"It's okay if you mess up. You should give yourself a break."- Billy Joel

"You, my friend, are a victim of disorganized thinking. You are under the unfortunate impression that just because you run away you have no courage; you're confusing courage with wisdom."

- The Wizard, Wizard of Oz

Neville Longbottom, Hurley (Hugo), Charlie Brown, and the Cowardly Lion.  These are all (fictional) people/creatures I've been thinking a lot about in the past week.  Not because they were background people in their stories, but because of the courage and strength they developed over time.  I look up to them.  I mean, yes there are real life people I look up to for these characteristics as well, but sometimes it's easier to understand the person when they aren't "real."  

Anywho another thing I've noticed is the funny memories that a movie, song, or saying can bring about.  I'll be at work and start cracking up over a memory triggered by a song (Adwoa and Jaime can vouch for that), or how watching part of The Hangover makes me think about classes I took at FSU.  Some songs have been related to family members or even Paddington Bear.  I enjoy the fact that I get to make new memories out of old ones with my niece (who I get to hangout with for a week in July!).  I'm really hoping that The Gingerbread Man is one of her favorite books when she's older.

Lastly, the best way to end this rainy day would have to be curled up in bed watching The Hangover :)

Summer Wordless Wednesday

"Never say you're fine when you're not okay. Never say you feel good when you feel bad. And never say you're alone when GOD is next to you."- Madea Simmons

"Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets,
So love the people who treat you right and forget the ones that don't and believe that everything happens for a reason.
If you get a chance,
Take it.
If you it changes your life,
Let it.
Nobody said that it'd be easy, they just promised it would be worth it."
- Anonymous

I'm learning.  I'm learning a lot actually.  Life is handing me plenty of lemons to make lemonade with, some of them I'm letting rot before using, others I'm using before they're ripe enough (I can be bad with analogies sometimes so pardon me if this gets too corny for you)*.  I'm learning to let things happen in God's time and to not take things so seriously, or more seriously depending on the issue.

In the past week I've been on a roller coaster, and I'm not just saying this because I drove Trestle Ridge Road to get to McCartney Resort this week, which will make your stomach turn if you're under the right circumstances.  I've felt physical pain (stepped on glass), been physically exhausted (spent probably 22+ hours in a car this weekend), emotionally exhausted (was scolded by several friends over an incident where I didn't think to use my better judgement), and overwhelmed with joy (got to hangout with Mallory and watch Katie and Chris get married).  I want to stop hitting these road blocks in my mind that people have started pointing out  to me, which I'm appreciating at the same time.  I want to work past my fears, not just look them in the eye, but legitimately stand up to them.  I just don't know how to do that though.  I talk it out with Becca, Sam, Justin, Dave and Josh (when we're actually able to talk), but they still haunt me before I close my eyes at night.

While I'm not scared of the future, I'm scared of what the future may bring to me, especially since I won't have school on my mind when August comes around.  I'm scared of losing Justin when he leaves for OCS, because he's always there to keep me calm since Mallory and Josh aren't in town.  I'm scared that I won't be strong enough to improve and change what I need to to stay a strong influential Christian to my peers, because God knows I have a ton to improve upon.  I'm starting to lose faith in myself as an individual, but not in Christ, which is a plus I guess.

I don't know, sometimes I just feel so beaten down even when I'm having a good day, week, month, or year (haha, now I have the Friends theme song running through my head).  A surprising up lifter though came from Adam W this weekend though.  During a talk in the parking lot after the wedding/reception festivities ended Mallory and Adam were poking fun at me (what's new, eh?) when Adam said: Sometimes I think we take too much credit away from Lynn.  It made me feel like maybe in all my clumsiness over the last 5 years, all of my failures with school, that maybe I had/have been doing something right.  I mean I know I'm an easy target (Come on, how many people do you know who can swallow a thumbtack, or get hit by a bird while driving, or trip over her own two feet every single day?), but just to hear someone actually say something like that made me just feel at ease with my troubles, even if it was only for a second.

I'm not meaning for this to sound depressing, it's not meant to be.  And I don't want a pity party either.  I just needed to get these thoughts out of my head and since I'm not sure when I'll be walking Lake Ella again (Sam, make it happen) as my therapy for verbal diarrhea/thinking session blogging was the next best thing.  I mean I'm actually sitting here chuckling at myself.  Sometimes I feel crazy when I write blogs like this, other times I feel average, and then there are nights like tonight when I wish Freud were still alive to do a study on me just because I know he'd have a field day.

