Maid of Honor

Last night my sister Mckenzie walked in my room with a box with light green ribbon tied around it. I opened it to find this:

Mac and I are 11 years apart, but she's the only one of my siblings I've ever lived in the same house with. I've thought she was the coolest person ever for, well, ever. When I was growing up, she was in high school. I wanted to do everything she did, and she was in high school so of course the feelings weren't exactly mutual. Then she went to college, and I started seeing less and less of her. With our ages being so far apart, we were in a stage for the majority of my elementary and middle school days that there wasn't a lot to bond over or ways to become very close. I hated that. To me she was a superstar. I wanted nothing more than to be her best friend. 

So how did we go from that to her asking me to be the most important part of her bridal party? Time I suppose is the only explanation. I got older and could relate to her about more things. She got older and it became socially acceptable to not think your little sister is just an annoyance. One thing led to another and we became the kind of sisters I always wanted to be. She picked me up and took me to a late night movie when my boyfriend broke up with me. She hung out and joked with me at all our family functions. We share clothes... the whole package.

With that being said, as happy as I am for my sister, this time is a little bittersweet. Even when we weren't as close its always been "Mckenzie and Molly". The youngest. The ones who aren't married. The ones who still lived at home. Now I feel like its just Molly. I know I'm not losing a sister through this process, and will actually be gaining a great brother, but I can't help feeling a little sad. All I can say is I hope this doesn't mean I have to be on the Christmas card alone this year!!

Anyways, back to the part about how happy I am for her. I truly am. Everett is a very lucky guy, and he will soon be married to the coolest person I know. I hope that they enjoy their lives together and live everyday they spend together well. And I also hope that McKenzie and I will just continue to let our relationship grow, and love each other even more through this experience. Most of all I hope she is happy. (Oh, and that I can think of a good speech for the rehearsal dinner!)

The Tough Stuff

Today was one of those days where attitude can make or break its success. One of those days where you wake up knowing you have more things to do than time you have to do them, and not all of those things are found in the "this is going to be so great!" category. However, with my new attitude towards life in tow I got out of bed ready to do work.

The morning portion of my day was by far the best. I got to go to St. Luke's United Methodist and help out at the Family Fuel service. I started leading dances and songs for the kids at this service with my friend Sarah Adams around a month ago, and I look forward to it more and more every week. I love the kids who come every Sunday and who smile really big and try to all sit next to me at once and dance really energetically, and I love that I get to spend time with kids and talk about God. Two of my favorite things. Dylan comes ever week. He's a really good dancer. And quite the looker might I add.

While I enjoyed Family Fuel, I couldn't help but have my mind on everything else in store for the remainder of the day. I drove home from church only to be greeted with a stack of homework and only an hour until my 4-hour-long choir rehearsal. I decided just to dive right in, and finished three assignments before it was time to leave. 

At choir we choreographed a couple dances and practiced and sweat. A lot.

I returned home made myself some coffee, and got right back down to business. I'm currently taking a break from my extensive amount of weekend homework, but I think that's okay because I've been working really hard.

The point of me going on and on about my not that fun, but very productive day is, well, just that. Not everyday is going to be jam packed of fun things. Not everyday is Saturday. However, sometimes we have to take the time to just get things done. Living life well is just as much about persevering through the hard days with the best attitude possible, as gliding through the easily fun ones. If everyday was easy, the great ones wouldn't stand out as much. I want a life I can be proud of. Whether that means spending time doing the things I love with the people I love, or working hard on my commitments- I want to know that I've given it my all, everyday.

7 reasons today was so great

1. I began my day with a hair appointment. This was great for two reasons, the first being that I had really really really bad split ends. The second is that I got to spend two hours with my sister, Mckenzie (also my hair stylist). I love Mac a lot, but she works a lot and with both of our busy schedules its rare to be able to spend that amount of time in the same room.

2. My dad and I tried Jason's deli today. My dad and I used to do stuff (especially eat) just the two of us a lot. Since I got my license those times have become extremely rare. It was fun to go to lunch just me and him and talk and joke around. He's pretty cool.

3. I finally took the time to clean out my car today! It was really disgusting. I'm sorry to anyone who has been forced to ride in it the last couple months. But I got down and dirty with Mr. Clean's Magic Eraser, and now Rosita Linda is as good as new....almost.

4. I painted with Sar!

One of my favorite things to do is craft, and when it's with Sar its 10 times better. Our favorite crafting style is to each decorate one of something, and then trade. Today's project was clementine boxes Sarah brought home from her ski weekend in Michigan. I love just lying around in Sar's apartment and listening to music, calling Annie, and laughing.

