Thought's on Facebook Timeline

Greetings blog readers!  It's been a while I know, but that's because I've been busy with the new facebook timeline...has anyone had a chance to check it out?  Last weekend we had our annual best gal pal get together with my closest ladies, and the topic of the new timeline came up.  My friend Whitney mentioned she had recently switched to it and had so much fun looking back through all of our old funny posts from when we lived together.  That was all we needed to whip out the old netbook and check out some of our glory days.  We had a good laugh trying to decode some of the ridiculous posts and comments and I decided I just had to check out my own timeline and have the same laugh over days past.

So, earlier this week, I poured myself a glass of vino and began checking out my days of facebook yore...and I was surprised at what I found.  While I did have a good laugh at quite a few things, it also brought up a lot of painful memories too.  It's easy to forget how much of our daily lives, thoughts, and feelings we tend to share on our facebook pages, and looking back through some of my old posts made me recall the exact feelings I had when sharing them.  I'm almost a little disappointed in myself at how much I let things and people affect me, especially boys who I dated and friends who turned out not to be friends at all.  While I've never been one to specifically call anyone out on the book or talk directly about boys who done me wrong, sometimes just expressing anger or frustration felt theraputic...

One particularly painful post from a couple summers ago in which I declared "I want the last 2.5 years of my life back!" brought back a lot of old feelings on my relationship with the boy.  That was a particularly icky stage for me when I was holding back a lot of pain and resentment over the way he handled our friendship.  At that time I had just gotten the courage to confront (via text, of course) him about a few things and let's just say the conversation went way differently than I had hoped.  Just thinking about the way I felt the night I posted that made me relive that sadness.  All that said, we of course did finally find our way and as I was scrolling through the last year, I got to relive happy times with me and the boy, including all the well wishes we recieved from friends and family when we got engaged this summer.  Amazing how a span of a couple years can literally change everything....which I guess is the other side of the coin when it comes to the timeline.

It wasn't all sad memories and regret over some of my past indiscretions....there were a lot of really amazing things I noticed as I scrolled through the last 7 years (yeah, 7 years) of my facebook history.  I got to go through old pictures of holidays with my family, vacations, and weddings and relive the good memories too.  I also got to re-read encouraging words from family, and sweet posts from friends I don't see nearly enough, but who I have always made the effort to keep in touch over the years.  I really made me appreciate the people have shown up in my timeline every year, always wanting to know what I am up to, congratulating me on new jobs, promotions, and asking me what's new in my life.  What a great reminder to be thankful for these people!  What a great reminder to me that even during times in my life that I felt sad or overwhelmed, there was so much to be thankful for!

Anyways, just figured I would share that...and don't worry, I too had the oligatory drunk college (and sadly post college as well) years documented on facebook (2004-2007) where me and my friends clearly spent all our free time exchanging inside jokes and reminding each other of the previous evenings shenanagans back and forth on each other's walls.  Apparently it took a lot of legwork to establish how fabulous we were to the public back then :-). 

So those are my thoughts on the new timeline...love it AND hate it.  What about you?  Have you checked it out?  What's your verdict?

Steve Martin totally gets me...

These are actual conversations...

Do you ever listen to your significant other say things and just look at them and think, really?  That happens to me all the time.  On a daily basis, things come out of the boy's mouth that make me either laugh, shake my head, or wonder if this is what I'm in for for the rest of my life.  Below are some of the things he's said and the conversations we've had:


while driving home from my parent's house:
Boy: Babe, the back of your car reminds me of your butt.
Me: Excuse me?
Boy: No, I don't mean the size....just, you know it's cute and perky.
Me: Right.....

while looking over my shoulder (which I hate) while I checked my work email:
Boy: Hey your inbox is over it's size limit.
Me: Yeah I know, I get those notices all the time.
Boy: My penis is over it's size limit.

while discussing wedding plans after we got engaged:
Me: I'd love to get married outside...and then tent the reception.
Boy: Yeah that sounds good...we could do like a BYOB thing...
Me: Excuse me? BYOB?  No.
Boy: Oh so you're thinking maybe we get some kegs?
Me: This is our wedding, not a frat party.

while parking at the mall during Christmas:
Me: Now, remember where we parked, just in case we come out another exit.
Boy: Yep I remember.  We are right in between Dick's and BJ's. (as in Dick's Sporting Goods and BJ's restaurant).  Get it babe, Dick's and BJs?!?
Me: I get it.

while watching tv together:
Boy: (turns to me) Babe, what's it like to be dating someone as sexy as me?

while watching me wrap christmas presents:
Boy: I think you should wrap presents topless.
Me: No (gives "the look")

while watching tv together:
Boy: (grabs remote) There's something I want to watch on tonight...(flips through channels)...dang, I guess it's not on.
Me: What did you want to watch?
Boy: The Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
Me: Yeah, I think that's over.
Boy: Dang it!  Why didn't you tell me?
Me: Umm, so I'm supposed to tell you when half naked supermodels are going to be on tv?
Boy: Yes.

while playing with my dog, Sawyer:
Me: I think he likes you better than me.  It's so unfair.
Boy: No, I mean, we just bond you know.
Me: How so?
Boy: Well, you know, I feed him, and I take him out, and we both pee standing up.

while seriously annoyed at him:
Me: Okay, seriously, please pick up your clothes off the floor, and can you please clean up the office like I've asked you to do a hundred times?!?
Boy: (grins) I love it when you're bossy.
Me: Oh my goodness, you annoy the shit out of me.
Boy: I know.  I love it.

