7 First Dates You'll Go On Before You Settle Down

Chances are you didn't fall in love with the first person you met and live happily ever after. If you did, good for you, but you're missing out on a lot of fun, crazy, people that lead to some pretty amazing stories to tell. The fun part about being in your twenties is that you can date anyone you want without your parents doing a background check or investigating their family tree first.You have the opportunity to meet someone who is exactly like you, or someone who makes you consider the being single for life thing. There are quite a few first date scenarios that you can find yourself in, and from personal experience some are good and some you just kind of want to look up into the sky and whisper to God, "But, why?"


The One Who Is Too Plugged In
You haven't even finished your first drink and they have been on their phone non stop. Live tweeting the funny joke you just said, showing you their most recent tinder matches, reading aloud an email that they "just couldn't believe," showing you their most recent score in fantasy football, updating their facebook status to dinner date hashtag happy, smiley emoji. They are so in tune with their new Iphone 6, they probably couldn't even tell you the color of your eyes.

Hey I Just Met You, and I May Be Crazy
Tell me every person you have had sexual interest in within the last 5 months? Are you talking to anyone other than me right now? What alcohol would make you want to go home with me later? Do you watch porn? My last girlfriend/boyfriend was crazyyy. Do you have daddy issues? My favorite show is South Park, but The Simpsons is a close second. I wear a wedding ring to bars to pick up love interests. Can I see your recent call log?

I'm Yelling Tinder
You meet up with this person at a local bar because you swiped right and they were attractive so why not? This is how relationships work these days right? Good luck with this one.

The Friend Of A Friend
Your friends know you better than anyone and they want to hook you up with someone that would be just perfect for you. They know exactly what makes you tick, they know what you like, dislike, and know all about the many dates that you have been on that have been an epic fail. So when your friends say they have a friend that they would like you to meet, go for it. This date actually turns out pretty awesome.

The One Upper
You will eventually go out with someone that no matter what you say, they have done that exact same thing but ten times better. Oh you can make buffalo chicken dip? I won an award for mine once, So you crossfit? Ha, I can lift a car. You'll either need to excuse yourself to the restroom and dip out the back door on this one, or grin and bear it then pretend that you don't speak english the next time they message you.

The Facebook Messenger
You're probably thinking, who actually goes out with someone that messages them on Facebook, good question, but I did once. The person ended up drinking too much, accusing me of cheating on them (I had just met them 3 hours prior) and yelled at me in the middle of the bar, proceeding to tell me that he was going to kick my door down if I didn't leave with him. Needless to say, I didn't leave the bar, and when I got home that night with my friends he was passed out in front of my apartment door. He apologized the next day via facebook to me and all of my friends. This is a true story.

The Date You Never Want To End
These are fun. It's like you'd rather sit there and hear about their whole life than sit on your couch alone, binge watching netflix, which is a huge step up from where you have been.   You all have a lot in common, they are funny, and they don't give off a super creepy vibe. You then reassure yourself that dating isn't so bad and that there are actually some pretty decent people still out there. Thank God.

Being single is supposed to be the time that you meet a variety of different people, grow as a person yourself, and not necessarily settle down, but become one step closer to finding someone that you could enjoy spending more time with outside of a bar or restaurant. Crazy to think about, but sooner or later, after all the people you meet, you'll meet an alright one that will prove to you that not all people are completely bat shit.

Baggage Claim

You're standing in the middle of an airport, anxious and full of anticipation as each bag passes you by. A part of you hopes that maybe your baggage would get lost somewhere in between where you were and where you are going. People surround you, some smiling, some crying, some pissed and just ready to get to the closest bar so they can order their Basil Hayden on the rocks. You think to yourself, if everyone lost their baggage, if this claim never existed, would this be a happier place?

Everyone has events, feelings or people from their past that rise to the surface at inconvenient times. You do your best to hide the things that have troubled you. With the kind of 'stuff' that you carry around from place to place, it's a wonder of how you just haven't lost your mind.

Maybe a loved one betrayed you. Maybe it's a family member, significant other or friend, and since then, you have trouble trusting anyone who says they will be good to you. Maybe you have experienced situations more physical, leaving you scared and alone and sometimes non-existent. Maybe you were left by a friend, abandoned by a parent, or rejected from a crowd you yearned to be a part of.

The human mind is powerful, more powerful than I think any of us give it credit for. It can remember dates, specific scents, or even a strangers voice. The human mind, with your permission, can either help you or destroy you.

