The Missing Piece of College Speeches....

When I graduated College I remember many different speeches - all of them positive - all of them inspiring - all of them promising good things for us - it made me want to go out there and kick some ass and take the world by storm.......



Fast forward to 25. I'm living in a one bedroom apartment - barely paying off those college bills - not sure if my job is for me - wondering if my boyfriend of about 7 years is finally going to get off his ass and propose- still driving a clunker - and wondering - where were these promises made to me a few years back? I feel deflated and defeated, and wonder when will at all come together?
So I sat back and reassure myself...... you know what - 30 - 30 will be when it all comes together.....



Well this past weekend I turned 30 and well - allot of the promises I'm still waiting on. But, somewhere between those college days and today Ive changed. Somewhere along the way those things that meant so much to me just don't seem as important. And instead of feeling jipped cause I'm not the CEO of a major corporation - I realize that although some things have come together others have not. And I'm not really sure how I feel about that....I'm still a mess. Its just today I'm a different mess.......



For example - I still cry at the Notebook. I read the book, I saw the movie - I know whats going to happen - yet I still bawl to the point that my husband (yes the boyfriend did get off his ass and ask me) worries about me!



Stress - wasn't I supposed to have this figured out by now? Wasn't I supposed to be able to go with the flow - have the answers - be able to solve every one's issues and have dinner ready all in a half an hour?

And whatever happened to dinner? Seriously how do people do it. By the time I get home from dinner I'M lucky a bowl of cereal gets poured let alone a gourmet meal!!! Seriously - how do people do it?

And where was the laundry speech at graduation? No one told me that

a. it would be never ending, and

b. it would take over your house....I mean seriously it never stopped! Where was this advice on graduation day?





Theres many more, but you get the point......So where were all of these things in the speech? I thought for sure I was supposed to have this figured out and done. And that others would be learning from me......



But maybe that's the point.



Maybe we never figure life out....maybe life is about figuring things out. Figuring ourselves out....

Maybe its about forgetting these little things and remembering whats important.



Maybe, its about the Blessings.



Maybe in our speeches we should forget about all of these promises and remind ourselves to stop and BREATHE.



We need to take time and recognize our blessings.

Blessings like having your niece and nephew call you on your birthday and tell you that they love you.

Your husband giving you that look and telling you he loves you.

Your cat crawling into your lap after a hard day and cuddling with you.

Your mother telling you that she feels truly loved by you.

Or seeing a Space Shuttle launch in person and realizing how small we all really all and then realizing that's OK,

or being able to just sit and be.



These blessings were not in a college speech I heard, but they were blessings that I was lucky enough to experience. And I will take these blessings any day and over and over again. These blessings are worth more than that expensive car, or outrageous job - these are moments to remember for the rest of my life....



Maybe when we make these speeches we feel as though we have to make the world sound amazing and pump our youth up to go out there - and don't get me wrong its so important to go for thing and have passion and energy around what we do. Its also not bad to share these things with our youth....but remember its not just about the big things, but its about the everyday things that are all around us - and when we take the time to recognize them the better off we will be. To appreciate and respect the big things we also have to appreciate and respect the big things and until we can do that - we may not know or recognize when something big comes along...we may still be waiting.......waiting for what we already have.

Should we forgive John Mayer???

There has been much buzz about this infamous interview and I know my fellow bloggers that you have been up most of the night tormented with this decision - do we or don't we forgive him????? This IS the question that plagues us for 2010.

So to help you in this ever weighing decision here are some facts for you:

1. The article was in the upstanding and respectable magazine Playboy. We all know that Playboy is known for its articles and witty and remarkable interviews. I mean Pamela Anderson would be a nobody had it not been her heartfelt interview in Playboy. I mean the articles are the epitome of the highest education standard.....wait - there are pictures in Play boy? really? Hmmm I didn't notice. Hopefully Playboy wont be too upset by all the publicity it is getting and the extra purchases people are making to read the interview.....we can only hope that their reputation will not be ruined by John Mayer's promiscuous words.

2. He made Jessica Simpson out to be a Sex Vixen....who knew! I mean really? ? I thought she was still a virgin! Does Nick Lachey know about this? I mean $10,000 sex must be good sex.....why in the world would he divorce her? Someone should tell him. Its also good - since the whole Tony Romo and the mom jeans thing - we really haven't heard about Jessica Simpson...so its good we got to see how she was doing.....nice to check in on her once in awhile....

3. You KNOW he is going to have to make up for this...so you know hes going to do some kind of save the world concert or send a porn star to college - so remember this porn star when they run for president - and in their acceptance speech they can credit John Mayer's Playboy's interview

4. Now Brad and Angelina are going to HAVE to come up with something - cause really they just cant be out played by anyone or anything associated with Jennifer Anniston....look out adoption agencies - they must just go out and adopt 25 kids at once....

5. He intellectualized the N word! thank you so much John! I have been waiting YEARS for someone to do this! I mean its about time

6. Oprah has denied him an interview to apologize. Well to be fair she is really busy - and besides she is the end all and be all of her viewing populations decision making skills - so he may lose some fans there....but maybe if he does a good job of making up for this (see number 3) she will make him buy everyone in her studio audience a car and all will be right in the world.

7. OH just thought of this! If people start hating on him - his ticket prices will go down! Hot dog!

8. He called his unit a white supremist....lol.....Im laughing because I think that he doesn't date black chics cause he probably has a small unit....and they would laugh their ass off at him...this is all heresy...but Jessica Simpson might be able to tell us...or not.....she also thought tuna was chicken.....so who knows......

