How Christie Got Her Glow Back...

okay. so i understand things have been a little busy in my life lately, and i know im an emotional person and i wear my emotions on my sleeve (one of my very few flaws, let's be honest... juuust kiddinggg. geez.) but i didnt think it was all that noticeable until you talked to me and i verbal vomited everything going on in my life to you within the first five minutes of conversation (remember? i talk quickly. faster than i type, if you can believe that). basically, i had fooled myself into thinking that im good at hiding my feelings despite already KNOWING that i wear my emotions on my sleeve. sigh. talk about one confused mess, that i am. haha.

anyway, thank goodness i was brought back to reality last week when one of my coworkers returned after a month-long vacation and ever so tactfully mentioned that id seemed to have lost, of all things, my glow.

my GLOW. my christie GLOW. my maliyacular GLOW. omg... my christiemas GLOW.

i know, i know. i had the same reaction. i mean, my glow is like one of my sole contributing components to the betterment of society. without the christie glow, what does christie really add to the world?? (i dont normally ever speak of myself in the third person. it's actually a pet peeve of mine. but whatever. remember that whole thing about how 'fickle' is my middle name? case in point, if you will.) so, needless to say, i kind of flipped out. and by "kind of" flipped out, i mean i only inquired about my glow status with a few other individuals (read: basically my workplace's 26th floor in its entirety as they paraded on by my desk)... and EACH individual i politely questioned (okay, kind of accosted/interrogated) couldn't even LIE about my glow status. it was all a very sad day in christieland.

it was from that point on that i have decided that i simply cannot be having this. i HAVE to get my glow back. i just have to. i mean, how else am i going to reach world domination (ruling by spirit fingers in lieu of the iron fist, and all that... oh you know what? i dont think ive written a blog entry about that topic just yet. oops. ah, for another time) if the essence of me is simply... well, slowly but surely... dimming?

ive put a lot of time and effort into brainstorming ways by which to restore my glow. after such introspective analysis (remember, my friends, the maliyacular is very deep)...ive come up with the following list:

1. LAUGH (or giggle)!! (this is easy- i laugh all the time. im very grateful for this trait- i mean, people are FUNNY. and by funny, i mean absolutely ridiculous.)

2. LISTEN TO CHRISTIEMAS MUSIC!!!! - seriously, i have been SO HAPPY the past few days at work just because i plug right on into my christiemas itunes playlist. seriously, it's A-MAZING how much of a happy place my christiemas music takes me to. and i only have three christiemas cds on my itunes!! (mariah carey... the original. love actuallyafksdljaskdlfjaosij!!!! glee!! and last year's starbucks christiemas cd). in fact, after this whole lack of glow business from last week, i made sure that my christiemas music was playing allllll weekend long (including as i slept... okay, so i woke up at like 4 AM because im a light sleeper and still get super excited each and every f'ing time i hear mariah carey's all i want for christiemas but whatever.)

2a. i know this goes without saying, but if you happen to feel this need to just get up and dance to your christiemas music, i really dont think anyone's going to judge you. if anything, i will solely judge you if you ARE listening to christiemas music and NOT dancing. um hello have you HEARD mariah carey's all i want for christiemas? as a very wise person (me) once said... HELLO.

3. eat, eat, eat! - you realize that the obvious disclaimer to this point is that, when eat, eat, eating, it's only in reference to sugary deliciousness. please note how this is not specific to chocolate, primarily because im not a chocolate kinda gal (i know, i know, blasphemy). sure, i love me the occasional peanut butter nutella cupcake or the occasional snickers/reeses/twix treat, but i am a firm believer that there is more to the land of sweets than chocolate. dont even GET me started on this dark chocolate revolution... but again, for another time.

4. gab, gab, gab! - always have your go-to people with which to take time out and, well, gab, gab, gab! therapeutic, really. it's amazing how easily you can laugh, laugh, laugh when you make it a priority to gab, gab, gab. and it ALL comes full CIRCLE (please reference #1 above!). i LOVE it when this happens!!!

okay. so the list isnt the most comprehensive thing ever (im sorry, but creating a restoring my glow checklist takes a lot of TIME here, people!). but it's covered the ESSENTIALS, right? i mean, you see what's in red above, right? duh.

so, my friends, milk and hot chocolate is the lesson for today (haha get it... it's like the whole idea of "lemons and lemonade" with a holiday twist... hahaha im actually quite proud of it). i mean, i could have completely freaked out with this whole lack of glow revelation... and sure, i did for a little... so maybe i dwelled on this for a couple of minutes (or days). but whatever. the POINT is that i have taken the liberty of re-prioritizing my mindset in order to restore my glow and, thus, maintain a healthier lifestyle (after all, well-rounded is my middle name... HA. hahahaha i just laughed ALOUD at the thought)...

and if i just HAPPEN to achieve world domination along the way well... what's a girl to do, right? im JUST SAYING...

big. fat. laughter. (and giggling. and chortling. and... well, you get the idea)

"the most wasted of all days is one without laughter" - ee cummings

you guessed it... today's gratitude topic? that's right.

big. fat. laughter. (and giggling. and chortling...)

i consider myself to be a very lucky individual, partly because of my ability to find humor (and happiness!) in pretty much any situation. while i tend to laugh at any and every thing, my favorite type of laughter can pretty much only come about when i am surrounded by my college friends. i dont know what it is about being with them, but this sentiment was only further cemented after a mini-college reunion with a few friends last weekend for another friend's (lovely) wedding. maybe it's because we literally can talk about absolutely nothing for hours (and days, let's face it) on end. and maybe it's because we know each other so well (we do, after all, share quite a history). regardless of overanalyzing the WHY of our good times, the fact of the matter is that, after that weekend, i grew ever more aware of how much more appreciative i am of the art of laughter (giggling is, of course, included).

this is why ive decided to take the opportunity to highlight a few people ive encountered in my life who, in my opinion, have pretty much the best laughs/giggles that ive ever heard. please note that the "best" laughs/giggles is most heavily weighted by being addictive in nature...

