So the holiday season is upon us... I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!!!! With Thanksgiving a couple of days away, all I can think about is stuffing my face and spending time with those I love.

Tonight I got on my computer and found a lovely email from Sara Bareilles (it sounds like she writes them herself since they are written just like she speaks at her concerts and interviews), declaring she'd released a new song just in time for the holiday season. It's called Love is Christmas. It's beautiful. It made me feel all the nostalgia, and warm fuzzies I get every holiday season.



Also, it made me think about all the things I am thankful for in 2011. So here goes my incomplete list, in no particular order:

CRABS! - Pensacola, FL.

So what if it's a 2010 photo.

Me in the Dirty South this summer.

I was researching quotes on love and service tonight, and obviously it pulled up Mother Teresa as the numero uno quotable person on the subject. I began to read pages of her quotes, and I found some that really are thought provoking, and inspiring. Some of these may be familiar to you, some may not. I hope all will inspire us to get to work. The world seems to be falling apart as quickly as the population is increasing, and I really think we're going to have to band together and love and serve more than we currently do. As beauty pageant cliche as this is... I really do wish for world peace.

"Everybody today seems to be in such a terrible rush, anxious for greater developments and greater riches and so on, so that children have very little time for their parents. Parents have very little time for each other, and in the home begins the disruption of peace of the world."

"If we really want to love we must learn how to forgive."

"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives - the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them."  

"The more you have, the more you are occupied, the less you give. But the less you have the more free you are. Poverty for us is a freedom. It is not mortification, a penance. It is joyful freedom. There is no television here, no this, no that. But we are perfectly happy."  

"When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you nor I wanted to give that person what he or she needed." 

"Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin."

"There is only one God and He is God to all; therefore it is important that everyone is seen as equal before God. I’ve always said we should help a Hindu become a better Hindu, a Muslim become a better Muslim, a Catholic become a better Catholic. " 

‎"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other." 

Picture from the most recent blog post on "Hyperbole and a Half"

In my sickened homebodied state, I watched a show called "My outrageous animal phobia" or something along those lines, where people with a crazy animal phobia that is overtaking their lives seek help from a therapist. This particular therapist also helps some of the people on Hoarders, so I guess we can approve of her credentials. One of the clients on the show has a phobia of spiders so bad that she won't even play at the park with her children because there have to be spiders in the dirt and grass.

At first I was like, "Wow she is really letting this ruin her life," and then all the sudden I was reminded of that one time that I said, "Even if someone offered me $45 million dollars, I wouldn't lay in a box of tarantulas for even one second." I have a serious problem you guys, and that's a lot of money. For example, a few weeks ago I went out to my car at lunch and drove to the grocery store. While I was at a stop light, I noticed a jumping spider the size of a quarter sitting on my wiper blade. I jumped a little, but thought to myself 'This is no big deal, he will fly off while I drive, and if I turn on the wiper blades he's history'.

Then when I get to the grocery store, he's still there and he's proving his skills as a jumping spider quite well. He jumped from the hood of my car to the roof in one perfect leap, and even nailed the landing. It was quite impressive. I take a couple deep breaths and try to ignore the morbid visions in my head of him waiting for me while I shop, and then hiding in my hair and crawling out while I'm driving, which then forces me head on into traffic where I get in a massive car accident. Yeah, a little irrational, I am well aware of this fact.

I go grocery shopping for 20 minutes. When I come out, I can't find him anywhere. So I give a little fist pump and happily drive away knowing I am spider-free, which is the way to be. Well, while I'm driving he appears on my windshield, and began to taunt me. If his spider voice weren't too tiny to hear, he would have said, "I'M SITTING HERE PATIENTLY WAITING FOR YOU. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" or, "Look how sticky I am, I won't ever come off of this windshield no matter how fast you drive, and this stickiness means that if I jump on you, I'll never come off of you, EVER!!!!" So I say to him, "Spider you suck, and you better fall off my car or I'll kill you." I say this knowing full well that I am terrified of him and his Olympic jumping skills where he can long jump 300 times his body length and that I'm probably NOT going to attempt his murder knowing he'll jump on me and I'll have a heart attack and die. I'm too young to die.

So, during this time, my boyfriend calls me and our conversation distracts me a little from the spider (not completely, I never lose track of a spider that I know is in my vicinity, until it's dead). When I park back at work, I say to him, "Babe, I'm kind of scared to get out of the car, I can't see him, and he might get in my hair." He was so patient with me, bless his heart for dating a crazy girl. I get the courage to get out after a minute and see where he is. He's on the other side of my car, sitting by the door handle. The stupid jerk. He knew my sweet and sour sauce for my egg rolls had fallen under the seat and I needed to open that door to get it. I could almost hear him saying, "ENJOY YOUR DRY SAUCELESS EGG ROLLS YOU BIG PANSY."

