Manly December Favorites

So my girlfriend is doing monthly favorites for girls so I figured why not surprise everyone and do one for guys? I know guys are so different and I'm probably gonna get called gay but I've been there so go ahead I got a girlfriend and I know what looks betters.

Manly Clothing

LLBean's Goose Down Vest is an article of clothing that I have been using a lot. Why? Well I have a 3 year old so I need my arms to be mobile and my back likes to get cold so this vest is perfect for staying warm and having tote a child around because her feet hurt.

Old Navy's Men's Jersey Fleece Sweatpants are my next preferred item of clothing. Comfortable enough to sleep, and looks good enough to roll out of the bed and go get eggs because you forgot them even though your girlfriend reminded you twice. 

Calvin Klein low rise trunks. These aren't for me really. I just love it when Hunter wears them over her thong and walks around my house acting like they are shorts.

Manly Food

In my Popsugar Must Have box (Which Hunter reviewed here) had Krave Jerky I really enjoyed it a lot. I even ordered some more. 

Hickory Farm anything.. this really isn't just December because really I'll eat Hickory Farms any ole time.

Christmas Dots these really aren't any different from the regular dots. But I have been addicted nevertheless.

Manly Skincare

Casewell Massey Almond shave kit sampler was a gift that I loved this month. This it was an early birthday present from a friend. I love the shaving brush that really help with making it a smoother, and closer shave.

Kiehls Facial Fuel Energizing Tonic for Men is what Hunter picked up for me when I told her I didn't use toner. She literally rolled her eyes at me and told me that's why I have so many break outs. Sadly it really has helped keep them at bay.

This next part I am not ashamed to admit. I have been dipping into my girlfriend's Lush's stash.

When a girl can talk for two hours straight about a store you get curious. 

Ocean Salt is a face scrub I tried of hers. There is tub container sitting on the tub and you are just like "What's this!?" and you unscrew the top and there is a blue salt staring at you. Considering I'm a dude I lean the tub back and read that it's for the face. It smelled really good and it scrubs good. It that doesn't get the dead skin off nothing is going to get that dead stuff off of you.

I work as a delivery man, delivering furniture. It takes a lot out on my hands. I have been using Hunter's Helping Hands from Lush. I am know I am man and I still have a pair but call me crazy brushing back her hair isn't so romantic if my hands are so abrasive that they scratch her face.

The last one I actually got caught red handed trying without her knowing. I looking through to see what else my beautiful girlfriend has and I stumble across a container with some kind of putty stuff in it. It says it's called Angels on Bare Skin and says it's gentle face dead skin scrubber. After using the salt scrub over a week before I decided to try this. So she comes up behind me while I am scrubbing it on my face with her eyebrow arched at me. I told her I was rubbing her on my face. Score! Smooth words will get you out of most pickles!

Manly Bath & Showers

I know it's hard saying manly bath. Makes me think of Chandler on Friends. Poor guy just wanted a bath and everyone comes running in talking about their excitement of everything.

So I usually have to get a bath after Hunter. We do not get baths together and the reason why is for another post. She is really great about cleaning the tub out after her so there is no leftover scent from her baths.

I have been using the Lush Big Blue which is a bath bomb. It has real sea weed and everything in it. 

To give me big fluffy bubbles ( I did say manly right?) I have used the Blue Skies and Big Fluffy Cloud bubble Bar.

And the last one is something I actually got from a coworker. It's from I think an Etsy shop called Washpdx and it's their Bath Salt in Ahh.

So I do not always get to take a manly bath (I need to get a boat like Chandler) and so I am glad that my beautiful girlfriend bought me my own Lush Shower gel because all of hers smell way too girly. I have the Dirty Springwash. 

Manly Hair

Jack Black Body building Hair Gel has been my go-to hair gel this month. It doesn't feel sticky and it doesn't feel like it stays caked up in my hair.

Not gonna lie been using the girlfriend's shampoo too... Big from Lush? Well I was very unsure about putting large chunks of salt in my hair but it cleans. It cleans until it squeaks my friends.

Manly Miscellaneous

Lemon Verbena Countertop Spray this has taken over my cleaning supplies. It made me feel even better about the products when Hunter seen them and was impressed that I use the brand. This spray is a staple. I not only use it on counter tops but surfaces that I think need just a little bit of extra clean.

A Big Bang

My world has been flipped upside down in just over a month.

