September| Saturday Fun Day…

I’m such an adventurous person that anything to do with fun jumps out at me. Two weekends ago my husband & I went to the biggest mall in Canada and there was an amusement park, water-park and loads of things to do.  When I laid my eyes on the roller coasters, I knew I had to go on one before the end of the day. Kevin doesn't like roller coasters but its not fun doing those things alone so he tagged along with me.

Saturday Fun Day

OOTN | 6 Month's Dinner Style…

On June 1, 2013 Kevin proposed to me and on June 20, 2015 we celebrated our 6 month anniversary.  People often get comfortable in their relationships and forget the little things which made the relationship work in the beginning. We don’t profess to know everything just what works for us. Even though we enjoy wine & dining, we also enjoy the little things in life. Beach dates, movie dates, sit at home and chill dates, doing stuff for each other, buying each other favorite treats randomly. These are just a few ways that works for us.

Dinner at Zen Restaurant Barbados

Vacation 2014: Blogger’s Meet & Greet…

London Blogger's meet Tomes Edition

So this happened, I got to meet some of my E-friends! Let me first say a big THANK YOU to the lovely Lesley of Fresh Lengths & Yvonne of Diary of Another Relaxed Chic for coming out and hanging with me.  The month of May was an extremely stressful month that I even lost weight. It was so noticeable that my human resource manager asked me if I lost weight because my clothes seem not to be fitting as they usually did. I couldn’t wait for May to be over and June to begin which I was hoping would bring more sunshine into my life. I was solely looking forward to some relaxation and quality time with my fiancé for this vacay.  Kevin is no stranger to this blog and he said to me one day “ Do you want to meet up with your bloggers from the UK while you’re visiting” and my eyes lit up and was like YEAH.  He’s truly a breathe of fresh air. I thought to myself which of my bloggers were in the UK that I could possibly meet up with and the two persons that I interact with on a regular basis in the blogger world is Lesley & Yvonne.

I immediate sent them an email and they agreed. Lesley schedule was alil bit hectic but we manage to still squeeze in time to meet up. Yvonne schedule was pretty flexible so it was easy to get everyone together at the same time.

OOTD: Girl Friend’s Edition…

“It’s nice to have friends that know all about you and still love you anyway”

“To have a friend and be a friend is what makes life worthwhile”

Let me first wish my good friend Charlia a Happy Birthday! This weekend activities were surrounded by celebrating another milestone. Life is too short to be anything but happy, so any opportunity that arises we make sure we make the best of it.

It’s our annual crop over season in Barbados and we decided to celebrate by attending an all inclusive breakfast party under the name "Awaken" been held by Brewster’s Road Crew, which was at the Golden Grove Estate St Philip.  It was slated for 3:00am to 10:00pm. We arrived at 5.35am and stayed till 10.30am. Take a look at what I wore and please excuse the quality of these pics: 

Dress: Siren (Canada) | Bag & Shoes: Barbados

He Went Down On One Knee & I Said…

I've have been racking my brain as to if I should do this post but I asked myself if anyone asked me how Kevin Proposed the story is going to be the exact same thing so why not share with my "E friends". I thought this post was fitting since we are in the love month.

On June 1, 2013 was one of the most amazing days of my life. It all started when I headed down to the salon to get my hair relaxed and I asked Kevin to assist in recording some of the relaxing process to share with you guys.  Well, after I left the salon Kevin asked to go Limegrove Bar for drinks to celebrate me making my first goal of Armpit Length (APL) but I was nervous I didn't reach that goal yet and blew him off by saying “why do we need to go celebrate, I don’t know that I met that goal (my hair was left wrapped from the salon) plus we are travelling next weekend, lets save the money and use it at a restaurant overseas”.  He still insisted but I shrugged it off and figured he had forgotten all about it.

Later that day my mom made homemade hamburgers and I invited him to come over for a burger and he came and saw my hair still wrapped and wondered why I haven’t taken it down to see the length. Kevin and my mom were cheering me on, so I unwrapped my hair and realized I was in fact grazing APL *jumping with excitement*

At 6:30pm I was on the phone with a girlfriend of mine and I heard a beep come through on the phone and it was Kevin saying “Babe be ready for 7:15pm” my response was “ to go where” and he went on saying remember I told you when we were in town lets go celebrate reaching your first hair goal.  I got off the phone and went to get ready and at 7:15pm I had just scrambled to finish my makeup which wasn't even flawless given the time constraint. Kevin came inside my house with a black slacks and navy blue button shirt and enclosing shoes. Now I told him you’re very dressed up and we are only going to a bar and he said "but its Limegrove". He didn't agree with the dress I was going to wear saying it wasn't dressy enough. I picked out another dress and I was able to be out of the house by 7:30pm.

