Give it a Hug.

I used to have an old Volcom shirt back in High School.  It had the words "The only constant is change" written all over it.

To 16 year old Kristen, those words meant very little.  They looked cool on my sweet shirt and that was all I really cared about.  And besides, sayings like that aren't even supposed to make sense right?  They're deep, you know, like, deep.  And deep means you don't waste time thinking about it.

Unfortunately, I got older and now I waste my time thinking about deep stuff.  Bumper stickers, commercials, T-shirts, you name it, I think about it.  And this Christmas I keep thinking back to that nifty Volcom shirt I had.

"The only constant is change."

The only thing you can count on in life is that things will change.

It's inevitable.

So choose to embrace it.

Love it.

Look forward to it.

Give it a hug.

This Christmas is different from all the rest.  Things have changed.

We have a new pet in the Gibb home.  Peetree.  She likes to climb the tree and knock all the ornaments on the ground.

There's pretty much no snow.  Anywhere.  This little change is actually quite nice.

We had Christmas Eve with Grandma and Grandpa Gibb.  It was a pleasure to give them their first fondue experience.

There's a boy sharing Christmas with us this year.  Fiance Jon has come down for his first taste of the Gibb family Christmas.

My friends.  Bless their hearts.  They're all grown women.  They have husbands.  They're having babies.

Things are changing.  And they always will be.  So just give change a hug.

Lower Your Standards.

Live life in crescendo.

Keep moving, don't stand still.

Don't procrastinate.

You fail only if you quit.

Don't eat after 8 pm.

Do something everyday that gets you out of your comfort zone.

Focus on what you want, ignore what you don't want.

Find your passions.

Don't waste your precious time.

Commit to continuous learning.

Drink 8 glasses of water every day.

Expect only the best and you will get the best.

Don't get comfortable.

Welcome every morning with a smile.

Exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes.

Early to bed and early to rise.

Never neglect the little things.

Live this day as if it will be your last.

Sounds like the recipe for a successful and magnificent life right?  Or like the chapter headings from a Stephen R. Covey book.  Or like something a magazine suggested to help you combat the stresses of everyday life.  Or like the answer your Mom or Grandma has to solve all of life's troubles.  Or like the extremely high expectations you have for yourself that, despite all of your best efforts, always seem eternally out of reach.  

What these little sayings all have in common is that they intend for you to feel like this...

... but leave you feeling more like this when you aren't quite able to reach them.

Who knew that such a little sentence could make you feel so crappy about yourself?  Or maybe it's just me.  I'll admit straight up there was a time when I would lay awake at night and just think...

"Crap, I didn't drink 8 glasses of water today."

"Shoot!  I really wasted my time today.  I should have studied more."

"Aww man, I forgot to exercise today.  I suck."

And then I'd beat myself up a little bit over it and resolve to do better tomorrow.  Except usually tomorrow entailed exactly the same thing yesterday had.  So basically I got after myself every night.  

Fortunately, someone showed me the solution to this problem.  

A while ago I was visiting my Aunt Marge.  

I love my Aunt Marge.  I don't think I know anyone more fun and optimistic than her.  When I grow up, I want to be my Aunt Marge.

Anyways, while I was with Aunt Marge, she started telling me about this dear lady she had spent some time with who had a problem with feeling inadequate.  The poor woman had just opened up in telling my Aunt that she felt like she could never do anything right.  She was chronically upset with her performance in life and nothing she did ever seemed good enough.  

After telling me this sad story, Aunt Marge said, "She needs to lower her standards.  We all just need to lower our standards."

I couldn't help but laugh.  Having grown up in a religious home, standards were something you held high and stopped at nothing to follow.  Standards governed your life.  No matter what.  But then I gave her suggestion a second thought, and now I can't agree more.

Lower your standards.

I'm not suggesting that you go out and start smoking weed or steal a car, or any other things that are against your moral standards.  I'm suggesting that you set the bar to a place where you can actually reach it before raising it sky high when it comes to your personal standards.

I'm suggesting it's okay to take a day off or to procrastinate when you really need a break.

I'm suggesting it's alright to eat a second helping of dessert.

I'm suggesting it's perfectly fine to mess up and then laugh at yourself.

I'm suggesting it's good to slip back into your comfort zone occasionally. 

I'm suggesting it's not against the law to take a day off from your suffocating standards.

Lowering your standards doesn't mean you're giving up, it simply means your bringing the sky a little closer to your reach.  Because let's face it, when you're constantly tearing yourself down about the little things, you're pushing the big things, like happiness, further and further from your reach.  

