I will go in this way, and find my own way out

I have had the most amazing revelation that I haven't experienced in quite some time. I have learned that the older I get, the more I care about the bigger things, rather than the smaller things. Moving here has obviously changed my attitude--but for the better. I used to get so stressed out, so aggravated about all the things that were out of my control and for the longest time... I was depressed. I never knew these things until I went back home and figured it all out. I am where I belong.

I am not saying anything against Louisville, the people there, and the fact that I miss them more or less. I am saying that I never realized that it was in my best possible interest to get away. I feel like I can breathe here. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I can focus on myself. As selfish as it sounds, I have never been able to focus on nothing but me for the longest time. I constantly worry about my family, what is going on in their lives and I tend to ignore what is going on in mine. I did not focus on my priorities and what I needed to do to get my life together. I am so happy right now. Living here may be extremely difficult at times, and can be very lonely, but I am slowly learning more and more about myself.

 I have learned that I can sit in silence in my apartment. I can do things by myself and for myself without any help. I can build on this relationship with Vic that I have been trying to mend since we've been together. What I mean by that is, that I am extremely difficult in relationships. I tend to pick on the negatives rather than focus on the positives because deep inside I wonder if I am good enough. Most fights I have with significant others are solely based upon my own insecurities and feelings of self worth. I have also been in numerous casual relationships that never went anywhere, so it is extremely difficult for me to stay committed to one person for such a long time. I am proud to say that Vic and I have been together going on four years, and though it has had its many ups and downs, it continues to get stronger. And I have noticed quite a change in myself while being with him. Moving here has had its many perks of creating good changes, but the number one perk in my opinion, is the toll it has taken on our relationship.

I was so worried before we moved that it was going to either make us or break us. With me being a negative nancy sometimes, I thought it would break us. Turns out, I could not have been more wrong. I see the subtle difference in our disagreements, and how we have picked our battles and maintained an honest friendship out of this whole situation. As for myself, I can no longer see myself with anyone else but him. I am so grateful for the person he is, and the person he makes in me. I know a lot of people say this, but I am truly the luckiest. I couldnt have asked for a better person to share this experience with. He has made every bad day good, and every good day even better.

Besides this whole epiphany thing I've got going on, I have also been studying like a mad person and trying to maintain a healthy diet. It is not easy by any means. I have tried to make time out of the day to exercise more and eat a more substantial meal rather than "college food" which consists of cheese and crackers, toast, and anything carb-related. I am going to try to make it my ultimate goal to feel better about myself, outside as well as in. In progress....

In other news, we are in the process of looking for another apartment. I cannot believe it has almost been a year. In just 3 shorts months, I will officially be a California State Resident. Wow... Crazy to think how time flies. I cannot play the whole "I just moved here" card any longer. Although, I am sure I can pull it off since everyone can tell I am from the South since my "accent" is so non-California-like. Either way, I am pretty stoked to be able to pay a hell of a lot less on student fees and be able to take a full semester without taking out thousands of dollars in loans. :-/ Pause for reaction. Ughhh, the good news there is that I am saving a LOT of money by going to school here than I would be going somewhere like UofL or IU. In fact, I will be attending a much better school (UCLA---fingers crossed!)... We shall see....

I am so ready for the summer! Time for nights in Santa Monica, walking around the Venice Beach Boardwalk; Diana may come visit, Ashley is coming in for a visit... and a break from school. Dream.Come.True.!!! Hopefully, this semester will end smoothly and I can enjoy my break and be able to see the ones I love again. Until then....<3

My memory is cruel, I'm queen of attention to details.

It's hard to believe that we have been living here 8 months already. Wow. I am already online looking for apartments, and I am just shocked. It feels like yesterday when we were looking at apartments when we were in Kentucky. My, how time goes by... and yet it feels like a lifetime ago at the same time. Weird. 

I just bought my plane ticket to go home this Sunday and I could not be more excited. It was definitely not cheap, but it will be worth every single penny the minute I wrap my arms around my beautiful 5 year old niece. I have missed her little face so much. I have missed hugging her, talking walks with her, and really... just watching her grow up. I know it has only been a short time in hindsight, but I feel like she has gotten incredibly massive since the last time I have seen her. I cannot wait to squeeze the life (not literally, of course) out of my twin sister and Chloe. It will be amazing.

Then, of course, it will always be awesome to see my friends and other family members as well. It has been really tough being away from everyone and everything that I know. It will be really nice to see people and things that are familiar and not so...foreign??

