I'm not one that would usually do a blog post about a beauty product but this is something that I thought a lot of people could use. So, if you're a guy there's really no need for you to read this review (though I'm sure the product will work for you, too). And if you're a girl, please keep in mind that my experience with this is with my type of hair so results may vary.
That being said, I'm reviewing Function of Beauty. Have you been on Facebook and noticed the sponsored posts for a company called Function of Beauty.com? If you have, then you'll want to check this out. If you haven't, I'll fill you in. Function of Beauty is a company that specializes in customized shampoo and conditioner. That's right, customized. As in, exactly to your hair. Sounds too good to be true? Well, here's how it works: 1. Indicate your hair type. Your options are straight, wavy, curly, and coily. 2. Indicate your hair structure. Your options are fine, medium, and coarse. 3. Indicate your scalp moisture. Your options are dry, normal, and oily. 4. Choose your five hair goals. Your options are deep condition, replenish hair, fix split ends, strengthen, hydrate, lengthen, volumize, color protection, thermal protection, anti-aging, anti-frizz, curl definition, shine, straighten, nourish roots, soothe scalp, and oil control. (With each option you choose, it'll give you an blurb about the ingredients in the shampoo/conditioner that will help with your target wants). 5. Choose your shampoo/conditioner color. 6. Choose your fragrance. Your options are essential oils, cucumber mint, grapefruit hibiscus, and sandalwood violet. 7. Choose your fragrance strength. 8. Name your shampoo/conditioner. It'll be written on the bottle. 9. Choose the size of your shampoo/conditioner. 8oz bottles of both is 36$, 16oz bottles of both is $46, combinations of 8oz and 16oz is $42, and one 16oz of shampoo or conditioner is $30. 10. Complete and ship. The site is very straightforward and easy to follow and the quiz is actually fun to take. However, I wish there were more options in terms of your hair type and structure as there are a lot of different hair types and people have combinations. So if that gave more options it'd be perfect. Otherwise, everything else with the quiz is fine. So here's what I chose: My hair type is coily and my hair structure is coarse (though I think it's more medium so if I get more I'll choose that instead). My hair goals are deep condition, hydrate, strengthen, lengthen, and shine. My scalp moisture is normal. My fragrance choice was essential oils, I did a medium fragrance. The shampoo/conditioner have no dyes, and I chose the 8oz bottles. From the time I ordered it to when I got it was about 5 or 6 days and when I received it, I rushed to try it. The bottles come with a cap, but squirt tops come with the package as well, if you prefer those. The consistency of the shampoo and conditioner is similar to hand soap so it's easy to move through your hair. And, guys, it worked amazingly well for me. I have never had my hair start out so soft after having had shampoo, condition, and blow dry. And it detangled my hair so easily. So far I've used it twice and I'm going to use it again this weekend as I only wash my hair once a week (more if I excessively go to the gym) and I've already had people comment on how my hair looks different; shinier and longer. The only caveat is that I chose a medium fragrance strength with essential oils; it smells very much like peppermint and even the fumes made my eyes water and sting as if I got shampoo in them. The quiz is easy, though there could be more choices, the ordering and shipping was fast, and the product is great. (Be careful with your fragrance choice/strength). All in all, I'd have to give Function of Beauty an A-.
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“You’re good for a girl!”
As if the scrapes on my hands were by throwing a tantrum of a missed landing. As if the bruises on my knees are from allowing myself to bend at the will of those around me who feel I don’t belong. As if the trickling blood is a colored tear. “You’re good for a girl!” As if being smaller in stature makes me as inexperienced as a wobbly kid on their first board. As if my supposed fragility is expected to be proven right when things don’t go my way. As if I’m expected to acknowledge that there’s only so far I’ll go to succeed. “You’re good for a girl!” Where the first thing I feel is annoyance at the words and then wonder if it was meant to be insulting or if it was truly thought to be something I’d find praise in. If the words were meant to be sincere and not as biting as it could be. As a person that usually sees nothing but the good in others I can’t help but pause all because “you’re good for a girl,” is not actually a complement. Hello, party people!
It's been a while since I've updated you guys on my/our writing. Over the past year things have been pretty interesting in terms of our Quadruple or Nothing series. We have the cover for the fourth book finished (just wanted to have that done despite not having finished the third book yet) and we shopped Two Pair around to some publishers. So here's where some pretty cool news comes in. We had a couple of publishers that were interested in taking in our book and we were actually on the last step of it being taken up but then was turned down because they wanted a bit more drama. Despite not getting it at that point it's something that still keeps our spirits lifted up when we think about getting our books professionally published. So that's where this blog comes in now. We received that news a year ago and I wanted to dive right in to start editing/re-working the book so that it can be picked up. But as many of you would probably guess, my last year of grad school was incredibly busy. Not just because of the work that needed to be done, finishing up my research assitantship, writing other books, and job searching, but because of working on my Master's project at the time. (Side note - I know I haven't talked about my last day in Australia, but all you need to know is that I was bumped up to first class on my flight from Australia back to LA and I made it home safely in time for the 4th of July). Now that I have more time and I've looked over Two Pair once more, I'm going back into re-editing it to send it back to publishers, of which the one who mentioned that they would've liked to take in our book but needed there to be a bit more drama would be glad for us to send it in again. I decided to start working on it now because of the changing of the seasons as well as it being a way to symbolize starting over. So be on the lookout for blog posts about update to the book and changes to chapters. Also, we're going to be updating/editing the theme to our site soon so be on the lookout for it. Have an amazing weekend! So on day three I was still stick. I was feeling better than the day before, but still sick. However, my day was still very eventful. I was feeling good enough to go to the first few panels of the day that had topics such as 4D: Extra Sensory Appeal and Expanded Spaces, HBO, Long-Form Television and the Woman’s Film, True Crime for the ‘Quality’ Palate, Dining at the Table of (Cultural) Horrors, The Gothic Heart of ‘Hinterland’, and (Im)moralities of Style in ‘American Horror Story’. And they were all very good. I knew about 4D amusement pieces due to going to numerous amusement parks that had those sorts of attractions and I’ve always loved them. It would be interesting to see if they can be brought up into a mainstream option for cinema watching but that may be far off. (For those that don’t know, 4D is when you’re being hit with a spray of water or puffs of air to simulate what you’re seeing on the screen in front of you). I’m also very much into true crime documentaries and shows as well as horror and darker themed pieces of entertainment so these were very great to see. Here’s where it became eventful, but first a bit of back story. Through lack of communication as well as miscommunication where part of my trip should’ve been paid for by the school I ended up having to pay for the entire trip myself. And because I paid for it by myself I realized part of