All about LOVE

In the spirit of celebrating a commercial holiday about love, here's some love quotes that really resonate with me :)   enjoy!

“Love is giving someone the power to destroy you but trusting them not to.”

“Sometimes you just feel everything and nothing all at once. Sometimes you’ll find yourself smiling while missing something at the same time. At times you can absolutely love a person, all the while wanting to hate them. Life comes without guarantees, except that smiling will brighten your face, laughing will enhance your eyes, and falling in love will change your life.”

“Believe… 

In yourself, 

In love,

In trust. 

In magic, 

in angels, 

in happy endings. 

In God, 

in promises, 

in miracles. 

In people. 

In fairy tales. 

In following your heart. 

In peace, 

in happiness, 

in never giving up. 

In following your passions and making your dreams come true. 

In always having fun. 

In helping people, 

in making the world a better place. 

In changing for the better.”

Dear former self:

I would just like to say what a difference a year makes.   It makes my former single self cringe to utter these words... but it does happen when you least expect it.

Apparently it was all in God's timing because the country boy and I are newlyweds.  And blissfully happy for the most part.

I've graduated with my Masters degree, got my first professional job, moved cities, gotten engaged, moved cities again, got back to my country roots, made some new friends, got married and learned so much along the way.

I've learned life still gives you curve balls when you least expect it, that some friends are only in your life for a chapter or two, that distance makes friendship harder --- and you learn who's willing to put forth the effort to keep the relationship going, and that family is still most important.

I hope to go back and fill in blanks during 2013-2014 later but for now... just thankful for blessings and unanswered prayers.

Dr. Spock, is there a parallel universe?

do you ever stop and wonder if your life exists in several parallel universes?

i mean does it ever seem that you could've taken several different courses of outcome and still be happy? how is that possible? its not unequal or weighted happiness... just "different".
kind of how you feel about the many loves in your life. some small, some large, some turned friends, some turned out to be hellions, some were first-loves, some were great loves.
the capacity of love, it seems to me, its not dependent upon the amount of love. but rather, it assumes the shape of whatever form in which it is given.

There are many of us thinking of one version of parallel universe theory or another. If it's all a lot of nonsense, then it's a lot of wasted effort going into this far-out idea. But if this idea is correct, it is a fantastic upheaval in our understanding.
- Brian Greene-

i could have been happy with college-ex "B".  I mean... probably?  At the time I desperately believed we would be happy.  Now that I've "gone country...back to her roots" (as Alan Jackson sings so prettily) it makes me wonder how much we really had in common.  I do remember loving him fiercely though.  I was his biggest supporter.  and defender to my parents and any other critics.  the only thing I really remember fighting about was me wanting to get engaged {after 3 years of dating... what? that's ludicrous ;) } 

In that alternate reality, I doubt I would have gotten to live in the places I have thus far... and we probably would have had kids much sooner (still childless... for now {and by choice!}).   I  may reminesce about the travel bug he had, but the current me is much happier being relatively-geographically close to my family AND my in-laws.  and truly---- I'm a homebody at heart 
Looking at it now... obviously he felt the disconnect far before I did.  while I still don't respect him for the way he chose to go about it, my current happiness would not exist without that monumental change in our lives' courses. 

the other shorter-lived bfs... I truly doubt it would have made it to marriage without some serious doubts on my part.  although there is one...we never really dated but back then I sure wanted to!  a few steamy make-out sessions and a lot of small-town/Southern background in common and I thought all the pieces were there.  of course, it took him about a decade to get over a girl, so maybe God knew I was at my patience limit (which truly is microscopic)  and had better plans for me :)

mocha mafia

this.is.ME

happy BURFDAY month to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I'm sorry but I mustache

say it ain't so!

T-minus-10days

till GRADUATION!!!!

wahoooo.... #isurvivedgradschool

:::::swoon:::::

big girl panties

LOVE this!!!

choice... or chance?

in doing some digging for an old paper from undergrad days gone-by, I ran across this.
Someone had it emailed to me my freshman year in college and I liked it so much that I not only printed it out and posted it to my hot pink and zebra corkboard #collegeinearlymilleniumyears but I also took the time to retype it so it wouldnt be lost.

