eat pray love

A soul-mate's purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life, then introduce you to your spiritual master...

-elizabeth gilbert

EAT   PRAY   LOVE

I honestly have not done my research on this incredible woman nor have I read the book.  I have wanted to read the book and I have every intention on doing so whether I see the movie before or not.  I have a good feeling that it's only going to take me one good bath and a one or two bed-times and I will have her journey and memoir as part of my inner library.

But, I have done a little browsing and learning up on Elizabeth Gilbert.  I assume most of you have read her story or have seen the previews of Julia Roberts' beauty in her portrayal of Elizabeth's empowering soul.  I have been dying to see it!

I will be in Orlando this Friday and can't wait to see it with mom, and then probably again with the girls!!!

i'm not just saying this... but as i read her input about love, life, food, and religion i have come to realize that

I AM JUST LIKE HER!!!!

those of you who know me will agree...

those of you don't, will still be inspired by her ability to portray in a BEAUTIFUL way

the exact same things that I want people to understand SO BADLY about me.

maybe i need to quit trying to love people who don't want to be loved by me and i should spend some more time loving myself because i have an ENORMOUS need for love and an even more GIGANTIC amount of affection to give. but i refuse to waste it on someone who doesn't value it for what it is really worth when i know i value it and i know if i value it for a while, the right man will come along to value it as well.  i just have faith in people even when they do not have faith in me, and the more i learn and discover in this uncertain world, i realize that i need to live life for MYSELF because apparently everyone else has been doing the same thing while i've been trying to give my affection. 

and if you know me then you might also know that i am a DIVINE BELIEVER in food, the almighty God, and in love actually.

I HAVE A HISTORY OF MAKING DECISIONS VERY QUICKLY ABOUT MEN. I HAVE ALWAYS FALLEN IN LOVE FAST AND WITHOUT MEASURING RISKS.  I HAVE A TENDENCY NOT ONLY TO SEE THE BEST IN EVERYONE, BUT TO ASSUME THAT EVERYONE IS EMOTIONALLY CAPABLE OF REACHING HIS HIGHEST POTENTIAL.  I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE MORE TIMES THAN I CARE TO COUNT WITH THE HIGHEST POTENTIAL OF A MAN, RATHER THAN WITH THE MAN HIMSELF, AND I HAVE HUNG ON TO THE RELATIONSHIP FOR A LONG TIME (SOMETIMES FAR TOO LONG) WAITING FOR THE MAN TO ASCEND TO HIS OWN GREATNESS. 

MANY TIMES IN ROMANCE I AM THE VICTIM OF MY OWN OPTIMISM.

i really have no words to say to how true this is

 about the only two people who have ever made me feel alive

WHEN I GET LONELY THESE DAYS, I THINK: so BE lonely. Learn your way around loneliness.  Make a map of it.  Sit with it, for once in your life.  Welcome to the human experience.  But never again use another person's body or emotions as a scratching post for your own unfulfilled yearnings.

i don't know why i never sit still, in anything, for long.

i get bored - there are too many things i want to do in the world.

i make lists - bucket lists, things i want to do if i win the lottery, things i'd do if i only had one year to do them, places i've been and where i want to go, emotional and spiritual and physical desires that i want to work hard every day to see become a reality. i don't know why i convince myself that a traditional, standardized soul is what i need. i once thought that i needed someone to balance me out. if i was lonely, i'd find someone to fill the void. if i was happy, i loved whoever it was that i thought was making me that way. but sometimes i forget that when i'm alone it isn't all bad.

i have been having a good time. i had a GREAT time after the 'big breakup of 2008' and I was bouncing around the room the other night when i finally went out with some girlfriends.

i'm trully enjoying this time to myself. i am reminded that just because i didn't 'do it' for one person, doesn't mean i can't turn a few heads and get asked for my phone number when i'm rockin' skinny jeans and turquoise beads in my hair ;)

and before we all start to think hell has frozen over let me remind you that my new single girl swag has definitely made me glad to know that i never lost my touch - i just had to put my single girl self on a shelf and now i get to bring her out and i'm still the 'class flirt of 2005'

H A H A

THERE IS SO MUCH ABOUT MY FATE THAT I CANNOT CONTROL, BUT OTHER THINGS DO FALL UNDER THE JURISDICTION.

I CAN DECIDE HOW I SPEND MY TIME, WHOM I INTERACT WITH,

WHOM I SHARE MY BODY AND LIFE AND MONEY AND ENERGY WITH. I CAN SELECT WHAT I CAN read AND eat AND study.

I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life - whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I CAN CHOOSE MY WORDS AND TONE OF VOICE IN WHICH I SPEAK TO OTHERS. AND MOST OF ALL, I CAN CHOOSE MY thoughts.

does this need an explanation or is not the exact same thing that i tell myself everyday?

or call mom about and wonder why no one else understands me?

or what my sister tells me everytime i start to lose my footing as the strong-willed, hard-headed, bold and absolutely ridiculous young lady that she knows i am?

