Say "Yes" to the Yes

Sorry it's been a while!  I have a few posts set up and I've been waiting and deciding which one to write.  This one just happens to encompass a lot of things I'm thinking and going through right now...so I guess it's time for this post!

I am going through a "rough" (it's not really rough, I just don't know a different word for it) time right now finding my place in many friendships.  I came across this article, which applies to a lot of the topics I'm exploring.  It is called "18 Things You Should Say Yes To".  You should all read it.  Like...now.  :)  (The title is linked)

Concerning Number 4:  I took the "help" here as advice...learn to take advice.  I have been told by many people that one of the reasons they love me as a friend is because I will be totally honest with them at any time, whether they like it or not.  So when people need the tough love, they come to me.  But when they don't want to hear the truth, then they just avoid me.  Don't tell me what's going on.  But then if they need my advice, they use me for it.  That hurts.  I do not claim to know everything...but it is frustrating when people know what they need to do and just won't do it!  I really hate being out of the loop just because they can't handle me being honest with them.  A true friend will ask and listen, at any time, not just when they feel it is convenient.  It is time people grow up and stop playing games with their relationships, including friendships.

Concerning Number 7:  I talked in one of my earlier posts about people being busy.  Thinking they're busy.  I understand that I'm not working 2 jobs, volunteering, going to school, what have you...  But there are at least a few nights a week/month that you can make time for friends.  I confirmed my sane-ness at work today when my 35-year-old-single-mom-coworker assured me that now is the time to be seeing friends, doing things, and making memories.  I want to see people.  Do things.  (Even if "things" involves only wine and gossip!)  Please, people.  It's obvious at this point that I am chomping at the bit just to TALK to people outside of work.  Hence, my slowly-newly rekindling of a long lost best friendship.  We were close when we were younger, drifted in college, and have slowly been making our way back to a great friendship.  I really am missing that die hard friendship.  Lots of people seem so preoccupied with themselves lately and I need at least one person that will be there for ME.  When I need something, or someone.


Concerning Numbers 9 & 11:  Alright, enough of the super serious stuff (I hope I haven't lost you already).  I am me.  I'm never going to change.  I've been the same short, honest, outgoing person forever.  And I have finally given in to my curls.  UGH.  I have insanely curly hair.  But Mike, my mom, and my grandma all insist that I look better with my curls.  I have gotten myself to go out, like, to BARS without straightening my hair.  Yikes.  It sounds strange, but that is a big step for me!  *Confession---It also takes a long time and curly hair is easier and faster to do before work.  Haha.

Also, I have been on money lockdown since the wedding.  We paid for everything ourselves and in cash.  Let's just say, it came out to be several thousand more than we expected!  So, me being anal money saver that I am, have been TIGHT on my spending for the last several months to get my nice cushy savings back.  And it's been eating at me to SHOP.  So Saturday after Thanksgiving, I headed to Target in Bismarck and did the deed.  I spent $100...which, if you know me, is an insane amount for my penny-pinching @$$.  I got some awesome stuff, and I'm really jazzing about my two new dresses!!  In. LOVE.

Lastly...Concerning Number 18:  This is pretty much my mantra right now.  And I'm trying to get everyone on board.  Seriously people, THINGS WILL WORK OUT.  All you can do is breathe, walk forward, and go along for the ride.  But remember...you're driving!

I hope you all had a fantastic Thanksgiving.  I'm going to post about that soon :)  Cheers!

Housewarming...Check!

We had our "housewarming" party last night, though we cleverly disguised it as a house party so we could drink and act ridiculous.  Well done, friends, well done.  It was SUCH a fun time!  Most of our friends are good at being busy all of the time, so we planned it over a month ahead to time and we actually had an awesome turnout.  We made the cop-out decision to furnish the goodies from Sam's Club, but it saved time and worked out nicely.


We got to use a few wedding gifts:  our dip set, and glass bowls, woohoo grownups!  I brought up a large trash can from downstairs for recycling and it ended up full by the end of the night.  We. Like. To. Party.  We like, we like to party.  (I hope you caught that song reference..if not, you're not cool at all.)  We also got to FINALLY crack open a bottle of white zinfandel my mom got us a few years ago.  It was a 2007, and super tasty!  But it was 1.5 Liters of wine, hence why we've had no feasible reason to delve into it.  Thanks for helping me almost kill it, ladies!

