To Be There For Someone

Lots of times a friend will say, as a comfort or for re-assurance:

"I will always be there for you."  

This statement, I feel, is thrown around a lot between people. It is usually said when someone is going through a hard time. Most people really do want to mean those words, but I believe it is rare when they are true and when you can trust that this friend will follow through. That's not to say that the person saying this, but not totally meaning it, is not a good friend. They just aren't the one you will go to when you really do need someone- when you need someone who knows you (the real you). Someone who can see past whatever it is you are going through and who can remain a constant source of honesty and love. 

These types of friends are very loving, very giving, very self-less people (the ones who truly mean it). And too many times, I have seen these types get taken advantage of by weak, unhappy, life-sucking, manipulating "friends". It is always difficult, and sometimes a tragic lesson learned, when it becomes clear that someone you love is taking advantage of you. This is when that promise must be revoked. You can no longer be there for that person in the way that you were. This could be what you call tough-love. 

The promise of being there for someone should be reciprocated. That is where the bond of a friendship becomes strong. That is how there can be trust in a relationship. Through good or bad, you have each other to fight for. A friendship is not all about complimenting, and agreeing. It is about loving each other so much that you push each other. Accepting each other as is, but seeing how truly great each others hearts are and wanting the very best for one another. That is what true friends fight for. 

A true friend is a gift from The Big Guy Himself, and a guide to remind you of who you really are when you lose your way.  They are rare. That is why it is so important to appreciate and honor them. I am fortunate to have a handful of these rare gifts.  But I must say, with a really warm heart, none are like Chloe. 

With love,

Cassie

Missing Her

I miss her, and her laughter
I miss her, and her happiness
I miss her, and the adventure
we'd have if we were together.

I miss her smile,
Haven't seen it in a while.
I miss her hugs, I miss my sis
The greatest thing in my life,
of course i'd miss this.

She's a sweetheart, a total charmer
She loves everything, couldn't be awesome-r
She knows how to flatter,
she does this often, but to me it doesn't matter
because I know what she says is what she means
she doesn't tell fibs or make me believe
what she says it's true when it's not.
She's a treasure in my heart,
what a friend I've got.

I miss my sis
so come home.
I miss my sis
so come back to me!
Together we can be loud and laugh,
and live freely.
I miss my sis
who means the world to me.

Talks

As relationships progress, past the initial bonding, they can go two ways. They can get stronger and share more and more, or they can weaken and fizzle and come to an end. After realizing just how much Chloe and I have in common, and how well we get along, our relationship began to grow, and deepen. Although we both claim to be awkward in conversation at times, have trouble getting out what we really want to say, and even struggle to form words correctly, we have never had a problem communicating with each other. I have always felt like she understood my point, what I am trying to get out, and how I feel. Sometimes, it takes no words, just a look or a gesture. This makes conversations effortless.
It is also important in a friendship to be able to be yourself. To be who you are, to say how you feel, and to feel accepted. I feel that we have always been able to do that. There is no wall. We are free to play and laugh and say what we want.

We have shared so many silly, outrageous thoughts. Our conversations, to outsiders, would sound insane and maybe even like pure nonsense. But that is where we feel free. We can let those absolutely outlandish thoughts out and turn them into serious discussions or simply laugh at them together. Many times, a thought that seemed too strange or insane, surprisingly ends up being exactly what we were both thinking or what we had both thought before.

It is such a comfort to be understood. To not have to try. To be able to express every thought without worry. To have someone who KNOWS you.

Love,
Cassie

Rebels

Deep down in all of us there is this little urge to do something considerably "rebellious". Whatever it may be, [say, bungee jumping, getting a tattoo, or maybe changing your hair color to something unexpected,] everyone wishes to get a small taste of what it's like to do something out of the ordinary. Today has been that sort of day for Cassie and I. Waking up at 9, neither of us foresaw the adventures the day would unfold. We started it off typically regular; sipping coffee outside with mom, discussing dreams, and munching on prune bread and apples. It wasn't until around 11 or so that we decided to do something productive. We originally planned on cruising up to Barnes & Noble for some cafe sandwiches and coffee action, but evidently God had other things in store. Cruising down highway 315, we passed by a McDonalds; french fries must have just been made since the air was filled with the irresistible aroma of crispy, salty goodness. Our mouths began to salivate as we looked at one another and considered stopping for lunch at McD's instead of our original plan. Before I got a chance to loop around, I remembered that just down the road a bit farther stood another McDonalds.
Hungry and just a tad bit over excited, we pulled up into the drive through and placed our order:
One Big Mac meal with a coke, and one Quarter Pounder with cheese meal and a coke.

