My real life fairy tale

Despite the failure rate of marriages today, quite a few of my friends' parents are married and going strong. Being from a split family, I often get that inevitable question, "Do you like your mom's new husband?" and it seems ridiculous to me. First of all, they've been married 9 years, and together for almost 12, so he's hardly "new". Second of all, if I hated the guy I honestly believe my mom never would have married him. But the fact is that he's not a bad guy. My brothers have their opinions about him, but I have to admit that my life would be far worse without him for many reasons. The biggest one is obvious - My little prince.

I have 3 younger brothers, but Dan will be 9 this year. Most people don't even realize that he's my half brother because honestly, I forget. I never even use that word, half. I whole love him. He's not such a little prince any more and I'll admit sometimes people give me a hard time for our nickname for him. When he was little he loved to watch Bambi 2, and all of the forest animals referred to the little deer as the "little Prince." I got into the habit of waking him up in the morning saying "hello little prince!" in the voices of the birds, and it stuck like glue.

The truth is, there is so much more to it for me. Every little princess dreams of her prince coming to save her on a white horse and taking her away to a happy land. The one time Dan rode a horse he fell asleep on it. My prince can't ride a horse, and he's only 8, but God knows he saved me. I would never say I had a difficult childhood, I was never hungry and I never wanted for anything and I am so thankful to ALL THREE of my parents for that, but the truth is that I rarely felt like a kid. When I was 11 and Dan was born, I learned how to be a kid. He taught me the innocence in happiness and that truthfulness will always set you free. He taught me to do what I love because I can, and to always make time for the people I love because they won't always be the people I remembered. He taught me to appreciate the littlest things and that if I don't like something I don't have to do it. He never realized or meant to teach me life's greatest lessons, but I do not doubt for a second that God sent him to us for a reason.

Daniel was one of the biggest parts of God's plan for me thus far and I know he will continue to be. The Lord gives me the tough fights because He knows I will grow stronger, and I know that my intelligent and loving baby brother will be there with a hug every step. Danny boy, if you ever see this, I love you and you are ALWAYS my best friend.

Alaska Golightly

Pretty much anyone can tell you that my favorite book of all time is John Green's Looking for Alaska. I always wished I could be as flighty and creative and outgoing and honestly just as brutal and badass as Alaska Young. She was like the girl version of my best guy friend, so I was halfway in love with this fictional teenage girl.

For years now, I've adored Audrey Hepburn as the picture perfect image of class and glamour. I was even Holly Golightly for halloween a few years ago. Ashamedly, I finally watched Breakfast at Tiffany's earlier this week. As I watched it, I noticed the most ridiculous thing.

Holly Golightly and Alaska Young could be the same person. They are both unpredictable and no one knows what they're thinking. They both put the new guy in town in the friend zone without letting him know. They both drink and smoke as if they can't wait to drown their troubles. They have radically different fates, but from ten minutes in I started making comparisons. I love classics, and I love getting lost in characters. I can't wait to watch another Audrey film.

in the clouds

That's where you'll find my head most of the time. I like to dream, and I like to pretend that this will be the place I can create "a perfect world," and God knows I'll rant until someone hears me. So listen up, world.