What I'm Loving Wednesday #17

“I must learn to love the fool in me the one who feels too much, talks too much, takes too many chances, wins sometimes and loses often, lacks self-control, loves and hates, hurts and gets hurt, promises and breaks promises, laughs and cries.” ~Theodore Isaac Rubin

Is it really only Wednesday? I don't know about y'all, but I've had a weeks worth of crap already! To attempt to have an optimistic attitude, let's focus on some things I'm loving this week, shall we? (Check out the other bloggers and their loves here.)

This week, I'm loving......

1. This challenge from The Crazy Canadian. Since Leap Day comes only every four years, she challenges people to write a letter to themselves or to make a list of 10 things you hope to accomplish by 2016. Then, you save the letter and open it in 4 years. I'm totally in!

2. That my friend Pharmer Girl just started a blog. Go follow her. She's funny and adorable and will probably have more followers than me in like a month.

3. My BFF. And the fact that we can have a conversation in which he compliments me, and that basically ends with him suggesting that I go to a foreign country to get a boob job. And that I didn't even blink--par for the course with us. I think that's how you know that you really can talk to someone about anything!
4. A fantastic blog by Ashley at Run With Me asking some great questions.

5. This amazing song. It's called My Best Friend's a Girl. It's my new current favorite. And BFF's Baby Brother has been instructed to learn it for my future wedding. I need to hurry up and get married so that the list of songs that he has to learn doesn't continue to grow making it a 4 hour wedding!

6. That we have now officially booked our tropical summer vacation to.....drumroll please...Costa Rica! That's right....for a glorious week in May the Blonde Oklahoma Girl, The Bride, Cousin Swiss Mister and I will be headed south for some fun in the sun. I'll have more details on this tomorrow and will be asking for advice from you all about what to do if you've been. (Pease note this is in no way related to item number 1 on the list. Just so we're clear.) 7. This quote below by Ryan Gossling. He hit that nail right on the head if you ask me! Of course, when the guy who is saying this looks like Ryan Gossling, does it sort of kill the effectiveness? 8. This Means War. Went and saw this movie over the weekend with College Roomie and one of her cousins. I thought it was super cute. I'd die to have two boys that looked like that fighting over me. Shoot, forget two, I'd take one. And forget fighting over me, I'd settle for knowing one in real life and stalking him! My favorite line from the movie came from the one and only Chelsea Handler: "Don't pick the better guy. Pick the guy who makes you the better girl."

9. This blog by a man who was recently diagnosed with cancer asking what are your regrets, and what are you waiting for? I don't know him, but he's friends with Cousin Swiss Mister. He says, "Wow, I am 46 years old, in good health, run 4 miles a day, read my Bible and I have cancer? One of my initial thoughts was… what are my regrets? The first thing that came to mind was that I have lived life to this point with a governor on my engine. At times I feel as if I haven’t gone 100%. Instead of diving into the moment I have throttled back and cautiously considered why I shouldn’t…"

It's Okay Thursday!

“You don't need a lover in your life to have love in your life.” ~Jenny McCarthy

Well after a week of me yapping about mostly serious stuff....you know like waiting for true love and cherished moments (my worst Valentine's Day ever story being the exception to the seriousness)...I decided we'd mix it up and do a little It's Okay Thursday!

It's okay that....

...I didn't have a Valentine on Valentine's day. Like Jenny's quote says above, I may not have a lover in my life, but I've got a lot of love in it!

I have a best friend who always has my back. And this week, that meant he sent a big ol' bouquet of hot pink flowers to my office with a super sweet card. BFF has been my best friend for over 10 years. Obviously, you see why.

And I've got an Uncle Buddy who suprises me on the day after Valentine's Day with another bouquet of flowers for no reason other than that he's awesome. A girl could get used to this, folks! (It's possible that the girls at the office all hate me now....)
...On Saturday I went to the movies to see The Vow. By myself. In my sweats. And smuggled in a purse full of snacks. Which I offered to share with the nice young couple sitting next to me. Yes. My name is Tiffany, and I'm apparently 28 going on 80. (And I wonder why I didn't have a Valentine??)

....I'm a completely single lady who plans on spending the weekend with a couple of different babies, crashing a date night, and shopping for wedding dresses. Look, y'all, when Mr. Right appears, I'll be ready!

...I've spent a good part of the week daydreaming about quitting my job, selling my house, buying a one-way ticket to Europe. But never fear, becuase I'm practical, this has included some figuring of how long my money will last before it runs out and I have to come home.

....I am signing up for a 5 mile race over St. Patrick's Day with my dear ND Friend in Chicago, and I haven't run 5 miles since last fall! Look, there will be Bongo Room pancakes after the race, so if that's not motivation to finish, I don't know what is.
....the surprise Valentine's Day flowers that I sent to my friends caused Blonde Oklahoma Girl to get in a fight with the UPS man and insist these were for the girl next door who HAS a husband (read story here) and that ND Friend blogged about not liking tulips on the same day that a bouquet of...you guessed it...tulips arrived from me.

...I was really rooting for the whole Bob Little/Amber Braverman thing to work out on Parenthood. Yes, I know he's older and politician and her boss, but they're so cute together! Dang Aunt Christina for ruining it!

...I loved this little picture, courtesy of College Roomie.

Fighting for Joy

"Two men look out the same prison bars; one sees mud, and the other stars." ~Frederick Langbridge

Last week was a rough one for me, on several different fronts. On Saturday I tried to just rest up and get back into a better mood. And it didn't work. I woke up on Sunday morning and was thinking that I had no idea what to blog about this week because I was just in such a bad mood and nothing seemed right.

