Chastity ball?

So the other day, Shay and I were all bored over at her house, watching TV.  When something about New Age Virginity came on VH1, we decided what the hell and watched.  It went on about celebrities and their virginal appearances, which turned into much more sexual appearances as the celebs grew up, and how it appeals to young children.  It was pretty much the same old schtick - Brit and Christina were virginal in MMC, but now they're basically sexual beings, Miley Cyrus never really appeared virginal, the Jonas brothers wear purity rings, etc.etc. 

Purity rings usually say something along the lines of "True love waits."

The most shocking part of the entire "documentary" was when they started talking about chastity balls - essentially a ball where a young girl (even as young as four!) would promise her chastity and virginity TO HER FATHER as well as until marriage.

*record scratch* wait, what?

Now, I can get behind waiting until marriage.  I can even get behind waiting until love.  But waiting to have sex with someone as long as your father gives you permission?  .....I'm absolutely speechless about this phenomenon.  And these girls actually sign somewhat of a contract with their father, that they won't give up their virginity before marriage, and it won't be to anyone that daddy doesn't approve of.  What easily floors me the most is that some of these children aren't really even old enough to realize what they're saying - they just know what mom and dad have told them.  At four, can you really have an opinion about your virginity other than it's something sacred, because that's what dad and mom have told you?



Too young to be thinking about sex/virginity?  I think so.
Credit to Dawn Allynn for the photo.

Maybe I'm jaded.  I never really did any of the purity ring thing, or purity ball, or had anny more of a talk with my parents past "Wait until you're in love."  Marriage wasn't brought up, and let's face it, marriage isn't a realistic goal for most.  It wasn't a realistic goal for me, nor any of the friends I have.  In Sweden (I believe, I may be thinking of the incorrect country), they preach waiting for true love for sex.  And they have shockingly lower teen pregnancy rates than that of the US.  There is hope for the good ol' US of A though: since abstinence education was removed from schools, there has been a huge drop in the amount of teen pregnancy.

See republicans?  We don't need to teach our kids that sex is bad, mmkay?  We need to teach them how to arm themselves with good safe sex practices, so that when accidents happen, it's not because they were uneducated.



Happy Easter!

Just taking the time to give a big ol' HAPPY EASTER to everyone :]  Enjoy it.

For Easter, Thomas was a sweetie pie and bought me my first easter basket in 10 years - he filled it with some candy and the cutest little plush ducky.  I love my boyfriend, he's super amazing.

I'm 21 and fabulous!

So one week ago was my birthday.  Technically I've been 21 for one week!  Haha, but I've only utilized it once.  Anyways, my birthday shindig.  I spent the morning babysitting for a friend, and then came home that night, and the absolute first thing we (and by we, I mean myself, Thomas, his friend Dustin, and Shay) did was hit up a liquor store.  It was incredibly overwhelming (and my naive little self found out that "top shelf liquor" really means that it's on the actual top shelf in the store) and not as much fun as I thought it would be.  Go figure.  So we run several errands and eventually end up back at my apartment where they had hung my piñata!  And let me tell you, that thing was HARD to pulverize.  I eventually took a hammer to it and dumped it all out on the ground.



Yes, it is a high heel with cheetah spots<3







The fillings - 21 mini botles!



We gathered everything together, and finally at 8pm we were ready to leave.  Of course, I had to get dressed and look all cute and put-together, if only to get sloppy drunk later.



Ignore the underneath of my eyes plz. Cute tiara!



For the past week, we'd had no idea how we were going to get there.  It was either Dustin's truck (which, it poured, so that wasn't going to work) or Shay drive my 5-speed car, which was also not a great idea.  Well, Thomas's parents gave me a great birthday surprise - they let us use his mom's Yukon to drive to Broadway at the Beach to party it up for my birthday!  The only rule was no alcohol in the truck, but haha, do you really think we listened?  No ma'am.

So we pile in the "bus" to go get Prinston.  He lived all the way out in the freaking sticks.  It was so bad he didn't have cell service, so we kept calling his house to get directions to his house.  We probably pissed his mom off, but whatever.  We drove by his house three times before he finally got smart and came outside to meet us.  We got him a mini bottle or two and made our way to Mellow Mushroom - which has fabulous pizza if you've never had it.  Great birthday dinner, yum!  Oh, and Prinston refused to take a normal picture.  Every picture I have of him from that night looks like the below.



