It was a family affair!

I was able to get together with my sister & brother in Lake Charles, LA for some family fun at the local bowling alley.

Yes, I'm the oldest of the bunch and very opinionated with each of my siblings. Well, we all are for that matter, it's in the blood line and we just can't help ourselves.

Had a great competative time hanging with my people!! Ohhh I'm getting homesick again!

True Locked Sisters

Here we are after the locking session in front of Mrs Dee's Kumquat fruit tree. We love thumb Kumquats and the tree produces small, edible fruits that look similar to oranges. The fruits are extremely juicy and tasty and usually have a sweet outer skin accompanied by a tart, inner flesh.

When I'm at home.....I'm-at-home, no makeup, I wear jeans, jogging suits and gym shoes everyday. We just chill all day at my sister's house, visit family members and eat everything we can possibly think about.

I enjoyed the time with my sister and what was really funny was that her hubby, my brother out-law (lol) kept threatening me about locking "my" sisters hair. MrsDee gave him stare downs and told him when he cuts his ponytail (after 23 years of marriage) she might listen to what he has to say. Of course, it was all in fun but I know deep in his heart he did not want my sister locked until........he saw the finished product!!

Here's her before picture and my brother out-law loved her natural and did not want to see it go away!


Oh my goodness, when we were done he kept touching and saying to her "I like it", "it really looks good!" And certainly, Beignet & Praline were her biggest fans! She was done with her journey to lockdom, now she's on her journey to maturity!


I'm getting homesick again....

My "Blood" Sister is Locked!!

First, can you guess what these two are???

They are two of my favorite Louisiana treats and since I went home for the holidays I ate like a fat pig!!

Yep, I said it and had a jolly good time doing it.

Picture on the left is Turkey Boudin and the pic to the right is my Mom's homemade Pralines (pecan candy). I can't blog about all of my favorites but I wanted to share these two with my blog family. Talk about good!

Also, good lock news, while home I locked my blood sister Mrs Dee using the Nappy tool. I know some people say we look nothing alike but guess what that's ok we are still sisters and I love her dearly. Why don't we favor each other? Let me explain, I am the only child from my mother's first marriage and later my Mom remarried and had three children with her second husband who also raised me. I always say I got the best of both worlds mom, dad's family and my step-father's family. We blend very well.

It took us 13 hours over a two day period and she was excited the entire time. MrsDee (my sister) has been waiting for a year to get her locks, she cut off all of her perm and grew out her natural hair. She also has Lupus so the medication sometime takes a toll on her but she was determined to do her thing. She has 309 locks and her gray hair shines through nicely.

Right now she is working on creating her blog so I'll be informing you all as soon as she is ready to publish it.

Hey, did I mention how much I love Louisiana and my Locks????

SL Holiday Visit

We were having a hard time dealing with the fact that we would not see each other until Martin Luther King Birthday gathering in Waco, TX that will be hosted by Jen and Maryee. So.....we decided to get together for a quick visit.

TRA, Blaqkofi and I settled on dinner at Brooklyn's and a BLAST we had!! Those two ladies are soooooo funny and I realized that Sisterlocks have given me exposure to some of the the most beautiful people that I now call my friends! Inside and out, they are wonderful to hang with..............

Thanks ladies for the fab-u-lous time hanging out for the holidays!!!!! Laughter is life.....

Golf Banquet - Congratulations Roux!

During our annual Golf Christmas Banquet this past weekend our very own Roux won the "Leadership Award" for the Male 13 + age group.

Had to give a shout out!

Praline did well also, she and Roux's (they play on separate teams) team tied for 1st in the Scramble the weekend before.









The young lady in the middle, is 15 years old and was the leader for Praline's team during the Scramble. She's a great player and won the opportunity to play at Pebble Beach along with Tiger Woods niece this summer!










Roux working on his swing!













We'd like to especially thank Coach Chuck for all of his dedication and committed hard work to our Dallas area The First Tee of Dallas Program"!

