I'm a girl, and by me that's only great!
I am proud that my silhouette is curvy,
That I walk with a sweet and girlish gait
With my hips kind of swivelly and swervy.

When I was a kid, I was a real tomboy. My life was lived in those Osh Kosh B'Gosh overalls that came in a variety of colors. Being a freak of habit I naturally had all of those colors, so now when I look back at childhood photos I am generally clad in red, blue or green overalls much like a miniature Village People wanna-be. My time was invariably spent up in a tree, reading a book and making myself sick on crabapples, so the overalls were perhaps fitting, seeing as I was channeling Huck Finn and all.

I also insisted on wearing a long sleeve shirt at all times as I hated my arm hair.

But then again I've always been nuts.

My whole life I've been pretty consistently un-girlie. I can't stand having my fingernails painted, and as the sound of nail filing makes me want to fling myself from the top of a very high building, I've never even had a manicure or a pedicure (as the sound of sandpaper only magnifies my want-to-fling-from-rooftops phobia, it very conveniently means I am hereby excused from any DIY that might mean sandpapering. Some phobias work out well.) The only hair coloring I've ever done came out of a bottle in the bathroom of my own house, cheap plastic gloves at the ready and blobby stains of errant hair dye marking my bath mat. The hair dying was about the only attention I ever paid to my hair-I went through university without ever having my hair cut and, once I emerged out of the four year rite of passage with hair down to my waist, I cut it all off in one go. I've been pretty hit-and-miss with returning to the beauty salon since, as I get bored sitting still and I'm not good at having a regular relationship with any kind of vendor of goods (back to the being nuts theme, here).

When I have a brand new hairdo
With my eyelashes all in curl,
I float as the clouds on air do,
I enjoy being a girl!

I only started wearing a bra when I was threatened with bodily harm as a teenager in a Sears shop (complete with sulking and tantrum on my part at the thought of being confined by what I considered to be such an abomination of elastic). And, as punishment, karma rewarded me with a rack that eventually sprang out to be a 38DD, although a little trip to the plastic surgeon helped take that back, thank you very much. My period started late as a child (again, karma is here with the Carrie-like bloodbath to make sure I am compensating for that), and when I was a teenager that whole "being a teenage girl and using her wiles on the men while utilizing modern fashion and enjoying the endeavors of makeup" was a concept restricted to Claire in The Breakfast Club.

And now, strangely, I have become a girl. Now that I am a creaking 31 years old, I have figured out that the tits actually mean something. They symbolize something in a Rivers of Estrogen sense. I'm a chick, and the older I get, the more of a chick I am becoming.

Although I made it through most of my life running in fear of skirts, I've noticed that the past year I almost never wear trousers at work. I wear skirts. I like skirts. Actually, I like skirts so much that it's the first thing I look at in the shops.

I wear makeup. In fact, unless I am crawling around dusty floorboards picking off pieces of foam-backed sea grass carpeting, I don't leave the house without at least a slick of lip gloss, my eyebrows done, and a bit of mascara. Eyebrows are important to me. This is why I was devastated when they didn't allow tweezers on airplanes anymore as that's absolutely the best lighting in the world to see the little stray eyebrow hair fuckers that you don't see in your bathroom.

And as the boho look creeps in, I am definitely living life and actually enjoying trying to see what other types of clothes I like (although I still won't wear form-fitting clothes, and I still buy clothes one size too big. Hey-we all have insecurities.) No longer is every single item in my closet a variant of the color black. Goth be gone, I have seen the light! The summer clothes I have bought are all much lighter-hot pink, pale yellow, robin's egg blue, lavender. It's like the Easter bunny took a crap in my closet. I just love it.

And even better-many of my skirts have sparklies on them. Seriously. I am all about the sequins. Sequins just make the skirt. My summer is about skirts that can reflect enough light to land airliners. Although I suspect the sparklies will be sadly packed away for the duration of the black and grey-clad winter months (everyone hates those cheerful and perky folk that try to be all happy and Thumper-like in winter), they will be unpacked and twirled about in again next year, "last season's fashions" be damned!

