I got to spend an hour with Carol Tuttle today. It was awesome. It all started like this...
Anne Brown, Carol's daughter, is in my stake. A few Saturdays ago, it was my ward's turn to clean the church. While we were there, I noticed that the Stake Relief Society people were having a meeting with all the RS presidencies in the stake. My friend Wynter is in a presidency in her ward, so when the meeting let out as I was putting vacuums back in the supply closet, I ran in to say hi to Wynter. Anne is the RS President in her ward, so she was there as well. She stopped me on my way out of the room, and asked me if I had known I was a Type 3 right away. I told her yes. And she asked if I would be interested in going up to the store in Lehi and sharing my experience on camera for a new resource that they are creating. Of course I said yes!
I told Aaron I was just as excited for this appointment as a kid who just got tickets to Disneyland. Haha!
As it turns out, my friend and neighbor Brookie, who is a Type 4, also got invited to come up. So we planned to carpool. :)
Anne sent me a list of questions, and said when we got there, we'd go over the answers to the questions with Carol first, and then Carol would pick out which things she wanted to highlight, and then we'd sit down on the set and do the filming.
The questions were:
- What was your process of learning your Type - reading the books, watching the course, talking to friends, etc.?
- How quickly did you know your Type of Beauty?
- Once you knew your Type did you hesitate at all to fully embrace it?
- What do you love most about your Type?
- Give a tip to the women that are in the process of determining their Type.
The biggest stress in preparing was trying to decide what to wear. It's one thing to attempt to Dress Your Truth any old day of the week, and quite another go meet and create a video with Carol Tuttle herself! I felt like everything needed to be just perfect. And I didn't want to wear too many things that I'd bought at the DYT store, because I wanted to show that I had internalized the program and could pick out my style from the retail world at large.
I picked out a few things, and decided to try them all on the morning of to see which felt best. (An awesome suggestion by Wynter.) And I eventually decided on this peacock blue shirt (because I like the texture), with the mustard yellow cardigan overtop (because yellow is my favorite color, and I feel most confident when I'm wearing it over other colors), the necklace is one of my favorites that I bought at the DYT store, and the earrings I picked because they were a special gift from my wonderful homeschool-mom friends and I wanted to represent them up there, because heaven knows we all talk DYT at any and all opportunities. :)
When Brookie and I got to the Lehi store, I think we were both pretty nervous. The cashier behind the desk told us Anne would be out to get us in a minute, and we walked around the store looking at things. When Anne came out she told us we both looked great, and that she didn't need to fix anything. That was a relief! I wonder how often they have to "fix" things when people come in to do videos.
Anne took us back to a room behind the Club Night room that I'd never been to before. It had a set, and lights and cameras. I thought we might be meeting the ladies who were the T1 and T2 for this series, but I found out they'd come earlier and were already done. So it was just me, Brookie, Anne, Carol, and the camera guy!
Carol came over and said hi to us, told us we looked great (actually through the whole time, they were really good at reassuring us that we looked like we were supposed to. I bet they are aware of how intimidating it is to meet them. Haha!), and asked me if we'd met before. I told her I'd introduced myself after a Club Night in October. She asked if my hair had been longer then. It had, I was impressed. Maybe she says that to everyone, I don't know. :) Then Carol sat down at a table and started to eat her lunch.
Anne and the camera man worked together to get some individual pictures of each of us. And then Anne explained that we would be going over our answers to the questions she'd sent us with Carol, that Carol would then pick out the highlights that she wanted to talk about in the video, and then we'd go on set and film.
She talked with Brookie first about her process, and they went through all the questions. Then it was my turn. Carol complimented my shoes, I was wearing my mustard yellow flats that have the golden puffed up triangles on them, and told me they were very unique. I was glad I'd decided on them instead of my cowboy boots, although I do love my cowboy boots. The flats seemed to go better with my outfit, and Aaron liked them better as well.
So my answers to the questions:
My process for learning DYT and how quickly did you know your Type of beauty? I started the Child Whisperer, which was recommended to me by Brookie. Since I'm a homeschool mom of 5, I'm often looking for new ideas and resources to help with teaching. I read The Child Whisperer in a couple of days, loved it, had some awesome insights about my kids, but couldn't figure our my own Type for sure. I didn't want to have to wait for shipping, so I drove up the the Lehi store, bought It's Just My Nature, and drove home and read it. There is a paragraph in there where Carol describes her morning routine, of showering then starting to get dressed, then stopping to make the bed, then starting the dishes, and then coming back to getting dressed, etc. Basically pushing several things along simultaneously. And I totally related to that movement. It was like they'd been watching me and wrote down exactly how I go about my days. And I knew I was a Type 3. Everything else in the chapter just supported and confirmed it.
