new blog

i’m not one to normally jump ship on something i’ve dedicated myself to.  actually, i find that weirdly high amounts of undeserved loyalty are not uncommon when it comes to less than meaningful things in my life.  for instance, orange juice brands.  there’s one store brand that you can get at fairway that has a blue box and i hands down prefer it to any oj out there.  i know for a fact that simply orange is far superior in taste, not to mention a handful of other brands.  but i like my fairway blue box whenever possible.  also on this list?  shampoo brands, migraine meds, news channels, toothpaste, and of course blogging platforms.

but, as they say, all good things must come to an end.  and for me, that means that the mediocre time i had figuring out the potentially sweet options of wordpress that i rarely was able to tap into is packing up camp and heading out.  actually, i’ve been unfaithful to wordpress for the last few weeks…. i’ve already started using my new blog on tumblr and am really loving it.  a lot less options, but the ease of posting is far worth it.

so, while every loyal bone in body shutters, i give you my new blog – http://gingeroutofwater.tumblr.com/

from chaos to consistency

ever since the movie bucket list, there seems to be a huge jump in people making them.  buck lists that is, not movies.  so, internally i have this awful fight that began.  on one hand, the idea of a cool list of things to do before i die is actually right up my alley.  looking organized and somehow put together and normal, while most likely being very odd and somewhat intriguing at the same time.  perfect.  on the other hand, the cool jump on the bandwagon for about a year until everyone else jumps off kind of thing rarely appeals to me.

so i started playing around with the idea.  if i could make it somehow my own, then there’d be the plus of not really having a bandwagon to worry about jumping on/off.  not to mention never worrying about looking back years from now ashamed of my inability to be original in any way shape or form.  then i thought, while i know it’s being done by hundreds of others, pairing the bucket list with a blog seems fun.  make a list.  complete a strange task.  write it down and maybe even entertain a few people.  so i sat down specifically to think of clever things to add to my blog bucket list.

then, before i got a single idea out, panic hit.  lists.  requirements.  deadlines.  the lack of concrete details is everything i love about blogging.  to make a list of things to follow would be taking away all the fun, not to mention any motivation i have for actually writing a blog at all.  i let out one of those obnoxious long sighs where your shoulders rise and fall completely unnecessarily.

the hodge podge that has become my blog is something i really love.  however, i do realize that the lack of concentration or coherency between posts also makes it less of a blog and more like a spell checked and titled journal entry.  and none of us want this to become a slightly matured version of livejournal.com with better taste in music.  so, despite whatever it is in me that holds on desperately to the ease of unorganized haphazard blogging, i am giving this some definition.

i promise myself never to have deadlines, word count requirements, or to write on a topic solely because i previously alluded to the fact that i might.  i only promise that i will make outlines of potential content, and then try to channel my crazy thoughts into those.   those outlines/ideas/bucket lists/topics/categories are still up for debate.  but for now i’ll leave you with the anticipation of the semi-organization that is to come, and that i suppose comes with growing up a little anyway.  well, maybe.  unless i don’t want to.  or i think of something better.  or go awal and delete the blog.  haha.  but that won’t happen.  unless it does…

xoxo- beth ann

dear mr. right

a few months ago, i was visiting home and my mom told me that she was going on a trip to florida with her high school girlfriends for a few days. one of her friends was getting remarried a few weeks before the trip, and she asked all of the friends for different things.  something new, something blue, something borrowed, and… something else.  my mom was something borrowed and after hearing this cute little story i asked her what she would give her, thinking that there wasn’t much that my mom had with sentimental value.  she was in the kitchen, most likely bopping around making some low fat, low cal, veggie filled dip with extra garlic and just off handedly responded, “my grandma’s locket.”

i’d never heard of or seen said locket, so i asked her what it looked like.  unlike my first question, this one made her actually look at me for a second and she said, “you know, grandma VanDeGujuchte’s locket that i wore at my wedding” as if i was being dense, and even worse, doing it on purpose.  i’m sure i mentioned less than politely to her that i wasn’t alive during her wedding, so no, i did not know about the locket.  then she added, “it’s the necklace everyone wears at their wedding.”

naturally, having never before been clued in on the necklace, i yelled, “what?! like who?”  as the conversation continued i heard that a handful of women in our family have worn it at their weddings, and my little sister even chimed in, asking, “how did you not know about the necklace? even i know about the necklace.”

