Self Portrait

If there was a picture of objects that represented you--what would it be? What objects "define" who you are? What are your possessions saying about you?

This is my self portrait. What does it say to you about who I am?

xoxo

Who I Am: Family Edition

I think in order for you to know who I am, you need a little background information first. 

I come from a large family. Actually, a very large family, (no, not like The Duggars or anything) we have a family reunion and there are anywhere from 70-100 people there--and even then not everyone attends. I know for some of you that's a little shocking.

I absolutely LOVE having a big family. 

Here are a few of the reasons why:

Support: With a large number of family members comes a lot of opinions and judgements--but also a LOT of support. I know when I moved there were some people that thought (and probably still think) that it was silly for me to move so far away "for photography". But you know what? I had a ton of support from my family and they are all so proud of everything that I've accomplished. 

Avoidance: Oh come on! Every single one of you know what I'm talking about. Of course they are your family and you love them, but maybe you don't actually like them. With a large family, you can stick close to the ones you do like and stay far away from the ones you don't! 

Friendship: This really only works if you get along with your family--so in my case it does. I have a built-in-buddy for the rest of my life! It's pretty neat, I'm not going to lie. If I'm bored and all of my other friends are working I can just call my sister or text my brothers, or even talk to my mom or dad. I know they will always be there for me--even if it's just for me to ramble on about nothing. :)

This picture PERFECTLY captures our relationship.....

Food: We have big get togethers for all of the major holidays and let me just go ahead and tell you that the food is ah-mazing. The fact that there are so many of us just adds to the delicousness--which in turn adds to my waistline...but oh well. Food is just something that can easily bring everyone together. I've learned that through my family--because some people may be plum-stupid but if they can make a mean pie, chances are I'll learn to tolerate them for a little while.

Prayer: Something my family believes in is the power of prayer. Something else we believe is that there is power in numbers. Well you know what? When you have a large, praying-type family you've just about got yourself a miracle!

I'm dying to know--what are my reader's families like? Do you have a big family like I do? Or is it small? Are you wanting a larger family? Give me some details, people!

xoxo

It's Like Learning To Ride A Bike

Something to keep in mind today:

 

No matter what obstacles may come at you today--just remember that sometimes change can be a good thing. Learning to enjoy the ride is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

By keeping a positive outlook on life you can learn to let the little things go. Not every conversation that doesn't go your way, off-hand comment, or parking ticket has to be a big ordeal. Especially now, in the days of social media, people want to update everyone on every little thing that happens in their lives--but how many of those posts are positive versus negative? Take a survey of your homepage..right now. How many of the posts were complaining? How many were praising?

It seems to me that it's easier to talk about the bad things happening in our day to day lives than the good things. Is that because we like to complain? Or is it because we don't want to seem boastful? I know that personally I would much rather see posts from people talking about how fantastic their lives are as opposed to people complaining about menial things that may have happened. (Yes, I do realize this is kinda like me complaining about people complaining haha!)

Learning to enjoy all aspects of life, good or bad, takes time and practice....just like learning to ride a bike. I'm asking all of you to do just that today! Learn to ride the proverbial bike today and try to appreciate the lessons you learn from the things that may go wrong in your day!

If the barista gives you the wrong cup of coffee--it's a chance for you to try something new! Who knows, you might like your coffee with extra foam and hazelnut, but you wouldn't know it without that mix up, would you? ;)

If you overhear someone gossiping about you and they say you're uptight and a prude, that might hurt. It also might open the door for you to look at yourself in a new light and realize you are kind of uptight and you could learn to let down your hair sometime.

If you have a fight with your significant other over something trivial, use that as a lesson. That lesson would be learning to pick your battles. Is it really worth it to fight about who took the trash out last? Is it worth an argument to decide who picks what you're having for dinner? Choose these wisely because otherwise you'll end up with a lot of wasted energy on something that could've been easily solved.

If you do learn to ride that bike, please let me know how it went! Did it change your outlook? Did you feel happier today because of it? Or are you one of those people that just can't let things go and ended up falling off the bike and walking home? I'd love to hear all instances!

xoxo

What Has Seattle Taught Me?

I had to let go of every preconception I had of the city before I could allow myself to truly love this city. All I had ever known before moving to a big city was how fast paced they were and how rude the people could be.

Boy was I wrong.

Seattle, Washington is a very large city--more than 620,000 people live here--that doesn't even begin to cover the amount of tourists that come to visit the Emerald City every year.

But what is interesting about this massive city--is how it makes you feel at home. A lot of people call Seattle a "small town in a big city" and that is exactly how it feels!

I've never felt such a sense of community as I do here. it's strange. People are friendlier at home--more welcoming and genuine. But the people here really make me feel something different. Maybe it's because there are so many community activities that go on--things like farmer's markets, dancing lessons outside during the summer, cookouts at my apartment in the courtyard, weekly movie nights, I could go on and on!

I'm not going to lie, it was hard for me to make friends at first--in fact I still haven't found friends here like the ones I have at home...it almost feels like when you move to a new high school and everyone has gone to school together since pre-school. People are nice, don't get me wrong, but there are few people here that I can just go shopping with or ask to come to lunch with me.

