oh Oprah

Funny thing from this website

They Do Have A Point
Movie Theater | Durham, NC, USA

Customer: “I want two tickets to Precious.”

Me: “I’m sorry, that doesn’t come out in this state until the 20th. It only opened limited in a few states today, but no theater in North Carolina will get it until November 20th.”

Customer: “I looked on the website! It said you had it!”

Me: “Please come inside to the customer service counter.”

(I pull up our website and the Precious movie website.)

Me: “See, both sites say that it doesn’t open here until the 20th. Sorry about the mix up.”

Customer: “But Oprah said it would be playing!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but Oprah has no control over our movie schedules.”

Customer: “Oprah controls EVERYTHING!”

parts of yesterday get tattooed on your soul....

Ever notice how certain things instantly make you think of specific people for perhaps no reason at all? Or maybe there is a reason, but generally one that you don't want to remember. Things change, people move on, and you will never be the way you were before. That's all part of life. We all know that... but it doesn't change the fact that it hurts.

Recently there have been lots of changes for people from my high school. Girls I have known since I was 13 are getting pregnant. People who dated in high school are engaged. Boys who dates friends are becoming fathers. It is so scary. Maybe they are happy with those decisions. Maybe those are great decisions for them, but they aren't for me. It makes me happy to be where I am in my life. I am so lucky to be on this wonderful adventure in Spain and at least trying to figure out who I am, what I want to do, and meeting people who will be life long friends from this trip on.

I don't really know what to say about the ways my life has changed since I was in high school. But there have been many different things that have shaped who I am today. Sometimes I still miss the friends I had back then. Sometimes I miss the boys I dated or the parties I went to. But I would never ever go back to the pain that I went through back then. There are just some things that make me remember those people and sometimes I wish I could just pick up the phone and text those people and tell them that I was reminded of them at that moment. However, I can't. There is too much that has happened since then and lost of them are not my friends anymore because too much has gone down and we have hurt each other too bad. That doesn't keep me from missing them sometimes, though. That doesn't keep me from thinking about them or going on their Facebook pages every once and a while just to see how they are doing and make sure that they are happy.

There are things that I experience every single day that make me think of people from my past. There are certain songs, pictures, books, or experiences that will forever take me back and make me think of those people, and those memories are not always good. A lot of times, the memories are painful and make my heart tighten and make it just a little bit harder to breathe.

Anyway, I hope that all those people from my past know that I still think about them and care about them no matter how much has changed in our lives. No matter how many mean things we said about each other, no matter if we haven't seen each other since we were 18 and walked across the stage at graduation, or if we just simply lost touch. We may never be part of each others' lives again, but you touched my life in so many ways and I still think about you and wish the best for you.

This song, for some reason, makes me think of all those people. I heard it a while ago and I just love whenever it comes up on my iPod. I hope you enjoy it too.

My exciting life

(847): So I am drinking whiskey and watching home alone 2 by myself. It turns out moving to a foreign country isn’t all that different after all.

This is actually surprisingly relevant to my life (minus the alcohol) considering I am sitting in my bed, watching online TV, drinking hot chocolate, and eating Oreos and peanut butter.

Apparently I live a very uneventful life no matter where I am in the world.

Capeside

Have you ever gone back and thought about shows that were on TV when you were younger, but you never watched? Or maybe you did watch them when they were first on TV, and now they are back as reruns and it is nearly impossible to ignore them and change the channel or turn off the TV. I do that all the time.

Recently, I have been watching the terrible 90's soap opera "Dawson's Creek." I mean, this show has terrible acting, ridiculous story lines, and is right up my alley. Anybody who knows me knows that no matter what show I start watching, I get addicted. So, I am about three quarters through the first season, and even though I can't handle the acting and the characters, I can't stop watching it. Now, I wouldn't necessarily recommend the show to anybody, but then again, if you're looking for a show to get addicted to, check it out.

Dawson's Creek.... 90's soap opera

Joey, Dawson, Jen, Pacey

The boys in the show aren't even that attractive! At least they weren't when the show was filmed. Now, however, the main characters haven't done too bad for themselves.

Michelle Williams (Jen Lindley)

Joshua Jackson (Pacey Witter)

Katie Holmes (Joey Potter)

James Van Der Beek (Dawson Leery) ... he also happened to be in one of my favorite shows of all time: One Tree Hill. I have to say, he is much more attractive now than he was on Dawson's Creek.

