Do you know what kinds of lions I've hunted?

(*disclaimer* Hunting lions is not to be taken literal in this case. This is not *that* kind of post)

Maybe I'm weird because I spend an overwhelming amount of time with 10 year olds, or maybe everyone watches an unhealthy amount of Kid History.  But the cool thing, there are lessons to be learned from EVERYTHING we put in our lives.  Over the last little while, a quote from an episode of Kid History has been playing through my mind on repeat:

"Do you know where I've been?" 

"Do you know what kinds of lions I've hunted?"

Humans are remarkable.  Every. Single. One. of us has been in different situations and "hunted different lions".  Yet, Every. Single. One. of us gets out of bed everyday and walks around doing remarkable things regardless of the lions we've hunted.  We go to our jobs, take care of our families, and smile--leaving the lions we've hunted behind.  So next time you see a fellow "lion hunter" smile and give them a high five. We are all doing the best that we can and we deserve it!

Word Talk

Remember this post?
Those words that I talked about there were the worst words I ever heard.  I'm done sugar coating it.  It sucked. For a long time.  Those words sent me on a life journey I never thought I would go on.
But, yesterday another sentences made it all go away.  It made the last three years of my life worth it. If I had to go through everything in order to hear that sentence, I would do it again.  This sentence also brought tears to my eyes, but this time they were happy,proud,relieved tears.  This sentence:subject,verb,noun:will make so many wonderful things possible.  Those words made me have hope in life again.

Besties

Today is 

National Best Friends Day

 I have some of the BEST best friends there are.

friendship is timeless

Friendship lasts through a lot of crap

ups

downs

and turn arounds

and keeps going strong

{Life is better with good friends}

Saturday

HELLLO blogophere:::: is anybody there?

Today is saturday.  The day of satting.  The day where it's perfectly acceptable to 

sit/lay and watch tv.  The day where you don't have to feel bad about not working

because DANG IT it's your day off.

Now, when you're a teacher/student, EVERYDAY

can be a SATurday 

during the three months of summa vacation.  And quite frankly,

it can get rather boring and mundane.

That's where I find my self.

Three "SATurdays" into summa and I'm going a little stir crazy. 

Sooooo

You're in luck.

I'm getting off my rear and bringing it back.

Bringing back the awesomeness of this blog....

Please be patient as this will take time. 

But it's going to be awesome. And I'm excited.

Jealousy

i hate that word.
absolutely. hate.
i especially hate that word when i allow that word to be a word that describes me.
and right now it does.

to me jealousy and insecurity are siamese twins.
attached at the heart.

i have tried hard my whole life to achieve a level of confidence to shun out any feelings of insecurity.  i have pushed aside any words people say, actions they take, or circumstances that come about that may cause this devil feeling to creep into me.

i don't compare myself to others.
i set my sights on what i want.
and normally, i get myself there.

but,
then somehow i forget that level of confidence and let myself shrink under the feelings of being inadequate and lameness.

in our world today it seems that these two little pesters have crept into every aspect of our lives.
social media.
social media.
and social media.

it is soo easy for me to see what other people have that i don't
it is soo easy for me to picture what my life "should be" in order to match what their life is.

that should be hard.

it should be easy for me to see that i have everything i need.
it should be easy for me to see that i am beautiful
it should be easy for me to see that i am doing great things.

There's nothing wrong with shaking what you've got

Wise words.  From Kevin Bacon.
My home town is famous.  Famous for being the site of the film "Footloose".  Pretty sweet.  When I was a senior in high school, Footloose celebrated its 25th anniversary.  We decided to write to Kevin Bacon and try to convince him to come back for the anniversary.  Instead of coming, he sent us this great video.  Enjoy.

Are you blind??

Last weekend I went on a date.
I'll give you a minute to let that sink in.




This date....was a blind date.  And it was awful. Thus resulting in this rant.

Let me tell you a bit about this date. Let's call him B.  B and I supposedly have a lot in common; career choice, love of baseball, witty humor.  However, I only know this because our mutual matchmaking friend informed me that the date wouldn't be a disaster and we would get along great.  I was prepared to answer all the basic blind-date get to know you questions upon meeting B. Where are you from? What's your favorite food?  What do you like to do in your free time? etc. etc. etc.  However, I never got a chance because B didn't ask me one.single.question.  And the questions I asked him, he answered pleasantly with one, or if I was lucky, two words.  Therefore I know he likes running and well, that's just about it.  When the joyous moment came for the misery to end, he showed me his love of running as he made a mad dash to get as far away from dating me as possible.

Here's the thing.  I wasn't looking to marry B.  I was simply looking to have a good time and get to know a supposedly interesting boy.

Upon a lot of reflection of this occasion, I determined my date was not only figuratively blind, but quite possibly actually blind.  Blind to what I have to offer.  Blind to what every girl he's ever met has to offer.  
I'm afraid most people my age (between 20-30) are dating (or not dating) blindly.  There are so many wonderful, interesting people out there for us to get to know.  They are literally EVE.RY.WHERE. But, we don't see them because we are blind.  Blinded by our cell phones, sharing useless photos on facebook, and tweet tweet tweeting. 

All I want to do is sit down with a boy and get to know him and have him get to know me.  I want someone to be interested in.  I want someone to be interested in me.  I want someone who takes the blinders off and sees me for who I am and for what I have to offer.

So, future suitors, OPEN YOUR EYES....