It’s a Journey

When I opened up my instagram today I was met with a fitgirl photo from fitgirl_michelle2015. The photo on the left showed her at the beginning of her journey 4 months ago and the right photo was her recent photo. On the right she looked strong, happy, fit. Before and after photos are powerful because we see the results, we see a side we relate to and we see a side we want to achieve. But the problem is we see nothing else. We don’t see the struggle, the sick days, the days we fell off the training schedule, the tears, the disappointment. Instead, we idolize the desirable pic.

That’s my problem. I tell myself I want to get fit and I’ll start out but, oh, if I don’t see results I get discouraged and eat poorly and I have to start all over again. Well, what if this time, I keep it, I adopt it as my way of life and I keep at it? I want to find out how I would feel being strong, fit and confident. It’s worth it. I want to do it.

My Curly Potential – Bye!

Hey everyone! Thank you for following My Curly Potential for the past few years.

I’ve been thinking it for a while, but had yet to make a decision. I don’t believe I will continue posting on My Curly Potential anymore. I feel like my hair journey is more just a beautiful part of my life and I have loved sharing my journey.

Thank you to all who have watched Rocco grow since March 2012. It’s been fun! I won’t close the site because it’s a little like a time capsule, and point of reference for me.

Thank you again!

It’s A Blizzard #snowday2015

Northwestern BC is getting slapped in the face by a massive snowstorm. I couldn’t get my car out of the driveway even if I wanted to. What’s nice was, no work today. I just have to keep busy so cabin fever doesn’t set in.

I work an hour away from home and yesterday, the snow was getting pretty bad so I left work 3 hours early and caught a ride with my boyfriend. This morning I woke up and the highway advisory had been updated and was the same so I was ok with staying at home. Also, Feb 9 is a holiday so I in fact have a 4 day weekend!

My boyfriend, myself and 4 friends were planning to spend the weekend two hours away in a small town for some skiing. Now I don’t skii, but I was to do it with the bunch just for one. I was more than ok with spending some time in the lodge with a good book and hot cocoa (or wine, let’s be honest). But with this insane weather none of that will be happening. Boo.

Let me tell you what I’ve been up to lately.

Jan 26 a friend I purchase the Fit Girl Guide and we started their 28 Day Challenge. Right now I’m on Week 2 Day 5 of the challenge and I’ve seen progress. Maybe I’ll post the pics here further into the challenge…

What’s tough right now is I am stuck inside my house (thankfully with power…) with nowhere to go and I feel like I want to eat everything yknow? It’s howling wind outside, snow is blowing everywhere, you can barely see anything and I’m on the couch bundled in a blanket and all I can think to do is snack. Snack snack snack. I will do everything in my power to eat my meals in an appropriate portion and fashion and I pray sometime today I will do my half hour workout.

I’ll be honest, so far today all I’ve had is popcorn. A moderate portion of popcorn but nonetheless… popcorn.

I’ve been wearing Rocco under a toque for the entirety of this week to be perfectly honest. I feel like he’s been getting long.. being inside all day I’ll probably have a really good and thorough wash day. here’s hoping!

Man I want chips…

Yes, Zambia in 8 weeks. It’s going to be amazing. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a long time and it’s finally happening. This trip is going to show me a lot about myself, where I come from and those I call family. I’m so excited to meet cousins and aunts and uncles! It’s going to be quite the reunion.

I really thought I had more to say than that…..

I’m Going Home!

I have seen pictures of the red earth but now I get to walk it.

I will see anthills taller than my head. And hear birds whose names I do not know.

I’ve heard the names of family and loved ones but now I get to hug them!

It’s almost too good to be true.

I will see the hospital where I was born and the city that held us until our departure.

I will walk with my mom through her school yard.

I will see the trees that look like someone has sat on them.

I will see a new set of stars. I will see a different set of skies.

I will be surrounded by a language my tongue did not learn.

I will walk.

I will see The Smoke That Thunders. I will feel it on my face and feel the freshness on my skin.

