A Journey To Natural: THE HUMIDITY!!!!!

As I sit here, admiring this lovely Memorial Day weekend. The sun and heat that I love has returned to the DMV and I'm beyond ready to step out to barbeques and pool parties. And who doesn't love happy hour bar hopping when its 80 degrees as the sunsets? I'm all about that life. Unfortunately, my un-relaxed hair is feeling some type of way about my lifestyle choices. I'm stuck. I really hate how I have to spend so much time to get my natural leave out nice, just to step outside and poof up. From my house to my job, I'll clock in looking as if I have a little poodle sitting on my head. Its annoying. However, I will not let a little humidity make me stray from my goals. While I write this, I'm researching different products for us natural girlies that can control some of the "poof". I've experimented with different edge control products to see if I can keep the hair laying down, but after some time I always get some poof. I'm considering doing a full weave or closure but I didn't necessarily want to pay the price, so over the next couple of hot weeks, I'll be reviewing several products to see which ones work best for me.
Mizani's Spradiance
Chi Silk Infusion
Sabino Block (maybe called Loc & Bloc)
Garnier Frutis Anti Frizz Serum
Mane N Tail Hair Dressing.
I'm praying I find the best one first, I refuse to have to suffer the poof all summer. I failed to mention that I re-installed my Brazilian hair last week. I'm actually very pissed off about the quality of this hair. I have TONS of shedding and its barely holding curls. I guess this was a lesson learned. I will never purchase hair from the girl that supplied these bundles. However, this was a great hair to experiment with. I was able to go on a crash course, if you will, on how to care for "higher quality" hair before I went on a big splurge. I do plan on purchasing 3 bundles (praying for 2 18' and 20' ) of Malaysian in the near future. I'm currently looking for a RELIABLE vendor. There are so many different hair vendors in this hair market, who can you trust?
Any recommendations???
Look out in the near future for a Vlog entry on the products.

U-try-it Recipe: Jerk Chicken

Who gets tired of chicken? Me. I absolutely despise chicken sometimes. I've been searching for recipes to make chicken less... boring. Here's a spin of Jerk Chicken. Not too spicy with a little sweet twist. I love this chicken!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
10-20 pieces of chicken
1/4 cup vegetable oil

Directions

Make the jerk rub by combining the salt, allspice, brown sugar, onion powder, garlic, nutmeg, pepper, ginger, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and thyme. Toss the chicken pieces with the spice mixture, then cover, and marinate in the refrigerator 2 to 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour the vegetable oil into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Place the chicken pieces skin-side up into the baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 20 minutes, until no longer pink near the bone. Turn the oven on to broil, and cook until the skin crisps, 2 to 5 minutes.

Here is the chicken after I marinated it for 4 hours... this is the most important part!!!

yummmmmmmmmyyyy!! It smells sooo good coming out of the oven

I served the chicken with cabbage ( Click here for my recipe for the cabbage ), rice (box brand) and cornbread. Dinner was a delicious and it was great to take to work.

Recipe was found at Allrecipes.Com

Prom 2012

My little cousin Qishawn went to her prom Friday, May 11. I had the pleasure of testing my "makeup artist" skills on her. She took me through the MOTIONS preparing for this prom, but what high school senior isn't excited about their prom. I think I almost committed suicide because my dress wasn't finished being sewn until three days before. Qishawn looked beautiful and I was proud to be apart of her night.

First I used my MAC "spiked" eyebrown pencil to fill in her brows. She had her brows waxed earlier that day but didn't like the look. I actually had to persuade her to let me do them. After much back and forth, she finally let me. I used MAC concealer to make the brow pop and she supplied her own foundation. For her eyes, I placed MAC "Aquadisiac" about 3/4 of her lid. I applied MAC "Sketch" in the outer V of her lid. I used a 252 large shader brush to apply both shadows. I used a 224 tapered blending brush to blend the Sketch into the Aquadisiac. I used MAC "Dazzlelight" to highlight the brow. For her lip I used NYX "Gold Pink" megashine lip gloss. She loved her look... my family almost lost it when they laid eyes on her. I am NO WAY a makeup artist... but I enjoy the transformation process. Seeing her face after she saw how I worked made me feel good inside. Makeup has become a hobby and I hope to continue to make others feel as good as she did on her night.

