Faith, Hope, and Love

It never fails that within a given week someone   seemingly has to ask me, "So... do you have a boyfriend?", "So who's the lucky man?" or something along that lines. It doesn't matter if we've been friends for ages and just haven't seen each other in a while, or you've just met me a few months, days or hours ago. It somehow always creeps up. And when I say, "No... No one..." with a sweet smile on my face, the answer is always a variation of three things: 1. "Don't worry, your own time will come soon." (Really? I wasn't worried until you said that , now I'm worried that something is the matter since "my time" hasn't come yet. Thanks.) 2. "Oh, why are you being picky? Or are you just waiting until you're sure ? (Actually, no one is even remotely interested in me. Or at least no one I'm aware of. Thanks for reminding me of that fact.) 3. "We've got to find someone for you!&q

One of my high school BFFs is a GENIUS. As you know from previous posts, Beauty and the Beast is one of my favorite Disney movies . Todrick made a parody of the opening number. Watch it. Be amazed. And laugh your butt off. I did.   Besides Todrick 's many costume changes, there are just so many great one-liners! I think one of my favorite lines is the "Look... isn't this a hot mess. Who would name their first child Blu Ivy?" Hehe. P.S. I know it's like 6 months early, but if you're looking for a new Christmas album to buy. You should check out Tod's :)

I've yet to jump on the Pintrest bandwagon, but my cousin sent me a link to a Pintrest page that I am in LOVE with. As people who know me, and anyone who has followed this blog long enough, know... I am a big reader. I own a lot of books and have the "bad" habit of constantly buying more. I'm currently out of shelf space in my apartment, and half (maybe more) of the books I own are at school. One day, when I build my dream home (or renovate whatever home I end up in), having a library will be essential. Or at least having a place to put all of my books (with room for growth) is essential. Here are some of my favorite ideas from Pintrest: Great use of space! If I have stairs in my dream home, this is totally happening! One day I hope to have a little "Writer's Nook" in my house. Something like this would be perfect. And again, great use of space! I dream of having a bay window with a window seat that I curl up with a good book in. On

I have never kept a budget. Appalling, I know. Numbers just stress me out. I've always liked words better. I mean, I can't even remember a 10-digit phone number . It took me years to memorize my social security number. One of my exes was always irritated that I wanted directions to include exit names and not the exit numbers (still do, by the way). And let's not even talk about sticking to the budget. I'm not very good at coloring within the lines (figuratively; I actually am slightly OCD about doing that literally). I've planned to only spend X amount of money on something and then completely go crazy once I start spending. I always find a reason to spend just a little bit more. And not necessarily on me (although, when it comes to books, it's always one me). I just see things that I think people in my life would like and make the purchase. This definitely comes back to bite me on the butt later. For the 10 months, I haven't thought much about how mu

It's half past 3. Morning, not afternoon.  And I've just finished reading "Me Before You" by JoJo Moyes . It was one of the books I purchased in London. (You might think it silly, but my very first purchases, besides train tickets, were books. Even though I had my Kindle and I had brought a few real books, too. My second was a cute satchel to put the books in... Ha!) I began reading it this morning, and could barely put it down. Of course, I did to take care of my growing pile of laundry and to spend a few hours with friends after a clothes swap (my first! But more on that later). I got home around 11pm, and just couldn't stop reading this book. You might remember how I felt about " Thanks for the Memories " or " Sweet Love "... this was better. I can't really tell you what the book is about. To do so would give it all away. The blurb on the back did it very little justice... I thought I'd be a silly bit of chick-lit (which I lo

Paris was not a part of the original plan. The original plan was simply London. Arrive a week before the wedding, spend time with the groom, meet the bride, get in some good family bonding time. Cheer them on their special day and then back to the States! But then my friends got whiff of my plans to jet to London and insisted they come along. And since one of them happens to be a French teacher, who just happens to take a group of teens every Spring break, but hasn't really gone kid-free in a while (if ever), Paris of course got added to the list. One thing Becky (the French teacher friend) insisted we do in Paris is climb the Eiffel Tower. She had never done it. I didn't tell her this, but that fact appalled me considering how many times she's been. Wouldn't the Eiffel Tower have been a mandatory stop on a school-related trip? Apparently not. So, on our second full day in Paris, we took the subway down to the Eiffel Tower and began our quest. It was bright, it

