Christina Boudreaux's blog

What Would You Do's and 'Tis the Season.

I love this time of year. I say that a lot but goodness, I just love it. I'm always surrounded by friends and family, but it just seems even better when cold weather and shopping and Christmas things are involved too.

Singing 90's pop song with the cousin, classic Meagan and I:

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It's really nice and still kind of crazy that my cousin is actually living here now. When a couple of days ago we spent hours doing things we did when we were pre-teens: singing "Candy" (Mandy Moore, if you don't remember that one) asking "What would you do's", and laughing 'til I almost peed my pants, it really started sinking in--my cousin's here for good!  What is a 'What would you do',you may ask? Well. It's these ridiculous, stupid situation questions that nobody but us would find funny at all. I don't remember how it started but I think I was twelve, and I know it started with me and my best friend Meg (living in Maryland now, tear.) I knew Meagan would appreciate them too because we also have the same pointless sense of humor, and so I passed it down. We used to spend hours on these things, just back and forth and laughing nonstop. They never died out!  I never can figure out why they're so funny at the time either. Let me give you a couple of examples from the other day:

Me: (in car) :What would you do if I had just locked the door and not let you in...and drove off without you and not come back!?!?

Meagan: HAHAHAHAHAAHA.

(15 minutes later, dropping her off)

Meagan:What would you do if I left and there was a big puddle underneath me? And then you asked me about it and I said 'That didn't happen' and then next time I was in your car....it happened again!?

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

.....At the time it seems so funny.

 

Feelgood

 Yesterday, Emily and I went Christmas shopping. We became engrossed with the silky boxers in the men department and she had to buy her boy some. An old man was giving us very odd looks as Emily put her hand in one and proceeded to ask me to feel and pretend it was a boy's butt. It was pretty amazing feeling though. Christmas shopping takes on a whole new level of fun with the two of us. We also bought matching Santa loungerie. Lucky dudes, we have.

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Notice the cute little Asian man! Hee. Every ornament says something about husband and I's personalities.

Last night after a little pouting and guilt-trip-ing, I convinced Robby to semi-willingly go to Walmart and get a tree and hot chocolate with me. Almost all of the trees were gone but there were these humble little five dollar ones left. Last year we got a huge, expensive tree and that was a mistake. Three flights of stairs and pine? Not a good mix. We left a trail from our apartment to the dumpster after Christmas last year. I even wrote a poem about it. You probably don't remember Messy Tree Perpetrators? It recounts the whole experience nicely. I was told we should have our own reality show after that one. So we got a smaller one this year. I love it. Love love love it. It's our Charlie Brown tree, all humble and simple and perfect with it's imperfections. Yes, I analyze trees. I like this thing a lot better than last year's perfect and huge one. Really, who wants perfect and huge anyway? We documented last night's Christmas activities,of course. 

  I read some great reviews about Abuelita online and have also become slightly enamoured with the Spanish culture lately. I'm excited about going into Spanish 2 next semester. Dude. This Abuelita stuff is amazing! Pat made me some Mexican hot chocolate at Starbucks (it's pretty much cinnamon and honey added to the regular stuff) and it can't compare to that but this was still pretty damn good. You boil the chocolate tablet with the milk and add sugar. Delicious! 

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I was doing animations behind my camera so Robby would know what he was supposed to say in this video. Hee. His accent still gives me the giggles. "Hot Co-cooo"

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Explaining the tree for y'all.

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Finished! Ain't it a beauty!?

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Hiding and Hoping.

This is a long blog. I'm breaking it up with pictures and videos of last night and today so y'all don't get too bored. I guess I have more thoughts than I realized.

(What was supposed to be sugar cookies. The recipe said 2 3/4 flour.I thought that meant two 3/4 cups. Not two and three fourths. Ha,Oops. I had to use hot water/ soap it down it was so sticky and flourless.)