Eager to pull around to get our goods, I didn't catch sight of the first window occupied by the awaiting cashier, and simply coasted right past it. What got our attention was the sudden and loud exclamation of "HEY!" coming from the cashier lady. We burst into laughter after we realized what we did, and after we got our breath I quickly pulled the stick into reverse and coasted backward, still laughing. I couldn't tell if the cashier lady was laughing, too, or if she was simply trying to smile to hide her annoyance. We paid and continued on to the second window where we were handed our bag of treasures. We pulled into the parking lot and devoured our meals. In about 30 minutes time, we were reclined in our seats, windows down, barely able to move after such a dining experience. Shortly after this, Cassie's phone buzzed; it was mom calling, asking where we were and why we didn't say where we were going. I informed her I meant to text her, but wanted to wait until we got to our destination since I promised I'd never "text and drive." We felt crazy for 'not telling anyone where we were', and basically decided to call ourselves rebels for the day. As we finished our cokes, we decided we should probably head back home since Cassie had to leave, unfortunately, sometime in the afternoon. By the time I had made the turn onto the main road to my house, we thought it'd fun to end the afternoon with a nice Iced Americano treat from Starbucks. Realizing I had missed our turn, I thought aloud ways we can pull into some sort of lot to make a legal U-turn. Cassie had informed me that it would in fact be legal to make a U-turn right on the road--as long as there were no cars. Slowing down into the shoulder lane, the two of us waited until there were absolutely no cars in sight before braving the big turn.

This was quite a big ordeal for me since I had never done anything like this. Quickly, I managed to perform a complete U-turn across three lanes, and make the correct turn toward our destination. I expressed my excitement by exclaiming a lot of "OOH! OOH! OOH!'s as I made that turn. Cassie found this humorously amusing and laughed quite hard at my reaction. I told her I felt inexplicably "rebellious" for pulling something like that off. "That felt so illegal!" I said, but she assured me it wasn't. We pulled into the Starbucks' drive through blasting Shakira's She Wolf and placed our order of two venti iced americanos with soy milk, and sugar free vanilla syrup. Again, we pulled into a parking lot and sipped on our treats. We discussed all the rebellious things that happened today, and repeatedly talked about how much we'd miss each other after Cassie departs. At this point in the day, the sun began to become ferociously hot; [at least, in our car] causing us to get a little panic-y and slightly claustrophobic. We rolled all the windows down, turned up the air conditioning, and took the back way home. We made it into the house when we considered to go for a short walk, since we had spent a good three hours in the car. Around the development we strolled, discovering ideal places for picnics and "tribal drum circles". When we arrived home, Cassie gathered her bags and stacked them neatly in her backseat. It was sort of an emotional good-bye, however the guys made it funny by giving quick hugs and then immediately getting absorbed in their own conversations involving tractors and engine work. After numerous hugs, I finally let Cassie get into her car and pull out of the driveway in her adorable little car, Señorita Rosa.
I slowly scuffed back in the house, and sitting down on my futon I began imagining future adventures to come. What excitement lies ahead!

xxx
Love always,
Chloe

A Birthday to Remember

Cassie and I have had a good amount of adventures so far; but when you start a blog that is supposed to consist of all of those adventures, you sort of don't know where to begin. I could start from the very beginning, a few years back, when I was visiting her sisters in Baltimore when all of a sudden they had school, [I had already been off for the summer]. It was then I got a real chance to spend time with Cass, which had me a bit nervous since even though we knew each other for so long, we hadn't really hung out. Ever. So this was a big deal for me, and I tried to act as "cool" as possible, since I had always thought she was cool. Just after about 10 minutes or so of wondering how this was going to go, I realized she was a total doll, and extremely fun. She prepared avocado paninis for lunch, took me to Blockbuster, and introduced me to the television series: Pushing Daisies.

