two/eleven photography

So my best friend (one slice of the pie... or .7853...) is not only an amazing mother. But, she is also an amazing photographer. She wanted to try some new locations (and to be honest, I think she was just itching to shoot! lol) so she forcibly took me out today. She is amazing, I swear I'm not photogenic, and she made me look amazing.
2/11 is her son's birthday. And thus two/eleven photography was born as well. Check her out. If you need anyone, go to her! I promise, its a good plan.

I LOVE this one. She told me to do whatever, "be sexy or something." So this was me pretending I knew what sexy was. And it was just too funny. It makes being 24 look like fun though. And I feel like an adult.

She says she didn't edit my hair. So much more red was left in my hair! I had no idea! And my eyes <3

LOVE

No other description needed

And this one, well its my absolute favorite so far :)

Thank you again Ashley!! I absolutely had a blast with you today. I seriously think that some of these came out this good because you get me so well. You know how to make me laugh.

Lies...

"Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." -Sir Walter Scott

I don't understand why people insist on lying about who they are. I mean, I get that when we do that its because we wanted to impress the person we are lying to. But, here's the thing. When have you ever been able to keep up with that lie? Its impossible. Eventually our true colors show. Someone ends up mad, and it ends poorly. No matter what the situation. We lie to a friend, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, a parent, a relative. Whoever it is, whatever the lie, the truth ALWAYS prevails.
Isn't it just easier to tell the truth? So you have two belly buttons. Who cares? Okay, so thats not a normal lie. But, you get the point. No matter what it is, wouldn't it just be easier to tell the truth? Because then its out in the open. And if it's something small (like that belly button thing!) it can be worked through.
But, what happens when it is kept a secret? Let's lose the belly button thing because thats making me weirded out. Let's go with hair color. If I dye my hair blonde, and tell you its my natural hair color, what happens when the truth comes out, a month, 6 months, a year, whatever, down the line. My roots grow out a little too much, I don't have the money to do it. Well now, its been a LIE. Its not just about my hair color anymore. Now its a fight, instead of a talk or a passing comment. See that?
And really, who can keep that all straight? Who you told what, what friends you need to tell the lie to. Who you need to tell people to keep it straight with. And then they have to keep it all straight. Or, you could just tell the truth.
Why make something bigger than it is? Tell it like it is. Personally, I would respond better to the truth. If you hate me, tell me that. If you love me, tell me that. Don't keep it a secret and tell me some other thing. Because, the truth always always always comes out. Because acting, after a while, gets old.

Mystery of God

God works in the most mysterious ways sometimes. As you can tell, I've been very angry with Chris lately. It's just a lot to get over for me. I'm angry with how it all went down. I'm happy without him, don't get me wrong. But, the anger I have about it, it's incredible.

So, on Sunday at church one of the topics mentioned was divorce. It struck a bit of a chord. And I hated it. So, I put in a prayer request, to get over my anger and to forgive him. I expected a prayer and that was all. God. Works. In. Mysterious. Ways. I got a phone call today. From a man from my church. He said he got my prayer request and was following up and wanted to pray with me. We talked for a minute. I told him how everything was fine, until about the last month of the last deployment, and things got bad and fast. I told him how (I am sure) he cheated on me. And that Chris is a Marine. The man was a Marine for 17 years. And, while his story is not mine to tell, he wants me to sit down with his wife. He feels that she would be a good resource for me to talk with. I can't wait!

God is amazing. He said that Pastor Chico walked in and told him to call #2 on the list to check-up. I was that person. They had no idea, until I talked to him, that Chris was a Marine. They had no idea the circumstances of the divorce. They knew my age, my name and that I am (now) a regular attender of the church. I feel like this whole thing is a blessing. I've never felt more welcome at a church. This is definitely Home.

<3

I take it back

I take back what I said about him never hurting me. He hurt me. He will forever be hurting me. I'm the kind of girl that things stay with. And as over him as I might be. The pain is still there. I will bring that pain with me the rest of my life. That pain is sometimes to much to bear. I can't handle it. Not right now, not right at this moment. I hate what he did. I hate what I have become. This is not me. I don't run in fear. I run from any semblance of a relationship. But, this knot in my stomach. I HATE HATE HATE when I do this to myself. It's my own fault. I don't have to do these things. But, I continue to. In fact... I just deleted any connection I had to him on facebook. His friends.. deleted. I only had like two left and barely did I even remember that I was friends with them. But, something has popped up. TWICE in fact in the last two days. And it just hurts. I hate this. Hate hate hate hate hate hate it.

So, next time if I say he didn't hurt me, please remind me of this. Please remind me that he took who I was from me.

Do you know, what it feels like?

Yea, I have that song stuck in my head... Thanks Glee. Anyways. I'm a total stream of conscious writer. I write as it comes and it may not always land on the point I meant to make. What I'm about to write, I started last night. It just started as a simple passing thought. And turned into a completely handwritten post before its getting typed. It looses it a bit in the middle because I was falling asleep last night. And so I started again this morning. Stream of conscious.. gone.