And then.....I went to church. And, like He seems to have to do all to often in my life, God smacked me upside the head. The sermon today was on Psalm 3, and one of the main parts of the message was that we have to fight for joy. See? *Smack*

The first thing I thought of was a scene from the movie Bridesmaids. (Strange for that anaolgy to come to mind in church, I know!) I wish I could find a video, because it's so darn hilarious, but since I can't, my description will just have to do. So the main character, Annie, has all sorts of things going wrong inher life. She's basically at her rock bottom. She's all down and out and depressed.

And at this point, one of the other bridesmaids (the big, butch, scary one I might add) confronts her. She says, "The world isn't the problem. You are your own problem, Annie, but you're also the solution." And then she proceeds to tackle Annie and pin her against the couch while smacking her around. Annie asks what she is doing, and the other bridesmaid says, "I'm your LIFE, Annie. FIGHT BACK!” and this goes on and on and on until finally Annie smacks the crazy bridesmaid in the face. She learned that she could fight back.

The same thing is true with fighting for joy. Sometimes we forget that we can fight back. We don't know what to do or how to start. We need some scary friend to tackle us, or a good sermon to smack us around.

It's not just a good idea...this fighting for joy thing....it's our obligation. If we don't--if we let our circumstances or our emotions win, then we're missing out on the purpose that God has for us. And it's one that I'm taking pretty seriously. So that's what I'm doing this week. I'm fighting back. I'm making a conscious effort to be happy and be grateful and put my trust in God. Does that mean the problems go away? I wish, but it does not. The problems are still there--we can do nothing to control that. But the joy? That's something we can control. Something for which we can fight. So bring it on.

A Me Weekend

"There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want." ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

So while I was sidelined this weekend, I decided I needed some "me" time. I realize that some of you probably don't understand this and are thinking, "she's single and has no kids and no roomate.....her LIFE is me time!" But most nights when I get in from work, I have a whole list of things that I need to do before I can go to bed. That's not "me" time.....it's not relaxing (and makes me feel like I need to hire a life clerk).

So, I did run a few errands and finish up my Christmas shopping, but other than that, I spent a lot of time here:

Watching movies on this:

And enjoying the sight of this:

And eating a lot of these:

And wearing these:

The movie marathon included Couple's Retreat (which made me want to hop a plane to Bora Bora right now, and made me realize that I am in love with Vince Vaughn), New Girl in Town (which annoyed me because it portrays small town people as being all backwoodsy and strange, but I did realize that I am in love with Harry Connick, Jr.) and Love Actually (which is a great Christmas movie and I enjoy the fact that not all of the couples end up happy and together--that's real life, people!)

So, basically I vegged out and realized that I am in love with some man in just about every movie I watch. Productive weekend? I'd say so!

Sweet Home Alabama Disease

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be." ~Douglas Adams

I'm sure most of you watched the movie Sweet Home Alabama with Reese Witherspoon (sidenote: love her!). Well, remember the part of the movie where she is sitting in the Coon Dog cemetery with Jake? She tells him, "I love my life in New York, Jake. But I come down here, and this fits too."
She's speaking my language. I feel exactly that same way---there are so many different paths that I could take, all of which are very different, and all of which I could be happy going down. I refer to this as the Sweet Home Alabama disease. And I'm a chronic sufferer.

I tend to blame this on the fact that I'm genuinely a happy person. (We all have our crosses to bear...) Really though, no matter where I am or what I am doing, I'm going to make the best of it, enjoy it, and find a way to be happy about it. But that trait, I think, is the main cause of the Sweet Home Alabama disease. When you can see yourself happy in any circumstance, choosing the circumstance you want is difficult.

So.....in looking at my life, I feel sometimes like I'm stuck chosing between New York and Alabama (figuratively speaking) a lot of the time.

If you have read the blog for any amount of time, you know of my love for San Francisco. I lived there for a summer and had the time of my life. I worked with and became friends with great people. The city is amazing and beautiful and so full of energy. I loved my apartment with a view of the bay. I loved watching the fog roll in in the afternoons. I loved the food at the tiny mom and pop places on every corner (even if I did continually order grilled chicken). I loved the Farmer's Market on Saturday. I loved my life in the city.

From the blog, you also know about my passion for agriculture and how much I love my family's farm and ranch. I love the wide open spaces, the animals, riding horses, being around people who I have known my whole life. It's a complete 180 from San Francisco. High heels to cowboy boots and trolleys to horses. It's peaceful and quiet and you can see the stars in the sky. And my family has owned it for over 50 years. I love working with my family to make decisions about what to plant and what to breed to and guessing what lambs are going to bring the most at the sale. I love my life in the country.

My current city is great too. I have lots of friends here, my legal connections are here, the weather is amazing, my job is great and I love my condo. It's been a wonderful decision for me to start my career here! It's great being close to home, but living somewhere big enough where I can do things like going to Hot Yoga or concerts on the weekends or being able to go shopping without driving an hour and a half.

And, for our final example, anyone who knows me whatsoever knows that I refer to Stillwater, Oklahoma as the Happiest Place on Earth. That town will always be home to me. I love the college town feel and how everything is always covered in orange, game days, the beautiful campus, my wonderful church, close to the Oklahoma Girls and my SoulMate Friend and her adorable baby, Little Linebacker. I could completely see myself living there....small town America at its finest.

