Donate That Hair!

Can we just talk about how difficult it is to donate your hair? I just wanted to give my hair away so that someone who wasn't fortunate enough to grow their own could have a wig. I had to research all the way into the dark abyss of the second page on Google to find a place that would actually take my hair. 

Most places require at least 8 inches. No dead ends (for good reason). But the most difficult one? NO HAIR COLOR.

Girls in this day in age color their hair. A lot. I'm always impressed whenever I come across a girl who has never colored her hair. Like, "Congratulations! You've bucked the norm! You've saved yourself loads of money! Your hair must be so healthy!" What about those of us that have colored our hair and still want to donate it though? 

It is possible to donate your hair if it's colored. Yes, even if it's bleached. You might have to send it off to the UK and complete customs forms (this was the route I had to take), but it is a possibility. So if coloring your hair is holding you back, have no fear Little Princess Trust is here!

Being Lactose Intolerant in a World Hooked on Dairy

About a year and a half ago it was brought to my attention that I am unfortunately lactose intolerant. For about six months I tried to ignore that detrimental news and continued to consume dairy. At the expense of my belly and my sanity. As I've tried to cut dairy out of my diet, I've realized how prominent dairy is in the diets of the average person so finding yummy things at restaurants or even frozen meals at the grocery store is a little hard. Thankfully the trend of being vegan is making it to Oklahoma because that's made it a lot easier on me to find dairy free products when grocery shopping. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Califia Farms Almond Milk

This almond milk has become a staple for me. I cook with it. I put it in my coffee. I eat it with my cereal. And the best part about it: They make multiple flavors!

2. Aged Cheeses

Good news: aged cheeses like cheddar, swiss, parmesan, etc. have small enough amounts of lactose that most people who are lactose intolerant can eat them! Yay for not having to give up all cheese!

3. So Delicious Ice Cream

This ice cream has changed my life. It does have a coconut flavor, so if you don't like the way coconut tastes stay away from this ice cream. I love the added flavor that it gives simple flavors like chocolate.

Reminiscing on the Good Times

It's been a year since my first airplane ride. My first time out of the United States. My amazing trip to Thailand. I've been scrolling through pictures that I took while riding elephants and hiking a waterfall. So lucky you, here are some of my favorites.

My Newest Obsession

A few days ago I was making my daily scroll through the Us Weekly website (yes, that's my guilty pleasure, judge me) and I came across a headline Jennifer Nettles and her love for brussels sprouts (Click here for Jennifer's recipe!). All of my roommates will gladly tell you about my newest obsession with brussels sprouts so I decided to share my favorite of all of the recipes that I've tried so far.

Full disclosure, I don't really go by measurements when experimenting with cooking so just go with your instincts.

-Brussels sprouts

-Olive oil

-Salt

-Pepper

-Panko bread crumbs

-Garlic

Start by washing your brussels sprouts. Cut them in half and put them in to a bowl. Add olive oil, salt, pepper, Panko bread crumbs, and garlic. Mix it all until you feel like you've gotten your brussels sprouts covered to your liking. Spread it all out on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.

The News that Rocked My World

I was recently talking to one of my professors about my father situation and it inspired me to talk about it because I know I'm not the only person who's been through it and I won't be the last. So here it is:

Growing up I always knew there were differences between my siblings and I. I'm extroverted. They're introverted. I'm always on the go or doing something. They like to stay at home and hang out. I'm tall and thin. They're shorter and don't disappear whenever they turn to the side. (Except my brother, he's pretty tall.) But I always thought it was because our genes just played out in different ways.

Whenever I was 17, my grandma dropped a bomb on me that I actually had a different biological dad than they did. Their dad had legally adopted me whenever I was 4, but had been a part of my life since before I was even a year old. (I'm also the oldest, so they never knew any better either.) So he was the only dad I had ever known. He still is the only dad I know.

