Ran 6.48 miles yesterday... my longest run to date. I'm still high. I want to run right now. I may go running before football practice. Anywho. I saw these Asics ads that I loved. I wanted to share them with the aspiring runners out there. GET UP AND GET OUT. Don't worry about anyone but yourself. Your pace, your distance, your run. :0) Just do it! :)

What is more beautiful? A salon blow-dry or feeling the wind in your hair? We believe beauty is real effort made by real runners… Because the jacket breathes as hard as you do, is a truly beautiful thing.

What is beauty? Rosy cheeks painted with blush or the glow from a 10K run? We believe that beauty is real effort made by real runners…

Beauty is often found where you least expect. Its not inside a make-up bag, its halfway up a steep hill or in the final 50m of a tough 10K. Beauty is real effort made by real runners…

Hairstory

So I read a blog on Mane and Chic and totally loved it! Hair is such and important thing to a woman. You can have the cutest outfit on in the world and your hair look a mess and you can't get your swag together. Matter of fact you can end up just looking a mess. I know for me when my hair is a mess or isn't what I want it to be, I have a cloud over my day. No matter how great the day is something is draining me.

My Hairstory

I grew up with extensions in my hair. My hair was always somewhat thin and my aunt just loved spending time learning new styles and trying them out on me. I mean I even remember a picture from when I was about 6 years old with braids. Majority of my school pictures, I had braids. I loved them.

Then came the "Hawaiian Silky" treatment my granny talked me into. Now... I was bamboozled. I wanted hair with the big waves and flowing. Not juicy... just "good hair". Well... it was a Jerhi curl to be real. I remember times when I would be on the bus and lean on the window and leave behind my juice. Totally not pleased. I had that for a few years and then it had to go. (it may not have even been that long). I do believe this came after my first perm... and all I remember about my first perm is that I wore my hair half up half down.

Back to braids and then I started wearing my hair out. It was actually very healthy. I got it done at the shop and it was nice. I think the lack of creativity and the longing to have hair like those with lighter complexions kept me from being pleased. I also wanted my hair to be long. *stomping feet* Long long long.

Then college. I had mom do the longest braids ever. lol. I have to look back on pictures. Long too. I had those for a while, then I remember taking them out and pressing my hair. I had a friend of mine press my hair for me in the dorm. Hair was nice and flowy, I loved it... then... I washed it and had her press it. It wasn't completely dry. The next morning I looked at my hair and I had orangish spikes that were less than an inch long. I DIED. Like... what the heck do you do to your hair. I was upset... I'm sure I cried. Then, like I always do, I rolled on. I went to Oasis salon and had it chopped off. Shaved in the back. I think I nearly died in the chair because I vowed to never get my hair cut that short.

When I had it short I LOOOOOOOVED it. It was easy, but I had to stay in the shop. Gosh I loved it *day dreaming* That was how my hair pretty much stayed. I tried to to grow it out, got frustrated, cut it again. blah blah blah. Some weaves here and there. Man I really loved my short cuts, if only I wasn't in the shop every two weeks spending $80/month...

Ok so I'm going to be honest about how my longing for natural hair started. First I LOVE Locs. I love them so much and I would keep seeing women with them and loving it. I knew that's what I wanted at some point in my life. lol. I even set a time period. Somewhere after I'm married and have my first child. I figure at that point I'll be tired of doing my hair. lol. Anywho. I was getting ready to go out and I hated how my hair held up in the club... because it truly didn't. Not matter what I did, my hair looked a hot mess. So while I was walking through downtown Decatur, GA I saw a wig and I loved it! And thus it began.

(NYE 2007)

I would wear wigs all the time. I stayed in the beauty supply trying to find a new style, color, whatever. As I wore the wigs, I cut my hair. Every few weeks, I would cut more off in order to get to where the perm was all gone. Looking at mane and chic's blog this totally could relate to relationships. Slowly but surely I was pulling away and cutting off more and more as time went by. I knew I wanted something healthier than what I had... I knew I wanted to get rid of the harsh treatment... I had my eye on the future.

Once my hair grew too much for wigs, I decided to work with some natural products. I ordered Carol's Daughter. Liked it ok, but there was something about it.

I did my hair in natural twists and wore that for quite some time. Then FINALLY... I let it all hang out. I went to my stylist and had her do a semi-BC (big chop) and color it. In hindsight I should have let her cut off any ounce of perm she saw. Hair generally acts better when it's all one thing. Either permed or natural... when you have a mix you have to be careful. So after the color and chop I pressed on.

(April 2008)

It took some getting used to, but I loved it! I did a lot of coiling. With my finger and with a comb. This is coiling. I did do twist outs and bantu knots. I think of all the natural styles the knots are my favorite. They are somewhat easy, and I love the curls I get.