*SIGH*, yup, my big sigh of relief.  Hopefully now I can get a good nights rest, although I still think I'm having night terrors after watching Paranormal Activity a couple of weeks ago.

Oh and lastly, anyone want to see Mr. Popper's Penguins with me this week!?  Think about it Jim Carrey AND one of my favorite animals Penguins!  Okay, just let me know if you're down, we can talk day and times later :) 

*My favorite bad analogy came 3 years ago when I was moving into McCartney Motel.  Adam and Mallory were helping me move furniture and it was 1-2am when I said "Oh yeah, what does that have to do with the price of soap in Africa" trying to be wittier than just saying "the cost of tea in China."  Let's just say it didn't work out the way I had planned, lol.

Wordless Wednesday :)

This Too Shall Pass...

I guess I've listened to Jim Gaffigan too much at work, but I love his Hot Pocket sketch for some reason.

Anywho, I'm starting to figure out how to blog again!  Mainly because my schedule is starting to slow down (11 days till the craziness ends!).  One thing that I am struggling with when I write though is it's either depressing, at least to me it is, or I forget what my genius idea for a post was.  I'm trying to make my posts more positive because I feel for a while there I was writing somewhat negative things, but such is life.  I always want to share the bad, but never the good.  AND while I have been more open in my writing there are still plenty of things I continue to hold back on.

On the plus side though I'm 3 episodes into LOST season 5.  After several years I FINALLY bought my favorite Tyler Hilton cd on iTunes.  Oh and I'm already working on thoughts for my next post, inspired by a combination of my friends Dave and Jonathan.

Lastly, this was the song that started off my day at work, let's just say it was EPIC:

"My Mama always said you've got to put the past behind you before you can move on." - Forrest Gump

It's been awhile...

"If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Wanta change the world?
There's nothing
To it."

- Willy Wonka, Pure Imagination

So much has happened in the last month.  I'm officially a graduate of The Florida State University with a degree in Family and Child Sciences, minor in Psychology.  I am full time at work, which as most of you know can be crazy, but I love it.  I'm also just trying to figure somethings out as I transition into more of an adult lifestyle.

I don't think it will fully hit me until August that I've graduated, since that's when I would normally be getting ready for classes.  I've also been planning little monthly trips for all the spare time I'll have to travel compared to before.  The current list is:

• June - Katie and Chris's Wedding in Georgia
• July - Live Oak for Josh and Bri's Wedding
• August - Disney with Mallory?
• September - Clemson for some football!
• October - nothing yet
• November - Thanksgiving, usually in St. Augustine
• December - Bowl game?

That covers the end of the year, but I'm planning on making some trips to Tampa/Orlando between Jan.-April for some hockey (whenever the Capitals or Penguins play the Lightning I'm gonna try and go down).

I'm slowing down on my Lost watching, which saddens me, but such is life.  I know I'll be able to finish it when work slows down again.  But the good news is I'm almost half way done with Season 4 and I've loving every twist and turn that comes with it.  I just need to pick back up on Season 4 of The West Wing again soon.  I feel I'm sensing a pattern here (slowing down tv series during season 4?) and it can't be good for when I try to watch other shows, like Dexter and How I Met Your Mother, which are on my list.

I'm currently waiting for my computer to return from Dell.  The  warranty is up in just over 175 days so I'm getting last minute things fixed, missing screws, a broken monitor hinge, etc.  It's stressful having to use a different computer (even though it's my dad's).

Also I'm trying to be more spontaneous with my life, I sometimes feel I haven't lived enough and think this will fix it.  Please try and help if you have any ideas for a sudden trip (that fits in with my work schedule, see my Facebook note as a reference for that) or plans.

Lastly, I've started following a friends plan for Super Awesome Workout Summer (SAWS!!!!!).  Sam and I are walking Lake Ella downtown at night when we're both free from work.  Our goal is to do this three times a week, but we've been slow to follow through with that.  However, today we did 5 laps which we calculated to be 4 miles!  I'm super excited about this because once we hit 13 miles for 3 continuous days I'm gonna start running it so I can work up to 26 miles.  

    *Side note:  I've had a goal in my mind for a couple of years now that one day I will run a marathon with my brother, Josh, so this is me starting to get ready for that to come true one day.  (Surprise if you're reading this Josh :))