I wil be surrounded by family. I will be loved. I will be home.

Rocco’s Still Going Strong

Finally, today I gave Rocco the attention he’d been missing for the past two weeks. Sundays are my wash days but last week was my boyfriend’s birthday and I didn’t leave enough time to get Rocco washed so I put him up in a high bun and there he stayed… for the next week.

Today I gave him a steam, did some major detangling, got rid of plenty of shed hair, and gave him a good scrub. He’s now moisturized and up in twists. I haven’t been blow drying my hair after washing it lately. I think it’s probably been a good 8 weeks since I’ve last blow dried my hair. It makes for longer twists, and fluffier twist outs but I don’t mind not using heat on my hair for a while and skipping the blow drying saves me quite a bit of time as well.

I really don’t think about Rocco and my hair that much anymore. It’s sort of been absorbed into my life. It’s no longer ‘new’. It’s definitely fun, but it’ now has its place in my life and I know how to make my hair shine and dance and it’s great. Actually, I realized I’ll be 3 years natural in two months. I’m smiling now that I think about it because I can see my face now sitting in that chair. I remember how I felt, I remember the uncertainty and anxiety of my hair falling to the floor and the buzz of the razor. I also remember loving the little curls as they sprouted from my scalp. I remember the ease of wash days and the way I checked my length at certain points, always surprised by its progress.

My hair is now well past my chin and past my collar bone. I know it’s time for a trim with the number of fairy knots I encounter but… at the same time… I’m so happy by how comfortable I am with my hair. With myself. I’ve come quite a ways from my days of buying hair relaxer at London Drugs, putting on my gloves and getting to it. I dreaded each occasion but was happy once it was done. But it never lasted. I’d be right back there 10 weeks later, my scalp burning, my hands covered to protect them from the chemicals and I know I’m in a better place now. I know my hair and scalp are thanking me and I know this is me. Unashamed, free, me.

Cheers Rocco!

Cheers to Another Year!

I’m home. After touching down at 3:30 AM last night, and rolling into bed close to 4:30 AM I’m ready to be home and to get back into the life. I spent a week in Southern BC, vising family on Vancouver Island and meeting my boyfriend in Vancouver for a few days.

My days were spent stuffing my face, walking everywhere, picking up some clothes to round out my wardrobe (had to supplement my jeans), watching the fireplace channel with my 3 year old niece, holding hands with my boyfriend down sparkling city streets, being close to the ocean and eating more waffles than I should! I took a seaplane for the first time, watched some people freak out about a rat running around the closed Starbucks at the Vancouver airport. Aaah, good times.

My Christmas was merry and chill which is the only way I like to go. I’m not about the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season. To me it’s a time to relax and spend some time with those I love. I’m really thankful I was able to do that this break, and I’m also thankful I was able to have two weeks off work to do so!

Since Thanksgiving in October (Canadian style) I gave it a great effort with a friend of mine to push ourselves at the gym. We also held off on beer for those 8 weeks and I really admire us for that. Nearing the end it was getting a little difficult for me. But looking back now, I’m impressed with our enthusiasm at wanting to make some life changes.

