Dear 14 Year Old Me

I'm linking up to Chatting at the Sky today (because of my friend Thelma - she made me) to write a letter to my teenage self. This should be fun?

14 years old - Freshman

Dear 14 year old me,

There are several things I would like to share with you. Take this stuff to heart. I know a lot of this will be hard for you to accept, but please try.

First I want to talk about your confidence, or lack thereof. You've already spent far too many years wondering if your friends like you as much as you like them. They do. Stop being so afraid of what everyone thinks of you. Most people genuinely like you, not just your good friends. When you see that group of kids that you want to join, don't be afraid to go over to them. They are not secretly wishing that you would go away. There will be some people that won’t like you, most of which will be outside your control. Don’t lose sleep over it. No one can actually be liked by everyone they ever meet. Not only do most people like you, you will eventually be one of the more popular kids in school. You won’t know it, but you will be.

Stop overanalyzing what everyone says to you by trying to figure out what they really meant. Stop overanalyzing everything you do and say. It will be ok. People will like you for who you are, but that means you have to actually learn to let go and be yourself. Stop holding on so tightly to your every thought and action that you can’t be who God made you to be.

Freshman again - that's me on the far left with the BIG hair

You are sweet and nice. And no, that doesn’t make you boring and it doesn’t mean you have no personality.

You are smart, even though you have never thought so. Tests make your brain cramp up and you don’t have a photographic memory, but you are still a smart chick.

You are funny. Let yourself go a little, and more people will notice.

Stand up for yourself – for what you believe and what you want. You are worth it. Don't let your insecurities paralyze you.

And, believe it or not, you are beautiful. You might not be as skinny as many girls around you, but you are not fat at all. Your butt is not huge. And your face does not look like a boy’s, no matter how that short boy haircut made you feel as a preteen. (By the way, super short hair will always make you feel less pretty, and the volume in your hair will never work with the super short styles you try. Don’t go there again.)

Sophomore

You will have a great time in high school, but improving your self-image will make it even better and will serve you well for years to come. Enjoy every moment. Take advantage of living overseas in your beloved Taiwan. You won't go back nearly as much as you hope.

Start taking better care of your teeth (floss, for crying out loud). Try running (even though you truly don’t think you can). Step away from the perms (why did you ever think that was so awesome). And for goodness sakes, clean your dorm room!

Junior

Once you have taken the Myers-Briggs personality test multiple times as an adult and scored precisely dead center on the extrovert and introvert line every time, you will finally realize that you are not one over the other - you are both. Lots of things will fall into place in your brain at that point, like how you can be shy and quiet when first meeting people yet have them wondering why they ever thought you quiet after getting to know you. You are both energized and drained by being with people and being by yourself. That does not make you weird, it’s just who you are.

Senior

Boys. You will not seriously date any boys in high school. Take a deep breath. It will be ok. You will also not seriously date anyone in college. Trust me, it will be ok! In 1999 you will meet a great man that will challenge what you thought you wanted in a guy - in good ways. He won’t be ready to date you for a couple years, but trust me, he’s worth the wait. In 2002 you will start dating that great guy, and will marry him in a year’s time. He will make you laugh like no one else ever has and will love you fiercely. He will be incredibly good for you, giving you deep roots you didn't know you needed. The two of you will have a number of bumps in the road, but you will get through them together.

College. This is a toughie. College is going to throw you for a number of big loops. You will think you are prepared, and in many ways you are, but being independent isn’t enough. You're going to start feeling lonely and misunderstood. The reverse culture shock back to the States will last longer than you expect. You will think you are ready, so it will take you by surprise. Stay involved in things on campus, even when you feel like withdrawing. It will be hard to find a church where you feel you belong. Keep trying. Ask for help when you need it and accept help when offered. Stay true to who you are - sweet, funny, and kind.

Spend a little more time figuring out what you want to do with your life, in case you don’t find that job traveling the world. Ask more questions – about careers, resumes, and interviewing. Take more computer classes. Don’t let your one terrible experience with that professor that couldn’t teach discourage you.

Unfortunately, I can't steer you away from every challenge; you will need many of those trials to become who God wants you to be. There will be many difficult days ahead of you, but God will be there to walk you through each one.

