Don't Sleep on Thrift Store Finds

I have been going to the thrift store for awhile now to score some really great deals on *NEW* or gently used books for my daughter since she loves to read. I literally can get her 10-12 books for $2 MAX. Same thing with the toys but she has enough toys right now that even cheap new toys don't even compel me to buy them (although I bought her a sit n spin gently used and in great condition for $3).  I rarely peruse the clothing section because at first glance, a lot of the selection looks ragged, faded, and extremely out of date. However, I decided to see if they had any blazers my size that won't make me look frumpy. Well, to my surprise, I found 3 blazers that I really like.  Here is one of them:

This blazer was in tip top condition and was only $7! *SMILES*  So after finding a little success, I decided to head over to the women's section to see what I can score in deals and style.  Let me tell you, I had a much better time browsing the racks at the thrift store than I would at the insanely disorganized racks at Forever 21 (but they still have AWESOME jewelry).  What made things better was the fact that all clothing was buy 1 get 1 free.  I was like "Word?".  As I was looking at some of the price tags, I noticed that many of the tops, pants, and skirts were only $3.  Then I said to myself "WORD!". Lets get to cracking...

Don't get me wrong, you have to be patience when it comes to shopping at the thrift store.  When I shop for books for Z, I make sure there are no stains, frayed edges, food grime, and torn out pages in the books I purchase.  It is a process but if you just look, you would be amazed what items you can find that are either new or in really great shape.  Just like I inspect the books, I examined every piece of clothing item I was interesting in purchasing for tears, fading, stains, holes, and etc.

Some of the items, I was really put off.  They say another man's trash is someone else's treasure.  Well, some of the items are just plain trash in my opinion.  The stains in some of these items were basically like OMG...like, how can you even put this on the rack with a price tag even if it is only 2-3 dollars?

But some of the items I could not believe they were stranded in the amidst of old ragged clothing.  My most exciting findings is this top:

 

 

This top is so gorgeous in person! $3! I am so into crazy prints and patterns and this top definitely hits the spot! Amazing...

So since I bought one top, I was able to get this one free:

I don't have many blue tops so this is a great addition to my wardrobe.  It is crazy because I have a shirt that I purchased at Forever 21 that looks very similar to this one (paid $20 for it).  Throw on a nice white or khaki skirt and a skinny belt and I am set to go with this great find!

So what are some of the other items I found during my thrifting experience?

Who is Ready for a Challenge?

Hi ladies!

On Sunday, I will be starting my 6 month protective styling challenge to help get me closer to WL this winter. Some of the ladies have personally informed me that they are interested in joining this challenge with me. This really excite me because I was pretty much on my own during my 1 year wig challenge this past year and sometimes it got hard. So I figured I would ask to see if any of you are interested in joining the challenge with me. And even if you are not interested, I would love if you could come and support me in this challenge. Unlike the last challenge where I pretty much wore a wig the entire year, this one will have some flexibility in styling, which I really like since I know first hand how wearing wigs all the time can get boring.

Here are the results of my 1 year challenge in case you did not see my post about it. I retained at least 6 inches from this challenge and know first hand that protective styling is ONE method to retaining length:

In 6 months, I hope to retain at least 3 inches of length, which is approximately equaled to this:

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3 inches can get you from one hair length milestone to the next milestone (or at least close to it). So if you are interested in a challenge or cheering me on, then please leave a comment stating:

"I'm READY!"

And if you aren't ready, feel free to just say:

"GO Girl!"

I plan to do weekly/bi-weekly check ups on my blog to track progress, thoughts, frustrations, and etc. :)

Can't wait to see your responses!

Getting PERSONAL! (LONG)

I know I have been blogging mainly about my hair journey since I started my blog but when all is said and done, my hair is not going to get me through my most difficult times in life. But isolating myself and keeping my struggles to myself is not going to help me get through either. So here is to me (the introvert) being more open...

Right now, I am juggling with so much just like the next person. I am an engineering graduate student who constantly feel like giving up, a mother of a very busy toddler who is about to head into those terrible twos, a fiancee' to a guy who is just as busy with school and work, an inspiring bride to be who has NO idea when exactly she will have the time to fully plan out her wedding, a frustrated job seeker who just want to get her foot into the medical device/pharmaceutical industry to start her career, a blogger/vlogger who wants to continue to inspire her readers through her journey, and most importantly, a Christian of 5 years who is still struggling with the concept of faith and feeling worthy of God's love. 

Sometimes, we can look at someone from the outside and truly believe that THAT person has it all together.  Or we can desire to be like someone or have something that someone has without really knowing what all that person had to go through to get to a certain place in life or receive an awesome blessing.  I don't ever want someone to look at me that way because I CERTAINLY don't have it all together even with longer hair...lol.  And even when I do have things together, it is only because of God's grace and mercy. Praise HIM!

Several ladies have mentioned how they can see Christ in me and see my positive attitude.  I think, "Wow, really?!", mainly because I am going through some hard times right now.  I was truly humbled by those statements especially since they were based off of not knowing me personally and based on what they can see from my video and read from my blog. As you go through my blog, I don't want you to see me as another natural hair guru/expert (far from it!) or even a big headed one at that (because there are those out there but I don't knock their hustle).  I would like for you to see me as an individual who is growing not only in her hair journey, but most importantly growing as a beautiful and unique individual in her spiritual and life journey.  I want to be as humble as I can as I share what I have learned through my experiences whether it be about hair or in life because in the end, all good things come from above and He should ALWAYS get the glory especially since I do not even deserve to be here today to share this with you.

Don't think I am going to start preaching on my blog...hehe.  But I will share some spiritual points that I want to keep note of that may help me grow as a Christian and hopefully be of some help to someone else.  What profit is for me to hog my spiritual discoveries to myself and not share it with you all?  I sure do not want God to act the same way toward me! In addition, I want to be able to be open and learn from experiences that some of you have gone through that may help me get through some of my rough patches.  Even biblical verses that you believe that can help encourage me would be awesome! 

I hope I do not turn any readers off by introducing a more personal and spiritual aspect of my life on my blog. I mean, the title of my blog is This BEadifully YOUnique Woman (not Hair).  But if I do, I apologize in advance and hope that you continue to read my posts pertaining to my hair journey because I will continue to do so on a regular basis. 

Ok, enough babbling on.  This past Sunday, my preacher talked about declaring WAR against the devil.  The catch phrase was

1-2-3-4 I-DE-CLARE-WAR!

This is on repeat in my head as I work on this graduate work.  Keep me in prayer and remember to BE.YOU.Always! :)

Kristal