Mr. Aisle 12

I was doing my normal Friday night, 'I want something delicious to eat' grocery shopping. For those of you who know me, you know that I do not cook.  Well, let me rephrase that. I can cook, I just don't cook well.  It's a running joke in my family that every year at Thanksgiving, my job is to make the deviled eggs, and even with a job as simple as that I still have to ask my big sister, "Now what goes in these"?

But anyways, back to the grocery store...

I am focusing hard on the pre-made hamburgers, thinking to myself now which one of these would be the easiest to make? When I hear a deep voice behind me say "Don't tell me your beautiful, and you know how to cook"? I turn around and all I see is beautiful green eyes, and tight curly brown hair.  I stammer....Thinking of comebacks quickly is not my forte.  I immediately feel the hives (a nervous tell tale sign for me) form on my chest.  He then says "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you".

I tell him that it's ok, I'm not embarrassed, and that I actually can not cook at all.  He chuckles and tells me that I'm in a very peculiar place then if I don't know how to cook.  He is obviously MUCH better at clever banter than me.  He then proceeds to say that I should let him cook me a meal sometime, and maybe he could give me a few pointers.

I took his phone number, which he wrote down and gave me with such ease, as he reiterated that he is serious about the dinner, and I should give him a call.

Help! What should I do? I am definetly NOT going over to a strangers house, so what should I do??

Lessons I didn't want to learn

I was talking on the phone with a friend, and the subject of lessons that we've learned from not-so-great situtions came up.  After talking for awhile she said that she thinks that God plans it out that way, that he has to put you in these situations because you have to learn certain things before you can "graduate", so to speak.  She (also unmarried), feels like she hasn't found "the one" yet because she hasn't graduated, hasn't learned some valuable lesson that will help her down the road.  She also suggested that the not-so-great things that happen to you make you who you are, and maybe you have to be that 30 year old person, that has graduated with all of those "lessons learned", to be the perfect partner for your perfect partner.

I completely agree with this, but I truly hope that I'm close to "graduating". 

Here are some of the lessons that I didn't want to learn...

• Cheating (in my opinion) is most of the time an indication that something is lacking from your relationship, and most of the time can not be overcome.  Also, (and I NEVER used to believe this, before it happened to me multiple times) once a cheater, always a cheater.
• Your gut is right 99% of time.  If you are scared to death that he is not going to go through with the wedding..in my case...you are probably right. Also, your mother is right 99% of the time.
• You should make a list of qualities that you value the most in a partner, and stick to it.  Now I do not mean the silly lists that all women make with eye/hair color, profession, style of dress... I mean the important qualities..in my case...Christian, Strong morals, Not an EXTREME Drinker, Family man, MUST want children.
• If you don't like someone A LOT, don't force it, it's not going to happen.  The older I get the more I think I try to settle for someone I don't like everything about (aka J), and maybe I have'nt fully learned this lesson yet...but I did break up with J.

Don't you think I'm close to graduation? What lessons did you not want to learn?

Dreamin...

I've been having some crazy dreams as of lately.  I mean beyond bizarre.  I think that some of them have a lot to do with the fact that in one weekend I watched all the Harry Potter movies like I would die if I did not see all 8.  Then I continued the craziness by reading Book 7 every night before bed (almost done with that one).  But here are some of the crazy dreams...

I woke up grabbing my forehead.  It felt like someone had stabbed me there.  I had dreamt that I was at a local tattoo shop getting a lighting bolt tattooed to my forehead.  I had to run to the bathroom when I woke up just to make sure it was a dream, that's how bad I thought my head hurt.

Next night...I was in a tri-wizard tournament, which involved riding around on a horse drawn carriage through hogsmede.  The carriage had a table on it full of B-12 Energy drinks which were to be chugged rapidly.  It also involved a fire throwing contest. weird.

Last night....I dreamt that I was at a party with J-Lo, my friend Ashley, and my friend Karla.  We spent most of the night taking pictures with J-Lo and asking her questions about her split with Marc.  She showed up to breakfast the next morning, wearing the same dress from the night before and said that they had reconciled. double weird.

Wondering what dream I'll have tonight?

falling in love

This past Friday, I felt something in the air, and my nose picked up on a familiar and lovely scent.  I got excited. "FALL is coming", I said outloud to no one.

I absolutely adore fall.  I love the colors. I love the fresh air. I love having my windows open. I love the low electric bills. I LOVE FALL.

Every relationship I've ever had has started in fall, and I think it's because that's when I feel my best.  I feel like falling in love in fall.

