Tribute to the Best: Sister Edition

"My sisters remind me, by their very steadfastness, that truth, beauty, and goodness exist in the world, and that no matter what there are and always will be people loving people through thick and thin."
     Oftentimes I get caught up in my life's stresses and  problems and distractions and forget how completely and truly lucky I am to have two amazing sisters. They are my moral compass, spiritual mentors, and best friends. 

     Being 7 and 6 years older than me, it definitely took us a while to get to this point. Imagine seven year old Ronnie trying to keep up with two teenage sisters! Impossible. And those poor sisters trying to escape this little girl following them around 24/7. But as I continue to grow older our age gap seems to shrink more and more. However, I admire them for being able to be my older sisters. At any given point in my life I can call either one of them and complain about what's going on and not only do the know exactly what I'm going through, but they also can tell me that it all works out, and I know it's true by looking at the beautiful woman they have become. I don't know how they put up with me, as I'm always either singing, laughing, dancing around, complaining, crying, or talking non stop. I couldn't handle me as a little sister.

     Brooke is my rock. We talk pretty much constantly throughout every day and I really don't know what I would do without her. She let me live with her and her (amazing) husband for two summers. Most people don't realize what that entails. Brooke and Jeremy letting me live with them also meant them letting me eat most of their food, worry them with my crazy behavior, annoy them with my randomness, and bombard their marriage. They are saints. Those two summers were the best summers of my life, and I will be forever indebted to those two amazing people for that. Brooke and I often get asked if we are twins...actually, every time we are out in public together, it happens at least once. But I think we are also kind of twins on the inside, too. We are always laughing about things no one else understands. We feel the same about people and things and life. We like the same things, and she understands everything about me. She supports me through every decision I make, even if she doesn't completely agree with me, and I'm so thankful for that! I love spending time with her in her classroom and watching how much of an amazing teacher she is. I aspire to be that kind of teacher. She is also one of the kindest, funniest, most amazing women I know, and I also aspire to grow into that kind of woman. I'm so fortunate that God gave me an automatic best friend in her!

    Brianna is my home away from home. When I need to feel safe and loved I can turn to her. She inspires me to go against the grain and do what I want, not what others want. She also happens to come along with a cute little button of a niece (and another on the way) that I love more than words! Brianna is one of the smartest people I know. She's a real life Google. I can ask her basically any question in the world and she can give me a correct, detailed answer. She's also the person I like to turn to when I'm not sure where to go in my faith. Brianna gets me when no one else does. She has the kindest heart of anyone I know, but her strength is awe-inspiring. She really is one of the strongest people out there...physically and emotionally! She has been through so much and knows exactly what to say when I need someone. She's such an amazing mom, and I'm so glad I can look to her as a role model as I continue through my life and experience scarier, and scarier things. I will be forever grateful for all she has done for me and for having her as someone to model my life after and as someone who is also one of my best friends.

     I love my sisters, and I don't know how I could get through life without them! Thank you, God, for blessing me with two of the most beautiful women (inside and out) in the world as my sisters! 

XO <3

12/12/12

12 Fun Things About Myself
1. I have grown two inches in the past two years.
2. I laugh to myself a lot.
3. I usually leave some sort of sparkle residue wherever I go.
4. I have a drawer full of nail polish.
5. I write songs.
6. I have the weirdest phobias that make me cry.
7. I hate doing laundry.
8. I like to dance.
9. I usually am singing.
10. I don't like to work out.
11. I love Taylor Swift.
12. I like candles.

12 Things I Am Thankful For
1. God.
2. Mom and Dad.
3. Lovely siblings.
4. Nieces and nephews.
5. The best friends anyone could ever ask for.
6. Candy.
7. The opportunity to further my education.
8. My job.
9. Having a great place to live.
10. My amazing extended family.
11. The stars.
12. Netflix.

12 Things I Want To Do Someday
1. Kiss someone at the top of a ferris wheel.
2. Organize a flash mob.
3. Become friends with or date someone who has an Irish accent.
4. Teach a child how to read.
5. Sing a song I've written to someone I wrote it about.
6. Adopt a dog.
7. Do a cartwheel on a beach next to the ocean in the middle of the night.
8. Write a novel.
9. Get married to a guy who treats me well, is my best friend, and makes me laugh.
10. Have three kids.
11. Run a marathon.
12. Volunteer at a homeless shelter, animal shelter, and orphanage.

