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Friday, July 23, 2010

It's Okay To Cry

The past month has been one hell of an emotional roller-coaster for me.  I have gone from sad, to happy, to excited, to confused, to sad, to unsure, to depressed, to happy, to scared....repeat.  The cycle is still going.  I mean, I leave my boyfriend of two years, after living with him for one, four of those months in a place we rented on our own.  I was "virtually" married (as a friend of mine put it).  So, leaving was not just a breakup. Leaving was almost like getting a divorce, and it had all the financial and emotional consequences of it...but not the legal. Thank God.  I left my job, I left my home of 2 years to come to my real home, but to nothing.  No job, no permanent place to live. I didn't just break up with someone, I picked up my whole life as I knew it right then and I changed it all. It was a BIG move.  In a way, I'm glad I went through it this early in life because it's going to make me a stronger person in the future. 



So how have I dealt with it?  Well, I've cried.  An ex of mine once told me a few years back that I was too emotional, that I cried too much.  So for awhile, I stopped crying. I tried to hold it all in and just act like whatever it was that was bothering me, really wasn't bothering me.  Or, I would express it in different ways.  I would fall into a depression, or I would get angry and take it out on other people. Then, I learned that maybe crying wasn't such a bad thing.  If that is the way I deal with whatever "it" is, then so be it. I cry when I'm sad, I cry when I'm angry, I cry when I'm hurt, I cry most often when I'm frustrated...when I'm tired, sometimes I laugh so hard I cry, I cry when I'm excited....crying is just how I express myself.  Some people think crying is a form of weakness...I disagree.  It's not a form of weakness if you don't feel weak at the moment. If you feel weak at the moment, then cry. It's human!



I think one of my biggest pet peeves is when someone sees me crying and says "stop crying, be strong." Shove it. I am in a weak place right now and I feel like crying, so crying is what I'm going to do. Unless you want me to lash out at you or just hold it all inside for awhile until I burst, you best let me just cry it out! And if you don't wanna hear it when I do, then leave me alone, and don't ever tell me again that you will be there for me nomatter what, because obviously, that's not the case.



Then, there are those men who say "I'm a man. I don't cry." Whatever.  I personally don't believe you really are a man UNLESS you cry.  I'm not saying cry every time you feel emotion, but don't be afraid to do it if you feel like it, especially in front of the woman you love.  For me, and I think I can speak for a lot of women, to see a man cry, is both humbling and heartbreaking.  Humbling because, to see a man cry, you see his softer side, and seeing a mans softer side every once in a while is a relief, at least for me it is.  Again, I don't want a cry baby, but every once in a while, it's nice to see the man I love just break down.  Just let it all go. Let me comfort you for awhile. Let ME be YOUR rock for a while.  I don't believe in "being strong" all the time.  Seeing a man cry is also heartbreaking because yes, men ARE supposed to be made of steel. That's their image.  So when I do see a man cry...it's heartbreaking.  Because I know, in reality, that man must REALLY be feeling some deep emotion if he's crying in front of me right now, and I really need to be there for him.



Remember when you were little and you got a "boo-boo" and you cried over it, and your mommy or daddy said "It's ok to cry, honey"...well, it's still ok. At the end of the day, we are all children...God's children...and He gave us tears for a reason. He gave us emotions...and it shouldn't be a "sin" to show them when we need to.

"And that's all I have to say about that"- Forrest Gump =)

Monday, July 19, 2010

My Top 100 Songs of ALL Time

Music has always been a huge part of my life.  It makes up who I am.  Music is my sanctuary.  When I'm feeling any kind of emotion, there are certain songs that just have a way of making that mood better, even if I am already happy.

 
It was very difficult to do, (I started with over 450...) but I decided to sit down and make a list of my top 100 favorite songs of all time.  This isn't just one genre. It is made up of counry (my favorite), classic rock, oldies, christmas songs, christian, gospel, pop, rock, rap, dance....basically everything.  To help me narrow it down, my criteria was that each song had to have an immediate effect on me as soon as it came on, I had to know the majority of the lyrics, and it had to either mean something to me or just make me wanna move! Also, these songs had to be songs that I couldn't live without on my IPOD. I was going to put them in order of my least favorite to my most favorite (which was impossible to do) so it's in no particular order. So, here they are. Enjoy!