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I eat a lot and one day it will get back to me. I can't cook well. I don't clean much. I don't really know what I'm getting at here but I'm going to continue with it. I'm naive,but I'm intelligent. I have a hard time understanding sex without love. I'm a little bit air-headed but I have a quick tongue that sometimes I use in ways I shouldn't. I'm outgoing and I'm very real but I'm fake in the way that nobody knows what hurts me or what makes me the saddest. Only my husband knows those things, really. I'm guarded beyond belief and as many friends as I have it still scares the shit out of me to let people in. People use weaknesses against you. Even in subtle ways, which I consider the worst. I don't know when I put such a wall up but I'm sure you could relate it back to that being exactly what my dad does. He hides his feelings and emotions and I've never understood why. Now I do understand, because somewhere along the line I began doing it. I am however, a pretty confident girl and I don't understand girls who try getting attention by putting their weaknesses on display. "I'm so ugly, I'm so fat, I suck at life..." You know the girls I'm talking about. You know the Facebook statuses. I know it's for attention but my God, it's the worst kind of attention you could ever get. It's not even so much that it annoys me that it is I don't get it. But I do wish I could be more honest with what's going on in this head of mine. It would be a relief of sorts. I consider the fact that I refuse to show any of my weaknesses one of my biggest weaknesses.

(We did cookie dough and popcorn movie instead. The dough was amazing even if the cookies were awful. Dough's the best part anyway.)

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But I think I'm strong in many ways too. I'm a hardworker, and I got that from my dad too. I love compliments passed down about me when I wasn't around, they're my favorite form of flattery. My cousin's boyfriend was telling her how amazing (I think he said 'crazy') it was that I'm working two jobs and going to school and married. I balance a lot. My feet hurt badly many nights. I make good grades. I am proud of myself for those things. I also have a genuine love for people. I get along with everyone, I'm everyone's friend, and I'm a very happy girl. Tessa said Allen told her the other day that I would get along with a crack-whore. He was more teasing me but I definitely took it as another compliment. If you know me, we get along. I don't know if I would endanger myself by being a friend with a drug-selling prostitute, but I like the concept.

(Went shopping with my Mom,cousin, baby brother and baby sister today. Kaylee wanted me to hold her for the first time ever today. She usually hates me. She was reaching for me, actually reaching for me wanting me to hold her today! A video was needed. My mom ran off somewhere so Meagan and I became the worst five minute babysitters to ever exist.)

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 I truly believe that if you love people and you can make them laugh, they'll love you back. I think my charm with people comes from loving like I do. I don't understand why we hate so much. I think we all guard ourselves in one way or another. But there is a way in which I refuse to guard myself and that's hate. Hate is the biggest wall and I will not put it up. Hate is guarding the real problem, Protecting yourself with a rage that keeps you from getting to the root. I know in my big group of friends there's a few problems and valid reasons for most, but I do think there's ways around it. Hate stems from hurt. I wish people could just accept that. But if we dare admit that, we admit there's something wrong with us too. That would be preposterous-- to confess that something bothered us, that we have actual feelings that have been tampered with.

(Cousins.)

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 But we do get hurt. So we hurt somebody else, who hurts him who hurts her who hurts him who hurts....You get it. It turns into hate so we don't have to deal with tougher emotions. Hate is a one-sided, selfish, convenient emotion. Half the time we're mad at the wrong person; Mad at whoever is easiest to blame. If we could just let it go, let it out, talk it out,understand that every view point deserves an ear....It'd be a much happier world. But we hide how we feel and we don't talk about it and we don't get to the root of the problem. We say we're just fine and it's the other person's problem,not ours. We resent so we don't have to own up to our own issues,our own problems, our own insecurites. This isn't to any one person but really to everyone. Because we're all lying to ourselves,aren't we? Pointing fingers and spreading anger when the situation could be resolved so simply if we could just be honest and love on eachother a little more. Is it that crazy of a concept,really? Maybe I'm being unrealistic. I did warn you I was naive,after all.

