So I recently went through a breakup. And as much as that sucks and all, times like these always remind me of all of the good things in my life. I was surrounded by my best friends the entire weekend that kept me busy and laughing til I cried (& also patiently listened to me when I was incoherently sobbing). At night we were exhausted, so we were just sitting in the living room trying not to fall asleep when we started asking Laura's 10 year old brother relationship advice. Surprisingly, he had some really insightful answers, and I figured I'd write them down to help anyone else going through this sucky period of growing up, moving on, and falling out of love.
Laura: Cody, how do we keep a man?
Cody: Well, on the first date, don't be sloppy. Don't be like Laura and wear sweatpants and your hair up in a bun. On the second date, you have to ask him not to break up with you. On the third date, you have to buy him something.
Laura: What can we buy him?
Cody: Well maybe like a watch or ring or something. But don't worry. I got Grandma a diamond watch at Jc Penny's for only $10!
Me: How do we get over a breakup?
C: Well, you start off by just going into your room for a while to be sad. You bring a box of donuts with you. Then when you're done, you go out into the world to find a new man!
Me: Ha! Now that I can do!
Ashley: What if we're not sad about a breakup, just mad? Then what do we do?
C: You DON'T do what Laura does and get their picture and hang it up everywhere in your room. You just get their picture and put it on a dartboard! Also, you go to a carnival and go play one of those mean games. The best one is the game with the hammer that you bang down. That way, you can get all your anger out on the game AND you get a prize out of it!
Laura: What do you look for in a girl?
C: First, if she's a Christian or not. Then looks. Then, if she burps at the dinner table or not.
Laura: Oh dang I'm out.
Me: Yeah me too.
Emily: Yup.
Ashley: Dang it! I am too!
Laura: When is it okay to kiss a guy?
C: Probably, the fifth date.
L: Dang Jim Bob Duggar!
C: So, maybe the first date then.
Me: How do you know if a guy likes you or not?
C: He'll bring you stuff. Like food or flowers or a card. I wrote and sang songs to the girl I love.
Long story short, don't ever get too depressed over a breakup. There are tons of ways to get over it, and a whole world full of boys that surprisingly understand the intricate details of women.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
the life of being chilly in Chile
So.... I made it to Chile.
I guess since y'all know me and this blog, you should know that about everything that could've went wrong, actually did.
We get to the Little Rock airport, ready to go, with my enthusiasm at hand, ready to start this incredible journey. Only to find out that our flight had been cancelled due to rain. So we have to switch companies and they mess up our tickets. Once we get that worked out we went through security (where they proceeded to search me and take my PEANUT BUTTER), then we were good to go. The flight kept getting pushed back and pushed back, then they were flying in a new plane from Atlanta. They get us seated on this plane, then tell us what had been the problem. Apparently there was a part of the plane that wasn't working, but they were getting the write-off from the mechanics to tell us it was okay to fly us to Georgia. I don't know about y'all, but I don't necessarily feel safe flying in a plane that isn't at its best.
We get to Georgia, and make our flight. It was a packed flight and I was sitting in the middle. ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT. It was the epitome of discomfort. Thankfully I was sitting next to some very nice people, but that didn't make me any more comfortable, or less exhausted. My stomach hurt from cramping the entire 10 hours, and my mind was delirious from no sleep.
Santiago was not the most inviting town I've ever been to, to say the least. The plane landed and our instructions from Delta were to get another ticket through American Airlines. Which is kinda hard to do since we don't speak any Spanish. We waited in the wrong line for 30 minutes, then had to go through customs and security (where they proceeded to stop me AGAIN and almost took my gummi worms). We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but a guy helped us, and then blatantly told us to give him a tip, and took way too much money from us because we are naive Americans.
From there it was smooth sailing to our office that we were staying at! It's a lot different than home however. It's freezing and rainy here, we only have propane heaters and can't have them on all the time, the walls are very thin so we here everything outside, you have to light the oven and stove with an actual match, and you have to turn the water heater off when you aren't using it... to name a few!
I'm excited about the possibilities though! This mission trip will give me a world of opportunities to connect with people of a different culture while teaching Jesus.. and that's all I've ever wanted.