And these are just a few examples......there are lots of other paths or places or things I could chose to do, that I truly think could "fit." Last week I went to Omaha for the first time...great city...and I loved the Swiss countryside two summers ago!

Maybe Jake answered the question in the movie. He said, "Who says you can't have both? You can have roots and wings." I hope that's true, and that somehow I can figure out how to have the best parts of all the different paths my life could take. Because those best parts would make a pretty amazing life!

Shut Up Joe!

"You're 5 foot nothin', 100 and nothin', and you have nearly a speck of athletic ability. And you hung in there with the best college football team in the land for 2 years. And you're getting a degree from the University of Notre Dame. In this life, you don't have to prove nothin' to nobody but yourself." ~ My favorite line from the movie, Rudy

One of my favorite movies of all-time is Rudy. I think a lot of people would say the same thing. In fact, I'm taking a bucket list trip this fall to check off a dream I've had since I was five years old and first saw that movie. At the same time, I've always liked Joe Montana. He played at Notre Dame (which automatically means I like him based on that alone!). He was a great NFL quarterback. He's in the Hall of Fame.

Well.....today, I am no longer impressed. This week, Joe Montana came out bashing on Rudy. Now, in case you live under a rock and haven't seen the movie Rudy, which is hands down one of the best movies of all time, get your butt to the movie store and rent it RIGHT NOW!

The movie is based on the true story of Rudy Ruettiger. He had always dreamed of playing football for the Irish. He was small--like really small, and not very fast, and only mildly athletic. He didn't have the grades to get into Notre Dame. So he went to work at a steel plant with his father and brothers. After his friend was killed in the plant, Rudy decided it was time to follow his dreams. He packed up and headed for South Bend. He started at Holy Cross junior college, trying to get his grades up to get into Notre Dame. He applied three times and failed to get accepted. Then on his fourth, and final, try, he got in.

Then he tried out for the football team as a walk on. He was beat up and bleeding and bruised and exhausted, but he worked hard enough he got to stay. For the rest of his time at Notre Dame, he was on the practice squad, getting banged up every single week, but never seeing the field. His family didn't believe he was on the team, because they could never see him on tv on Saturdays. He cut a deal with the coach that he would be allowed to dress out for one game his senior year. Then that coach left. The new coach didn't care too much about the deal. The last game of the season, the other players volunteered to let Rudy have their spots. Rudy got to suit out, and got in on the last play of the game. He sacked the quarterback. He was carried off the field. No player has been carried off since that day in 1975.

Now, jerkface Joe Montana called Rudy out this week. He said that Rudy was more of a joke than an inspiration. He said that none of the players offered to turn in their jerseys. The crowd didn't really chant his name. And when they carried him off the field, they were just joking around. They said he didn't work any harder than anyone else and that he did not understand the hype.

Well thank goodness someone came to Rudy's defense. Another Rudy teammate, Jak Achterhoff says that the movie was 98% accurate. According to Achterhoff, "Rudy was carried off the field that day ... but not as a joke -- but because he finally got to play. You've never in your life seen a guy who wanted to be on the field more."
Seriously Joe?? Come on dude. Maybe it's a jealousy thing. At least one article has referred to Rudy as "Notre Dame's Most Famous Graduate." Probably Mr. Hall of Fame Joe Montana doesn't like that too much. And maybe Rudy didn't work harder than the other players on the team like Joe. But you know what? Rudy got NO credit for that hard work. He didn't run out of the tunnel every weekend. He didn't talk to reporters after the game. He kept his head down and worked hard becuase he wanted to be a part of Notre Dame football in any way that he could.

Now, of course there were Hollywood additions to the movie that didn't actually happen. It's a movie! But that doesn't make Rudy a joke. Far from it--I think Rudy is much more of an inspiration to people than Joe ever was.

Rudy's message about having dreams and following them and working hard and never giving up is far from a joke. Seems like this message would probably be more important and more inspirational to regular people than the fact that Joe Montana played pro football. Life doesn't always work out that way for everyone. In fact, it hardly works out that way for anyone. Hardly anyone makes it into the pros. For the rest of us, lessons about life from a regular guy who made his dream come true mean a lot more.

So shut your mouth Joe Montana. I'm not impressed. And I can assure you, when I go to see my first football game at Notre Dame this fall, I'll be thinking about how Rudy played in that stadium and not you. And that's not a joke either.

Aladin Analysis

“What makes the difference between wishing and realizing our wishes? Lots of things, and it may take months or years for wish to come true, but it's far more likely to happen when you care so much about a wish that you'll do all you can to make it happen.” ~Fred Rogers

I could have sworn a had already written a blog on this topic. But I can't find it. And my mom and one of the Oklahoma Girls, who are my most loyal readers, assure me they have not read one. So I must be dreaming. If not, and it turns out this is a re-run, I'm sorry!

College Roomie and I were talking about genies. (Please realize that during our weekly dinners we talk about pretty much EVERYTHING on the face of the earth...case in point!) You know, rub the magic bottle, wish granting genies. Like the one in Aladin. College Roomie said that she wished she had a genie for something having to do with love.


I quickly said, "Nope. He can't do that. It's against the rules." She looked at me confused and asked what I was talking about. I went on to explain to her that in Aladin, the Genie had certain rules about wishing. I think there were three. One was that you can't wish for more wishes. Another was that he can't bring people back from the dead. And the third was that the Genie couldn't make anyone fall in love with you.

