Having a Pretty Woman moment: "Don't judge a book by it's cover"

As much as I hate to admit it, they are right. Whoever these smart people are they seem to know what they are talking about. Sometimes.

So this book and its cover thing. We all know what it really means, that the person inside is sometimes very different to what their outer appearance conveys.

Take for example the classic instance that is the most famous one I can think of. Yes, I am talking about Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. Don't tell me you didn't think the same thing, because I know you know that movie. For those of you who want the feign ignorance see below for the before scene when they treat her like dirt because she doesn't "look" the part..





and here is the after when she goes back in with her nice clothes on and lots of shopping bags and rubs it in their faces ( I love this scene!)



Now I'm sure I'm not the only who has been on both sides of this situation, and I don't want to lecture or jump on "their" bandwagon, but we really have to stop this...

I was reminded of this issue when I recently had the pleasure of spending a few days with an old friend of my husband's. I didn't really know him well before he stayed with us.

Now to pass this man in the street, you wouldn't look twice, he is an older gentleman with a shaved head and glasses, and not someone who would be in my normal circle of friends. But I found a kindred spirit as we discussed art and travel and Versace and Louis Vuitton over multiple glasses of wine.

And the stories that he has to tell are amazing: sleeping 5 people in a king size bed with 4 Spanish gypsies who didnt speak a word of English, and meeting Gianni Versace in Monaco, and being a tour guide at the Van Gogh museum when he lived in Amsterdam, and sailing through the Caribbean, and traveling to 52 countries to say just a few.

Not to mention how wise and thoughtful he is, and one of those people who should really write books about his amazing life.

So this is your gentle reminder, my friends, to look past the outside and give people a chance, because they will usually surprise you.

And Marcus, you can come stay at our place anytime   :)

Keep Calm and...

Here's a bit of fun to make you smile, I love the original, but the copies make me laugh! These would make a great wallpaper in my spare room..

                                      
Happy Friday Everyone!! Have a great weekend!!


Search Amazon.com for keep calm and carry on

"If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans."

This just frustrates me.

Mostly because I know its true, because I know that it doesn't matter what we have planned, we are not ultimately the ones in charge and sometimes life takes some very unexpected turns. The only thing you can do sometimes is hold on tight and ride it through and trust that God has a bigger plan than anything we can see right now.

When I get tired of this optimism, I try to remind myself of a mental image of a mouse in a maze, trying to find the cheese. We might be wandering through, trying to find our way through and getting frustrated as we run into dead end after dead end.

But there is a much bigger, much smarter person who is looking over the whole thing and can direct us in the right path to find the cheese.

All we see is really high walls and dead ends, but that person sees the whole maze at a glance and has a path planned out, and knows exactly how to get us to better cheese than we ever thought possibe.

All we have to do is listen to his directions and trust that he knows what hes talking about..
 
In the meantime I think I need a vacation and a nap and an entire chocolate cake..

thanks Melissa for the quote and for reminding me what's important in life...

A letter to my 20 year old self

Dear Self,

As your much older and wiser self, I am writing you to fill you in on a few things you don't know..

1. Love will find you. You may not think it will ever happen for you, but you are very wrong. If you would only wait and stop chasing after all those boys who are either not interested in you, or not interested in you for the right reasons you would find you have a lot more time on your hands. Trust me, this guy is worth the wait.


2. Life will not turn out like you think. Those things that you think are important to you now, you won't even remember in a few years. And things that you would have never dreamed of happening will happen. And the funny thing is, you will wonder how you ever lived before that happened.

3. Be flexible. Life is full of ups and downs, the quicker you can learn to roll with the punches and accept the bad with the good, the quicker you will get back up and try again. Don't ever stop getting back up again.

5. Invest in yourself. Take the time to do the things that you really enjoy and build yourself and your knowledge. It's amazing how quickly time goes when your looking at it backwards. That is when you realize if you would have done just a little bit of writing everyday like you always meant to, you would be on your 2nd bestselling novel right now. Instead you watched tv.

6. Enjoy your freedom. At the moment you have spending money and no debt and no mortgage and not much responsibility. Go traveling for a year, or apply for a job in New York, or work on a cruise ship. There is really no end to your possibilities, and you have the rest of your life to be responsible and settle down.

7. Don't be afraid. There are a lot of things you were too scared to do,  but as you get older you will look back and wonder "what if I would have tried". And that is much much scarier than falling flat on your face a few times.

8. You can't do everything. You know, mom and dad always said you can do anything you set your mind to. That's a lie, a well meaning one, but still a lie. You will never be president, or a famous movie star, or the inventor of the next apple mega company. Accept your limitations, and work to your strengths.

9. It gets better. More complicated and definitely harder, yes, but still better. As you get more comfortable in your own skin and learn who you really are, you realize that you don't have to compare yourself to others because you are truly one of a kind and have great things about you that have nothing to do with your dress size or your collection of stuff or the size of your bank account.

10. Invest in Apple, not in BP, and whatever you do, don't join the army to pay for your University, because you might end up going places you never wanted to go. Hot dusty places.

Love your very much older and wiser 28 year old Self