Bridesmaids brunch

After an insanely long semester, and the first week of my three week break, I am going home after work tomorrow so we can fly out on Wednesday for brother 2 and sister-in-law 2's wedding! WOOHOO! They live about an hour away from the beach, so after their wedding is over, several of us are heading to the beach for a few days. I'm really excited about that, too.

My mom and I are throwing a bridesmaids brunch/lunch on Friday. I figured I wouldn't have a hard time finding menus online. Yeah, no. Totally wrong. I couldn't find even one realistic menu. I've only ever been to three, so that did not help a lot. Especially considering one of them occurred when I was about eight and one of the others was at a tea room. The other was pretty formal, which is not what we were going for.

Thanks to Pinterest, I think we have gotten our menu underway. It isn't going to be fancy in the least. Partly because we aren't exactly fancy people and partly because we are going to be staying in a rental house, and it's always difficult being in an unfamiliar kitchen/setting.

I'm excited about our menu, nonetheless.

We are doing a vegetable tray with dip, a fruit tray with yogurt or cream cheese dip, a peanut butter cream cheese ball (think cheese ball, but peanut butter instead), deli sandwiches, crackers and chicken salad/pimento cheese, and mimosas.

I also found this fantastic Pandora station of wedding songs.

I.am.so.excited!

Why Toddlers Have it Figured Out

I came up with the idea for this post two weeks ago in the midst of paper writing, presentation preparing, test studying, and project finishing. I should have taken the time to write it then because it would have been funnier. Maybe it was funny at the time because I was so sleep deprived, I don't know, but the scenario made me giggle.

I was texting one of the girls in my presentation group who was sick and she mentioned that she was going to bed at 8:00. "Like a toddler" were her exact words.

My response? "Dude, sometimes you just have to live life like a toddler in order to make it through the day. Clearly they have it figured out."

She agreed that they have the life, at which point I admitted that I kind of needed to throw a temper tantrum.

We both agreed that at this point in the semester a temper tantrum had been earned, but think about it.

Toddlers have all their meals fixed for them, get to take naps, get to spend all day playing, and can throw a temper tantrum without it being too weird.

Who was the genius that decided that two was so terrible? Clearly two year olds have it figured out.

Goodnight

After two weeks of non-stop, I have about three slow days before it picks up again for the last week and a half of the semester. Slow being a relative term. I have all kinds of studying to do. Every time I live life like this, when I stop for even a second, I can barely handle it. I don't know how to explain it exactly. Part of it is intense guilt because I know I should be doing something productive, even if I can afford to relax for a little bit. The other part is that when I stop doing stuff all the time, my mind brings up all the things I have forced down for several weeks, so I end up dealing with it all at once. It isn't healthy, and I know I should take time to stop every day. Some emotional vomit came up today, and it has been not so much fun. Luckily, I didn't vomit on anyone, which I am sure they would appreciate if they knew.

On a much lighter note, I had a dream (nightmare?) last night that the answer sheet for the MASSIVE test I have in a week and a half was made out of aluminum foil. The first question was, "How many youths are at risk?" The answer was 18,000. First of all, that isn't really a legit question. Or at least not one that would be on a test. Although, there could be some similar ones... Hm. I need to go find that chart. Anyway, the answer most certainly would not be 18,000. It would be a wee bit (and by a wee bit I actually mean a crap ton) higher.

Earlier, I was eating lunch on my porch because the weather has been uh-may-zing this week with the exception of a thunderstorm one evening. My neighbor got home while I was sitting out there. Or at least I think it was him. I'll just say that Larry Platt would not have approved of his clothing choice. It would be funnier if the douche bag didn't play loud music all the time. I will give him that he has, for the most part, stopped playing it at night. Or if he does, it is at least quieter. If nothing else, I haven't had to call the security officer on him again. I don't think I ever wrote about that, but it was a Friday (I think, it may have been a Saturday) night, and he was still playing music incredibly loudly well after 1:00 AM. I tried banging on the wall several times to no avail. Finally, I just called the security officer who showed up about five minutes later, and the music was off (or significantly turned down) about five minutes after that. Best phone call I ever made.

I am trying to get back into a somewhat normal sleep pattern after staying up until 1:30 on several occasions this week. There was also a 2:30 night and a 3:15 night. I don't recommend any of those, in case you are interested. That being said, I should have started getting ready for bed around the time I started writing. Oops. Goodnight!

Love

I've been MIA as of late. I know this. The last 3-5 weeks of the semester are always like this, and I disappear from pretty much everything. Right now I am working (don't worry, my job involves answering phones and my boss tells us we can do whatever we want between calls), so I figured I should probably write. I was on facebook a little bit ago, and an old swim team teammate posted an article (kind of; it was a long comment on a picture) about knowing if the person you are with is right for you. It was really refreshing to read, even though most of what was said was stuff I already know. The first part was discussing how you don't have to do anything to fall in love. It just happens. That that is why it is called "falling." After that, it went on to talk about how after a while the relationship seems to sort of hit the fan. You don't get butterflies every time you hear their voice or think about them. In fact, sometimes you find them kind of annoying. That doesn't necessarily mean you don't love them. It means the relationship is normal, and normal relationships have cycles. Then it went on to say one of my favorite things ever which is that love is a decision, not a feeling. I think I myself have said that before. Even though I've never been IN love, there are times I have to choose to love the people in my life. Sometimes people are not very lovable. And then I remember that sometimes, or maybe most of the time, I am not very lovable. It is easier with some than others. There is a particular person in my life whom I find it very difficult to love sometimes.

A few things have happened in the last few weeks, both directly and indirectly, that have made me realize that while loving somebody and just love in general is amazing, needed, and worth it, it is also really hard. One of those things is that a friend from high school was supposed to get married a few weeks ago. She and her boyfriend had been dating for three or four years, but he broke off the engagement. Two and a half weeks before their wedding day. I don't think hard would even begin to explain the situation. I cannot even begin to fathom the pain she is going through.

Love isn't easy. I don't think it's supposed to be. But love is a gift, and I need to start treating it as such.