Rambling Thoughts

I've been feeling rather inspired lately, but oddly enough, the feelings can't be put into words; my inspiration doesn't come in the form of blog posts or ideas—mostly just happiness. Which is about the only way I can describe my feelings: fulfillment, happiness, and contentedness. I'm finding joy in my strengths and even a sense of acceptance in my faults. Some things about me can be changed, and yet, other things cannot, and I am finding that it is important that I understand and learn to love my shortcomings that cannot be transformed.

As college approaches I'm scrambling to find out who my 18 year old self is. A lot of importance is placed on starting over in college, and I'm hoping to realize who I am so I can pick and choose the friends and activities that will best mesh and reflect me. Of course this is all easier said than done—who I am now will not be who I am in a year or even a month, and I'm sure I really won't completely "find myself" by the end of the summer. It is just a thought I want to keep in my mind and try my best to strive for.

I don't want to set the bar too high for summer this year as nothings worse than disappointing your own expectations, yet I digress. I'm going to be doing a bit more traveling than usual this summer (including a relatively solo trip to NYC with a good friend of mine) which makes me utterly excited. I'm also on the lookout for inspiration during the coming months—music wise, book wise, movie wise. I came across a documentary called "All This Panic" about a handful of girls coming to age in New York City, and I desperately want to attend a showing of it (although sadly, I live in the middle of nowhere especially in terms of the art world, and I'm having the worst time finding it on my next best option, the Internet). I'm realizing that I am becoming less and less fascinated in fantasy based things and more and more intrigued with thought provoking, non-cliche works of art. Anyways, music/book/movie suggestions are appreciated!

An old picture from my first visit to NYC

I'm happy to be back blogging friends, I'm happy to be back. Have a fabulous day.

Living

This is a blog post well overdue. Nearly four months overdue, yet I digress. As nearly all of my hiatuses, this was totally unintended. One week shed into the next and before I knew it, it was May and I hadn't read a blog post nor posted one since mid January. What can I say except I was living. As my final semester of high school wrapped up this week, I realized how little attention I had been paying to my blog, something that makes me bittersweet. When I scroll through my blog, I take notice of the times where I didn't post for a few weeks—usually due to the fact that I was, well, living. It makes me sad in the sense that I wished I could better document these times of living, but I will take the silence as an intuition of my time. I have always commented that I love how this blog has acted as a diary of my high school years, so the lack of posts during my final months of high school is a little unsettling, but there are other things more worth my time that I can fret over.

Hopefully, I'm back for good. I am currently struggling over the humongous task of catching up on reading four months of blog posts from all the blogs I follow (a task I am not even sure I can take on). Regardless, I hope that I absence of classes and work will allow me to better allocate my time resulting in more blog posts.

How my life felt in gif form, going from one place to the next.

Of course, have a fabulous day.

When You Buy a Powerball Ticket

Interesting things are happening within America. The Powerball Jackpot hit $1.5 billion (which actually comes out to be a lot less money after taxes — depending on which state you live in it's only about $600 million  if you take the lump sum (and I say only very sarcastically because $600 million is A TON OF MONEY REGARDLESS)).

But anyways.

The jackpot is $1.5 billion thanks to the fact that there hasn't been a winner in quite some time, therefore causing the jackpot to roll over and over and over every week that went by without a winning ticket. Or at least that's how I think it works. Honestly, I am not too sure how this all happened. All I know is that I bought a ticket.

At 10:59 pm they will draw the numbers, and I probably will not be any richer. My odds of winning are 1 in 292,201,338 but those are better odds than if I hadn't bought a ticket at all I suppose.

Regardless, social media errupted with tweets and Facebook memes about this enormously large powerball. I want to share them with you for a good Wednesday night laugh. I started my new semester this week and it has been somewhat of a downer for me for reasons I am not so sure. I'm hoping to figure out my emotions and get my shit together in the coming days, and I think some funny pictures will do us all some justice.

This is an old one from when the Powerball Jackpot was significantly smaller, but still very funny.

And as always. have a fabulous day.

2016: More

It's been some time since I've written to you all, but it's never too late to start catching up I suppose. I have no real reason for my absence, especially since during a good chunk of it I was out of school, but as per usual, life got in the way.

With 10 days down in 2016, I have had adequate time to reflect on what I want to make of my year. I have already decided I will be reading more (I'm shooting for finishing one non-school related book a week), watching more documentaries, and learning more songs on the ukulele I got this past June.

If I had to assign a word for the year, I am nearly positive it would be, simply put, more. All of the things I mentioned above I already do; I already try to read books, watch documentaries, and spend a lot of time with my ukulele, but I could do so much more with these interests. Therefore, I will do more of what I love.

(On a side note, I need book and documentary suggestions. I am a huge fan of autobiographies/biographies at the moment. Most are about women (I've read the autobiographies of Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, and Malala to name a few, and I am currently working through a biography compilation of First Ladies), but I need more. Who's your favorite inspirational woman? Because odds are she or someone else has written a book about her, and I'd love to read it.)

Here's to the year of more. More of the things I love, less of the things I hate.

I will also be eating more waffles.

Have a fabulous day.

A Weeks Worth of Pictures: Week Four

Another week done and gone. 

