UnNorthern.

This winter has been awful, but as a Texan in Northern Illinois, I have learned a lot. Below are the 10 biggest lessons I've learned and hopefully it will help other Texans if heaven forbid, they move out of state.

1. No matter how pathetic you look trying to shovel 6 inches of snow with your noodle arms, your neighbors (aka the grown men with snow blowers) will not offer help. So do not try to look even more pathetic than you already are...it will waste energy you need to shovel.

2. If you alternate shoveling the driveway with your roommates, it will end up being your turn when it blizzards...so when there's an inch of snow, make sure you volunteer. 

3. People can live in negative degree weather.

4. Your snot however, will freeze in negative degree weather.

5. Layers are your friend, but make sure you can see and move, especially if you drive.

6. Cute boots you buy from target with no traction do not allow you to run through downtown Chicago in snow...the snow and the sidewalk will win.

7. Try to start your car at least 5 mins before you leave, so you can't see your breath as you drive.

8. You will skid on the snow...so accept it and let Jesus take the wheel.

9. Snow melting is almost worse than snow falling, so prepare for the floods

10. Don't ever let your guard down, because as soon as you do the weather will come back to defeat you. 

It's almost spring, right?

Unfriended.

Being away from my friends has made me appreciate friendship even more. I've been lucky enough to have some amazing girlfriends, both in high school and college. Even in times when we may not talk a lot or are bad with calling (aka I hibernate) I know when I'm with them, we will catch up in an instant. I seriously yearn for this friendship and realize how much I miss it every time I'm around them. I had a short visit in St. Louis this weekend to see AMy & Tom, and I was lucky enough to see one of my amazing friends Abby. That I night I dreamt of my Texas ladies, which made me miss them even more. I've realized how how hard it is to make friends in the "real world". I'm not in a friend environment anymore. All through my life I've had a school to meet knew friends. I was involved in sports and other organizations, where you bond and need friends to survive. I had an amazing church youth group, surrounded by people I trusted. Then I went to a tiny college where the word community was shoved down our throat. Now, after being out of there for almost 8 months, I realize I miss that community. It's a lot easier to find friends in communities meant for friendship. 

So how do you meet people in the real world? I am reading a book called "MWF Seeking BFF" by Rachel Bertsche. She address this question by going on new friend dates weekly. Now I definitely am not about to do that (mostly because I don't have money to be that social), but I did learn from her experience that it's important to be intentional. Now in the "real world" you have to go out of your way to meet new people. And now you're competing with the age of technology, where most people are too glued to their phone to look up and start a conversation. So although now I feel like I'm stalking people, I'm learning how to reach out to people to make those connections. Because sitting around having a pity party about how my friends living far away from me isn't going to make me new ones...

The Untold Truth.

Nobody talks about it. Or if they do, you don't believe them. Because you have to be the exception, right? When you graduate you'll have everything figured out. I saw my older friends graduate and they talked about how lonely they were or how much it sucks to be a grown up, but i didn't believe that would happen to me. I had it figured out. Move to a big city, land a great job, have an amazing social life...

Maybe that does happen to some, but for most of us college graduates life is currently not as expected, except I'm also not sure what I was expecting. Nobody talks about this. It's like we are the age group that is skipped. We're somewhere between crazy keggers and sophistication. I know I'm not alone in this because recent conversations have made me figure out that this is a normal thing. The problem is, nobody talks about it, so nobody thinks it's normal. You feel weird for not having anything figured out. Nobody tells you you're going to be broke and tired from working 9am-5pm. Nobody says you'll want to pick Netflix marathons over a night out at a bar because getting off the couch seems impossible.

That's why why I started blogging. Well I guess I have two reasons why. 1. I miss writing like crazy and although I told myself that I would continue writing, I have failed, so this is my chance at redemption 2. Although I do not expect this in anyway to reach beyond my parents, I think this age should be talked about more and although I'm not an expert on anything, maybe writing about it will help me figure it out. This isn't some profound blog, where I will answer life's questions. Let's be real, most of this is me ranting (isn't that what blogs were invented for?). But at least this will be one more person talking about this awkward in between years, even if it's just my dad reading it.