(Meagan and I made a baked pasta. Well,she made it. I helped a little. So good. You could hear it sizzling.)

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I'll keep hoping though. My grown up Christmas list.

 

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Christmas Trees,Mirrors, Friends,Poison.

 

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Husband and I both woke up this morning with a nasty case of food poisoning; we're guessing from the delicious but apparently lethal steak buffet we had yesterday night. We called in sick and have been lounging around and whining to each-other all day; I'm just now braving it to the computer to attempt a blog. I figure I'll write about the perfect weekend pre-being poisoned.

The picture above is Patrick showing Justin,Izzy, and I in the humongous gym that is Lifetime Fitness. Friday before the Christmas festivities we went to eat and then got a grand tour of the place. Pat,like me, has two jobs and he works the rock-wall at this one. A Rock-wall,people!  He gave us a nice see through of it all. It's amazing. I live less than five minutes driving from Lifetime and make it an almost daily thing to do a thirty minute jog there and back. If I can't afford a 90 dollar membership, might as well exercise in the presence of this place. Lifetime is the gym god. I've only seen it from the outside and was blown away coming in. There's two pools! The freaking locker room is like a mansion. A mansion with showers and a huge minty sauna and Judge Judy playing on the big screen tv. It's times like this I wish I was rich. Luckily, I have a friend to give me free passes now and then. Before going to the god gym, the four of us had Olive Garden. Yum. I love me some Olive Garden. You'll notice looking at my blog, I'm also big on Christmas tree and mirror pictures.

 

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I don't know what Patrick is doing to the tree......

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 Yesterday night a few of us girls and husband (who's always up for a good buffet) went to Sirloin Stockade. Even though it apparently poisoned me, I would definitely go back. They had fried ice cream dude. Fried freaking ice cream! Yum. I usually don't care much for desserts at buffets but this place impressed me. Though the food wasn't as good as Ryans or any of the Chinese buffet places Robby and I have taken a liking to, it was still pretty tasty. I've mentioned this a few times before, if it's a buffet, I like it. I've mentioned this before too, I like quantity as much as quality. I'm very big on having lots of options in life,food included. Choices are good.

Fried ice cream!

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  We have this ongoing joke that Fer is having an affair with Robby. She played off of that here. Hee.

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Fried ice cream balls on the left! Pumpkin pie wasn't very good. Robby liked it.

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And of course the girls obligatory mirror picture. We all look ten.

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That night Bing called Robby and wanted to go to our apartment complex bar. We were going to just go lounge at home but we're usually down for some good times at Tonic. We brought a couple more friends along and ended up at another bar later on that night. Unfortunately, my flash has crapped out on me and I had to make due with some pretty awful pictures. Ha. I know I say a picture is a picture but there's a limit to that. However, I'm amused by how bad they look and have to have picture examples of everything so I'll use them anyway.

Kati is a complete blur. Hee.

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This one cracks me up. I've grown pretty fond of Bing. I've known this dude over a year now and we've gotten to know eachother pretty well. He can call out the exact time I am not sober now. Ha. I've learned being married doesn't just come with the man you married but everyone/everything around him too (and vice versa) ; and so far I love that. They're all lovely but Bing's probably my favorite of all the husband's friends. (yep that's right, I have a favorite.) It's becoming apparent by the conversations and teasing we've become very comfortable around eachother. He's kind of like the older Asian brother I've never had. Hee. When I began messing up on the bar's computer touch-screen game he jokingly told me "Christina, it's okay, just sit there and look pretty." Har. Har. What a Robby comment. 

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.And I let him know that for an Asian, he sure did suck at this math game. He still beat me though.

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This is Zach, Bing and Robby. Can't you tell? Ha. Time for a new camera! It's ridiculous how many cameras I go through. Bing commented that I had just got my current one a few months ago. At least this one is just in time for Christmas.