5. Me and one of my best friend's Emma went to Monon Food Company for dinner! Not only was the food great, but I love any opportunity Emma and I have to hang out. With the combination of Emma's job, not having any classes together, and both of our busy schedules its been hard to find time to spend together recently. Tonight was great because we got to fill each other in on our lives and just be best friends.

6. I love frozen yogurt. Especially the kind you serve yourself. Today I got to eat it TWICE. Once with the two Sars and once with Emma. Both times were so great. At Orange Leaf I loved talking about what order we wash things in the shower and unique ways to be asked to prom. At Huddles Emma and I continued filling each other in about life and admired a cute worker behind the counter. All of this was just so great. (Did i mention today was just a great day?)

7. I got to go Maddie's house! There's always something fun to do at Maddie's house. Tonight we played a new game with her little sister Bridget. Me, Melanie, Maddie, Emma, and Bridge gathered around the dining room table to play The Game of Things. It was so fun! I loved hearing everyone's "thing" for each situation. Some of my favorite catagories were "What thing makes you say AHH?" and "What thing would you wait in line to see?".

Today was a really great day. Probably because, as Sar reminded me several times, its Saturday! But mostly because I spent it with people I really love. This year I've realized that its so important to spend time with the people you really care about. It doesn't matter if you're missing out on what everyone will be talking about at school the next day, or the big event of the weekend. What's important isn't what you're doing, its who your doing it with.

The Clock

On a typical school day, I find myself glancing up at the clock in each of my seven classes what seems like once every five minutes. I do it so often during each period it has just become habbit. I check-and check again-wishing time away, and wanting to move on to the next thing and then the next.

Today I made a conscious decision to not check the time. Now, this is not to say I don't like to responsibly keep track of time, plan my time wisely, or show up places in a timley manner- trust me, I do. I just felt like, during school especially, I was checking the clock for the wrong reasons. I want to listen and engage and learn and pay attention and just be. Living in the moment is so important, and sometimes I get so caught up in wanting things to be over that I forget to do just that.

So- I successfully made it through the school day actually being suprised when the bell rang for the next class each time, and it was kinda cool! I possibly slipped up in last period, but it's Friday so I say that's fair. I feel like today I was one step closer to living my life well. The kind of living that doesn't involve time or minutes or clocks, but the kind of living where you can just enjoy what comes, right in that second.

Tonight I spent time doing what I do on a lot of nights- playing with cute little kids! This time it was Jackie and Jessie, two little girls who particularly enjoy telling me there is some kind of scary wild animal behind me that is getting ready to eat me at any second, and then laugh hystarically when I fall for it even after the 19th time.

Babysitting has become somewhat of a constant in my life over the last few years, and I can honestly say I feel really lucky. I have a lot of theories on why I enjoy spending so much of my time with children; the fact that I still feel like I am one, or possibly that I relate better to some six year olds than people my own age. There's just something about the way little kids live thier lives that makes me aspire to never grow up. They express how they feel and love a lot and have so much fun and laugh and cry and color and dress up and play games and forgive and just love life... all great things. So chosing to spend lots of my weekend nights with 3 and 5-year-olds seems like a good way to go.

I hope that as a get older, I never lose the spirit that I found in these two little girls tonight. I hope I always love to laugh and run all around the house trying to escape the lions behind me. Most of all, I hope that my life doesn't revolve around the minute hand of the clock, but around the people and things I love the most.

New Beginnings

Today I needed some inspiration.

I laid in bed long after school started, and continued to lay there feeling much like I've felt all week- with no motivation to do anything else.

I decided to text one of my best friends Sar, who always has the best advice. Like usual, she had just what I needed. She told me she had just added a post to her own blog, and told me to check it out. Today Sar blogged about being tired. This immediately caught my attention, and as I read on the more I felt like I could get out of bed and continue to live my life.

That post is now up on my mirror to serve as a constant reminder to me to "live my life well". Like my friend Sar, I don't want to waste my life counting down the hours until I can go to bed. I don't want to just go through the motions each day and each week waiting for the fun part to start. I want the fun part right now. I want to live my life well.

This year (I figure its still January so I'm not that late) I'm going to enjoy my life. I'm going to live in a way where I stop counting down. I want to "be so excited about living that I don't have time to be tired". I want to laugh and play and eat and talk and jump and sing and pray and love, and on the days I don't get to do all these things, I want to make the most of it anyway.

Tomorrow I will go to school just like everyday, but-

Tomorrow I will live my life well.