while on a run together:
Me: Oh my goodness, look at our shadows.  I seriously have the biggest thighs!  Do you see my legs?
Boy:  I like your legs.
Me: Whatever.
Boy: You know, someday if we have kids, I hope they have....(stops and thinks for a second)...my legs and your long fingers.
Me: My long fingers?  That's the best you could come up with?

while watching football:
Boy: Did you know that in order to become an NFL football ref, you only have to have 10 years of coaching experience, 5 years on a Varsity collegiate level or higher, or previously coach or play NFL football?
Me:  What do you mean "that's all"?  That's a lot.
Boy: Yeah, but I'm just saying, I could just do it, you know?
Me: Did you want to be a football ref?
Boy: Yeah.  I mean, you'd be alright with that, right?
Me: If you quit your job and reffed football?
Boy: yeah.
Me: Sure, go ahead.

while getting ready for bed, while I'm sick:
Me: (laying in bed with glasses on, dirty hair, kleenex shoved up me nose)
Boy: (looks at me) See, this is what they don't put in the Victoria's Secret Catalogue.



Seriously, what am I going to with him?  Not sure, but I suppose I'll keep him around and see what happens... :-)

My Cat's Big Adventure

When I was 21, I got a cat.  Growing up we always had animals, and I always knew I would be a person who had pets into my adult life.  At 21, I was living with my friend Whitney and her cat Snapper.  After about a month in our townhome, we decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea to get Snapper a little friend.  So, after perusing around PetSmart one day and holding about 10 different rescue kittens from the humane society, I finally decided that I needed to take one home with me.  Best decision ever. 

My cat and Snapper quickly became besties, and it was not an uncommon occurance to walk into a room and find them spooning one another.  There was only one problem...Snapper had a hankering for the outdoors.  Upon entering our townhome we had to make sure we only opened the door enough to slip out bodies in without leaving room for Mr. Snapper to make a run for the backyard.  You can imagine this led to many drunk evenings stumbling through our neighbors' yards in high heels trying to find the cat who had mysteriously slipped out as we wandered into the house at 3:00am. 

After graduating college, Snapper and my cat bid each other adieu as me and my furry child heading for our own apartment.  I quickly realized, however that Snapper had had quite an influence of his protege and had passed along his love of the great outdoors.  If left open, my cat would often wander onto the balcony of my tiny apartment peering down at the great paved paradise below him, curiously wondering what it would be like to set paws out the door of our apartment.  His afternoons were spent lounging in the window of my bedroom, cackling at birds and basking in the sunlight.  I often wondered what he dreamed about in the 20 hours a day he spent sleeping, but if I had to guess, his dreams were filled with tall grass, new smells, and chasing small creatures.

Upon our move to my first house, his adventurous spirit only grew.  Having tasted the outdoors sporadically over the last few years at my parents house (he was allowed to wander our the dog door at their place while cat-sitting), I could tell that his thoughts became divided solely between purring loudly, walking on me while I slept, and quietly planning a great escape.  Quite often I would come home from work or running errands to see him sitting in the window or at the front door staring blankly out as if in a trance.  I couldn't totally blame him though.  Despite having provided a loving home for him where snuggling was a morning and evening requirement, food was abundant, and pony-tail holders were a-plenty (his favorite toy), I can see where he felt his life was destined for something more. 

A month and a half ago, I moved in with the boy.  A month before that, we installed a dog door that led into our backyard so our dogs could come and go as they pleased.  I felt confident that upon making the move with my cat, it would be permissable for him to take advantage of the same freedom we offered the dogs and explore the backyard as well.  His life long dream would finally be coming true.  The first week in the new place I kept him in our bedroom with food and water just until some of the boxes has been unpacked and the chaos of the move was in check.  By Friday that week, I let him out to explore that premesis and went on my way to work.  Upon returning home that night, my furry boy was nowhere to be found in the house.  It was understandable though...how could new terrain be fully explored in a matter of hours?  It simply cannot. 

By Sunday, my cat had still not made an appearance at the foot of my bed for morning and evening snuggle sessions.  It has since been over a month, and he has not been back.  Though I am incredibly happy to be living with my sweet fiance, I feel as though a part of our little family is missing.  K and I have known eachother for 4 years, so he has spent a lot of time around my silly cat.  Even though for the first 2.5 years I knew him, K affectionately referred to the cat as "Shit-for-brains", I know he secretly loved him too.  It's weird not having him scratch on the bedroom door in the middle of the night, or jump up on the bed just as we're settling in to sleep, or purr louder than the tv when i lay down to watch a movie. 

In the first few weeks of his adventure, we called for him nightly, spread the word with all of our neighbors, called the animal shelters, visited the animal shelters, and found no sign of him.  When I adopted him, I had him micro-chipped, so I had hoped that I would get a call at any time saying he had been found, but that call has not come in yet.  Many scenarios have gone through my head on where he is or what fate may have befallen him, but I continue to come to the same conclusion: He is on an adventure.  Our neighborhood is not surrounded by any major roadways, nor is is surrounded by a wooded area where other animals may have come across him, and weighing in at a cool 15 lbs on his last vet visit, it unlikely that his frame would lead anyone to believe he is a stray. 

So I am comforted with the thought that he is finally having his big outdoor adventure, or perhaps just an adventure with a new family who thought to give my lost kitty a home.  A couple weeks ago I came home and the boy had put up the litter box, and this past weekend I finally put away his food bowls.  It's a tricky situation trying to decide when to move on.  The last couple weeks we have tentatively discussed whether to get another cat at some point.  I'm not sure that I will be ready for a little while, but I think after 6.5 years with my sweet kitty, I am too accustomed to having a cat about the house to go without for too long. 

Anyways, here's to my sweet cat and his big adventure...he will be forever missed.