(Nov 2008)

OH! Let me not forget. A friend of mine told me about titanium flat irons and hooked me up one time. **sidebar: I was told to put saran wrap on your hair to make it flowy and all nice... well my genius decided to saran wrap my hair on Friday night.. Sabbath I woke up with nicely moist frazzled hair... I was so done. Now I try new styles on Thursdays.** Ok so yes. She flat ironed it and it was PHENOMENAL. It moved better than any perm had ever moved. One little boy asked me why his mom's hair didn't move like mine. I was so excited. Until I tried to go back to my curls.

The flatness (Thanksgiving 2008)

I did a lot of knots when I realized my hair wasn't going back. Then I went back to twists for a rest and used regular Kanekalon and curled the ends. I had to let my hair grow back and let my hair rest a little. I loved that... but of course that got old after time. :) The edges would NOT go back and I was not happy. Every time I washed it my hair was coming out. Until I had chunks of colored hair coming out. In Feb 2009 I cut all my color off. (so that simulated doing a BC in April 2008) I don't plan on ever using a titanium iron again. I had it pressed with a ceramic iron and it was great and I stuck with that.

(Sept 2009)

(Dec 2009)

Then I got a super duper weave of Indian hair in January 2010. I loved it! I generally dislike weaves, but i loved this one! It was light and airy, I could wash it and I could feel my scalp. I removed that last monday (April 12 2010) *phew*

(April 2010)

Hmm to say the adjustment was easy would be dishonest. I had my hair in twists from August until December and then pressed and weaved and pressed and weaved... then a sew-in... so i hadn't seen my natural hair since last summer on the regular. First, of course I wished my hair was as long and lovely as the weave. It wasn't. It's like when you sing at the top of your lungs with headphones on thinking you soung just like Whitney Houston. Reality hit me. Stopped the tracks. I felt so ugly. I can't lie. I LOVED having my hair and scalp back, but I leaned on that hair. I got used to it. I thought about how some guys would look at me differently, or not look at all. I thought about how I'd miss feeling hair on my back. I press on.

(Last week)

Now, done a full two-strand set for the week (I hope... more than likely i'll untwist them tomorrow). My hair is kissing my shoulders so I'm happy. It's not as long as I want it to be, but it's growing and it's healthy. :) Steady pressin. I can't explain it, but there's nothing like being natural. Nothing like it.

(Today)

MCM 2010. Week One

Soooo I'm super excited and nervous. I have taken the first step to running this marathon. I printed out a schedule... dude... I'm freakin nervous and I'm only running 3 miles today. like um... yeah that's not alot. smh. I'm just looking down the road like... naw I can't make it...

I was reading one site and they said that you have to get used to being on your feet for hours... HOURS... running for HOURS! what the cuss? *sigh* hours... then I thought back to my 10K... I ran for an hour... so... judging by my wack pace... it would take me over 4 hours to finish a marathon... do I care?? yes : / I freakin want to be the best. I'm intimidated... but there are three good things about this... I have a goal. I plan to reach that goal. I'll lose weight. oh gosh... oh there are bonus things too... running is so peaceful, so joyful, so awesome! :) I can't wait. So although today will only be 3 miles which is supposed to be tomorrow by my calendar, but I'm already amped to go running (my problem will be resting on the days I'm supposed to and not just running when i feel like it... but I'm DOIN IT... next week... cuz a heifa is runnin today)

LETS GO!
#Club209

April rant :) GET UP AND GET OUT!

Alrighty Ighty

So it's been almost exactly a month. Here I am again. Jeez I need to blog more.

life.
Life is precious I saw that this past week. A friend of mine passed away who was an amazing man and it was crazy how quickly things can change. I mean how many of us tell someone that we'll se them next week and wonder if we'll make it there. Not that I'm saying we should be afraid, but... just live. Live your life, each day. Of course you have to work or go to school or whatever else... but take that random trip to Africa or New Orleans or Japan or even down the street to get some crazy dessert that you always wanted to try. DO IT! That's my new thing. I generally do it around my birthday, do something new every day... but seriously I want to try to do the things I desire as if... "my life depends on it" I want to reach out for the Joy that's out there because my heart needs it. When they say laughter is good for the heart it really is. I literally felt it the other day. Frowning really can't get you anywhere... crying from time to time is cleansing... but really... WHAT is the good of frowning... unless some random dude is trying to holler... but that wouldn't call for a frown... a mean mug would be just fine for that ;) or you can smile while you walk by like you didn't hear him *phew sidebar... lol* yeah so um... live your life. Be amazing NOW. Don't put things off. You have an idea to do something amazing. DO IT! :)

Now... um oooh... PJ MORTON... of course you know I love his music! And there's a new album out... GO GET IT. It comes out tomorrow, but iTunes has it out now... get it! I really can't explain why because I'd be forever. Check his page, look him up on youtube. like now... orrrr maybe in a little bit.