Imagine starting out your life with an empty suitcase. As a child, so happy and free, you could go anywhere with that thing, you could even hide in it when playing 'hide and go seek,' because the emptiness of that suitcase provided so many opportunities for you. As the years pass, and you start actually growing, learning, and experiencing, you start storing things away. You don't want to talk to anyone about how much pain you are in, so you store your feelings away in this suitcase, hoping that one day it'll all just go away. When you reach your twenties, you find yourself trying to explore new things, travel, meet new people and become the person that you ultimately want to be as an adult. However, there is one big problem.

The emotional suitcase that you've carried around is finally starting to drag you down. You find yourself emotionally and physically drained. Your only solution to be able to find real happiness and freedom is to rid of the suitcase and the junk that fills it.

When you are one of the lucky people to be able to live another day, you have a choice to make when you wake up in the morning. You can either continue to be weighed down and sad by the events of your past, or let everything go and find happiness.

I don't know about you all but I choose happiness. Leave your baggage at the claim, and move forward. You'll be surprised in the doors that will open for you when you don't have something constantly weighing you down.

Four Different Things You'll Be In Your 20s

They say your twenties are the years that you learn the most about yourself. They say that you'll experience love, hate, adventure, brokenness....they say that you bounce back from all of them. They say not to give up, to keep on going. They say that no matter what, don't wish for the future, because it'll be here way too fast.

As a 'twenty-something' year old myself, I have learned that there are many of us who are the same age, but at totally different spots in our lives. Some people you will be able to relate to, some people you won't. However, the thing that we all have in common, is that we are just trying to figure out who the hell we actually are.

The Broken Workaholic

You've been hurt, and not by someone that you got over a week later. You were hurt by someone that you loved with every fiber in your body, you thought that you were going to marry them, you thought that the money you were saving was going to go towards your dream wedding, your honeymoon, or maybe your future children. Then one day you woke up and without warning, they left you. They left, and moved on faster than you ever imagined moving on. You tried sleeping the pain away, but when that didn't work, you buried yourself in the only thing else that you loved...your career. You started working early mornings and late nights, then found yourself years later, still working, just to keep the pain away.

The One to Wed

You found them. You knew it would happen in your twenties but you didn't know when. You met them at a coffee shop, in a bar, or bumped into them in your favorite authors aisle at the bookstore. You met, you matched, and you knew that there was no more wondering about your biological time clock, because you had found the one, right there in your twenties. They make you laugh, but even better, they laugh at your jokes. You smile because it's everything that you had ever wished for, but more. You tell everyone how much your best friend means to you and how you cannot wait to spend the rest of your lives with them. You find yourself, flipping through wedding magazines, lining up your bridal party, and pinning an obnoxious amount because you have waited for this day for atleast the past 10 years.

The One with One on the way

You're scared. You're happy. You're emotional, but can't believe that you have something so crazy and beautiful inside of you. You were timid to tell anyone at first because what would they think, you're only in your twenties. Was it too soon? Or were you technically behind everyone else. You find yourself thinking of names, forwards and backwards, inwards and outwards, and day dreaming about clothes, colors of the nursery and even what sports they'll play when they get older. You are glowing, your significant other is glowing. You're young, but being 'twenty-something' is old. You're ready. You start budgeting for diapers, for formula, and you start planning what your life will be like just a few months away.

The one who will plan on having a glass of wine but drinks the whole bottle 

You're single, and the only steady relationship you have is with your netflix account. You don't necessarily hate it though. You enjoy being alone, listening to indie music and dancing around in your socks and underwear when you get home at night. You plan on only drinking a glass of wine, then Nick and Jess break up on New Girl, so you obviously had to reason with this. You look around and you see everyone getting married, or starting a family, or taking off in their dream job, and you sometimes feel like maybe you don't have life figured out yet. Sometimes you feel left behind, like that maybe you aren't worthy of a happiness like that. However, other times, you love that you can lay sideways in your bed and not worry about someone snoring to keep you awake. You aren't sure what you want, but you enjoy taking it day by day, it'll all fall into place one day, right?

We are all so different, but all the same. We think that rushing through life, meeting these milestones are so important at a certain age, but we all age differently. There is no specific age that one has to be to buy a dog, have a baby, get a ring on their finger, or be VIP at their favorite bar. I think we all just need to be a little bit easier on ourselves, because let's be honest, we have no idea what we are really doing.

