Hair Care

Lately, I've been obsessed with watching hair and makeup tutorials on youtube. I'm not really a beauty type girl, I usually just stick to clothes, but Gertie made me want to try victory rolls.

My mom thinks they're hideous, but I like it. Maybe not on me, but I haven't tried it. YET.

Anyway, I found this video about Black men's opinions on natural vs. relaxed hair. And basically, it comes down to preference, which I totally get. I don't think most men care what a girl's hair looks like as long as she keeps it clean and healthy, (but there is a biological/psychological basis for guys liking long hair. See, in prehistoric times, a woman with long, shiny hair was considered a better mate since her hair was a good indicator of health. Technology may have advanced, but people haven't.) I prefer blue eyed men. It doesn't mean I won't talk to a guy with another colored eyes, I'm just initially slightly more attracted to that particular color. Now apply it to hair! Anthony likes long hair on girls, but my hair's not long. Yay personal preference! At any rate, I made the mistake of reading the comments.

Sidenote: This is why I hate sites like youtube, facebook, and the like. People feel like they can say anything they want because they're sitting at home at their computer and not face to face. I'm willing to bet money if any Black women were around or even just the woman whoever this is insulted was present, he/she (I couldn't tell if it was a man or woman, but I think it's a boy) would have NEVER said any of these things. Cyberbullying sucks.

Just to check that someone hadn't attacked this person first, I went back a couple of pages and no one really said anything insulting to whoever this is. Some girl made a comment that she likes her relaxers, he or she called that girl a bitch and said that men don't like fake relaxed hair and that Black people are the only people who gets weaves and relaxers, then someone else said that Black people are most definitely not the only people who get weaves/relaxers and that her hair was healthy, and he/she posted this.

Aside from the fact that I hate cyberbullying and bad grammar and this post had both, this person is obviously racist. "Your hair wasn't made straight for a reason." Do you even know what that reason is? Exactly. Black people don't even know why their hair has kinky curls. I heard or read somewhere that it's to protect our heads from the sun in the desert, and when I googled it, something about the distribution of lipids popped up. "A black women's hair was never ment to be straight." Obviously not, but since we do have the technology/equipment to do it, who are you to declare it disgraceful? People's skin wasn't made permanently marked or full of decorative holes, doesn't mean people aren't going to get tatoos or piercings.

The part that mega pisses me off is the whole white girls were raised to love their hair schtick because it's complete bullshit. I know a white blonde girl who straightens her hair before she goes to bed and then again in the morning before she goes to school. Another white girl I know has beautiful, dark, curly hair, it's the perfect spiral curly, and she straightens her hair every morning despite her mom telling her not to and people like me fawning all over the curly version when she wears it that way. Women, white, black, around and in-between dye their hair. There's a technique called "Japanese hair straightening" that uses heat and chemicals to make hair straight (and Japanese people have straight hair for the most part. This makes it damn straight.) And black women are not the only people getting weaves. White girls just call them "extensions."

Women of all races are taught to manage and manipulate their hair to achieve the most attractive style possible. While attractive isn't universally level, we learn to shampoo, condition, and style whatever we've got whatever type it is. While the relaxer is a super super bad way to "manage" hair, it's still a method of straightening the really kinky roots that a flat iron just can't reach. And while I firmly hold the belief that relaxers started as a method to try and cure Black self-loathing, (another, longer blog post entirely) most Black women get them now because their mothers took them to get one. Like me. I don't necessarily hate my nappy hair. I just get relaxers because my mom made me and now it's the only way I know how to do my hair. It's just passed down now.

The point is, if men didn't find relaxers somewhat attractive and actively tried not to procreate with women who got relaxers like this same youtube user said in another comment, women wouldn't get them. Or maybe they would because they want to feel attractive and they don't give a damn if a man likes it or not.