Festival of Lights

I'm just now recovering from our fun filled weekend in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Last weekend opened the 80th Christmas Festival, my sister and her family met us there to celebrate the occasion.

If you've never heard of or been to Natchitoches, LA, (pronounced Nak-a-tish) it is the oldest French Settlement in Louisiana and the town where my great-grandfather was born and raised. It is also famous for the filming of Steel Magnolia as discussed in my previous post on my Louisiana heritage.

After the fabulous firework showcase the entire streets and town along Cane River lights up with all kinds of creative lighting. There are over 250,000 people everywhere, live band, dancing, live alligators (kids take pictures with them like they are Santa), food, food and more food! And, the best Bed and Breakfast you ever want to experience! Some Bed & Breakfast and hotels are booked in advance up to seven years. Yes, it's that exciting and something I wish everyone could experience before leaving this earth.

I really love and enjoy the spirit of Christmas and I was all over the streets jumping and skipping like I had reverted back to childhood....some of my most awesome memories as a child are from Christmas!!! Oh and it was much colder than normal which made it more enjoyable, we got to cover up, sip on hot cocoa & coffee and snack on Funnel Cakes too!

Stay tuned for more, I'll be sharing our visit to the Cane River Creole National Historical Park, built c. 1820 along with several others. I learned even more about Creole History and we enjoyed picking pecans on the plantations. We almost didn't leave because "Beignet" (my hubby) pretty much asked the Plantation Guide 1001 questions.........you know how men can be when it comes to history! I felt like we needed to pay the poor guy, thank goodness he was up on the details.

Hair Hat

Today in Dallas we had an "Ice Storm," many schools and businesses closed early.

People in Dallas drive real crazy in this type of weather and the streets are never prepared. Boy, do I miss the salt and sand on the streets of Chicago during times like this. When I lived there, streets were never a problem.

Why can't Dallas get it together??? For heavens sake, they could not even sand the HOV lane for quicker service to and from Downtown..

Anyway, while out and about in the 25 degree and 17 degree wind chill temp it was the first time in a long time that I wished I had my natural hair hat. The wind was cutting right through my locked parts and my scalp felt chilled to the bone. The wind could never get through my thick mane before locks. LOL!

The photo above was taken during my natural years and my hair came in very handy when I needed a head covering. I was natural for 10 years before I decided on my Sisterlocks last year and although I miss my natural I'm stilll mad in love with my locks.

If you look real close at the pic you can see some areas of my hair that are semi straight but thick. As Bgybaby says "it's the Indian, Creole & African hair fighting each other. Not sure who will win but one thing I know for sure.....the different hair types is what caused my hair to "bunch" during my first six months. See pic below.


Bunching is no joke and all you can do about it is be patient and after washing pull each strand so that it stretches. And, because of the frizzy hair along the lock my best style was braid out and settingon rods for different styles.

As Brunsli mentioned in one of her previous post, because of our hair types it's almost impossible to color without bunching coming alive.

Peace Ya'll!

My Roots

My roots are doing their own thing and I'm loving the way my parts are turning out.

And since I'm on the roll about my roots I wanted to respond to Bygbaby's question..."Did anyone in your family practice Voodoo with reference to your Haitian side?"

My response was, "I was trying not to go there" but then I thought it would be an interesting post. So, I'll share a couple of my experiences.

While growing up in Louisiana I was involved with almost every sport school offered and ending up on the 1982 Converse All American Basketball Team along with Cheryl Miller, a high honor in my opinion.

I had weak ankles and more than my share of injuries. Before every game our trainer had to tape my ankles as if they were mummy's. Well, down in the Bayou my mother would send me up the street to Mr. Moujean (pronounce mo-jan) instead of paying for a doctor's visit when I had an injury. To this day I'm not sure what Mr Moujean did to me.... but it worked.

He too was Creole and spoke very little English, he was a very handsome but mysterious man. As a child I never questioned my mom, I just did what she told me to do, so after injuring my ankles during practice or a game, they would be blue/black where the blood vessels had broken from sprangs. I would walk to Mr. Moujean's house and all I did was point to the injury, take off my socks and gym shoes and Mr. Moujean would do his thing.