Mike and I have quite a few groups of friends
down here,my high school friends, sorority friends, and college
friends...and Mike's college friends and intern friends.  We usually have to pick and choose which "group" we're going to hang out with, but with our party, we went all in.  It turned out to be quite the HS reunion for me (which I absolutely love) with a few samplings of Mike's college friends and my college friends.  We had a few "small world" moments of people knowing each other outside of Mike and I, which was fun!

The fraternity boys ended up in the basement, with no furniture, playing P&A.  Classy!  We were graced with the presence of The Kai Hansen for the first time in years and we managed to roust grandpa Peter from his abode.  We were a few cronies short, but my high school friends can always have a good time when we get together.  After we graduated, we all became really close and can genuinely enjoy time with each other now, even after we all made it through college.  It makes me very grateful to have grown up in a small town where we were all so close together.  Although we don't all talk on a regular basis, we can easily fall back in to the good ol' days and love to catch up with each other.

All in all, it was a fantastic night to spend time with friends.  Catching up and consuming some beverages.  Hopefully we can do this more often.  Like I've said before, I'm really trying to make a big effort to see friends more!  I am looking forward to some happy hours coming up and hopefully keeping up with everyone's busy lives.

THANK YOU to everyone who came over last night and made it such a fun time.  We had a blast and hope to see you all again soon!  (Eh hem, KAI!)

Pinterest Prodigy

Okay, so I'm not a prodigy, but I had to get you here somehow!  I'm going to give you a break from my preaching!  A friend of mine did a post about her Pinterest adventures and I'm going to follow suit.  Thanks Bridget :)  ...Actually I think Bri did, too.  Thanks both of you!  I have been on the Pinterest train for over a year now, and now that I have time and more space, I've been getting to do/make some fun stuff.

(I will link my pins in the titles)

1.  One of my favorites is super easy...putting a frame around your thermostat!  I got this wood frame super cheap at Michael's.  I mixed a dark green color by hand with my acrylics from college and painted it.  I LOVE the way it looks!

2.  Delicious pumpkin seeds, I made the Zesty :)












3.  Cleaning the dishwasher.  It seemed to get rid of some smells which was nice.  You can also "defunk" your towels using one cycle vinegar, one cycle baking soda.  Who knew nasty vinegar was so nice?

4.  Cleaning old pans.  This did NOT work for me and I was super bummed!

5.  Doily Artwork.  Mine obviously looks a lot different, but it matches our loft decor.  I now officially own Mod Podge, yippee!

6.  Greek Yogurt Dip.  I made the chocolate kind, obviously.  We ate it with cinnamon graham crackers :)  Hint:  Do not use fat free Greek yogurt, it gets very sour.

7.  Overnight Cold Oatmeal.  I made these for Mike and I to take to lunch.  Without the flax seed because I am a cheapo ;)  Mike actually really like them, score!  Super cheap and easy.

8.  Meet the Maids & Men.  I made a slideshow for our guest to get to know our wedding party with fun facts, current info, and memories with Mike and I.

9. Nutella Mug Cake.  I finally caved and made a mug cake a while back.  Just as promised, they are easy and delicious!  I preferred the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough one, Mike liked the Nutella.  Sooo good!

10.  Chicken/Spinach/Pasta Bake.  I have made this a few times, and took it to a potluck which worked nicely for a main dish.  I even used canned/shredded chicken to save time.  Very yummy!

Okay, there's a good ten for you  :)  Moral of the story...USE PINTEREST!  I have a few projects lined up to make, but saving some money for now. Show me your goodies!  You don't have to be a wife to enjoy decorating and cooking/baking.

Piggyback Couseling

I got a lot of great feedback on my Positivity post, which is great, because I have more to share!  I've been helping a few friends through some hard times lately.  I have always considered myself a person who gives good advice (even though, as you all know, it's SO hard to take your own advice at times).