There are not a lot of divorced 24 year olds. There are times when I need to be reminded that I am not alone. Unfortunately, in the military community, there are quite a few of us. Often times we got married in a rush. he was deploying, boot camp, some variation of the same story encompasses the lot of us. But, in my real world life, how many of me are there really? I don't know that I can think of one person I went to high school with that is divorced that wasn't military. Scratch that. I've hear of one, but I didn't know them so I don't know if  its a true story of the product of still living in this town and word spreading.
Either way, am I alone? Of course, there are always those friends who get it. Those friends who've gotten divorced, and those friends who walked with me and held my hand. Those who cried with me and brought me wine, who got tattoos with me. but, nobody was there. nobody saw the anger in his eyes when we fought. I would NEVER say he hit me or even scared me into thinking he might hurt me. Its not him. Never was, never will be. I'll give him that much credit. The worst violence was the Christmas tree incident, which is actually quite amusing. But, there was anger. And lots of it. And to this day, I'm still not 100% sure why he was so mad. There really was nothing to be so angry at. I could have forgotten, but honestly I don't think so. So to describe my emotions as confused would be an understatement. I still don't fully understand it. But, it is what it is, right?
I've had some issues to say the least since all this happened. I'm not the same girl I was three years ago. but, I'm also not the same person I was 18, 19, 20 months ago- whatever it was. I've tried to date. I have. It usually ends with me feeling totally suffocated to death. I can't stand to be around someone all the time. in fact, I can't deal with someone wanting to be around most of the time. I don't know, maybe its  because I was married to an idea, a pen, my email and my cell phone for a grand total of 15 months. I have a different spirit about me now. I was shy and reserved before. Now, I still get that way. Sometimes. But, its not nearly as bad. I'm very animated now. Especially if its something I have a passion for.
But, there's still a piece of me that struggles with the whole concept. And its not a very big piece of me,  but its like a splinter. As slight as it may be, its there and I always feel it in one way or another. I could be in the lightest situation and the, seemingly, most simple thing will hit me in the face. And it hurts again, for a few seconds or a few minutes. And then I can go back to my day as if nothing happened. But, I have to wonder if it is going to be like that forever, or is it something that will stick with me. Honestly, I hope it goes away. I want to remember what made me who I am, but I want to do it less painfully . As a result, I don't date. Or as Ashley put it, I date but I say I don't. Okay, in the last 6 months I've been on one date. And even that was like pulling teeth to get me to go. So, while I don't 100% not date, I don't make an effort to date. But, there are those nights (and sometimes days) that I get lonely. We all hae them. Its mostly nights that my phone isn't blowing up, I'm not used to that. I found a quote last night that is perfect "Its often just enough to be with someone. I don't need to touch them. not even talk. A feeling passes between you both. You're not alone." (Marilyn Monroe). And most of the time that's all I want. To have conversation and to know that I am not alone in this world.

I wear my heart on my sleeve and I've never hidden this. But, no ones bothered to ask.

Playing Catch Up

Well Hello Bloggers. I've missed you. Its been like 10 days Sad. I'm sorry. Its been busy. And I'm even going to include pictures here! It was worth the wait, wasn't it? I know. I'm worth it. Ha!

So I went to MEPs last Wednesday (April 7th). I know I was worried about making weight. At the time of my last post, what I didn't know was that they also go by BMI. And as far as BMI is concerned I can still get fatter. Haha but, no fear. I have no intention what-so-ever of doing that. Everything went really well. Until, they found out about my migraines. Now, let me clarify something. I get them, sure. However, I hadn't had one for THREE YEARS when I started taking birth control and got the Gardasil shot. My doctor and I have sat down and extensively gone over a plan to control them. And when I got off the birth control. Surprise, they were gone. So, I thought it was a done deal, and that was the end and I wasn't going to get in. But I still have a chance, I have my medical records and I am going to take them to the recruiter next week. So, when I know more, I will share more- like always.
The scary thing, though, was that they told me that they had a job already aside for me and I was leaving in two weeks. Dude, I did NOT approve this. It scared me a little bit.

Last week was Gleek week. I know, we're ridiculous right? Its funny. But, for the first time in as long as I can remember I have been able to be myself. I have made a point to surround myself ONLY with people that I can do just that and feel comfortable. And I'm learning (slowly) to step out of my comfort zone and realize that it is OK to embarrass myself. I've never really been a fan of doing that. But I'm getting there.
So my friends and I (Ashley and Justine) spent all week preparing for the spring premiere of Glee. Ashley made us amazing T-shirts!

 Though, of course, my mom wanted to know why I'm the only one in Team Finn. I told her so I didn't have to share him. Duh. Ashley, you did an amazing job! Thank you!
And for posterity,

Little man got in the way taking the picture <3
The three of us together are amazing. There is never a dull moment. Best line of the night? "Want some juice in your juice? I can put my box in a box for you." She claims she was sober... lol

Anyways, thats mostly what's been going on. I know this isn't my best post ever. I'm slightly off my game lately. And I haven't wanted to post what happened at MEPs this week. And I'm finally okay telling the story.

Worried

I'm a bit worried. I tried to lose 7 pounds, because I have to, and I can't. I tried. And nothing. Crap. Pray that somehow I can still sign on Wednesday or I'm gonna cry.