I had so much fun with her that I told her we needed to do that again. Funny how after just about say, a years time? we became the best of friends. We see each other incredibly often and I couldn't feel anymore blessed. We have a lot more in common than I had ever expected, and awkwardness never exists between us. We sort of think the same way, so naturally we can talk about anything. Cassie carries herself with a relaxed air, which allows everyone around her to relax. Which is nice. We've had exciting adventures since that pushing daisies date. Cassie was with me the very first time I ever drove on the interstate; this was quite a humorous escapade because as I merged onto the interstate, and successfully passed several tractor trailers, the song Espana Cani began to play [the link will take you to the site, and the sample they give you is the part that played when I made it onto the interstate successfully.] this exciting moment was also accompanied by a loud exclamation from me: "I'M ON EIGHTY ONE!!!" to which Cassie seemed somewhat confused by until she realized that it had been my first time. Other adventures took place at mall located about 20 minutes from my house, in which we ended up running through the parking lot, in the rain, completely disturbed after having an encounter with a strange old man who we felt was out to do us harm [we were eating pretzels on a bench when this 60 some year old man walks up to me, makes a gesture to grab my pretzel, but stops and stares at me without smiling or admitting he was joking; instead, he just walked away.] Those were so far the most exciting moments we've experienced together.

One of my favorite times with Cass was celebrating my birthday with her. She came up for my birthday and made it incredibly special. We woke up early and made a delicious breakfast consisting of juicy over-medium eggs, asparagus, juicy tomatoes, onion, sweet bell peppers, and garlic bread. For lunch we had ice cream; I had blueberry with blueberry pie-filling-syrup topping, and she had cake batter with chocolate fudge. delightful. After that we arrived at this park my mom suggested we visit. It couldn't have been a more perfect day. The sun was shining, the temperature was delightfully warm and pleasant, and a breeze came around at the most perfect moments to cool us down. We spread out a Taylor Swift FEARLESS concert blanket and lied on our backs, looking up into the clouds, taking photographs of our legs, and eavesdropping on an overweight Thor lookalike talk continuously to a woman about his dog. We ended up dozing off into an incredibly wonderful snooze, which caused the both of us to feel a bit lazy afterward. We stopped at a convenient store on our way homeward and purchased some arizona iced tea and snacks. Cassie told me that she really believed that no other country knows how to "snack like Americans do."

I wouldn't doubt it. We Americans are sort of the Snacking Pros of the world. However, there's more to just snacking than just buying random selections. She said "you really have to know how to snack. You need to know what type of snack you want, and you have to pick the right drink to compliment it, or else it can turn out to be a gross combination."

We are pretty skilled in choosing the appropriate snacks and beverages, so our experience was rather lovely. When we returned home, we zoned out to Australian didgeridoo music until it was time for a birthday Mass that my Uncle had planned, [it was incredibly emotional, I dare say]. Once Mass was done we were left with just about 10 minutes to get dressed for dinner reservations at this hoppin' new restaurant in town. Cassie looked unbelievably chic in a black dress, pink ballet flats, peacock feather earrings, a peacock scarf, a little eyeliner, and her hair pulled up into a low side bun, garnished with a little flower. I slipped into a blue dress top, a black and gold skirt, and black Guess pumps.

Dinner was wonderful. Having the opportunity to spend time with family and Cassie being able to be a part of it made it the greatest birthday ever. Her presence made it a birthday to remember for me. Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed birthdays in the past, but I'm completely honest when I say that I know for a fact that I have never enjoyed a birthday half as much as I did this time. All thanks to my loving sister who made it so special. Thank you, Casper. (:

Love,
Chloe xoxo

Flowers and Hearts

She has a really special Gift.
It's the way she sees the world.

Every scrap, crumb, and chip
Become magically transformed.

It's simple, really,
It's her happy heart
That makes this world
A work of art.

And it's not just what she sees
Or the treasures she receives.

It's the way she is ever-giving
That makes my heart believe.

It's simple, really,
It's her loving heart
That makes my world
Blossom and start...

...It starts to shine, through all the clouds,
Which all turn into hearts.
And rain can only grow the blooms
that also play a part.

It's simple, really,
It's her faithful heart
That makes this whole world
A work of art.


-Cassie

Finding Love in Unexpected Places

There’s more to being a hopeless romantic than just, as Cassie said, “admiring love”. Every girl goes through that period of worrying whether or not they will find that “perfect guy.” Looking back at the early years of my teenage life, I’ll admit I fell into that anxious category. I wasn’t desperate to find a boyfriend, but when I eventually had one I had gone completely overboard with emotion and practically forgot who I was. My personality changed, my confidence lowered, and believe it or not it wasn’t the guy who caused all of this. It was me, because it was the first time I had ever experienced feelings as strong as the ones I had at that time. I also found out that what I thought were the beginning feelings of love turned out to be nothing more than typical teenage emotion, which ended almost as quickly as that relationship did. Unlike most people who take relationships so seriously, I was pretty casual about the split. Of course, it is natural to be upset, but let's be honest here...Life goes on. Why waste time moping in corners and crying all day when I could be out having a grand ol' time sipping a cup of coffee and strolling through a park with Cassie? Don't be dependent on relationships at such a young age in your life. Tis better to relax and enjoy your life freely until God reveals His plan for you.

