yeah right, kid.

I almost died laughing when Chrissy suggested I buy more "Navy wear" for Justin.

no words left to blog.

I sat down with every intention of admitting just how overwhelmed I was last night, but the fact of the matter is that I am still speechless.

All I can say is, what a feeling.

Happy Valentines Day...

It seems as if starting my diet on time didn't matter anyways because I had my fair share of indulgences today ;)
Thanks for ALL of them, babe.
1. A dozen long stemmed red roses personally delivered to me by this world's cutest boy.

2. Dinner at P.F. Changs... and not even just dinner, but a dinner big enough to last me for about three days.
3. Double dessert because they made two by mistake.
4. My fortune cookie's message: "There's a good chance of a romantic encounter soon."
5. God only knows how many sweet kisses.
6. One fun game of I-Spy
7. And a night spent watching one of our favorite movies, Major Payne.

On a scale from 1 to 10, I'd say it was about a 35.
....He's just that sweet.

I rode this!

The conversation that took place while we were sitting still at the top, waiting for the others to be seated on their end...
(all while screaming because we were sitting on opposite sides)
Nicole: Jimmy, I just hate you.
Jimmy just laughing hysterically.
Nicole:I just really hate you because you talk me into the STUPIDEST things.
Jimmy: Are you crying?
Nicole: Almost
Jimmy laughs some more.
Nicole: you're a douche bag.
Jimmy: I'm only laughing because you do this EVERY time and you always end up liking whatever it is I dragged you into.
Nicole: I don't care. I hate you.

About 2 and a half minutes later...
Nicole: ahahahahahahahah
Jimmy: what?
Nicole: I changed my mind.
Jimmy: I told you.
Nicole: but I still hate you. My mind's set on that.
Jimmy: I don't care you're weird. No offense.
Nicole: I was kidding
Jimmy: I was too..... I don't really care if you take offense to that.


hahah, what a day.
Waking up at 8
Lunch with my babe for his birthday
I'm really glad Justin's grandmother got her baked potato or it might not have ended up to be such a good experience ;)
Back to his house to rest for a few
Seafood Festival with Jimsey...we ride the spinning strawberries and the VERY first thing that kid asked me before we got into them was...
"Is this going to be like last time where I do all the work and spin the thing and you just sit there?"
I told him no, but that's exactly how it ended up.
It was spinning so fast though that my head was thrown backwards and I was laughing so loud my chest hurt.
I'd say it was worth the hour drive to Everglades City.
After that, we hit up the fair... rode Zipper a couple times, I gave a 30 minute speech on everything you need to know about hog breeds, and 4H, we teased the turkeys, had a powdered sugar fight, watched a wrestling match, petted a wolf, and had a full out fist fight in the fair's parking lot.

All in all, I'd say it was a really good day.

A few truths...

1. I think it's a shame that so many people today are throwing away their morals. Surely they had some. Sometimes I wonder if they gave them away little by little until there was nothing left. It makes me worried that becoming that way seems guiltless at the time because you're never giving up much more than you already have so you never really realize when it gets to be too much.
2. I just learned how to stand up for myself recently. Sometimes I'm nervous that I'll meet a day on which I'm struggling to find the word, "NO"
3. I found something today...something that I think I wasn't meant to ever see...and I loved it.
4. We've switched roles when you really think about it. First you were falling fast and hard, and still waiting patiently for me to do the same...and now I believe that I've lapped you, and I'm waiting patiently for you to feel the way I do.

3 very important life lessons

On the way home from school today Nati and I were talking about another one of our life lessons, a couple actually. (We're known for these in depth life talks on the drive home so get used to hearing about them.) Today's subjects were learning to love the ones that are always there for you, and relying on nobody but yourself... two very contradicting subjects now that I think about it.

N2 Lesson # 3,487 - The ones we should (and most oftenly DO)learn to love are generally the one's that were there through it all:

It is often easy to overlook a friend that's always been by your side to offer you a helping hand, a crying shoulder, a couple of bucks, or anything else you may ever need. You figure that because they've always been there, they'll continue to be there. That's not always the case. It's hard to predict that any one person will always be there for you, so learning to especially appreciate the ones that DO stick around is an important first step.
Many people look for love in all the wrong places. They go out expecting to meet somebody new, somebody that will sweep them off their feet in record times. (The expectation is awfully demanding and I'm sure even they, themselves, will find it as nearly an impossible feat.)
Good friends just never seem like the right person to let into your life as anything more than just a friend, even if they have been by your side through it all. You think they can't possibly love you because they've already seen the worst in you, and that's an image you just can't erase from memory.
Maybe though that's just another reason to let them in as something more. They've seen you at your worst and they still have not screamed and run off. They've been there... in my case, offering advice to get you through rough patches with every one of your boyfriends even if they secretly envy them, at your bed side every day in that Lee Memorial hospital even if it was way out of their own way, coming by to wish you luck before your big swine show at the county fair, inspiring you to keep on pursuing your goals even amidst a pressuring society, and respecting those goals even if they don't always completely understand them.

It was about this far into our conversation that Nati started screaming..."THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT. ALL. THE. GOOD. GUYS... THE REALLY GOOD GUYS... ARE. THERE. ALL. ALONG! IT'S SO PAINFULLY OBVIOUS THAT IT'S SO EASY TO OVERLOOK!"
She pumped her fist each time she emphasized a word, all with my poor, squishy, green octopus, Oswald, in hand.
Somewhere in the middle of her sentences I heard Oswald....
"PFFFUUFFFTTTt!"...(yup. it sounded JUST like that.)
I looked over and green goo and bits of styrofoam balls dripped from Nati's face.
I was driving about 20 mph because I was laughing so hard that I was afraid I'd have an accident if I drove any faster. I pulled over into E's parking lot so I could finish my fit of crying laughter as Nati wiped the thick, slimy, green goo around her face with her jacket sleeve and picked styrofoam pencil-eraser sized balls off the backs of her eyelids.
I honestly thought I might die of laugher as all of this happened.
My sides were killing me, tears were pouring out of my eyes, my chest felt heavy under the pressure of laughing so hard, and my heart felt as if it were beating a hundred times too fast.



Here is what remains of my squishy green friend...




N2 Lesson # 3,488
DO NOT SQUEEZE DOLLAR STORE ...
OCTO-PI? OCTOPUSES? OCTOPUSSIES!?
(If anybody could give me the correct plural form of Octopus I'd greatly appreciate it.)


N2 Lesson # 3,489 (Our final lesson of the day.)- Relying on yourself ensures a job done well.
As good as it feels to have a best friend, a boyfriend, a strong brotherly or sisterly bond, it may also be scary to give any one person so much of your trust. If you're absolutely sure that this person has your back 24/7 then there's no need to tell you that your "BFF" label is insufficient. However, keep it mind that it also feels good to do things for yourself. Sometimes the only real way to ensure a task is completed correctly is to do it yourself... and once it's done you'll feel good about yourself knowing you were able to do it independently.

You know who you are.

You could have just as easily lied to me. You could have gone and partied and I would have never known. Had I even asked about the party, I wouldn't have been so specific and a vague "It was fun" would have left me still clueless. But you didn't do that...
You didn't call me to ask for my advice, my opinion, or even my approval. You just called me to explain the situation and to tell me you decided not to go.
That's how I know you didn't do it for me. You did it for yourself because you're better than that, and you know it.
I know that you're better than that as well. That phone call only helped to prove my point.
Thank you for breaking the mold, and for offering me something better than I could have even imagined.