#projectreflect12 day three: the remedy

Posted on December 3, 2012 by phillynikongal • 6 Comments

December 3: I’m Glad We Met

People come and go from our lives. Some people stay for the long run, but some stay for a short period of time and leave us when we’re most vulnerable. Have you met anyone this year that changed your life forever? Did you rekindle a friendship/relationship this year that you thought had died long ago?

So, once upon a time, I was a lanky 17 year old that had just moved to Pennsylvania to finish out high school, and instead of just trying to fit in like I always did, I just existed. I participated in extra curricular activities and student government and made a lot of friends. I was a member of my vocational school’s chapter of Skills USA (formerly Skills USA-VICA), as well as the secretary of said chapter. In my post, I had the opportunity to participate in a leadership conference in the Poconos, as well as a state Quiz Bowl competition in Pittsburgh, and a national Quiz Bowl competition in Kansas City, MO.

We took a spiffy chartered bus to our leadership conference in the Poconos, and on our way up, I sat next to a girl named Shana. We didn’t know each other outside of our normal chapter meetings, since she was the vice president and I was secretary. So we’re making some light small talk, when Shana realizes that her headphones were broken. I had over-ear headphones that were separated, so I offered to share them.

It was then that our friendship bloomed over a mutual love of Jason Mraz’s “The Remedy”. That same trip, we went to McDonald’s and bought 15 hash browns so we could try and win Monopoly pieces. Because you know, that’s what takes priority when you’re 17 and on a road trip away from home.

After we graduated, I moved to Phoenix, and we lost touch. When Facebook came about, we both found each other again, so we were able to keep in touch that way.

It wasn’t until about 2009-2010 that we REALLY reconnected on Facebook, so when the time came for Mr. Fox and I to move back to Philly, we were both SUPER excited. While I had been gone, I missed the birth of Shana’s son Justin, and I was really really looking forward to getting to know him more, and just generally rekindling our friendship.

Have you ever had a great friend that you lost over time, and then found again and pretty much picked up right where you left off? Yup, that was exactly what happened. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. Shana knows when to call me out on my shit, and believe me, she does when it needs to be done. I can also call her out on her shit and be forgiven immediately. We can usually tell what the other is thinking, even before we do something. And we call on each other when we’re down or upset.

Oh and, we speed away from places blaring “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” by Taylor Swift from the stereo. And have no qualms about sending each other text messages full of random phallic eggplants.

Thanks for being there Shae. You’re one of a kind. <3

projectreflect12 best friends bff shana remedy jason mraz

Filed Under: #projectreflect12

vacation to the land o’ corn

Posted on July 18, 2012 by phillynikongal • 4 Comments

Well, it was sort of a vacation.

Mr. Fox and I recently returned back to Philly from a visit to Indiana to surprise my parents for their 40th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, I am not the best at surprises, and it didn’t end up being one. Originally, we were going, and they knew about it. Then we had to cancel the trip, and then we were able to go again, so we weren’t going to tell my parents we were coming. However, my dad got the idea to go to go to Chicago, so we had to tell him not to tell my mom. Needless to say, she was on to me the whole time, and we didn’t make it out of Pennsylvania without her knowing.

But I digress.

Our “vacation” of sorts was just spent seeing my parents and some friends we left behind. All in all, we had a good time. We ate at a few places we don’t have in Philly (Noodles & Company, The RAM Brewery, Scotty’s Brewhouse, Al Basha), went to some stores we don’t have (Fry’s Electronics, Meijer, Kroger), and just generally took some time to relax. We also got to see Dr. Greg and take some new pictures for his website.

I am hoping that the planets align so that we won’t be making any trips to Indiana any time soon. Don’t get me wrong. Indiana is a lovely place, but after living there as long as I did, I have no desire to be back there. I’ve just had too many not-so-savory experiences while there, and being there this past week made me remember them all. However, I got to see my parents and my best friend, so I am not complaining by any means. I just hope that our friends will be able to come out here to Philly to visit us the next time. That would be nice.

indiana road trip vacation friends parents wedding anniversary

Filed Under: Just Me

#scintilla day eleven – intervention

Posted on March 28, 2012 by phillynikongal • 0 Comments

Oh boo. It’s the last day of #scintilla, and this makes me sad. I really really hope that the crew does it again soon.

So today’s final prompt:

Prompt A: Talk about a time when you intervened. What prompted you? Did you regret it?

[hr]

So, a lot of my friends will tell you that I am a very protective person by nature. I am very protective of my friends and family, and will stick up for them if provoked, even if some of them won’t do the same for me. I don’t know why I continually do this, but it’s just my nature. I am also very blunt. That’s both a blessing and a curse.

