Happily Emma After

Pride is an iconic flaw that often afflicts some of our favorite characters in entertainment. Prince Adam, in Beauty and the Beast , allowed his pride to keep him from sheltering an old woman (which led to his dismal circumstances). From Star Wars, Anakin’s (aka Darth Vader’s) pride catapulted him to become everything he had sworn to destroy. The Evil Queen in Snow White was compelled to murder because she was dead-set determined to be the “fairest of them all.” Lastly, one of my favorites, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice . Those knuckleheads almost let their pride get in the way of their love! (Those dummies.) In consuming these different forms of media, I will find myself frustrated with characters for their silly follies of pride. “Why can’t they just get over themselves?” or “My heavens, why are you being so dumb?” are often the questions that run through my head. It should be simple right? From the outside, looking in, we have all the answ...

By nature, I am a very boisterous, effervescent person. I love making friends and having a good time. Since getting married, I have discovered an untapped passion for hosting parties and dinners! I love a good joke and will laugh to my heart’s content upon hearing it. Baby-anythings always inspire an elongated, “Aw” from me and sometimes even tears with sobbing words of “It’s so  cute!”   When I love, I love deeply (and I will stick to ‘em like super glue). I am very much a dreamer in all aspects of life. I am constantly thinking up, sketching out, and writing down my ideas. When he does find my jokes amusing, this is the smiling chuckle. (I AM funny and he knows it!) My husband is very much an even-keeled, unflappable man. He has a small, tight-knit group of friends that changes at the pace of molasses in the middle of January. A vast majority of the time, he prefers a night at home with books or a good movie over a night on the town.   His laugh is more of a c...

I love plants! I love looking at them. I love picking them out! I love admiring the variety of colors and textures. And MOST of all, I love taking care of them! Plants, however, are tricky. You need to know how to take care of them. If not the death of your plant is likely. I, unfortunately, have learned this multiple times over. I have killed a plant from over-watering. I have killed a plant from leaving it in the shade. I have killed a plant from leaving it in the Arizona summer sun. I have killed a plant from not understanding the directions on its tag. I have killed plants from potting the wrong ones with each other. I have killed a plant from it dropping off my tailgate right after buying it. I have killed a plant when it flew out the window of my car. (I was going on a trip and was worried it would die while I was gone . Ironically, it died while I was there.) I have killed a plant from leaving it in the car to go into IKEA “real quick.” (There is no such thing as a...

Growing up in the military, you learn to make friends quickly with very little, if any, regard to commonalities. My sister growing up would often ask my mom if she could play at her friend’s house. When asked which one, she would respond with, “the one with the [insert color here] shirt!” If you were our age and liked toys too, BOOM, friends. Thankfully, in a military community, everyone was on the same boat you were; looking for a friend. The fact alone made making friends easier. With getting older, you can’t necessarily go up to someone and say, “Hey! I like your shirt. Let’s be friends!” I mean—you could, but I don’t know how successful you’d be. Most people would probably think you were a weirdo. It was easier, by far, to make friends as a kid. But friendships that last a lifetime? For me, that’s a steep standard to meet. Top: Amy and I on a road trip to Seattle! Left: Me and Danica WAY back in the day! Right: Being a sister and  best friends MEANS photo bomb...

Many people grew up hearing fairy tales. They came with a wide variety of settings and characters. More often than not, these children’s stories always shared a moral or lesson to be learned. In teaching these lessons they were often very black and white; you could always tell who the “bad guy” was. An often used “bad guy” in children’s stories was a wolf. We see this in “Little Red Riding Hood,” where she and her grandmother are devoured by the wolf. We also see this in “The Three Little Pigs,” were they each built different shelters to protect themselves from a hungry wolf. And lastly, we see it in “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” where a boy foolishly gives false alarm so, when real danger comes, again a wolf, no one heeds his true alarm. We see this same setting in the Bible’s New Testament as well. In John chapter ten, we learn the story of the hireling and a shepherd. A hireling, back in the day, was someone employed to undertake menial work. So, as assumed, they would not b...