I guess since y'all know me and this blog, you should know that about everything that could've went wrong, actually did.
We get to the Little Rock airport, ready to go, with my enthusiasm at hand, ready to start this incredible journey. Only to find out that our flight had been cancelled due to rain. So we have to switch companies and they mess up our tickets. Once we get that worked out we went through security (where they proceeded to search me and take my PEANUT BUTTER), then we were good to go. The flight kept getting pushed back and pushed back, then they were flying in a new plane from Atlanta. They get us seated on this plane, then tell us what had been the problem. Apparently there was a part of the plane that wasn't working, but they were getting the write-off from the mechanics to tell us it was okay to fly us to Georgia. I don't know about y'all, but I don't necessarily feel safe flying in a plane that isn't at its best.
We get to Georgia, and make our flight. It was a packed flight and I was sitting in the middle. ON A 10 HOUR FLIGHT. It was the epitome of discomfort. Thankfully I was sitting next to some very nice people, but that didn't make me any more comfortable, or less exhausted. My stomach hurt from cramping the entire 10 hours, and my mind was delirious from no sleep.
Santiago was not the most inviting town I've ever been to, to say the least. The plane landed and our instructions from Delta were to get another ticket through American Airlines. Which is kinda hard to do since we don't speak any Spanish. We waited in the wrong line for 30 minutes, then had to go through customs and security (where they proceeded to stop me AGAIN and almost took my gummi worms). We were running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but a guy helped us, and then blatantly told us to give him a tip, and took way too much money from us because we are naive Americans.
From there it was smooth sailing to our office that we were staying at! It's a lot different than home however. It's freezing and rainy here, we only have propane heaters and can't have them on all the time, the walls are very thin so we here everything outside, you have to light the oven and stove with an actual match, and you have to turn the water heater off when you aren't using it... to name a few!
I'm excited about the possibilities though! This mission trip will give me a world of opportunities to connect with people of a different culture while teaching Jesus.. and that's all I've ever wanted.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
holy cow, get me out of here!
Being that it was Spring Break last week and I was planning on having a good time, of course there will be a follow-up post about how things went awry. For 3 days and 2 nights I was set to stay at the Heifer Ranch in Perryville, AR. I love their vision for ending world hunger and want to work with them eventually, but holy cow (get it? cause heifers?)!! The trip was everything that I didn't expect.... and way more.
The first night there I was told the group going from Arkansas Tech would be staying in a lodge. I guess that everyone has a different view of what a lodge should be, but I assumed it would be hotel-like with hot water, warm beds, and pretty, although cliche, pictures hanging on the wall to relax you. Well little did I know that they use the term "lodge" very loosely. It was a stable with beds, no doors, no blankets, and no hot water..... in 30 something degree weather. It had absolutely no wind resistance, and I woke up the next morning completely miserable, tired, and with icicles for hair.
Theeeennn we got separated into the infamous villages, where we'd be staying the second night. There was the Zambian village (mud hut, no door or window, concrete floors, and tiny), the Slums (newspapers for walls, dirt floors), and the pretentious Guatemalan village (wood stove, beds, doors AND windows, and actual furniture!). I got put in the Zambian hut with 4 other girls, and got 2 potatoes and 2 carrots to eat for the night. All of the villages brought the food together and made a pot of stew using the little food we got. Pretty sure I got an innumerable amount of diseases from eating it, though, because I had just pet pigs and goats, made fires, and had no soap and no silverware to eat the food with.. So I ate the rice with my hands.
That night it was supposed to get down to the 20's. So everyone infiltrated the Guatemalan hut, for at least a little warmth. 14 of us were in a hut about the size of most people's living rooms. But hey, body heat. At 11 that night everyone woke up and was FREEZING, so we tried to start a fire in the wood stove with the little wood we had left. Smoke billowed out of the stove, leaving a microscopic fire to warm everyone up. Well it did more harm than good, basically smoking us all out and almost killing us from the carbon monoxide being emitted. We opened the doors because the smoke alarm wouldn't shut up, only leaving us exposed to the cold and making other smoke alarms all over the ranch sound- which we had to go turn off.