She swears that she didn't remember this "love rule" from the movie. I, obviously, had it right there ready to roll off my tongue. And this is when I realized, the way we remember Aladin may be a great way to analyze our thoughts about love. Let's give it a try.

College Roomie is a romantic at heart. She's one of those girls who probably doodled boys' names on her notebook in elementary school. And College Roomie is a denier. So, for example, when I called her after I had my car accident in college and told her what happened, she repeatedly kept saying, "Noooo. Noooo. Nooooo." As if her continuing to deny this would make it not really happen. So, in order to maintain her romantic outlook and deny any chance that romance might not win out, she completely blocked this idea that the Genie can't make someone fall in love with you from her head.

I, on the other hand, am not a romantic. And I think I'm a realist. And I over-analyze everything (which shoul come as no shock if you've read this blog for any length of time at all). I think it's as much of a defense mechanism as anything--if you don't expect too much, you're not disappointed if you don't get it. So the fact that EVEN the all powerful Genie, who could do just about anything in the world, couldn't make someone fall in love with me was traumatic to learn. I'm telling you, this is haunting stuff---how am I supposed to capture Mr. Right when even the Genie couldn't do it? I lose sleep over this kind of thing!

It's funny to me that our outlooks on this real life topic completely impacted our memory of a movie that we watched when we were 7. As with most things in life, I'm sure that the correct view lies somewhere in the middle. Maybe College Roomie is a bit too far to the "Love conquers all" camp, and I'm sure I'm too far in the "Does love really exist" camp. Maybe that's why she's one of my best friends--we balance each other out.

So cross your fingers for both of us. That College Roomie's happy ending works out just like she has it planned in her head...doodles and all. And that Mr. Right will somehow be tricked into falling in love with me absent a magic spell being cast.

Your Wish Is My Command

"The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want." ~Ben Stein

I'm super excited about today's blog. Those of you who were tired of Eat Pray Love week will probably not be. BUT....it's not my fault. You can blame Texas Lawyer and Coach A for their request.

Total sidenote here....I love knowing that people read my blog. Because I'm computer illitergate I can't figure out how to do the analytics to see how many people read it or from where, so please SIGN UP TO BE A FOLLOWER on the right hand side of the page under the music, make comments on the post or email me or facebook me with comments or requests. If you request a blog, I'll get right on it!

Anyway, Texas Lawyer and Coach A both wanted me to do a blog about people's words for themselves. I'll explain....in Eat Pray Love, while Julia Roberts is in Italy, her friends are discussing different words for cities that they have lived in. For example, they decided that the word for Rome was "sex" and the word for New York City was "achieve" and the word so on. When I think of a word for a city, I can't help but think of San Francisco (which is of course my favorite city...not to be confused with my love for Stillwater which is not a city in my book) and I'd say it's word is "free" because people are free to do and think and believe whatever they want there.


Then the conversation in the movie switched to words about themselves. Julia Roberts said that her word was "writer." But her friends shot her down and said that was wrong--being a writer was what she did, not who she was. She spent the whole movie trying to figure out her word. What was she? Who was she? In the end, she decided her word was "attraversiamo" which is Italian for "Let's cross over."

I've written before about using one word to describe ourselves, but the movie went further---more than describing yourself, it was about a word that told who you were. One word to describe your entire being. There's a lot of pressure on a person when she's trying to answer that question.

Not only do you have to figure out what word is yours, but then I think you also have to think about what word you WANT to be. Are we the people we want to be? Or are we at least doing somethin to move towards being those people? I sure hope that I'm moving towards being a good word in my life....

Oh, and to thank the ladies for suggesting this blog, I'll pick words for both of you as a thank you. For Texas Lawyer, I would suggest "dreamer." You have made a lot of changes and moves all to follow your dreams. For Coach A, I would pick strength. You've been through a lot and I think you're stronger than you even realize.

So...what's one word that would describe you? (YOU---this means to post a comment with the word below!!)

EPL # 5: YOU Can Change Your Life

“There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I’m going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities.” ~Elizabeth Gilbert

So to finish off Eat Pray Love week, I decided to try and sum up the whole point of the book/movie. In one word. Ironically, I pick a word that is not even in the title. I think the point is LIVE.

Let me explain. I think to do that, we start at the beginning. Julia Roberts is lying on the floor of her bathroom. She's lost and miserable and alone and weeping. And you know what she did? She got off the floor and changed her life.

Too often, we decide that we are somehow stuck in a place or a job or a relationship or a situation. When I hear people complain about how bad their lives are and how much they hate living where they are living or whatever it is and I just want to shake them! If you're not happy with your life, THEN CHANGE IT.

We're lucky that we live in a society where we can make these changes. There are some countries in the world where a person can't change their life. They do not have the options. They have no opportunity to be whatever they want to be, they have no money to go where they want to go, and so on and so on.

Think about Tulsi in Eat Pray Love. Julia Roberts befriends her as she is being forced into an arranged marriage. Tulsi is devastated. She wants to travel and see the world and go to school and be something different and marry someone who she falls in love with. But she can't. She doesn't have the option to change her life.

I'm not saying you should leave your spouse, quit your job and run off to jet-set around the world for a year. Most people probably do not need to take that drastic of a step in order to change their lives. (Not to mention most of us can't afford it....I read that Elizabeth Gilbert footed the bill from the advance for the book....).