In this instance, I was living in Phoenix. My good friend had just found out that her hubby had been cheating on her with one of our other friends. We came to also find out that the friend was pregnant with his kid, and when the divorce was finalized, they up and got married. Additionally, this person was also married at the time to ANOTHER friend of ours (who’s now happily married with 2 kids to another good friend of ours).

So me, being the very protective friend that I am, took it upon myself to send this friend a message on Myspace and really give her a piece of my mind. You see, I am probably not the best at confrontation, but when it comes to messages, I can be a gigantic bitch when I have something to hide behind. I am working on that by the way, not being afraid of confrontation. Anyway, so I sent her a big long message about how she was an awful person for hurting her alleged best friend the way she did by going around her back with her husband. The main point of the messages was this though:

Your vagina is not a clown car.

scintilla project day eleven intervention intervene friends confrontation

The Duggar Family

And this was a running gag between the group of us, and still is. Because, well, it just is. I personally think that anyone who’s got more than one kid with more than one dad has some issues, but it’s their choice, and I won’t infringe on that, or intervene. But when it comes to the happiness of a friend who’s life is being torn down by the decisions of another friend, I take action. They don’t call me the bodyguard for nothing.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not downing people who have a kid with someone they break up with, and then have another kid with a new husband. There’s a difference between that and what I’m talking about. I hope you all understand what I mean. I don’t want any pitchforks coming at me.

Do I regret it? Absolutely not. This person added me on Facebook a while back, and seems to have patched up a lot of broken friendships (included the ones she hurt, like her ex husband), but unfortunately for her, she couldn’t repair ours. I let her lurk around my Facebook for a couple weeks and then she pissed me off so I blocked her.

If you hurt my friends, expect me to come after you accordingly.

scintilla project day eleven intervention intervene friends confrontation

Filed Under: #scintilla, Just Me

My My How Time Flies

Posted on March 3, 2012 by phillynikongal • 2 Comments

Once upon a time, I lived in a landfill.

No, I’m just kidding about that. Unfortunately, New Jersey has a stigma for being called dirty, or that the entire state is a landfill. That’s not true, though there are a lot of landfills in New Jersey.

I digress.

So, yeah, I grew up in New Jersey, in a small town called East Windsor. Near there was a town called Hightstown, and it was your quintessential small town. Lake in the middle, main street with a pharmacy, little shops, the most delicious Chinese restaurant (that is still there actually), among other things. Most people knew each other, and most people had several generations stay there over time. We got out of there in 1996, but a lot of my friends from elementary school are still there. Not that there’s anything wrong with that of course.

Last week, I had the opportunity to attend my best friend’s daughter’s 4th birthday party. You may remember the super cute hat that I made for her. Well, it just so happens that the party became a reunion of sorts, because I got to see good friends I haven’t seen since 4th grade. I haven’t seen Sam since 2001, and I haven’t seen Jackie or Cara since 1996. So in actuality, the last time we were all together was 4th grade, right before we moved to Las Vegas. You can imagine how amazing it is to see how much the time has flown since we were 10-11 years old. The three of them all have kids, which is awesome. Jackie’s little girl looks exactly like her mom did when she was that age.

Anyway, I wanted to share a few photos with you, some from the nineties and some from the party last weekend. Unfortunately, I haven’t unpacked any of my photos since we moved, so I don’t have any photos of Jackie and Cara back in elementary school yet, but I’ll find them. I do however have a couple of me and Sam.

time flies nostalgia best friends elementary school

Sam and I, circa 1992

My fifth birthday party...I think Jackie was in there somewhere.

And then some from last weekend.

The four of us reunited: Cara, Jackie, Sam, Me

Cara and her son Alex

Cara's son Alex attacking some birthday cake.

Sam's daughter Cheyanne, and her new flip flops!

Cheyanne, modeling the hat I made her.

When I look back at the last 16 years or so, I am reminded of the simpler days of elementary school. I’d get up in the morning, watch cartoons (or the news) while eating my breakfast, go to school and see my friends. Then I’d come home and do homework, call up a friend or two on the telephone (you know, that thing with a cord that plugs into the wall and not through the cable line). Life was easy when you were that young. No bills to pay, no mouths to feed. Just plain, unadulterated (in all senses of the word), life.

Ah nostalgia. Makes for a depressing Saturday afternoon in the life of a 25 year old married college student.

time flies nostalgia best friends elementary school

Filed Under: Just Me, Random Rants

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