Thursday Tunes (lol)

I know.. I know.. Its not Tuesday but I had two finals since Tuesday and now I finally have time to catch my breath. Here's what I'm listening to...

As I stated last week... I'm a Meek Mill fan. I first heard Meek on Rick Ross' Pandemonium with Wale and asked myself "Who the hell is this yelling at me on the track?" But, I begin to listen to his lyrics and started to admire his delivery and flow. His first Dreamchaser mixtape still gets major play in my car. Dreamchasers 2 still has the same grit and hunger that he brought us with the first mixtape. My favorite tracks are Burn, Amen, and The Ride.

Also in rotation is Jadakiss' Consignment. It has the same street rap I was looking for Young Jeezy to bring with TM103 (but was sadly disappointed). I love drug/numbers rap and Jada takes it there. I'm not a huge Jadakiss fan but this mixtape GOES. I'll probably have it in rotation for a while. My favorite tracks are Paper Tags, By The Bar, Respect It, Traffickin, and Count It... By the way, did you everything you'd hear Jadakiss and Gucci Mane on a track together... I didn't lol. Jada put EVERYBODY on this mixtape.

And I'm still listening to Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Allderdice. For some strange reason, I've been blasting O.N.I.F.C repeatedly. Good top open-riding music. Enjoy!

Foodie Review: Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill

On Sunday night, we ventured east on route 50 and ended up in Crofton, MD. We ended up at The Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill. The Blue Dolphin sits off MD- Route 3 in a small strip mall. When we pulled up, I didn't really know what to expect. On the ride there, I was thinking fine cuisine so the strip mall threw me off for a little. I would be shocked and amazed at how good the food and drinks were. When we walked in, we noticed the posted hours were until 2am! We decided to sit at the bar. I took a good look around, it was a cozy atmosphere. This spot is perfect for a dinner date, family dinner or even dinner and cocktails. I ordered my favorite Patron Margarita, Tyree ordered a Long Island and Jay ordered Kettle One and pineapple. Our bartender nailed the drinks. My margarita was THE BOMB.

The menu is pretty extensive. This normally annoys me but everything on the menu sounded great. The long list of tasty appetizers features crab balls, crab dip, carpaccio, oysters, clams, Thai spring rolls, mussels and the king of all appetizers, The Blue Dolphin Sampler- Shrimp, Scallops, Crab Balls, Sirloin Beef Tips served with various veggies. Tyree ordered that. I browsed the soups and salad menu and picked a cream of crab soup. My soup was pretty tasty- lump crab meat with a creamy white sauce. My only complaint would be that the sauce was a little too creamy for me.

The entree menu featured seafood (of course), steaks, veal, chicken, pastas, sandwiches, maki rolls, and various combo platters. Tyree ordered Stuffed Lobster tail, Jay ordered Crab Imperial (which he had NO idea what a crab imperial was!!! We ended up taking that to my Aunt and he ordered crab cakes.) I ordered the Surf and Turf, Filet Mignon and a lobster tail. A few drinks later, our food came. Everything was extremely good. My steak, which I ordered medium well was cooked well done. I thought about ordering another steak, but I shrugged it off. I was pleased with our meal. I tasted Jay's crabcakes.. and geezus they were good. No fillers, all JUMBO LUMP CRAB MEAT. I would consider the Maryland Crab Cake to be my all-time favorite food. These crabcakes would probably come in 2nd place of my best tasting cakes.

All and all, I would definitely go back. I've done a little research and read that there is a happy hour Monday- Friday, 3-7pm which features domestic and imported drafts, $1.00 off all cocktails, 1/2 price appetizers and 1/2 price bottle of wine (offered all day and night Monday to Friday). They also have weekly specials Monday- Thursday.

Check out The Blue Dolphin Seafood Bar and Grill. Great food, great drinks.

Tuesday Tunes

So... *clears throat* If you didn't know. I'm a huge Meek Mill fan. I know I'm late to this freestyle he did on Hot 97, but so what. You probably didn't see it either lol

This Rick Ross feat. Chrisette Michelle track is pretty old but I love Ross' lyrical expertise and Chrisette's ablility to ride the beat with her voice is amazing!!

Another not-so-new... Frank Ocean's Thinking About You.. I actually first heard this song on Bridget Kelly's mixtape "Every Girl". Hearing a male sing it makes the lyrics feel different to me..