He would first get some string and whisper words I could never figure out, do some kind of movement with his fingers over my ankels and then blow on each knot (about five or six) until he had a full anklet. He would then tie the knotted string anklet around my ankles and he would tell me to cut it off after so many days depending on the severity of the injury. This my freinds was linked to VooDoo Healing.

Marie Laveau, read more about her here, is one that I was always curious about while growing up, I remember the first time I visited her store in the French Quarters. I was 18 years old and when I walked in, there were chicken feet, snake skins, skeletons and a host of other Voodoo religious stuff, every hair on my body stood up and I felt a eeerie vibe. I immediately ran out never to return.

I often ask my mom why she would send us to Mr. Moujean and she said "because my mother told me to and I didn't question her either." Wow, wow, wow! Everybody believe in Mr. Moujean!!!

My mother now is a wife of a Baptist Minister but let me tell you...back in the day she kept a fresh Ouija Board as our family game like it was a Monopoly board. Remember that game? They took them off the shelves several years ago. We even played Ouija in college until it spelled out my husbands name when no one at the table knew I was dating him at the time. That was the last time I played the Ouija Board game.

I'm sure many of you have also heard rumors of how some Louisiana women would get their husbands by serving them red sauce in a nice Louisiana meal...well let me tell you it's no rumor. Use your imagination, I don't want to make anyone sick.

I also have a uncle that many people in my family believe a neighbor put a curse on him for disrespecting her. Today, he still jumps and twitches while he talk/cuss and the family rumor is that he started jumping and twitching the same day he disrespected the old lady. She supposedly pointed at him and said a few words and that was the curse. Personally, I believe he has Tourette Syndrome!!! He's a funny kind of guy too and his nickname is Shakey! LOL! I love my uncle.

Don't get it twisted, I profess Jesus Christ as Lord and while some Louisianian's still believe in the Voodoo practice they truly believe it is the right thing to do. I sometimes still find it hard to break old habits that I grew up believing so deeply in and it is only by faith that I do not follow my original ways. Below are some of my crazy favorite superstitions:

Don't spilt a pole while walking with a friend - bad luck
Don't spet on a crack in the floor - you break your mothers back
Don't throw away your hair without buring it because if a bird gets one string, you'll go crazy
Don't ever put your purse on the floor because you'll never have money

Beignet is from New Orleans and I could never burn my candles when his people visited us. I love candles and they always thought I was burning candles for Voodoo spells on him. Little did the know, I did not need candles to get that brother!!!! He and I were born to be together and no force could stop this love affair......yes, I said it!

While Voodoo, known to some as a good religion it is Hoodoo that is looked at as evil. I won't elaborate, check it out for yourself, a sista has got to go....the Lord is my shepard, I shall not want, he maketh me to lie down in greens pastures, he restoreth my soul.....

BTW, I can't wait to see Déjà Vu with Denzel Washington, filmed in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina.

A Tribute to My Louisiana Granny's

Just thought I'd share a bit of my Louisiana history. Because if you have not figured it out by now, I'm very proud of my native and culturally rich state of Louisiana.

This is a pic of my Maternal Grandmother as a teenager and she is still alive and well standing 5'8" at 86 years old living down in the Bayou of Louisiana. Talk about a fire cracker, with quick come backs and lots of wisdom!

Her father was a Creole from Natchitoches, Louisiana (where Steel Magnolia's was filmed) and her mother was half African American and half Blackfoot Indian from South Louisiana. My great-great grandmother was full blooded Blackfoot and lived to be 106 years old. (I've met both my great & great-great grandmothers)

Grandma went against all rules and married my grandfather a tall, humorous, proud African American man, "cool" and straight out of Hazelhurst, Mississippi. Of this union 10 children were born. Thus, my mother's blood line.

If you ever want a good read on French Louisiana heritage and culture "Cane River" would be one to start with.