But, it all rocked my world. (As I imagine it would to any teenage girl dealing with the awful stage of life that I was already in.) I lost the sense of who I was. I felt like I couldn't trust anyone around me. I mean my own family had kept something so big from me for so long, and all my life I had been taught that if you can't trust your own family, who can you trust? 

I started to spiral out of control. (Keep in mind I had a lot of other junk going down in my life at the same time that I'll save for another post.) I looked for affirmation from males. I sought happiness in drunkenness. I developed anxiety. I had gone from the girl who was confident, smart, and had everything together to the girl who didn't even recognize herself whenever she looked in the mirror no matter how hard I looked.

Because my dad and I had our ups and downs while I was growing up (let's be honest I wasn't the easiest teenager and he has his faults as well), I started to try to make a connection with my biological dad. It's been impossible. He is a ranch hand. He doesn't like to be in cities. He ropes on the weekends for fun. He goes to chicken fights for entertainment. He sounds like Larry the Cable Guy. All things that I can't relate to in any way. I still talk to him occasionally, but let's be real, we're basically strangers.

The news all took a real hit on my relationship with my parents and my siblings. I was extremely bitter with my parents. We fought constantly. I felt like there was such a wall between us that I couldn't talk to them about anything. They wouldn't let me talk to my siblings about what was going on. My siblings just thought I was being a brat about moving because around the same time we moved from Texas to Oklahoma. None of them understood what I was processing through or experiencing. And they were my only communication outlets because they were the only people I knew near me.

Not having people to talk to really took a toll on me. Extroverts get their energy from interacting with other people and I was just sitting in my room alone trying to avoid my family. Which spurred on my anxiety. I was left alone with my thoughts. My confusion on what was going on. The pull from all sides to just "hear them out". Why they chose to keep it from me. Why they were hurt by the situation. And worst, why they were never there in the first place.

But, a little over five years later my relationship with my parents and my siblings is stronger than it ever has been. Through a lot of personal reflection, I've been able to forgive everyone in the situation and I've been able to see their side a little more clearly. We now sit around during the holidays laughing until we're crying about all of the things we did as kids. We go shopping together. We just hang out on the couch at my parents' house and talk. And I'm convinced that our relationship wouldn't be what it is now if it wouldn't have been through such a trial.

Cue the Basic White Girls Belting Oceans

There's nothing that makes me feel at peace, joyful, and in awe quite like the view of the ocean. A lot of times I'll just sit and stare out at the vastness without an inkling of how to even describe what I'm viewing. (Which is amazing because it takes a lot to leave me speechless.) It's mysterious and magnificent. 

There's great depth filled with unknown, yet it's so clear that I can see my feet touching the sand on the ocean floor. Seeing it easily reminds me of God and His existence. How could you not look at it and see the handiwork of a great Creator?

My perception of the ocean is much like my perception of God and a relationship with Him. It's mysterious. There's so much I don't know about His Word and there's so much I'll never totally grasp about Him. I'll never be able to wrap my mind around why someone actually loved me so much that they paid the ultimate sacrifice on a Roman torture device in order to have a relationship with me. A relationship with a human being that had no desire to even know Him. Yet, He sought me out. And time after time showed me His love for me. 

But it's magnificent because I can sit in class or in the car or anywhere at all and have a conversation with the Creator of my soul. MY SOUL. We're not talking about the creator of a song, or a theory, or even an amazing work of art. This is the Creator of everything in the universe, from the tiniest creature in the ocean to the largest planet in orbit. And I can have a conversation with Him like He's my best friend. It's magnificent because I can rest in knowing that He has a plan for my life. That He cares more about me and what's going on in the world than I could ever muster up. 




(A little heavy? Maybe. But, I came across this in my old pictures and couldn't stop looking at it in awe so I had to jot down some of my thoughts.)

Time for a Change Up

So I've decided that I'm already sick of blogging solely about my travels and because of that my blog is about to gain a new voice. (I mean obviously it'll still be my voice, just over a different topic.)