 

  1. To Make You Feel My Love- Kris Allen (His version is BRILLIANT! But Garth Brooks made me fall in love with it)
  2. I Can't Make You Love Me- Bonnie Raitt
  3. One Sweet Day- Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey
  4. When A Man Loves A Woman- Percy Sledge
  5. When I Get Where I'm Going- Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton
  6. I Will Always Love You- Whitney Houston*
  7. Love, Me- Colin Raye
  8. Ain't No Mountain High Enough
  9. Something To Talk About- Bonnie Raitt
  10. Can't Hurry Love- The Supremes
  11. 9 to 5- Dolly Parton
  12. Can't Help Falling In Love- Elvis Pressley
  13. Landslide- Stevie Nicks
  14. Friends Forever- Michael W Smith
  15. Ironic- Alanis Morrisette
  16. What A Wonderful World- Louis Armstrong
  17. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You- Rod Stewart
  18. Unchained Melody- Righteous Brothers
  19. Old Time Rock and Roll- Bob Segar
  20. Free Bird- Lynyrd Skynyrd
  21. Mountain Music- Alabama
  22. Brown Eyed Girl- Van Morrison
  23. Shout To The Lord- Darlene Zchesch
  24. Working On The Building- Elvis Pressley
  25. Shook Me All Night Long- AC/DC
  26. The House That Built Me- Miranda Lambert
  27. The Climb- Miley Cyrus
  28. Will You Be There- Michael Jackson
  29. Three Little Birds- Bob Marley
  30. Because You Loved Me- Celine Dion
  31. Soul and Inspiration- The Righteous Brothers
  32. Everything I Do (I Do For You)- Bryan Adams
  33. Take My Breath Away- Berlin
  34. Uptown Girl- Billy Joel
  35. My Heart Will Go On- Celine Dion
  36. You've Lost That Loving Feeling- The Righteous Brothers
  37. Amazing Grace
  38. Forever and Ever Amen- Randy Travis
  39. Lean On Me-  Bill Withers
  40. When I Fall In Love- Nat King Cole
  41. Greatest Love Of All- Whitney Houston
  42. Fancy- Reba McEntire
  43. More Than Words- Extreme
  44. Isn't She Lovely- Stevie Wonder
  45. Killing Me Softly- Lauryn Hill
  46. I Can Only Imagine- MercyMe
  47. Under The Boardwalk- The Drifters
  48. Cowboy- Kid Rock
  49. Let Her Cry- Hootie and the Blowfish
  50. You're The Inspiration- Chicago
  51. I Swear- All-4-One
  52. If You Only Knew- Shinedown
  53. Hero- Mariah Carey
  54. The Christmas Shoes-Newsong
  55. Sweet Home Alabama- Lynyrd Skynyrd
  56. Butterfly Kisses- Bob Carlisle
  57. Potters Hand- Darlene Zchesch
  58. Hotel California- Eagles
  59. Red Red Wine- UB40
  60. Footloose- Kenny Loggins
  61. You Were Meant For Me- Jewel
  62. Save The Last Dance For Me- Michael Buble*
  63. I Can See Clearly Now- Johnny Nash
  64. No One Needs To Know- Shania Twain
  65. Free Falling- Tom Petty (But I love John Mayer's version too)
  66. The Dance- Garth Brooks
  67. Don't Wanna Miss A Thing- Aerosmith
  68. Carolina In My Mind- James Taylor
  69. My Girl- The Temptations
  70. Against All Odds- Mariah Carey
  71. The Way You Look Tonight- Michael Buble*
  72. His Eye Is On The Sparrow- Hymn, but Lauryn Hill does it BEAUTIFULLY
  73. Wide Open Spaces- Dixie Chicks
  74. You Are So Beautiful- Joe Cocker
  75. I'll Make Love To You- Boyz II Men
  76. You Are Not Alone- Michael Jackson
  77. On My Highway- Jason Aldean
  78. Fire and Rain- James Taylor
  79. Jailhouse Rock- Elvis Pressley
  80. Go Rest High On That Mountain
  81. Love Like Crazy- Lee Brice
  82. Shine- Collective Soul
  83. Power Of Love- Celine Dion
  84. Make Me Lose Control- Eric Carmen
  85. Redeemer- Nicole C Mullen
  86. Angels Among Us- Alabama
  87. Love Can Build A Bridge- The Judds
  88. Imagine- John Lennon
  89. Don't Stop Believing- Journey
  90. Where The Green Grass Grows- Tim McGraw
  91. Have You Ever Loved A Woman- Bryan Adams
  92. Any Man Of Mine- Shania Twain
  93. Drift Away- Dobie Gray
  94. Tears In Heaven- Eric Clapton
  95. It Is Well With My Soul- Hymn
  96. Time Of My Life- Bill Medley
  97. Unwritten- Natasha Bedingfield
  98. You'll Never Walk Alone- Elvis Pressley
  99. Faithfully- Journey
  100. Walk This Way- Aerosmith
*I know these aren't the original artists, but I like this artist's version better

