HEEEYYYYY YOOOOUUUUU GUUUUYYYYYYS!

I was gearing up to do "Fill in the Blank Friday" but the questions didn't motivate me, so I was going to skip it. But then I say that one of the participants had a blog named "You're the Charlie Browniest" which I really liked, so I clicked on it, and ended up at her "10 on Tuesday" or something like that. So here it is.

1. Think back a decade, do you remember what your first cellphone was?

I have to think further back then a decade... my first cellphone was a bag cellphone that plugged into the cigarette lighter.

I think it cost like $1.50 a minute and it was ONLY for emergencies. I want to say that my parents bought it because I worked late nights at the bar when I was a senior in high school, but maybe it wasn't all about me. Don't really remember.

2. What is the first children’s book you remember being read to you?
I don't remember what was read to me, but I do remember "reading" Richard Scarry when I was about 2 years old. Actually, I don't remember it, but I have a picture of myself with a Richard Scarry book in my baby book, so that's what I'm going with. I remember something about a school bus in that book.
I was also fond on Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree." Still am. If you've never read it, order it tonight. And read it to your children. It is so good.
3. What was your first car? Did you love it or hate it?
My first car was a 1989 Eagle Summit and I loved that I had my own car. It didn't have a working speedometer, but it got me where I needed to go.

4. Who was your hero growing up?
This is going to sound horrible, but I've never been able to answer this question. Aside from my parents, I've never really looked up to someone and wanted to be them. Although I really liked the "Price is Right" girl named Holly.
I liked her so much that my pretend teacher name was "Holly Cotton." My little sister was my student and she had to call me "Miss Cotton."

5. Think back to your first kiss. Was it everything you dreamed of?
I don't know that I ever dreamed about my first kiss, but yes - it was very nice. Parents - beware of church camp. That's all I'm saying.

6. What was your first BAD hairstyle choice? (Extra points for embarrassing photos)
Probably dying it myself for several years. It always turned kind of an orangey color. And of course I tried the "Rachel" haircut, which didn't work for several reasons - aside from not having the same type of hair, I also didn't have the patience to blowdry all those dang layers.

7. What was your first realistic dream? (One where you had to think “Oh dang, was that a dream?”)
I really don't remember my dreams. Although last night I remember dreaming that my purse was stolen and my diamond earrings were in my wallet so I lost them. I interpret that to mean that it is time for me to buy a new purse.

8. What was the first phobia you remember developing?
Hmmmm. The fear of my alarm clock not being correctly set. At one point (before the days of cell phone alarms), I would check the alarm clock 5 or 6 times before I could fall asleep.

9. Which character on Sesame Street do you most identify with?
I don't think I ever identified with a character (well, maybe the Cookie Monster for obvious reasons) but I did love that one segment - "One of these things is not like the other......" (And I loved "The Electric Company" - does anyone else remember that? HEEEYYYYY YOOOOUUUUU GUUUUYYYYYYS!)

10. What was the hardest goal you ever accomplished?
I'm still working on that. College and grad school would be the easy answers, but I don't really think of them as "goals" - they are more like something that I just expected of myself. I think my over-arching goal is to be the best Rachel that I can be, and it is a work in progress.

I'm excited that...

I make my final payment on my car this month. 110,000 miles and a "Check Engine Light" will be all mine.

Sweet.

I am a bad influence

CAST:
Jessica - my sister
George - my sister's boyfriend when she was 15
Annie - my 5 year old niece
Aunt Bee - me
Larry - my boyfriend

I got a voicemail from my sister, Jessica, a couple of weeks ago. It went like this:

So....I was looking through old pictures with Annie and came across one of George.
And I said, "look Annie, this is my very first boyfriend!"
And Annie said, "Did you live with him?"
And I said, "No, honey, you don't live with your boyfriends."
And Annie said "Aunt Bee does."

I called her back and said, "How did you respond?" Jessica said she told Annie that once she was 30 she was allowed to live with boys, but not until then.

And yes... I did tell Larry that he should make an honest woman of me for the sake of the children.

the secret is out

I had to proctor the SAT early one Saturday morning, so I wanted an uneventful, quiet Friday evening. We went to the neighborhood Cheddar's bar. We were sitting on the corner and the guy next to MWG looked really familiar. I kept saying, "I swear we know this guy." About 30 minutes into the evening, MWG leans in and says "Jeff Fisher." I'm all, what? "The guy looks like Jeff Fisher, the head coach of the Titans." Oh, okay.

MWG tells the guy that I thought he looked familiar and we start a conversation, blah blah blah. We talk to him for at least half an hour about all sorts of things and were having a good time. When we were getting ready to leave, MWG went to the bathroom and the guy stands up and tells me:

"There are two guys in this world that are my best friends - who I'd do anything for and your boyfriend reminds me of one them. He is a really good guy, I can tell."

I concur.

roll over

I remember having a conversation with my friend Sarah quite a few years ago. I guess I had visited her ladies room and discovered that the toilet paper roll wasn't the way I like it - with the end over the top. I think I told her something like, "we could never be roommates because I would have to switch the toilet paper roll every time I went to the bathroom." I know most people don't care, but that is important to me. I used to be really bad - I would even switch rolls around at other people's houses. I've gotten over that, but still prefer that the rolls in our houses be loaded correctly.