I happen to think they're adorable :] 

 We all piled back into the yukon and drove right across the street to Broadway at the Beach.  And holy shit, it was PACKEDDD with people.  We had totally forgotten that spring break started the same weekend as my birthday.  So everything was insane, coupled with outrageous covers at clubs ($10 to get in if you're 21?! I've never even paid that much being underage!).  We stopped at Fat Tuesday's first, for one of their frozen drinks.  I got a Cat 5 Hurricane, which was supposed to be Bacardi 151 and fruit punch slush, and it was NASTY.  The rum overpowered everything about that drink, it was unbearable.  I threw away at least half of it.  We finally left there after standing around outside for at least thirty minutes, just drinking and not even really talking.



The nasty drink :[ boo!

 


Shay trying to get rid of the nastiness :[



 Shay and I had to pee really badly, so we went to Broadway Louie's, which is part bar, part arcade, part karaoke lounge.  We had to pull out our IDs immediately, and we were kinda "WTF? We just have to pee..." but whatever.  We did our business and then went to the bar while the boys sat around playing games.  Guess what?  When I ordered a long island, they ID'd me at the bar AGAIN.  So what was the point of IDing upon entrance?  No idea.  But either way, that long island was a sweet and sour disappointment.  It had maybe half a teaspoon of coke in it.  Gross!  But I took it all like a champ.  Dustin ordered me a black&blue shot (my favorite!  I'm a blue curacao girl, hands down), Mike ordered half a Wild Turkey: American Honey (which is NASTAY warm btw, and the other half went to Thomas), and I ordered another black&blue and a jager shot for myself.  So needless to say, at this point I was feeling pretty good.




I can't remember if I was drunk or sober here... I'm inclined to say sober.



There was a girl walking around with these giant looking plastic syringes, and I was all sorts of excited about what they were, but she was extremely standoffish.  Apparently Thomas stopped her when he was on the other side of the bar and bought one for me - it was a jello shot!  And she handed me a grape one, yum!  Well, almost yum.  It was made with bottom shelf liquor for sure, the burn from that thing damn!  So I decided I was ready to go dancing, and Shay and I made it over to Señor Frogs to ask about cover.  It was $10 there, and $10 at Club Boca, but Boca had no wait.  Can you guess where we went?  The guy at the door checked my ID, smiled, and told me Happy Birthday and that he had me.  I didn't have to pay the cover!  Everyone else did, and I kinda felt bad, but hey, being the birthday girl definitely has its perks!




Woah lots of people!  This was the dancefloor!



When we got there, apparently Prinston knew someone, so he went off with his boy, while we found this super cool, super awesome stage thingy off to the right, where we could dance like nobody's business and not have to worry about anyone grinding up on us.  I was definitely drunk at this point, and dancing my little white girl heart out.  Thomas left the stage to go get a beer and a drink for me - he surprised me with a cranberry & vodka!  Yum, I definitely think I have a new favorite bar drink.  We stayed at Boca until about 1:30AM.  At that point, Dustin had told us he was going home with Mike, and Prinston decided to stay out and then go home with his boy.  So it was just Shay, Thomas, and myself.  The three musketeers of sorts.



Yep, both wasted.  Good birthday!



The ride home was interesting.  I remember being extremely drunk, blurting out anything that I thought of to say, and then being super self conscious that I was being too loud or too annoying or too anything hahaha.  Shay assured me that it was okay, I was super drunk, it was my birthday, and I was still allowed to be annoying and loud ha.  Finally we made it home with some McDonalds in hand (which, reflecting back, was not a good idea to eat afterward, but hey, what can I say, it was tasty) and I passed out, only to be woken up by my alarm at 8:30 the next morning!  To drive to Wilmington!  Ugh.  (more on my Wilmington adventure later, I promise!)



Drunk trying to look cute face!  Bahaha.



Oh well, fuck it, I had an amazing time on an amazing birthday - what more could a girl ask for?

Operation Beautiful.