Like the wuss that I am, I went inside without the sauce. Justin, trying not to be disappointed in me for being such a baby (even though he should be), tells me to find a guy in my office to kill it so I can start breathing again. I go find a sales guy across the hall (there's a million men over there with big egos that would love to help a damsel in distress). We go out there, he finds the spider, and enjoys rubbing salt in my already embarrassed wounds. His immediate reaction was, "This little guy? I thought I was coming out to kill a big cool spider". He immediately flicks it with his finger and I see it run off into the weeds. I wish I could do that.

Yes, America, I AM AN ARACHNOPHOBE. I realize I'm kind of an idiot. I'm sure he went back to his office and told all the guys how wussy that blonde girl from Events is, even though I told him to keep it between us. Oh well, you win some, you lose some... and embarrass yourself.

So I'm watching the show today about phobias and the girl with the spider phobia had to work up to holding spiders. She first had to decorate her bedroom with a million spider photos (I would've itched my brains out all night, and had a massive spider nightmare). Then she had to stick her face up to a giant tarantula in a glass case, look him in the eyes for a minute and then sleep with one in her room in a terrarium. No biggie, I can handle that... maybe.

The final exposure therapy tool was the worst. She had to move 10 tarantulas of different sizes from one glass case to another, and let a few of them crawl all over her hands. At first she did what I would do and panicked. Then she faced her fear and did it. At first she sounded like she was having a panic attack, but then got better at it. I had a pet tarantula when I was 6. I don't recall ever holding it, but I kept it in my room despite my mom's aversion to having it in the house, and we fed it grasshoppers. I'm not sure at what point in my life my fear developed but I'd really love to overcome it. I hope to someday zipline through a jungle, and I don't want to be terrified of all the giant webs I may have to run into, and back out of one of my bucket list items.

Maybe I will go hold a tarantula one of these days. I actually kind of want to. I think it would make me feel like I was on top of the world!

(Note to my friends, if anyone forces me to do this before I am ready, I will blame you for my untimely death by heart attack.)

What are some of your phobias?

I've been cooped up in bed all weekend with a cold/flu, and my brain has run rampant with thoughts (uh oh... not good haha!) This is something I started thinking about this morning.

It's crazy what life does when you make plans. For the past several months, NOTHING has ever gone as planned. And for someone like me with an innate need for controlling what happens to me, this has been quite a test of my ability (or lack thereof) to roll with things.

I've always wanted to be easy going and I think sometimes I really can be. Back in the Myspace days everyone had on their profile that they were "easy going"... but the term control freak exists because not everyone is. If we were all "easy going", there wouldn't be a term describing people that are, because we all would be. I'm starting to go off on a tangent. Let me save this post from being derailed.

What I'm really trying to say is, this year has really tested me. Work, relationships, life in general have all been insanely good, but also really challenging. I have had to learn to be more easy going, and I feel like I've done a great job but I have so much more to learn. I need to learn to roll with whatever comes my way. I picture this as a stuntman. You know when they're thrown off the hood of a car, and they roll through the fall? These stuntmen get scrapes and bruises, but they've learned how to roll with things so they don't get severe injuries. Then they jump back up and roll with the next fall. I tend to put my arms out and try to catch myself. If a stuntman did this, he'd probably break his arms, or shoulders every single time he fell.

I feel like even more lately everything is not going according to plan. So much good is happening, and I'm getting frustrated because it's not how I planned it. There are challenges of my patience through all of this too. I'm losing patience, and I'm losing my ability to let things go, because I'm resisting the changes and trying to stick to my original plan. It's funny, sometimes you can throw whatever you want at me and I'll be like, "sure that sounds great, let's deal with that now". But lately that is not the case for me.

I'm going to spend the next month learning to roll with things better. I'm going to have more patience, more smiles on my face, and more peace (if I succeed). For those that have had to deal with my frustrated reactions when I can't control things -- *cough* Justin *cough*-- thank you for doing so. I love you more than you know, and I'm so grateful for you. I am going to learn to love the "delicious ambiguity" of my life right now.

Oh and Justin and I went to a Masquerade ball last week. Don't we look awesome? I love this photo.