Once you knew your Type, did you hesitate to fully embrace it? Not the Type 3 part. That made SOOOO much sense to me, I felt right at home. I was very unsure about the jewelry however. I was a t-shirt and jeans and ponytail kind of girl before, a tomboy. I never wore jewelry and a rarely wore make up. So it was an adjustment for me. But I decided to give it a try, and I discovered that I actually really like the jewelry, and it looks good on me. It fits me and I fit it. In fact, I had a friend who gave me a T3 necklace, and at first I thought it was HUGE and I thought everyone was starring at it and me when I wore it. Now, I laugh, because it's one of the smallest necklaces I own. :)
Carol seemed to like the part about me labeling myself as a tomboy. She seemed to think it a negative label, and although, I now know where she was going with it, I still don't consider tomboy to be negative. I always took it as a compliment. I loved being a tomboy. :) Anyways, Carol said something about me realizing that I could be feminine and still be true to myself. I agreed. I told her that I have a beautiful, amazing, wonderful Type 2 mother, who was pretty good about dressing her truth even before she knew what it was. But I always felt that when I tried to emulate her, that I looked silly. It just didn't work on me, and since I didn't know any other way, I just did nothing. And then I told her how my dad had always told me that I needed to act more lady-like, it wasn't lady-like to be loud, it wasn't lady-like to sit with my ankle on top of my knees, etc. And that I'd told him that if that's what it meant to be lady-like, then I didn't want to be a lady! (That's probably when I decided to label myself a tomboy, I was like 9 or 10.)
What do I love most about my Type? The confidence and determination that I can use to get thins done. I love being active. And it's also been really helpful to know that I have a tendency to be reactive as well, and I can kind of try to monitor that. (We did not spend very long on this question.)
Give a tip to the women that are in the process of determining their Type. My tip would be to watch for the movement in yourself. Anyone can do anything, but it's HOW you go about doing it that's the key.
It was fun to see Anne doing her T2s3 thing. She kept us on track, and moving along, but not in a pushy way. And every so often, she'd stop Carol and tell her some detail she'd picked out that she thought Carol might want to make note of on the actual video. I decided that Anne reminds me a lot of Aaron, which makes sense, since I'm thinking that he's a T2s3 as well. And my mom, she's definitely a 2/3. Love those 2/3s!
That was our warm-up interview. Anne quickly ticked off the highlights of each interview for Carol, and then told us that Carol was also going to point out our features during the video. Awesome! I've dreamed of having Carol point out my features. Seriously. Because to me the facial features are the hardest part, but supposedly they are the most telling, so I was excited for this opportunity. I asked if she'd also be pointing out the secondary features as well. (I've been going back and forth for a few months trying to decide if my secondary is a 2 or a 4. And I thought this might be my change to know for sure without having to ask.) But Carol said no, that gets too confusing to people who are still trying to figure out their dominant. She said when people try to figure out both at the same time, it gets tricky and people get confused. She tries to encourage people to know their dominant first, and explore that for awhile, before worrying about the secondary. Makes total sense to me.
We moved over to the set. Brookie went first, and did a fantastic job, just like she'd practiced with Carol. I, on the other hand, had some trouble. First off, I kept forgetting where I was supposed to look. Especially while Carol was doing the facial profiling part, I was supposed to stare straight into a mirror that they had off the set, but I kept glancing over at Carol when she was explaining my features. Which is probably going to look really weird on camera. And also, I caught myself interrupting Carol several times. Not on purpose. Maybe it's just Type 3 energy or something, but both she and I would interrupt each other and cut each other off. Brookie said she had noticed that too. Hopefully, people chalk it up to being a T3. But the more I reflect on it, the more I'm hoping they decide not to use the video of me. I was also loud, and made lots of big gestures with my hands. (Which is what I do when I'm nervous, or excited, or both.) And I'm not sure I was able to clearly or concisely explain the answers to my questions. Carol would say something like, "You mentioned to me earlier that you had labeled yourself as a tomboy, tell me about that." And when I was answering her, I was unsure of how detailed of an explanation she wanted me to go in to, and I'm afraid I erred on the lengthy end of explaining instead of the short end.
