A Vivid Memory

Here's the thing about vivid memories - I don't have any.

If I do, they're bad ones. Sad memories or times I've gotten hurt. Things that I really don't want to put on the internet.

I have memories. My mind is full of them. As I searched my brain for the perfect story to tell for the final Blog Everyday in May prompt (A Vivid Memory), I thought of several events in my life.

Stepping Off The Ledge

I'm not going to lie. I'm having a hard time with today's writing prompt"

React to this term: Letting Go.

Maybe it's more of how to start it. Starting things is hard because it has to grab the reader and it needs to be creative and such. I'm all out of creativity at the moment, friends.

If you want a good intro to letting go, read my blog post from earlier this week. Because ultimately, letting go is stepping off the ledge and trusting because you have no other choice. 

Five Songs

I love music. I need it on almost at all times. (Although  in my car I've been listening to an audio book this month.) Right now I have my office to myself when usually I share it. To make up for the lack of noise I have music from my iPad playing in the background. When I'm at home reading, cleaning the apartment, doing dishes - I need to have some sort of noise. Music, a TV show, a YouTube video, a movie, SOMETHING.

Sometimes the music I'm listening to relates to my life. Something I can connect with and say "that's exactly how I feel right now." Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's just music that I like.

My Monday Night As Told By Pictures, GIFS, and Tweets

A Letter To My Readers

To My Wonderful Readers,

There's a popular thought which goes around the blog world. "I don't blog for the numbers and for other people, I blog for myself."

I'm calling BS.

Links Links Links!

If you're friends with me on Facebook... you probably get an overload of links to articles and blog posts I've been reading.

Sorry about that.

I know most of you probably don't read them.

So, when I saw that the blog prompt for today was "Something You Read Online. Leave a link and discuss, if you'd like." I was really excited!

Someone is actually TELLING me to share links!!!!!

I Remember

I'm sorry, but if you have ever said anything to me I don't remember what it was.

It's not that I didn't take it to heart, or that it wasn't important to me. It was. Trust me. Although, it makes me feel bad that I don't remember. I've been in so many affirmation circles on mission trips - you'd think that at least one thing would stick out to me.

Unless it was a short joke. I remember a lot of those.

But here is what I do remember:

Top Three

"Shhh! Bring your voice down!"

I hear this a lot. I'll get really excited about something, or simply talk, and as I go on I can hear it. The volume of my voice raises (sometimes gets really squeaky) and I know people are noticing. But I can't stop it. It just... happens. Then someone in the group I'm in glares at me and tells me to try to be quieter because people are staring. Or they somewhat discreetly move us to another section of the coffee house. Or I notice that I can't really hear anyone else singing at church...

I'm loud.

I know it's a problem. (Unless I'm doing a play or musical- then it's awesome!) I know I embarrass people when my voice raises in public. I just can't help it. I have a weird sounding voice that carries. I'm working on it though.

I Agree With Sheldon Cooper

The conversation was innocent enough. We had been practicing outside on the stage for Romeo and Juliet for a couple of hours and had almost considered cancelling simply because we were spending as much time swatting at the bugs as we were reading lines. Even with bug spray  - the deep woods kind.

One of the actors suggested we all bring those candles that keep bugs away to our next outdoor rehearsal. I was silent for a moment, and they looked at me expectantly.

"I don't have one," I said simply. Although I know I should, mosquitoes eat me alive.

"You're a youth minister and you don't have one?" they asked, surprised.

I shrugged. "I like being inside. 'If the outdoors were so great why would mankind spend hundreds of years improving the indoors.' Sheldon Cooper."

We're There. We're SO There.

It's taken over the internet.

All of our feeds and cluttered with them.

You can't browse anything without seeing them.

We've all done it... heck, even the Doctor has done it.

And we should be ashamed of ourselves.

What is this awful thing that we can't get away from?????

The selfie.

Favorites

I have written over 300 blog posts over the last few years.

That's a lot of writing! Especially for someone who doesn't blog every day unless it's for a challenge like May.

Trying to narrow it down to my favorite posts has proven to be difficult. How do I pick only a few to show off to the world? Yes, there are a lot of posts that I probably never should have published, but there they are. Then there are others where they actually aren't that bad, and I'm truthfully very proud of. Which is exciting.

Most of the posts that are my favorites are featured in my "Catch Up" page. I picked some of the main topics I talk about on this blog and a few entries to go along with it.

However, there are still a few that aren't featured on that page which I want to share with you all.

