it's a little...

i have to keep my life focused.

snow!

yes, it's snowing out, and i love it! i really miss snow. i can't consider it winter until there's white stuff on the ground. really, i can't. without snow, everything is just so plain looking and gross.

below is a picture of the house i'm living in at the moment. my housemates are awesome :)
it's a fun place to live.


i just love the snow!

just quotes because i love them.

"The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." - F.D.R

"He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has everything." - Arabian Proverb

"There is nothing noble about being superior to some other man. The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self." -Hindu Proverb

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it."
- Helen Keller

"Hope is important because it can make the present moment less difficult to bear. If we believe that tomorrow will be better, we can bear a hardship today."
- Thich Nhat Hanh

"Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value."
-Albert Einstein

"To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain

got to say.... hmm?

i'm trying to figure out what i want out of life. yes, i do want to be happy. but happiness, i believe, can come from so many different things and i believe i can be happy doing multiple of them. i just need to pinpoint which ones i really want to do. this is difficult. i mean, i am dealing with the rest of my life. it's true that i could always decide on a thing and if it doesn't work out, i could always pick another thing. hmm but i don't want to do that. i'll just have to keep looking at the options.

i found a hike in Nepal i want to do. i'm saving my money so i can go in a couple of years :) cannot wait.

passes the time.

my phone has the coolest picture editing ever. i like to see how crazy i can get pictures, and i have to say, it's fun. i can waste an significant amount of time doing it. but no worries, i don't.

it looks like my sisters are on a different planet, no?

accomplishment

i made tofu last night for dinner... and you know what? it was delicious.
this is the first time [ever] that i've made good tofu, and it will not be the last.
because...

i♥tofu.

freedom.

i just want to be free. free from all present cares and the anxieties of life. we all know life can be stressful. ha. let me tell ya i know all about stress. (i just hit my elbow in my desk while writing this. it hurt. a lot. i'm definitely going to have a bruise there tomorrow.)

back to the free part... i would love to travel right now, but i don't have the money or time to do so. someday i hope this will change. ahhh to travel... i love new places, experiences, and people. (of course i'm quite shy, which makes meeting people a little difficult, but i'm working on it.)
this summer i want to go on a week long backpacking trip. how fun would that be? i think awesome is the right word choice here :)
my plans for the summer are currently unknown... who knows what could happen.



a few days ago i wrote my small and improvement needed list of things to do before i die. the majority of things are funny, but they are things i want to do. if people think they're stupid, well, i don't care. it's not yours, it's mine. another thing, this list is meant to be extended over time.

here it is:

go backpacking in new zealand, europe, australia, and thailand.

have dreads for 3 months. (i don't care what people say about them being nasty.)

have extremely bright red hair for a year.

be vegan for a year.

obtain a weight in the XXX's

run a half marathon.

go to victoria falls. swim to the edge.

travel to egypt.

learn to surf in hawaii.

go on a african safari.

pet a lion, tiger, and giraffe.

i think it's a good list, no?

right now...

... i'm thinking that guys suck... a lot.

yep, that's all i wanted to say.

puzzles

smile if you love puzzles :)

i have a new love for puzzles; this love developed over christmas break. well, i guess that's not true... i've always had it, but it became more prominent over break. when i was younger i received a puzzle for my christmas present. it was the coolest one ever because it connected with the puzzles my sisters had gotten. it was a beautiful national geographic picture puzzle with lots of animals.

my mom hates puzzles. she told me why she doesn't like them, and i have to say, it's funny reason.

pizza!

when i was home for winter break i made pizza. i'm proud of it actually ;) it was quite delicious, and my family thought so too.

my dad liked it. can you tell?

ham and pineapple, my favorite.

half veggie, half meat.

i love love love pizza.

shout out to isaac.

i have the cutest little brother ever. for christmas he gave my sisters and me itune gift cards, and he ended up getting a package of three. he wrapped the gift by himself. i love how he wrote his full name and just our initials. he is truly the best. he turns 13 in about a month! a teenager? what!

i miss him very, very much.

what i'm thinking right now...

my life isn't perfect. it may suck most of the time, but overall, i'm happy to be alive.
i've been struggling with some things as of lately, and i know they will not entirely go away. i may not have control of those certain things, but what i do have control over is my attitude. these issuses may cause me much pain and suffering, but if i look at the wonderful things in my life and try not to focus on the bad things too much, i will be happy. i will be able to make it through.

i have decided it's time i improve myself. for some time now i have not been happy with some habits i have, and it's time to change them. i need to focus on each day when it comes, and i can't think of the future too much. if i work on changing my habits day by day soon they'll become habits. it'll be a slow process, but i know it'll be worth it. everything worth while in life takes effort. this i understand.

here it goes!

"hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly, hold fast to dreams, for if dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow" -Langston Hughes

:D

i'm back in virginia! i arrived two days ago for the new semester, which began today. i had three classes: intro to social work, econ, and intro to drawing. i am so excited for intro to drawing! hopefully i learn a lot! can't wait ;)

bekah and i wrote out our shopping list tonight. we moved into a house before break so we get to cook! we are so excited :)

i am ready for this new semester.

it should be fun!

2011!

i can't believe it's 2011. last year went by so fast, and to think i turn 20 soon! wow!

this is a picture of my dad and brother helping a lady that got stuck in the snow. what a great start to the new year :D

i didn't do much to welcome the new year. i stayed home with my parents and sister. we did a puzzle and listened to the beatles. oh how we love the beatles. really, they are awesome.
my mom knows every song. she sang along, and i loved it! my parents are so amazing.

i've been thinking of some resolutions, and i've come up with a couple. i completed the majority that i set last year, which surprised me! that's good news for me. the resolutions aren't that major, but they're just some things i need to overcome.

i'm hoping that this year goes well for everyone!

happy new year!