Rest Stops

My lovelies! I've missed you terribly!

So sorry for the skipped post last week and the late post this week, I have been very busy with school and side projects. MY RESEARCH PROJECT GOT FUNDED!! Woo!!!!!!!

Any way, time for some of that rambling you all love so much...

The thing that has been floating around in my mind lately is reality. No, not like the TV shows, because lets face it no ones life is that cool. I'm talking more like the whole real life thing that is happening just past that glass screen you've been holding in front of you for the last few hours.

But i'll get to that. First, story time.

When I was a kid I spend a lot of time on the road. My loving parents would load me and my brother up in the car and drive to Idaho every other weekend to pickup my other siblings. These trips were long and my brother and I would almost kill each other by the time we got there. Naturally my parents would stop for gas which meant we all got to get some fresh air and my parents could remember they loved us and didn't want to leave us there. I'm the youngest and therefore the most spoiled, so these big brown eyes usually fluttered their way into getting a treat in the store when we stopped. I learned to love these trips because to a little kid, that Flintstones push up Popsicle made the trip worth every second.

I realized the other day that I spend a lot of time dreaming about the future. I have these big plans of what I want my life to look like and i'm constantly thinking, "Its going to be so great when I get there. I'm going to be so happy. I just need to do x,y, and z."  I think a lot of us do this, we assume that we won't be happy until we get where we are going. We get so busy planning our lives and what we want to accomplish that we forget to stop for a deep breath and a Popsicle.

The really sad thing is, we aren't necessarily unhappy, we just aren't focused on our current happiness. Stop what you are doing right now and think about your life. What was the last thing that made you smile? What was the last thing that made you laugh? and now.. for the Dr. Phil moment of this post, "how does that make you feel?" Really though, when I think about the last thing that made me laugh I realize how happy I am.

Its fun to plan your life, there so much potential to change and grow and so many things to do. However we have to enjoy the little stops along the way. We have to stop and realize our happiness is just as much about the trip as it is about getting there.

So that is what I'm going to try to focus on. I'm going to love my little stops, because I've got so much to be happy about. Including but not limited to the fact that i'm pretty sure I've got Popsicles in the freezer.

In conclusion, be happy in your stops. Be happy with the things that are happening right now. Those are the thing that will make it worth it when you make it.

"We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we've established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile" - Earl Nightingale

--Shlog

Sounds Like Home

Hello my beautiful people, welcome back!

Story time! Lets just get right into it shall we?

Growing up my house was always filled with beautiful sounds. From the dog barking at literally nothing, the dishwasher loudly making its hard work known, to the pipes rattling when someone flushed the toilet or took a shower, my childhood home was far from quiet. Add the fact that there was often four rambunctious kids running around and its amazing my poor parents even have some of their hearing and sanity left.

When you move out you don't realize how much you miss those little things. You have to get used to the new sounds and that takes some doing. The first night in our new house, I struggled to sleep and was convinced for a good month that we had a ghost that liked to use our toilet in the middle of the night.. (nope, not kidding.) However, I got used to it and now when people visit and ask what that sound is I have a hard time figuring out what they are talking about. Isn't that weird? We get comfortable and used to the natural moans and groans of the things around us, even the people. Maybe its us getting used to the idea of  this new place feeling like home instead of  just a house.

That being said, there are still some moments where you can tell something is missing.

For instance, my dad has played guitar for my entire existence. I was one of the lucky kids that got to experience an amazing musician first hand for my entire life. I got to be the ears that heard the first strums, working drafts, and final sets of masterpieces. I got to be front row to every living room concert, every kitchen jam, and every backyard gig. I got to star in renditions of songs we made up on our own and sing along to songs that had been around for years. I had the coolest childhood and whoever let me become an adult is totally fired. I miss those sounds every single day and its one of my favorite things about going home.

So I hope you start to notice those little sounds that are unique to your home. I hope you appreciate the memories you are making for your family. Because even if its just those annoying little creeks in the floor or your midnight pooping ghost, those sounds will stick with them for the rest of their lives..

And it will always remind them of home.

--Shlog

Ramblings of The Sleep Deprived

Happy Wednesday! (sort of..)

I'm officially at the point of the week where I'm sleep deprived enough to write a new post! WOO! Okay, shh.. I can hear your cheering and your going to wake up Dayton.

Have you guys ever realized how fast time goes? It feels like just yesterday I was writing my adorable post glamorizing procrastination and yet here you are again, ready for another adventurous journey though my brain.

Also, its February?
If you are wondering, no that was not a typo, that was a question. I cannot believe we have already made it to the month of shattered resolutions! Back to eating like normal humans and not going to the gym, we tried our best for a month, YAY!

So, on that note...

February is one of my favorite months because I get to love on that handsome man I like so much. No, this is not a goey romantic shpill about Valentines day, i'm talking about his birthday!

Most people don't really like celebrating birthdays as they get older. Something about the constant reminder that their body isn't as fresh as it used to be freaks people out. Some people just think of it as any old day, I on the other hand LOVE BIRTHDAYS!!

You are probably assuming i'm going to say that I love them because of the chance for a "new you" or a nice reminder that you are moving closer to that older wiser person you are going to be one day, and yeah those are true assumptions, but lets be honest.. the real reason is the cake. The cake/dessert item is the best freaking part. No, i'm not kidding. And for those of you that hate birthdays you gotta admit.. the fact that you get free cake sweetens the deal a little bit.. (see what I did there? I know, so clever..)

For whatever the reason, I love birthdays. Dayton however, is not the biggest fan.

If any of you know me you know that this doesn't phase me at all. I try to make it a big deal for him, especially for him, because I'm so thankful to share another year with him. I'm so glad I get to see him turn into that older wiser person. I am so excited to see what he does with the new year he gets. And of course, I love sharing cake with him. (jk I don't share cake.. but you get the point).

He's my human. I'm so glad he was born. SO I make a big deal about it. Everyone should make a big deal about birthdays.

Why? BECAUSE SCIENCE. (OH Yeah, i'm pulling out the nerd card.) It takes a lot of stuff going right to make a human.

Now, don't get nervous because i'm not about to give you "the talk" here, and if you really don't know how babies are made i'm going to have to direct those questions to your favorite search engine, but I will say that the science that goes into making a human demands to be celebrated. And those people that call babies "miracles" they aren't just being annoying.. they are right. There is a lot more that can go wrong when trying to grow little parasites than people realize. Millions of cell signals and processes have to happen to make that tiny human and then its born and millions of things have to go right for it to grow and become a bigger more opinionated human.

Basically, the odds are stacked against you to begin with. Celebrate the years that you defy them. Celebrate that you are a product of some pretty fricking sweet science. Celebrate another year of not dying,

AND LET ME EAT CAKE DAMMIT.


--Shlog