But you can do something to change your life. If you hate your job, look for a new one. If you don't like where you live, move. If you have a friend or a boyfriend or whatever who is dragging you down, ditch them. If you need to take a vacation and lay on the beach for a week, book the trip.

We've only got one shot at this life thing. What a waste it is to spend our time hating what we're doing. We are fortunate enough to have the opportunity to change our lives today. That's the message of Eat Pray Love. If I had written the book, I would have added my word: Eat Pray Love LIVE. Go put it into action. Go LIVE!

EPL #4: Swim Swim Swim!

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles overcome whilst trying to succeed." ~ Booker T. Washington

And now for Day 4, Richard from Texas strikes again. Julia Roberts was at the (I just realized I don't know what it was called.....I should have paid more attention in philosophy class in college) place in India where she studied meditation. She was sulking and complaining about how she didn't feel spiritual and she was having a difficult time.

Richard looked at her and said, "If you want to get to the castle, you have to swim through the moat."

I think that's something it's pretty easy to forget in life. Sometimes we feel like we should have the things we want right now......but guess what? Life doesn't owe us anything. We (and by we I mean most people...clearly there are exceptions....think Paris Hilton) have to work in order to end up where we want to be.

Take Cousin Kevin for example. It's easy for me to sit here at twenty something and envy Cousin Kevin. See, his life consists basically of him sitting on his porch, drinking a beer, smoking meat and watching his cows in the field. (Okay, MAYBE it's not quite that luxurious....but whatever). I would LOVE for that to be my life---the thought of not having to put on my heels and sit in front of a computer all day, but instead to be outside with my own animals on my own land all day? That would be the castle for me!

But....what I sometimes forget is that Cousin Kevin isn't twenty something. He's old. And when he was twenty something, he was working his butt off....not sitting on the front porch. He paid his dues....he swam through the moat. As much as I would like to fast forward to the castle, the moat has to come first.

So....I figure we might as well make the best of it. So I'm doing my best to enjoy my swim in the moat, while still having big dreams about reaching that castle!

EPL #3: A Happy Liver

"The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet." ~James Openheim

Today's story comes from page 231 of the book (I sound like a kindergarten teacher!). In the movie, Julia Roberts is discussing her daily ritual with Ketut. She explains that she gets up, then mediates, and then she comes to see Ketut. He makes a couple of subtle changes. One of those changes is to her meditation.

He says that the meditation she learned in India is fine, but it's too serious. So after she does her serious meditation, then she should meditate while smiling. And then he tells her to "Even smile in your liver!"


You know, I think there is something to that. Think about those people who you know that are always happy. They are always smiling and cheerful and genuinely seem to be in a good mood and to love their lives. I bet it's because they smile in their livers.

I love happy people. And I think for the most part I am one.....don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I don't have my moments......I'm saying for the most part. I've always been someone who makes the best out of the situations that I end up in. I think for some people this comes naturally. For others, I think that it might take a little more work.

I think the idea of trying to smile while you are doing something else is probably a great way to cultivate more happiness in your life. Now, I'm no meditator. When I go to hot yoga and the make me lay still at the end of class my mind goes 100 miles an hour and I cannot wait for someone else to move so that I can get up and get going! And I'm also not a morning person. Whatsoever. I have it down to a science how late I can stay in bed and still make it out the door to work in time. So....you're not going to be reading anytime soon about me sitting around in the mornings smiling with my liver.

Instead, I'm going to just try and smile more throughout my day---be it sitting in my office or when I'm walking around the office, when I'm at the gym and even when I'm talking on the phone. My good friend Robyn recently wrote a book that will be out sometime soon (don't worry....you'll all know when it's available!) and she explains that you can tell when someone is smiling even on the other end of the phone. This simple act can brighten the day of the person on the other end of the call, and will probably brighten yours as well!

So.....Ketut says to smile with our livers. And I'm going to listen to anyone who is 109 years old. Or 65. He can't remember. :)

(photo courtesy Oprah.com)

EPL #2: Head or Heart?

"And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, evolve some distant day into the answer." ~Rainer Maria Rilke

At the beginning of Eat Pray Love (page 27), Ketut, the medicine man from Bali, gives Elizabeth the drawing of a prophesy for her life. It is of a being that has no head. Instead, the eyes are located in the chest area. The reason for this, he explained is, "you must stop looking at the world through your head. You must look through your heart instead."


This completely contradicts another quote that I read a while back. That quote is, "If any part of your uncertainty, is a conflict between your heart and your mind - follow your mind."

Now.....my question for today is....which one is it? Should a girl follow her heart or her head?
I've realized in the last week or so, that this comes up more often than a person thinks. Apparently it's not just in movies! People in real life (not me...so don't start emailing me and quizzing me about this) sometimes have to pick between the guy who is right in their head and the guy who is right in their heart. People in real life sometimes have to pick between the job their head says to take and the job their heart says to take. The list goes on and on. At some point, I venture to say that all of us have to make a decision between following our heads and our hearts at least once in our lives. How do we choose?

In the fairytale/romantic comedy world, the girl almost always goes with her heart. (Reese Witherspoon always chooses Jake instead of Andrew in Sweet Home Alabama.) But sometimes the people in movies do the wrong thing in my book. (You may remember a prior mention of my refusal to accept the ending of My Best Friend's wedding.)

I think that we like the romantic notion that we find in following our hearts. But in real life, is this as good of an idea? Sometimes, should the more practical voice win out sometimes? Maybe this is one of those questions that you can't answer until you're in the situation. Maybe the answer depends on the situation you are in. Maybe there is no answer.

