Happy Birthday, Emerald Belle!

Today kicks off the birthday weekend of one of my favorite new friends from this chapter of my life. I was blessed and fortunate to land a position with a great company out of Fort Worth when I first made the big move to Shreveport, and despite the ups and downs it has been the perfect fit for me.  I’m thankful to this job for many reasons (i.e. I get to work from home, I’m learning lots of new things and I get to buy fun things with the money I make), but I’m mostly thankful because I met Taylor. They say that you meet people in life at certain times for certain reasons, and I am SO glad Taylor came into my life when she did. I’m pretty sure she’s my long lost kindred spirit, and there might be a slight chance that we were separated at birth (which would be cool because then it would also be my birthday weekend too!). In no particular order, here is why Taylor is awesome:

1) She makes my job MUCH more fun that it should be. I’m very happy she told me to sign up for Gchat.

2) We have the BEST conversations. It’s hard to find people that can keep up witty banter as well as Taylor can, and I think I’ve become wittier just by talking to her every day. One time we had a 2-hour conversation about all the words and phrases in the English language that we liked and hated, making up some of our own words in the process, and I think that was the best conversation ever. Eggs benny are ab fab and Ding Dong is a great name for an Asian baby.

3) She can quote the entire movie of Elf back and forth with me. And the fact that her favorite part is about the baby asparagus who is self-conscious about his pee smelling funny is super.

4) She has fabulous fashion sense, and she always gives me outfit advice. Plus, she showed me my new Steve Madden boots, and I love her for that.

5) She loves cake just as much as I do.

6) Actually, she loves all food as much as I do. A trillion brownie points there.

7) She understands my sarcasm and funny jokes through a computer. THAT is impressive.

8) She is super sweet and sent me ghost books for my birthday.

9) She sent me wigs when I didn’t have any.

10) She lets me vent about things like work, boys and when I’m having a fat day.

11) She is SO motivating. And she’s going to run a 5K with me, which is the most exciting news ever.

12) She is really pretty and has pretty hair…but not too long that it looks like she has extensions. Oh, and she is the smartest person I know. Taylor, I hope you’re getting the funny joke here.

13) We read fun blogs together. And without her I wouldn’t even have this blog.

14) We discuss dinner plans every night and help each other decide what recipes to make.

15) She still likes me even after that day when I knew about a picture of her on facebook before she did. I’m sorry that I’m such a good stalker.

16) She knows I understand why she got upset when she accidentally dropped her strawberry plant before work and it shattered everywhere. I totally would have cried too.

17) She loves books, and I LOVE books.

18) She loves quotes, and I REALLY LOVE quotes.

19) She is one of the nicest and funniest people I’ve ever met, and she always makes me smile when I’m having a crap day.

So, Mrs. Taylor Green, I hope you have the best birthday weekend ever!! I hope you get lots of fun presents (including a certain purse), eat lots of red velvet cake (and maybe even a cake ball!) and are showered with love alllllll weekend, because you definitely deserve it. Happy birthday!!!

49.5

I am not entirely sure where the last four weeks of my life have gone.  Some days I wish I could go to the land where my days go...must be a fabulous place.  I plan to write an excellent blog in the next couple of days, but in the meantime here is a brief update on my quickly fleeting life:

• For all of you that I'm sure have been wondering, my cruise luggage was 49.5 pounds.  I have truly got that weight limit down to a science.  Justin waited until they put it on the belt because even he was skeptical of my fantastic packing skills.  I wore maybe 4 things that I brought, but everything in there was absolutely necessary.
• The cruise was an amazing, unforgettable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I will cherish every memory for the rest of my life.  I truly have some of the best friends a girl could ever ask for.  That cruise is a post in itself.
• We have...scratch that, HAD....two baby birds on our balcony who have the smartest mother bird I have ever seen.  Not that I've seen many mama birds up close and personal, but when a bird lays her eggs in a comfy hanging flower basket, she wins smartest bird in the world.  A pre-made nest?  I wish I was that smart.  Anyways, our adorable new bird friends were happily chirping away and cuddling with each other until SOMEBODY tilted the basket a little too far and the frantic birds flew away. Although I don't think they were quite ready to fly away considering one of them sort of fell out of the basket and the other flew into a light on the side of the building and fell to the ground.  It was a terrible, awful moment, and I kept hoping they would have the strength to get themselves back up to the nest.  Alas, Lloyd and Harry (named lovingly by me after 'Dumb and Dumber,' despite our friend Ben's suggestion of Bob's Breakfast and Charlotte's Lunch) have not returned and I no longer have two pet birds.
• One of my very best friends Kristin came to visit me from Tampa, and we had a fantabulous time.  You don't realize just how different life is without your best friends around until they come to visit you and then they leave. We played lots of beer pong, watched plenty of Sex and the City and ate an entire funfetti cake.  Perfect weekend.
• We went to Gainesville and had the pleasure and privilege of seeing Justin's dad, Colonel Griffin, retire from the US Air Force.  It was a touching, impressive and emotional ceremony, and one that I'm sure will not be forgotten quickly by any.  It was wonderful being back on our old stomping grounds and visiting with friends and family, and I got my fill of cheap college drink specials and my favorite Mexican restaurant.  What more could I ask for? 
• I found out that my parents and little sister are moving back to England in October.  It was a shock at first and a little difficult to grasp, but I am excited for them and glad that they are moving back closer to family and for a new start.  Now we have an excuse to make a trip over that giant pond a little more often.
• I cleaned out my closet and you can actually walk inside it now.  GINORMOUS accomplishment.
• I ate a 3 lb bag of gummy candy in 2 days.  Sort of disgusting, I know, but I just couldn't stop.  Have you ever seen a bag that included gummy bottles, frogs, worms, fruit shapes, ribbons, bears AND sharks??? Me neither- I had to have it.
• I discovered and fell slightly in love with Absolut Acai Berry Vodka. 

