The Charm of Portland

Portland is very quirky, and I love it. It makes for interesting dates and adventurous nights! Last night was no exception.

Taylor surprised me with a movie date at a theater with some Portland charm. We waited in line outside where a girl with purple hair complimented my shoes and proceeded to scream at every car that drove by. But hey, I'll take the compliment!

 We finally got to the ticket booth and asked for two tickets to The Great Gatsby (1 buck!). The lady promptly asked us for our IDs. At first I thought that maybe she had misunderstood us. As far as I knew, The Great Gatsby is only PG13. She seemed to interpret our quizzical looks and explained that it was 21 and over 'cause it was booze night. Lemme tell ya, there's nothing better than watching a movie with a whole bunch of buzzed adults. Everything  was funny.

Oh gosh I love my man, and I love this town. 

I'm a Southern Girl...Oh Wait, I'm not.

Why wasn't I born in the South? My mom lives in Oklahoma, isn't that enough for me to be considered a Southern Girl? No? Well...I love rodeos, and cowboy boots, and NASCAR, and I say "ain't" all the time, and I can easily slip into an accent, is that enough?

Of course, anyone actually from the South would call me a "poser" or something of the like. They might even say that I'm trying much too hard. But I can't help it! The title Southern Bell sounds so desirable, and my family is pretty hickish. No, really!...only a step away from becoming like the family in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration.

Taylor and I might go to Texas one day, and maybe we'll even stay there and I can be that southern bell!

 Now that I have left Utah and experienced living away just a tiny lil' bit, I feel different. Like a different Nikole. This summer hasn't been all butterflies and ice cream, it's been hard. But it has been such an awesome adventure, and it isn't even over yet! We have learned so much, and now I feel a little more empowered to just go do it. Whatever it is.

So, let's move to Texas, or live in a 200 sqft apartment, or stay in Mexico for a year, or learn a new skill, or anything. We can do it!

I guess it's weird for me to feel like we could do anything in the whole world just because we've survived a hard month, but whatever. I'll take it.

Sweet Potato Fries

Do you ever feel overwhelmed and exhausted and stressed and just bad? A long while ago, Taylor and I went out to dinner, and at the time, he felt like that. After he had voiced his concerns, I thought for a minute about what to say. He looked so defeated and down, like he had to climb the biggest mountain in the world. So, I took a couple of sweet potato fries and put them in the corner of my plate, and I said,

"I think you're just looking at a small part of it. Like you're just looking at these two sweet potato fries, and your forgetting about the steak and the bread and the huge mound of other fries."

I don't think he really got what I was saying, so I explained further,

"Sometimes everything seems so bad. We have so much to do in short amount time and everything seems to be piling up, but it's because we're focusing on a little part of our lives, the sweet potato fries. Sure, we have to do things, and yes, we've made mistakes, but we're practically kids with a whole life ahead of us! It's not going to stay this way forever, we still have so much to look forward to and to enjoy. Not only that, but we have a lot to be happy about right now if you take a step back and look at the big picture! We have steak, bread, and fries still!"

I'm not saying that I'm an all-knowing..er..knower, but I do think that there's some truth in that. Lately, I've been allowing myself to just focus on the couple of sweet potato fries and not enjoy all the good that's going on.

So, I'd like to say that I'm grateful for all the love and hope that so many people give me. I'm grateful for sweet angels like Ali who give me a shout-out just when I thought that blogging wasn't worth it. I'm grateful for my husband who keeps growing with me and is patient with me. I'm grateful for my family (his side and mine) who support us and want to see us be successful. I'm thankful for my testimony, for my knowledge, and for my blessings.

The world is crazy, but it's still wonderful.