Sorry for the radio silence...

I was busy at work the week before Thanksgiving and then on vacation for a week, but I'm back and I have lots to share!

Tonight I'm going to edit and hopefully put up pictures from my fabulous birthday party.  It was the best birthday I have ever had and I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends and family who made it possible.  I love each and every one of you so much and am so happy that we're a part of each others' lives. 

This Thanksgiving was one for the record books.  I went to four different Thanksgivings and each one was wonderful in different ways.  The first one was with my company and it's always nice to get to know your coworkers a little better, especially since I'm a bit secluded from the rest of the office.  The second dinner was with friends from my kickball team--good food, fun games, and a warm bonfire!  The third Thanksgiving was on Thanksgiving Day with the Kennedy side of my family in Michigan (where I was for the past week).  My aunt and uncle are amazing cooks and dinner was awesome.  I love being with the whole family for holidays.  My last dinner was a surprise after a crappy flight experience and was delicious and full of old friends.  It was such a nice ending to a pretty perfect vacation.  I was even reunited with my pup after 10 long days.  I sure did miss that monster!

Thanks for your patience since I haven't been posting.  I hope your Thanksgiving was full of food, family, and friends and you enjoyed your time off.  I know I did!

PS: My friend Brian has an AWESOME blog.  He's a really funny writer and has a very interesting story. 

PPS: It's Christmas time and I couldn't be happier.  This truly is the best time of the year and I have a perma-smile on my heart from the love and joy this season brings.  The decorations and music are pretty great too!  That's the lobby of my office building.

Are you kidding me?!

Two weeks ago a blogger for Marie Claire told the world that she was uncomfortable watching overweight people get intimate on the new TV show, Mike & Molly.  Her opinion has caused her a lot of backlash because we live in such a politically correct world that if your opinion offends a certain group then you are labeled a bully or a bigot or...a weightist.  Of course it's more aesthetically pleasing to watch two fit, beautiful people canoodle on your favorite show.  But that's not why I say "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

My issue is with a word that, frankly, is completely ridiculous.  Weightism.  WEIGHTISM.  That has got to be a joke. 

Racism.  Ageism.  Sexism.  Weightism.  Which one of these is not like the other?

If you guessed weightism, you'd be correct!  And why is that Nicole?  I'm happy you asked!  You see, while race, age, and sex are something that you can't change without extensive plastic surgery, weight is something that can be controlled by an individual without a scalpel.  You're not born fat.  You get that way through unhealthy eating and exercise habits or things like a screwy thyroid (which can be controlled with medicine).

There is no reason to be cruel to others who are different from you and I don't agree with it, but weightism is completely ridiculous!  I struggle with staying at a healthy weight, and I know it sucks to diet and exercise when I'd rather be eating a big, juicy hamburger, but we're adults and need to take responsibility for our actions.  "Weightism" only exacerbates America's weight problem.  We spent over $147 billion directly and indirectly on the costs of obesity in 2006, and we've expanded since then. 


When are individuals going to stop coining new terms to make themselves feel better and instead, channel that frustration in healthy, productive ways such as educating themselves on proper nutrition?

Wanna know how I handle situations I don't want to handle?

I pretend like they never happened.  I stop communicating with that person/those people and *poof* it never happened!

It's such a healthy way of dealing with things, don't you agree?

[image courtesy of blog.karmona.com]

(: Happy Blog :)

Photo by Jon Spot Photography

This picture makes me want to yell "BUBBLES!"

I've noticed that a lot of my blog posts are a bit dramatic, emotional, and not very happy or positive.  I think in general I'm a very positive person, or at lease I try to be.  My blog is my space to rant I suppose.  Hopefully it's still interesting even if I do come across as moody.

I wanted to do a giveaway when my blog counter hit 1000 hits and that was 100 hits ago soooooo...

IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME!

I'm giving away a shoebox of STUFF!  I don't know what yet but I do know it'll be amazing!  Probably very Austin-y and also reflective of ME!

In order to be in the drawing you must:
1.  Follow me publicly.
2.  Leave a comment telling me about the best surprise you ever had.

Good luck and Happy Veteran's Day.  Thank a soldier you know.  They do so much for our country so we can live our happy lives at home.

[image courtesy of virtualtourist.com]

Day 10 → Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn’t know

My cousin.  By marriage.  Does that make it any better that I wish I didn't know my cousin?

We were the absolute best of friends as kids.  We would dress in matching outfits and had to do everything together.  When we went out to stores or restaurants people would ask us if we were twins, and we loved that.  Of course, we said yes every time.

Things were great until my senior year.  I went through a lot of crap.  A lot.  Some brought on by crazy teenage hormones and some from bad people.  I think my cousin tried to be there for me and help, and maybe in the end it was too much. 

I moved out of my parents house the summer before my senior year of high school because of an argument we had.  I came home after curfew, was told I was grounded, and immediately packed a bag and walked to my friend's house.  My cousin drove to Austin to take me back to League City with her.  We lived together at my aunt and uncle's house and eventually moved into an apartment of our own.

