five on friday: five things that need to make a comeback

if you follow me on twitter, you probably saw me tweet a couple nights ago about listening to some prime youtube playlists, i.e. hilary duff and high school musical. that night was obviously the inspiration behind today's post, so keep reading.



5 things that need to make a comeback

1. hilary duff
i never was big on the boy bands of the late 90's, but can we talk about hilary duff? homegirl had my heart. i am 100% unashamed to admit that i (still) know every word to this entire album.


and let's all just take 2 seconds to reflect on the wonder that is a cinderella story.

and um...hello...only the number one highlight of junior high....lizzie mcguire?

(this post is not entirely about hilary duff, kylie, reign it in.)
ahem.


2. the side ponytail
yes, i know what you're thinking. i am ridiculous. maybe i am. but also maybe i'm a genius. idk neither of us can judge. all i'm saying is that every time i throw my hair up in a ponytail haphazardly like all the cool kids, it somehow ends up on the side of my head and there is no controlling it.

would bringing this back really be so bad? would it? no.

proof that my side pony can't be tamed:

see? not only do i canoe hard, but i'm also ronald mcdonald and i vote yes on side ponies the sequel.

3. sing alongs

okay so this one is not a joke even a tiny bit. i can't get 2 minutes into newsies without singing loudly and annoying the heck out of whoever is watching with me, so can we please bring back the good ole fashioned movies that require your own vocal prowess and provide the words for you right there on the screen?!

some classics:

(this is the song i sing in negative situations that might be the real reason i have no friends.)

only just now realizing that maybe my childhood consisted of far more sing alongs than the normal human?
whatever, it's already on its way back, so this is bigger than me and you now.


4. choose your own adventure endings
remember when you had absolutely no control over your life because your mom picked out your clothes and made your food and made you tag along wherever the heck she was going for her after-school errands? well none of that lack of agency mattered because you could literally choose the ending to goosebumps books. 

"you are hiking in snake canyon when you find yourself lost in the strange, dimly lit cave of time. gradually you can make out two passageways. one curves downward to the right; the other leads upward to the left. it occurs to you that the one leading down may go to the past and the one leading up may go to the future. which way will you choose?"
like, what if they actually had this kind of narration in real life?
 "you are walking through the library and you find yourself standing between two tables. you notice an incredibly attractive male sitting at one table with an ochem textbook and a semi-attractive male at the other table with a business textbook. it occurs to you that one table could hold your next boyfriend. which table will you choose?"
and then you think to yourself, the less attractive guy with the business textbook, because pre-med students are high maintenance, and take that from someone who knows.

i mean, tell me these situations wouldn't make life more interesting. honestly.


5. educational pbs kids shows
hashtag real talk whatever happened to zoom? one of the 6th grade classes in my elementary school got to be on zoom when i was in 3rd grade and i truly think it is the moment when i discovered the emotion of jealousy.


and zaboomafoo?

this theme song was like a very real part of my life.

and this? this show was so weird and so magically educational. i knew what a "cliff hanger" was long before any of my disney channel-watching friends because i didn't have cable and this show taught me the important things in life.


OMG let us not forget the mother of all math-related media CYBERCHASE:

if you didn't learn something from watching just one episode of cyberchase, you're wrong. i've gotta get my hand on DVDs of these for my future classroom.


yeah, yeah, i know i'm all big and grown up now and the modern world brought us gifs and google and ordering pizza online, but you've gotta admit there was a simpler time that you sometimes yearn for, right?

whatever. i'll just be over here waiting for my beanie babies to be worth millions.

five on friday: christmas movies

so a few days ago i found the most accurate buzzfeed list of all time. i can say that on pretty good authority because i have read a lot of buzzfeed lists. and i know that it is the most accurate because i also happen to know a lot about the topic it is on: christmas movies.

in the last few weeks of school, my roommates and i really took advantage of my netflix account and watched as many cheesy made-for-tv christmas movies as possible. in fact, i may have even spent a little bit too much time watching movies and not enough time studying for world religions. i regret nothing.

so today i'd like to review the last 5 christmas movies on my netflix viewing activity and tell you why you should quit reading blogs right now and put one (or all) of these on instead.

five made-for-tv christmas movies that will (maybe) change your life

1. holiday in handcuffs

guys like....melissa joan hart and mario lopez. that's enough, right? to get you to watch it? and the fact that the premise of this movie is that mjh (whose character's name is gertrude) literally kidnaps a guy at gunpoint and forces him to be her date home for the holidays. at gunpoint. and somehow they still fall in love. (see also: why kylie is single. because she doesn't own a gun.)

here's the thing: this movie looks like it is going to be the dumbest thing on the face of the planet, and then suddenly it changes your life for the better. trust me on this one. you should really watch it. even if all that gets you to push play is the prospect of  mjh's horrible perm alone. 

