Chocolocs is turning 50!

I've always been reluctant to tell my age. But BlaqKofi, a SisterLocks sister, has been inspirational in motivating me to break free from the fear of being appearing "old". I am now quite proud of my age, I'm healthy, fit, and I rock some GORGEOUS SisterLocks!!!

So in the spirit of the new, liberated woman that I am, I am announcing my 50th birthday in January 2010. I'm inviting my SisterLock sisters and their significant others to join me on my birthday cruise.

The cruise will begin on 24 Jan 2010 in San Juan, Puerto Rico and will be stopping at St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua and St. Kitts before returning to San Juan on 31 Jan 2010. The cost ranges from $550 and $840 depending on the type of cabin you prefer.

I am not sure how to link to the flyer, so email me if you'd like to come along and I'll send you the information. My email address is: chocolocs@gmail.com

I look forward to meeting you!!

Holy Hush ~ Trailer

My brother, the British film maker, has shared this 2-minute trailer to his movie called, "Holy Hush". Take and look and let me (and him) know what you think.

Holy Hush Trailer from Carmel Greystone on Vimeo.

Don't forget to let us know what you think!

Wedding Cruise

I went on my first cruise and totally loved it! My girlfriend was getting married and decided to merge her wedding and honeymoon in a 5-day cruise celebration. There were approximately ninety people in the group which helped to maintain the wedding festivities for the duration of the cruise.

I was so impressed with the cruising experience I think I may celebrate my 50th birthday on a Caribbean Cruise!!

Dr. Cornwell in Detroit!

E! my loctician informed me that Dr. Cornwell, the Sisterlocks originator, would be the metro Detroit area conducting a Sisterlock Training Session this month. I had missed out on previous opportunities to meet her and decided that this opportunity would not pass me by!

She gave an informative and entertaining presentation and took the time to meet and take photos with many Sisterlocks sisters afterwards. She was approachable and very down-to-earth. Everyone was comfortable with her. I was impressed by her humility. It was a motivating presentation and I was inspired to support the industry as much as I can!

Her two sisters and niece were there to assist in the training. Needless-to-say, they all have the most wonderful sisterlocks!!

Take Me Home!

My brother is a film maker in England and he emailed me a link to a 2-minute movie called, "Take Me Home". I think it's flaming brilliant!! (But I may I'm biased!!") Take and look and let me (and him) know what you think. You will be able to leave a comment on the Site. Click on his picture or on "Take Me Home" to view and comment on the movie . . . I'm totally geeked!

American School Counselors Conference

I attended a wonderful, motivational conference in Atlanta in June. I was having a great time going to the breakout sessions and shopping for School Counselor knick-knacks!

I was staying in a wonderful hotel in downtown Atlanta. While riding in the elevator on my way to one of the sessions, I met a fellow Sisterlock sister, we greeted each other and and admired each others locks. She then asked me if I was Chocolocs!!! I was so excited to know that I had actually met someone who had seen my blog!! She introduced herself as Candace, and I realized that I had seen her blog too!

At the time, I was a math teacher transitioning into high school counseling. I absolutely LOVE my new career. There really isn't anything else I would rather do! To all of the Sisterlocked counselors (school, community or whatever!) leave me a message. I'd love to hear how you feel about counseling!

Bye Sisterlock Goddess!

On July 7th 2007 I posted a blog called Natural SDA Sisters! In that entry I showcased some of the natural sister at my church. One of those beautiful women was Sisterlock goddess. She introduced me to Sisterlocks, hers were the first Sisterlocks I had ever seen. she wore her then three-year-old locks so elegantly, I was convinced that that was the way I wanted to wear my hair.

Sadly, she is moving away from Michigan to further her career in Pennsylvania. Good bye SG and thank you for sharing Sisterlocks with so many natural women in South East Michigan! We'll miss you!!

I also posted a Get Well Soon blog for SG on 24 March 2007. It is amazing how time fies! I believe it is important to make time for close friends and family because you never know how long you are going to have them around!!

Free Styling!

I usually wear my locks in a curly style. I will either set my hair on flex rods, Caruso Curlers or plait my hair and curl the ends. I have not worn my hair free style in over a year because of what I call "Stick Hair"! This can best be described as my locks looking like a mop of inflexible sticks! My loctician, E! has been trying to convince me to go free style and I tried it yesterday for the first time in ages. I was getting my hair retightened and considered this as good a time as any to try free styling. Thanks, E! for the motivation and encouragement to go out on a limb!!!

The first three pictures show my typical look, the rest shows my Free Styling!!!!

So . . . What do you all think?!

New Sister Lockers

In church today, I discovered that two of my church sisters have joined the Sister Lock family. Siobhan has two week old locks and her mom's locks are about the same age. I invited them to check out the other Sister Lock blogs, so please welcome Siobhan and Sharon to the Wonderful World of Sister Locks!

My style was achieved by using Caruso Steam Rollers. I left them in for about two hours this morning. I'm noticing that as my hair gets longer, the curl falls out quicker!

Adventist SisterLocks Sisterhood!

