This One's For You

To any girl reading this:
I've been thinking about my life and all the lessons I've learned and I thought....if I could share anything I've learned in life...what would it be?  What advice would I give my sisters? It's taken me a lot of heart and hurt to learn the lessons I have on
 1. Friends
 2. Boys
 3. Yourself

Friends.
Who you invest your time into should be willing to invest the same amount of time in you.  You should never feel like less than who you are with your friends. Don't feel like you have to compete with your friends.  If you ever feel like someone isn't supportive of you or they are not happy for your happiness...they are not your friend. You should never feel like who you are isn't accepted with your friends.  Sometimes your friends will be the worst...and sometimes so will you.  Look deeper at people.  Forgive.  Friendship takes so much forgiving and someday you'll need the same forgiveness that you give.

Boys.
A part of me wants to write "boys are dumb" and leave it at that....but you already know that.  I think the main thing I've learned when it comes to boys is that no matter what...they can't define you.  One day you might give your heart to someone who just doesn't know what to do with it.  This will hurt.  This will hurt so much.  It does not mean that someone someday won't see the depth of the love you have and be willing to swim deeper rather than stay on the shore.  One day you might realize that the boy you love isn't the boy you are supposed to love.  That's ok too.  It's ok to say no to something or someone.

Yourself.
Whoever you are is the perfect person to be.  Sometimes you will feel like you're too loud or too quiet.  Sometimes you will feel like your heart could burst with all the love you're capable of sharing.  Sometimes you will feel like your heart could burst with all the love that you feel will never been reciprocated.  Sometimes you will cry or maybe you will never cry.  Sometimes you will be best friends with everyone and sometimes you will need to be alone.
All of this. Every single thing is ok.  It's ok to feel and be all of these things.  Be who you are.  Love yourself and never apologize for what that might be.  Love with everything you have, laugh too loud, dance too much.  Live life on your own terms.  Anybody who is worth having in your life will accept who you are.  Every single part of you.  Don't waste time on those who don't see you and appreciate everything you have to give.

xoxo

V

Happy Things

I'm feeling a little sappy today.  I'm not sure why but I just feel very lucky and blessed.  I think of all the amazing people I have in my life and I seriously almost weep.  I spent the weekend with my group of friends who I feel so lucky to have.  We're a rowdy bunch and we rag on each other but we laugh hysterically and when it all came down to it....I know they'd be there for me if I needed them.  I love our Tuesday night bowling nights and our Sunday "after hours" chats.  Bonfires, movies, games.....they're good eggs.

Friend dinner!

 Bonfires in the mountains....

Saturday lunch club

 Karyn made me a survival kit for gift....

 Conference watching, Facebook hacking, food making...we did a lot this weekend

We take better selfies than Ellen does

And NOW I get to spend the rest of the week with my family!  We're taking a vacation to California to visit more family and I'm so excited!!!!

Ahhhh life is good.

Who are you thankful for in your life.  Tell them.  

 I'm thankful for all of you too!  Your comments make my day so thank you thank you.

xoxo

V

Let's Chat

So normally I do my weekend collage but due to the events of the weekend....I'm just not feeling up to that....so I'm going to do more of a chatty little post if you don't mind.  We're all friends here so I know you won't.
This weekend was a strange one.  I'll spare you the details but we had a bit of a family emergency and then I ended up fighting off a major migraine and just wrapped the weekend up with a panic attack.  Delightful right?
I haven't had a panic attack in quite some time so this one totally took me by surprise....well most panic attacks take me by surprise. All of a sudden I couldn't breathe and I was crying for no reason. That's just one of the many reasons why a panic attack is the queen of all mean girls.  She teases you, hurts you, makes you feel like you will never feel okay again and her timing is a bitch!  Tonight it happened right as I was about to go hang out with some friends.  I hate when that happens.  One of the reasons why is that when it happens like that, all of your friends who don't understand just chalk it up to you being "anti social" or "boring".  That's not it at all.  I wanted to be social.  I wanted to have fun.  Unfortunately I was a little busy remembering how to breathe.  You can't just tell people that either because they think you're seeking attention or being dramatic.
I'm quite an extroverted person....I just happen to be an extrovert with severe social anxiety.  And I don't know how to explain that to my friends or how to explain it to anyone really.  So I just pretend I'm tired and hope that no one thinks I'm lame.  I found this quote on the internet and while it's a little dramatic it's the closest I've ever found in explaining how this anxiety or how a panic attack feels

I don't suffer so much from the depression side of it although I know a lot of people do.  It's hard.  All of it is hard.  We're all just trying our best and we want to feel "normal".  So be kind to each other out there because you have no idea what anyone else is going through or why they do the things they do.

Other than all of that my weekend was great ;)

Tell me your happy weekend stories....or not so happy.  I don't mind listening to either.  

xoxo

V