Welcome to my new City!

Hello! It’s been a really long while since I have been here! A lot has happened in between the last time I was here and now. I have moved from a rural city (Kirksville) to a more urban city (St. Peters), within the same state of Missouri of course; I have had to re write a certification exam which I eventually passed; I have changed jobs within the field of Anti Money Laundering; and I have met new friends in my new city! 🙂

I’m going to be writing about my new city in this post! So, let’s just say the City of St. Peter’s is mix of Kirksville and St. Louis. Why do I say that? Kirksville is quiet and slow paced, which means lesser crime. St. Louis is a bigger city, very fast paced with a higher crime rate of course. I remember during one of our trips to St. Louis, our car was almost stolen right at the hotel where we parked it. Yea, that’s how crazy it can be. St. Peter’s is a mix of both because one has access to the normal things one will find in a big city, like Target, multiple salons, shopping mall, fancy restaurants and so on. However, it’s not as crazy as living in St. Louis. At least, we haven’t had the of experience we had, parking a fancy car somewhere. In other words, crime rate isn’t that high. One very good advantage we got from the move is the fact that my daughter has access to a better and a more diverse preschool. As black parents, we value diversity and we would really love our child to not be the only black person in her class!

I’ve enjoyed living in St. Peter’s. It’s such a beautiful city with modern houses. We have access to a great library; the beautiful Mid River Mall, which is a big deal for me because back in Kirksville, we didn’t even have a mall! The only main stores we have in Kirksville are: Walmart, Marshall’s, Shoe Sensation, and Bernard’s. In St. Peter’s, there’s really nothing you want you that you can’t find. If it’s not available in St. Peter’s, it will be available in surrounding cities like St. Charles and St. Louis which is between 10 to 20 minutes drive! Now, I have access to Target, numerous beautiful restaurants, fancy movie theaters (check out the movie theater in Kirksville to understand why I use the word ‘fancy’ here. Lol! ), salons, fun places to take my toddler to, and so on!

Can you guess the one that gets ME excited the most? The Salon!!!! I have not had access to a black salon since I left New York City. It’s been one hell of a struggle, finding a salon where I can confidently go in to get my kinky hair done. I moved to Portland, Maine and all through the time I was there, married, got pregnant and had a baby, I was doing my hair myself. It really got frustrating when it was getting towards the end of the pregnancy. I was frustrated with just thinking about how to manage my hair. I thought I had seen the worst of it when I got to Portland, Maine until I moved to Kirksville, MO. 😂 That was the height of it, and that really made me get a second big chop in 2019. I was tired of having the money to get my hair done, but not getting it done because I didn’t have access to a black salon. I was tired of the DIY life. DIY life was cool for me as an international student because at that point, I was really just managing my finances and trying to cut costs. At the point I decided to cut my hair in 2019, that wasn’t the case. I just wanted to relax and be taken care of!😂 When I decided to loc my hair in 2020, I had to travel down to Kansas City to get it done. Yea, that was crazy. I just thought if I could do that for the first 4 months, I will learn how to wash and retwist my locs myself. Thank God, I don’t even have to worry about that! 🙂 My new loctician is less than 10 mins away from me. 🎉🎉💃🏾💃🏾

So far, I’ve loved it here. 🥰❤️❤️

How have you all been and what have you been up to? Would love to hear from you in the comment section.

PSA: I changed my Instagram handle. ☺️ Kindly follow @aladyandherlocs.