I went to Texas this weekend to attend the wedding of a close family friend. The Sabbath before the wedding, I went to City Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church in Dallas. I have never been to Texas before and didn't expect to see anyone I knew in the church. To my delight, I saw Praline ushering during the service. I looked around for her mother, Creole and located her a few rows in front of me. I could barely keep my mind on the sermon, which incidentally was excellent! Immediately after the service, I rushed out of church to introduce myself to Creole. An introduction wasn't even necessary, because she recognized me from my blog. It was like becoming re acquainted with an old friend! What a wonderfully charming woman! She was everything I imagined her to be, and more! She was personable, friendly, witty and gorgeous! I've always admired her beautiful thick black locks from her blog. . . but they look even better in person!

Creole introduced me to Hannah Ranay who had been following my blog and was surprised to see how much my locks had grown since I last posted! Well, that was all the motivation I needed! Knowing that my SisterLocks sisters had been going to my Site over the past ten months, only to find it unchanged, bothered me. I promised her (and myself!) that I would post the pictures I had been collecting over that time and update everyone on my Journey!

I washed and set my hair three days earlier on Flex Rods.

Two Year "Lockversary"

I can't believe I forgot my two-year anniversary. I just washed my hair and was heading to bed and dawned on me that February 14 passed a week ago!! I immediately pulled and the camera and took these shots in the black Tee Shirt. As you can see, they are not the best pictures I've ever taken, but at least I captured the approximate, two-year progression of my locks. Hopefully, my Three year Lockversary blog will be better!

NEXT YEAR WILL BE BETTER!

It's My Birthday!!

This year, I decided to spend my birthday with my family in Toronto. Having lived the last ten years away from my family, I was really looking forward to spending the weekend in Toronto. A group of us, my mum, sisters, cousin, and friends went to see a play in Mississauga then went to a friend's Jamaican restaurant in Brampton. . .

. . . Another year older!

The timing was just perfect because I also got to attend the birthday party of a good friend who was celebrating his 50th the weekend before!

I washed at set my hair on Flex Rods they give a really tight, long-lasting curl.

Locks4Life Xmas Party

My loctician, Paulette, of Locks4Life, held a Christmas party Saturday night 8 December. Because it was the day AFTER my National Counselor Examination, I agreed to attend. I am so glad I did! I met beautiful women, all of whom were wearing sisterlocks and everyone's hair looked unique! Thanks, Paulette, for an opportunity to meet and mingle and show off our locks!

I sat at a table with four beautiful sisters, two of whom I'd previous met and two I met for the first time that evening. They were great company! This was my first time out in over four months so everything was exceptional for me! The conversation, the food, the dancing, and the sisterlocks! I am posting the pictures I have on my camera. Hopefully, before too long, I'll get pictures from Archie (Paulette's husband and/or son) to supplement what I have.

My hairstyle is a week old braidout!

NCU's 100th Year

I can't believe it! Where has all the time gone?! It feels as though I was 16 just a few short years ago!! This was the 30th year since my graduation from high School. Because it was also the school's 10th year, a few friends and I decided to return for the homecoming. Unfortunately, it wasn't an official 30th year high school reunion, but I was able to meet up with many people I haven't seen in 30 years!

Reminiscing About the Good Old Days!

Braidout

I've been wearing my hair in a braidout for months now. I've noticed that as my hair gets longer the braidout looks different. In order to create the braidout look, after washing my hair, I plait it in about thirty small braids and curl the ends on sponge rollers. These are photos of a braidout on my 21 month-old locks.

Retightening

Paulette installed my Sister Locks on 14 February 2006 and she has been doing my retightening since then. Whenever I can't make an appointment, she will reschedule me with one of her assistants. Because of this, I have met some very talented locticians and I applaud Paulette for exposing her clients to other locticians. I have had my hair retightened by E! and Paulette's daughter, Ashley. During this session at Locks4Life, Ashley is retightening my 20 month old locks.

Has anyone else found that their locks look crazy after a retightening? I set my hair on Caruso Curlers this morning and my hair was looking great all day, even up to the beginning of my retightening. However, check out my hair at the end of the session. My locks are all over the place! Does this only happen to me?!

Workout-Proof hair Style

I have always enjoyed working out. One of the main drawbacks of having a perm or wearing my hair in a "press'n'curl" style is having to deal with the effect of a good workout on my hair. I've been natural for about five or six years, but still had to contend with my hair after a workout. Now that I have Sister Locks I have no problem!! Before getting on the treadmill I put my hair up in a pony tail. I was on the treadmill for about an hour and was completely drenched with perspiration at the end of my workout, but my hair still looks great!

Four days ago I washed and braided my hair then curled the ends of each braid.

Back to School Blues!