Cassie has helped me love my life even more

It wasn’t long until I realized that it didn’t work out because it wasn’t a part of God’s plan for me. As the months passed and emotional balances came into place, I began to realize that the truest love that any person can find is the love of God.  This world really isn’t the loveliest, and it seems that love doesn’t really last as long as it used to. People are having difficulties seeing the good in things and getting along with one another, and living happily is almost like a childhood dream. Cassie and I have been lucky enough to find out the secrets to happiness. We have uncovered love in the most mysterious ways, and have been able to bring it to life. We have been able to share that love, and spread it around. Those cloudy gray skies don’t bring us down, for we only see an opportunity to stay cozy inside with fun activities; such activities may include us acting out humorous reactions we’d have if we met our favorite celebrities, listening to songs like “I Believe In Love” by Lily Collins on continuous repeat while we attempt to learn the art of bellydancing, or simply trying to make iced coffee in the kitchen. When you grasp love in its most unexpected environment, you can totally develop an entirely new perspective of life. Everything makes sense, and relationships in this Life don’t seem as big of a deal as they used to. You sort of find that all it takes to be totally happy in this life is a strong spiritual relationship with God and a well rounded, developed, and loving friendship with someone who shares the same beliefs as you do. 

So, if you feel called to the single life, don't feel bad. Love exists in everything, it's just up to you to find it. We are all created to love in this world, but perhaps that "perfect guy" is not necessarily located in this life, but actually in the next life. Things in life will work out the way they are supposed to, but for right now, try to just love the life you have and be grateful for the good things in your life. Once you've established a love for life and love itself, you will find that you can be totally satisfied. It's your life. Cass and I are pretty independent, and right now, we aren't really planning on living for anyone except us and the Big Guy. When you've got that going for you, what else more does one need?

"They spoil every romance by trying to make it last forever." - Oscar Wilde

"Freedom bestows on us the priceless gift of opportunity- if we neglect our opportunities we shall certainly lose our freedom." - Dwight David Eisenhower

xoxo

Chloe

Little Bit on Love

Naturally, two young, happy best friends are going to share many conversations together. Ours range from silly to serious on an hourly basis, but you can imagine, LOVE is a main topic of discussion. Past, present, and future love, real love vs. fake love, and everything that goes with it. This is not uncommon for all girls to have a little obsession with romance.

As Chloe mentioned, we are both single girls. We have had different past relationship experiences, but it seems we are both at a similar point in our lives. It is funny to look back to when you thought you had figured out love or when you knew exactly what you were looking for. Give yourself a little time and you'll realize you weren't even close. Love is mysterious, and trying desperately to contain it or put it in a box that you can open and close whenever you like, always backfires. 

Feeling and experiencing love depends on your heart. Where you are spiritually, what is important to you, who you surround yourself with, and most of all how much love you give. When you start walking down those avenues of self improvement, the soft glow of the street lamps gets a little brighter. You see more fine detail and learn to appreciate and treasure every small token of love that is handed to you. 

Chloe has unveiled a lot about love without knowing it. It's really who she is, effortlessly, that shows me more and more of the secrets to true love. Right now I am speaking about honest and true love in a friendship. Yes, Chloe and I like to eat chocolate, talk about celebrity crushes, tear up at romantic movies, but we don't stop at just admiring love. It's living out love. That's what we like to practice and that is what makes us true lovers of love. True romantics. We often kid about how romantic we are. One ridiculous thought that had us really laughing, was picturing our romantic outings, and conversations between two guys who are best friends. "So.. yeah, um, dude I was watching clips on youtube of Jude Law and his jaw line is probably top 5." "Totally killer jawline, dude. Agreed. I was taking my nightly bath with candles when 'Your Song' came on and I totally shed a tear." HaHA! I'm sure guys have their own way of living out love.. for Chloe and I, it's just what we like to do, period. We like to love. The exciting part is how endless and limitless love is. You'll never stop growing in it as long as you search for it and practice it. 

Sighhhh. I have myself swooning now. Could sure go for a piece of almond pecan toffee, maybe I will take out some love letters from my girl Chlo too. 

