Let’s get a little hairy

Good morning loves! Hope you all had a great St. Patty’s!

Day 17 of Cait’s blog challenge is to post a picture of your biggest insecurity

Mine used to be my hair! As a kid, I could not appreciate the thickness, frizzy, and curly characteristics of my hair. I would always tie it back into a bun because I just wished I would wake up one day and have thin, straight hair! The grass is always greener, right?

People would always tease me about why I never wore my hair down and then when I would they would tease me for how thick and curly it was!

Finally when I discovered the wonderful world that is hair products I began to play and learn how to tame my hair. I finally started to appreciate and love my hair for what it was. God blessed me with thick, curly, crazy, beautiful hair that had endless possibilities and hairstyles!

Now I really do love my hair and find it so funny that I used to hide it instead of embrace it, but I guess that is all in growing up!

Some products I have found that I love using to tame my mane are…

The entire Frizz-Ease collection is amazing for this girl living in The humidity city!

Aveda damage remedy. You use it in the shower after you condition you hair. Amazing.

TRESemme Heat Tamer Protective Spray

Spray it on your hair before you blow dry and flat iron. I love this product!

Infusion Keratin Complex

This stuff is my life! It is like vitamins for your hair. You put it in right after the shower and my hair feels so much healthier after using this product!

And last but certainly not least.. my handy dandy…

One of the best inventions. ever.

I am sad my Spring Break is already coming to an end but I am going to the Rocket’s game tonight (WOOHOO!) and have a bachelorette party Saturday night! Not a bad way to end my Spring Break!

Hope y’all have a wonderful weekend!!

PS: Run, don’t walk to your computer because Forever 21 is donating 100% of what you spend online TODAY to the relief efforts in Japan. If that doesn’t squash any buyers remorse you may have, I don’t know what will!

My coffee ain’t goin nowhere…

Well today is Fat Tuesday, growing up Baptist I have never known the history of Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras or Lent, all of which belong to the Catholic faith. My boyfriend has grown up Catholic and is very passionate about his faith, as am I, (we talked about it on the first date!) I have wanted to attend church together but to be honest, I was pretty hesitant at first about going to mass, being in a different church, with no one I know and not being familiar with any of the practices, prayers or beliefs, was very intimidating and out of my comfort zone. I decided to give it a try last year and have really loved it! I love that we go together as a couple, and I am able to ask him questions about what’s going on or what things mean and I really have grown to love the Catholic faith and all its traditions.

Since I have really enjoyed learning all about Catholicism, I thought I should educate myself about Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday and Lent.

Mardi Gras, literally "Fat Tuesday," has grown in popularity in recent years as a raucous, sometimes hedonistic event. But its roots lie in the Christian calendar, as the "last hurrah" before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. That's why the enormous party in New Orleans, for example, ends abruptly at midnight on Tuesday, with battalions of street sweepers pushing the crowds out of the French Quarter towards home.

very interesting!

and here’s what I found out about Lent:

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a preparatory time for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

I love that! I think that Lent is such a wonderful tradition and practice of the Catholic faith, I mean Jesus died for me, the least I can do is give up something for 40 days! I have been thinking about what I want to sacrifice and my immediate thoughts turned to one of my favorite things, coffee. Yikes.

Totally bummed, I couldn’t find a good excuse why coffee wouldn’t be the perfect thing to sacrifice for lent until I stumbled upon an article titled 5 health reasons to NOT quit coffee..

I read it about 3 times to make sure it wasn’t a joke before the reality sank in… it would be detrimental to my health to quit coffee and God would never want that… so out goes that silly idea. AMEN.

So I was stumped on what to sacrifice… but decided to choose sodas! I know it will be tough but God sacrificed the greatest sacrifice of all so I should be able to put down the sodas for 40 days! Wish me luck…

How are you going to show faithfulness and repentance to God during this Lenten season?

My favorite memory

It is definitely hard to choose just one memory because I have so many wonderful memories that I think about often. However, there is a time in my life that I am forever thankful for and would definitely consider as my favorite memory.

Here is my testimony.

I have grown up going to church, every Sunday. No exceptions. Even though I know it was a struggle getting me there (sorry, Mom and dad) I am SO thankful to my parents for never giving in to the “I don’t wanna gooooo” excuses and making me go to church, and learn about God.

When I was in 6th grade I finally started to understand what being a Christian was and actually enjoyed going to church. I remember beginning to feel the power and strength that comes with knowing and loving such an amazing God when I went on an all girl’s retreat one weekend and the speaker was so powerful my heart was just overflowing. When she asked if anyone would like to profess their faith and accept Christ into their life come to the front by the stage and I knew He was calling me to walk up to that stage. I walked to the front, said I want Jesus in my heart, prayed with some wonderful women and then called my parents. It was such a wonderful memory.

A couple weeks later I stood in front of the entire congregation at my church, professed my faith and the pastor dipped me into the water. Although, I probably didn’t fully understand the power of that one dip into the water as much as I do now, I will never forget that moment. I was born a new person, a girl in Christ, that water had washed my sins, and I was saved. Amazing.

This day was also the last time I saw my Nanny (my father’s mother) who I was very close with. She gave me a huge hug, told me she was so proud of me, gave me a gift and then one week later, she peacefully went to Heaven. I’m sure some of you are confused why seeing my Nanny for the last time would be my favorite memory, and even I was confused for a long time why God chose to take her then, but I like to think that He cashed in her ticket to Heaven and He wanted me to have it..  and that is why it is my favorite memory. I learned to not dwell on the fact that she was gone but to be thankful to God. He waited for her to see the most important day of my life before He took her home and let us share that moment together. I will never forget that last hug and her telling me how proud she was. Thank you, God.

I challenge all of you out there to be faithful in God even though we may not always understand His timing or how He has guided where your life may be today. His plan is a perfect plan. Let us all be faithful in that. God is so good.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes that I read when I need to remind myself to be more faithful.

“To be grateful for the good things that happens in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives—the good AS WELL as the bad,

the moments of joy AS WELL as the moments of sorrow,

the successes AS WELL as the failures,

the rewards AS WELL as the rejections

That requires hard spiritual work…Let us not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and where we may be going and know it is all in the guiding hand of a loving God.”