Shake It Off

Last night I decided to change my alarm so that when it went off at 5:15 a.m. I wouldn't want to throw it across the room. I wanted to change it to something so that when I woke up from my slumber, I'd automatically want to dance. Naturally, I downloaded T Swifts new song.

I'm sure everyone has heard it, and if you haven't then you really are missing out on one of the greatest songs made recently. Taylor has made a point to let everyone know that she really could care less what they think about her, and she encourages us all to do the same.

This morning when my alarm went off, I didn't hit snooze. I tossed back the covers and sang to myself, "and the haters gunna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

Little did I know, that song was going to get me through the next 12 hours at my job. The commute to Richmond wasn't bad, I listened to the morning gossip on the radio as I sipped on my gas station hazelnut coffee blend that I had to put ice cubes in just so I could drink. I got to work early so I could get a head start on my work so that I could have an easy Friday...because I mean really, who doesn't love an easy Friday.

My day was going great, I wrote an article on Corey Kenton, a country music singer from Madison County, and interviewed a Breast Cancer survivor to feature in tomorrow's paper. Then, my coworker came in and informed me about a man that was at the meeting she had just left asking for me. A little side note-last week I was at a city forum meeting and a man approached me accusing me of not taking my job seriously. He said I looked bored in the meetings and that I wasn't taking notes. I really wanted to say, it's 2014, I use a recorder not a notebook, and in a 2 hour meeting who really looks excited?...But I refrained from saying anything, smiled, nodded and gave him a firm hand shake before I left the room. I never caught his name, because he said 'It wasn't important.' 

After the second time this man without a name accused me of not taking my job seriously, I asked him if he had seen any problems in my articles, and if he had to please point them out to me so that I can do better in the future for not only him, but the whole community. He had no complaints, except for the way that I did my job.

For those who know me I am a very outspoken person, but I have gotten better. I know that I enjoy my job, my boss thinks I am 'top notch,' and the people who read the forums and meetings that I cover have not complained. So why did one guy make me think twice about my career choice? (He said that 'he knew' I didn't want to be a journalist, which makes me LOL still.) 

I am really not bothered by the words that this man has said to me or my coworker in the past couple of weeks, I just think that it's crazy that he feels entitled to tell me how to do my job, especially if he can't even tell me his name. I have learned a lot about life while being a journalist, but the most important thing that I have learned is you just have to shake. it. off.

So today, I turned up Taylor Swift, did a hair flip, and prepared for an event that I will cover tonight. I hope I don't look too bored.

Never The Wife, Always The Mistress

I am sure that being in a relationship is one of the hardest things that someone can do in this point in time. There are so many options. If your significant other upsets you one day, you could just log into "insert one of the million of social networking possibilities" and find someone else to pacify your time until the one you are with stops being so 'crazy.' In my opinion though, being single is a lot more challenging.

There was once a time when I thought that love was a thing. That if you 'found the right person' then the rest of your life would somehow fall magically into place. In the last year, I have realized that this whole being in a relationship thing isn't what it's all cracked up to be.

Now, I am sure that some of you are going to read this and think that I am just a bitter 24 year old girl, which is half true. But since the last 'boyfriend' I had two years ago, being on the market has lead me to believe that nobody will ever be satisfied. Whether it's because they are selfish, insecure, or all of the above.

'Never the wife, always the mistress,' came to my mind when I thought about my relationship status in the past two years. It's not that extreme, I don't break up homes or sleep with people who are married. However, for some reason, I'm the girl the guys with the 'perfect' girlfriends call when they are having an off day. I'm the kind of girl that believes that I shouldn't have to wreck a home to have a relationship though, so I carry on with my day like these phone calls never happen. BUT, what about the girls who aren't like me? What about the girls who act on the phone calls and late night texts and stroke the so called 'mans' ego?

I have heard it all. Those who cheat, men and women both, are really good at what they do. It's like an art almost. They know how to have their cake and eat it too, which is impressive. I've been on both sides of the fence, I know how this works. 

I was once the girlfriend who put everything into a relationship, and was so blind at the thought of 'love' that I didn't see him sleeping with 3 girls behind my back. I mean, I didn't want to be the girl that was paranoid about guys nights...but maybe I should've been. 

I have also been the single, free spirit with a wild heart girl that when the road gets a little bumpy, and their love life gets a little boring, they call me because 'I know how to have fun.'

