"Is This Friendship? I Think So!"

Here's what I know:

Plants need water,

The earth revolves around the sun,

and everyone loves bromances.

I don't know how to explain it, but every girl loves a boy with good bromance. There is just something so attractive about guys having that one buddy with a semi-questionable relationship.

I mean, next to wearing a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to their elbows(SWOON) bromances are the next best thing.

So here are the top 10 bromances, both real and fake, that make my uterus skip a beat.

10. Schmidt and Jenko(21 Jump Street)

Jenko was the cool, popular jock in high school who used to make fun of poor little Schmidt; but once those two ended up in the police academy together they combined forces. Jenko having the muscles and Schmidt having the brains- these two made the dream team for defeating some hipster drug dealers. 

Through thick and thin these two always have each other's backs.

And some mad dance skills.

9. Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston

Oh man, these two. THESE TWO.

Honey badger don't care that they play dueling brothers; their love and adoration for each other just can't be denied. 

You can't really blame them either. 

Come on, how is Chris supposed to say no to this?

And how on earth is Mr. Hiddleston supposed to ignore all of this?

Answer: They couldn't.

8. Adam Levine and Blake Shelton

Recently I've been feeling like country and pop music have been overlapping a little bit too much thanks to people like, Taylor Swift(SHE'S NOT COUNTRY) but when it comes to Adam and Blake I'll ask for seconds. 

These two were brought together thanks to 'The Voice' and I'm grateful for it everyday. I could care less about the singing talent laid before me on stage, all I care about seeing is these two interact together. 

Let's just take a moment to thank the Bromance Gods for this.

7. Eric and Bill (True Blood)

While it's true that for the majority of the series Bill and Eric despise each other, during season five of the HBO series it started off with a pretty adorable little bromance. Both trying to get away from The Authority they stick together like white on rice; that is until Bill goes a little cray cray. Irregardless, many a moments had my little heart thumpin' and gave me yet ANOTHER reason to watch this show. 

6.  Jim and Dwight (The Office)

Sure for most of the show Jim was constantly pranking Dwight and Dwight was constantly trying to get above Jim professionally, but there was no denying the deep love these two truly had for each other. Some of the most touching moments were when Jim was comforting a broken-hearted Dwight with his break-up with Angela and then Dwight making Jim his best man at his wedding in the series finale. 

SOME TEARS HAVE BEEN SHED OVER THESE TWO.

5.  Dean Winchester and Castiel (Supernatural)

Truthfully, these two have quite the bromance off-screen as well, but I'm just going to focus on the characters.

Hhmmm....how on earth do I even sum up these two's relationship.

I can't. 

So, we're just going to sit here and enjoy some pretty adorable pictures, Okay?

4. Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki 

Whenever I see these two together my feels go all over the place.

They play brothers on the show 'Supernatural' and have developed a true-life brotherhood. I can't even describe how adorable they are. 

" Jared and I are lucky to get along so well without having any effort to make. One day, the producers came to see us and told us they had never worked with actors who got along so well. It gives us the opportunity to make the relationship between Sam and Dean have credibility. I think the audience feels how much Jared and I like being together."

3. Zach Braff and Donald Faison

Another case where a TV show brought us one of the bestest bromances to ever grace the planet. Not only did these two have a pretty cutie bromance on screen, but it came out into real life too. 

I CAN'T.

Alright, these last two are more-or-less tied. I just can't decide.

2. Cory and Shawn (Boy Meets World)

Arguably one of the original bromances, no other one has ever been so heart-wrenching and precious. We watched these two grow up together and go through the trials of adolescence and adulthood together. Sure Cory and Topanga made a cute couple, but these two were the real soul-mates. 

1. Chandler and Joey (F.R.I.E.N.D.S.)

FOR THE LOVE OF MY FEELS. THESE TWO. 

Always there for each other and just UGHHH. 

I WANT MY OWN CHANDLER BING AND I WANT HIM TO HAVE HIS JOEY. 

True, all of the characters on this show were, obviously, friends- best friends- but only Chandler and Joey, or better known has J-Man and Channy, had the most apparent bromance. 

TRUE LOVE.

#foreverfangirl

"With Enough Courage, You Can Do Without a Reputation."

Alright peeps, I'm not one to usually have very serious or in any way emotional posts, status updates, etc. since I have the emotional range of Kristen Stewart in any movie ever, but I've been feeling the notion to share the following, so please bear with me and I'll try to make this as painless as possible.

* Author's note: I'm not the most eloquent writer nor am I 

stellar at formulating my thoughts; so I'm sorry if the following 

post seems a bit all over the place.

The first thing I'd like to talk about is my mission.