Dirt dobbers were in the roof of the hut (which no one knew) and didn't like that we were causing such a ruckus with the smoke, so they came down to join us, too. The more the merrier, right? I left and went to sleep in the van because I didn't want to die from frostbite, being stung or carbon monoxide poisoning that night. I woke up at 5ish from a stupid rooster outside the car and a crick in my neck the size of Texas. We then proceeded to make oatmeal as a team (worst thing I've ever tasted) and were off to go feed the animals, clean the huts, and do chores that people in third world countries do every morning.
This trip was life changing. I learned way more than I wanted to, but truly got to experience the agony some people in this world have to go through on a day to day basis. It was eye-opening and only makes me want to end world hunger more. It was real, it was fun, but it wasn't real fun. I would be more than happy to visit the Heifer Ranch again, only I would be equipped with an eskimo coat and a full stomach this time!
The first night there I was told the group going from Arkansas Tech would be staying in a lodge. I guess that everyone has a different view of what a lodge should be, but I assumed it would be hotel-like with hot water, warm beds, and pretty, although cliche, pictures hanging on the wall to relax you. Well little did I know that they use the term "lodge" very loosely. It was a stable with beds, no doors, no blankets, and no hot water..... in 30 something degree weather. It had absolutely no wind resistance, and I woke up the next morning completely miserable, tired, and with icicles for hair.
Theeeennn we got separated into the infamous villages, where we'd be staying the second night. There was the Zambian village (mud hut, no door or window, concrete floors, and tiny), the Slums (newspapers for walls, dirt floors), and the pretentious Guatemalan village (wood stove, beds, doors AND windows, and actual furniture!). I got put in the Zambian hut with 4 other girls, and got 2 potatoes and 2 carrots to eat for the night. All of the villages brought the food together and made a pot of stew using the little food we got. Pretty sure I got an innumerable amount of diseases from eating it, though, because I had just pet pigs and goats, made fires, and had no soap and no silverware to eat the food with.. So I ate the rice with my hands.
 |
| In front of the Zambian village |
That night it was supposed to get down to the 20's. So everyone infiltrated the Guatemalan hut, for at least a little warmth. 14 of us were in a hut about the size of most people's living rooms. But hey, body heat. At 11 that night everyone woke up and was FREEZING, so we tried to start a fire in the wood stove with the little wood we had left. Smoke billowed out of the stove, leaving a microscopic fire to warm everyone up. Well it did more harm than good, basically smoking us all out and almost killing us from the carbon monoxide being emitted. We opened the doors because the smoke alarm wouldn't shut up, only leaving us exposed to the cold and making other smoke alarms all over the ranch sound- which we had to go turn off.
Dirt dobbers were in the roof of the hut (which no one knew) and didn't like that we were causing such a ruckus with the smoke, so they came down to join us, too. The more the merrier, right? I left and went to sleep in the van because I didn't want to die from frostbite, being stung or carbon monoxide poisoning that night. I woke up at 5ish from a stupid rooster outside the car and a crick in my neck the size of Texas. We then proceeded to make oatmeal as a team (worst thing I've ever tasted) and were off to go feed the animals, clean the huts, and do chores that people in third world countries do every morning.
This trip was life changing. I learned way more than I wanted to, but truly got to experience the agony some people in this world have to go through on a day to day basis. It was eye-opening and only makes me want to end world hunger more. It was real, it was fun, but it wasn't real fun. I would be more than happy to visit the Heifer Ranch again, only I would be equipped with an eskimo coat and a full stomach this time!
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
Oscar the Grouch
So, anyone who has talked to me in the past month knows that my life has been leading up to one climactic point.... and that point was on March 2. The Oscars came on. And in my life, that's like a national holiday. That's all I had talked about for like a week, and I was so excited that I couldn't focus on anything else for the whole day based on the pure anticipation of seeing everyone's dresses, mistakes, and tearful speeches. But unluckily for me, an ice storm was brewing for the exact moment the Academy Awards were supposed to change my life.
What's that saying? Man plans and God laughs? That could not be more true.