Stay tuned for more posts in the very near future, and enjoy this quote...I think it describes me pretty perfectly.

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."

50 lb weight limit? Who are they kidding.

In an attempt to actually be organized ahead of time for a trip, I woke up at 5:15 a.m. to complete my dreaded task of packing. I am, without a doubt, the worst packer in the world. In fact, I’m probably the reason why there is now a 50lb weight limit and a ridiculous fee to check baggage. I am terrible at making decisions and even worse at only taking one of something. With one of my very best friend’s bacherlorette parties this weekend, I am obviously going to need everything in my closet that I might possibly even consider wearing. Plus two back-up possibilities for each day and night. Oh, and extras in case anyone hates what they brought themselves. Needless to say, this is why I’m up so early.


Anyways, as I start packing I thought back to a conversation I had yesterday where I realized that the title of my blog “A Perfect Ride” may be a little presumptuous and misleading. My life isn’t necessarily perfect. Not by any means. There are days when I want to scream and pull my hair out, and there are times when I wish I could just sleep the day away to not deal with things. I have worries and sadness, arguments and bad days- we all do. Even millionaire celebrities hate their lives sometimes (and it’s way worse for them because their bad days end up in front of us in line at the grocery store). But I’ve learned through my life that I have to find and focus on the positives, because we all have SO much to be thankful for. I am thankful for my loving family around the world. I am blessed to have a truly great boyfriend (who seems to love me even when I accidentally turn all of his white shirts pink. Oops.) and his wonderful family that has started to feel like part of my own. I am beyond grateful for the friends in my life; those that saw me in my roller figure skating days and are still friends with me (I really love them) and those that I’ve met along the way. Some days I really just feel lucky to be living “The American Dream,” with a good job, sunny blue skies and my two lovable (one fat and one fluffy) cats.

Could it get better? Absolutely. Would I change a thing? Absolutely not.

I equate my “perfect ride” to a roller coaster (and I LOVE roller coasters). Who would want to ride a roller coaster that was always on its way up? There would be no thrill, no excitement, no momentary panic when you’re convinced that your head is going to smash into the ground. It’s the ups and downs during the ride that make it so exhilarating and so much fun. I’m living my own personal roller coaster. I have days when I feel on top of the world and days when I’m pretty sure I should be wearing a helmet. Things speed up and I find myself trying to catch my breath, and other times things slow down and I spend a quiet night on the couch with my best friend. I laugh on the ups, I want to scream on the downs, and sometimes life just sucks all the breath (and sometimes the spit- ew, gross) out of me.

But to me, that is perfect. I’m not perfect, life isn’t perfect, but the ride is.

I hope that everyone is able to realize that no matter who you are, where you are, what you’re doing or who you’re doing it with, your ride is perfect too. Without making it through the drops, enjoying the rises and sometimes losing your sunglasses, life just wouldn’t make sense. So find happiness in something every day. We are all surrounded by it, but sometimes we just need to look for it in new places. Eat a cookie (or 12), read a good book (I totally recommend Chelsea Handler if you need a good laugh), watch your favorite movie (Elf is great any time of year), call your parents- there is happiness ALL AROUND YOU!

Even tomorrow when I’m standing at the airport at 5 a.m. and the man tells me my bag is overweight, I’m still going to smile and try to be happy because a) my bag is full of very cute and important things- of course they weigh a lot! (oh, and I have an extra emergency carry-on to shove things in) b) I’m on my way to see some of my best friends in the world for what is sure to be an epic and unforgettable weekend, and c) frowns are ugly and in the infamous words of Jimmy Buffett, “wrinkles only go where the smiles have been.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.