Twenty Five Things in 25 Years

~ A quarter of a century huh? Hot-damn that's old. I feel old. It's my birthday (well technically tomorrow the 29th is), and I feel old. I wish I could take about 14 years of my 25 years here on Earth, and have a re-do. BUT, I vow to make the next 25 nothing but phenomenal. Nevertheless, here are 25 things I've learned, thought, or wanted to share after living for twenty-five years! ~


1. Coffee is the best beverage next to peach iced tea.

2. You can't disguise the taste of mayonnaise. Trying to sneak flavors in like pesto or sun dried tomato doesn't work. It still tastes like mayonnaise, it still is mayonnaise, and it's still disgusting.

3. Living with boys isn't easier than living with girls like I had thought. It's definitely a lot more fun, but it's not easier.

4. Sometimes when people ask me how I am, I shouldn't take it so literally. Sometimes I should just say, "Good, how are you?".

5. The time I spent in Sevilla is virtually untouchable. It was that good.

6. You can't try to recreate something that was so good, it's nearly impossible.

7. I love a man with a beard.

8. No matter what, there are ALWAYS security cameras in the stairways of hotels. ALWAYS.

9. If I don't clean something during the day, I don't feel productive.

10. Big breasts are overrated.

11. Led Zeppelin is one of the best bands of all time.

12. Red lipstick is really hard to pull off.

13. People who don't put the effort in to keep in touch, don't deserve to be kept in touch with. So you have got to let them go.

14. I could eat sushi everyday and never get tired of it.

15. If I'm not reading a book, I feel like something is missing in my life.

16. Empathy is by far the best attribute a person can have. Use it wisely.

17. A girl should know how to walk in heels. And walk in them well.

18. Chivalry is not dead.

19. Pro-choice doesn't mean pro-abortion. Most women should be on birth control and take responsibility for their own actions.

20. If I'm ever mad at you, all you have to do is hug me.

21. "Sometimes people seem rad for a really long time. And then they aren't." Direct quote from Jonathan Lapham. Love that kid.

22. Dancing makes life better.

23.  I really want to own an old mom and pop bakery one day. And become a professional cake decorator.

24. When I'm a little tipsy, I apparently speak fluent Spanish. I can still hang when I'm sober though. :)

25. Sometimes things aren't what they seem, sometimes people aren't who they seem. Sometimes you can spend years loving someone and then suddenly stop. Sometimes when you stop loving someone you find yourself again, you realize maybe you never really loved them.

  --> In this I have learned that I like the person I am. I will no longer put my dreams aside for someone else's. I will no longer act the way someone wants me to act. I will no longer apologize for being emotional. I will no longer change the person I am, what I look like, or how I feel to better suit someone's life. I have learned that after 25 years of living, I will become who I want to be. And today I am who I want to be.

Cheers to the next 25!

Daddy Dearest

My dad's a funny little man. It's true, quite literally. I'd say he's pretty funny at times, and every year he seems to be shrinking. I have no idea why he's shrinking, well actually I do but that's neither here nor there. But now I don't feel so bad when he peaks his little head out around the corner and I say, "Whatcha doin' lil guy?".

I've been home for a few months now, doing normal things people do when they're home. Like being cut open a lot (again neither here nor there), helping my dad settle into retirement (seriously boring), and saving money (and not making any either, so I don't know if it's technically "saving" money but rather trying really hard to keep my bank account at a standstill). 

All of the above makes me realize how much I cannot wait to live alone. I've never lived alone. I haven't lived alone for the entire 25 (well almost 25, in two days) years I've been on this Earth. And I've had some crazy ass roommates. I've had roommates that throw my clothes out of our 6-story window and walk around naked in front of my boyfriend. I've had roommates that aren't really roommates because they're only there to do the three S's; shit, shower, and shave. I've had roommates who poor milk all over the entire apartment when they move out. And I've had roommates who make up songs entitled Making Fun Of Retarded Kids Ain't Funny, and blast Hanson until the wee hours of the morning. 

But living with a handful of people that can be classified as socially inept, hasn't even compared to being back home and living with my parents. So I'm here to vent because venting to my parents about how annoying it is being back home, only gets met with comments about how lucky I am to be mooching off of them the last few months. Yeah yeah yeah, I'll be out of your hair (in fact out of the country) in less than a week 'rents. 

- Top 10 Things That Drive Me Crazy About My Dad:

1. He's nearly deaf. I discovered this because I can have an entire conversation with the back of the man's head, and he won't even move a muscle. Also because the T.V only goes up to 60, and it's ALWAYS on 60. 

2. He drives at least 5 mph UNDER the speed limit. 

3. He chews the exact same amount of chews each time he places an item of food in his mouth. Three open mouth chews, followed by four closed mouth chews before swallowing. (It's stuff you notice after awhile...trust me).

4. He can sit in the same position for up to 8 hours a day, in a row. This is called retirement. 

5. He hoards paper. It's true. There are stacks and stacks of paper in the office. If you try to designate a little corner for your own important papers, they get swallowed whole and lost forever in less than 2.5 seconds. 

