Colors of Life: Blogging

Duuuuuhhhhh #colorofmylife

Blogging.

Is good networking.

Gives you something to do in your free time.

Keeps you sane when everything is crazy.

Gives you something to look forward to.

Is fun.

You learn stuff about yourself.

Today I thought i’d go ahead and answer some questions people have about blogging!

How did you start blogging?

To tell you the truth, I never thought i’d be blogging. The only reason I had heard of it was because of Hilary Duff in the Perfect Man when she was “the girl on the move”, do y’all remember that? Then when I found Shay Shull’s blog, I was hooked. I think i’ve got her to thank for finally taking the plunge to start my own blog. And now I can’t NOT blog.

What if my family doesn’t like blogging?

I think i’ve already mentioned—my family isn’t so keen on the whole me blogging thing. They just never grew up like that, you know putting yourself out all over the internet. I’m not saying that they aren’t supportive, they just don’t understand. And that’s okay. Because this is my thing. And thats #1 that I love about blogging.

Why do you blog?

I’ve only been “full-time” blogging for 6 months and i’ve already loved going back and reading about vacations this past summer, someone’s birthday, or a random Thursday in the middle of September. Just those kinds of things. I love to scrapbook and I feel like this is my online scrapbook that I can share with other people. I’ve found myself up late when I can’t sleep just writing posts (I learned I love to write, too!), planning the next week, and reading some of my favorite bloggers pages. You feel connected to people that you wouldn’t even think. Sometimes you find that you relate to someone, or you can see that someone already went through something you’re going through, etc. It can be a support system for some people. A source of entertainment for others and what have you.

How do your friends feel about you blogging?

The support i’ve gotten from my friends has been crazy. Crazy in a good way. You know, I was wondering how my friends would think about me blogging, because i’m the only person my age (besides Reeana but she only does sometimes) that blogs. I’ve been asked when they will be featured and “is this picture going on the blog?” They’re awesome. I love that they read it every day too. Now if only they’d blog with me 😉

What would you say to someone who wants to blog?

YOU HAVE TO DO IT! We can be blog friends!! Haha, no i’d tell you to just do it! (Thanks Nike) If you don’t like it you can always shut down your blog, but how will you know if you don’t just jump in?

What makes a good blogger?

Definitely someone who is honest. We don’t want to read a fake blog. You have to pretty much be an open book, you are sharing you life with everyone! Someone who likes to write. I think good bloggers also engage their readers. I’d love to have more feedback on my blog, but I know many times people don’t like to comment directly. Anyone can blog! It takes time to build, though.

But what if I don’t have anything to talk about?

Does anyone ever really have anything they just HAVE to talk about? Nope, a blog is just your personal feelings or opinions on a subject. You’re not going to be boring if you’re just being you. Sometimes I feel like what if I was more like this blogger or that blogger. But then I wouldn’t be myself, you know? Those other people have their own blogs. But you might find you have a lot more to talk about than you think you do.

But most importantly, blogging has to be for you! Yeah some of your readers might go back and look at old posts, but you’re going to be the one that looks for a specific post about your family on the third tuesday in october a year ago. You know what I mean?? I love finding new blogs. And I love blogging!

The University of Oklahoma

In honor of Oklahoma’s win over Texas saturday morning….BOOOOOOOMERRR!!!! I thought I would share with those new to the blog my OU story that I posted back on July 10th this summer. So, here goes.

3 years ago (wow…) I had what seemed like a big ol’ decision to make: What college do I attend? My original decision of 6 was between: Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Arkansas or Alabama. I got accepted to all of them so that didn’t narrow down my decision for me. The decision process took my entire senior year to make. Literally, I made my decision in April. And I was moving to wherever in July. Seriously….procrastination queen.

After some more time I decided to cross out OSU and Alabama because I had never visited and really had no intention of visiting. That wasn’t too hard of a decision. Why did I apply then?? Don’t know. I crossed out Arkansas because what seems like my entire town goes there and I wanted something new. Keep in mind this was 18 year-old never left home high schooler me. Then, it was down to my top 3: Iowa State, OU, and Baylor. This took me quite a while to decide. Side note…with my dad being in the military our family gets 4 free years of school. Hallelujah, right? That being said, I decided to cross Baylor off my list because if my dad decided not to give me all 4 years I was not about to pay that money for it. So then the BIIIIIIG decision: Iowa State or OU? ISU or OU, ISU or OU, OU or ISU, OU or ISU back and forth I went for months. Pros and cons to each, but I made my decision, from mainly one factor. Distance from my family.

