life lesson number 1,246

Never put a metal bowl in the microwave

how do you measure a year?

Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes,
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Moments so dear.
Five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights
In cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife.

In five hundred twenty-five thousand
Six hundred minutes
How do you measure
A year in the life?

In the years to come, whenever I think of 2006, I will always think of:

Getting jiggy at Jason and Cindy's wedding long after the bride and groom, and all the other guests, had left.

Tales about blue roses

Faking accents at Chilis

The Texas Instrument Massacre

The crazy biker dude who wanted to dance with me at The Gypsy-Was that this year? I don't know, but it's still funny.

Nathan'’s winter olympics party, where I competed in the ice skating relay race with a sprained ankle.

Marshmallows, coke, and Roxanne.

Maui Maui: ”Emilio Estevez...The Mighty Ducks guy!"

Busting out the doors and into the rain after completing my last final

Graduating college, finally!!

Crying all the way to Fayetteville the day I moved out of my parent's house

The intense loneliness that first week in Fayetteville because Terra and Nicole were both in Mexico, and I was home all alone :-(

Being freaked out that same week because of all the scary noises I would hear at night, plus one morning I woke up and my toilet seat was all of the sudden up??

Being woken up in the very early morning when the girls finally got home. Oh the joy! Imagine the three of us jumping up and down and talking spastically all at the same time. It was like we hadn't seen each other for a decade.

Our white trash housewarming party and the Christmas lights we just now took down

Nicole, Terra, and I secretly leaving random “presents” on the doorsteps of friends.

The canoe trip that turned out to be one of the most miserable days of (I think all of our) lives

Chinese fire drills on College Ave.

Terra and I hiding from the crazy liquid cleaner sales lady

Chick-fil-a/The Office Thursdays

Intra-dares..."God bless America!"

Attempting to play tennis in the suffocating August heat

The afternoons spent in Nathan's pool

The summer nights spent on the patio of La Huerta...including the night where I tried to make someone feel stupid and completely missed my straw...therefore making myself feel pretty stupid.

Getting inside the wrong car after watching Lady in the Water and not realizing it until a couple minutes later when I heard Lafe yelling "Christina, you'’re in the wrong car!" And then having to hear about it for the next month

The awkwardness after Little Ms. Sunshine

Pulling into the wrong lane towards oncoming traffic

Frolicking in the things that shoot water out of the ground at Six Flags with Bobby, Eric, and a bunch of little kids...and then slipping and falling on my bum.

Turkish rap

Two car wrecks

One parking ticket

My amazing community group

Meeting Craig, Esther, Bobby, Eric, Jessica, Leslie, Shane, Jason, Blake...

El barrrrrco

Rugby watch parties

Girl breakfasts

Family drama

The Esther/Christina dance off...I'm still waiting for round two by the way!

Sugar neighbors

Terra and I looking for every opportunity to scare the beegeebies out of each other

Being the recipient of a ding dong ditch

Sucking on lemons

Hide and seek and sardines

Never have I ever, the winking game, the question game...

The emancipation of Kiki

Ultra egos

Singing Garth Brooks every time we drove to/through Oklahoma

The tornado warning on our way back from Tulsa

Falling off my bike right in front of our house

Singing 80s power ballads with the guy at Seven Hills

Winning a prize on the radio and forgetting what station I was listening to

Days at Gully Park reading under the weeping willow and making shapes out of the clouds

Big Booty, Big Booty, Big Booty, oh yeah! Big Booty!

Learning life without cable really isn't too bad afterall.

Carbon monoxide poisoning

The creepy neighbors across the street

Ending my ten year fast from beef and pork

Camping in below freezing weather

My rock star birthday party

spontaneous dance parties

Singing "Where is your boy" over and over and over in the car

Terra's Shakira impression

My old lady voice

"Thaaaaat's preposterous! I don't sound like that at all!"

"Cracka whaaaaaat? Cracka, please."

Prank phone calls

Attending what I think may have been a cult meeting

Show and tell

marshmallow fights

Spending an afternoon with a bunch of meanies while waiting in line to see Dashboard Confessional and Brand New

Accidentally spitting my blow pop out at an unsuspecting girl in that same line

Chris Caraba's cheesy hand gestures

Death Cab for Cutie and Pete Yorn

It taking Nicole, Terra, myself, and a pair of pliers to open a bottle of coke

The ugly Christmas sweater party

Spontaneously going Christmas caroling in the rain with Shane and Kendall and getting invited inside a random person'’s home for chocolate and a surprisingly lovely conversation.

Belting out cheesy songs and dancing in the car

Scavenger hunts at the mall...can you say woo pig sooie?

