Monday, August 31, 2009

I met someone wonderful today.

Today was...freakishly awesome.

After my first class, I decided to pay a visit to my counselor to sort out some scheduling problems I was having. You have to go down this random deserted hall in one of the buildings in the quad to get to where the counselor offices are. As I was making my way to the correct room, there was a random computer chair in the middle of the hall with some guy sitting on it spinning and singing to himself. I quickly weighed my options of either turning around, avoiding this all together, and coming back later or to go in to this most awkward situation guns blazing. I am a painfully proud woman so I picked the latter. I couldn't coward out. I didn't know this boy. He was just having a good time on the chair! Who was I to proclaim him "abnormal"? Who was I to say I was too good to interact with him?!

So there I went.

When he saw me coming in his direction, he stopped spinning, stopped singing, stood up, and started smiling at me. I smiled back. My smile felt weird though. Forced, almost. I wasn't sure what was going to happen next. I honestly had no idea how I should react.

"I want that chair so bad," he told me as he pointed it out.

I just laughed. My laugh didn't sound right. Why am I such a spaz?!

His smile widened. "It's comfortable," he assured me.

"Looks comfortable," I replied as I tried to squeeze past him.

He watched me as I walked down the hall a little ways. "You gotta try it out!"

I stopped and turned around. "Haha! Maybe after my meeting?" He was harmless!!

He smiled again. That was all he needed. He looked a little embarrassed as he picked up his school bag that had been thrown on the floor. He pulled out his iPod, fooled with some buttons on it, waved goodbye to me, and shuffled off out into the quad.

----------------------------------------------------------

How wonderful is this guy who found happiness and pleasure in a simple chair? Though I never actually sat in it, it looked awfully comfortable. It was soft and that made him smile. Is that "abnormal"? No. That's SPECTACULAR! He was experiencing real, genuine joy and I dubbed him a psycho. Who do I think I am? Pah-lease.

This complete stranger taught me a lesson today. A lesson I would have never learned in a classroom. I hope he continues to spread his smile everywhere he goes. I hope everyone also gets a chance to give him a second look before they write him off like I did.

I think I'll go sit by the pool now. *sigh* Good day.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Makes Me Think

About a month ago I stumbled upon a Web site called "Makes Me Think (MMT)". It's like an FML or MLIA Web site but BETTA! It's little inspiring, beautiful passages that quite literally "make you think." I'm absolutely in love with this Web site. I probably look through it everyday.

makesmethink.com for any of you who are interested.

I wanted to share some beautiful entries I read this morning.

Today, when he got home from work, he told me he got an A on his final exam in Accounting, found a $50 bill in the back of a taxi cab, and that his new boss treated him out to an expensive lunch. Then he said, “But your smile just made my day.” MMT

Today, after 10 years, my husband suddenly quit smoking cigarettes. When I asked him why he decided to quit, he said, "I want to grow old with you." MMT

Today, I held my newborn baby girl in my arms for the first time. I didn't think I was ready to be a dad, but now I know I am." MMT

Today an old woman at the gas station came up to me and said, "I'm so embarrassed, but could you help me?" I thought she was going to ask for money, but she told me that last week her husband died and she had never pumped gas before. She had no idea what to do. MMT

Today, I returned home after being stationed in Iraq for 9 months. While I was still in uniform, I went into an ice cream shop near the airport to get a milkshake. The girl behind the counter handed me my shake and said, “It’s on me.” “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that,” I said. “Neither did you,” she replied. MMT




*tear*

Pish Posh

My bike broke. :(

It was an epic disaster. I'm glad you weren't there. Metallica was. He is a guy who lives in my apartment complex. This is his first year at LSU. He was pretty good at making the embarrassment a little less painful. I appreciated that. Why are my sentences so short?

Moving on. The pedal broke off the bike and it looks like I'll either have to get one of my handy, dandy engineering friends to weld it or try some kind of liquid metal. I don't know. We'll see.