So quit setting standards that are absolutely impossible to follow.  They're there for the purpose of making you happier right?

Ponytail Jon

I received a request for a blog post.  I love requests.

The request was for an introduction to my fiance.

So without further adieu, allow me to introduce you to Jonathan Ruiz, or rather, Ponytail Jon.

Why Ponytail Jon?

Last winter semester, Jon had lovely long hair that he would pull into a ponytail for our intramural soccer games.  I ended up getting a minor concussion during one of our games which I later blogged about.  To make the post a little more sensational, I gave key characters nicknames.  Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the ponytail.  I do however have a picture of the rattail Jon sported during the summer.

How did we meet?

Institute class.  It was a Book of Mormon class on Tuesday afternoons at Mount Royal.  As creepy as this sounds, I knew who he was.  Only because a friend of mine had messaged me during the summer telling me about him.  And I may or may not have looked him up on Facebook.  The first thing he said to me in that class was, "You don't like snow?!"  The first thing I said to him was, "I beat you", after racing to the scripture the teacher had just asked us to look up.  Needless to say, Jon and I are both a little competitive.  My favorite story is about the text he sent to a friend just after our first class.  I think it said something like, "I just met my future wife."

First Thoughts?

"He has a moustache."  I've never been a huge fan of facial hair and this guy was rockin' a mean 'stache.  It turned out though that he had a reason for his facial hair madness.  Jon had been accepted to compete on an episode of Wipe Out Canada and was therefore growing facial furniture in order to gain a competitive advantage, because nobody takes a guy with a moustache seriously right?  Haha, Just kidding!!!

He was on Wipe Out Canada?

Yup.  Jon is a real life reality TV star.  He went to Argentina for a week to film an episode and was then sworn to nearly eight months of secrecy regarding the outcome.  He's kind of a big deal.

First Date?

I took the bull by the horns and invited Jon to Preference.  But then it turned out that I couldn't get work off, so I promptly "uninvited" him (I'll never live that one down).  He later invited me to his work Christmas party.  And I started dating another guy a week after that.  After that relationship ended, Jon promptly invited me to the Sweet Hearts dance for Valentine's Day that weekend.  So I believe I'll say that is our first real date.  And it was a lot of fun.

First Kiss?

Well wouldn't you like to know!  Okay fine, it was at his parent's house after watching Willow with his family.  He held my hand and we decided we should start dating.  Then we may or may not have kissed on the lips.

How long did we date?

Well, all together I guess it was only like three months.  Gosh, that sounds bad.  However, Jon and I have been great friends for almost a year now.  I can easily call him my best friend.

Is he taller than me?

By a hair.  Sometimes I swear I'm taller than him, but we have photographic evidence that I am not.  In fact, I can even wear heels and he's still taller than me.  Which is really impressive.

Fun Facts...

Once upon a time I went to Mexico for a holiday.  And then Peru for another holiday.  And during these holidays I fell in love with the charming good looks of the latino men.  Well, Jon is half latino, his father is from Ecuador.

Another time I went on a holiday to Mexico.  Jon's birthday was coming up so I bought him a gift down there.  Jon then spent his entire summer wearing it.  Meet the Snakeskin...

Jon is super duper athletic.  It makes me jealous how naturally everything comes to him.  Like the one time we went cliff jumping. 

I love to explore abandoned houses.  One time I made Jon explore one with me.  As a joke I said, "Yes, this one's pretty nice, we should think about making an offer.  There are a lot of bedrooms for the kids and the work shop out front will be nice for your projects."  To this day our hearts are still set on settling down by Granum in this beauty.

Jon has a tender heart.  After going down to Raymond so he could ask my Dad permission, I knew I was going to be proposed to shortly.  So when he took me out for dinner at the Calgary Tower I was pretty sure this was it.  However, after we finished eating, he started fidgeting and acting funny.  You see, he had planned to trick me.  He wanted to get down on one knee after dinner to then only begin tying his shoe, but he just couldn't.  Instead, he grabbed my hand, told me he loved me, and then said, "... but I'm not proposing, I'm sorry."