While on my trip I really wanted to enjoy the stuff I can’t get while at home so I went full out on sushi, Belgian waffles, poutine, all the goodness I could get my hands on. There’s no way I regret that, plus a lot of that was accompanied by oodles of walking around downtown Vancouver. I’m not going to get into sizes an weight but I want to go back to my passion before. I hit the gym today and took it easy. A girl can’t get fit in a single day, but I’m ready to put in the work this winter and see where I end up once spring rolls around.

~~~

Added to that, I’ve been wondering what’s going to happen to this blog, where I want it to go. It has been a while since I posted last but I know I’ll miss the community, the lessons learned and passed on from this online readership. I love checking up on your guys’ newest posts and seeing what you guys are up to whether it’s with hair, life, fitness, finances or food. I’ll be honest, I don’t think I can give up this blog quite yet. I’ve had an amazing journey from my start back in May 2013 and look where I am now. I hope I can be a source of ideas and I am continually inspired by what I see from all of you.

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I have some goals for this year. I’m sure each of them will unfold in good time and I’ll do my best to share them with you.

Below are some pics of my eats and shenanigans this holiday season.

Night out with my sister-in-law and her step-sister

Just loving life!

Spiralling vegetales for a delicious salad. This was zuchini and cucumber.

The leftover from the spiral. hahahaha!

My NYE dress I found.

The lighting was poor and makes me look hella top heavy but this dress was exactly what I was looking for.

Delicious Malaysian food from Banana Leaf.

My prawn/pepper delicious meal!

Waffles at Nero after Malaysian!

Poutine from Fritz!

Japanese BBQ with my boo.

Belgian waffle breakfast (hehe)

Happy New Year to each of you.

Much love,
Ndeshi

Oh! Bye October? Hi November, Stay and Chat A While

Ouch.. my last post was saying bye to September and when I wasn’t looking October flew out the door too!

I miss you guys so I was happy when I found myself with no plans tonight. I’ve already put on a coat of nail polish, once it’s dry I plan on moisturizing my hair and putting it into chunky twists.

Fitness

I am on my third week of diet/exercise! I find my food choices have improved drastically. I miss chips but I find that allowing myself some yummies in small portions infrequently helps me from going absolutely crazy. My friend S and sometimes L have been at the gym like fiends. And we’ve reached the point where we get bummed out if we miss a day so we’re there quite often. Usually after work. It’s night-time dark by 5:30 PM here (thanks Daylight Savings…) so all I want to do when I get home is jump into my flannies (flannel jammies) and veg. Tonight I’m lucky enough to do that because I ran 10k on the treadmill this morning (ack!). Tomorrow I’ll be gyming in the evening.

Why am I hitting this again so hard? I tried on a couple of dresses I have and was just so done with looking the way I do. I don’t want to gym to get ‘skinny’. I may have said this before. I want to gym so that I can see positive changes in my body. I want to look and feel strong. I want to run easily and I want to be comfortable in the clothes I wear.

My biggest hurdle when working out is definitely my period. It’s not the early mornings or the last 2 kms on the treadmill. It’s feeling like a bag of crap and still putting on my gym wear and getting out there. It’s avoiding foods that make me feel cozy when my insides feel like they’re getting chiseled away at. So let me tell you it’s going to take everything in me to just buckle down and do it.

Life

My bf and I are planning a NYE not here. We’re going to kick it in the big city with a couple friends and enjoy some time off together that isn’t here. I’m really excited. It’s just what I need to look forward to. We’ve both got our time off approved and so we’re going to book hotels/flights this weekend.

Also! Between the two of us we have 3 (potentially 4) holiday work parties to attend. Mine are Friday and Saturday of the same weekend and it just so happens to be on a boat (holla)! To save ourselves from a drive home in what will be plenty of snow, we’ve got a hotel Saturday night and will just take the shuttle there. I’m so excited. It kind of gives me a boost to work out hard so I feel great that weekend.

Raffi has his winter tires on so I’m just waiting for the snow to creep lower down the mountain and eventually cover the town. I do love when it snows. Especially that first full snow. Everything is muted. Quiet. Still. And it looks gorgeous. I’ll have to make sure to capture my surroundings this winter.

