23 Lessons Learned in 23 Years

Today marks the end of my birthday weekend, if you don't celebrate your birthday for at least three days you need to try it.  My actual birthday was on Saturday (Jan. 29) but I celebrated with friends on the 28th, my parents and good friend yesterday and again with my parents today (we had cake).  Anyhow, I turned 23 this year and I cannot say that I feel any different than I did at 22 or even at 21...except maybe not getting as excited to be able to buy wine if I want it.  I want to share the things I've learned over the past 23 years.

1. Regret is a wasted emotion, it is not possible to change what has happened nor to wish it away.  Why would you want to take back something that made you happy in the first place?
2. One should put less stock in what others are thinking of them; the labels, the rumors, the gossip and the cliques of life....they are all short lived and you should let yourself do what makes you happy.
3. Make sure your work means something to you, I for one always want to see my work helping others and working towards a cause.
4. People come and go in your life for multitudes of reasons, be grateful and don't ever let your friends forget you love them.
5. If you find someone in your life that you are in pain without make sure they know your feelings, one day someone else will have told them.
6. Do what you love, if that be working in a coffee shop or obtaining your doctorate, the world is really in your hands.
7. No matter what differences you had growing up, your younger siblings will be there for you when you need a shoulder to cry on.  My little brother is the best person in the world.
8. Sometimes revisiting your childhood is good for the soul.  If you loved barbies break them out, if you zoomed around with hotwheels zoom around the track again.
9. Your grandparents will not be around forever, take time to sit down and learn their stories.  You'd be surprised what you will hear.
10. People will surprise you everyday of your life, this can be good or bad.
11. Roll with the punches per say.
12. You'll have many heartbreaks in your life.  Learn something from each and everyone of those people.
13. Read the classics; nothing will ever replace a well written book.
14. Take a drive, get lost and learn how to get yourself back.
15. Dogs make the best companions, no matter what mood you're in they just want to sit on your lap.
16. Hate takes more out of the person holding it than the person it is directed towards.
17. You can spend your whole life either wishing to be somewhere else or to go back in time.  Learn to live more in the present.
18. Smile at every person you pass, you might just be the only person to have done so.
19. Dream big.
20. Write letters to people telling them all the things you wish you said, just to put it on paper, but don't send them.
21. Keep a journal.  Write any words that come to your mind.
22. Carry a camera with you always, you never know what you might come across.
23. Start a conversation with a stranger.

23rd Birthday!

And these my readers are some of the things I have learned over the course of my life.  I'm still young so I know these are bound to change and reshape themselves.  I also have no doubt I will add onto them.  Hope someone can take some of these and tweak them to make it their own.

It's Great to Have Friends

I've been in one of those funks where the idea of being around people was not remotely appealing.  And if you know me, this is really a very rare occurrence.  I would much rather be surrounded by a group of my friends at all times then be bored sitting around by myself.

But for reasons I cannot explain I had one of those weeks where I just wanted to cry a little bit and hit the ignore button quite frequently when anyone would call me.  After a particularly tough Friday, idk what it was but I came home in a shaky mood, got into a fight with my dad (which always just makes me sad), got in the car after a close friend convinced me to go out with him and cried because the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys song came on about New York, which is where my best friend lives.

Me and my NYC Bestie circa 2009 <3; being fools

I know...sob, sob, sob, sob, sob.  But, I promise there is a point to this.  My revelation is that after a full week of funky anti-social behavior it was my friends that brought me out of it.  From an hour long phone call with my bestie in NYC to a couple days over the weekend with glasses of wine and movies with a good guy friend, to coffee and games of 10 & 2's at the dirtiest but most frequented coffee shop in the Cle with my friends...I know that I have the best support group whenever I need it and that is something that makes me ecstatic. 

They'll listen to my cry about heartaches, complain about my parents, get angry over frenemies and just be upset when I want to be.  I hope all of my dear readers having people in their life like me, without friends life is pretty much sad and meaningless.  But remember you are allowed to have a week of anti-social behavior here and there :)

It's 2011!!

