I’ve already published an opinion piece on fashion, but this is more of a critique on the female ‘dress code’ and expectations our society has placed on those of the fairer sex. Warning for my sensitive readers: I touch on sexual assault, my use of the f word is excessive, and my thoughts may not align with yours. I’m not here to debate; I’m here to share my views.
I’m turning 30 at the end of the month and unlike many in my situation, I’m looking forward to adding that figurative checkmark to the mythical box next to “survived my 20s.” I’ve not really been much of a fan of my 20s; you’re no longer a kid and you’re not quite an adult throughout most of the decade. Struggling becomes a way of life so much so that if you find yourself comfortable, you think, “What’s going to go wrong?” I’ve always felt that my 30s are going to be a better fit for my personality. I can say with confidence that I finally have my shit together and am happy with where I am and that’s just at 29. Imagine what the next 10 years could look like…
I thought I saw my face on the side of a milk carton and thought it was a good time to pop in and say: I’ve not gone missing. I’m here… lurking.
I like to read other blog posts chronologically and because of my recent trip (!), I’ve had to go through a week’s worth of blogs and at that point, I feel like it’s a bit weird to start liking and commenting on such posts. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s just how my brain works.
I have many an update, but no one update is enough for it’s own post, so I figured I’d just share a rundown of what’s been going on. Continue reading
He’s at it again folks; stirring the pot to rile up this dysfunctional blogging family of ours. ‘Tis the season for family disputes I suppose. Paul has brought us this festive quiz to ring in the holiday season and round out this year of competition. Let’s get right into it, shall we?
I consider myself a pretty open-minded individual. Sure, I make snap judgments about people, but after taking a moment to think about said people, I usually settle on a thought with the undertones of: whatever makes them happy; because that’s what life should be about, right? Finding and maintaining happiness…? I think so.
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If you blog long enough you find yourself apart of a strange online community; it’s only strange because everyone is super nice and you have support out the wazoo. And then people like Paul make a post pitting bloggers against one anther in a wacky but wonderful way, and up until this point I have remained a spectator. I have now donned my writers cap and am equipped with my rainbow backlit keyboard to participate in this round of Paul’s infamous quizzes.
THE 10 QUESTIONS
1. The Fab Five were a group of all-freshmen starters for the 1991 Michigan men’s basketball team. What is something you immediately excelled at? Sports! Though I only participated in high school volleyball, any time I played a new sport I took to it like Seabiscuit to a racetrack. Often times in PE class my skills would warrant a teacher asking if I’d ever given any thought to participating in XYZ because I “had a knack” for XYZ. Some of the teams I was halfheartedly approached to participate in included basketball, lacrosse, cheer, and softball. I even took activities like dodge ball a tad too serious resulting in a knee injury that to this day gives me problems. Shifted kneecap anyone…?
2. One Direction was a boy band that eventually went in five directions. If you were in a five person band, would you be the first one to leave? Why or why not? I’m assuming the exit would be from sudden stardom of one bandmate in particular and with that caveat… I would definitely not be the first to leave. I’m not cut of the same material super stars are made of. I’m more of a perpetual backup musician; someone who cares more about the art than the fame. Fun fact: I was taught how to play the drums by a friend who’s dad was the drummer for a band that used to open for Styx. Okay… it may not be that fun of a fact, but I think it’s pretty cool.
3. Five Alive is a line of various fruit juice blends. Create a new drink and include any number (other than five) in its name. Tell me about the new drink. All Eight (Make It Great). As kids my brother and I would often times mix all of the flavors of soda from the fountain at whatever fast food restaurant we were at. There were often times 8 different options to choose from and no drink was ever the same because you never measured out your concoction; you just went with intuition. Now that we are of drinking age, maybe in the future we could add a shot of alcohol to make it great… 😉
4. In the mid-2000s, WWE Superstar John Cena had a weekly segment on WWE.com called, “Five Questions With The Champ” where he answered fan questions. If you were to send a celebrity five questions, who would it be and what would you ask?
Dear Mrs. Clause:
5. The San Francisco 49ers have won five Super Bowls, with their last one coming in 1995. What is something from 1995 that you wish we still had and/or did in 2021? Coincidentally my cousin recently posted on Facebook a flyer that listed how things used to be in 1995 that included things like the everyday cost of living. Gas prices were just over $1, the average cost of a house was $113,000, and movie tickets were under $5. Now that I’m an adult and I make my own monies, I would love to be able to fill up my gas tank for less than $20 and not avoid the movie theater in fear of having to remortgage my house (which might I add is worth every penny with or without inflation) to afford the ticket as well as a stop at the concession counter. Or maybe I’m looking at this all wrong. I was a mere toddler in 1995 and my parents paid for every want or need I had. Maybe that’s what I miss; having someone else paying…
6. When you type, “Where are the” into Google, what is the fifth autocomplete option? Where are the Maldives? What can I say… I like to search vacation destinations in my spare time.