What about you? Have any of you ever had to learn to roll with things? If you have and want to share with me ways you mastered letting go of the need for control, please post them in my comments. I'd love to hear your advice, opinions, and even insults if you have them. Ha!

So last week this happened.
HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME HE'S HOME!!!!

Oh and he's the luckiest guy ever because I brought him flowers at the airport. How many guys can say their girl gave them flowers?

Also, tonight I discovered one of my very favorite Christmas songs on Spotify, redone by one of my newer favorite bands (I discovered the band a few years ago). I know Halloween hasn't happened yet, but that's ok, I don't love the holiday. I'm excited for the holiday season coming up in November and December. Besides the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas are my favorite holidays!  Here it is, before Halloween, because I hate horror films, and I love Zoey Deschanel. So eat that in your trick or treat basket! :)

She & Him - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Soon needs to come sooner. I'm tired of this.

I wish this were me.

What do you do when your boyfriend is gone for 9 months and has a very short time left before he comes home?

YOU PASS THE TIME AS QUICKLY AS YOU CAN.

So, this fall I found out about a show called The Sing-Off. It's an acapella competition, and it is way better than American Idol (boooring, yuck.) Also it is judged by Sara Bareilles who is phenomenal (obviously) and used to be in an acapella group at UCLA, Ben Fold's who is awesome at all things music, and one of the BOYS II MEN guys... YESSSS! Also, these judges are so much better than the annoying American Idol judges. If you watch you'll see what I mean.

This is the 3rd season, and I'm sad I missed the previous two. A couple of the groups this season are my favorite. There's one called Afro-Blue, and they are fantastic at their jazzy style. They took Estelle's "American Boy" from a fun hip hop song to a fun jazzy tune.

Here's the original:
Click here, Youtube wouldn't let me embed this one.

Here's their version... isn't it AWESOME?!


Also my other favorite group is BYU's Vocal Point (woo hoo! Shout out to our local boys!!!!). They have done a classy polished job every week and I have to say I wish I'd seen them around here more. Perhaps I should give them more support? This was their 60's song remake. I didn't love their first song mostly because it was Justin Beiber and like Ben Fold's said, "I never thought I'd want to hear a bunch of Mormon guys sing 'Never Say Never'"(he was complimenting them but I didn't like the Beebs song)... kind of cheesy. Their 2nd song was super classy,  and let's be honest, who doesn't love a Sinatra song sung by classy guys in suits and fedoras?



I should be getting paid for selling their show to people. *cough* give me some money *cough*. But seriously guys, it's fun to watch people make music without instruments (and without the drama of MTV reality shows).  I love this show. It makes me wish I had the guts to do what they do, and sing my butt off!

Go watch it NOW... it's on Hulu. :)

I wish this kid were my kid. How could you not have a positive attitude with him around? Also please note the pedestal he gets on before his speech. I suspect he'll be the candidate to beat in the 2050 presidential election.

...how much of a lesbian crush I have on her!!!! HAHA! Just kidding... but seriously, I love her. When she first released the song "Gonna Get Over You" a few weeks before her album came out last year, I rocked out to it over and over and over.................... and over.

I had just found out someone was getting married that I was still angry at for breaking my heart not too long before that, and I was just about over all of it when the wedding news fueled some emotions again that I thought I'd gotten rid of (that one took me WAAAAAY too long to get over, I'm sorry to admit).

Aaaaaanyway, this song comes out, and it just has the awesome upbeat dancey vibe to it, and I couldn't help but let go of all the crap/feelings/drama, and just dance around whenever I turned it on. So I played it a million times as loud as I could, memorized all the lyrics, and sung my heart out to it in my car.

And it worked.

I got over the idiot, and bought tickets to her concert in SLC as soon as they came out, loved every minute of the concert, and then what else happened? Oh yeah... I fell for this guy last year. This awesome, wonderful guy who is 1,000 percent better than all the other dummies. I can't wait for the next few weeks to pass so he'll finally be home!


Here's the video to this awesome song "Gonna get over you" by Sara Bareilles. I love her. She's such a babe in this video, and I wish when I danced around to this song I found my own greaser gang, I was just dancing around a messy room...oh well, it worked anyway!

My friends Cherie and Mark just got married in June. But did you know they spent 99% of the past year apart? She finally got to move to be with him in Italy a week ago and I am very excited for her. I will definitely miss our lonely military girlfriend/wife dates. Where we got to watch the world's greatest movies (psssh.... One Day, more like ONE BORING MOVIE).