Love and no-more-perms,
Your 37 year old self

Friday Five

1. The night before we left on vacation, there was a huge storm. Rusty was asleep and I was beginning to doze off when I began to hear the sounds of a storm. At first I dismissed it as a normal thunderstorm, but the howling wind kept getting louder and louder. I sat up in bed, unease giving way to worry. Rusty stirred and I asked him, "Do you hear that?" I got out of bed and grabbed my iPhone to look up local weather warnings as the wind continued to roar.

"Is that a tornado," Rusty wondered out loud? That's all I needed to hear. I speed walked to that bathroom, still fumbling with my iPhone in search of information. The wind raged as I sat shaking in the still damp tub with Rusty crouched beside me. I prayed for safety as branches and twigs hit the roof for what felt like an eternity. The power went out at some point. As the terrible wind finally died down, I had the presence of mind to find our local news station's website on my iPhone and touch Listen Live.

I used the light of my iPhone to find the camping light we had recently purchased on a whim (or what it?) which Rusty then used to find our big flashlight. He walked around our house, checking for damage and then shone the powerful flashlight out the front and rear doors. We had lost the top half of one of our 100' tall trees. Thank you, Lord, that the tree fell in the yard and not on our house. We shut the house up tight and let Gus out of his room, since we were now wide awake.

According to the news, there were no tornadoes, just a crazy storm with 80 mph straight winds. We got power back on late the next day (Saturday) before we had to leave on vacation (thank you, God). And the tree? It would have to wait until we got home from vacation in...

2. ...Virginia Beach! Ah, yes. I love getting away for a few days where the biggest decision is whether to start our day by floating in the pool or enjoying the beach. We all need that kind of relaxation every now and then, don't we?

3. The other important decisions while on vacation revolve around food. What should we do for lunch? PB&J in our room or eat out? Where should we go for dinner? Most of the places we went were successes. In fact, the only bomb was the Chinese place, where nearly everything was so overcooked it was nearly inedible. I still don't know what was in those deep-fried dumplings (they are supposed to be pan-fried, people, PAN-fried)! :shudder: (And no, I don't mean what kind of animal meat...they were meatless.)

All the other food we ate was fabulous - gyros and stuffed grape leaves at Ammos; topped crab flounder with a white wine lemon sauce at Il Giardino; steamed king crab legs at Captain George's, and table-side guacamole and fish tacos at the Side Street Cantina. Drool.

4. We came home on Thursday to a lonely 11-month old kitten, piles of laundry, and the tree in our front yard. On Saturday, Rusty and our brother-in-law, Barry, fired up chain saws while my father-in-law and I carried logs, limbs, and sticks. With their help, we got it completely cleaned up even though it was so hot I thought I was back in tropical Taiwan.

5. The only bad part about our vacation (beside the cost of it) is that Rusty ended up with swimmer's ear. Ouch! His right ear began hurting enough on Sunday to cause him to ask me to make him a doctor's appointment on Monday. That is saying something about the amount pain and irritation that Rusty felt, folks!

California Girls

I’ve been meaning to share a few fun photos with you from my trip to California several weeks ago. I’m happy to report that my girlfriends are as willing to take silly pictures as I am. Enjoy the goofiness!

On the lamb

In-N-Out...animal style!

Nice ears!

Walking her ballon dog. Yes. Her ballon dog.

Minnie Rach

Fish tacos at Wahoo's!

Me and the Duke

Friday Five

And now for the picture version of our trip to Virginia Beach:

The view from our room at dusk.

Gorgeous, right?

And now for a daylight shot.

Veal Parmesan - a HUGE piece of meat.

Just the two of us.

What I Learned on My Summer Vacation

1. Don’t sprain your ankle three days before vacation. If you do, however, be extra careful with it and baby it like crazy. You may be able to enjoy your vacation and be only slightly limited in what you can do. Also, avoid wearing flip flops that have no arch support even if your ankle is feeling better.

2. Don’t let your husband speed on your way to the beach. There will be speed traps – especially on a holiday weekend.

3. Watch the beach pros stick umbrellas in the sand. It is, in fact, an art form and you can learn from the guys that get paid to do it all day long. If you don’t, you may find your umbrella hurtling precariously end over end towards an unsuspecting and innocent bystander. Not cool, folks.

4. There is not much you can do if you have extremely loud hotel neighbors …even if they are screaming at the top of their lungs at midnight. Not even if they are wrastlin’ and/or moving furniture around at the same time as the screaming. It is true that they are totally inconsiderate and ridonk, but aside from calling the front desk, you are out of luck.

