Life lessons.

I'm only 19 but I feel like I have learned so much from life already. I can't imagine how much I have left to learn, figure out, and enjoy. As I sit here, thinking about my life, I'm in awe at how lucky I am. How lucky I am to have had the experiences that I have, whether good or bad. Here are a few things I've learned from life. 1. Don't be scared of getting older, but be grateful instead. Some people don't have the opportunity to grow older, gain more responsibility, and experience the fun things you get to. Be grateful that you are healthy and get to continue your life. 2. It's just not worth it to be mad at someone. It's exhausting in fact. 3. Always smile. Smile through the hard times, smile through the good. Your smile can not only flip someone else's day around, but yours as well. I always say, "fake it till you make it." If you continue to smile eventually you really will be happier. 4.Work hard. I have 2 jobs, go to school, as well as juggle other things in life, and quite honestly, although it's stressful, I love it. Staying busy and working hard makes life worth while. 5. Don't pick a fight. I'm so glad that I've lived/live with roommates. I've learned that you have to pick your battles. Really, I know that the dishes may bug me, but how hard is it for me to just help out my roommate and do her dishes every once in a while. I would rather take 15 minutes working on dishes than spend the rest of my stay with my roommates in constant battle. 6. Even though you may think you're all grown up, you're not. I'm just a tiny little baby, trying to make it though life. I may have gotten older, but I do not know hardly anything. I'm so excited to keep living life, and learn more. 7. Be yourself. I can't explain how great it is to just be myself. I know I have flaws, I know I can be annoying, I know that I may not be the greatest person out there. However, the most important thing is that I love myself the way I am. Once you love yourself you can be comfortable in your own skin. People are judgmental, yes, and you know what? You can be judgmental too because you're human. Don't worry about what other people think of you, just be the best you that you can be and stand by that. It's too hard to constantly be trying to be the person that you think someone else wants you to be. Be you, and let other people love you the way you are. When you do that, you will find yourself to be more accepting of others.

3 days till I'm a bride!----or so it should be.

As many know, my sister got married when she was 18 on may 22nd. My brother then got married when he was 18 on may 23rd. Well, I'm 18 this year, and may 24th is soo close. In order to follow the family tradition I have to get married. So far Ryan Gosling seems to be pretty busy, I don't think that he will be able to make it to a wedding in such short notice. So that means I'm on the lookout. I have 3 days gentleman. Three days till I have to be married. I don't need a fancy ring, or a fancy reception. All I need is a man. Okay okay, we all know I'm joking. But I like to joke about it. It freaks both my parents out when I say that I'm going to carry on the family tradition. But unfortunately I'm going to break the cycle and get married after 18. Sorry mom and dad...I know you had your hopes up. Forgive me?

I hope there's hope for my hair

I'm trying to grow out my hair. A hard feat for me. Not only do I get impatient and chop my hair off into a crazy hairstyle, but my hair also gets to a point where it just stops growing. UGH it makes me so mad. That's part of the reason why I go back to the crazy hairstyles. I recently got upset about my hair not growing and let it grow and grow and grow. It got to the longest it's ever been in my life (Which wasn't even long...). The only problem with that is that I straighten my hair almost every day and I refused to get it cut because I wanted it to grow out. Now I know better than that, I know that I'm supposed to get it trimmed so that it can continue growing, but I had to be stubborn. It got to the point that my hair just looked like a damaged mess, and I couldn't handle it any longer. I finally went to get it cut and they cut over an inch off (and trust me they could have cut off more to get all the split ends, but then I'd probably have a man cut). Right now my hair looks like this:

Except it's a little bit shorter. It's one of the same styles I've had all my life. I'm sick of it. But I made a pact with my hairdresser that I would come back and get my hair trimmed every 4-6 weeks and stick to the hair care rituals she had instructed me on. I even got a shampoo and conditioner that helps it grow faster (only the slightest bit faster, but hey, even a tiny bit of help is great). Before you know it (actually probably not for a year, if not longer) my hair will look like this...I hope:

I just need everyone to cross their fingers for me that I will be able to grow out my hair. It might take forever, but I want that long hair SOOO bad, it will be worth the wait.

Family.

It's true what they say. Family IS the most important thing. I've always known that but I feel like I know it more now. No there was no significant event that triggered me to feel more strongly about it...I just do. I love every single member of my family and don't know what I would do without them. I went on the lookout for a cute family quote or icon or something, but I just couldn't get one. There isn't a quote that could even begin to describe my family. They are not like any other family, yes we tease each other relentlessly, we fight sometimes, but we're just different. We're not the most affectionate family, but it works for us. We all know that we love and care for each other. We have are all loons but it just makes things fun. I love that when we get together we act like we are 5 years old..because we can. We can act like the biggest fools, and yes the family will think we are fools, and will openly express that, but that doesn't matter. We're family. I hope each member of my family, my brother in-law philip, my sister jen, my brother bryan, my sister in-law madie, my parents, and my two adorable neices, know just how much I love them and how much they mean to me.