210 got a vacuum today thanks to my VBF!! It's heavy duty so it'll get up those hair balls. *Smiles.* Did that gross you out? I was hoping it did. #2 and I have thick, curly hair and we shed A LOT causing hair to be everywhere. Since we are poor college students, we can't afford a vacuum so we haven't cleaned the carpet since we moved in. Yeah. I'm just as horrified as you are...and I have to live with it!! So my VBF owned two, saw we needed help, and gave us one. My hero!

That's about it. I've been quite a bore lately! Sorry, kids.

I recommend you listen to If You're Out There by John Legend. It's wonderful.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

"Who knows how fast this year's gonna go?"

First of all, before I get down to business, EVERYONE who reads this must go watch A Very Potter Musical on YouTube. It's vital.


And look! I even put the URL address link here for your convenience!

A Very Potter Musical

You're welcome. ;)


Anywho! Started classes yesterday. All of my professors are the bomb dot com. Woohoo! I know classes are going to bring a heavy work load but it's nothing I can't handle. Let's just say...my classes should be afraid. VERY afraid.

The best and biggest news of all is that after a summer of withdrawels and cruel separation, everyone has come back to me. As of Sunday, all of my hearts were moved back on campus/in town. Needless to say, it's been quite a wonderful couple of days.

Have a good one, hunny bunnies!

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Senators, Reps, and Politics...oh my!

You never really appreciate what you have until you step into the shoes of someone else. In this case, it's my home. Louisiana. Though this state hasn't proven to be the best of states in the past few decades, it's still a one of a kind place indeed. We do have a lot to work on, I know this. But right now, with BobbyJay as our Governor, I know that our problems can be amended.

My dad lives in New York and I actually lived in New York for almost two years when I was a toddler. I've visited often enough since, though. I can tell you first hand that people in the north are nothing like people in the south. I find the attitudes up there a little colder than down here and I'm sure those of you who have been there before know what I'm talking about. I am not extremely familiar with northern Louisiana but I know how wonderful down-state can be with all it's character and culture.

Anyways, #2, Hil-Bear, The Mexican, and I went to our state capital the other day.


It was really interesting! Our current capital building was built by Huey P. Long. He didn't want the traditional dome structure. Instead, he wanted the whole skyscraper look. Our capital remains the tallest capital building in the U.S.


I forget whether this is the House or Senate side...fail.


That hole in the column is a bullet hole left from the assassination of Long. People say if you put your finger in it, you get cursed. I jammed my finger in that sucker. Bring it on...

Huey P-dawg didn't die from the bullet, you know. He wouldn't let any of the doctors at Our Lady of the Lake touch him. He wanted a team of Louisiana native doctors only. So he waited and developed an infection from the wound and that is what killed him. P-dawg was a very demanding man.


I took a picture of this statue outside because I thought she was pretty. Like Virgin Mother pretty. Turns out she represents patriots. So there are soldiers and Native Americans standing around her feet. That's cool and all...but she's no Mary.


And these darn stairs! There are 49 of them. One for each state. (Alaska and Hawaii are on one step together at the top.) I was not excited about these stairs. They were poo.

I learned a lot from this little visit and I'm ready to move on to the Louisiana State Museum. More educational field trips to come!

Friday, August 21, 2009

Roommate #1

"You could do a brown background and cream letters," I told #1 as she was painting wall decor for our living room tonight. There was a long silence as she thought about my suggestion.

"Your mother is a brown background and cream letters," she laughed.

Oh, I didn't tell you my roommate is a comedian? Oh, she is. Let me tell ya...


We went for a bike ride two days ago.

#1 struggled. I'm not going to lie to you people. She hustled, she bustled, and she fought to the death. Okay...maybe not to the death but she did come out of it with a battle wound. For real. It was dramatic. She also wore a skirt on the ride and as you can see from the picture, she kept her legs together in a grip of death so all couldn't get a glimpse of all the Good Father gave her.

