Yikes

It's been a while.
A lot has been going on in my life! On the day to day, not too much has changed, but in overall lifeyness... there has been one wonderfully earthshattering development... I'm engaged to the most wonderful man! Yes ladies and gents, he finally proposed after 5 long and awesome years! And of course I said yes. In fact, I couldn't have forced myself to say anything but yes! So needless to say, my life has become filled with wedding planning. We haven't nailed down too much. We've got the wedding party set, the guest list, the over-all theme, ideas for lots of things, but the one thing that I am having trouble with is nailing down a venue in Savannah that's not going to cost me all of my shoestring budget. Don't get me wrong, I am perfectly content with my budget. I'm less than content with the fact that Savannah is EXPENSIVE. Sorry Forsyth Mansion, this bride is not made of money. In fact, most brides aren't! So get over your fancy self.
I've been meaning to post but every time I get online I end up drowning in wedding research. I get sidetracked easily.
In other news, I have aquired an orphaned kitten thanks to my Brother Bear.
On his way over one day, he heard a bebe keekee meowing so loud that he could hear it inside of his car. So naturally the so-called "Cat Whisperer" got out and grabbed the kitten. I mean, he's got to be 4 weeks old, max. He said he looked for the mom or any other babies and didn't find anything, so he brought the kitten over. And since he's in school and working full time, he didn't have the time or money to keep him, so I ended up with sweet little Snack Pack.

He likes to sleep riiiight in my face. But don't let his sleeping angelic face fool you too much. He's out of control. Adorable as all get out. But out of control. Bottle feeding him is quite dangerous as my kitten shredded hands will tell you. He's even gotten me a few good times in the face. I'm a little lacking on Cat Mother instincts so he gets frustrated with me sometimes, but we're hanging in there.
I thought about re-naming him after an Autobot since we have Optimus Prime already. Then I would teach Optimus to say "Autobots, ROLL OUT!". He's not picking it up very well.

So if I didn't seem like a crazy cat lady before... maybe I do now. Oops. At least I'll be a married crazy lady!

I have also noticed something about myself over the past couple of weeks. I am running out of patience for negativity. It makes my skin crawl. And maybe that's because I have been known to get in a negative rut. I know life sucks. But EVERYTHING in life doesn't suck. If it did, there would be no point. Yeah, maybe you don't have all the gadgets you want, but you wanna know what? Those gadgets you want will break or be obsolete within a year, which will give you something else to complain about. Maybe you feel out of place. I have felt out of place quite often. It was up to me to do something about it. I found a way to make myself feel at ease, to feel in place. I'm tired of hearing people complain about things that are in their power to change. I know I'm as guilty of it as the next person, and like I said, I think that's why it bothers me so much. There is so much about life that we have no control over whatsoever. But we do have control of finding Joy in our lives. Yeah, there are things going on in my life that break my heart but I have a family who loves me and accepts the weird crap I do, I have friends who are pretty awesome, I have someone who loves me no matter how crazy I get, I have little creatures who make me laugh, the sun is shining, the weather feels amazing, I got to see a saweet grasshopper today, and at the end of it all, I know I'm loved and blessed. Everybody has their crap. Believe me, I know. But you have to find the good in it all or else you're going to be miserable. I'm not going to say "Think about people who have it worse off than you" because comparing your pain to someone else's doesn't do anyone any good, but instead look for the little things that make life awesome. Need some help? Check out http://www.1000awesomethings.com/ . When I'm finding it hard to see the good in things, this does the trick. I would say I'm sorry for venting, but I'm not sorry. We get so comfortable in our negativity and we need someone to tell it to us straight so we can get out of our rut. Make the choice to stop being negative and to start enjoying life.

