Throwback Thursday

That time in which I post poignant/funny/dumb/embarrassing tales about my childhood so people will manage not to envy me too much. You're welcome.

Hold on to your hats!!!




Prepare yourself!!!




Once you look, you can't go back!!!




I had a mullet.

This was the beginning. Over time my mom realized I needed a more clearly defined business-party line. Obviously as my business got more serious, my party got heavier too. And just in case people didn't know a good-looking mullet when they saw one, we styled it. With a curling iron. 

This isn't even the worst photo. I chose a tame one. The truth is, I chose NOT to put the worst one in our wedding slideshow (for the very obvious reason of it being my wedding slideshow) and so I don't have it scanned into my files. Maybe it will be lost with the tides of time! (An unlikely hope since my sisters have fond memories of my mullet and would probably hire a painter to recreate the picture if it were ever lost).

*Sigh- at least I learned at an early age "it will always grow out"


**Revelation! Maybe this is why I'm normally absurdly sane about hair cuts for being such a controlling person- I was ruined early on so everything is still better!


***PPS- thanks Mom, not for the hairstyle, but for loving me enough to truly think I looked good. Even in those pictures.

Books I Read This Summer That Rocked

I read a LOT of books this summer. It was glorious. I love reading and summer reading is my favorite. I knocked out a solid 3 on our honeymoon alone :). Every school year I track which books I read by pasting the book cover onto a poster. I'm severely behind this year and I was tempted to count some of my summer reading. I resisted though and have simply started digging in.

But my query did remind me that I hadn't reviewed a book in awhile. So instead of individual reviews, here's simply the list of what I liked by author.

1. Wendy Wax: Ten Beach Road, Ocean Point, Christmas at the Beach, The House on Mermaid Point.
2. JK Rowling: The Casual Vacancy, The Silkworm
3. Deborah Harkness: The Book of Life
4. Suzanne Enoch: Rogue with a Brogue, The Devil Wears Kilts
5. Veronica Roth: Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant

Twelve books- not too bad for a summer that included teaching summer school, getting married, and going on a honeymoon!

Living with a Boy

I didn't have the roommate to separate from- I did that earlier in my life. Living with a boy is still a tough transition. Keep in mind that I've lived with all girls or myself and nothing else. Boys are......different.

I love my husband, truly. But there's just some observations I've made:

1. Boys scratch. Like all the time. Their head, belly, you-know-whats. Once I noticed my dear husband having the habit, I noticed it in other men. Especially at work. Men must be very itchy.
2. Boys shed too! I've known my whole life that girls shed. One summer on vacuum duty in a house with 3 sisters will teach you how much hair actually comes off the female body. And we even spend time purposely removing hair from our body. Why didn't it cross my mind that boys shed? 
3. The belief that boys don't have as many clothes is a lie. We both had to do some serious closet cleaning to make our belongs fit together but I really didn't anticipate how much he would have. And he's not even a fashion-forward kind of guy. He dresses well and stylishly but almost grudgingly. So the fact that he had as many clothes as many was kind of surprising.
4. There are different definitions of clean. Enough said.
5. He who holds the remote reigns supreme.
6. Shopping doesn't count as work. Um, what? Excuse me??
7. Candles aren't romantic, in fact they're often ignored or forgotten. Best not to light them or you'll just set the house on fire.
8. Ill-conceived ideas that don't end well are going to be mocked. Always. With love, but always.
9. Home decorating will go unnoticed but if you point it out, you'll get the praise you want. :)
10. A well-cooked, or ill-cooked for that matter, dinner is always appreciated and will always get praise even if you think it doesn't deserve it.

Throwback Thursday

That time in which I post poignant/funny/dumb/embarrassing tales about my childhood so people will manage not to envy me too much. You're welcome.

Some people wouldn't be caught dead in a photo such as this. Personally, I see a smile and only 1 chin- therefore WINNER!

When: 2005
What: I was letting my sister dye my hair pink. Without telling my mom.
Why: I was always the good girl but I was obsessed with the color pink. I had long imagined beautiful blonde highlights with one streak of bright pink. But every time I went to the salon, someone talked me out of it. My mom, my sister, my hair dresser. It made no sense to me- I didn't party, I made good grades, I was responsible. Why couldn't I dye my hair pink?! So my sister and I found a home kit that was listed as being bad for my hair shade. It would turn your hair pink! We bought it, went home and did a crappy home foil, and voila! Pink highlights. They were temporary so they washed out after about 3 washes. Except for one. We had dyed the little baby hair bangs right by my forehead and that color never came out. All summer I had my strip of pink. It was a wonderful little rebellion. In retrospect, it was nothing. My parents had it easy. After teaching high school I now know, if all my kid does is put a little pink in their hair then we are A-OK!.

