National Sibling Day!

So according to Facebook, April 10th is National Sibling Day. For my siblings' sakes, I hope this doesn't catch on like Mother's and Father's day, because that will be the fourth holiday they have to celebrate in April. Poor guys :P

I thought I would do a small tribute to my siblings. I could have posted kooky pictures of them all on Facebook, but this is much more meaningful.

First there's my older brother, Tony. The story goes that he basically ignored my existence until I started to walk. Thanks bro :P He's always tried to protect me in his own way. Whether we're playing video games and I'm player 2 to his player 1, or he's telling me not to go into the flooded basement because he heard the sizzle of one of the power strips, or he's saying "don't do anything I wouldn't do" when I leave to go out with my friends. Despite everything we've been through, he's always good for a laugh, a smile, a joke, and a big brother.

Then, there's my younger sister, Rachel. I want to save her for last because she's seriously "la pièce de résistance" in my eyes. She has the quickest wit I've ever seen, and does this thing where if you say she's funny she looks at you and goes "excuse me...I'm hilarious". She knows exactly what will make me laugh and smile, ESPECIALLY when I am trying my hardest not to do such. I know it's super corny but she is my best friend. If I had to pick one person in the entire world I would pick her time and time again. There are some things that we will never ever see eye to eye on, and others where we don't even have to say anything to know we're thinking the same thing. It's a wonderful experience to have a sister like her.

They're my two blood siblings and I love them dearly. However, there's been one other person in my life that's as much a sibling as a friend.

I've known Ashley since I was a freshman in high school. I'm sure I've told this story before, but I was playing piano in the choir room and she, a senior in the advanced show choir, came in and heard me playing. She then proceeded to put a few coins down on the piano to "tip" me to keep playing. Basically from that point on she decided that I was going to be her little sister. I visited her in college, I told her EVERYTHING that was going on in my life, and to this day there are still some of her words of wisdom that I hold true. She would bail me out of the house when I was an angsty teenager and help me through what I thought were my hardest of times.

All three of these people hold a huge part of my heart and are giant impacts on my life. I can't imagine life without any of them.

Cocky Renaissance Woman

I'm just going to put this out there, say my piece, and be on my way. 

I'm tired or people questioning my intellect, my reason, my logic, and my opinions. Perhaps that's not the best way to phrase it because I don't discourage questioning. I just feel like some people are expecting me to apologize for knowing things. 

"You're a French teacher. Why do you think you understand how (insert irrelevant past time here) works?"

"Why are you right about this? Why are you right and I'm wrong? Why can't I be right?"

"You think you're right about this that and the other, how can you possibly expect us to believe you're right about this too?"

It's just like, seriously? How ignorant are you?

I feel the need to tell people correct things because I'm afraid either they will 1) create a strong belief that wrong is right, or 2) become content with ignorance. 

Because here's my thing: I know I'm right because I don't talk out of my ass. When I say something chances are I have things backing up my word, be it sources, experience, or the ability to think critically and hypothesize correctly. None of these are hard concepts, and yet it becomes a negative thing for me to possess them, only because people are becoming put out by my inability to let ignorance slide. 





...And this is why I know I'd be an Erudite...

Adult Magic Pills

This is how I see being a grown up a lot of the time. It's not something you learn, it's something that just happens once you wait long enough. 

This is a French tweet I constructed earlier tonight. I've just now realize that my acquisition of the French language is similar to my quest at being an adult. I apologize for those who don't speak French, but there are aome complicated grammatical structures in that sentence, some that were never full out taught to me. They've just sort of...started to make sense in my mind and my understanding with how to use them (even though I haven't taken a French class that taught grammar in four years). 

I mean, I know language acquisition theory so I understand why my brain can do this, but at the same time, I have no idea when it happened or how. 

Whoa...

Just found out that one of my blog posts has over 500 hits! Only one of them though. I have another that is just over 100 and then only a handful that make it past 50. I can't believe that one post has so many hits!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Happy March!

For those that come here hoping for some controversial awesomely written piece of rhetoric...today is not your day. This is a post I feel like writing because I want to write and have nothing specific to write about yet I feel like writing so gosh darn it I'm going to write!

For those of you who just read because you're bored WELCOME!

I've had some things on my mind recently that I just want to air out:

I have come to realize that there is a teetering line in a relationship...and it never goes away. See, you're supposed to go into a relationship liking/loving the other as they are (i.e.: not going in trying to change them). However, as someone IN a relationship you want to be the best you can be, even if that means changing a few habits. The example that comes to mind is you want to be with someone that will still love you if you have a beer gut, but you should still be taking care of yourself so that you don't GET one, or if you haveone you should still try and get rid of it, not because they won't love you otherwise but because it's the good thing to do.

