While Sitting Back & Relaxing

Yesterday I wrote about these & these. It was my original intention to focus on the brilliance of the former. Well, I technically did do that. And, at the same time, I realized hours later that I didn't address one of the bigger "awesome" qualities about it & why I intentionally had it "packed" & at easy access.

I used quotes because it essentially wasn't packed. Being a jumbo clip (versus a medium-sized clip or the smaller ones typically used just for hair deco - envision these tiny things) it fits adequately around the strap on my shoulder bag, so it was with me, just not necessarily packed. 😂

One detriment to using any of these, especially where they sit directly on the backside of the scalp, is that the wearer is essentially unable to relax their head; they cannot "lean back" or sit straight up (maintain good posture) in a high-back chair while wearing one of these. These yes, these no. 😂

However, with the convenience of being able to twist my long, thick, wavy curly hair up & put it in place in one, quick, flawless gesture, as well as squeeze the claw's grip at any moment, allowing the same mane to fall back down against the nape of my neck & beyond, & still look just the same! Very nice! & Sharp too!!

That's the brilliance & top selling point for this. After all, when you're riding a Greyhound Bus (or whatever similar activity there may be) & wish to look presentable, being able to quickly & flawlessly switch between a comfortable "up-do" & leaning one's head back against a transportation seat's headrest - whenever - is a rather welcome option.

This also goes back to why these weren't necessarily the most adequate for this task. This is why I mentioned the "crimping" they cause at the folds of the hair (especially when sweat's built up & there's more of the hair's natural oil within the strands than might otherwise be the case [i.e., when one's been traveling on a Greyhound for 36+ hours or when one's recently been running or been otherwise extensively active]).

They are great & I did find my way to them by happenchance. I essentially needed a hair tie to pull back a ponytail, where one of these wouldn't do; it's not big & expansive enough for hair as long & thick as mine (with all of the excessive winding around mine tends to need in order to be completely up & out of the way), so I reached for one of these which I'd had on hand for whenever I might want to keep the wisps of hair from falling across my head's frontal section (which I've never actually done).

Instead rather, I, not doubled it over, I "tripled" it over &, because of it's -particular elasticity (it is an elastic headband 😄), it could wrap around & over, with great success & without concern of excessive wear & tear or damage (like these would). Essentially the added thickness of this elastic seems to take away from it's long-term general durability & therefore, also the effectiveness & longevity in use, in comparison to these.

It's the plastic of the claw which makes it so difficult to wear while allowing one's neck to relax. It's not being able to pull this flawlessly out of the long locks it's wrapping up & has the ends tucked within gracefully & eloquently leaving the wearer looking simultaneously presentable.

Then again, as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, one's presentation is of personal opinion as well as a relative one. 😏😉😊

So sit back & relax (to the tip-top of your head) & watch the butterflies fly on by. 😏😄

Disclaimer: The person's head in the image in the top left is not mine, although we are similar as brunettes.

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A Hike in a Park

After this experience coasting on the river, I became greatly encouraged to take a day or so & visit a park a few hours drive away. I was additionally encouraged to camp at the park for at least a night.

The park, a National Park, was loaded with natural beauty & I found myself stopping several times along the main street & turning my rental vehicle around to go back to various parking cut-away sections in so that I'd be able to stop & capture the moments along the path. It was a lesson in noticing, just noticing & not always just running on by. (Both literally & figuratively, that is.)

It turned out, in my potential overpacking that having packed these turned out to be a "successful waste of space". (Hooray for that! 😁) These are the things that happen along the way which I recall as I'm packing in the future, further reminding me of the goodness within the action of overpacking. Because sometimes it downright equals good sense & practicality.


I had the opportunity to hike some grand, spectacular trails & photograph some impressive scenes. I tossed a few of these & an apple in a fanny pack I'd been regularly using & wore one of these on my back, which made it easier to enjoy the day to its fullest without a disruption in energy.

I'd woken up very early that first morning to make the drive out to the park (after not having allowed myself to fall asleep until very late). And when I digressed & stretched out that night at the campsite, within the folds of the trees, I easily fell asleep. I slept very well. I woke up amazed at the soundness of my sleep & the amount of hours of my sleep (which totaled 11).

I knew, in part, that since I'd driven to the park with just a few hours of sleep under my head that my body would be desiring more rest at the end of the day anyway. I wasn't wrong about that. I do also think that, because my rental vehicle wasn't parked in the wide open back section of a store's parking lot as it'd been previously during my time in this state-across-the-country-from-home, & instead was parked on an actual campsite in an actual campground, that my body felt "permitted" to relax & just be.

Having the opportunity to hike the trails that I did turned out great for my body overall. I ultimately felt my limbs stretched in a unique way over the various sections of hiking trails. An element of cross-training in the ready preparation for the next (& last) marathon to be just days after these hiking days & before I headed back home made for a great fit as well.

The park didn't have internet capabilities (unless while at the visitor center) & so therefore, as a lone hiker with a gregarious personality (& only so much 💰 to commit to these activities), after enjoying the experience as much as possible, I headed back to the town a few hours drive away which had become a sort of home away from home. And, if it's meant to be, someday, maybe, it actually will be my home.