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We ended up at Parmer Tavern. I danced a country song with Zach, Kati and I giggled a lot, I asked for something fruity and recieved a few delicious coconut drinks, and we all played some shuffleboard and sucked tremendously. Kati and I eventually got kicked out of the game we were so bad. We're an entertaining bunch. Great weekend before the downfall of the food poison. 

Festivities&Friends

Friday night five friends started off at Jason's apartment....and I started off by eating all of his cookies.

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Oh, the adventures with buddies. We decided we were going to the unlit Trail of Lights to see the lit tree. I got so excited! I was jumping all over the place pointing at all the lights like a five year old. Places like this really show off how old I should be. The group I was with really helped with my maturity level....gah, you should of heard us three girls giggling! Not to mention running from stand to stand and twirling under the tree and putting our faces in those wood-body things you stick your face in (if you don't know what the hell I'm talking about look at the pictures) ....It was a fun night. As a side note: Apparently you don't say the word chique (edit:ahem,chic),"cheek"; I got teased for that the rest of the night. Here I am trying to sound very intelligent but can't even pronounce the word I'm trying to say. Ha. The hot cocoa stands also put a twinkle in my eyes, but alas, none of us had any cash. I pouted at Robby and Jason did an imitation of my little girl self and then off we went to find some hot cocoa else-where. I get what I want, damnit! We hit gold with that one too. Found a cute little place called Dominican Joe's and wandered inside. A lovely lady astonished us all with her amazing live singing, and we ordered some good coffee/hot cocoa.I love quaint (favorite word) coffee shops. I love friends. I love Christmas time.

The tree!

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Lookit how cute! Doesn't that just put you in a good mood? Would have been an even better mood if somebody had cash. Hmph.

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Girls. Seriously, could Melody be any prettier!?

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Robby spinning me under the tree. Aw inserted here. Aw.

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Baha. This is the wood face thing I was speaking of!

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The fire.

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The Friday night group.

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And then we ventured to get cocoa..... And stumbled on this Joe's place.

Cute,eh?

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This place was hoppin'! We couldn't even find a place to sit.

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But the cocoa and the singer made it all worth it. I resorted to cell phone pictures while in the coffee shop as not to be a nuisance.

She seriously had such an amazing voice. I got chills! Melody and I introduced ourselves but were kind of star-struck and only got her first name. Melody's amazing and found her on myspace anyway. Such creepers, we are.

Sing

Enjoying our drinks/singer/life.

Melandjason

Mmm. It was good, but a little too bland for my taste. I'm spoiled now because I can make my own hot cocoa working at Starbucks, and man is that stuff sweet and perfect for me. Still, Hot cocoa and winter are two of my favorite combinations ever. Just puts me in such a merry mood.

Hotcocoa

 

Ugly Sweaters.

Finals are over and it's time for Christmas festivities to begin. Why not start off with an Ugly Sweater party!?

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Have y'all ever been to an ugly sweater party? I've been to a lot of parties and I've seen a lot of ugly sweaters but last night was my first ugly sweater party. I had just finished my last final, which was an all Spanish conversation. I was terrified of this one. I went in there telling her I wanted to throw up. (Probably a bad idea, in hindsight)  I aced it! Another 92. She told me I actually speak Spanish pretty well, which I was surprised to hear. I get scared trying to speak in front of all of my Spanish speaking friends because I feel my words sound much too Texan. I have a great memory so I know how it sounds in my head and I know how to write it all out fine but speaking it is another story. The one answer I really screwed up was asking ,translated "Why do you think is it important to speak Spanish?" I was hoping I wouldn't get asked that one! I started out with a professional "Uhh...Shit." under my breath and continued with "Es importante porque yo asisto. " Translates to? "It's important because I attend." I got my verbs mixed up and was already getting a pretty amused look. She asked me "Is that all?" I finished with "Y....Es muy interesante?" Ha. But I did it. It's over with. Ninety two! Whew.