In order to continue to enjoy blogging I'm going to start to treat this as a journal of sorts. Just writing about my experiences, specifically those that occur while I enjoy my life just goin with the flow...or as some might say just goin with the Chlo. (Can I say that about my own blog? Too bad, just did.)

Get ready for a view inside my mind (it's weird) and a front row seat to the things going on around me.

I Am a Cultural Pariah

The life of Chloe is full of awkward and laughable moments. Throw in different cultures and I am just one giant accident waiting to happen. Out of all of my social blunders, my favorite occurred while I was in Tokyo. Thankfully, I wasn't alone in this blunder. My whole group went down with me. Here is our bathroom story:

Looking at this picture most people think, "Wow, what a nice Gap ad." (I mean they probably don't, but I know I do so I'm just going to pretend that everyone else does too.) This was taken outside of our Airbnb that we stayed at in Tokyo. We spent a lot of our time inside that Airbnb learning about the culture of Japan, which obviously included the language and phrases that would be helpful for us when communicating with the locals. 

We each had lists of words and phrases that we would either write in a notebook or on the notes portion of our phones so that we were well equipped in the Japanese combat against English. (Some people do know and speak English very well there, but most people that I encountered only spoke Japanese or very broken English.)A few of our words and phrases included: 

Where is the train station? (Crucial for getting place to place)

That's cool! (Our Japanese friends loved when we used this)

How much?

Yes

No

Do you speak English? (Always the first thing out of my mouth)

Where is the bathroom? (The most important phrase of this story)

I mean, we learned more than this, but this is just a sampling to get to the point. 

I wish I had kept track of every person that I asked to point me to the bathroom. Not because I have a small bladder, but mainly because I was fascinated by Japanese toilets. I mean they have seat warmers on them, bidets (yes I am sandwiching the word bidet so maybe people will overlook it), and even music or water sounds (so people don't hear you going to the bathroom).

I MEAN LOOK AT ALL OF THE BUTTON OPTIONS!!!

But, aside from the toilets, sometimes I really did have to go to the bathroom. Each time I asked someone in Japanese, "Where is the bathroom?" I would ooze with pride because honestly, I was speaking Japanese hello! We would all come back each day talking about how well we were speaking Japanese. 

One of my friends from my group had asked a group of girls to point her to the restroom and they all giggled at her but kindly pointed her to the bathroom. When telling us about this, she just thought the girls were impressed and thought it was cute that she was speaking Japanese to them.

Days later we were talking to one of our friends that we had made in  Japan about what all we were learning to say. When we got to "Where is the bathroom?", she laughed. She outwardly belly laughed at us! We immediately felt embarrassed and curious. Like, WHAT HAVE WE BEEN SAYING THIS WHOLE TIME AND WHY IS THIS FUNNY?!?! 

She was very hesitant to tell us what we had been saying the whole time, but after tons unrelentless amounts of time asking her she finally told us. While wandering Japan, we had been asking people, "Where is the $h!tter?"

We had been asking the people whose approval we were trying to gain to point us to the most profane way to say bathroom. And they were happily pointing us in the right direction while most likely thinking, "Stupid American".

I still laugh out loud at this every time I think about it and occasionally I say it to my American friends who are oblivious to what I'm saying. 

Hop On In!

Public transportation can seem scary enough in the U.S.. Now imagine hopping on a train in another country. Where people pile in like cattle. You are literally pressed against a human being that you don't know and may not even be able to communicate with.

But, aside from the general strangeness of having so many people in your bubble, public transportation can actually be a really fun way to get from place to place in new countries. And you can meet all sort of fun people during your ride.

Public transportation can greatly differ in each country. (Luckily for Americans, Uber is in over 60 countries.) In India, a lot of people use rickshaws. RICKSHAWS ARE SO FUN.

