Good Hair

This Project 365 thing is tough. I can only think of so many "thoughtful" and "deep" things to shoot in macro mode at a time. I'm not feeling very abstract/artsy today. Meh. One thing I do know is that I won't be posting them on the blog anymore, I've chosen Flickr instead. So rather than posting an entire photo for each entry, I'll just post the link. :)

I did catch Good Hair on HBO today. Yes, I'm really late, but better late than never, right? It's an excellent documentary about the culture and stigmas of African American women and our crown and glory--hair. Ice-T had several quotables, but we won't go there. One that really stuck out to me was a man's statement that women average 40 different hair products. Another woman cosigned him stating that she just liked to try everything out to improve her hair.

All right then.

Putting a gazillion things on your hair won't make it grow/thicker, but hey...whatever works for you.

I love defying stereotypes, so I went into my bathroom closet and lo and behold, I, Courtney Sierra, do not own anywhere near 40 different hair products. It's more like 12 really. My mom on the other hand...

Which watch?

Just answer. :)

Number One



Number Two



Number Three

1-1-11!

I am loving these number patterns. Happy New Year to everyone! I try not to live in the past, but I had a wonderful last day of 2010 with my good friend, Blog Me, Boo in our lovely hometown city of downtown Charleston, S.C. Check out her blog for all the fun pictures!

I've decided not to have any resolutions. I have a 5-year plan that's detailed enough, so as long as I'm working toward that, I'm happy. I do have something else planned though...



365 days. 365 photos. 1 moment a day. 1 photo a day. Some days are super mundane, so hopefully this will force me to find more things to appreciate. I'm not going to lie. The first few days are going to be kind of lame until I get the swing of it, so don't be too harsh on me, haha! You're more than welcome to join in if you'd like and if you do...leave a link so that I can see some photos!

Shame on me.

I just hop from blog to blog. I'm not sure if Tumblr is considered a "blogging site" but I have one. LoveCourtastic at Tumblr.
Anyway...

Fall semester is DONE! I'm not pleased with finishing with a 3.4...I seriously expected a 3.7 or 3.8 but...it is what it is. Time for the real major courses before my 1st major program. Microbio, biochem, a&p(part II) and then I can sort of relax before taking courses towards my 2nd major(Hi, Physics & organic chem!). Yes, it's crazy but I find that if I don't think that it's crazy, I'll be able to handle it. Mind over matter.

A Special Happy Birthday to my homegirl over at Blog Me, Boo! She's turning 21, again. And in 2 months or so, I will be too. I'll be 21 until I turn 25. Those other years are extraneous to me.

Tis The Season...

I must be getting old because the thrill and anticipation of getting Christmas gifts have faded. Plus, I actually enjoy buying things for other people now! Naturally, this frustrates those who genuinely like me and actually want to buy me things during the holidays(love y'all!). I've just gotten to the point in my life where I'm happy to be in good health after having:

• The H1N1 virus
• a mental breakdown of sorts which led to...
• (stress)hives
• ongoing situations with my family that have pretty much forced me to give up everything that I've busted my ass for.

Honestly, Christmas gifts are the last thing on my mind and the main thing that I do want won't fit under the tree...and if it can, then we have a problem. ...Unless it's in the form of a check, of course.

Another thing that I've been told is that I'm hard to shop for because I'm really picky selective about everything and I buy all of the "would be gifts" for myself throughout the year...which is true.

So with that being said, I'll make it easy this year. Although I don't like making lists of things for people to buy for me because I'm stubbornly independent and Christmas isn't all about me(but my birthday is--February 7, mark your calendars!)I'll make some suggestions with a few of my favorite things/stores.

1. Sephora
2. Express
3. The Limited
4. Gap
5. Chocbite
6. Gucci by Gucci for Women
7. Nina by Nina Ricci
8. Fossil
9. Amazon
10. Forever21
11. Ca$h/Gift Cards

There. Go crazy.

I drank the Kool-Aid.

Come get you some!