 

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Now on to the crazy sweater party! I had no ugly sweater. Closest thing I could find was a robe looking nightgown Robby's mom gave me for Christmas last year. I thought the attire would blend fine but definitely didn't. Everyone was either  wearing normal clothes or Ugly Christmas Sweaters and I'm wearing some kind of long and odd nightgown looking thing. I did indeed get teased a little. Ha. Considering I was too lazy to wear anything but my huge and fuzzy red bed-time boots to school twice this week (tucked in to my sweats/jeans no less) I'm sure everyone is wishing they could have my fashion sense right now.  It's finals week and its freaking cold. Two reasons to look like you always just got out of bed. More ugly sweater/night-gown pictures:

It eventually got hot so I resorted to my normal clothes underneath. Alex is very festive.

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Jason,Matt, and I.  There's a girl looking a little scary in the background too.

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Matthew hates taking pictures. Corrinne and I had him under a table and even begun singing "Paparazzi." Ha.

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I managed one before he hid under the table though.

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What started off as a game of Party Jenga.....

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Turned into me taking Robby's belt off with my teeth.

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Oh my!

 

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Lovely friend Amber and her lovely friend.

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We decided we needed to hang out more often! And someone pulled out some crazy looking Christmas coat I had to try on.

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Definitely a good night with ugly clothes and naughty Jenga commands.

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Whatever the quality, Capture the moment.

The past two weeks have been nonstop blur for me school and work wise. I'm happy to say I got a 92 on my nine page British Lit paper and an 85 on my written Spanish exam. One more and I am done for winter break and that much closer to transferring. I'm feeling relieved and ready to have lots of fun this weekend. Because of everything being so hectic I've been somewhat of a working,studying recluse and have a list of six or seven people to call back. When I do go anywhere, I keep forgetting my camera! That's very unlike me; if you don't already know my camera is like my safety blanket, I'm sure you can tell by my picture-filled blog. Thankfully, I always have my phone with me, and shitty quality or not....A picture is a picture, and still a memory in the waiting. Never get so stressed out or overwhelmed or overbooked that you forget the happy stuff; even if you have too many tests or too much work or your cell phone takes awful pictures. I'm learning that there's always a reason to capture the moment, and always a reason to look back...especially at such a joy-filled time of the year. There's seriously beauty in everything. Never ever forget that. It's also an adventure to have people help with finding just the right hand/lighting/place to take a visable cell-phone picture. Fun. I leave you with the crappy but oh-so-lovely blur that is cell-phone pictures. 

Kristin, me, curly fries. This is my favorite girl in Spanish 1 class. We had JackIntheBox and talked about boys and stuff after class last week. We have lots of goofy fun together. She convinced me to take History 2 with her next semester, and we'll be having lots more fun in said class in a month or so. (And probably manage a lunch or two in between the break.) When I told her I would be taking the class, she sent me this cute text: "Yay! I'm so excited We are going to own that class." Yes. Yes, we are.

Curly rings

Robby and I had a much needed date night a couple of days ago. We hardly get date nights because of clashing work/ school schedules. It was an Applebees and Pier 1 night. I don't think we could go anywhere and not be ridiculously dorky.

They had 99 cent brownie bites. With icecream! My head was bigger than my tummy and I ordered two. For some reason, finished the second but not the first. I think it's the color thing, yellow is more appetizing to eat out of. Something.

Yum

Here were are at Pier 1 with fancy masks.

Masks

And husband wanted a picture of him and the telescope. Ha.

Cutie

Tuesday night I had just finished my second exam of the day and was worn out from work and school. I was going to go home and pass out but Robby was at Tonic with his friend and called me to come over. I half-heartedly decided I would stop by. Little did I know! My buddy Carlos is working there again. I missed this dude. By the end of the night, I accidentally gave some random skater my number, had some very interesting conversations, hugged all five guys in the bar, and got about a million drinks for 2 dollars a piece (because 'Everything's two dollars for you.')  Definitely one of my favorite places.  It was a much needed early celebration. Carlos told me to come behind the bar so we could have good lighting. I got a couple of stares and someone asked me to make them a drink. Ha. We took a couple of really blurry pictures until a nice guy offered to take the picture.