Kevin went back into my house saying he forgot his stuff and I was waiting for about 10mins in the car till he came out with a bag and placed it in the trunk. Normally his stuff  goes in the back seat but I dismissed it. Driving down the road I realized Kevin was driving faster than normal and he brought up the story about when he was driving in Orlando last September and everyone including trucks were passing us because he didn't want to go over the speed limit, these people are driving like he was, I just chuckled.

Having drinks at Limegrove

We arrived at Limegrove Bar and sat adjacent from the bar. We ordered Mudslides and he was drinking faster than normal but even then I didn't get suspicious. I did notice a guy was looking down from upstairs at me the WHOLE night but failed to mention it to Kevin, which was creepy.  We talked and laughed and took loads of pics then Kevin asked for the bill. Now I 

Girlfriends Expo @ Barbados Concorde Experience…

Girlfriends Expo is an annual event which has been in existence for the past 5years. For the last two years it has been held at the Barbados Concorde Experience.  British Airways Concorde 

G-BOAE or Alpha Echo is a legendary aircraft which has a stunning combination of advanced engineering and elegant beauty.  It can travel twice the speed of sound, some 1380 m.p.h or 23 miles per minute. This is faster than a riffle bullet. It normally takes 8 hours from Barbados to England but the Concorde would have gotten you there in 4 hours, pretty awesome right. G-BOAE has made Barbados its final home when all the fleet were retired in 2003, but was opened on April 16, 2007 in Barbados. Take a look at what it looks like:

Inside of British Airways Concorde G-BOAE

11 Week Post Relaxer And My Edges Are Sleeked Down…

Oh my where did 2013 go, December is here and it’s the most wonderful time of the year.  I’m not one to really care about my edges for work because I don’t interact with customers or work in the front line however when I’m going out with my girls or otherwise, coily edges is a no no.  If you follow me on instagram, you would have seen when I posted about my sleeked edges. Normally I would do a flexi-rod set to blend both textures but I was going out Friday night with my girls and there was no way I would have time to do all of that. 

A couple months ago I went into Bridgetown to look for the famous Eco-Style Gel but I couldn't find any at that point in time so I scooped up Ampro Pro Styl Protein Styling Gel as a backup product for $3.99BDS.  Eco-Styler Gel is available in Barbados at various beauty supply stores and I saw this after I purchased the Ampro Pro Styl Gel. It 's a protein gel but its alcohol free and non greasy. Directions say [1]  Apply to wet or dry hair and comb through [2]  Allow to dry naturally or use a blow dryer [3]  Ideal for use with sculptured styles and roller sets.

I didn't want a super hard hold and since I've never used gel on my edges since I started my Healthy Hair Journey, [1] I decided to use my moisturizing spray first on my edges [2] Followed by wetting my soft brush [3] I dipped the brush into the gel and softly combed my edges [4] I tied my edges down with a scarf for 3 hours and I really like the results and would definitely use this gel again. 

Please click on image to enlarge

Girls Night Out: The Birthday Celebration…

"Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down”

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself”

Today is one of my closest girlfriends birthday and to celebrate I took her out to dinner at Tapas Restaurant for a relaxing, girl catch up kind of night. Dionne is no stranger to this blog as she was featured here before. We don’t talk everyday but when we do talk it’s like we never missed a day before. She’s like a sister from another mother, love her to bits.

We arrived on time and were seated within 5mins. The restaurant wasn't full but the ambiance was nice and by the time we were ready to leave it had filled up.  I don’t like eating heavy foods after 9.00pm so I skipped starters and went straight for a main course. We both ordered the Pork Tenderloin which came with mashed potatoes, with bits of bacon in it. As usual my drink was a mudslide but Dionne ordered Passionate Paradise.  The mudslide I had at TGIF is still the best I've tasted and unfortunately they are now closed down.

The pork was very well seasoned and tasted delicious, thumbs up to the chef. We were so stuff that we didn't bother with desert but the restaurant were so nice to bring over a bowl of ice-cream with a strawberry in it and a sparkling candle to end the night on a fantastic note. Dionne was surprised as seen on her face below. Here are a few pics from that night and I did her make-up:

L-R Tomi & Dionne

FANTASIA In Concert With My Girls...

Fantasia Barrino was in Barbados on September 15, 2013 and her performance was energetic and awesome. The only down side was the concert was too short as she performed for about 50mins.  I went with my girls and we had a great time, awesome start to my Birthday!

Food | Drinks | Great Convos + Laughter = Girls Night Out

                “It’s nice to have friends that know all about you and still love you anyway”

                       “To have a friend and be a friend is what makes life worthwhile”

It’s so relaxing and refreshing to hang out with your girlies to chit chat about everything in life whether you are the topic or otherwise it’s always a fantastic time. These girls crack me up all the time and definitely never a dull moment with them.