9. He now has a whole set of album material! If you ever noticed...his albums started with him being in love, then going through troubles, then a breakup - then this last one is an obvious torment of his life.......so now that he has made his life even more tormented he has a whole new set of materials!

10. Maybe Playboy will send out an apology......well they still havent apologized for trying to have a sequel to the Girls Next Door with those two idiot twins....or definitely overusing viagara....so probably not....

So its now time for you to decide.....do we forgive John Mayer....or don't we?

That IS the question!

So what happens when Beyonce does put on her pants???

Numerous requests and reports have asked Beyonce to please start wearing pants. While we aren't sure why she refuses to wear pants, one has to wonder - what would happen if she DID in fact put some pants on?

The mini skirts she wears are cute - and we are all really proud that a curvy woman is shaking her thing - and deep inside we are all desperately hoping that she has panties on (and really, really hope for fullbacks). But, what would happen if she put on pants?

Picture this: You are sitting all cozy on your couch, ready for the Grammy's, you've got your Cheetos and your mug of hot chocolate and you are snuggled under a blanket - then all of a sudden Beyonce comes out and What the.......

A Cheetos literally falls out of your mouth - hold the phone - back the truck up......

Beyonce has pants on?????

What happened?

Next thing we know Jay-Z is using electronics in his music, Brittney is a sane, blonde virgin again, and Lady Gaga gets her clothes at the Gap?

Is this a world we want to live in? Is this a world that we want our children growing up in?

That my fellow bloggers is the question.......

Another question that comes to my mind is why the hatred for pants? They are comfy - they provide warmth, and they can be quite fabulous. I have thought long and hard about this and Ive come up with a few reasons....

One - she likes to feel the wind between her legs...

Two - Rhiannon loves pants....and we know all about that....

Three - Shes got a banging bod and hell - I might just walk around in a bikini if I were her...

Four - Her mom hasn't quite figured out how to sew that pattern yet

or my favorite

Five - shes Beyonce - she can basically do whatever she wants!

So Beyonce you go on with your bad ass self and your minis - shake what your mama gave ya - or in your case - designed for you - and keep on keeping on!

2010 New Year, New Resolutions....

So as I sit after watching - yes the Confessions of an shopaholic....it got me thinking about my own spending. It seems these days that everyone is watching their dollar very carefully. That we are all re-considering the recent purchase we just made and whether or not we need that or want that.
I know for myself Ive spent 2009 hunkering down and looking for ways to stretch my dollar and ways to save a buck. This seems to be the trend whenever our economy is stressed - we take on the stress and we distribute it. It seems to be the only thing in the economy that we can count on is - stress.

When I think about when I was a kid, I realize I didn't know what stress was. I didn't know that we didn't have a ton of money and I didn't care. I didn't think the things we did to save money were odd - I didn't know any different. It was what we did and the money that we have didn't define who we were. We were a united, strong family - who just had to make our dollars work for us as we worked for them.

Somewhere along the way that all changed.....

I'm not sure really when.....I think it was being told my whole life, go to college and a get a degree, things will be simpler then. All your problems will be solved. The world is your oyster - get a pearl....
But, reality strikes and we realize that coming out of college we don't get the CEO title, the corporate jet, and that things are not handed to us. We have to work.
So the ethics of work hard kick in. The dreams of the big home, 2.5 kids, the white picket fence, dream vacations, etc....it all comes barely within our reach and we realize we just need to work a bit harder, pull more hours, go in on weekends, just work harder and it will all be ours.

At some point this dream starts to change.....we realize that not everything is a reality and maybe our destiny wasn't to be as described to us when we were young. Some of us had kids younger and the trials and tribulations of parenthood come blaring in our face. Others of us got the dream job only to find out it was a nightmare. Some of us got lost along the way and in turn - lost ourselves.......whatever it may be we didn't exactly turn out the way that was promised or the way it was supposed to be in our "dreams".

Some of us might just roll with the punches, we may try to get things accomplished anyways and make the best of what was handed out. We make lemonade with the lemons. Some of us add vodka to the lemonade and have ourselves a party. Others take the lemons and cry. And still others of us stare down the lemons and wonder...what if...........

I believe at some point, all of us, come to a point in our lives where the what if becomes stronger and stronger - and we realize that maybe we have been going down a wrong path. Maybe this path we took was what we thought...but is no longer. Maybe we were meant to do something else....but what???

This question can haunt us and frustrate us beyond our wildest dreams......or it can be the solution, the answer........

What if the answer is that we should take the journey. Maybe there is no destiny, maybe there is no exact route....maybe the point is to take the journey. To smell the roses along the way. To take a moment, take it all in, and live our lives.

Maybe 2009 taught us that being broke wasn't the worst thing that happened to us. Maybe we can take the economy, the penny pinching, the stress, and learn from it. Maybe, just maybe, it was part of our journey to bring reality, and real reality, back to our lives. Maybe we should turn off the reality on TV and start living our own.
Maybe we were supposed to be comfortable in our skin and learn to live and love with passion, rather than tons of money.

Most of us - this is not what we were told when we were young dreamers. This isn't in the plan...but maybe that is the plan.

So 2010 is my dedication to this new "plan". I'm going to try it out and see. I'm going to stop waiting for opportunities and start making them. I'm going to try new things, experience new experiences, I'm going to live life on life's terms and I'm going to enjoy myself. I'm going to try to understand what the best things in life are free and I'm going to get out there and live a life that I was mean to live.

So this blog will be dedicated to that - my journey.

I guess all that's left to say now is......Let the journey begin...........