Homegirl Quel (kel) in Austin

Long Way Down

Zack has no time for the toddler playscape these days. This morning, he took on the big kid slide! This is, of course, after he spent forever sitting on the ground covering himself in pebbles and dirt. He played all morning like the energizer bunny. Currently, he's bathed, has a full belly and is sleeping like the sweet baby he is.

Pay-to-learn Programs: Awesome or Not Awesome?

So students at an East Austin high school improved performance after participating in a program where they where essentially paid to learn...$6/hr for attending math tutoring (article here). Similar programs are underway in New York, Atlanta and Baltimore, and are being tested in many other cities around the country.

Obviously, the money isn't increasing the ability of the students who participate in these programs to learn. It simply motivates them to use the tools (i.e. tutors) that tax payers and private donors provide. I've decided that I'm in support of programs like these. There are millions of dollars being spent on schools to improve education, yet many of those schools continue to close due to low performance--Pearce middle school in East Austin just closed it's doors this summer in spite of being highly funded by Austin ISD. You can read about it here. Looks like maybe they where paying the wrong people?

Some people who don't support these kinds of pay-to-learn programs argue that parents should get more involved in their kids' public school education and that paying kids to do what they ideally should be internally motivated to do is teaching them the wrong lesson about work and money and motivation and success. Ideally? Yes. Ideally, of course they're right. Unfortunately, reality still leaves us with parents who are disengaged in their kids' education process in a country that is largely motivated by money. And isn't it a good thing when young Americans realize the connection between positive hard work and pay? 

I say if you can lead the horse to water and make him drink, who cares how you get 'em to do it as long as it's legal?

*Update* 7/28: There's a nice little exchange of opinions going on over on Facebook, where I posted this link. I could not resist sharing the thoughts of my Facebook fam with you guys. Good reading after the jump...(FYI, Sylvester is my dad---now  you know otherwise you might be confused at first.)

Smoking Cigarettes, etc. (It's not what you think. Sort of.)

I was driving, to and from kiddie activities with my son today and thought about "Smoking Cigarettes", the song by Tweet. OK. Cat Daddy, I must confess:  For a moment I thought about smokin' cigarettes for real, which is nothing new to you guys who know me in real life. Not that I would actually ever smoke cigarettes for real (mom), but it just seems so soothing to people who do smoke, and I could use some soothing right now. Plus it looks so cool too (Nina Mosely in Love Jones? Carrie in

Sex and the City

? Hello? SO cool!). I do have a brief history of smoking that I mentioned here a few years ago--see #51 on my list of 100 Things About Me if you haven't read it already--but that doesn't even count. I prob'ly would be a pack-a-dayer if it wasn't for the cancer and the death and all.

Anyway, so since Tweet was on my mind, when I got home this afternoon, I broke out my Southern Hummingbird CD and let it play as house music for me and my toddler.  I had forgotten about how much I loved that whole album. It's so sexual. The good kind of sexual. Not the gross, Lil Wayne kind of sexual. "Call Me" (remember Verizon used it in an ad campaign one year? ) and "Oops (Oh My)" (that one about...um...self love), where her big singles off that album, but "Smokin' Cigarettes" and "Always Will" where my jams.  And " Beautiful" !  I let the album play twice, then started looking up her old videos online. She didn't do too many videos. Tweet just came and went--not sure why. I think I recall reading that she had some emotional issues or something that kept her from working for a minute. I hope she's just taking a long break and planning a fab comeback like Maxwell did...and like Whitney is doing. I need a Tweet comeback.

Here's my favorite video from the slim pickin's online. Isn't she so pretty? Enjoy!

Suave Skincare Giveaway Winner!

  Congratulations to Tricia Z.! Her's was the 26th qualified entry and her number was chosen using the random number generator on random.org. Tricia's favorite way to pamper herself at home and on a budget? "I love to curl up with a good book and some dark chocolate!" Wonderful!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Suave Shower Yourself Beautiful contest and my giveaway. Based on your entries, hands down, warm bubble baths rule! I say, follow that up with Tricia's good book and dark chocolate and consider yourself pampered. 

Please continue reading to see what Tricia has won.

I love this...

Now that I have a toddler who needs way more food and entertainment on the go than he use to, I have retired my cute little Storksak Julie bag (stored it for use for the next new baby in my life) and my Hobo International Lauren clutch wallet, for way less shiny and pretty, but way more practical Peace Print tote by The Sak, Zip Lock plastic storage bags (to hold dipers, wipes, etc., and my little blue owl print fabric pouch from Target. I saw it in there one day and could not resist the owls! It was only like $5-$6 and I love it. It reminded me of (a slightly less special version of) those charming pouches I always see at Anthropologie, but can never catch on sale. It's the perfect pouch. It holds all my daily essentials (keys, Clinique powder compact, Clinique Superbalm lipgloss, the awesome MAC lipstick I blogged about, my Blackberry Curve and money), and it's easy enough to toss into and grab out of my favorite tote bag turned diaper bag, especially when I go to the gym or any place without the boy. Plus it has owls!