And a thousand other moments that I'll always remember so fondly...I cannot wait to see what exciting adventures 2007 will bring.

Cheers!

tada!

I can't believe how big my niece is getting! She'll be three next month, but it only seems like yesterday when I was in the hospital room as she made her triumphent debut! She's a bit fiesty and hard to handle at times...just like her mom, haha. But I love her so much!!

we were that crazy

Today I was thinking about this time in high school where Terra and I decided to form a band called On the Kob (with a backwards K) and we were going to headline a festival called Corn Stalk. It made me laugh. A lot.

rapid hope loss

i can't sleep :-(

mirror, mirror

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to meet my childhood self. That little pony tailed, glitter eyed girl whose face I sometimes have to search long and hard for in a reflection that has changed so much in so little time. That girl who lives on mostly in memories and in faded old photographs where she so mischievously smiles out at me. What would I tell that girl, that girl who was known to chase after boys and gleefully shower them with pelts of tiny rain drop kisses?

What would I say to the girl who could take an empty notebook and a pencil and entertain herself for hours upon end…

The girl who relished being the center of attention, who loved to make people laugh, who loved to dance, and whose favorite place to be was on a stage where she felt as though hundreds of eyes were watching only her…

The girl who would put on a bathrobe, call herself a magician, and charge her family money to see one failed magic trick after another…

The girl who dreamed of being an actress, a rock star, a dancer, a teacher, a writer, a princess, a stand up comedian, a dolphin trainer, a wife, a mom, Miss America. The girl who believed she could be them all…

The girl who had a trunk full of Barbies and secretly played with her brother’s Ninja Turtles...

The girl who ended every day by singing “we’re off to see the wizard” with her mom as they skipped to bed…

The girl who loved to play with makeup and refused to wear anything but dresses…

The girl whose nose was always in a book...

The girl who knew every word to Achy Breaky Heart…

The girl who loved her daddy’s wild bull rides…

The girl who was often times so quiet and shy…

The girl who loved to pick blackberries and green beans out of her grandma’s garden…

The girl who dug holes in her back yard fully expecting to find oil…

The girl who stole her mom’s cups of coffee when no one was watching…

The girl who would pretend to have bad dreams just so she could snuggle in bed with her parents…

The girl who loved to play make believe, make necklaces out of daisies, twirl in circles, and dance in the rain…

I can picture the pair of us in my living room. Me, curled up on the couch under a blanket, and her on the floor with her legs and butt in the air as always, twisting herself into a human pretzel. I imagine I would tell her that it’s okay to be different, that being unique makes her a thousand times more interesting than being a carbon copy of someone else. I would tell her to be nicer to her sister and to try not to tattle on her so much, because a day will come when she will need her. I would tell her that she doesn’t necessarily always have to follow all the rules; that breaking a few won’t make her a bad person and will also give her a crazy story or two to laugh about later in life. Perhaps most importantly, I would let her know that she should never under any circumstances cut her own hair…not a good idea at all. I would tell her that it’s okay to cry when things aren’t going her way, but to always remember that the things she cries about today, she will one day get down on her knees and praise God for. About boys, I would tell her to never change herself for them, to never neglect her friendships because of them, and for goodness sake stop chasing after them. If one likes her, he will do the chasing….

At the same time, I wonder what kinds of childhood wisdom she would make sure to remind me of. Perhaps that I don’t have to try so hard…that it’s alright to scribble and to get outside the lines. That when I need to make a decision, it’s okay to eenie meenie miny mo it every once in a while. She’d tell me to skip through parking lots and climb park trees without caring about the fact that people are watching. That when I want something really bad, all I have to do is pick the brightest star in the sky and make a wish upon it. That when I have a bad day it’s alright, because the next will be brand new. Being with her for a day may bring back the amazement I used to feel when seeing a puddle of rain, smelling the autumn leaves, or seeing a flock of birds glide silently overhead…

Or maybe we wouldn’t say any of these things, but rather let one another figure it out on her own.

Because, after all, the real beauty is in the learning...

sitting, waiting, wishing

This week I will...

-Drink less coke and more water
-Bring my lunch to work Monday through Thursday...treat myself to lunch out with Terra and Bekah Friday.
-Try something new
-Finish reading Exodus
-Write a letter...a real letter, like with a stamp and everything
-Mail my cell phone rebate thingy... something I have been meaning to do for over a month.
-Call my brother Jeremy, just to say hi
-Not watch tv, other than the news while getting ready in the mornings.
-Remember to take my contacts out before going to bed. After ten years you think it wouldn't be too difficult, but whatever...

Crossing my fingers, I'll let you know how it goes :-)