So here are my tips and thoughts :)  How have I gotten to this positive attitude after so long?  Two things are my new mantra:  It could be worse, and Let it go.  Those two phrases are getting me through pretty much everything right now, it works, I promise!  The first part I talked a lot about in my last post.  The very situation that you are in that is upsetting you/ruining your LIFE...could be worse.  Always.  This applies to your money situation, friend situation, work frustrations, ev.er.y.thing.  The second part is something more recent for me.  I have always been a person who is too empathetic and takes other people's problems into my realm and lets them eat me up.  I let THINGS I CAN'T CHANGE upset me.  WHY??  That doesn't make sense people, come on.  I know others do that, too.  It's crazy!

Now, I'm all for changing yourself and becoming a better person.  Trying new things, meeting new people.  It's a great thing.  Keeps you interesting and interested.  There are always new things to see and learn.  BUT there is change that I am against.  I cannot stand when people change themselves for others!  I admit, I act a bit different depending if I am with my high school friends (Katie, I just shit myself) or college friends (OMG I can't believe we stayed up until 5am taking shots), but I am still ME.  I am 23 years old and have a good idea of who I am.  Why would I change that for "friends"?  If you do not like the way that I am, then move on.  Let it go.  Let them go.  People need to accept YOU and you should not have to censor or change yourself to be with them.  I really feel like this is an issue for a lot of people I know.  It's time to make that change.  A good change.  The right change.

You should not have to work to have fun with or trust your friends.  It shouldn't be an effort.  Just be you.  The only effort I have been making with my friends is to see them more.  And I hope they are noticing.  I've been driving around the state and around the twin cities.  And it is SO WORTH IT.  Now is our time to have fun and be us, without school/kids/blah in the way.  We are not as busy as we all think we are, come on!  There is always time for good conversation with friends and I am hoping my friends and your friends will take the path of making time for the ones who are important to you.  And deciding who is not worth that effort.  It's time to stop dragging old friends along just because you've been friends forever or whatever stupid reason you use to validate it.  Not worth it.  Be smart and decide who is worth it to you.

Who is worth it to you??

Attitude. You...Better.

This is a post I've been WAITING to write, but I held off a while so as not to start on such a heavy idea.  I have never been a person that has had a positive attitude.  Ever.  I am literally a person that will sit and count the bad or negative things that have happened recently.  And then say, oh this-this-this happened, life sucks.

NOT ANYMORE.

I also am a person that cannot stick to anything.  I can't stick to a schedule, diet, reading a book, etc.  But my new attitude is sticking!  I am getting better.  And it feels fabulous.

I have been trying to work on my attitude forever.  Sometimes Mike would even say, "Stop being so negative".  Something you never want to hear from your boyfriend/fiance/husband.  Having a negative attitude truly affects the people around you.  Now that I have "made the change" so to speak, I can SEE that I was that person bringing others down.

Who wants to be THAT PERSON?!

Not me.  And this is why I have finally FINALLY turned my attitude around. And it feels fabulous.  Seriously, I can really feel a change.  Mike has noticed, coworkers have noticed, friends have noticed.  And that is really satisfying.  I have finally stuck to something!!  Yay me!

Now, here is the version of positivity that has worked for me.  It's looking at things as though "they could be worse" and being thankful for what you do have.  While Lance Armstrong was going through all of this USADA drug doping allegations, his removal of all titles since 1998, and losing most of his endorsements, someone asked him how he was doing, and he said "I've been better, but I've been worse."  Wow, that's great!  That I can get on board with.

I tried the whole "think it to be true and it will come to you" and didn't have success, only lots of frustration.  So I have turned my frown upside down, literally.  If something gets messed up at work, I fix it, and move on.  I used to get very frustrated and complain at work, but it gets you NOWHERE.  It could always be worse, I mean, at least I have a job!  With friends and family, I do my mental venting and MOVE ON.  You can't change others, you can only change yourself and the way you choose to live.

Then I came across this article written by one of the actresses from Chasing Mavericks.  You can read it HERE.  She talks about facing fears, growing, and SHOWING UP.  Even when it's tough, when you have nothing left, when you're frustrated, when there's things holding you back...Show.  Up.

Show up.  LIVE.  We all have things to live for and be grateful for.  I have made a major change in the way I think about things and react.  Try it, it worked for me :)  And I am so much happier, healthier, and loving to others around me.