Welcome!

First and foremost, thank you for sharing your time with me by visiting my blog today. I’m here because of you. I want to get to know you, but not in a creeper kind of way. It is only natural that my first official post to The Filthy Casual Blog be an introduction.

My name is La Shell. I am married to my husband, Casey. I have one child from my first marriage. He is currently a freshman at The University of Texas at Arlington studying music education.

I started this blog because others had faith in me. Friends and family have been planting the seed for years now. They seem to think I’m worthy of having my own audience, so here I am.

When I considered the direction I wanted to take, I decided that I wanted to keep it real. I wanted something that my future readers could relate to. We live in this social media and Photoshop-corrupted world where we feel like we have to put on a certain mask to be acceptable.

Screw. That.

Look, I am a 200 lbs., 5’2” Asian woman that not only lives in some of those stereotypes, but I also try to defy them.

I took the road less traveled. I joined the Army, got married, and had my son in the span of my first year out of high school.  I was a flute and piccolo player for the Army and married a fellow Army musician. I transitioned from soldier to stay-at-home Mom where I wallowed in depression. I was isolated and alone with no support system other than being able to play EverQuest with my older sister. Just like many, I struggle with mental illness and my then-husband was not capable of taking care of me the way I needed. We were both incapable of meeting each other’s needs. I am the poster child of getting married young and stupid.

You know in The Lion King when Mufasa gestures his paw to the vast savanna and tells Simba, “Look, Simba. Everything the light touches is our kingdom.”

And, cute Simba replies, “Everything the light touches…But, what about that shadowy place?”

The answer is: My first marriage…

After my divorce, an online gamer friend of mine stepped up and stood by my side. After a year of long-distance dating, he moved to Texas and we got married. We’ve been married 8 years. People scoff at meeting people online and diminish relationships initiated online. Two people can’t possibly have a healthy and lasting relationship if they met online.

WRONG. I am here to say that I am currently walking that path and couldn’t be happier.

While my son was in high school, I was the band booster president for three years where I experienced the satisfaction of being part of a very special group, but, unfortunately, was reminded why I’d rather socialize with cats. Just when you think adults definitely matured after high school, there are always those people that didn’t get the memo and pop out like Pennywise the Clown to yell, “WRONG!!! I am going to talk behind your back and tear you down because you’re better than me and I know it! I just don’t like the fact you have the balls to call me out on it!”

Well…maybe they don’t say EXACTLY that.

I’ve been that parent that gave 120% to make up for other parents who didn’t even want to enter the game. I’ve been that parent that sacrificed health and comfort so my kid could have the world. I’ve walked that path, too.

And, now, I am an empty nester at 38. I spent a lifetime living for someone else and now I have to try to figure out how to live for myself.

That brings me to now. I have so many things I want to do that I couldn’t due to my life circumstances.

The focus on my blog is to share all of that with you. We have all of these labels and all of this societal pressure to label ourselves. That is why I chose to roll with Filthy Casual  because it implies that we aren’t good enough if we choose to walk our own path. It implies that there is only one path to success. It implies that we need to live life on hardcore mode all the time. Not only does it imply these things, it tries to make you feel bad about it. I am here to say, once again. Screw. That.

I am a casual gamer. I am a casual quilter. I am a casual artist. I am a casual chef. I am casual musician. I am a casual everything. I wear many hats. Literally. I have a hat collection. By day, I am a hard-working paralegal. By night, I am filthy casual who forgets to re-cast her aura after every death in Path of Exile.

I dabble in things. I often suck at said things. I am a jack-of-all-trades, yet a master at none.

The beautiful part is: I like who I am and I want to share that with you. It’s okay to be a filthy casual. It’s okay to get distracted by squirrels.

Let’s have fun together. Let’s swap stories, and share recipes and shit. I’m down for that. I’m down for pretty much anything. Is there a game you want me to play? Let me know. A recipe you want to see me fail at? I might give it a go. A local restaurant I need to try? Share it with me. I am game for almost anything. Except pineapples on pizza. Get. That. Crap. Outta. Here. I will throat punch you, you savage.