The Book List
It’s going to be a rough week. My parents just moved to Colorado, the husband will be in Salt Lake City for work and the neighbors I was hoping to bug all week to curb my loneliness are leaving for San Diego today.
So, I’ve made some big plans for the week – to read. I haven’t read nearly as much as I would have liked this summer and since things are finally settling down (as much as they can) I’ve decided to make this week a good start, a book week. So, I share with you my lofty list:
Classy, Derek Blasberg (see my last blogpost for a taste of this incredible, hilarious book; absolutely a new classic)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (got inspired to read the series again after the last movie)
The Old Man and The Sea, Ernest Hemingway (a timeless book that should have been read long ago)
Y: The Last Man, Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra, Jose Marzan, Jr. (finally making good on a promise to read this graphic novel)
The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott (professional development)
Though it may seem like a lot for a week, I’m about halfway through two of the longest books on the list and I’m determined and excited (and I’m a fast reader!) My reviews will come in a week.
What’s currently on your book list?
This is your life, is it everything you dreamed
Last time I saw you bloggers, I was “An Apple A Day.” Don’t be alarmed, this blog will be very similar – simply chronicling a new life and due to a new last name, we had to part ways.
As an introduction to the new blog, here’s a tidbit about me:
Recently married to my highschool sweetheart.
Recently graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in Journalism.
Recently employed at Sam’s Club as Public Relations and Social Media Coordinator.
My life is changing from a single girl livin’ it up in college to an eight to five working girl who’s just trying to figure out life in between.
This is my blog of all things mille – love, faith, fashion, food, adventure and life.
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I’ve thoroughly missed blogging. I’ve seen pictures, recipes, advice, inspiration and so much love that I wanted to share with you. To make up for it, my goal is to post something every day this week. (Hey, we’ve got a lot to catch up on. I’m MARRIED!)
Get excited. My theme for tomorrow?
Life Lessons From An Aruban Honeymoon
No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everybody on the couch
I’ve gotten back into the habit of running this week and in all honesty it’s been GLORIOUS. I’ve had so much more energy, by body feels great and it just makes me happier. So, I’ve decided to share with you the top songs on my ultimate running playlist to inspire you to get your body moving! And please share some of your favorite inspirational running songs!
1. Never Say Never, Justin Bieber
2. Get Me Bodied (Extended Remix), Beyonce
3. Did It Again (Remix), Shakira + Kid Cudi
4. Bottoms Up, Trey Songz + Nicki Minaj
5. Dog Days Are Over, Florence and The Machine
6. Like a G6, Far East Movement
7. Can’t Be Tamed, Miley Cyris
8. E.T., Katy Perry + Kanye West
9. Raining Men, Rihanna + Nicki Minaj
10. Freaks and Geeks, Childish Gambino
Happy Running,
XOXO
Life on Wisteria Lane
I’ve never been one to feel like I have to explain my decisions publicly, and despite what it looks like that’s not what this post is about.
Everyone has a way to relax after a long day, whether it be reading, watching movies, playing video games, etc. and ever since I’ve gotten Netflix mine has been watching tv shows by the season and my latest obsession is one that has gotten a lot of groans — Desperate Housewives.
Though on the surface DH is about neighborhood gossip and drama, I’ve actually learned quite a lot from this show. I spoke to this idea that tv can teach us things in my post about my Christmas break obsession Veronica Mars.
So, to all you Desperate Housewives naysayers out there, this post is for you.
1. It is very important to have a group of girlfriends you can trust.
2. You never know what happens behind closed doors.
3. If you want to test your marriage, open a restaurant.
4. Children need spankings.
5. Everyone has a secret they are willing to protect in some way or another.
6. A smile does not mean a person is happy.
7. If a husband and wife are committed to one another, there is never a fight they can’t overcome.
8. Always introduce yourself to your neighbors, baked goods in hand.
9. Stick by your significant other even if he or she is in a coma.
10. You never know what someone could be hiding in a basement.
11. Truly decide what it is that you want in life before you go after all of the wrong things.
12. Forgive and forget. Don’t let something major happens before you realize who is important in your life.
13. Always be bold and stick up for what you believe in. No matter what anyone else says.
14. Nobody’s perfect.
15. A plumber is never just a plumber and a pharmacist is never just a pharmacist.
Editor’s Note: I am only finished with the third season. No spoilers please.