This isn't a normal blog post, this is just something I want to share.  I have fairly low self esteem, and I get really down on myself sometimes.  Forever ago, I stumbled upon a site called Operation Beautiful and it really changed my life.  It helped me try to look at myself and point out my perfections and good qualities, as opposed to my flaws.

Last Thursday, Shay and I were in Walmart doing some grocery shopping.  We turned down the juice aisle, and I saw a sticky on some apple juice.  Being the nosy person I am, I decided to stop by and read it.

It warmed my heart and I had that instant "No way!" reaction.  Shay came over and asked what I was reading, and I pointed and whipped out my phone to take the picture above.  She had the exact same reaction that I did.  We found another two post its stuck to a cart handle, and another one on some Hawaiian punch.

So I'm telling you, readers, to never stop believing, and to always know that you're incredibly beautiful in your own way.  It just comes from the heart :]

Birthday, smurfday.

Today, I am officially allowed to LEGALLY consume alcoholic beverages.  It's gonna be a good day :]

(as a sidenote, I also wanted to thank one of my regulars, because last night she got me a little cake, a card with a $25 Visa giftcard in it, and took me out to dinner with her family to celebrate.  She is the sweetest thing, and it really touched me.)

It's always better when we're together.

And sometimes, in all honesty, it isn't.

Thomas and I have officially been living together for two weeks and two days.  So far, we haven't killed each other, but we have had a few bumps in the road.  We seem to bicker once I'm in a bad mood (and I do love to argue), and sometimes it escalates to more.  I really need to learn how to control my temper.  He really needs to learn how to not be so whiny.  And he really is - he whines.  It's almost like living with a five year old at times.  A lot of it stems from where he grew up, because in his household, being the biggest whiniest brat is the only surefire way to get attention (which is all sorts of depressing but I digress).

He has a habit of getting a really defensive tone with me, like a small child would if they were being pressed or argued with about something.  I can't stand it, because I'm dating a 22 year old man, not a four year old child.  Not to mention, half the time it's just something stupid I've said and he comes out with "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. -immediately corrects what I've said here-" (oh and did I mention he CONSTANTLY has to have the last word?), which immediately sets off my temper because I know I didn't do anything to get that kind of reaction.  Like I said, I need to stop flying off the handle, but sometimes I just can't help it.

He also has a habit of speaking passive aggressively (or really, he has a habit of BEING passive aggressive).  I don't really know how to set up an example to this one, but I can always tell when he's being passive aggressive, and it kills me.  I'm a very honest person.  Just come out with what you want to say, and I will completely respect you.  Beating around the bush annoys me to no end.  He also has an excessive spending habit,  but we're working on that.

Today is a short update, because I have somewhere to be.  My birthday is in five days, and I'm beyond excited!

St. Patricks Day on Emerald Isle.

Okay, so I'm nearly a month late.  Really.  Eight days away from being a month late.  Ah well.  This is a tale of my St. Patricks Day adventure (and how I got to watch my dad play in his pipe and drum band!).


The best picture I could get of the festival.  Everyone in green!

After working three babysitting jobs in a row, my love and I packed our bags at 11pm and hit the road to Wilmington.  It's always interesting, driving that late at night, especially since I'm sensitive to bright light.  Argh.  Luckily though, we made it there, safe and sound.  Set all of our stuff down, and made sure to not disturb anyone, and fell asleep.

Let me pause there and explain something: my aunt (Brooke), uncle (Dennis), and their five children (Darian, Mallory, Bridget, Shay, and Brody) had been living with my mom, dad, brother, and myself in our 3 bedroom apartment for two and a half months at this point.  Tensions were high, and everyone felt like going crazy, because literally no one had their own space.  Previous to my coming up, they had decided they weren't going.  Or so we thought.

So we wake up around eight the next morning (which sucks when you went to sleep around two, but I digress), and Brooke is saying something about needing to get the kids ready to go. ...ok, what?  Oh, apparently she had decided overnight that she felt like going, and now everyone was going.  So now our tiny family trip turned into this huge parade.  We had wanted to leave for Jacksonville around 10, so we could get there around 11 and watch my dad play for a long time.  Well, that went out the window because now we had to get all the kids dressed and fed, and then it was off to Walmart to buy a stroller for Brody, because when he isn't in his stroller, he's a wee bit much to handle.