I'm glad she's back. It's like everything makes sense again.


Thursday, August 20, 2009

It's only been two nights....

But I sure do miss my Smokey Mokey!!


He is quite the cuddle kitty.


Is that weird that I just said that?


Oh well, I miss my baby. So get out of my face about it!


Night, my hearts :)

Busy Bee

Well, kids, it's looking like I'm booked for the rest of forever.

Back in 210! Happy to have both #1 & #2 with me finally. I'm also ready for school to start. I have high expectations for myself for this semester. I plan on utilizing every hour of each day to the very fullest. That is really the only way I'm going to be able to pull this off. Between Christ, school work, involvement at the church, social life, and a job, my days will be jam packed with events, meetings, epic study sessions, and much, much more!

So you guys know my VBF, right? I've mentioned him a time or two. Well, he had recently fallen ill with Swine Flu. Yes! Swine Flu! Good news though, he didn't die. *Great big sigh of relief* Well yesterday was the first day he was allowed to be around other people since he was put into quarantine by his doctor. Oh, how I've missed him! His hair was all grown out like a caveman from his isolation. He was happy to be with civilization again.


As you can see...

Anyways, we actually had most of the people from church who were on campus over. It was really wonderful seeing all of them.


I have absolutely no idea why but since I found out that three of my friends (my VBF, Hollywood, and Lakeshore) have the same phone in different colors, I've been wanting to get all three together... Why? I couldn't even tell you. It could be because I'm probably one of the strangest Homosapien Sapiens that ever roamed the planet but that's just my guess. They are just so cute and all together! It's like a special bond the three of these lovely friends have. I don't know. I'm being weird again...

Alright, that's enough for now. Off to run some more errands!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

I Just Love Hairspray

Last summer, some of us from work went to Blue Bayou. I was one of the drivers. The people who chose to ride with me there regretted their decision and refuse to ride with me even to this day...

Friday, August 14, 2009

Won't Be Wrinkle-Free

I was reading a magazine I found in the house today. It's called Prevention. Basically, it's a magazine for middle-aged women who are afraid of getting older and aging. On the front cover, I noticed a line meant to draw the magazine's readers that said something along the lines of finding the "cure" for wrinkles. The "CURE!" As if wrinkles were a disease. Diseases have cures. Not wrinkles.

What on Earth?!

Tell me something. Who decided aging was ugly? Who decided that wrinkles were unattractive? And who decided that gray hair was best hidden? I need to meet this person. And when I do meet them, I would like to kick them in the shin. Yes, that is exactly what I'd like to do. Give them a firm talking to.

I couldn't believe what I was reading. A cure?! For wrinkles?!

Why do we give wrinkles names like....crow's feet? Why not call them memories? Because that is what they are. They are marks from when we laughed and when we cried. They are memories of the nights we spent laughing to tears with the people we love. They are the memories of when we cried until we just couldn't cry anymore. They are beautiful. Soooo beautiful. Aging is not a disease that needs to be cured. It is a beauty that is a stroke of genius.

Aging is such a beautiful part of growing. I am looking forward to it! I know I will struggle excepting these changes as beautiful. But at the end of the day, I know that I'll realize these changes are gifts. So you won't see me trying to die my hair or put 2,894,729 different kinds of obnoxiously expensive wrinkle-free creams on my face. These lines are a way for me to remember all of those memories. My hair graying will be a sign of a life well lived. A sign that I lived, that I loved, that I saw, and that I laughed.

Why would we want to cover that all up? I just can't understand it.


Please, look at her. Is she not beautiful because she has wrinkles and gray hair? Do I need to quickly find this woman and get the so-called "cure" to her ASAP? No. The answer is no. I love this picture. It's one of my favorite photographs in the world. I don't even know this couple. I have so many questions for them though. When I see this, I see a man who loves his wife just as much this day as he did the day she walked down the aisle to him. And I see a woman who still adores her husband with the purest love that could ever exist between two people. He loves every line on her face. And she loves every gray hair on his head. Why? Because they know that those details come with living and that those details are right. *sigh* They don't need a "cure."