Pictured here is my Paternal Granny, whom I'll never forget. I was 22 when she died and she too was a firecracker. Yep, I come from a family of firecrackers, pistols, shotguns. What ever you want to call them. They did not play!

Granny could never pronounce my name correctly, she would always say "Luchinda, com here sha ba-ba!"

A capitalist of her time, she owned a local grocery store and Juke Joint/Pool Hall and could barely speak proper English. (French Creole was her first language.) Every now and then she'd give us a cookie or two but for the most part, all of us grandchildren had to earn whatever we received.

Granny's great grandfather was from Haiti and he was known to be one of the first black families to own a phone (when others did not have one) in our small town area. He came over from Haiti via the banks of New Orleans and settled in a rural town called Soileau. Granny's mother was married to a Frenchman and my Granny married a Creole Frenchman hence my fathers Creole bloodline.

Frenchmen are non black and Creole Frenchmen are of mixed race, some also refer to Creoles as Mulatto, which I loathe because the word is derived from the word from "mulo", translated mule. Must our mixed race have such a negative connotation? Why do we have to be mules? That's a whole different subject, I digress, I'll blog about that one when my energy is up to par!

If it were not for the strength and struggles that I observed in these great women of my family I could have never become the woman I am today. These two are my Coretta Scott Kings!

"Amended"

Here are a few of my lineage Louisiana names:

Fontenot
Cezar
Guillory
Slate
Victorian

My South Louisiana Townships:
Lake Charles
Lafayette
Oberlin
Baton Rouge
New Orleans
Basile
Opelousas
Mamou
Soileau
Ville Platte
Plaisance
Eunice

My Favorite Louisiana Stuff

Festivals
Mardi Gras
Zydeco
Gumbo
Boudin
Crawfish
Any occasion (lol)

Surname of friends & relatives I grew up with:
Toussant
Thibadeaux
Boudreaux
Simeon
Fontenot
Boudreaux
Broussard
Carriere
Herbert (pronounced A-bear)
Guillory
Ledet
Leblanc

Favorite Plantation Homes
Cane River

Favorite Movies:
A Feast of All Saints-Creole History
Steel Magnolia's
Skeleton Key

Favorite Seasonings
Slap Ya Mamma
Fil'e

My new blog name has been change to "Creyole" in dedication to my dear grandmothers. A special thanks to them for passing down my strange hair type that bunches so easily and also, to my Granny for the mustache, I have to get a nice waxing every six weeks or so. LOL!!

Now, some of you can relate a why I gave my family the blog names below, here you go:

My Hubby - Beignet "French delicious doughnut sold at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans"
Son - Roux "the base for making a gumbo"
Daughter - Praline "famous Louisiana candy"
Me - Creyole "pronounced cre-ole"

Laissez le bon temps rouler! Translated "Let the Good Times Roll"

Read here for more on French Creoles!

Why Won't They LOCK?????

Some of my babies just give me the blues. Here I am 1 1/2 years into my lock Exodus and still I have several that just won't act right.

I guess they are not giving into me no matter how often I retighten them or give much attention so.....I'm going to leave well enough alone and just let them be.

Whoever said locking takes patience.....was most certainly correct!!



Lately, I've been free styling and allowing them to go any direction they so please. Maybe I'll get the holiday bug and do a little styling sometime soon. Regardless. I must admit I still love my locks!!!

Praline is Growing Up

Praline is really loving her locks! Here she is reading a script for a play! I've got to say, I'm so proud of this little one...she is so convinced that natural lock beauty is for her!

Long Lost Sisters?

Hummmmm.....so I decided to humor myself. What do you think?? Yes, no, may-be-so.....

Our New Favorite Artist!

Praline and I were in Starbucks one day and she ran up to me and said "mom this lady looks like you!" (to say the least, I felt honored that she looks 20 years younger than I actually am).

It was a CD by Corinne Bailey Rae, besides gospel we often listen to neo soul and we decided to try it out. To our surprise every song was a hit, for us that is. We call her a cross between Macy Gray and Jill Scott.

When we got home I googled her and found that the evil "racism" exists even in England today. Check it out a little of her story I found on the the internet.....

