Sooooo Cal.

Hello there...it's been a while...(cue awkward pause)...

For those of you who don't know, I decided to step way (as in 3,000 miles away from my home) out of my comfort zone and spend the rest of my summer in Southern California staying at my Dad's house. This is not something I would typically do--randomly deciding to go out of the state for a month and a half without a single friend to keep me company--but I figured I am only young once, I have no kids/husband/real obligations for the next month, and I may not have another opportunity to go exploring and adventuring by myself again. (Thank goodness I am a lone wolf/independent sort anyway, otherwise I would feel extremely lonely and friendless.)  So, I may as well take a chance and DO something spontaneous!

I have only been here 6 days so far...but there are some very vital things I have noticed about the Southern California lifestyle:

1.) They call Hardees "Carl's Jr.". It seems to be much more popular here than in SC. Probably because we also have Bojangles and Krispy Kreme.
2.) I have yet to meet anyone who actually talks like The Californians on SNL. (Dammit!)
3.) The fashion sense in men here is very confusing. My sees and I have nicknamed it "Skugsterfarian".
Skugsterfarian= a combination of the skater, thug, hipster, and Rastafarian fashion styles. Highly popular in SoCal. You can also be a combo of any of the aforementioned styles simultaneously: skug, thugster, skipster, etc. (I will try to provide photo documentation of this phenomenon at some point.)
4.) It's REALLY FREAKING COLD on the beach until about 3 in the afternoon. I am not accustomed to this because at the beach in South Carolina it is disgustingly hot and humid all day long. You can probably gather that I prefer the weather of Southern California.

I will continue to chronicle my adventures in lovely So Cal...next time with pictures as well! :)

Life imitating art.

I was watching "She's All That" recently, thanks to Netflix, and it got me thinking about predictable high school movies. Was anyone's high school actually like that? The extreme school spirit, the overly bitchy Mean Girls-esque popular crowd that does terrible things to the unfortunate, awkward and nerdy kids?  The popular boys making bets to see who can turn the weird, artsy girl into Prom Queen? The rich kids that discriminate against the poor kids? The cheerleaders cheering the name of a singular football player who is obviously carrying the entire team to victory all on his own? Either my high school was into going against the social norm or all of those movies are giving a completely unrealistic portrayal of high school. (What?! Movies are lying??)

I mean, no one poured pig's blood on me or anything or stood me up for the big dance. I was just a typical teenage girl, neither popular nor unpopular. The worst thing that ever happened to me happened my senior year, when I walked into a party and someone yelled, "What the F**K is Meredith Wicker doing here?!" like I was some sort of social pariah and making the party decidedly less cool with my unwanted presence. (In reality, I was just a really good girl who sang for the church band and had never been to a party with underage drinking before.) I also had a girl send me a carnation on Valentine's Day saying it was from this cute guy in hopes that I would go up and thank him and he would have no idea what I was talking about and I would be royally embarrassed. (Sorry for the run-on sentence.) Thankfully, I figured out it was an evil trick and saved myself from further social awkwardness. I guess people WERE a little mean at my high school?

But fear not, awkward high schoolers, none of that crap even matters when you graduate. No one cares if you were picked on or not. Many of the "cool kids" end up not going to college, staying in their home towns, and hanging out with the same people for the rest of their lives.  The football players will likely gain huge beer bellies and still throw parties for underage kids, while the weird, artsy girl becomes a famous painter or a graphic designer who lives in a hip loft apartment in New York City.  Life can sometimes be wonderfully fair.

An Ode to Summer

Oh, summer time...the season of sun-kissed skin, sandy toes, and windows and sun-roof rolled down to let in the summer breeze. No one ever mentions the over-friendly mosquitoes, "Palmetto Bugs"-aka cockroaches-the size of your hand, or the miserable humidity.  My "summer look" consists of an abnormal amount of freckles and moles (thanks, English/German/Irish ancestors!); my "sun-kissed" skin turns just slightly pink all summer, never tan or brown, and the humidity makes my wavy-ish hair frizzy and disgusting. (What's up with girls loving their "beachy waves"? No such thing exists for me. My hair turns into dreadlocks after I emerge from the ocean.)  Also, I'm not going to beat around the bush...I don't have a summer glow; I'm just sweating from the humidity. ALL THE TIME. (And everyone wonders why I prefer fall in the mountains so much?)