As shocking as this is, I don't know my opinion on the subject. As cute as Ketut is in the movie, he hasn't sold me on the "follow your heart" theme. I have no answer to all the sentences above that begin with question marks. But I'm interested to know what everyone thinks on this issue.

Should we follow our head, or our heart?

(photo courtesy blogz.org)

EPL #1: A Destiny of Love

"An act of love, a voluntary taking on oneself of some of the pain of the world, increases the courage and love and hope of all." ~ Dorothy Day

Here goes Eat Pray Love week!

In the movie (and in the book on page 149 for those of you who want to follow along and see more context), Richard from Texas befriends Elizabeth Gilbert (who he calls "Groceries" because she eats more than anyone he's ever seen) while they are both studying meditation in India. One day, they are discussing Elizabeth's struggles and pain and her broken heart. She laments over the fact that she truly loved her ex husband.

Richard looks at her and says, "Groceries, I think you have the capacity to love the whole world. It's your destiny."

I loved the idea of this the moment the words came out of his mouth. What a beautiful thought---that someone could have enough love inside them to love the whole world. And that something this amazing could be a person's destiny.

This isn't some new idea....this is exactly the destiny that Jesus calls us to. He explains that there are three things that last forever: faith, hope and love. Of these, love is the greatest. (1 Cor. 13:13) He instructs us to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:36-40)

I think that sometimes, we are selfish with love. We think of the world "love" and our minds go directly to Mr. Right and our beautiful wedding dress and happily ever after. I blame society for putting all of this pressure on people about marriage and "falling in love." But what if, instead of just focusing on one person when we think about love, we focused on the world?

After that line, I feel the need for some disclaimers to keep the phone calls and emails at bay. First off, I'm not talking about polygamy....I can see a few of my friends hearing me talk about not focusing on loving one person and picturing me living in the mountains with a guy who has three wives. Not the point, people, not the point. Second, I'm not saying that we should not fall madly in love with Mr. Right (goodness knows I plan to when he finds his way out of the forest) and have the beautiful wedding dress and happy ever after.

What I'm saying is.....what if we have even MORE love to give? What if within us, we have the capacity to show love to the whole world? How different would our lives be if we accepted this challenge? How different would the world be?

We can make small changes in this direction. Speak to people in the elevator. Smile at someone when you pass them on the street. Volunteer for causes that are close to your heart. Send your friends a card or a quick phone call to let them know you are thinking about them. Pray for the people in the world who are hurting. All of us have the ability to do this type of things in our lives every single day.

I like to think that Richard from Texas was onto something. That maybe we all have the capacity to love the whole world. Think of the kind of place the world would be if that really is our destiny.

Eat Pray Love Week

"I want to go some place where I can marvel at something!" ~Julia Roberts, Eat Pray Love

So I don't blog on the weekends, but I wanted to let everyone know that it's going to be Eat Pray Love week! I loved the book by Elizabeth Gilbert after I read it years ago. I feared that the movie wouldn't live up to my expectations.....but with Julia Roberts....I should have known better! The movie was fantastic and gave me several blog ideas.

So get ready--this is going to be Eat Pray Love Week!

A Little Survey...For Old Time's Sake

“Laugh as much as you breathe and love as long as you live.” ~ Unknown

A couple years ago, I did away with my myspace account. Everyone pretty much was on facebook and myspace seemed like more work and also seemed less secure. The one thing I miss is the surveys that people used to post. They were a lot of fun. So today when I found someone doing one of these type of surveys on a blog I read, I had to join in! Feel free to answer on your own blog, or in a comment below! (Oh, and I filled this out on Sunday...just in case there is any confusion as to why I'm home....no, I have not been fired!)
Favorites:

Song- Amarillo by Morning (George Strait) and Feet Don't Touch the Ground (Stoney LaRue)

Color- OSU Orange (was there really any doubt?)

TV Show- MASH, Friends, Friday Night Lights (You will notice that I never follow the "pick one" rule)

Movie- Rudy, A League of Their Own, Remember the Titans, Steel Magnolias, Driving Miss Daisy



Food- Mexican and Italian. Oh, and chocoate chip cookies.


City- San Francisco


Place- My parents' ranch and the tiny restaurant by the lake in Cully, Switzerland


Vacation- The European adventure 2009

Fill in the blank:

Outside my window: The sun is shining.

Today I feel: Blessed.

I am thinking: About whether my hair looks okay to go to church without washing it.

I am going to: Church (verdict: hair okay!)

I am wearing: Tank top and basketball shorts.

I wish: That grown ups still got off for summer!

I am reading: Postcards from Heaven (a blog will be coming soon!)

I am working on: NOTHING whatsoever! Yay for the weekend!

I am hearing: My itunes Texas Country playlist.

Around the house: Everything is clean and put away.

I am excited about: Homecoming at OSU in October!!

I bet you didn't know: I watch "Say Yes to the Dress" for no apparent reason (seriously, I hate shopping, I don't love weddings, I'm not getting married anytime soon, and I'm totally not girly....I have no idea.)

One of my favorite things to do: Watching college football (ONE MONTH until kickoff!)



What would you do if:


You won the lottery? Travel and take my friends and family fun places!


You could chose one person to have dinner with? Mr. F, Gran, Levi


You could go anywhere in the world? More countries in Europe that I didn't get to visit last time.