Either way, dear WizardPrinceBreon, stop being a jerk about something you obviously know nothing about. If you want to comment that you personally don't like the relaxed look, fine. I'll even accept your racist ideology for the purpose of blog posts, but don't speak for everyone, your race or otherwise, and try to keep the name calling/cursing to a minimum. It's unattractive.

Food Porn!

I promised, didn't I?


This is my first attempt at a baseball cake for Cassandra's birthday. I hate it! For some reason, it split and cracked. :(

This is why I hate cake! It's so hard!

My second attempt looked much better, but the actual cake was gross. After I ruined the first cake, I immediately made the second one, then Gabe wanted to change the date of the party. So I froze this cake, and as a result, it was gross when I pulled it out and frosted it a week later. I still hate cake.

Parmesan chicken! It's delicious. I'm most definitely making this my "signature dish."

French bread. I love bread. Bread and toast. Bread and toast with butter. Carbs be damned, bread is delicious, and I'm officially obsessed with baking bread. That's also lasagna in the upper left hand corner.

I've also made breaded chicken with mozzarella, which is kind of a variation of the Parmesan chicken, but everyone in my family loved the breaded chicken more. They're weird though.

I've also decided that anything "Italian" aka with pasta of some sort is the best food that I can make. Also, I like farfalle (bow tie) pasta better than regular spaghetti. And angel hair pasta is a bitch.

Anyway, I want to bake cupcakes for profit rather than get an actual part time job, but my friend Erica said that I probably wouldn't make enough to make a living, and I'm very easily discouraged. I don't necessarily need enough money to "make a living" like pay rent and buy groceries, but I definitely could use extra. Would it be worth it to try the cupcake biz or should I just suck it up and apply at McDonald's?

Waiting

I was checking my blog roll, and I realized that I haven't posted a new blog in over a week. What is the world coming too? In case you were wondering what's more important that updating complete strangers (and some friends) on the obscure details of my life, they are as follows:

Sleeping.

I've been sleeping a lot lately. A lot. I get up at 7 AM, go for a run, come home and eat breakfast, feel like I can conquer the world, and then go back to be at 11. It's annoying. I think there might be something wrong with me. I literally feel exhausted, but I'm not really doing anything. Anthony says that boredom just might be making me sleepy, but I really think that I have a problem. My mom suggested that I start taking vitamins, so I'll try that.


Reading blogs.

Mostly this one. I'm in love with this woman, I swear. For the people who aren't going to click on the link, she's Gertie. She bought a vintage Vogue sewing book, and she's sewing her way through all 14 patterns. If you didn't know, sewing and clothes are like crack for me, so I've gone all the way back to the beginning of her blog to obsess over her work. Her Blog for Better Sewing (see what I did, I linked it twice. Click it.) is amazing, and after tediously pouring over her posts, I've learned three valuable things.

1. I love vintage fashion. Lovelovelove, which is me-speak for obsessed with. I would say that I was born in the wrong decade, but black people weren't treated very nicely in the '50s/'60s, and it wouldn't be socially acceptable for me to be with Anthony, so I think I was born in the right period. I can still dress like them right?
2. Gorgeous Fabrics is my new online mecca. When I don't have any money, you'll know why.
3. As much as I like vintage clothing, I can't use vintage patterns to re-create them for me because vintage patterns do not like fat people. Gertie suggests searching by your bust size; mine is 45, and all the patterns I found that would fit me were for the '70s. Lame sauce. I'm not very fond of the '70s/'80s.

I would totally pull a Julie/Julia style thing for Gertie and I and sewing except for the aforementioned not being able to find patterns in my size and the Vogue book that she's using is from 1952 so the cheapest copy I could find was $49.99. I'll follow her in spirit though. I'm definitely inspired.

Cooking.

I'm still cooking. I mentioned before how excited I was that my parents were buying me cookware. I guess that's what I'll do next blog, post pictures of the food I've made. Food porn!

Anyway, less than 3 weeks and I'll be back in Denton!!! I can't wait! Oh, I'm also adding a class or two since I just have to graduate in May 2012, so that'll be fun. I don't think the exhaustion thing will be getting any better though.