Wouldn't know it looking at this innocent face :D

So around 11, my dad texts me "Hello offspring!" which makes me smile.  I love my daddy.  He asks where we are, and I tell him we are just finally leaving Wilmington.  The trip there was mostly long and BO-RING.  It was my mom, my brother, Thomas and I all riding in a tiny Kia Rio.  And I mean TINY.  So when we finally got there, it was great, because we could stretch our legs.  It turns out that they'd turned this shopping center on Emerald Isle into a giant street festival!  It was pretty cool.  We walked around and looked at some stuff for a bit, but since it was around 12:30, Brooke decided the kids needed to eat.  So they all went to go find somewhere to eat, and me, Thomas, Bridget, Jared (my bro) and my mom go off to find my dad, so we could watch him play!  We finally found them, and it sounded awesome.

My dad in his supercool shades.

They played a few songs with us there, including one guy who did a solo on the pipes.  Definitely the most interesting thing I've ever heard.  We were able to inch closer and closer until I was finally up front.  My heart was bursting with pride for my daddy, I love him so much and he looked like he was having a ball.  We looked over and saw Darian standing at the other edge of the crowd, and all of a sudden, there was the rest of the family too!  Turns out the Michaelangelos pizza they were looking at eating at was super duper crowded.  So we decided to split ways again - Thomas and I had noticed there were certain rides at the end of the festival, so we went to check it out, with Jared and Darian with us.  Too bad we didn't check out WHAT rides they had, because it was super lame - there was only one "big kid ride" in the whole place.  Oh well, we bought tickets and dealt with the consequences.  Darian and Thomas were the only two to ride the crazy ride, because I was too fat, and Jared left us there all alone.  Haha.

Somehow being too fat to ride didn't bother me.  The cars swung around by the way.

We waited in line long enough for them to do that twice (and long enough for me to beast at the darts twice to win two monkeys).  Thankfully, two times was enough for them, and we went back to find the rest of the family.  We found them looking around some shops (right around where I found the most perfect luggage/duffle bag, but it was sold before I could get it) and I decided to stay with.  Thomas and Darian went their own way around the festival, checking out treats and chicken terriyaki.  I'm really glad they got along so well - my ex wanted absolutely nothing to do with my family, and I was thinking about marrying this guy!  Family is super important to me, and everyone seems to love Thomas to pieces.  That's great, because I love him to pieces too :]  We all hung around, and I guess they decided all the kids needed some ice cream, so they got italian ice.  And got it everywhere, of course.  It was adorable :]

Darian and his princess Shay.

About that time, we met back up with Darian and Thomas.  Brooke was super ready to go, so they finally went to look at the petting zoo, while Thomas and I headed over to Andy's so I could get something to eat - I hadn't eaten since we'd woken up that morning.  I was just exhaustedddd.  I'd spent the whole day walking around and being up and watching little kids (well when I was with my family, I did haha) so to sit down for thirty minutes was really nice.  Andy's is pretty nice, if you're familiar with Johnny Rockets, it's the same kind of atmosphere, excpet there aren't any roller skates.  I thoroughly enjoyed my food, and taking pictures of Thomas :]


The only nice picture I ended up with of him.

We ventured out afterwards to find my parents and my brother.  It was almost 5pm and we were totally ready to leave.  So think about this if you will - my mom, my dad, my brother, Thomas, and myself all in a five-seater Kia Rio.  This thing is smaller than a freaking beetle.  Most uncomfortable hour of my entire life.

The rest of the day was completely uneventful.  Dinner and all that jazz, and that's pretty much it.  I have one picture that seems to sum up my mood of the day there though:

Scrunchy face!

Tune in next time for my ranting about apartment living (and living with someone new), and excitement about my upcoming 21st!

moving: post-move

The last week has just flown by entirely too quickly.  I've been living in an apartment with my boyfriend for four days now, and we're getting along fantastically (well, we definitely will be by the time this apartment is cleaned up!) and everything is pretty great.  It's awesome to be able to sleep next to someone you love every single night, you know?  Waking up in the morning next to him, being able to smell him, touch him, whenever I want to... it's like a whole new world.  I can't even describe it really.  I'm so fascinated and I'm so excited.  I really feel like he is "the one" (if there is such a thing) and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him.

