Day Two Hundred and Sixty Two: Scottish Festival

I am Irish, but I love the Scottish festival.

This year was especially fun because I got to go with Madison, who is the epitome of all things Scottish and also my best friend. I also took my boyfriend (yay!) and my mother (less yay.) Madison’s boyfriend came too, but it was easy to lose track of him since he’s a ginger and there were so many gingers there.

The nice thing about the Scottish festival aside from the food and the fun and the puppies (so many puppies!) is the celebration of heritage. I’m Irish, and the Scottish festival always has a ton Irish stuff too. And I got to talk to someone about getting my baby Ecco into agility training, although he’s about four times the size of most of those dogs.

Challenge to my Readers:

Festivals that celebrate culture are awesome, even if it isn’t your culture. Celebrate it anyway. All cultures mean something.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty One: Self Respecting

Okay, remember good friend blog a few back. About helping my friend out one night and receiving no thanks for it. (You still know who you are.)

In an action that was so completely oblivious on her part that it almost should have been expected, she asked for my help again.

She needed some pages from a book scanned. Books at the library on the University campus. The University I graduated from and no longer attend. Now, if it was a normal person, I would know that they only need a page or two, a ten minute job tops. But it’s her, so I know it’s like four hundred pages.

They make me pay for scanning. And my print money from my professor doesn’t work on the scanner. So it was also going to be expensive. On top of that, I wasn’t going to even be close to the campus because I had back to back catering Friday and Saturday and the Scottish festival Sunday during the hours that the library was open. She needed them scanned by Monday.

So, I told her I couldn’t help her because of the caterings. Truth.

Anyone else would have texted me back with “Okay, thanks anyway” or “Sure, sorry to bother you.” You know, the polite thing to do. Instead all I got was silence. As though, because I couldn’t help her, I was no longer worth her time. I was not even worth a text message in her book.

I get that she is stressing out and that things are hard, but how you behave under duress is the sign of your true character. I’m seeing your true character right now and I am not liking it so much.

I love you, but go back to the nice person I liked.

Challenge to my Readers:

Respect yourself and don’t’ put yourself in a situation poisonous to your wellbeing.

Day Two Hundred and Sixty: Self Correcting

I have a bad habit of hating myself for stupid stuff.

Have you ever noticed how when we fix something for ourselves, we forget about it as soon as it is done, but when we mess something up, it takes a long time to forgive ourselves for it.

The other day one of my keys fell off my key ring. No big deal, I picked it up and went to put it back on. But when I did, I noticed that the key ring I had for it was breaking. This could have gone one of two ways: I could have ignored it, put my key on the ring and moved on. But then I would have lost the key later and hated myself for not fixing that key ring when I should have in the first place. Instead, I used masking tape to fix the key ring.

And then I just didn’t care.

But I want to take time to celebrate when I do the right thing. When I take the time and responsibility to fix things before they get bad.

Challenge to my Readers:

Look to the future to fix your problems.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Nine: Good Friend (Part two)

The fiasco with said friend was on a Friday night.

Flash forward to Sunday when my roommate, the amazing Madison asks me to come to the soft launch for her cosmetics education program at her work. See, she had it booked full and then two jerks dropped out on her so she needed some bodies to fill seats.

I was all for it. It sounded like fun. And you know what, it really was. Madison’s coworkers were totally awesome and getting to hang out with Madison’s mom was fun. I didn’t even mind waking up in the morning because they provided breakfast.

And they taught me to do a really killer smoky eye. Which I have never done before.

People like Madison make being a good friend really easy. She’s so thankful to me and I am so grateful to have her in my life. Not a lot of people get to say that they are both a good friend and that they have good friends.

Challenge to my Readers:

Be grateful for the people in your life who make it better. 

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Eight: Good Friend (Part one)

Okay, I have to get this off my chest.

I am a very good friend. Madison and Tony are even better friends, but damn if I am not a good friend.

The other night it was Tony’s birthday. Which was awesome, because Tony is one of the coolest people I know. He came over to our place and Madison promptly set about getting him drunk and all of us having a swell time; ordering pizza, playing MineCraft and just chilling out. We watched Harry Potter.