I don't want to be either one of those girls, though. I don't think anyone does. Life is already hard enough. We have to pay bills, stay fit, have a social life, overcome fears, work our ass off just to have a little fun...we shouldn't have to worry if the person we come home to every night is thinking about someone else when we aren't looking.

But, I guess that's just the way it is.

Happy Hump Day.

-

"Finding Pleasure In All Their Simple Joys, Remembering Her Own Child-Life, And The Happy Summer Days...”

Tonight I turned on my favorite country station and began to pack my bags to head back to Kentucky. Tomorrow is my last day in Colorado and I can't help but think how fast time has gone since I have been here. I folded up my Spartan Finisher shirt and smiled, thinking back to my very first Sunday in the Springs, and held the medals in my hand that I had won that day...traces of dried mud still remained. It's a bittersweet feeling.  I came out to Colorado accomplishing so much. I learned new things about myself and built a stronger relationship with God and my sister and her beautiful family. As my time here comes to an end I feel thankful and blessed along with so many other emotions.

Today as Diana recovers from getting her wisdom teeth taken out, I had a 'Jo Jo and girls' day with Sarah and Carolyn. I surprised them and took them to a magic show, then took them to play in the fountain at the park and ended our little girls day with ice cream from Cold Stone. Needless to say, they were two pretty happy girls.

Since we were young Diana and I have always been partners in crime. I think that my favorite part about my trip to Colorado is that I have grown and become a better person because of my older sister. As we get older we have friends who come and go. Old friends, new friends, coworkers, the guy whose cubicle is right next to yours, the woman who says hi to you every morning at Starbucks...every person we meet in our life has an impact on us. However, there is no kind of impact, like the one from a sister. A sister who has seen me at my worst, and now at my best...she has been by my side no matter what and has always reassured me that things do in fact get better. She hasn't guided me wrong yet.

I have used a lot of Alice in Wonderland quotes in this blog series because I feel like we can all relate to Alice in one way or another. Just as her life is full of good and bad choices, so are ours. However, as the story goes Alice learns her lesson and ultimately becomes a better person. I want everyone to take the challenge that I did. I want you to take chances, make choices whether they are good or bad and learn from them. I challenge you to dust off your moral compass and go for an adventure. Find pleasure in the simple things and be thankful for the times you get to spend with your family, friends and yourself.

See you soon, Kentucky. :)

Jeremiah 29:11

Happiness.

Some people have it, others spend their whole lives looking for it. Happiness isn't hard to obtain, you just have to have faith.

Today my eyes filled with tears as I watched my oldest niece put all of her trust in God. Today, Sarah was baptized. She climbed into the baptismal with a smile on her face, and as she was emerged under water the church in unison said, "Bye Sarah!" When brought back above water, smiling ear to ear, she was glowing with happiness. I was proud of her for making such a big decision at a young age, but I think I was more proud of the fact that she could tell you exactly why she wanted to get baptized. After church Carolyn went up to Sarah and said "I am so proud of you." 

There is one thing that I pride myself and Diana for and that is if there is ever anything negative to happen, we see it as an opportunity to make it into something positive. This morning we woke up as we have for the past month to attend our 8 a.m. yoga class. When we got to the gym, the instructor had forgot her key, which meant we wouldn't have been able to do yoga in the room that we usually practice in. Diana and I exchanged looks and proposed an outdoor yoga class in the America The Beautiful Park. Instead of going on with our day without a yoga class, we ended up having one of the best yoga classes I have experienced. With fresh air, a cool breeze and pretty much mastering our arm balances, we walked out of the park this morning radiating nothing but happiness.

 

The other day Diana and I were talking about everything that we have learned from each other since I got out here. Coming into my last week in Colorado Springs, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. I think that not only will I come out of this a better person, but also someone that is no longer scared to try new things. I started thinking earlier about this whole "finding myself in my twenties" thing. When I decided to come to Colorado a couple of months ago I was set out to figure out what exactly I wanted in life, who exactly I was. Exactly a month later, I have decided that I don't really want to be 'found.' In the past month I have stepped completely out of my comfort zone and have done things I never thought I would do. When you play hide and seek, the thrill of this simple game is searching. Once you are found, the game is over. I have decided that I am in love with the thrill of seeking. I will no longer hide from things that I am scared of but keep on searching because God has a plan for me. He has plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future. As long as I believe that, as long as I have faith in him, happiness will prevail.

"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."