Duffy your way into Monday (@BigFreedia)

So, yeah... these are the vibes for Monday! Who gives a f*ck if Mercury is still retrograde and causing problems left and right. I just finished my morning workout and I feel great! Let's claim a positive work week and usher in some good vibes with Big Freedia, the Queen Diva (you already know) and duffy our way into the week. Make Monday your Bitch.

Are you on Snapchat? Add me: @Six-Twentyseven

When I first heard about Snapchat I gave it a try for all of 5 minutes and was over it. Like, what the hell is this app? Why do I have to check it all the time?  I have a job and stuff to do. Who has the time for this?

Fast forward a few months later and I'm actually enjoying the app! It's nice to upload quick bites of my life and catch up with what other folks are doing. Plus it's like 15 sec clips and that's perfect for anyone with a short attention span. The icing on the cake? Shit magically disappears after 24 hours! Also -- I'm ALL for Snapchat DMs. I don't even know if they call it DMs on there, but private messages are the shit. Plus, they also disappear after a certain amount of time. Y'all this is awesome.

So yeah, I'm officially out from under my rock and snapping away! I use my Snapchat to show a more personal, vlogging style look at my life. If you enjoy my YouTube vlogs, know me in real life and want to see my randomness, or just are being nosy and have time to kill -- it's basically more of that... but shorter and without the annoying pre-rolls lol.

I follow a mix of celebs, blogger friends, and real life friends. If you're on there add me!

Snapchat: Six-Twentyseven

Where to go for Braids & Twists in Seattle

2.5 years after moving to Seattle I FINALLY found a braider I want to rave about! Her name is Michelle "Mimi" Lee and her hands are touched by the Lord.

Being a transplant in Seattle, the term "closed mouths don't get fed" rings very true. If you don't make the effort to reach out to people and ask questions, you can remain relatively in the dark on dope stuff in the city. This includes hairstylists. For some reason, locals will know about dope stuff, but there is zero transfer of this knowledge. This is something I've found extremely frustrating, but y'all know me -- I'm ALWAYS going to keep my ear to the streets and share the information I find.

So, when I was walking to breakfast one day and passed a woman with amazing cornrows (the style I was currently obsessing over), I had to stop her. She was really friendly and gave me the contact info for her stylist and I followed up right away.

I can be a bit judgmental when it comes to researching a business and their digital presentation online... and although Michelle is still growing hers, seeing her work in-person is what sealed the deal for me. Any reservations I had on the "look" of her Instagram page was trumped by the fact I'd seen her work in person and was sold. I wish this was uncommon, but since moving to Seattle I've seen so many small business owners struggling to promote themselves. I was (and am) excited to share my experience with Michelle, the quality of her work, and send people her way. Knowledge is nothing without sharing it.


My Experience
Michelle and I did most of our communication via Facebook (her preferred method of communication right now) and she was friendly and extremely patient with me and all my questions. I think it's very important to give a stylist as much information as possible, so I sent her pictures showing the length, size, and color of the style I wanted. I also sent her a picture of my hair so she was able to get an idea of the texture and color because I wanted an ombre look. Once we were on the same page re: the style I wanted, Michelle gave me the pricing for the style with the option of me getting the hair OR having her get the hair for me. I don't mind paying for convenience and I didn't have time (or the desire) to look for the hair, so I paid a bit more to have her get it for me.

Location
Michelle does hair out of her home located in Burien, WA (20 mins South of downtown Seattle). She has a separate room on the first floor of her home and it's a relatively standard set-up. The chair was comfy enough and she had a movie playing. My favorite part? Her 2 adorable dogs lol. The smallest, cutest things.


Contact Info
Michelle is in the process of revamping her booking system, but for now she prefers having everything filtered through her personal Facebook page. She's a really warm person who loves connecting with potential clients before they book, so sending her a Facebook message is the perfect first step. Let her know Ishea sent you!!

