Marathon Work Weeks

I know. I suck.   I'm on work day #7 of 15 in a row right now, so please, cut me a little slack. I'm exhausted. I feel like my life went from interesting and exciting to "Hmm...I did literally NOTHING worth blogging about in about 3 weeks." Cool. Well, I guess that is just how things go sometimes. I suppose I'm okay with it.  Do I really have any choice but to be? Not really. I mean, the most exciting thing that has happened to me lately, is I decided to change banks.    I missed the whole  SuberBowl. Which as it turns out, was probably a good thing.  I've never been super into football, but I just didn't want the SeaHawks to win. I'm a 49ers fan.  At least that is what I've been telling people for my whole life.  I think it's about time that I REALLY invest myself into the football thing and BE a fan.  
See? I'm so boring. ugh. well, I'm going to fix my hair to standard and get all ready for working marathon day #20985 I hope you all have a fantsatically cool day. Tomorrow, I'll be giving away a "MercoLocal" box. Come back to win!  It's a one day only giveaway!

You Know You Want It

Valentines Day is on the horizon.  Personally, I have never been much of a fan of the day.  I've only celebrated with someone I love once.  Even then, we spend it "together" but actually 600 miles away. I remember he sent me flowers and a little teddy bear. It was a very sweet gesture that was greatly appreciated.  It was a serious "awwww" moment that was quite a surprise, but it wasn't expected.  I'm just not into Valentines Day.  But there are people who are.  Because those people do exist, I have an exclusive and freaking awesome deal from the ever so fantastic Sassy Seamstress. 
As some of you might know, I've recently discovered a serious love for Star Wars. You can imagine how excited I was when I saw these throw pillows.  

Because I love you guys, my faithful readers, the first 7 people to order a set of these pillows will receive a free canvas with your anniversary like the one below.  In fact, I think I may order a set of those pillow for myself. Without without someone who tells me they love me. That isn't my mother or my sisters. 

The Sassy Seamstress has all kinds of great things in the works.  Keep a close eye on her Facebook Page and Twitter Account for deals and specials! You can also find them here! I am a huge supporter of local business and I always like to see someone with quality products grow. So put some capital back into the economy and support local and small business! 

A Pain in My Bum

Sometimes I can be thoughtless. 
I signed up for some schools for the Army without realizing that if I went, I'd be missing out on my nieces first birthday.  The niece who's birth I missed because I was...get this, in training. That wasn't really in my control, but this was. I wish I would have realized what I'd done before I signed.  Now I'm secretly hoping I get denied and I have to go to a later course.

The Army can be so inconvenient. Except last night, I decided to take a little peak at my bank account. Looking at my bank account is something I dislike doing. It hurts my heart and gives me anxiety to see so little money and so many bills.  I have this delusion, that if I just don't look the money problems don't exist. 
And I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one. 
Well anyway, as I was saying, I look a little peak. AND THERE WAS SO MUCH MONEY!  Okay.  So when I say 'so much' I mean much more than I expected to see. I expected about $100 and I say $XXXX.  real life. That many figures. After waiting since July to get my bonus from the Army.  Some of my paperwork got screwed up, so I got it all at once.  
I gots MONEY IN THE BANK.  Ma boy asked me "What are you gonna do?" I replied as cleverly as I could with "It looks pretty happy in my bank account.  I think I'll leave it there." 
The Army, while it's a pain in my bum sometimes and super inconvenient, it makes can really make me happy. 

I'd Rather Be Inappropriately Funny

Real talk:
I get anxiety.  I don't mean that when something in my life happens that actually warrants a little bit of anxiety I have a few tough days.  I mean that I can't watch chick flics because they always have some big secret. Eventually the shit is going to hit the fan, and I'll be anxious about it the entire movie. To the point that I can't even enjoy it. 
Sounds a bit ridiculous, doesn't it? It is. Living with it all my life has been a challenge.  I have gotten a bit better. Being able to take life one day at a time has really helped, but sometimes, I still get that gross, nagging feeling in my stomach that everything is about to go wrong and my life as I know it is going to be over. 
I've gotten good at keeping a cool head over things, but sometimes I feel like this. 

I'll just...freak out. I'll burst into tears and feel defeated. I'll panic and just wish I'd never been born, because that way, I wouldn't have to feel like this. It's a hard life having this annoying anxiety, but I suppose I have learned to deal with it.  Most of my character traits are one that I love about myself. I have become a person I can be proud of.
Not always...
Anxiety, go away.  I'd rather be inappropriately funny in sad situations. 
Do you have any character traits you might trade away for another one?

I'm A Pretty Pretty Princess

First and foremost, I should probably apologize for being a little bit MIA...My life hasn't been cool enough to blog about, so I haven't really felt like it. Well, I decided that that is a stupid excuse and I should just do a bit of writing anyway. 

