Crazy Weekend

This weekend by far has got to be one of the craziest that I have ever experienced in my life!!

It was my best friend Phyllis' 19th birthday and of course we had planned a little get together for her yesterday. We invited about 40 people and were just gonna cook some hot dogs and hamburgers and relax by the beach. Well, like any other party we had to go shopping for food and decorations and so on. We made a list and estimated what to buy and how much we should buy and headed for Wally World - for those of you unfamiliar with this lingo, it means Wal-Mart!

Everything was going good and were on our way back to her house when we realized we forgot the produce, so off to the store for the second time we went. Well this happend about 4 times!! We kept forgetting important things and had to keep going back!

During one of these outings, we had our first near death experience! We got into our first car accident on one of the most crazy roads in Charleston - Folly. Anyway, no one was hurt except for the cars and we left the scene with only scratches and bruises, thankfully. What a way to start your birthday right?

After her mom picked us up and took us home we started getting ready for the party - I mean come on, what a crappy day but why not top it off with a little fun still?? So, during the party we had kareoke and danced a little and it was so much fun until....I fell down the outside stairs!!!!!! I am probably the clumsiest person I know and leave it to me to be totally sober and fall down a flight of stairs! So, not only am I suffering a little whiplash but my left butt cheek is black and blue! But overall I would say that it was a pretty good night!


Fig and I going wild!


Singing with the girls


Phyllis and I after our wacko day

3 Words - Gorgeous Shirtless Boys!!

They are called Sideswipe, vote for them!!!

Dance to Inspire and Inspire to Dance

this one is for mom

All you need is love

It is quite an amazing day to remember - the day when you realize that the things you care most about are not material things, like cars or money, but people whom you love. The people who are close to your heart that you would do anything for. They are the ones that make you laugh with stupid jokes and offer their sleeves when you're upset. They make you stronger; they almost lift you up.

Ask yourself: what makes you truly happy? Is it your house or your car? How about your furniture or your 50 ft. boat? Your jewelry and your clothes? These things are great but in the long run they cannot talk or feel or listen; they are objects that we buy to try to fill a void that is inside of us, deep down eating away at us, longing for something bigger.

These past few months have really been an eye opener for me. My faith and my relationship with God have grown and honestly I have been trying to get rid of these material things. I have found that their only purpose is to waste money and time to gain nothing in return.

Time is not important. Money is not important. Objects are not important. Friends and family are the true riches in this materialistic world and I am so glad that I have realized this now instead of later in life.

On the other hand, I must admit that when it comes to love it is pretty sucky to love someone and not have the love returned. It is hard to be vulnerable and put your feelings on the line just to wait for the unknown - disappointment or acceptance. So the true question is do we bare all or do we wait? Wait for something to change, wait for someone else to come along or maybe wait for the feelings to simply go away?

Oy.

Spidey Rocks My Socks Off!

Action, good vs. evil, romance, cute boys, and tight form-fitting outfits - oh yeah, Spiderman 3 has them all! I went into the movie thinking that it wasn't going to be THAT good. I mean the first two were awesome but honestly could you really do it again? Well I must say that it was pretty darn good! If you're a comic book geek like I am you know that the storyline doesn't exactly follow the comic or cartoon from back in the day but does a pretty good job at telling it otherwise.

Several scenes get to be quite cheesy and at times I wanted to barf thanks to the lovey-doveyness of the two lovers but overall it balances the action with the romance. It's weird though; it seemed like throughout the whole movie I felt like I could relate to the characters and what they were going through. The struggle between who we are and what we want in life. The result of someone’s actions really defines him or her and how it affects everyone around them, pretty deep stuff.

The ending is almost a surprise - they really catch you off guard but at the same time the choices that are made are realistic and "relatable" (I know Mom, its not a word! get over it!) Life comes with its ups and downs and the choices that we make to face these inner battles show who we really are; a monster or a hero.

Leo is earning some cool points

I was at the dreaded dentist today when I picked up the latest edition of Vanity Fair. Not my first pick but it looked interesting becuase Leonardo Dicaprio was on the front with a baby polar bear at his feet. "Hmm, this looks interesting", I thought and started to read the article about him. I guess I underestimated Leo because honestly I thought he was just another rich actor but the article proved me wrong! He is quite the activist! I hope that he does get his message out there and that people will start to see that this whole global warming thing is really becoming a big problem and that the resources won't be there for much longer if we continue at the rate we are going. So, if you have a second check out his website and do something! Recycle, plant a tree, don't litter, carpool when you can, or turn off electronics when they are not being used. No matter the size, anything that you do will make a difference!

http://www.leonardodicaprio.com/

Good Times

Mom and I somehow got on the subject of living in Tampa at dinner this evening and it really made me think about all the great memories that I have from living there. Not many can say that their childhood was the bomb but I really do think that I had an awesome childhood! I had the best friends anyone could ever have and even though Mom has eyes in the back of her head I managed to get myself into more trouble than my older sister did...okay maybe not THAT much trouble but it was a blast none the less!

