wednesday

I love reading other people's blogs. I get so many cool ideas from them and my eyes get opened to cool photos, experiences, and new things to do. One thing that a lot of people do is post lists on their blogs, either their own or other people's. Many of them are lists of happiness.

The Rockstar Diaries has "Here's to Happiness"

Twila's Vintage has "10 things that make my heart happy"

The PigBear has "ten on tuesday"

I really really like reading these lists. So much that I want to start my own list! One thing that has made ME happy this quarter is Wednesday. So, welcome to my first "Wonderful Things in our World on Wednesday" list.... (we can work on the name later... I'm just going to try it on for size right now...)

Wonderful Things in our World on Wednesday:

1. only two hours of class on Wednesdays (and no work!)

2. receiving my sister's high school graduation announcement in the mail

3. being able to do half of the NY Times crossword puzzle on Wednesday, even though I can normally only get that far on Mondays (and sometimes Tuesdays)

4. thinking that the day is weird and joking with Stephanie that it must be a full moon... and then realizing that it IS a full moon!

5. Stagecoach Country Music Festival (more on this later, I promise)

6. measuring my new room for next year

7. wine (preferably cab)

8. The OC (which I'm watching right now)

9. David Beckham (whose poster I have on my wall... and he's not wearing a shirt)

10. brand new (blue) PaperMate ballpoint pens

I promise I will get better at this. Normally they won't be things from that specific day that make me happy, but today there were a few things and I just wanted to share.

P.S. I just thought of another wonderful thing
11. the movie Ever After with Drew Barrymore
I bought it at Costco for $5 today and I haven't seen it in so long.... it's also cool because the servant she buys back towards the beginning also plays Crazy Pete in Now and Then (one of my favorite movies) and then also, the book her father gives her at the beginning of the movie is Utopia which we just read in Humanities (and was on our midterm yesterday)

Prince: Anyone who can quote Thomas More is well worth the effort
Danielle: The prince has read Utopia!
Prince: I found it sentimental and dull.

Haha pretty sure that's what half of my class was feeling when we were going over it... I, personally, felt the book had some redeeming qualities but a government system such as the one built by the Utopians would never work. just saying.

number 17...

Have you ever read the side of your Starbucks cup? I normally read them and don't really care too much so I throw them away... but I really liked mine today! Maybe I'll start reading them more.

The Way I See It #17

The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion, some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any job; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no" - they may not be smart enough to say "yes."

-- Keith Olbermann

Broadcast journalist and host of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann

SearchStories

Okay, so I was reading The Swede Records (and I recommend you do too) and she had posted this really AWESOME video off of this new Google tool on YouTube.

It's called "SearchStories" and it has the potential to be super super super cute!

Anyway, since I don't have a super cute love story like they do in the Swede Records, I just tried it out with random stuff that (kinda) describes me. I ended with one thing that is kinda missing from my life right now... but until it comes along, I'm filling my life with the other things in the video <3

Here is my video:



I am sure I'll play around with it a lot more when I have a good story to tell.

What's your story? Share it with me!

Also, awesome things for today:
1. SearchStories (duh)
2. Soup!!! (Michael and I are going to go to a restaurant and get SOUP in a few minutes.)
3. HOUSES!! (Christine, Steph, and I found a house and we put down a deposit so we aren't homeless next year!! Its gonna be so cute)

awesome

So, of course, I was reading Post Secret today (I know, I'm a day late. Yesterday was a weird day... and actually, today is too...) and stumbled upon this website: 1000 Awesome Things.

Can somebody please explain to me why things like Post Secret and 1000 Awesome Things have the power to break me down? Maybe it's just my weird mood right now, but I have the urge to just lay in bed and cry. Does that ever happen to you?

I dunno, maybe it's because I'm lonely tonight (more so than I have been in a while). Maybe it's because I can't figure out how I got the monster of a bruise on my leg that hurts when I walk. Maybe it's because my jaw hurts and I don't know what I did to it. Maybe it's because I was looking at Nikol's sister's engagement pictures on Facebook and was so inspired by the creativity and love that was involved. Maybe it's realizing how many things around me in every day life really are AWESOME (because seriously, they are!) Or maybe it's this video that was on the 1000 Awesome Things website that I fell in love with:


I kinda like the idea of coming up with things that are awesome in my life. Obviously my new year's resolution to post a picture a day did not work out.. Maybe I'll change it to posting something awesome, or amazing, or inspiring per day. I kinda like that one...

Today's daily dose of awesome:
Gerber Daisies

(Some day when I'm not too lazy, I'll hook up my external hard drive and post a picture or to that I took of gerber daisies... I absolutely LOVE them and I think they brighten up a room so well!)

and

Hot Cups of Tea

(simply because they are soothing)

P.S. Sorry about the right side of the video being cut off. I think it has to do with the template of my blog... I'm going to have to mess with the settings so that the entire video can be seen on my blog. Until then, open the video in YouTube. I promise you won't regret watching it <3

creative

I am so in the mood to do crafts right now! But, of course, instead of doing crafts, I have to start reading Thomas More's "Utopia" for my humanities class. Grr..