Gripes!

I am not organized, and for the most part I choose to wing it in almost every area of my life. However, lately there have been way too many uncertainties in my life, leaving me feeling confused, a little lost, and sick to my stomach.
I have no idea where my education/career is going. I met with my adviser and found out that it is possible for me to graduate a semester early, which is great! But now I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get into the classes that I need to, let alone have enough classes to take to be a full time student this semester. Sick feeling begins.
On that note, since I have no idea what my schedule will be next semester, I have no idea what my job situation is going to look like. Will I be able to keep the one I currently have or have to search for a completely different one last minute?
In addition, it feels like 99% of the people around me know where they're going, or at least which direction they're going, with their relationships. I, however, seem to be stuck in the quicksand of square one.
Also, I have no clue what I'll be doing or where I'll be this summer. Home with Mom and Dad? Back in Great Falls? Stay here in Bozeman? Or go someplace completely random and crazy just to get a little experience in me?
Even little things, like what finals will be like, will I be able to get through them and end the semester with a good GPA?
I realize I am venting/complaining when I have so much to be grateful for. I have great friends and a great family and great opportunities ahead of me and a great God working with me. I'm so thankful for all of that!
But I just never expected to feel so young and uncertain at this point in my life! It's pretty scary, but I know that is where the magic begins.
So, here's to all my college friends: One day we will look back on this time and it will all make sense. But until then let's just roll with the punches, pray through the hard times, and find the beauty in the madness!

Getting Through

I read somewhere that your problems will never go away until it teaches you what you need to learn. Whoever said that has a point. It should be so simple. But it's not really. It's not like you can just say, "Okay, God, I get it now! You can make this go away now." 
But it doesn't work that way, I think. For me, it's something that I really can't figure out. I do think that we are supposed to learn something from every experience that we have. But if a similar thing is repeatedly happening, I think that it might be a deeper issue that you can't just figure out when you want the problem to go away. I think sometimes it's such a big thing you need to realize that it takes God giving you a lot of similar experiences to learn from. Each time it happens, you learn a tiny bit of something new. Every new struggle builds off the past ones, and every new little tip you learn builds off of the old ones. Eventually, I believe that you have been through so much and learn enough little things that they can combine into one big realization. 
And then you're ready for that struggle to turn into something good. 
It makes me think of an obstacle course...like in the army. The ones where you have to start over if you fall down or mess up. You trip over the same thing enough times that each time you start over you learn a new way that doesn't work. And then finally you have figured out all the ways that DON'T work and you can finally get through it. And then it's on to the next obstacle. 
I think life is a series of things like this. Everyone's struggling with something at some point, but we all learn how to get through it. Just because we're all fighting our own battles does not mean we can't enjoy life. I think that's the best way to help get through it all...to focus on our blessings and do what makes us happy and see the great things that surround us.
At least I know that's what helps get me through the rough patches.
So there's my deep rant for the day. :) 
Hope everyone has a great week and has tons of happiness today! 
The end <3 :)

Caramel Tea and Pink Nails

How can I ever be worried with so many back up plans?!

Plan A: Graduate college with an Elementary Education degree so I can become a teacher somewhere in this state.

Plan B: Go to beauty school and become a beautician.

Plan C: Write a New York Times Best Selling Novel.

Plan D: Post videos of me singing and guitaring to my songs on youtube and get discovered by Justin Bieber.

Plan E: Start a cupcake business called HappyCakes.

Plan F: Gain 278 pounds, go on the biggest loser, lose it all, and then become a motivational speaker/personal trainer for future biggest loser contestants.

Plan G: Buy Rosetta Stone for French, learn it, go to France, and make a name for myself there as a ballerina.

Plan H: Befriend Katie Couric's daughter. Then once Katie gets to know me she will see how charismatic and lovely I am and then refer me to Good Morning America, where I will become a regular news anchor.

Plan I: Change my major to engineering. Get a beautiful engineering major with ambition to fall in love with me. Once he has proposed, I will drop out of school. I will be a stay at home crafting, baking, dancing, mom while he makes $500,000 a year. 

Plan J: Build the world's largest water slide. Paint it pink and sparkly. 

Plan K: Genetically engineer a breed of horses to become unicorns. Open a unicorn amusement park where unicorns roam free and give people rides to any place that is happy. 