So moving.  Ugh, moving.  Moving was... painful, in a way.  I'm proud of myself for not really crying in front of much of anyone.  It took about two hours to get all my stuff packed (and man I wish I'd gotten a picture).  We ended up having to take three vehicles - my car, my dad's car, and my uncle's truck to move the big furniture.  We covered all of the furniture with a tarp, because there was a 60% chance of rain, and ya know, mattresses and mildew are mortal enemies.  Well, the tarp was what gave us the most damn issues.  We left around 3pm this past Saturday, and not thirty minutes later, we're pulled over on the side of the road to fix the stupid tarp, because it has decided to almost blow off of everything!  Great!

As a side note, where my dad and I pulled over to, there was an extremely awesome beaver dam.  I'm such a nerd, and I got all excited because OMG I've never been this close to a beaver dam before!

It was great.  Finally we got back on the road and another thirty minutes went by before we stopped, yet again, to fix the stupid tarp.  I shrugged and thought to myself "Well, at least we're halfway there now."  Thankfully there weren't anymore stops between the halfway point and my apartment!  Yay apartment!  All of my stuff got unloaded in less than an hour, which is great.  But no unpacking happened haha so that wasn't so great.

Then my family and I went to eat dinner at El Cerro (which is a wonderful mexican restaurant, if you've ever considered eating there) and it was getting really late.  We came back to my apartment to say a final farewell (well, not really final, but you understand, right?) and I was proud of myself for, yet again, not crying!  It was quite an experience, and it still is one.

I'm still adjusting to not having my mommy around 24/7.  I miss being able to walk out of my room (or drive across town) and she's right there.  I know she's just a phone call away, but there's just something about being right there with my mommy.  I'm such a mommy's girl, and no one would ever be able to tell me any different.

On a different note, it's pouring rain outside, and I'm making a huge face.  I think I'm going to grab some lunch and cuddle with my sweetie before he goes out to work.

Don't miss my next update!  All about Saint Patricks day, and anticipation for my upcoming 21st!

moving: pre-move

I'm moving tomorrow.  Been packing.  Won't be updating for a little bit :[

Hopefully I'll give you guys a great big update monday on how life is!  Until then, tootles.

Beachy days and sleepy nights.

Yesterday, oh yesterday.  Yesterday was a rough day.  It started off badly with me only getting 3 hours of sleep (damn you Case 39), but it was escalated when I couldn't fall back asleep before my first babysitting job of the day.  Crap.  I met Zoe and her mom and dad around 9am, and it was awesome.  She was a self-sufficient little ball of energy.  Within minutes, we had played kickball, played with her ABC mats, watched a small part of a DVD, found the hiding cat (he liked confined spaces, he was not amused when Zoe found him) and played with her sand toys.  Whew.  I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

The best part of the day, hands down, was taking her to the beach.  She adored the beach - and it only took her two seconds to get her entire skirt wet and sandy.  Whoops, guess we should've put her in a bathing suit.  It was whatever, because she had an absolute blast!  Pouring sand and water all over herself, making turtles in the sand with her toys, playing with these two adorable little girls who came into the shallow pools with us, and then finally, getting me up to bury my feet completely.  Once she finally decided she was done, we headed back up the beach and had a snack and finally left for the day.  I'm left with a little bit of sunburn and a whole lot of love for Zoe.

When I left that job, I had a little bit of time, so I ran over to Conway to grab Shay.  We went to get something to eat, and just bummed around in general.  Shay is one of the greatest friends I've ever had.  We're so alike, but so very different at the same time.  She's opinionated without being a complete douchebag about it (here's lookin at you, Thomas's other friends) and so we get along even when we don't agree.  Fabulous.

For my next job (the sleepy night part), I arrived an hour early!  Crap, apparently I don't know how to read.  But it was okay, she was totally a joy about it, and she told me later that her boyfriend was able to nap later because of it.  Gavin was a little cutie-pie, 13 months old and crawling EVERYWHERE.  He and I played in the room with his toys while mommy was getting ready to go out.  He was so much fun - everything had to be looked at and introduced to me.  But our fun was cut short whenever mommy came back in, because she laid him down to sleep :[  Aww no more baby.  But that left me in a house alone able to do pretty much whatever I felt like doing.