She was born February 26,1979 and is an acclaimed English singer and Songwriter who released her eponymous debut album in February 2006. Rae was named the number one predicted breakthrough act of 2006 in an annual BBC poll of music critics. The poll's predictions subsequently came true, as she became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at number one.

Rae was born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, to a Kittitian father and an English mother and she was the eldest of three daughters. She used to be racially abused on a regular basis while growing up, even though her verbal attackers mistakenly thought she was of Pakistani origin. She says about the situation, "My sisters and I were different and people used to say, 'Ah, aren't they cute, the little chocolate children, and look at their hair.' "I know they were only being cute but it was over the top. "Then people from other schools would shout, 'Paki' to me because it was the most common racist insult of the time. At least if you're going to do it, get it right. "I used to shout back, 'But my dad isn't from Pakistan, he's from St Kitts - so there.

She began her musical career at school where she studied classical violin before she turned her attention to singing: "I started off singing in church, I suppose, but people think it must have been a gospel church because of the whole, you know, black assumption," she says in reference to her mixed-race background. "But it wasn't gospel at all, it was just your regular Brethren church, very middle-class, where we would sing these harmonies every Sunday. It was always my favourite part of the service, the singing. Rae later transferred to a Baptist church, where the choir would sing traditional hymns. "We changed the words though," Rae states on her website. "We didn't want to offend the regular churchgoers, now did we?

Nappy Tool Follow-Up

I've received several email questions about the Nappy N Happy Tool (my tool of choice) and thought I'd do a follow-up from my previous post.
To the far left is the SL Hook Tool, middle is the Medium Nappy Tool and far right is the Small Nappy Tool. I have both Nappy sizes because my locks in the back are larger than the locks in the front of my head.

Adonna, I could not respond directly to you because your email came through as anonymous:

Hello LaChanda: First off, just want you to know that I am enjoying your blog quite a lot! It has a friendly and laid back "feel". Since you are familiar w/doing loc maintainance w/this tool can you explain in more detail how exactly to use the Nappy Locs tool? I'm looking for a "once the tool is in your hand, place your loc here, pull/twist then do xyz" sort of answer (if you're up to sharing that type of detailed info) :).

I've used the latchook to maintain my roots but, I'm looking for something that is a bit more fool- proof. My issue w/the latchhook is that I sometimes end up grabbing nearby locks or get the hook tangled in my roots. I've started to buy the Nappylock tool several times but I guess that I'm looking for a little reassurance that the Nappylocs tool is easier to use than a latchhook. Also, have you ever run into any problems in using the tool that you could elaborate on? Using the latchhook if one is not careful one can end creating a "hole" in the newgrowth part of the lock which can be undone if found early. Are there any similar pitfalls to lookout for in using the Nappy locs tool? If the answers are somewhere else please redirect me.

Thank you and God bless, Adonna Adonna when I tell you I "Love" the Nappy Tool I mean it with all of my heart. The demo pics are the best I could do to show you and others how easy it is. (Hope the pics are good enough)

I'm pictured here retightening Pralines (my 11 year old daughter) locks and it takes me about 2 1/2 hours to do hers and about 3 hours to do mine.

You feed the lock through the open end of the tool, then you feed the tail end of the tool in the direction of your beginning pattern and pull the tail end through, you continue in your pattern until you have a full rotation. Its' that easy, no fuse and no hassel with holding the tool a certain way so that other locks are combined. I must admit though, the only problem I have is that I love retightening so much that sometimes I don't have enough growth for a full rotation so I have to settle myself down and be more patient so that I don't retighten too often. That's it! I think every locked sister should have the Nappy Tool because it's wonderful for emergancy situation when you need a quick front edge touch up. Go out and order yours today! Addendum: The SL hook tool was just too tiresome to my hands and wrists because I have Carpal Tunnel. I found that the Nappy tool was so much easier and I did not hurt afterwards.

