2011

WOW!

I can't believe that it is December 31, 2010 and that in only 3 hours and 40 minutes I will join Dick Clark in ringing in 2011! The ball will drop and a new year will begin. People everywhere will kiss, toast with champagne and throw confetti, then, new resolutions will commence.

I have been thinking about the year 2011 for a long time. I feel it necessary to finally inform you that it is the year that I will graduate from college! YES~ April 30, 2011 is the day that I have been working towards, planning for and thinking about for a VERY long time!

With that being said...now what?

I have been on the straight and narrow path my entire life. I have been in school for the past 16 years. I have been focused on graduating from college for as long as I can remember.  I put all of my energy into every project, paper, test and report card, earning each and every "A". I have always known what I am going to do tomorrow. Even deciding on college proved to be easy because I was on the ~path of least resistance~. I went to the school where I could get to where I was going, the quickest. 

Now, with graduation coming, I am faced with the ultimate decision:

Do I: 

1) continue on this straight and narrow road: 

Move out, get a job, save my $$ and work for the next 30+ years of my life?

2) Give myself the gift of adventure:

Go explore the world IE:  backpack across Europe, road trip across the country, hike in the mountains, explore a rainforest...the options are endless

3) Combine and begin working towards another dream:

Move to Nashville, work while also setting out to find out if I can make it in the Country Music World, Move to California (or another coastal state) and work while I also volunteer with the marine life

I do not know the answer right now. I do know that I do not want to regret my decision. I want to be able to look back and be proud of what I did, who I am and where my decisions got me. For now, I will ponder~ but I will post when/if I make a decision. 

~You don't regret the things you do...just the things you don't~

If you never did you should. These things are fun and fun is good. -- Dr. Seuss

Simple post
Dr Seuss quotes because they never fail to make me smile!


And when they played they really played. And when they worked they really worked.
-- Dr. Seuss

And will you succeed? Yes indeed, yes indeed! Ninety-eight and three-quarters percent guaranteed.
-- Dr. Seuss

Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
-- Dr. Seuss

Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened.
-- Dr. Seuss

From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere.
-- Dr. Seuss

I have heard there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead and some come from behind. But I've bought a big bat. I'm all ready you see. Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me!
-- Dr. Seuss

I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, It's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, And that enables you to laugh at life's realities.
-- Dr. Seuss

I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent.
-- Dr. Seuss

I'm sorry to say so but, sadly it's true that bang-ups and hang-upscan happen to you.
-- Dr. Seuss

So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads.
-- Dr. Seuss

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.
-- Dr. Seuss

The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.
-- Dr. Seuss

The storm starts when the drops start dropping. When the drops stop dropping, the storm starts stopping.
-- Dr. Seuss
Submitted by Mark, United States

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the things you can think up if only you try!
-- Dr. Seuss

Today is gone. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.
-- Dr. Seuss

Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So... get on your way.
-- Dr. Seuss

Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.
-- Dr. Seuss

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.
-- Dr. Seuss

You are you. Now, isn't that pleasant?
-- Dr. Seuss

You can get help from teachers, but you are going to have to learn a lot by yourself, sitting alone in a room.
-- Dr. Seuss

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
-- Dr. Seuss

You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.
-- Dr. Seuss

Young cat, if you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you would learn! The most wonderful stuff!
-- Dr. Seuss


PS: looking forward to watching "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" this holiday season!

Dream World

I am using this blog as my own personal fairytale land. I am always stressed due to my current situation. I have few outlets and few close friends to vent to. I hold a lot of things in, have frequent mini-breakdowns and basically cannot wait until the end of this time.

 So, rather than use this as another place where I can complain and obsess over my situation, i am pretending that life is different. I am not going to discuss my current place in life until it is over. I am going to focus on writing about things that are truly meaningful to me. I have lost a piece of myself these last few years that I need to regain. I need to remember what I enjoy and what I love. 

I love the little things. This site will be a small escape for me. My own personal dream world. Fantasies can run wild and my heart's deepest desires may even be able to reveal themselves. I look forward to immersing myself into the words I write and, for a short while, everything will be okay.

My house last christmas :) The combined effort of my dad and me!

With that being said, I can share my latest joy in life! I was thrilled to wake up this morning to a winter wonderland right outside my window! Trees were like crystal and everything sparkled!! Oh the works of God never cease to amaze me. Each snowflake small and delicate, one my one magically joining together to blanket the earth.

That is all.

Well, maybe I will add a comment about my incredible excitement about the following winter activities:

Building a snowman

Making a snow angel

Sledding

Cross country skiing

Hanging christmas lights and marveling at the sight when they glow from beneath a layer of snow

Drinking hot cocoa

Making paper snowflakes 

and last but not least...