Just not so much in this near future. 😄

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Kris-Kross Will Make You...

That same gentle, kind woman who helped me make my way to meeting her also introduced me to a regular Summertime activity of her town. And so we went & got another one of these because she owned only one & we'd each need to be using one.

She highly recommended I wear something I could get dirty, as my bottom would literally be sitting in lake water. In my "over packing", I did include this, which ultimately became the first of many of them which I own. It seemed to be the most practical option in my luggage bag. And then, as it's navy in color, I wore one of my blue tank tops along with it.

It's interesting that, when I did this I didn't know how much of what I was getting myself into...I'd spent the hour prior to - simply Googling images in so that I'd know what exactly it'd look like. That day I'd even lathered myself, including my feet, in this, not knowing whether they'd be exposed to the elements or not. Ironically, that day, as I'd used a rental, I was required to wear a life vest, & therefore had most of my upper body, where my skin was most exposed, ultimately covered.

This was not the case on this special day. No need to rent, no need for a life vest. And I didn't think to lather my feet. Incidentally I happened to be wearing the same footwear both days: these. Which, as one can see, have a criss-cross pattern design (& they are blue too!). Thus became the growing tan line formation upon the top of each of my feet from July all the way through mid-September (when I ultimately no longer considered them to be as "weather appropriate" or "seasonal appropriate" as they'd been since the Springtime). 😄

My crisscrossed lined feet seemed to match well along with the sometimes-obvious-tan-lines which had partially formed circularly around my knees. These lines had formed over the course of the past several months from my consistency in wearing this as often as I'd been out running. Essentially if I'd be running, I'd be wearing it. Knees exposed & there it became. If I didn't work this in & around that spacing then I was only inviting Mother Nature to make her mark. And that she did, which is why my feet had begun to resemble my knees as much as they did.

We enjoyed coasting our way on the river, along with many others enjoying the same local "past time". Then, as her home sat along the river, after using our arms as paddles when necessary throughout those forty-five or so minutes, we climbed our way up the nearby staircase & found our way to these which she had prepared for us to dry off with briefly before going to retrieve the vehicle we'd left behind when we began.

And because these are Dr. Scholl's brand, anyone interested would easily be able to "jump" to this while wearing them. 😏 Incidentally, at the end of August, in an effort to complete an errand a little more quickly, I did run a little more than a mile in them... 😮 It was on all flat city sidewalk. 🏃

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Little Pretzel Pieces

This is a little bit embarrassing, yet completely honest. The first of the July marathons I ran was located in a small college town. Well, no, of course that’s not the embarrassing part! 😂 Because it was a small college town, certain stores were set up in an obvious way – that is, in the merchandise that they sold, that "the typical college student" would most likely be grabbing for the item. This is much in the same way as putting a product like this or this on the bottom row of the grocery store aisle in so that when a child is at the store with their guardian, well, they see it & work to get it in their guardian’s shopping cart.

Foods like multiple flavors of individually packed string cheeses were available. One serving containers of both General Tso's & Orange flavored chicken pieces were packaged up in clear plastic bowls. Lots of them. Every day. And this was July. So not a part of the Fall or Spring semesters.

And then there was me. Yep. Because I was "car camping" I was on guard about perishables & the July heat, especially the July heat that was in this area that was new to me. So I found myself resorting [read: accepting the temptation] to a personal past time.

Being close in 2010 with a friend who really enjoyed both these & these, when these were invented (scroll down in the link & read under the "2010" heading) that year, we ate quite a few of them, besides they were sold in blue packaging.

And almost in the same way that children have products sold specifically to them, at their level, in a grocery store, we adults often encounter the same situation. Well, that wasn't really even the case for this cause, yet I'd like to give it some claim.

Truly it was knowing that they weren't to melt on my skin (second paragraph here) which further encouraged me to select a package. After all, that means they shouldn't just melt, or soften being in a bit-too-warm vehicle either. Of course they're sold for "sharing", yet the mindless binge eater I can tend to be, especially when anxious & over thinking (which I was while on this grand trip to a city where I'd never been before), just kept on popping another one into my mouth.

So I treated myself. I never really like it when I do this. I know that I can eat better. Apparently it's existence has become my kryptonite. And because I was away from home I acted quite a bit like an adult on vacation as well as a kid walking down a cereal aisle.

I must have bought about a half dozen of them. And some I ate rather quickly. Plenty of wasteful spending, which is likely how I convinced myself to stop the buying. Also knowing that they weren't actually healthy for me, being that they are a completely processed food. Yes, I enjoyed them. Yes, I'm certain I'll buy them again & I'll devour the bag, & I'll love every moment of it.

They are, unto themselves, a little bit of salty, & a little bit of sweetness. And, yes, that is a very lovely, & a quite delicious thing to be. Even if it's only sitting on my tongue for a mere moment. 😋

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All Folded Up & Swung Over the Shoulder

In all of the hustle & bustle that was the first days of cleaning up & organizing all of the ruckus that became of my storage unit, a few things I managed to keep handy. There were a few things which I knew I'd need to have more at my finger tips than other things.