This was the best one we could get. Ha. I told him to keep the cigarette in his mouth.

Carlos

They have a cute little Christmas tree in Tonic too.

Tree

Merry Almost Weekend!

Some things you may not know about me

I've been thinking about this one for over a week now. It's hard thinking about what people don't know about me, as I'm pretty much an open book. I recommend y'all try this one too though....you'll end up bringing up forgotten memories and learning a lot that you didn't even know about yourself.

- I run like a monkey. Brother and one of his friends pointed this out to me years ago.

-I'm pretty particular about my coffee cups. I think a good and appealing coffee cup makes the whole coffee experience so much more enjoyable. I pretty much only use two, and if they're dirty I mentally pout having to use a cup I don't like as much. 

Coffeecups

-I have horrible animal experiences. When I say horrible, Oh,do I mean it. My first evil white rabbit (with red eyes) gave me a scar on my finger. One of my hamsters ate the other. My oldest dog Jasmine killed my brother's dog Rusty. I killed both of my friends fishies taking care of them while she was on vacation. When I was older I had another rabbit. His name was Kritter. He humped everything. We gave him a little fake bunny to have fun with.

-I'm too vague. Because of this I seem to unintentionally offend people. A couple of my friends have actually called or texted me asking if certain comments I made out loud or on this blog are about them, and they never are. I've even had a couple of blogs written in retaliation to something I said that had absolutely nothing to do with them. It's super flattering and kind of funny that people read into what I say like that, but if I'm really talking about you, you'll know. 

- Most of you know I write, but did you know I've had a journal and started poetry when I was five? My mom bought me this tiny little journal I wish to this day I could find. I can read about 10 percent of my handwriting (if you think it's bad now...) and most of it has to do with how much I can't stand my brother, but I used to love looking back on it. I also found a poem about the world as we know it consisting only of dogs. No humans. It's amazing to me how we keep a part of ourselves, our old feelings and ideas and thoughts, forever on a piece of paper. I think even then I kind of understood the concept and it's one of the reasons why writing is so magical to me. Here's me at fourteen, and I had even inserted a picture of me and my naturally red hair. Ha. Entitled "* The Diary of a Future Star*" No I wasn't conceited at all....

 

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-Robby looked up at me funny and abruptly when he was laying on me yesterday. He said my heart was beating fast and he knew that meant I was nervous and thinking hard about something. This dude knows me better than I know myself and when I began to argue with him I realized....Hey, I am nervous and deep in thought. Hm.

-I've always had and still to this day have a problem with left and right. Someone will tell me to turn a certain way and I'll still go the wrong direction unless pointed in the right way or I really think about it. When I was younger, my aunt tried teaching me the piano (By the way, did y'all know my husband used to be a bad ass piano player?)  and failed miserably until she put an R on one hand and an L on the other. I'm honestly directionally retarded.

-I also suck at physical things. Well, not... all physical. But most. I didn't learn to ride a bike until I was eight or nine. I played a season of basketball and made two points (foul shots) the whole season. I was in karate and softball for a day. (different days) My poor parents. They finally gave up and let me do my acting classes.

- If I'm annoyed or amused, I argue. If the argument is obviously stupid and immature, I'll partake and debate, but with a smile on my face. If it's silly enough to be treated like a game, I treat it like a game. It's hard for me to take things seriously when it's blatantly not serious. Also,because I put myself in people's shoes, I usually end up understanding/feeling bad for them. But if I'm honestly upset or bothered, I ignore. This hardly ever happens as it's extremely hard to really piss me off, and I laugh most everything off. It's been a few months since I've ignored anyone, but when I do it, man,it works. Silence is my revenge. People can't stand being ignored!

