I LOVE These Things: A Shampoo, A Show, and Saying No

Happy April!

Did anyone have any great April Fool’s Pranks they played?

I remember one year my husband made me a cup of coffee to go and filled it with beef bullion instead of coffee and cream. Let’s just say that was the last April Fools Prank he played on me.

Here is what I’m loving this week.

Dry Shampoo

File this under “Crap Kelly Should Know About Cause Everyone Else Does”. 

I was listening to the Modern Love Podcast while driving home from Nebraska over Spring Break. (It’s a great podcast by the way, but I’ll talk about that another day.) The podcast is sponsored by Living Proof Hair Care Products and specifically their Dry Shampoo.

Normally I totally glaze over and ignore these kinds of ads when they come on…but since it was the same ad in every podcast AND I had now listened to six podcasts during the road trip…the message began to burn into my brain.

The Message: “Living Proof Dry Shampoo can give your hair new life after a spinning class – no showering required.”

WHAT, THE WHAT?

First, I called “BS” to this offer in the car. There was NO WAY this could be true. But after listening to the message for the sixth time, I began to wonder if there was some truth in advertising.

Because here is the deal…I workout five mornings a week and I sweat like a “call girl in church” and I hate reshowering and redoing my hair every day. HATE IT! So I was intrigued about this “magical formula” in a bottle and could really cut down my get ready time two or three days a week.

The result… PURE MAGIC.

Look at that hair! And that was after sweating my heart out in the morning and not washing it for THREE DAYS. Granted, it took a WHOLE LOT of dry shampoo to make it presentable…but decreased my get ready time by close to 20 minutes. WIN.

On a side note, I did not use Living Proof, but used Aveeno because I had received a bottle at some {insert blogger thing} over the years and had it stashed away. 

The Great British Baking Show

As the mother of a pre-teen boy, a 10-year old artsy girl and wife to a slightly curmudgeon male – picking a television show we can all agree on is HARD.

On a fluke, we started watching The Great British Baking Show on Amazon Prime and instantly became hooked.

It combines all the things my boys like (competition, elimination, suspense) with all the things my daughter loves (baking and creating). I love it because it is reality television without being “Americanized” reality television. No one is sabotaging another person’s cake or forming alliances or bad-mouthing another baker. The contestants are a set of people who LOVE baking…the art, the skill, the science and appreciate the other contestants who love it as much as they do.

Plus, it’s fun to watch amateurs create baked goods that (theoretically) we could make in our own kitchens. My kids have a new found desire to try and make Schichttorte. And I have a show the whole family can watch. WIN-WIN.

(And if we are being completely honest, I have a small crush on the judge Paul Hollywood. Yes, that is his real name.)

Saying No

At times, it is hard to be a blogger.

And not first world problems of working in yoga pants or drinking too much coffee or having weird hours.

It’s hard because our “worth” is defined in “likes, clicks, comments, and open-rates”.

And that worth is shown in more advertisers, more sponsored activities, more opportunities. Essentially, more money.

(And while I could get into a WHOLE blog post about money…in the end I believe YOU – my readers – want me to make as much money as possible while still be true to myself and the blog. You want me to maintain my honesty…and as long as I do that – you want me to do as well as possible.)

But here is the thing…in this weirdo blogging world I live in, the “more” becomes a life of excess.

What do I mean?

• Bloggers (including myself) making recipes and photographing the items and then throwing the food away (not often, but it happens).
• Bloggers taking pictures of new outfits and posting online, only to return the clothes back to the store because they just need “new pictures”, not new outfits. (I don’t do this.)
• Bloggers accepting items, trips, bonuses, tickets, cars and more for things they really don’t want, need or care about only to write a post and then “Craiglist” the item after the fact to make some cash. (I don’t do this either.)

Blogging can turn into a weirdo world of excess.

And I struggle, because I’m called but something much higher than me, to NOT LIVE THAT LIFE. With everything in me, I know, I should live a life of fewer longer-lasting things and more experience. Less stuff means surrounding yourself with only things that you love and are worthwhile. Less stuff is easier to manage. Less stuff is freeing to me.

But it’s hard, because to “get ahead” in this weird world you almost have to “give in” to the excessive life.

Or, you are brave and buck it like my friend Kristen and her friend Lindsay did this week.

Their posts…both of them…brought me to tears because they used their platforms and moved the needle. They weren’t afraid of the “likes, the comments and the open-rates” … they embraced the small voice inside of them and SPOKE LOUD WORDS. Words that inspired. Words that changed the world. Words that mattered.

I tell you all of this because I’m struggling, several days later. But I know it is a struggle worth fighting. A struggle that matters. A struggle that is stirring something else in me. A struggle that I doubt I’m alone in feeling.

See past editions of I LOVE These Things.