Thursday, May 29, 2014

Throwback Thursday

Something happened to me today that doesn't happen often ...ok, maybe ever. I became nostalgic over high school memories. I'm not one of those bitter people that looks back on high school with any sort of negative emotion. I actually loved high school. But from the moment I graduated, it's never been anything I'd wanted to go back to. And I think that's the way it should be. Life just gets better and better every day. So today when my sister texted me a video of this year's graduating class singing the School Song at their commencement ceremony, I was surprised when I teared up a bit.  I don't want to go back by any means, but I had a flood of memories of laughter and good times while watching the video. Remembering the countless hours spent with arms around best friends (--Kelli, Kristy, and even Steph and Becca although they were younger) screaming the school song at the top of our lungs at halftime of basketball games. Remembering that it was our class that started the tradition and how fun it was when Ben Salisbury would wheel out the piano at halftime and we'd all scream away. I remember the feeling at my own high school graduation as we sang the words "We will always say as we go our way, and of this it can be told; The friendships dear we have made while here, are a treasure more than gold." I teared up then as we got ready to toss our caps in the air because it was true. And it was also the end of an era. The end of childhood and the beginning of adulthood. And looking back it was such an exciting precipice to be on the edge of. And what a wild, crazy, and wonderful ride was ahead of me. My friendship with Kristy that began before and has grown stronger after, as well as my friendship with Kelli are among my most treasured life experiences from high school. Two friendships that no matter the time, distance, or events between us will always feel like coming home.

In other throwback news that surprised me this week, I went to see the movie Million Dollar Arm with Jill. This is not surprising. We love sports movies --and this one was AMAzing. What was surprising, is that she cried through the end, and I didn't . Shed. A. Single. Tear. Shocking, I know. I just don't think I'd filled my tear-tank back up from my emotional breakdown two days before. I'm getting off track. The throwback surprising part happened before the movie. We were getting ice-cream at Coldstone. There were periods of time during college where I would eat nothing but Apple Pie A-La Coldstone with oatmeal cookie batter ice cream for weeks. Every day.  As I was waiting to pay for my ice cream I dug through the pile of cards in my wallet and came across an old punch card from the Logan store. I don't remember when I got it, but it may very well have been in the college years. I asked the girl if they still took them, and she said they had a different card, but that she could trade it over. As she was throwing mine away she saw the Logan address on the back and asked if we lived in Logan because the card she switched over to was only good at a few SLC locations. I said, no it's just an old card from college. And she said, "Oh so from a while ago then?" And I wasn't offended in the slightest. Surprising huh?  It's been ten years since I graduated from college the first time. Ten years. And I don't want to look like a 21 year old any more. I want to look like a woman in her 30s who has lived and experienced life, who has figured out who she is and who loves and has loved every minutes of those ten years. It was a very deeply happy moment to realize how at peace I was with the woman I am.

What would Throwback Thursday be without a few photos :)


Kristy and Me
Kelli and Me

2004 Nsg School Graduation
2014 -the 10yr anniversary shot



Sunday, May 4, 2014

A Rose by Any Other Smell...

First, today I had a small breakdown that brought me to tears at the thought that I'm 31 years old (I think, right? I'm 31? Pretty sure...) and still don't really know what my life is doing. And my first thought was, I have GOT to go running tomorrow. It's only been three weeks and the breakdowns are back. So, bonus points to me for healthy living and productivity. My second thought was that I was going to spend my evening wrapped in a blanket in my favorite chair listening to Ed Sheeran, Carey Brothers, and binge-watching season three of The Vampire Diaries. All of which are cued for when I close my laptop.

Second, and the purpose of me writing this post, a thought I had the other day when I had been awake for 17 hours, and had two hours to sleep before having to be up for 18 hours. Read: when I should have been sleeping. And I had the following thoughts that came to me in that way that demands to be written about immediately.

I always wanted to be one of those girls with a signature perfume. Something someone smelled and thought of you. Something that if you died tragically someone would pick up the fancy lone bottle of perfume from your night stand and smell it wistfully, breathing in memories of you as they sigh -that kind of signature perfume.

But how do you do that? At what age is it appropriate to pick just one scent? I mean, does anyone want to still smell like Sunflowers? (My 7th grade scent) --my first obsession. Actually, if we're being honest, the first perfume I was convinced was my signature was from a boxed set my grandmother gave me when I was nine. I think it had been in her cupboard for years. It was called Chantilly Lace and came in this awful pink container with lace over the top and gold writing. Even now I remember that it smelled like the little blue hairs in the grocery store that have the dull sense of smell that necessitates 75 squirts of the eye-watering, nostril-burning, powder and bad flowers perfume. God, can you imagine if that one had stuck?!

So clearly, the proper age is not nine. Or anything in middle school. And as much as I loved high school, I don't want to smell like it for a second after I graduated. In the same manner that you wake up the morning after graduation and feel the instant quality of life improvement and frolic in the realization that life is now glorious and you're never going back. Smell included.

And at some point you grow out of wanting to smell like a Victoria's Secret store (the college phase) ...although, moment of silence for Love Spell...

Last week I bought what is going to be my new scent for the time being. Roses de Chloe. Which is surprising, because I'm  normally not a flower-ey gal. Getting off topic. I got a sample of this one on a recent trip to Sephora, and I used the entire mini tube. I just loved it. And I had to have more. Which means that the bottle of Love by Nina (Nina Ricci) that I'd been using would join the bottle of D&G Light Blue -Walking in Portofino that was my scent in and every time I wanted to be reminded of Greece. The bottle of Nina by Nina Ricci that reminds me of Macy's on 34th St. The bottle of Clean -Cotton Tshirt that was my at-work perfume in Seattle. The bottle of Daisy by Marc Jacobs that smells like Southern California paradise, trips to Disneyland, and road trips to Sea World. The bottle of Armani Code that smells like giggles in the back corner of a hidden shop in Chinatown all the way up the A-train to Fort Tryon park in Manhattan and everything in between. The bottle of Dream Angels -Forever that smells like winter nights in Logan after a basketball game. The bottle of Escada that smells like new-found collegiate freedom and exploding horizons.

As well as the bottles that smell like retail therapy, the salon you tore the sample page from the magazine out of, the ones that remind you of Saks on 5th Ave, the one you got because it smelled young and fun, the one that smelled like sheer elegance. These are the bottles that have been sprayed perhaps once. Most not even that. But I still have them. My sentimentality won't let me throw them away, and I keep adding to the collection. I have some at my parent's house that I was able to remove from my night stand years ago that are filled with even more memories of high school and the beginning of college.

But at this point, I feel like I should have one prevailing perfume that's my go-to. I mean, there are a few perfumes that I have a firm link to different people in my life. Mom, old roommates, etc. And I'm not even sure that they're still using those perfumes either. So what is the appropriate time that you choose what you want to be remembered by for a lifetime in people's noses?  Because right now my night stand looks like this. These are things that keep me awake at night.