Last night she sent me a post on her blog, which I hope she doesn't mind me linking to. CLICK HERE. She sent me a bunch of pictures she and her husband found while exploring that all have my name. I was excited when I visited Rome and Florence last December to see that most of the clothes and hats were made out of "Lana". In Italian my name means wool, but I guess there's also a place where people in Italy have dedicated everything to me. Don't believe me? Check out her blog!

I always knew a part of me belonged in Italy. Even if I stuck out like a sore thumb in my red coat with blonde hair. For those of you who have been to Italy in the winter, how many people wear colors? HOWEVER MANY AMERICAN TOURISTS ARE THERE... haha! I'm just grateful for the awesome street market in Florence, where I bought my favorite coat. 25 Euros for a black wool dress coat that is warmer than any I found at Nordy's. It felt so much better to not be stared at so much. I miss Italy so badly.

I also miss you Cherie and Mark!!! I'm so glad you're having a blast in my favorite country. Thank you for taking time out of your time together to think of me. I clicked on all the pics and I'm saving them. I love you both!

Ciao Bellas. Mi piace e manca l'Italia.

So I was at the bookstore the other day looking for something new to read. I had a book in mind and while I was looking for it on the shelves, I spotted a book that was out of place. Around the corner was a whole stack of them, but this one was set off by itself. Maybe someone had just set it down after deciding not to buy it, or maybe it was put there on purpose. It had a fun title. BRAVE NEW WORLD.  It made me want to see what it was about and maybe the story would suck me in. It's rare that a book can do that for me lately though,  but it was a lazy day off work, and I had nothing to lose. I opened it looking for a brief summary of the storyline, and found this:

It's a handwritten post-it. Intriguing note, right?

Naturally, the curiosity in me was fueled. I had to buy this book. So far I'm half way into it, and I really like it. The writer, Aldous Huxley, was definitely ahead of his time. His concepts are so futuristic for what was going on at the time he wrote it. The book was copyrighted in 1932. I don't even think anyone had invented some of the ideas of technology that he describes as being even more advanced in this story.

Here's the rundown... it's set in the future after people have figured out how to mass produce humans and control for certain characteristics, therefore forming a caste system, and fueling consumption/consumerism. Also the morals of the culture are completely opposite the moral code of our culture... or what it was at the time he wrote the book, lately though it's probably not too far off. :)

I highly recommend reading this so far. I'm excited to keep reading deeper into the story!

Side note: every time I see the title of the book I crave something adventurous. Maybe I need to set off on a BRAVE NEW ADVENTURE!? I'll keep you posted if I do...

Heard this song on my flight to Biloxi a couple weeks ago. It was one of many I get for free off Amazon Mp3, and it is now a favorite. It's so soothing and beautiful. It makes me feel angst though, and I can't figure out why.



Bon Iver - Calgary

...REALLY FAR AWAY next week and I'm not excited about it, even though I'm very excited for her! She is moving to Hawaii and she and her husband will be starting school out there. I'm a little envious of them living in tropical paradise, but I'm very happy for them that they are taking on new adventures together.
I decided to write her a letter on here as my next post.

Dearest Sugar Britches,

I don't know if you know how much you mean to me, so I thought, "what better way to tell you than to tell the whole world at the same time!" Andrea you probably don't know this, but you showed up in my life when I was in search of a big change, and I needed new girlfriends in a bad way. I was lonely and had been in an on again off again relationship with a guy that wore me out, and I couldn't stand it anymore. You showed up, told me I was pretty, and then started setting me up with really hot guys right and left. It was awesome and you were the friendship I was praying for! You always seemed to include me in things you were doing even though you barely knew me. I'd later find out, you're like this with everyone, and that's what makes you such an awesome person!

You have an amazing heart, and you open it to everyone you know and even those you don't know. I love this about you, and I've often wished I had your talent for meeting and befriending people. I've seen you open other people's hearts by keeping yours open. It's really cool to see, and I know you bless the lives of everyone you are close with.

I'm so proud of you and who you've become. I don't mean that to sound condescending either. You've done so many awesome things to become who you are, and I'm so excited for you. I can't wait to see what comes of your future with Westin. I really hope that even though you're moving across the ocean from me, we always stay friends. Working with you for the past year and a half was so great because I got to see you everyday. I'm really going to miss that. A LOT.

I'll always remember how much fun you, Ginene, and I had being trapped in California with an angry toothbrush-less ex of yours, or his weird friend and all of us ending up in a fight because we were sick of being stuck there. I'll remember how you helped me through breakups, and let me cry to you through them and always said things that helped me feel better about myself through it all.  You're super crazy and always can make people laugh even when they're sad. I always wanted you to end up with someone amazing, and I was so excited when you met Westin. You could be yourself completely, and I loved that. I wanted you to be with someone who you could be your super crazy self with. And I feel like even when he's around, I still get to see that side of you! I love him for you.