Love ;) 

Cassie

She Brings the Sunshine

our most recent purchase. friendship rings. (:

Ok. Hi, I'm Chloe. I'm the girl Cassie can't live without---haha JK, to be completely honest here, SHE is the one I can't live without. I can't even think of such a thing. To give you all an idea of just how much her friendship means to me, allow me to fill you in on how she came into my life when I needed friendship the most.

Though most of the events that took place were rather personal, I will be sure to include that one of those events caused me to realize what a best friend is supposed to be. That best friend is Cassie, my beloved, treasured, and ever-loving sister. I have known her for many, many years, though our friendship didn't necessarily take place until just last year. I had a lot on my mind, and after the whirlwind of stress, drama, and absolute chaos began to subside, Cassie stepped into my life and brought such happiness that I can't even put into words. She made me feel special, loved, and lent me an ear when I needed to vent.

She provides hugs during the times I need them most, and fills the hole of loneliness that had formed in my heart over the years. She's an incredible woman; independent, strong, and incredibly beautiful in every way. She's silly, she's goofy, and she's not afraid to have fun. We can yell and laugh and make outrageous noises in the car and she shows no sign of embarrassment. In fact, she has actually caused me to form such a habit, that I often find myself making silly sounds and voices when I'm alone! While she treats me as though we've been besties our entire lives, she also inspires me. She has absent-mindedly encouraged me to be truly confident with myself, and has taught me the importance of loving life as it is. She has shown me that a single way of life can be incredibly romantic--with the right amount of chocolate, romantic movies, and serenades performed by men with incredible voices: Michael Buble, Ewan McGregor, etc. When I am around her, it's as though loneliness never existed. I feel free, happy, and developed such a craving for fun and adventure. When she is here with me, sunshine fills the skies. I am not even exaggerating when I say this, but after she left last night from staying over a few nights, the temperature dropped to a chilling degree and it rained and was distastefully cloudy allllllllll day today. She took the fun and sunshine home with her. At least, that is how I feel whenever she leaves.

While she influences me with such magnificence, confidence, and just plain sisterly-love, I get her hooked on coffee. Now, she is a genuine coffee-loving-addict. She drinks it every morning, and for Christmas she received a French Press coffee maker. You can imagine that I stand back and smile at this accomplishment. Coffee is a big part of my life, so being able to share a love for it with her is sort of like having a special bond. With every visit we pay each other, our friendship only grows closer and closer. We have so many fun things to fill this blog with that I can assure you that you will NOT get bored. Ever. Now, if by chance you do, or if you do not think we are "fun", then you might as well click yourself out of this blog and go poke mud with a stick! We are the funnest people you'll ever meet, and we are looking forward to sharing it with you, but if you don't understand it or appreciate it... I feel sorry for you. Realize that what you see right now is only the beginning of what is to come. The appearance of this blog will continue to evolve in order to describe our personalities best. I really do hope you enjoy yourself, as you participate in our wonderful journey through life together. I hope you have as much fun in reading this blog as we do creating it.
All my love,
Chloe

First- time Blogger

As a first time blogger, I must say I have some concerns for myself, and the readers of my posts. I will list a few and apologize in advance for any of these short-comings.  Number one being my spelling and grammar. Just now I had to look up the spelling of apologize... (maybe that one was just nerves.) Number two being the writing style. I will try not to ramble to the point of exhaustion, get off track, wrap up a post awkwardly, quickly and unsatisfyingly, or throw disconnected ideas into one post. Number three,  this blog is mostly for me and my sister, bestie, fun- loving friend, Chloe, to record moments, memories, shared ideas, and funny stories together. There could be some moments where "Ya had to be there." or "You just don't get us." Sooo... sorry, again, if you just can't relate, or just aren't interested.
I must say, the idea of sharing this blog makes those concerns, and little troubles seem a lot smaller than if I were to have sole responsibility for this blog. Fact is, sharing anything; time, coffee, food, music, chocolate, scarves etc. with Chloe, makes all concerns and troubles just disappear. They become insignificant and just out of question. I am so looking forward to starting this little project, and I hope to do well, and remain consistent with it. There are so many stories and memories to share already, and I believe both of our perspectives will be entertaining, humorous, and maybe even thought- provoking.
This first post, although brief and just an introduction, I hope gives some idea of who I am, and what these posts will consist of. The title of this blog, "Cheers ta Fun" says a lot about us. You should probably know it is said in  an accent. One of an overweight, middle-aged, semi- balding, always jolly and bouncy man in a suit, most likely from England. With that image, I end this post.
Love ... ?, yeah I'll do love,
Cassie