Uh Oh! Here We Go Experimenting Again!

Inspiration

To all those women who have natural hair, more power to ya! I am not afrocentric or anything but when i chopped off my relaxed hair 3 years ago, I never imagined growing and taking care of this stuff on my head would be so hard. I will say it is a love/hate relationship, but it does suit me and I do love it on the good days. That said my inspiration was just to try something new. I usually twist my hair, take it out, and then pin up the sides..but i see people like Janelle Monae and convinced myself I could do better.

My original concept was the front would be brushed out and side swept into a kind of pinned up bang look. Then the back would be curly and krinkly from a twist out. ( I sucked taking pics of this process but take a peeksy)

Experiment

Ok so I put the satin cap on and slept on it. I took it out and it looked like poo. Soooo not having the energy to wash it, i swiped that baby up into an updo...came out lookin like the pic below. Still looks a lil birds nestish...but I rolled with it. (sorry, first pic is blurry :) )

 

 

 So lessons learned from this little experimentation:

1) Take the time to wash my hair and start from scratch i.e my natural curl pattern

2) Maybe follow someone else's instructions? lol, idk..we'll see how the next experiment turns out. 

THINK IN GONNA STOP COUNTING NOW

Inspiration:

Lately, I've been going through it. I'm switching from one job to the next, I'm embracing and struggling with my independence in Philly vs. having the support of many in Boston. I'm basically at that point where I'm reevaluating everything. I'm questioning if the things I once wanted are things that I want now. I'm curious to see whether things I could define in the past have that same definition now. To be honest, I don't like any of it. I am a creature of change but I've never liked transitions.

Anyway, one of the things that helps me through is knowing and remembering my own strength. While I wanted so badly to do something else that represents this and to get my creative juices flowing. I find myself to be so tired lately. (Things I have chosen to focus on are truly draining me right now) Also, I told myself that all creation can't be perfect and can't always be finished..so I've just forced myself to post even the things that I think are crap..and maybe i'll come back to them one day and work em out.

  

That said I put together a small collage ( I used to make a million large ones as a child out of magazines..) of female artists I'm kind of obsessed with at the moment. I'm obsessed with them because I think they symbolize personal struggles and inner strength..also they kind of just make me happy :-). I think they are all kick ass so i just put some pics together of them that i like. That is all..nada special but it is something. 

Creation #5: Did You Forget About Me?

INSPIRATION:

I don't really know what inspired this post. Maybe it's the restlessness that I've been feeling lately, maybe it's the fact that I have had energy for almost everything else but tapping into my creative self. Who knows.

One thing that I do know is I started this blog as an outlet, a challenge to myself. Somewhere along the way, I got lost. I got caught up in life's ups and downs, but mostly I got caught up in others. I forgot that I'm not putting this out there for others to approve or disapprove. I'm not posting only the things I think people would like to see. I'm not dependent on or counting the amount of followers. I'm being me. I'm finding a way to tap into my creative ability. So with that said, I did a little free writing and below is what came out.

 

"CREATIVITY"

Y can’t I find you? You used to make me happy in times of need. You used to give me faith when I felt even breathing was too hard of a task. Inspiration I need you. Motivation I miss you. Determination, you cannot be found. Creativity, you damn near drive me  insane. With the others, I can at least force my way through, possibly reconnecting to the past. But with you, only God knows what leads me to you. I need you to open me up like you used to. Use me, ravage the deepest parts of me till inspiration breaks free. I will let you. Take me to new heights to see. Scare me with my own potential. Intoxicate me with the aroma of my gifts so I can understand what its like to smell. But most importantly, Feed me my own doubt so I can taste the sweetness of achievement. 

I didn't create a picture for this one, but one picture that always seems to inspire me is the one below. Reminds me of the feeling of success and freedom. I freaking love dance...but that's another post :-)

You Want My Pie! Creation #...hmm, I guess 4!

Inspiration: Good Old Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving is around the corner and anybody that knows me knows that I have a fat girl mentality and loooooove to eat! Thanksgiving dinner preparation starts the day before and my family of 8 magically turns into a family of 20, with the inclusion of friends and last minute guests! We feast like kings and queens and there are rarely leftovers.

Anyway, I help with most of the cooking but my main duty is making delicious pie. The pie of 
choice being Pecan Pie. So just to get my skills flowing, I made one! Mind you, I forgot to take photos of the actual process, but i really did make it! I swear. See it, want it, love it! I certainly do! 

MMMMMMMMMMMM!

 

I made the flaky crust too!!

  

 Don't worry, I didn't eat all of that by myself, though I probably could have! :-)

Under Construction

Hello there u sexy blog u! It has certainly been awhile. lol Long story short, the projects stopped because my life was in disarray and still is, hence the "under construction." As a result my blog is now also under construction. I don't know what's going to change, and I certainly don't know where its going to go. All I know is I'm doing it to it! So for now...it's to be continued ladies and gents!!

