Saying "Goodbye" to a Piece of My Childhood

It's with a heavy heart that I write this post. Yes, I'm being slightly totally dramatic. If you know me, that won't surprise you. But, in all honesty, I have gotten teary-eyed a few times as I ponder this news, mostly for the memories it brings me.

Yesterday, as I was watching Nightly News with Brian Williams, he ended the show with story that stopped me in my tracks. (I'm being dramatic again. But this is a piece of my childhood we are talking about!) The hosts of NPR radio show Car Talk, brothers Ray and Tom Magliozzi aka Click & Clack, announced that after 35 years on the radio (and over 25 with NPR), September would mark their last new show. Now, NPR will run old episodes during their usual slot, which is why this entire post is over-dramatic, but it got me thinking. 

As I've mentioned several times, I was a serious 'Daddy's Girl' growing up. Don't misunderstand, I loved my Mom dearly, but my Dad traveled a lot. When my Dad was home, I'd stick to him like glue, spending every possible second I could with him. That usually included his Saturday errands. On Saturday mornings, he would get up and start his weekly ritual of making homemade pancakes. I can close my eyes and remember how it felt to wake up and smell the griddle. After pancakes, we would dress and Dad would make his list of errands. He would graciously take me along, even though I probably slowed him down. But he was an amazing Dad so, I like to think he enjoyed the time with me just as much as I enjoyed the time with him. 

But, I digress. 

We'd hop in the car and start on our journey of errands. This usually consisted of the post office, the copy shop, the bank and sometimes the cleaners, the hardware store and/or the liquor store. (Don't judge him for that. There were always tons of kids there with their parents, and the liquor store we went to always had a bucket of bubble gum or dum-dums, so it was a huge treat to get to pick out of the bucket when we left.) And in the midst of the errands, we would listen to NPR - specifically Car Talk. The Magliozzi brother's voices were my first introduction to a Boston accent, which I am in love with to this day. They made my Dad laugh, a sound that I love, and even as a kid, they made me laugh too. I tried to pay attention to the "car stuff" they'd talk about, even when it was often ridiculous but funny advice, but I always looked forward to the end credits the most. Not because the show was over, but because that was the funniest part to me. They'd rattle off the names of everyone who worked on the show - but they would give each person a nickname or a fake name altogether. Things like 'Doug "the subway fugitive, not a slave to fashion, bongo boy frogman" Berman' or 'Haywood Jabuzoff'. (Say that one out loud a few times. You'll get it.) 

And then, the part that is currently making my hair stand on end as I hear their voices in my head. They'd close the show with the same phrase every time. Ray would say, "Don't drive like my brother," and Tom would reply, "Don't drive like my brother." My Dad and I would say it along with them every time. (He'd take Ray's line and I'd take Tom's.) And while NPR will continue to run old shows long after September, it feels a bit like the end of an era to me. And that era happens to be the bulk of my childhood. So, thank you, Click & Clack, for over 20 years of Saturday mornings. I cannot imagine those years without you. 

Don't Tease Me Bro

I've discussed before how much I love blogging, but sometimes I am lacking the motivation or topic to do so. My friend Mandy sent me to an awesome group where they suggest topics for you to blog about. Genius! Well, yesterday's topic really hits home with me as I ran into an old "bully" this weekend, so I'm jumping on the Reverb Broads band wagon. 

What did people tease you about growing up? 

This one is kind of a doozie for me. I was teased a lot, through most of my childhood. And as I have grown older, I've become so much more aware of what a huge issue it is. It's one of many reasons that I am so committed and passionate about the DWC's work with Finding Kind. And while this cause really focuses on girl vs. girl bullying, I didn't encounter teasing or bullying from girls until I entered high school. 

But let's back up a bit, because in an effort to keep this inevitably long post from entering 'novel' territory, I'm going to talk about the first two really strong memories of teasing that I have.

