feeling funky

this is how i have been feeling lately...funky. just a little funk, but still a FUNK. it is hard to pinpoint the origin of the funk as it is a build up of many funky things going on in my head, my home, my job...you get the idea. i pretty much feel like this guy:

card found here

luckily, i have the most wonderful family and friends who give me happiness and strength and calm (and don't judge me for being an emotional nut)

card found here

and a woman who i talk to a couple of times a month (ok fine, she is my therapist. if you don't have one, you should try it...addicting :)) who has helped me see how truly rare and precious it is to have people like this in life, who genuinely listen, care, and will go with you through anything, no matter how silly or serious.

card found here

she has also helped me see that i can take the strength that they give me and use that strength to do positive things for myself...my health, my happiness, my future.

card found here

so i will take this knowledge with me and will stop trying to convince myself that everything's fine, i will lean on my family and friends and not feel guilty about it, i will take some time to do something for me and to figure out what i need, and i will repeat this over and over until i actually follow through :)

okc

i have been visiting oklahoma city for the several years since my sister has lived there and each time i go i love it a little bit more. besides loving it because anna lives there, this is a hip, fun city that has a great downtown, a fun music scene, and many beautiful neighborhoods with old, character-filled houses. this weekend, my parents and i met there to hang out with anna. we had breakfast at pop's restaurant, an gas station on route 66 that has hundreds of flavors of soda. this is us in front of the largest soda ever....i bet if it was filled with diet coke or ice cold beer, i could take it down.

we walked around the oklahoma city bombing memorial. the 16th anniversary of the bombing just passed on april 19th. amazing it has been that long.

this is one of the most beautiful memorials i have ever seen and each time i go i find out more touching info about the symbolism. the photo above is one of the 2 massive structures at each end of the reflecting pool. they are the "gates of time" that represent 9:01, the time of innocence before, and 9:03, the time when lives in okc were changed forever.

all lives lost by the tragedy are commemorated with a chair bearing the name of the person who's life was lost (168 total, 19 children). the chairs are positioned in rows according to to floor of the building that the person was one when the blast occurred.

this tree (which is way larger than my picture depicts) was across the street from the building and survived, thus the name "the survivor tree". the wall and engraving around the tree express a gratitude to those who responded and volunteered in the crisis.

mom, dad, anna, and i had a yummy easter brunch at the national cowboy and western heritage museum. amazing art and sculptures like the ones above and below.

i love this. it is amazingly massive and beautiful. it was rescued after being cut into pieces and discarded.randomly, my sister recently found the other half of my birthday gift from a couple of years ago that she forgot to give me. isn't this scarf beautiful?!

lastly and most important though....my dad and i left with a lead in the year long 42 tournament that we compete in against mom and anna. we left okc with a 5-4 lead for 2011. this is our third year and dad and i have yet to set the domino trophies on our mantels. maybe this is our year!

so much to blog, so little time

with work being so incredibly busy i have had so little time to blog (or do many other things that i need and would like to do) so while i have so much i would like to say, i am just going to leave you with a few of my favorite cards from koco new york. there are so many great ones, it is hard to choose, but here are some that stuck out to me this weekend:

above card found here above card found here above card found here

(this one is for you cort and kara. wishing the happiest of birthdays to you this weekend, two amazingly beautiful and wonderful women in my life.)

have a good week friends~

april fools

every year on this day i have to take a moment and smile and think about my mother. this day reminds me of her. she loves a good april fools joke and i have many fun childhood memories that are generated from this including, but certainly not limited to: a bathtub filled with gross water and mushy bread, door knobs with shaving cream, prank calls to family and friends (including one genius prank on my uncle from the N.A.N.C.Y. foundation), among many others. i found these great free april fools day ecards on someecards.com. mom, these are for you!

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(hahaha, this one is my favorite)