Meet My Adventist Sisterlock Sister

I so regret that I wasn't able to get to talk with Dr. Naijean Bernard like I had planned to, as she puts it, "The brunch was like sensory overload, in a good way! So much to see and do. " Naijean drove down from Austin, TX by herself to meet and socialize with the DFW Gals!

Naijean has been locked since January 10, 2004, about 2 years, 10 months. She works as a psychologist for the State of Texas, and in the process of studying for her licensure examination.

There are many things she likes about her Sisterlocks. The main thing is the freedom. When she had a relaxer, she says, "going to the salon was enjoyable due to the social atmosphere, but it was not time effective or a wise way to spend money." When she last had a relaxer, the charge was about $60 for a touch-up, every 6 weeks. Now, she can retighten my own hair, at her own leisure, for free! Viewing everyone's blogs makes her want to start styling her hair more often. I usually just wear it straight and still loves the style. (Keep up the good blog work my blog buddies!)

We also share a common faith as a Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA), Naijean grew up a SDA in the Washington DC area and went to SDA schools up until college. She also attended a HBCU (Howard) and then a public university (So. IL Univ) for graduate school. It really wasn't until graduate school that she developed a personal relationship with God for herself. "I guess being away from everything familiar on the East Coast and my support system made me rely on God more. " She recently moved to Texas from Maryland and looking for her niche in terms of church ministry.

Hope to see more of you Naijean!

Another Mother/Daughter SL Team

After leaving the Sisterlock Brunch Blaqkofi and I decided to stop in the MAC store and pick up a couple of our favorite items. And....what do ya know...how be it we ran into this cute mother/daughter duo who had Sisterlocks!!!

They were just beautiful and they accepted our invitation to have their picture taken. Once again, I believe I'm getting like my friend and "Lock Stalker" Brunsli!

Mom says her daughter who is 12 is having difficulty at shcool with kids who tease her about her hair. I wish I could be twelve again and go to school just one day with her to have her back! Or better yet, I wish I could send Praline with her and the other 12 year olds could have a double dose of nappyism!

Blaq and I encouraged her and told her how beautiful she looked with her Sisterlocks. I'm sure one day those little chics at school will look back and wish they were brave enough to do what she did at such an early age!

New Addition to our DFW Lock Group

Meet my buddy Sue, we met on the bus from work one day and I invited her to our Reunion. She recently moved to Dallas from California and was excited to hear about our group. We exchanged email addresses and kept in touch. Needless to say, she met us at the Cheesecake Factory and had a blast with the ladies.

Sue was captivated by Brunsli's Hair Ties and wanted an abundance of her own collection.

It's so incredible how locks can bring a wonderful group of ladies together even when we've never met before. Once again, I can't tell you how much I love being part of such a great group of secure and beautiful ladies, inside and out!

Sisterlock Divas

After having brunch at the Cheescake Factory we went over to North Park Mall and took this photo.

I just love how the sassy shot came out. Click on it to get a large view.

More to come.....

Sam Cooke Request

Help, I need help! If anyone out there has music connections I will pay a small fortune (within reason, lol) to get the instrumental track to "A Change is Gonna Come." Listen to the moving song:

A Change is Gonna Come

Hurry and help a sistah out, oh how Praline and I are crazy about Sam Cooke!!! Quite a handsome fella too!

Some of our other favorites are Donny Hathaway, Ray Charles and Otis Redding. My parents raised us on all of these powerhouses and I appreciate the music still today!!!

Sam Cooke was a true superstar in his lifetime. After his death, his legend became even larger. His influence can be heard in the precise phrasing of Smokey Robinson, in the conscientious songwriting of Marvin Gaye, in the raw emotion of Lou Rawls and in Aretha Franklin's controlled passion.Sam Cooke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986

You can read more about his death here

Lots o Locks at the State Fair of Texas!

While visiting the fair we came across this awesome show called "African Acrobats," if you look real close you'll see that each and everyone of them has locks!!

When we stopped to see them perform, Praline said "mom, look they all have locks!" We both celebrated as they continue to do unbelievable stunts.

Most of the guys have mature locks but two of them are just starting out. There were six in all.