Audrey Hepburn’s Beauty Tips
This is a poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked about her beauty tips. It was read years later at her funeral.
For attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands; one for helping yourself, and the other for helping others.
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Thank you mom for sharing this poem with me, but I already knew all of these tips because you have taught them to me over the years. You are the most beautiful person I know inside and out and inspire me to live this way, remembering that beauty comes from within.
XOXO
Altruistic journalism calls girls like you.
We often forget what we have. How blessed we are with the many people and things in our life. Sickness followed me into the week and took more out of me than I would have hoped, namely the reminder of all the beautiful things in my life. My week was full of wonderful people and experiences and I choose now to reflect on these moments that slipped by so easily.
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Wicked Awesome Wednesdays (WAW) that included sushi and hours upon hours of gabbing with my girls that was simply refreshing
“I can tap-dance. You wanna see me tap-dance?”
a surprise guest with surprise flowers
sunshine studying
finishing a book that taught me a simple lesson of love
an unexpected Valentine that reminded me of the value of friendship
surprising fun under a tent with pizza, newspapers and travelers
a truthful, bonding dinner
and a few pictures of some beautiful things in my life right now:
{a new end table from Riffraff}
{a new outfit for an exciting winter wedding this weekend}
{the perfect, unexpected Valentine’s gift- my great grandmother’s notebook, unbeknown to any of us that she was a journalist. a treasure i will always keep}
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5 Minutes
My soul was unexpectedly revived this morning with a beautiful, inspirational blog post from a beautiful, inspirational friend. She mentions the website Reverb10 as a place to find prompts for introspection from the last year. Yes, I have already done a 2010 reflection post and yes it is nearly a month into 2011, but I want to do anything I can to make sure that years down the road I remember the important steps taken to get me where I am. So, I’ve chosen the prompt:
Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010. (Author: Patti Digh)
21st birthday: snow, friends, cops, fights, dancing, love. Vegas. Paris Hilton. seeing the reconstruction of old friendships and building new ones. making your own family wherever you are. game nights: wine, catchphrase, laughing, things, telephone pictionary. learning to let go. the importance of phone dates. learning to re-appreciate my parents. the look in my fiance’s eyes as he proposed. learning to love new people. LA. finding passions: children, human trafficking. weddings. moving and the excitedness that comes with it. the sweetness of doing nothing. the birth of a beautiful child that came to be my godchild.Veronica Mars. community group. the joys of finishing french. having a puppy in the house. realizing who is really important in my life. continually seeing God’s hand in my life.
Confession: I re-set the timer for another 5 minutes after the first one went off. This is way harder than it looks, and I know I didn’t even come close to everything I would want to remember from 2010.
Truths for Mature Humans
Note: I did not write these. I came across them on this site and just had to share. They are perfect, and I agree with every single statement. So funny how these statements are universally true.
1. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.
5.How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
6. Was learning cursive really necessary?
7. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. I’m pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
8.Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
9. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
10. Bad decisions make good stories.
11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren’t going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after BluRay? I don’t want to have to restart my collection…again.
13. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to.
14. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this- ever.
15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring, but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What did you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
17. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.
20. I wish Google Maps had an “Avoid Ghetto” routing option.
21. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.
22. I would rather try to carry 10 over-loaded plastic bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
23.The only time I look forward to a red light is when I’m trying to finish a text.
24.I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
25. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear or understand a word they said?
26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!
27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.
28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber and dumber every year?
29. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate bicyclists.
31. Sometimes I’ll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.
32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey- but I’d bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!
15 Truths I Learned from 15-Year-Olds
I spent the greater part of my weekend with eight 15-year-olds. It was exhausting. It was fun. It was crazy. It made me feel like a mom. But I learned a lot. I watched their actions and listened carefully to their conversations. I reminisced about when I was 15. Tthough I often wish I was “young” again, I’m so glad have learned these lessons I didn’t know at 15.
