Hey everyone, meet my little sister: Valentina

Hey everyone, meet my little sister: Valentina
Originally uploaded by Suedehead
I am such a huge fan of Suedehead's Custom AA Blybe Pepita that i totally flip whenever she posts pics of her which is not that often so whenever she does, it's extra special. You can't imagine my joy over seeing this photo of her and a mini Pepita just a minute ago!! Her name is Valentina!

I LOOOOOVE HER!!! I'm like alive right now!! I need to get my ish together and make one. Pepita is the only AA Blybe I know that has short closely cropped flocked hair. She keeps it simple and you don't see that very often at all in Black female dolls. I just adore her!! And now tiny petite version! I'm soooo digging it!

Prepare to Just Let Go

Prepare to just let go. Someone should have told me this when I first started loc'ing my hair. They call it a journey for a reason. As much as you may try to manipulate your baby locs, they are going to do whatever they want to do. They are going to be fuzzy and all over the place. The beginning months may frustrate you to no end and the best way to rid yourself of that frustration? Leave them alone.
-Curly Nikki 
"Things to think about before you loc"

Did I Mention I'm Starting My Locks Again?
Now you wanna see photos right? Well no photos. Maybe one day.

This is my third time starting my locks and let me tell you. It is so different from the last time I started them as a skinny, proud, eclectic, footloose and fancy free teenager in high school. The things I associated with locks in those days seem to be long gone along with my skinniness, delusions, and not to mention thick healthy hair which I took for granted I would always have. This is a whole different journey. I am juggling so many other things at the same time I'm doing this and many of those things are insecurities and doubts that often get so big, they're ridiculous. What do locks mean to me now. Is it just about a style? Has this just become another way to be like, I want that status? I want my locks to look just like that, no, like those! What happened to me?

So that's why I'm trying real hard not to be hard on myself. I'm trying real hard not to twist the heck out of my newborn locks and let them become what they're going to become and not judge my locks so harshly the way I never did as a teenager. I mean as a woman of color, I have always had hair issues. I even wrote an article about it in New Youth Connections while I was in High School. But my locks were totally liberating for me and I was completely satisfied with how they turned out, never thought they were ugly or wondered if other people thought they were ugly. Now I have a whole other set of insecurities that I deal with that to a large degree are about other people's perceptions which I know I shouldn't even give a shit about. Which is why I really love going to events populated dominantly with people of color every once in a while which is another thing I did more often when I was younger.  I was raised attending cultural functions on a regular basis. There was no question.

Black people are so beautiful, so creative, so resourceful, so funky, so amazing, if we could just get it together and love ourselves and each other more, there is nothing we couldn't do. Of course then we'd have a war on our hands because this is exactly what white people don't want but it would be totally worth it.

As for me, I am going to take Curly Nikki's advice and leave it alone. The journey is actually really interesting when I'm not fussing and obsessing. My hair looks different every morning and changes throughout the day. Isn't that what every woman wants? Well, that's what this woman wants anyway.

Your moment of Zen

Your moment of Zen
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

This morning the clouds rolled back revealing a new day taking away with it all the madness of yesterday. A marvel of nature.

Monarch Stalker

Monarch stalker
Originally uploaded by Zanalee

My fave photo of the day, that I took of course. I used to see Monarch Butterflies all over the place when I was a girl in Brooklyn. They were pretty common. But they have come to have a different meaning for me lately that they have had in the past. They really are beautiful creatures, butterflies. Imagine looking that good every day while doing what you were meant to do!

R.I.P. Steve Jobs

Apple Macintosh (serial # 1) computer, from 1985
Originally uploaded by national museum of american history
Once upon a time I used these Mac computers in high school. I used square floppy disks and everyone was required to purchase a disk holder from the library. I had all my papers and poetry and stories on my disks. I love those things. I took a lot of pride in labeling them and personalizing them by color.

I never dreamed there would ever come a day when a smaller, sleeker, sexier, space saving version would come along but it did and from the unique muliti-colored iMacs (I had the elusive green one. It's still in my closet) to the toggling flat screen desk tops to Macbook to Airbook, Apple, my favorite computer in the world has come a long long way.

Sure I started out on a PC when I was too young to know better. LOL!! DOS commands and Commodore 64 were all that were around for awhile. But when Macs came along, I got on and never looked back . I remember many an hour sitting in my High School library drawing dirty pictures on MacPaint. Ahhh Macpaint. It was all so fascinating to me, the things you could do even back then.

We had both PCs and Macs at my high school but when it came time to get them out for study periods, I made sure to be among those who walked over to the computer storage room myself to roll the computers out and into my classroom. All I wanted was a Mac.

Hardcore Luxuriating

Not an exaggeration

It made me forget the internet. It made me forget about my iphone. It even made me forget about photography which if you know me is quite an accomplishment. Although the human eye and heart are still the best records of history ever. And I have a lot stored away in my head and heart from my first experience at Spa Castle yesterday. And I do mean all day!
My great friend, S. and I were there for 12 hours! She's been there several times previously which was great because around 10:00am or so she was giving me a walking tour of all the lovely levels that make up Spa Castle.

I have known about Spa Castle for years. The first person who told me about it was a friend and ex-co-worker who used to live in Brooklyn. I hesitated greatly to believe that something like this really existed but I filed it away in my mind peripherally until a month or so ago.S. told me about the full body scrub in great exhilarating detail. I was finally sold enough that I had to get my money together so that we could both go and I could see whether this place was all it was cracked up to be. I had been in the middle of doing the 31 Day Reset with S. and a couple of her friends and listed a Spa day in one of the 31 Day exercises as something I really wanted to do. I love exfoliating! LOOOOOOVE IT. And as you know I also  LOOOOOOVE WATER. So basically, yesterday morning, afternoon and evening were like heaven for me. HEAVEN!!