Am I Good?

As you're reading this, I am probably laying in bed attempting to get some much needed sleep because Sunday night I would have stayed up all night at a lock-in.

As I'm attempting to sleep I'm probably wondering why staying up all night with a bunch of teenagers was a good idea.

So, here's hoping I'm getting rest right now.

Anyways. Moving on.

***

Am I good?

I feel like it's something we all wonder about. Not good as in "am I a good person?" Although I suppose we all wonder this as well at some point, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Am I good at what I do?

Show the Love

I can never pick favorites.

When asked for my favorite book or movie I'm always like "Well... I really like this one right now. But this one, and this one, and this one are all amazing too!"

So when asked about my favorite blogs - I have the same conundrum.

However, for today instead of picking my 5 favorite blogs I will share with you 5 blogs that I read regularly, that I LOVE, and I feel like need to be given more love.

Memories

For some reason, I have a hard time re-creating memories. When asked to tell you a story about growing up, it takes  a  lot of effort for me to think of something which can create a whole story. It's easier when I have photographs. There are so many times I can remember looking through my mom's old family photo albums and once I see a picture of an event in my life, it suddenly comes back to me and I can recall what happened and how I felt.

When I don't have those photos, it's much harder to remember.

This morning when I woke up I immediately realized I hadn't written today's post today. I got up, took Bandit out, and while making my coffee I pulled out the one photo album I have of some of my childhood memories. My mom had put it together for me for my 8th grade graduation and it chronicles my years at St. Paul.

No Pictures, Please

I don't usually like photos of myself. It's just... ugh.

I'm not very photogenic and when I go through photos of myself I can't help but cringe.

Yes, I realize a lot of girls say this. But from what I can tell (at least in the blog world) most girls are all "OMG I hate that picture because I'm making a silly face and I look kind of awkward" when in reality that weird face and so called "awkward" pose actually works on them and they look adorable.

Some girls can wear sweat pants and make the dumbest facial expression ever and still look amazing in photos.

That's not me.

Rambling and Books

Here I am again, early in the morning and I'm attempting to write a blog post before 8am.

I had full intentions of writing about the prompt for today, Something Difficult About My Slot in Life and How I Plan to Overcome It. But i just couldn't bring myself to do it. I had a crazy day yesterday, and there is a similar topic later this month so I guess I'm covered for that. 

A Day in the Life

It is a shame this prompt didn't land on a Monday or a Wednesday. Heck, my whole week other than Tuesday are going to be far more interesting than my Tuesday. I could have shown you play rehearsals, the school where I volunteer, Starbucks, along with my regular day-to-day stuff in the office.

However, the prompt was for today and therefore you get to experience my boring Tuesday.

Tuesday because I am attempting at scheduling my posts the day before so that way, the day they are supposed to be up it's good to go right away in the morning.

I did my best to make this interesting for you all.

If you follow my Instagram, you've already seen all of these photos clutter your feed. I'm sorry.

10 Things That Make Me Really Happy

First off - I'm getting bad at this. I pre-scheduled all of my May posts so I could make sure I wrote them ahead of time and could stay on schedule. The plan was to write a post the day before it was supposed to be published and have it scheduled for 8am.

It's 7:37 this morning and I'm writing my post now.

So... there's that.

I'm Sorry. I'm So Sorry.

There are times when I look at all of my social media pages... Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr (which no one gets the URL for unless you're UBER special or you have no idea who I am), etc. and I can't but think about my poor followers. And I just want to say...

I'm sorry I'm such a fan girl.

Half of my posts are dedicated to Harry Potter, Doctor Who, Disney, Broadway, Firefly, Lord of the Rings, John Green books, The Hunger Games... the list could go on and on.

There are times I wonder if my aunt regrets giving me that first Harry Potter book.

Restore Joy

A few weeks ago, I went with my friend Kelli to a church she attends on Friday nights. It wasn't my usual thing for worship, but it was nice to be able to go somewhere and worship and just... be. No responsibilities, no duties, just be.

One of the songs the praise band sang quoted Psalm 51. They left out some of the verses so I pulled out my Bible and read the whole Psalm for myself.

Source

As I read, one verse stuck out to me.

"Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit." Psalm 51:12

It got me thinking about worshiping and how much I used to love it.

Not that I don't love it anymore, I do. But it's... different.

Different than how it used to be.

10 Words Or Less

Source

Welcome to College

It was my first week of college classes ever.