I remember in college I was assigned a short paper about my first love. I had never had one. I had a friend at the time I thought was my first love. Looking back now, it wasn't love.

However I believe I now know what love is. My first love... I want to do that assignment now.

Up on hearing this assignment Einstein's quote about first love flashed in my mind "How on earth are you going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?" Many people define their first as "one person who is and always will be the first person you truly fell in love with." Once we start to show interest to the persons of the other sex and a little later instinctively choose our first love. The relationships between two sexes will interest and  trouble us during all our future life but these first steps are always the most difficult and for some of us turn to be very painful. Teenager has a growing and changing body that he/she hasn't started to understand yet and a delicate soul which is so easy to hurt. Adults very often don’t take this first affection for serious, they may laugh at it, preach, tell their children that they are too young to really feel anything, that his or her object isn't a good pair for him or her, they may try obey them stop seeing their boy/girlfriend. This is all very wrong. No one can stop anybody from falling in love especially when it’s so beckoning with the novelty. Wise adults can only try to support their young comrade to pass this complicated with the least wounds and hurt.
I however did not have a parent telling me about their first loves. I know of their first loves but not from them. I fell in love with my best friend's best friend. I know everyone's wanting to now know if he had feelings for her. My only reply to that is if yes he should have went for her instead of her cousin. We were never really friends throughout college. I got to know about her more towards the years at Vandy. I had heard my best friend Steve talk about his her and of course Edwin, her best friend and my roommate. And some things had me very intrigued. And when I seen her picture I couldn't stop staring at her eyes. Unlike everyone else in our Frat house I manage to look above her waist and at her face. He talked about how she loves kids and lives in the country. The last part he thought was kind of a negative about her. He is from the country too but was/is tired of it and doesn't want to live in the country anymore than he has to live in it. I loved it. Nashville is a flashy country city but its still flashy. I come from a small country town in the mountains with horses and pigs and that sounded like heaven to me.
So one day he left his screen up while talking to her and I stopped by to say hey and say when he would be back. My best friend wasn't fooled he knew I had it bad. But what surprised me was that he was okay with me liking her because he said he knew that she was great. He delivered the bad news though. She never went out with any guys. There was only problem with that. I wanted her. But then school was starting to get harder and yet my mind was far from the blonde with blues eyes that lived in Alabama. I really wanted to give up and just move on. I threw myself into school and family but keeping her in the back of my mind. She would surface every once in a while like when she would come to see Edwin play baseball or play at the bar.
Even when I graduated I felt like something was missing but I figured it was just being done with school for the time being. When I would be catching up with Edwin all I wanted to know was that she was alright. When April 27th 2011 tornadoes hit west Alabama I had to know if she was. I was calling Edwin who assured me he was ok. At first I was like what the heck. Then I realized that I had it bad for a girl who had barely said over 20 sentences to me. I finally got around to later in the conversation asked him about his best friend who lived in west Alabama and went to the University of Alabama. He said she was fine but her dad had been hurt by the one that destroyed Tuscaloosa. I told him that I would be praying. My mind hadn't been thinking about between my grandma dying and my brother being killed and leaving me with custody of his daughter.
Then my world was shook just over a month ago. A friend I had made during my years at Vanderbilt called me and asked me did I still like the blue eyed blonde from Alabama. My head stopped, my heart quickened and my palms sweated. I told my friend real quick that I never had feelings for the blue eyed bombshell. My friend snorted. My friend well she knows everything. She will have your background history in two hours of saying hi to you. She told me that the blonde eyed bombshell was once again living in Alabama and was with a douche bag and that they were about on the rocks.
Sure enough not even a week later my friend called me late one night and told me to swoop. That the guy had dumped the blue eyed blonde. My cousin called me knowing more details and knowing the girl herself. I didn't want to be the fall back guy so I planned it carefully and became the girl's friend again and then after planning that I would go on the trip with her with my daughter things changed.
So after 6 years of waiting I finally have what I have wanted. A girl that has beauty, smart as fox, and caring as a mom with a newborn. She makes me laugh harder than I have in 3 years. She has made me come alive again.
As for why I fell for her, well, she was something I couldn't have and had never had before in my life. She was perfect to me. I found myself doing crazy things, even though I do crazy things but this was so much worse. I was singing and dancing to the most random and scandalous songs to just make her smile not even laugh. And we have many things in common and a many differences to balance us out. And we are a good fit. She is unlike any other girl you could know. But now the greatest thing about her is that she is mine first love.

This girl is Hunter Collins.