Yeah I went there. Let's talk about my slow but steady descent into Appledom.  I used to be such an Apple hater.  I felt like(and kind of still do) their products were over priced and the people who loved them so much were either: pseudo-intellectual, wanna-be artists, or extreme hipsters.  I wanted to be ~different~, so I had a Creative Zen Vision:M and a BlackBerry.  Then the iPod Touch came about.  It was tough, but I resisted the temptation to use my employee discount/go on eBay and buy one.  Oh, I resisted temptation many, many, MANY times.  All was going well with my phone, mp3 player, and bank account until I realized that I couldn't really work out with my Zen because it didn't have a flash based memory.  Basically, songs skipped every time I went jogging.

Uh, no bueno.

So, then I caved in and bought an 8GB iPod Nano 5G.  I justified my "traitorness" by reminding myself that it wasn't as expensive as an iPod Touch and I'd only use it when working out.  However, I somehow ended up not only throwing my Zen in a drawer(never to be touched again) but also buying an iHome Speaker System for my iPod.  My logic for that purchase?  "It matches my TV and it was on sale!" ...Yeah.  So, now it's just me and my BlackBerry.  We were going pretty strong for a while until I got bored with my 8320, bought a 9700 and then:

• had some error pop up when I was surfing the internet on it.
• saw everyone else bragging about their phones with all their fun apps.
• succumbed to my monthly impulse purchase that usually is in sync with my cycle(TMI? Oops.)

So, 8 months later, I'm downloading apps on an iPhone 3Gs and feeling slightly guilty.  Brand loyalty is a female dog.   This isn't an iPhone vs BlackBerry blog. Both phones have their ups and downs.  In fact, I still have my 9700 in case I need to switch back.  And it's on the drawer and not in it, FYI.  But for now, BBM, instant email updates, and a "professional looking" phone aren't enough to keep me.  But a FREE app for pretty much anything that can keep me entertained will.

Oh, and I didn't get the iPhone 4G because of this.  Why even make it that difficult/risky?

Fall = Holidays = FOOD

I love autumn. The air smells cleaner, it's cooler, and it's just really mellow. The fall season also means that:

• the fair is coming up
• halloween is approaching
• Thanksgiving is approaching
• Christmas is looming
• the year is ending

The last one is cool because what's better than being able to survive another year and starting all over again? The first 4 deal with one of my favorite things in the world...FOOD. Halloween candy doesn't really classify as food, but I threw it in there anyway. I like pretty much anything that will leave me with the itis after eating it. That's when you know it's the good stuff. Haha!

One of my brothers had a school project that involved pumpkin seeds and since the actual pumpkin was cheaper than the prepackaged pumpkin seeds, we got ambitious and got all of the seeds out of a small pie pumpkin. Then we were left with a gutted out pumpkin & my brother ditched me after he got help with his project, so technically I was left with a gutted out pumpkin. Since I was off that weekend and feeling particularly crafty, I decided to do my research & make something using the pumpkin...including the puree.

Oh yes, your girl made everything from scratch. No canned goods up in here! The only prepackaged thing was the butterscotch chips. Anyway, here's the recipe for Pumpkin Butterscotch Cookies*.
Sidenote: An electric mixer isn't necessary, but it will make things easier.

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup canola or corn oil

1 cup canned pumpkin(OR pumpkin puree ;))

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup butterscotch chips

Position a rack in the middle of the oven . Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs and sugar until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. Mix in the chips.

Using an ice cream scoop with a 1/4-cup capacity, scoop mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies at least 2 1/2-inches apart. You could also simply use a 1/4-cup measuring cup if you don’t have a scoop. Use a thin metal spatula to smooth and flatten the rounds.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry, about 16 minutes. Cool them on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dust the cooled cookies lightly with powdered sugar. The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

They came out really nice and now I need to figure out what to do with the remaining butterscotch chips. I'm thinking butterscotch icing topped off with pecans for the cookies. Yes?

*recipe & image credit goes to Joy the Baker.

Can I Have Your Number? Can I Have It?!

Hey y'all! I've been so busy lately with work & school that I've neglected this whole blogging thing. My bad. I wish I could update with some lengthy amazing Labor Day update but...I was working the ENTIRE weekend & then some. No joke. I can't even recall a Labor Day where I wasn't working, so it's kind of like whatever to me. I'm also saving for something big, so why complain?

In addition to having goals, this video from MADtv got me through the past couple of days. It's hilarious!



Grace Kelly...Grace Kelly...Grace Kelly. I'm DYING. There are so many quotables from this!