my time could be spent doing some sight-seeing. I ducked out right before lunch and had a bit of an adventure. After walking around the USyd campus for a while (they had a 90s party there a few days before, kind of sad I missed that) I went back to the hotel, changed into some more casual clothes, and asked the man at the front desk the best things that I could see nearby. The first thing I looked at was the nearby pubs and stores, of which they have the best names for them (one being called Pretty as a Pitcher and a quick food stop called Da Munchies). Then I got into the taxi and asked for the driver to take me to Newtown so I could look around. Newtown is a suburb of Sydney and has amazing architecture, very modern, much like Sydney does. Then I got a taxi back and walked around King’s Street which has a really cool bookstore. If I hadn’t already used enough of the money I had gotten from the ATM I would’ve bought some while I was there. (But I also packed my carry-on bag enough to bring the books I already had with me rather than try to take any back. But being a writer and an avid reader if I had another bag I would’ve bought as many books as I could, it would’ve broken down enough of the long flight back). Then I went back to the hotel to sleep for another two hours that night and go to the last day of the conference. If I’m ever able to go back to Australia again I’d probably stay in the hotel just to be able to see the same stores and sights all over. And now day two of my Australia trip. Do you remember how I said on day one that I had gotten sick from airplane food (that’s my guess anyway as well as a lot of traveling)? And if you’re friends with me on Facebook you saw my post saying that airplanes are metal tubes of sickness? It’s because they are, but that’s not the point. (I’m looking at you lady who kept coughing on my head on your way to the bathroom). My point is day two of my trip and day one of the conference, I was still sick. Couple that with only getting two hours of sleep due to jet lag and I’m already thinking it’ll be an interesting day. And interesting is certainly the best word for it. While staying awake for all hours of the night I did get some things done. I got writing done (if anyone didn’t know I’m working on a couple of novels, the story Reagan that goes along with our Quadruple or Nothing series, as well as a re-write of Two Pair), I went around the hotel a couple of times trying to see if there was any way that I could get a good view for a picture of the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the ANZAC Bridge (spoiler alert, I didn’t; but if security was watching me on cameras I’m sure they thought I was up to something), worked on my presentation for my last day there (cutting a hour and a half presentation down to at least 15 minutes is hard), caught up on a lot of my shows that aired while I was gone, and sent out some applications. Finally the hours passed and it was time to go to the conference. My professor, whom had called my room the night before to make sure I got in okay, and I met up in the lobby and walked the short walk to Sydney University village where the conference was being held. On the way I saw a sign on the side of the curb that said ‘look right’ (it’s in the slideshow below), saw a cool Australian White Ibis (thanks, Ty!) and checked out some really cool stores on the way. And everyone is so nice that they greet each other while walking down the street, even if they don’t know you. I’m a distance runner and every now and then I’m home I go running at the park or downtown with my Dad and not many people actually say ‘hi’ or respond when you greet them. So it was great to see it shown here so much. We go to the conference and get our name tags and greet the people who set it up and were running it. The conversation topics quickly went from how glad they were we came all the way from the United States to the things we had to see while sight-seeing to our presentation topics. For the conference, along with our name tags, we also go a Sydney University mug, a Sydney University pen, and a Sydney tea towel. Not going to lie, I had to ask my sisters and Google what a tea towel was because I didn’t know what they were used for. Speaking of tea; I don’t like tea. I don’t like hot tea, iced tea, sweet tea, unsweetened tea, green tea. I don’t like tea. Australians love tea. As a matter of fact on the schedule there was a break for Morning tea, Lunch, and Afternoon Tea. Every day we were there I was asked for a cup of tea and to be polite I said sure and pretended to drink it. That’s probably why they gave us the mugs as a souvenir. And this is where things started a bit badly. I was still feeling a little queasy but was better than the day before. Still the thought of being sick was in the back of my head. The thing that got me discouraged though, which I don’t think helped me being sick at all, was what when I was speaking to someone who was working the conference about the schedule and the different panels she mentioned that by the end of the last day people usually weren’t interested in staying past lunch as well as the panels that were put towards the end were the ones that didn’t have much interest in. Guess who’s was the last presentation, of the last panel, of the very last day? I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count. My mood immediately plummeted. I already know that my topic of research interest—extreme sports—is already very tiny but it still hurts to know that not many people would be interested in the topic. But I put on my brave face and smiled and told her that there were plenty of interesting panels the last couple of days and you never know what would be said at them. I’m good at putting on a brave face, but honestly I was a bit hurt. Still, I sucked it up and went to the panel entitled Disability, Gender, and Queer. Topics within that included Beauty Contests for Landmine Survivors (by my professor), Mental Illness and Artistic Creation, Mental Illness in the X-Files, and Postracial Feminism, Reaffirmation of Whiteness. Then it was time for lunch, where I faked drinking more tea while talking to some people, and then I had to duck out. I was too sick by that point that I was starting to get a bit dizzy. So I went back to the hotel (stopping by a market/grocery store we passed on the way to the conference that, thank God, had Ben and Jerry’s), ordered room service (which was good and actually pretty cheap), talked to my sisters on Skype for a bit, and got prepared for the next day. Where, again, I only got 2 hours of sleep but got a lot of writing done. If it weren’t for the fact that the hotel didn’t have a gym nor did I find one near me, my productiveness would’ve been perfect. Downside, I now get it when people say their eyes burn with lack of sleep. So I know everyone is dying to know what my trip was like and, honestly, I'd say it was a bit uneventful but that's only because I was there for three days. The other days were just me traveling and we all know how long flights to Australia can be. So I'll start with day one. I was already packed for the most part to leave and all I needed left to pack was my last minute stuff. My toothbrush, toothpaste, makeup, deodorant, all that good stuff. And would you know it the only thing I managed to forget while I was gone was my toothbrush, my hair conditioner, and my medicine. But! I'm such an efficient packer that I manged to fit everything (including my clothes) into one carry-on bag so I didn't have to worry about checking in any bags and baggage claim. So Steph and Mere drive me to the airport and when I get inside I swear someone that looked exactly like Snoop Dogg walked by me to get to the escalator. I had to do a double take and even openly stared at the guy to see if it was him or not. And I'm still not sure. Honestly, I don't know why Snoop Dogg would be in Norfolk I have no idea. But it looked like him and I'm sticking to that. Getting through the airport was a lot easier than I thought it would be. I haven't been in an airport in a LONG time, let alone by myself, so I wondered how things worked. Especially since I bought my tickets online. Thank you for kiosks because