Professionalism and Natural Hair & Creation #3

Hello! So today was busy busy busy. I was in the middle of two strand twisting my hair when my friend tells me she's headed to use her discount for the last time at the clothing store Mandee. Of course I had to go with her and make use of her discount! Mind you I am jobless and ultra poor right now but I also lost like 10 pounds and none of my interview clothing fits. So I figure perfect opportunity to see if they have any cheap options. I only bought two things. One of which is a little too tight to wear to an interview and the other which is just not meant to be seen. So that was a fail! BUT it did make me think about how much I despise suits and business wear! This leads me to a social commentary topic!

"Feeling Professional" When Rocking Your Natural Hair

(Image Credit)

Now, just to be clear, I disliked suits and things before I went natural, but now I dislike them even more because now I feel like my hair feels somewhat wild and unprofessional next to the tailored clothing! Is it just me? I love my natural hair and I actually like wearing it a little bit crazy and wild. I think it suits me, but what is acceptable everyday isn't necessarily acceptable for interviews right? I don't know. Someone help me out! So over the next few days I will collect some photos of hairstyles that I like and that I personally think (or at least wish) would work for interviewing! Hope I find something cute!

Ok so now for Creation Number 3!

This might have to be a two parter! It's my friend's birthday today (We'll call him Mr. Clarke Sterling, under his instruction :-) ) I originally wanted to create an 18 by 24 canvas painting for him. He doesn't have anything in his room and I thought it would be nice. He's a man's man so I decided to keep it simple with black and white and was inspired earlier today by Beyonce's video for Video Phone. Love Beyonce! Below is the specific look and link to the video!

(Image Credit)

So the painting never happened! What did happen was the creation of a birthday card! lol I ended up sketching different ideas in my notebook for the painting and as each idea lined up side by side I saw it created its own kind of artwork and I decided to continue and make it into a birthday card!! Oh, on top of that, I was using Mr. Clarke Sterling's camera and it died. I don't have the cord to charge it but i managed to get these photos! (Not exactly what i wanted for my creation, even though it is cute, but this project will hopefully be continued ;-) )

Creation #2: Banana Crumb Muffins!

Hi!! So the beginning of today started out rainy and unproductive, which is why it has taken me so long to get on the computer and post. Anyway, after making an effort to clean my place the other day, I stumbled upon the idea for Creation #2.

Inspiration: My overly ripened bananas!!!



I hate when I buy fruit and it goes to waste so I was thinking about what I can do to use up my bananas. I usually make banana bread but then sometimes I make too much and that goes to waste. As i was browsing photos of all the delicious treats, I stumbled upon a banana crumb muffin recipe on Allrecipes.com! I tweaked it a little bit. So below is the journey of Creation #2 along with the recipe with my additional tweaks.

1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 bananas, mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg lightly beaten
1/3 cup butter, melted

Crumb Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon butter

Oven: 375 degrees F Bake time: 18-20 minutes

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl beat bananas, sugar, egg, and butter. Stir banana mixture into the flour mixture until well combined and moist. Fill greased or lined muffin pan with mix.

For crumb topping, in a small bowl combine brown sugar and flour. Cut butter into the small bowl and combine with fork or whisk so that the butter is distributed evenly and that the mixture has a cornmeal like consistency. Top muffins with crumb mixture. Bake for 18-20 minutes and ENJOY!!



All of my ingredients! (Another reason i chose this recipe was because i had everything! No grocery shopping required.)

The dry ingredients, wet ingredients, and crumb topping

Combined!

Prepped for the oven.

And the finished product!

Definitely worth trying!!

Creation #1: I have a BLOG! (Introduction)

Ok! So my recent successes:

Graduating from Drexel University and obtaining my degree in Design and Merchandising
Celebrating Year 2 in my own place
Successfully caring for and living with an attention deprived cat that never stops meowing
Updating my resume to get the dream entry level position
Applying for a Free Library of Philadelphia library card

Even with these remarkable achievements, I have yet to figure out what the heck I am doing with myself. I know everyone loves saying the reason why they are so amazing or fly is because they know exactly who they are and what they are doing, which IS pretty amazing, but I must admit I am still searching. I know who I am in many ways, but as these two little things called graduation and the workforce hit, I find it harder and harder to figure out how to get to where I want to be.

So to the point! I have given all of myself the past four years to graduating. Almost every little thing I have created has been to acquire a grade. It has left me feeling drained and somewhat boring. So now i am going to focus on beautiful, creative, talented me!! I am going to rediscover my creativity by creating something everyday for the next 365 days. Gosh, just saying it sounds scary!! Along the way, I will post the things that inspire/inspired me, my crazy thoughts, and hopefully whatever it is I create! So here I ago. Today, it's the blog! Bare with me, as I bare with myself in exploring this thing called a blog and this thing called life!!

Lots of lovvveeee!