A Very Lucky Girl

Lo and behold, April has brought some smiles to my face this year. Let me count the ways. Pedicures. Strawberry Surfriders from Jamba Juice. Good tippers and their good tips. Falling into bed after an 11 hour late night shift. Cry Baby snowcones with extra sour. Songs on repeat. Egg white omelets with bacon. Encouraging emails from MapMyRun Laughing with my dad Checking things off of my task app Writing without abandon Group texts Beating a new level on Candy Crush. Running in the rain. Effortlessly excellent hair days. The post-Easter Peep sale. Wedges (pizza and shoes). But the number one joy-inducer for A Very Lucky Girl this month is the dwindling of the day count to summer. It's so close, I can taste it. And it tastes like snowcones and sleep.

I'm on page 27 of Dr. Townsend's book. It's not exactly a light read. He talked about mirror neurons on page 26 and I admittedly skimmed until I started seeing non-scientific words again. He noted that "learning about love can't be done out of the context of relationship" which I thought was enlightening. Especially since I originally planned to teach myself how to love by myself. But he defines love as bending "our heart, mind, and energies toward the betterment of someone else." I tried to practice patience and kindness this week so that the people I'm around feel loved.   And this week I add the third quality, "it [love] does not envy." I remember when Megan received her Jeep last year. I was so envious. I've never really had a car to call my own EVER and here she was getting her brand spankin' new dream car when her old car still got her from Point A to Point B. I was SO jealous. I wasn't as happy as I could have been

I wouldn't call myself a skeptic exactly when it comes to the power of God. I don't doubt that it exists, but I do doubt that His power works in MY life, personally. I'm so insignificant in this universe of billions of people.  But it's hard to not be in awe of some mind-blowing coincidences that occurred two weekends ago.  That Thursday night was hard and I found solace in James 1:2-4, a verse that proclaims that "perseverance finish its work so that you may be MATURE and COMPLETE, not lacking ANYTHING."  Tyler and I met to talk on the Friday night (I definitely ended up using 3 sturdy napkins to mop up my tears) and he shared with me that he had watched a Life Church sermon that morning. A sermon that focused specifically on James 1:2 and the concept that "sometimes it takes what no one wanted to bring what everyone needed."  I sat there, stunned that out of the 10, 563 verses in the Bible, we both found separate comfort in the same one.  But

meggy credz I spent my Saturday morning running in the happiest 5k on the planet. And I don't mean that oxymoronicly. I ran in the Tulsa Color Run last year in June and nothing could stop me from this repeat event, not even a late night work shift and a mere hour of sleep. More on that later. Last summer Megan and I traversed the short miles between OKC and Tulsa to partake in this glorious event. The heat was intense and the colors melted together to produce a nice muddy tinge, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. However, the extreme heat and my lack of hydration resulted in a slight hiccup on our way out of Tulsa. Dizzy and nauseous, I commanded Megan to stop at a street corner, vaulted out of her Jeep, and promptly puked in a car lot. Wary of last year's disaster, I prepped with sips on sips of water on Friday evening. I worked at Fuzzy's from 5 until about 3 AM and then instantly left for Tulsa with Tyler. I volunteered to drive since I was all amped up from de

I don't know that I'm any less broken , but I am lightyears happier than I was at this time last week. I've been attempting to practice love as patience this week. I've never been the most patient person. I like things to happen in MY timing and MY schedule. Recently, part of patience to me is being mentally present when I'm around my friends and family. I've been practicing putting my phone on complete silent mode and letting social media revolve without me for a few hours at a time. It honestly comes down to Friends With Faces First sometimes. Doesn't mean that I ignore my longer-distance friends, but I also don't put them ahead of my more spatially accessible loved ones. I had a moment of shame this week. I really did not feel like being kind to one of my friends. I didn't feel like expressing my compassion and I tried to defend that feeling by thinking to myself, "NEXT week is love is kind." But that is the sort of thinking that

I never fail to blush furiously when I reread my old journals. There are pros and cons to keeping track of my life events since the 6th grade. And a pro is seeing the growing up process and discovering 8 specific things I'm SO glad I have left in the past: 2007-"...he said I was smart, funny, clever, and beautiful. And made him feel like he could be himself. How does he always know what to say?" I outgrew the terrible trait of fishing for compliments by asking that awfully annoying question, "but, like, why do you like me?" of guys I talked to, and actually believing their answer. Side note: Tyler tried to tell me I didn't need to fish for compliments, and without reading what this unnamed previous guy had said, began to tell me, "you're smart and funny..." Oh. Well, that's familiar. 2008-"I also wrote a sonnet about NH." I haven't written a sonnet since. To be fair, it was an assignment for a class, but the subject ma

It seems all I've been doing the past few days is writing. Writing papers, writing blog posts, writing notes, and writing in my journal. For me, writing helps create order in my otherwise chaotic cranium.  I wish I was better at using my words vocally, but I'm still learning how to think thoroughly before speaking.  I attended a student assistant training on Sunday afternoon for next fall and learned a lot about myself. The speakers asked us to take the StrengthsQuest Survey prior to arriving and to learn what our top 5 strengths were according to the test.  The results were lengthy and detailed, but a single worksheet on strengthsquest.com summed up each of my strengths. Maximizer : People talented in the Maximizer theme focus on strengths as a way to stimulate personal and group excellence. They seek to transform something especially talented into something superb. Consistency : People talented in the Consistency theme are keenly aware of the need to treat people the sa