India also has trains. Not bullet trains, or subways, or anything remotely luxurious, but like legitimate cattle cars. The seats are metal, the doors and windows are open the entire time, beggars wander around the cars, people jump on while the train is moving (one of those people being me...), and no one cares about your personal space.

Japan's public transportation system was TOTALLY different from India's. While people do overcrowd the trains, they don't talk to each other (or on the phone), the trains are air conditioned, enclosed, and actually clean. They also have an app for the subway system in Tokyo called Tokyosubway.

These are just my experiences with public transportation, and I know there are people out there with far more experiences. But, when traveling try it out sometime! 

I've Got Friends in All Places

In my last post, I mentioned meeting locals so you can learn more about holidays that are occurring while you're visiting, but there are lots of reasons why you should befriend the locals. Here are what I think are 3 of the biggest reasons to engage with those who are a part of the culture:


Reason #1: These people could become lifelong friends.

Whenever I travelled to India and Japan, never did I imagine developing friendships with people that might go beyond my time there. I thought I would go there, make friends with people who would teach me about the culture, hang out with them and then just move on with life. I am so thankful that I was wrong!!! I am now friends with people that I met while overseas on every form of social media that I have so I can keep up with their lives and we still text each other every once and a while to catch up.

Reason #2: The friends you make can teach you more about their culture than you will learn on your own.

In Thailand, I tried to learn about the culture without really engaging with the people there. I learned little to nothing about the country whenever I was there. Looking back I could kick myself for neglecting the impact that their input could have had on my trip.

But, in India, Japan and even L.A., I talked to locals and spent time with them which really helped me to understand the culture of each place. (They were also able to show me different places that only people from the area would know about.)

Because I developed friendships with people in India, I was able to explore street markets I never would have found, attend engagement parties and visit historical landmarks I didn't know about. I was even invited in to the homes of some of the friends that I made.



In Japan my friends taught me about Purikura (hilarious and awesome photo booths), themed restaurants, Snow (basically Snapchat but with like a million more filters) and Japanese karaoke. All of my favorite memories in Japan were made while doing these things and I totally would have missed out on them if I wouldn't have befriended people from Japan!

I didn't necessarily make lifelong friends with people in L.A., but I did start conversation with all of my Uber drivers and they were extremely helpful with restaurant suggestions, places to visit that weren't "touristy", bars to check out and areas to make sure to stay away from. 

Reason #3: You have a reason to re-visit those places.

Now that I've made friends in each of these locations, I have someone to go see! If I ever decide I want to experience more of any of the cultures, I have someone to stay with and my own personal tour guide.


So be friendly, step out of your comfort zone and talk to those around you!

Party Like a Local

Something I never thought of whenever I started my travels was to be aware of the holidays happening where I would be. To really experience whatever culture you're going to be diving in to, research the holidays that are happening. They can make for some great memories with new local friends!

Click here to check global holidays!

Whenever I visited Thailand, I stayed in Hua Hin. Once I got there, I found out that Hua Hin is actually the vacation spot of the king. In Thailand, the king is EVERYTHING to the people. (Citizens have gotten jail time for speaking poorly of him.) I also found out once I got there that the king was celebrating his birthday, along with the WHOLE ENTIRE country of Thailand. There they call his birthday "Father's Day" because they all love him so much. They also wear yellow shirts to honor the king. Because I was uninformed, I was surrounded by a sea of people in yellow, while I was walking around in gray. How embarrassing...

Luckily whenever I was in Tokyo some friends that we made informed my group and I that there was a holiday coming up. This was awesome because we got to celebrate it with locals. Tanabata, the Star Festival, actually originated from a Chinese holiday. They taught us all about the holiday, why they celebrated it, and how they celebrate. Thank goodness we met people cool enough to keep us informed about what was happening in their culture and that invited us along to celebrate with them.

So if you really want to enjoy and learn about the culture that you're already immersing yourself in by traveling there, MEET LOCALS AND CELEBRATE THEIR HOLIDAYS!

