Literally, CANNOT get enough of this song!

Same old story, but lots of new details

It's been a while AGAIN.. I know. Sorry to all of my millions of fans and followers who anxiously await these fantastic posts. :)

Well life sure has taken me for a ride as of late. Mid-summer I was offered a teaching job at a school in Orlando and it seemed like a very good opportunity compared to where I had been teaching. I accepted and was immediately thrown into looking for a new place to live and planning a move in the middle of vacations and trying to soak up my summer and life in Tampa as much as possible. All of this happening without really thinking -- oh shit, I'm leaving my whole life behind.

Yes, of course it's not a long distance. Thank goodness I can go see my friends whenever I want, but after living in one city for almost 9 whole years and then leaving can really be a bit traumatizing. I was too busy preparing for my new life to really realize that there was going to be a new life. I looked at all of the positives and tried to ignore that voice in the back of my head saying "Bitch! We aren't ready for this kind of change!" The week before the move I was on vacation in New York, pretty much moved right after I came back, and immediately after the move I started work that Monday. I was busy enjoying my new work environment and getting my new apartment set up and still not allowing myself to listen to that voice searching for my attention, still calling out to me, "This is a lot of change homegirl, you betta reckanize." (Yes I do get sassy inside my own head on the reg.)

It wasn't until I actually went back to Tampa to visit a friend in town 3 weeks after my move that it really hit me. I don't live here anymore, holy shit. And again, people may wonder why it's such a big deal... but this little lady does not like change. I was comfortable. I knew everyone around me. I knew my surroundings like the back of my hand. It was my home. It broke my heart to drive past my old apartment complex, to go to the bars I used to frequent on an almost weekly basis, to know that everyone I was seeing was able to stay there - in our old routine - and I had to leave in a couple of days. Once I got back to Orlando I was almost devastated. I couldn't stop feeling like I'd made the biggest mistake by moving to Orlando, the place I technically grew up and was supposed to be 'home' for me. It was a very rough week of trying to convince myself that it would all work out and it's all happened for a reason.

My affection for Tampa is so strong because I feel like that is the place I actually grew up. I went to college there, met the best friends in the world, met the boys I loved and lost, experienced firsts of almost every kind, and really grew into and became a person I am so proud of being based on everything that was experienced and happened there.

It's been, and still is, a rough transition. It's been just over a month since my move. I still miss my old apartment, my comfort of knowing that city, my bars and nightlife, and of course my friends in Tampa. However I'm slowly forcing myself to adjust. Luckily I have been able to see the bright side of my career opportunities at my new school, and decided to take serious advantage of the friends and family that I do have here in order to build upon the life I left behind.

You'll Never See a Post Like This Again

Anyone who knows me know that I very much dislike Jennifer Lopez, and that's putting it nicely. However, I ran across an article on People about why she walked away from her marraige. This is what she had to say:

"Sometimes we don't realize that we are compromising ourselves. To understand that a person is not good for you, or that that person is not treating you in the right way, or that he is not doing the right thing for himself – if I stay, then I am not doing the right thing for me."

For anyone who has been in a relationship that compromises who you truly are, this is a strong sentiment. I've been in that place before and wish I would have been strong enough to look inside myself enough to know I was compromising who I was at the time. Somtimes you don't realize it until way too late. Good for J.Lo! (and that's the only nice thing I will ever say about her.)

Friday Night Anecdote

I was at happy hour on Friday with some friends and the bartender didn't like the way I was holding my cup as I was standing at the bar waiting for him to serve me so he took it and threw it across the bar. My reaction was to say to him, "that was very unprofessional of you."

I thought it was funny. Douchebag.

I Love This Woman!

Bethenny Frankel is someone I have come to admire greatly! She is a strong woman who says what she feels and stands up for herself with no apologies for who she is.

Instead of reading A Place of Yes, I've gotten the book on CD so that I can listen on my many drives across the state I've been doing as of late! It's got an amazing message and many great points that every woman can benefit from. I'm mid-CD set at Rule #5 of 10: All Roads Lead to Rome. This rule basically states that everything that happens, whether good or bad, leads to the next thing and eventually no matter how bad one situation may be, it leads to a better road. I've experienced this to the extreme in the past year and will testify that this rule is completely true! Two of my favorite quotes from this section are: "Just when I thought I'd gone the wrong way or messed it all up beyond repair, something happened that made me see it was all for a reason," and "You just never know when a seemingly random decision will reset the course of your life."

I Don't Want to Be a Bride

The prettiest song I've heard in a VERY long time, with a message I can't help but fall in love with.

“What about the other side of the argument?” she said, referring to the hundreds of songs women sing about wanting to get married. “What about if it’s more about what love is? And what it can be? And it has nothing to do with the confines or the tradition of any of that?”
Elle magazine with Vanessa Carlton (http://fashion.elle.com/fashion/insider/2011/07/25/first-listen-vanessa-carltons-new-song/)

I like your company, got a fresh philosophy
Never knew such a gentleman
You can take me on a cheap vacation
I don't want to have expectations
Cause you could be the end of me

And I don't need a house on a hill
A swing on a tree, a grandfather clock
Porcelain for tea, a garden with rose and jasmine

Gonna get drunk on a bottle of wine
No better way to pass the time
Forever by your side

But I don't wanna be a bride
Apologies to your mother
I wanna be your girl
And spend this life with you
But I don't wanna wear white
You know it's too late for that
But can't we keep the ever after, love
Or could it be?

Don't need no golden ring
It'd be no match for the love you bring
From London to Tennessee

We could catch a train to another life
On a whim under the moonlight
I promise you, will you promise me?

Our last names on a wooden sign
Arm in arm where the river starts to wind
Forever by your side

But I don't wanna be a bride
Apologies to each other
I wanna be your girl
And spend this life with you
But I don't wanna wear white
Oh you know it's too late for that
But can't we keep the ever after
Or could it be just you and me?

Ah, ah, ah...

We will live like kings under lavender skies, skies
We will live like kings under lavender skies, skies

We built a poem, we kept a rhyme
Wrapped our love in golden twine
We wrote, we wrote a legacy
Just you and me

We will live like kings under lavender skies, skies

We will

Once Again..

I've taken a serious vacation from blogging! I thought over summer break I'd stay on top of it, but this summer vacation is making me a lazy bum!



I've been having a fabulous break though. It started out with a lovely day trip to see my Little and her little cuties who just light up my life! Then I had a perfect trip to Chicago to see two of my best girls for six whole days. We laughed, we cried, we drank lots of beer - what more could I ask for?! Following that I just had a mini summer concert tourin Orlando with my Femme Fatales to see Britney and NKOTBSB! We couldn't have asked for better concerts to see!! In about a week and a half I'll be headed to New York to see two more of my lady loves.

I'm a very lucky lady to be so blessed with amazing people to spend my summer with!!