2. holiday engagement

this was the movie suggested to me on netflix (super proud of that fact) so of course we had to settle in and see what it was about. i mean, we knew what it was about. obviously you can tell that the main actress is going to pay someone to be her "fiance" for the holidays to ward off disapproval from her uptight parents. you can get all of that from the cover and the fact that it's a made-for-tv christmas movie. but i didn't look at the cover long enough to even realize that haylie duff was going to show up 22 minutes in, so there were all sorts of surprises up in there. 

honestly though, the movie was a letdown. i wanted it to be way better than it was. not the worst we've seen, but definitely not holiday in handcuffs stat. 

3. christmas cupid

i am going to lie to you right now and tell you that chad michael murray is enough to make this movie worth watching. except that he's not. chad michael murray is a lot of things in this world (see also: perfection) but he is definitely not enough to redeem christmas cupid. 

things that are wrong with this movie: 

a. everything besides cmm

b. ashley benson. whyyyyyyy?

c-z. everything besides cmm

i just....i don't understand why this movie was made? don't get me wrong, i appreciate a good stupid movie, but this one was just too much. at the end of the movie the classic workaholic protagonist somehow ends up even more selfish and without christmas cheer than at the beginning. the only good thing is that we get to see cmm's face a tiny bit (not nearly enough tnh) and ashley benson's ridiculous character (who is a ghost, obvi) finally decides to venture to the next life for good.

4. desperately seeking santa

oh, abc family. you've done it again. guys, get this: the premise of this movie is a workaholic woman (what?!?!  i have literally never heard of that character before!) wants to boost sales during the holiday, so she hires a "sexy santa". who is also known as vince, from what i like about you. and then.....what do you know, they gosh darn fall in love!!!

this one actually wasn't too bad. better than christmas cupid and holiday engagement for sure. maybe that's because of nick zano? i will say that they made his character way too perfect. i don't think they showed anything bad about him the whole movie, and that's just unrealistic. almost as unrealistic as a "sexy santa" campaign actually being effective in a family-friendly department store. i would also like to note that this movie definitely wins the award for the most made-for-tv christmas movie cliches, which is actually a pretty great award to win, if you ask me

5. 12 dates of christmas

this. this movie. so far 12 dates of christmas takes the cake. i mean, look how she tenderly pulls on his scarf from behind. can't you just tell that they were meant to love each other?! and truly, who doesn't love a good groundhog day-esque story line, huh? repeating the same day over and over and over and ov--you get the point. the idea is gold. 

yes, all the cliches are there. workaholic woman, kind and charitable new man, cold and bitter past man still somehow getting in the way, cute neighbor lady who makes bread, a mother's recent death still causing traumatic pain....but they're the kind of cliches we love to love, and somehow abc family makes them work in this one. please watch it. please love it. please feel the joy of christmas in your bosoms. 

WELP. 

the end. 

five on friday: stages of an all-nighter

well folks, night before last i pulled my first college all-nighter. i'm a person who doesn't need to sleep a lot, but i do need to sleep some, so i've somehow gone 2+ years in college before getting to this point. but on wednesday night i started my final music/art project at 11:00 pm, worked straight through the night, and right up until the last possible second before it was due at 10:00 am in class thursday morning. i had at least two months to do this project, but like....college. of course i didn't start it until the night before. obviously.

luckily hannah was up most of that time with me as well. all-nighters are a lot more doable when you're not alone.

so now, under my great authority, i present...

the five stages of an all-nighter: 

1. the "moment of acceptance" stage:

11:00 pm? yeah, i'm good. this should only take me till 3 am. class isn't till 10, so i'll get plenty of sleep.

*after what feels like 10 minutes* hmm, what time is it? 3 AM?!

every 15 minutes or so for the next 7 hours...

2. the "i'm a great dancer" stage: 

on my way to the bathroom during my five minute br---what if i were a dancer?! 

3. the "every horrible decision i've ever made has led up to this moment" stage: 

also known as "i will never procrastinate again (LOL JK)" stage.

4. the "I FEEL LIKE SUPERWOMAN" stage:

this one happened at about 11 am yesterday, after class, after the final project, right as i was going to volunteer with byusa, and i felt like i could conquer anything that got in my way.

this stage may also be referred to as the "not sure how i'm not dead, but i'm rolling with it bc maybe i'm invincible" stage.

5. the "this must be literal death" stage: 

this stage hits repeatedly throughout the day, but particularly if you sit still for more than 30 seconds.

and of course the last stage is "GO TO SLEEP". but i didn't get to that one until 1:30 am this morning.
so much yikes.

viewer discretion: this list does not include any of the hundred times you may start crying during the day, such as when you get to hold a baby for 5 minutes, when you hear this song, when your pandora station plays a song you don't like, or when you think about the pigs in a blanket that mike's mom made last weekend.

i didn't tear up over any of those things. not even a little bit.

have a great weekend! i can't wait to share with you all some details from our christmas dinner party date next week! (and for you fellow college goers, good luck on finals!)

five on friday link-up.