Update Time

I'm so bad at this. like unbelievably bad. It's not really worth having a blog if you don't update it, right? At the risk of sounding like I'm crying wolf, I really am going to try to write more. I love to write & I have an opinion about everything so you would think this would be something that I would want to do all the time, right?

Wrong.

I start to write something on the blog and my mind goes blank. I blame it on the fact that I don't use my brain much anymore. I legitately had a thought today that I think I'm getting dumber without school and/or a challenging work environment. My work is so repetitive. I literally do and say the same stuff every single day. It's like I work off a script.

"Read me the lowest line you can see without squinting."

"Stare straight ahead at this image. It's going to go in and out of focus."

Blah. Blah. Blah

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE my job, and I don't dread going into work like the majority of my friends seem to. It's just not challenging. at all. I am MORE than ready to get back into a learning environment this fall. How nerdy of me. I've discovered I love to learn. I miss the feeling of accomplishment that I would get from checking off things from my to do list. I miss to do lists. Can you believe I just said that?????

Lately, I find myself writing one number/word, but meaning another. OR being in the middle of a story, and then completely losing my train of thought. Seriously, what is that?? Am I 22 going on 80?? Therefore, I think I need to put the ol' thinker to a few intellectual exercises.... I need a library card. Do they still have those? I haven't been into a library that wasn't a school library since I was 10 years old. I used to check out 8 books at a time when I was a kid and read them all within a week. I think 10 year old me could actually be smarter than 22 year old me. How terribly sad. I have a new personal goal for the week: go to the library. && check out "books" that you don't buy at the checkout at Target..... I got this. Hopefully.

Don't wish your life away...

I know that expression. I've heard it all my life. My parents said it to me countless times when I was growing up because I always catch myself looking forward to something in the future. Lately, I am very guilty of this. I have about a thousand countdowns going on in my phone because I'm just SO excited about what the next few months have in store.

Allow me to share.....

1. Mexico!!! My friend, Megan, invited me to go with her & her family in March. It was such a hasty decision, and I could not be more excited. Traveling is one of my passions, and I don't get to do it enough. Proof of this? I got my passport back in 2007 convinced that I would be stamping it at least once a year with all the cool places I would be going throughout college. Fast forward 4 years later and it has yet to be stamped at all. Real cool. Needless to say, I am pumped. Visions of relaxing on the beach and overusing the word "amigo" are dancing through my head. Now, if only I could actually save some money & do some extra crunches at night, I would be all set!

2. MOVING!!! Although I am incredibly sad to be leaving my roommate of almost 4 years, I am the freak who loves moving. I love the entire process.... packing, decorating, organizing, painting, etc. I just like the freshness that it brings. The only downside to my whole moving adventure? I have yet to find a for sure place to live.... and I move out in approximately 30 something days. Cue the nerves and anxiety attack, right?? For someone who likes to constantly be in control & have every little detail planned out, this is causing me some turmoil. However, I just keep telling myself that everything works out how it is supposed to. Therefore, I'm not worried YET.

3. KINGS OF LEON CONCERT!! Beyond excited for this. I have recently had a little infatuation with KOL. In fact, it has become a little annoying to the frequent passengers in my car. Several requests have been made to listen to something else... ANYTHING else. Point taken.

4. VALERIE's WEDDING!! A tad bittersweet.... not gonna lie. On the one hand, my best friend is getting married & this is just so exciting!! On the other hand, she is getting married & this means the reality that I have known for the past 5 years is about to be turned upside down. Ok, maybe that was a tad dramatic, but you get the point. Gone are the days when I can walk two feet and see her. Now, we are going to have to plan to hang out.... as in call each other and ask to meet at a restaurant or ask to come over?? Mind blown. I'm not naive enough to know that our friendship won't change. I mean she will be doing wifey things and living with a BOY..... & then I'll be over here doing the studenty thing & eating frozen meals with mass volumes of caffeine. HOWEVER, I am bound & determined to be as close to her as we've always been. I'm so incredibly happy for her that she has found the person that she wants to spend the rest of her life with, and I can't wait until May 7th to celebrate!!!