I received the Versatile Blogger Award!

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Share seven things about you
3. Nominate 6 newly discovered blogs
4. Let your nominees know about the award!

1. A big thanks to Nikolett from Better Than Coffee! I love winning things!

2. Seven Things About Me:

• I know if you read my blog it seems like I complain a lot, but I'm actually a very happy person. I think I just tend to show the less happy on the Internet.
• I like redheaded people.
• I want to travel, but I'm going to be in so much debt after I finish school that I'll have to wait practically forever.
• I lovelovelove appliances and cookware! Every visit to Target ends up with me wandering down the home isles. My parents started buying things for my apartment, and so far I have: a skillet, a new muffin pan, 2 casserole dishes, a set of 3 mixing bowls, this neat carosel thing with spatulas and spoons, and a George Foreman grill. Now I just need some saucepans, a cookie sheet, a meat tenderizer, and a set of knives and I'll be set.
• I can totally use all of those things too. And I've figured out that I'm best at making Italian food.
• Number of photos on my iPod of Emma Pillsbury from Glee that I keep for "Em-spiration" = 55. Number of photos of Anthony = 9.

But she's so cute!

• I've learned that not only do I have a thing for nerdy white boys, I also like random old men. Case in point:

Harrison Ford (68) just married Calista Flockhart. I'm jealous. But really, who doesn't love Indiana Jones? Or Han Solo? 'Nuff said.

John Cusack (44.) Tall, dark, and sarcastic. I like.

Dick Van Dyke (85, but he's less cute old) has blue eyes and he tap dances. If only I had a time machine.

Not only in the "nerdy white boy" category, but Matthew Gray Gubler is also 30.

This list just reminds me that Anthony said he'd never have to worry about me cheating on him with a black guy. I wouldn't cheat on him anyway, but so he knows, I just don't know a lot of black actors or singers that I find attractive, not necessarily that I don't like black guys. Case in point: Idris Elba (38.)

3. Six blogs:

Dutch - She's getting two doctorate degrees. Two. 2. T-W-O.
Tia - We're alike in personality, so if you can handle double doses of self-centered crazy, you should read her blog too.
Ana - She's one of Anthony's friends that I mooched because she said I was cute; therefore, I like her.
Jacque - She likes pink! A lot. If you don't like pink, don't click it because it will sear your eyes.
Teddi - She's cute and looks young, although I think she's older than I, but she's very deep.
Anthony - Because I love him, and maybe if people start reading he'll post things.

Bonus: I'm not nominating her for an award because she already has some, but I love her. So read Una's blog if you need to randomly laugh at mundane things.

Now I'm off to celebrate more because I'm a winner!

Reality Bites

Is anyone else sick of reality televison?

I'll admit, at first I was totally on the band wagon. I loved Survivor, I just found the whole concept of abandoning people who weren't wilderness experts or even people who particularly liked being outdoors in a strange, wild country and let them have at it to win money. Then they started making reality competitions, and I was still okay with it. I loveloveloved Project Runway, watching all those creative people sewing clothes and following their dreams. I even liked the Bachelor for a little while although much to my chagrin, the token black girl was always cut the first round. But now, there's nothing less real than reality TV. The people who cast reality shows aren't looking for nice ordinary people that the viewers can relate to anymore; they want these outrageous personalities purely for entertainment's sake. I swear they script and edit these shows just as much as they would a regular sitcom or dramedy. And I hate the stupid competitons that started spawning and the gross stuff people will do just to win a little money. I think I generally dislike things that become too popular.

Nevertheless, I can't stop watching. And if I were the type of person who could end up on a reality show (but I'm not because the black girl is always a head rolling, hip shaking psycho,) these are the shows I would dominate.