5. If the mini fridge in your suite has ice that has formed along the back, you can’t find the temperature control, and ice starts forming in your drinks…beware! Things can explode. The only good part is that cleaning up frozen diet Coke is a lot easier than cleaning up liquid diet Coke.

6. Thoroughly and frequently applying sunblock to a bald head prevents burning and whining from one’s husband.

7. When a thunderstorm slowly rolls by on the evening of July 4th, don’t hold out any hope that there will be fireworks shot off from the barge in the ocean. It ain’t gonna happen. That barge will leave and not come back. The only fireworks you will see will be the lightening from the thunderstorm, so grab your chair and enjoy. Do NOT get all excited and have your little camera set to the fireworks setting and attached to your mini tripod hours early. It will only serve to let you down even more.

Friday Five

I did not Friday Five last week. I know you were shocked and dismayed. I am sorry. I was vacationing and these things happen sometimes when one is vacationing. I shall try to make this week’s post extra awesome to make up for last week’s neglect.

1.  We went on a little vacation. Joy! Background: My BFF, L’s, family lives in IN and we go there at least once a year for Rusty to go to a Notre Dame football game with L’s uncle. Well, we out this last weekend so they guys could go to the Indianapolis Colts vs. Tennessee Titans game. They had a great time - with Rusty wearing the only Titans jersey, much to his enjoyment and every else’s dismay.

2.  What did the girls do while the boys were at the game? I am so glad you asked. We went shopping. And then we shopped some more. And then did just a little more shopping. Some of my favorite purchases were an awesome sweater, wide black belt to go with the sweater, and small silver wristlet purse. This is my new favorite date night outfit when paired with my dark wash skinny jeans and awesome gray boots. Hotness!

3.  My BFF’s aunt got in the wrong van this weekend. It was hilarious! We were in two vehicles while shopping. Aunt M was riding in her niece A’s van. Those of us in the brand spankin’ new Saturn Vibe watched as M opened the side door to a van that did not belong to A. We started yelling though the windows, but she did not hear us. Then it looked like she was going to get in the van and sit down. We were laughing so hard we could do nothing other than watch in horror. She had actually realized that it was the wrong van and was looking for the close button like her van has. There was no button. So she walked away…with the van door wide open. Oh gracious, we were howling with laughter as we screamed, “Close the dooooooooor!” A second later we looked over to see the door closed. How did that happen when there was no one in the van?! We still do not know. ROTFL!

4.  My long awaited camera is on its merry way to me. I should have it in my impatient little hands on Monday. I am certain that there will be a lot of posts with pictures to come. You’re welcome.

5.  I suffered some serious vacation brain at work on Wednesday. Seriously. It was awful. I managed not to bite anyone’s head off, but I was sorely tempted. And then I had computer/email issues. So not cool. And THEN there was terrible traffic on the way to the gym. I did not want to work out, but I did. Work outs often improve my mood. It did not do that for me on Wednesday. Sigh.

******BONUS******

Because you waited so patiently…

6.  I weigh-in tomorrow. I have not been to weigh-in for three weeks. Yikes! I am sure that my weight will be up from three weeks ago, but down from last week. So, all in all I will call that a win. I made pretty good food choices this week and went to the gym twice. Win!

Friday Five

1.  Our dryer stopped drying. It runs, but does not heat. Great. Wonderful. We have been having to air dry everything. I went to Target to buy a second drying rack. I was shocked to see how much those suckers cost. $40? No thanks! I managed to find one for about $15. Anyway, we have wet clothes hung all over our house and they are taking forever to dry. When we get back from Thanksgiving we have to figure out what to do next. Get a new one? Risk fixing it and paying just as money as if we did buy a new one? I hate appliances.

2.  One of my coworkers gave me a jewelry party catalog. Some of the stuff is nice, but man is it pricey! $130 for a long silver necklace?! Um, no. I did, however, find that I really wanted a long silver necklace all of the sudden. I went to the mall and found an awesome necklace for, wait for it, $6.35. Yay!

3.  To scan or to pat. That is the question. Or so we thought. We decided to go ahead with the body scan. No touching me please! We arrived nice and early, ready for long lines and lots of waiting. Sure enough, the security line was long. We stepped into the queue at 5:45 am. The line moved surprising fast. As we got closer to the front, I saw that there was only one of the body scanners. Ah ha! This may be good news for us! We put everything all the belt (bags, shoes, coats, belts...basically everything) and were waved to the regular x-ray thingy. PTL! No body scan or aggressive pat-down for us! We were through the security line by 6:00 am. Only 15 minutes! Wow. Just, wow! That was really fast. I applaud you BWI. Good job.