Jon loves to play fooseball with me.  Because I SUCK.  And not just like casually suck, I major suck.  And it makes me mad.  And then I do things that I wouldn't do in real life, such as scream and kick things.  In fact, Jon loves playing fooseball against me so much that he proposed to me while doing so.  Last Thursday he stuck a ring box in the slot were the ball comes out and, after finishing a game, suggested that we trade sides.  As we started to play another game, I was in the zone because I didn't want to lose as badly again.  So when it came time for me to fish out the ball from my slot, I simply shoved that random box out of the way and grabbed the ball without wasting a moment to wonder what the heck a box was doing in the slot.  Jon let me finish the game before suggesting I take the box out.  However, the box was empty - YOU SNEAKY JON! - so I threw it at him.  Finally he pulled another box out of his pocket, to which I said, "It's probably empty too!" (Yes, by this time I had completely slaughtered his proposal).  Turns out it wasn't empty.  And I said yes.

And there you have it, that's my fiance Jon!

Advice

I really dropped the ball, I mean blog, lately.  But I believe I have a legitimate excuse.  I'll get to that later though.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the advice I've been given throughout my life; how some of it has been complete rubbish and other parts have been real pearls of wisdom.  Take for example the following pieces of advice I have received and used:

1.  "The Master Cleanse is a great way to lose weight quick."

FALSE.  This piece of advice is much better stated as: "The Master Cleanse is a great way to waste away while having the worst breath of your entire life.  Oh, and you will also be miserable."  Perhaps the idea of drinking nothing but lemon juice, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper for as long as you can sounds exhilarating to you, but this little piece of advice has only lead me to feeling weak, wasted, grumpy, hungry, and incredibly disappointed.  This has officially been given the seal of: BAD ADVICE.

2.  "Who is John Galt?"

I will always be grateful for the church leader that suggested I read the book "Atlas Shrugged".  That was a piece of GREAT ADVICE.

3.  "Complainers complain."

This little ditty is my Father's crowning glory.  Dad Gibb likes to say this whenever any of us start to throw a pity party.  At first I thought he was losing his marbles because it was the epitome of obvious.  Duh, of course complainers complain.  And whiners whine, singers sing, and runners run.  Yet after spending an afternoon or two thinking about what the heck my Dad could be meaning by this, I came to a simple conclusion.  What you spend the majority of your time doing, that will come to be a large part of who you are, a title even.  So if you're going to spend a great deal of the day complaining, you're very likely to become well known as a complainer.  Decide what you want to be known as and then start acting that way.  Thanks Pops, that was a piece of GREAT ADVICE.

As of late, the piece of advice I've spent the most time reflecting on came from this lovely woman, my Grandma Gibb.

Back in September I went down to visit my Grandparents and some cousins.  It was a great day.  We spent the afternoon catching up and then went down to the river bottom for a hot dog roast.  After eating the most delicious dogs and mallows, it eventually came time to go our separate ways.  I said good bye to my Grandparents and as I was walking away, my dear Grandma called me back.

"Kristen, be nice to Jon."

HA.  I had just starting dating this Jon character like a week earlier and my Grandma was already telling me to be nice to him.  I couldn't help but laugh a little before reassuring her that I would treat Jon nicely.

She seemed a little flustered, as if I didn't get her point, so she added,

"Kristen, it's okay to fall in love."

SAY WHAT?!  Maybe for other girls, just not for me.  Love is for crazy people, and besides, I had literally only started dating Jon about a week ago.

Well, to make a long story short, that little sentence stayed in the back of my head throughout the past few months.  At first, considering it was like thinking about a fairy tale, pleasant yet simply out of reach.  But as the weeks stretched on, Jon proved to be just too good to be true.  And that was scary.  Thank goodness for that little piece of advice reassuring me that "it's okay to fall in love", because I'm not sure I could have as gracefully without it.

Grandma Gibb, that was GREAT ADVICE.  I'm proud to say I took it and I'm exceedingly grateful that you offered it.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this...

Jon proposed and I said yes.  And because I've just been so busy flirting with him and trying to win his heart these past few weeks, I haven't really had time to blog.  Which leads me to a piece of advice I'd like to offer:

"It's okay to let a boy become you're number one priority."

I love you Jon.

Dear Readers of Kristen's Blog

You may be wondering why there hasn't been a recent post on this blog. I too have been craving something mind boogling to get me through the week, but the truth is I have KIDNAPPED her. I have stolen her time and, I'll admit it I'm selfish, only want her spending her free time with me. So what if her mind is beautiful and her posts mind provoking, I'm keeping it all to myself. No more will she be posting anything on here as she will only be versing them to me during our times together UNLESS.... you pay me a bajillion dollars. You have one week.

Love

Juan