We were about halfway through Harry Potter when I get a call from a friend asking for a favor.

She knows who she is and she knows what she did. I don’t think she reads my blog at all, but if she does, I highly recommend that she skip this one. (Also Two Hundred and Sixty One) I am about to explain what happened that night from my perspective and it does not paint her in a positive light. I love her to death, I really do, but she can be insane.

I’ll do almost anything in the world for my friends. I really will. So when she called asking me to print some stuff, I said why the hell not. I have a tiny printer and not a lot of ink (we mostly use it to print our movie passes when we order tickets online.) I figured she wanted a couple of pages.

Nope: Four documents, one of which was ten pages in itself and she needed ten copies of each.

Yeah, that’s like four hundred pages of ink I don’t have.

If I had been smart I would have hung up and called it a night. But I work for a professor on campus who gives me a shit ton of print money every quarter that I never use. So I offered to go see if the library was open to print it there.

Library wasn’t open. Neither was the Law Library or the Student Center. It is summer after all. So, frustrated at our inability to help, we called out friend and said “no luck” and prepared to go home.

Instead, our friend called us back and asked us if we could come help her get her stuff ready to leave the next day. We could have said nope, going home to watch Harry Potter. Instead we agreed and met her at her apartment.

Which was a mess.

She wanted us to help, but had no idea what she needed us to do. Whenever we tried to do something, she decided we were doing it wrong and told us to undo it. We tried to clean out her fridge and it took forever because she kept worrying about what her roommate might want/need or whatever. Then we took her trash out. At one point, I made her sandwiches for the road, called her hotel to check that they had a twenty four hour business center and Madison gave her a manicure.

Yeah.

So then we took all her shit down to her car (or what little shit she actually let us pack) and shoved it in there. And then we left.

Am I leaving out the part where she thanked us profusely for coming to her rescue in the middle of the night on Tony’s birthday and she promises to make it up to us as soon as we’re back in town? Nope, didn’t happen.

So we went home and finished Harry Potter, hung out and pretended that the night hadn’t happened.

You know who you are and I love you, I really do. I understand that you are going through a lot right now and we have been there every step of the way trying to help you, trying to support you and trying to print your damn papers. But you still have to be good to us, or else we’re going to peace out and never look back.

Challenge to my Readers:

Be a good friend. It’s better to feel ungrateful later than to not help and feel like an ass now.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Seven: Puppies (other than Ecco)

I love all dogs, not just my own.

The other night I got to snuggle someone else’s puppy for the first time in a long time. Ecco wasn’t there so I didn’t have to play the Mommy-Loves-Ecco-The-Mostest card. Instead I just got to cuddle a little dog all night and then come home to my baby.

I didn’t even feel all that guilty.

I love all doggies. All of them

Except Tiki and Coco, but that’s another story.

Challenge to my Readers:

Don’t feel guilty about spreading your love around.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Six: Magic Tricks

If you ever see me watch a magic trick, you’ll swear that the magician hired me because no one gets that excited about magic unless their either getting paid or their Hermione Granger.

But I love magic tricks. Ever since I was a little kid. I don’t know what it is about them; probably the fact that they are magic. And don’t go being that asshat who tries to tell me how it’s done. I don’t want to know. As far as I am concerned it is magic. Real magic.

That is what I love.

Challenge to my Readers:

Be enthusiastic. You’ll be surprised at how good it feels to just be happy and enjoy something to its fullest.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Five: Chocolate (Yummy)

I love Chocolate.

I know I’ve actually done this blog before, talking about my love of Chocolate, but I felt a need to pay homage to the sweet magic again. See, I already mentioned that I have been in the biggest emotional slump ever. So I’ve been reverting to my comfort food. Including chocolate.

So, I once again must mention how much I love the sweet yumminess of Chocolate.

Challenge to my Readers:

When you need something to make you feel better, get it. There is no point in torturing yourself.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Four: Tom Cruise

I also love Tom Cruise.

I love Tom Cruise even though everyone else seems to hate him.

