look around your world pretty baby...

so for my friend's bridal shower i compiled a cd of some classic, semi-sappy (and maybe a little cliched) love songs to play during the evening o' cheesy, girlie, bridal-shower goodness. i have the playlist saved on my real-rhapsody (yeah baby!) account and i have to admit i really love listening to it. i know some of my friends would roll their eyes at this but some of my fav's are alison krauss' "when you say nothing at all," whitney houston's "i will always love you," enirique jammin' out "hero" (eek! i can't believe i am confessing this!), etta james' "at last," i can't forget ub40's version of "can't help falling in love with you," and of course marvin gaye's "ain't no mountain high enough."
maybe i'm the only one whose stomach still fills with excitement at the thought of those early days of romance...middle school dances, passing notes, the day before feb 14th when you agonized over whether to give jared blum the "you're cool" or "you're cute" valentine...eek!!! i was always filled with so much wonder and anticipation for life and love. i'll be honest, i was enchanted. even in my first few years of college i think i continued to swoon at every thought and word tied to romance.
so what's with this sudden resurgence of rose-coloredness to my life???
it seems at every turn eros has laughed in my face and said "fat chance chica, this romance thing isn't for you...why don't you try back in about ten decades?!" leaving me to be quite the romance cynic and, at times, an embittered boy-hater.
admittedly, when i made this cd for my friend, i was inclined to choose the most grossly hyperbolic love songs...in a bit of malicious revenge on my foolish heart i chose some of those songs i remember hearing for the first time and closing my eyes as i envisioned the day i would fall in love with such depth and purpose and richness...gag me! thus, there was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek scoffing as i rolled my eyes and assembled the playlist, thinking of how there was a time when i actually bought the crap these people were singing about.
one day i had the cd in my car and i was bored so i popped it into my purple audiovox cd-player. its been there ever since...and i cna't get enough!
at first i was a little concerned by my sudden infatuation with the cd but i told myself it was probably a good thing that i was actually enjoying some stupid, sappy loves songs instead of the r&b crap i typically fill my car with. i guess its really going to my head though because the other day i caught myself singing "danke shoen" to all my baristas at work.
one of them turned to me and said "what's with you?...did you fall in love or something?!" quite suddenly i was awakened to the fact that indeed i have fallen in love.
and that's when i started shrinking myself...doing a little self-psycho analysis.