Love Letters

I got all nostalgic today and started going through this huge box of things I've kept for years- mostly high school memories- graduation announcements, photographs, yearbooks, prom dance books, etc. But BEST OF ALL- the letters.

Oh my gosh. The letters.  They are AMAZING. Letters from my friends about absolutely nothing (literally: "Hey, I did you see my new shoes?") or from the girlfriend of my ex-boyfriend ("Why did you break up with him?") and best of all, from boyfriends ("I love you.") Because, come on, high school "I love you"'s are so BIG and ENCOMPASSING and NOTHING WILL EVER MATTER MORE THAN THIS BOY SAYING HE LOVES ME.

Until you grow up and realize there are so many things that will matter more.

I found the diary I kept in 7th-8th grade. Here's the very first entry-

5/28/93
End of the year dance! I danced with Aaron, Justin, Chris, Danny, and Jeremy. Aaron sang  "I Will Always Love You" to me while we danced and he CANNOT SING! He's crazy. I can't believe tomorrow is the very last day. I'm thinking about writing Aaron a note telling him to call me this summer. I might not thought. I think I like him. But he danced with Kristin too. What if he likes her? 

Ok. Aaron. That Aaron?
Five years later, he'd write me a letter that includes this:

I hope you didn't get in trouble last night for being on the phone so long. It was my fault. I just can't seem to let you go. Can't wait to see those big beautiful eyes. I love you.

GAH. How CUTE is that??

Of course, we eventually broke up. But looking back through these letters reminds me of how completely crazy about each other we were, until we weren't. I love High School Love. It is so EVERYTHING when you're in it, right? It's not the same when you grow up. I mean it's still love, it's still romantic and sexy and emotional. But there's nothing like that first love, when you truly think there is NOTHING in the world that will ever be as important as this boy, this dance, this kiss.

*sigh*

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My level of excitement is OFFICIALLY INSANE.

Ok. It's been a freaking EXCELLENT few months in my CP group. You guys remember how Gina got agented? And then Leigh Ann?

And now, Lovelies, it's time to celebrate CHESSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CHESSIE IS OFFICIALLY AGENTED!!!!!

First off, let's just talk about Chessie's amazing book, ALEXITHYMIA. And the thing is, I feel like I throw around words like "amazing," "fantastic," "love," etc. A LOT when referring to my CPs.

Here's the deal- they're that good.

And Chessie's book??

It's MASTERFUL. I can still remember lying in bed late one night, trying to be quiet because my husband was asleep, but I HAD TO FINISH IT. So I'm there, eyes glued to my kindle- and then THIS THING HAPPENS. It's this huge reveal, and it blew. my. mind. I kind of lost it. I threw the kindle across the bed, stared at it, and I think I even started rocking a little bit. I could not even believe what Chessie had done- I couldn't believe she pulled it off, got it past me, made it all work....GAH. I started giggling out of the sheer insanity of it all.

And then, because I'm me, I immediately tweeted her to freak the fuh-reak out, and Chessie, being Chessie, enjoyed my mental torture IMMENSELY.

That feeling? That completely blown away feeling? That doesn't happen to me often. I still can't get over it. And I'm kind of sad that I can't re-read the book and have that feeling again. Whenever someone reads it for the first time, I'm always like, "OH, I'm so JEALOUS OF YOU." It's like a drug. I needs it.

So what I'm saying is- I'm SUPER JEALOUS of all of you who are going to experience her book for the first time after it's published. And when you do, come back here and we'll all flip out together because....wow. I know I'm an overly enthusiastic person in general, but don't at all let that fool you- this book is amazing. I'm lucky to be friends with her.

And now, my friends, let the GIF PARADE BEGIN. (And go check out Leigh Ann's blog for MOAR GIFS)


So. There USED to be an awesomely fantastically fun gif parade here. And then people started getting sued for having photos on blogs (which, in some cases, I think is perfectly legit- you should never steal someone's photos). Anyway- it's made us all a little wary of posting pictures on our blogs. So I took it down.


I know. I'm sad too.

THIS used to be a "what the hell is happening?" gif of Ron from Harry Potter.

Chessie's doing her evil laugh on Twitter. What's that about? Oh! Email from Chessie!

And THIS was Nathan Fillion. Because I like to look at him.

BOOM. Oh. Hell. Yes.

And this was Robyn from How I Met Your Mother crying under her desk drinking whiskey. And that's truly the kind of thing it took to calm me down after reading Chessie's book.