I'll probably do this again, I really enjoyed writing this blog. Try it! For now I'm off to study finals. Two down, two to go!

Barbie meets reality.

Today was a much needed day to recoup. Recoup. Weird word. I like it. Spent most of the day with the husband and my family and though I worked at five, it was a pretty short shift involving singing and dancing with Patrick. I feel a little better about finals and everything, as I've finally managed in some study time. Life is good. Family and memories are also good, and that is what I will be blogging about tonight.

Yesterday was my baby sister's first birthday party and I ran over to the parents in between my two jobs. She was born the day after Christmas last year so the party was a little premature. I don't talk much about my sister because honestly, it's still weird to me that I have one. I'm still used to it being me and the two brothers-- I was already living with Robby when I found out my mom was going to have another baby, and I'm not at the parents house near as much as I probably should be. I always accidentally call her Abigail, my friend's baby who is a little older than Kaylee. Ha. But I love her a lot and I have to admit, she's the cutest baby out of the four of us siblings. Her smile is a heart-melter. Happy one year,sister! Gah. Sister. Still hasn't sunk in yet!

She's a cutie ain't she?

Kaylee

Today before work the family did Breakfast taco's and Football at my parents. It's so weird how old we're all getting. Cousin Traci is twelve and wearing makeup--I remember this girl in diapers! I'm also super excited because my oldest cousin Meagan just moved here. We used to pray and wish and hope for her family to move to Austin all our years growing up--now she's here all by herself! Her and I are extremely close--in fact, she was the maid of honor at my wedding. We've been through all of life together. All of it. I can't even begin to list all the memories and giggles and slumber parties we've shared, beginning at age three or so. One of the most persistent memories is constantly playing Barbies with our Ken dolls who treated our Barbie's like princesses. We played Barbies way past the age we should have and Meagan's would always end up pregnant, while mine was comforting her as I worked my hardcore office job. When we got a little older, I would read her all the crazy stories I would write, thinking they would for sure get published one day. It's pretty neat being older and having everything we always talked about happening to us...actually happening.  (Minus the pregnancy and office job.) She's 18 and I'm 20 and we still continue with our giggling, memories, and slumber parties-- The night before my wedding we woke my dad up with our talking and laughter. There is an insane kind of bond that comes with having someone so close to share 18 years worth of memories and stories and now, dreams come true with. I don't think there's anyone who could just know things;everything like this girl does. Now we're all grown up and just like we would talk about, both have jobs and men and college and such. Oddly enough, both of our men are six years our senior and have or do work/ed for AT&T. Some kind of strange similarity cousin thing? I have to say both of our dudes are also pretty damn cute too. We must just have good taste. Hee. I was looking through an old scrapbook and thought I'd share some pictures of cousin and I from back in the day, all the way to today. 

Picture of a picture but we're both in our little dresses with Easter candy and blinking. Ha.

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Here's us today. Not blinking and no Easter candy. Still lots of cousin love.

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Here's the whole scrapbook page. I made this when I was fourteen. If you can't tell by how I referred to cousin as "My Cuz."

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Here we are now, not with Ken dolls but actual men who treat us in a way Barbie most definitely would approve of:

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Quickie before Sarah is here.

I worked both jobs today/tonight. Three of my Starbucks people came just to chat with me at Hannah D's. Josh texted me saying he read my blog and was pretty excited he was on it. HI Josh! Hee. I love my job.