Maybe it's because I'm a home-body, I don't go out and party or to the bar after work.
Maybe it's because I don't drink or do drugs, which now that it's legal to smoke pot in Washington I realize just how many people do it. WHOA.
But then again--maybe it's none of those things at all?
Maybe I can't find real friends here because I'm not really looking. Of course I want to make friends--but I just haven't found many people that I really click with that I would want to spend time with outside of school.

A lot of the time I think that we try to blame certain situations on others--but after a little soul searching you might find that there is no one to blame and things just happen sometimes.

Did you have a big move? It doesn't have to be across the country, it could just be to a new city, town, or school! Did you have a hard time adapting to the new place or people? I would love to hear from you!

xoxo

I Won't Grow Up.

I know I said in my last blog post that I am officially a grown up--but what exactly does being a grown up mean?

If growing up means that I can't wear a Minnie Mouse sweatshirt, maybe I don't want to grow up.
If growing up means that I can't have stuffed animals on my bed, maybe I don't want to grow up.
If growing up means that I can't order off the kid's menu, maybe I don't want to grow up.
If growing up means that I can't wear pink glitter shoes, maybe I don't want to grow up.

Sometimes being a "grown up" isn't all it seems to be.
Being an adult brings a lot of responsibility.
When you're an adult you have to have a job--not just one that pays--but one that pays the bills.
When you're an adult you have much harder decisions to make than "what should I wear today?" or "what is mom making for dinner?"

Sometimes being a "grown up" actually calls for us to remember how to be a child.
Children love without inhibitions. In order to love someone with all your heart--you have to trust them and let go of any preconceptions you have.
Children don't hold back their feelings, you always know exactly what they are thinking or feeling.

What would happen if we all took a step back and looked at our lives from a different point of view?

xoxo

The End of Year One.

At the end of April I will have lived 100% on my own for an entire year!
I've technically lived in Seattle for over a year, but I had a roommate for the first 7 months.

This may not seem like a big deal to many of you, but let me just explain why I think it's such a big feat:

I moved 2,000 miles away from home--the farthest I've ever been away that wasn't for a sleep-away
camp or vacation.

I went from living in a town of 20,000 people to a city of 620,000 people.

I went from seeing trees and houses everyday to seeing incredibly tall glass buildings and sidewalks.

I stopped driving a car and began using public transit. (Which is also a big deal in itself considering we didn't have any kind of bus system back home....I mean there is the Mata bus in Memphis but you don't ride that unless you have a death wish. Seriously.)

I went from living with my parents, to living with a roommate, to living all by myself.
Which, consequently means I'm a grown up, y'all!




So now that almost a year has passed, what have I learned?
I've learned so much by living on my own--but here are my top 5.

The Top 5 Things I've Learned Living on My Own:

1. I am in charge of making sure I eat.
This may sound silly to you, but I am the type of person who completely submerges myself in whatever it is I'm working on at the time. Which is usually editing pictures or doing homework. but unless I get up to stretch, get a phone call or have to use the ladies' room, I will forget that I haven't eaten anything all day long. Now, my mother does call me from time to time and ask if I've eaten all day...because she knows how I am. BUT--I still have to make sure I put something in my mouth before I leave my apartment or I don't usually eat until 5:00 at night or later. I know, I know.

2. I'm an adult, therefore I make my own decisions.
Most of the time they are good decisions! But when I make the conscious decision to stay up editing the last 7 photos of the set I'm working on and it's already 1 in the morning...that makes for a bad decision later. Or if I decide to put my homework off until the last minute because I know I work better under pressure--that tends to not always be the best decision either.

This also means that sometimes I decide to eat candy for dinner instead of a healthy nutritional dinner...whoops! ;)

3. No pants are the best pants.
I say it alllll the time--but it's true! I hate wearing pants. So as soon as I walk my happy butt into my apartment I take them off. This is a good and a bad thing--good because I live by myself--bad because that means that I don't usually want to put them back on to do other things. Things like checking the mail, going to grab some milk, answering the door....you get the picture.

4. I enjoy my apartment much more when it's clean and organized.
Until recently my apartment seemed to always be a mess no matter what. But then I bought a bigger desk, two shelving units, some storage boxes and some wire baskets and went to town. My apartment stays clean almost every day because of this, (I say almost because of laundry day, we'll get to that next) because everything has a place! Just the way it should be. :)

This is just a small example of my organizational tendencies, it will take an entire post to show you everything! 

5. I shouldn't do all of my laundry at once.
I have this really terrible habit of waiting until I have absolutely nothing left in my closet to wear, and then washing all of my clothes in one day. This is a very bad idea because then I have TONS of laundry to fold and I usually do my laundry in between class or homework and then I don't fold it, it just sits on my dining table or my trunk for a day or two until I'm sick of having to stick things in the dryer to get the wrinkles out of them.

 Do any of you live on your own? What are some of the biggest lessons you've learned? I'd love to hear from you! 

xoxo