7. The TV show, Breaking Bad, had five seasons. What is your favourite TV show and how many seasons does it have? This is such a hard question because I have a three-way tie for my favorite TV show. They are each different genres, so to say one is better than another is inconceivable, so I will have to respond with the show that I’ve watched the most: Gilmore Girls with 7 seasons + a bonus Netflix special with 4 episodes. My other favorites are House and Community.
8. The PlayStation 5 has experienced supply issues due to a chip shortage. What are your top five potato chip flavours?
9. “Remember, remember, the 5th of November” is a line from the movie, V for Vendetta. What do you remember about November 5, 2021? Well it was 5 days before my husband’s birthday, so at some point that day I mentioned to him that I really wanted to give him his birthday presents and he told me I had to wait. He’s so mean to me!
10. How would you explain the “high five” hand gesture to someone who doesn’t know what it is? Alright. Get really excited. Get hyped. Now throw one of your hands in the air like you have a question for a teacher, but it’s not really a question about the curriculum, but instead you really, really, have to pee and you need his/her permission; channel that urgency. Now I’m going to do the same thing right in front of you at the exact same time and with both of our hands totally open, we shove them together in the air with the goal of making them clap–the louder the better. Experienced high fivers will use opposite hands and unspoken ques to optimize the process, thus ensuring a deafening clapping sound. Never refuse an invitation for a high five unless you have very good reason; this is considered poor high five etiquette.
BONUS QUESTIONS
1. If you could be five-years-old for the next 24 hours, what would you do? EAT ALL THE THINGS!! Since reaching adulthood I’ve found that certain foods cause certain ailments that once upon a time never occurred. Some things on the menu would include a slice of pepperoni pizza from local pizzeria, Benny Marzano’s (where their slices are as big as one’s noggin), 2 7eleven chilidogs, all the cookies, a hot chocolate with too many marshmallows, an entire box of Captain Crunch, a Dairy Queen banana split, totchos (nachos but with tater tots instead of tortilla chips) fully loaded–sans jalapenos, with avocado, a shot of Jack Daniels American Honey (to see if I was allergic to alcohol at that age too–purely for scientific research of course), and a half dozen Krispy Kreme original glaze crème filled doughnuts.
2. How many five-letter words can you type in two minutes? Do it, but don’t share the words with me. Your answer to this question will only be the number of words. 29
3. Tell me the story behind the fifth photo in your phone (or camera, computer, photo album). My husband is from England and this year he became a U.S. citizen which means he was able to vote in his first ever U.S. election a couple weeks ago. I obviously had to capture the momentous occasion with a quick picture of him flashing his “I voted” sticker. Golly I love him! ❤
I’m scared and not because it’s spooky season. I am having surgery on Thursday and it has been a long time coming. It’s the type of surgery where I can’t eat or drink anything after midnight leading up to my appointment (not even water) and that carries it’s own set of terrors. I’m a self-professed caffeine addict; the first and last thing I consume on a daily basis is tea and depending on the day itself I may drink up to a gallon of the stuff. So I’m going to show up to the surgeon’s office with a caffeine withdrawal headache in a grumpy mood because I couldn’t eat anything and am expected to just be okay with people cutting into my face!? Oh… I’m having my wisdom teeth taken out by the way. Continue reading
I like to relax on vacation as much as the next person, but I also like to have fun and make memories. I typically curate a list of things I want to accomplish before traveling somewhere new (I made similar lists for our trips to Atlanta, New York, Philadelphia, and Nashville) and St. Croix was no exception. The main items I wanted to check off my list were: Continue reading
That was the question.
We woke up at our normal time for a Thursday morning, but instead of heading our separate ways to work, we loaded up the car and made the 2.5 hour drive down to Charlotte International Airport. Upon arrival we followed signs for departure, but had to take a moment to figure out: Are the U.S. Virgin Islands domestic or international?
After acquiring bagels and with negative COVID tests in hand, it was finally happening; we were flying to the island of St. Croix for a one week getaway.
I went through many phases growing up. As far as my dress code went, my tom-boy adolescence transitioned rather rapidly to gothic once I hit middle school, then skater/punk (in large part due to this boy), then mellowed out quite dramatically into a wild hair, no makeup, tie dye wearing hippy once I was an established high schooler. I was a band geek, an athlete, a skater girl, and often times mistaken for a burnout. But one identity that remained throughout all of my metamorphoses was that I was a motorcycle chick. Continue reading
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