Okay, I know the whole scientology thing was a little bit of a turn off. I know he can kind of be crazy. But all that aside he’s a really good actor. I mean, name one movie that he was in that sucked (because he was in it.)

Don’t say Vanilla Sky. I liked Vanilla Sky.

I never did get to go see Oblivion. No one else wanted to see it because Tom Cruise was in it. This is a shout out to my fellow Tom Cruise Fans: I will rent the movie if you bring the pizza!

Challenge to my Readers:

Don’t let other people’s opinion of things taint yours. 

Day Two hundred and Fifty Three: Brad Pitt

I love Brad Pitt.

I do, I think he’s a fabulous actor. Plus, he’s super smart and very pretty to look at. Did you see World War Z, he was so badass! Whenever I’m having a bad day I watch Snatch and listen to his beautiful accent.

So yeah, I like Brad Pitt. One of my all-time favorite actors.

Challenge to my Readers:

Love what you love. 

Day Two Hundred and Fifty Two: Football!

It’s almost football season.

Okay, so usually I support the Packers. I’ve been a Packer Backer since I was about three years old. But this year I think I’m going to cheer the Broncos too! For the first time in a long time the Broncos might actually make it to the playoffs.

Whoot!

So this year, get ready to hear a lot of football talk from Kachi.

Challenge to my Readers:

Go Team! Support your team this year, all the way to the grave.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty One: Cartoons

Taylor and I love cartoons.

All cartoons. Ones for grownups like Archer and Bob’s Burgers. And one’s for kids like Wild Thornberry’s and Digimon. We like to watch them together and just basically behave like we’re eleven again.

I didn’t get to share a childhood with Taylor. We didn’t meet until college. That’s why I love to share silly, childish things with him. It’s like we get to relive our childhood together.

Challenge to my Readers:

Share those things from your youth with the people you love.

Day Two Hundred and Fifty: Finding stuff

I have an obsession with finding things for people.

I had a friend ask me to help her find something special for the someone special in her life. So I said, okay. And then I spent like three hours going through the internet looking for it so that we could make his birthday really special.

And, if you’re wondering, we found it. The thing. That I can’t say what is because I’m friends with them both on the book of face.

So, if you need something found, I’m the one to ask.

Challenge to my Readers:

Good things come to those who wait, and those who search. 

Day Two Hundred and Forty Nine: Southern Literature

Say what?

I love southern writers. Flannery O’Conner, Lillian Smith, even Faulkner (a little bit.)

I really like the old Southern Classics (don’t tell anyone about my very tattered copy of Gone with the Wind. And yes, I cry every time. Also, Look Homeward Angel; long, boring and beautiful.)

There is something about the writing of those authors that makes me feel all tingly inside.

Although, most books make me feel tingly.

Challenge to my Readers:

Everyone has a book they’ve read over and over (even if that just means twice.) Embrace it.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Eight: Flowers

I love it when I get flowers.

My boyfriend sometimes gets me flowers and it makes me very happy.

I know it’s cliché, but I can be a complete girl sometimes. I love it when he gets me flowers because it shows me that he was thinking about me when I wasn’t around.

Flowers are expensive, so it doesn’t happen very often, which makes it all the more important when he does it. And flowers aside, Taylor does sweet things for me every single day that I have been with him. So yeah, I love getting flowers. But I love getting Taylor, getting his love and his attention so much more.

Challenge to my Readers:

Love the things you love, love the people more.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Seven: Hats

I love hats.

I think I’ve discussed before about my love of hats. But I figured that since it was something I loved, so I could include it in my list of things that I love. So yes, hats. They’re awesome.

They are especially awesome in the summer because they protect my head and face from the sun. Considering that I am at an increased risk of skin cancer, it’s kind of important for me to be protected from the sun.

I love hats.

Challenge to my Readers:

Practice safe sun, wear sunscreen and hates to prevent sunburn.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Six: Youtube videos

I love youtube.

Not in the way most people do. I don’t visit the sight every single day searching for funny videos. I have like six favorite videos and I just go back to those ones and watch them over and over and over because I know they make me laugh.