Fast forward to July….i’m moving to Norman, Oklahoma. Two cars, my bear, and my naive self headed North on I-35.

  

I could tell you about my two years at OU but you’d be reading until your eyes fell out. Needless to say (i’ll keep it as brief as possible)…

I moved in,

I rushed,

I pledged a sorority,

I got my big,

And my little,

Moved into the sorority house,

Participated in the other side of rush,

Attended many football games (with OU/TX weekends involved),

Dressed up for a good amount of events,

Went to my fair share of date parties,

   

And came home very frequently (these pictures are a measurement because every time I came home mom and I would cook together…more on these recipes another time).

 

And yes, did the whole go to class thing too. But who takes pictures of that??

Fast forward again…to now. I am sitting in my house completing my application with a completed application to attend another school.

How did that happen? Well, ever since I was a junior in high school I had a multitude of health issues. I’m sure I will go into detail about that in another post because that’s definitely part of life’s colors. (Update: I did HERE) However, I still went to OU because I figured that while I was in Norman I could come home a couple weekends out of the semester to make my appointments and carry on with my life. Besides, I wanted to do my college thing! A lot of my appointments ended up becoming “We need you back in 2 weeks” and “Please come back in 6 weeks but a week before that you need to get blood work done” Mind you, at this point i’m seeing approximately 2-8 different kinds of doctor’s so I started coming back home often, hence all of the meals mom and I made together. The more I came back the more I missed home and hated leaving again. The more doctors I went to who couldn’t give me answers the more frustrated I became because I still wasn’t feeling well.

I have never been one to admit defeat easily so through the frustration, the waiting on answers, the missing home, the always feeling sick, I pushed through. I drove back to Norman every Monday morning when I didn’t want to after a weekend at home. I went to class every day when I felt so sick that I didn’t want to get out of bed. However, after semesters of pushing myself and putting up a “front” when all I really wanted to do was curl up into a ball and hide. I got extremely tired of it and couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t be the Molly that most people know. And you really don’t get it until you’re put in this situation, so i’m sure it was “sketchy” to my friends that I was gone all the time.

My parents and I spent maaaaaaaany late nights awake talking. I didn’t want to come home because I felt like I would be a failure if I did, kind of like I quit school. What would people think of me? What would I do if I came home? Everything was so unknown. I didn’t want to stay there because it brought back all the memories of how awful I felt all the time and besides that, I WAS feeling awful all the time. And I was just plain tired of driving home for appointments.

My mom said something to me during one of the late night conversations that has still stuck in my head: “Molly, everyone takes different paths throughout life to get to the same end result.” That result being a college diploma. After I heard her say that I realized if I came home and transferred somewhere else I wouldn’t be a failure.

I decided to come home. And it was STILL difficult for me to do so.

On Tuesday (this past July) my mom, sister, and I drove to Norman (ladder in tow) to move the rest of my stuff back home.

And we did just that. We got my stuff, grabbed some lunch, said our goodbyes to Norman and we were heading home. I said farewell to my home of 2 years and shut that chapter of my book closed.

I have no clue what my entire future has in store for me, but I do know that I am getting my diploma. My decision to transfer has nothing to do with the school. It was just my decision and what was best for me. OU was a path that I chose to travel that didn’t work for me. So now I have to choose another path (TBA after I finish my application) that will take me to MY end result of a diploma. (UPDATE: I will be attending the University of Texas at Dallas this spring). The University of Oklahoma was 2 year experience that taught me about the Colors of Life. And now I am trusting Jesus to take care of the rest. But i’ll forever be a Sooner….and a Cyclone.

Life’s Color today is Crimson and Cream.
Be thankful for family always. Do what is best for you. Not everyone follows the same path. God always has a plan, so trust it. Don’t worry about what others might think.

Friendships

 Ah, this is such a true color of my life. I don’t know if it’s just the way kids are raised now, if it’s where I grew up, if it’s because i’m such an introvert, or whatever it could be. All I know is I have struggled so much with finding those real, authentic friendships.