I remember I had four best girlfriends in Tampa and I remember getting into trouble with all of them. Ashley was number one and she and I would get into the worst fights ever but for some reason we were attached at the hip until I left. Lonnie and I were like Bonnie and Clyde we made the most trouble, not got into but made! I remember one time we snuck into an abandoned house in her neighborhood and thought that we were the coolest ever because we were there without permission! Whitney was my best friend from Lowery Elementary and she was the nicest girl you will ever meet in your life and I'm sure she still is. Whitney had a ferret whom we liked to torture on occasion. Last but definitely not least Tiffany. Tiff and I were like peas and carrots, we did everything together! I remember late one night at her house we played flashlight tag in her backyard before she had to have surgery. She was always on crutches and maybe mom remembers why but all I remember was visiting her in the hospital and riding on her wheelchair :)

I had the best guy friends too. Garret and Jade were probably my favorite! I will never forget the Fawn Ridge water-fights in the middle of the street. I loved being a kid - good times!

What else do you need?

This is one of my all time favorite songs! I mean you've got Andrea who is Italian, blind, and freakin' amazing (probably the best tenor in the world), Heather who is black, beautiful and beyond talented AND the song is a prayer - woo gives me chills! Can't get any better than this.

On the Politician Soapbox

My morning ritual is usually a hurried one but this morning it was different. I had an extra 10 minutes to spare so I turned on the news to catch some of the Today show on NBC. Surprise surprise they were talking about the war in Iraq and the new agreement that was passed on Tuesday by the Senate to pull the troops out by March 31, 2008.

Thinking that this was a pretty good idea compared to the "non-plan" we have now, here comes John McCain thinking he is all that!! Okay, I will admit that I am not the biggest fan of good ol' John but I thought maybe I'll give him a chance and see what he has to say. He began to say that he does not agree with his fellow congressmen and that if they really wanted the troops out of Iraq they would pull them out today instead of waiting 18 months......wait a second today is March 28, 2007 right?? John...honey....how did you get your job? Did you lie your way up because you definitly didn't get in with your adding ability?!?!?! I am not usually one to go off on politicians but seriously I was embarrassed for him!

Haiku for politicians:

Stay in school
Those counting skills might come in handy
Johnny crack is whack!

Hope You Smile :)

I watched the movie Bruce Almighty the other day and had forgotten how hilarious it is! So I am trying to spread the laughter...enjoy!

iPod Shuffle

So Sonnjea decided to pick me as one of her iPod shufflers even though I don't have an iPod :). I just shuffled my library music on iTunes and this is what came up:

1.) Wait-Go Set Go
2.) Did Ye Get Healed?-Van Morrison
3.) Everlasting Friend-Blue October
4.) I Me You-Jim Noir
5.) Mexico-James Taylor
6.) It Ain't Me, Babe-Joaquin Phoenix & Reese Witherspoon
7.) California's Burning-Augustana
8.) Long Gone Goodbye-Blue Dogs
9.) C'est La Vie-Bob Seger
10.) Ghost Train-Counting Crows

I think it would be interesting to see Mom, AK, and Jessies shuffle.

Scattered

This morning I woke up to the normal sound of my annoying alarm, began my normal boring routine of checking my email, facebook, and blog to find that my day wasn’t going to be so normal. If you don’t already know, my father (whom I haven’t seen in a good 7 years) lives in China with his new wife Marie and their beautiful 3 year old girl Ellie, both whom I have yet to see. I won’t complain about how he left and all because honestly I think I turned out better than if he had stayed. Let’s just say that my “dad” is more of a sperm donor than a dad…harsh I know - I’m working on getting rid of my hatred towards that part of my life and getting better. Anyway, I try to keep in touch with them as much as possible but most of my emails are left with no reply. My dad has been living in Asia for quite sometime now and hasn’t made a trip back to the states since he moved, until now.

While reading one of his emails a few months ago I found out that my dad is adopted. WOW that’s something I didn’t see coming! So, my grandma is my real grandma and my grandpa/aunt/uncles/cousins are not…heavy stuff! My main reaction was sympathy, I mean the guy has been living his whole life in a lie and I honestly felt sorry for him. Again, wow something I didn’t see coming!

I haven’t talked to him in about two months and the last time we talked on the phone he couldn’t stop saying how much he wanted to talk to me and get a good relationship going and all this crazy talk about me coming over to China to see him and his new wife and baby…I will admit at first I was kind of sketchy about it but then I thought, “Kelly, this is an opportunity to have a real relationship with you dad and see your (second) step-sister and (second) step-mom.” So I started looking for a phone company that would give me a good deal on long-distance phone calls so that we could talk on a regular basis and I even started planning to visit...and then this morning it hit me.