First off there are like four levels and a mezzanine and each level offers something different. I almost don't want to give it all away. To say what is on each level would not convey my own particular experience as accurately as I would like. I don't want this entry to be about me giving you another tour so I'll just tell you what we did.

I knew beforehand exactly what I wanted done. I knew I wanted and needed some type of massage like nobody's business and a body scrub would be nice as well. Fortunately a body scrub and massage were offered together. We made our afternoon appointments for that and I made an appointment for a pedicure for later in the afternoon. At Spa Castle you pretty much carry nothing around with you. They give this wrist band that looks like a watch with an assigned number on it. It's the number on your shoe locker and clothes locker and it is used to open and close both. Wherever you go to make appointments and order food or whatever, you just scan that bracelet at the designated station and everything gets totaled up on a bill that you pay before you leave. Genius, except my own watch feels exactly like that bracelet and I wore it on the same arm I usually where my watch on. I must of looked at that bracelet every time I wanted to check the time until I realized I would just have to check the wall clocks on each floor. LOL!!

So! Let's talk about getting naked. I had been told about the lower level bathing pools at various temperatures where you are not allowed to go in with any clothes on. I'm generally comfortable naked. Seeing other people naked depends on the context. If the person I'm with is comfy naked, I'm cool. S. was totally comfortable and that took care of that. As for seeing other people naked, Spa castle is divided by binary gender so "people" was only women. And that was fine too, in fact it was pretty liberating and really cool. I'm really glad I went with S. because she just enjoyed it so much, as much as I did and it was great to have a female friend to share the experience with who wasn't silly or petty about body image, and able to see past the physical nakedness to the actual benefits of Spa treatment and pampering. Naked is the only way to be in this regard. And oh God, it feels so good to be naked in the water! There were hot pools and warm pools. pools with jets and without, cool pools and a chilled pool which we proudly got into and out if twice before we left! Apparently going into really cold water after coming out of realy hot water sends a rush of blood through the body creating a tremendous surge of energy. It also closes your pores up after they are opened in heat.We were really hesitant at first but S. was very brave and daring and we conquered it and it actually felt really great!

On that level there are also a row of showers which you are absolutely required to take before you can get into any of the pools or wet and dry saunas. The dry sauna was my favorite but there are other saunas on the second level where you can only go clothed in your uniforms which I loved as well. There was a really hot dry sauna that felt wonderful until it didn't. LOL!! And then the really cold one with ice in it where you can go to cool off. There was a color therapy sauna where you sit in narrow booths illuminated with various choice of colors at the touch of a button, each one with a description of it's particular affect on your well being.  There was even a relaxation room on the mezzanine  where you can go to watch TV, listen to music on headphones are just go to sleep. Yes, just sleep. No talking allowed.We napped there for a bit in the morning while we waited for the food to be brought out on the second floor food court. There's a heated stone floor on the second floor for sleeping as well. I just love the idea any space that is designated for the best quality of sleep and rest. I cannot tell you.

S's male friend was there as well on the dude's side and he met up with us on the second floor where the food court was. The lower level is the only part where you have to be naked. The rest of the floor you must be clothed in the uniform they give you. On the top floor there are pools outside on the patio where you are required to wear a bathing suit to swim. Yeah. There's a lot going on. Anyway meeting up with S's friend was great. We ate, drank tea, talked and laughed, sat in the massage chairs, watched a little television in the main area and then went to take another nap on the heated stone floor. Me and S. woke up before he did and sauna hopped on the clothed level before going into the lower level bathing pools again.

So the body scrub and massage.That was 90 minutes of something I think everyone should experience. I love exfoliating so I was really looking forward to it. And yes you are naked while you're being worked on. This all happens on the naked level. The first scrub gloves my attendant used were a bit rough so I let her know and she changed to a milder pair and those were wonderful. Back, front, side, everywhere like twice before they douse you with warm water washing away all the dead cells and making you feel like a lounging seal. Then there is a mini facial with some kind of facial lotion, hot towel and cucumbers! My first ever! I didn't even know it was going to happen! Loved it! Then we had to shower real quick, get in the sauna for a few minutes and come back for the massage with hot baby oil. This starts out really nice and then gets a little painful but I always attribute massage pain in my back area to the fact that my back is a mess. And like many chiropractors have told me, I carry a lot of tension in my shoulders. Boy, do I! I had to let some sounds out at that point. There was no other way to deal. My attendant was digging her elbows into various parts of my back under the application of hot towels. At one point near the end I swear she got on top of me. It was all good. Now at least I know what to expect when I return which I most definitely shall.

Like I said, we ended by returning to the lower level bathing pools and oh, that was one of my favorite parts of the day! Each time we got in the pools it felt better than the last! After a while any body of water that I soak or wade in for relaxation purposes lulls me into some deep meditative place where even the accumulated increase of noise (in the evening the place was hopping with people, children, teens and adult females alike) arranges itself into a collective sort of chant and falls into the background. I feel very close to something I can't really describe, like peace I guess. The fact that such a large percent of our own bodies are made up of water and that we all spend about 9 months in the womb surrounded by water has to have something to do with the healing power of water on humans. It certainly does for me. I find it sensual, relaxing, hypnotizing, powerful and inspiring. It was kind of sad to leave but we're already making a date for our next visit. I could do this at least once year if not more. It's just that good!