Choosing the right one (for me)

Hello my faithful readers:

I haven't written very much on this blog lately because I have a new blog I'm writing about my time in Belgium called "A Broad in Belgium." Please check it out when you have a chance; especially if you haven't already. Today I had an epiphany and felt compelled to blog about my history with houseplants. More specifically -- all about every attempt to keep a houseplant, within the past few years of my life, has resulted in their death within 1 week of my purchase or receiving them.

I remember back when college never wanting to keep a plant in my dorm room because I knew that I would kill it. Even then I knew that I just don't have the green thumb that my Mom seems to effortlessly have. I used to help her with watering her plants as one of my chores and I never killed any of them, but on the flip side I've killed many of my own plants as a teenager.

It finally hit me today that my relationships with houseplants has a strong correlation with my romantic relationships (or lack of them). I never really thought about the correlation until today to be totally honest. Today as I looked at the dead plant I bought a couple of weeks ago at Ikea , I realized it's not completely about my ability to nurture the plants that is causing them to die so quickly. The root of the issue starts with my selection process. In the past as with my houseplants I've chosen plants (mates) that weren't right for me and without doing any research beyond the fact that I thought they looked good to me.

After taking a little more time to get to know about the plant before I buy it, I realize that I shouldn't be forcing it into my environment without making a few adjustments of my own. I need to nurture them yes, but I also need to make sure that I'm ready to have a plant in my life. Think about this-- if you bring a plant into your home and you don't have the right lighting conditions or temperature for it, then it might not be the right plant for you or your lifestyle. Combine that with the other elements like not having the time to properly water the plant, talk to it or give it enough attention, then maybe it's not the right time to bring a plant into your (my) life. It's never pleasant realizing that you're just not made for each other, but if you aren't then it won't last and one of you could die. If you believe in survival of the fittest then I'm the strongest party in all of my relationships with plants. As a result they end up suffering and dying quick deaths because of my mistakes.

As far as my dating life here in Belgium that's slow going, but I did get an offer from a nice man from Congo (Africa) who is studying law here at K.U. Leuven (the main University here in town). I took his phone number without the intention of ever calling him again (he was just too short and smelly for me), but running into him again a couple of weeks later made me realize the city where I'm attending college in is way too small to hope not to run into them ever again. The second time we saw each other he came up to me and said "I thought you said you were going to call me" and I made a lame excuse about being too busy. In truth I was too busy, but I also wasn't very interested in him and now being in a new environment I realize now that I should stop my bad habit of taking phone numbers which I'll never use. It's something I did in NYC just to get people off my back so that I didn't appear rude. I did it a lot (ok way too much) and most of the time I never used any of the numbers, especially if I didn't give them my number.

There are lots of very young people here in Leuven and many of my classmates are married or already in relationships. I am starting to think about dating a little more now that I'm getting settled in and while I still have time to try. Right now things are busy with school, but this will be the easiest part of the year for us in general. In the new year things are going to get pretty intense and hectic with our workload. I plan to enjoy my time here to the best of my abilities.

Thanks for reading and I do hope you'll check out my other blog page. Currently I am updating that one once a week. I'll also be blogging for the Financial Times MBA Blog about my experiences as a Vlerick Leuven student starting in late October. I'm very excited about this year and so far I'm having a great time here in Belgium. Have a great week.

Mwuah,

Georgia Peach.