I Stopped Shampooing My Hair!

My hair six months into CG

I no longer shampoo my hair. And yes you read that right. Back in September I challenged myself with no longer straightening my hair. The method I chose to follow is called the Curly Girl Method. I did a bunch of research on the Internet about this method and its benefits.  For those of you that know me in real life then you know how difficult this is for me. I have done nothing but fight my natural curls since childhood. I could not even recall the number of "permanent" straighteners that I have had over the years. Or the number of straightening irons I have gone through. Well finally in September I decided that had to end. My hair was just terribly damaged and looked awful straight or curly.

Now it has been almost six months and my hair is healthy and growing quickly. (another thing I was hoping to accomplish because I am ready for my long hair back) Don't get me wrong I still have days that I long to straighten my hair but those days are getting to be few and far between. So what is the Curly Girl method exactly:

The Curly Girl method is one in which you use three conditioners to wash, condition, and deep condition your hair. This works for curly haired individuals because moisture loss is our biggest cause of frizz. Also you avoid conditioners with silicone in them. And if you must shampoo your hair then you need to make sure that it is a sulfate free shampoo. I know for me this sounded like it could get expensive and fast. However there are several sites that help you weed through drug store products to see which ones are curly girl approved. My routine is as follows:

1. I co-wash (that's short for conditioner wash) with VO5 shampoo or Suave Naturals Coconut

2. My heavier conditioner is Loreal Ever Sleek 

3. My leave in is Loreal Ever Sleek 

4. I then use La Bella gel in my hair 

5. And I finish it off with Aussie hairspray

I do not claim to be an expert in this but I just thought I would share with you guys what has worked for me. I am truly happy to be a curly girl now and am loving my curls. 

What unconventional hair methods do you use? Are you a Curly Girl? If so what products do you have success with? I would love to hear!

Wintry Weather and a Recipe

The past few weeks have been glorious weather wise. Daytime has been in the high 60's and nights are still chilly (basically the normal worlds fall). However on Saturday it decided to actually give us a small taste of winter, and I do not think it go out of the 40's all day. It was the same Sunday so I decided to make Chicken pot pie for dinner. I know not exactly an exciting post but this was my first time trying this recipe and it was delicious. I substituted puff pastry for the pie crust (simply because I had some on hand) but the rest of the recipe I followed exactly.  Here is the recipe for those wanting to try it:

http://kokocooks.com/2010/09/chicken-potpie/

What did you guys do this weekend? Any excitement? I know that some parts of South Carolina actually got snow! (My mom's house included.) We did see a few flurries here in the low-country but nothing major. Hope everyone has a wonderful President's Day!

Sorry but He's Taken. . .

So I was going to save this post for Monday but I just have to let the world know how amazing my husband is. Let me start by saying I am not a huge Valentine's person. I am more of a random acts of love through out the year, not just one day. Anyway I digress. I am truly such a blessed girl and I do not know what I did to get so lucky but I hope it never goes away.

Jose had a full day of work, class, and studying yesterday (normal things for a law student). I am used to this by now (at least most of the time). So we decided to cook together once he got home last night. Well I just have to say this was the best Valentine's ever! Jose and I exchanged gifts before cooking a delicious dinner. I have to say I thought I was being romantic and thoughtful with my card and my date night jar. I even tailored the jar to be more boyish but romantic at the same time dates. Well let me tell you I was seriously upstaged by my hubby! He made me a newsletter of pictures from our past year and it had the sweetest messages in it. I won't go into detail as to what it said but just know that I was balling happy tears by the end of reading it. To top it all off he also gave me an awesome watch. It's actually a kids watch and I love it. I also love that he knows me so well. It has an adorable owl on it with glasses, because I am sort of obsessed with owls!

Anyway I hope you made it through my ramblings and Jose if you are reading this: How did I get so lucky as to find you and marry you? I hope everyone had a fantastic Valentine's and enjoy your weekend!

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Happy Valentine's Day to You!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope that you are able to celebrate with your loved ones today. Jose and I plan to celebrate by dinner at home tonight and going to see a local band play on Friday. My point for posting today is to show you the wreath I made for our front door. 