that made things go by a LOT easier, especially since I didn't have a bag to check in. I just walked up, put in my confirmation number from my email, put my passport into my machine and it spit out all three of my boarding passes. And because it took me a lot of trouble to get my passport rushed to me I made sure that I stuck my boarding passes in my passport and held a death grip on it the entire time so I wouldn't lose it. The Norfolk Airport is tiny so it was easy to find my gate. I got there within a few minutes, texted my Mom and sisters that I had made it to the gate and waited for my flight. (It was a recurring theme throughout my trip that I got to the gates of my flights so early I could've gotten there at least ten minutes before and I would've been fine). I get a text that my gate gets changed to the one across from the one I'm already at and then move over there and keep reading. And then I get on the plane (which is probably the tiniest plane I've ever been on) and continue to read. Until the toddler beside me keeps saying 'hi' to me over and over again, obviously wanting to play. So I asked the parents if it was alright before I played with him a little bit and it was a short flight into the Newark airport. The Newark airport is alright. There's construction going on at the time and it's not always very clear how you find your way to the terminal you need, but the flight attendant let everyone know what gate we were coming into as well as where the shuttle to the next terminal was if we needed to get there. So I get to Terminal C and walked a ways before I found the gate I needed to get to. And I continued to read. And this is where things get a bit annoying. Middle Schoolers. Middle Schoolers everywhere. Not only were they all going to be on my flight but they didn't seem to understand that you DO NOT EVER leave your bag unattended if you're going somewhere. It doesn't even matter if you leave your bag with your chaperone, a bunch of bags sitting unattended make people nervous. And the people that were sitting around me for my gate got incredibly nervous. I could see the guy next to me constantly looking at the bags over and over again and then there were some airport security that continued to walk by, checking them. Even their chaperone kept yelling at them over and over again not to leave their bags and they kept leaving their bags. Then when we could finally start to check in (which I've forgotten that you need to do by groups. Group 1 and 2 are for first and business class, and groups 3, 4, and 5 are for economy. My seats were usually in the middle and back so I was groups 4 and 5) and they keep pushing in front of everyone's way so they can get to their seats faster, obviously not understanding the whole group thing. Finally their chaperones yelled at them once more and they settled down. Until they got onto the plane. I know Middle Schoolers can be really obnoxious and I don't even think my grade was that bad when we were their age. I haven't heard a plane so loud in my entire life. So where I sit there's a guy to my left that's kind of quiet and a guy to my right that wouldn't stop talking. Honestly, I think he might've been high because he had an incredible amount of energy, wouldn't stop getting up, and slowed down the flight attendants because he was talking to them so much. This flight was okay, I watched a lot of The Big Bang Theory and Superstore episodes they had on the in-flight entertainment as well as continued to read. There was some turbulence, to the point that the plane actually fell a few times, but it was otherwise an uneventful flight. Finally, after about 5 hours we landed in LAX. The best part was where I landed was the same terminal I was leaving from with my gate only a few feet away. So I texted my family again that I landed and where I was and talked to Justin a little bit and was finally able to get onto Wi-Fi. Thanks to Wi-Fi I was able to get on Skype and talk to my sisters a bit as well as check my email and other things that I might've missed because I didn't want to use up my data and because the first two airports didn't have any internet. Then I walked around a bit, checking out the stores and stuff and I'm sorry, but airports are so incredibly overpriced it's not even funny. I mean, I had some granola bars and water in my bag so I didn't have to worry about being hungry but I couldn't help but break down and get some fruit snacks and water. Honestly, I wanted McDonalds but couldn't find any and the Rolling Stone cafe type thing they had was too expensive. So we get onto the flight and I'm ready for the long-haul. 15 hours to Sydney from LAX. I was supposed to have the entire back middle row to myself (which would've been great to stretch out) but a couple came on board last minute and took the seats next to me. That was perfectly fine with me, they were about my age and they were really cool to talk to. We got to talking and they said that they had been visiting the US for the past couple of weeks (and we got into a long conversation about where they had gone and where they should've gone) and explained how every flight they had gotten on had been delayed. Unfortunately our flight was then delayed for an hour (supposed to leave at about 11 and we didn't leave until midnight or so) and all they wanted to do was get back to thier home in Sydney. This was a LONG and eventful flight. I knew that I wanted to take up as much time as possible so that I didn't notice how much time had passed so I watched as many two hours movies that were on the in-flight entertainment. I watched Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Tarzan, Iron Giant, Hancock, Man of Steel, X-Men First Class, and some others I can't remember because I watched so many and fell asleep during others. They gave us dinner which was chicken, vegetables, and mashed potatoes. Those mashed potatoes were disgusting. DISGUSTING! They weren't potatoes at all, they were grits disguised as potatoes and I know that for sure because I don't like grits from the texture alone. (Though Cheese Grits and Shrimp is fine, I'll definitely eat that). Then there was a kid on the plane that passed out and we nearly had to make an emergency landing for it, some woman who was sick kept coughing on me when she went to the bathroom, and the flight attendants kept stepping on my feet. But otherwise it was a good flight. In the morning we got breakfast and I got eggs and hashbrowns and fruit. Again the food was disgusting. I usually don't like eggs that's different from the way my Dad or I make them anyway but this was bad. Here's the thing; my package was already opened when they gave it to me. But at the time I didn't think much of it, partially because I was tired, partially because I was hungry, and partially because I thought I had pressed my thumb into the film as I was taking it and popped it open. No, it was open and I ate it and it was bad. I felt fine as we landed, got off the plane, and went through customs. Oh, here's a side story, I thought I was going to be deported at some point. When going to a different country and back into the US you have to fill out a customs card and it asked 'do you have any food/grains that you're bringing into the country' and I checked off 'no'. And then I remembered I had some granola/Kind bars in my backpack and my paranoid brain immediately shifts into 'Oh God, they're going to search my bag and find my food and then I'm going to get a penalty and they're going to deport me'. And the couple next to me wondered the same thing about the candy they brought along with them and we all freaked out until we finally managed to get through customs with no problems. That would've been a story: deported due to a stupid granola bar. So I make my way through the airport, get AUD for whatever I was going to need money for while in Australia and got a taxi. Once I get to the taxi and climb in I immediately get the strong smell of cigarette/cigar smoke. For someone who has asthma as well as for someone who forgot their asthma medication over 7000 miles away I knew I was in some sort of trouble. You see without my medication my allergies of cut grass, pine trees, strong perfume, strong cologne, strong