Time flies when you're having fun :)

Wow! It's been almost two weeks since I posted on here! Just to recap the past two weeks: I finished my second semester of med school well and with good grades :) happy with my performance, but I regret pushing myself to the fullest this semester..it was alot of catch-up because I ALWAYS struggle to perform well on the first test! I WILL get a running start to next semester. :) Over the past two weeks, I've gotten a baby..well not literally, but it certainly feels like it! My puppy Ava is only 11 weeks old and definitely a handful; for all of you THINKING about getting pregnant, get a puppy first! lol I think if the teen girls making a choice to get pregnant (think a few years ago with the girls in the news for the "pregnancy pact") or having sex casually because "a baby won't happen to them" would get a puppy first (a lot of work), the rates of pregnancy would see a dramatic decline...I'm just saying lol Even now, Ava is curled up on my lap as I use my laptop to type this post! Her new thing is also sitting on top of my laptop whether it's open or not lol
So far, I've spent the break taking care of my hair, doing friends' hair, renting movies from redbox, reading novels, listening to Pandora (setting the station to Maroon 5 gives me a good mix), going to local dog parks with Ava, going to the shooting range, taking a class for a concealed weapons permit (go NRA!), and texting/skyping. :)

I'm trying to keep my hands out of my hair and keep pretty low-maintenance styles throughout the break. I've been co-washing my hair with Yes to Tomatoes conditioner (YTT) every few days when I feel the need to run my hands through my curls (still waiting on someone special to do that for me ;). I have other conditioners that I keep in rotation, but I'm trying to use up the YTT; because it's an organic-y, natural ingredients line, it actually has a pretty quick expiration date by the time I get it from Ross (it's $3 there, and $12 at Target) so I have to use it up quickly. Currently, I've been rocking beanies with a flat-twist in the front...I got the idea from AJ of http://www.ajwitafro.com/. Here's the specific post: http://ajwitafro.com/beanie-flat-twist/.  I also helped a friend do a straw-set on her transitioning hair a few Sundays ago, and did Bantu-knots on another newly-natural friend's TWA a few days ago...how many days ago? idk, I'm on break and the days are starting to run together lol

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I also have been renting movie's from redbox...STC2 was decent (yes, I know I'm incredibly late) though not as good as the first. Letters to Juliet was soo good!! go check that one out :) I'm watching "Easy A" with my roomie tonight, so I'll post on how that is ;)

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Ohh another thing!! I follow Alexandra Smith's awesome blog (http://healthyghb.blogspot.com/)- she is an entreprenuer of natural hair care products among other things and I had been wanting to try her "Curl Clouds" product ever since seeing posts on it one her blog and reading a review of it on another natural hair blog (http://www.hair2toebeauty.com/). So I ordered some when I saw on twitter that she had made some more! I'm glad I got some because it was sold-out in less than a day! lol Alex said she'd be making a new batch, so if you want to try some, here's her store SafiHairCare to order some from :)

picture of the "Curl Clouds" product (source)

I've also been taking Ava to dog parks. The one we go to has a pen for large dogs and small dogs- I generally put her small self (she's only about 10 pounds at 11 weeks) in the large dog area because I want her to socialize well and "toughen" her up. This little puppy is hilarious! She puts up with the other larger dogs sniffing her and sometimes knocking her over for a little while, but then she starts defending herself and the large dogs back off! lol Ava thinks she runs the show at the dog park, and to a certain extent, she does. I generally try to watch the expressions of other dogs and their owners to know if the other dog Ava is playing with is too aggressive, if the owner is even paying attention, and if the owner is annoyed by Ava's actions. Yes, even dog parks have unspoken "rules" that most considerate dog owners abide by. If your dog is too rowdy or aggressive, PLEASE do us all a favor and either take the time to calm it down or leave! This isnt the time to be making business calls or sitting in a corner texting while your aggressive dog reached for my dog's neck! (Yes, there was a man doing exactly that in the dog park today!) Come on people, a little respect for others goes a long way. All the dogs and their owners want to enjoy the park. That is all.

Also, I took a class to get my concealed weapons permit; while there's not an imminent NEED for a gun now, I'm choosing to protect myself as a single woman weighing 122 pounds and standing at only 5'1". I really can't explain it better than Allen, a friend who teaches a concealed weapons permit class. Even if you don't have a gun now, I strongly recommend you take a concealed weapons permit class to know how to shoot accurately, know the gun laws, and be a well-informed citizen. Below is an excerpt from his site:

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I  don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.

I  don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
  I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun  because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
  I don't carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
  I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
  I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
  I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
  I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
  I don't carry a gun because I love it.
I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
 
Police protection is an oxymoron.  Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

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Until next time... :)