I suppose I should explain why finals have me more emotional than normal. I'm usually pretty relaxed about these kind of things and I've never failed one.  BUT. I'm a crazy emotional mess right now because I'm this (-) close to being able to transfer sometime in the semi-near future. I always planned on getting my two year, and I've always been encouraged to do otherwise for my future writing whatever. Back when I was hell-bent on my two year, I wasn't near as confident as I am now. I make good grades, I know I'm a writer--I know I could go pretty damn far with it if I tried. I have the gpa to be able to get into UT right now and I want that and this is where my heart pitter patters. I need to keep the gpa I have. Work is kicking my ass hard this week and I've had no time to study. I should be studying right now. I shouldn't be having a friend over tonight. My eating, shopping,stalking, socializing, reading leisurely---has all been cut down to a minimum. I really kinda want this. Hold your breath for me.

For other news? Robby's friend invited us over to his graduating party tommorrow. Of course there was a warning and some chuckles from both boys attached to this as the ex will be there.The boys talked a little more-- Apparently,My first ever mean blog has already gotten around and as much as I wanted to get a point across, seriously, this whole thing is stupid. So freaking stupid. This is not high-school and this isn't me, no matter what anyone else says or does.  I was greatly encouraged and applauded for finally being a bitch but I am not a bitch, nor do I like using my smarts to be one. And I quit these blog wars or whatever anybody wants to call them. This is my resignation, and I'm genuinely, sincerely sorry for any hurt feelings.

Always Reminded.

Tonight's a much needed movie night with the boy. I've been pretty off this week. A mix of finals, my messy house, my hold accounts from an overdue library book keeping me from registering for classes, work keeping me from studying, and that time of the month making me an over-all hormonal wreck (sorry, too much info)-- These things are keeping me from being my usual very happy-go-lucky self. I haven't been this overwhelmed/emotional in at least a year. I ended up in the bathroom at Target crying today and I haven't cried like that in a bathroom since I worked in the restaurant business. But what amazed me was within the next couple of hours after crying I was constantly bombarded with many reminders of why I am usually so happy-go-lucky and why life is never all that bad. Like somebody was trying to tell me something. By now tonight I'm almost in tears because of how blessed I am, and how happy I am to have the people I do in my life. Thought I'd share, and remind you to be reminded of why you're happy.

-Josh knew something was wrong and told me he'd listen so I decided to talk (about pretty much everything mentioned above but the time of the month issues.) He comforted and flattered me and told me he'd talk anytime. I'm lucky to have lots of people like him around. I have pictures of him and Jenn from Serrano's yesterday so this is as good of a time as any to share. I love working with so many friends, both at Hannah D's and Starbucks--It's hard to ever stay sad too long.

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We did a cute Christmas-card style picture in front of the Christmas tree.

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-Sweet Text messages. Today: My mom sent me a text saying that my little brother told her he wanted me to be his wife when he grew up. Aw. Jason sent me "Best frienndddd" randomly and Tessa sent me a picture of her at a Starbucks in Las Vegas, saying it made her think of me. Every day I get something/s from somebody/s that makes me smile or laugh.

-Adorable little girl in the bathroom looks at me as I wash my hands and says "HI!" with a big smile on her face. So damn cute.Little as it was, brightened my whole day. I decided she was my angel. 

- Probably when I was feeling my mopiest today, my big-boss Target/Starbucks manager who kind of scares me told me something along the lines of this :  "Christina, I notice whenever I see you at Starbucks you always seem so happy and you're always smiling. I really appreciate that attitude." That really made me feel good and it was like he knew the perfect time to say it. I've never really thought about how happy I usually am or how much I smile so it was nice to hear and realize from a boss guy. And It definitely made me want to put that usually constant cheerful smile/attitude back on. 

- IT SNOWED!  I love this weather. It's freaking cold but puts me in the holiday spirit and cheers me up always. 

 

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This is Patrick dancing in the snow. You can't see the snow but you can see the fake Starbuck's snowflake. I was really excited and kept repeating to Emily and random customers that it was snowing outside.

-And of course,Robby. Every time I felt sad today I found myself wanting him. He's my teddy bear, my comfort, my best friend. I know I say best friend a lot and I know I have a lot of them but this guy is The best friend. He amazes me more and more everyday and cuddle time is always one of the best reminders.