Could have any job in the world and make millions doing it? Reporter for ESPN. Or a rancher. Or both. :)


You knew this was your last day on earth? See the people I love the most. And eat a lot!

June Updates

"Life is like a coin. You can spend it any way you wish, but you only spend it once." ~Lillian Dickson

Every month I try and update my readers on any developments from prior posts. Here we go!

Expanding my herd. You probably all remember when I purchased my cow a while back. Well, my livestock herd has expanded once again. I'm now the proud owner of 8 hamp/suffolk cross ewes. I'm pretty excited to see how this little project turns out. I love having cattle, but if we're being honest, I'm a sheep girl through and through.

After spending so much of my life lately cooped up in an office, I cannot wait to get home this weekend and spend some time with the animals, out in the sun, wind and dirt! I'll get some pictures of the new little ladies to post soon!

More Senior Quotes. Well, you may remember one of my favorite blogs about funny senior quotes from one of my Oklahoma girls. You might also remember Mr. G---he was responsible for the quote about the shirt and about his wife thinking about a diet. Anyway, we have good news to report. Mr. G has been discharged from physical therapy. Yay for him, sad for us because that means no more quotes from him. He did, however, leave us with a dandy.

(Mr. G is leaving the office after his last appointment).
Oklahoma Girl: "Mr. G, I sure am going to miss seeing you."
Mr.G: "Well, me too... but I am just glad those cops never caught me."

Oklahoma Girl informs me that she has no idea what he was talking about. Classic.

Casting Call. After the blog about who would star in the movie of my life, I continued thinking about who would play other friends in my life. I decided to give you some insight on who would play the people you read about frequently in my blogs.

The Oklahoma Girls will be played by Joanna Garcia (actress who played Cheyenne in Reba) and Adrianne Palicki (who plays Tyra on Friday Night Lights--which is my favorite show by the way!).

The Crazy Canadian will be played by Melissa Peterman (Barbara Jean from Reba). She's perfect....they are both so perky and happy and full of life. I think this one is the best casting yet! A picture will not do it justice, so watch this video!

BFF was the hardest one for me to cast to be honest with you. After a lot of thinking about this, I went with Dermot Mulroney, the guy on My Best Friend's Wedding and the Wedding Date. He's funny and nice and really cute. BFF isn't sold on this yet, but I think it's a great idea.

Flintstone will be played by Luke Perry. Sort of in a cross between Dillon from 90201 and Lane Frost from 8 Seconds.

Cousin Swiss Mister will be played by Jude Law. I really do think they look sort of alike!

Cousin Kevin will be played by Danny DeVito. I'm kidding, I'm kidding---his head probably just exploded. That was payback for his suggestion that Meryl Streep should play me. Um....no. Actually, I think I'd go with Bruce Willis for Cousin Kevin.

Quote of the Month. For the second month in a row, one of the Oklahoma Girls wins quote of the month. Summer is the season of weddings, which can be a little frustrating for single twentysomethings. This fact led Oklahoma Girl to pronounce this month's quote:

Even bald people are getting married.....I have a full head of hair...how is this fair??

Starring Role....

"Your supposed to be the leading lady of your own life!" ~Kate Winslet, The Holiday

Have you ever thought about who would play you if there was ever a movie about your life? It's funny how often this issue has come up in the last few weeks. So, I decided a blog in it was probably necessary.
Casting is important, you know. Think about it....let's take Julia Roberts for example. She was born to play Vivian in Pretty Woman. No one else could have played that role.
Some people have it easy.
Keira Knightley is perfect for College Roomie.
SoulMateFriend would be played by Courtney Cox because there are things that my friend says and mannerisms that she has that are exactly like Monica from Friends!
I, on the other hand, have never been able to figure out who should play me. Well last week, I was watching this new show on NBC called Parenthood. (I love the show by the way....the dad is Craig T. Nelson--aka Hayden Fox from Coach!) Anyway, I really like one of the sisters on the show and was thinking, hmmm, maybe she could play me. Then, as the week went on, without me bringing it up, two more people commented on who they thought would play me in a movie.
Anyhow...from this, we have three suggestions.
Drew Barrymore (This suggestion was made while watching her in Charlie's Angels)

Renee Zellweger (This is actually my least favorite. I don't like her because she was mean to Kenny Chesney and her face seems all scrunchy.)
Erika Christensen (This is the girl from Parenthood. She was also the crazy chick in Swim Fan, but I'm trying to pretend that isn't why she could play me.)
So....two questions for the blog readers.
1. Who would play you?
2. Which one of these (or do you have any other suggestions of actresses) should play me?

COMMENT BELOW!

Nobody's Perfect....

"He's pitching against time. He's pitching against the future, against age, and even when you think about his career, against ending. And tonight I think he might be able to use that aching old arm one more time to push the sun back up in the sky and give us one more day of summer." ~ For Love of the Game

....even when you really are. Just ask Armando Galaragga.

For those of you non-sports fans out there, Galaragga is a pitcher in the MLB for the Detroit Tigers. Last week, he was on track to throw the perfect game.

For those of you who are really non-sports fans, the perfect game for a pitcher is where no runner gets on base. He doesn't have to strike every batter out, but the ones who do get a hit must be out at 1st base. I'd suggest watching Kevin Cosner in "For Love of the Game" to get a visual.

Perfect games are hard to come by. Only 20 have ever occurred in the history of professional baseball. This isn't a big deal. It's a legacy.

