Artscape 2015

         Its been awhile since I last posted but I'm back! This past Saturday I explored the Artscape festival in Baltimore. It felt like I was in a sauna all day. Right when I stepped out the car I started sweating :( literally drenching in sweat! It was pretty sad.

       Besides the unbearable weather, there were so many fascinating things at the festival. Here is a truck covered in recycled caps. It must of taken the man years to collect that many caps to cover his truck.

            Fish Camry.

      While my friends and I were exploring the festival we came upon this tent. We had no idea what was inside, until the owner's came out dressed in fish costumes made out of cardboard and jelly fish tops made out of colorful materials. They had hippie music playing and were dancing bollywood style. My friends joined in with them, putting on the jellyfish costume and posing when the owner's would try to snap shots of them.

Cierra posing with one of the jellyfish costumes.

    Everyone and their mother was out there hustling! On every corner there was someone selling water, soda, or shaved ice. I don't blame them though, it was extremely hot Saturday. I know each and everyone of them made a lot of business that day.

Trenice, Yemi and Cierra.

Eye Wink ;)

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    My parents and their friend Tomeika even stopped by the festival. They never go anywhere without their shades!

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        This is my favorite shot out of the ones that I photographed. I love this picture so much because it was not set up at all! Literally before I even hit the shutter button we were geeking haha dancing to the ice cream truck theme song. Gotta love candid pictures :)

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      Overall, I really enjoyed myself at artscape this past weekend. The only thing I regret is that I did not visit some of the free entrance art galleries :( Oh well, there will be a next time.

And then there's me :)

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New Color & OOTD

GOODBYE disgusting faded reddish orangish color and HELLO lavishing purple. I did not plan on dying my hair dark again but there were several complications that led me to dye it anyway. These pictures do not do any justice because you cannot see the actual color. In person and in daylight it is a deep plum color. I normally use Manic Panic dye but this time I used Twilight by Flare. I love this new color, it compliments my face more.

This is yesterday's OOTD and it is my most favorite outfit so far! The shirt I have on is a body suit that I purchased at the beginning of the school year from H&M. I planned on wearing a black skater skirt with this shirt at first but it was pretty chilly out so I wore these acid wash high waisted jeans instead. These are one of my favorite pair of high waisted jeans, I purchased these from River Island. I have on some high knee bow socks from Charlotte Rosse and my black boots/heels from H&M. I felt as if the addition of the bow socks made it more 90's style yet 50's at the same time.

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A Night To Remember

Towson Nights

         Friday night was definitely one of the best nights I've EVER had in Maryland. This night I really felt like myself and actually had a great time. My guard was down and all. My friends witnessed the real Kyra! That whole day I did not do anything besides clean the house and work on my routine for a talent hunt. I usually get dressed at my house but I got dressed at my friend Cierra's this time. I tried to rush to get dressed because I normally take hours lol I did not want to be the last one done. 

    This was my first time wearing makeup this whole week. I have been avoiding wearing any product besides eyeliner because I broke out badly on my forehead :( With every outfit I wore that week I added a funky headband to cover the acne. 

               I was feeling my outfit that night! I had on my favorite shirt from F21. I purchased this at the beginning of the school year when they had the back to school sale. Because it had been snowing so much lately, I was afraid that I was going to freeze to death wearing this shirt but thank god I did not. The jeans I have on from H&M. They are regular jean material at the top but have a leather material attached at the bottom. I also purchased those during the back to school sale. And of course I have on my favorite boot/heels from H&M.

          The earrings and necklace I had on are both from Charlotte Russe. This bracelet I have on is my mother's (I always take her jewelry). I'm not sure where she purchased this from but I adore this bracelet. It gave my outfit PIZAZZ!

There was some other girls in the bathroom taking "off guard pictures" but my friend Taylor and I :)

           Once we arrived back in Riverside, we stopped at the Waffle House to get something to eat. My friend Pam works there and she always decorates the waffles nice with whip cream! I was craving her waffles but unfortunately she was not working at this hour :(

      I asked my waitress could she add whip cream thinking she would decorate it like Pam but she did not. I was some what disappointed but the waffles were still delicious so I guess that's all that matters. 