I know that I'm posting this almost 2 weeks after the fact, but I had another severe case of writers block.  Since the stroke of midnight I've had a lot on my plate, it was like the magical forces of my past had come out and decided to do really strange things to my head.  The one thing I haven't talked about much on my blog, and will probably mostly keep under wraps (unless it is something I have to gush about) is my love life.  However, for the purpose of this blog I will briefly go over it.  On NYE this year my one and only love, a person who I shouldn't love but have never been able to stop, apologized to me for all the junk he put me through.  Slam the breaks, whoa.  I was entirely flabbergasted about this new revelation but I took it in stride.  Now, when one thinks that is the only drama that could come out during a night of champagne and celebrating the new year, you have to be wrong.  Forward a bit past midnight and a former college flame comes out of the woodwork and tells me he wishes I was his NYE kiss, say what??  Then a few other former flames texted me saying they missed me.  I was really confused, but by the end of the night only one thing was chalked up in my mind, since I asked all these people why they never pursued anything further.  The answer?? "You weren't aggressive enough, we had no idea how you felt about us" So from the entire former flame apocalyptic event I learned that my ideas of being really open and flirty were basically undetected by the opposite sex...wow, what a revelation.  So here is where everyone starts talking about their New Years Resolutions!!!

Haha so I wanted to share mine:
1) Become more aggressive, and I mean if I think a guy is cute actually talk to him instead of smiling from the corner.
2) Save money, geeze I'm bad at that...but I want to be able to have a cushion of savings.
3) Move out, I don't enjoy living under the parentals after being away for 4 years
4) Smile everyday, cause smiling is awesome.

That's what I got folks.  What are some of your resolutions?  Do you think it's silly to create them? 

Storybook Christmas Tree

I don't know how any of you are with Christmas Trees but I am nuts about mine.  There will never be another tree quite like my families, and ours really tells a great story. Ever since I can remember my mom made an extremely joyous task of trimming the tree.  I remember when I was little, my parents would go to the nearest YMCA and pick out the cheapest pine tree they could find.  No matter how little they spent on it, the tree was beautiful.  And when my mom got done stringing the lights her arms would be all poked up from the needles on the tree. 

During this time we didn't have as many ornaments so our tree would be pushed in a corner and the front would be decorated so that it looked extremely plush and full of ornaments, unfortunately one year it wasn't having any of the lopsidedness and toppled over (quite a few ornaments were shattered).  Since then we have accumulated hundreds of ornaments that we put on our massive (usually hovering around 8 ft) Frasier fur tree. I have come to be so attached to some of our ornaments, because they tell a story.  Each and every ornament has a meaning behind why it was purchased and why it is being hung on the tree.

I want to share some of my Christmas Story with you.

One of the ornaments on our tree was handmade by my grandma when she was young (about 25) and she had 3 little kids to care for, she was newly divorced and didn't have money to purchase ornaments so she made a whole bunch.  The one that she gave my mother was a little house she made out of cardboard, cotton balls and felt.

We have a ton of well known characters on our tree as well.  My favorites are the 7 Dwarfs.  I found this set at the Disney Store like 6 years ago and bought them just because they were adorable.  What made them different was that they were hand painted glass, since usually those type of ornaments are plastic.

We have a cake that clips on, a teapot that looks like it's pouring into a cup hanging a little lower, barbies and a bottle of wine with the year 2000 written on it, to remember the Millenium (I guess in part to celebrate that the world didn't blow up either) :-p

That is a good visual of some of our tree ornaments.  We have begun putting the ones that are specifically mine into their own bin so that when I move out I can just take them with me (I would not want any of my ornaments to be left behind), the tradition has to carry on :-). 

How about you, my lovely blog readers?! What is the best part about your tree, or you decorations in general?? 

It's Thursday

I know great job at stating the obvious.  Anyhow I've noticed that a lot of blogs take on this "Thankful Thursday" posting.  So I thought I would give it a try (I know original right) but, before you knock me I'm going to do a small twist on it.  I'm going to list the things I'm thankful for, but then add a new section..."Things I am most definitely not Thankful for".  So lets get started:

Today, I am thankful for:

•  My mom's homemade Chicken Dumpling Soup: although I take all the chicken out since I am a veggie
•  My fluffy scarf: It is cold in Cleveland
•  The power of my words: Being friendly and saying the right things makes the day pleasant
•  Phoenix Coffee: I love warm teas and the awesome service, plus there is an adorable barista guy ;-)

Crazy Latte Art, delicious results

•  My best friend, she's amazing, even though she is 8 hours away.
•  Boots: In this crazy Cleveland weather, it makes it so much easier to get around
•  Christmas Music: I know that most people don't like it all the time, but I have continually had 106.5 on my radio since Thanksgiving
• My Christmas Tree: Which will have its own blog post, probably tomorrow
• Snow 
• 4-Wheel Drive: for dealing with the snow
• My twitter:  I am a social media freak, make fun of me if you will

Trust me, I have so many things to be thankful for in my life.  But, the list would go on and on and on, not to mention I'm sure certain aspect of my life will find their way into my blog posts soon enough.  Now, lets get onto what I am NOT thankful for.