incense, cigar/cigarette smoke, and smoke in general, gets bad. So I knew something was going to happen. Sure enough I started to feel really, really hot and my stomach started to roll when we left the airport only a few minutes before. I knew I was going to be sick and willed myself to wait until I got to the hotel. Thankfully I made it to the hotel just in time to ask the receptionist where the bathroom was before running in and getting sick in the toilet. (It wasn't until I got back that I realized it was because of my mishandled food on the plane that I got a slight case of food poisoning). I checked into my room, checked the time back home, got onto the internet to skype my sisters, and then read and watched TV and caught up with everything on my computer when my sisters went to sleep. The hardest part of being gone was knowing the time difference was so big that I didn't have anyone to talk to because of the time change. But it was good to know it was only early in the morning while it was late at home so that I had plenty of time to sleep and watch the shows I had missed without having to worry so much about falling asleep. So that was day one. I was able to get through the airport to each of my flights very, very easily and was excited to see if Australia was like everything I imagined. And I could learn more with the conference starting the next day. So if you haven’t seen the spam all over Facebook from my sisters’ and my account, yesterday was a very eventful day. And, honestly, I can say I don’t know who I would’ve wanted to spend the day with other than them. Really, it was s such a blast. Anywho, this is going to span a couple of days and I’ll keep it as linear as possible. Two weekends ago (Memorial weekend), Mack came down to hang out like she did the year before. We already had it planned to go to see Captain America: Civil War and X-Men: Apocalypse, both were amazing by the way, but we didn’t expect much else to happen. One day while looking through Twitter Mack noticed that our favorite band (but her all-time favorite band as she had been a fan for 14 years) Simple Plan, would be playing a show in Williamsburg. Upon further investigation I realized I had noticed the flyer (attached to their tweet) for the show a few days before but as it was a bit cluttered didn’t realize what it was saying so I ignored it. We saw that the show was coming up soon and on a Sunday and that meant that Mack could go too as it didn’t coincide with her work schedule. Plus Steph could go because her promotion has now given her Sundays off. Tickets were only $45 dollars and we all said that we would go just to see them and so we paid for the tickets right here to be sure they wouldn’t sell out like the VIP and All Access Tickets did*. So we’re incredibly excited because Simple Plan, which is a Canadian band, rarely ever comes to this part of Virginia and even they’ve said its’ been a long time since they’ve been here. So the days go by and we’re growing more and more excited with us doing a countdown of it or mentioning it at least once in conversation. Throughout the time we were planning we wondered a few things such as 1) because we were in general seating (aka lawn seating) would we have a good view of the stage, 2) would anyone stand up and get in our way, and 3) would we still get a chance to meet the band? Honestly, we were a little skeptical of the last part but figured we would bring stuff for them to sign anyway just in case. I brought my copy of their latest CD ‘Taking One For the Team (which is awesome and you have to listen to it), Mack brought their coffee table book, Steph brought a journal, and Mere didn’t have anything for them to sign so she borrowed some paper from Steph’s book. The day before the show Mack came down and we hung out and went to the pool while deciding on outfits to wear; mostly so we didn’t roast in the sun. It was 95 degrees with little cloud coverage and a breeze here and there. But I’ll speak more about that later. So it was the day of the show, we got ready, made sure we had everything together about five times and headed off to Williamsburg. We already planned on getting there about a half hour before the doors opened but Mom suggested that we get there at least an hour early. According to her our ‘early’ may not be considered early to other people. Thankfully the Williamsburg Winery, which is where the concert was held, is a pretty short drive away from where we were so it was even more worth it. On the drive there we listened to Simple Plan’s album and joked about how we would push people out of our way when Simple Plan came on. The concert at the Williamsburg Winery was their second annual Uncorked and Unplugged acoustic show for numerous artists hosted by a local radio station. So along with Simple Plan there was also The Lost Element, Mariana’s Trench, Ben Rector, and Rachel Platten performing. And while we’re not really fans of Rachel Platten we hadn’t heard much from the other artists and figured we’d be exposed to new music as well, which would make things even better while waiting for simple plan. So we go there early and that was the best decision we made. We were the first people there. So not only did we not have to worry about getting good seats but we arrived just as Simple Plan was doing their sound check so we got to watch them do that a little bit while waiting outside of the venue to be checked in. A woman came over to ask if we were at least 21, because we look so young. But the funny thing was before she finished her question I was about to immediately jump in and say that we were quadruplets rather than twins because we get asked that question so often. But then we confirmed that we were actually 23 and said it was okay she thought we looked younger because we also get that statement a lot. We continued to wait in line and talked to this older couple who were behind us, waiting to see Simple Plan as well. Then we were checked in and given our yellow wristbands to enter the venue. We met one of the hosts of a morning show on the radio station and spoke to him for a few moments before we were let inside. (The other cool thing is that they gave everyone in the audience souvenir wine glasses for the event). Okay, you know how I said it was good that we were the very first ones in line? It got even better before we got front row seats when seated. Actually there were a few people in smaller chairs that sat in front of us first but then they moved because the music was too loud and then we got front row seats. So that’s when our waiting for Simple Plan journey started. While they were setting everything up Mack made sure that we were in ‘formation’ to be able to see our favorite member of the band more easily, and to be sure we were front and center because you can’t miss four identical faces looking back at you. While we waited for them to set up we read the books we brought and talked to each other about a few things while looking around to see if we could catch another glimpse of the band early. The first band that came on was The Lost Element; Mack and I have heard one of their songs on the radio or featured in some other way so we knew they were at least familiar to us and they were great! Compared to other bands right now their addition of a keyboarder made their sound very different. Their songs are catchy and very fun. Also, in the middle of one of their songs they added in Crystal Gayle’s I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love, seamlessly mashing it with their own original song. And as much of a 80s music fan we are, it was an awesome surprise. Bonus story #1: at one point Steph went to get us some drinks and she ran into Lost Element as she did so. She congratulated them on their set and said she was now a big fan and would follow them on their social media accounts, they thanked her and the keyboarder said he liked her flower headband! :) Bonus story #2: Mack and I were consistently looking over at the side area while The Lost Element were playing to see if Simple Plan would ever come back out. And finally, they did, because they were doing a meet and greet. We weren’t sure if they were for everyone or just All Access people and so after