OKnLA

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary.  I'm a really bad daughter, so I'm not exactly sure if they've been married 35 or 36 years. Either way that's a long time! That's 35+ years of dealing with another person's funny habits and idiosyncrasies. Of learning how to handle their mood swings, figuring out what things you like to do together and things you'd rather do apart. Learning when to give each other space and when to hold on tight. Figuring out how to keep things "exciting" and "interesting". That's a long time.  Growing up I asked my parents why they got married several times. I got different answers. Here are the top three reasons why my parents got married (from what I remember as a kid):  1) For a ride to work. My parents worked at the same place when they met. Once Mama told me that the reason she married my dad was to get a ride to work. Now, back when we lived in Oklahoma this didn't seem like...

I'm so guilty.  I've always been a bit of a boyfriend shamer. I shame people for having cute relationships and loving their boyfriends a little too much. I shame myself for loving my boyfriend even a little bit. I shame my boyfriend for being amazing.  All of these things are wrong and I am so disgusted with myself. It makes no sense.  I do not trust men. I've had this problem all of my life and I'm not sure where it came from. I have an incredible, loving father and grandfather. I had spectacular male role models growing up and today. But somehow I've been taught to never, ever, under any circumstances trust a man. In an effort to always keep my distance I shame.  I'm constantly team break-up. Did he cheat on you? Break up with him. Did he lie? Break up with him. Oh he got you carnations instead of roses? Break up with him. I honestly consider breaking up with my boyfriend for the tiniest infractions. Sometimes even for what I think he mi...

Via Tumblr Mama always tells me I have a green thumb. Her plants would die one after the other during Oklahoma summers, but mine would thrive. They would just grow and grow... so she decided I had a green thumb and that I was good at growing things. And I believed her, like a dummy.  Fast forward to college when I killed my birth plant. My mother was given an ivy the day I was born (that's why it's my "birth plant"). I'd managed to keep it alive for 21 years and then it just died, one leaf at a time withered away until it was nothing but a brown stalk. I had no idea why this had happened. I'd left it in my dorm room for just one week, healthy as ever. When I returned it started to die. This was the beginning of the end.  Since then I haven't been able to keep any plant alive longer than a season. I've killed more green babies than I'd care to mention. And I don't understand why. Why have I failed my mother's prophecy? When ...

If you don't know, now you know: Prince dropped an album yesterday called ART OFFICIAL AGE , and also brought us the debut album from his chick trio 3RDEYEGIRL titled PLECTRUMELECTRUM.   The Almighty Prince has been teasing us with new music for quite awhile now, dropping singles like "Breakfast Can Wait" long before the new album was announced. But then came the catchy and sexy "U Know" and the news that Prince would give us the first breath of new music since 20Ten  in 2010.  I've spent all of yesterday and today listening to these albums and I'm still not done. No surprise: Prince is blowing my mind. I'm a sucker for an album that tells a story, and this one tells a tale that's futuristic and retrospective at the same damn time. How? Prince, that's how. There's a wondering feeling that the protagonist is trying to find his place in life and love, only to discover (with the help of a guiding being) that he is everything, everyt...