This was one of those things (although this post isn't really about this item 😑); these were another. Well, technically I only needed to have one of these handy, although I own a set. And that's only because in donating most everything I had that related to camping (it was just one sizable cardboard box & this was several years ago), my intuition sat me down, glared at me with pursed lips & highly suggested I reconsider donating them, so I still own them.  Which is good because I've used them a time or two. Sometimes I open one up & have a seat just to take a break & enjoy a bottle of water while working on organizing [read: finding things] in the storage unit. Other times (& this has only been super recently now) I've actually needed one because, following a weekly group hike a great friend told me about, there has also been a weekly outside "in the park" concert. This meant either sit on the grass, sit on a blanket on the grass, or sit on a chair you happened to bring - also on the grass. Well, technically, you'd have also brought the fleece blanket you'd be sitting on too. You'd just be a lot lower to the ground while sitting on it. 😜

Speaking of "basic", the set that I have I refer to as "first generation" because, just like these, mine have no arms & a rather low back. However, I remain grateful for some wisdom which I've retained along with the mindfulness to have these chairs handy. In this way I've been able to much more greatly enjoy this time spent with such an important friend. "First generation" or not (I'd honestly assumed that all the manufacturer's had discontinued making their chairs without armrests & cupholders) I'd become grateful I had one of these chairs. I suppose that in this, what had somewhat become for me a "Summer of Simplicity", I recognized my good fortune in the simpleness of being able to sit right next to a great friend, at the same level (rather than down low on a fleece blanket) while listening to the scheduled weekly band. -- Where most of the attendees were actually there in order to enjoy the weather (& the simple fact that it was a weekend Summer evening), time with family & friends that might as well be family, &, well, similarly to why I was there: to spend time with a great friend who I'd otherwise not be spending the time. 😉😏

So, this post is about the greatness & awesomeness of having a modern chair (regardless of exactly how modern it actually is 😏) in so that when the opportunity does arise to sit down & be there with someone enjoying the kind of music a local town schedules for their "free concert", you are ready. Because as much as: "location, location, location" is true, "preparation is key" can also be a very true thing too.

And so, the one weekend of July I did spend in my hometown, I also did get to enjoy spending it sitting right alongside a great friend.

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"That's How You Know She's The One."

Let me tell you about a movie I’ve watched quite a few times. It’s an adorable movie. I first caught it on Netflix. Recently I had enough Wi-Fi access to catch it on YouTube. (you know, to get “my fill” 😂). I’d like to own this DVD, though, as supply & demand do go, its cost appears to be roughly four times what I’d expect it to be. And when I’ve recently checked – there’s been such demand that there’s hardly any copies in stock. Which means that plenty of others are adoring this flick just as much as me.

There's no headlining actors in this movie as there are in similar "rosy feeling" flicks such as this one where Sandra Bullock takes the lead along with Bill Pullman.

I especially enjoy watching the characters (Josh & Molly) adore one another while they share meals in their upstairs apartment/loft space. They're so real; they're so loving. And they've plenty of amazing family support to boot.

To have a sister-in-law who's there for you in the way that hers is-is something worth really treasuring. It's obviously part of the "family appeal" & a portion of the plot building where the family "gathers 'round" to support the scenario. It's cute how she's there to "set up" the surprise bridal shower - & that they have such fun in the dressing room scene just being gal pals - as when the music montage over this song, which I also highly enjoy enough - I've already purchased the song 😎😁 (complete song listing with certain details here).

So, as with any movie, there's a plot twist, & it's not just them realizing their personal love for one another. And, of course, as stereotypes go, the plot's twist comes with a broad smile with the best pearly-whites as well as the best hair 😄...And when we first meet her, she's in "just the right outfit" to derail the leading man.

His dad, while chewing on a cigar when he wants to be smoking it, asks him about how he's getting along with the woman to whom he's "engaged". His dad shrugs off the "sex life" part & asks his son about their personal relationship. If their disagreements are relatively menial, or if they've problems.

"What the Hell are you doing?"

"Relax, just gonna chew on it."

"Look, I'm not Mom. If chewing on a cigar makes you happy..."

"Smoking it would make me happier, but I'm not complaining." "How 'bout you, Josh? Are you happy?"

"You mean with work?"

"No...I mean with Molly."


...


"Your sex life is another thing. I'm talking about the rest. You happy about it? Do you fight a lot about the little things? Or, is it mostly good?"

"You know, I have to say, it's been...mostly good. I mean, we fight, but..."

"Listen kiddo, if you're married, you're gonna fight. The secret is knowing how to fight. You think it's easy being married? Hard enough living with your own insecurities. Then you throw into the mix a kid or two. And you realize you want to be with a person who choose to laugh at the absurdity of it all. Do you get that feeling around Molly?"

"yeah...Yeah...yeah."

"I guess if I'm really honest about it, I'm more comfortable around Molly Mahoney than just about, than just about anybody."

"That's how you know she's the one."

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