Easy, Breezy, Beautiful: My Weekend

This weekend was crazy and wonderful: here's what happened for those of you who missed it!   

Friday, I had the opportunity to celebrate one of my dear friend, Chelsea's, twenty-first birthday at the Zig, a local dive bar. That was bottles of fun! After surviving our feisty waitress at Plank's Cafe, we meandered through town to appropriately prepare ourselves for her big evening, and soon enough, I had enjoyed my first lemon drop shot, decidedly conquered my roommate in a game of darts, reunited with an old friend, and vomited, not literally, my feelings about life to one of my good friends. 

Saturday, I spent nine hours working at the library. I love working at the library. Slowly but surely, that "job" has become a wonderful, enjoyable experience and outlet for my soul. I, like, for serious love my job. 

Once my working hours had passed me by, I headed home and awaited the arrival of my dear friend, Matt. He's a cool, spunky, weird human being. I rather like him that way. Upon his arrival, we decided to call up our other friends, Mandy and Matt (no, but really, all of my friends legitimately have the same names. It's not confusing at all. We'll refer to Matt #2 as ... Matt #2), and beckon them to engage in our friendship. Because they are beautiful people, they chose to join us, and we soon stumbled into the Cheesecake Factory for some delectable refreshments. Quite yum! After becoming uncomfortably open with our waiter and devouring a senseless number of calories, we left the restaurant and headed toward Matt #2's apartment to spend a little more time together. 

At this point, my nine hours of work after my Friday shenanigans had begun to catch up with me. I was super snoozy. But, we didn't care! Matt #2 and I indulged in spectacular friend time, and spent and ample amount of time discussing the ever-so-intriguing details of our personal lives. It was nice. He's a great person. He's influenced my life more than he can ever really know. Isn't that nifty? 

Eventually, we left Matt #2's apartment, and Matt, Mandy, and I headed to a twenty-four hour coffee shop in downtown Columbus. We arrived there at around 3:00AM. The coffee and company were delightful. But despite the recent caffeine intake, the three of us were starting to crash and decided to call it a night. We headed back to my house without any expectations whatsoever. Upon arriving at my house, we realized that my roommate had accidentally (I think) locked me out. So getting into the house was a challenge all of its own. I had been uninformed that we would be having other guests spending the night at our house, so sleeping areas were sort of on shortage. We didn't let this get us down; rather, we created a room full of blankets and pillows (my small, Stephanie-like, corner of the house), and we had a pretty classic slumber party, with lots of talk about our feelings! It was grand. 

Waking up was a struggle, but once that overwhelming task had been accomplished, we managed to make/eat breakfast. Mandy headed home, and Matt and I wondered into the Easton area run some errands. Matt needed to make a stop at Best Buy to pick up a charger for his cell phone; conveniently enough, Best Buy was having a $5 moving sale. Long story short, I purchased Mrs. Doubtfire on DVD, so my DVD collection is pretty much complete at this point. Matt and I then ate some food, sang and listened to some songs, said some weird things, and went about our separate lives. 

So then I missed Mandy. We decided to go on a mini-hike by the river near her home. I took some pictures. We got coffee; I had three shots of espresso. Coincidentally, I applied for a job at Starbucks an hour later. 

This weekend was great. Thank you for sharing it with me! Below are a few of the photos I took. Enjoy!

(Photo above courtesy of Matt Hayes)

A Talk in the Rain

I know it's gloomy and gray outside. That brings a lot of people down, and I understand that, but I don't ever think I will tire of the solemn, peaceful beauty found in the rainy, gray landscapes. I will never tire of the sound of the rain drops dancing on the rooftops or the smell of the grass wafting gracefully into the air. And when it's chilly outside, people tend to come together -- to find warmth from within and around rather than from external influences. Something in the simplicity and sentimentality of that concept brings me great joy.  Humanity is just so astonishingly beautiful.

God has blessed the rain and all it touches. I'd be a fool not to cherish every raindrop that drenches my outfit, my hair, my skin. I'd be a fool not to dance and sing in the rain. I'd be a fool not to experience the entire spectrum of nature-oriented beauty which is changing with every blink of my eye.

Today, I am overwhelmingly grateful. For rain, for skin, for song, for dance, for wind and sky. I am grateful for every little molecule that touches my life. I am grateful to those who have taught me to love, those who have shown me compassion and warmth in times of doubt, darkness, and despair. Love is always the warmest blanket when it's cold outside. Thank you, all of you, for keeping me warm.

Until we meet again!

Now Is the Month of Maying!

After aimlessly wondering through 'Thought Catalog' for a while, I felt remotely ashamed of some of the articles I was reading. So I decided to watch some Youtube videos to make up for my choices. I need to take better advantage of the technologies offered to me.

Like this. This video is perfect.
For some reason, it shed lots of hope into my night.

Happy viewing!

Kidstructive Criticism: The Future

August 26, 2013: First Day of Junior Year

Today was a great day. Why was it great,you ask? Let me share with you all of the wonder that occurred while the sun was in the sky! 

I began my classes and my internship today. Early this afternoon, I worked in the Career Development office officially for the first time in my life, and I enjoyed every second of it! I worked with an alumnus who was looking for new perspectives on the job market, which was fun/scary/exciting for my first client experience. Also, my boss' son dropped by and got really excited about the N'sync performance on MTV and knew all of the other boy band information that has ever come into existence, so that was inspiring. 

After spending some time with friends and emailing job applications to different folks, I headed to my first and only class of the day: Marketing. This is my first class in the business school, so I was a wee bit nervous heading into the environment; however, we ended up forming product presentation within the first thirty minutes of class. I was elected spokesperson for my group, and my group's product was chosen by the consumers! This was a big deal for me. It felt like maybe I might be heading in the right direction with my life, so that was reassuring and wonderful.

Last but not least, a friend who I have been growing extremely close to lately confirmed that he will be staying in Ohio for the next year and not be moving hundreds of miles away as anticipated. The opportunity that he has stumbled into is incredible, and he is going to learn SO MUCH in the upcoming months. Not to mention, he'll be close enough to spend some quality time with me. This is pretty happy. 

Also, today, I discovered this quotation, and it resonated with me, and I liked it. So I'm sharing that, too. 

"Every time I ever put my arms around you I felt that I was home."

~Ernest Hemingway

Life's a great thing, folks. 

August 23, 2013

On this day, I had the most epic of experiences.

My day began with a visit to a doctor's office where I would endure some quality voice therapy, something I'd become accustomed to over the last year and a half. But this voice therapy appointment was great! At the end of the appointment, I was discharged from voice therapy!  I cannot adequately express the joy that overtook my being. It's been such a difficult journey, but my path is finally diverging.

Later in the day, I got to spend time eating pizza with my family, and I saw my baby brother at OSU. It was lots of fun and all of the precious.

The Beginning: August 20, 2013

Beginning this type of a blog is something I have had interest in for years, but for some reason, I have never quite had the motivation to actually get it started. This is my "moment of day" journal. It's about to be filled with the good things that happen in my days, whatever that may be. It's a way of drawing the goodness out of every situation to allow for personal growth and a continued attitude associated with gratefulness. 

It's time to start actively choosing to live out joy in my life. 

Here we go!

Yesterday, I made guacamole. I ate it with "hint of lime" tortilla chips, and happiness filled my heart to the brim and captivated my taste buds. I also discovered google docs, which are the most wonderful invention of the month! OH! I also helped a friend become involved in the campus ministry community, which is the most happy of feelings. I love being able to offer a sense of community to those who may be feeling homeless while they are involved in school/organizations. It was a great day!