friendcation

I've been pretty quiet over the last week or two because... my friend Dana came to visit!!! We've been friends for about 11 years now - that picture up there is from Dana's Sweet 16 (I think? Dana?), we're the two sans glasses. We hated each other when we first met, then we became inseparable so much so that we were voted "Best Friends!" for our senior year superlatives, and then we had a little, um... break? for a hot minute in our college years and THEN we went back to being our old selves. But we hadn't seen each other in two years because I moved to North Carolina. (The worst part of getting sick and having to move here is that I honestly never see my friends, and I haven't made an attempt to make any new ones here, so... wah.)

We've been talking about a visit for a while, and the other day it quickly came together! She sent me a message saying something along the lines of, "Uh, how long do you want me in your house? Like is 10 days too much?" And I sent back an obvious and immediate NO! NOT TOO MUCH! And it was all set. She's a big doof and told me to pick her up at the wrong airport, but she realized it with enough time that I didn't drive out of my way, after all! I did have a good laugh about it, though. 

first time seeing each other in YEARS!!!!!

The first thing she said to me when we met at the airport and hugged was, "You're so skinny!!" which is objectively false BUT sealed her in my heart forever, because I have been working on my weight. She also told me my shoes were awesome, so she's a keeper of a friend if I've ever seen one. 

When we had talked online she told me that she hoped we'd just "be doing a lot of hanging out, doing absolutely nothing!" And between the weather (drizzly) and the fact that I'm still recovering from surgery, I definitely delivered on that request. We mostly just sat on the couch and watched movies (Ghostbusters forever!). 

I did manage to take her to see some of the scenes, though! We went through Pisgah Forest, and that's always a treat. Here are some pictures I'd like to keep on this blog - I love looking back at posts months/years later and remembering such fun things! 

Dana said she absolutely needs to come in the summer when the weather is nice enough to fully enjoy all the waterfalls here and I quite agree. I make fun of the south a lot, but the area I live in really is like a natural playground. So many mountains, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. 

Another highlight was a trip to the movies to see Hidden Figures; it was phenomenal. If money were no thing I'd go see it 10 more times. (Funny sidenote: we happened to go on a Tuesday, which is my beloved "discount day" when the tickets are lowered to $6! Because of that and the time we chose - 1:25 in the afternoon - it was packed with older people. It was kind of sweet though, seeing all those old couples and groups of girlfriends having a day out. But it was crazy because we were literally the youngest people there!) 

In a bit of role-reversal, *I* made *her* take a selfie of us this time because I was having my annual good hair day lmao

We went out for Mexican food, we rented about 5,000,000 movies over the course of ten days, we went to Applebees and lamented the menu changes, and I made her come to mass with me one day because she's an art person and the church I go to is incredibly beautiful, so I thought she'd appreciate it. It was a very chill, laid-back visit. She left yesterday and I'm already sitting here making a list of all the fun things we can do when she comes back in the summer!

There's nothing like good friends. :) 

Charlotte 

Best of the Alphabet: Baby Names

I stumbled upon a new name-blog a few nights ago and was pumped. It's got all sorts of cool stuff, from name suggestions to "sibling sets" to old birth announcements for twins named Lloyd Joel and Boyd Noel. Anyway, add to this discovery a dash of boredom and a sprinkle of, ahem, loopiness from medicine and we've got a new Baby Name List idea: favorite names for each letter of the alphabet. Liz, my long-suffering friend who oft puts up with my baby name craze decided to participate too! As has Dana!!!! (She doesn't get as many obnoxious baby name convo requests from me as Liz does - she's more my "Harry Potter questions in the middle of the night" person - but we have talked about names and we may or may not have once fought over "Teddy," eventually deciding I'd use it for a boy and she could use it for a girl.) This list doesn't include all the names we love, just our very favorites for each letter. (I also didn't want to include any names I would never actually use, which is why the letter U, for example, has no names even though Ulysses and Urban are fine names.) In cases of multiple favorites, the very best is in bold. Without further ado.....