Just call me the pet whisperer

I miss my Savannah people. I'm pretty attached to them. I have yet to reconnect with anyone back home. That's mostly my fault. I'm not even sure who still lives here anymore. So, since I have no social life anymore, I've taken to talking to my pets. I know, its super weird. Its gone beyond the occasional comment here and there. I'm having conversations with them in voices that human beings would commit me for. And singing them songs. Not even real songs, just crap I make up off the top of my head. What is my life?
The only human I talk to most days is my awesome boyfriend. But guess where he is? Yep. Savannah. I talk to my parents too, but they're usually at work all day because that's what grown ups do. Necessity is the mother of talking to animals.
I need some people friends. Either that, or learn how to speak Cattish and Dogonese. Maybe they offer those classes somewhere.
I've submitted my application for substitute teaching. Now I wait. And wait. And get cabin fever. And wait some more. I told you before, my life isn't riveting.

If something exciting happens, I'll be sure to let you know.

There's still hope for email forwards.

Since I've been home, I've become my mom and dad's personal chef. It's a pretty sweet gig, I must admit. Especially when they say, "Just make whatever you want". SCORE! I love cooking, and more than that, I love feeding people. So all around this is pretty nice. And the space I have in this kitchen is much more than what I had in my old apartment. I swear it was like cooking in a shoebox. I learned how to use minimal counter space when making a full meal. Add that to my list of skills on my application.

Now the reason for this post-

As I was rifling through the bottom of the freezer looking for the shrimp I need to thaw for dinner, I found this long forgotten and much needed list on the fridge. It was cleverly hiding behind a Papa John's coupon. Its one of those email forwards where the sender swears only 7% of people will take the time to read. The email claims it is a list of life lessons a 90 year old woman wrote. Regardless of the truth of the origins (am I so jaded that I can't trust the origins of an email forward that has passed through millions of junk mail boxes? Yes, apparently I am.) the actual list rings pretty true. I thought I would list some that stuck out to me.

1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
     Oh how true it is! I feel like this is my mantra. In my own words, Life sucks but God is good. Things happen for a reason!

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.
     Precisely why I'm home and writing to you now. If I had tried to make it this far without my family and close friends, I would have quit the first time I fell on my face. When I see someone who's life has been overcome by work, I think about this and I hope they figure it out before its too late. If I ever become that person, someone please give me a wake up call.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
     Need I say more?

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
     I graduated with my bachelor's in Theatre. I fully intend to be an actor. This should be every actor's mantra.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
    It makes me laugh because its true! We should laugh at ourselves more often.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
     God loves you regardless of what you do. If the creator of life can love us and our imperfect selves, we should be able to love people more like that. Love them anyway.


If we lived a little more this way, life would be a little easier. Isn't it worth it? Sure, just because someone offers us a little advice on things they've learned over the years doesn't mean that we won't run into our own snags. Life would be no fun if it were that way! We are here to learn and love. So even though I'd rather be back in Savannah, I'm going to make the best of being at home.
Life after college....? Let's see what we can do.

Let's be real

So I'm not really so pessimistic to think that my life sucks. I know my life is lacking in the suck department and I'm actually a pretty upbeat and positive girl. But let's be real, no one tells you that once you graduate college, things start to fall apart. Sure, the tell you, "Oh, now it's time to join the real world!" and "Since you've graduated you get to be a working stiff like me!" but they never say, "College is going to beat you to a pulp and once you finally graduate, you'll have to move back to your parents until you can scrape yourself off the floor and be on your own again."
Yeah, I didn't get the memo.

For those of you looking for some super snarky blog that is full of negativity, you've come to the wrong place. I'm just here to record some events in my own life and maybe help someone else along who also didn't get the memo.


If you haven't guessed- I just graduated college. I have returned to the nest I so eagerly flew from a mere 5 years ago because life is expensive and stressful. Before I used to cry myself to sleep over the many exams/scene performances/papers that were looming over my head. Now, I stay in my pj's all day watching Netflix, slowly filling out my application for becoming a substitute teacher (big money, let me tell you), and occasionally doing a pilates workout that kicks my butt like you would not believe. Sometimes I change out of my pajamas right before my mom comes home from work so she doesn't know I've been lounging about all day... I think she may suspect this...

Anyway, that's a glimpse into the wonderful life of a graduate. Riveting, I know. Hang in there. It will get better...right?