I am having a hard time in school right now. When I first started college, I had this big wave of confidence flowing through that I never felt before. When I was in high school, I was a total screw up. Of course, I loved my Creative Writing classes, being in Chorus, but other than that... I never tried. I missed a lot of school, and I was dealing with so many issues at the time with my parents and everything else that seemed to be surrounding my home life. It was extremely difficult to get back into the swing of things. I got up one day, went to some classes to help me out with my Math skills so I could pass the GED. I received my diploma about 2 years ago and have been taking college courses ever since. I cannot say it was an almost impossible road;  it wasn't by any means... it was just a rocky one. Since then, I have made a vow to myself that I would be the student I always wanted to be, and the student I should have been while attending JHS. I have maintained a high GPA, been invited to study abroad with a full-on scholarship through my Honor's Society, and have had so much support and respect around me. It has been an amazing ride thus far. However, this semester is somewhat a little different.

My instructor for one of my classes tends to be very arrogant, and very assumptive. Some days he walks in there, and just expects his students to screw up. For a while, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and tried to write off his arrogance as brilliance. He is very brilliant, he has wrote many books that are amazing and most inspiring. Believe me, we are reading all of them in his class as our reading material. I have a hard time reading about his memoirs; his painful childhood as being abused by his father. It is so unsettling. And what is worse, is that I have to write essays throughout the course about his retched past. Sound interesting? Absolutely not. This is where my tuition money is going...really?! I mean, I want to read Shakespeare, literature from aspiring writers who captivate my attention. I don't want to read about my 65 year old's father being a total douche bag. I mean, seriously.... I am not trying to be insensitive, but I just don't see why any of this is relevant to the course. I am saddened by his childhood, but everyone has some sort of issue they have all dealt with in their lives. My childhood was definitely not peachy, but I am not going to instruct a class with nothing but my students reading about  my alcoholic father and what happened to me when I was younger. No one wants to fucking read that. It's awkward. I am just going to have to suck it up and try to push through this one. I cannot drop the class, that doesn't do me any good and it certainly won't be showing any validation. I am going to try everything in my power to not let his smugness get to me, and score an A in his course. I hate kissing ass, but if that is what I have to do to keep my GPA, I will do it. 

Meanwhile, I am trying to let go. I have the hardest time letting things and people in my past go, but what good does it do holding on to it? I am not sure why I do this to myself, but I always seem to set myself up for failure when I make an attempt to try to keep things/people in my life for the sake of having closure. I guess it's time to learn how to have closure within myself. That's about all I can do in matters of these situations. I am lucky to have the things and people that I have in my life. As long as I hold on to what is the most important and not focus on what's not, I can try to move forward with my life.

That's all folks. See you down south.

Wish You Were Here

I can't believe that it has been six years. Hard to believe when life happens so quickly, and you can barely keep up with it. I try not to get all down and dopey when it comes to this time of year, but I cant help but think about it and wish there was something I could do to take my mind off of it. It does seem to get easier though. I don't really cry anymore, which is kind of ridiculous if you think about it. But then again, that's me. I think the hardest thing about it, is knowing that so many things were left unanswered. Maybe that is the reason why I cannot let anything go, why all I want is closure out of everything. We never really got that. I lost a good friend that taught me everything about music, who really opened me up and was there on the days that hurt the worst in high school. I lost the first guy I ever loved. It is hard to be upset about it though, knowing that I gained in this situation. I got to know this person, he got to be part of my life. As said at the funeral, "I don't feel sorry for the people who lost Kyle, I feel sorry for the people who never got to know him." Pretty amazing perspective, if you ask me. I know if he were still here now, he would be proud of me... and he would think that what I was doing was 'pretty fuckin' cool'... I sometimes think he is still with me, as cliche as it sounds.. it helps a lot. A part of him will always be with me. Here's to you, old friend. I am lighting a stick of incense and listening to some Dave Matthews Band in your memory. You were the greatest.

Guess I could have made it easier on myself, but I could never follow.