A Names

Charlotte: Annie (as a nickname), Agatha/Ambrose, Augustine

Liz: Abigail/Alexander

Dana: Abigail, Adelaide, Adeline/Adam

B Names

Charlotte: Beatrix, Bernadette/Bosco, Benjamin

Liz: Bonnie/Benjamin

Dana: Beatrice

C Names

Charlotte: Caroline, Clementine/Clement

Liz: Claire/Cooper

Dana: Christian, Cecilia/Christopher

D Names

Charlotte: Della/Donovan

Liz: Daisy/Daniel

Dana: Dana (lol jk) Diana, Daphne/David

E Names

Charlotte: Evangeline, Eliza, Eleanor/Edward

Liz: Emelia/Elliot

Dana: Emma, Emilia/Elijah

F Names

Charlotte: Felicity/Francis

Liz: Felicity, Fern/Flynn

Dana: Flannery/Fred, Fitzgerald, Fitzwilliam

G Names

Charlotte: Genevieve/Gabriel, Gerard

Liz: Genevieve/Griffin

Dana: Georgiana, Georgia/George, Greg

H Names

Charlotte: Harriet/Hugo

Liz: Hattie/Harper/Henry

Dana: Helen/Henry

I Names

Charlotte: Ignatius

Liz: Isabelle/Ian, Isaac

Dana: Imogen/Isaiah 

J Names

Charlotte: Jane/James, John

Liz: Joanna/Jacob

Dana: Jane/Jack, James

K Names

Charlotte: Kate, Kit (both as nicknames)/ Konrad

Liz: Katherine/Keagan 

Dana: Kendall/Killian 

L Names

Charlotte: Louise/Lewis (honorable mentions: Lucy, Loretta)

Liz: Lydia/Liam

Dana: Laura, Leila/Levi 

M Names

Charlotte: Margot, Magdalene/Martin

Liz: Molly/Mathias

Dana: Madeline, Magdalena/Mason 

N Names

Charlotte: Noelle/Nicholas

Liz: Nora/Nathaniel 

Dana: Nova/Noah 

O Names

Charlotte: Ottilie/Oliver

Liz: Olivia/Oliver 

Dana: Ophelia/Oliver 

P Names

Charlotte: Pepper, Philomena/Patrick

Liz: Piper/Parker

Dana: Priscilla, Penelope/Peter 

Q Names

Charlotte: .........

Liz: Quinn/Quentin (I guess...) 

Dana: Quinn/?

R Names

Charlotte: Rose

Liz: Rachel, Ruth/Russell 

Dana: Renesmee.. JK. Rose/Ronald

S Names

Charlotte: Stella/Samuel

Liz: Sophie, Sadie/Samuel (honorable mention: Sybil)

Dana: Savannah/Samuel 

T Names

Charlotte: Tilly (as a nickname)/Theodore

Liz: Taylor/Theodore

Dana: Theodora (Teddy)/Theodore 

U Names

Charlotte: .........

Liz: .........

Dana: ........

V Names

Charlotte: Victoria

Liz: Virginia/Victor

Dana: Vada, Virginia

W Names

Charlotte: Willa/William

Liz: Winry/William 

Dana: Winnie/William

X Names

Charlotte: Xavier

Liz: ........

Dana: ........

Y Names

Charlotte: ..........

Liz: .......

Dana: Yael/.. 

Z Names

Charlotte: Zellie

Liz: Zinnia/Zachary 

Dana: Zinnia, Zoey/Zachary

So I guess it's a win for Oliver, Theodore, William, and Samuel. ;) This post was super fun to write. I loved seeing all the overlap (Magdalene/a! Felicity! Henry!) and I got a kick out of how surprising some of the names were (still not over Dana's choice of Greg or Liz's pick of Griffin). I like that even with a decent amount of overlap, you can still sense our different styles.

Also, Keagan will forever remind me of kegels. BUT YOU DO YOU, LIZ.

Bullet Journal

My friend Dana introduced me to this neat idea of a bullet journal. The best description I can quickly come up with is that it's like a planner on steroids (which is exactly what I told Liz, who thinks she'd benefit from a bullet journal too). I have, and love, a regular planner, but it's mostly just appointments. I don't put all the little things in there, like moisturizing or making the bed or exercising. I don't track my books in my planner. I don't write down how much money I spend in my planner. The bullet journal though? It is promising. I thrive from checklists (I think it's a mix of my personality and the fact that I'm depressed - checking things off is the best), and the bullet journal is allllll checklists, baby. So I made one. I invested (lol $7, holla big moneyyy) in a journal yesterday. I picked one with a train because I love trains and it reminds me of The Hogwarts Express. And today I got it started.  

See what I mean? It's got everything. I adore checking little things off, even if it's something like brushing teeth or showering (1. the more you check, the more momentum you get, the more productive you become and 2. sometimes depression means you straight up don't care about self-health and self-care, so even things like "put on makeup" and "lather your body with soap" are good to write down). Sometimes I can get to feeling a bit inadequate - I start thinking about "all those people" who don't need check lists or planners or journals to function. But I gotta ditch that mentality. These are things that work for me.  