1. It is not okay to talk about people behind their backs.
2. How you look is not the most important thing in the world.
3. If someone in authority tells you to do something, do it.
4. Always think about the other people around you and how loud you are being.
5. People’s feelings get hurt more easily than you think.
6. Some of the best times of your life will be when you stay up all night laughing about silly things.
7. Don’t be afraid to talk to older people. They will often love to talk to you and share their experiences.
8. There is no shame in singing at the top of your lungs to a song.
9. Boys are not the center of the universe.
10. The best present is not necessarily the most expensive one.
11. It does not matter who you ride with in the car for 5 minutes.
12. Do not gang up on one person, no matter how mean or annoying they are.
13. Uggs and shorts are not cool.
14. Doing homework for a 2 hours during the weekend is not that big of a deal.
15. Eat all of the junk food you can while your body doesn’t show it.
I couldn’t find any 15-year-old pictures, but here are a few blast from the past pictures of when I was 16.
Me and Kyle! Who looks the most different?
Fun mother-daughter trip to San Diego!
Even then I was a baller..
No Day But Today
“He’s still feeling like he’s 16
And you’re chasing all of the same drink
Only living on the weekend nights
The card is empty but the tab got paid
I think it’s funny how some things change
There’s got to be more to life.” – The Kill, Ben Rector
Typical Monday: Open my planner. Write down everything I have to do for the week. Groan. Wish for the week to fly by and that it was the weekend already.
I seem to categorize my life in weekends. I look forward to weekends to come. I think about weekends in the past. The days of the week seem to just kind of be there, taking up space, not really meaning anything except for work and the occasional random, fun hangout times. I look at the month ahead and don’t even think, oh hey that Wednesday could be just AWESOME, but instead plan each weekend and wait expectantly.
I don’t like living this way and I’ve decided we need to change. Maybe I’m the only one who does this, but I have a feeling I’m not. In all honesty, do we know if we will even make it to the weekend? We are wasting our life by not living day to day, but instead only living on the weekend nights. Or, like it sometimes happens, will the weekend let us down? We pass up hanging out with people during the week so we can get our “work done” and have free time on the weekends, but then there’s nothing to do on the weekends. Why should we wait for Friday night, Saturday and Sunday to hold all of the fun and relaxing times of the week? Why can’t we spread it out all week and look forward to each and every single day?
So, let’s do it together. Let’s vow to not let the week get us down. To not have a case of the Mondays. Let’s vow to live every day like it’s our last. To do something we love every day. To relax every day. To not look at the rest of the semester by the weekends we have planned. Let’s live like there’s no day but today.
Wish I May, Wish I Might
I’m always wishing I were someone I’m not.
-I wish I were a runner.
-I wish I had an olive complexion like my mom.
-I wish I was a hot tea drinker.
-I wish I could let my room or car be messy for a day without stressing out about it.
-I wish I was spontaneous.
-I wish I loved healthy foods so much I was disgusted by anything else.
-I wish I didn’t care about my grades.
-I wish I was a night owl, instead of a morning person.
-I wish I was a news junkie. (Don’t tell my journalism professors I’m not.)
-I wish I liked talking on the phone.
I used to think it was bad for me to think these things. I need to be happy with who I am and not fret over who I’m not, I thought. And though to an extent I do still believe that, I now have a new way of looking at it. Though some of these things I can’t change (like the color of my skin), some of them I can. Having these wishes are little aspirations for me to work up to. I wish I was a runner. Well, okay, get your booty moving and become one. I clearly remember last year when I was training for a half-marathon (that never happened) I was so proud of my body and what it was capable of. I even called myself a runner to other people and on my Facebook status (so obviously it was legit.) I wish I was spontaneous. (I won’t go into detail for this one because you’ve already heard me ramble about this.) Well, start doing random, fun things just for the heck of it! We all need something to aspire to be and if we were perfectly content with everything in our life, we would never grow as human beings and we would be boring and arrogant as all get out. I do have a list of things I wish I were, but I also have a list of things about myself that I love and am thankful for, and that’s the list that should never be forgotten.
“La Dolce Far Niente”
I have been reminded how therapeutic “nothing” days can be.
You know those times in your life when life is just so hectic and you are swimming and swimming, but you never seem to reach the surface? That’s where I’ve been the past few weeks and it seemed as though not only was I not going anywhere, but rather sinking to the bottom.
And possibly I did hit bottom on the fateful day when my car got towed and various other punishments ensued including finding out I have to go to the Student Ethics board. If you know me at all, you know this would make me upset, but if you really know me, you know this would make me absolutely sick. I’ve always been the perfect student who didn’t get in trouble, and the second I did I lost it. Though my skin has grown a LOT tougher since elementary school, getting in trouble still makes me upset. So on Wednesday when everything was already too overwhelming, the tears came pouring in the Parking and Transit office. When it rains, it pours.