Now don't get me wrong, living in a sleepy, Southern beach town during the summer does have its perks:
1.) I don't have to drive far to get to the beach. (Which would be more of a perk if I actually tanned.) None of that packing up all your crap and driving 2 hours. It takes me less than 5 minutes.
2.) Our town has a ballin' fourth of July parade. And a boat parade. TOP THAT, AMERICA.
3.) The likelihood of meeting an attractive guy that you DIDN'T go to high school with increases ten-fold because it's tourist season. (Downside: he leaves after a week and it's back to the same old familiars.)
4.) I don't have to work in the summer because I'm a teacher. To all of those who didn't choose this career path because of the monetary aspect: You don't have summers off, suckas!
5.) I get to see scenery like this, every day:

(Yes, that's my leg. It actually looks tan thanks to the filter. Thanks, Instagram!)

What was I thinking?!

Have you ever looked back at someone you were dating and wondered what the heck you were thinking when you liked them? Like, just the sight of them now makes you angry, annoyed, and/or physically ill?  And the very thought of them touching you makes you want to run and hide?  (Or buy a taser and some pepper spray?)

Breaking up IS tough to do.  Personally, I find that the easiest way to do it is to be blunt and straight forward and hurt their feelings a little bit, just to make sure that they don't still pine for you. (I wish I could say that this actually works for me. It doesn't.)  I am unfortunately sometimes the "one that got away" or in some cases "the one that sprinted far, far away in terror without ever looking back".  If someone does something that I find unforgivable--or something that shows evidence of their mental instability, I'm not going to willingly welcome them back into my life.  I'm sorry, but "I do not like you or want to be around you again EVER because you are literally psychotic" is not me playing hard to get or being coy.  It is not a green light to try harder to win me over.  I am not trying to be a challenge.  I just actually don't want to speak to you.  

...I should really get a job helping Taylor Swift compose some of her break-up songs. They would be much more scathing and probably slightly less catchy. 

A Vivid (and somewhat scary yet hysterical) Memory

The year was 2001.  We had just moved from Irmo, SC to Pawleys Island, and were leaving early in the morning to go to Columbia for a USC Gamecock football game. I was 13 and my younger sister was 9.  We stopped by a local breakfast establishment to pick up some biscuits and a Yoohoo for my sister and I to share. I took a sip of the Yoohoo and then handed it over to my sister and started eating my biscuit. Seconds later, my sister starts yelping in pain. I look over to see that her tongue, which she has jammed down into the glass Yoohoo bottle, is STUCK.

"Uhh...Dad?" I manage. "Olivia's tongue is stuck in the Yoohoo bottle!" Mom turns around from the front seat and tries to pull the bottle. Olivia winces. The bottle doesn't budge. Dad yanks at the bottle. Olivia yelps in pain, tears streaming down her face. The bottle WON'T COME OFF. Her tongue is now TURNING BLACK, PEOPLE. I start crying hysterically, because I think that Olivia is going to have no tongue for the rest of her life. We call the ER on the way to give them a heads-up about what's coming for them. They, of course, have never seen anything like it.

15 minutes later, we got to the ER and were rushed in. After much deliberation, the doctors decided they could not break the bottle or drill a hole in it without seriously injuring Olivia's mouth (more than it already was). They ended up slipping a tiny tube in the bottle beside her tongue to break the suction. Her tongue ended up being just fine, but she never drank a Yoohoo from the bottle ever again.

Let go, jump in...

Today's blog everyday in May assignment is to respond to the term "letting go".

(First of all, it made me think of this really awesome song: Let Go by Frou Frou from Garden State and The Holiday and I'm sure a bunch of other movies.)

To me, "letting go" means letting go of the things in your life that weigh you down and keep you from moving forward.  For me, personally, it means letting go of the fear of the unknown and letting go of bad relationships. The unknown is scary for me.  I like knowing where I'm going to be and I like to have friends.  Letting go is stepping out of your comfort zone.  As far as letting go of bad relationships, I've learned that some people are meant to be in your past. Things did not work out for a REASON. Don't look back, you're moving forward.  Letting go means not being afraid to move on to something bigger and different and more rewarding. Let go, jump in.

5 of my jams...

1.) After the Storm by Mumford & Sons
This song has gotten me through some terrible days, as lame as it sounds.  It is so hopeful and amazing.  It contains my favorite line from any song ever: "Get over your hill and see what you find there, with grace in your heart and flowers in your hair." I even made a painting of it! :)

2.) Old Pine by Ben Howard
This is just an incredibly soothing song. His voice is so pretty. And he's not bad looking, either.

3.) Paradise by Coldplay
This song just reminds me of myself. SO MUCH.

4.)Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
A semi-depressing song about the ups and downs of life and romance. Joni gets my sad little heart sometimes.

5.) Girl From the North Country by Bob Dylan
Because Bob Dylan and his harmonica. Enough said.