I hope everyone had a beautiful Thanksgiving and a great start to their holiday season. As I prepare to leave for college next year I've gotten a lot more sentimental which is odd yet satisfying yet annoying yet glorious especially around the holidays. I've always been a sentimental person, but my obsession has increased a good bit. It's an odd mix of sadness and joy, and I'm not sure whether I like it or not.

Regardless, pictures. Enjoy.

Have a fabulous day.

Time Flies

Okay so I have a problem.

I have never posted my blogiversary post on time. Like ever. This year I got just a tad confused. I swore up and down that my blogiversary was the 24th of November. But it wasn't. It was the 23rd. I was ready to post this yesterday, but I was so dejected that I had gotten my dates confused that I didn't even post it. So here I am two days late. On the 25th. Oops. But I suppose it will all go on regardless.

Three years ago on this not so exact date I whimsically decided to start a blog. Literally. I thought to myself, "Wow a blog would be fun," and here I am. Like everyone says, I had no idea in the slightest that I would still be doing this gig years later. To be honest, I'm not really sure how to appropriately celebrate all of it.

As I begin the descent into college next year, I wonder how this will all change. I have contemplated changing blogs next year to signify a new season of my life that will be taking place in August, but ahh the headache that would be. Just the thought of moving my old posts over/a new name/new design/new URL makes my head spin and my stomach squirm in stress. But I have time to procrastinate and mull over this I suppose.

Back to the matter at hand though. THREE YEARS. That's a lot of years if you ask me. Longer than 77% of Hollywood marriages (a statistic I made up, but am probably close to being right). I began this blog at the beginning of my freshman year, and to think that I have this online journal of all my years in high school brings me a strange, sentimental warmth; I cannot thank my 15 year old self enough for starting this little old place.

To celebrate, I am linking back to old posts and favorite pictures. Yes, I am just that unoriginal. I am actually pretty positive I did this exact same thing last year for my blogiversary. BUT some of you are new, and I love a good look back at the past. Also, I run this place so therefore I make all executive decisions.

(I did try to be selective with the number of pictures I included, but I found SO MANY that I simply loved and couldn't cut. Sorry. But also not sorry.)

I went through a spell where I loved black and white pictures and only black and white pictures. Although this post is from two years ago, I still adore it. I am falling back in love with monochromatic pictures (isn't it funny how life seems to work in cycles?), so I certainly felt this was worth re-sharing. Monochrome (original post date: April 7, 2013).

Excuse My Impulsive Writing (original post date: October 7, 2013). This post. I love it so much even today. I always thought I'd look back at my writing in a year or two and realize it sucked, but when I find rare gems like the post above, I see writing that I would be proud of even today. Not all of my posts are still beautiful and good, but that one certainly is.

I love the photography in this next post. I'm not going to say much because it mostly speaks for itself. Dreary Back Roads (original post date: September 27, 2015).

Here's a great post on a great topic that I post a lot about (because it's so great): women! Women Women Women (original post date: March 8, 2015). Also, if you're feeling adventurous you can read the other posts I did that month for Women's History Month here, here, and here.

I am linking this post simply because of the recent events in Paris. I haven't had the chance to discuss my thoughts about said event on this blog partly because of time partly because I am still not sure I have my thoughts and opinions on all this in a coherent fashion just yet. Maybe I will post about it. Maybe I won't. But the following blog posts still holds my sentiment. There are Good People (original post date: April 23, 2013).

First World Feminism (original post date: February 28, 2015). Yes. Just yes.

Here is the link to last years blogiversary post. Might I add I am not as late posting this as I was last year. Two Years (original post date: December 6, 2014 (yes I was nearly two weeks last...oops)). This is also a post of a mash-up of old blog posts. What can I say, I'm as unoriginal as they get.

Things Only Children are Tired of Hearing (original post date: February 19, 2015). This is my most viewed post from 2015. Re-reading it I realize I sound like kind of a bitch, but I guess it worked out somehow because a lot of people saw it? Not sure. Either way, enjoy.

This next one is my most viewed post ever by a long shot. And I have absolutely no idea why because it has no pictures and is extremely short. It actually has like no topic whatsoever. I am very confused right now actually because how did this even happen? Regardless, here it is. Long Time, No Blog Post (original post date: August 8, 2013).

Hello (original post date: June 24, 2014). This post is one that makes me so grateful to have my blog; I love how I occasionally treated this place as a journal and how I can go back and look at things from monumental places in my life (despite how sad they might have been). Also, it was a moment where I was eternally thankful to have this community here to let me know they were there for me.

And on that note, I will end this shindig of a post. Thank you all for sticking around whether you started following three years ago or three days ago. It's been a great ride, and I'm more than ready for many more years of blog posts and sharing.

I cannot thank you all enough.

For the 212th time, have a fabulous day.

A Weeks Worth of Pictures: Week Three

I know that this seems to be all I am posting about these days, but I assure you a significant post is coming tomorrow. Or at least by Wednesday. I'm not always the most punctual person, but I'm sure you all know that by now.

This week I tried to get a picture every day; it didn't really happen, but I got sort of close. I didn't want to set the bar too high for next week anyways (or at least that's what I've been telling myself).

Enjoy.

Stay tuned because tomorrow is an uber important date. Have a fabulous day.