I find it hard to keep my composure when everything seems to be going aerie. I am having a hard time dealing with the cards I have been dealt with lately, and I can't help but lose my strength when I pass by my neighbors' houses' and see them and their friends/families laughing and having a good time, drinking, playing cards... things I could be doing if I were at home. But instead, I spend my nights off watching TV, doing laundry, and calling everyone in my phone book when I used to HATE talking on the phone. I am obsessed now. You would think I am back in high school. I am completely lonely. Me and Vic are on complete opposite schedules and some days we only see each other for a half hour... if we are lucky. By the time he gets off work, I am usually in bed or ready to go to bed. It's terrible. Living here has it's many perks, but right now... this is becoming somewhat miserable. I hate to be complaining about it, because I know I am not the only one in the world that is going through this, I am just not used to it and I took for granted all the times I had off with Vic... and life was just so much easier when we lived back home. But I guess we weren't looking for the easy life when we moved here. It is supposed to be harder, it is supposed to be like this. I can already feel my skin getting thicker and I know that I will come out a much stronger person and that some day things will get easier and better. 

We had friends come and visit us last week and it was so nice. I have missed my best friend so much. We took them out to the beaches, went to Griffith Park, on a night time TV show and even spotted A.C. Slater at the Grove doing the Extra show.. pretty cool! And even though this contradicts what I was talking about in the previous paragraph, I still can't believe how lucky  I am to live here. It makes the hard days a little easier when I know that I have made it here, and that I proved everyone wrong by making it in LA and staying in one piece (most of the time anyway)...

I start my classes tomorrow. I am not fully registered, but my goal is to go to every single class that I need to take from 8 am to 6 pm and try to get enrolled by the instructor. Ahhhh I have tried to register from day one but classes filled up so fast so this is the only option I have. Sucks. It was sooo much easier at JCC. Buuutttt, this campus is soo nice and I can tell I am going to love it here. I am looking forward to keeping my GPA up and focusing on school so that work won't seem like the only thing I have going on in my life. I am really excited, even with all of the stress. It will be totally worth it. 

Settling in, finally.

So I have been trying to get into yoga lately. The problem there, is that I am also trying to learn to be more disciplined to work out at home. As much as I say, "I'll wake up early and work out before I have to get ready for work"... it never seems to work out. So instead, I end up working out on days where I have off and overdo it to compensate for all the days I don't work out resulting me to be completely sore, feeling like a 75 year old woman on the night I have off. Needless to say, I am camping on my couch tonight listening to music, drinking a glass of wine and catching up on my blog.

Happy 2012! I fully intend on having one of the best years yet.... and it is already off to a good start. I am here. I am in a place where a year ago I didn't think I would actually get to. Everyone had their doubts, even myself. I thought that for some reason, the very last minute..something would end up messing our whole plan up and we would end up staying in KY and proving everyone right. Well, we were all wrong I guess. I know I had it in me, but at the same time... I have overly impressed myself by actually going through with it and staying in one piece. I am completely homesick on days where nothing seems to go right, but obviously that is natural. Most days, I'd say, I am completely healthy and content where I am.

School and work are both equally making life very hectic at the moment. I don't know why getting back into the swing of things has to be so difficult. After all, I am trying to be productive and do the right thing.... so why does it have to be this hard? I have been busting my butt at work for really, nothing. The only plus to the whole work thing.. is that I have met some pretty awesome people. Some of which I have become pretty good friends with. That's always a good start in a new town. Having friends goes a long way if you're in my situation. I have also been able to pay my bills and have some left over for play time. Although, here lately, I feel as if I have been waiting tables for so long now that I am completely burnt out and the only thing I want to do is something that will benefit me in my future. I think it's probably because I am wayyy overdue to get back into school. 2 more weeks and the fun begins! And I am sure in a couple weeks, I will still be rambling on about how stressed I am, and how much school is pissing me off. Alas, that is life. "Salavi".

My parents and I have gotten extremely close since I've moved to California. It's amazing how much my dad wants to talk on the phone now. When I lived home, he didn't even make a genuine effort to see me in person, but now.... I can't get off the phone with the man! I absolutely love it. We email each other, we send pictures and presents in the mail. I guess it's true when they say "you don't know what you have till it's gone"... I'm just glad we are so incredibly close. I can't wait to see them again. I miss them in ways I didn't think I could. Especially my nieces. I can't wait to see Chloe again and squeeze the life out of her (not literally, obviously)... but, gosh.... do I miss having her sweet little face around. Christina and Audrey moved back to Seattle with Steve, so I am glad they are at least in the same time zone. They came to visit around Christmas time, and it was absolutely wonderful. I couldn't have asked for a better time for them to come visit. I can't wait till we are able to make trips halfway to see each other. I love my sisters sooo much, they are seriously the best friends I could ever ask for. I am so lucky.

