The Road to Embracing My Womanhood: Part III - Look, I'm not sure how long this is gonna go on for.

Music: Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell "Ain't No Mountain High Enough"
P.S. This song always reminds me of Ryan Reynolds in Remember The Titans. Love Love Love that movie.

Mood: Well duh, I'm happy, just watched a movie's football locker scene!

I too surprised myself when I decided to return to Columbus, OH for another year of school. My independence as a young woman was some what s l o p p y.... The summer that preceded this I worked at BDs Mongolian BBQ. There was a night that some other talented ladies and I would grill everyone's food in the middle of the restaurant using wooden sticks. We weren't nearly as talented as the entertaining male grillers, but we certainly were cuter. The grill boasted some 600 degrees so sweat was to be expected. So of course, I wore a FULL FACE of make-up back there at that sweaty grill. Imagine how attractive I looked as my silver eyeshadow leaked around my tired eyes now decorated with eyeliner eye boogers! Eeeew! Worry not, I kept my makeup bag just mere inches away from me so I could reapply and touch up as needed. The lesson to be learned here, just because you're in a sauna doesn't mean you can't wear a full face of makeup. Disclaimer: That is not true, makeup melts and faces look like Pinterest crayon art projects.

Our make believe sorority's formal night, PKP.

Year II in Columbus was my first year officially living on my own, and not in the Vagina Monologue dorms from the previous year. This was also the year that I moved into an apartment on 16th Ave. The situation couldn't be any better: Some girls from Heights, my high school alma mater, who also lived with my bestie Becky, were looking to give a roommate the boot! Below their apartment, and the level below that one as well, were more girls from my dormitory! Score! For all the bitchin' and moanin' I did about living in the all girl dorm I was pretty stoked to nearly recreate that living situation.

Our honorary roommate, babe.

Colleen, you know what caption goes here?.

Doesn't everyone perform choreographed dances to 80's songs at parties?

You don't even want to know.

  We like to party. Some of us harder than others....It was happening, a lot. Once my sister visited me and asked "Why do you wear so much makeup? Ya know when you get drunk you just look like a clown?" Hmmm. Although some of you readers might be thinking Damnnnnnn, she just dogged you, I disagreed. The endless amount of makeup I wore looked good to me, at all times, sober, and especially when I was drunk. When I'd come home from a night out and look in the mirror, I'd think "Who are those beautiful blurry girls?"

Words can't explain how much I love this girl.

This was also the year I got honestly vulnerable with another woman for the first time. I'd always kept women at arms lengths unless they had something I could selfishly gain from the relationship. So I was not used to this level of honesty and intimacy. And no, I don't mean intimate like half naked pillow fights while popping Bubbaliscious bubble gum, I mean intimate like depth and weight to our conversations; sharing love and real friendship too. She inspired me and saw qualities in me that I'd never seen in myself. I didn't know women could be that real...Maybe because I'd never behaved that way myself...

Year III, OSU, living on 17th Ave, this was a bit of a doozy. I lived in The Big White House.

Haunted House

Look at the picture. Sitting up there on the hill, kinda reminding me of that movie Psycho...which pretty much sums up that year! HA! We can open and close that book rather quickly.

Here conveys all my chic roommates and my gfs posing like we're besties.

But seriously, finally the coed living experience I'd been waiting for. I didn't really know the 5 other women I lived with and quite frankly, wasn't to keen on trying to change that. They were girls, duh. 

(Fast Forward to present day when one of those women is actually one of my bffs and we pretty much share the same brain. I thank God for her. She is the Kaling to my Mindy. See below) 

Hey you, with the glasses on, wanna be my best friend?

Sending Brenna off to the Navy, tear.

Look how normal we look. Obviously early in the night.

I tried to hang with our male roommates as often as possible. Always the girl, trying to drink like a man, talking with the potty mouth of a man (but with a higher voice), watching Sopranos and reading Maxim magazine. Was this an identity crisis? No, I really honestly enjoyed those things. I perceived that any way a female spent her time that was different from me, was lame. I think I thought I'd found some secret to happiness. Yeah, I was super happy living there, (shaking my head in slow motion "noooo.")

The 2nd annual PKP Formal. As much as I thought disliked girls, I sure did keep a lot of em around.

That year living in that Big White House left it's mark on me enough so that I eventually packed my Barbie dolls up and moved to Georgia. Oh wait, one more thing. I remember trying to get dressed for class and struggling because 90% of my closet was club wear. Shiny this or sparkly that. Fancy Black pants, tight black pants, looser black pants, black pants with pockets and wanna be snakeskin blackish pants. I'm pretty convinced that daytime wear didn't exist to me. What ever did a lady need non fitting t-shirts and casual jeans for? (Hahahaha, stay tuned for the next part when ALL I wear are sweats and my husband's shirts covered in baby drool.)