I'm so happy for you and what you're life is becoming. I'm so excited to be able to visit you in Hawaii. I've never been, and now I have a great excuse to come there! I love you so much, and I'm going to miss you sooooo much. I can't wait to hear about all your new adventures, and see what you guys have going on in your life. I know you'll be out there, helping a bunch of people get through hard times because that's just what you do. You've got such a giving heart. The people of Hawaii are so lucky to be getting you!

I will miss you so much, and I know I already said that, but you better expect tears the day you leave. I am so lucky to have a friend like you, and I am not excited to see you move away. Can we please stay friends even when we're both busy on opposite ends of the world?

Love you tons Sugar Britches... I can't believe you're moving! :( I can't believe it's happening in less than a week. I have no idea how things will be with you not in the same state as me anymore. I already feel sad while I'm writing this to you! Good luck with everything, and please, please, please keep in touch!

Love you,
Lana

So... I've been reading this health blog lately that talks about everything from nutrients and exercise to mental health. One person wrote that she wanted everyone to write a positive letter to themselves, and that by doing this it would boost their own morale. Well... since I'm exhausted and can barely think lately when I come home from work, I thought I'd try it. Here goes...

Hey Girl,

I know you feel like you're doing a crappy job at managing people because it seems like everyone is tired, and overworked including you... but you aren't. You are able to get them to work just as hard as you, and get their jobs done, even when deadlines seem so impossible (and are). Way to go on motivating them even though it's much easier to just take over and do everything yourself. (In this case you can't do everything yourself, that's why there are other employees there to help! It's just too much for one person).

I know you feel like you're a lazy butt lately too because you come home so tired everyday you bagged your running plan for a while... AGAIN. But just hang in there, you are doing something good for yourself by resting. You recognize the burnout signs, and while it's bad enough that you're too tired to drive much on freeways right now, you're protecting yourself by not wearing yourself out even more. Just think what would happen on the freeway if you had no energy left from running too!

It may seem that you're not doing very well at handling 8 months of a long distance relationship but you are. Sure sometimes you just want to cry because all you need to feel better that day is a hug from him, but he's 2,000 miles away and can't give you one.  You always hang in there. No one that really knows you thought you could handle this situation, except for you. So you did it anyway despite their misgivings about you and look how well you've done! You have made it through 6 1/2 months with way more strength than you ever thought you'd have.... I'd say you're pretty awesome. It may feel like you're going to explode when people complain about not seeing their boyfriend for 1 day, but you hold it in and try to be supportive of them anyway. Some of your friends say "I don't know how you do it," and you just smile and laugh even though inside you're going, "I HAAAAAAAAAAAATE IT." You just handle it the best you can, and really... you are handling it the very best you can.

These are just a few of the things that make you wonderful. I'll come up with more tomorrow or in a few days or something. Promise.

Sincerely,
Your awesome self

-----

I challenge all of you to do the same thing I just did. Honestly? In the 10 minutes I spent writing this, I just boosted my mood. And I was in desperate need of that since lately I am so worn out I feel sick. I'm so excited for my vacation in 36 hours. I need to see Justin so badly. It's been 3 months since I saw him last, and 6 1/2 months since he left. I'm so excited for this trip!!!!!

Let me know what you think of this idea, or even post a letter to yourself on my comments. I'd love to read anything you have to say on this topic.

Goodnight my wonderful friends!

So... I might as well have been my mom's twin sister. My musical loves these days often include a lot of what was around when she was in her teens and 20's... it's just SOOOO much better than a lot of the new music coming out. I love some new music that comes out but this song has always been a favorite of mine. I've been trying to memorize it on the piano. Memorizing is not my talent that's for sure.

Anyway, here's an actual music video that was made for this song by John Lennon. It's kind of strange, but the song is lovely.

Imagine - John Lennon

As you all know I'm a huge (creepy) Sara Bareilles fan. I may or may not have ordered a shirt with her face  on it the other night, but that's beside the point. I have to say, she is by far one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I am never disappointed with her singer/songwriter skills... a.k.a. you CANNOT teach the skills she has... a.k.a. when she played Gravity my friend and I got teary since it reminded us both of some bad past relationships.

