Being an Aunt

Being an aunt could quite possibly be is definitely the greatest aspect of my life.

There's nothing quite like baking in the kitchen with your niece or having your nephew come up to you and tackle you with a huge hug. Luke and Ella bring me pure joy.

One night in December I was over at Nicole's hanging out (and I'm sure helping out with some craft project) when Ella came over to me, crawled in my lap with her favorite book of stickers and starts sticking them onto my shirt. I tried to get her to put them on a piece of paper so that she could have something to show for her creative thinking but she insisted that I keep them on my shirt. Then she told me to "show papaw when you get home." My heart seriously melted.

Call me crazy but I have this shirt sitting on my chair at home with the stickers still on them. 

It's just something about the smile on a child's face that makes the world a much brighter place.

First Loves

You will never forget your first love.

You fall fast, hard, and passionately. Everything goes so quickly and you are in a state of pure bliss you never felt before. You aren't afraid of being hurt because you haven't lost love before. You jump into the water heart first.

And when you lose it, everything changes.
You still yearn for that love. Nothing will truly compare, but that's okay. You just can't confuse it for actually missing that person. You miss the feeling.

I think the most important task a first love does is to teach you.
It teaches you what love is.
It teaches you how to think of someone else before yourself.
It teaches you how delicate emotions are.
It teaches you compromise.
It teaches you cooperation.
It teaches you pain.
It teaches you loneliness.

There will always be a special place in your heart for your first love.
Just don't let comparison steal your joy.

Someone will come along that will make you realize why it didn't work out before.

Let. It. Go.

Stop letting the cockroach of doubt crawl into the blank spaces of the night.


Stop it.

Let. it. go. and let a little happiness creep into your life.
You'd be surprised where it may come from.

Friends, Lovers, or Nothing

"I may dissect each little thing and put myself out there so much but at least that means that I still care... I may do a lot of stupid shit but I'm still a lot closer to love than you are."

-He's Just Not That Into You

I have a wonderful knack for making a fool out of myself. I put myself out there all the time and more times than not I end up with my foot in my mouth or embarrassed. But never once will I regret it. 
Sure, the next week I'll think to myself "oh, why did you do that? Stupid, Rachel. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." But I'm not one to hold things back, not anymore. It's better said than eating away like stomach acid on my heart.

At least no one ever has to guess how I feel about them, right?