watching someone with a yellow band get in to take a pic (which we later learned she snuck in) Mack and I went over to see if we could. They said ‘no’, only for people with red wristbands, and then we went back to our seats. But then we saw some fans go over and take pictures of Simple Plan taking pictures for the meet and greet and Jeff (a guitarist of Simple Plan) walked over to take pictures with them. Then Pierre and Sebastien went over while David walked into a tent to get some shade. So Mack and I immediately leapt up with our CD and book and (without telling Mere. Sorry, Mere! Lol) went over to see if we could talk to them. So I went right up to Pierre (my favorite of the band) and asked if he would ‘please sign my CD and take a picture with me’. He said of course, signed my book, took a pic and then I moved onto Sebastien to do the same. Then I asked if they would take a pic with Mack and sign her book; this was a bit of my motor mouth/eldest sibling part of me kicking in but Mack did say that if I wasn’t assertive enough to do it she might’ve been too meek to do so. So she got a picture and an autograph from her favorite member of the band, Sebastien. She didn’t get one of Pierre because they had to go back to do official meet and greets, but it was awesome! The next band was Mariana’s Trench. We hadn’t heard any songs from them before or really knew who they were, but they were pretty good. The lead singer has a really wide vocal range and the band’s harmonies were cool. But I’m not sure if I’d listen to them again. They did a great job of interacting with the crowd, though. By this point they were moving onto Ben Rector…and he was running late. The issue with that was that it was getting really, really hot. Not only was it the time of day where the sun was directly beaming down on us but there weren’t many clouds left at this point and barely a breeze. And so all of us started to snap at each other, though we didn’t take it personally because we were very hot and kind of hungry and we just wanted Simple Plan to come on. Finally Ben Rector comes on, and he has a song out called Brand New, which is actually pretty good. But he played some songs off of his album and at one point asked the crowd to help him make up a third verse for the song on the spot. One lady in the crowd got chosen and gave him the topic of ‘wine’ for the verse. He did it seamlessly and even said that though he’s from California and drinks a lot of wine, he hadn’t found better wine than he had in Williamsburg that day. Finally, Ben Rector finished his set and the four of us got up from our seats and maneuvered out way to the front row of standing area, which was roped off from the VIP area. We had seen people stand there for Mariana’s Trench and Ben Rector and vowed that we would get to the front. Unfortunately the elder couple we met earlier that day had to leave before Simple Plan because the husband had gotten sick but another girl we spoken to throughout the concert that day had made her way to the front too. So we waited there while Simple Plan set up and then completely rocked out to their show. They played the songs I’d Do Anything (off their first album), Welcome to My Life (off their second album), Addicted (off their first album), Jet Lag (off their fourth album), Singin’ in the Rain (their first single off their latest album, Shut Up (off their second album) and Perfect (off their first album). This was more songs than the other bands because Rachel Platten, who was going last, was late and they stretched to fill up some time. And it was awesome! I’m not entirely sure but I think Pierre pointed to us a few times since we were enjoying ourselves so much. Honestly, we would’ve preferred if they played more songs off their new album but it was still great. Jet Lag is one of my favorite off of their fourth album so I was glad to hear it. While the band were playing Mack and I were tapped on the back and later we both said that if it were someone who was trying to get in front of us we would’ve said ‘no’. Come to find when we turn around that it was a woman named Stephanie (lol) who worked with the radio station and asked if we wanted to meet the band!! Of course we said yes as quickly as the question left her mouth. So we were told after the show to meet her by the side of the stage and we would be brought back. Once the show ended Simple Plan started to throw guitar picks off stage and Mere managed to grab one from David (the bassist and her favorite member of the band)! Then we immediately grabbed the things we wanted to have signed and followed he woman back stage. Once backstage she told us she chose us because we were clearly enjoying ourselves and because we knew the songs better than other people in the audience. (Thanks for being a fan for such a long time, Mack!!). She starts telling people that we were a group of friend and excited to meet the band but quickly corrected her that we were, in fact, quadruplets. And her eyes got big and she said it was cool and that she had never met a set of quads before (which is what we get a lot, honestly). So, finally, the band is brought around and we were introduced as a set of quadruplets. Simple Plan then got a good look at the four of us and did a double take, which is also something we get a lot, and set off to get hugs from all four of us "to complete the set." When Mack and I were walking down the line meeting the band, Pierre mentioned they already knew who we were because he and Sebastien recognized us from meeting him before. And Sebastien added that he recognized us because we "announced our arrival on twitter". A little background info; about a week before the show Mack and I were consistently tweeting them and the radio station in Fredericksburg to have their single played (still hasn’t) as well as to mention how excited we were that it was our first simple plan show. We had gotten liked or Retweeted by Jeff and the Simple Plan band account so that was awesome to know they recognized us! When we got to Jeff he said "Yeah, we know you guys, who's the twitter mastermind?" to which Mack and I explained how efforts to get the song played and he thanked us for it. And then Pierre said he saw us "rocking out in the crowd" while they played. David said he liked my Vans shirt (which is actually one of my favorite shirts) and they all thanked us for coming out. So it was time for the picture and we all scrambled to stand next to our favorite members of the band. (I sort of yelled ‘I get to stand next to Pierre, he’s mine!’ to which he laughed hard at, but I’m not embarrassed). When we all got in for the picture, Pierre said, "Yeah, it's a sandwich." I got the entire band’s autograph (except the drummer Chuck because it was an acoustic show and he wasn’t there). Mere got Pierre’s and David's autographs with a personalized one from Pierre. Mack got a personalized autograph from Pierre, and an autograph from David and Sebastien, and Steph got a personalized autograph from Pierre. And we were grinning like crazy the entire time and after and the whole way home. Then we called Mom and Dad and told them what happened and then we spammed picture everywhere. It was the best day ever and it certainly wouldn't have happened if Mack wasn't a HUGE Simple Plan fan and got us into their band (especially their two latest albums). So THANKS! It was certainly the best day ever. Thanks Uncorked and Unplugged, Williamsburg Winery, and Simple Plan for an amazing experience! *VIP and All-Access ticketholders were able to have a tent that they sat under to drink wine while watching the show. But only All Access and VIP people could be in the spot directly in front of the stage while the bands were playing. We were sitting/Standing behind them. For those that weren't aware, I graduated with my Master's Degree last week. And that week has flown by pretty quickly. I've started to put up pictures of the day and I'm sure some of my family members have some too. And I'll post a new blog post about it soon, first I wanted to share the acknowledgements I wrote for the write-up of my Master's Project. I read them out loud at my party but there were so many people that couldn't be there that I wanted to share it here.