I can't really speak for men because I'm not a man and I don't know what effect aging has on you guys. But, ladies, I pray that one day you come to terms with the fact that aging is beautiful and a gift. And that anyone or any society that makes you feel otherwise needs to be tazed pronto. Look at those lines that you think are ugly as memories you get to share with the world. And your gray hair as a marking of the wisdom you possess from the life you lived and the lessons you learned.

Don't ever look to "cure" something that is so beautiful and such a part of you.

Love you.

Wish I Was Here

What I love about this video besides the race cars zooming by is that this video shows all of the men of the Kyle family minus my youngest cousin, T-Baller who was an infant and couldn't come when we went to this race in Indianapolis last summer.

It's the Indy Brickyard 2008 Nascar Race. It was amazifying.



Guy with the ponytail = mi padre, Pops

Thursday, August 13, 2009

B O B and the Missing Pop-tart


"Kelly, did you eat the last strawberry pop-tart?"
"Nope."
"Well where is it?"
"I don't know."
*Goes back to rummage through the pantry.* "Come on, Kelly, where is it?"
"I don't know, Bobby."
"Did you eat it?"
"No!"
"Well where'd my pop-tart go?"
"I have no idea!"
"Kelly, what happened to my pop-tart?"
"Bobby, I HAVE NO IDEA!"
"Just be honest with me. Did you eat it?"
"Noooooo."
*Goes back to the pantry, gives up, grabs a bowl from the cabinet, and puts it on the counter.* "Well now I'm forced to eat cereal. Kelly, pop-tarts don't just get up and walk away."
*Tuning out.* "Uh huh....yes..."


I have really enjoyed these frequent intellectual conversations between my brother and me.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

It's 5:18 AM


The sun will be coming up soon and I am still awake. Is there a cure for this? I stayed in my favorite pjs literally all day. Why? Because I could. How rare is it that we are able to do that? Do I feel unproductive? Yes. Do I feel worthless? Sure do! Do I regret being a bum all day? Negatory. (That isn't a word.)

Watching Kingdom of Heaven right now. I forget how bad-arse this movie is. I mean for real...I now have the sudden urge to put on a suit of armor and go fight as a Crusader next to Orlando Bloom. Channel my inner Joan of Arc. What do you think? Kelly DOES mean "Female Warrior" after all. Let's face it...I was born hardcore. My middle name should have been Hardcore. Or Warrior...or Bad-arse. There is something about Kelly Bad-arse that is just so appealing to me. Yeah, fighting as a knight in the olden Roman times would be fantastic. Except instead of horses....Harley-Davidsons.

Right now, the bad guys are trying to climb up ladders to get into the castle walls. But, alas, the Crusaders are pouring hot tar on them. So don't you fret. It's looking good for those Crusaders, I'm tellin' ya!

Okay, I'm done with this. Good morning, my darlings!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

A Pleasant Surprise

"Kelly, are you coming to The Cabin after work tonight?"

This is a question I get asked literally every weekend I work. Usually, all of my strength and energy is completely drained by the end of the night so I wind up having to decline the invitation. Last night, however, it was the last time we'd all be able to see Navy Seal X and Navy Seal Y before they ship out on Tuesday. So I went, not planning on staying for long.

Wound up having an amazing time! Everyone from work came and it turned into a fiya party. :) Some of the girls sang on the microphone and we all took over the dance floor. Camp Counselor, Gregarious, Goof, my Archnemesis, and Chocolate Tower cracked me up with their dancing!

Even though I completely reeked of bar afterward, it was so worth it. Last night was a real chance to just let loose and have fun. And I did! I think everyone had an amazing time.

So for everyone from work that reads this; I had a lot of fun with y'all! Thanks! Love you guys!