Pictures of the family reunion posted on facebook by his “new” niece Savannah…what a gorgeous family, I didn’t know how to feel. He had come over to the U.S. to see his new family. Jealousy felt wrong, happiness came but only for a little while, and anger (that he never came to see us) was well, I just don’t have it in me to hate him anymore. I have hated him for so long for leaving. I’m just tired of all the hatred and anger that I have built up toward him. I think it is great that he has found his family on his real dad’s side and I also think that it is great that Ellie will grow up knowing them because she needs to have family in her life. I don’t know what to think or feel. I guess the best way to describe it is like a pane of glass that has fallen from a high building, breaking on the street below and the pieces scattering away from each other…

Difficulty Swallowing

When you are laying in bed ready to fall asleep, thinking of your day and its events, do you regret anything? Or do you just tell yourself that what happend happend for a reason and just blow it off? For some, regret is an "all the time" kindof thing, for others regret comes every once in a while. It's almost like a pill that is really hard to swallow, no matter how much water you drink that sucker isn't going down.

Although its easier for some more than others, we all deal with regret at some point in our lives. It is human to regret! Wether it's something small like cheating on a diet or something big like taking a job across the country. We will always ask ourselves one question, "What would it have been like if I chose differently?" I think that choices are always difficult to make and will continue to be difficult until the day I die, so why regret any of it?

If you live your life with regret it will consume you and become a burden too heavy to carry. You are forced with decisions each day and don't always know which one will be better for you, the lack of information is always the suckiest part of having choices. For example: you are in the woods, taking a walk, and the road ahead forks off into two paths. Now, both look pretty much the same but one looks more worn than the other. Which do you take? The one that everyone else has taken(consistency is always comforting) or the one no one ever goes down? Both are equally inviting and come with the same consequences. If we take the "Road Not Taken" (the current poem I am reading in Eng class by Robert Frost) all we will be thinking about is the path we COULD have taken...again regret.

Why can't we just pick one and stick with it and not wonder or regret?!? At the end of the day the only thing to remember is that you can't change the past. What is done is done! Now the real question is if you COULD go back in time and change things would you really want to? The consequences would be the same...or would they? Is one choice really better than the other? If one path makes you happier than the other is that the right path to take or should you take the harder path that may or may not lead to happiness? Do right choices always make us happy and wrong choices always make us sad? I think that is tangent for another day...

Haiku for regret:

Choices are not always easy
Life is to short
Regret is pointless

Dark and Twisty

I recently wrote a paper for my english 102 class that had to critique a short story. I chose a story that dealt with a depressed mother/wife and the effects that her condition had on her husband and son. I compared it to Walt Disney's fairy tales such as: Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty and so on, kindof like an inverted fairy tale. It turned out really well and got an A+ on it but at the same time it really made me think. Yeah fairy tales are good and all when youre a kid but honestly my hopes were set waaaaay high when it came to finding "Prince Charming".

It is truley a sad day when those unrealistic expectations are shot to crap when you find that "Prince Charming" really is "once upon a dream" or in no dream at all. Although this is quite a depressing matter, the truth is I think that maybe Prince Charming would get on my nerves!! For instence, if this handsome prince tried to help me up onto his mighty stallion I think I would say, "Honey, do my legs look broken?? Get the crap off of me and let me do it myself!" I guess being raised by an independent mother has slightly nudged me into an independent state myself. Oh well, I'm thinking maybe that will be good in the long run...right?

So here's my Haiku for fairy tales:

Grimm Brothers were smart
Furry creatures don't talk
Disney was on something

Recipe for Haikus

Okay so haikus are pretty much the coolest way of expressing yourself without being sucked into the boringness of poetry. What is a haiku you ask? Well, I do believe that they are Japanese poems that consist of 3 non-rhyming lines of meaning or nonsense, for example:

Worker bees are drones
Even they can fly away
The queen is their slave

How do you make a haiku? Piece of cake.
Step 1) find a topic to write about
Step 2) write out a couple of funny limerick-type sentences that don't rhyme for practice
Step 3) when you have your practice sentences, you will need to break them down so that the whole haiku has a total of 17 syllables, no more, no less
Again, keep in mind that this cannot rhyme and doesn't even have to make sense....have fun!

Hola

So I guess I better tell a little more about myself before I start pounding away. First things first--my writting skills are crap so expect the worst and my writting will be worse than that!! :) I live in Charleston, SC with my mom and am going to school at the local community college for an associates degree in nursing. My sister, brother-in-law, and their two gorgeous kids live a ten minutes drive from our house in good ol' West of the Ashley. The rest of our insane (yet loveable) family is scattered throughout the US.

Besides juggling school, work, friends, and family, life is pretty good. After I finish my nusing degree here, I plan on moving out west to where my awesome A.K. lives. San Diego would be a starting point for my life as a nurse. I would go on some medical missions and all together find out who I am and what I'm supposed to do with my life.

My mom got into blogging a few months ago and I got interested in it because...well....honestly it just looked fun! I will probably vent a lot or talk about the most random things possible but it should be fun. Hopefully my grammer skills will improve so that mom won't write comments on my postings. I can see it now....Kelly you need a comma right there...Kelly that makes no sense. Well mom you could always not read it if it bugs you that much!