12.29.2010

resolutions.

last year it was eat healthy and exercise more...I stuck to it (mostly). therefore, this year it's:

-write/send cards to friends and family
-wear each item of clothing in my closet (the items I don't wear in the next year I'll give away)
-do sit-ups before bed

(here's for hoping)

12.02.2010

raise your hand if you wish it was Christmastime all year...

We Do!


"So wrap those presents, fill those stockings. Love from me to you, to you, to you!"

11.23.2010

grateful.

I've never felt so loved, so peaceful and so free, hey there ain't no doubt that God's been good to me...

...And everything I have, and everything I see is just another reminder that God's been good to me.

11.19.2010

out with the old. in with the new.

old: what now suckaaaa?!?

new: SUCK IT!!!!*

*credit goes to an 11th grade student I subbed for (male, long blond hair, classic rock tee, and fanny pack filled with pencils and pens), who ecstatic that there was no quiz, due to the absence of his teacher, proceeded to yell "SUCK IT" while throwing his head back, thrusting his hips forward, and pulling his fists down.

11.16.2010

remember when...

This past weekend I had the pleasure of opening a time capsule made in 2006 with some of my closest friends. The magazine cut-out covered shoebox was filled with memories, letters, jokes, and my broken and very much coveted orange scissors. Since May 2006, our friendship has grown in some ways and changed in others. Gabs, Amandaluh, Kait, and I laughed and thoroughly enjoyed our nostalgia filled lunch. The following are the highlights:

remember whens...
remember the time when Amanda wanted to invent a whiteboard t-shirt?
remember those nights spent watching Friends in Morgan's room?
remember the time when Jess lost her scissors, then found them, then broke them?
remember the time Kaitlin, Amanda, and Gabby and Rob went to gspoon and then Kait tried to carry Rob (and she did) and then he shoved his yogurt in her face...then it got messy and se peed her pants but she pretended that she sat in a puddle? But then she felt bad for lying and told Gabs and Amanda?
remember Tif and Tab?
remember when Kait cleaned all the toilets in Laguna?
remember when Gabby, Jess, and Kait, and Johnny made a super long banner for FSB but it blew away?
remember when Jess, Gabs, and Kait went on a roadtrip and Rosie died?
remember when Kait's floor peed in bottles to prank the 7th floor?
remember Gabby's extensions?
remember Kait's bad spooning habits? (sorry Jess)
remember Jess's sunburned knee pits?

favorite songs...
A Jubilant Song, Seasons of Love, Unwritten, Hide and Seek

favorite jokes...
Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says "Dam!"
Anytime I see something screech across a room and latch onto someone's neck, and the guy screams and tries to get it off, I have to laugh, because WHAT IS THAT THING!

favorite TV...
24, Friends, Grey's Anatomy

favorite movies...
Rent, The Other Sister, Diary of a Mad Black Woman

most common quotes...
Jess: "That's inapropriate"
Gabs: "Don't judge me"
Amandaluh: "Oh yeeah!"
Kait: "Git some!"


On a different note...I have changed over the past 4 1/2 years, yet in some ways I have stayed the same. In reading the letter I wrote to myself, I was again reminded that I need to live in the present and find joy in the here and now. Apparently, my tendency to worry about the future and my want to control every situation has not changed. Enjoy my silly letter filled with clichés:

Dear me, I know that you want everything to work out a certain way and I know that you are worrying about things left and right, but I want you to know that it is all going to be okay. "Trust Thou in God!!!" Enjoy what is to come and don't worry too much about it. Take the leap that you need to take and trust that God is going to be there with you 100%. Don't freak out. Enjoy today and love the life that God has given you. Remember that you are cared for and cared about. You are loved and you are not abandoned. I love you...now go have fun!!!!!
Love, me

I look forward to the next 5 years and to watching our friendships grow and change yet again, making new memories, and creating more remember whens.

11.10.2010

this I miss.


reunited in 2 days.

11.09.2010

uncharted.

Recently I have been listening to Sara Bareilles on repeat. Her songs speak to me. She always finds the right words and puts them into beautiful sentences. I don't have a favorite song. I find that the mood I'm in usually determines that for me. Momentarily "Uncharted" is playing in my head...and has been all morning (hence this post). Specifically the following line:

"Compare, where you are to where you want to be, and you'll get nowhere."

In my current state, everything I hoped for and planned for this fall, did not work out. Instead, I am babysitting, subbing, and working toward my masters degree. I thought I had the perfect plan, I had figured it all out. Wrong. In the last couple of months I have continually compared where I am to where I want to be, or where I should have been. Where is that getting me? Nowhere. I'm stuck with "what ifs".

My new challenge is to quit comparing and to find joy in the here and now. A lesson that I come back to every few years. Maybe this wasn't my plan, maybe this is where I am supposed to be regardless, maybe He has the perspective that I could never have, and thus here I am: spending my days with kids of all ages, with a continual research design and educational theory in the back of my mind.


Instead of focusing on where I want to be, I want to find joy in my current circumstances and the blessings that exist there, then maybe I'll get somewhere. But for now, it's all uncharted.

11.03.2010

Imma Bee

9.28.2010

Tis the good reader that makes the good book...

...in every book he finds passages which seem confidences or asides hidden from all else and unmistakenly meant for his ear; the profit of books is according to the sensibility of the reader; the profoundest thought or passion sleeps as in a mine, until it is discovered by an equal mind and heart. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Pretentious with a predictable and slightly frustrating ended. Yet sometimes you read something that your heart just needs to hear or that simply resonates (Emerson says it better), and this book I do believe was meant for my ear when I read it. I had grand intentions of writing more, but this will suffice.

8.28.2010

don't say a word...

I went to the John Mayer concert this last week with my dear friend Poppie. It was a lovely evening on the lawn, relaxing on a quilt, drinking beer, and watching the audience move to the music. Every song, every note, every lyric was perfect. And now John Mayer's lyrics have taken up permanent residence in my brain.

The following was my favorite song by the lyrical poet:


7.16.2010

If music be the food of love, play on.

My summer playlist:

Breakeven - The Script
Kids - MGMT
Animal - Neon Trees
5 Years Time - Noah and the Whale
My First Kiss - 3OH!3
King of Anything - Sara Barielles
Waka Waka - Shakira
Give a Little - Hanson
Magic - B.O.B.
If It's Love - Train
3x5 - John Mayer
Dynamite - Taio Cruz
Sort Of - Ingrid Michaelson
Sink or Swim - Tyrone Wells
Fireflies - Owl City
Airplanes - B.O.B.
Sunshine Song - Jason Mraz
You're Love is My Drug - Ke$ha
Send Me on My Way - Rusted Root
One Tribe - Black Eyed Peas

6.17.2010

imma be doin' my thing.

Livin' life, feelin' free, that's how it's supposed to be. Come join my festivities, celebrate like Imma be!

Summer has started!

1.25.2010

on my mind...

"You should look as good as your outlook
Would you mind if I took some time
To soak up your light, your beautiful light
You’ve got a paradise inside
I get hungry for love and thirsty for life
And much too full on the pain
When I look to the sky to help me
And sometimes it looks like rain

As the sun shines
On other peoples houses and not mine
And the sky paints its clouds
In a way that it takes away the summertime
Somehow the sun keeps shining upon you
While I kindly stand by
If there’s a light in everybody
Send out your ray of sunshine"

-"Sunshine Song" Jason Mraz

1.04.2010

reads.

ambitious. clever. quirky. touching. easy.
exactly what I needed.