Never Foget Your Cell Phone!

I forgot my cell phone at home yesterday. Who knew how much I could miss in only a couple of hours? I’m addicted to my phone, it’s pretty much attached to my hand. I’m not necessarily texting all the time, but rather reading tweets, checking out what’s new on facebook, and reading bbm status updates as they come.

I got home yesterday after what felt like the longest day of my life! But that’s a whole other story. It was around 8pm while doing the dishes when I realized I still had not checked my phone. So I run upstairs with the dishtowel in my hand and grab my phone. 3 bbm messages, 26 emails and 11 facebook messages later I finally felt caught up. Well, that was until I got around to catching up on the million bbm updates and actually looking at the what’s new wall on facebook when I saw it, one of my high school friends got engaged yesterday.

It’s not like she is the first person from my high school to get engaged, or married or has kids, but she is the first one of my actual friends to get engaged. My roommate from university got engaged, but we stopped talking a few years ago. So this friend is the very first friend, who I still talk to, that is engaged. I’m not saying this means anything, or that I’m even invited (we’ll have to wait and see) but it’s given me this feeling all day that I can’t explain.

Part of this feeling is realizing that I’ve kind of grown up; we’ve kind of grown up. I mean, I’ve always known I’ve “grown up”. I have a grown up job, I’ve moved out of my parents (but kind of moved back), I’ve bought a car (but sold it), I’ve been saving to buy a house etc… but having one of my close friends from high school get engaged is completely different. That’s like REAL LIFE! Marriage is real, more real than living on my own or buying my own car or having a real job. It’s combining two lives into one, for life (at least that’s what we hope for when we make those promises at the altar). And generally kids come after marriage, and if that isn’t real then I don’t know what is.

The other part of this feeling is a bit of sadness.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like when my friends started getting married. I always questioned who would be first.

I have a small group of friends from high school that I still talk with, and an even smaller group from elementary school. I even remember having the “who do you think will get married first” conversation with these friends. We all guessed I would be last, which I still think is most likely the case. But we could never decide on who we thought would take the plunge first.

Over the years our group of friends has changed, people have grown apart and some have moved on. But I’ve always tried to keep in contact with everyone and stay in the middle (or out of the middle in some instances). There was a time when this friend (who just got engaged) and I were best friends; well there were actually three of us. We did everything together! But I was always the one who lived further away and it was harder for me to be around all the time, so naturally the other two were much closer. As we got older we changed (as anyone would) and we started to grow apart. And even though our friendships have changed and are not what they used to be, I’ve still thought about who would be the first to get engaged/married.

When it happened, it made me a little sad. I thought about all the things the three of us talked about, how we would all be in each other’s weddings, and who would be the maid of honour, and how we would decide that when the time came. Maybe those dreams about our perfect weddings with our best friends were silly, but they are the memories that bring a smile to your face when you think back on them.

I’m so happy for my friend and I only wish her and her husband-to-be a life time of happiness and love.

Day One of Three

Since I said I would write about the time I spent away from the boyfriend, today is day one of three in a row without the Boyfriend, perfect timing! And my plans for today are oh so exciting:

8:30-4:30pm: Work
4:30-5pm:Subway to mall
5pm-8pm: Dinner with two very lovely ladies
8pm-11pm: Clean, read and sleep.

Looks like it’s going to be a good day!

The Sister

I’m not one to make promises and break them. And this weekend I promised I would dedicate this post to my boyfriends sister.

It was a hot summer night, before my boyfriend and I started dating. I was feeling down so I decided to stop over at his place for a beer and to sit by his pool and talk. While in mid conversation I look up from my half full bottle of beer and see someone standing in the shadows of the doorway leading into his parents house. The dark figure started to move closer and closer when it spoke “Oh Hai! I’m (soon to be)boyfriends sister”. I look up and respond “Hi, I’m Amanalynn”. She said a few more things, played with the dog for a minute and went back inside. “So that’s your sister?” I asked (soon to be) boyfriend. “Yep!”

That’s when we first met, from there we’ve grown into a beautiful friendship… or something like that.

So Lisa, this one is for you:

Hypocrisy

There are a few things that I can’t stand, but one of the things I hate the most is hypocrisy.

I’m sure we are all guilty of saying one thing and doing another, but when someone is open about how much they hate something, someone, something someone did etc… and turn around and do the same thing, it totally gets under my skin.

I’ve slowly been learning a lot about myself and my relationships, with friends, parents, siblings, boyfriend etc.. and I think I am now at the point where I can predetermine who is good for what in my life. Some friends I can rely on all the time, knowing that no matter what, they will be there for me. They are the ones that will always show up, never cancel, and never judge. I know what I can rely on my parents for, which is a support system in every aspect of my life. I know that if I needed a shoulder to cry on, a helping hand, or just an ear to listen I can go to my mom. I know that if I need something fixed, or a man’s opinion I can go to my dad. If there is something I need to talk about with someone who is currently experiencing what I am going through, especially when it comes to girl stuff, I can go to my sister. And for almost everything else I have my boyfriend.