Actually, I hated Paris the first 6 hours we were there. And actually, maybe, even days before we got there. First of all, I wanted to take the Chunnel. I was very excited about riding a train or a bus under the English Channel from England and Paris. But, train tickets were expensive. And a bus basically took a whole freaking day. So we had to fly. And I had to buy our plane tickets like 4 times because of one disaster or another. It was a pain. But eventually, we got on a Lufthansa flight and we were making our way to Paris! Except, we had a layover in Frankfurt, Germany. And while Lufthansa itself is AMAZING (so much legroom, and free snacks and drinks for the shortest flight!), the airport was so... so... convoluted. We walked MILES just to get from one gate to another. Up stairs, down stairs, along walking sidewalks, up some more stairs, down some more stairs. I wanted to kill myself, as the hand luggage we decided to share dug itself deeper and deeper into my shoulder. (It wa

A few weeks ago, one of my best friend's got married. This wedding led me to London, and so I kind of made an extensive holiday of it. Three weeks to be exact. In London (with a pop up to Liverpool and Manchester), Paris, and Hamburg. It was delightful. And now that I'm well recovered from my jet-lag, I figure I'd used the next few posts to share some of the highlights (and lowlights) of the trip. Highlight #1: The Wedding Itself I've been to a lot of weddings over the last few years. I feel like there's been at least 5 a year since I turned 21. And while most of them have been family friends and/or "relatives," only recently have my actual close friends been the one tying the knot. Ugo and I have been best friends since I was about 13 Granted I met him when I was 8... but I refused to be his friend due to some childish reasons. I'm glad I got over it. Cause even though we've been an ocean apart, he has probably been one of the biggest const

... I actually am going to try and freelance write/edit. I miss doing both a lot. So, I may not be TFA , but I can still have that #1 sexy career! :) (Funny enough, my first goal is to try breaking into TFA's magazine, One Day . )

So maybe I should reconsider my decision to leave the journalism world. After all, accroding to this Common Ground post , it's the #1 Sexiest job for women. Followed by teachers... but only if they are Teach for America. Which I am not. So I am apparently not a sexy teacher (sigh). Photographer is #3... so maybe if I take my hobby more seriously I could still be seen as sexy. I lack a sexy career. Which is sad, considering that the top three are kind of within my reach. It'd explain why I'm still single, perhaps. I kid. Although, I have been thinking a lot about my singleness over the last 2-3 months. I promise, I'm not one of those crazy girls who is psychotically planning her wedding and just needs to put a groom in the mix and she'll be happy. Generally, I'm very content with my life. But... I do want to find "the one." And I am kind of tired of waiting around for him. Yet, I don't know how to find him. About six weeks ago, I ran into o

So far this isn't as bad as I thought it'd be. But... it's also not great. My mouth feels kind of gross and I can't rinse/brush until tomorrow at like noon! Which made me very grateful that I did not ask a guy friend to take me for my procedure. Which was the initial plan. You see, I don't really have that many friends in Houston yet. I haven't found a church I like enough to really invest/get involved in. And then I worked A LOT in my first year of teaching. So, not much opportunity to mix and mingle and develop any true relationship. Don't get me wrong... I love my job and have made some pretty good friendships among my coworkers. But ultimately, that's it... they are my co-workers. I don't really see/talk to any of them outside of work much. And my roommate and I are definitely good pals. But as of Saturday, she is no longer my roommate as she's gone to begin residency in Illinois :(  And between living more than 30 minutes away and having

That's right. This morning, after putting it off for years, all four wisdom teeth were removed. It was relatively painless. And even though I can now feel my mouth there has been no pain... until I just took one of the antibiotic pills. Ouch! Opening my mouth = no fun. But at least now I have a very good excuse to crawl into bed with some books. And I don't have crazy, swollen chipmunk cheeks. Yet.  :-)

I'm 26 years old, going on 27, and I have no clue what I want to be when I grow up.  My first real ambition was to be Anne of Green Gables. Yup, I planned to grow up to be a white Canadian. Such lofty goals, I know. But then, I began to grow up... and wanted to be a lot of other realistic things. I mean, I obviously wasn't going to be the first figure skater to represent Nigeria in the Olympics when I didn't even try on my first pair of ice-skates until I was about 14. And I wasn't going to be a singer or actress if I was too shy (I know, right... me shy?) to actually audition for anyone. (And now, teaching has completely ruined my vocal chords... I constantly have this weird rasp in my voice even when I talk!) But one childhood dream has yet to die.  Well... maybe more than one, since I do want to get married and I still  kind of want six kids. But let's focus on career dreams for today.  I still want to be a writer. And yet, most days I feel like