i felt so hurt that no one told me about it!  we had a family heirloom that i was not clued in on.  finally, after the anger subsided some, i asked my mom if i could see it.  of course, she had already sent it to her friend in florida and i had to wait until she sent it back to nana’s house, where the heirloom normally resided.

honestly, after that, i forgot about the necklace.  it wasn’t until recently that i realized that i still had not seen the amazing locket that i would someday wear at my very own wedding.  watching nana unwrap the necklace was so exciting, i was actually holding my breath.  she pulled it out, and laid the locket over the back of her hand like a jeweler would.  i gazed down at our beloved treasure to see an oval locket necklace that’s base is silver with gold decoration and a gold chain.  the locket opens up with a tiny picture of my deceased great grandmother.  it’s kind of bulky, and the shape the gold makes on the front barely resembles a flower.

there is nothing cool and vintage about it.  the size isn’t big enough to be trendy, or small enough to not make someone stop and stare.  the contrast of the silver and gold does nothing but make you wonder why the designer didn’t just make up their mind and pick one.  the length of the chain leaves the pendant sitting square on your chest, and would never be covered by any sort of wedding dress that doesn’t also include sleeves and a turtle neck.  it’s just ugly.

so that’s that.  i have to wear an ugly silver but mostly gold locket on the day in my life when i’m supposed to look my best.  when nana left the room, i secretly pulled the necklace back out and put it on.  i wanted to cry.  and not in that really dramatic, over used statement kind of way.  i really was so disappointed i almost cried.  but then i started laughing.  of course.  my family wouldn’t have some eloquent piece of coveted jewelery.  we have a necklace that everyone refuses to wear except for the one day in their life when they are forced to have it on in public.

i guess this means on my list of crazy things my future husband will be forced into we can add, “deal with large ugly locket on wedding day.”  also, in case mr. right happens to ever read this, i’d really appreciate it if you didn’t stare directly at it all day.  since i’ll just have become your wife and all, i’d like you to look at me now and then too.  thanks for understanding.

xoxo -beth ann

the locker room floor

i was being a really good person the other day, and i was working out.  yes, working out means you’re a good person.  there’s a whole list i have of what it takes for everyone to think you’re a good person and working out is one of them.  but that’s a different story for a different day.  so, i’m at the local ymca swimming with my sister, being a good person, when the day campers come in.  now, they annoy the crap out of me when i’m swimming because they don’t understand that the entire half of the pool that they have is for them, and my one tiny lane that i’m sharing with people already is not.  but i also really like kids, so usually i just remind them to slide over before they get kicked in the face.

on this particular day however, they weren’t in my lane at all.  in fact, my sister and i were the only two in the lane and we had an awesome swim.  i was pretty proud of myself for keeping up with my sister, who is still on the high school swim team, and i was just content in general.  then we got into the locker room.

the camp kids had also gotten out of the pool and had been in the locker room for a little bit when we came in, and i noticed our locker was ajar.  never a good sign.  all the little girls that had been loitering around the locker area had fled the scene and i knew something was not right.  i opened the locker all the way and immediately noticed, my necklace was gone.  after searching everything and asking the camp counselors i sat down, feeling defeated by those little 8 to 12 year olds as my eyes welled up with tears.

now, the necklace probably cost me $15 plus shipping.  it wasn’t expensive or nice really.  but, it was my lavaliere.  which, for those of you who don’t know sorority/fraternity lingo, means it was the letters of my sorority.  those ornery little kids probably don’t even know what a sorority is, let alone how to read the greek alphabet… so really, i guess the necklace probably will mean as much to them as the $15 does to me, which is pretty insignificant.

but it was the sentimental value that mattered to me.  and that is so cheesy to talk about, i know.  as i sat there, still in my towel, on the dirty locker room floor, i was acting no more mature than those day campers as i blinked back tears.  my little sister did the awkward half laugh where she wanted to be concerned but she was also trying to hold back giggles at my petty actions over a simple piece of jewelry.  in the moment, it was not funny to me.  but you know what?  it is now.  who sits on the floor and cries at my age anyway?  haha.  of course, i still wish i had it, but that’s the funny thing about sentimental value.  the important parts are the memories that it represents.  so, i suppose i should be glad that i got to add one more laugh to my lavaliere, even after it was gone.  and i also suppose i should invest in a padlock for my locker…

xoxo- beth ann