• Crazy Cleveland Drivers (just because it snowed doesn't mean you should disobey traffic laws and forget how to drive)

Yeah, I was in that...for 3 hours, normally takes me 25 mins to get home

• The cost of parking: anytime you go somewhere Downtown it costs you a gajillion dollars to park...love cities but never have loved this aspect
• Ignorance: every time I read an article about hate and anger, all I can think of is how ignorant these things sound...and how much more I am disappointed in some humanity.
• Forgetting breakfast = rumbly tummy
• People that I see everyday not recognizing my face: seriously we have a conversation every day.

And that my friends, are a few things that I can honestly say bug me, however not the long list (not even the most intense).  I will say this though, generally I am a happy person so there are many things that don't actually bug me.   Well, I hope that you enjoyed (at least a little) some of my thankfuls and not so thankfuls. <3

Shiny Chirstmas Lights

Tis the season...and you will probably see me talk quite a bit about Christmas festivities for the next couple blog posts. For today I want to share with you the gorgeousness that is my house.

See I'm one of those people who is very excited when things sparkle, shine or generally glitter...that's one of the reasons I love Crocker Park...who doesn't love a little glitter in the cement?  Anyhow this weekend I decided I was going to put up our Christmas lights.  See it is something I have always loved....to me your house cannot get any brighter.  I want my house to look like a lit up gingerbread house.  Imagine something Buddy the Elf might do if he got his hands on our boxes of lights.

Anyhow I digress...I decided to bypass waiting for my dad and harassing my brother and just do it myself.  So I found the ladder and scaled my house (slightly nerve wracking since I did this at night) and got to work.  3 frozen hours later (I should mention 30 degree windy weather is not the best idea) I finished my beautiful house.

2010 Christmas Lights

Now I only wish that all houses who celebrate Christmas put up lights outside, I can only imagine how beautiful a street full of lit up houses would be.  As for me I'm going to keep hoping for snow and stare at all my sparkle. Happy start of the season.

The Fallen King

I am not a huge sports fan by any means...anyone I know will tell you that I couldn't decipher between many of the plays in specific sports, or tell you the entirety of a team.  However, I am a Cleveland sports fan, a Cleveland believer and I was one of thousands who were crushed when LeBron left the way he did.

Sherwin-Williams banner being taken down, we were all the witnesses of prime backstabbing

This gets to be brought up today because it is, what I think maybe, one of the most crucial moments in our city's history this year.  Cavaliers vs. Heat tonight and in that I only need to say...crap.  I wholeheartedly believe that the Cavs can kick the butts of the celebrity team "the chosen ones" or whatever it is they choose to call themselves these days.  I like to say that revenge is the best motivation to get someone back, and from what I have paid attention to the Cavs have been doing pretty well for themselves thus far.  Even beating the Celtics after the Heat had lost to them.  Safe to say with some simple logic the Cavs>Celtics>Heat we already sorta beat them once.

So here is what I have to say.  As much as I want to plea to Cleveland to be respectful, to not get rowdy, to keep their bottles in their hands...generally as much as I want to tell them don't give the rest of the country more reason to bad mouth my favorite city (they're gonna do it anyway)...I can't.  Cleveland is known for their rowdiness, we are known for our fans who will pummel you if you look at them wrong and we are known for our dedication.  And that is why the LeBron knife cut so deeply.  Cleveland believed in it's strongest player, the one who made promises of staying in town until he could prevail, the one who said he cared.

I cannot blame him for wanting to win, to chase the team that might give him that quick possibility.  But what I can blame him for is his execution:

• Hiding out in another town
• Announcing the decision like it was a circus show
• Not trying to beat the best...rather join them (not how MJ did it)
• Acting rude over people being upset over his decision (summer tweets about keeping notes on haters) instead of realizing he pissed off a sports crazy town.

Rumor has told me he basically ordered his fiance to stay in Akron (I have a friend who works at the salon she gets her hair done at) and he gets to party it up in Miami.  What are you teaching your kids Bron Bron?  So twitter is raging, blogs are raging...the entire city of Cleveland is raging.  The Q is taking as many precautions as possible:

• Confiscating t-shirts that might be rude (i.e. Quitness, ruined LeBron jerseys etc.)
• Body Scanning
• Having a Bomb Squad ready
• Pouring drinks in cups...no bottles (lol)
• Kicking you out if you get too unruly

Don't wear it...you'll loose it. I have a feeling you'll want to wear it at another time.

Cleveland...be rowdy but don't be dumb.  I suggest this great campaign on twitter @laughatlebron where the whole goal is just to laugh (he won't know what to do). As for me I'm going to watch the game from the comfort of my own home with my Quitness tee. Have fun Clevelanders.