Relax, Relate, and Release

Well this week we went on a family /faculty retreat. It was a nice resort. There were lots of activities for us to enjoy such as the various pool areas, golf, water skiing and spa treatments. The purpose of the retreat was for us to renew our minds and refresh ourselves as well as reset goals for our children(our students). We had so much food to eat. We have the best school in the world. At our elementary school we have over 700 children and 42 faculty members approximately. If I told about the technology we have and the tons of resources at our daily disposal you would contact the local school districts to find out why every school is not as equipped as ours. We are so awesome that we have a waiting list for kids and people who want to work there. In my classroom, I have 6 student computers, in focus machine(data projector), document camera, etc..... We have several smart boards and video conferencing material where our children can go on virtual field trips or interact with kids around the country and the world!!!

We focused on 5 levels of communication and strategies to effectively communicate which was facilitated by our counselor who is from Puerto Rico. I love her because she is so innocent and genuinely nice. There is a pure beauty inside her and her accent is cute because her English is not great so it's cute when she talks because you can picture her brain trying to find the word in English that she so desperately wants to say in Spanish. She used to be a nun! You just want to kiss her. I learned lots about myself and what others thought of me. I am not surprised by their comments. Most people stated that I was honest, straight forward, supportive, blunt/no nonsense, knowledgeable and determined. I know that I am a problem solver and I like lists. I like to know details. I want to work on being flexible and taking things lightly. I should lighten up. I am very sensitive but no one knows that. Whenever I say that people say "not you" "no way". They don't know it's my barrier. Last year when I was nominated Teacher of Year I was shocked and I told the principal I thought other people were more worthy because I don't like attention. I guess my humility is another attribute.

No Freestyling for Me

My photographer and I made up! :) Well I have discovered that I can't freestyle it is not for me at this time. My locks look like limp noodles when they are not curled a little. This week I had a workshop for three days and I felt a little self-conscious about my hair. Of course no one knew that but me but I avoided the mirror in the bathroom during the workshop. I return to work in 2 weeks and one day this week our faculty has a retreat so I am still working on hairstyles. I realize that I have to do sponge rollers everynight until I get length. When I had the permed ends I could wake up in the morning spray my hair with water and roll on rods for at least 30 minutes and take them out before I walked out the door and have a head full of curls. This is not the case not anymore. Dang the point of cutting out the perm was so that I would no longer have this routine in the morning of rolling my hair and I could get up, get dressed, spritz and go. Oh well I have to roll on sponge rollers until my hair gains some length in the next 3 months which is cool. My ultimate styling option is the braid out with in which I can wear for a couple of days and curls that last for a couple of days. Well I know that day is coming just not today.

Docudrama " My Photographer is trippin"

My photographer is in red! He was in the bell choir at school last school year. Don't be fooled by the cuteness! It's a trick! I fall for it daily!( I wore corn rows for my last month of transitioning when I didn't want to comb any more) pic Dec 07>>>>pics to the right Aug 08

Today I styled my hair using sponge rollers. However the curls were too tight intially for my taste( in regards to loc styles) so I spritzed with water and the steam from the shower helped to loosen the curls. I have this sort of shag layered look that I like for the moment.

My five year old photographer is trippin! He just snaps the picture, he doesn't ask if I'm ready or nothing. This is two pictures out of ten. The other eight are a hot mess! I have a missing head! As a matter of fact, I don't think he looks at the picture in the lil" window All I see is flashing lights. Then he has the nerve to act like I'm bothering him. Now I know you think I am exaggerating so I have to put up the third picture of me reading something that just aggravated the mess out of me. Of course the photographer took a picture of that. Lil paparazzi in the making! :) Gotta love em! Did I tell you he is my personal food police? Always asking me if what I'm eating is healthy. I can't eat pringles in peace. Gotta go the nine year old feels it's his turn to use the computer.

Question: What is the biggest room in the world?

Answer: The room for improvement!

How can your improve your life or the lives of others? How can you be better at home, at church, at work , and in the community?

Just call me "Edward Scissor Hands" Somebody Stop Me

(Before the snip and the "BIG TRIM) Lots of relaxed ends! I started with only 2 inches of natural hair. I transitioned for almost 9 months before having my sisterlocks installed by Ms. Hill . (Creyole blogged about her before.)

I couldn't resist snipping some more. I am compulsive. I have to finish something once I start.(why doesn't this compulsiveness kick in at the gym?)I took off all the permed ends. I will get a final trim when I make a year. Wow look at this progress. I am only 7 months. I decided why keep an inch of perm so I just took the scissors the next day and continued snipping. So this is a side view. This is the back of my head. You can see just a few bunches on the ends and some curly ques. I looked fully locked. At 7months. After I snipped I washed my hair with a clarifying shampoo and banded because I wasn't sure if any of the locks would unravel which is why you have to be careful when your snip. I retightened my back and my hairline because my hair tends to slip when washed.
This is the rest of my hair. Now the pictures reflect the relaxer that was placed in the sisterlock pattern as well. When I snipped before, I snipped only the loose ends that I could curl but this time I snipped where the natural hair and the relaxed hair in the pattern meet.(that pile of hair is mini sisterlocks done to my relaxed hair which never would have locked in the first place) Before snipping I had to feel where the locked hair stopped and snip at that point. I guess it is true that relaxed hair will never lock! I often wondered because people with straight hair lock their hair and I wondered if the permed ends would look like that when locked. Well at least for me it didn't.

Today I threw on my sundress and a cute lil bohemian bag that I draped across my shoulders and went to my doctor's appt and the grocery store with my wash and wear hair.I took a deep breath ,put on my black leather headband and spritzed and finger combed my hair. I had to keep telling myself that it is "natural to be natural" and "it's ok not to have straight hair" with my hair sticking up all over the place. I looked at some pics of "goodnaps(when she had shorter full locks)" and "southern girl" or just sisters with short cute hair .Wow I will have to take more deep breaths when it's time to go back to work. Our faculty have a retreat in a couple of weeks. I don't think anyone realized I had locks. I don't explain my hair to anyone. I think people thought maybe it was short micro braids. I get asked that a lot in public. Anyway I won't post for a minute until my hair does something like"GROW". I will post about my sister if she lets me take shots of her hair. She thinks I am lame!

7 months