The Color of Confidence

I am sitting in the Valladolid train station waiting for my train to leave at 12:40. I have been meaning to write this entry for a while, but I never seem to have the time.  Although I don’t have internet at the moment, I will save this as a word document and then copy and paste it to my blog.

One of the first things I noticed when I got to Valladolid was the color red. Us girls were sitting on the bus that had brought us from Madrid to Valladolid, and we were looking out the windows at our future Spanish Mamás. There was one Mamá with super cute red shoes and a red purse to match. She was my mamá.

That day she toured me around the city. We took the bus, walked around, and she showed me everything that I needed to see in order to survive in this city. Once again, one of the things I noticed was the color red.

Red is everywhere in this city. Women wear red shoes, they have red jackets, red purses, women and men alike wear red pants, even as I’m sitting here waiting for my train, at least three people have red suitcases. What is it about this color that calls out to people? Why do all these Spanish women (and men) have such a fixation with the color?

It’s not just because the color has so many beautiful shades and is such a fashion statement (although that’s a definite bonus). It’s because red is the color of confidence.

Maybe red doesn’t scream “confidence” to you. Maybe you think the color of confidence is blue, or yellow, or green. There is one thing that all of these colors have in common though. Each of these colors is going to catch your eye. Each of these colors is going to cause people to turn their heads and watch you.

I’m sure everybody has experienced this sensation: You wake up in the morning and decide that you are going to put just a little bit more effort into getting dressed. You put on your favorite pair of jeans and a cute shirt… not just the default Hanes white-t that you normally gravitate towards. Maybe you also put on a cute pair of boots or the adorable sandals you bought the other day. What is missing though? Looking a bit better than you do on other days isn’t going to turn heads. Lets face it, that is your goal, right? You want to make people notice you. You want to show them that you have self respect, self esteem, self awareness, and self confidence. When you want people to notice, what do you do? Wear a bright color! No matter if people normally notice you or not, bright colors always catch people’s eyes.

This is why the color red says “confidence” to me. In order to wear red you need to have a certain level of confidence. The color red is what causes people to turn their heads and stare at you. If you are uncomfortable with people looking, you’re not going to wear a color that stands out in a crowd; you are going to wear a color that makes you blend in and fade to the background. Red does just the opposite.

Red is the color of confidence because it says “look world, I’m here and I’m not afraid to be noticed!”

Red is the color of confidence because it is noticeable, and who can make a difference if they fade to the background?

Unfortunately, I am not confident enough to wear red. Yeah, I’ve got that pair of Jessica Simpson red stiletto high heels in my closet. I’ve only worn them once. In high school I had a red Abercrombie sweatshirt that I wore, but I stopped wearing it well, mainly because it was Abercrombie, but also because I didn’t like the way it made me feel like I was the person who was standing out in the crowd. In fact, just yesterday I returned a pair of red flats to the shoe store because I couldn't see myself wearing such bright colored shoes.

I’m working my way up to the level of confidence that will allow me to be the girl in the red shoes and red jacked who catches everyone’s eye. I’ve been paying attention to the red jackets that all the women here wear. Maybe I’ll get one and wean myself away from the mentality that I shouldn’t stand out. Maybe I’ll buy a pair of red shoes that I can wear with dark jeans and a black t-shirt so that just my feet stand out (no pun intended).

Maybe, by the end of this trip, I’ll have the confidence to wear red, strike up a conversation with the cute boy across the aisle on the bus, or stand out in a crowd.

Until then, I’ll sit here in my (super cute) dark grey pea coat and bright teal scarf, hoping I don’t stand out.

But wait… if everybody else is wearing red, and I’m wearing teal, does that mean I am the one who is standing out, not them? Maybe I have more confidence than I think.

I think it takes a certain level of confidence for someone to fly halfway around the world and live in a foreign country for three months. It takes a certain level of confidence to not just learn, but want to learn how to communicate in a language that you weren’t raised speaking. I don’t quite have that confidence yet. It still scares me to death to walk into the grocery store and talk to the lady at the checkout, to communicate with the lady at the cell phone store because Maryn lost hers and can’t figure out how to get a new one, or to talk to my mamá and be able to actually carry on an intelligent conversation without stumbling on my words. Yeah, that all takes confidence and I’m not quite there yet, but I’m working on it. I guess that is one more thing I will add to my list of things to accomplish before I leave Spain.

¿Y tú? What is your color of confidence? What color or accessory do you wear when you want the world to know that you are there and ready to be noticed?