1. kathy s. - she's one of my absolute best friends, how can i not start out with her? kathy is by far one of the people i have shared a history of incessant giggling/laughter with. whether in person, on the phone, on IM/email (who do you think introduced me to "laksdjflsj!"??). i feel like, more often than not, we have had those stomach-aching, laughing so hard you stop making laughter noise and you are just laughing silently, and (our specialty!) tears in eyes laughter. it doesnt help that when kathy laughs, her eyes become the size of little slits, only further perpetuating my laughter/giggling some more. sigh.
2. sarah d. - when i first met this girl, we had a lovely conversation (just standard, hi how are you stuff). i must admit, i was thrown more than a little off-kilter when she let out her first laugh at something i said. i mean, whatever id said could not have been all that funny, but let me tell you, her laugh came straight from the gut. i actually felt like quite the comedian! talk about a self confidence boost! that was before i realized that this is her standard laugh. she just genuinely finds things to be THAT funny. a-mazing. to this day, she is one of my favorite people, primarily because of her most addictive laugh (and her heart of gold, of course).
3. emily w. - okay, well, im kind of biased because from the very first time i met the dear emily, it was during this training at my old job and i already knew that i wanted to have her as my senior at some point (which worked out! yess!) because she was so gosh darn NICE. thank GOD i got to have her as my senior because i have honestly never laughed so many times on a single project. it helps that she has, quite possibly, the best giggle ive ever heard. one would never be able to misclassify her giggle as a laugh. if there were such a thing as an audio dictionary, her giggle would be the clear-cut definition of the word. it's one of the most addictive things ever. it's like music, really. haha. sorry, em, hope this doesn't creep you out, but i can assure you, we should take a poll and i bet this would be the general consensus.
4. kiley b. - even though i have had the most minimal of interactions with this girl, she is pretty much famous for her laugh. you can essentially hear it from a mile away, because it is a true, belly laugh. for such a tiny girl, im amazed at how bubbly of a laugh/giggle/chortle comes out of her. yes... chortle. i think that is actually the best way to describe it.
5. anthony c. - i just laughed to myself thinking about anthony's laugh. hahaha. there are very few guys who i believe have a distinctive laugh and he is certainly one of them. i cant remember a SINGLE time where he laughed and i didnt start cracking up. hysterically. now HIS laughter would be the audio dictionary's definition of boisterous. that is simply the only way to describe it as it's clearly straight from the gut... and it only helps that it's very... very... well, loud. SIGH I MISS ANTHONY!!! hahaha
6. bhavna - the girl doesnt even need a last initial with her name, let's be honest here. im still trying to decide whether to classify her laugh as a "laugh" or a "giggle". i go back and forth. regardless, it is one of the most addicting things ever. while her antics and/or stories are entertaining enough in their own right, i swear, half the time i laugh at work, it's just because i hear her laugh/giggle... i dont even need to see her laughing to start laughing myself... you can hear her laugh from a mile away. it's only pretty darn fabulous.
7. jermaine p. - okay, i have never met someone who laughs as much as he does. whether hes stressed, annoyed, or just genuinely finding humor in a situation, you can certainly hear his laugh from a mile away as well. between him and bhavna, you really cant get much more laughter in one workplace setting, let's be honest here. i dont know what it is about his laughter that causes me to crack up as well- i cant determine whether it's due to how MUCH he laughs (seriously. he laughs. at. everything.) or whether it's due to the sheer VOLUME of his laugh (seriously. a mile. away.)... but whatever. regardless, life is just that much more jolly in the workplace because of jermaine. hahaha. (and it certainly helps that i know he's an avid blog reader so of COURSE a shout out is in order! hahaha).
8. cliff - my partner in crime for celebrity stalking during the clinton global initiative. you can GUARANTEE there was plenty of laughter to be had during our... shenanigans. i mean, the things we DO for pictures with celebrities. sigh. for another time. cliff, again, is someone that you should hang out with if you want to get a self confidence boost about your ability to entertain. the dude laughs at EVERYthing. i felt SO FUNNY around him. hahaha. one of my favorite memories with cliff involved me ranting and raving about something or other to him (i was genuinely fired UP!) and he was cracking UP because he thought it was entertaining to see me fuming, apparently. while i couldnt help but laugh, myself, i quickly stopped myself short with a "dude, STOP! im being SERIOUS!" to which he IMMEDIATELY ceased the laughter in a (real weak) attempt to feign some degree of seriousness/concern about whatever situation i was all riled up about at the moment (more than likely out of fear of being reprimanded by me, rather than genuine concern, let's be honest here).

so there you have it. while it's well known that one's own laughter is the best medicine, who ever would've thought that other people's laughter would be so nurturing and wonderfully fulfilling to an individual? maybe this isnt normal for most people to analyze and celebrate such a natural, everyday occurrence, but i dont care. i love laughter! why NOT celebrate it?!