365 Days

Last week was a big one for us. Our son turned 1 year old!! What a year it has been. It seems to have gone by so quickly, but many of those days seemed soooo long in the moment when trying to get in my groove and become accustomed to being a mom. Maxson has truly been a blessing to our family, and watching him grow and develop more and more each day just amazes me more than I ever knew it could.

We had a small celebration on his actual birthday last week with just hubby and I, and my mom/his grandmom, and a bigger party with our family and friends over the weekend.

Here are some pics!

Brief Intermission...

To be honest, the world has been so heavy to me even more so lately. With the political mess, constant bad news being reported (both online and off), overwhelming social media consumption, and people using me as their constant vent-piece -- I needed a break. I decided to take one, and to take my own advice mentioned in a previous blog post from 2016. This past Sunday, I removed my social media apps from my phone indefinitely. It's definitely helping, not constantly seeing everyone else's life and trying to keep up with hundreds of people on a daily basis.

My childhood and adolescent years were internet free. Times were a bit slower. I miss that. The internet wasn't even a thing until I was mid-way through college, so I've lived half my life without all of the additional noise. To be honest, most days I'm still not used to it. I need breaks, time to process thoughts before I'm presented with the next thing. I admire people who can go without any online presence whatsoever - I know a few. Who knows, maybe one day, I can do the same.

Until then... I'm enjoying my quiet time and quality time with my husband, my son, and the rest of my close family and friends. I'm focusing on them, and being present instead of having my face in my phone, missing priceless moments. I may even have time to update this blog a little more, get more creative ideas. What I do know, is - I am definitely looking forward to learning what God wants to reveal to me in this season. :)

xo
KeetaRay

Bold, Fearless

Wow, I honestly didn't mean to be away for 5 months! I hope everyone has been doing well. It's officially 2019, and from what I've been hearing from friends and family, and seeing online - everyone is glad 2018 is over (I can't say I feel the same, though).

My Loc Journey

In June I decided I needed a change. I had been toying with the idea of loc'ing my hair for a few years, but was afraid to commit in the past because I like to change my hair so often. I also didn't know just how versatile locs were. I realized over the years I was either covering my hair with wigs, weaves, braids, or twists, or just wearing my own natural hair in a bun or puff. I started to hate doing my hair, and I would choose styles that would allow me to not have to deal with it for some time. I went natural back in 2008 and have experimented a lot in the last 10 years. Now, with being a mom and just more responsibilities in general (i.e., less free time), I'm looking for simplicity in anything I can. That includes my hair. I also just think locs are beautiful. When I decided to loc my hair, I started a private board on Pinterest just for locs . I started watching YouTube videos on how to start them and maintain them, and found so many women on Instagram whose locs I admired. I made the appointment last month for starter locs in July (the loctician I went to was super booked and that was the soonest I could get. Mind you, I was super excited and having to wait was KILLING me Lol). I didn't even tell anyone, just my husband and my sister. I didn't want to give space for any possible negativity (you know how some people are and how they can be close-minded).

Here is a pic of my starter locs on Day 2. I pinned the coils up on one side.

pinned up on one side

Below are some pics of my hair before getting my starter locs, and how my hair is now with them. The loctician used the comb coil method and diamond parting (this parting method shows less scalp which is perfect for me because my hair isn't super thick - though it appears to be in pics - it's an illusion).

Gratitude

It's so easy to get caught up in the mundane day-to-day tasks, but when we stop to actually realize how blessed we are, it changes everything. Just a super short blog post today to remind ourselves to stop, breathe, and be thankful for life.

xo