Warning, this is a bit of a long read. Family: To everyone else I haven’t mentioned yet; Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins I have to say thank you to you all as well. Even if I didn’t speak much about my project (there were many times I needed to take a step back and didn’t even want to think about it) I could tell that you all were helping me in your own ways. I know I’m making you proud with what I’m achieving and I could feel that every time I became stressed with the process of my project or if I felt that things weren’t going the way I wanted them to. Thank you for being there even in spirit as distance has kept us apart or if I didn’t call or email because I was so focused on my school work. You all have helped me in more ways than you know. Dr. Socha, Dr. Fran, Dr. Beck: Thank you for putting up with me! Ha. Honestly, with my constant e-mails and consistently getting direction thank you for everything. Thank your Dr. Socha for not turning away my idea for my project in the first place, thank you Dr. Fran for giving me early editing ideas on the first few drafts of my write-up as well as things to think about in my project class. Thank you Dr. Beck for giving me some ideas of things to think about along the way as well as giving encouragement when it was needed. I certainly could not have gotten this finished without you three. Thank you all very much Professors at Hollins and ODU: To the professors that I’ve had once, twice, or even more than that at Hollins and ODU, thank you. Thank you Professor Fallon and Professor Sampon-Nicolas (from Hollins) who not only made me love French again, but for writing my recommendations into this program. Not only have you always made me feel even better about my abilities on things that I didn’t have much confidence in (seriously, if we never took actual tests in our French classes I would’ve been over the moon) but you were a hand in helping me be where I am today with ODU. Thank you. Professors at ODU: Anderson, McNutt, Santo, Florini, Richards, Brubeck, Dr. B, (and any others I’m sure I’m forgetting) you’ve made my journey within this program very enjoyable. I enjoyed all of my classes and I speak of them very often. My mind has been opened to many concepts throughout this process and I can’t wait to share them with others. FA: Everyone at FA! The faculty, the alumni, my classmates, everyone who I’ve known and don’t know at FA, just by being a part of that school you all rock. I never feel more at home than when I do when I’m back at FA or when I run into the parent of someone that was there or an alumni I haven’t seen in a long time. Being on the cross country team for seven years and being a part of FA for fourteen years is some of the best times of my life and I know that with the education I received from FA it will continue to take me far. So to everyone there (especially Miss. Moschetto, Mrs. Altman, Mr. Evans, Mrs. Clark-Evans, Ms. Wood, Mrs. Wimble, and Mrs. Calloway, I apologize if I forgot to name anyone) thank you from the bottom of my heart for making it exciting to still visit the school every once in a while and for everything you’ve taught me along the way. Also, a great big thank you to the class of 2010; the best there’s ever been! I miss you guys. Friends: Shout out to the friends that have helped me through these past few years! Ty; all of the FB chats about what’s going on in our lives, live chatting Amazing Race and Survivor, watching React videos, and catching up at Red Robin or wherever we go whenever we’re home, giving a supporting word when my sisters or I are discouraged about something, you’re awesome. Thanks for being such a great friend all these years and here’s to many more. Mitch, Will, and Emma; even though we don’t talk much I love to catch up with you guys when we get the chance and I love to see where you all are going in life. Mandy; gorky, we’ve been talking for so long and I know that whenever we text, even if it hasn’t been a while we’ll find something to talk about. Thank you for cheering me on for everything and I’m glad I’ve been able to do the same to you. Maybe one day we can do it face to face. Tamyka, Amanda, Pernell, Bobbie, Ines, Emem, V, and Alexis I’m so glad that I got to meet all of you through the Lifespan and Digital Communication program. You’ve made me feel at home through our schooling and it was great to know I had someone to talk to, commiserate with, hang out with, and even vent whenever the time came. I’m going to miss seeing you around all the time. But it was great to know that we were all in it together and we all are going great places. Hope to see you again soon. And thank you to all of my online friends; Rafael, Jacqui, Greg, Anthony, Gen, and Ethan. *could be alternately titled: I’m defending my Master’s Project in 27 days and you can tell I’m trying to keep my mind off it with a bit of reflection and ‘no’ this is not an April Fool’s Joke.
Something no one knows about me. (Well, my sisters do but you get my point). I’ve never actually hated the color pink. Are you all there? Are you awake from having passed out? Okay, good. Again, I’ve never actually hated the color pink. As a matter of fact, it’s one of my favorite colors. But since about Middle School or so, maybe starting in 5th grade (?) I’ve said I’ve hated it. Why? The reason I gave was because it was too girly of a color. The real reason? I didn’t like the way it made me feel. So this is a journey that goes from Lower School to High School. I’ve had a lot of friends when I was younger, able to play with and be best friends with guys and girls. And through that time I found that I enjoyed (and still do love) sports; I loved to run around and play tag and soccer and football and baseball and anything that would have me running around and doing something fun. I liked to play outside as much as possible, ride bikes, go exploring, get my hand and knees dirty. And I was good. I’m not saying amazing, but good at every sport I tried. I’ll admit that there were times where I took PE a bit too seriously, but not to the point where I thought it was the Olympics. Still, I hated to lose and I was one of those kids that particularly liked certain people to be on my team so we had a better chance at winning. I’m telling you, it was bad. But through my love of sports I realized that I knew I was never too girly. I didn’t like the idea of not being able to swing up and down on monkey bars or play soccer in a dress or a skirt because I might flash my underwear. So when it got to the point I could pick out my own clothes most of them were shorts and pants so that I could continue to play. They were comfortable for me. And through that I started to prefer wearing dresses and skirts less and less. I’m a tomboy, always have been and always will be. Back then tomboy could not be girly. So even though I did like skirts and dresses and pink, I outwardly disliked them as a principal. Especially as the attention I got for being good at sports. And then Middle School came and that’s where things started to get hard. Middle School is hard for everyone but I harbored this through High School and until I went to college and had a reality check. I was a tomboy so I had mostly guy friends and that was great all throughout Middle School because we had the same interests…and that pushed my possible relationships with girls out of the way. I wasn’t used to being called ‘pretty’ or anything because I was a tomboy and would roll my eyes at having to get dressed up for anything because I preferred pockets. (I still do prefer pockets; I’m excited when they’re on dresses). I didn’t really like makeup either though I really did like watching how Mom was able to put it on so flawlessly. When in high school she suggested I started wearing some I just shrugged it off. If I couldn’t be ‘me’ why did it matter? Going into high school I will say that I have and still do have a good sense of self-esteem. But I’m human and there’s always the time where little things chip at it and my insecurities get in the way. Of course this was exasperated when I really started to like guys. Not that I didn’t before; my oldest memory of a first crush was actually in first grade or so. But that’s not the point. The point is I was always aware that guys didn’t necessarily like tomboys and figured if they didn’t’ like me for my personality then that was their fault not mine. I can admit there were times where I became a bit aggressive (honestly, for those that knew I liked them I apologize for the way I acted. Honestly. I cringe thinking about it half the time) and