Sorry about the blogging hiatus...

Sorry guys! I have definitely been on a bit of a hiatus and neglected this blog... My bad. BUT! I'm back! :) A lot has happened while I have been gone, but here are a few things that have caught my attention/made me really happy/made me cry etc.

    Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother, 6 staff members and 20 elementary students at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. This horrendous act of violence ricocheted through the country, and shrouded the nation in a tangible darkness. Communities were devastated and a small, quiet, peaceful New England community was ripped from their holiday festivities and thrown into a state of mourning a few mere weeks before Christmas.  Heaven gained many young and beautiful angels on that fateful day. Gifts were left unopened as families grieved this holiday season.
     I cannot even fathom the emotions the people in that community are feeling, and my heart goes out to them. The Parent Teacher Student Association of Connecticut have asked for snowflakes to place in the school to create a "Winter Wonderland" for the students to return to in January, and I think that is such a wonderful idea. Any sort of happiness or normalcy for those students I can only imagine would be appreciated. Children need to feel safe and loved at school and that's what the members if of the PTSA were hoping these snowflakes would bring for these terrified children. If you would like to get creative and festive and send a snowflake to the PTSA their address is:

Connecticut PTSA

60 Connolly Parkway, Building 12, Suite 103

Hamden, CT 06514

I also turned 20 during my hiatus, but alas, I am not going to change the name of my blog yet, so the "Teenage Bits" part is definitely a lie now. (I had a fantastic birthday, though, in case you were wondering.)

I had a wonderful Christmas and even went with Darling to meet his family in Kansas yesterday, so all in all I have had a very blessed holiday season. I wish you and yours a very New Year and sincerely hope you had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, Kwanza , or whatever you celebrate.

Drop by the comments and tell me about your holiday, blog friend! :)

A thankful heart is a happy heart.

This is how I feel right now. I am so blessed. I have a boyfriend who loves me, and a family that cares. I have friends that mean the world to me. Life is good. God is good. I don't have a ton of stuff, but I am so rich in blessings. I love this feeling.

Darling took me out to dinner last night for our date night and got me a Japanese soda. It is seriously as cool if not cooler than I am. Anyway, it has a marble stuck in the top and you put a plastic piece in the top and hit it and it pushes the marble down in there and opens the soda. SO. COOL. I got the melon flavor. Good choice on my part. :)

This has been pretty short, but that's all I've got for today.. Here's a panda gif! :)

OH MY CUTENESS!

 

HOW CUTE IS THIS LITTLE GUY?!

I want it.

I sure do.

Really though, how adorable are baby hedgehogs?  I know nothing about them, but I have baby fever and I want one. I will buy him shiny things and name him Marvel. I just want a pet to cuddle with and carry around in the palms of my hands.

So, after some extensive google-ing I still know nothing about them... I have a friend with one, maybe she'll impart some hedgehog knowledge unto me.

Hedgehogs are expensive. 

Maybe I can rope my family into getting me one for my Christmas/Birthday present. One of the perks of having a birthday 8 days before Christmas is everyone feels bad that you seem to get jipped and sometimes you get bigger things because of it.

Holy cow that sounded spoiled...

 

If any of you would like to contribute to my spoiled-ness, however, I would really love a hedgehog named Marvel with a glittery, blue bow...

I just think it should be known

that I am reading Football for Dummies (USA Edition), because I realize I'm an embarrassment to mankind when I have to ask what the Quarterback is...

Is this even legal?

 The first sentence on the site is "American football is about trying to make points by passing, carrying, or kicking an oblong ball (with two pointed ends) into your opponent's end zone." Ok, come on. I am not that bad. I know what a football is.

For real

 This is harder than I thought. Something about the other team getting a safety... I thought that was a position...??? Football is hard. What the heck does all of this crap mean?

This is me right now...

I'm even drawing diagrams to try and figure out what the heck all of this means... Maybe Darling will explain it the next time we watch a game and I can take notes... I feel like that would be a better idea.  BUT Darling and I played catch last night, and I'm pretty decent if I do say so myself. :)

I feel like trying to teach me football is like trying to get me to play in the dirt. Princesses don't do that nonsense.

I think I'm smiling so hard my face is going to break.

I AM HAVING SUCH A GOOD WEEK! I really think sometimes I just need to write about how thankful I am for the truly awesome things God has put in my life. So, that is what today is. :)

First,  MY FINANCIAL AID/SCHOLARSHIP IS BEING PROCESSED FOR SCHOOL! Finally! I've had some issues with my paperwork for the past three months, but someone pulled their head out of their rear and fixed it for me! :))) This is exciting because it's one more semester I am not in debt. It's going to be processed late, which is not my fault, and will cost me about $70, but it's getting processed and that is all that matters to me at this moment.

Second, I have an amazing boyfriend. I am so blessed. I know lots of girls do those ridiculous "OH EM GEE I AM SO IN LOVE" posts, but that's not what this is. A little (***Edit, a BIG) bit of back story on my relationship with Darling: we met in middle school. Well, he was a Freshman and I was in eighth grade. Like, acne ridden; giant, yield sign shaped, frizzy, blonde hair; patterned jeans days of middle school. Not my most shining moment. We met at a football game and he "stole" my cell phone. You know, that ridiculously childish game where a guy takes something and the girl flirts to get it back. Admit it. We have all done it. Anyway, we went to several middle school and varsity football games together and I even watched him play some Freshman games. He was my first kiss. We tried the whole dating thing and it just didn't work out. I got hurt and retaliated and didn't speak to him for several months.