Plan L: Teach a dolphin to talk. Bring him to SeaWorld.

Plan M: Discover a new species.

Plan N: Find Atlantis.

Plan O: Try out for American Idol.

Plan P: Get a job being Sleeping Beauty for Disneyland.

Plan Q: Learn to quilt from Brooke. Quilt the world's largest quilt. Then hold the world's largest cuddle party with hot chocolate, marshmallows, Christmas movies, and the big quilt.

Plan R: Solve the Da Vinci code.

Plan S: Be the girl to finally tie down John Mayer.

Plan T: Finally get my dad to write his autobiography and be his editor and publisher...that way when it sells a zillion copies I will get some of the cut and be able to live comfortably until I need to move on to the next plan.

Plan U: Create an app that you can google a personal thing...such as "Where did I leave that checkbook?" or "How hard do I really need to study for this test?".

Plan V: Get hired on as a celebrity's entertainer. Live with them, and whenever they are bored I have to make them unbored by taking them shopping, dancing, cooking, or just telling them stories I made up.

Plan W: Get MTV to come videotape my life and make it into a reality show. It will be called "Sparky in the Valley."

Plan X: Move back in with Brooke and Jeremy. Learn German. Become the neighborhood housekeeper named Valencia.

Plan Y: Locate 8 large refrigerator boxes. Move to Miami. Create a home with the boxes. Collect 7 cats, 2 pigeons, and a squirrel. Live there in peace forever.

Plan Z: Back to plan A I guess?

Mysteries of the Sky

It's always weird to me when I'm in class and the professor says something totally relevant to my life, without even meaning it that way.
Today, for example, in Astronomy, we were talking about the various models of the solar system that have existed over the past 500 years. My professor brought up something called Ockham's Razor and defined it as: "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one."
Suddenly, my mind was no longer on the solar system. I began to think about how Ockham's Razor is true for almost all aspects of life. And then I started thinking about how complicated I make things.
I don't have a problem admitting that I am a true over-thinker. I worry about things that aren't even problems yet. It's completely ridiculous.
I've ruined relationships, opportunities, and many happy moods by unnecessarily analyzing things to the point that they are so complex, I can't figure out how to deal with them and then I just throw it off to the side.
So after being reminded of my stupidity from an Astronomy professor, I am going to make a point to try to let the simple solution to things be my first option.

"Missing somebody? Call!
Want to be understood? Explain!
Want to see someone? Invite!
Have questions? Ask!
Don't like something? Say it!
Like something? State it!
Want something? Ask for it!
Love someone? Tell them!
Nobody will know what's going on in your mind. It's better to express rather than to expect. You already have the no, take the risk of getting the yes! We have one life, keep it simple!"

And that's all. :) Xo<3

I Finally Learned???

"When one door closes, God always opens up a better one for you to step through." Four summers ago, after getting my heart broken for the first time, my mom wrote this in a card for me.
Though I didn't really have the experience or perspective to realize it then, I know now how true this is. I went into this summer still wounded from a heartbreak I experienced earlier this year. I let the toxicity get the best of me for about 10 months...and then one night about a month ago I slammed the door shut and stood in awe as I witnessed another one opening before my eyes.
I think that to see that better door finally open up, one must make a conscious effort to close and lock the door behind them. The only time people stand under doorways for long periods of time is when there is an earthquake...but life is not an earthquake that we need to hide from. If something is not working out we need to get ourselves into a place where we can be better.
So that night when I slammed the door I just felt a change of heart. Why should I wait around for something to make me happy when I could be happy now? I made a decision to make that happen. But that meant going out of my comfort zone. That meant letting someone go that I spent a whole year waiting on. That meant giving the nice guys a chance.
And guess what? I'm happier now than I've been all year. I burned yet another bridge from yet another not so great relationship and I survived. I finally let myself be happy and take a risk to find someone who would actually keep his word and make me smile. And this time if it doesn't work out it won't hurt the way it did before because the nice guys don't hurt girls on purpose.
My mom really knew what she was talking about when she gave me that card so long ago. I know that there are more doors I'll need to close. But now I have proof that God will never take something without giving something better in return. We can all be happy if we have the courage to cut off attachments to the things that are holding us down and look towards the sun as we move on to a better place.
And that is all for my corny, sentimental, over-sharing blog for the summer! Stay tuned for my random, crazy, let's avoid packing one coming soon this week :)
xo <3