Last night, we went out for dinner for my mom's birthday.  She likes sea food, so we went to Joe's Crab Shack. I was lucky enough to sit next to these two. Forgive me while I post too many pictures of my adorable niece. 

She suddenly has four teeth. I swear, they all cropped up overnight at the same time. She is getting way too big way too fast...

Dinner was...eh. I don't like sea food, and Joe's doesn't really have any other options, but it was okay.  It was more about hanging out with my family and celebrating my mom's birthday. Plus, they made her shout "I'm a pretty, pretty princess" while they sang to her. It was too funny. We had a good time chatting the night away and laughing together.  It reminds me why I missed being home so much. 

For the past couple weeks, I've been working like a dog bringing in the big bucks. Okay...not the big bucks, but working nonetheless. I can't even tell you how much better it is to have a job and a purpose in life than it is to be unemployed and freaking bored all the damn time. Life is better now. It's busier, but oh man is it better. 

Although I'm loving being home because I've sincerely missed my family, there are somethings that I do not miss about being home. I am sooo not loving this inversion. That looks like fog out there in the distance, but you want to know what it really is? Pollution. Ew. I can barely breath and it's gross. I feel like I need to wear my ProMask (gas mask) everywhere...

Honestly...It is so dang yucky.  I hope that it starts to clear up soon.  It usually fades as the temperatures rise, and I was driving around with my window down today, so I think this air has some potential to clear up. At least a little bit. 

Now, I'm sitting in a nice chair, writing in my blog, and watching Seven Brides For Seven Brothers. I'm pretty sure that life doesn't get a whole lot better than that...Lets all hope I have the motivation to post some quality content. :)

Despite The Fact That...

Way back in the day (okay...so like two years ago) I wrote about something a friend of mine said to me.  Because it was a real long time ago, I want to re-visit the topic. I think that it's something worth reading. 
When I was in high school, a couple of friends and I were up late chatting at one of our houses. We were talking about boys of course, and she brought up the use of the phrase "despite the fact".  Ever since that day, I have avoided using it in all situations because of what we talked about. 
When you say, "Well, I really like him, despite the fact that..." or something stupid like that, you're basically saying that you like all the other qualities, except...eh, you could do without him being this way or that way. Or the same could be said about some character traits or whatever. 
What my friend was getting at, was that you should love someone or like someone for every single piece of them. Including their flaws.  Because their flaws are a part of makes them who they are.  I know that I never want to be with someone who has to say "I love her despite the fact that her teeth aren't white" or "despite the fact that she can't go 30 minutes without being sarcastic. It's just a part of who I am.  Take it or leave it. Don't love me despite it..

You Just Do

As you may or may not know, my blog's name comes from my not so fortunate history of things just...not going quite as I planned.  As a testament to this fact, I've created the "Chalk It Up" Series. This series is open for anyone to post. If you would like to write about a time when things didn't go as you had hoped, but you were able to shake it off and live your life afterwards please contact me! 

You can read the past "Chalk It Up" Posts here & here

Today's post was inspired by a call I received from a young man at work.  The company I work for is a jewelry financing company. We often deal with people purchasing engagements rings and wedding rings for their significant other's.  Well, yesterday, I was speaking with this guy who had recently broken up with his girlfriend and he was saddled with the burden of paying for the ring anyway as the store wouldn't take the return.  

At the end of the call, I told the guy "You know, I'm really sorry this happened. I know how that can be. I've totally been there." 

He asked me "How do you get over a thing like this?!" 

I said to him "Sir...You just do." 

Once upon a time, I was engaged to a lovely young man who was far too handsome for me.  I thought he was way out of my league and I felt...blessed to have in my life. We had this whirlwind of a romance where we fell in love so quickly. We were just...intoxicated by each other. 

That's us. For give me, this is before I knew about tweezers.

But then one day, it all fell apart. To this day, I really can't tell you what happened.  All I know is that I was devastated. My life was over.  I spent months crying myself to sleep just hoping and praying for things to change.  It was just so hard. I was 19 years old, working a dead end job.  I had just joined the Army Reserve because I wanted life to be easy for us. I wanted to be able to be with him, so I chose not to go active. It was kinda huge.  The entire course of my life had to change. 

Then all of a sudden, I started to just...feel better. It was like I had just realized that he didn't make me who I was.  That I would be okay and that life really does go on.  I started going to school.  I lived on my own for a while. I became a Soldier...I saw that there was far more to life than a boy.  To be honest, I don't think I really got over it until we reconciled and became friends.  Sometimes, I'll still feel a little sad about it, but I know that I'm a better person for the experiences that I've had.  Yeah, it sucked, but now I can look back on it and just remember the good parts.  Now we can talk and laugh and be friends and it really is...okay.  

Being able to take this HUGE thing in stride (okay, so at the time, I didn't take it in stride, but it has taught me to take other things in stride) has really helped me deal with other colossal changes in my life.  Now, I really can just...chalk it up to better luck.