So back to Gallaraga. It was the ninth inning. He had already gotten two outs. One more out, and the perfect game, and his legacy, were in the books. He throws to a batter who hits a grounder. No problem--it's quickly fielded and thrown the first baseman. Then it happens. THE CALL. Safe. People are outraged--dismayed--there was no way the guy was safe and this would ruin Gallaraga's perfect game. The umpire had made the call, the batter was safe, and the perfect game was over.

Turns out, the ump was wrong. The video clearly shows that the player was out. Gallaraga threw the perfect game, but won't get credit for it. The umpire feels bad. Really bad. He's apologized and admited he made a mistake.

As for Gallaraga, he could have been a jerk and called out the ump, whined all over national tv and played the victim. He didn't. He sucked it up, accepted the apology, told the media that nobody's perfect (ironic) and everyone makes mistakes, and went back to work. In a world of famous movie stars and athletes who seem to get whatever they want and whine when anything doesn't go their way, Gallaraga is one of a kind. Good for him. And he didn't walk away empty handed. GM gave the pitcher a corvette.

Maybe he didn't have the perfect game in the books, but it seems to me like he played this situation out perfectly.

Current What I'm....

"The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live." ~ Elbert Hubbard

A while back I did a week worth of blogs about what I was reading, listening to and watching. Here's a little update. If you have suggestions of good music, books, shows or movies, let me know! What I'm Reading:

I'm currently in the middle of The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze and his wife Lisa Niemi. So far it's been a great book.

Because I read SOOO much at work, my habit of reading three books at a time has gone dormant. I have two on deck though... The Luckiest Man by Jonathan Eig which is a biography of Lou Gehrig. The title is taken from his famous retirement speech, made after he was diagnosed with ALS. The other....Come Be My Light was compiled by Brian Kolodiejchuk and is a collection of the private writings of Mother Theresa.

What I'm Listening To:

I've said before that I listen to a little bit of everything. Here are the last 6 songs I have purchased on iTunes.

Built to Last - Heartland (I found this because of a great blog I follow...check out Stacy's blog!)

According to You - Orianthi (sometimes a girl needs an angry chick song!)

Crazy - Pat Green (thank you Pandora!)

Where Have I Been All My Life - George (he played in concert.....I loved it!)

I Want a Cowboy - Reba (also played in concert and great for running)

Hope Now - Addison Road (great song about hope and faith)

What I'm Watching:

I try not to watch too much tv---basically limit myself to one show a night, although some nights I have none, some nights I have two. Here are the newer additions to my list.

Modern Family - ABC Wednesday (I find it hilarious...follows three families who are all related)

The Buried Life - MTV Sunday (read my blog on this if you missed it)

One Tree Hill - CW Monday (I was afraid it would not be any good without Lucas and Peyton, but it's still a great show!)

The Amazing Race - CBS Sunday (it's not a new show for me, but it's a new season and so far it's been great!)

In Theatres:

I'm not much of a movie person. I went once in my three years of law school. I went a little more in high school, but only because that was the place to go for a date. :) However, this year I've seen two movies....coincidentally, I saw the Best Actress winner and Best Actor winner.

The Blindside (has made my list of top 5 movies....blogged about it before too!)

Crazy Heart (wouldn't spend my money going to the theatre. Had good music and pretty scenery--filmed in NM--even had a scene in my office building--but not much of a storyline).

So...fill me in on yours....I am always looking for suggestions!

Happy Endings

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." ~Orson Welles

So I recently learned that a certain movie, which was based on a book, has a completely different ending than the book. (I'm trying not to spoil anything here....). Apparently they made it a happy ending, rather than the real ending from the book.

I think this is a huge problem in Hollywood.....there is always a happy ending. The love story always works out. The cure always comes. The good guy always wins. The marriage is always easy. And the bad guy always gets caught. I think this is bad for real life. We expect life to always be easy and for us to always get a happy ending.

I'm as guilty as everyone else. I can think of one movie where there is not the classic "happy ending." My Best Friend's Wedding. Have you seen it? Julia Roberts is in love with her best friend, don't know his name, but Hot Guy with the scar on his lip. Problem? Hot Guy is engaged to Cameron Diaz. You watch Julia struggle with trying to win over Hot Guy. At one point, they kiss under a gazeebo on what was supposed to be his wedding day to Cameron. Now....because I'm a happy ending sucker, I stop the movie right there and pretend it's the end. Seriously, I don't watch the actual ending. (In case you don't know....he ditches Julia and marries Cameron). In life, that's probably the real ending....the perky blonde gets the girl and the best friend is left out in the cold. But it's not the happy one I want, so I change it. I'm as guilty as the people in Hollywood.

In life, sometimes happy endings don't come. Sometimes, the love story that would end happy in the movie, just ends. Sometimes the cure isn't found, the good guy gets beat, and life is just hard. Don't get me wrong....I'm not whining (Cousin Kevin gets angry with me when I whine on the blog) and I know my life is great and I'm completely blessed more than I deserve. But I'm just saying, sometimes happy endings in movies mke us think that is how life will always be. And when life is hard, we want to throw our hands up because it's not like that in the movies.

So the bottom line is that life is hard, it's not always fair, and there are not always happy endings right away. I believe that things work out in the end like they are supposed to, and that we all get our happy endings, just maybe not here on earth. So unlike the movies, where they can just change a sad ending into a happy one, in life we have to learn to deal with the endings we're given.

At least we have to for now, until we figure out a way to pause life the way I pause My Best Friend's Wedding.