No more little white lies

You know how there are those times in life where you tell a teeny-tiny little white lie to avoid offending someone or embarrassing yourself? Well I have a confession about that..

When someone announces their engagement you're supposed to say, "Congratulations!" or "I'm so happy for you!" (And if you're really feeling enthusiastic you might even say both.)  But for many engagements I didn't really mean it when I said those things. What I was really feeling was jealous.

Now for anyone else who admits to being human I think you can at least understand where I was coming from. I haven't known a single person who spent more time with their single friends after getting engaged, and you might as well forget you ever knew the person after they actually get married.  And on top of that every moment the two love birds are around is a pretty powerful reminder of the fact that you are still struggling through singledom. Some people can be legitimately happy for other people's happiness, but this particular situation was something I really struggled with.

And then I met Patrick. We fell in love. We got engaged. We got married. And pretty much everything in my entire life changed.

 

I was finally in a position to understand why engaged people acted so sappy all the time!  And it made sense to me why newly weds want to spend every waking moment with each other! Because I finally understood what was happening emotionally between the couple I was no longer jealous. I was just happy for them.

The Besties- Mike, Jenni, and Brendan

And now two of my best friends have found their special someone, and I can legitimately say, "Congratulations Mike and Taeler! Congratulations Alex and Jenni! I am SO excited for you. Being married to your special sweetheart is the most wonderful thing in the whole wide world! It'll be hard sometimes, but you'll have each other to hang on to- so hang on tight! You are my best friends, and I am so happy. May you enjoy every happiness in your upcoming marriages!"

Quick Trip to Texas

Last weekend Patrick and I took a quick trip to Texas. We weren't even there for three full days, but it was a great little adventure.

We woke up early on Saturday morning (1:30 AM... yikes!) so that we could make the 2 hour drive to the airport and catch our 5:40 flight. That was a little painful, but I loved that it allowed us to spend a little extra time with my family. On Saturday night Dad and Grandpa Ogzewalla came up from Sugar Land, Eldon finally came home from work, and we all had dinner at Cracker Barrel. It was so fun to visit with everyone, and the food was absolutely delicious!

Sunday morning brought two wonderful surprises. Emma came home, and Patrick's dad happened to be in town. We weren't expecting to see either of them, so it was a REAL treat. Patrick and I spent the day sleeping and visiting with family. Dad invited everyone down for dinner at his house, so between family and more good food... it was a near perfect day :)

Monday had a few hiccups, but we tried not to let it ruin the trip. We had originally planned the trip so that I could renew my driver's license (which expires in August) and so that Patrick could get a Texas driver's license. Well our experience at the DMV was about like every other trip I've ever had there.. an absolute disaster.  First we spent several hours in line (outside) because the payment system was down (across the entire state! and they couldn't even take cash!!), and then we were turned away because they wouldn't accept our proof of residency. So neither of us ended up with a new driver's license.

After disaster at the DMV we got some food (thank you Sonic!), stopped back in Kingwood, and headed for the airport. There was some rough weather in our connecting city, and that made for an extremely long delay, a missed flight, and a good bit of worry, but we made it back to Columbus safely by about 2 AM.

That was our little adventure. It wasn't perfect by any means, but we sure did make some memories :)

A Little Personality

Let's talk about Libby. Because I don't do enough of that already.

Libby is an absolute attention hog! She always wants to be noticed and is not afraid to get in your face and tell you that. It cute, but also a little annoying sometimes. This intense drive to get all the attention possible makes her a true "people pleaser."

She's not perfect though. She does have a tendency to act out if she doesn't get enough attention and sometimes she can be a bit of a selective listener. Oh and sometimes she just has plain old princess syndrome.

This "I'm pretty sure your world should kind of revolve around me just a little" problem would be enough to put anyone out, but the rest of her usually makes up for this short-coming. I mean, who could be mad at that little girl when she's snuggling up to you and giving you kisses?

Now if you thought that all this little girl wanted to do is snuggle you would be mistaken. She does have a tendency to run around like a wild-thing. She's curious and loves to be outside. She can be a little shy/submissive sometimes, but it's mostly because she wants people to like her. This little girl just absolutely loves people.

All of this makes for an interesting mix of fun, sweet, and crazy. And the more I learn about Libby's little personality the more I wonder, "Did I just adopt myself!?" Even with all the crazy, I think it was a good choice.

Libby & Tarah- July 10, 2012

Libby problems

Libby is currently driving me crazy.

She has discovered my shoes and likes to give them what I will call "love marks." Somehow she thinks it is acceptable to do this RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! Absolutely not.

The other thing she likes to do right in front of me is chew on the underside of Patrick's leather armchair. This is also not OK.

Oh and housebreaking? Yeah I thought we'd made a breakthrough this morning when she sat and whined at the door, but she'd actually just heard the dog from across the hall go out.. so she just wanted to go play. This was not a breakthrough.

And training.. ugh. I feel like my vocabulary has been reduced to, "Sit. Leave it. Off. Let's go. Do your thing." and "Good girl!!!" Some of the training is sticking. She'll sit for food or some attention, but she does NOT want to listen when you tell her she can't be on the bed. It's becoming a pretty bad case of selective listening.

One thing she is pretty good at is being my little alarm clock. Nobody sleeps in past 6:30 on Saturday because Libby starts demanding some lovin'! And if you try to take her out and then put her back in her crate you need to be prepared for about an hour of whining. This is also true when I get up and take her out at 4:30 in the morning on the weekdays. #sotired.

And when I think she's FINALLY being cute and snuggly again, she bites my ears and absolutely attacks my hair. That is not cute OR snuggly.

So my sweet little girl is growing up. I know it'll be awhile before she gets over some of this stuff, and I still have a lot of learning and training to do with her. We'll make it. I just need to keep repeating, "Patience, practice, consistency. Patience, practice, consistency."