Anyone who has seen me since Thursday night probably surmised that I've been celebrating 4/20 a week early this year. Not true. (I don't plan on celebrating it at all). It's been a miserable few days. It's hard to admit and see in myself that I'm lacking something when it comes to relationships. I'm better and quicker at scathing remarks than words and actions that build a person up.  It's a trend that could stem from any number of things from my past, but it's a trend I want to stop.  Self-help books aren't my favorite genre. I prefer a gripping novel, but I went on Amazon today and bought myself the first book that looked like it could help fix me.  So this is me right now ^^^ I don't want to waste anymore time being this unattached person because it's ruining relationships that I treasure. I'm anxiously awaiting the delivery of Loving People: How to Love and Be Loved  by Dr. John Townsend. I'm hoping it will be the best $7

I was thrilled to spend Easter weekend at home this year. Tyler generously drove me to OKC where we found Oakes had recently asked his prom date to the dance in an Easter bunny costume befitting the season. On a sudden inspiration, I asked to borrow the costume.  Tyler and I took off in the Prius for our destination, only stopping at Krispy Kreme, because why not? I arrived at her apartments, donned the ridiculous outfit, and armed myself with her favorite donut (cream-filled with chocolate icing) and an Easter basket brimming with souvenirs from my Spring Break trip. I was a little short for the costume, but I waddled over to her door, the butt of the bunny hanging somewhere around my knees, and knocked. Tyler positioned himself to the side, hidden from her view, but able to take pictures. No one answered the door. So I awkwardly knocked again, no small task with hands full of goodies. Her dog began to bark so I stepped back, sure that she would answer. Nothing. Tyler and I whispe

Late Saturday night or early Sunday morning, depending on your individual bed time, I came home to an envelope on my desk. Sharbear had sent me a letter. I opened it to find an adorable card that I really couldn't see very well through my tears, but that I later verified the cuteness factor of.  I'm still not sure if the water in my eyes should have been blamed on a few cocktails or the fact that I'm a big baby. Life is hard sometimes-- crazy, mixed-up, messed up. And there you are, in the middle of it all, just doing your thing... being strong and brave and beautiful like it's no big deal. But let me tell you, girl, it is. Not everyone can do what you can do. Not everyone can handle things the way you can. While you wonder sometimes if you're doing ok... the rest of us are just watching in wonder. Welp, the mystery of cocktail or baby has been solved. Due to the current blurryness of my vision, I am a giant infa

I'm just over here counting down the days. 84 to go.  There are so many that have paved the way before me, and I'm happy for them, really, I am.  But I can't help those pangs of jealousy as I see their celebrations occur month by month.  That ever-longed for 21st birthday is in the cards in the year 2013 for any child that was born in 1992. It's our time. It's almost embarrassing how excited I am for this milestone in my life. No more asking older friends to make trips to the liquor store for me (wait, what?) or staring longingly at the drink menu in an establishment. I can grab life, and drink menus, with both hands on July 1.  I am proud to say that I never caved to the attraction of a fake ID. I would feel cheated out of my 21st to only switch ID's in a bar.  January, February, March, April....is it July yet? I'm really pining over here. Megan's already told me she has set up a secret Pinterest board to aid her in celebration planning

I unearthed this pearl of a paper from a file filled with a Safe Sex PowerPoint presentation I made for my speech class at TCU, several embarrassing essay attempts, and my AP Biology Fruit Lab report. Oh, the joys of a hard drive.  I did not have a guy when I wrote this during my junior year in high school, unless you count the pseudo-long-distance relationship that NH and I shared, so I don't know why I thought I was an expert. But my English teacher required an advice essay so I didn't hesitate to share my extenssive knowledge... Well, if you are reading this you are wondering how to get, but most importantly, KEEP a guy. I mean, once you actually have him labeled as yours, you have to have some strategy to keep him that way. First things first. Hopefully, you were already pretty good friends with this guy. It is not a good idea to jump from, “Hi, what’s your name?” immediately to holding hands and sending sappy text messages. Trust me, it is likely that this sort of r

I have a giant girl crush on Cady Groves. Her voice, her personality, and her attractiveness are all 10s. I've followed her on Twitter since I created an account almost 2 years ago and every so often I'll send out a fruitless tweet just to let her know that I am one of her thousands of fans. She's never replied or acknowledged my fandom...until a few days ago. I was sitting outside of Starbucks, waiting for my friend to arrive, and scrolling aimlessly through my Twitter timeline. Kim K tweeted about pregnancy cravings, Amanda Bynes said something completely nonsensical, and I realized I'd been following Paris Hilton for almost 2 years. I immediately had feelings of self-loathing and rectified that little issue before thinking I hadn't tweeted Cady in a while. So I sent out a little call me maybe tweet. In the literal sense. "@cadygroves call me maybe? [insert actual number here] #please" Seconds later, I received a mention from Cady Groves. I'm no