That’s when I stepped back and took a look at my life (thanks to the wise words of someone very dear to my heart). What was I doing? Who was I living for? Why was I letting the troubles of this world weigh on me so heavily? I threw my selfish, stubborn self aside and prayed. and prayed. and prayed.
And just as I had expected, almost instantaneously God released me from this state of war inside myself that had taken hold of who I am and who I want to be.
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28
Let’s get back to today and how wonderful doing nothing can be.
With a peace and inside joy I’ve been longing for, today I’ve: cleaned, prayed, lay on my bed, listened, rejoiced, read- all under the soothing voices of John Mayer, Michael Buble and Jack Johnson.
And though everyone else I know is tailgating and preparing for the first Razorback game of the season, I needed this time to myself to relax and enjoy “La Dolce Far Niente” the sweetness of doing nothing.
Homeless has a name
I know with this post, I’m running the risk of losing some readers who might think I’m on a soapbox about the homeless. I’m also not one who wants my blog to be completely serious with only serious topics. However, this is my blog and I can write as I please about what I please. And today I want to write about my thoughts after going to hear Mark Horvath speak last night about ending homelessness. I’ve already burned the ears of those around me with this topic and I might be all talked out about it for now, but this post is more for myself, because it is such an important topic that I don’t want to forget about. So bear with me on this rant and please, if you have any comments at all feel free to post them.
I’ve always been one who “wasn’t called to the homeless”. In reality that meant I was afraid of what I might find and afraid of my safety. I’d volunteered at Seven Hills Homeless Shelter and felt so uncomfortable. This isn’t for me. I’ll work with other people, children, sex trafficking victims. I’ll pass out food every once in a while, but that’s about it. I’ll let someone else deal with them because I feel uncomfortable.
I can’t even express how ridiculous that sounds to me now. First of all, I didn’t realize that sex trafficking victims and children ARE homeless. Did you know the average age of the homeless in America is 9? 9 years old. That blows my mind. You can show me pictures of people on the streets with signs all day and it won’t affect me, but children? Half of the homeless in Arkansas are under the age of 18. Please, read that again. Half of the homeless in Arkansas are under the age of 18.
Now as I was sitting in the talk last night listening to Horvath speak and leaders from homeless shelters in nwa and homeless themselves, I was thinking.. what can I do? What talents has God given me to help? There was an amazing story about a homeless man who went to the awareness rally on campus last year and met someone who ended up taking him to breakfast every Saturday and eventually who got him a job and a place to live.
So often we get scared and use that as an excuse. This business man, family man, took this man home for Thanksgiving. When his friends asked him how he could invite a stranger into his home with his family for Thanksgiving, he looked at them and said.. I’m not inviting a stranger in. I’m inviting a friend.
It all comes down to relationships. Focus on the person, not the problem.
Anyway, so I’m thinking about what I can do to help. I’ve always been drawn to children and mentoring those younger than me. If HALF of the homeless in Arkansas are under 18, I think I can do something to help. God is practically throwing himself in front of me with flashing lights and a megaphone. I can’t stand by. I firmly believe, Once you know about a problem, you have the responsibility to change it.
Now I understand not everyone wants to mentor people. But there’s SO MUCH you can do. It really got to me when a leader from the Samaritan Community Center said, “We need people to answer the phones.” How simple is that? Who doesn’t have time for that a few hours a week? And it may not seem like anything, but it is. That’s a need that they are having.
All of the leaders discussed the proper ways to help end homelessness, and guess what, it’s not handing out sandwiches every Sunday. Hate to break it to you, but that’s not exactly getting them off the streets is it? If you really want to help, partner with a homeless shelter, because what they REALLY need is jobs, housing and healthcare.
Well, there’s my two cents. Thank you Mark Horvath and all of those who spoke last night for opening my eyes.
“Make the invisible visible”
On the street I saw a small girl cold and shivering in a thin dress, with little hope of a decent meal. I became angry and said to God; “Why did you permit this? Why don’t you do something about it?’ For a while God said nothing. That night he replied, quite suddenly:
“I certainly did something about it. I made you.”