So yesterday at Subway I walked in, and linked eyes with a tattooed, dog tagged soldier sitting in a back booth.  We both smiled at each other.  My heart jumped a beat...maybe it was trying to run away...I laughed to myself (something I do quite frequently) after I imagined the dialouge that my heart and head was having....

Head: firmly stated, "oh no girl, we've had one of those before, and it didn't end well."
Heart: shyly stated, "but look at those eyes, and those tattooes, and that uniform..." swoooon.
Head: "are you trying to make us both go to the loony bin??"
Heart: "maybe this time will be different"
Head: "maybe this time the liver can do damage control instead of me."

I let my head win this one.

honestly.

So..I've been cheating on you.
I've been blogging on an anonymous blog.
I made this decision after reading a comment that made me feel upset, and I felt like maybe I should not write about the things the I truly feel, and I immediately took down that post.  I felt like maybe people that read my blog that know me did not want to hear about doom and gloom, so maybe I'll just doom and gloom people that I don't know.  But then I got to thinking about it....life isn't all rainbows and butterflies.  Why should we hide how we feel from the people that matter the most? Friends and Family that is.  They know us BEST. They know what it is we need to hear to snap out of it, or encourage us.  I have this blog as an outlet, a way to express myself and not bottle it in...so welcome to a new bulletproof, a filter free bulletproof.

Proper Responses

On this episode of proper responses....I actually needed a proper response...

For those of you who don't know I'm a staffing specialist for a temporary staffing company.  Part of my job sometimes involves checking people in at jobsites.  Well, last week one morning I was checking some people in at customer and was walking down an aisle full of product.  A supervisor spotted me, turned his forklift around and came down my aisle.  He approached and the following convo took place:

Supervisor: You've lost weight!
Me: No, I've probably gained about 10 (hey I'm just being honest).
Supervisor: Oh well you look different.
Me: Thank you though.
Supervisor: I hope you aren't offended by this, but...
Me: *gives a worried look*
Supervisor: For a chubby girl, you have a nice shape to you. Your'e very curvy.
Me:*blank stare...didn't know what to say*
Supervisor: You just have boom (big boobs pointed to), boom (average waist pointed to), boom (big butt pointed to).
Me: hmm..*still didn't know what to say*  Thanks......*said pensively*

What's the proper response here???

Thursday Words to live by

For this week's words to live by, I chose an excerpt from one of Og Mandino's fables that was sent out by the president of the company I work for.  I found it to be wonderful.

For the Rest of My Life (by Og Mandino)
 

For the rest of my life there are two days that will never again trouble me...
The first day is yesterday with all it's blunders and tears, it's follies and defeats. Yesterday has passed forever beyond my control...

The other day is tomorrow with it's pitfalls and threats, it's dangers and fears. Until the sun rises again, I have no stake in tomorrow for it is still a myth...

With the help of my family and friends and only one special day to concentrate all of my efforts and energy, I can win! Only when I add the burden of yesterday and tomorrow, am I in danger of faltering under the load. Never again! Today is all there is! Today is the rest of my life and I resolve to conduct myself through every waking hour in the following manner...

For the rest of my life, on this very special day, I will:
- Heed the wise advice of those who care about me and treat everyone I meet, friend or foe, stranger or family, as I would want them to treat me.
- Greet all those I encounter with a smile instead of a frown, and a soft word of encouragement instead of disdain or even worse - silence.
- To make haste to be kind to others, understanding that life is too short and too soon ended to be petty or unkind.

For the rest of my life, on this very special day, I will:
- Understand that life always rewards me on the terms that I establish, and if I never perform or deliver more than that which I am paid, never will I have reason to demand or expect any additional gold.
- Always do more than is expected of me, whether at work, at play, or at home.
- Labor with enthusiasm and passion, no matter what the task at hand may be, realizing that if I cannot secure happiness out of my work I will never know what real happiness is.

For the rest of my life, on this very special day, I will:
- Realize that no path to success is too long if I advance bravely with relentless optimism.
- Remind myself that success has it's price and that I must be willing to balance it's joys and rewards against the precious piece of my life I must always exchange in order to achieve it.
- Never lose faith in a brighter tomorrow, for I know I must use that energy to fulfill the best that is within me to accomplish all my goals and dreams.

For the rest of my life, on this very special day of all days, I will do unto others as I would have them do unto me, to give more of myself every waking hour, to set goals and hold fast to my dreams, to search for the good in every adversity that befalls me, to perform all my duties with complete devotion, and above all, to be true to myself.

For the rest of my life, I will be the best I can be!