I got back to Tech around 5 because I had some "studying" to do for 2 tests the next day. And by study I mean to analyze every celebrity's outfit, laugh at anything Jennifer Lawrence had to say, and get embarrassed for all the stars that Ellen would make a delightful fool of. Also I had to get back because Snowpocalypse 2014 was headed towards Russellville and I was ill-equipped to stay on the highway for all of eternity.
I start watching the red carpet E! coverage and I'm completely enthralled with everything Ross Matthews and Kelly Osbourne have to say. My friend Elayna just texted me to go play cards with some people at her dorm, and I told her I would solely based on if I could watch the Oscars or not. Just as Jennifer Lawrence busted it on the red carpet my tv goes out. Thinking that it might just be my dorm (since we had no hot water anyways), I head over to the building she lives in. It's sleeting so hard I can't even open my eyes. So I blindly walk on a slippery slope all the way across campus, only to realize that you can't get in the building with your card because THE ELECTRICITY IS OUT.
Someone lets me in and I call them to see where they are. They answer the phone by saying "You're not at our dorm are you?!" So that was greaaaat. They had gone to another person's dorm, WITH electricity, on the complete opposite side of campus, forgetting to alert me. By then I'd given up. I just wanted to get in bed and give up on life, because that's what you do when you can't watch the Oscars. I called a friend to see if she was heading over to Baswell (the dorm everyone was at) & she didn't answer. So I walked outside, and as soon as I shut the door to my shelter from the sleet, she calls back saying she's on her way. I wait in the weather and we eventually make our way to the dorm.
But of course, even where there is electricity and hot water.... THE TV CONNECTION IS OUT. I was devastated. I made the best out of the night by playing card games... but that didn't make the let down of weathering the storm and missing the Academy Awards any easier to take.
Now, as we're speaking- or as I'm typing and you're reading- I'm attempting to find the show online to watch. But unluckily for me, Hulu Plus is the only one with it available so I'm rewatching the show in gifs and crappy youtube videos. HAPPY OSCARS DAY TO ME. You can just refer to me as Oscar the Grouch from now on.
What's that saying? Man plans and God laughs? That could not be more true.
I got back to Tech around 5 because I had some "studying" to do for 2 tests the next day. And by study I mean to analyze every celebrity's outfit, laugh at anything Jennifer Lawrence had to say, and get embarrassed for all the stars that Ellen would make a delightful fool of. Also I had to get back because Snowpocalypse 2014 was headed towards Russellville and I was ill-equipped to stay on the highway for all of eternity.
I start watching the red carpet E! coverage and I'm completely enthralled with everything Ross Matthews and Kelly Osbourne have to say. My friend Elayna just texted me to go play cards with some people at her dorm, and I told her I would solely based on if I could watch the Oscars or not. Just as Jennifer Lawrence busted it on the red carpet my tv goes out. Thinking that it might just be my dorm (since we had no hot water anyways), I head over to the building she lives in. It's sleeting so hard I can't even open my eyes. So I blindly walk on a slippery slope all the way across campus, only to realize that you can't get in the building with your card because THE ELECTRICITY IS OUT.
Someone lets me in and I call them to see where they are. They answer the phone by saying "You're not at our dorm are you?!" So that was greaaaat. They had gone to another person's dorm, WITH electricity, on the complete opposite side of campus, forgetting to alert me. By then I'd given up. I just wanted to get in bed and give up on life, because that's what you do when you can't watch the Oscars. I called a friend to see if she was heading over to Baswell (the dorm everyone was at) & she didn't answer. So I walked outside, and as soon as I shut the door to my shelter from the sleet, she calls back saying she's on her way. I wait in the weather and we eventually make our way to the dorm.
But of course, even where there is electricity and hot water.... THE TV CONNECTION IS OUT. I was devastated. I made the best out of the night by playing card games... but that didn't make the let down of weathering the storm and missing the Academy Awards any easier to take.
Now, as we're speaking- or as I'm typing and you're reading- I'm attempting to find the show online to watch. But unluckily for me, Hulu Plus is the only one with it available so I'm rewatching the show in gifs and crappy youtube videos. HAPPY OSCARS DAY TO ME. You can just refer to me as Oscar the Grouch from now on.
But as you can see from the picture above, I had a splendid time and am so lucky I got the honor of being in the picture that broke twitter.
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