blushing

blushing can be a beautiful thing.  it can lend a soft, pink hue to one's cheeks, lighting one's visage, and adding a timid and fetching femininity to one's vulnerability rather like this, or this, or this:

or, blushing can be more brazen, more brash, more red. 

i've been blushing a lot lately.  i've often thought (and said) that i go through phases of blushing and not-blushing, phases where my feelings get the better of my cheeks and me, and phases where we master them.  and then yesterday came, and my best friend told me that i have always been a blusher and have been in denial about it for years.  deep, deep down, i knew that she was right.  so, i think it's time to face the music: i blush.  i blush deeply, and i blush often.  i wear my vulnerability on my facial skin.  and that's ok.  it is time to embrace the blushing.  in order to embrace the blushing, i must understand the blushing.

when i blush, i feel scorched, burned, branded, ablaze.  my emotions have seared their way across my very face, and my face does not like it.  no, not one bit.  my face and i are private creatures.  we would rather not let the world know what we are feeling.  it's embarrassing when our embarrassment is tattooed upon us.

but, blushing is not without its virtues.  blushing is honest, open, candid, and frank.  it is bold, daring, audacious, and cheeky.  it does not hide itself.  instead, it displays itself in all of its rosy glory.  i can stand to be more like that.  and so, i will blush loud and i will blush proud.

blush on.

let's get real...

about diet coke.  i LOVE the stuff.

i usually drink this much of it:

but i would totally drink this much of it if 7-eleven would but give me the cup.

it is cool, it is sweet, it is calorie free.  you can drink it plain, or you can dress it up.  i, generally, dress it up a bit.  i throw in a lime.  i put in a splash of sprite.  i go crazy and add a lime AND some sprite.  or, when i'm feeling especially bold, i splurge for a slutty diet coke.  (slutty diet coke: diet coke mixed with any number of slurpee flavors.  especially delicious when paired with cherry, pina-colada, or lime.)  

diet coke has taken me through my ups and my downs.   it is every bit as friendly and comforting during bad days, late nights, and long classes as it is at lake powell.

photo cred: melinda- "diet coke...cures what ailes ya."

we have had a long and fulfilling relationship, diet coke and i.  but, if i am being honest with myself, i think it has gone too far.  i think i have loved diet coke too much, i have become co-dependant, and i have ignored and excluded all other beverages from my life.  including water.  sometimes, the only water i drink in a day is the water i use to rinse my mouth after brushing my teeth.  which is alarming.  and sad.  and unhealthy.  

so, i am taking a two-week break from diet coke.  i'm leaving it cold-turkey...for fourteen days.  i'm scared.  i'm jittery.  i'm a little lost.  but, i think it's necessary.  and, when this two week probation period is over, hopefully i will be able to go back to my dear cola friend, in healthy doses.