Some of you may know that I also love to play the piano and am teaching myself how to sing while playing (a feat that is not as easy as it looks, especially if you have to read the sheet music). I envy people that play by ear. Tonight I bought the piano book for Kaleidoscope Heart which is her newest album. I already have the book for Little Voice which was her previous one that made her popular.  As I was playing through the new one tonight I fell in love with a song off the album that I already liked but didn't give much play time.

The song is called Bluebird. It's a little sad (but also happy), and it's about dusting yourself off after a breakup and looking to the future even if it wasn't your idea to breakup. This song doesn't apply to my life at the current moment, but boy has it before! I love her lyrics, they are so relatable. Normally I post her really fun loud songs, but this one just kind of reeled me in.

Please enjoy, it's a really beautiful song. I played it probably 6 or 7 times tonight on the piano, and am now in love with singing it too.

Now I just need to master it and maybe I'll post a video of me, instead of her singing it!  

PSYCHE!!!! Totally never going to happen.

So I think I do a pretty good job of being happy and optimistic while Mr. Awesome is gone with military stuff. I have only really cried probably a handful of times (which if you know me and my emotions, you're probably congratulating me in your head). I can even list fairly accurately the times I've cried....

The day he left
A week later when no letters came -- I didn't know it took a few weeks for them to be allowed to write.
After I hung up from the first 5 minute phone call a few weeks after he left.
One or two random nights here and there.
The night of his graduation when I was here for my best friend's wedding.
The first time I saw him on Skype
When I had to leave Mississippi and say goodbye (oh dear, I nearly lost it on my way to the ticket counter).
And.... tonight because I am sitting here watching my new addiction on Hulu, So You Think You Can Dance (ok it's an old addiction revisited), and they decide to do a dance based on a man coming home from the military and seeing his wife. Wow, can I just say the second it started I was in tears. And it wasn't because of anything other than 5 months of distance -- more hours on the phone than either of us ever thought we'd spend in our lifetimes put together, all the frustrations of not getting to see each other EVER -- finally got to me.

And then... I couldn't stop. And when it was over, I wasn't done crying so I watched the dance again. Here it is... it's pretty great, but still I don't see why it would trigger tears other than it's been forever with him being across the country from me and I had a moment tonight.



Holy crap guys, I needed that good cry. It's been practically 5 months in the making. I know men will never understand the effects of a good cry, but let me tell you, that was healing. I feel like a tightness that's been in my chest for weeks just loosened a little bit.

Also some good friends of mine were able to get married this past weekend. He just came home from being gone for 8 months. They got engaged during Christmas and never knew when they would get to marry each other, finally they sealed the deal! I'm so happy for them.

This post goes out to all my military wife/girlfriend/mom/sister friends! I hope you hang in there through all this distance. Your men are awesome men, and you are awesome women for standing by them through all this hardship. You're tough women. I'm lucky to know you!

The only thing left to add to this cheesy emotion fest is... GIRL POWER!!!!!!!! Anyone have some Midol?

I found this article on Facebook today that someone had shared and I felt like it needed to be shared with you!


Please read it.  If these statistics are true, which I believe they are since everywhere I turn girls are getting fake boobies for purely no reason...and I happen to live in the area this article speaks of. (Please note this is not an attack on those who do it because of deformations, cancer, etc).


Here are some of the many points that stood out to me:

"people in SLC search online for info on getting breast implants more often than any other city in the U.S.! They calculated the total searches for a topic based on millions of consumers in a three-month period, and then broke them down to location of the visitor. In Salt Lake City, residents seek out info on getting breast implants 74% more often than the national average." 

"Sure, it might be true that a fitness-oriented population might not have as much ”breast fulness” as the rest of the population, but the assumed “complicat[ions]” of that fact are what’s bothersome. Women shouldn’t need to “fit into” swimmingsuits – swimmingsuits should fit THEM."

"Though so much evidence tells us beauty ideals of extreme thinness and shapely perfection have little to no correlation with actual physical health, we still see evidence demonstrating people believe these myths. Multiple studies demonstrate most females now perceive underweight bodies as being ideally healthy." 

Can't we all just understand the fact that being a mom doesn't always make your boobs as perky as they were when you were 22? And why does our culture care so much about the perfect cleavage?! Men were turned on for eons before the pushup bra was invented, and believe you me, before that happened boobs were subject to gravitational forces! 


Women who become mothers sacrifice so much for their children including their youthful appearance. This makes them a selfless, beautiful person. This article talked so much about mothers in the area getting all the work done on them. I wish our society allowed womanhood to have various stages. It does regardless of whether or not we want it to happen, and these stages vary women's appearance as well. Each stage should be appreciated and accepted as we progress through them. 