6. The man loves paper towels. I find little wadded up sheets of paper towels in places you wouldn't believe all over our house. Under the couch cushions, in the pantry, on the table, under the table, in the bed, in the laundry basket, anywhere BUT the trashcan. 

7. He's not the best conversationalist. I can be stomping around the house crying hysterically, laughing hysterically, or doing anything hysterically, and he won't have a word to say about it. Not one. 

8. He doesn't own a cell phone. 

9. He watches Smallville. 

10. He can't figure out the washing machine. The last time he put his clothes in the washer, he found some insane wash cycle I didn't even know existed, but apparently washes your clothes for FOUR HOURS! 

** Of course I can't say all these things that drive me insane about my dad, without saying 10 things that I really love about my dad. Because hey, it's true what they say. Family: you can't live with 'em, and you can't live without 'em. 

10 Things That I Absolutely Adore About My Dad:

1. He's worn the same exact pajamas every night since I was born, and probably before that. I find it endearing. 

2. He's an amazing photographer. One day when I'm all grown up and have my own place in Sevilla, Edinburgh or New York, I'll have every photograph he's ever taken on every wall in my apartment. 

3. He has to get his pants hemmed, even jeans. Because he's little....and cute. 

4. When I was younger I was convinced he was the real life Inspector Gadget. He looks just like him. 

5. He has amazing taste in music, and still owns every cassette tape and CD he's ever bought. And not to mention his itunes library. I can single handedly thank him for my obsession and dire love of the blues. 

6. He's an extremely positive person, and always has a good attitude...all things considered. And those things being considered are my mom, my brother and myself. We're hell. 

7. He's really crafty. MacGyver ain't got nothin' on pops. 

8. He tries really hard to make my mom happy. And that's really sweet because my mom is insane. (Mom if you're reading this, that is a compliment. People who are not insane are mundane and boring. People who are not insane have office jobs and business degrees, thus being mundane and boring. Without your insanity we all would be nowhere).

9. He's probably the most genuine person I've ever met. 

10. He's really old fashioned, and I love that. He's into wooing, opening doors, saying please and thank you, trying harder, stuff like that. I'll marry a man like that one day. 

So dad, I guess I kinda like you sometimes. But I hope I never have to move home again. :)  

                                          Graduation 2009       
   

Is authenticity achievable while traveling?

Last night I was trying to fall asleep thinking about the usual three things I tend to think about before bed. 1) Whether or not my current situation could be a topic for the Oprah show. 2) Listing all the things I would say if I ever came across the person I hate the most. And 3) Where I'm going next, the people I'm going to meet, and the epic adventures I have encountered in the past.

But that's really beside the point. As far back as I can remember, my family and I have been moving around. I don't think we've ever lived in one place for more than four years maximum, and personally I've never lived anywhere longer than a year. I've changed apartments, houses, counties, every six months since I was 18 and moved away from "home".

While I have the drive to keep moving around, to keep traveling, to experience everything I can, sometimes I wonder just how much this 24-hour chaos is affecting me. Everyone always talks about their childhood best friends, or even their current best friends. I think I could name a "best" friend in every town I've ever lived in. But to say that I still keep in touch with all of them, or even half the people I've come across in my short lived life, would be a complete lie.

That's a little troubling for me. To me, the most important thing about life is the people we come in contact with, the lives we affect, and the people who affect ours. I am truly, genuinely interested in making authentic friendships and relationships. And to be honest, that has been really hard thus far. When you're constantly moving, traveling, and planning next trips it makes time and effort to get to know people rather difficult. For some. But not for me.

I sometimes wish everyone had the same desire. The simple desire to get to know another person, to affect and be affected. I know that acquaintances and small talk are unavoidable while living this life. But I'm constantly searching for something else, something a little more substantial.

And while I'm writing this I realize maybe it's not just the authentic relationships that I'm looking for. Maybe I'm looking for authentic experiences, to experience a new place, or a new life. I just know that for so long I was looking for these things, and in reality I wasn't being authentic to myself.

Confused yet? So am I. What I do know is this: if I meet you along the way, I promise that I will be genuinely interested in getting to know you, in what you're doing, and how you are. And I expect nothing more or nothing less in return. If you are a person, a country, or a book I read....I will be true to you. Because that's the way life should be.

I do not regret moving around all the time, or making my life a vagabond of sorts. Do I wish that I had a constant circle of friends and people I love around me? Sometimes. But I'm simply not satisfied with that kind of life.

"Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired." -Mother Theresa

I also think it's amazing that at any given moment my life can be explained by a Led Zeppelin song. So cheers to rambling on, moving on, and traveling on. 

I Am Officially A Lost Girl

I did it! I'm lost in the best sense of the word that is. Awhile back I wrote a guest blog post for one of my favorite travel blogs. And they finally posted it!

You can check out my blog post about tattoos (similar to the one posted here on my blog with some minor changes and tips as well) at their site :

http://lostgirlsworld.com/

Comments are welcome as always!