I have this theory about mermaids...

There are a lot of reasons why I love the Summer. Warm weather, Italian Ice, and being tan are three of my favorite things. I love that for 3 months, all my friends are home from school. I love camping out and watching meteor showers. I cherish my Sunday brunch dates with my dear friends.
But the number one thing I love about Summer is living at the beach.
I am one of the luckiest people on Earth, because I grew up ten minutes from the beach. And now I live three blocks away from the Ocean and my backyard is a lagoon.
I open my front door in the morning and smell the salty air, and I whisper a prayer of gratitude for this life of mine.


I have this theory that the closest thing to a real mermaid is a Jersey girl. (Or I guess a girl who grew up at any beach, but I grew up in Jersey, so that's what we're going with here.)
We've been swimming in the Ocean since before we could walk.
For us, the beach is not a vacation, it's our home. It's where we spent all of our days when we were kids and all of our nights as we got older. We catch jellyfish and build sand castles and bury our brothers, and try to dig to china.


At one point or another, we have all been almost killed in a rip current, heads scraping against the ocean floor, tumbling through the waves, not sure when we will ever get to breathe again. But that doesn't scare us away. We know the dangers and downsides, but we also know that there is this thing that happens in the ocean. There is this one moment, however fleeting, when you're standing in the ocean, and a wave comes, and you jump into it. And for one second, this tiny, rushing wave of a split second, when you are at the top of the wave, your hands in the air, a bubbly feeling in the pit of your stomach, where you are above the ocean. And just for that second, you are flying. The ocean is vast and unknown, but we keep returning to its open arms. It is our biggest threat and our oldest friend.


Whenever I leave New Jersey, the first thing I want to do when I come back is go to the beach. I don't feel like I'm truly home until I have greeted my old friend, the Atlantic, by dipping my toes in and watching the dolphins jump across the sunrise.
And even when it's not summer, the Ocean is my dearest confidant. When the Bennys return  to New York until Memorial Day, and the grime on the boardwalk begins to harden and freeze, I head over the bridge in a hoodie and jeans, with my Wawa coffee in hand, and I work out my problems on the empty beach in the salty breeze. I love sitting on the beach in the cold, by myself. It's my favorite place to have a good cry, or a good think, or a good conversation with a friend.
There is salt water in my veins and sand in my soul. I am a mermaid who never grew a tail. And sometimes, the ocean is the only thing that makes sense to me.

An Open Letter to John Green: It's not okay, okay?

Dear John Green,

      I was going to write "Dear John", but I decided against it.
I have a few things to say to you. You will probably never read this but I'm writing it anyway, because this is the internet and I can do what I want.

      For the past decade, my "favorite book" has been a two-way tie between To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. While I have read and loved many books, the position of "my favorite" has never faltered or changed. Until about two years ago. This wonderful author whose books I thoroughly enjoyed and whose Youtube videos I watched, wrote a novel called The Fault in Our Stars. In all honesty, I wasn't going to read it. I didn't really want to read a "cancer book." Fortunately, my mother knows everything and she knew that TFIOS was exactly what I needed and convinced me to give it a chance. So I picked it up, and didn't put it down until I was finished. So many things in my life changed that day. I screamed a lot. I yelled at my mom for making me read "this god-forsaken book! This is the most terrible book I've ever read, I love it!"
The position of "my favorite book" shifted into a three-way tie, now including this novel that tore my heart into a million pieces and then glued it back together again.

      In 2008, my best friend Caiti lost her battle with osteosarcoma. It first took her femur, a few years before, and then came back for the rest. I see her in Gus. I see her in Isaac: funny, but also scared, and sometimes heart broken, and unexpectedly wise. I see her in Hazel: Intelligent, and hilarious, and beautiful, and also an insecure teenage girl.

      Oblivion is inevitable, as you know, and one day, no one will know who Hazel or Gus, or John Green are. But I want you to know what you've given the world right now. Maybe you already understand what a gift it is, but I'm going to tell you anyway, because this is the internet and I can do what I want.

