What is on my mind...

In a beautiful world time slows. Moments are cherished by the flavorful people they contain. There are no airplanes, jets, or flying devices. If you want to go see faraway places you must travel by boat, for the journey is more important than the destination.

In a beautiful world people sit down, share a meal together, and have real conversation. Topics floating around the table may include beliefs, culture, language, passions, and doing good for others.

In a beautiful world old is beautiful. Wrinkles and white hair are wisdom. Actions do speak louder than words.

In a beautiful world people are open books. You say when you're happy, you hug the ones you love, and you let the world know that you're sunshine. No one is a stranger and it is socially acceptable to converse with whomever whenever.

In a beautiful world there is acceptance. Peoples of different backgrounds and creeds live harmoniously. There are no enemies; there isn't war. Everyone does their best to help their fellow neighbor.

In this world here I am dreaming, wishing, and waiting for this beauty. But what the world needs are beautiful people who are willing as Ghandi puts it to "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Here I am. I am ready. This is my beautiful world. What is yours?

PAINT!

PAINT! Acrylic paint! I have not painted with this since high school art class! I forget how to! I'm so used to being a poor college student and painting with crayola watercolor that I've forgotten how to paint with the big boy stuff! I am so used to starting out light and going darker....what do I do? Any suggestions? Please? Haha. This is all I wanted to say. I'm excited :)

Memory Chest!

A messy closet...results in....a memory chest! I know the picture is slightly blurry, BUT you get the picture! And that was even after I started cleaning it haha! My memory box is filled to the brim...it contains yearbooks, pictures, old soccer stuff, old art things, the boyfriend box ( I forgot whose idea this was...I heard about it in high school, but it was clever....a good spot for things you didn't necessarily want to get rid of or hold onto haha). Regardless, my closet is now perfect and I have a nice place to store all of my memories! :)

The cutest card EVER.

My dear friend Esther sent me a postcard from South Korea recently. It was the first letter I have recieved this summer and it is so adorable I had to share! My friend and I met at school while she was studying abroad here. We spent Spring Break together and had many adventures. We decided to keep in touch and be penpals this summer.

The letter is in the shape of traditional Korean dress. Look how it opens up! I have to admit all of my foreign friends have amazing stationary!!!! (I do love any letters I recieve though ;] ).

DIY Daily Planner!

So like many other people I have stumbled upon stumbleupon.com and its' wonders. One thing I found (sorry I can't seem to find the link, oops!) is a how to make your own daily planner. I didn't follow the guidelines strictly, but worked with what I have. I don't like going and buying planners at staples because 1). They are not cheap and 2). They aren't always cute looking if they are cheap.

All you need for this is: 2 manila file folders, wire, a hot glue gun, word processor, and some pretty fabric/paper.

I used the manila folders and carefully measured what size I wanted my planner to be. I then folded this in half BUT left about an inch to be the spine of the book. (Does this make sense? I didn't just fold it in half...I measured halfway then made an inch for the spine there).

I made the pages using Word on the computer...I kinda fiddled with the sizes of it. Used the trial and error method :o) I have a page for contacts, birthdays, a monthly calendar, a weekly calendar, and more! The best thing is....you can personalize it!

By looking at the second picture you can see how I used wire to bind it all together. I just took two smaller strips of wire...cut out a rectangle to fit within the spine of the book....and hot glued the rectangle over the wire strips. What I did that worked better for the binding is I made a small hoop at one end of the wire. I would then use the other end and make a hoop around the other hoop. This worked much better than just tying it together because the pages would often get stuck when it was just tied.

Add some pretty fabric/paper to the front and inside covers and ....Volia! A beautiful, unique, and personal planner just for you! :o)

And the summer truely begins...

And the summer truely begins! Hence why I have been too busy to post or even remember that I have a blog! Yikes!~ Well camp officially started on Monday & I'm excited for a fun-filled summer! I have tutoring dates set up and am ready to roll! The past week my life has consisted of long walks/runs, laughter, and lots of chocolate ice cream. Yes.....I've been craving the chocolate lately haha.

A shoutout to my friend MARY, who will be coming to visit me in July. I can't wait to see her! :-) Following this post are several ones that I wished to post during the last week, but failed to! I also don't have a camera anymore....my old chunky one decided to die. SO I've been relying on my brother's camera, which he has graciously lent me.

First Day Back- Woo!

It was my first offical day back at work this summer. I work at a summer camp, which is a pretty fun job. Field trips, pool trips, the whole shabang. But man....am I tired. It's only training now, just wait till next week when the kids are actually there. As busy and hectic as my day was... I find myself very content with it.

My favorite part would have to be walking with my dear friend Patty. Destination: Starbucks and back. It's a good four miles possibly five if you add our detours. I smiled. Now I think I'll sleep.

Oh I really want to add some pictures of cool things up, but I shall do this on my day off possibly!

It's my problem-free philosophy

Don't look just wait. I came up with this motto the summer after my freshman year of college. By this point in my life I had already experienced friends coming and going, heartache, and various types of change. That summer I was ready for some consistancy. I wanted to push myself. I was ready and eager to make close friends and even to fall in love. But before I could accomplish any of this I realized I needed to form an even stronger bond with myself. I needed to break away from ties (at least in my mindset) and go back to my roots; my individuality.

What makes me happy? It was an easy enough question, but I only came up with a list of random hobbies. I needed something more satisfying. I needed to become so in tune with myself that it gratified me to the core. The past year I worked on this and did pretty well in the beginning. But like most goals, you start off well and then get busy and lose sight of what's important. I've come to the conclusion that I'm the type of person who throws themselves into whatever their passion may be at the time. When you're passionate about something you're going to put your entire being into it and ask for nothing in return, which isn't always a bad thing. But by doing this I've slowly lost pieces of myself.

By saying "Don't look. Just wait" I'm telling myself to slow down, to stop thinking about the future, and to stop planning things. It's a reminder to myself to live for the moments and if I'm happy with myself good things will follow. Take it or leave it, it's my philosophy on life. I'm about to reconnect with myself (again) hopefully with such a strong bond that I don't lose sight of myself, my dreams, or my happiness ever again. But hey, what did I say about thinking about the future? Don't look just wait.