5. HAWAII!! I couldn't let Valerie have all the fun honeymooning and all that jazz, so I'm going on my own little romantic get-a-way...... with my parents. WOMP WOMP. haha No really, I am incredibly excited. I've never been to Hawaii, but I have heard that it is beautiful. Plus, one of my favorite ways to travel is with the folks. Can we say all expense paid vacation?? I'm incredibly blessed to be a beach bum not once, but twice in the next couple of months. Ahhh... paradise awaits. AND I'm pretty excited about attending my first luau and getting "lei-d". bwahaha.

6. OPTOMETRY SCHOOL!!! It's becoming real to me as of late that I will be a freakin optometry student in 6 months. As of now, I am beyond excited for all of it. New people, new school, lectures, lab.... EVERYTHING. Bet your bottom dollar I sing a different tune around ohhh September when I'm waist deep in more studying than I've ever had in my life and haven't slept in six nights. For now, though, I'm excited about learning & being all intellectual again. Watching Brad hand out roses when I'm not reading US Weekly hardly screams brainiac over here. My brain will probably hurt when it actually has to learn something of substance. BUT Bring. It. On.

My Lists of Four

So, ohhh about a month ago, Memphis Mama tagged me in a post. Considering this is the first time since then that I have even signed on to blogpost (ah, the horror), I am FINALLY getting around to actually completing the list. With that said, here goes nothing....

Four shows that you watch:

1. Desperate Housewives
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. The Bachelor (judge if you must...)
4. The Big Bang Theory

Four things that you are passionate about:

1. making time for my family & friends
2. my faith
3. traveling, both abroad and in the states
4. working towards the goals I have set for myself

Four words and phrases that you use a lot:

1. haha/bahaha/lol (no matter if it's funny or not)
2. HOWEVER,....
3. Dear lord.
4. I'm tired/I'm sleepy/I'm hungry, etc (I just realized I sound like a 4 year old)

Four things that you've learned from the past:

1. It's never as bad as I think it is.
2. Pushing issues under the rug does not make them go away.
3. I'm young. I should stop pushing my life forward and enjoy being young.
4. You can't please everyone, so stop trying.

Four places you would like to go:

1. England
2. Brazil
3. Italy
4. Hawaii (crossing off the list in May!)

Four things you did yesterday:

1. Worked ALL DAY
2. ate Pei Wei
3. Watched Boy Meets World
4. Drank only water all day (proud of myself!)

Four things you are looking forward to:

1. Starting a new school and, thus, meeting all new people
2. Cone Family Vacation 2011
3. My Best Friend's Wedding :)
4. Moving (I actually love the whole process... call me weird)

Four things that you love about Winter:

1. Christmas... obviously.
2. Snow (until I have to drive in it)
3. Holiday beverages
4. The feeling a new year brings... fresh start!

Tag four people to play along:

1. Valerie @ Along the Way with V and J
2. Erica @ Eureka's Castle
3. Angela @ Che bella e la vita
4. Amanda @ Your's Truly

Crazy Work Stories

If you are wondering where the crazies were today, wonder no longer... they were at my place of employment. I had multiple situations today that left me with no words. As in, I kind of sat in stunned silence for awhile and pondered how people could possibly be that nutso.

Scenario One:

Phone Rings. A very apparent ghetto-licious woman is on the other line. After trying to piece together her half-English, half-jibber language, I finally figure out that "I be try-in to make a appointment fur nex Saterdey" means "I am trying to schedule an appointment for next Saturday, please." Upon looking at the calendar, I notice that next Saturday happens to be Christmas Day. Thinking that maybe she just didn't realize this fact, I gently reminded her that next Saturday is, in fact, Christmas, and that we would not be open that day. Long story short, this lovely lady begins to tell me that she works a considerable amount, and Christmas is the only day that she has off next week. Shouldn't we be able to work around this so that she may get her eyes examined? As intriguing as the idea is to skip the holidays with my family in order to ensure that Ms. ChristmasisJustAnotherDay sees 20/20 for the new year, I decided to pass.