Insert The First Long-Term Boyfriend I Ever Had (we shall call him "Allen" because that's my last name, and I am running out of clever and creative pseudo names). "Allen" and I dated for a little bit in eighth grade, but we were better friends because he was going to be home-schooled for his freshman year. We off-and-on dated until the end of sophomore year and then dated for around two years until my Freshman year in college. While all this was going on, Darling and I would still talk and hangout. There were many nights where we would talk from 8 in the evening until 2, 3, or 4 in the morning and then get up and go to school the next day. It was never dirty or crass, just two kids getting to know one another and developing a friendship that would last quite some time. We went to some movies and football games in high school, but could never really get the hang of dating. I don't mean for this to sound rude, but he just wasn't ready for a relationship, and I wasn't ok with "friends that kiss" (not to be confused with "friends with benefits").

I tried to do the whole "friends that kiss" thing, but I hated it, and I hated myself for trying. I would get hurt when he would talk about other girls he was thinking about dating, and he really, truly had no idea he was hurting me. I want to make that extremely clear. He never even had an inkling that he was slowly killing me. I made sure he thought I was ok with it. After an incident Darling and I got into a HUGE fight, and I swore I would never speak to him again. Then I started dating "Allen" exclusively and completely lost touch with Darling for almost two years.

It was miserable not being able to talk to a guy that I had been so close with for so long. I hated not being able to call and ask how he was, or what college he wanted to go to, or what he wanted to do with his life. I was watching him slowly disappear from my life like sidewalk chalk in the rain. After "Allen" and I broke up for good, Darling sent me a text out of the blue. He used to do that a lot. It was like he always knew when I was upset and needed someone to be on my side. He had been in a relationship with a girl for the past year, and they were happy. I was truly happy that he had found someone that made him happy. It was then that I realized our friendship was too great to ruin with my pride. We talked a few times in the months after that, but nothing serious.

Several months after that Jacob and his girlfriend broke up. He was upset, as he should have been. They had been together a long time. We decided to meet for coffee a few nights later. Seeing him for the first time in so long was really great. I hadn't realized how much I missed him. We had both grown up so much from those first few years that we hardly knew each other anymore. We met a few more times, and the rest really kind of fell into place. God put him back in my life as a sweet little reminder that His timing is sovereign. We tried to make it work ourselves, but all I needed to do was wait. I don't know what God has in store for us, but I do know that I am completely in awe of the wonderful man God has blessed me with. I'm not the most patient person, but I am more than willing to wait and see what the future holds for us. He really is the greatest guy. Several of my friends have not been super supportive of us because of the way the past went, and honestly, you can say "people don't change" as much as you want, but it really is amazing what time and maturity can do to people. We're both completely different, and I really thank God for that. :)

Third, and finally, I'm no longer sick, which makes me want to do the happy dance. I feel like I have enough energy to power all the houses that got hit by Sandy. I am so in love with my life right now I can hardly stand it.

^^^ That's what my happy dance looks like.

Today I am sick.

I really hate writing when I'm sick for multiple reasons. The main reason I hate this so much is, I'm extremely whiny. I hate being whiny, because I know I have such an incredibly large amount of things to be thankful for, but I really find it hard to embrace that when I can't breathe. Right now I have strep throat that has also manifested itself into some sort of cold thing as well. It feels like there is fire in my throat and an elephant on my chest. I am a fairly healthy person. I don't get sick too often and when I do it usually isn't very serious. I thank God this is the case. I have so much to be thankful for, and I know I forget to be thankful. I have good vision, I can speak, I even lead music at a church for a while, I can walk, I have a roof over my head, and a job. I have all these things to be thankful for, but I'm focused on the snot in my nose and the pain in my throat.

I just want to be thankful. I want to express everyday how much I truly care for all the things in my life, but in reality I fall short of that every single day. Darling likes to tease me about my whiny voice, but it really is true. I am indeed kind of a whiner. When I'm not getting my way I inflect the tone of my voice depending on the situation and try to get my way by simply being more persuasive than I was before, which really is not right. I can't believe I do this, but I do. All the time.

I hope I'm not the only person that feels this way, but I really am trying to be more thankful.

Honestly though, I'm sick, and I feel awful.

Oh Today,

After lunch today I got a headache. I mean it is by no means terrible, but I keep making the oh-my-gosh-why-is-this-light-so-freaking-BRIGHT face... Not attractive, and attractive clients have been walking in front of my door for like 20 minutes. I'm in here silently praying that they don't come in because I look like this:
 

 I also got the weirdest paper cut EVER today! I picked up three packages of paper and went to balance them on my hip, and all of a sudden, I got that slicing pain on my wrist. It isn't even on my hands. It is on my wrist. Who gets paper cuts on their wrists?! And really, who needs their right hand?

This guy is my hero

I heard somewhere, and by somewhere I mean Pinterest, that if you're bloated you should drink more water. Which really made no sense to me, but the more I think about it, the more it kind of makes sense. If your body is retaining water, it must be because you don't have enough in your system, right? Anyway. I've drank four of those 16.9 oz Nestle water bottles since 9 o'clock this morning and have yet to need to use the bathroom... Maybe I did need this water... The more water I drink the worse my headache gets... What is this  black magic?!