Archive | August, 2012

Soul Mates: To be or not to be

29 Aug

In Aristophanes’s speech from Plato’s Symposium we are given a greek mythology explanation of soul mates.  While it is very interesting and makes me feel smart to read it all I will not put you through what I went though so I will paraphrase for you.  Basically two ‘beings’ would come together to form another ‘being’ and when Zeus was all stressing out that this super happy double life ‘being’ might be stronger than the Gods, ‘it’ had to be destroyed.  His plan, to cut this ‘being’ up!  Oh and I’m not talking about the music ‘cut it up’ I’m talking going Samurai sword on them and dismembering their bodies into what the human body appears to us today.  By the way I think this is a very logical explanation of why our bodies are shaped the way they are.  Any how his reasoning was that two beings (the earth kind) would constantly be in search of their other half and when they found them they would finally be complete.  The End.

While that is a very interesting take of the creation of humans and the definition of soul mates I think we can all agree that a more common definition is that there is a deep shared feeling or connection with another person.  Of course these connections can be on many different levels such as compatibility, spirituality, love, sexuality, or intimacy.  Now I could spend a lot of time on each of these topics well some more than others but hey this is a family blog!  I recently found myself lost in the world without my other half, again not for this blog topic and wondered if there was even such a thing as a soul mate.  Is this something we want to believe in so bad so we don’t feel alone in the world?  Obviously not since the those crazy Greeks were talking soul mates before most of us were here.  Yes I said most, you know who you are.

I did my own soul searching because doesn’t it make sense that we know our own soul before we can find that other half of ourself out there?   Well during my searching I found something.  I found that I have many deep connections with people and things.  Yes I sad things.  I love riding my bike and when I’m out there on my bike I feel it my soul.  I know I sound like a five-year old but have you ever seen a five-year old on their bike?  They are unbelievably happy and I know exactly what that feels like.  My bike is my soul-mate.  Do you have a favorite band or music?  When I turn on the Beastie Boys I feel they GET me.  They are all over the place but still saying something you just have to listen closely to get the message, this something I completely relate to.  The Beastie Boys are a soul mates.

During this journey of realizing the things that make my soul sing and bring me happiness I also discovered that it is possible to give birth to your soul mate or in my case mates.  Don’t worry it’s not as gross as it sounds I am referring to my own two amazing boys who make me insane and insanely happy.  One day when I was sitting there wondering how I got to this place and by this place I am referring to the McDonald’s playground in the craziest town (I will not tell you the name of that town for the sake of my safety).  I looked at them and it hit me with those toothless smiles and realized I am who I am because of them and I want to be better for them.   That’s when it hit me, THEY were my soul mates and no matter what else happens in my life or other crazy place I end up with them (Legoland for my birthday) I’m with the only two people who matter in my crazy life.  I even know the exact times I fell in love with them but I will save that for another blog.

So next time someone asks me if I believe in soul mates I know that answer because for so long I didn’t know what to say.  The answer is I do and coffee is my soul mate! It gets me and tastes delicious!

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Infomercials How I Love Thee

25 Aug

I have recently found myself addicted to the mulit-billion dollar industry of infomercials.  From the abdomenizer to the thigh master, I love a good infomercial and I know I’m not alone.  How do I know I’m not alone?  I don’t know how many friend’s I know actually had one of these items.  I am not sure if it’s the fitness craz infiltrating the George Foreman monopoly of infomercials but the new wave of infomercials have gotten smart!  Well smarter than me anyways.  This new birth of infomercials have give us P90X, Insanity, The Brazilian Butt workout and my personal favorite that I actually own, is the Tracy Anderson Metamorphosis.  This is a 90 day plan for women based on your body type will have a specific workout routine just for you!  Sounds amazing right?!  I know I was sold too.  Just like many of you other infomercial junkies I found myself searching through my TV guide on my DVR to actually watch Tracy in the middle of the day!  Yeah it’s true infomercials aren’t just on in the middle of the night anymore this is the “New style” and I can dream about having the most tone thighs in the middle of the day!  So I bought it!  Yep I did and I’m still waiting for my transformation to occur.   Tracy said that if I did everything she told me to do I could have the perfect body!  I am still waiting…

