a hairy tale

Brent's Grandma Pat once sent me this Peanuts' cartoon in the mail:

She understood my curly hair issues all too well, as she has been in that club her whole life as well. I still have this up on my fridge, and when I saw it the other day it got me to thinking about my hair. It has been curly curly curly from the time it came in:

I spent most of elementary and high school figuring out what in the heck to do with it. Here were a few things I learned:

- do not brush

- do not over wash

- do not try and blow dry straight with out products

-do not try and blow dry without diffuser

- product, product, product [my mom thought I drank mousse as fast as I went through it]

- bobby pins

- check the forecast: if it is going to be raining or humid-- don't bother with doing anything to it

and last but most important:

- just go with a ponytail 

Luckily despite my mane, Brent still noticed me [and okay, it's not like he had great hair either most of the time in high school ;) ]: 

So I went to college and had no real style, just a LOT of very very curly CURLY hair. A LOT.

It was a dorm event when I decided to straighten it. Count em: one two THREE straighteners. This had to be a fire hazard:

This is why, most of the time, my hair found its way into a ponytail or hat, or a head band if there was an 80's celebration [this hair was made for the 80s], or braids if there was a hoe down, obviously.

[I'm on far left…with the rat's nest]

 When I graduated college and got married, my hair was still very long, very thick, and very curly:

Brent was used to sometimes suffocating in that mess. 

I had finally kind of figured out how to deal with it, when I got this crazy idea to chop it off. Isn't that what young girls do when they get married?

So I donated it to locks of love:

Over the next two years I grew it back out, and it was still curly, but was slowly losing the tight curls. And we were moving! And things were changing! And if there was ever a time to be absolutely crazy it was then! So I really let my hair dresser chop it.

And proceeded to cry for the next 11 months. [That's a bit dramatic, but I did hate it].

Caroline was a good consoler, and was all "Hey! At least you HAVE hair!" 

It obviously continued to grow, but for the next year I typically wore it in this not-really-a-ponytail ponytail thing. 

Those high school students are looking younger and younger these days

But I realized it was losing more curl, for sure. It was still curly, and would give me fits if I wanted to straighten it, but I could no longer fix it the ways I had grown used to. 

And then I got pregnant and had Blythe and forget it! I don't even know what is happening up there. It mostly just fell out, but what remained is not very curly, not really straight, and way thinner than I'm used to. So I cut it off again.

For a few days when I fixed it it would be kind of curlier, like the above picture, and then it would whack out on me again.

I figured I'd wait until I was done nursing to see if that would change it again, and then I got it trimmed up, cut some bangs, and pretty much just started straightening it as that seemed easier.

 I'm still trying to figure it out. And like before, most days I just wear it in a ponytail and call it good! I can't believe I had so much hair just 5 years ago, and how much it has changed. Crazy how time has a way of working in our bodies, even when we don't really know it's happening: even when we don't really realize the drastic changes until we sit down and write a blog post and browse through old pictures :)

as I get older..

I realize that I graduated from high school only eight years ago, but that seems like a fairly significant amount of time. In that time I thought I would have figured out some basic life things.

For example: Makeup. Is it just me or do you also feel like every other adult woman actually understands makeup. They know what colors, brands, brushes, etc. to use. And here I am, still dabbing and smearing on essentially the same stuff I wore 8 years ago. Do I just not care? Or do I really NOT GET IT? I mean, I can put on eyeliner and mascara and make it look okay, but haven't figured out how to do anything spectacular with my makeup. Particularly my eye makeup. Every day I put a little Mary Kay shadow on, possibly some eyeliner, a little mascara, and I'm done. For every day, that is good enough for me. But then when a special occasion rolls around, or I just want to look a little FANCY, do you know what I do? I put a little Mary Kay shadow on, possibly some eyeliner, a little mascara, and I'm done. I've got no game when it comes to makeup- no tricks up my sleeve. I really thought this would be something that I would figure out more as I got older, but I just keep going back to the same makeup aisle.

Another example: Shaving. I thought that as I aged, my time shaving would decrease. I figured, "Hey, the more you do something, the quicker you become." FALSE. Shaving takes the same amount of time as it did in high school….actually, that's a lie too because it probably takes a little longer as my thighs' girth increases a bit. It is true that I don't care as much, so I may not be as meticulous [read: I rarely take the time to REALLY shave my knees or ankles. What's the point. That's just asking for blood]. But it takes the same gosh dern amount of time. That's okay though…I make up for it in my makeup routine.

And finally: driving a stick. I attempted to learn how to drive a stick when I was 16. I could putz around town okay…if I didn't have to stop. But once I figured out it didn't really offer me any benefits in life, I decided I could put off learning until I was an adult. After all, I thought, things like this are probably much easier to learn as an adult, especially since I'll have been driving for much longer then. FALSE. Not only do I still not know how to drive a stick [small town kids everywhere shudder], but I have FORGOTTEN the little that I did know way back when. Putzing around town would not even be an option anymore. Some things do not come more easily with age.

Maybe I just have to wait a few more years before I can figure out how to apply blush properly, or how to navigate ankles with a razor just a bit faster, or shift gears manually. I doubt it…but here is to hoping.

*an additional note: I'm not even going to get started on hair. Kali JUST TAUGHT ME [last week], how to use a blow dryer to help "style." WHO KNEW?! Did I just miss classes on these things or did I just not care enough when I was a teenager? Did I work too much on perfected my free throw shooting when I should have been manipulating makeup brushes and blowdryers? Lucky for me, Blythe doesn't have any hair so at least I can't mess hers up!

day 4- a photo of you

I feel like this day has very vague instructions. A photo of yourself? I looked through a view albums I have, but I landed on this one. Just this weekend while spending time with family, I realized I had never posted the pictures of my haircut I got in June. There were several reasons for this- we didn't have internet, we were super busy etc. But mainly it was not posted because I HATED it. I cried for weeks. I know it may sound like an exaggeration but there was literally not a day that I did my hair after the hair cut and actually liked it. I felt so superficial because of the struggle I was having with it.

I don't really know what made me want to get it cut, or why I decided to cut it on the last day of school the week before we were going to move [a very emotional time anyway]. Afterward if I was watching tv and a commercial came on with a woman with long hair I literally had to change the channel because I would be so mad at myself for cutting it. It was easier throughout the summer, and once I could pull it back into a ponytail [which took a little time], it was easier for me to handle it. It still isn't growing at the rate I wish it were...but at least it's not as short as it was in this picture.

This picture was taken a day or two after the cut. I had been at the pool [one of my first and glorious pool days of the summer], and had Brent snap a picture when I got back because I had promised some people I would send them a pic. It was SHORT! Yikes. Never again...but at least I did it so I never have to wonder if I would have liked it. That answer is VERY clear to me now :)


Side note: spell check didn't recognize the word internet in this post? Weird.
Also, I have been home sick the past two days. Guess it wasn't the sweet potatoes since 8 of us on Brent's side of the family caught the bug. Ugh. Not fun.