4.  It has been great to be with my family, even when one person is playing a game on the computer, one is watching football, three are looking at Black Friday sale papers, one is working on scheduling for homeschooling, one is playing games on her phone (me), two kids are reading books, and one kid is playing in another room. :) Of course, just a short time later we started up a rousing game of Apples to Apples. Love that game!

5.  I get to meet Esther Okerson today! It is amazing how you can become such good friends with people online. I never would have thought that so many of my closest friends would be started online. Any by online I mean HP, er, Hannah's Prayer (for you non HPers).

Friday Five

1.  My friend, Dawn, got a new kitty this week. He is an orange tabby named Fuego and he is fearless. Dawn also has two German shepherds that Fuego is decidedly not afraid of. She has been sharing pictures lots of pictures of this little cutie that have been making me wish I could talk Rusty into getting a kitten.

Is he not perfect? How can I resist?!


Fuego the Fearless

2.  I made reservations at a privately owned parking lot near the airport for our trip to KC next week during Thanksgiving. At this place, you park and get picked up at your car! No walking to the little glass enclosure and waiting and waiting for a bus. The driver takes your luggage out of your car and puts it on the shuttle! The driver offers you water and a newspaper then drives you to the curbside of your airline, not the general area of your airline and three others. When you come back, they pick you up where ever you happen to be...no need to go to a designated stop. They load up your luggage and take you directly to your car! And unload your luggage for you! I love these people. They are awesome.

3.  I am making Meatball Spinach Tortellini soup for bible study tonight. It is a modified Italian Wedding Soup. Yummers. One of my fellow bible studiers LOVES this soup, but he will not be there tonight. More for us.

4.  I am also making a quick Pumpkin Mousse Pie for tonight...one of those recipes where you combine pudding and Cool Whip with a few other things and throw it all into a prepared crust. I'll let you know how it turns out.

5.  I am very excited to see my family next week for Thanksgiving! And Esther! And hopefully NaeNae!

Friday Five

1.  Friends!

2.  Notre Dame!

3.  Shopping!

4.  Yes, I'm really looking forward to our weekend away. I guess those first three things are what we are doing the next couple days. Technicalities! I'm makin' up my own rules. Oh, and I'm writing this on Wednesday and setting it to (hopefully) post on Friday. :D

5.  Ok fine. I'll play by the rules for one item. Our home phone has terrible static on the line. Awful! We can barely hear anything. It is useless. I got another phone to make sure it was the line and not the phone. Still with the horrendous static! Definitely the line. I called Verizon to report it. They are "commited to resolving the problem"...with only voice prompts...by Oct 14th...10 days after I called. In the meantime, our phone is totally out of commission. Completely useless.

Friday Five

I saw an idea I really like on the awesome Gitzen Girl blog called Friday Five, where you simply list five things about your week. I love it! :D Want to join me?

1.  It rained the last few days. A lot. It rained so much people were making ark jokes. The storms were so bad we had tornado warnings. Not tornado watches, mind you, the really bad warnings that mean tornadic winds are churning. The loud speakers at work told us all to take cover. Yikes! Roads closed all over the region due to flooding. The winds were whipping the rain around, rendering umbrellas all but useless. I’ll say it again (because no other made up word quite describes it correctly)…it was cray cray.

2.  Rusty has blood pressure issues, but is otherwise very healthy! YES! That makes me one happy woman. :D

3.  I can not believe it is October already. Yowzers. The weather today is overcast and cool. Perfect sweater weather. Woot! I am ready for cozy fall clothes and boots. I love boots.

4.  Next weekend we are going to Elkhart, IN, to visit some friends. Rusty will go to his annual Notre Dame football game (go Irish!) and I will go shopping. Woooooot! I could use a few new articles of clothing since most of what I have been wearing is way too big. Awesome. I will be hunting for things to go with my awesome boots, such as, skinny jeans & pants, skirts, dresses, flowy tops, boyfriend cardigans, belts, a scarf or two, and textured nylons. I’m so excited to be getting a few new rockin' trendy things for a skinnier me!

5.  Rusty and I want to go to a cabin in WV sometime soon. We have identified a few weekends that might work, so I will start checking out accomodations this weekend. We really need a weekend getaway. Badly! We are looking forward to playing Wii, watching movies, snuggling, possibly a fire place, and generally relaxing it up.