That ones probably more vain than most of the ones that I actually find applicable to myself and my own relationship, but I can't help but feel like some people don't get this concept. Like, they're completely lazy in a relationship and if the other suggests something then they're automatically trying to change them and oh no that's bad...when in reality it's probably healthy and for the person's own good. And then there's the flip side where accepting someone's flaws almost seems to justify the action, so it becomes reinforced rather than pinpointed as something wrong...

...these are not direct reflections on my own relationship, just something generally speaking I feel I notice around me. There just needs to be a rule like "I will accept your flaw as long as you recognize that it's a flaw and you will work towards making it right" or whatever. But at the same time, how accepting does that sound? Hence the teetering line lol



I read a three book series last week. I finished the first two books within two days (each book is about 525 pages). The third took me a little longer for a couple of reasons. First, it had switching narrator perspectives for each chapter where the first two did not. After reading the ending, that type of narration was necessary in the third book, however it takes longer for me to reacclimatize myself to the scenarios when switching narrators. I'm the type of reader that gets completely engulfed in a story that I feel like Harry Potter when Tom Riddle is showing him his memories. When switching narrators you can't stay engulfed because you're no longer just following one person. Also, I visited my family in the midst of reading this book. Six hours of driving plus family time did not make for getting a lot of reading done, which I'm more than ok with because I love spending time with my family.

Anyway, finished the entire series in five days, and it was absolutely phenomenal. I can say that now, because I've had closure with the ending of the series. However when I first finished the books I WAS SO MAD AT HOW IT ENDED. The best way I can describe it is: You know when you're completely absorbed in a book/series and you want the chapters to keep coming even though there won't be? About five chapters from the end I wanted it to just stop. I couldn't actually stop because I was too invested at that point, but each turning page was like salt in the wounds kill me now pure torture. In hindsight it was beautiful, probably the best ending character development wise, but still...it sucked haha.

I don't regret reading the series, though. Anyone who can create worlds and universes and make you feel that close to fictional characters that you are literally conjuring in your head...has all my respect and then some. Wow just...wow

The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth. Thought maybe I should tell you what series I was reading so you could have your mind blown too :P



My roommate and I like to say we have adult achievements, kind of like the xbox achievements you can get in games. We've documented a few, like first time using the crock pot, first mail addressed to us in our own mailbox, first rent bill paid, buying an actual couch rather than just a temporary cheap futon, building things, fixing things, cleaning things, the list goes on.

Well yesterday I added another achievement to the list: Hosted first dinner party!

Now some back story: Eric and I have known each other for five years now. Which actually sounds like a lot of time and now makes me feel really old because we met our freshman year of college. We only had a semester to get to know each other, though, because he left Ball State after his first semester. I was heartbroken and definitely missed him, and thankfully we never completely lost contact.

See, we have one of those magical friendships where you can not talk for MONTHS and when you do end up talking again...it's like no time has passed. For instance, we have been talking semi-regularly for the past couple weeks...before that it had been about a month...but before that it had been probably around 8 months since we last talked. Not to mention it's been almost a year and a half since I had seen him, and even longer between that visit and the previous one! But it didn't matter, each conversation and each visit just started where the previous one left off.

So he and his girlfriend were looking for apartments in Indy (they're originally from up north) and when he mentioned this to me, I begged him to come over so I could see them both. We finalized some plans, and decided they would come over and I'd cook something for them. Inviting Chris for good measure, it turned into a lovely double date couples night in! I made chicken alfredo with bruchetta and pain grillé, they brought two bottles of wine, we played board games afterwards, and we talked and we laughed, and everyone got along and it was wonderful. Simply marvelous.



I'm actually in the best mood today that I've been in for a while. I really can't pin point anything specifically that caused it, because I still have a cold and I didn't get that much sleep last night and I won't get a lot of sleep tonight because I'm working and I know the schedule is going to suck today, but I'm just in a great mood. I love it :)

The Awesomeness that is the Interwebs

A couple weeks ago, I was cleaning my bathroom when I realized that I am completely out of contact lenses. Normally, that just means I have to get my prescription from the fridge, go to Walmart, and get some contacts. However, I didn't have my prescription at the apartment. Figuring it was with the parents from the move, I ask my mom about it, and she says that it has expired and I'll have to schedule an eye appointment to get a new script.

Now, I don't see this as too big of a deal; I'm fine with calling and scheduling appointments. I was lucky enough to find out that our vision insurance is the same as it was before the move, so I didn't have to find a new optometrist, yay! However, due to teaching, I could only schedule one in the afternoon, and not even the early afternoon, so I couldn't even schedule one until March 31st! (Did I mention that I need contacts now...?) I went ahead and scheduled the appointment, hoping that the pair I've been wearing since mid-December continues to hold up trying not to think of the cost of the appointment not to mention the cost of the contacts on top of that.