I'm discovering that quite a few of the blogging sisterlocks sisters are teachers. Only teachers will know just how I feel when, somewhere between mid to late August just want to sing the back-to-school blues!! I'm feeling it so strongly now! I went to Woodstock, Ontario to meet my family for the weekend. Driving home, I began feeling somewhat melancholy. I couldn't quite tell why I was feeling so down. At first I thought it was because I had just left my family and was missing them already. Somewhere between Woodstock and Windsor the light bulb came on! It dawned on me that I was experiencing the back-to-school blues AKA the Labor day-blues. I had been busy working on my long range plans for my new assignment over the summer. Instead of teaching 6th grade mathematics (as I have done for the past 6 years), I will be teaching 8th grade Algebra and Pre-Algebra. I'm looking forward to a change in pace and the different challenges of working with adolescents as opposed to pre-teens.

Because I had just come from church, I was already made-up and dressed-up, so I decided to get out of the doldrums by taking some photos for my blog :-) What else is there in life to cheer a girl up, but taking photos of her Sisterlocks?! I set my hair on Caurso Curlers this morning I really enjoy the sophisticated look I get from them.

Regardless of what subject or grade level you teach I'd like to convey my best wishes to all the educators who are reading my blog. Shake off those blues and have a successful and rewarding new school year.

Happy Birthday, Sylv!!

My girlfriend's birthday is in August and even though, because of our busy schedules, we don't talk much during the year, we always try to get together twice a year to celebrate each other's birthday together. For Sylv's birthday this year we went out for a meal then went to Second City Comedy Club. I laughed my head off and was still in a giggling mood after we left. I'm wearing my 18 month-old locks in a braidout style.

Lounging

This is not exactly a "hair" picture! I was just relaxing on my chaise lounge and taking a few casual photos. I like the way this turned out so I decided to share it with my SisterLock sisters.

Pony Tail

Ever since I had my SisterLocks installed, I've been dreaming of wearing a ponytail. I thought it might be a good idea to document my progression toward that goal. Ive worn different types of pseudo ponytails which I'd like to highlight until I get my own genuine, bona fide pony!

Nicele

Nicele, my girlfriend who created my Christmas up do, came over today . . . and we got completely trigger happy!! She had her micro locks installed by Paulette in October 2005, her locks are now 21 months old, it is amazing how time flies! My locks are now 17 months old! Nicele has a lot of fun playing around with different hair-dos, as you can see, she has a fabulous hair style today! Before SisterLocks, she had never worn natural hair before, she was just a perm, weave, extensions, wig kinda lady! The stress of the weaves, extensions and perms left her hair very thin on top. Because of that, Paulette decided to install micro locks. But as you can see, after almost two years of sisterlocking you'd never know her hair used to be thin! If you have thin hair and you're contemplating SisterLocks. Nicele is the "Poster Girl" for what SisterLocks can do for you!

Natural Seventh-day Adventist Sisters

Today was a fabulous day in Michigan. It was sunny, hot (89 F/ 31C) and no humidity. I attend Ypsilanti Seventh-day Adventist Church, and while at church today I couldn't help noticing how many natural sisters there were. May of us ended up at the same potluck luncheon and I captured these photos to show the variety in natural hair styles and textures. Thank you, ladies, (and one gentleman) for modelling for me today!

What a Palaver!!

I decided that I wanted to do a Caruso type style for church today, but instead of using my Caruso Steam Rollers with steam, I washed my hair yesterday evening and set them on dry Caruso rollers, and regular, plastic rollers. My rationale was that if Caruso can do a good job in 30 minutes with steam, then they'd do an even better job if I used them dry and left them in over night. Now that I actually write it done and read over it, my rationale really makes no sense, however, it seemed like a really good idea at the time!! As you can see, these are not the most flattering pictures I've ever taken, but I want to document the process I followed in order to achieve specific results.










To my dismay, this morning when I took out my rollers my hair was dead straight! What did I do wrong?? This never would have happened to BlaqKofi!!!

Fortunately for me, I hadn't lazed around in bed this morning and Caruso Rollers (when used correctly) only takes a few minutes to set. I threw in those rollers faster than I had ever done before. Interestingly, when using them with steam, it was easier to manipulate them when setting my hair. I got my whole head rolled a lot faster than it had taken me last night!

No one ever would have guessed the palaver I had just gone through with my hair this morning! Thanks to Caruso Rollers, when I stepped out to go to church, my hair looked well coiffured and I represented my SisterLock sisters well! :-)

Babies

As much as I love teaching, I am counting down the days until summer. Three more days to go!! I'm looking forward to being able to fill my days with things that I enjoy and want to do for myself. Many of my teacher colleagues think it strange that I would actually want to send my summer studying! I am passionate about learning and I have been taking evening classes throughout the whole school year. To be able to attend classes and focus on my own learning, without the added pressure of planning lessons and grading papers, is something I look forward to with glee!

During the school year, I don't usually attend social events on Sunday, as that is the day when I like to work on my own studies as well as prepare lessons for the week. Now that the school year is almost over, I was able to attend the 1st birthday party of my good friend's son, Adam. He is in the picture with his mum, who has been wearing her hair natural for the five years that I have known her, and one of my SisterLock sisters.



I have never been particularly maternal, however, I think there is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman! My friend is due in a few weeks and she carries her baby so gracefully I had to share her picture with you!