Happy Mardi Gras!
Today is Fat Tuesday, which means a few things.
1. I have an excuse, if I so wish, to eat lots of ridiculous junk food and have a couple drinks (even if it is a school night).
2. I am pretty much guaranteed to have at least 1 party going on down the street from me, which inevitably means that my poor pups will spend the better part of the night barking their little lungs out.
3. Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday.
The problem with #1 is that I also have boot camp tonight and somehow ingesting 5,000 calories after killing myself for an hour is NOT appealing what-so-ever. Instead, I have challenged myself to make a deceivingly delicious Cajun meal that will not demolish my calorie goals. I will also be whipping up a few cocktails and possibly a little homemade dessert. DISCLAIMER: This will all depend on how mean my coach is tonight, we may end up with cereal...
I live within a single city block of a college campus. All my neighbors are college students. They like to party. A lot. On any holiday and for any reason. Oh well, I liked to party too. Maybe I'm just jealous. Either way, I wish they made puppy earplugs so that my sweet babies would not freak out at every hoot and holler.
With Ash Wednesday comes a whole other set of rules. I must go to mass, I must either fast or abstain from meat for the whole day, and I must spend the rest of the day stressing over what sacrifices I am going to make to remind me of The Sacrifice that Jesus made on Good Friday.
In years past I have almost felt bad for the things I chose to give up for Lent. They always seemed a bit self serving in one way or another. I'm not saying they weren't sacrifices, because they were, but they always seemed to have an underlying purpose that was not spiritual in any discernible way. One year I cut out carbs. Difficult for someone who looooooves bread and french fries? Yes. Also a way to force me to diet so that I could reach a weight loss goal? Yep. Another year I gave up snacking between meals....same reason, different year.
This year I am determined to come up with something that will help me grow as a person. I want to honor God by pushing myself to go outside my comfort zone and really dig into how I can change, be it spiritually or emotionally.
Anyone feel like sharing their Mardi Gras plans or Lent goals?
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Family Friday
Right now, as we speak, my sisters are brother are piled up in a car headed on that horribly boring drive to bring them from Chattanooga all the way to me, in Memphis.
And. I . Am. So. Excited.
Monday, February 13, 2012
Mushy Monday
Fair warning: this is a lovey dovey post. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Tomorrow marks mine and RJ's 4th anniversary. I know, Valentine's Day, kind of ridiculous and cheesy.
For those of you who know the whole story, you know there's much more to it than Valentine's day. For those of you who don't...please don't judge me.
Four years ago I had a "Valentine" and it was not RJ. In fact, it was one of his fraternity brother and one of my very favorite people in the world, Tyler. We had a dinner date with another "Valentine's" couple and had a wonderful time. My secret was that throughout the entire "date" I had been texting RJ and he FINALLY asked me to come over to his room to watch a movie. After leaving my date, I promptly headed to his house and the rest is history... Oh yeah, except the part where we hid our relationship from our bestest friends for 3 months.
Right, well, now that everyone knows my dirty little secret, here's where we are now. Fast-forward 4 of the fastest years of my life. I guess it says something for our relationship when I cannot believe that it has been even 2 years. We are still ridiculously crazy about each other and life together doesn't drag by, it's just fun. We play together, plan together, depend on each other, and love each other unconditionally. All in all, we just live life together. Don't get me wrong, we also argue and fight, but even when I am so mad I can't speak I would never want to be anywhere other than exactly where I am.
Life gets mundane, dishes need to be done, laundry needs to be put away, and unfortunately I have to go to work everyday. The secret to our happiness, as cheesy as it sounds, is that we live our lives to try and make the other happy. Everyday I feel loved and cherished. Even when I am crying because our plans have fallen apart, RJ can somehow make it better. Even if it is just a box of cupcakes and a night spent "camping" on an air mattress in the den, he makes it special. I know that he would do absolutely anything to take my tears away and it makes me start to dwell on how lucky I am and less on how things didn't go as I had imagined in my head.
One of the biggest hurdles for me was learning that just because RJ doesn't show love the way I do, doesn't make either of us wrong; it makes us different. In order to learn about each other we took THIS QUIZ and started really digging into "The Love Languages" that we each prefer. Now we are committing to step outside of our comfort zone and make the sacrifice and effort to love the other in the way that THEY recognize love and want to be loved.
I think all of you should do it too. There are quizzes for attached and single. It is enlightening and actually makes a whole lot of sense if you allow yourself to listen without becoming defensive.
I can honestly say, life is hard, but I am happier now than I have ever been. I have someone I cannot imagine living without and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.
Tomorrow marks mine and RJ's 4th anniversary. I know, Valentine's Day, kind of ridiculous and cheesy.
Four years ago I had a "Valentine" and it was not RJ. In fact, it was one of his fraternity brother and one of my very favorite people in the world, Tyler. We had a dinner date with another "Valentine's" couple and had a wonderful time. My secret was that throughout the entire "date" I had been texting RJ and he FINALLY asked me to come over to his room to watch a movie. After leaving my date, I promptly headed to his house and the rest is history... Oh yeah, except the part where we hid our relationship from our bestest friends for 3 months.
Right, well, now that everyone knows my dirty little secret, here's where we are now. Fast-forward 4 of the fastest years of my life. I guess it says something for our relationship when I cannot believe that it has been even 2 years. We are still ridiculously crazy about each other and life together doesn't drag by, it's just fun. We play together, plan together, depend on each other, and love each other unconditionally. All in all, we just live life together. Don't get me wrong, we also argue and fight, but even when I am so mad I can't speak I would never want to be anywhere other than exactly where I am.
Life gets mundane, dishes need to be done, laundry needs to be put away, and unfortunately I have to go to work everyday. The secret to our happiness, as cheesy as it sounds, is that we live our lives to try and make the other happy. Everyday I feel loved and cherished. Even when I am crying because our plans have fallen apart, RJ can somehow make it better. Even if it is just a box of cupcakes and a night spent "camping" on an air mattress in the den, he makes it special. I know that he would do absolutely anything to take my tears away and it makes me start to dwell on how lucky I am and less on how things didn't go as I had imagined in my head.
One of the biggest hurdles for me was learning that just because RJ doesn't show love the way I do, doesn't make either of us wrong; it makes us different. In order to learn about each other we took THIS QUIZ and started really digging into "The Love Languages" that we each prefer. Now we are committing to step outside of our comfort zone and make the sacrifice and effort to love the other in the way that THEY recognize love and want to be loved.
I think all of you should do it too. There are quizzes for attached and single. It is enlightening and actually makes a whole lot of sense if you allow yourself to listen without becoming defensive.
I can honestly say, life is hard, but I am happier now than I have ever been. I have someone I cannot imagine living without and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for us.
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