Snacking on a fresh snowball :) (yes, it's true, I eat snow)

Tranquility

Water.

Essential for any and all life forms.

I find peace through water. I could listen to waves crashing on a rocky shore and my soul would be calm.
 I can swim the length of a pool, counting my strokes and controlling my breath. With each 5th stroke, I breathe, filling my lungs and submerging once again. While swimming I feel powerful and in control. As long as I keep moving, I am safe.
Yet, at the same time, the feeling of floating in open water, staring at the blue sky, focusing only on each breath, in....and out...., leaves me wearily at ease.
And watching dolphins gliding through the water, with a confidence to be envied and an innocent love to be dreamt about, I am reassured of God's grace.

However, recently the world has experienced all too well, the destructive effects of water. When combined with the powerful forces of nature, it is devastating.
Tsunamis.
Hurricanes.
Floods.
People die. People lose their homes, their loved ones, their lives.
Yet, when all is calm once more, the sunshine still sparkles, reflecting on the water's pure surface. 

And now, as a possible petty sort of revenge, oil pollutes the essence of life. It blackens the surface, there is no sunshine. Blameless life is taken, not because of an act of mother nature, but a totally preventable destructive element by man. I feel ashamed.

Life is fragile. 

Love always.

Seek peace in the simple moments. 

Find tranquility in the amazing gifts of God. 

BIts and Pieces

Instead of having a formal blog post to introduce myself, my background, likes, dislikes, etc...I believe that who I am will be portrayed more accurately through each of my day to day posts. That being said, a small introduction never hurt, so here it goes.

My dreams are like the waves of the ocean (cheesey? Yes but work with me on this one!) I have many dreams that have been pushed aside (or out to sea, if you will) but they continually resurface, usually with an even greater burning desire than before.

My uncle reminds me often that when he asked me at age 5 what I wanted to be when I grew up, I confidently replied: "a country singer". Now to elaborate, I don't remember listening to much country music at that age due to the fact that my mom's music preference was the extent of my musical exposure. Therefore, I can only attribute this dream to a desire that was engraved in my very being. 

Note: My current favorite genre of music is country. I love singing, performing and recording, even though I don't get to do it very often. I still envision myself in Nashville singing and making a living through this far-fetched passion of mine. I have expanded my dream to include christian music. I would love to be able to spread God's word through my music and talents, but alas, this dream had currently been placed on the back burner.

To continue, seals have been my favorite animal since my first christmas when I received a seal stuffed animal from my sister. Combining my love of seals and my passion for animals in general, my second prominent dream for my future included saving and rescuing seals (more specifically from the oil spills that I had made up in my head). I created a seal sanctuary, complete with "pools" for injured, sick and recovering "patients".

Note: I still love seals. I still want to save them. The above image is a seal at the Detroit Zoo who is reportedly blind and spends her days in front of a water jet, allowing the water to flow over her face. I envy her simple desires in life and feeling pleased to simply enjoy the feeling of streaming water. 

I have rarely shared my next desire with anyone. I always wanted to write and have people enjoy my readings. I hope to partially fulfill this dream through this blog. Even if no one reads it, I will never know.  So, for now, I pretend I am writing to an intrigued audience  made up of my greatest fans. So, thank you cyber-space for providing me with this opportunity.

For now, each of these dreams is hidden beneath the shield that I use in order to protect myself from the harsh realities of my current world. I am a nursing student. I plan to graduate in April of 2011, only 5 months from now. Then, i can pursue my greatest heart's desires. For now, I blog. 

Thank you for reading. God bless.

Keeping up with yesterday

Ahh procrastination. What can I say? It's been a friend of mine for as long as I can remember. Although friend may not describe our relationship as well as how I feel when I bite my lip and then continue to do so every time I take a bite of something. No, procrastination is not something that I am fond of, however, I do enjoy the time that I wasted.

Anyways, here I sit, 11pm on a Sunday evening with a list of things that I wanted to accomplish, of which only 2 things are crossed off. Now, everything but finishing my paper and editing it for tomorrow's class has been moved to my list for tomorrow. So, ultimately one thing to accomplish tonight and what do I decide to do first? Of course, START A BLOG. This action can be prolonged for hours as my perfectionism takes over and I test out every template, background and font color choice known to man. This enjoyable process joins the many other things I chose to do with my time today, in that each one's excitement factor is decreased significantly by the nagging feeling in my stomach that tells me I have more important things to be doing.

Ok, ok, I know, I know, get back to it and finish the paper so sleep can be a familiar activity at the start of another week. Just let me leave you with one word of advice: Don't put off until tomorrow what you could get done today!  Good night all :)