I was eighteen, just finished Concordia University's "O-Week", and couldn't have been happier.

One day, I had an audition for a praise band. My high school choir teacher had it ingrained into my mind that when you audition, you looked your best. So I dressed appropriately. Cute top, skirt, and a hat as a statement piece.

I thought my audition was in the morning, so I got up early and went over to the music building.

Apparently I was wrong.

Down With the Montagues!

Last night I had rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet at one of the local photography studios. It was so much fun. I can't wait for this show. 

(Shameless plug- it's the weekend of June 22, and we're selling cookie dough and ads to raise money. You can also get a t-shirt that says either "Down With the Capulets" or "Down With the Montagues." If you want info about any of these, contact me or like the Facebook page. Shameless plug over.)

Anyways.... already this show is a blast. I'm simply loving it. 

A Piece of Advice

Be nice to the help.

I'm not talking about having a maid or something (although I guess that would apply if you do have help around the house). I'm talking about your waiter, waitress, customer service person, the guy on the help line, etc.

Be nice to them.

They Just See Emily

Today's post is a little late. I was going to write it last night and schedule it to be published at 8am (central) this morning, and it never happened. I got distracted with meetings and other projects and I just didn't feel like writing.

Seven days into Blog Every Day in May and I already have the "do I have to write today?" bug. This can't be good.

Anyways.

Many of you have probably heard of the Kid President. If you haven't, I'm sad for you.

You may have seen this video floating around the internets:

What I Do

"Stories, tales, bardic chronicles," Widget says. "Whatever you care to call them. The things we were discussing earlier that are more complicated than they used to be. I take pieces of the past that I see and I combine them into narratives. It's not that important, and this isn't why I'm here -"

"It is important," the man in the grey suit interrupts. "Someone needs to tell those tales. When the battles are fought and won and lost, when the pirates find their treasures and the dragons eat their foes for breakfast with a nice cup of Lapsang souchong, someone needs to tell their bits of overlapping narrative. There's magic in that. It's in the listener, and for each and every ear it will be different, and it will affect them in ways they can never predict. From the mundane to the profound. You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone's soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift. Your sister may be able to see the future, but you yourself can shape it, boy. Do not forgot that." He takes another sip of his wine. "There are many kinds of magic, after all."

-The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

Sunday Shout Outs

Today's prompt for Blog Every Day in May is to profess my love for another blogger.

Awwww. How sweet.

However, I'm ridiculously indecisive. There are just SO MANY BLOGS that I read on a regular basis. The amount of tabs that pop up in my browser is ridiculous from all of the blogs I read. While many people would probably roll their eyes at me for reading so many, but I love seeing so many different perspectives and writing styles.

Surprisingly, I'm also really picky when it comes to the blogs I read. I'll go through phases where I'm reading A MILLION BLOGS and then get overwhelmed. Especially when half of them I don't even enjoy. (A girl can only look at so many bloggers drinking Starbucks with perfect nails and a beautiful outfit so many times... and that's coming from an intense Starbucks addict!) Then I'll go through my list and delete the ones I dislike.

Yet - I still have many that I read and therefore picking JUST ONE to declare my love for... it's just so hard.

Instead, I have decided to give shout-outs to my favorite posts of the week. While many of my bloggy friends have written great posts this week, there are the best.

So... here we go!

It Is the Music of a People Who are Climbing to the Light

Cold and Creepy

From 2006-2010, TBS ran a TV show called "My Boys."

It was about a female sports reporter (Andi) and the guys she hangs out with. I loved the premise of the show for two reasons.

1) It took place in Chicago. Yes... they were Cubs fans. However, with so many TV shows taking place in NYC I was able to forgive that detail and just enjoy the setting of my hometown.

2) As a female with several male friends, it was refreshing to see something were men and women could be friends and not have that "what are we" conversation, simply because it wasn't needed. Men and women could be friends, and only friends. (Who knew?)

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I'm Falling Baby Through the Sky

A few weeks ago, I finally read the book Divergent by Veronica Roth.

I don't know why it took me so long to get to it. Too many books, not enough time I guess.

Anyways. I loved it. As far as young adult novels about a future dystopian society books go, Hunger Games is still my favorite. However, this is a close second. It also takes place in Chicago, which is awesome. There were moments I would look at the cover to see the Chicago skyline and I would get really homesick but also super happy at the same time. Apparently that's possible.

Story of My Life

The Story of My Life- As Told In Photos

Chapter 1- Baby and Toddler Days