I also found a lot of old saved IM conversations with B. some that reassure me I wasnt crazy/didnt just dream up that it was really that good back then. and some that make the older, wiser?, more jaded? me cringe a bit on how immature and black/white I was about my relationships.

so for what it's worth, I'll try to keep this in mind. for the next time I fall in love :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Choice or Chance?

When we meet the right person to love, when we're at the right place at the right time, that's chance.

When you meet someone you're attracted to, that's not a choice. That's chance.

Being caught up in a moment (and there are a lot of couples who get together because of this)That's also a chance.

The difference is what happens afterwards…
Will you take that infatuation, that crush,
or that mind- blowing attraction to the next level?
That's when all sanity comes back…
You have to sit down and contemplate
whether you want to make this into a concrete relationship or just a fling.

If you decide to love a person, even with his faults, that's not a chance. That's choice

When you choose to be with a person, no matter what, that's choice.

Even if you know there are many people out there who are more attractive, smarter, and richer than your mate, and yet, you decide to love your mate just the same, that's choice

Infatuation, crushes, and attraction come to us by chance.
But true love that lasts is truly a choice. A choice that we make…

Regarding soulmates, there's a beautiful movie quote that I believe is so true about this:
"Fate brings you together, but it's still up to you to make it happen."

I believe that soulmates do exist, that there is truly someone made for you.
But it's still up to you to make the choice if you're going to do something about it or not.

We may meet our soulmates by chance, but loving and staying with our soulmate is still a choice we have to make.

We came to the world not by finding someone perfect to love, BUT to learn how to love an imperfect person perfectly.
~Author Unknown~

S.A.D. = Single Awareness Day

no words necessary...

except maybe "Hallmark.... I HATE YOU!

:)

happy hump day?

I cried last night.

...

...

...

Over a Twix candy bar.

I have no idea how it ended up in my fridge (its not my favorite candy bar and I never buy full-size candy!)
except to think the following possibilities

(a) magical yet creepy Elf on a Shelf wanted to save mankind from the wrath of Kat,

(b) that Willy Wonka did invent that crazy candybar-sending TV
and it appeared in my house,

(c) our benevolent God decided to throw me a frickin bone. (as compared to the mostly misery thats been present lately)

Anyways, when I found it,
I seriously did Chandler's happy dance < Chandler Happy Dance GIF>
in my kitchen and shed a few tears.

And then I made myself go to gym class in exchange for the miraculous gift :)

Unbeknownst to me at the time, we had tornado weather here at 7am
(apparently I have retained my mad sleeping skills from college am just as good at sleeping through fire alarms/ tornado weather & warnings as I was at OU).

All I knew is that I could hear things being knocked over outside and the wind was going SIDEWAYS~~~

And I was NOT going out in it. So I email that I will be in later that morning. Only to have my phone blow up with National Weather alerts for my area saying "tornado weather… seek shelter"

So now that I'm finally at work, I'm wondering if we get to claim "hazardous weather/working conditions" or if I have to use PTO ;)

Anyways… I got in my car this morning and almost gagged.

It smells like stinky gym tennis shoes + old broccoli

I have no idea where or why. It didn't smell like that yesterday or on the way to the gym.

All I could think about was "Grumpy Old Men" when Jack throws a fish into Walter's old Suburban and he doesn't find it for a week!

Pretty sure my facial expression was comparable. Or like that guy's….

so NOT looking forward to cleaning out my car in the rain today.
I'm secretly hoping that the smell disappears as fast and mysteriously as it appeared!!!

Sadly, I regret to report that the cry-inducing Twix was not enough to overpower the stronghold the BMH have induced on my body.

So I stopped for gas station on my way to work and bought 3 things….. a cappuccino (duh), Cheeto puffs (small victory in convincing myself to buy the small bag!), and coconut M-n-Ms.

Yeah………………. I definitely got a empathetic look from the female clerk this morning.

Pretty sure she knew what's up ;)

That is all. Thanks for letting me "purge the crazy".

This image, along with followed slogan as a PSA to all of my Facebook/Pinterest friends...

"Please comply to reduce suicides among single persons"

"Cause I heard Jesus, he drank wine. And I bet we'd get along just fine..."