some SOUL SEARCHING

I decided to take a few moments to learn more about myself.  And what better way to learn more about yourself than through BuzzFeed quizzes?

I'm not sure how I've managed thus far in life without knowing what chain restaurant I am.  I mean, how come no one told me how important this information is?  Just call me Brad's Wife and order me some cherry pancakes!

It turns out, I was born 50 years too late.  Oops!  Thanks, Mom and Dad.

Thanks to this quiz, I can now plan my life a little bit more realistically.  Looks like I'll be able to take that trip to Branson, MO afterall.

Whoops!  My bad, Isabelle.  Looks like I should've named you Holland.  Sorry, but the quizzes don't lie.

No complaints here.  Jennifer Garner's wardrobe is the best, Mark Ruffalo is hot and that Thriller scene cannot be beat!

.

Okay, you twisted my arm.  I'll go to Stanford.  But, only if Chelsea Clinton and I can share a dorm

Phew!  No more wondering what number I'll pick when someone asks me, "Pick a number between 1 and 5."  Seriously, my mind is so much more at ease.

I still have my Rachel haircut, so this seems fitting.

If you ever find yourself wandering aimlessly or feeling unbalanced, be sure to check out BuzzFeed.  They have the answers to all of life's burning questions.

FAMILY of ORIGIN

I graduated from college in 2004, earning a Bachelor's degree in Family Studies.  I also minored in Psychology.  The plan was to go on to graduate school, but life had other plans for me.

I have never professionally used my degree.  Upon graduation, I started working full-time for a large oil company in which I dealt with things that couldn't be further from what I studied day in and day out for four years.  However, my degree has never gone to waste, and I carry the things I have learned with me everyday.

The first class I took within my program was Marriage and Family Relations.  It was a lower division course, but we talked so much about many useful things, things that have helped me in my relationships {specifically my marriage}, ever since.

For example, we talked about the importance of a person's family of origin.  I remember my textbook specifically stating:  "If you want to understand someone, you must first understand his/her family of origin."  In other words, the family they were born and raised in.

I cannot even begin to explain how useful this information has been for me.  As newlyweds, my husband and I struggled at times with how to work through problems, how to communicate with each other and overall just how to live together.

A lot of our issues boiled down to how we were raised and even where we were raised.  I grew up in the city {not that Salt Lake is a huge city, but a city it is} and he grew up in a small town in Wyoming.  Our life experiences were very different.  Our parents did different things for a living and handled situations differently.  My parents hired everything out.  His family was all about the DIY.  I grew up going to the mall and seeing movies on the weekends.  The closest mall to him was 2 hours away and the first movie theater wasn't built in town until he was in high school.  In short, we had very different perspectives on life.

Despite all of our differences, though, we still get along swimmingly.  But, we're not without our disagreements.

I'll always be grateful for the knowledge I learned about the importance of one's family of origin.  It has helped me understand my husband and has helped me understand his point of view when we haven't seen eye to eye.

{Oh, and in case you're wondering, I LOVE my husband's family of origin.}

GIRL 1 vs GIRL 2

"The purpose of psychology is to give us a completely different idea of the things we know best."

-Paul Valery

I studied psychology in college.  It was my minor, in fact.  I remember during one class, my professor proposed this scenerio:

Girl 1:  One girl gives a guy her phone number.  He tells her he'll call her at a certain time.  And he does.

Girl 2:  This girl gives a guy her phone number.  He tells her he'll call her at a certain time.  But so far she hasn't heard from him.

This goes on for days.

The question is:  Everyday, which girl do you think is waiting for his phone call?

Thoughts?