Rain, Romance, and Taylor Swift

   I think you know someone is right for you when you can be all of yourselves in front of them and not feel like you're telling a secret. You know how you have different sides, like how you talk differently, sit differently, and even think differently when you are talking to your boss than you do when your talking to your dog? Like how you are totally cool with your family's annoyance as you belt out Wicked songs, but you'd be mortified if said belting were overheard by say your college professor. See, you know you've found your soul mate when you can scream Backstreet Boys songs in a little girl voice for the duration of a 40 minute bike ride, then turn right around and shy away from asking for ketchup at McDonald's.

   Back in the days when Justin was my boyfriend, I used to drop everything and sprint to his house whenever there was the slightest hint of rain. The thing is, I had this notion that dancing in the rain- and just not caring whether it ruined my hairstyle or not -was romantic.The the thing is that it was really a silly thing, and yet my husband-to-be would smile , everytime, and turn up the volume on his phone's music app. I am a hopeless romantic, and I am and have always been accepted as such by the love of my life.

   There isn't much rain here in Arizona so our romantic dances have taken on a new trigger...Taylor Swift. Say what you will, but the point is that whether the song is actually about a lasting relationship or not doesn't really make a difference to us. Only that stolen moment in which we are completely ourselves, and completely in love with each other.

    So naturally when Justin came sprinting in after a basketball night saying "Hurry, the song's almost over" and dragging me out to the garage to finish a T Swift song playing over the car speakers, I just absolutely had to blog about it.

Ins and Outs

     Have you missed me? 3 weeks it's been since my last post. I had plenty of ideas for posts in the meantime but, I guess I am getting choosier about what I post and when an why. My apologies.

Maybe I'm being a little selfish but I wanted to share with you all how very proud of myself I am. Over the last few months I have been working very hard to change some of my less-endearing habits and I now feel that my success is complete enough to share.

That's right, I've altogether stopped being a slob. Well I guess that's not entirely fair--I still am a chronic mess-maker, but I have learned how to counter it. Yes, over the past few months I've been doing an increasingly good job of keeping the house in homeostasis. Best of all , Justin appreciates it. The other day was the first time I really sat back and thought "something is different here." "Hey," I said , all thoughtful, " this house hasn't been messy for longer than 6bconsecutive hours in a long time..." "Yeah, " he said, "your actually like a clean person now- I'm not gonna lie, for a while there I was worried."

Poor Justin, I guess it took me a lot longer than most people to figure out my own inner workings. I was trying to be clean and organized all along, but I think the difference is that I've finally learned what works for me, rather than trying other people's routines on for size.

What I've learned about me:

1. Just trying to pick up after myself immediately after I make a mess ( say putting my clothes in the hamper after taking them off) just doesn't work for me. For whatever reason I can not get my mind focused enough to do it consistently.
2. Establishing a plan or routine before learning the ins and outs of a new schedule doesn't work for me. For years I've tried to be "with it" and say this is how it's going to work, I have to make myself do it this way before really knowing at what points in the day I'll be exhausted or hungry or in a "cleaning mood".
3.Procrastinating doesn't work for me.

It took me years to figure out the doesn'ts, but when I did the doeses just fell right into place.

1. Having frequent, set times throughout the day and week in which I clean does work for me.
2. Waiting a week or two to see when those times naturally fall into place, and then holding myself to that "natural" schedule does work for me.
3. Once I've done 1&2, doing it now and not waiting for a better time where I "feel more like it" does work for me.

It feels good to have gotten a handle on this part of myself I just hope I can keep it up!

P.S. In case you were wondering, Justin and I did in fact watch all 6 of the Star Wars movies recently, and I have since been using Yoda's classic diction in my everyday life, if some of these effects have rubbed off on my blogging I either apologize or say your welcome.

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