The pop star is taking her lovelorn anthems—including her new single "Sparks Fly"—across the country in one of the biggest tours this summer, but her lyrics seem to have gotten a little help from a literary predecessor. Can you guess which lines are by the young songstress and which were penned by the "Pride and Prejudice" author?
I’m guessing that The Girl Who Let Me had been looking at the mountains, waiting for a boy, any boy, to come along. I wish I could remember her name. I said hello, and she said hello, and I said I lived up the road—not mentioning that I was one of the weird missionaries, though later she told me she knew who I was because her uncle disapproved of us Schaeffers and said so. Anyway, that first day she didn’t ask awkward questions. I asked her where she was from, and she answered Paris, and then, with a sudden flash of inspiration, I asked her if she’d like to go for a walk because the crocuses were still blooming only a fifteen-minute hike up the steep path. She said yes!
Do you and your spouse use a single, joint checking account? Or do you choose to keep separate bank accounts? Have you considered the alternatives? I was frankly surprised at the responses I’ve heard to these questions over the past week or so. And I was really shocked at the emotional reaction that many have in defending the structure of their family finances.
Every week we can manage, Traditional Love rounds up the best articles on the web about love and marriage and this week we found some doozies. NPR criticizes The Bachelor's choice of brides (oh snap!) and Stephanie Coontz calls marriage the "catalyst for divorce" and former child star Melissa Gilbert tries to recussitate her 16-year marriage. Phew. That, and more. What were you talking about this week?
This week, in order to distract us from high gas prices and impending revolution in the Middle East and Wisconsin, we learned a lot about Facebook and your marriage from The Social Media Couple. Also, how does Newt Gingrich explain his marriage and infidelity. In fact, how does anyone explain infidelity? Good luck with that one, Newt. Finally, what do you think about pre-marital counseling? Let us know by taking our survey.
We kissed for the first time after a techno party. I had covered my face in an invisible paint that glowed under a black light, and after all the guests left, the paint slowly covered her lips and face. I thought kissing was like licking an ice-cream cone, which is probably why she kept laughing as she taught me what to do, and a lot of what not to do, with my awkward tongue and teeth and lips. At sunrise I walked Jess home, grateful and covered in glow paint, surprised by how different she looked outside the thrill of the ultraviolet light.
In every marriage, divorce is contemplated at least once. Although, I suspect, in the best marriages it's considered three times a week. For one bickering couple, divorce was not only contemplated, but they tried it out in a dress rehersal of sorts and what they found out was they liked marriage better. That's what we are talking about this week, rehearsing divorce,, giving it up for Lent and whether marriage is a hellish trap designed to enslave gifted woman. *Cue evil laugh*
First, I had to free myself, to realize it was okay to put myself first sometimes, that I had a right to life too. "Can you watch the kids tonight?" I'd ask Matt, slipping on earrings, off for a night out with girlfriends. Soon I started dressing better during oppressive Minnesota winters; thinking more; feeling engaged mentally even when I wasn't. Because as my peer group stretched, I got support, ears to listen, voices that identified; I didn't depend solely on Matt for validation or appreciation. And through that I found my voice.
If you or someone you know lives in a state of constant drama, trauma, chaos and suffering, it IS possible to change. It’s not going to happen overnight though. It will take time, and you will have to learn how to enjoy happiness and other positive emotions, to really feel the fullness and excitement that comes with feeling GOOD.
My husband and I recently celebrated our 20 year anniversary. I bought my husband a small gift and when I ask what he got me- he told me I was not worth getting anything. This really hurt, my husband does not show any kind of affection or consideration for other people's feelings. When he is confronted he just replies "You knew this when you married me." But this is the least of the problems: he refuses to "man up" and be a father to his two boys- the older one is about to graduate from high school and constantly is getting in trouble and my youngest son is in his early teens. My husband talks down women in general and my older son has learned from this and absolutely hates any kind of authority especially from women. I can't talk to him because he acts and says everything just like my husband- he is an exact clone of my husband!! When I ask my husband for help with the kids, he says I am shitting on him by telling him my problems with the kids and to just leave him alone. I really can't go on living like this. I feel like I am a maid and a sex toy not a wife. Any advice would be very helpful.
As a teenager, I had secretly assumed that many of these restrictions were out-dated and unnecessary, thus I decided to try and intellectually prove that premarital sex fit into that category. Over a period of months, whenever I had free time I would dive into the index of my Bible and search for all the verses that said anything at all about sex. I read over them carefully, searching for a loophole—some fact, some story, some statement that I could pluck up and use as my justification.