I believe many people experience the same things I have, but maybe not everyone wants to admit it or even experience it in different ways than I do. Friends come and go. In the 4th grade I had a best friend steal my boyfriend, a friend call me “werewolf” because I had hairy arms and legs, and many arguments, hurtful words, and hurtful things done not just to me but to people I knew. I went through a nasty breakup with my boyfriend of 3 years. In college I tried finding close friends to click with, I joined a sorority, did everything I thought possible to make friends, and it just seemed to never work. I felt like I was trying waaaay harder than I should have. Now, I may have been pushing my friendships, but I have struggled with finding good friends for a lot of my life.

Instead of worrying about the friends lost, I want to show you these people below, these are the ones I am most grateful for. These are the people that through all of my health issues have still been my friends and were the ones who knew everything, but stayed my friends no matter what. It’s hard to say “no” when friends ask you to hang out with them. But when you have a thyroid condition and it’s a struggle to make it through the day/shift at work/class/ etc because of how exhausted you are, you need true friends who will just understand. When you feel terrible all the time and don’t know why, you just need someone there to text you or keep you company or say they are there for you.

Jonathong (don’t know how he got this nickname) and I have been friends for about 8 years now. He sent me this the other week:

With the text saying: “You are number 2.” Which is so true. We made fun of each other the rest of the way through middle school. In high school Jonathan’s family was zoned to a different school so we weren’t able to see each other as much but we would still meet to catch up. Jonathan has a huge heart; just the other day we were talking about gym memberships and after me saying how expensive they were he says “Well i’m going to buy you one.” In 7th grade, he bought me the 7th season of Gilmore girls for Christmas. I always see him put others before himself, which I personally think is a rare quality in males. We are always there for each other, aka he was there to be my homecoming date. And I was his prom date. And for that, find a friend just like this ol’ teddy bear Jonathan.

 EMILY. Emily and I were the typical high school best friends. We got in arguments about work, boys, and a couple other things. Who knows, but we always get over it. We’ve continued to be friends after not talking for a couple weeks. The two of us always have a good time together, she’s always fun to talk to, and fun to be around. Emily is the friend you always make fun of because she’s such a goof. I love this girl and our friendship. We have to work harder at our friendship because we live so far away from each other, but we do it because we are best friends. We both joined the same sorority at different schools, dated best friends, and are determined we will be sister-in-laws one day by our siblings. We have similarities and differences, but I think that’s why we are so compatible. And for that, find a friend just like Emily.

Oh Reeana Reeana Reeana. We are two of the goofiest, introverted, world-hating females you’ll ever meet. Kidding, we don’t hate the world we just like to complain to one another about how stupid some humans can be. You know, everyone does it. Reeana and I became friends in 7th grade through volleyball. We didn’t always talk all the time, but she’s the type of friend that you can pick up with a year later and nothing has changed. This is the most down-to-earth human you will ever meet. She’s got it all together and a wonderful, quirky sense of humor to go along. She started coming to my Church after they moved here and that was where most of our fun memories came from. I stayed at her house about every Saturday night and her family and I would go to Church the next morning, and get BBQ afterwards. I look up to Reeana in more ways than she knows, and for that, find a friend like Reeana.

These friends are my most recent friendships. I like that I can I look forward to my job because of these girls. Regardless of the fact that we are going separate ways for college this semester we will still be able to see each other during breaks, and for the ones that are staying for school we will see each other at work. So for that, find friends like Carli, Emily (different Emily), Maddie, and Paige.

Family. The most genuine of friendships. These are my 6 most favorite people in the world! Literally, in the world. I know technically family and friends are in different categories, but these people are my friends AND my family. And how can one be so lucky to get this? Let’s be real, they HAVE to be my friends. There’s just no way out of it.

Y’all know I can’t forget my main man here. G is a true friend. The kind that will make you smile, make you laugh, make you feel better, make you want to be just like him. This is the most wonderful person I know. I enjoy our weekly phone calls and I miss being so far away from him.

Life’s Color: Rainbow, because of all the different types of friends out there.

You find out who your friends are. Don’t settle for average. You shouldn’t have to change yourself for friends. Quality is better than quantity. Blood is thicker than water.