"So This Is The New Year"

I love the end of the year. It is one of the best times to look back and reflect on what has happened in one's life in the previous 12 months. I can't believe it has already been almost a year since I have been home again. Let me just tell you a little about 2011. I went to my first set of playoff games for the OKC Thunder and fell in love with basketball. My oldest sister tied the knot. I stumbled upon a job that has led me to pursuing a career one of which I am not quite sure of. I have started back to college after 4 years of being out of high school. I moved into my very own apartment all by myself for a solid 6 months. I ran my first 5k. I climbed Mt. Scott. I intentionally spent the vast majority of the year single, as I have learned it is better to be alone and happy rather than together and miserable. I have become comfortable in my own skin. 2011 has been a year of complete transition for me, though I would like to say in 2012 I will have it all figured out I fear that will not be the case. Life is always transitional, this is also what I have learned this year. One thing you can always count on consistently is change. Change is oh so inevitable, but it is how one reacts to change that defines a person. Things change, though I can't tell you where my life is going I am positive about my future. 2011 was a beautiful mess of a year and part of me is a bit sad to see it leave. Another part of me is so pumped for 2012....Lets see what firsts are in store next year! Here is my year 2011 in picture form

A flat tire, Rim Key, and Christ

To Start Out Are Some Pictures Of Our Adventure:




It all began Wednesday evening, my friend Wendi was headed back to her home town of Sulfer after SWITCH (Our Youth Group). Wendi had called me on her way out of the city to chat it up (we are both super social butterflies). As she was on the phone she said she heard a noise and thought it was her car breaking down. She pulled over in a bit of a sketch area on the north side of OKC and had me stay on the phone as she looked over her car. It became apparent then that she had a tire blow out. Not just any blow out, we are talking shredded wheel, undriveable, ridiculousness. She asked me to pick her up which I gladly jumped on (as I didn't have work the next day and was kind of excited to empower another female with the knowledge of changing a flat tire!) Well we got it all jacked up and such but then she springs the RIM KEY on me. You see I have never changed a tire with a rim key, but I was up for a challenge. After 30 minutes of struggling I gave up. (During this time Wendi was standing guard over me with a taser gun lol) Accepting defeat we went back to my apartment and had a sleep over. Yes this 22 year old just said I had a sleep over. We stayed up till 4 am discussing God, past loves, and just life in general. The next morning we devised a plan of finding some man power to help us change this tire. We texted our friend Anna from church asking to borrow a man or two from the daily schedule. She sent us her husband Cody instead (Side note Cody is ex-marine so I figured shoot WE GOT THIS!) When Cody arrived he took a look at the rim key and said "Girls it doesn't look too good. This key has been used one too many times and is oddly rounded, but I will give it a go." As he was churning the lug-wrench we hear a crack. He takes it off to discover the rim key has now busted into two pieces. If you know nothing of rim keys well they are unique. None are alike so if you broke your only one you are in the nicest possible way of stating it....well screwed. So Wendi and I started out on a journey to fix the dreaded car situation. First it was to O'Reileys where several local parts specialist pointed us in the right direction to a shop who would remove the lug nuts for a price of course. We got to the shop expecting them to come out in service the vehicle. This of course was not the case, but the shop gave us their card and told us as long as we could get the vehicle there they would gladly help us. So this meant a tow, but most tows are expensive some how though by the grace of God this particular tow company charged Wendi a flat rate for the hook-up. While towing the car we realized the tags were expired. This of course was another blessing in itself as the holidays are soon approaching and cops are out patrolling extra heavy, after we dropped the car off we headed to the local tag agency. The tag was less than we anticipated, yet again another blessing... *See a pattern here* We went back to the apartment to take a quick nap while we waited for the car. The shop said they would have it done by evening. Well evening came and we had no phone call so we proceeded to run to the shop, this is where we found Wendi's car still up in the air jacked up clearly unoperatable. The owner proceeded to tell us they wouldn't have it done until tomorrow morning. So this meant Wendi's trip was delayed yet again another day. I had a hectic day at work the next day, but promised to be there to drop her off at her car in my 30 minute allotted time for lunch. I told my boss about it and once again by the grace of God she understood and gave me all the time I needed. Wendi finally made it to Sulfer. I learned a thing or two about giving up a free day, a little shut eye, and a tiny bit of gas to help a friend in need. The most amazing part about it was the joy God graced us with through out it all. The flat tire was all a part of his plan to build our friendship and learn to trust in him on a whole new level!

"Tell Me A Story"/ A Tale of Thanksgivings Past

I once had a boyfriend who would always ask me to tell him a story, I mean every time we talked. Forgive me and my faulty memory because for the life of me I can't tell you which one it was! Anyways it eventually became a game. He would tell a story, I would tell a story and it was a fantastic way to pass the time. I tell you all this because I realize that "Tell me a story." has become one of my every day lines that I LOVE using. I am genuinely so interested in the lives of others. I long to hear stories of every day living, quiet moments, and shocking events. I guess I just love communication in general. Believe it or not I do tend to think if we all spent half as much time listening as we do talking we would take in an unfathomable amount of wisdom. So tonight I ask you to do this for me. Tell me a story. Any story. Good, bad, your whole life story, or just a brief moment in time. Life is a beautiful story dying to be told. It is a shame if you never share yours. Here is my story. Now it is winter and I become super nostalgic of the winters past. As I do this I think particularly of last Thanksgiving. You see I was living in Germany with one of my closest friends Savannah. We were super excited about the Holiday. We woke up to a perfectly white morning and began the cooking for the feast of the evening. While cooking we realized we didn't have pumpkin for the pumpkin pies!!!! This was hilarious because I made the shopping list, and though we had no pumpkin we had pumpkin pie seasoning and pie shells from the grocery trip. In a frenzy we panicked, went to a local German market and attempted to find pumpkin pie filling. Apparently Germans don't eat pumpkin pie. So we bought a jar of pickled pumpkin (YES I SAID PICKLED) and attempted to re-create an American favorite. Needless to say it turned out terrible, but well it makes for a great story. The year Savannah and I made pickled pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving.
Our snowy drive to the store

The dream team Savannah and I

Fickle Feelings.