The first time I remember being teased to the point of daily tears was in 2nd grade. I would rather not use people's real names, so I'm just going to use the first letter. In 2nd grade, a boy named S was the first person who I remember being just plain mean to me. I went through my "chubby" phase in the 2nd grade. I was always taller than most kids my age, but this was the first time I was "chubby". S made that known. He called me "whale" every day. (Which was always weird to me, because he was not thin himself.) And then somehow he found out that my dad, who's given name is Richard, went by the nickname "Dick". I'd known that was my dad's name my entire speaking life, and it meant nothing to me other than a name. S knew it was a slang term for a certain part of his anatomy, and boy did he let me know it. He would dance around me chanting things about my dad's name. Well, being a tried and true "Daddy's Girl", this was earth shattering. My dad handled it with grace, as I explained the reason for my tears. He laughed and said it didn't hurt HIS feelings, but that if it continued to hurt MINE that I should look S right in the face and say "Well, in my house, we call it a S." The very next day, as soon as he started up with his remarks, I shot that comeback right at him - and shut right up. Permanently. 

The next one that really stands out was in middle school. Three boys, J, A and M, decided I'd make a great target. By the 6th grade, I was a good 4-5 inches taller than most of the boys my age (I'm 5'10 now and was probably 5'6/5'7 in 6th grade) and skinny as a rail, which lead to lots of pointing and laughing. 

In case you weren't sure, I'm the one in the back, towering over my friends.

That's how it started with these three. J and M were much shorter than me, and A was close to my height. M's locker was right below mine in the 6th grade hallway and every day the three would meet between classes and before and after school at M's locker. It started with just "light heckling" about my height. "How's the weather up there?" type of stuff. Harmless, but annoying and hurtful when you are 12 and trying to gain some sort of self-confidence. Then, a few weeks into the school year, I got a new pair of tennis shoes. Being 5'6/5'7 at 12 also means you are wearing more grown up sizes than most of your peers. The same was true for shoes. So, when shoe shopping, I was already very self-conscious. I'd picked out a pair of black, white and pink Nike basketball shoes - all the "cool kids" were wearing them.

They looked kind of like this, but Black and Pink in place of Blue and Red, and leather instead of suede.

I wore them to school the next day, for the first and only time. J, M and A gave me so much grief for my shoes ("Are you joining the WNBA?" "Is that the only shoe that comes in giant size?") that I never wore them again - in fact I'm pretty sure I returned them for a pair of plain white low-top KSwiss. But that was nothing compared to what was to come. As the year went on, so did their teasing. I was finally getting to a point where I could carry as many books as possible to limit locker visits and when I did have to go to my locker, I'd just act like they weren't there. That didn't set well, apparently, because soon they started waiting for me and as soon as I'd open my locker, one of them would reach over and slam it shut. M was the most ruthless to me and one day, I didn't get my hand out of the way quite fast enough, because the door shut on my finger. "Don't let them see you cry" was the only thought I had in that moment. Once my finger was free from the locker, I walked to the nurse's office (where I then bawled like a baby). She called my Mom and the Principal. It didn't look good and I needed to see a doctor - it turned out to be broken. The next morning, my parents and I sat in the Principal's office and went through the details. He moved me to a new locker and punished J, M and A. 

And somehow, whether it be interference from my Mom that I never knew about, or whether it be the Universe looking out for me, I went through all of middle and high school with those three and not once did I have a single class with any of them nor did I have a locker within eye-shot. In fact, I have little memory of seeing any of them much around the high school, or after...until Friday when J and I were at the same concert and made awkward, extended eye contact. Its amazing how quickly all those feelings from so long ago come rushing back. I wonder what kind of people all four of those boys grew up to be...

The Thing About Pinterest...

...is that sometimes the good ideas are just that. Ideas. Once you start to execute an idea, sometimes they don't work out how you imagined. I encountered that this weekend as I took on this idea before heading to the Summer Cut concert. It looked like a perfect way to re-use the creamer bottles that we usually recycle. So, I washed and held onto two bottles and headed to the store to grab a few snacks to take to the show. I went with my all time favorite snack food, Goldfish, (popcorn is a close second) and then also picked up some peanut butter Ritz-Bitz.