*sigh* oh today I'm supposed to be mowing my lawn :-/ we shall see... I REALLY don't want to AT ALL. I want to just go running. I may put it off... in that case... running >> mowing a lawn... mowing the lawn won't enhance my life or prepare me for the MCM at all.

Ooh yes this year I plan to do the Marine Corps Marathon! I can't wait! It was one thing that my friend Nathan keeeeept pushing and I really want to do it this year. I need to get on the ball in my training. :) I'm excited.

Um... speaking of that... I HATE riding in a bus... nig... 12 hours back to back? the worst. The reason for the trip helped me see the bright side... and the funny people and whatever... but Lord knows... oh my. TIRED... and you just sit there. *shrug*

Yeah... so nothing else I can think of except. I really am totally loving my real genuine friends/sisters. :) I do love them so. God has blessed.

SPEAKING OF! I'm so glad my nephew-child was born he's the cutest baby EVER! I think he's the first newborn I've held too :) yay!

I'm too lazy to give y'all pictures... so... if you're to bored to read it because I don't have pretty things on it... oh well.

lata lata

March Randomness

My blog really isn't ever organized. It just is. *shrug* anywho... Life

First off it's still cold and I'm over it. I need it to be spring and stay spring. Chances of that happening is slim because the weather here is bipolar.

Gosh... *thinking* hmmm...

Facebook... oh yes. I left the other day. I thought about it for some time, and it was mentioned on Twitter... so that was all I needed. Do I miss it? Somewhat. I miss checking on my friends and what not. But we all have one another's number, so if it's that important we can communicate via phone. I don't miss the invites. I don't miss wondering if someone is going over my page and not actually saying anything to me. (Stalkers)

Working out
OOOOOOOOOOOOH yes :) That has been the most exciting thing in 2010. So far I've only missed one week of doing 4/week. I doubled up the first two days and was really busy the last two so I sucked at life. It's been awesome. I really enjoy this Nike Training Club App on the iPhone. I do HATE that it has glitches... it's rather annoying when I'm in the middle of a workout, however it gives me more time in between :) I want to turn my garage into a gym. Like really. Full out... but I know I can't. We shall see. One benefit of working out at home is that there are NO excuses. Not whatsoever. The downfall is that you have to have a little more motivation. Me personally I try to have my workout clothes laid out and I change for my workout when I get home, so no matter what I do, I'm already ready already. Healthy eating... is another story. I'm trying. No meat... well... I said trying. It's not something I'm committed to yet. I will say that yesterday when I did the thang post-workout was AWESOME. I felt like I could run a mile or so.

Anywho... I have nothing interesting to talk about right now. *shrug* so... eruh...

iShuffle

When you do Quick Mix on Pandora it's pretty much a mishmash of all your stations no matter the genre. It can be weird to transition between Kim Burrell and Erykah Badu, but it happens *just happened to me*

Does it mean that the secular music that in the shuffle is so "of the world" that there is no God?
Does it have totally different agendas?
Can you listen to Kirk Franklin, Talib Kweli, Richard Smallwood and Lupe in the same sitting?

These are things I'm still thinking on... feel free to comment.

iPad blurb

Ok so I gotta blog about it because everyone has so much to say about it or whatever.

The PROs:
It's a nice device. Innovative? I can't quite say because technically it's a mishmash of what Apple was already innovative in creating. I suppose the mishmashing is what makes it innovation.

iBook. I'm excited about this. I enjoy reading and it'll be cool to use. All the features in this are cool.

There aren't as many pros because the basic features that iPhone/MacBook Pro has are already something I'm a fan of.

The CONs:
disclaimer: My perception is based on wanting a MacBook Pro and considering this as a substitute like a Netbook

There is no multi-tasking. I already abhor my iPhone for this one thing. This only makes it worse. Especially because it has so many capabilities. However, in the iPad's defense, it's not a phone, so you shouldn't be concerned about responding to a text interrupting your Pandora listening experience, you just have to worry about everything else doing that. And actually there is an app for texting... so... yeah... #fail

There isn't a camera. Plain and simple.

No Flash. smh. I already hate going to miniscule websites and not having Flash... now I have a full 9.7" screen that won't allow me to do this? *sigh* #fail

The screen could be bigger. No biggie, it just could be.


Right now I can't think of anything else. I think other than those concerns its awesome! It just won't be bumped above my MacBook Pro in my priority list. 9 times out of 10 I'll have one at some point.

