Summer

The Frompadour Files.

Oh, hey. Have you missed me as much as I’ve missed you, dear reader? Have you longingly gazed at your notifications, hoping to see that I’ve reached out to you with another post? No? Well, I love you anyway.

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about this fro (known as She) on my larger-than-average head. Let me catch you up: for the past several months or so, She’s been giving me life. Why? Because She’s been obedient! We all know how She does her own thing and follows her own rules and decides when she wants to feel moisturized and so on. But for the past several months, She’s been actually responding to my attempts at styling and care-taking. It’s been slightly surreal. But I’ll take it. Anyway, since the dawn of summer, I decided to start fashioning her into vintagey pompadour styles that She’s really responded to. Take a look.

I’ve loved the creative, natural hair updo look forever. Throw in that retro feel that some of the styles evoke and I became an immediate fan and decided to try my hand at them. Even better: the style protects my dear ends, which are tucked away comfortably while I wear these styles. Here’s a quick how-to (or how I do) on them:

I start with hair that’s been stretched by an old twist-out, or Bantu knot-out, or really any style that I’ve worn for a while. Note that stretched doesn’t necessarily mean straight. Some naturalistas do these styles on straightened hair, but I like to just have my hair stretched to a malleable point.
I then apply moisturizer or whatever styling cream I want to use. Before that, I like to spritz my hair with a tiny bit of water and/or leave-in conditioner, but not so much as to lose the stretch and bring on le shrinkage.
Now I style. Perhaps here, you’re waiting for some rhyme or reason to how I style the hair into the frompadour (fro + pompadour)? Sorry. I don’t have one. I literally stare in the mirror and start moving my hair around to see what I like. Sometimes I want a front swoop thing like you see in the photos. Or I want to create a “flower” with my hair in the back. It’s really up to what I end up doing. As long as I have an abundance of pins and a bristle brush to keep sides and edges smooth (to no avail), I just end up with a nice style that I wear for a week or so.

That’s all she wrote. I get some of my ideas from Pinterest, of course, where you’ll find plenty of ladies with similar styles. Barring the falling into the Pinterest rabbit hole, that’s a great resource for ideas. YouTube, as well.

So what new things are you doing for the summer summer summertime?

Fabu Fashion Monday: A Little Night Music.

Last weekend, my friend and I headed up to NYC to catch a concert by Damien Escobar, a violinist I discovered a few months ago. It was a nice chance to get out of town, even for a quick weekend. Digressing: have I discussed my love/hate relationship with the city? It’s a fantastic place for the arts, for museums, for my beloved Broadway–but my goodness, what is that infernal odor that persists in the air? It’s been there since 1986, when we first met. Anyway, our embattled relationship goes on.

We took the bus up to the city and checked in at Staybridge Suites, a nice hotel in the Hell’s Kitchen area (so many contrasts in that last sentence, no?), which wasn’t too far from the venue. Prior to this show, you guys, I wrangled with what I wanted to wear. My summer concert wear is typically comfortable and easy. But something intriguing happens when you’re headed to the big city, something that requests that you up the chic factor and slay all day. At least it happened to me. Anyone else get that feeling of wanting to look extra when you’re headed out of town and away from all you know at home? I certainly did. I went back and forth and back again with what I wanted to wear. Finally, after a few hours of searching the racks at my tried-and-true Ross a few days before the trip, I decided to stop stressing and went the simple route: a nice, comfortable shirt-dress. Here it is.

As you can see, très simple and très comfortable. I completed the look with square hoops in my ears and those bangles on my wrist. Honestly, I wanted my hair (kinky twists, protective style #1,097 since February of this year) and my lips to be the showstoppers. (This is always the case, dear reader. I live for awesome hair and awesome lips.) And so I did the side-swept thing by pinning back one side of the hair and pushing most of the twists to the other side. Then I applied my bestie Ruby Woo until the redness was the right shade of fiyah. A bit of mascara, some light eye shadow, and we were ready to go.

ConcertEns2

We had a good time overall. I could have done without waiting in line forever just to get inside the Highline Ballroom, where the concert was held, when we were told that arriving early would prevent that from happening and that we would have seats. No seats were had. We stood for three hours. (If you could waiting in line from 5-ish to the end of the show around 10-ish, we stood for 5 hours or so. Insert highly irritated This Square Peg emoji here.) Nevertheless, barring sound issues and things of that nature, it was nice to hang out with my friend and hear some good music.

ConcertEns4

How was your weekend, my dear reader?

June 20, 2016 2

Summertime Essentials. (?!)

As expected, the drizzly/rainy/cloudy/depressing 50-degree days of just last week quickly turned into 80-plus degree days in the big city. Our very sad spring went right into cheerful mid-summer. Out came the cute dresses on ladies, the sandals, the much-needed weather pedicures for toes that appeared to have been trapped in coal mines and were used to traverse the rocks blocking them from sunlight. My poor toes. Anyway, while attempting to wrap my brain and my sinuses around the weather extremes, I’ve certainly been taking advantage of the warmth. Shaving regularly (a pause in the collection of my winter fur), pulling my own cute dresses from the closet, putting away my coat. And as we drift further and further into the summertime zone, here are a few essentials I think are necessary (for me, anyway) to deal with warm weather.

