just read// The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

I just finished reading or listening to, rather The Fault in Our Stars. Okay, I honestly don’t know where to begin. Well, the listening part- I listened to it via audible on my drive down to Long Island for the holidays and the narration was awesome. I’ve tried audiobooks before but sometimes it’s just so hard to stay focused. With this, there was no effort needed- I was hooked!

I’m usually not into teenage romances, just never have been. But the main characters’ humor and attitudes were so intriguing and again, the narration made me feel like I truly knew each of them, personally. Every time there would be some type of plot “twist” though, they weren’t so much as twists than real-life-like scenarios for these characters, I felt even more excited to know what was going to happen next and how I would react. When the book ended, I said to myself…”wow” I really enjoyed that.

In these little explanations I really try not to give anything away especially for a book like this one that I’d love for anyone to read (or listen to).

“okay?” “okay.”

P.S. when looking for the image of the book via google i found out that it was going to become a featured film this year!!!!! what the whaat?! needless to say, i’m excited to see it!!!!

Featured Friend: Briannah, “Who am I?”

A friend of mine, Briannah emailed and asked to create the statement, in a video of myself, “I am ____.” It took me longer than I thought and there were lists of possibilities of words that I thought would be.. “good enough.” I thought and thought and after talking to a good friend of mine about it I thought… STRONG was the perfect word to use. This year has been all about learning about myself and I’ve gone through…so much. Needless to say, I’ve persevered and have found myself in so many ways and truly can define myself as a strong woman which I am so proud to say for myself and hope so many other girls and women can.

WHO AM I?

The question “Who Am I?” is not as straightforward as you would think. In class we did a whole field assignment around the idea of who we thought we were. Not what other people thought, not what we wanted to be, but who we are. It was brutal, but very eye opening. When I actually sit down and think about the question I got frustrated. All of this self-reflection was tiring me out. But then I started to honestly think about all of the things that make me, well me. The experience is wonderful, an experience of self-awakening that I just had with myself. Now, I can take this experience and either keep it to myself…or I could share it. When I learn something cool or something interesting to me, I like to talk about it around the dinner table or talk to my friends about it, so for my final project, I gave some of my friends the question “Who Am I?” to ponder.  Here’s what they came up with.

{see the video below}

Gratitude is the way home. Home is where joy lives in us.

a little something i discovered during my Brene Brown art-journaling course…just had to share!

for 2014…

Featured Friend: Brittany, “Love yourself! The Reason I Cut My Hair Off.”

I ‘met’ (quotes bc she is one of my younger sister’s good friends and we’re also from the same home town…but I mean that just means even more to me) Brittany at one of the most pivotal times of my life. She’s holds such a sweet and important place in the entirety of my self-discovery. Our friendship compliments us as individuals so beautifully and I love being an older, guiding figure for her at times. I’m so unbelievably honored to have her featured on my blog as she’s a fellow Education major as well as passionate writer. Here’s her story about her fabulous new hair and what it’s helped her realize. I love you to death!

LOVE YOURSELF! 

The Reason I Cut My Hair Off

By Brittany Lindo

I’ve always admired women who were able to chop off all of their hair and rock the pixie/bob/buzzed look.  They always seemed so confident…and we all know that confidence is the key to feeling beautiful.  Halfway through my first year of college I began to think maybe I could pull something like that off too.

In the past I’ve had some trouble with being comfortable and happy with the way I look.  The media is a very scary place, trust me. I always thought I was too fat, or too short, or just too ugly in general.  With the support of my friends and family I was able to overcome that dark time but even though I started to accept who I am there was still something holding me back.  I would always delay the actual act of cutting off my hair because I would feel too attached to it.  Then I began to realize that over the years my hair became some sort of a security blanket.  I would hide behind my big poofy hair in order to distract others from the other flaws I saw in myself.  I didn’t necessarily hate how my hair looked, I just hated that I used it to further prove that I wasn’t entirely happy with who I am.

So on June 28, 2013 I got the courage to go to my hairdresser and about an hour later, my hair was all gone! Talk about liberating. It has been about four months since the big chop and I can honestly say that I regret not one thing from the experience.  I have gotten so much support from my friends and family and that has meant the absolute world to me.

Not only is shorter hair MUCH easier to handle and style, I began to see myself in a whole new, more positive light.  With my new look, I can see that I was always a beautiful person, inside and out, with long or short hair. The funny thing is that it has always been that way, it just took me a little while to see it. But most importantly, I learned to love myself.  It may not be “normal” for girls to have short hair but I’m not here to impress others. Always remember that YOU come first and if you love it then that is all that matters.

Date a Girl Who Teaches

FRIENDS. this is my first re-blog and a mighty good one at that. ALL YOU SINGLE, FEMALE TEACHERS IT’S A MUST-READ!

Sentiments from the Heart

This might sound self-serving or even redundant after I posted the entry Date a Girl Who Reads. Nonetheless, I would like to share this entry with you. Enjoy!

Date a girl who teaches children. Date a girl who enjoys more in a bookstore for school supplies and children’s books rather than in make-up store. She has problems with storage space because she has too many trinkets and storybooks to keep. Date a girl who has a list of stories that she wants to have and read, who has a collection of Aklat Adarna, Leo Lionni and Eric Carle’s books.

 

Find a girl who teaches. You’ll know that she does because she always carries supersized bags. She’s the one who has everything in her tote. From art-project glitter materials to wet wipes. She has to carry her laptop almost everyday and all those papers and booklets that only she…

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a very special visit

yesterday, one of the greatest women in my life came to visit me! she’s my former boss and now good friend from my internship at the center for civic engagement at binghamton. she had never been to destiny usa and we hadn’t seen each other since i graduated and syracuse was just so inviting with the incredible weather (for what felt like the first day in weeks).

we started off at the amazing CNY regional market. it’s the biggest and greatest farmer’s market i’ve ever been to. they have all sorts of things– veggies, fruits, breads, jams, pies, meats, gluten free options, fish, cookies, herbs, donuts, pasta, clothing, and MORE. it’s HUGE and just a great environment. i ate the most amazing donut i’ve ever had in my life (good thing bc i sadly missed national donut day this year!) but sadly couldn’t get a photo bc it was just…that darn delicious. i also tried rhubarb for the first time and got some strawberry rhubarb jam…YUM! and also some freshly handmade pasta- spinach garlic. nomz there’s so much that i wanted to get. definitely have to get back soon!

next we hit the mall! and boy, was it a good shopping trip. made some exciting (smart), purchases and it was nice to be in the mall with a girlfriend. afterwards we tried out Tokyo Seoul where i had Korean food for the very first time! it was so delish and really hit the spot. lacking photos of these moments because they were just great and i was completely invested in enjoying (much too often we spend way too much time on our phones and such that we’re not invested in the moment- put down those phones and unplug, people!– something i’m still working on myself but really do love when i “forget” to look at my phone for a few hours at a time…it’s very liberating!)

beautiful orchid- thank you, girl!!!!

we basically explored a little bit of the surrounding areas of syracuse and really enjoyed it. i absolutely love her. she’s so inspirational and a total bad-ass. thank you so much for coming, Christie. you mean so, very much to me.

my current life anthem

YAY FEMALE POWER.

I love young females who are spunky and confident like Sara Bareilles and who project this positive, exciting image.

My Sampooh recently introduced this song to me, and I fell for it immediately. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!