It’s also been raining for literally, the past 4 weeks. A solid month of rain. We’ve had 3 rainfall warnings during that time. My new gumboots have definitely made themselves useful.

Rocco

Rocco has been behaving. He rocked a bomb twist out Sunday evening when my bf and his family came over for dinner. He’s so soooft! I’ve gotta moisturize him and put him up so he can stay that way. I also desperately need to order some Shea Moisture Curl Enhancing Smoothie. It’s a great product and keeps my hair moisturized, smelling great and feeling so soft.

Money

I need to do better at budgeting and sticking to it. I can put away a large amount of savings no problem. Then I give myself a little spending money. But then when my money runs out… I end up picking up my Mastercard… I never hold a balance on my card, but that means I have to get the money from somewhere (savings) to cover my purchases. Not the route I want to be taking. So I need to figure that out. But I decided to have an automatic transfer to my RRSP every paycheque so that’s one less thing to worry about. I just need to decide what sort of retirement portfolio I want to take part in… I also need to figure out what that really means, yknow?

I hope you’re all doing well and I can’t believe this year is wrapping up so quickly. It will be Christmas then New Years’ before we know it! I’m thankful for every day I get.

Smiling in the Rain

It’s as though October just arrived and it’s already on it’s way out. Before I know it I’ll be knee deep in snow. I already see it on the tops of some mountains so it’s only a matter of time really. At the moment it has been raining for two weeks solid. We haven’t had a break from it in so long. I saw the sun for about 5 minutes yesterday before it continued its deluge. This prompted me to get new winter/rain boots so now I am equipped for all of the precipitation! And next weekend Raffi will get his winter tires on and he’ll be ready as well!

Rocco

I’ve started wear my hair in smallish braids during the week, taking them down Friday after work and wearing it out on the weekends. This may change once it gets colder and I need to shield my hair from the cold but for right now it’s been working.

A length check is on my list. Just to see what’s happening up there. I can say I have now been natural for 2 years, 7 months and 5 days 😛 I love it!

A hair ‘uh oh’ that happened recently for me… I was at the optometrist doing an eye test and the lady who came in to help the person administering my test (it was her first time) looked at my hair and proclaimed ‘Ooh it’s so cool I want to touch it’ and without waiting for a response proceeded to touch my hair. She then followed that action with ‘Oh it’s so fuzzy, it’s just like Michelle’s’… Uuuuugh. Honestly, I’m not adverse to saying no to people who ask to  touch my hair. But at least give me that chance to say no before you dive in! Holy…

Here are some pics of my love, Rocco.

Deep conditioning. So many coils!

Fitness

I’m doing a sort of fitness/clean-eating challenge with my friend S. We kicked it off on Tuesday, as Monday was Thanksgiving and we wanted to eat all the pie. I want to see some changes so we’ve started a low-carb diet and we’ve been working out together. We both have the same trouble spot: the tire around our midsections. It has to go. So we’re busting our butts and I’m really excited because we’ve been doing quite well working out and going to the gym and such. I’m going to head their today and get in some work out time. I really want to put in the effort so I can see my body change for the better.

We decided on having a cheat meal once a week and while I chose to have mine on Saturdays I really didn’t go in that direction. For lunch with my boo yesterday I had this delicious smoked salmon salad. I was so excited when I saw it came with avocado (yum)! Also, did some knitting with L last night and we munched on kale chips and popcorn and drank soda water with squeezed lime juice (so good and refreshing)!

Life

I stumbled on the cutest illustrative blog. I had to show my boo because they were like us! You can find it here.

My favourite

So cute!

I’ve also tasked myself with a budget I need to stick to. I spent way too much unallocated money last weekend. I know it was Thanksgiving long weekend but I think I was a little too free with pulling out the card. So I’ve got my budget in place and I plan to make the most of it.

Also, I’m not big on Halloween. Actually I’m not a fan at all. But if I were to go I would go as Suzy Carmichael cause she’s awesome.

Now that it’s Sunday I have to wash my hair, prep my meals for the week and relaaax before Monday!

Here are some rainy pics me and boo took on a forest walk.

I hope you have a great day!

Hi September – Bye September!

I had to squeeze in another post before September was over. I can’t believe how little I write on here. I miss it. I need to get back here and be a part of this blogging world because I’ve really enjoyed it these past couple of years.