For those who may not be aware, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints(Mormon)and plan on leaving for a church mission of 18 months in October. I'm honestly super excited and nervous and just a whole bunch of other emotions, but that's not my main point of this. 

What I really want to talk about regarding my mission is how I ended up deciding to go.

A lot of you didn't know me during my teenage years(God was looking out for you, my friend) but I was a bit out there. By out there, I mean I wasn't Miss Molly Mormon..by a long shot. In fact, for 6 years I wanted nothing to do with the church.

I have no idea what brought on this feeling inside of me, but for whatever reason I just wanted to rebel and prove to everyone how "not Mormon" I was. So I did.

Now, I still went to church every Sunday and was apart of church activities, because my parents were/are very active members of the church. I can literally count on one hand how many Sundays I didn't attend church. 

Nevertheless, I was a little hellion. My Mother, to this day, always tells me that I wasn't nearly as bad I say/think I was(and by this point I can honestly say my mother knows everything I had done, because I hate keeping things from her), but I still did my fair share of damage. And I don't mean just going over to a friend's house and watching an 'R' rated movie when I wasn't supposed to. 

Thankfully, I never did anything too stupid to cause any sort of permanent damage, but I was still stupid. 

So for 6 years I was a little butt. Just having the worst attitude towards church, or any religion for that matter, and for no real reason.

Then, things started changing my senior year of high school. Just a little. Even there I can't pinpoint a moment where things slowly started changing, but they were. I still had a bit of a 'tude going on, but it was softening. However, even by graduation I still hadn't fully gotten on board with loving the idea church. 

In fact, I was planning on taking a full-fledged break from church when I got to college. Seeing as I wasn't going to any of the BYU's and having my freedom I was going to enjoy sleeping-in on Sundays, not even tell any friends that I met that I was Mormon, and maybe even party a bit. I was just going to take a little "holiday" from church.

Well, that plan didn't go through.

I didn't even get through the first week of classes before I had told my new friends/roommate that I was a Mormon.

How this came up was that we(5 of us) were all hanging out in someone's room just talking and somehow religion came up. And then the next thing I know, I'm apparently confessing my Mormonism. And what do you know, none of the following 4 people really had any idea what Mormons were nor had ever met one. 

So, my one little comment turned into an all-nighter Q&A about Mormonism. Literally up until 6 o'clock in the morning with them just asking me questions. 

It was during this time that a little light bulb happened, I realized that I actually believe in all the doctrine and scripture that I had been trying to deny for the past 6 years.

I was shocked.

It was from that moment on that I decided I needed to re-evaluate my life and goals. 

From there I ended up emailing one of the church leaders of the local congregation(he also happened to be a professor at the school I was attending) and was then hooked up with rides and so on to get me to church on Sundays and any church activities during the week.

It was this local congregation that really helped me as well. From the first Sunday I showed up I absolutely loved the people I was with. It was a tiny group of people(at least compared to the huge groups I was accustomed to)because I went to school in a small town.

But these people were part of my saving grace. They were/are the most welcoming and kind group of individuals I had ever really come across at church.

Now, not to dog members of the congregations I went to in Tennessee New York, or Pittsburgh, because I have absolutely adored a number of individuals in each of those places and had/have some really good friends there, but the people of my little college-town made me feel more welcomed and not judged more than any other place I'd ever been to.

And for that, I will always love them to pieces and will always hold them in a special place in my heart.

(Here's to you, Indiana, PA)

So now onto the how I decided to go on a mission.
When I made my announcement of going on a mission and my area on Facebook I know I ended up surprising a lot, of people. 

For anyone who knows me personally, they probably heard multiple times how I vowed that I would never, ever go on a mission. And I was asked a lot if I'd go since I had both my brother and sister go on missions.  

And every time I was asked I'd be like

Then, in summer 2012 all of a sudden I just started contemplating the idea. Literally out of nowhere. I'm pretty sure I was just driving to work when the idea popped in my head. 

And it wouldn't. go. away. 

So, I then started kinda asking my sister(the one who went on a mission)how it worked. How was it for her taking 18 months off of school and so on. I was a little concerned because I was in nursing school, and it sucks just stopping in the middle of that.

But I remembered her saying "everything just works out. I don't know how, it just does."

When summer was over I kinda dropped the subject. It was still in the back of my mind, but I wasn't voicing it too much. It wouldn't be until October that I would start asking my brother about it and so on.

When I was talking to him about it I was concerned because, at the time, the age you had to be to go on a mission was 21(for girls. Boys was 19)and I wouldn't be 21 until October 2013, figuring out school around that was going to be interesting.