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

It's All Entertainment

Celebrities have the art of living in the public eye mastered. Whether their faces are plastered on the front of a magazine at the supermarket, or you're hearing about them on TMZ, their lives are anything but private. And they have our fascinations to blame. Why are we so fascinated? Is it because we want to feel better about our lives when they fail? Maybe because we feel like we can relate to them. Or we just want to be like them. Whatever our reason, our curiosities for celebrities are our guilty pleasure.

When celebrities are in the tabloids for negative reasons, it makes us "normal" people feel better about our lives.  Even Donald Trump went bankrupt in 2004 and had to give up his control of Trump's Atlantic City Hotel and Casino. See, the economy sucks for him too! Say your boyfriend cheated on you with Sally Mae down the street and now the whole neighborhood knows about it. You look like a fool! Well, at least you didn't just win an Academy Award and your husband decided he couldn't handle the pressure of his wife being more successful than him, so he went and cheated on you with a stripper named Michelle "Bombshell" McGee, along with a few others and now, the entire world knows only a week after your success. Try to sleep at night with THAT on your shoulders! "I wish I was as beautiful as Britney Spears." Well, ya kind of are. Did you see her shaved head? Plus, it takes celebrities HOURS to look the way they do. It doesn't just happen naturally for them, ya know.

Sometimes, we can just relate to certain celebrities. Miranda Lambert performed "The House That Built Me", which relates to me personally in so many ways. It talks about going back to your roots, the house you grew up in, because you're so lost that maybe the house or the place you came from can remind you about who you really are. This is something I'm going through in my personal life, and it's not only that song, but she has written many many more that relate to me as well. Perhaps a certain celebrity played a certain character in a movie that was dead-on with what someone else was going through. That person may be inclined to follow that celebrity after seeing that movie.


Reality TV has really grounded celebrities these days. It has made celebrities more "real" to us. Starting with "The Newlyweds" in 2003 with Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey. They were gorgeous, successful musicians who had an elaborate wedding and a huge house in Beverly Hills, like most celebrities do. But underneath it all, they were just a normal newly married couple just trying to get used to merging lives like every other newlywed in America. Unfortunately, the show put a lot of pressure on them and eventually they were divorced. How would YOU feel if cameras were following your every move on a daily basis?



Most people have that one Celebrity Icon. That one celeb that has it all that they want to be JUST like! Someone they look up to and respect. Take the Kardashians. This family is amazing! The Kardashian sisters, Kourtney, Kim, and Khloe all learned from an early age that to be successful, you have to work for it. So, when she was old enough to get a job, Kim, the most famous one of them all, began working for her father at his music marketing firm. From there, she developed some excellent work ethic and since then, she has worked at becoming the successful model and entrepreneur she is today. Her hard work has paid off!