So I do what all the normal people do.  I read and watched Intervention until I finally passed out.  Joy of joys.  I'm sure they thought I was cray-cray (I mean seriously - who watches documentaries about drug users?) but in the end, her boyfriend woke me up and paid me and I left.  Easy night.  It was harder once I tried to find my bosses house to drop off some of the money I owed her, but that ended out alright too.

I just can't wait to see what this week brings me.

Sitting on babies? Why that's absurd!

New job: Babysitter.  And you know what?  I don't mind.  Between all the kids being at the house in Wilmington, and various babysitting experiences since age 12, I'm actually fairly excited.  The pay is decent and under the table, which I like for a variety of reasons (the biggest being that I will still qualify for state health assistance!  yay my diabetes won't kill me!) and it means that I get to do what I've wanted to for the past year and a half (well, year and four months but who is counting :p)

Apartment hunting.  Wow.  This has been quite the experience, because it's income-based housing.  I've been sent to the beach and back multiple times, sent up to Thomas's work and back multiple times, and now it looks like we're finally ready to sign the lease on March 21st.  I cannot wait.  I won't lie, I'm going to bawl like a baby when I finally leave/my parents finally leave from helping me.  I'm going to miss my mommy.  She is my rock, my best friend, and living two hours away from her is going to be so hard.  But I have to do what's right for me right now.

This whole ordeal has me around his family a lot more, and the more I'm around them, the more I start to like them again.  In fact, I cooked dinner for them twice last week, and I'll be cooking dinner tonight.  It's such a nice change, from a 3br/2ba apartment with 11 people, to a 3br/2ba house with only five (both including moi).  I don't have to worry about cooking for a thousand people, I have my own space, I don't have to worry about kids touching/breaking my things.  It's such a stress reliever.  And still, I've picked up smoking again.  :/  Well hopefully that won't last forever.  In fact, I'm hoping to have quit completely by the time we move our stuff in on the 26th.

Speaking of the 26th, it's my mommy's birthday!  Unfortunately, we do have to move my stuff then.  I feel really bad, but I need my own place to stay (staying between Thomas's parents and Shay's houses is really unnerving) and this was the most opportune weekend to do so.  Even she said "You gotta do what you gotta do."  My mommy will be 44 years old, and my brother will be 23.  The EXTREMELY exciting thing is that, once their birthday passes, it's only three more weeks until my 21st!  I'm so pumped for my 21st birthday - not even necessarily to get my drink on, but because I will be able to get into places I wasn't able to before.  And that's exciting enough for me!

Tomorrow is Saint Patrick's Day - so everyone wear your green and smile.  Hopefully life will throw some good luck your way (and maybe mine too).

Life, love, and all that entails.

I know that my profile is supposed to be for this kind of thing.  Well, I think that's almost useless.  My name is Megan.  I'm originally from North Carolina, but I've moved one state south to be with the love of my life, Thomas.  I'm between places at the moment, while we're waiting on our apartment to be approved, but when we move in, it'll be our own little space.  A one bedroom in the heart of Conway.  I can't wait.  I have the best friends I could ever ask for in life.  They're like my family, and I couldn't imagine life without them.

Speaking of my family, I think that's who I'm going to miss the most.  Even the crowded little three bedroom apartment with 11 people living in it.  I'm going to miss my cousins, who have been  away from home for the past eight years.  I'm going to miss my brother, and his crazyness, and how we've grown together in the past couple years since "growing up" (if you could even call it that.)  I'm going to miss my daddy, and how he is a giant child, but still responsible in the same breath.  I'm going to miss my mommy, who has been my rock for the past 20 years of my life, and I couldn't imagine it any other way.  She listens to me and gives advice, and sometimes we butt heads, but she really is my role model.  I used to say I never wanted to be like her, but now that I'm older (more mature?  probably not) I can see that all along, she is the kind of person I want to be.

I can't wait until I can update and show pictures of my apartment.  That's going to be the most exciting part for me!  Not only showing pictures of the rooms and the decor, but just proving that I have my own space, and I am making it on my own (okay, not completely on my own, but you guys get the idea!) and that everything will fall into place and be okay.

Well, I'm optomistic at least.