But youtube is awesome. It gives me the chance to see videos of stuff all over the world, to see news I would never get to see, to listen to people I would never get to listen to otherwise.

But I take joy in that.

Challenge to my Readers:

Take joy where you can find it and revel in the joy of the world.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Five: Trivia

First place at trivia, woot!

Yeah, I love trivia.

It’s one of the few times a week I really get to see my friends. It makes me really happy to see everyone together, even after all these years. Most of my friends are from high school, which makes me happy that we’ve been friends so long. It also makes me really love my friends I’ve made in college and after, really makes me value them.

Yay trivia.

Challenge to my Readers:

Find a time for you and all your friends to get together, keep up with your friends and be present for them.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Four: Tomatoes

I love tomatoes.

Less because of how they taste, and more because of what they mean to me.

See, growing up, my family has always had a garden. My mother and I, every spring, would plant tomato plants. Tons of them. And then in the fall, we would make sauce and chilli.

My mom traveled a lot when I was younger. I was raised mostly by my father. But gardening and making tomato sauce is one of my favorite memories with her.

Tomatoes are delicious.

Challenge to my Readers:

Sometimes it’s not what things are, it’s what they mean.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Three: Names

As a writer, I have an obsession with names.

Baby names, dog names, names of famous people, names of places, names of celebrities.

I love names, all names. I steal them from customers and from news stories. It’s kind of a problem. One of these days I’m going to get in trouble for stealing someone’s name, but I don’t even care.

In most cultures, Irish included, names have a very powerful magic behind them. Someday when I’m the ruler of the world, I will have all the names and all the power I need. Mwahahaha….

Just kidding.

Maybe.

Challenge to my Readers:

Names are magical. Keep them safe.

Day Two Hundred and Forty Two: Sloths (part two)

Yesterday I got to see a sloth.

I was less than three feet away from her. She was being carried by the official Sloth Cuddler at the aquarium. It was the most amazing thing…ever.

She tilts her head back when she eats food. Just like, cranes her neck backward and gobbles a carrot.

So cool.

Yeah, I’m a little obsessed.

Special thanks to Tony for taking me and Taylor to the aquarium.

Challenge to my Readers:

Thrive in your obsessions.

Day Two hundred and Forty One: Comfort food

I love grilled cheese and spaghetti and macaroni.

Some times with Crohn’s, you need to give in and eat your favorite foods, even though they might be kind of bad for you. See, one of the big problems with Crohn’s is appetite suppression. When I went to the doctor, I was told that I was under my weight limit. My medication is based on my weight and BMI, so I have to be very careful to maintain a specific weight.

So, tonight I got to have grilled cheese and mac and cheese. It was yummy.

Made me very happy.

Challenge to my Readers:

Take your comfort where you can get it.

Day Two Hundred and Forty: Things I Love

I’ve been very, very sick lately. Both physically and emotionally.

Emotionally as though I’m feeling down, not emotionally sick like a sociopath. You’ll have noticed that I haven’t put up a blog in about…three weeks. So, partly in order to catch up and partly because this is what I need right now, I’m doing another set of THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY.

Because that is what this blog is all about.

Making me happy.

Challenge to my Readers:

Never forget what makes you happy.

Day Two Hundred and Thirty Nine: Excited

I am finally excited about writing again.

I realized it last night when Taylor pointed it out to me in bed. We were talking story ideas (his and mine, I’m not the only creative person in this relationship) and he told me he was happy to hear me talking about writing again.

I don’t like talking about my writing. See when I was younger, middle and high school, I used to talk about my writing to people like my friends and parents. But they never said anything positive. It was all “yeah, but that sounds just like xyz…” Or “That sounds stupid, you should write this…”

Or my mother who asks “Why can’t you write a serious novel?”

I’m not Harper Lee, I’m not going to write about racism in the south. I’m going to write about what I know and love. Life is too short to write the next book to end up on some poor high school junior’s reading list.

So, I really love my new ideas and I’ve been playing with them for a while. It’s exciting to write again.

Here we go.

Challenge to my Readers:

We all get side tracked and lose our love. Find it again.