 

Will the black and brown Austin bloggers please stand up?

Greetings to you white Austin bloggers, you guys rock, I totally see you. I'm just feeling a bit lonely over here and refuse to believe that there are so few black (or brown or other) bloggers in Austin. I know there are only a couple hundred thousand non-whites in Austin in the first place, but there must be more than three of us blogging. I know you're out there! Show your faces!

Calm down. I'm not being racist, or reverse racist or whatever, by bringing this up. This is just my little unscientific experiment to measure the diversity among, and to connect with a wider range of Austin bloggers.

If you're black, brown or "other", say hi and leave your Austin blog link in the comments.

If you're not black, brown or "other", say hi and leave your Austin blog link in the comments. DO you know any? Leave their link too.

If you're shy, email me at homegirlblog at hotmail dot com.

It's YOUR TURN to be a Clinique Insider!

It's that time. Only a few beauty reviews left before I complete my year as a Clinique Insider. I've had so much fun making the product review videos and getting all that FREE STUFF! Most importantly, Clinique skincare products and cosmetics have been great to my skin. I am happy for the opportunity to tell my blog readers, twitter followers, facebook friends and real-life friends and family about what's new at Clinique. And shout-out to my brown-skinned girls! I know many of us don't think "Clinique" when it comes to skincare and cosmetics for us, but I'm here to tell y'all that they are out there and they definitely have us brown girls covered. I'm wearing a full face of Clinique cosmetics in both photos you see of me on this page right now (profile picture and picture in the previous post) and don't I look naturally fresh and fab?!

Clinique is calling for entries for the second year of the Clinique Insider program. Now is your chance to enter! I just received word that the contest entry period has been extended and entries will now be accepted through at 11:59pm on August 23^rd, 2009. So put on your best face and ENTER HERE!

You better bring it though, because I'm entering again too! ;-)

 

My love-love relationship is back!

I loves my natural hair. Lord knows I do. But I was 'bout to kill it dead a few months ago. Then I found the Afroniquel You Weekly Deep Conditioning Challenge and I knowed there is a god. Aaaaaaand scene. [If you've seen The Color Purple, you know I'm not grammatically challenged. If you haven't seen it, you totally should.]

So I started the weekly conditioning challenge back in May and I started my journey back to natural-hair love. Before I started the weekly conditioning treatments (which have not always been "deep" 45-minutes is precious time for a stay-at-home-mom), my hair had been through a pretty rough time. The year I had my baby, my hair was dry and went through some pretty harsh detangling sessions. it was long, but damaged. So once I started the treatments, I thought I'd get my pre-baby natural back. Did not happen. My hair was more moisturized, but that was about it. It was still stringy an spongy and broken off in so many places that no matter how I changed up my regiment, my hair still wasn't giving me the love I needed.

So about TWO WEEKS ago I chopped most of it off. I took a mobile photo and posted it to Facebook right after I did it. Check it out here-->. See? I literally chopped it off. The day after that, I cut another inch off and my natural-hair love journey advanced by leaps and bounds. Now that only strong new-growth was there, I could nourish and moisturize my natural and be in love again.

I learned about co-washing (washing your hair only with conditioner--never using shampoo) when I posted a contest for hair conditioning and regiment tips. One of the winners, Reese, told me she swore by never using shampoo. So I tried it. And while my hair loved it, I think psychologically, I just wasn't ready to give up shampoo completely. So now, I do co-wash, but only mid-week after one or two pretty sweaty workouts. I can't go a week without using shampoo. Sorry. It's too hot in Texas and with working out on a regular basis, I need my scalp to have some squeaky cleanness. When I do co-wash I use Suave Professionals knock-off of Nexxus Humectress. I also use it as my regular conditioner when I wash it throughout the week, reserving my Creme of Nature Deep Conditioning for weekly treatments on the weekends. As you can see, I don't spend a lot of money on hair products. Right now Im using ones I got for free. I have limited expendable income and can't stomach spending it on expensive hair products. Even when I had more cashola, I pretty much used inexpensive products. I don't have a need for more expensive brands, especially since the ones I'm using are working fabulously. My hair is happy, which makes me happy.