#twistory 101 vol.1

Well alright... this is my take on #twistory101

Jeez where do we start... well hmm... first @pink82 and @trniii are super veterans. They were even on twitter before I was. I'm not sure who else was on there because I wasn't there, nor did I follow them.

@trniii loves to start stuff. Doesn't matter how late he is. Most times he's just wanting to stir stuff up. He used to talk about #boobworship, but he doesn't anymore. He's an instigator. Um... he also has been in the midst of many a tweef. He has podcasts about twitter and when we started tweeting more heavily he even started doing interview or "twinterviews" of different tweeps.

@pink82 well what can I say about her. She WAS supposed to be my TweeFF but she rejected me. We love to tweef. Most times we agree and just tweef on minor lame details. Some famous tweefs:

Saturn's being "good" cars

Plan B being so readily available

Burger King sandwich blowjob ad

Portland being "city" and Huntsville being "country"

Oh gosh I know there were more, but I can't think of any right now. lol... good times :)

Anywho she's hilarious and she also likes starting stuff and disagreeing.

Now for the hashtags... gosh... this is gonna start some stuff.

#leighjason: guy who says he's straight... but all signs point to something else...

#thesnuggler: LOL! a person who was snuggling at the wrong time completely

#boobworship: praise for all things tiggobitty

#BBG: *whoop whoop* Big Booty Girls

#CTM: cut the maddness/mess or chuck to myself... this started out as a discussion about using lol so lightly and not actually laughing out loud when you type it... so ctm was born. Some people thought it was lame so it was abused. It then became "cut the mess/maddness" and was directed towards said developers of the lameness.

#IDWNT: *lol* I don't want no trouble... generallly used when a tweef is on the horizon or could be birthed by a tweet. Made famous by Jackie Chan and @codemaker.

#WNRFHL: With no regard for human life. *LMBO!* this one is basically is a "I don't care" without regarding anyone else etc (actually close to what the eff the world FTW means)

#shoutouttomyex: self explanatory... feel free to use that at any time that you think of the lameness your ex did. Calling them out without calling them out.

Gosh... I can't think of any others that we use.

Oh and personal history?? My first name was @theperfectverse and it was too long... so it changed to @LaydiLex. Then there was a need for another account because #1 you can get locked out of twitter and when you do you're usually in the middle of something so you don't want interruption and #2 my account is private so I can't tweet people who aren't following me without it. There was a tweef about that too. :)

signed

@LaydiLex

In The River... On the Bank

Man...

Sometimes you're flowin. You catch the pattern... then they sneak one in on you. If you tip-toe you may just make it.
Gotta have quick reflexes.
You'll be in that river, enjoying it... sailing along... then that bank comes in and startles you.

JumP

Cool... walking is fine...
Skip
Up and down, round and round.
Water
Life-jacket. 1. 2.. 3...

JumP

The stream becomes your net. The depth is unknown
Rock bottom becomes your bank... once again
The river's a bank with water
The bank's a dried up river
Can't keep up
Narration is fuzzy
On the bank instead of in the river
In the river instead of on the bank

...I quit
I'll just play Uno

God Does...

This morning I just thought something random.

If God is cell phone service.
A particular religion/denomination is the carrier.
Within the carrier each person picks the phone that best suits them in order to have the features they need.

God... wanting God, having God is just the desire to have phone service. No matter the provider.

Can You Hear Me Now?
There are so many different carriers. Some have better voice service, some better data... (follow me...) some are decent for both. Sometimes your decision for a carrier depends on how much you are willing to pay. You may see that a carrier is better suited for your needs and seems to have better service/data, but you can't afford it. You may settle for a service based on what you can afford or based on which phone you want. If it has the features... you sign another contract and press on.

#PhoneDrama
Some are not advanced so they pick the phone that will keep them connected. They aren't concerned with frills they just need things simply done. Durable. Insured and ready to go.

Some are slightly techy so they pick the phone that has a few bells and special features. They want to connect with the carrier, have great service and be able to do more through their carrier. They want to be able to use other forms of communication like email and internet as well.

Then there are still some that are waiting for the best thing out there. They want all the special features. They want to be able to reach many through their carrier. Traveling is something they plan on doing so they need something that can go international.

There are some... some that don't really care what carrier they have... they just need a phone. Sometimes they do without a phone. *shrug* doesn't matter. Sometimes they will have the shiniest nicest appearing phone... and no service. They got the phone that didn't suit them completely but that looked good. They aren't connected.

What will you do with your service... after all... service means nothing if you aren't staying connected and reaching others...

...this was a little rough... a little random... but share your thoughts and texts...