Don't Go Chasin' Waterfalls

TLC said it best when they warned everyone about chasing waterfalls, but I just can’t seem to resist adventure. So part two of my Thailand jungle safari included hiking a waterfall.

In preparation for this hike (which I didn’t know I would be going on whenever I was packing, but thankfully I had my Chacos), we had to eat. Really carb up, you know? Being with a large group, we had very limited options for food. We ended up stopping at four restaurants before we finally found one that would serve us. I’m using the term restaurant very loosely too because this place was no more than a hut in a tiny village.

Being the lover of Thai food that I am not, I stuck with the basics. Pad thai. And I even thought I was getting a little crazy with it by adding shrimp to the mix. (I made sure to point at the picture on the menu because heaven forbid that I receive any meat other than shrimp.) But my sweet waitress, who didn’t happen to speak any English, brought out squid pad thai. SQUID. Tentacles and all.

As she placed my dish in front of me I remember thinking, “Well this isn’t shrimp. I’m not sure what this is. Wait, those are tentacles! Dear Lord, please let this be someone else’s dish. Oh no, she just brought out four more of them. She thinks we all wanted squid! Okay, I’m going to die in this hut in this random village.” (When it comes to my food I can be a tad dramatic and I have no problem admitting that.)

Once I moved past the trauma of eating squid instead of shrimp, I hopped back in the van with my group and went through border patrol. Yes, border patrol. The waterfall that we hiked was in national park that bordered Myanmar so it was necessary.

When I was told that we were hiking a waterfall, I expected something grand like Niagara Falls. So I was practically running through the trail. Which was a little dangerous given how tropical the area is, every rock is slick, the dirt is mud, and there are vines hanging everywhere. Really thick vines that could potentially knock someone out if the ran in to them. And that’s exactly what happened to one of my friends that was trying to keep up. She nailed her forehead on one of the vines and had to sit out for the rest of the hike.

Because of our excitement to see the Thai version of Niagara Falls, my friends and I ended up wandering further than what the trail went. As we were climbing, we couldn’t figure out why everything was getting so difficult for us. We were slipping constantly. One of my friends even slipped off of a boulder into the water. After that we decided the waterfall was too dangerous so we turned around.

As we were hiking back we saw a sign that said, “Danger! Don’t go any further!” Conveniently it was written in Thai so we didn’t pay any attention to it on our way up.

Turns out, the waterfall we were looking for was just a small drop in the river. But wow was it a fun experience.

Lions and Tigers and Elephants? OH MY!

 Most people who leave the country for the first time go to places like Mexico or Canada, but I’ve never been one to do what everyone else is doing. You know the saying “Go big or go home”? Well that’s exactly what I did on my first time out of the country by flying halfway around the world to Thailand.

A year ago if you would have said, “Chloe, one day you will adventure in Thailand.” my immediate thought would have been, “In my dreams you crazy person!” Thailand is exotic and beautiful, but most of all totally different from anything I’ve ever known.

I grew up in the south where it’s normal to ride things like horses, maybe a donkey, and for the extreme redneck potentially a cow. In Thailand I cruised around on an elephant. And it wasn’t like I had someone “driving” my elephant for me. MY CHAFFEUR JUMPED SHIP AND LEFT ME TO STEER. (Eventually he hopped back on, thank goodness.) But in the mean time, I was left to lead our crew through the jungle…on a well stomped out path.

Riding an elephant is a pretty unique experience. But have you ever been in a cage with not one, or two, but THREE GROWN TIGERS? Because against my better judgment, I have. Don’t get me wrong, it made for some cool pictures, but oh my goodness did it scare the mess out of me when I was in it. Once I was able to move from my state of paralyzed shock, I got to hold a liger. A baby liger. You know, like Napoleon Dynamite’s favorite animal? 

Go against your better judgments and climb in to a giant tiger cage or play it safe and just ride an elephant, but regardless, hop on a plane to a different country and adventure!