Date night with my girls almost didn't happen because all the places to eat were all booked up and we forgot to make a reservation. We drove around to two main eating places and ended up at TGI Fridays. Thank goodness they had some available tables and we were seated within 5mins.

In a blink of an eye our waiter came over and introduced herself and we placed our orders. She was very friendly and made us feel comfortable while we waited for our food.  Charlia had a Southwest Burger with regular potato fries, Nicole had a Jack Daniel Burger with sweet potato fries and I had a Cheese Burger with sweet potato fries *yumyum*and of course the drink of the night was Mudslides.  This has been the best mudslide I have ever tasted in my life, kudos to the bar tender for making such amazing drinks.

  

Cheers to making great memories and good friendships. Here are a few pics of how our night went:

(Left-Right - Tomi, Charlia & Nicole)

Tomes Edition Hair “TREATS” ::Spotlight:: Dionne’s Wash Day...

Over the course of my life I have been blessed with a lot of supportive friends that have been cheering me on from the sidelines, since I started my Healthy Hair Journey. So I decided as a token of my appreciation, to give some of them hair “Treats” compliments Tomes Edition. Without further adieu let’s introduce the lady that knows me inside and out and our friendship is 18 years strong and today’s highlight Ms Dionne..

Dionne isn't on a hair journey and wants to start a Healthy Hair Journey but she’s just too darn lazy even though she has thick beautiful full shoulder length hair.  

::Let’s get to know Dionne alil bit more::

Dionne has been relaxed for 14 years and gets a relaxer 4 times a year. Straight off Dionne is practicing healthy hair habits by stretching her relaxer but she doesn't even know she is lol.  I had a look at the products she uses on her wash days which comprises of Elasta Soy OYL UltraHydration Shampoo and Deep Conditions with Elasta Dpr 11 Deep Penetrating Conditioner and moisturizes with Mizani Coconut Souffle Light Moisturizing Hairdress.  As you can see her products are protein heavy and I felt it on her strands which were rough. She also uses heat every wash day by blow drying and on relaxer day as well.

My Vacation to New York, Toronto and Calgary...

I went on holiday for 2 weeks as you may have known and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Travelling to Calgary from Barbados is usually very expensive so an opportunity came up and I decided to grab it fast   I haven’t seen my good friend Nikita in like forever so the opportunity to hang with her, I took it in a heartbeat. I've never been to New York before so I needed someone to show me around - Nikita was an awesome guide; we got to see so many places in the short space of time of 1 1/2 days. In addition her accommodating tour guide skills, she also makes unique jewelry and her pieces can be found at (LaNomRahDesigns), be sure to check it out!!! From NYC we went onto spend 1 day in Toronto with Kevin’s cousin and the other days were spent in Calgary with my family.

Take a look at some of the stuff I got to do and the people I spent my vacay with.

::New York City w/ Nikita & Kevin::

Please click image to enlarge

Wash Day…

I didn’t post my last two wash days because time just flew by and I realize oops, that I didn’t take any pics to show you guys, so I just slapped my hair into a bun for the week as seen (here)

On Friday while at work I noticed my hair looked dull in the mirror so I knew my hair had a lot of build-up and it was time to restore the shine.

This is how I approached my wash day (Link to Product):

1)      Prepoo with EVCO & EVOO on my scalp and on the length of my hair for 30 mins 

         under my heat cap

2)      Shampoo with ORS Creamy Aloe Shampoo [one lather]. This Shampoo makes my 

         hair squeaky clean but this time around it felt a little dry

3)      Shampoo with CON Moisture & Shine Shampoo [one lather]. I love how 

         this Shampoo instantly moisturized my hair but it still felt *blah*

4)      Apply ApHogee 2 Min Keratin Reconstructor  on my hair for 3 mins without heat.

         Normally when I wash this out my hair is instantly soft and silky but this wasn’t the 

         case today and I was really surprised and confused   
5)      I used my Queen Helene for the past two wash days but decided to apply 
       )  KeraPRO Restorative Intensive Conditioning Treatment  to my hair for 35 mins under
          my heatcap. When I went to wash it out, my hair felt stiff like if I did a protein treatment.

         As the water ran along my scalp my hair was instantly soft, silky and felt really
         moisturized.  My DC saved my hair today

6)      Wrapped my hair in a t-shirt for 30 mins to absorb the excess water
7)      Applied Aphogee Keratin & Green Tea Restructurizer, Herbal Essences Split-End
          Protector and Organix Coconut Milk Anti-Breakage Serum  to my hair and detangled
          really easy although I’m 5 weeks post

I was planning on going out tonight with one of my really good friends so I decided to full wrap my hair for a straight look.

Please click image to enlarge

8)      Air dry for 30 mins