A Very Lucky Girl

I met Natasha Adler my freshman year at OU. She lived down the hall from me and we were only acquaintances during the first semester. January brought my roommate's birthday and I decided to blow up hundreds of balloons to spice up our room for her day. I enlisted Natasha's help and together we inflated almost 200 balloons, driving her to comment, "All I can taste is latex and it smells like condoms in here!"  From there our friendship blossomed and she was unquestionably there with wine and John Tucker Must Die  when ED crushed me in February 2012.  I went sprinting down the hall to her room when I received the first email from Tyler. Being my least embarrassed friend, she had no qualms about shouting across the French class room asking him for a pencil the very next week. Luckily, he didn't scare easy or I would have had to kill her.  Our schedules sophomore year were always at odds which made spending lots of time together nearly impossible. She also had cats...

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...

Forever, regardless of age. Sharbear and I typically shop for Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes this time of year, but life is changing. So when Tyler suggested we grab Christmas Wishes from Life Church a few Sundays ago I was definitely on board. I scanned through the names and requests and landed on one-year-old Isaiah, figuring he'd be easy to shop for.  Except then I got in the car and couldn't brainstorm a single age-appropriate toy. So I texted Sharbear, since she had a one-year-old ginger at one point in life and I figured they are pretty similar to real babies, and asked her opinion on what to get Isaiah for Christmas. Our conversation went somewhat like this: Me: What do one year old boys like? Sharbear: Their mommies Me: Okay, well...he's a foster kid so...next best thing? Sharbear: Things that light up and make noise. Buttons to push. Trucks. Soft things to hug. Me: Older boys like those too.... The observation is completely true. Boys of a...

On May 8th I started officially dating one of the greatest guys I've ever known. But I want to share some background story. Because we are pretty freakin' cute.  I sat in the "cool corner" of our Beginning French class with my friend Natasha. The boy in question perched diagonally across from me, conveniently located beneath the clock for easy glance-stealing access. During one of Natasha and I's many discussions about the male species, I piped up, "Hey you know who's pretty cute? That guy across from us in French!" She stared at me, mouth agape, "He's gay." "No! Not him. NEXT to him."  During our next class she nudged me, "yeah, you're right. You should ask him out!" HAHAHAHA since when has that ever been Taylor Arceneaux's style? If you guessed never then go get yourself a cookie. You deserve one. I responded with an "are you dumb?" eye roll. She picked up on it and whisper-yelled (did I menti...

Flipping through my Bible the other night, I came across something I wrote a while ago, actually dated from April 2009.  I don't care what you think of me don't care if you can't see the change I'm trying to be. But I have to say it'd be  nice if you thought of me. If you'd cease to be  someone that I can't wait to  leave. Change is difficult, surrounding or within though you may not know  that because here you've always been. But maybe, just maybe, you should think of others once. Give out perhaps an ounce of trust. But on the other hand who needs you, unless you change too. Lots of emotion packed into those lines. Let me fill in some background. The year 2008-2009 was rough for me, though that doesn't excuse any of my poor decisions. Paul announced in August 2008 that we would inevitably be moving away from Beaumont the following summer, just prior to my senior year of high school. I vowed to make my remain...

Up until about the beginning of March I struggled a lot with knowing what I was worth. I didn't feel valuable unless I had a guy chasing after me. But said guy was never chasing after me for the right reasons.  My last post about this topic may have come across a little more harshly than I intended. So let me preface by saying that I am blessed to know some exceptional men. My dad, Tyler, and Conner, to name a few. I know that they honor and respect the women in their lives and I admire them for that.  But there are far too many guys that take advantage of a girl's need to feel wanted. Some of them are currently victimizing my friends and I cannot stand that. My friends are gems and I hate to see them settling for dingy rocks. I want them to hold out for a guy that will polish them, make them sparkle and not settle for the boy that doesn't think twice about their feelings.  A Very Lucky Girl's friends deserve so much more, but they have to recognize that before the...

Real quick, I have SUCH a bone to pick with some members of the male population. One of my dearest friends in the world got screwed over recently. Stereotypical story. Girl meets boy. Boy gets girl's number. Boy and girl spend the majority of the next few weekends together. Girl starts falling for him because, who wouldn't? When is he attentive, he is perfect. When he kisses her, she sees them together, at least for a while. But then, boy fools around on the side. Girl confronts him, just wanting answers, only wanting the games to stop. And boy doesn't have a response of any kind. Real classy. Real cute. What a gentleman.  And now girl is understandably hurt. But her anger is so misplaced. She called me, ranting at herself, wishing she'd have been smarter with her time and investment. I told her over and over again, "this is NOT your fault", but she only countered with "I should have known better, I mean, they all do that." No. Just because t...

Boyz drool? Middle school flashback. I thought the male population might find some of this information relevant and maybe even enlightening. So listen up, I'm about to rock your world. Girls shed. Kind of like dogs, except that our hair typically smells good. For example, I accidentally yanked out 15 strands of hair from my head the other night. I think they were loose...and I must have helped them out. We can't do anything about it, learn to treasure those stray follicles.  We like to record our lives. Whether it be via twitter, facebook, tumblr, texting, etc, girls like to interact with people. Therefore, we will take lots of pictures to associate faces with the moments that we want to remember for a lifetime. Car doors are heavy. Open them. If all you're serving is beer, it better be something of the lite variety. #divaproblems Romance is a general term. There is a fine line between sweetness and gag-inducing mushiness. Know our limits. Check before you're che...

Someone once said that stupidity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different outcome. I'm pretty stupid sometimes. I make lots of mistakes. I disregard excellent advice from well-meaning friends. But I'm insanely stubborn, and something in my brain convinces me that this time, this time, I'll get it right. I'm an egotistical know-it-all and it frustrates me. I think that I can successfully sail through life alone. I SO can't. But I think I've finally learned (at least THIS lesson, I'm sure there are coming attractions/distractions). I'm also sure that my friends are skeptical in a "yeah, right, I've heard that before" way. Which they should be, I haven't backed up my declarations with action (or inaction might be more appropriate for the situation). But I'm resolute in this end. Finally. He didn't respect my words, why should I reward him with my valuable time? (he cut into some serious How I Met Your ...

The whole concept is ridiculously cliche, but I think younger (high school freshman) me needed to read this: Hey Tay, You're 20 at this moment in 2012 (eh fine, 19.75. psh, technicality). But right now, you are 14, about to start high school at St. David's School in Raleigh, North Carolina. Don't be scared, I already did all this. It's totally not a big deal, but I want to provide you with an inside scoop to avoid some drama, heartbreak, and unexpected events. Cherish your freshman year. It will fly by, and you'll be leaving, for good, to the distant land of Beaumont, Texas in the summer. (Learn to spell it before you write your parents a note wishing them luck on the interview in "boemont." They won't let you live it down EVER. People don't ride horses to school, don't embarrass yourself by asking). Don't cry too much, it's time to leave, time to see who else is out there to meet. You'll stay close to the people that matt...