When I was single and all of my close friends were single, life was pretty great. We stayed up watching movies, talking, or going out dancing. We had girls night all the time, talked about boys, and attended as many Catholic happy-hours that we could manage, always looking out for that one Catholic guy who… [Read More]
How to Be a Zen Bride
If you were Danger, you would probably think I am the LAST bride on earth to give advice on being zen. Just a couple days ago he calmly watched me ugly-cry in the HEB parking lot because I wasn’t able to talk to a florist about my flowers. That lasted about an hour, and was… [Read More]
How Hormonal Birth Control Screwed Up My Life, and Is Screwing Up Yours, Too
I know what you’re thinking, “Oh, here we go again, another crazy Catholic lady harping on why birth control is evil…” While I may be crazy and Catholic (the two are not mutually exclusive), I’m not here to write about the moral and theological evils of birth control. So, you can chillax, friend. Calm yourself…. [Read More]
3 Ways the “My Five Wives” Pilot is Like a Punch to the Heart
As I prepare to get married and live with a dude, there are many changes happening in my life. One of those changes is getting cable TV, since my darling fiance’s quality of life dramatically improves when he is able to watch the Cornhuskers year-round. I never considered myself a big TV person, but now… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Change? No, thanks.
“Change is inevitable – except from a vending machine.” – Robert C. Gallagher I don’t mind change. Well, I don’t mind little changes. For example, I rearrange my bedroom to match my moods. I would change my hair color for the same reason, if I was allowed to have blue/purple/pink/green hair at work. I love… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Cold Feet
Confession: I’m terrified of getting cold feet. This fear can be applied both literally and figuratively, since my base temperature is that of a small lizard, and I have so much anxiety, that were I to use my powers for good, I could probably generate enough energy to run a small city. So, yeah cold… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Grief-Riddled Wedding Brain
I don’t even know how to describe the state I’m in right now. I want to cry and/or throw stuff and/or scream and/or burrow beneath my blankets and hide for awhile. I want people around me and/or I want to be alone. I want to plan my wedding and/or I never want to see another… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: I’m Not Marrying My Best Friend
Okay, so before you flip and lid and think, “Oh, no! How tragic! She’s settling for less than!”, just hear me out. I hear it over and over again: “I can’t wait to marry my best friend!” “Make sure you marry your best friend.” “He’s not just my husband, he’s my best friend!” Now I’m… [Read More]
What C.S. Lewis Taught Me About Grief
“Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.” ― C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed Grief seems to me a confusing, unpredictable thing. You cry over someone’s death, then laugh about the memories you shared. You have moments of soaring hope, and longer moments of bone-weary depression. You… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Hello Rome, Goodbye Singlehood
So, as surreal this is to type, I just got back from Rome last Saturday (after 23 hours of travelling through space and time). I’m still reeling from the experience of the whole thing; Rome is a pretty overwhelming place. Everywhere you turn there is something ancient, beautiful and gigantic in your view, taking you… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Anatomy of a Stupid Fight, The Finale
This is part two, the finale of “Anatomy of a Stupid Fight.” Part one can be seen here. Welcome back for part two, the last piece of the stupid fight. We left off with what appeared to be an easy truce between Danger and I, though there still was a hint that something was still… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Anatomy of a Stupid Fight, Part One
Any couple that says they’ve never fought is either A. lying; B. a cyborg; or C. the more likely issue, doesn’t leave room for differing opinions or feelings in a relationship. I myself tend to fall in the last category, that is, until recently. Despite how miserable it can be, fighting, if resolved well, can… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: Wedding Fever
Confession: I have been dreaming about my wedding since I was in middle school. Every slumber party I can remember had talk about wedding dresses, church weddings versus beach weddings, and how possible it really was that one of us could marry someone from N’SYNC. I assumed I would get married around the age of… [Read More]
Another Dating Blog: When Love Feels Conditional
Hello my dear blog-readers. This week’s blog is going to take a step away from the educational, and towards the personal. That’s right, my following blog posts are going to be dating blogs. Hooray! C’mon – you know you’re excited to read about my dating mishaps. I hope you can learn through my missteps, and… [Read More]
A (Chaste) Movie Review of “Don Jon”
After my last post on pornography, I felt it was only fitting that I follow that up with my take on the new movie by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, called “Don Jon”. If you haven’t seen the trailer, it’s about a young man who is into fast cars, hookups and porn. Oh, and he claims to be… [Read More]
Relationships 101: The #1 Way the Internet is Messing Up Your Love Life
Part Four of “Relationships 101”. See part three here. We left off the last post with the number one way the Internet is messing up your love life. Remember what it was? It has become so pervasive that about 30,000 people use it EVERY SECOND (Daily Infographic, 2013). It’s a multi-billion dollar industry that has been around… [Read More]
Relationships 101: 3 Ways The Internet is Messing Up Your Love Life
Part three of “Relationship 101” Series. See part two here. According to research done by Kathryn Zickuhr and Aaron Smith of Pew Internet Research, a whopping 70% of Americans have internet, compared to ten years ago, when only 16% of Americans had home internet. Additionally, in 2013 56% of Americans have smart phones with Internet access, and 46%… [Read More]
Relationships 101: Is Male Self-Confidence Attractive?