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Birthday Dinner

 Saturday night I went out to my friend's birthday dinner at Lin's Hibachi. We were supposed to go last week but the snow ruined that! I was so excited to finally get out for once during this cold winter. The last time I went to a restaurant similar to Lin's was when I went to Benihana's in Hawaii. I feel like Lin's food tasted just like Benihana's, maybe they all use the same ingredients because I didn't notice any difference in either one. It's so exciting seeing the chefs do tricks with their knives! Even though I always have a fear in my mind that they'll accidentally drop one and it'll cut someone at the table. 

I promise I was so glad when my food was done. I was literally staring at the chef season the shrimp and steak. I was a human timer, just counting down the seconds until I could put some food in my mouth! I had not eaten anything that whole day besides some doughnuts :( I was the only one on my side of the table to finish all of my food lol I couldn't help it I was starving all day. The steak and fried rice were to die for!

My friend wanted us to get dressed up so I kept my outfit rather simple. I wore one of those long shirts with the slits on the side with black leather leggings. Since I was wearing all black I wanted to add some pizazz! That's why I added the beaded/jeweled headband with some earrings I purchased from Express a few years ago.

For makeup I did my usual routine: eyebrows, foundation and eyeliner. I used this pinkish color for my lip that I stole from my mother lol she'll never notice that it's gone.

I really need my hair shaped up and colored again! You can't tell in this picture but my hair is three different colors right now. It's red, orange and black :( Since I don't have work this Tuesday I'm going to make sure I stop by the barber shop. I'm tired of this red color and I'm sure what color I'll do next but I need something different. Everyone and their mother's have red hair.

These are the heels I wore that night. I've only worn these twice and I see why I don't wear they often. They had my feet crying rivers! I couldn't wait to get home and take these off. I love the spikes on them but my oh my these were a killer.

Here's just a few of the girls from the other night. The birthday girl is the one in the middle <3. I really enjoyed myself that night and I'm glad that I came out for her. Thanks for the invite Ebony :)!

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My Proudest Moment

Lately I have not been feeling any of my outfits that I've worn recently. It's been about a week or two since I've had a good OOTD :( I don't know what's going on. So much has been going on and I have just been out of it lately. Here's the only OOTD that I have in my phone. I LOVE this fuchsia fuzzy sweater! I purchased it from Hollister around Christmas time when they had that amazing sale. I have on high waisted jeans from F21 and some boots from H&M. These boots are one of my favorites and I think I'm going to purchase some more because these ones are started to look run down. 

About a week ago I received the best news ever, I got accepted into St. John's University! I had been waiting so long for my acceptance letter and I finally got it. I got the great news when my mother picked me up from work. She was smiling from ear to ear when I got in the car. I asked her why she was cheesing so hard and she said, "Guess who's SJU19?!". I couldn't do anything but pounce up and down in the car, I was ecstatic! I was curious as to how she knew and she said because she opened up the letter. Like how is she going to open up my acceptance letter?!. I couldn't do anything but laugh at her. She responded with "Well it's my house so it's my mail too", I swear my mom is truly something else but you have to love her haha. 

 I was fortunate enough to have received a $15K scholarship and a $3K if I live on campus there. I'm so blessed because college is definitely expensive! I couldn't do nothing but thank God. Even though St. John's is not my number one I have been considering going here because I love NYC so much. It has always been a child hood dream of mine to live there for the rest of my life. Plus a year ago, when my family and I went to NYC for July 4th we did a campus visit. Back then SJU was my top choice and I think maybe it's a sign that I do go there..I don't know yet!

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Time for Something New

 This past week has been quiet an interesting one. Saturday morning I was supposed to get the faux dreads put in my hair but I decided not to. That whole week I was contemplating on whether I should get them done or not. While my mother and I were driving to Harford Mall to return a gift she mentioned, "Kyra, why don't you just cut your hair like you said you would?" I had been going on and on about how I hated my hair and could not wait to cut it. Believe me, I was not scared to cut my hair at all, I had done it a year ago when I did my big chop. I took a moment to form a final decision as to what I wished to do with my hair. After a few measly minutes riding around Bel Air in the rainy weather I came to a conclusion,I was going to cut my hair. 

Before dying my hair black I had almost every color you could think of in my hair, besides lemon head yellow or cotton candy pink of course. I wanted something new and fresh. My mother and I made our way down to a near by Sally's and I went on a hair product rage. I spent $60 worth of hair products which included: Miss Jesses Jelly Soft Curls, Eco Styler Gel, two Manic Panic hair dyes, and two boxes of color zap. It truly hurt my heart and soul to spend that much at the beauty store.