Dear Ryan Gosling,

My Dearest Ryan Gosling,
First off I want you to know that I may be a freak, who is obsessed with you, however, the person that I tried to get to put a chip on you backed out last minute saying it was "unethical" meaning I don't know where you are right now, so no need to be alarmed. I just wanted to let you know, that one day when I have your baby, yes, one day I will have your baby, you will have to be there for said baby and therefore you will have to be with me. Don't worry, we will be the cutest little family out there. We will be able to go to the park together as a family, or go swimming in our gigantor pool that we will have in our backyard.I will be able to stare at those rock hard abs while you swim with our baby Seven. And Audra, her hubby, and their dog will watch out the window from our guest house that we will let them live in. Don't you fret, I have this planned out, you will love Audra and her husband, we can have game nights after little Seven goes down for bed. Oh one more thing, every Sunday we will be going to church. I plan to reactivate you in the church so that one day after our having a baby out of wedlock, we will all be sealed in the temple. Doesn't this sound like the perfect love story ever? I knew you'd agree. Well, there's a little glimpse of your future, enjoy the single life while it lasts because soon you will only have one woman, by the name or courtney that you will answer to. But again, don't worry, you'll love it.

Love your future wifey,
Courtney Cook



So as I was writing this I realized, well it's not like my blog is read by millions, hundreds or even like more than 20 people, but just incase somehow someone reads this and is totally weirded out, please don't give me a restraining order. This is all a joke....sort of.

On a little side note, I have to tell you guys all about one of my best friends. His name is Jesse, and we first met in English class. I liked him for quite a while in that english class. Though I don't see him very often, I still consider him one of my best friends out there. But the point of this whole little input about my bestie Jesse is this: The first time I saw him I immediately thought he looked like Ryan Gosling does in the notebook. Well now you all have to see comparative picutres and see that I am right.


See what I mean? I have always been right about this.

A game called 11 (but really 7)

1. Post these rules.
2. Post a photo of yourself and 11 random things.
3. Answer the questions set for you in the original post.
4. Create 11 (seven) new questions and tag people to answer them.
5. Go to their blog/twitter and tell them you've tagged them.

1. I have a not so secret crush/obsession with Ryan Gosling.
2. I laugh way too loud....it embarrasses my friends.
3. I just love to dress up. Just love it.
4. The color purple easily dominates all other colors. Don't fight it.
5. I like to make a fool of myself.
6. I wish that I had blue eyes....not black ones.
7. My favorite number is 7. My obsession is 7. My OCD is 7. 7 is my world.
8. Sometimes I say things that no one will understand, simply because I find delight in their confusion.
9. If someone could somehow monitor my dreams, I would without question be in a mental facility, what goes on in my head during sleep is completely insane.
10. I may not have been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimers, or short term memory loss, but I may as well be with my non-existent memory.
11. In fact I was going to only do seven things about myself and I had forgotten until just now and have to do 14 now.
12. I have two nieces that I absolutely adore to death.
13. My favorite thing to do is be with my family. They may drive me crazy most of the time, but I love them too much to stay away.
14. I have two jobs, go to school, and spend as much time with my family as possible. my social life is lacking, but I absolutely love to stay busy.

Questions from Jess:
1) What is your favorite movie? Crazy Stupid Love. Ryan gosling is too hot to say otherwise.
2) What is your favorite color? I thought we said don't question it. Purple. DEE DEE DOY DOY
3) If you could go any place in the world, where would you go? Fiji has been a life long dream for me. I plan to go there one day.
4) To the question above, if you could take anyone with you, who would you take? Ryan Gosling.
5)What is the most exciting thing that you did or that happened to you this past week? ...It's funny that I'm expected to even remember what's happened in the past week.
6) What is your favorite food? Asparagus. I know I'm weird.
7) Mac or PC? Mac
8) Where do you hope you are 5 years from now? ...Alive.
9) What is your least favorite chore? Um...Probably cleaning my room.
10) What is your favorite car? Range Rover. So FAB and CLASSY. I WILL own one someday.
11) What is one thing you couldn't live without? My family.

Jen's 11 questions:
1) What is your favorite iPod app? Instagram.
2) Craziest thing you've ever done? That's probably not important. But I did it with Jen and a few others.
3) Do you have a job? Two of them.
4) Favorite clothing item? Boots, shoes, shirts, skirts, dresses, shirts...ANY CLOTHING ITEM.
5) If you could only pick one food to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be? Asparagus
6) What is/are your favorite movie(s)? Crazy Stupid Love.
7) Who's one person you would do anything in the world for? Ryan Gosling.
8) What did you get on the ACT? I don't even remember.
9) Who is your celebrity crush? Jack Johnson. PSYCH! Ryan Gosling.
10) What is your favorite memory with your best friend? I can't choose one...
11) Where do you want to be 7 years from now? I want to be a wife, mother, and home owner.

My 11 (7) questions;
1. What is your favorite number?
2. What is the most important thing to remember in life?
3. What is your favorite thing you've done this week?
4. Who is your hero?
5. when were you most proud of yourself?
6. What is your biggest goal?
7. Why is the number seven so great?\

So I'm supposed to tag people....and I'm just not sure how. So friends, if any of you post this please let me know, because I would love to read it!

My Dream Might Be Crushed...

I know I know, I am updating my blog a million times today (3). I'm sorry, but I just haven't had time to sit down at a computer and post. But I recently went to the dr. and he told me that I might not be able to bungee jump. I got really upset and said that I was going to do it anyway. I've been wanting to do this since elementary school and refuse to give up this dream. I've been having pretty bad back pain lately and he is scared that I will make things worse. I left in a grumble, and said that I would ask my physical therapist about it, although I know what his answer will be already. I know that it would be better if I didn't....and I know it would be dumb of me to go after I was told not to....But it's just so hard for me to give it up. I'll have to give it some thought before I make a final decision. But as of right now it's still on for March 24th....maybe.