Friday, August 7, 2009

I Couldn't Say It Better Myself


"Everyone longs to give himself or herself completely to someone, to have a deep and committed soul relationship with another. We want to be loved thoroughly and unconditionally.

But God says:
Wait until you are satisfied, fulfilled, content with being loved by Me alone, with giving yourself totally, undeservedly to Me alone.

I love you my child. But until you discover that only in Me is your satisfaction to be found, you will not be capable of the perfect human relationships that I have planned for you. You will never be united with another as you desire to be until you are united with Me, exclusive of anyone or anything else, exclusively of any other desires and belongings. I want you to stop planning and stop wishing, and allow Me to give you the most thrilling plan that exists-one that you can't imagine. I want you to have the very best. Please allow Me to bring it to you.

Just keep your eyes on Me, expecting the greatest things.
Keep experiencing that satisfaction knowing that I AM.
Keep learning and listening to the things I tell you.
You must be patient

Don't be anxious.
Don't worry.
Don't look around at the things others have.
Don't look at the things you think you want.
Just keep looking to Me, or you will miss what I want to give you.

And then, when you are ready, I will surprise you with a love far more wonderful than you could ever dream. You see, until you are ready, and until the one I have for you is ready... until you are both satisfied exclusively with Me and the life I have prepared for you, you won't be able to experience the love that exemplifies your relationship with Me... and this is perfect love."

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

For Mo cuishle


Everytime you get up
And get back in the race
One more small piece of you
Starts to fall into place

Cause when push comes to shove
You taste what you're made of
You might bend, till you break
Cause its all you can take
On your knees you look up
Decide you've had enough
You get mad you get strong
Wipe your hands shake it off
Then you stand...

B O B Last Christmas

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Know what this week is?

It's Bike Week. Do you know what that means?


This whole week the grand-daddy of all motorcycle rallies is going down. Right this second thousands upon thousands of motorcycles are in South Dakota at the biggest, baddest bike event you could ever lay your eyes on.


Get the picture?
So, you see, I need to be there. I HAVE to be there. The rumbling of those bikes, the smell of hot rubber, the leather, the beards, the bandanas....all of it! I could even look past all of the half dressed women... I could even look past that! They go on big huge group rides during the week! Could you imagine?! A billion and four bikes riding the Black Hills in SD! AMAZING! That's what that is!
Even my father is there on his 100th Anniversary Road King Classic!
Ah, yes, and to top all of that off, guess who's there....


Ooooohhhh, yes. AEROSMITH....

That would be the I Don't Want to Miss a Thing, Crazy, Dream On, Angel, Walk This Way bad boys from Boston. THAT Aerosmith. You know 'em? "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band." And you know Steven Tyler, right? The man who melts my heart whenever he sings not to mention helped bring the elegant Liv Tyler into the world...THAT Steven Tyler.

The big deal about this place for me is the ride there. Riding thousands of miles across these beautiful United States, flying on the highway, and being one with everything around you!! And this is not me being dramatic. This is for REAL. THEN once you get there, there are all of these people who share the same hobby and passion as you do. They all understand this crazy, dangerous love of your life. They GET it!

I need a Harley first. Hmm...anyone know how to rewire an ATM?

Welcome Home!

So six weeks ago, one of my best friends in the universe left to go study abroad in Spain.

We'll call her Lina Espana Cuisina.
And guess what!
She has come back to me!!
For only two weeks...but still. My heart is whole again if only for a little while.
#1 and I went to the airport last night with Lina Espana Cuisina's parents to go pick her up. We made her a sign. :)
Bam! You know, you'd be surprised of how much can happen in six weeks. And a lot did happen in six weeks. That means there's a lot of catching up to do. Which probably means a few girl nights. I'm so game.

Boy, have I missed her face!! And her laugh!! And her cooking!! Mostly her cooking...but you didn't hear that from me. Oh, no you didn't. But in all seriousness; I missed you, my Lina!