I really wish we could all love ourselves for the awesome beautiful people that we are.


I'm also a little tired tonight so please forgive me for the scatterbrained writing.

...in music. This is once again proof of why I love her. She can do the best dang covers I've heard.

She took on U2's "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" and nails it right on the head. I love her music, she's going to be big for a long time. She's got what everyone else doesn't and that's the ability to not need an autotuner. :)

Found this song for free on Itunes and fell in love with this band. This song is great for running to.

Enjoy.

Last weekend I went to Biloxi, MS to visit Mr. Awesome. It had been 4 months since we saw each other last in person. Needless to say the night before my flight I was a little anxious. The morning of my flight, I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and found out an hour later after waiting in line, that my flight was delayed for 4 hours, and I'd have to catch a new connecting flight that would get me to Biloxi 6 hours later than I hoped to arrive. I almost started crying but at least I'd get there though on the same day! By the time I finally got there I was exhausted and therefore couldn't be anxious at all. He was stuck in traffic, so when he finally pulled up I was waiting on the airport terminal curb.

Best. Reunion. Ever.

I missed him a lot. Here are some pictures from our trip. We hung around Biloxi the first full day, then headed 2 hours away to Pensacola, FL to the beach, then back to MS for some local beach time the next day and a gator farm, and some more beach time at the pier in Biloxi my last day. We explored Biloxi a lot and mostly just spent some overdue quality time together, you know... the cheesy stuff you don't get to do when you live 2,000 miles away. Like sit next to each other while you eat, and hold hands, and be around each other and NOT talk. Oh I loved not talking. 2 months of letter writing, and constantly holding my cell phone so as not to miss my 10 minute call, followed by 2 months of phone/skype only calls made me worn out from talking. I was so happy to watch movies with him and not talk at all.

I loved it so much that I didn't want to come back. And still don't want to be here. I want to go back NOW! Only 5 more months to go, and I'll be a happy camper! I can do it, I can do it, I can do it....

Anyway, here are the pictures!  Oh and if someone ever suggests you try soft-shell crab deep-fried say no and punch them. It's horrible. We learned our lesson the hard way.

First day together again. He looks fantastic!

Yay!

Pensacola, FL

Crazy legs at the beach!

Best dinner I've ever had. Still craving it!

Best dinner Justin's ever had. He's still craving it!

Say "YES!" to bibs.

Gonna find him a gator!

It's slimy, and awesome. He is so excited!

Biloxi pier. Awesome place for a lunch date.

Holy sad faces Batman! Don't make me go home!

I will be 27 in one week. I know compared to the rest of the world, this is not old, but when my brother a few weeks ago said "can you believe how old we are?" I realized that he is linking me with him, and he's always been the older one. He's 5 years older than me, and so much farther than I am in life. He has 4 kids, a great wife, a house, etc. I just realized though that suddenly I'm in the same category for the most part. I am done with college, in a decent job that pays me a pretty decent wage, and I am no longer considered a baby out in the world. I am .... do I dare say this out loud? I am... *deep breath* 3 years away from 30.

OH... MY... GOSH.

This song has always been a favorite of mine, but I wanted you to read the lyrics. I feel this way sometimes when I realize how quickly time passes. 9 years ago I was standing at a podium, giving my high school graduation speech about how no matter where we go in life, we will always be connected to everyone somehow. Little did I know, the world of Facebook would prove that to be true! HA!  This John Mayer song entitled "Stop This Train" is dedicated to my never ending fear of one day being 45 and looking back at my life wondering how I got from 20-40 in the blink of an eye. There is nothing wrong with getting old... but there is something blissful and wonderful about being young. I happen to love it.

Lyrics are below the video if you don't want to watch the video while you listen...


Stop This Train - John Mayer
No I'm not color blind
I know the world is black and white
Try to keep an open mind but...
I just can't sleep on this tonight
Stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't
But honestly won't someone stop this train

Don't know how else to say it, don't want to see my parents go
One generation's length away From fighting life out on my own

Stop this train
I want to get off and go home again
I can't take the speed it's moving in
I know I can't but honestly won't someone stop this train

So scared of getting older
I'm only good at being young
So I play the numbers game to find a way to say that life has just begun

Had a talk with my old man
Said help me understand
He said turn 68, you'll renegotiate
Don't stop this train
Don't for a minute change the place you're in
Don't think I couldn't ever understand
I tried my hand
John, honestly we'll never stop this train

See once in a while when it's good
It'll feel like it should
And they're all still around
And you're still safe and sound
And you don't miss a thing
'til you cry when you're driving away in the dark.

