a special birthday vacation

freestyle updo

appreciation, revisted

...i can pay my own light bill baby...can kill the spider above my bed...i can even stain and polyurethane...but some things just don't change. i need you, yeah. sometimes so hard to say. oh i need you. some things remain...

as independent and self-sufficient as i wanna be,
nothing can replace
the loving embrace
from the man standing next to me.
surely,
i can flourish
all by my lonesome, you see,
yet, with his super strength supporting me,
i'm scraping skies
and reaching beyond new galaxies.
even as i'm superwoman to the power of 3
nothing can substitute
the supreme, sublime feeling
of his love enveloping me.
physically only 5 foot 3,
still i rise taller
than the biggest giant you've ever seen
when he's standing firmly next to me.
he's my best thing to happen
in a long time,
indeed.
i may not say it often enough,
but today i felt the need,
"thank you for being you,
thank you more for loving me."

the growth process

i cannot believe how much my hair has grown. it's already touching my shoulders and tends to fall into my eyes...i was diggin my short locks, but now they're too long to be short and too short to be long...uh, that in-between, mop phase...oh well. im still in love with my hair...now if i could just get on schedule with retightening my hair...

new years eve 2009

retirement party

feeling kinda '80s

black tie event

family reunion

summer in the city

11 months on lock down...

i'm a month shy of my one-year loc-versary....funny how i used to think that a year was such a LONG time to wait.... i remember when i first started researching sisterlocks back in may '08...wondering how long it would take my hair to lock....wondering if i could stick with my locs long enough to see them mature....wondering if i'd get bored and go back to the days of perms and braids....wondering what i would do if i didn't like the end result....i fretted so much before having my locks installed. looking back, i only wish that i had locked my hair sooner.

much to my joy, i've never regretted my decision to get sisterlocked once. i was locked in june '08. my hair took to locs SO well - no slippage! no problems, no issues (except occasional dry scalp). my hair began locking 4-5 months into the process. my consultant used to say that i had "perfect locs" because of the density and texture of my hair (who knew how great nappy hair could be?!). i began diy retightening back in dec '08, using the nappylocs kit and youtube videos as a guide....never did take the SL class... yep, me and my hair have come a long way...

in time, i've realized...

* my hair always looks good, whether i style it or not, whether it's freshly tightened or not. even on a "bad hair day," a quick wash freshens my locs and sets 'em back on track.

* i love walking in the rain when it's warm outside (and watching everyone else take cover. yeah, umbrellas are optional)

* even though i have open ends and my center part is off-center, my SLs are perfectly imperfect and fit me to a "T"

* i can never wear a wig again (at least not while i still have my natural hair). i tried, but it's just not me anymore.

* i love the feel of my bf playing with my hair. (he was hesitant to play with my wigs & weaves for obvious reasons)

* i enjoy styling my hair more now than ever (i used to HATE combing my hair, hence the wigs and braids of past lives)

* diy is not as scary as i first thought it was. with practice and care, i've learned to minimize my use of hair scissors to, um, correct mistakes ;o)

* i think i'm ready to test a conditioner, but still cautious about ruining my hair


do you have any words of wisdom gained since you locked your hair?

friend's wedding

reflections from the ICU: a new grad perspective

feb 11, i passed the rn-nclex exam (state boards); feb 13, i began orientation at Mt Sinai Hospital, a "national model for urban healthcare" that serves the west side of Chicago. i started on the unit (CCU/MICU) on mar 2. i now have about 8 weeks of experience under my belt. though time management remains a HUGE issue for me (i know, i know, with time, i'll get better), i feel very comfortable in my specialty choice. i couldn't imagine working the floor, mostly because i enjoy concentrating on the total care of only 2 patients. the unit is always busy; and though my orientation time has been more focused on keeping up with the patient load than teaching, i feel like i'm learning something new everyday. my preceptor and i have a great relationship, but i work well with most anyone on the foor. some people are catty, but that goes with the territory. my biggest challenges now are being able take breaks or eat lunch, keep up with new orders (still using paper charts), AND finish all of my documentation by the end of shift. part of this will come from telling people "NO," meaning, i cannot help clean or turn patients at 5:30pm if i'm not caught up on my pt's meds, documentation, etc. my goal for the next week is to focus on being caught up by 4pm, so that i can ease into change of shift with no problem. the issue with this is that 4:30pm-6pm seems to be what i call "the witching hour". that time period when all hell breaks loose. when patients crash and codes are called. or a critical new admit comes up to the floor from the ER, crashing while we hook him up to the monitors. some days you can almost feel the tension in the air, you know that something's about to jump off. other days start off just fine, then tumble like an old person on a long flight of stars. overall, i welcome the challenge, but there are days when i leave work feeling like i just fought a heavyweight title match. and lost. but i haven't come home crying, nor am i ready to throw in the towel. rather, i look forward to putting on my cute scrubs and jumping into the day head first.

cousin's wedding