! I love doing crochet braids because they are simple, cheap, fully protective of my hair, and I have so many choices for the texture and curl pattern of the hair. This time I chose to go with the Bazilian Curl by Freetress .This curl pattern is very different from my own and this is the first time I have tried it. I am loving it! From what I have read, it can get tangled if you do not maintain it over night, but we should be in the habit of caring for our hair at night anyway right ? I purchased the Motions Light Styling Foam to keep the hair from getting too frizzy. I use this same product on the other super curly crochet styles that I do.

Time Length: This style actually took me about  4 hours from start to finish to complete. I braided the front in small braids then did a horizontal pattern in the back. (Sorry I dont have a picture of the braid pattern, I didnt think about it until I was about half way done)

I plan to keep this style in for about 3-4 weeks. We shall see. . . I am not good at keeping styles in for long, I have hair ADD! I just get bored!

What you will need. . . . .
1. Crochet needle
2. 2 bags of brazilian freetress braiding hair (i used about 1 1/2 bags of hair and i cut the hair in half)