I'm essentially starting all the way over. Some folks thought I was crazy for going so short, but I'd take short happy hair over long dreadful hair any day.

A Celebration and a Beer

My husband and I attended a wedding of a friend of mine this weekend in Dallas. It was the most beautiful celebration of love and marriage and family that I have ever had the pleasure of witnessing. It was one of those weddings that, if you're married, fortifies your bond and reminds you why you're married in the first place--you kind of renew your vows from the bench. It was one of those weddings that, if you're not married, gives you the perfect example of what a great marriage...not wedding...but marriage looks like.

Both the families of the bride and groom had histories of long, successful and happy marriages. Old married couples were honored and celebrated during the reception and offered words of advice to the other married couples there. Mutual respect, compromise, and willingness to work through the inevitable hard times together, where a recurring theme when older married folks addressed the guests. My favorite advice was from the oldest married couple there, who told the fellas that saying "Yes, dear" would keep them happily married for 59+ years. It was wonderful.

My favorite reading during the ceremony was the Apache Wedding Blessing, which almost brought me to tears--I'm positive the music from the harp had much to do with it too. The blessing is about togetherness and oneness and speaks directly to why we humans choose to do this whole marriage thing in the first place. The blessing is so simple and basic and void of religious tones. I left the wedding with a renewed faith in marriage and a stronger desire to create the best possible family experience with my husband and son and future children. I think that's how all weddings should make all guests feel, regardless of whom they have chosen to love.

In the photo here, I snapped the camera while it was sitting on our table at the reception. It's a Carona with lime. Perfect refreshment at the perfect Texas wedding.

So this is how The Ice Cream Man rollin' these days?

The first time I saw this truck was rolling through my neighborhood. The driver wore a hawaiian shirt and he was blasting "Don't Worry Be Happy" through the speakers. I stood in the doorway with my son and we danced until the truck and the music disappeared. I caught him in the parking lot at a nearby grocery store here with my Blackberry. Long way from the old white van with the deep freezer, sticker decals and sketchy driver of my childhood days. 

Please spare the orchids.

Hello. My name is Raquel. I'm an orchid killer. To the wonderful friends and family members who have given me orchids over the years, thank you. I love getting flowers. They make me feel special and girly and delicate and all those wonderful, feminine things. Keep 'em coming. However, please spare the orchids. They don't like me. Perhaps word has gotten out among the orchid community that their days are numbered once in my possession. Try as I might, they die...or go dormant then die...after a few short months with me. So while they come to me looking like this or like this, they always end up looking like the one pictured here. I water them, I put them in places that, according to what I've read online, would make orchids happy. But they always die. I'm always so hopeful at first, but the story never changes...always the same ending. I'm over this story.

So if you want to make me feel special and pretty and delicate and all those lovely things, please give me flowers. But please spare the orchids. 

Friday Randoms

• I went to see Maxwell live with my husband this week. It was so fun! The opening act was Laura Izibor. I hadn't heard of her before the show. She's Irish,has awesome hair and is a wonderful singer/songwriter. She performed with only a keyboard and a guy with an acoustic guitar, which was all she needed. That and her AWESOME HAIR! Maxwell put on a quite sexy show. The live band was so tight. He was so funny too! He talked a lot in between songs. After the show, he was like, "Austin, I really appreciate y'all getting dressed up and moisturizin' and getting your hair did, and fellas puttin' on your cologne." He gave Austin much love and we gave it right back. I tweeted through the opening act and after the show. Did I mention how sexy his show was?
• VOTE for ME! in the Black Blog 2009 Awards. Vote <<HERE.>>
• Dear lady at the gym who caught me looking at you crazy, I would say sorry, but I won't. Because when you wear a bra top to the gym sporting a 2-liter instead of a 6-pack, you should expect to be looked at crazy. Put a shirt on!
• Reminder, to any of you guys thinking about attending Blogalicious 2009 (at the W Midtown in Atlanta on Oct. 9-11), early registration for the conference ends on July 11th. After July 11th, the fee goes up to $265. Blogalicious attendees get a special promotional rate of $149 until mid-September. So register and book your rooms early!
  IMPORTANT NOTE: The sessions and events at this conference will focus on interests and issues of the female blogger of color, but it's all love at Blogalicious 2009--we're all brothers and sisters, so to my non-color blogger peeps, you are welcome! Come! You know you want to. 
• My twin brother is here with me! And my mom AND my bff are on the way and will be arriving today! I'm going to be in my happy place this weekend. :)
• And speaking of my twin...here's a totally random photo/photo of the day:

And yes, that's me with a LOT less hair. We'll talk more about that later. Happy Friday! :)