overly open. But in my opinion if you don’t let someone know you like them and just admire from afar, what’s the point? Okay, I’m sure you’re still wondering what this has to do with the color pink but believe me, it makes sense. In my head pink = girly, and as a tomboy I did not = girly and so I disliked pink. And I’ll also admit I took out my insecurities with that on other people (guys and girls) in my class and I greatly apologize. However, as I said, I was insecure. I knew it was a time for me to start being girly but I didn’t know the reaction I would get. I had been told, to my face, “I can never see you being girly,”, “Steph is the girly one,” (Which would sometimes be followed up with “and you aren’t” as a way for people to tell us apart), “Guys don’t like you because you’re too much of a tomboy”, and “You don’t count as a girl.” Yes, I was been told “you don’t count as a girl” directly to my face. I cried in private and I hated the guy that told me that. But I didn’t fully hate him I hated how I allowed him to make me feel that way. I always hated how when I did dress up I heard, “Jacksons in dresses, never thought I’d see the day” and the high-pitched “Oh my God, you look so pretty” which in my head translated to “you never looked pretty before” or “you’re dressing up? You’re acting so fake”. Yeah. So most of that is my fault from the way I perceived it and allowed myself to see it in a bad way. To be honest, I always hated how people made it a big deal if I wore a dress or a skirt or makeup because that felt worse to me than someone saying “you don’t count as a girl”. So I’m wearing a dress; why does that have to be a big thing? You can tell I’m a girl. And that made me push my enjoyment of the color pink and dresses and skirts and makeup even further into myself. (Here I should also apologize to my Mom for the times I took my frustration with this out on her. So, sorry Mom! :)). Here’s another thing it did…it kept me from being better friends with the girls in my year. Yes, I may have had different interests but I never should have had my internal frustrations keep me away from becoming better friend with them. Honestly, that’s one of my biggest regrets from high school and I’d like to apologize to you eleven (not including me and my sisters) other women in the year of FA’s class of 2010 that I didn’t really take the time to get to know better. I really wish I had as I know there were (And probably still are) things that we have in common and could’ve talked about for a long time. But I didn’t. I let my insecurities get in the way. I’m sorry. When I left FA is really when I started to embrace that I shouldn’t have to hide it and I could 100% be myself. I bought more dresses and delighted in showing my Mom and Dad that I did (also I like showing off clothes, I love going clothes shopping, weird huh?) and getting their opinions. I now regularly talk to my sisters about clothes and makeup and trying out different things I see on the internet to get my personal style (not to toot my own horn but my eye makeup is cool). And I buy a lot of pink and a lot of dresses and wear them when I feel like it. Just not as much red. Now, do I love pink as much as red and would prefer it? No. As a matter of fact if you had a scale or pink to red and I had to place myself on that scale to choose a color, I’d be over on the red side as quick as a flash. (Ha ha! I’m sorry if you don’t get that joke, but I thought it was funny). But I’m not going to let it hold myself back anymore. So here’s my confession. I like the color pink, I like dresses, and I like skirts. But I’d still probably be more likely wear a pair of shorts and Vans knowing I can stun a crowd with a dress hanging in my closet for just the right occasion. Happy New Year, everyone!!
2016 came along faster than I anticipated but now that it's here there's a lot to look forward to. Finishing up the semester, graduating in May, and everything beyond. Other than that, it's a fresh start for everyone and I'm excited to see what the year has to bring. I had a pretty good 2015 so I'm betting 2016 will be even better. I don't do resolutions for New Year's, not really. I typically just make a goal and see if I stick with it. (Yes, I know that's basically the same thing but I don't hold it to the same sort of standards that people have to it as there always seems to be a big thing when someone breaks a resolution). My goal last year was to go to the gym more and I'm now in a routine of going about 5 times a week or so. This year my goal is to focus more on my writing. Not only do I have to work on Reagan as well as Flynn but I want to re-write Two Pair. Not only because it's been three years since it was published (four once September hits) but because I write differently now and I feel that I'm a better storyteller. (I'm not amazing but any means, but I see the improvement). That being said, I have the re-written first chapter of Two Pair below; the way this story goes now is that each chapter focuses on one of the girls (in order of Reagan, Mickayla, Ronan, then Savannah) and tells the story switching between their POVs. Let me know what you guys think. Really, let me know; what did you like about it? What didn't you like? What do you think about the characterization? What do you think about the pacing? etc. etc. I hope you all have a great 2016. Peace. :) --- .:Chapter One:. “Ugh, leave it to school to ruin everything.” “Not everything, I got a few great shots of the sunrise.” Reagan Jacoby sighed as she gently laid her surfboard against the wall of the garage carefully placing it down so that it didn’t get scratched. Then she picked up the large beach towel that lay across her shoulders and used it to her body free of the ocean water and sand that stuck to her skin. “I’m sure they’re great, Ro,” she said, addressing her twin sister with a sigh. “But I’ve been trying to get that rodeo flip for weeks now and I still can’t get it.” “Well, if you force yourself you’re just going to get worse,” Ronan commented. She lowered the camera that hung around her neck and placed her hands on her hips. “I know you didn’t manage to land a single trick today, but you’re just psyching yourself out.” “I guess.” Reagan bobbed her head back and forth, twisting her mouth to the side as she thought about it. She had been putting a lot of pressure on herself after the competition she had entered last week. Those girls seemed to have been able to improve quicker than she had. She had placed well, but it still wasn’t something she was ready to brag about unless she could land the rodeo flip more than a few times. She was sure she would have gotten it if she weren’t risking the bus back to the neighborhood. It was one of the few times she hated that neither of them had their license. “You’ll get it,” Ronan said. She reached up and pushed her purple strand of hair out of her blue eyes, chuckling when Reagan did the same movement at the same time, but with her red strand of hair. Being twins Reagan and Ronan had become susceptible to the common questions and trappings of being a multiple. How do you tell each other apart? They were color coded since birth; with Reagan’s color being pink and Ronan’s color being yellow thus dictating everything that was bought for them to be specifically in those colors or an off-shoot of the color. Then when they were young enough to make their decisions of their own desires, Reagan switched hers to red and Ronan switched hers to purple. Despite having the same shoulder length dark hair and standing at the same height, Ronan was bestowed with a mole on her chin and birthmark on her forehead, while Reagan had a birthmark on her left knee. On the other hand, their laughter and voices, though similar, were slightly different. What’s it like to be a twin? The same as being a single person…considering they didn’t know anything about not being a twin. The quickest answer was being born with their best friend at their side. Who’s the oldest? Reagan was born five minutes before Ronan and used it to her advantage as much as possible…though it always backfired in her face when she questioned “Why do I have to do it?” where Ronan would then say, “Because you’re the oldest”. And that was that. . It was an injustice, not to mention the strange sort of responsibility that was thrust upon her shoulders at differing moments. Was it her fault she was born first? For all she knew, with what little space they had in the womb, Ronan had pushed her out just to get some space. People always said that babies played together while they were in the womb, no one knew it could have potentially been a war for dominance. Do you fight a lot? Not very much but that didn’t mean there weren’t odd moments of bickering every once in a while. In the Jacoby household there were fights over very small and petty things. The biggest repeat offender being who got into the bathroom first, though the runners up in competitions were who got to use the ‘good bowl’ for cereal, who got to ride shotgun, who got the bigger brownie for desert, and who was the one to go first when they had a driving lesson. Just about anything could be turned into a not-quite-serious argument of equality. Can you feel each other’s pain? Typically that responded in a light laugh, a short story of the only time they had managed to do it—if it weren’t an outright lie—and say that it was impossible. However that question was then followed up by ‘can you tell what your sister is thinking?’ where a random guess would be the answer. What amused them and others the most were the times where the twin girls would move or say something in the same way at the same time, creating some sort of a stereo effect that would result in surprised laughter. Ronan then called the first shower as the girls tramped into their house being careful not to drag sea water and sand all over the immaculate flooring of the kitchen. Their father set aside the garage and accompanying laundry room to collect their water and sports gear to finish his endless battle of combating piles of sand that managed to sneak its way inside. Their maltipoo puppy, Zack, greeted them at the door, lifting up on his hind legs tail wagging at high speeds and licked at their hands. “Sorry, Zack, you know the vet said you’re going on a diet,” Reagan said as she scooped him up in her arms. “I don’t think licking away all of the dried saltwater is going to help much.” She giggled as his tiny tongue flicked over her chin and she headed towards her room to get her clothes out for the day. Along the hallway she passed a portrait that held her sister and her father and stopped to smile at it, as she did every day. Though their family was small with only the two of them and their father, Elijah Jacoby, she wouldn’t trade it for the world. Seeing her father stick his fingers up behind their heads in bunny ears always made her laugh. Neither she nor Ronan had noticed it when the picture was being taken the last father’s day. As Reagan glanced at the photo, her mind wandered to her mother which was strange in itself as she didn't particularly dwell over the woman she didn’t get to know before she was out of her life. For as long as she could remember it had always been herself, her sister, and their father and it was all she wanted, she loved her life. But then there were the vulnerable moments where the mysterious woman managed to creep in; late nights when she couldn’t fall asleep, when she got her period for the first time and had to call her father at work, Mother’s Day…holidays were always some of the harder days to get through. At some point someone would mention her, question how their mother managed to carry twins to term, or their father would suddenly fall silent and look off into space remembering a time the girls didn’t know. It helped their father was just as good of a mother as he was a father and the missing spot in their lives diminished in size. Not completely gone. But diminish in size. Reagan went to their room and dropped Zack onto the ground, picking up her phone. She navigated to her MugShot profile, one of the biggest social media networks out there, and checked the notifications. A few handcuffs, some new pictures posted, and a comment on a status she had followed the day before. The usual. But then a colorful image caught her eye as she recognized a member of her school’s cross country team as the header for the article. Grinning, she clicked into the article, hoping to read about the win her school had at the latest meet but the longer she read, the lower her jaw dropped. “Unbelievable!” “What?” Ronan shouted over the running shower water. “They mixed up our school names again! They said that Ashburg Arts was the team that got the state record at our last meet!” Shaking her head, Reagan continued to scroll the news article, hoping Ashburg Academy’s name would pop up somewhere. “I mean, sure, they can probably afford the steroids as easily as they buy candy, but we get our wins with hard work.” She continued to look through her phone, checking out the scores of her favorite sports teams before becoming sucked in to Flutter, catching up on the musicians, actors, and athelets that had posted the night before, then catching up on her classmates. Her buzzed in her hand as a text came in. Tristan: We’ll be there in a half hour, Nic needs to get to school early. Reagan: No worries, we’ll see you when you get here. Putting her phone away, Reagan glanced at her watch then sighed heavily when she noticed how much time had passed and the shower water was still running. Must be payback for how long I spent at the beach this morning. Picking up her clothes, Reagan walked over to the bathroom door and banged her fist against it, causing the hinges shake, rattle, and roll. As she continued to knock the surrounding walls trembled and quaked in danger of knocking photos to the floor. “How much longer are you gonna be in there?” she shouted. “I have to get dressed!” Reagan pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear the water over the blood pounding in her ears. Receiving no response, she let out a sigh then alternately slammed both hands on the door with the repeated chant, “Ro. Ro! Ro-your-boat!” On the last few swings she missed and whacked her hand against the hinge of the door, scraping her knuckle. Sticking her finger in her mouth, Regan pictured herself hitting the door and realized how ridiculous she must have looked. It wasn’t like she hadn’t locked Ronan out of the bathroom; but in her defense, nothing was better or more relaxing than reading in a bubble bath after a long day at the beach. Finally, Reagan got a reply—albeit an exasperated one—from her sister as she heard the nickname that had been given to her since first grade. “How long have you been waiting to use that one?” “About as long as I’ve been standing in the hallway,” Reagan said. She crossed her arms. “I thought about going to get Dad’s taser, too. But I thought that might be overkill.” She smiled; sure it was evident in her voice. “Though it’d be a good way to be an only child again. Those first five minutes were pure bliss.” “Like you even remember them. Besides, Dad took his taser to work with him and if you used it on me it’d be considered assault and you’d go to jail!” “Not if it’s my first offense,” Reagan corrected. Of all of the lectures, warnings, and explanations her father had given her and Ronan over the years, it was ways of getting out of trouble that seemed to stick with her the most. Then again, there was nothing better than the camaraderie and familial closeness she got from the Ashburg Police Department. They practically grew up there and had gotten to know the rest of the officers and detectives as their own family. “Whatever. Hold on.” Ronan said. Reagan’s attention turned back to the bathroom as the door opened and an avalanche of steam followed her sister out of the bathroom. “You know you’re the most impatient person ever,” Ronan said. Casually, she ran a fluffy purple towel over her hair. “I know,” Reagan chirped. “It’s part of my charm.” She smiled sweetly and nudged her twin sister out of the way. Before closing the door behind her, she turned around to face Ronan with a raised eyebrow, which Ronan mimicked. “Did you really think that I would go and get Dad’s taser?” “You’ve done worse things,” Ronan remarked. “Miss. You-have-to-listen-to-me-because-I’m-the-oldest. Don’t think I’ve forgotten the time we took Dad’s car for a joyride.” “So I’m creative,” Reagan defended. “I like to have fun. That’s not a bad thing.” “You get bored easily.” “That too.” A light sigh escaped Reagan’s lips and she turned her attention back to her sister. “I hate it when you do that, Sis.” “Do what?” The corners of Ronan’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Prove me wrong. Especially because you’re younger than me.” “I know,” Ronan beamed. “That’s why I do it.” |
About Me
Loves anything red. Rock music, playing the guitar, drawing, writing, tattoos, and sports are some of my interests and hobbies. I like to laugh, I like to think I'm funny. I talk a lot...just a warning. Archives
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