My bullet journal isn't very pretty. I opted to just start it now even though all I've got is a pen and a few highlighters. I considered waiting until Sunday, after this snowstorm clears up, so I could go get colored pencils. But... I figure I can make it pretty later. I've got a lot of goals for 2016, not to mention a whole host of life and lifestyle changes I want to make, and I'm betting this journal can help me out. 

Here's to achieving goals and forming good habits! 

__ 

Charlotte 

Moments

Whenever I’m feeling a little Scrooge-like, I try to fake myself into a good mood.  Does that sound horrible?  Wouldn’t it be better to be, I don’t know, an emotionally intelligent person and just actually change my mood, genuinely, on the spot? 

Prob to the lee.  

Alas, that’s not (usually) in store for me, so I stick with my tried and mostly true motto of fake it til you make it.  If I’m in a shit mood I’ll go watch funny Youtube videos or read one of the happier blog posts I’ve written or eat pizza rolls and watch Gilmore Girls while sending messages to Liz to tell her I’m eating pizza rolls and watching Gilmore Girls.  

And sometimes, it’s enough to trick me into a good mood.  Like magic.  Hermione Granger ain’t got nothing on me. 

(Okay fine, Hermione Granger could probably take me if not for her fictionality.)  

Back to the topic, Char. 

One of these tricks is thinking of some of my favorite moments.  

“Oh, won’t you please write down your favorite moments?!  We want to read all about your favorite moments!”
– None of my blog readers. 

But my word of the year was “persevere” so let’s do this thang: 

1. Olivia and I went out to eat a few months ago.  We were sitting at our table and could overhear the conversation at the next table.  Sadly (but beautifully), someone’s family member had died.  But being a horrible person, I suppose I thought it was okay to joke about.  They said, “Yeah, well, 101 years old, you can’t beat that!”  I texted Liv and said, “WATCH ME.”  And she kind of gave a stifled laugh (make the joke, yeah, but don’t be outwardly rude) and said, “102!  102!”  

This is all nice and good but what I remember most is O’s face when she got the text and then responded.  Liv and I are essentially family, and I don’t know.  Remembering her stupid sparkling eyes and genuine happy face makes me happy.  

I just called her eyes stupid because I felt like I was treading into the waters of “Too Sentimental for Emotionally Unintelligent People.”

2. I guess because I've known her forever, Olivia's going to go ahead and take another spot up here. 

Her family has this awesome blue house with an awesome porch and a big yard (at least for the area) and have had more parties than I can remember.  Her family is a big Irish family and some of them are ridiculous.  In the best way!  I vividly remember sitting there eating something during a bbq and cracking up because her dad and uncle were talking in absurd voices to each other.  And because they're the kind of jokers that find themselves funny AND each other funny, they couldn't keep straight faces.  So it's just two massive guys cracking up and making everyone else crack up.  This happens at basically all of their family gatherings, but every time I picture it again it makes me smile.

3. Olivia is here yet again.  What a greedy B. 

We were camping and it was her turn to do the dishes.  A guy who was at the spot next to us and had talked to us before said something like, "Hey, you're already done with dinner?  I haven't even started yet!  I'm envious."  

My main B replied, "...I'm Olivia."  

Then she asked me if "envious" was a word or a name and I'm dying laughing just thinking about it. 

4. In high school my friend Dana and I were a doubles team in tennis.  We were so good.  Our trick was eating Taco Bell before each match.  Our coach didn't know this, so the one day he walks by and sees us sitting on the sidewalk, each of us with two tacos and a Coke, he gave us the most surprised/angry look.  We explained that we always did this, and that we always won.  He was in disbelief. 

We won the match that day. 

5. When I went to have surgery, my asshole friend Lizette was there.  I was super paranoid about an air bubble in my IV so my much nicer friend, Alison, went to get a nurse.  Before they came back, Liz looks at me, looks at the air bubble, and starts saying, "tick tock tick tock" as it gets closer to entering my body.  IT WAS SO MEAN. 

But thinking about it cracks me up and usually puts me in a better mood.  

There are so, so, so many more of these!  But it just occurred to me that I can bunch them in groups of five, that way I can write a post like this whenever I need a little non-alcoholic pick-me-up.  (Also I'm getting lazy and don't feel like writing anymore.)

Cheers for years. 

__

Charlotte