Here is the great thing about Infomercials now, they aren’t just for workout equipment or routines but now skin care.  That’s right my other new obsession is the home care skin care line promoted by my old pal Cindy Crawford.  Yesyou read that right, miss super model herself is pushing her latest and greatest find and sharing it with the rest of the world.  Her secret is that she is friends with these scientists who apparently discovered a rare melon in a remote region in the south of France that stays fresh and firm longer than the rest of the melons in the world.  So these super smart scientists (or SSSs) have found a way to extract the enzyme and make face cream for us normal aging melons!  It is a miracle and it’s all mine.  Well it can be yours to all you have to do is go to the website and sign up and PAY!!  So while the rest of the world is aging I will be smearing a rare melon on my face and doing everything Tracy Anderson tells me to do.  Funny thing is that both of these ladies have straight hair!  I am not trying to be like them but I do enjoy is the idea of the infomercial.  That 30 mins of bliss that if you use their product then something great will happen.  I love the journey of the infomercial.  The excitement of the actors or those who have used the product and LOVED it.  I want to feel that joy, that excitement, that euphoria!!

I love Infomercials…

Curly Hair

24 Aug

I have had curly for exactly 38 years, 4 days and give or take a few hours.  I have not always enjoyed the curls.  In fact if you can believe it I went through a “I want straight-hair” phase.  Shocking I know.  I even went through a perm phase or as my grandpa and the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz called them a “permanent.”   I know you are asking yourself, “why would someone with naturally curly hair get a perm?”   That is a great question and I will have to refer you to my mother on that one.  Oh and if you do ask her about that can you ask her what she was thinking with those God awful beige corduroy knickers she made me wear in the 3rd grade.  I am still not over that!

So back to my hair.  Yes I was like most young girls who saw everything great about other girls and wanted to take the best of their qualities and make the perfect version of ourselves.  Which is funny because all those pieces didn’t include any of who we really were.  I remember the first time I had straight hair.  It was a dream come true.  My friend was getting married and I was lucky enough to be in the wedding party.  First bridesmaid gig and boy was it a treat to actually go get my hair did!  So I marched into the beauty shop of lovely Fontana and tell the hair dresser make me beautiful!  So she asks, “would you like your hair straightened?”  I was shocked and thought, “there is no way she can make this head of hair straight.”  I had no idea that black women had been paying these hair dressers to make their hair straight for years.  Remember I grew up in Fontana obviously I didn’t make it into the  beauty salon very often.  Any who after a shampoo, a blow-dry and a serious hot iron session I had straight hair like those girls on TV.   Wow I looked at myself in the mirror and had no idea who was staring back.  So it began my quest to recreate this amazing moment of my hair’s history.  Of course I was never able to perfect it so I kept the curly hair.

Then it happened!  Julia Roberts portrays a crazy red-headed prostitute in Pretty Woman.  Well this changed everything.  People were all into the curls.  Now should I even go into the fact that we are a society trying to emulate a  prostitute.  The answer is No, not in this blog.  Ok so now my hair had clout and street cred!  I had hair like Vivian Ward and that’s fine by me (minus the fact I was not a prostitute).   So time continues and technology develops and brings the beauty salon straighten irons into the homes of regular folk like myself.   I was obsessed.  Planning days in advance as to when and how I was going to wash my hair, blow dry and then spend the next laborious hours of straightening my hair.  It wasn’t until I was actually burning my hands, arms and scalp with the hot iron did I start to question what I was doing.  I was finally able to look like all the other ‘pretty’ girls.  But didn’t they just make a movie about a Pretty Woman who didn’t have curly hair?? I was confused.  Who was I?  Do I have straight hair or curly hair?  Well the answer is easy and since you are on my blog you know the answer.  I am a curly girl.  I am a girl who is happy to look in the mirror and see her hair all over the place because that is exactly how I am.  All over the place.  I love that my hair get frizzy when the weather is humid because that is exactly how I feel when it’s humid.  I have finally accepted and actually love this part of who I am.  It feels so amazing to be accepting of me.   You know what else I learned?? That the only opinion that matters is yours anyways since you are the one who is with you the whole time so be who you are.

I will end my first post with a realization I had tonight…I am really good at being me!