Shorts. Since I rarely wear slips anymore, unless it’s a really fancy shmancy dress, under-shorts are perfect for those summer-y dresses that are somewhat light and flimsy and could blow a certain way when the breeze hits them. At first, I thought the pair my mom gifted me with were low-key girdles, and you know how I feel about those things, but they’re not. They’re great. And when the unfortunate sweaty season hits, I don’t have to worry about the potential forest fires that could start from the rubbing together of these juicy thighs. (We keep it real here at Team Square Peg.)

Shades. I have a bad habit, you guys. Along with handbags and earrings, I buy the cheapest sunglasses. I just do. I’ve never been interested in brand names when it comes to those things. (Well, at this point, you know me and my overall tenuous relationship with brand names and trends.) Of course, needless to say, this means I run through dozens of pairs, being that my no-more-than-$5 shades tend to break and crack and basically disintegrate. Nevertheless. Summertime simply means having a nice pair of sassy shades. As much as I’ve been forgoing my shades in the afternoons–after the long absence of the sun, its return has me gulping up Vitamin D on my face like a boss–I like having my new pair (yep, another pair) right in my handbag for those blissfully bright days. They’re super cute, too. (Don’t tsk tsk at me, dear reader. I know well made means lasts longer. So you’re buying, right?)

The new shades. Falling apart in 5,4,3…

Salads. Kidding. Eat your ice cream. It’s summer. In fact, just ignore salad at all costs.

Stories. I inherently associate summertime with reading. Well, reading for me is a year-round, slightly obsessive affair, but summer also reminds me of afternoons spent lounging on the sofa in our cool basement, out of school and surrounded by novels and various magazines. There were also plenty of days where my sister and I walked to our local library, where we spent long days in the stacks, excitedly peering through books and whispering our finds to one another. These summer days, despite not having much time to lounge around, I still arm myself with my books, both digital and hard copy. Especially during my commute to and from the OK Corral. And I make healthy use of my library card, as well. Do you have a library card? Don’t you love it? Even if I don’t check out books, there’s something kind of amazing about wandering those stacks and inhaling the sweet scent of books. Takes me back to those lovely adolescent days. (SHAMELESS PLUG: if you’re looking for something to read, you can buy my latest book of short fiction here. Thank you. I love you forever.)

Ah, la vie d’été. The summer life. Long, hot days, and long, hot nights. A normal transition would have been nice, but oh, well. Enjoy it, wherever you are…

Want to share your summertime essentials with me? Pretty please?

May 26, 2016 4

Romper Room.

So I stopped wearing shorts sometime around the late 90s/early 2000s. There was no real reason. I recall looking at myself in the mirror one day and deciding that I was no longer in PE class. Therefore: no more shorts. (Deep down, though, summertime and the meeting of thighs…you get my drift, lady out there.) Anyway, fast forward to today, or rather, a few months ago: I received a romper as part of my recent swap party haul. And I was actually pretty excited. To me, rompers combine the best of both worlds: that classy jumpsuit look/feeling that I’ve grown to love, and a fun, lighthearted style that I personally think embodies summertime. It looks like that 16 year-ban will be ending this summer.

Since I didn’t get a chance to snap some photos of my new romper, here are some Pinterest-captured views of the kind of romper ensembles that delight my eye. In other words, I like styles that aren’t too short and can be dressed up or slightly dressed down.

That far left one with the shoes and the bag and the hat…giving me so much life.

Needless to say, when I finally wake up and the weather isn’t manifesting its bipolar ways–i.e., legitimate summertime–I’ll definitely put on my new romper and provide the pictorials just for you.

Tell me: are you a romper lady? Why or why not?

May 3, 2016 2

things i currently need #8: swimsuit edition

I will preface by telling you that This Square Peg is perfectly fine in her swimming trunks, a tankini top, and a cover-up. Because she’s quite comfortable with being comfortable–including at the beach. And as much as I adore the beach for being the great body unifier (in other words, no matter what you feel about how you look, the beach will teach you about the variety in bodies, shapes, and sizes, so accept your temple and move on), I simply prefer keeping this African chocolate temple covered up, by and large. However. Sometimes a girl works hard on her health, and the physical incentives suddenly don’t feel like being covered up that much. So here are some ideas I have to interrupt that cover-up life, courtesy of Pinterest. (I plan on being about that sand and ocean life this summer, by the way.)

Love love love the retro vintagey look anyway, but I especially love seeing it in swimwear. Super cute, fashionable, and finally allows some of us to live out our Annette Funicello beach movie dreams and fantasies. (I’m not the only one, am I?)

A retro top + high-waisted bottom for a two-piece swimsuit? Golden. Golden.

Whoever came up with peplum swim tops must know how much I love peplum. Right? Because I love peplum. And I adore that I can wear it as swimwear.