Part Two of the Relationship 101 Series. See Part One here. I was recently asked about self-confidence in men, and if it is attractive to women. I’m no expert, but below is my attempt to answer specifically the posed questions: In closing, healthy self-confidence is attractive to lots of women (that I know, anyway). But… [Read More]
Relationships 101: Using the “D” Word
Due to requests to blog about dating, this will be the first of a series addressing various issues in dating as a Catholic, Christian, or any other person of the world who wants to date for the purpose it was intended: to find a spouse. Yes, I used the “D” word. Before you get carried… [Read More]
Crisis Pregnancy: My Story
Telling this story is a huge step for me. It’s one that many people in my life don’t know, because it’s one I’m afraid to talk about. But in light of the recent political tug-o-wars, I think it’s time I shared my personal story with crisis pregnancy. It’s a bit long, and a lot vulnerable,… [Read More]
Stay With Me: How to Find Comfort in Chaos
Have you ever had one of those moments when life seems to be truckin’ along as usual – then BAM – something comes out of left field, leaving your world completely shaken? You stand there blinking, looking around like nothing looks or feels the same anymore. Suddenly you remember, with 3D technicolor clarity, that life… [Read More]
Meditation: A Lot Harder Than It Looks
Whenever I think of meditation, I immediately have thoughts of old, wizened yogis, sitting in lotus position, possibly floating off the ground, and saying “Huuummmm…”. Which then reminds me of the Red Robin commercials because I’m convinced they’re saying, “Red Robin, HUUUUMMM!!!” Which then reminds me of how someone recently told me that the commercials… [Read More]
Chastity: Getting Real with Something No One Likes to Talk About
This blog starts with a definition, followed by a confession: Firstly, I want to define chastity. If you look up the definition of “chastity” in a dictionary, the first few definitions will say something like “abstaining for all sexual intercourse” or “see – chastity belt”. Not exactly the definition I’m going for here. If you… [Read More]
Don’t Call Me Crazy: A Christian Response to the Stigma of Mental Illness
“That’s so crazy!” “You must be crazy…” ‘Crazy’ is a word we hear thrown around often in our culture. We even have multiple variations now, with ‘craziness’, ‘crazy sauce’ and ‘cray cray’ floating around online and in person. I myself am guilty of using this word flippantly to describe anything from intense stress to something… [Read More]
Supporting a Depressed Spouse: How to Help
Part Two of Series (View Part One here:) If you’ve never experienced depression, imagine trying to run a marathon while just getting over the flu. You’re achy, exhausted, unmotivated, feeling hopeless and wondering why-oh-why this is happening to you. The whole ordeal makes you so emotionally and physically wiped out, you just wanna cry, or… [Read More]
No really, I’VE GOT THIS: The Perfectionist’s Struggle of Letting Others Help
Before you begin this blog, please answer the following questions (to yourself, or out loud if you like that kind of attention): 1. Would you consider yourself a ‘perfectionist’? 2. Have you ever been accused of being an over-achiever? 3. Are you one of those people that says “I’m fine!” in response to everything? If… [Read More]
Easter Eyes, and other things that confuse me.
I had the great privilege of hearing Msgr. Mike, Vicar General of the Diocese of Austin, give the homily on Easter Sunday at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church. It was a fantastic homily, one full of history and exciting stories and themes of forgiveness and hope. He spoke of “Easter eyes” and how we… [Read More]
Falling Away With You
“[I] promise to hold you close and pray, watching the fantasies decay, nothing will ever stay the same. All of the love we threw away… making the same mistakes again making the same mistakes again I can feel my world crumbling I can feel my life crumbling… and falling away, falling away with you.” –… [Read More]
Be still: Finding God amidst the mayhem.
As I write this, the wind outside howls and spins, causing the trees to throw up their branches in helplessness, and the walls of my apartment to tremble. It’s disconcerting, this wind. It came out of nowhere this morning, gaining intensity and speed throughout the afternoon, until it began to blow cars off the road,… [Read More]
Trust issues? I got ’em.
Trust. Now there’s a fun buzz word. We hear this all the time: “What? Don’t you trust me?” “Dude, trust me!” “You have some serious trust issues.” But what is that word, really? According to Webster, trust is the “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something,” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trust). Okay, so… [Read More]
Getting Over Myself: Battling the Ego in Relationships
You know that moment when you realize that you’re wrong? You’re looking at someone, or maybe you’re by yourself in the car or at work, and it hits you: you messed up. You made a mistake. You did or didn’t do something, and as a consequence, you’ve hurt someone else. As the reality hits you,… [Read More]
The Pro’s and Con of Dating A Catholic Man
Dating in the secular world is interesting, to put it mildly. It also happens to be confusing, messy, disordered and sometimes scary. I say this because I’ve done it. Because I’ve done it, I have had all too much practice having awkward conversations about why I go to mass as much as possible, why I… [Read More]