Scenario Two:

First off, let me defend myself by saying that I am not one of those people who so ignorantly proclaim, "If you are in America, you gotta speak English. We ain't trying to learn Spanish or Chinese or something. You gotta learn English." I believe America is founded on that whole freedom concept for a reason, and while I admit it would be very nice if we all spoke the same language, this is simply not the case. BUT, that's another post entirely. To sum up, please do not think that I am poking fun at the following situation or read deeper into this than how it was intended. It was none other than an amusing part of my day.

Again, phone rings. An Asian woman is on the other line. From this point on, she will be referred to as Person A and I as Person B.

A: "Yes. I try to make appointment for Monday."

B: "I'm sorry ma'am... the first appointment we have next week is actually on Wednesday."

A: "No Monday?"

B. "No, no Monday appointments."

A. "Tuesday?"

B. "No, the first thing we have next week is on Wednesday."

A. "No Tuesday afternoon?"

B. "No, ma'am"

A. "I can't have Monday o Tuesday?"

........... and this goes on for another 5-6 minutes. In case you were curious, she has an appointment on Wednesday.

Scenario Three:

Oh, I saved the best for last! This morning, I had the pleasure of meeting pure testosterone in human form. That's right, ladies and gentleman, what can only be described as Chuck Norris' long lost brother graced me with his presence today. The man comes in and begins to explain to me what he is there for. It is apparent that something is very wrong with his eye. It is very red and bloody. After listening to his story, I learn that he had made a trip to the emergency room because of a piece of metal that had been lodged in the white part of his eye. They had then referred him out to an optometrist. After asking him all the necessary questions, I come to the last one on the list: "And how long has the piece of metal been in there, Sir?" To which he replied: "Five Days." Five Days. Five Freakin' Days. I guess I looked a little shocked by his answer because he quickly defended himself with "Ma'am, I'm a man. A real man's man. I'm hard headed and don't nothing get in the way of me and my deer hunting." Ohhhhh, okkkkk. I then entertained myself for the rest of the day with various Chuck Norris jokes that could be extracted from the situation. Because don't you know... Chuck Norris laughs at the idea of metal in his eye. Chuck Norris is physically unable to be physically unable.

Nothing like a little comical relief to get you through the work day. Here's hoping tomorrow is a little more sane, though!

Christmas Shopping for Dummies

I'll admit it. I am not good at Christmas shopping. I envy those people who can go to the mall for an afternoon & come home with all their Christmas shopping finished. I am the exact opposite. Around mid-Novemeber, I begin the grueling process. Step one is always deciding what in the world to get these special people in my life. Ideas are tossed about in my head, only to be over-analyzed and shot down as quickly as they appear. After a couple of weeks of this happening, I begin to grasp at straws. This always leaves me to hit up the tried & true: google. At this point, I can be found typing such things as "Gift ideas for moms" or "What to get a 20 something year old girl for Christmas?" into the search bar....as if some google god will magically feel pity for me and the gift that I have been looking for will instantly appear. Let me tell you.... that never happens. Instead, I am forced to beg my friends and family with this repeated question: "Can you pleaseeee tell me what you want?!?" However, if your friends & family are anything like mine, this is the answer I get: "Oh, I don't know. I don't really need anything. Just surprise me."

Just surprise me. I despise this answer. While I understand that this is the whole point of getting gifts for people, it still puts me right back to where I started. This is where I am now. I have a thousand ideas swirling around in my head, but I haven't exactly executed the plans yet.... and it's December 11th. Awesome. Due to my tardiness, I am pretty much restricted to purchasing things in store as opposed to online due to the lovely amount of shipping days that get tacked on this time of year. After work today, I will be joining the throngs of people at Wolfchase in an attempt to find those perfects gifts while managing to stay at least partially in my ever-so-shrinking budget. Oh boy, oh boy.... Here goes nothing....

Give Thanks.

I've been MIA lately. I blame it on the amount of food, family, and shopping that took place the last few days. I swear that I blinked my eyes and a week had passed. I feel like my life is flyinggg by lately. It's sort of scary. I'm beginning to sound like an old lady saying, "I feel like it was just yesterday that.... blah, blah, blah."