The day of the concert, I got out my supplies and started filling.

Actually, I just started spilling Goldfish everywhere. Here's where this idea left much to be desired. See, what you can't tell from the original post is that even after removing the red cap, the opening on the top of the bottle is pretty small. Pouring directly from the large box of Goldfish into the creamer bottle wasn't going to work. So, I had to dump a bunch into my hand and feed them in a bit more slowly. No big deal. It was still a fairly quick process.

The Ritz-Bitz, however, proved more troublesome. Each individual cracker was almost exactly the same size as the opening of the bottle. There would be no pouring from box or hand on this one, but I was already committed, so I dumped the entire box onto a paper towel...

...and started putting them into the bottle. One. By. One. 

My nails look a mess. Sorry.

Finally, I had two full bottles of snacks to toss in my backpack for the show.

The concept was a great one. The bottles were easy to pass around for all of our friends to share, but I had to watch each and every one of them unscrew the red top and Heinz 57 the bottle to get the snacks from the bottle into their hands. There was NO pouring the Goldfish out of the red top, and obviously if the Ritz barely fit into the bottle, they were just as stubborn to get out.

Now, that being said, I may still hold on to a few of these bottles because I imagine they would be great for small items, like the chocolate chips pictured in the original post, or baking items like sugar and flour. But for anything the size of a dime or larger? Better luck next time, Pinterest.

Kicking Off Summer

Yesterday, we kicked off summer in the best way I can think off; an outdoor music festival with basically all of my best friends. 

Mid-afternoon, Ryan, Frankie & I loaded into the car to head to KXT's Summer Cut.

We saw tons of great bands, including but not limited to, Telegraph Canyon, Smile Smile, Air Review, Walk Off The Earth, Fitz and the Tantrums, St Vincent AND The Flaming Lips! But, I didn't start snapping pictures until we'd settled on the lawn for Fitz and the Tantrums (above). They are one of Ryan's favorite bands and they were really awesome live.

Brittany and Tommy, people watching.

Jason & Kim enjoying the tunes. You can almost see George & Lindsay in the background, haha.

Frankie and Garrett catching up. 

Ryan, lounging and enjoying the gorgeous weather. It was a high of 83*, which was a welcome break from the solid 90's we've had lately. As the sun began to set, it settled comfortably into the 70's.

St Vincent was one of the highlights of the night for me. Annie Clark is one bad broad. 

 And then last, but most certainly not least, was The Flaming Lips. I realize this picture probably looks like nothing but an over-exposed stage shot, but its an accurate depiction of what happens when Wayne Coyne enters the stage for the first time. And its exactly what I felt like in that moment.

 

They put on the most amazing show. Its so interactive and you can feel how much the crowd's enjoyment was Wayne's #1 priority. And, in a true sign of an amazing show, in the end, they had me in tears. As Wayne Coyne sang the last few bars of "Do You Realize??", a smile of pure joy came across his face, and before I knew it, I had tears running down my cheeks. It was an amazing night that I got to share with some amazing people. Summer, I loathe you for your heat, but I sure do love you for your atmosphere.

Photo dump / Updates

We've been busy little bees in the Naslund home. Between both of us working, me finishing my first semester back in school and various other obligations, I haven't done a proper update in a while.

We spend a lot of time ooohing and aaahing over how cute our cats are.

Chloe and Cooper, holding hands.

Cooper

Chloe, doing what she does best.

I stood up for a cause I believe in. I caught a lot of dirty looks and a few back handed comments the first time I wore this shirt in public, but I got just as many smiles and high fives.

I got two new pairs of glasses! This may not seem that exciting but the last time I bought a new pair was in 2002. Plus, the two pairs together cost me about 1/2 what I paid for the one pair in 2002. WIN! (Thanks Mandy!)