And the strange thing is, I am getting into vintage as well. You know that lovely necklace that I bought at the local antique shop? Well, since then I've bought 3 more of that kind of necklace, all from the 1930's, all absolutely stunning. And I've bought two pairs of earrings. This is major, as previously I only ever owned one pair at a time, always tiny hoops, which I would wear until one got lost then I would replace it. Now I am trying to wear earrings, and trying to pick different styles, all of them a bit dangly. And it turns out I have a hot and heavy lust for what's called rainbow crystal-I'm bidding on a few other pieces, as I think they're lovely and will make great gifts (which will only be going to deserving people that I hope will love them as much as I do!).

I have bought a 1970's English schoolboy satchel to use as a purse. I have vintage jewelry now. And I'm turning to vintage sunglasses, only I could never in a million years believe what it is that I find interesting.

Me...suicidal crazy chick who has always worn black...I saw these 1950's sunglasses on a webpage and it was absolute and total instant lust. I wanted them so badly I had to put my head down and weep (especially as this pair has been sold, and so they no longer have them. They have an orange pair I really want, but it doesn't have sparkles, and I don't want to pay $115 USD). That's right. They're pink. Really pink. With glitter. And once I saw them, all I could do was think of magical nights at the Sadie Hawkins dance, where we did the hand jive and then went to the local burger joint for a soda float. That's right. Suddenly, it was like Grease had taken over my mind (and no, I don't think I'm Sandy. Not only could I never, ever fit in those black leather trousers but I don't have an Australian accent. I think I'm more like Frenchy, really. Kinda' hopeless and with strange hair.)

But that's not all. I'm not just thinking about waving around a bunch of stationary in a kiddie pool and mooning over a boy who I would undoubtedly wind up divorcing later in life as a bitter woman with saddlebags who felt she'd wasted her life on an ex-Thunderbird thug after giving up the chance to go back to Australia and date a surfer. I'm not limited to the 50's, oh no.

I found the 60's. And I like these. Visions of dancing like Twiggy in a bouncy pink sequined skirt fly through my head. They're pink. And they're perfect. Of course, they're also $175 USD and I'm not very interested in paying that, but still. They're so cute, even though, ironically, I have very little interest in the 60's. Bell bottoms are things that should be purged from every household. Free love was only ever free in that decade, and even then it came with strings. I don't care for the music, and I don't get the whole hippy thing, but I do love the fuck out of those sunglasses.

So yes. As time goes on, I am becoming more of a girl. Even though I am sitting here in my men's boxer shorts and Paris souvenir T-shirt, at least my toes are painted a sparkly lavender color. In our bedroom are a few vintage pieces that I am keeping for myself (just a few, but still, I love my few fiercely). And I am on the lookout for the 1950's vintage pink sparkly sunglasses, so if anyone sees any, let me know because my blood lust desire for that already-sold pair I saw is still sweltering.

A girl's gotta' have pink sparkly shades, after all.

And as I have been learning, I am absolutely, most definitely, a girl.

I'm strictly a female female
And my future I hope will be
In the home of a brave and free male
Who'll enjoy being a guy having a girl... like... me.

-H.

Posted by: Everydaystranger at 06:24 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
Post contains 1598 words, total size 9 kb.

1 I get a big kick out of my girls who like to play rough and tumble softball, but still love to be girly-girls. But *sob* a breast reduction? *bursts into tears and runs from room*

Posted by: ~Easy at August 04, 2005 12:36 PM (UQp2v)

2 If I had any talent for writing, your post today would be something that I would put on a blog. I used to be such a tomboy. I spent most of my childhood in a tree, lost in the world of Nancy Drew. I always hated makeup, long earrings and detested skirts. I swore to anyone that would listen that I would never wear any of the above. That lasted until I was 26. Then I had a gastric bypass in September '04 and I've lost 92 pounds since then. I feel like I've been invaded. I'm sitting here at my desk, wearing a sparkly rhinestone/turqoise circle skirt and black strappy heels. My hair is "done" and although I'm still not very big on makeup (mascara and lip gloss don't really count as makeup, right?), I'm still wearing some. I have on dangly earrings that tickle my jaw when I turn my head. When I was younger, if I tried to wear makeup or skirts, I felt like they were wearing ME. Now, I think I'm pretty and I fucking DESERVE it. Oh, yeah..and that whole "nuts" thing rings a little true for me,too.