• The Bachelorette

Has anybody else ever watched Blind Date? If you haven't, it was a show too. They'd randomly hook up these two people, and then follow their date and comment on it with little speech and thought bubbles. It was hilarious. Most of the time, they didn't even bother to match up people correctly (which is by interests and physical attraction.) If you were lucky, the date went really bad and both people went home alone, and if you weren't lucky, you had to watch strangers suck face in a hot tub, but because of the aforementioned mismatching, it usually ended badly.

The Bachelor/Bachelorette reminds me of a really long episode of Blind Date. Well the first couple episodes, it's more like bad speed dating, but it's basically the same. Who seriously signs up to be a reality show where a man dates/makes out with more than one girl and eliminates people? It sounds really pathetic on paper, but I guess it's not really worse than actual dating. Oh wait, it is because it's on public television!

However, I would still be on this show. Especially considering that 99% of the couples don't get married anyway. Do you want real entertainment, America? Put bossy prudish me on a dating show and watch me eliminate guys. I would kick guys out for stupid reasons (flirting with me, for one) and I'd refuse to kiss any of them. It'd be great.

• Say Yes to the Dress

This isn't really a reality show, but I want to be on it. Not that I'm thinking of marriage either, I just want to try on wedding dresses ala Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe from Friends.

• The Real World

At first, this was an excellent show. They took nice, normal people and put them in a house together. It was all about learning about different walks of life and respecting people who were different from you and growing up.

Now, we watch random 20 somethings party all night, sleep all day, and hook up with each other in between. I could even deal with that if the casting people cast real people instead of the same fame whores and douche bags who just fight and party all the damn time (And with such a limited vocabulary. I swear everything starts and ends with "bitch" or "whore." You're 22, learn how to use your words or get a dictionary.)

Sidenote: One of my friends said he wanted to be on the Real World. I was like, "Why?!?" because of all the annoying children he'd have to live with, and he said, "To launch my music career." I seriously cannot think of a worse way to launch any kind of career than being on a reality show. If I were an employer of any kind, and I heard of you being on a reality show, I would first watch it, and then not hire you because I can't think of one person on any reality show that I consider responsible and trustworthy.

But I'd still be on it. Actually, no I wouldn't. I hate people. But it'd be entertaining to watch people with personalities that clash with the partiers, ie: responsible, prudish 20 somethings (if there is such a thing) who have jobs and safe lives, deal with them.

• Work of Art

This is Bravo's new Project Runway-esque show. It drags down centuries of art history and theory to a mass marketed competition to find the next great artist (which is impossible and less probable since it's a damn reality show.)

I don't think of myself as an artist, but I would totally own this show. It's seriously like being in one of my art classes now, except the contestants live together and therefore hate each other. But otherwise, it's the same. There are the people who actual went to art school and honed their talent, and the people who kinda taught themselves and have to hash it out because they don't know about the elements and principles of art. Then they're all given a challenge to make something they don't care about, they create art, and then they have a gigantic critique and elimination (In fact, several of the contestants now remind me of specific nasty hipsters from my design class when I was a freshman and had never taken an art class before and all of them looked down on me. Jerks.)

But I'd win because I think outside the art freak box. In this episode, they were told to create a "shocking" work of art, and all of them but a few were about sex. And not even weird things about sex, mostly just penises. Apparently, all the art kids missed the day in art appreciation where the professor went over Greek and Roman art. Penises are not shocking. I would have won because I would have done something with a vagina. Vaginas are shocking. You're cringing right now, aren't you?

Own.

Oh, Disney

I need to post a new blog, but I can't really think of anything to talk about. At least, not anything important.

Random survey it is!

The Ultimate Disney Survey

Can you name the Fab Five?: Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto.

Which of the Fab Five is your favorite?: Goofy. I especially love "A Goofy Movie" and "An Extremely Goofy Movie." I would also like to know if anyone else was weirdly attracted to Max in the latter film.
Which one do you like the least?: Donald Duck. His voice is creepy, not cute.

