Dear World: I've Been Busy

I know, I know. I've been slacking. This isn't the first time and we both know it. Whenever my life gets hectic the blog takes a bit of a back seat, and that's okay.

Because my blog is a form of relaxation and a way to keep anxiety at bay, it does exactly what I need when I need it. So between finishing up school for the year, moving into my house, throwing a house warming party, hosting a week's worth of house guests, and traveling all over the United States I think it's forgiven if I take a short break.

I'm coming back though...

My house is almost ready for the world to take an inside tour with me. I mean...I HAVE A SOFA! I almost celebrated an entire day over this until my air conditioning judiciously died on me.

So while my house and I mentally psych up for a home tour I hope you will accept this peace offering of a life update and know that I am completely okay. Just a little busy living my life in the two months of off time I get.

Can't wait to get back into the swing of things. Feel free to tell me about your wonderful lives!

My Tattoo Story

I'll be honest. This post has always been a scary thought for me. I've mentioned before that I live in a very politically correct world. I have a politically correct job where I dress within a certain standard and act a certain way. Tattoos have become more socially acceptable since their invention, but they are still frowned upon in my everyday life. I like to rebel here and there where I can get away with it. My biggest rebellions to date are dying my hair florescent pink, and today's story. This is my tattoo story.

I'd always known from a young age that I wanted a tattoo. Whenever I want something really bad especially something as big as a permanent mark on my body, I will wait for it. So from the time I was 18 until the time I was 23 I planned, I researched, and I waited. Five years is a long time, but when it comes to commitment I can wait. 

I always thought I'd end up with a small music note, or an epically long quote that meant something to me. What I ended up with was so much better. If there is one thing I know it's that I will love traveling and the world until the end of my life.

Luckily for me when I decided I was making the right decision my best friend was also making the decision to get a tattoo of her own (not her first.) On the day of our appointment I was accompanied by my very best friend, and her always honest husband.

I knew the exact moment that I had made the right decision. My tattoo artist had just put my stencil on to check the placement. I walked over to the mirror, checked it out and thought it was a good placement. When I  asked my two escorts my best friend who had just finished with her tattoo (I don't remember why I thought it was a good idea for her to go first) said it looked great. Her husband said it was "adorable." I had never heard him use the word adorable before so I took it as a sign and I said. Let's Do It!

I chose my tattoo for many reasons. A few of which I told to my tattoo artist while he was drawing it.

1. I've been traveling and flying since I was three years old. It's the love of my life.

2. I have terrible wanderlust and one day I will travel the world. "Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer."

3. My dad is one of the smartest people I know. He prides himself on his knowledge of geography, so it's kind of a throw back to him.

4. It's brown because I wanted something that would age well. The more it fades the better it will look, like an aged map.

5. It's on my shoulder so I can easily hide it at work and show it off when I want to without being indecent. 

6. It doesn't have edges so any time only parts of it are showing it looks like a birth mark.

Here it is...

Post tattoo I have discovered a few things about myself. 

• The pain I went through for this tattoo is a lot less than I had originally imagined. Although Africa nearly sent me off the table.

• I am a one tattoo woman. I crave organization and matching. I've realized that tattoos unless done all in one sitting are insanely difficult to make look like one fluid piece of art.

• I enjoy the mystery having a hidden tattoo gives me. It's my own personal rebellion and I love it.

Travel Tip: Change Your Seat

So you've planned a trip. You've booked the hotel, the transportation, and you got those very important tickets to that special thing you wanted to see. You may have even already booked your plane tickets. Then you find out they aren't the seats you wanted. Now your trip is ruined. Here's a helpful tip.... Change your seats at the gate. 

Once you've gone through airport security and hit every checkpoint imaginable you'll have to sit there for several tedious hours waiting to board anyway. Why not make the most of it?

Usually everyone has checked in an hour before the flight, so this is an optimal time to change. Luckily most flights do not book up completely so there is usually some wiggle room for finding open seats. All you have to do is walk up to the desk, tell them your seat number, show them your boarding pass, and ask if there are any other open seats.

The best part is that if the only other open seats are in fact worse than your previously purchased seats you can politely tell them "that's okay" and walk away no worse for wear.

One example of this travel tip coming in handy is my recent trip to England. Unfortunately the only seats my travel companion and I could secure on such late notice were the very middle seats in the middle of the plane next to other passengers who were inevitably dreading seats next to us as well. (Not because we smelled or anything, but I'm not the most social on 10 hour flights.)

While waiting at our gate we went up to the desk and asked if there was any way we could change seats. Boy did we get lucky. There were two open seats at the back, next to the bathrooms in their own row.

The flight attendant warned us that these were not preferential seats because of their proximity to the bathroom but honestly that wasn't a con it was a pro.

We had our own row, we had extra room because of the awkward placement of the seats, we were some of the first people served because we were close to the attendants which means they were always nearby for help, AND we never had to wait for the bathroom. A quick glance over our shoulders always informed us if there was a line or an opening for the bathroom.

Wait a second...This turned into a post trying to convince you to love the back seats of the plane. That's not what I meant to convey. Instead I'm telling you not to stress about your seats on a flight. You can change them, and they will probably work out better than the original seats anyway.

Do you have any travel tips? We're all friends here. Go ahead and share.

How to Help Someone Who Won't Be Helped

We all have that person, right? That person in our lives who begs for help, but at the first sign of total honesty runs in the opposite direction. How do you help someone who won't be helped?

You can't.

You can love them and give them advice all day long, but if it's not what they want to hear they won't listen.

Whether it's the girl chasing after a boy who is completely wrong for her, or it's your best guy friend pursuing a potentially disastrous life path. Whatever the situation the response is always the same...

They say: "Please help me I'm lost."  