Michelle's Facebook
Michelle's Instagram

Merry Christmas 2015

Christmas 2015

I'm not a particularly festive person, but I had the most random dream last night. I dreamt that I was sitting in-between my grandmother's legs and she was combing my hair. Mind you, this never actually happened in real life with my grandmother while she was alive. Anyways, she was trying to tell me a story of historical significance to our family, but I woke up before she could finish and I woke up with the funniest feeling -- just instantly feeling like I needed to celebrate Christmas NOT really for myself, but as a way of honoring all of those who have left and aren't here to celebrate.

I've never bought into the commercialized hype of how materialistic Christmas has become, but the focus on family, love, and togetherness has always been important to me. There was something about waking up still feeling the warmth, security, and just overall feeling of love I had in my dream that really made me smile. And I should note that while my grandmother was alive  (maternal side) she wasn't necessarily known for her warm touch lol. I think that's why I was so blown away by the comfort I felt in my dream.

With that said, Happy holidays to everyone across the Globe using this time to reflect on their blessings, celebrate the loved ones in their lives, and turn up OR down. I woke up this morning and spent time walking the water with Khaleesi, taking in nature and meditating on the year we've had. I'm also spending my Christmas day watching Netflix/Hulu, double-fisting wine AND eggnog, and regretting on now buying more snacks when I was at the grocery store yesterday. Domino's is closed. My heart is aching lol.

Merry Christmas.

The Force Awakens #StarWars (No Spoilers)

During Christmas 2013, I finally decided to power through all of the Star Wars movies and see what the hype was about. It was a marathon session for sure, but I had a ton of time off work and was happy to binge watch something new.

My final verdict? The original ones (Episode IV, V & VI) were dope. The newer ones (Episode I-III) were just okay. If I was telling you about them via text, I'd probably say "meh" or "bleh" lol. Something about Hayden Christensen's acting was really distracting.

3 hr wait = eating a pizza

Anyways, I know a bunch of people are clueless as to why Star Wars is so big, don't understand the cult following, or why "Episode VII: The Force Awakens"matters. I assure you that, as a former member of the "I haven't seen Star Wars and I don't care about it at all" club, even if you are all *crickets* about the movies, you should at least give the new one a chance.

We snagged IMAX 3D tickets to Episode VII: The Force Awakens back in early November. The tickets sold out like crazy, but we got ours -- the only caveat? We would be viewing it at the Pacific Science Center IMAX which has one of the top 5 IMAX screens in the country but does NOT allow for assigned seating. Womp. That meant we had to get there EARLY if we wanted to get good seats... really good seats since we were going to see the movie in IMAX 3D. I mean, have you ever gone to see an IMAX or 3D movie and had a terrible seat? It's the worst.

So, I called the theater earlier in the day of our showing. They confirmed that the doors would open 4 hours before the show and that people had been coming around 3 hours before. She also told me to not bother coming if it was later than 2 hours before the show since it'd be so packed and the seats would more than likely suck. Shoutout to that chick and her priceless advice.

Lines = selfies

Where was I going with all of this -- the movie was really good. Go see it. Mod Pizza was clutch and held me down during the 3 hr wait. I also put 2 slices into my purse for the movie. #ThugLife lol. Oh yeah and always use the bathroom before the movie lol. I made sure to look up the movie length before it started. It was about 2.5 hrs and I knew I'd need to go ahead and break the seal before we went in.

Have you seen the movie yet? What'd you think?

Custom Gold Diamond Script Necklace (via @sydneyevan)

I've never bought myself a piece of expensive jewelry, but that is all about to change -- I've found the most beautiful gold jewelry that needs to be mine -- the custom diamond script necklace from Sydney Evan!

My heart actually skipped a beat when I saw her jewelry in Neiman Marcus. It was gold, gorgeous, and eclectic! I've never experienced a designer whose pieces... every single piece... resonated with me. Rosanne Karnes, the founder of the brand, is officially my jewelry spirit animal.

I've decided that I'll invest in my first piece of "fancy" jewelry in 2016. The price makes me scrunch my face up a bit -- it'll be about $1610 for my name (not including tax/shipping) -- but I can't wait! I've had 3 gold nameplate necklaces to date (5 if you count the gold bar necklaces), but I've yet to have a REAL gold, diamond necklace. This is the personification of my gold accessory dreams come to life.

To see more of Sydney Evan's gorgeous designs check out the Instagram page.

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