My mother truly slayed my hair, I love it! This an inspired twa style. I've watched several natural ladies on youtube with this style and I just decided to try it. This new look is more ME, I feel more comfortable and free. When I had the big natural I felt like I was only growing it out just because everyone else admired my hair growth. No, I don't regret my decision on cutting my hair at all. So far I have received several compliments and I've received some ignorant ones as well but I could honestly care less about what they have to say or think about my new style. They're not the ones with it, I AM. If they don't like it then maybe they should grow out their own hair :) My intention is not to sound hostile but it starts to get old when people always think it's necessary to question everything I do. 

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Mentally Exhausted

This week has honestly been a drag. My mind and body are extremely exhausted. I am so thankful for this three day weekend! Its only been our second week back and my sleeping schedule is still off. Every night I've been falling asleep at 1am, mind you I wake up at 5:45 every day! I never have enough time to enjoy my slumber. On top of that I've been assigned back to back projects due and tests to study for, plus I have to work everyday. I haven't even been able to take OOTD's. I dressed up on Thursday because it had been such a rough week,  I wanted to feel good for the first time this week. I decided to switch my hairstyle and did the mohawk. I usually only wear this style once in awhile because I always have to put my hair up at work. For my hair I just co-washed it and used Cantu Shea Butter Moisturizer and coconut oil. I normally use Eco Styler Gel for the sides but I haven't had the chance to go to Sally's and purchase some, so I just used regular gel and wrapped it.

I'm so excited for next weekend because I'll finally be getting my hair braided! I really need a break from my hair; it gets very overwhelming having such thick hair. Sometimes I just want to cut it all off again like I did a year ago. My friends think I'm crazy for wanting to do that but it's just hair to me, it'll grow back. I also miss having color, that last color I had was the midnight blue; I always got a lot of compliments with that color. This time I want to do something simple but funky, even with my next hairstyle. A CHANGE IS DEFINITELY NEEDED. I'm not a 100% sure what I want to do just yet but I do have some ideas.

Tonight I decided to just stay home. I need to apply to some more colleges and scholarships. UT is still my number one choice but I want to have some back ups. I've been looking into colleges in San Antonio and Georgia so far, hopefully I find one that can compete with UT. There's a party going on tonight but the fun can wait, I need to get my stuff done so I won't stress towards the end of my senior year!

I am so excited for senior week you guys! My best friend Kay Kay is coming down, I haven't seen her in years. I miss her so much! I can't wait for her to meet the wonderful friends I've made here :) I wish June 6th would come sooner, it will be an unforgettable and epic week.

Hopefully this week coming up is a good one unlike this week was. I'll make sure to post more, since this is the only time I've posted this week. 

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Goodbye 2014 Hello 2015

It's That Year!

   The year of 2015 has finally arrived and I could not be anymore excited than I already am! This is the year where I will end the chapter of my high school years and start a new at the University of Texas at Austin. That is if I get accepted, I find out the final decision in March, I have my fingers crossed. I am thrilled to almost have the opportunity to start my own journey, make adult decisions and have a great amount of freedom. In five months, my parents beloved little Kyra Mae will break away from the nest. Most of my friends are afraid to be far away from their parents. I feel as though the separation from one's parents will allow one to grow up and not feel babied, as they were for majority of their lives.

   I usually don't make new years resolutions but this year I did and I'm sure I'll stick to this one. A few years ago, during my sophomore year, I had started up my first blog. I posted daily and I would take photographs and OOTD's, I was quiet consistent and dedicated to that blog but after a while that dedication faded. I lost interest and felt it was a waste of time. Just a few months ago, while I was lounging around my room looking at old photographs of myself I thought, "I should start blogging again". I do intend on majoring in journalism or public relations so why not start it again? 

 I decided to take a picture of my view because the sun was setting and the colors just looked so nice on my curtains :) I have no clue what I'm watching on television either. I have my boyfriend on FaceTime with me but he's clearly not paying me any attention because a basketball game is on. I'll be sure to post every other day, I'll even set a reminder on my phone for it lol. I'm sticking with it this time!

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