Moving into the apartment was terrible for everyone involved.  Her mom (my aunt) was pretty adamant about not letting us move out.  I think she saw the whole idea as mine, when in reality my cousin had come up with the plan and I agreed.  Of course a seventeen year old girl would rather live on her own with no rules.  Why would I say no to that and continue to live with my aunt and uncle who were much more strict with me than with her?  My aunt did things like take all the drawers out of my cousin's furniture so she wouldn't take it.  The whole situation was handled in an extremely juvenile way on both sides, which is pathetic considering my aunt was the adult in the situation.

I was going to school, coming home and napping, and then working full time waiting tables.  I was incredibly lonely, depressed, and had next to no friends at my new high school.  It was pretty pitiful.  I even dyed my hair black and wore all black.  It was a very dark time for me.  I'm really embarrassed when I see people from that high school because I was so different and I don't feel like I was myself at all. 

The issues between us arose because she would spend more time at her boyfriend's house than at our apartment.  Like I said before, I was lonely.  She was my best and only friend in town and when she wasn't at the apartment I had no one else.  I started to call my mom all the time and we worked out some of our issues over the phone.  One day on the phone she asked if I wanted to come home.  I said yes and within hours she and my dad were at my apartment helping me pack and move out.

My mom paid to break the lease and for my share of the bills (electricity, insurance, etc).  I later found out my dad had paid her too.  She was upset that I was leaving, and I completely understand why.  She would either have to move back to her parents (and our moving out had caused a big rift between us and that part of the family), move in with her boyfriend, or take on the apartment lease by herself.

She ended up moving in with her boyfriend (now her fiance).  I received a letter a couple weeks after moving back to Austin that had copies of the bills and a letter asking for us to pay her for breaking the lease and for the bills.  I called her and told her my mom had paid her.  My mom called her and told her she had paid her.  (At this point we were still in the dark about my dad also paying her.)  After that things were tense and we stopped all communication.

At my dad's funeral we put everything in the past and it was like the apartment argument had never happened.  Then a couple of weeks after the funeral I get a phone call asking to pay her back for the bills...again.  It was then that I realized that our relationship would never work and I stopped all communication with her. 

We had to sell my dad's things because no one had the space or need for them.  One of these things was his gun case.  A couple months after the funeral when all of the money was being put into an account my mom asked my uncle about the gun case, and he said he had given the money to my cousin because I owed her money.  That was extremely disappointing to hear but not at all surprising.

And I wish I didn't know her.

Student Loans and Stress

There is only one thing that really, truly stresses me out on a daily basis.  Money.

I've always hated money.  I hate what it does to people who go from having nothing to having more money than they thought was ever possible.  I hate that when my dad died I had a family member ask me for money.  I hate how people who have always been "comfortable" don't understand the struggle that others with less go through on a daily basis.

Of course, I appreciate money for some things like you know, eating, a place to live, basic necessities...but as long as I can pay my bills, have some spending money, and save a little I don't need anything more.

An article from September of this year discusses the crazy tuition hikes we've seen that don't at all reflect inflation.  Connecticut State University is in talks to freeze tuition and fees.  (Texas, you hearing this?)  In the past 32 years tuition has risen by over 1000%!  That's THREE zeros!

What's shocking is that now student loan debt surpasses credit card debt in America.  In other words, WE ARE SCREWED.  There are not enough jobs available for college grads.  When we do find a job our ginormous loan payments cause us to not spend in other areas college graduates have had the fortune of spending on in the past--homes, cars, etc.  It not only hurts us, but it hurts our economy.  It's just one more reason our country is in this financial disaster.

Honestly, it's not unlike the housing fiasco that got us into this recession in the first place.  Just like banks gave money freely to people to buy larger houses than they could really afford, banks gave out student loans like they were going out of style...oh wait.

Since graduating from college I have not had one job that needed a college degree.  Sure, it helped me get the job I applied for and the company likes that a college graduate is intelligent enough to interact with clients, but my mounting student loan debt is a joke next to my salary and I could have done this 5 years ago right out of high school.  My struggle to pay my bills is real and not fun.  My parents help me every. single. month.  I'm pretty sure I have an ulcer (or kidney disease or cancer or a panic attack or diabetes according to WebMD).  I can't eat without feeling sick.  I wake up nauseous.  I'm losing weight (though I'm not really complaining about that).

I'm a smart girl.  But I was very, very dumb with the choices I made in college that will now haunt me for the remainder of my financial life.  I should NOT have taken out so many student loans.  I should have applied for grants and scholarships.  I should NOT have majored in English and instead chosen a major on a definite career path.  A Liberal Arts degree is junk unless paired with a graduate degree or specialization of some sort.  But by golly, I can read, write, and discuss literature with the best of 'em!

Day 9-- Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted

I don't feel like answering this today so here's a Spanish proverb I like:

How beautiful it is to do nothing and then rest afterward.

[Photo by Kamuro]