mmm, favorite.

"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

i'm so ready. i want to be able to wear cute clothes again..and i want to drink a few glasses of wine. i want this belly off of me! so ready..so ready.

i've been soooo grouchy today. i hate that.
i'm getting more sleep tonight.

buuussyyy.

i've been ohhh soo busy already this month. i had my 1st baby shower in mtn. home and it was sooo much fun! all of my friends and my moms friends came out and gave my little Kenlyee wonderful gifts and the food was catered and ABSOLUTELY delicious. ivory and tasha came down for my shower too and of course ivory was the center of attention..she was doin' the stanky leg & cartwheels all over my house. spoiled rotttttten! my crib is here so ham and i have to put that together this evening and get her room completely put together :). i have another baby shower today thrown by the girls at work! and i'm getting cupcakes on kavanaugh ... super pumped about that! i'm so excited for my little gummi bear to get here!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32171926/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

i just don't understand the world sometimes..
but then again, i don't think it's for me to understand.

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off; and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand" ... The Velveteen Rabbit


p.s. i twitter now.. twitter.com/kaseylakay

i had to share this with someone.

The Invitation
It Doesn't interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream
of meeting you heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon, I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain. I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself, if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul: if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me what you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

-- The Invitation
Oriah Mountain Dreamer, author