      More than three years after losing one of the most important people in my world, you gave her back to me for a little while. You let me see her again, and hear her laugh. And that's probably not what you meant to do, because you've never even heard of her. But you would have loved her John. And I can't speak for everyone, but I will, because again, this is the internet and I can do what I want. I think that everyone who has ever lost someone way too young to cancer feels the same way. The only thing worse than biting it from cancer is having a (loved one) bite it from cancer. It causes a HUGE amount of world-suck. But each of the three times that I've closed myself off from the world and immersed my whole being in TFIOS, it has been this amazing experience of glimpsing my friend again. John, you gave us more time with our loved ones.

      For most of us, the world will never know our deceased friends and family. Most of them never became Youtube famous. Most of them never wrote a book. Most of them never had a documentary made about them. Most of them won't be remembered by everyone. They were important to us, but the world will never see them. You wrote them into your characters, even if you didn't mean to. Because of TFIOS, when the world sees Gus and Hazel, they see my friend Caiti, even if they don't know it. They see peoples's daughters, people's cousins, brothers, sisters, sons, grandchildren, and friends. You made it so that they are recognized and remembered.

      Last night, I sat in a movie theater and watched this incredible thing happen on screen where this piece of literary magic turned into a piece of cinematic magic. I was sobbing, which is not unusual for me to do in a movie theater, but it is unusual for everyone else in the theater to be sobbing with me. My dear friend Korrie held my hand with the grip of a grieving teenager, just like she did five and a half years ago when we said goodbye to Caiti. I fell asleep last night with tears in my eyes which both stung and soothed, as I realized that my infinity with my friend was much bigger than I had realized. Thank you for that.

      I am not a book or movie critic. Just a nerdfighter who wants you to know the full impact of what you've done. At least in my life. At least for me.  Thank you John Green. Thank you so much. DFTBA.
       (and Hank, I'll see you on Friday.)
                                        Your friend,
                                         -Katrinah

*** My heart in writing this post was to let people know what this book means to me. How important I think it is. And I know this is a long shot, but I would love John to hear these words. I would love to be able to tell him what he did for me. So if you want to, please share this. On Facebook, or on Twitter (@realjohngreen) Thanks so much, family, friends, strangers, and fellow nerdfighters! LoveLoveLove

The hairdresser who doesn't use shampoo.

My whole life, I've been one of those people who have had to wash their hair everyday.

It would get so greasy and oily that within a day of washing it, I would look like someone who had never heard of shampoo. 

It was a vicious cycle, shampooing every morning, looking like I rubbed my head on a pizza by dinner time.

Until about about 4 years ago.

I was in Kenya for a month doing some volunteer work.

We had no running water and I wasn't able to properly wash my hair for four weeks.

It was TERRIBLE. 

I would braid my bangs and put my hair in a bun everyday, and at night when I took it out, it didn't move.

After a month overseas, I came home and had the greatest shower of my life. I washed my hair and it was a glorious, glorious day!

And do you know what happened then?

It STAYED clean.

FOR ALMOST A WEEK.

For someone like me, that's amazing. 

Like, seriously, I would have enough oil in my hair to make 3 Rachael Ray recipes. 

Sorry that was gross.

But kind of true.

So after that, I tried washing my hair less, like only every other day, and I thought it was pretty nice, but I wondered why using shampoo more often made my hair dirty more quickly.

That September, I went to beauty school and studied Trichology. 

That's the study of the hair and scalp.

You're welcome for the vocabulary lesson.

So to fast forward a few years, I am now a professional hairdresser.

A hairdresser who no longer uses shampoo.

SHOCKING.

There are a few reasons. 

Shampoo strips your hair completely of it's natural oils, causing your body to produce more oil to compensate.

Also, my hair and scalp are my body parts. I want to be sure of what I'm putting on them.

I still wash my hair, but I don't use shampoo.

Shampoo is not the best way to get hair clean.

I do this CRAZY thing, where I wash my hair with baking soda and condition with Apple Cider Vinegar.

I mix a small handful of baking soda with water in my hand and put it on my scalp. It takes me about five small handfuls (approx 2tbsp total) to cover my whole scalp. Then I massage it into my scalp for about two minutes and rinse well.

In a bottle, I mix about 1tbsp ACV with about a half cup of water and pour it over all my hair, excluding my roots. Leave it about two minutes and RINSE FREAKING WELL.

It makes my hair feel great.

My head does NOT smell like a salad.

My hair is shiny.

The thorough scalp massage is GREAT for promoting quick hair growth.

AND I now only wash my hair twice a week.

In my professional opinion, this stuff is awesome!