I found this on Mark Horvath’s vlog, invisiblepeople.tv/blog/ and it completely took me off guard. How many times have we asked this question? And how simple of an answer is that? Mark Horvath, a homeless advocate, is coming to the UA campus Saturday at 6 p.m. The videos on his vlog are very powerful and I encourage every one of you to watch at least one and challenge you to do one thing about the issue of homelessness, whether it be donating money or time, prayer, writing about it, sharing about it on twitter, facebook or your blog. This is a major issue in the world, in the US, and in every one of our communities and we can make a difference.
Homeless advocate returns to Fayetteville capturing the faces of the invisible
By: Mille Appleton
With more than one million people sleeping on the streets each night, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, one advocate is traveling the country and using a video blog to capture the faces of the homeless and raise awareness.
Mark Horvath, founder of InvisiblePeople.tv, will be making his second appearance in Fayetteville Saturday to discuss with the homeless and shelters of northwest Arkansas ways to end homelessness.
Horvath will make the sixth stop on his “Road Trip, USA” at the UA Global Campus on the Fayetteville Square at 6 p.m. Saturday, sponsored by the Cobblestone Project and the Community and Family Institute at the UA.
“It’s a topic for every city in the country, particularly given the economic downturn over the last year and a half,” said Kevin Fitzpatrick, director of the Community and Family Institute. “This region isn’t really any different. Some might have argued that we enjoy a fair amount of prosperity and that is true, but we absolutely have not escaped the downturn.”
Following his talk, Horvath will lead a discussion among homeless people in northwest Arkansas and leaders from Seven Hills Homeless Shelter, Northwest Arkansas Women’s Shelter and the Samaritan Community Center.
“There are people who are new to homeless, absolutely, and then of course there continue to still be people who were homeless in 2009 and still in 2010,” Fitzpatrick said. “We continue to ask the same question, how is that possible in a nation as wealthy as the United States?”
Finish reading the article on The Arkansas Traveler website here.
Remember
As I have been struggling to find what I want to do in my life, specifically how to use my talents to glorify God, I come across people who truly inspire me in everything they do. One of those people is Freedom Rodriguez. I’ve met him several times before at a Not For Sale Event and another art show and how he’s using his talents for God absolutely blows me away. Check out his newest project that I wrote about for the Arkansas Traveler…
Artist turns abandoned books into portraits of abandoned children
Art is not only about beauty. To some artists it stands to a higher standard that is meant to move people and service a purpose. A northwest Arkansas man is attempting to do just that with his collection 100 Faces of Uganda.
Artist Freedom Rodriguez has taken discarded children’s books and painted them with the faces of neglected children of Uganda to make a statement art piece and raise awareness.
“These children also feel discarded or abandoned or no longer wanted because for whatever reason they feel damaged or something is wrong in their life,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez noticed the books being given away at his hometown library in Siloam Springs and the contrast he could make with “these children who didn’t have a storybook life.”
“Nevertheless, these children need to feel and know that they have a story still worth reading about,” he said.
Using photographs he had taken of orphans while visiting Uganda, Rodriguez painted 100 book covers to show across the United States, starting his tour in Siloam Springs this weekend.
“I’m raising awareness for these orphans, giving them a voice. They feel like they’re voiceless, that they’re not being heard. Through this artistic expression, through my faith and what I’ve experienced in Africa I’m giving them a voice,” he said.
Finish reading the article here.
La technologie, au revoir!
I would consider myself a very technologically savvy person. I own an iPhone that serves as my phone (rarely), text messaging device (always), email-checker (constantly), iPod, internet source and gaming console. My current journalistic pursuits revolve heavily around a computer. Sadly, I would say that I spend at least 50 percent of my day in front of my trust-worthy, bestie Mac.
But it is now time to challenge myself. Now to some of you this might sound ridiculous and too easy, but trust me, for me, it won’t be. While I’m on vacation in Florida with the bf and family, I will not check my email or Facebook or Twitter once. I will text and call while I’m away to keep in touch with a few roomies precious to my heart (and see how the dogs are doing), but not nearly as much as usual. I want to cleanse my soul from the technology that so easily ensnares me. I don’t want to worry about all of my emails piling up- I don’t need to know any of it (I did perhaps set an automated vacation response, which I have never done before, and felt extremely professional doing so). I will be in a sunny, beautiful, magical (HARRY POTTER WORLD HERE I COME!) place with wonderful people I love and I don’t want to waste a single minute of it.
I asked the bf to come up with a reward for me if I make it the six days. He said that if I didn’t make it, I just couldn’t shop anymore while we were there (he knows me too well).