Well then, I started doing some research. 1800contacts says on all their ads that the only prescription you need is the one printed on your contact lens box. I went to their site and saw that I could order contacts right then and there...for $50. I did the math and I'll probably spend that much if not a little more by going in and getting an exam and a script...but I'd still have to wait the month and a half.

I just about bought them when I thought to do some more research to see if anyone else was offering them cheaper (I still use Acuvue 2, which has been out since I was in middle school so I find it hard to believe they have to be so expensive. Low and behold, I found them! They were not only cheaper, but first time users got a $15 off coupon on their order! So I got the contacts I needed plus shipping for less than $35! THat's barely more than the copay for the appointment!

The internet is awesome :)

To My Valentine

Chris and I first met when I was in kindergarten. He's my brother's age so he was in 2nd grade. Our moms were both on PTO for the elementary school and they became friends. Chris has a younger brother my age, and so the moms started setting up play dates for us all. A beautiful friendship ensued.

When I was in 7th grade, Chris's family was moving. I was upset that they all were moving, especially since Chris's little brother Kevin was very much like a brother/best friend to me. Thankfully with the marvels of never outdated technology like AOL Instant Messenger, Kevin and I were able to stay in contact throughout the years.

When I was in 9th grade, I was in an ensemble that had made it to ISSMA state solo & ensemble contest. The contest took place at a high school in northern Indianapolis, and all the choirs that qualified throughout the state went to that contest. As my ensemble was getting ready to perform, we saw the last group come out. I accidentally bumped into someone, and while trying to say sorry, alarms went off. It was Chris. Only a few words were able to be exchanged, but it was a surprise and a good one.

Also in 9th grade, I went to the Indy 500 for the first time in my life. This was an event that Chris's family always attended, and I knew this. My friend who invited me and I found a way to get to the house where Chris and his family were going to be. We arranged this all through Kevin, as he was who we wanted to see. While there, I ended up on the back porch where I found Chris and we started talking. Looking back, I actually spent more time talking to Chris than Kevin, even though my stories were only of Kevin.

The summer after 9th grade was when Chris and I started talking on AIM. He talked to me on there more often than Kevin did, and that was a year where I needed a friend because of some serious family things going on at home. Chris became a confidant, and then so much more. We started talking less about the past and more about the present, and then talking became flirting and flirting became longing. 15 at the time, I was "falling in love" with this boy.

September 2006, into the start of my sophomore year, Chris and his family had come to Indianapolis for a colts game. Not one for sports, Chris was going to stay at a relatives house when I invited him over. The original intention was to go down to the local parks and hang out, but with hormones raging and the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" thing, we definitely enjoyed each other's company more than any sibling or park could. I'm sure looking from the outside in it probably looked gross and teen-movie esque, but I was in heaven.

We didn't see each other until almost exactly a year later. We remained in contact but not with some promise to stay with each other (much to my dislike). Chris graduated high school and was off to college in the fall, a college that was only an hour and a half away from where I lived rather than the four hours away his previous home was. Over the summer we talked about getting together officially in the abstract, but knew that it was not the most ideal situation. However in the end, wanting to be with each other won in the end. September 17th, 2007; he asked me to be his girlfriend.

There were some good times and some not so good times to be had. I--as a high schooler--had a busy drama-filled life where I wanted more someone to be by me rather than a communication device away. But we managed to make it work through the distance, which at one point was 4100 miles of distance when I spent the summer in France. We made it through a lot, until we couldn't make it through anything anymore.

I'm here wanting to talk about the positives. The truth of the matter is if we hadn't have broken up 20 months into our relationship, there's no way we could have gotten back together at all. We beat the odds, we lasted for a good while despite our age and our distance, and I had even sent in my acceptance at the same college he was attending. But because we broke up when we did, we were able to take some time to heal and grow into our own people, and no matter how I reference those years in the present, I am forever grateful that we did, for the sake of our current relationship.

We spent a little more than four years apart. Granted, not all of that was *completely* apart (hey some things are hard to let go lol) but again, everything happens for a reason. If we had gotten back together my freshman or sophomore year of college when we were heading in that direction again I don't think we'd be here today. Waiting until neither of us were in Muncie anymore, I was basically graduated, he had a job and lived less than 20 minutes away, we both had cars and our own income so it didn't feel like one was leaning on the other...that's what we needed. We needed the stability of our own lives in order to succeed combining them again.

This relationship was one of those where we kind of just...happened. Neither of us knows exactly when we started dating again and that actually kind of makes it better. The whole "monthaversary" thing seems behind us and this just feels more...adult. More mature. More...what you look for in a significant other leading towards marriage.

I know I've said all this before. But sometimes...you just know. I like to say I've known since 2006...but I know I know now.

I love him.