Exciting times over here… I bought a car! Yaaay! I found a used 2014 Subaru Impreza. I was really looking for All Wheel Drive and I liked what the Impreza had to offer. I got the hatchback over the sedan because I’m all about trunk space and accessibility. I’m really happy with it. And I just bought winter tires today. They have heated seats which I’m really happy about. Some of you guys don’t have the pleasures of driving in snow and slush for 6 months out of the year (sigh) but if I have the option of having my butt heated on those cold, horrible days, then I’m gonna go for it. So I’m a happy girl. My parents are happy they don’t have to shuttle me around and I’m happy I can take myself wherever I need to go whenever I need to go. I named him Raffi.

Everyone’s having babies all around me! Two people I know just had baby girls and my good friend S, who’s wedding I was in 2 years ago, is expecting a baby girl in December. I feel like I should be knitting but I’m still working on a blanket with L for C & A’s wedding… this past July.

I just released Rocco from this week’s twists and they’ll probably go right back up after tomorrow’s wash.

I went to the gym Monday through Friday this week. I’m just going to keep at it. I need to sweat it out sometimes. Today was great, I was planning on a long bike ride with my friend F but her bike wasn’t in quite the condition she was hoping so we ended up going for a hike which was wonderful. I hadn’t seen her for a bit so we got to catch up finally.

I’m waiting oh-so-patiently for my fav pumpkin beer to appear in stores. It’s sad but I checked the liquor store Wednesday, Thursday and Friday… I’ll give them a week. I’ve got 3 bottles of different pumpkin ales but there’s one special one I’m holding my breath for. What can I see, I really like my pumpkin beer and I really like autumn. B and I are gonna make pumpkin pie tomorrow *fingers crossed*. I hope the results are delicious.

Two pumpkin beers so far, but I’m still waiting on my fav.

Sunrise.

Cherry tomatoes from mommsy’s garden. Yum!

Happy to head home.

My baby, Raffi!

In other news, I’m going to attempt to bake a pumpkin cheesecake today…. I’ll show you the results. Wish me luck! Have a great Sunday!

Oh yeah! I have a blog!

It’s been too long.

August has come and gone. 

• I bought a gym pass today… I’m not making any promises. There’s a 10k run in a month in town here but I’m not really aiming for anything. I just really want to counteract my 12 hours of sitting per day.
• I’m starting to work 6 days a week. I don’t know whether I’m coming or going. On the commute to work this morning I actually woke up and had to think whether I was heading to work or leaving work… oy
• But! My contract is up at the end of November so I’m going to have to get my butt in gear and start looking for something else.
• I’m also looking for a vehicle… I really, really, really dislike car shopping. I don’t know the first thing about cars. I don’t know whether to buy used or new. I only know how to drive. Maybe this is a good adult experience for me. I’ve owned 2 cars before but I bought my first car because it was a ’98 VW beetle. That was my only reason and to my 18 year old self that was valid. My second car was actually great, and I’d love to have it still. It was an ’04 Mazda 3 and it was standard. That’s right, this girl drove stick shift. But I actually test drove a Mazda 3 that was standard about a month ago and, I kid you not, an hour after the drive I could feel my left knee was buggin. It was not cool. So, as sad as I am to have that option go, at least I know I’ll be looking for an automatic. But I have no idea where to start… oy
• I went for a roadtrip with my boo and we had a lot of fun. We did some shopping, went out for great food, watched a movie and went go-karting!!! I loved it. We also sang roadtrip tunes like crazy on the drive back haha! I loved it.
• I attempted to straighten my hair but didn’t want to put the heat too high and my hair just ended up being larger than life.
• I played some golf and sucked royally. But it was still good.
• Went to the lake one weekend day when it was pouring rain, sat under the covered area, fired up the woodstove and played board games with friends. It was amazing.
• Went for a couple of runs with my boo. He’s so much faster than me.. grr…

I cannot wait for autumn. It’s my favourite season. Gorgeous colours on the mountains, crunchy leaves, cooler temperatures, beanies, scarves, sweaters, hugs, fires, hot drinks, leggings, boots, PUMPKIN BEER! Aaah, bring it!

And pics!

Me golfing with a mini putter

My drive home with the SOFTEST blanket from costco

Rainy days, hot drinks and board games!

Loving lake days.

Larger than life

So much hair!

All twisted up.

Massive garden tomato.