However, from that point I was pretty sure I wanted to go and I would just need to have faith that everything would work itself out.

Literally the weekend after talking to my brother the church announced that they were lowering the ages to 18 for boys and 19 for girls.

Problem solved.

From that moment on it was pretty much a go. I could start working on my missionary application and get to leave earlier than I would have originally and everything with school was A-Okay. In fact, for not going a to 'Mormon' school, and being in a nursing school for that matter, they were really supportive. Sure, they didn't totally understand why I couldn't wait until after I graduated, but supportive nonetheless and said they would hold my spot for me when I came back.

So now I'm headed to Salt Lake City, Utah.

And if any of you know me personally, you know the irony in that. :P

But honestly, I couldn't be more excited. Sure, when I had first found out where I was going I was a little disappointed; I'm not going to sit here and lie, but seriously, after an hour had passed that disappointment left and I knew I was going where I'm needed.  

Plus, I got this awesome shirt.

Alright, so hopefully you're still with me. I've still got one more topic to discuss.

Now, while I may be going on a mission, that doesn't mean I'm perfect.

Let me explain where I'm coming from.

I don't know how many of you are aware, but Mormons have some reputations. Some refer them to "Mormon Culture."

By the term "Mormon Culture" I mean that it's not doctrine, but simply some of the member's own interpretation of how life should be.

For example:

Mormons aren't allowed to drink anything with caffeine: FALSE.

Mormons aren't allowed to see 'R' rated movies: FALSE.
The fact that women aren't "supposed" to wear pants to church: FALSE.

and so on..

First of all, I'd like to say Mormons can do whatever they want; that's the whole point of free agency. 

I could go smoke a whole pack of cigarettes, but I'm CHOOSING not to. 

I digress...

This whole "Mormon Culture" thing was part of the reason I wasn't a fan of the church for those 6 years. See, for those 6 years I didn't realize that it wasn't the doctrinal teachings that I didn't believe in, it was the fact that so many(NOT ALL)but a few had taken it upon themselves to interpret certain things and decided to judge those who did things differently than them.

Like the caffeine. Where that originates from is "The Word of Wisdom." In here it's stated that we should refrain from hot liquid beverages and later revealed to us that that meant coffee and tea.

Well, someone along the way turned that into, "Oh, we're not allowed to have coffee or tea because it's so high in caffeine; ergo we're not allowed to have soda."

Um...no. You're wrong. We don't know why exactly we're not supposed to drink hot coffee or tea, but it isn't because of the caffeine. 

"Despite what was reported, the Church revelation spelling out health practices (Doctrine and Covenants 89) does not mention the use of caffeine.  The Church’s health guidelines prohibit alcoholic drinks, smoking or chewing of tobacco, and “hot drinks” — taught by Church leaders to refer specifically to tea and coffee.*"

 http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-news--getting-it-right-august-29

Anyway, the caffeine debacle wasn't my main point of this.

I think at the end of the day what the problem is is that people are just so judgmental. I'd be lying if I said I have never judged, obviously I have, but the problem is that the number one place a person shouldn't have to worry about being judged is at church. Any church. Not just the LDS church, but I believe most, if not all, Christian churches teach that judging is wrong.

Yet, for some people that's where they feel judged the most, myself included. 

"A church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for

 saints." - Pauline Phillips

For a while I felt like I had to put on an act at church, make people think I was perfect, because sometimes that's how it comes across. That you have to be perfect all the time. But it's taken me 20 years to get to where I am today.

And here's where I am:

As I've stated before, I'm not Miss Molly Mormon and proud not to be. I drink my diet coke, I'm sarcastic, watch my 'R' rated movies, and sometimes I curse.

I'm not perfect and that's okay. 
It doesn't diminish my testimony of the gospel or make me "less-of-a-Mormon" than anyone else. 

At the end of the day, I know I'm a good person and that most importantly my Heavenly Father loves me and will always love me no matter what stupid things I do. 

It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks or how anyone else believes I should behave or act; I know that I'm doing pretty good and I'm finally comfortable in my own skin and my own decisions.

I'm hoping that I can somewhat be an example to those around me, mostly the youth and converts, just so that they know that it's okay that they make mistakes. You're supposed to, that's how we learn. There's no sin or mistake that you can't come back from, that's why we have the atonement. 

Don't worry what others are/could be saying around you. You just need to do what's right for you and do the best that you can.  

 1 ^aJudge not, that ye be not ^bjudged.

 2 For with what ^ajudgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what ^bmeasure ye mete, it shall be ^cmeasured to you again.

Matthew 7:1-2

TA-DA! You made it through my most serious post yet!!

You go Glenn Coco!