To LOSE balance sometimes for LOVE is part of LIVING a balanced LIFE.

but some people play it safe and live the common life of not taking such a risk.

what horribly boring lives those people must lead, no offense.

i want adventure! i want fun! i want messy! because that's what life is to me!

There's a crack - or cracks - in everyone.... that's how the light of GOD gets in.

amen

I think I deserve something beautiful.

amen

I MET AN OLD LADY ONCE - ALMOST A HUNDRED YEARS OLD - AND SHE TOLD ME: There are only two questions that human beings have ever fought over, all through history.  how much do you love me? and

who's in charge? 

if that doesn't pin the tail on the donkey's ass then i don't know what does

"In desperate LOVE, we invent the characters of our partners, demanding thay they be what we need of them, and then feeling devastated when they refuse to perform the role we created in the first place." 

i guess this is the hardest part of what i have been going through. i saw someone adore me and think i had hung the moon.  then when they had me - which was apparently all they ever wanted - i didn't seem so great anymore. i'm no longer on the pedastool that i stood for so long on. it's weird - i have the emptiness of that person and the emptiness of that friendship and i have no one to run to the drug store to buy me medicine for my horrible allergies and i have no one to take me to dinner when i'm sick of ramen noodles and happy meals, but that's not what i miss the most.  i miss the confidance that i had in knowing that someone out there thought i was wonderful even though i was a little freakazoid. 

a girl's got her needs, and feeling pretty and loved is one of them. 

"That’s the thing about a human life-there’s no control group, no way to ever know how any of us would have turned out if any variables had been changed."  

— Elizabeth Gilbert

 (Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia)

 

so ashley - make the intinerary (and those banana cupcakes)

nana - grab the family Bible (and maybe a couple extra bc we know we lose everything)

mamaw - get your journal out (if you want that biography written)

aunt paula - pack your suitcase (even though we haven't set a departure date yet hahahaha)

momma - get the currency from daddy ($$)

annie - welcome to the family (good or bad for you? who knows)

amy - plan us a round-trip to an inspirational land

(but remember the 2 b's - I'm Baptist & Broke)

 

aaaaahhhh that would be the most hilarious book ever written. if all the women of my family went on a trip to a far away land. this doesn't sound like such a bad idea to my favorite aunt and i. i say favorite aunt because even if she wasn't my only aunt she would still be my favorite aunt. i don't think it's fair that just because she is my only aunt i should never be able to call her my favorite aunt.  someone asked me of this habit the other day when i went off on some tangent on how i miss my get-a-ways to north carolina when i get to vent to my favorite aunt. anyways, i say that this isn't such a bad idea to us because it always seems like one of us is always in need of a badass vacation somewhere. that's why i hope she isn't mad about my pro-longing of the tuscaloosa trip.  hahahaha, not that tuscaloosa would be be any sort of badass vacation. nope, not unless it's a gameday. which i think my favorite aunt and favorite uncle (only uncle; same concept as it is with how i feel about his wifey) should do this fall. tuscaloosa + fall football = perfection! but still, i need a trip to somewhere inspirational.

 

where should i go???

i mean, we go. where should me and my posse full of crazy women go?

we have:

1 world traveler (but there's always a place for more inspiration)

1 very perfectionistic planner

1 blonde bombshell to help talk us out of international dilemmas

1 blogger to record every discovery, family feud, funny comment about our dysfunctions

 2 "history buffs" - hahahahahahaha

1 live entertainer (i'm referring to your "nana's dancing video" auntie p!)

1 bargain hunter (so we can save some $ or see the rest of the country we're in as we go all the way across it in order to save that $)

 

hahaha

 

i think everyone should go get

E A T    P R A Y    L O V E

and then we should have a little Blogger Book Club.

 

I have been trying to get a little book club going of my own in Tuscaloosa!

Does anyone know any Tuscaloosa Bloggers that would want to do such a thing?!?! :)

 

Speaking of Tuscaloosa, guess what I am doing??????????????????????

I am going to be the
F E A T U R E D

B L O G G E R

on

T R A V E L    T U E S D A Y S

over at 'Life in Technicolor'

 

 

 

I am so excited... Becca sent me a Facebook message yesterday and asked me!!!!

I asked her if I should do Oviedo/Orlando or Tuscaloosa

and she said 'either one' so I decided to do Tuscaloosa because

it has been 'HOME' for all of my Blogging life!

It will be featured NEXT TUESDAY so be sure to check it out!

I will probably remember to give you a link but since I will be in

O R L A N D O

tomorrow until Sunday

and then moving into my new place with my new roomie & Millie Jean hopefully

on Monday and Tuesday

then it is to my "FIRST HOME" in

A S H E V I L L E

the next

Wednesday-Sunday.

BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!!!!

 

 

peace and love

and inspiration

and a good journey in search of more

 

baily/daisy