I need to start doing stuff with all the things I brought back from Spain and all my travels in Europe. I can't wait to start scrap booking all of it! I have THOUSANDS of photos.

What I REALLY want to do is find a house that me, Christine, and Stephanie will live in next year. I want to clear out all the stuff I have in my room right now that I don't need, and I want to make crafty decorations for my walls, dresser, etc.

A girl, Twila (check out her blog), commented on my blog today and I'm so glad she did! I went and flipped through a few pages on her blog and I got so excited! She has so many cool ideas (one that I posted on Nikol's Facebook wall), and I can't wait to use some of her brilliant decorating ideas. One of her posts had cool quotes that kind of reminded me of those old I Spy books I used to read when I was young. I got really excited because a couple of the pictures combined two things I'm super excited about right now (and in general): quotes and maps!! Here are the pictures (thanks, Twila)!!

I really like the second one! I have been doing some stuff with canvases and decoupage and stuff, I made something for my sister a while ago, and I have a couple flower things that I have on my wall (not too proud of those, they were kinda just the first project I did, trying out a new medium and stuff). I will take a picture of the one I did for my sister the next time I go home.

I need to invest in some stencils, paints, ribbons, etc. Who want's to go on a trip to Beverly's or JoAnn's this weekend with me?

Anyway, I'm super excited to do some things with quotes, maps, pictures and such. Also, because I'm going to be home this summer, my mom said she would teach me how to sew! She gave me her old sewing machine she used when she was my age, but I don't know how to use it! I'm so excited for mother-daughter time and sewing lessons.

Okay, off to read "Utopia." Wish me luck!

P.S. I also developed some cool things for my sisters for when they graduate (Liana is graduating high school in June and Caitlin is graduating college in May... sorry Kelley, you've gotta wait two more years till you graduate college!!) So excited!!

P.P.S. STAGECOACH is in two weeks! So excited!

preventable

Who reads PostSecret?? Well, if you don't you really should. The secrets are fascinating and really make me feel like I am not alone in so much of what I feel and so much of the things I keep secret from people.


Anyway, I am just writing this quick thing because a) I am tired and want to go to bed and b) I wanted to copy this off of the PostSecret website before the secrets change tomorrow.


Earlier this school year a boy from my university killed himself. I didn't know him, nor did I know anybody who knew him super well, but that doesn't change that it happened. In my media classes, mostly my ethics class, we discussed the ethically proper way to cover suicide and deaths in the media.


The high rate of college student suicides is really scary. Maybe we shouldn't cover specifics of each death alone, but we should be more aware of the pressures that students have in their daily lives, and be more in tune with the fact that more people than we think are hurting and may need more support from friends, family, or even trained professionals.


Thank you, PostSecret, for making the world aware of all the different hotlines, outlets, and resources available to those who feel alone and may need a little more help than others.


((Letter from the PostSecret website))


-----Letter-----

Dear Frank

I thought about sending a postcard but wanted to share a story without anonymity. I'm a senior at Cornell University and at your PostSecret Event here two years ago, I shared the following secret: "My main motivation for applying to the PhD program in Clinical Psychology was to honor the memory of my three cousins who took their lives by acquiring the training to help alleviate the despair of others."

Recently I received an offer of admission to the USUHS in Bethesda, Maryland where I will be joining the Suicide Behavior and Prevention Laboratory. As soon as I received that offer, I remembered the secret I shared with the audience that night and how deeply meaningful it will be to follow through.

It makes me smile to know I'll be moving so close to where all the secrets are sent and being only a few miles away from someone breaking down barriers in the mental health field in a way science has yet to discover.



-----Response-----

I still have good memories of the Cornell PostSecret Event in 2008. And being a basketball fan I enjoyed watching Cornell's team go deep in the NCAAs last week. But I've also been distressed to see the lopsided media coverage of student basketball compared to the half dozen student suicides at Cornell this year.

According to Yahoo, 7,573 news stories were written about Cornell Basketball in the past 30 days. During that same period, only 275 stories were written about the six Cornell students who took their own lives.

Suicide is a secret that we collectively keep from ourselves. But if we can find the courage to tell the painful stories, together, we can take the actions that will bring help and hope to those of us who suffer in silence.

This year over 1,000 college students will kill themselves. March is the month with the highest rate of suicides. Here are five ways you can fight back today.

1. Support the Pick-Up-The-Phone 30-City Tour with headliner Blue October.

2. Tell your story (or your friend's story) and learn how Active Minds can help you fight suicide at your school.

3. Join Congressman Kennedy, HopeLine founder Reese Butler, Jamie Tworkowski and myself in Washington DC, April 12th, for the 6th Annual National HopeLine Network Capital Hill Press Conference.