Singing stop this train I want to get off and go home again
I can't take this speed it's moving in
I know I can't
Cause now I see I'll never stop this train

The Good Samaritan

Happy Easter everyone! Today I was reminded of a story that happened 7 years ago. I forget about this story often, and from time to time someone reminds me of it in some way or another and I think about it for a little while. I have never written it in a journal or anything, and feel like it's about time I did.

When I was 20, I was dating someone who grew up in Idaho Falls, ID. We were up there for a 4th of July weekend and were hanging out with his family. We decided to take a day trip to Jackson Hole since it's just a couple of hours away, and buy fireworks from Wyoming, and walk around the town. For those of you who don't know, Jackson is a really cool city, and in the summer it is gorgeous there!  We headed there around lunch time and walked around the town, explored and got some food etc. A perfect summer day if you ask me.

As we were getting ready to leave it was getting dark, so we called his parents to let them know we'd be back right around the time we had planned. We started back and just as we got about 10 miles out of town, we got a flat tire. He said it would be no big deal, and got out to change the tire. He was out there for a while and when he got back in the car he was pretty upset. I asked him what was wrong and he said the wrench he uses to get his tire off is missing and we can't change the tire without it.

We got out and tried to call someone on our cell phones, but neither of us could get any reception at all. The service was cutting out since we were just about to enter a canyon. We walked a decent distance back toward town and still couldn't get any reception and by this time it was almost dark. The sun had already set and we didn't have any way to get help. We decided to try to flag someone down. It took about half an hour, and finally someone pulled over.

He seemed like he was in his late 20's or early 30's. And he quickly came to see what we needed. After explaining to him the situation, he checked to see if his wrench would fit our car... it didn't. Then they decided to search the trunk again, and in this process they started thinking the spare might be flat too. After this finding, he graciously offered to take us into town to see if we could get cell phone reception and possibly get someone from the mechanic shop to help. As we were driving in to town, he hands his cell phone to the guy I was dating, and said we could use it as much as we needed while he was with us.

Then after we call his parents and let them know the issue, we check the local mechanic, and they are closed for the next 3 days due to the holiday weekend. At this point we kind of feel like our only option is a tow truck, but that would be so expensive and we were poor college students. We decide to call his parents and see what they think we should do. After we talked to them and they figured out a solution for us,  we had to wait for them to get to Jackson to help us. We offered to take the guy to dinner for helping us, and he was grateful for our offer.

At dinner we started to talk to him all about where he was from, what he did, etc. He was very warm and friendly. He told he had recently recovered from a really bad lifestyle, and had attempted suicide before. One night he said he was getting ready to shoot himself, and was really at the end of his rope, and felt there was no hope for him. He said an "angel" appeared to him and told him that was not his path, and he needed to live and help people find God's path for them. He was very serious when he told us this.

Now, I don't know if an angel really appeared to him, or what really happened that night. But he was very different than the man he had described himself as previously being. He was very happy and giving, and he told us that's the way he had been since that day when his life was saved. He was now a member of a born-again Christian faith, and told us that if we were ever stuck there again we could come to one of their meetings. We talked to him for quite a while about what he was doing now, and how he was so different. He seemed to have a lot of faith in what he believed in and I can still remember how I wished for faith like that in my beliefs (at the time I had been in a longtime battle to find my faith in my religion).

After dinner we went to pay and found out he'd snuck payment to the waitress for the meal while he had "gone to the restroom". This guy was so selflessly charitable toward us. We kept trying to give him money for driving us around and helping us, but he refused. Then he dropped us off at a movie theater where we were planning to spend the rest of the time we had to wait for his parents to come help us. As we were getting out of the car he told us that charity was such a big part of life, and that we all needed to incorporate it into ours. Then if I remember right, he handed us a $20 and told us to have a good time at the movies (this may or may not have happened, the last part is kind of fuzzy in my memory, but I swear he paid for that too).

It's amazing to me that there are people out there that are so willing to help strangers in need. Sometimes I forget how much I have and how little others have. It makes me realize how selfish we all can be. I think I need to be more observant of how I can serve others, even those that are super close to me... that sometimes I forget could use a little bit of help every now and then.

I want to make sure I incorporate this attitude into my life as much as possible.

Have any of you ever had an experience where someone was extremely selfless, and came to your rescue? Let me know, I'd love to hear your stories. Please comment on this post if you would like to share.