Speaking of best friends, my best friend of 13 years is coming to visit next week. I can't tell you how stoked I am to see her, to show her around LA and really, I am mostly excited about the 4 of us just hanging around the apartment, playing euchre and catching up. I am sooo needing a visit from a good friend right now! That is always something to look forward to... and I will be visiting home for Spring Break in April. Sooo many things to be excited about. Hopefully things will smooth out with school and work, and I can sit back and let it happen. Easier said than done, right? Well goodnight all..... till next time <3

how many special people change?

Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and change some of the things that I have done or said that made certain people in my life steer away from me. I am at a loss of words when it comes to explaining why I cannot let things go, why I can't let people go. I just can't tell you. I try not to have regrets in my life. Everything I have been through has taught me something that has made me wiser and stronger than ever. Why waste negative energy on something that has changed you as a person? I guess I want people to see me a certain way. It's like I see myself, and though I think it might be pretty amazing... I see the damaged parts of myself. I see all that went wrong in my life and I have nothing but doubt and insecurities left. All the people that are close with me in my life can see it too, but I still try to remain mysterious. I don't know why I try so hard. I am 25 years old. I have nothing to hide and everything I say or do usually ends up out in the open anyway, so why do I even bother? What do I have to lose? I have a somewhat decent job, I have an amazing boyfriend that I am so grateful for, I am doing extremely well in my academics, my friends are great, my family... well, my sisters are amazing. I have really no complaints. I live a good life and I have accomplished a lot in my life that some will never do in their lifetime. (I am really not trying to brag here, just trying to give myself a confidence boost) ... And yet, confidence seems to be the only thing I am lacking. How come I can see and realize everything that I have done and been through, and not really give myself credit for it? I can be so hard on myself.... but I think that comes with a life that has been somewhat tainted. I can't go back 20 years ago and change what happened to me. I can't keep living in denial that what happened to me was normal and how I was raised was just like everyone else. Cause it wasn't. I have to live with that everyday. I know the outcomes of my behaviors are solely based upon what I have been through. I can try to change it. I can go to therapy, take medicine, whatever... but I choose not to. I choose to just live with it and occasionally think about it at the worst time possible. I don't want to medicate myself... been there, done that. I want to live with the pain and not feel numb to it. I just want to let it go. How do I do that? I am a Psychology major that wants to be a counselor to young teens about their pressures of school/home life, so why can't I tell myself what I would tell them when I embrace my career? It's easier to preach, not practice. But I have to set a good example for myself and for what I believe in. Mind over matter.

Times they are a'changing

I have this horrible stomach virus I have been fighting for the past 4 days and it flat out just fucking sucks. I haven't been able to do anything but lay on the couch in utter pain watching back to back episodes of The Wonder Years and Family Guy while eating toast and goldfish. It's awful. Not to mention, my two days off this week consisted of going to Target, the library and playing Connect Four with Vic. I have to say, weekends in LA haven't been all that glamorous.


I'm really trying not to sound like a brat, because I do realize how lucky and fortunate I am to be living here, to have a job, and have someone that I can vent to at the end of the days even when I do feel like none of those things are relevant. Just the other day, I saw 3 bums behind a dumpster smoking meth and as human as it is to judge someone who lives on the streets next to a grocery cart full of everything they own and only spend what they have on drugs, you can't help but feel sorry for them and think that maybe you take life for granted sometimes. Why can't I remember that when I get caught up in being so homesick and feeling so lost and alone. I am not alone, and though I am homesick I am living my life and doing what I think is good for me. I should be proud of myself, instead I lay here sometimes and think about what I could be doing if I were in Louisville. I miss having card nights with my friends, having someone to drink wine with instead of drinking it while skyping with one of my close friends (although that was definitely interesting). I sometimes wonder why I moved if nothing has really changed besides the fact that I do not have anyone around.

I know this is only the beginning, and I know I will meet people and things will get a whole lot better. This is the downside to this whole moving thing, and I guess I didn't prepare myself for it. I knew I'd be homesick, but I never thought I'd be this lonely. I miss my friends and family, and I miss everything that seemed familiar. Everything feels foreign to me right now.  I guess it could be a whole lot worse, like I mentioned before, I could be sitting next to a dumpster wasting my life on a meaningless drug. But I am not. I have to give myself credit for all the things that I have accomplished in my life. Though nothing has really changed, I am changing. 10 years ago I never thought I would ever do something as brave as this, but I did. And I have proven to myself that I can be brave, and if I can brave... I can be strong and get through this. Not because I have to, but because I choose to. Sure, it might be a rough ride in the beginning... but you can only go up after you've been down for so long.