Can you name the 7 Dwarfs?: o_0 Happy. Grumpy. Sleepy. Dopey. Doc. Okay, no, only 5.
Can you name all the Disney Princesses? The Movie Characters: Snow White, Ariel, Cinderella, Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty, Belle, and Jasmine. Pocahontas and Mulan are also considered honorary princesses of sorts. Then Tiana from the new frog princess movie.
Who's the prettiest Disney Princess?: I consider Ariel the prettiest, but I love redheads. My second is Belle, and my third is Jasmine. Apparently, I don't like blondes.
Who's the ugliest Disney Princess?: I don't think any of them are ugly, but I didn't like Sleeping Beauty.
Who's the greatest Disney Prince?: Probably Aladdin because he got his own movie. But Prince Eric, ftw! He's my physical type (dark hair, blue eyes,) he plays the flute, and he totally fought an evil octopus witch for his lady (although Prince Phillip did fight a dragon...)

But look at his dimples!

Who's the best villain?: Ursula or Maleficient. Ursula became a hot chick to keep the prince away from the princess, and Maleficient became a dragon...

Who's the most pathetic villain?: Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. I wouldn't fight anything with claws ever.Who's your favorite animal character?: I love Terk and Tantor from Tarzan.

Which animated Disney Character could be your look-alike?: I guess I'd have to pick Tiana on the grounds that she's the only Black one, but I don't look like her.

Have you ever dressed up as a Disney Character?: Yes, I was Belle in elementary school, and I won a ribbon.

Are there any Disney Characters that you simply cannot stand?: (Besides Hannah Montana,) I didn't like Sleeping Beauty or Pocahontas' friend who told on her. I was also kinda annoyed by Ariel because she was 16 and so convinced that she was in love with this dude she saw once.

Which movie was your favorite?: Beauty and the Beast. I liked that Belle loved to read.

Which movie had the best story?: Mulan. Girl power ftw! Or Pocahontas. Yay, anti-racism!

Which movie did you laugh the most at?: The Lion King.

Which movie made you cry?: Pocahontas.

If you were sucked into one of the Disney movies, which would you prefer?: Tarzan if I can have Tarzan or The Little Mermaid if I can have Prince Eric. Probably the Little Mermaid if I could be a mermaid.

Which Disney movie probably shouldn't have been made?: Pick any of the sequels. Except maybe the Lion King ones and Aladdin's, those were decent.

Are you sick of the sequels?: Yes. Especially Cinderella's.

I May Not Be Able To Count

But I can definitely count down. It's been two weeks. Teyanna should be gone.

I am officially ready to murder her as of yesterday. Erica and Gabby came to pick me up for Girls' Night Out, but it just so happened to be my night to do the dishes. My dad asked Teyanna to do the dishes for me.

That bitch asked him for more money.

My dad just gave all of us $20. Literally, that morning he gave Brooklyn, Teyanna, and I a $20 bill.

Needless to say, I almost slapped the taste out of her mouth. I am a spoiled brat. I'm okay saying it.* But I do my chores around the house. I cook dinner twice a week, I wash dishes three times a week, I clean my room once a week (maybe. I'm not so good at that one,) I clean the bathroom that I share with my sister twice a week, and once every two weeks, my dad gives me $20.

Teyanna has stayed here two weeks and all she's done is use our showers, eat our food (and I can say "our" food because she's eaten the stuff I've bought too), sleep in my bed, get on the Internet, have her sister spend the night over here (her sister isn't really related to us since she's Teyanna's mom's with some guy who isn't my brother. Even more confusing right?) watch my movies (and leave them all over the floor for me to find when I got back from Denton,) and read my journal. And she wants extra money for washing the dishes once?

Naturally, I couldn't say anything, but my dad cut me off and then made her wash dishes, but my mom was talking this morning about me making a list of things I need for the apartment/school and she said Teyanna needed to make a list too. So they're also buying her school supplies and clothes.

Ungrateful bitch. Get out of my bed.

*And me admitting that I have everything and trashing other people who act like assholes is okay right? Because Teyanna and my sister act so entitled, it makes me want to stab a baby.