Imma sit here and reminisce about the FREAKING MIND BLOWING REVEAL again.

AND THIS WAS THE BEST ONE. Loki, from the Avengers, rubbing his chest, with the caption "I HAVE ALL THESE FEELS." HAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAAHAHAHA LOKI HAS ALL THE FEELS!

FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY

Aaaaaaand the cast of Scrubs in pimp costumes.

And when the world sees this book, Chess'll be STRAIGHT UP PIMPIN.

Chessie, I love you like this:

(The Winchesters tackle hugging each other.)

Even though I know that makes you want to do this:

(A penguin putting the smackdown on another penguin.)

LOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOU CHESSIE WITH ALL THE HEARTS AND UNICORNS AND SPARKLES AND HUGS AND ALL THE GIRLIEST OF GIRLY THINGS.

This one's for you. ;)

Donkey Kong gif. Sigh.

You guys can dash over to Chessie's blog for specifics. :)

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Eleven Things!

You might have caught the vlog today- Megan's (Eleven) Answers over on the Parenthetically channel. Gina did it first, and then tagged the rest of us on Parenthetically, so I responded! Basically, I answered 11 questions that Gina came up with. Then, I needed to give 11 facts about myself, come up with 11 more questions, and tag 11 more people to answer my questions. SO- I did that first part on the vlog...

And now, the rest:


11 Things You Don't Know About Me


Ok, this is hard because I've already posted one Random Megan Facts vlog as well as my Parenthetically Intro where I give you all kinds of random info about me. You guys know me PRETTY WELL.

1. Milk freaks me out. It comes from cows. Cows are covered in poop.
2. I loooooooove funny t-shirts. I collect them. If you know of a great web site to find them, let me know.
3. I used to watch Little Shop of Horrors over and over and over again. I love that movie. There's no telling how many times I've watched it.
4. My biggest dream, aside from publishing a novel, is to be in a flash mob.
5. My life philosophy is to never hold back compliments. If I like you or something about you, you will know it. Even if I've known you for 5 seconds. I don't understand people who are stingy with their praise. Come on. It's a waste of time. What if that's the only positive thing that person hears all day? Why hold back?
6. I'm kind of overly enthusiastic about everything. Sometimes- and it's about to GET REAL HERE GUYS- sometimes, it's a show. Sometimes, if I'm having a particularly terrible day, I will be ESPECIALLY enthusiastic. It's like, fake it til I make it, you know? And it just about always works. Generally, I will end up saying or doing something so ridiculous it makes me laugh, and I'm instantly in a better mood.
7. I'm addicted to McDonalds Coke. Don't you dare try to tell me it's the same Coke that everyone else serves. It's not.
8. I prefer grape jelly over strawberry jelly on a PB&J sandwich.
9. I have a brother. He's six years older than me. He's the bees' knees.
10. I am a FIRM believer in the Oxford comma. 
11. I used to work in Cerebral Palsy research. I worked with kids all day, trying to figure out why some kids with CP have better outcomes than others (because CP is one of those diseases that isn't supposed to get worse over time). I loved it. I miss it. Someday I'll do a post about leaving work to stay home with my kids. Gina did a great one. 

Ok. And for my 11 questions for you guys, I'm keeping a few of Gina's and adding some new ones:

1. What's your favorite song?
2. How many times did you fail your driver's license test?
3. Who's your celebrity crush?
4. What is the most disgusting word you can think of?
5. Don't you think Tombstone is the best movie of all time?
6. If you had to eat one food every day for a year, what would it be?
7. What are your top 3 favorite books?
8. Have you ever met anyone in real life that you originally met on Twitter?
9. What was your first job?
10. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich- do you put pb on one slice of bread, jelly on the other, and then marry the two? Or do you put pb on one slice of bread, spread jelly on top of the pb, and put another slice of bread on top? (My grandfather has a VERY SOLID opinion on this subject.)
11. Name one thing that majorly creeps you out.

OK! And tagging eleven people! I'm only tagging people who I know blog or vlog and who I don't think have been tagged  yet! (AND- if it's just not your thing or you don't feel like doing it, I'm cool with that.)

Leigh Ann, Gina C., Jenny, Jamie, Chessie, Marieke, Maggie, Stef, Angi, Sarah, Josh, Paul, Feaks

I know that's 13. SUE ME.

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