Translation: Please only tell me things I want to hear. If you're going to be completely honest about how bad this is for me, I won't listen.

Sometimes I just want to scream WHY!? WHY DO YOU KEEP ASKING FOR HELP IF YOU WON'T TAKE IT! (Then slap them back into making right choices.)

I understand that everyone becomes the person their mistakes make them into. I just wish I could hand out "Go Back" cards. Playing cards that would allow people to see their mistakes and go back and fix them after.

Until the day those cards exist I will continue to love, listen, and provide advice to those who need me. I will also be mentally screaming, and visualizing shaking them all into submission.

How do you help someone who won't be helped? I'm sure we could all use some advice on this. any and all advice welcome!

Life Update

Hello everyone!

The other day I was going through my old posts and came across my New Year's Goals. To my surprise I've already accomplished a couple of things on my list. So it's definitely time I give the blog a little life update.

House

I have one! It's true, I am now a homeowner. What's even better is my house is finally finished being made liveable! I will now start the tedious process of moving my limited belongings in and trying to decorate on an almost non-existent budget. Fun things will be coming soon.

Job

I am *almost* done with my first full year of teaching in the same place. I've been teaching for a couple of years now, but mostly going where I was needed while I worked my way through my gap year. This year I accepted a big girl position that required me to make a full commitment (something I've never been good at.) I've definitely had a lot of ups and downs, but I'm glad I've stuck it out. There's about one more month until I will have officially made it and then there is the process of finding out if I'll be asked to come back next year. No matter what, this has been an amazing experience.

Pet

No pets yet. I know I said I'd be getting either a puppy or a kitten once I moved into my house, but it's been put on hold. The reason why is I will be traveling quite a bit this summer. So instead of getting a pet just in time to leave it for weeks a time, I will be putting it on hold until the beginning of the next school year when I can love and prepare for it properly.

Love

Still no updates in this area. Shocking right? I'm honestly just trying to survive day to day so this will be more of a focus during the summer. I actually downloaded the app Tinder to my old iPhone in an attempt to woman up and control my own destiny. Believe me, I know it's not the classiest of apps but I thought it was a good place to start. It turns out I'm too much of a pansy to turn it on. I'm truly terrified someone I know will find my profile and then tell everyone I work with. This area of my life is a constant work in process.

You

I hope this update is finding you well. How are your goals for 2015 coming along? I really want to hear how everyone is doing. We're a family here and it's definitely okay to over share.

He Rides Polar Bears, and Sometimes Brings me Flowers When it's Snowing.

We all have a list. 

A list of the qualities we want in a significant other. Lucky for you I found my list from college today! I have decided to share it here for you. Along with the list I will be adding some side notes to try and explain my self a little bit. I hope you enjoy!

1) A rather luxurious afro of glorious red hair.

(I have a small obsession with gingers. I love everything about them and find male gingers insanely attractive. There's also just something about an afro... I can't explain it.)

2) Non smoker

(I personally am allergic to smoke. I don't see a cohesive relationship happening if I can't even be in the same room as you for extended periods of time.)

3) Not an alcoholic. 

(Self explanatory)

4) Knows what music is...really. None of this I want to impress you so I'm going to pretend that everything I hear on the radio is great. 

(As someone who has dedicated their life to this fine art, it's definitely important to me that you at least understand a little about my passion.)

5) BE LITERATE! Read a book. Heck read several.

 (Knowledge is power my friend.)


6) Have a good grasp on grammar please. 

(I can't handle people who can't construct a basic sentence.)

7) A bit taller than me would be nice, anyone shorter would be worryingly short. 

8) Someone who talks to me during football games.

(To me, this is a sign of true love.)

9) Be funny, unintentionally. If you work at it you could get tired and I would get bored.

10) Hey be available. I hate being ignored when people are busy. HATE IT!

11) Be nice to everyone, especially my friends

( If they don't like you I'm taking it as a sign to run far far away.)

12) Be a safe driver, with a hot car. One of my favorite things to do is just ride in the car looking out the window.

13) Dress weather appropriate. I know it's random but there are shorts for summer and pants for winter. None of this I am a MAN I wear shorts year round then catch pneumonia, but it doesn't matter because I'm a MAN!

14) No sexism. I can do whatever you do, just sometimes I may not want to.

15) Teach me something. I like to learn unless it wasn't evident by the fact that I've spent about 99% of my life in school.

16) Make me pay attention. We all know I have attention difficulties. I'm looking for someone that can make me focus. I have big plans, you won't be in them unless I want you to.

17) Come travel with me. You and me kid....we're going to go places.

Why I Say "We" When it's Just Me

I've been reading/watching back a lot of my old posts on here. You've probably noticed by now that I say we a lot. You've also probably noticed that I'm terrifically single as well. So why do I say we? Let me introduce you to the three most important people in my life.

My Dad - 

I'll start off by saying that he hates this picture, so that's why I used it. My dad is the glue that holds us all together. If anything is broken he can and will fix it. I don't do anything without asking his advice first. Chances are if I want to do it he's already done it and knows how to do it better.

My Mom -

Our resident creative genius, and hopeless optimist. My mom can make anything beautiful. Whenever I was in school I would have her write my name on all my things because her handwriting is beautiful. (Okay...I actually still do this.) She's the reason I travel. I grew up listening to her stories of amazing far off places.

 

My Little Brother -

My little brother "the surprise." He's ten years younger than I am, almost to the day. He's more often than not confused for my son instead of my sibling. My goal in life is to make him the very best person he can be. Even though that means that I'm harder on him than anyone else. A special bonus to my life is that he's actually also a student of mine.

 

I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction and quick glimpse into my life. Now the next time I say we you'll know I'm not hiding some elicit affair from everyone.

...or am I?