That whole “i before e except after c” thing just came in handy.

Anyway, I have a confession to make to all of you. There is something I am terrible at. I know, I know, you thought I was awesome at everything. I am not. I am terrible about asking people for help. And that is bad, because I often need a lot of help. But I am bad at asking for it. I am good at giving people help. I am truly one of those people who will help you out with anything within my power. But when the tables are turned, it’s another story. But I think I figured out why.

See I think that asking for help make you feel vulnerable and many people equate vulnerable with weak and I certainly don’t want to be seen as weak. I am no stranger to vulnerability…I mean I cry over everything. But only things that are worth it to me, you know? I don’t want to be seen as vulnerable over little  things like needing help packing or needing help with a paper I am writing. It’s small stuff. So I am stubborn and won’t ask for it. When I do, it is a big thing for me.

Let me tell you a funny story sort of relating to this. A bit over a year ago, I had some surgery. A day after I went home, I had some complications and had to go back to the ER. I was sitting there, in pain and feeling terrible, surrounded by other sick people, and just lain miserable. All of a sudden, I got this craving for some chicken soup (it’s a comfort thing). I wanted it and I needed it and I had to have it (much like crack). Now my husband can’t make chicken soup at all. So I was sitting there and I picked up the phone and called my friends Emily and Mike. They can cook and Emily makes awesome chicken soup. I asked them to help me  and make me some (which they delivered the next day). I hung up the phone and burst into tears. Kyle almost had a heart attack thinking I was in pain and about to die. and he asked what’s wrong. I blurted out, “I should be able to make my own soup!” and kept sobbing.

THIS IS HOW BAD IT IS! I can be in pain and sick and in the ER and still feel weak for asking people for some help with soup. It’s sad. Which is why I have decided that this must stop. I am not going to be so hesitant to ask for help. I have awesome people around me who would willingly help me if I asked (I hope), so I am not going to be afraid to ask anymore.

That’s it.

Oh wait, one more thing that has nothing to do with this. Jamison will like it though. Maybe Travis too.I have got my husband addicted to watching the West Wing. We have gone through most of the first season the last two days. I am very excited.

Here are some awesome things about this season…

-My church collected some money so that some people in Africa can drink clean water. I have heard people tell me about the awesome gift that they got their boyfriend/mom/brother. Which is really cool. But some awesome people at my church are giving people the gift of life…by giving them clean water to drink. I have never been prouder to call this place my church. Also, they are taking a group to Africa next year. I do not currently have a job or any money, but I am determined to go.

-Now that I said the above, I have to tell you that I got some pretty cool gifts. I got a bedding set, which is gorgeous, from my husband. I also got a cool firepit for my backyard. Anybody want to come over and roast a marshmallow?

-Christmas is so so so so much better when you have a relationship with Christ. It makes everything so much better when you can really feel what the season is about.

-I am very excited about this coming year. A lot of things are happening that I am excited about and I can’t wait. I have a new attitude (I can’t link, but if you want to read about it, go to:http://emilygrrrice.wordpress.com/2008/12/14/things-are-changing/) and it makes me eager to face a new year.

Tell me about your Christmas!

Here are two awesome things:

1) Friday (tomorrow) was supposed to be my last day of work. My company is closing our office and they are staggering layoffs for the next couple of months. I was supposed to be first to go so Friday was to be my last day. The week before Christmas. With no more money coming in until the end of January (my husband is a teacher and gets paid the last working day of every month). Somebody at work decided for personal reasons that he wanted to leave early. So he offered to switch with me meaning I have a job for a couple more weeks. It is amazing how God takes care of me when I stop worrying step back and let him.

2) Second cool things. My friend Lynz is blogging. This girl is amazing. She is so smart and well read and hilarious. She is also a fantastic writer. I vow to one day have a book published and when I do, it will probably be because I sent a manuscript to my amazingly cool, multi-million dollar earning writer friend Lynz who slips it to her agent. She is so creative and wonderful. Read her blog, you will like it. She gets my twisted sense of humor and my love of the hot, teenage undead. She loves Harry Potter (she has presented a paper at a Harry Potter conference), music, Zelda, Jasper Hale, and Jesus. I love her. In a purely platonic way. Check her out.

http://foxcraft.wordpress.com/

This is what I was doing. That’s right. I have been married for exactly one year today. Wow, right? That seems amazing to me. It seems like just minutes ago I was…well, see above. The first year has gone so quickly and gone so slowly and now it is just gone. Wanna know some things I have learned? Okay.

I have learned that marriage is not as easy as they make it seem in movies. But more importantly, it is not as hard. My husband is not addicted to crack, or hiding slaves in a basement, or involved in the Mob, like Lifetime would have me believe. It isn’t sunshine and dandelions and flowers all of the time, but it is sometimes, and that’s enough. I have learned that if we don’t have three people in our marriage, myself, Kyle, and God, than it probably won’t work. I have learned that things are much easier if you are just NICE to each other. I have learned that I still have so so much to learn. Most of all though, I have learned that my husband loves me and would do anything for me, which makes me the luckiest ever.

So, to all of you who were there and wished us well…thanks! It’s going great!

And to all of you who bet against us…HA! We win!

Oh, want another picture? Me too.