Posted by: Lindsay at August 04, 2005 01:54 PM (GP/h7)

3 "It's like the Easter bunny took a crap in my closet." LOL Gawd, I adore you. I swear I could have written this post... My grandfather made sure that I was a tomboy, in his weird rationalization that I was the first grandchild, I would be all that he wanted as that designation. So, tomboy it was, learning how to climb trees before I could walk right, and anything outside of what Papaw taught me, I learned from reading. My grandmother at one point tried to get me to be girly, and I destroyed all dresses that came my way, especially if there were ribbons involved. Now, though? Sephora is a Mecca, and step away from the Coach bags and no one gets hurt. The biggest difference is that I prefer green to pink, and I prefer my retro to be pre-1950's.

Posted by: amber at August 04, 2005 02:01 PM (VZEhb)

4 I was a tomboy, too. The girls hated me. I had buck teeth and wore highwaters. But the boys were my friends because I'd race bikes with them and climb trees. Plus, I f-ing rocked at foursquare. And then the really awkward stage during jr. high...oh my sweet Lord, was I ever a dork. But then - the punk rocker 80's thing saved me! I finally fit in and was "cool" in a non-cool way. And now, the girly 30's. I'm with you, dear Helen, I LOVE being a girl. Makeup, jewelry, skirts, perfume, the whole shebang. With a twist of course. I'm still not trendy, but fantastic. Here's to being a girl! Cheers...

Posted by: Serena at August 04, 2005 02:03 PM (jU/ey)

5 I was never a girly girl either. My grandmother says I took a jump rope folded into a book everywhere we went. The jump rope was first choice, but if it was not allowed, I'd settle for reading. Now, I'd rather wear a skirt than jeans--and sparkles are fabulous! My niece adores skirts and will always choose them first--but that doesn't keep her from rolling around in the grass whenever possible.

Posted by: sophie at August 04, 2005 06:11 PM (yZwDD)

6 Your post was MY life story, too. I think, at some point, the girl comes out. I wonder if there is some sort of hormonal shift that pleads for the prettiness of Barbie and her designer wardrobe. Just this year, my closest has shades of pink, yellow, blue, and purple. Goth has been banished. And a couple of years ago, I even removed ALL of my piercings. (Although I wish I could be more like you and have my 38DDD taken away...good God...how can one be expected to have a great wardrobe when their boobs dictate so much??) I am learning to like skirts more...strappy shoes...pretty things. I LOVE unique jewelry. Yup...this little tomboy has morphed into girlhood. And, I like it.

Posted by: Dana at August 04, 2005 07:22 PM (cGTvj)

7 I admit it, I graduated high school in 1961... sooo, I'd like to forget the fads of yesteryear... funny how fashion and fads repeat themselves. When I look at them now, I simply remember a time when I couldn't wait to leave these things behind : ) I think I can still find some of these items at my mother's house because she never throws anything away (having lived thru the Depression). Nothing in pink tho. Ah well, time for my nap.

Posted by: Annette at August 04, 2005 07:38 PM (4w5M9)

8 So so true. At 32 all of a sudden pink is my new black and I can't stop painting my toenails pastels. What the hell? And those sunglasses-the 50 one's-do you really think I would share a great find like that? ;-)

Posted by: Teresa at August 04, 2005 07:48 PM (EBXAo)

9 I, too, can add myself to the list of coming of age women. I wish so much that I had known what a flat iron was 10-15 years ago. I actually just discovered the contraption about a year ago. God Bless the person who invented it (and we might as well add the inventor of smoothing hair goop too while we're passing out the blessings). And I can only softly whisper that I LIKE to wear dresses now for fear that the walls will come tumbling down around me. What spurred my transformation... likely it was a mix between trying to look/act professional at work and breaking up with a long-term bf. Maybe I should have gotten a real job and/or dumped his ass much earlier... LOL!

Posted by: deb at August 05, 2005 06:22 AM (y/SPx)

10 Couple of things: I too am big on eyebrows... mine are pretty thick so I have to stay on top of them.. and no tweezers = bad news for the Snidget. I love the boho look... seems to be bigger over in England than here though... which is a shame. 1970's schoolboy satchel!!! What????? I want one too!!

Posted by: Snidget at August 08, 2005 03:49 AM (zl6wf)

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