In honor of the big event that led to my food coma last week, I have been thinking a lot recently of all that I have to be thankful for this year, both big and small. Allow me to share.....

- free time. (I have more downtime right now than I have ever had in my entire life. In fact, there is zero stress in my life right now, and it's a strange feeling. There is no test to study for, no anticipation of what I will do in the future, no relationship to pick apart.... it's all just very chill. I do what I want when I want. I'm trying to cherish it for I will probably never have it again).

- my health.

- my parents, extended family, and friends

- my roomate, Valerie (special shoutout to the one who puts up with me on a day to day basis. We have lived together for almost 4 years now, and I recently have had to come to terms with the fact that she is growing up, getting married, and living with him instead of me. haha I really want to try to live up the next few months and not take for granted having her be there all the time!)

- Highpoint Church (helped me in more than one way this year. Every service I attend brings me one step closer to the person that I want to be. In addition, I met some pretty amazing people through a class I attended this year. SO glad that this place has come into my life, and I look forward to becoming even more involved here!)

- Acceptance to Optometry School

- The Little Things: Neutrogena Intense Moisturizing Cream, cheesecake, Harry Potter, Carmex, cardigans, gap skinny jeans, christmas lights, John Mayer, bronzer, cold weather, random acts of kindness, holiday beverages, Diet Mountain Dew, Amy's frozen meals, cupcakes, Cut the Rope, and, of course, Christmas movies. You know, the important things in life....

The Last Few Days....

Here are some things that have been striking my fancy this week:

1. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows

Oh, the long-awaited movie is finally here. Book 7: Part 1 has finally made its way to a movie theater near you... or it will be as of 12:01 am thursday night (or rather Friday morning?). While I will probably not be attending the midnight showing amongst all of the hard-core groupies, (think teenagers & twenty somethings all donned up in their lightning bolt scars, wizardly robes, broomsticks, and wands. oh what a sight to behold) I will most definitely be there excited as ever at normal-people time this weekend. In fact, to honor the occasion and to make sure that I am as well-prepared as possible, I have given myself the daunting task of re-reading the entire 7th book in a matter of a few days time. I WILL finish this thing. Oh, and the inner 12 year old inside of me is so ready for the Hermione/Ron big kiss, as well as a little steamy action from Harry & Ginny. OH BOY. Scandalous.

2. Memphis Basketball

I am so pumped up about this season! Few things get me more excited than Memphis basketball!!!! I just feel like the city is transformed from the months of November - March. It's amazing how much we come together to support this team every single year. I stand behind the fact that we have the best fans in the country. I'm ready to see all of the new talent that we have this year in action. The season really kicked off last night with the 11:00 pm ESPN game against Miami. Talk about a heart attack game... The Tigers really scared me (enough to stay up until 1:30 am to watch the game on a work night. and that's saying something)

3. Gossip Girl on DVD

Spotted: Fallon spending all her free time when not consumed by Harry Potter, Memphis basketball, or pesky work catching up on every single episode there ever was of Gossip Girl starting with Season 1. Yes, I am now team Chuck & Blair. I seriously cannot get enough of the tales of the rich and dramaful. In fact, I am now narrating my own life and concluding it with the phrase, XOXO, Gossip Girl. Pathetic, yes? If only I had Serena or Blair's wardrobe, I would be one happy, happy girl.

4. GLEE Christmas Soundtrack:
Be still my beating heart! Two of my greatest loves, Glee and Christmas, are joining forces to spread holiday cheer to everyone. I downloaded the album today. If you too desire to have visions of sugar plums dance in your head, you should probably do the same.

5. Avocados

Random, no? And, yes, I did just provide you with a clip art picture of an avocado. I wanted you to get the full effect. I recently re-kindled my love of avocados the past few days as well. In fact, I have eaten two today. It hands down wins favorite food of the week.

As you can see, I've been super busy the last few days.... Oh, what a stressed out life I am leading... I hope I can keep it together...... :)