So, wish me good luck, and adieu!
Endless Summer
Pensacola, Florida May 2008
Summer is the time to do all of those things you just don’t have time for during the year. All spring I think of ways I’m going to spend my summer and things I’ve been wanting to do, then it seems like August comes too fast and I didn’t do half of them. So I’m starting my summer bucket list and hopefully, by the time school starts, I will revisit this list and cross them all off. I’ve already got a start!
1. Start a blog
2. Read all the books on my summer reading list
3.Go to the drive-in movie theatre
4. Do the Branson Canopy Zipline
5. Make at least 10 recipes I’ve been saving for the last year
6. Chase down the ice cream truck with the neighborhood kids and buy something
7. Go canoeing {despite my dislike of the river}
8. Go to a water park
9. Sleep in and not feel guilty about it
10. Go to a rooftop party
11. Take walks after dinner to the school playground and just swing
12. Take fashion risks
13. Catch fireflies
14. Write a letter to an old friend
15. Find several DIY projects and DO THEM
Don’t Stop Believin’
Why do people give up on their dreams? Why do so many people get complacent in where they are, the job they are in and hold back on what they are really passionate about? Is it fear? Too much hard work? Low self-esteem? This may not resonate with college age people as much as it does older people, because hopefully we are pursuing our dreams in college. Hopefully, I say, because there are those who aren’t. Like me.
In high school, theatre was my life. I loved performing. It made me happier than doing anything else. I wanted to get on stage, live a life different than my own and make the audience feel what that character was feeling. I wanted to make them cry, laugh, connect to these characters that are only a two-hour part of their life.
But I decided not to pursue it in college, despite people telling me I was very talented. Why? Because I didn’t want to live the life of an actor. (Assuming I made it to the big time) I didn’t want to live under the constant scrutiny of the paparazzi. How ridiculous that reasoning sounds to me now. I LOVE acting, and if that’s what I want to do the most, that’s what I should do. I don’t want to look back and wonder what if. I don’t want to think I didn’t try because I was afraid of what would happen if I did make it big or what would happen if I didn’t make it big.
Don’t get me wrong. I love journalism. I love interviewing people and sharing their stories and writing. But it doesn’t fulfill me like acting does.
What got me on this path of thinking was watching the finale of my latest favorite show Glee. The show is about a group of high school misfits coming together in a glee club because they love singing and dancing. It doesn’t matter that they get thrown in trash cans, ‘slushied’, or bullied by everyone else in the high school. It’s their passion and they’re going to do it no matter what.
I was watching the finale and bawling. Partly because of the show and various storylines, but partly because it was hitting home. They knew they weren’t going to win regionals and wanted to just give up all together. Then their coach said to them, “Who cares what happens when you get there, when the getting there has been so much fun.”
So here’s to my journey, and that I don’t stop believin’ in what I want to do.
“I believe in pink… I believe in kissing, kissing a lot… And I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls.” -Audrey Hepburn
Would you rather…?
Before I begin with my post, I would like to share with you a couple of very exciting pictures I promised yesterday.
Do I look more or less like the little girl? Maybe not, but I guarantee I was more excited than her.
Okay, onto the real things I’ve learned today. The day has been full of probing deeper into myself via “Would you rather…?” questions and personality/aptitude tests. Here is what I have learned about thus far (with my comments in parentheses):
1. I should wear red nail polish because I’m classy, beautiful and charming. (I hate red nail polish, but love those descriptions)
2. Out of the Twilight cast, I most relate to Jasper Hale. (Yawn and no thank you)
3. I have a lot in common with prostitutes. (This stemmed from pink being my favorite color)
4. There is absolutely no job that matches up with my talents in the career database. (Great, can I just be a mom?)
5. I have a cold exterior, but am warm on the inside. (Reaaally? Please tell me this isn’t true)
6. My perception of life is related to the quality of plastic. (Cheap? Disposable?)
7. I’m not the best organizer, but I’m a good team leader. (Have you seen my computer? Closet?)
8. I ooze with charm when with my partner. (Finally, I could agree on this one)
9. My prototype is ‘feminine woman’. (As opposed to….??)
10. I want to be in a t.v. show. (Duh)
11. I want a horn in the middle of my forehead. (Hey, you didn’t hear the other options)
m.davis xoxo 