Treat Yourself Tuesday

I've had a really rough week, and it's only Tuesday.  So for "Treat Yourself Tuesday" this week, I decided to treat myself with a JustFab bag called "Sommerset."  I surprisingly don't own a red purse, and this one is so unique, I instantly fell in love.  I've never seen a purse like it before.  I hope I like the shoulder strap.  That's really my only fear about the purse.  Other than that, I'm head over heels for it.  I'll definitely post pictures once it comes in!

Brandon Taylor Merritt

It's taken me all day, but I think I finally have the words I want to say about my boyfriend.  He's put up with me for three long years, and I can't thank him enough for it.  We have one precious little (piece of shit) cat together, name Doug, as I've mentioned before.  I don't know what I'd do without Brandon, or where my life would be without him.  He makes me mad, he makes me want to scream, and he makes me want to punch him in the face.  But those moments when we fight, or when we get on each other's nerves, are completely blown away by the moments where we're perfectly happy.  Those moments outweigh any other moments I could even think of.  

I'm lucky to have found someone like Brandon.  He's got the most beautiful soul, and is genuinely the sweetest person I've ever met.  He gives so much love, and doesn't expect anything in return.  I wish more people could take a walk in his shoes, see what he's seen, and still love as much as he does.  

It's a shame more people can't have a Brandon like I have.  I'm just lucky I guess.

Meow

I just want this little gem on my blog.

Bullying

I just found this video on another blogging site, and I cannot express how blown away I am.  This woman's strength inspires me to be strong and comfortable in my own skin.  

I've been bullied throughout a huge chunk of my life.  I've never been skinny, nor will I probably ever be skinny.  My body is built differently to where I most likely never will be a size 1.  I'm not ashamed to say that I'm bigger than most girls, and I've always struggled with my weight.  Bullies don't see that, though.  Bullies are attracted to fear and insecurities.  The feed off of the hurt they subject people to.  The hardest time of my life was, by far, middle school, along with millions of other girls and boys.  I knew I was "chunky," I just didn't really pay attention to it, until a certain boy decided to point it out.  I'll keep his name under wraps and just call him Ben.  Ben made it his personal mission to deteriorate every speck of self worth that I had in my body.  He banded together with numerous other boys to complete this task.  I had tons of different "nicknames," but my personal favorites were "Elephant" and "Boom."  (They thought it was really witty to create "Boom," stemming from the sound that I would make if I fell.  Naturally, they also said that an earthquake would follow.  Clever, huh?)  This bullying went on for most of my 6th grade year.  Don't think I didn't complain to teachers and faculty.  They blamed the bullying on ME.  It was MY fault that I was being bullied.  It was "character building."  Keep in mind that I went to a "Christian" school, using the term Christian very lightly.  There was no Christ in that school.  This bullying lead to something that I struggled with for years and will never outgrow/be cured of.  I decided that since they were going to call me fat, that I really must be, so I decided to do something about it.  I stopped eating.  I started dropping weight, and people told me how wonderful I looked, so I continued with my nasty habit.  I blamed my weight loss on puberty, and people bought it.  Every day at lunch, I ate a potato.  That was my meal.  And for dinner, I would move my food around to make it look like I ate it, and I'd get the smallest portions possible.  I'd say that I had a "big lunch," or "just [wasn't] hungry."  This went on through my 7th grade year, and finally my parents decided that they'd had enough of this school, so they took me out.  That's when my happy ending started.  I transferred to a school in Gatlinburg known as Pi Beta Phi Elementary.  My whole world was changed.  People liked me as me.  I didn't have to hide anymore.  I actually felt pretty for once.

My story is probably like many others out there.  It breaks my heart to think that someday, my children or nieces and nephews are going to be subjected to the pain and hurt that I was subjected to.  We need to take a stand against bullying.  We need to make a drastic change in America, and the world.  We need to be strong like this news anchor in the video.  We need to love, because:

Wild Bill Long

I blew up my grandfather’s senior picture so I could draw it, so here you go. :)  I wish everyone could get to know this man.  I worry that there aren’t very many days left with him, so I’m hurrying to get this picture done.  I hope he’ll like it.  He probably will; he likes anything I do.  I wish there were more people on this earth like him.  He can play any instrument you give him, proficiently.  He’s illiterate and dyslexic, but that’s never stopped him from being happy.  Sure, he doesn’t have a degree in anything, but the stories he has to tell make up for any college story.  He’s played in a band with Johnny Cash, (He’s still got a band at his senior’s center.) he’s half Italian, and he knows every word to every hymn that there is.  

This man is my hero.

This one is pretty self explanatory.  I completely believe in loving yourself before you let anyone else in.  At the end of the day, you're all you've got.