Broken Road Confessionals: March 14, 2014

**What is the fascination over paper straws? I swear they are plastered all over Pinterest and every inspiration blog on the internet. Have you ever tried to actually drink something through a paper straw? It's gross. Especially as they start to get mushy in the liquid. So, they're cute but entirely non-functional? I don't get it.

**I might maybe still have some white Christmas lights up in our house. Just a handful. They're woven into the evergreen garland that sits on top of our entertainment center. It goes up for Christmas but it stays up for all of winter. The lights are white though, so I like to think of it like sparkling white snow. Oh, whatever. It makes me happy.

**I can't speak for anyone else, but sometimes I think I would rather deal with the symptoms of whatever condition is being considered for treatment than to suffer through most of the medication's side effects that they list at the end of the commercial. Maybe I would feel differently if I actually had one of those conditions, but I don't know. Most of  the side effects seem pretty unappealing.

**I know they are all "better for the environment, save you five dollars over the life of the bulb," but I really just cannot get on board with the light that the swirly bulbs produce. It's not soft enough? It's a totally unnatural color? It's not warm enough? I don't even know. It's not "something" enough and it bugs me, even though we have them in quite a few places in the house.

**Here's the funny thing about being a soft-hearted, can't-stand-to-disappoint-anyone people-pleaser: when you stop letting people walk all over you and tear you down and let you down, when you call them out on this behavior -- the very same behavior, mind you, that they've been telling you that you shouldn't allow -- they *really* don't like it. So...there's that. Lesson learned? People like to say they hate hypocrites, but they don't mind actually *being* one.

**I am very obviously "fashion challenged." Nothing makes me feel like a bigger fraud than attempting to wear lipstick, wrap a non-winter-weather-gear scarf around my neck, or accessorize my outfit. I admire all of these things, but when I apply them to my person, I look in the mirror and feel like an imposter.