Webster's Dictionary defines fickle as marked by lack of steadfastness, constancy, or stability : given to erratic changeableness. If I owned a dictionary I would probably write Megan DuPriest out in the margin. 2011 is winding down, I can't help but break it down a bit and evaluate where I'm currently sitting. I had a romanticized idea of moving out to the city, making more than enough to survive, meeting someone I genuinely cared about, learn how to love again. Yes believe it or not this was my somewhat check list I had in my mind of "to dos." Instead I moved out, realized I can hardly make it from one paycheck to the next, I met a couple of men I cared nothing about, and learned that there isn't too much out there in the "love" department. There was one though I liked him. So I shut it down, the feelings. I tried to remind myself of how numb I was to everyone around including the closest of family and friends. I couldn't deny it though I was reminded there was something beating in my chest. Its over of course and I can't really say who was to blame. I suppose it was me for literally feeding myself lines out loud in order to convince myself I have no heart, no desire for love or marriage, no feelings or concerns about the opposite sex. This is where the fickleness of myself comes into play, I can literally convince myself I am a.o.k. without heartache, romance, and all the other junk associated with that four letter word love. In the core of my very being though is the desire to be loved, by God, family, friends, and hopefully one day a significant other. Confession of the night there is still a girl who is silly enough to believe its still out there....Love. I do still believe.

1 Corinthians 13:8 "Love Never Fails."

Self Worth & Self Beauty

As of lately I have felt quite blah. I had a friend tell me I have so much potential but yet I sell myself short by settling. This got me thinking, why do I settle? The answer is lack of self-worth. I don't seem to see the treasure and beauty within myself. My attitude has become mediocre towards most important things, such as work and school. In doing so my own self-preservation has even taken a back slide. But I will say this regardless of what the scales say I am absolutely beautiful. I have defined myself by the number for far too long and am living by an example from a close friend and saying no to the scales. She herself has lost so much weight though unable to tell you the exact amount because she just doesn't subject herself to the things. I am excited for this new chapter; new way of positive thinking. This is me Megan DuPriest defined by intellect, positivity and curves. Now time for some amazing pictures done by the friend I just spoke of check out her blog, shes beautiful, a breathe taking photographer, and a witty blogger as well! http://abiruth.blogspot.com/

So this is what some call "Living the American dream"

Here recently it has became clear where I am at in life. I am a 22 year old woman working 40+ hours a week at a dead end job due to my lack of education. I have started college 4 years after the stereo-typical person of my graduating class. I am struggling to keep my head above water currently, waiting for my student loan check to arrive so that I can get my oil changed (its past due by 100 miles) and pay off my credit card. Oh and get some new contacts....and fill a cavity or two. I live in an efficiency apartment. Its a bedroom with a kitchenette and a bathroom attached. ALONE. All alone. This being said I look around at my life and think could this seriously be the "American Dream?" Geez I sure hope not, there has got to be more than just getting by and struggling to survive....and being alone. Wow its disheartening more often than not to leave work only to arrive at an empty home, empty bed, empty space. I am left with homework, church activities, and racing thoughts to help manage the void. I know it seems like I'm complaining a lot. Lets be real here though. This is the current state of my heart and head. Seasons of life are inevitable. I just can't help but want to wish this one away. I want my American Dream to be so much more than this. I want to feel content with the things I have and I would really enjoy the company of someone next to me sharing all of it.

Is it a sad realization?

This evening a friend and I were speaking of our current passions, goals, dreams, ya know the normal in depth chat you tend to get into with your closest companions. She confessed to me that her new awakened dream is to eventually get married and have kids. Be a wife and a mom #1 dream. I cringed. I made it clear that I didn't approve. I didn't mean to it just happened. See I'm the type of gal that can't hide anything expression wise so I figured I would be honest. I don't know when the personality shift happened, but I can say it was sometime after December 2010. I once had money held over my head, I vowed I would never let that happen again. Call it a little bitter, senile; whatever IT IS WHAT IT IS. I want to be the main bread winner. I want to make enough for me then some extra! I'm not saying I don't want my "hypothetical future husband" to work. Of course he would contribute to the family's being as well...but I want to make more than him ;P. I want nothing more than to climb the corporate ladder somewhere and make a name for myself. MEG D. I want to be the best. Anyways I guess this realization is a bit bitter-sweet for me. My room mate from Germany always wanted to climb the corporate ladder and was super career oriented. She is now pregnant with her first child and is actually excited (she didn't want a child this soon originally) I used to tell her how envious I was of her balls to the walls, go get em, make that money attitude. Somehow the wires have got crossed and she has adopted my dream of being a mother. I have adopted her dream of a career, not quite a family. Sad realization? It just might be. It is just a season though. With any season it is sure to change with time.