For the record- here's the finished product:

Being "That" Bride

I know a lot of things about myself. I know that I'm smart, funny, and loving. I also know that I'm impatient, demanding, and very bossy. My closest friends and I laugh about how I'm always "that" girl. The one who's so Type-A that she can't relax. The one who's destined to be the Martha Stewart of mothers- going all the way to jail if necessary to be perfect. And I'll admit- for the most part I accept this about myself. I try to overcome my rigidness and go with the flow, but sometimes that means knowing what situations will make me a nice person and creating those situations.

So when I got engaged I just knew, I knew, that I would be "that" bride. And I was- I needed real china, a 6 foot train, and I scheduled that day down to the minute. (For the record, everything ran like clockwork so it was worth it!). But sometimes, even my perfect planning and managing still created situations like this:

The most beautiful day of my life and there are still these moments. It's poetic really. I think I might make it my new profile picture. Which is why I worked my butt off to be the nice version of "that" girl. And I think I managed that. I definitely had my moments; don't we all?! Overall though it was an awesome, amazing day- even when my cathedral length veil insisted on attacking me. :)

My Secret Addiction

That's a lie- I've talked about it with everyone I've met.

I LOVE Ladies of London on Bravo. Unfortunately, I haven't found an immediate friend who returns the sentiments. I don't watch any of the Real Housewives. Let's be honest, working in an urban school district, I've got real drama playing out every, single day. I don't need TV for all that. But Ladies of London so far isn't trashy American drama (thought I'm sure it will get there). Instead, it's this awesome, legitimate battle of American manners versus British manners. Crack my butt up!!!!!!!!

I love manners. I once received the Emily Post bible as a Christmas gift (thought I gave it back in an epic break-up that would definitely not meet British manners standards). Manners are awesome and they make social situations so. much. better. For people with ANY level of social anxiety (and we all have some), this is a big deal. If people follow manners, then everyone will be ok.

So anyway, this epic manners battle is my current addiction. Coach puts up with it in that he is happy to watch one of the other 4 televisions in our house (we really have that many) but otherwise I need a fellow follower. I want to talk about how Noelle's figure isn't that great (but she's supposed to be this epic fashion goddess??), and Juliet is pure American with the worst fashion sense, and is Marisa really going to the other side with her dual citizenship or is she now just the classiest American housewife ever?? Someone tell me!!!!

Gah!

To Blog or Not to Blog- that is the key, ever eternal, ridiculous question I keep facing.

Here are the pros:
I enjoy it
I'm good at writing
I get to pretend at being a funny writer
I might share something really neat with someone
I'm actually kind of shy and I don't have to look at any of you people in the eye
It lets you be as narcissistic as a teenager again

Here are the cons:
It takes time
You have to make an actual commitment if you're going to do it right
You can hurt peoples' feelings
You have to be careful to respect privacy of people
People think they know you
There's a lot of thinking about yourself

I have about 100 friends on facebook. That's not very many. But I know each and every single one of them! They are actually friends, not mindless long-lost acquaintances. Granted, I have to use the facebook of my friends and siblings if I'm going to probably stalk anybody, but that's a small price to pay for my own privacy.

I started blogging as a technology project in college. I continued blogging when I moved 6 hours (or more) away from my friends and family as a way to share my experiences. As a first year teacher I had a TON of material. Literally loads of it. But then the oh-my-god-what-are-these-students-doing-to-me posts started to run out and I focused on my personal life. That blog had 100s of followers, offers of endorsement posts, and it got me in trouble. Personally, not everyone likes being out there. I learned to respect that and closed up the public diary of my first 3 years of independence. I have the posts for my own fond memories, but otherwise they're gone from the public eye. What I started was this blog. It was going to be mature, it was going to be crafty, it was going to be just as successful! But my heart wasn't in it. I couldn't just blog recipes and craft projects.

Here's the truth of my life. I'm a mess. A lovable, adorable, very smart mess. I have a thousand and one interests that I dabble in. A renaissance woman, I am the jack of many trades, master of none. It makes me a know-it-all, a veritable fount of useless knowledge. I also know that I can be funny and witty. My sarcasm (that's called italics for you internet readers) can make or break a situation. I have no ten-year plan. I never have. If I get bored, I go learn something new to occupy me in the meantime.

The good news is that I have a very lovable, patient, supportive fiancé (herein known as Coach) who thinks I can whatever the heck I decide I need to do. And I want to return to writing about my life as I know it. I want to share the funny stories, the weird things that I end up doing (because weird stuff doesn't happen to me, I totally bring it upon myself), and the sweet, awesome life lessons I'm learning along the way. Being in love with Coach has been the best adventure of my life and we're tying the knot in 2 weeks. I want to document our ridiculous journey but also share it. It's a great life and great things are worth sharing, right?! So huzzah! To a great life!

*You will start to see changes in the format of the blog but the name will stay the same for consistency reasons. Just get ready for less crafting, more real life. That's what's up folks- enjoy!