The part where she pointed out my features was the coolest. Beforehand, I could pick out my pointed T3 "exotic eyes", that come to points at the edges and slant slightly upward creating angels. I've always known that I have a "beak nose" with a bump in the bridge thanks to my brothers teasing. :) Carol pointed out those things and others. My nostrils and the end of my nose are triangular shaped. My cheekbones slant upward also, creating angles. My eyebrows come up swiftly and peak and then go down again. (This one I have a hard time seeing.) When I smile I have deep smile lines that go from my nose to my mouth at an angle.. Also, my chin/jawline juts out swiftly to a point. And my overall face shape had a lot of angles to it. Then she had me hold up my hands to show the texture in them. Knobby knuckles, and you can see my veins and bones on the back of my hand and the bump on my wrist. I'm so T3 it's not even funny...that's probably why they picked me, I have a lot of T3 features to show off. :)
After the filming was over, we sat there and chatted a little bit while I was sitting in the chair. Anne said to me, "Krystal do you know your secondary?" And I told her no, not yet, and that I'd been going back and forth between 2 and 4. Immediately Carol said, "Oh I would say 2." So I asked her if she would show me in my features, because I feel like I'm split in half personality wise, but since personality can be learned, I wanted to see it in my features. So she showed me. She said I have a softer cheek, that my smile lines are as deep as some Type 3s tend to be. And she said that the tip of my nose comes down, instead of pointing up. Then she pointed out what I'd chosen to wear. The blue top was slightly flowy (but still within T3 boundaries so no worries), and the way I styled my hair, although very textured and a good T3 haircut, was styled more softly, as opposed to hers which is more bold-edgy, mine is edgy-soft. So I thought that was awesome!! And I'm so relieved just to know. I'll never have to wonder about it anymore. Then we talked about hair-styling techniques for a minute. She taught me how to "shred" my hair, which is basically using scissors to pull the hair while your are cutting it to create a more textured look (what my mom would call split ends, haha!).
As I was walking off set, Anne said, "So you homeschool, have you ever done a home birth?" I said no, but I'd done 3 natural births. And Anne said, "Oh, I just know a lot of homeschoolers are into home birthing." I laughed a little and said yes they are. Home birth and Dressing Your Truth. And then I told her that many of my wonderful friends have done home births and loved it. Anne said she had really wanted to do a water-birth with her little girl, but had ended up having to have a c-section. We talked kids for a little bit, and Anne asked me how far apart mine were. So I told her. Then Carol piped up that a lot of T3s tend to like having their kids closer together, so that they are all roughly in the same stage, and then they can all move on together. It was interesting because she pretty much summed up my strategy for my kids. :)
Carol said to me that she bet my 3/2 was a great combination for homeschooling (although I think any and all combinations have their benefits when it comes to homeschooling) because I could know the details of what I wanted the kids to study and then get it done in a big way. I hadn't really ever thought about that. Mostly I've just considered that the reason I like unit studies and hands on lessons with projects and activities, was due to my T3. Carol asked if I thought the Child Whisperer was helpful to my homeschooling. And I said Most definitely. I explained a little bit about how figuring out Adelia was a T1 where my older two boys were T4s was like a huge a-ha! moment. And that I was able to know how better to run a school day to benefit each child. (At least in theory.) She said, "Oh I bet. Especially with those T4s, you can just turn them loose and they'll teach themselves." Which was also something good to think about. I need to reevaluate how I'm structuring time for my T4s, to see if it's conducive to them teaching themselves.
We were gathering up our things to get ready to go, and Anne asked us if we wanted a picture with Carol. Yes, we did. I'm glad Anne thought of it. :) Then Carol said we could pick out any accessory in the store as a thank you for coming to do the video. Cool! I thought getting to come up and hang out with Carol and Anne for an hour was treat enough, but I'll take a free accessory. Thank you! I picked out a necklace I've had my eye on in the online store. It's got several strands of small green beads, and a big rectangular green pendant that is see-through. In the inside of the pendant is a feather. I thought it was the perfect 3/2 necklace. Lots of edges and angles with a little bit of soft in the center. :)
Anne said that our video would probably come out some time in April. So far away! But that's ok, since I'm nervous about it. I made Aaron promise that when he watched it he wouldn't tell me it was good just to make me feel good. I told him I needed him to be totally honest with me about how bad I'd done. So we'll see.
But even if the video is a dud, what a cool experience! It was worth it, just to hang out with Anne and Carol for an hour. I really enjoyed chatting with them. I always like talking with Anne when I see her around at stake things. But I've always been a little intimidated by Carol. She has kind of a big presence. But today was awesome, we had things to talk about and I didn't feel intimidated at all. I'm sure I'm going to be up all night going over and over and over everything in my head. :)
