what i'd tell myself at 16.

Rob once told me that time is like a big pie (us, comparing things to food - shocking, I know). If your age is relative to the number of pieces of pie, that's how big a year seems to us. So, if a pie has four pieces to represent your four years of age, each year seems huge - time is so new to us, and the ten minute trip to my grandparents' house as a kid seemed like an eternity. Now, at 26, the pieces of pie keep getting smaller. A year flies by in the blink of an eye, and I crave an extra few minutes in my car to enjoy some good music and a little peace and quiet before I'm on to the next adventure. Rob and I are wedding planning for potential dates in 2014 - and to say it out loud seems like we'll never get there (I keep thinking we'd have to pass through TWO more Christmases before we get married, which seems totally unbearable). But I already know that time will fly by too. Our blissful, kid-on-Christmas engagement will be over before I know it. 

I started thinking about how much my life has changed - not just in the past few years, but over the last decade. To say I'm experienced at life would be total arrogance on my part. There's much to be learned, places I haven't seen, people I have yet to meet and trials and tribulations I have yet to experience. But damn, I wish I could reach back, grab my 16 year old self by the shoulders, shake her into submission and tell her it's going to be okay. At 16, you think you know everything (this is also common at 18, 21, and probably now as well), but you're really so green to the world and you don't even know it. You're so caught up in the boy of the moment, your monster of a teacher, your less-than-fair parents and that bitch who keeps giving you snide looks in second period. If I could, with all of my 26 year old wisdom and knowledge, tell my 16 year old self anything, I'd tell her:

Stop skimming through the cliff notes of all the books you have to read in English. One day, you'll wish you'd spent more time reading the classics and less time watching the Real World and TRL. Also, do not draw on your books. It's not cool, and you'll regret it later when you open up a copy of Catcher In the Rye and there are doodles of hearts and a boy's name in it.

Stop hating your pain-in-the-ass teachers. You'll eventually go to college, work with other kids and other communities and learn that you were so insanely lucky to have such a fabulous school district with the standards that would eventually put you light years ahead of kids who weren't as fortunate as you.

Give your parents some credit. You will look back with disgust at some of the things you did growing up, and you'll understand why your parents tried to deter you from doing them. Blue glittery lipstick is not cool, and neither were JNCO jeans, or liking Limp Bizkit. While slightly over the top, they were probably right to disapprove of you watching that much MTV, listening to 94.5 FM "The Beat" and sneaking out of the house. One day, you'll never want to leave your house, and especially not to walk the streets in the middle of the night "for fun."

One day, you will read a series of books so great that it will completely change the way you feel about literature. So if the classics aren't cutting it for you, please don't despair. JK Rowling will provide you with an entire second world to live in, as well as the best set of accompanying movies anyone will ever make. Then someone else will come along and create a series about vampires that everyone tries to compare to this fabulous series you love, and you will spend the rest of your days arguing with the non-understanders why the vampire series should never even be uttered in the same breath as your magical seven books. Shun the nonbelievers. There's nothing wrong with magic.

Love every minute of every relationship you ever have. If you don't, it'll never lead you to the one that matters. Don't listen to people who think they can tell you how to live your life, and certainly don't bend or shape your decisions to please the people around you. People will disapprove of so many choices you make, but this is your party, not their's. Drink the extra beer, take the extra shot, say yes more, meet new people and don't stop hanging out in a bar just because someone else says you ought to. 

Understand how to treat your body. Everything gets harder the older you get, and please don't think that "dieting" means eating lettuce and chicken all day every day for the rest of your life. Exercise doesn't have to be awful, nor does eating healthy. Educate yourself, compromise, compensate and most of all, find a healthy way to live that you actually enjoy. And please do not wait until your 20s to lose weight. Your 26 year old self will hate you for it.

Don't be scared to explore your passions in college. You don't have to always do what you're "supposed to do." Be willing to take a risk, go after what you want and don't let insecurity trick you into thinking you're not good enough. The world is full of people just waiting to tell you they're better than you - and that's only bad if you believe them.

Don't always listen to your parents. They mean well, but they're also just trying to protect you from what they see as evils and all things inappropriate and unnecessary. Having their voice in the back of your head is probably a good thing, but know when to turn it off. Chances are, they've probably experienced much more than you did and know which of those experiences they'd like their children to have - but honestly, the fun ones are probably the ones they're hiding from you.

Listen to your parents. I know, I'm such a liar. But really. In the big, grand scheme of this thing called life, you really ought to trust them. If they don't like your boyfriend, chances are he's a big douchebag. If they tell you to wait until after college to get a dog, there may be some logic to that notion. You will spend the early part of your adult life desperately trying to get away from their opinions and judgment, and then there will come a time where you don't know how to function without it. One day, you'll want their opinions, blindly trust their judgment and consider them the source of all things holy. 

Enjoy your friends. The older you get, the harder it is to make time for the things you used to take for granted. Friends grow up, grow apart, get married, and have babies. Before you know it, you'll be planning dinners two weeks out, planning for girls' weekends months in advance and wishing it were as simple as riding your bike down the street and spending 8 hours playing outside with the entire neighborhood. 

Learn how to save and budget your money. The small paychecks or allowance you get is easily blown on ice cream and Steak'n'Shake nights after the football game, but your ability to budget $20 will go a long way when you're 26. 

Always remember the sports or activities your high school was known for - they will come in extremely handy if you end up marrying someone from a rival school. Luckily, I'm always able to play the "we have an awesome marching band" card - unfortunately, Rob feels this is irrelevant to the ONE game his school won against mine in football.

There's so much to learn. There's so much to experience - and I standing right on the edge, about to dive head first into a brand new thing called marriage (which I feel like, unfortunately, officially makes me an adult), but I already feel like I've learned so much. Thanks, Mom and Dad, I guess this means you did a good job? (but you obviously already knew that!)