Well, when I was reading a magazine at the salon the other day, I came across an ad for Cottonelle "Roll Over" toilet paper.

Drumroll......my way wins in a Cottonelle contest.
And what do I get for winning? They designed a roll of toilet paper especially for my OCD. I haven't seen this in the store yet, but I'm willing to bet that it costs more than regular toilet paper.

(Why, yes... it is a slow news day. What gave you that idea?)

a little late

1. A very nostalgic place that reminds me of being a kid is the Food Emporium next to St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Lubbock. You used to could buy little boxes of candy (Lemonheads and Mr. Melon) for five cents a box.

2. If someone really wants to show me how much they love me they tell me. I don't know if you've ever read the Five Love Languages...if you haven't, you should. My primary love language is Words of Affirmation: Actions don’t always speak louder than words. If this is your love language, unsolicited compliments mean the world to you. Hearing the words, “I love you,” are important–hearing the reasons behind that love sends your spirits skyward. Insults can leave you shattered and are not easily forgotten.

3. Lately I've been wondering a lot about whether or not I'll ever be a mom.

4. When it comes to saving money I am really really bad. I try really hard but am not good at it. I did good for awhile but then had to pay for grad school, so that pretty much wiped me out. Now I'm back to spending what I make. Good thing that MWG is good with the money.

5. I'd prefer Blossom over any other animal any day!

6. I wish I knew how to make anything involving a sewing machine. For somebody that was Becky Home-Ekcy in high school and then a Home Ec teacher, I sure have forgotten my way around a sewing machine.

7. I'm just waiting for May 2011. I'm really ready to be done with grad school. Let me know if you'd like to come to Milwaukee with me!

frizz buster

Apparently I like to do ridiculous, shallow personal treatments during the summer. Last June, I got the eyelash extensions. (LOVED THEM but probably won't do them again.... too much upkeep.) This summer, I did something to my hair...

As you may remember, I had to find a new hairdresser. I tried several... even went to high dollar places in hopes that spending more money meant I would have better hair. (I know, I know...) Well, we get a little neighborhood newsletter that had an ad for a girl right up the street - with 15% off coupon for new customers. You know how I love my coupons so I thought - why not? I went and got highlights and a cut and really liked her - Shelly is her name. As she was doing my hair the first time, she commented on how curly it was. I told her the whole story - it is super super curly in the back, wavy on the sides and stick straight in the front. As a result, I can't wear it curly - I either have to spend 1 hour straightening it (blow-drying and using the chi, which I've done maybe twice), spend about 30 minutes doing a half-@$$ straightening job or wear it in a ponytail. (I've been wearing lots of ponytails.)

Shelly mentioned that she does "hair relaxing" - basically a healthy way to straighten your hair called Keratin. I was intrigued and thought about it for awhile. When I was in Laguna Beach with the girls, I saw Keratin advertised on some salons and figured that if it was good enough for the OC, it was good enough for me. Then, I saw a friend who had it done and I was SOLD. So I called Shelly and scheduled my treatment.

Only read the rest if you are interested and considering getting it done yourself, otherwise you'll probably be bored.

We thought it would take about 2 hours... the process consists of her washing my hair with a clarifying shampoo, combing it out, painting the Keratin on all of my hair (like highlights), then blowdrying and using a straight iron to seal it in. This sounds simple except for the part where you can't use conditioner after the initial wash. So, the most time intensive part of the process was the combing out after the shampoo. That seriously probably took almost 30 minutes. Then she paints it on (it smells like strawberries), blow dries it really straight, then flat irons it. (It took about 3 hours total, but I also got it cut, so that added some time.)

You can't wash your hair for about 3 days, so I had it done over the July 4th weekend. You can't pull it up or put a barrette in it or anything, because it would keep that shape. I was not attractive, but I was committed. Normally when I wash my hair, it is really really curly and I have to use leave-in conditioner to comb it out. Here is a "before" picture that I found:

Well, I washed my hair before church on Sunday morning. I used the prescribed shampoo and conditioner...And when I got out of the shower??? My hair was still curly:

I was like, "Oh no!" But I didn't panic. I started combing it out and it was so smooth. I didn't even need any leave-in conditioner. I started to blow-dry, which remember.... used to take at least 30 minutes to even get it barely straight - but it always stayed frizzy. See example:


(I fixed my hair that night. I was at a wedding and spent time getting ready, but you can see how frizzy my hair still was.)

Well, now when I blowdry, my hair instantly goes soft and straight. It only takes about 5 minutes. If I want it to be super sleek, I use the chi. But even if I don't, it doesn't look frizzy:
(Not the best picture, but hopefully you can see a difference? If you can't, you need to see me in real life. Even Larry noticed and he NEVER notices anything about my hair.)

So, I give the whole process an A. I would give it an A+ but I didn't due to the fact that it still being curly after my first wash scared me. However, I do give Shelly an A+. She takes her time and really cares about her work. She even texted me about a week after the Keratin to see how I liked it. (I don't get a discount for referrals or anything, I just want to recommend her because it can be hard to find a good hairdresser.)

Next summer maybe I will get my eyebrows tattooed. HA!

I'm "that" girl

Laugh and make fun if you must.



(She didn't quite get the stars the way I wanted, but I'll only wear it until Monday, so whatever. Enjoy your 4th.)