Ryan & I have also been making an effort to do more together, other than sitting at home watching TV. On May 10th, we packed up a picnic dinner and met a group of our friends in Denton to see our friends Andrew Tinker & Co. It was a perfect evening!

Andrew Tinker & Co. at Twilight Tunes

Ryan loves to wait until the last minute and make a face. Sigh. Good thing he's cute.

I went to a celebratory happy hour for DWC and had some much needed wine and girl talk. These women enrich my life so very much!

And then last weekend, Ryan took a rare Saturday off so we could attend the wedding of our friend's Jeff & Christine. 

Right after they said their "I do's"!

Cutting loose in the photo booth! My friend Chelsea captioned it perfectly - Ginger & The Skipper!

 

 

 

 

April and May have kept us busy, and the first few weeks of June will too, but then our calendar has some much needed "empty space".  Until then, I will do my best to update more frequently. :)

Curls!

Holy shnikes! I have not blogged in WEEKS! Apparently, I really do need a 30 day challenge to get me to blog regularly. Oops! I have plenty I could talk about, but I'm going to do a little beauty post - something I haven't done in a while!

Whenever I curl my hair, I get asked how I get the curls to stay. Well, they don't ALWAYS stay. If it's super humid out, sometimes nothing helps. For some, their curls fall flat. For me, my hair gets frizzy and the curls change from "coiffed" to crazy with my natural curly texture. However, humidity aside, I can usually curl my hair and it will stay curled for a couple of days.

First, let me just say that I have thick, coarse hair and my hair type can hold a curl pretty well, but I've used this technique on others who have more of a fine, silky hair texture and it worked great! This isn't some magical trick - I think it's very common and have seen most hair stylists do it. I just wanted to show it being done by a non-professional, and also because I do get asked about it a lot.

You'll need a flat iron, duckbill clips (bobby pins will work if you have thinner hair than mine) and a touchable hair spray. I find that the curl I get from the flat iron stays longer - and my trusty old Chi and I have been straightening and curling my hair together for almost 10 years.

Start by sectioning your hair. I split mine into 3 large sections, horizontally. Top, middle and bottom (that was probably unnecessary to explain...). I start at the bottom and break that section into 3 even sections, splitting them vertically. Then each of those 3 sections gets broken into 3 more sections horizontally. Confused yet? Yeah, I should have taken a picture. Depending on your hair texture and thickness, you may need more or less sections. Basically, I do this in 1"-1 1/2" sections. Then I start to curl, working bottom to top. If you don't know how to curl with a flat iron, search it on YouTube. There are a million videos about it. It's so, so easy.

Once I run the iron through and the curl is formed, I twist my hair a few times in the direction of the curl to help define it. Then, I wrap it up and around my finger (again, with the direction of the curl) and use a duckbill clip to secure it in place. Quick note: The faster you run the iron through your hair, the more loose the curl will be. I took these pictures as I was getting ready for a wedding and I wanted pretty defined curls, so I went fairly slowly.

Clipped curls.

I roll each curled tendril up just like this and let it cool for at least 15 minutes. The longer is sets, the better the curl will hold. Now is also when I spray my hair. My very favorite hairspray is Sexy Hair's Soy Touchable spray. But apparently, it's everyone's favorite because it has been a nightmare to find lately. I lightly spray all over my hair while the curls are cooling.

Once they feel cool to the touch (or when you run out of patience), start unclipping! I am OCD and I have to unclip in the same order I curled. And I DO NOT brush them out or I will look like a Texas Pagent Queen. (I can say that - I live in Texas.) I simply comb my fingers through them to break them up a bit, touch up where needed and that's it!! See, told ya, SO EASY!

Finished product (sans makeup)!

View from the back of my hair.

They do fall a bit as you wear them, which is why I like to start with a tighter curl, and I LOVE how they look after I've slept on them. I hope this was semi-helpful and answers the questions for those who have asked! Have fun curling!!