I reused one of the wreaths that I spray painted to make my snowman wreath over Christmas. Then I just cut out hearts from some scrapbook paper that I already had on hand. I also hung the wreath with a piece of ribbon that is leftover from another project. So for the total cost of free I managed to get up a little bit of Valentine decor. 

How do you guys celebrate Valentine's? Did you decorate your home for the holiday? If so how? I would love to hear what you guys do to celebrate. 

A Few Tiny Living Room Updates.

This weekend I finally got around to making a few small updates to the living room. These were just things that I wanted to accomplish to make the living room feel more finished. The first thing I did was to use a table cloth (found at target on clearance a few years ago) to temporarily make new covers for the pillows on the couch. I say temporarily because they are just tied on in back. I need to make this more permanent but I got distracted on the day I did it so that is as far as a I got. The second minor update was to  add sheer curtains in the middle of our yellow curtains that I made. I have been wanting to do this for a while but just had been putting it off. I thought about making them but I  found the curtains at Target for five dollars a panel. So I went with the store bought ones. I really am loving the fact that I can open our curtains and still have some privacy from the neighbors and the street. I also think it makes the windows look more full and complete. 

  I am finally getting to a place where I think the living room is close to "finished". At least close enough that I could move on to other rooms in the house.  I only really have a few more things I would like to do: 

1. Find a new rug (one solid piece instead of two rugs put together)

2. Get more pillows/pillow covers for the sofa

3. Finish putting art on the walls

I think in the grand scheme of living room decorating these three things are not much to handle. They are also things that will probably be always evolving. 

Have you guys made any room updates lately? If so what room? Are you planning any major updates to rooms in your homes? Or have you finally gotten things just where you want them? 

A Valentine's Day Swap and Link Up

Happy Thursday! Today I am super excited to share with you a Valentine's swap and link up that I participated in. Lauren at From My Grey Desk along with a few other bloggers initiated a wonderful valentine's link. The best part is that we were paired with another blogger to gather and send a Valentine package to. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to get to know another blogger.

I was paired with Aly from For Such a Time Designs. Let me just say how uncanny it was how much we have in common. Both hubby's are students and we both enjoying crafting and vintage/antique things. I would recommend you checking out her Etsy shop. She has some awesome handcrafted things in there. Well I guess I should give you guys the low down on what she sent me. (check out her blog to see what I sent her)

These are the lovely forks and spoons that Aly made! (You can find these and more in her Etsy shop)



I loved participating in this, because lets be honest who doesn't love getting a package in the mail! Have you guys exchanged any Valentine's gifts? What are you getting your sweetie for Valentine's this year? Thinking of going homemade? or buying? I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend and we will be back on Monday with a few living room updates.

I'm Gonna Pop Some Tags. . .

I am not sure how many of you guys read Young House Love but they issued a thrift store challenge based on the song by Macklemore. There were only three rules

1. You could only go with 20 dollars in your pocket (per the chorus of the song).

2. You must photograph your spoils.

3. Find one item or more referenced in the song and photograph yourself with it.

Can I just say way to go YHL because I was beside myself with excitement about this challenge! Jose and I decided that we would see what both of us could find for $20 total. (Instead of spending $20 for each of us) Normally the thrift store is my haven and I find way more things than I necessarily need. However this time was the exception. I think it may have been because we did not have much time. However we did manage to spend some money and this is what we got:

I found this Ann Taylor Loft jacket for 1.99

We also found an old sheet music book for 65 cents

And what I deem the best purchase of the day was the Burgundy Suit Jacket Jose has on in this picture ($3.99)

Like I said we were not having the best of luck thrifting that day but all is well. I went again on Friday and found a dress, 2 shirts, and a skirt for 10 dollars.  Also I would just like to say that our blog has reached 5000 views. I know for most this is not a huge accomplishment but for us (people who are new to blogging regularly) this is HUGE! So thanks family and friends who take the time to read our ramblings. And last but not least the third component of the challenge: 

Jose found a Big A$$ Coat and a telescope

I found a big a$$ pink coat.