Hi. I'm Elizabeth.
When Jennie asked me if I would guest post on her blog, I was super duper flattered, because hi, it's kind of an honor, right? But then that happy feeling wore off a bit and I must admit I was rather semi terrified. Because I mean, hi, you people probably don't care about me! I mean, if you wanted to read what I have to say, you'd be reading my blog. (Not Very Subtle Hint: Read My Blog.) Ha ha, kidding, kidding. Sort of.
Anyhoo, terrified. I had no idea what to write about and I also wasn't sure if Jennie had maybe some of those unwritten rules for what she does and doesn't write about on her blog, you know what I mean? For example sometimes on my blog I will in fact drop the F-bomb, although I do make a conscious effort to not be a total potty mouth absolutely all of the time. And also almost no one I know in real life reads my blog because it is a big old secret and then I started to think oh my god, I think her mom might read her blog, what if I offend her mother?
Commence Freak Out.
But then I took a deep breath and rallied and I decided the best course of action would be to force Ms. Purple to send me a list of possible guest blog topics using a carefully calculated system of threats. In other words I told her that if she did not tell me what to write about that I would post nothing but "Peyton Rulz" over and over again. But thank god the threats worked and she sent me some really wonderful topics. Unfortunately they were all about me and I just can't help but feel like you don't want to read about me, because, again, you can do that at my own silly blog. I mean, you come here for the Purple, right?
So I thought this. Let's just have a love fest! I mean, not in a bad Oprah way, you know, but heck, you can't really tell people on your own dang blog to tell you how much they love you, now can you? I mean, please. So instead, I'll do it! I'll tell you the top ten reasons I am so terribly fond of Jennie and then you can chime in with your own reasons and then when she gets back from vacay it will be like we had a regular old party for her while she was gone and I swear she did not put me up to this, "Love Fest for Jennie" was not one of her suggested topics, I swear.
So here, without further ado, are the Top Ten Reasons I Like Purple:
1. I've never liked the color purple. This might seem like a strange thing to start out with, but hear me out, because it makes sense in the long run, I promise. So here's the thing. I've never been a purple lover. Or even a liker. Just didn't do it for me. It seemed sort of seventh grade to me and lord knows I was too cool to get involved with any tired ass seventh grade colors. And then one time a few years ago an acquaintance of mine was trying to describe someone she knew who was in her mind semi lame and she said "It's like when a grown woman's favorite color is purple" and we all laughed and and nodded and agreed that was bad news and nastily went about our day feeling better about ourselves and our fabulous terribly grown up not purple liking taste. And I've kept that in my head all this time and probably derided other women with it and when I stumbled across the this blog from a link I have since forgotten I almost almost almost clicked away because of the title, because hi, I was mature and worldly and waaaaaay too cool for purple. But luckily I read just enough to realize, hey, this woman's a really good writer. And she is funny and awesome and actually kind of super cool. And I actually sort of like her, maybe even sort of a lot. And then I left her a comment or two and she wrote back and she started to leave me the nicest comments on my blog and and whenever I saw her updates in Bloglines I got all happy and and then you know what? Not only did Jennie become one of my honest to goodness friends, but I started to sort of like the color purple. And I started to think about what a crappy thing it is to judge other women right off the bat like that, for something so stupid and small. I realized that one of my favorite things about Jennie is that she just puts this stuff out there, her favorite color, shoes she likes, how she feels, what she thinks, and how she isn't spending all this time worrying about whether she makes some imaginary grade or is cool enough for bitchy judgmental people like me and our arbitrary systems we use to tear other women down and I learned a little bit about myself and what I learned I did not like. Shouldn't we be building each other up? Shouldn't we be celebrating our differences and loving each other and just plain trying to make this world a better place? Jennie and her love of purple made me think yes. And while I will admit I am not yet completely in LOVE with purple, I am more than a little enamored of Jennie and also, I am here to tell you that this summer I am going to two weddings and I am totally going to wear purple shoes. And I promise that the rest of this list isn't going to be this crazy long. And Jennie, please forgive me for being such a giant beotch. The end.
2. I love how much Jennie loves her husband, and how she's not afraid to gush on a bit about it. I love it. It reminds me of when I was first married and it reminds me to give my husband that extra little pat on the fanny when he gets home from work.
3. My favorite line Jennie has ever written is something that has stuck with me since I first read it: "I believe-deeply-in the power of an ordinary life." I find that just amazingly beautiful, and it reassures me on a daily basis. I have been, at times, terrified of an ordinary life. This terror almost prevented me from having kids or getting married at all. And I took that leap anyway, on faith, and I am so grateful that Jennie has helped me to see that the most mundane of things can be beautiful and magical and that on days when you are covered with spit up and dog hair and nothing feels too wonderful, that the crazy fun reasons that make life worth living are all around you anyway, all the time, and that ordinary can be extraordinary if you live it the right way.
4. Um, hi, she always links to the cutest shoes. Enough said. God, I when you really think about it, shoes don't even make sense, but I do adore them so.
5. She's open minded. When I first started reading this blog, I just assumed Texas = Republican. Now I was super relieved to find out that wasn't the case, as I am the most die hard crazy hippie liberal you may ever not really meet in person, but at the same time, I love that she reminds us all the time that kindness isn't limited to liberals and you know, she's totally right. Something for all of us to remember. Mostly me.
6. I love that she tells it like it is. Even though I know she's totally 100% butt crazy in love with her husband, sometimes all of us need to hear about how someone else's husband is also kind of a pain in the ass and how he doesn't always take the trash out when he says he will or how he was kind of semi annoying after his shoulder surgery or how he took the dishwasher apart for no apparent reason. It makes me feel better to know I'm not the only one, you know?
7. I am crazy about that story where her husband Mike ate that pasta thing she made for him even though she didn't boil the noodles. So awesome. That's love, people, real, true, forever and ever amen kind of love, and also, a great story. I think "would he eat uncooked noodles for me?" should be everyone's true love test. I mean, that kind of thing is absolutely how you know it's for real.
8. I love how she says "My taste is not universal." That kind of confidence just kills me. I am PERSONALLY offended if you don't love what I love. I am also PERSONALLY offended if you try to copy me. I am clearly insane, and I would so love to be more "Hey, here's what I like, your opinion of it is welcome, but not necessary to me forming my own." Jennie makes me see how it is possible to do this. She is directly leading to me being slightly less of a total nut job, so yeah! I also love how I have turned this whole list into things about me.
9. It's just nice sometimes to get a different point of view, to be reminded that my own brain is not the final authority on the world. I am thinking of something she wrote recently about how we needed to remember to be polite to our spouses. How we are raised to be polite to our parents and friends and our co workers but we allow ourselves to be just straight up rude to our husbands. And I admit, my husband has recently asked me to be a teeny bit less of a psychotic shrew where he is concerned and and when he said "I just want you to be nice to me!" I could NOT hear it, but when Jennie said "you know, we should at least be polite to our husbands like we are to the REST OF THE WORLD", I heard it. So she's like, single handedly saving my marriage over here with her blog wisdom, and for that I am very grateful.
10. Jennie always leaves me the best comments, so go ahead and leave her one and tell her why you like purple too and get with the love fest already.
P.S. Peyton Rulz!!!