So I am sure you have noticed that my blog is different. New name. New look (that I kind of hate, but I am not sure how to make it better…help anyone?). Here is the thing. Things are changing. I am changing. I feel like I am getting older…in the good way though. I am thinking about things in a different way. I am seeing things in a different way. God is changing my life.
And in response to that, I am changing. I am trying my best to live life more daringly. I am sick of living a safe, easy life where I take no risks. I am not talking about taking up drag racing, tough that would be kind of awesome. I just want to not live life so safely anymore, you know? I want to stop worrying about what other people would think of me if I said what I felt, or if I wore something neon orange, or if I sang too loudly in church. I want to stop looking around, wondering what everybody is thinking about me. I want to GO TO AFRICA and HELP PEOPLE without worrying about money or illness or myself or what if.
So that’s it. To borrow a line from Coldplay…no more keeping my feet on the ground. I am never going to get a chance to live this life again. I have no idea when my life may be over. And I want it to be worth something. I want to pay attention to what is important, my God, my husband, my PEOPLE, and forget about the rest. I want to live life like I love it, even though I don’t always. I am going to try, and I am not sure it will work. But here goes nothing…

WHAT. HAVE. YOU. DONE. PHOENIX. SUNS?!?!

Why, why, why have you traded my third and forth favorite players, Boris Diaw and Raja Bell, for a putz?!

I will be drafting an angry letter first thing in the morning.

I think I have a disease. That is not the secret, that is merely my excuse for the secret. So here goes: I have officially seen the Twilight movie four times. With my husband, with different friends. Four times. It is pretty sad. To borrow a line from Timm, here’s what I know: Twilight was not a very good movie. The book was not even that fantastic. It was written for 13 year old girls. The movie….even worse than the book. It was hilariously awkward (probably on purpose), and rushed. So why, why, why, WHY have I seen this movie four times?

Here is the simple awnser…hot  boys. Annnnnnnnd….I have just lost all of my male readers.

Yeah. Have you seen the commercials? The movie posters? If you have, you know exactly what I mean. This movie is full of attractive young men (all of them that I appreciate are over the age of 18, I swear!) and some attractive regular men, and I firmly believe that this is the reason why ladies, myself included, have spent 150 million seeing this movie. Remember Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire? Yeah. He has grown up a bit. And gotten hot. You should probably see this movie, so you can agree with me.

Does this make me a terrible person? The fact that I go see a movie, just because the actors are attractive? I mean, it’s not like I neglect my husband to watch this movie. I don’t sit there and compare him to a heavily make up clad actor. It’s not like I would leave him for a chance to marry a fictional character in a terrible movie (like SOME people I know). See, somebody at work told me they would pray for my lustful attitude and that my marriage would somehow be saved. Seriously?

Is appreciating a guy’s hotness the same as lusting after him? I hope not. Meantime…at least rent it on DVD.

I had a special request this week from some chick I know. She wanted to know some things that get on my nerves. Things that just get under my skin and refuse to quit bothering me. At first, I refused. I mean, why focus on the negative, right? But I decided to share with you my pet peeves, so you can know me a little better and not dwell on any of these things when I am hanging out with you.

Without further ado, here are some things that annoy me:

- People with louder music than me. It kills my buzz.

- Bands with two-plus lead singers. If there is more than one, I can’t sing along loudly and seamlessly with the songs.

- People who drive Dodge Neons, but are under the mistaken impression that they are actually driving Aston Martins. I don’t care what kind of tint or paint job you have, your car will never be awesome. And you should probably not cut me off.

- Ignorence.

- The new show Kath & Kim. Seriously.

- People who walk over in the middle of the conversation and start laughing at a joke they didn’t hear. I don’t know why this annoys me, it just does.

- Dirk Nowitzki. Seriously dude, I know you are big and white and ugly. And an amazing basketball player. But please stop looking so please with yourself when you stomp my favorite team.

-Speaking of which, the Phoenix Suns. My favorite team, who can’t seem to win a game, despite their amazing amount of talent. It’s the new coach’s fault. WHY would you make the Suns play slow ball? WHY must you do this to me?

- Musical artists who feel the need to release a Christmas album, even if they have nothing significant to contribute to the Christmas genre.

That’s all. I am done ranting for a bit. I hope this lady who requested this is satisfied. Do any of you have any irrational pet peeves?

So awhile ago, I told you guys about how I am being laid off from my job. Well, today that have given me the date of my last day. Are you ready for this?

December 19.

The week of my first anniversary (yay!) and the week before Christmas.

Let’s examine this. I will have some “time off” (and I used that term very loosely) with Kyle during Christmas. This is good. I will be able to do some volunteer work during the holidays, which is good. Spending time with family and friends will not be a problem. This is also good. There is the fact that we will be dead broke until I get another job, which is not so good. However, I will have plenty of time to search for a new job. This is what I would like to ask you guys about.

I need advice! Give me your best advice about resumes, interviews, job searches, and pretty much anything else that will help me find a job. What do employers like to hear? What would make you hire me? I need it all folks!

Also, dear readers, in case I haven’t told you lately, you guys are awesome and I love you.

It is 5:35 in the morning. I am very sleepy. And I decided that I should probably blog.

Let me tell you about another person who is awesome. You guys should seriously take notes and meet these people if you can.

Jamie Nance is a newer friend. I don’t have a picture of her, because I generally wait awhile after making friends to photograph them. It is a comfort thing. I will tell you what she looks like if you wish. She is shorter than me with longer, curly dark hair and she is constantly smiling. That is why I liked her immediately when I met her. She was smiling and it made me smile. At first, I was nervous, because when somebody walks up to you smiling like that, it either means they really like you, or they are nuts and are about to hit you with a crowbar. And usually, I get more of the latter.

So anyway, Jamie was a nice smiler, and now we are friends. She always greets me in church with a hug every single week. She found out I am getting laid off from my job and compiled a packet of employment information for me. She is always encouraging and positive. She reminds me what it was like to be young and single (says the 24 year old, rolling her eyes), only she does it much better than I did. She is very honest, she can be nice to anybody, and she appreciates my love of Slim-Jims. I don’t think it can get any better than that.

Anyway, Jamie has a blog. You should check it out, especially the latest post, because it is awesome. Here you go friends. You are welcome.

http://jamienance.wordpress.com/