That’s all she wrote, folks. May summertime greet us with sandy beaches and re-enactments of scenes from Beach, Blanket, Bingo. Onwards, upwards, and beachwards…

March 21, 2016 2

Summertime, and the Cutting is Easy…

It was going to happen eventually.

My longing for change would be manifested via my hair, and that’s exactly what happened. Without further ado…

I cut my hair.

What what?

Yes, after making promises to myself that after my cut in January 2014, I would just grow it out patiently and see where it took me, I decided to stop flirting with the idea of a cut (I’ve been thinking about it for a long, long time) and just do it. So during my trim and color (went back to black, as you can see) this past weekend, I asked my stylist if we could do a tapered cut. I wanted to retain some length, but I also wanted a shape and a style. Bim bam boom; she snipped, she did her thing, and I love it more than the sliced bread I’m avoiding.

It was time. Other than longing for a change, as I mentioned before, here are some other reasons it was high time for a style and color change:

1. As far as color, my formerly red hue was growing and looking old. Rather than spice it back up, I decided to just return to my black hair. Yes, my gray strands will be popping like crazy soon (I’ve been graying since high school, ya’ll), but whatever.

2. Honestly, as much as I love twist-outs and Bantu knots and all of that, I kind of wanted a quicker way to style my hair.

3. Tapered ‘dos are super chic!

4. It’s summer. Enough said.

Oh, and:

5. Red lippies (which you know I love) pop like crazy with dark hair.

Are you wondering if I’ll keep this look when summer ends, though? I am, as well. It’s something to think about. I really love the look. Which means I might keep it longer than these hot days. Growing out my hair was my initial goal when I big chopped, but I have to tell you that I’m a sucker for chic and quick. And whether long or short, I just want healthy hair. Let’s talk about that for a minute.

Along the way in this fun, discovery naturalista journey, my hair changed. There was some breakage, some damage.

Deciding to color it certainly didn’t help. So I think it was high time I cut it, not only for a style and a shape, but to kind of start over. So whether or not I grow it back out or retain this look, the change was necessary. We’ll see what happens. For now, I am incredibly pleased with this change.

My mother didn’t faint, by the way. She was very happy with the change, probably because I mentioned that I’m done coloring my hair. And she’s used to her oldest change fomenting change by way of hair, so there’s that.

You like? What summer changes are you up to?

June 22, 2015 3

About your Author: It’s Hot.

Apparently, winter hijacked springtime and then we went headfirst into midsummer.
Yeah, tell me about it.

How are you handling it?
Lots of sundresses and sandals. But since the atmosphere at the OK Corral tends to be below zero, I still wear sweaters over my dresses and closed-toe shoes. It’s very confusing.

I can only imagine.
Speaking of confusing, you’re being like super normal and not sarcastic with me. Are you all right? Did you fall on your head? Is the heat somehow making you completely different and–shudder–nice?

Here you go. I’m trying to be good, trying to have things in common with you. Are you ever satisfied?
Nah. But you being nice seems like the calm before I’m-kidnapped-and-stuffed-into-your-trunk storm so I needed to check.

No comment. What else have you been up to lately this summer? Still writing? Where’s that third book?
Still writing. The third book is germinating. So far my life is work, my life outside of work, writing, graduation parties, and trying to avoid bread. So basically nothing new under the hot, unrelenting, summer sun.

Still doing the health/fitness thing?
It’s not a “thing”, dear. It’s my life.

Not "almost." — Not “almost”, my friends.

Sheesh, simmer down. We journalists are supposed to ask the hard-hitting questions, aren’t we?
Well, I’m not Nixon and you’re certainly not David Frost. And no serious journalist has ever uttered the words “simmer down” to the person they’re interviewing.

Speaking of that, why in the world are we conducting this interview? You’ve said nothing of substance and I’m too hot to keep this going.
That’s the point, isn’t it?

All right, we’re done. We’re done.
Whew. Back to your old self again. ‘Bye, my angry love!

June 15, 2015 0

Fabu Fashion #4: The Mod Squad

I’m a sucker for 60s-type mod dresses. I’ve had this dress for a while and will hold on to it until the seams fall out. It’s comfortable enough for these hot, spring-is-now-hijacked-by-summer days that we’re experiencing in the Northeast area. I paired it with my mom’s shiny flats (she shouldn’t leave shiny things around with me in the vicinity), some silver hoops, and called it a day. By now, I’m sure you’re realizing that I keep things pretty simple when it comes to work style. Whatever jumps out in the closet and won’t take me too long to put together, since I spend more time unraveling twists and Bantu knots that anything else in the AM. The life of a naturalista.

Happy Thursday. May all your pre-Friyay dreams comes true.

May 28, 2015 3

Fabu Fashion Wednesday.

June 25, 2014 0

This Square Peg.

Happily Not Fitting In Since 1978.

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The Frompadour Files.

Fabu Fashion Monday: A Little Night Music.

Summertime Essentials. (?!)

Romper Room.

things i currently need #8: swimsuit edition

Summertime, and the Cutting is Easy…

About your Author: It’s Hot.

Fabu Fashion #4: The Mod Squad

Fabu Fashion Wednesday.

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Happily Not Fitting In Since 1978.

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