My Icon is P!NK. Do I want to be just like her? Well, no. But I respect her tremendously. She has written every single one of her songs and most of them hold some very significant meaning from her life. She is talented, genuinely talented, and she is original. She is a bad-ass but she is GORGEOUS too. One of the few women who can pull off short hair very well! Plus, she does what she wants and doesn't take crap from anyone. I hope I can be A LOT like her, but not identical. 



Celebs have the houses, the cars, the clothes, the money...they have it ALL! Everybody wants to have it all! So we follow celebrities to try and "live" through them, if not actually do EXACTLY what they do, wear what they wear, drive what they drive. "Well, I saw Cameron Diaz with a black Fendi bag, so I went and spent $1600 on that SAME bag!" Wow. Has it really come down to that? I'm afraid so.

People will never cease to be fascinated by the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Whether it's because we strive to be them, because following them gives us instant self-gratification, or because we simply relate to them as people, it's all entertainment. That's what celebrities are there for anyway, right?

Saturday, July 3, 2010

OVERPROTECTing = HANDICAPPing



I need time
Love
Joy
I need space
I need me

Say hello to the girl that I am
You're gonna have to see through my perspective
I need to make mistakes just to learn who I am
And I don't wanna be so damn protected

There must be another way
Cause I believe in taking chances
But who am I to say
What a girl is to do
God I need some answers

What am I to do with my life? (You will find it out don't worry)
How am I supposed to know whats right? (You just gotta do it your way)
I can't help the way I feel
But my life has been OVERPROTECTED

I tell em what I like, what I want and what I don't
But every time I do, I stand corrected
Things that I've been told, I can't believe
What I hear about the world I realize
I'm OVERPROTECTED

I don't need nobody telling me just what I wanna
What I what what what I'm gonna
Do about my destiny
I say no
Nobody's telling me just what I wanna do
I'm so fed up with people telling me to be
Someone else but ME
_____________________________________________________________________________

All my life, I have been "over protected". I was the youngest of three girls. Yes, my parents were more lenient with me than with them....okay they were ALOT more lenient with me than with them....but....I was still overprotected. Mostly by my dad. And don't get me wrong, I love him for it. But I would much rather make mistakes and learn from them than to have other people tell me that from THIER experience, it's not a good idea and I should steer clear. Well, maybe I will succeed. I'm not you and you're not me. Why don't you just shut your trap and let me make that mistake for myself?

"We just love you so much and we don't want to see you make the same mistake as we did and get hurt because we know how it feels and we don't want to see you hurt like that...blah de freaking blah!" Thank you so much for loving me! I know, I'm the princess. I'm the youngest. I'm precious. I'm adorable. You only want whats best for me because I'm such a wonderful person and I don't deserve to feel pain. Bullshit. The only thing you're doing by "protecting" me, is handicapping me. Sheltering me from feeling certain emotions is like putting a brick on my head, like the southerners say, and saying "don't grow up". Keeping me from certain failures is taking away precious knowledge. The most beautiful thing in life is LEARNING from your MISTAKES. And who knows, maybe the chances you take turn out to be GOOD.

Life is an adventure. In adventures, you take chances. When you take chances, sometimes you make mistakes. When you make mistakes, you learn. And when you learn, you live. See, it's all one big circle. You can't mess with the circle of life!

Now, it pisses me off when people try to "protect" me from things like career moves, school stuff, etc....But when you mess with my HEART....when you "protect" me from getting hurt....that. THAT. That's a low blow. Not only does it piss me off, but THAT breaks my heart. YOU broke my heart from trying to protect it. Just like one of the Olsen twins said in the movie "It Takes Two": "Growups, they think too much". And that's absolutely right. We analyze the CRAP out of everything instead of just LEAPING. Just go for it! If it ends up ending tragically, then it ends up ending tragically and you grow. But what if it ends up being the best thing that ever happened to you? Or, tragically, what if you wait so damn long, you lose the opportunity to be GREAT? What then?

Eh, I don't know. Just my thoughts for the night. Hope I entertained you.

Followers