But then there are some friends who are there sometimes. They say they care, they say they would be there for anything, but then when times get tough they are nowhere to be found. And there are also the ones that you have grown apart from. The ones that used to be there, but now have other priorities. Sometimes friendships grow apart because your priorities change. I know that I am at a very different point in my life than I was three years ago. Some of my friends are still at that point, and some of them have grown waaaay beyond their years.

I like to live life as a 25-year-old. Not 21 or 29, but 25. Why? Because I am 25. I don’t want to spend the weekends at home doing nothing if there is another opportunity presented to me. Nor do I want to go out every weekend and get trashed and wake up not knowing what happened the night before. I want to focus on my career but at the same time have a social life I can look back on and think “Wow, I had a great time.” I want to save money, but continue to do the things I love. Sometimes it really is a matter of choosing to spend that extra $100 or not, but if it’s something I really want to do then it’s worth the $100.

I have a couple really great friends, and I would never change those friendships for the world, but it would always be nice to add a few more.

“Where Your Boyfriend At?”

I had a post all ready to go, but after my once over I realized that I didn’t like it very much. It gave off the impression that I was rubbing my relationship in the faces of those who are single, and no one wants to read that.

So instead I will tell you about my weekend.

Friday night I hit up a Raptors game, who, btw, suck cause they lost.

I wanted to go shopping in the U.S (for those who are not Canadian and haven’t figured out that I am, eh! Us Canadians pay way too much for our clothes, shoes, purses, makeup etc.. and we love to shop in the U.S because the deals are amazing!!) So I asked the BF if we could go for a day. He invited a friend as a shopping companion and I invited two.

Saturday morning we woke up to a snow storm, which was totally fantastic because we LOVE driving in snow storms (a little hint of sarcasm). It took a little while to get from my place to his so we could switch cars for safer driving.

Sadly one of my shopping companions canceled on us the night before. Which was too bad because it was a fantabulous day!! We actually made it to the outlet mall in great timing!! So the BF and companion split from me and my bff and we went about our shopping day. I got so much stuff and I didn’t even have to whip out the credit card because the deals were unbelievable.

Exhausted and sore (from all the walking, shopping and carrying) we make it home in time to get ready to go out.

So part of my goal in 2011 is to drink less, so I was trying to think of some drink options that have the least amount of calories (it’s not like I’m counting calories, but if I am going to drink I should have something that won’t make me feel bad for drinking), I decided on a gin and tonic. Well I hate gin! So after forcing myself to finish the horrid beverage, I ordered a glass of red wine. Which was delish!

I don’t know what it is, but ever since I’ve been with the BF I have been drinking so much more than I have in years. And he says the same thing about me. It’s not like we sit around drinking by ourselves, but we always have something to do that involves a few beverages. So I’m not drinking for at least two weeks (I figured shorter term goals in this category might be a bit easier).

No juicy relationship stories in this post. Sorry!!

Post Birthday

Well it turned out to be the best birthday I’ve ever had!! I’m not sure if it is because of the changes I’ve made in my life the past year, the friendships I’ve patched, or the new relationship I am in, or maybe it was a combination of all the things new and different, but no matter what it is I could not have been more thankful for the love and support on my 25th birthday.

I only have 3 more days until the holidays start and I could not be more excited about what’s lined up. With three Christmases to attend, I jump right into it starting Friday. I am so excited to be spending Christmas with my boyfriend, it will be our first Christmas together and I could not be happier spending it with anyone else. I just hope I have some time to sit back and relax.

Remembering Him

Earlier today I wrote a post about remembrance day. Normally this day would come and go like any other. Maybe I would wear a poppy, maybe I wouldn’t. But this year it seemed so much different.

Almost a year ago now (February) a friend of mine was killed in Afghanistan, fighting for his country, and died for his country. This year remembrance day means so much more than it ever had. I sat at my desk today with tears in my eyes during the moment of silence and I couldn’t believe that it has been almost a year since the world lost such a great person. And today at 11:00am I was so proud of him and all that he did for his country.

Who would have thought 10 years ago, that the little geeky guy sitting next to me in math class, who was always so nice and cracking jokes would turn out to be such a heroic man.

He was the first guy to ever send me flowers just for the sake of sending flowers. He used to call me all the time, always putting a smile on my face from across the country. He was always so supportive of my writing, which stopped until recently. He inspired an essay I wrote in university that had us talking for hours about it. We talked all the time, and I looked forward to those conversations. But then it all stopped, things changed, I got a new boyfriend, he started seeing a new girl… We spoke maybe once the year prior to his death. I knew he went to Afghanistan, but we didn’t get a chance to talk before he left.

And now not a day goes by that I don’t think about him at least once. And today is no different, only today everyone is thinking about him, or others like him who lost their lives for our country and our freedom. We all miss him, but he will never be forgotten.