Anyway. After drugging myself and spending countless dollars on Mucinex, Clariton D, Flonase, cough syrups, I finally went to an allergy specialist, because nothing was helping my cough. Apparently, I have some kind of allergic asthma, which is causing all the coughing attacks, weezing, shortness of breath, etc… It’s just so crazy how you develop more and more issues as an adult. I guess that’s what comes with getting older.
–no comment on the age thing, people–

I go back next week for skin testing & will probably be put on a prescription allergy pill and inhaler. Fancy.

For now, I have a sample inhaler and am taking high doses of Prednisone. Fun!

(Hey, I’m just trying to keep my spirits up.)

Needless to say, I’ve been spending some quality time with my couch and bed as well as watching an inordinate amount of Netflix and Redbox. (I would recommend renting The Debt, The Help, The King’s Speech, and Sarah’s Key.) Seriously. I really like Redbox. Not sure why I haven’t used it before.

Anyways, before the rambling goes any further, Happy Valentine’s Day, kids.

*Photo Credit

I can easily say that 2011 has purely been about relationships. I have always been very blessed in who has been put into my life. But over the past few years, I have kind of struggled with knowing who to let in and who to politely shut the door on. Often times, I give people one too many chances and end up getting burned in the end. But this year, this year has been different. I feel like I finally have become much stronger and I feel like I have a good grasp on realizing who does and doesn’t have my best interest at heart.

So, when I look back on 2011, I’m not thinking about who is no longer in my life, I’m just smiling remembering all the millions of moments I have shared with all the wonderful people I am truly blessed to have in my life. I smile thinking about how much we have grown as individuals and as friends and it just makes me so happy.

In a couple of weeks I’ll be starting a new job and another semester at school. I am looking forward to both as well as continuing to build & enjoy my friendships.

Happy Holidays, friends. May yours be filled with joy, love, and laughter.

“Our relationships are mirrors – who we choose, who we let choose us, how people treat us, how we handle the hard patches and the good times – it’s all a mircocosm of our own personalities.” ~Bethenny Frankel

I’ve run more 5K’s than I can count and I have run one 10K but I don’t have any medals to show for my accomplishments. Is it shallow of me that I’m really looking forward to having a medal after the half? Oh, it’s not? Good, because I am. =)

Anyway, my cousin sent me an article earlier in the week about a woman who lost 50 lbs with the help of her online supporters and obviously, her dedication. After being sucked into her Tumblr for at least 30 minutes the other day, I found myself lighting up after every post I read and I found myself motivated and inspired to FIND time to run, regardless of my insane schedule.

I’ve been getting up a few mornings a week to run before work and although I can’t commit as much time as I’d like to, it’s better than nothing, right? And even though my eyes are oh so tired when I’m lacing up my shoes, it feels so good to be running again. I get some weird satisfaction out of battling myself during a run and I smile when my legs are sore.

So, I give you full permission to slap me if you find me complaining about being tired or not wanting to run. And after you slap me, please remind me to come read this post.

“Time spent wishing something was easier is time wasted. The things worth going after will be at the end of very difficult roads. That’s the way life works. Don’t sit around and wish things were easier. Get better. People have a tendency to want to make the obstacle smaller rather than make themselves bigger. But you are the only part of that equation that you control.” ~LL Cool J

(yeah, I just quoted LL Cool J – deal.)

In other news, my nephew just turned 1 this week (please tell the time warp to slow down) and I had to share a few cute photos:

Have a great rest of the week!

I finally switched my blog over to WordPress from Drupal (sorry, Drupal friends). I’ve been meaning to do this for a while now but just have not had the time. Regardless, it’s done & I’m pretty pleased. It’s quite different from my old site but it’s now consistent with my “brand” (I feel like a princess when I say that) and I think it will be much easier to maintain in the future.

Anyway, hope you like it as much as I do and I’m also pretty excited to be going to Dallas next week! Thought this vacation was never going to come.

Photo credits: http://weheartit.com/entry/8335288 & http://weheartit.com/entry/13420769

“The Sketchbook Project creates a space to share your process with the world.”

As a viewer, you can just pick a theme (or country) and then they gave you 2 sketchbooks at a time with those guidelines. You can return & check out as many sketchbooks as you want.

I don’t know what I really expected before I went but I was actually really inspired (so much so that I think I’m going to participate in the 2012 tour). Those sketchbooks are such an intimate part of someone if you really think about it. You have the opportunity to see their train of thought & their ideas all bound in a tiny little sketchbook. So cool to me.

Anyway, I took some snapshots of some of my favorites & I wanted to share. =) Enjoy!

Kathleen Deep – Theme: Sleepless

Tracy Loughlin (Austrailia) – Theme: First Thing in the Morning, Last Thing at Night

Minchaya Chayosumrit (Thailand)- Can’t remember the theme, sorry!

Overall, it was an unexpectedly inspiring day. In fact, we went to Sam Flax afterwards & stocked up on some acrylic goodies and I spent the rest of the day painting. =)

*The rest of my pictures from the Sketchbook Project Tour

Yep! I spread my tiny little wings and moved out on my own. I’ve never lived by myself and so far it’s been a whirlwind.

The day before I was supposed to move in, I went to get the keys and found this:

Someone came to clean up the mess and they put up wood to cover the hole until they were sure it wasn’t going to leak any more. Since I’m such a stubborn person (thanks Mom and Dad), I was bound and determined to still move in regardless and just deal with not being able to decorate the bathroom. So, I did.

Then there was problems with the A/C (I can’t even tell you how many times I was rubbing my ears, saying ‘woosah’ and telling myself that I couldn’t control this situation).

I’m happy to report all problems have been fixed and so far, things are going good. I’m really in love with the area – so close to downtown and work and has plenty of great places to go running or bike riding.

(dock in the back of the complex)

(lake down the street)

(I find myself reading here for class a lot)

I’m definitely still adjusting to coming home to an empty house, not having cable, and doing my laundry in the community space across the hall but I think I needed to change it up a bit. It’s weird living alone though. It’s so quiet all the time.

Funny to think about how I started off living in the funny farm with my bazillion brothers and sisters and cousins and parents and dogs and birds and well, you get the point and have ended up in a cozy little place near downtown Orlando by myself.

I think this change is going to be a good one for me. :)

Laugh. Truly laugh. Let life and all of its folly steal the breath from your body and replace it with the staccato melody of giggles and guffaws; the laughter that comes without fair warning and continues without apology.

Never be afraid to follow your heart. Take all you have and risk it, truly risk it for where your crazy heart decides to take you. Do not ever think you, exactly you, are not capable of chasing your dreams and do not ever think that you, exactly you, are not worth being chased.

Be kind. Always. Give love freely and never wait for it to come back. If it breathes, grows or has even a single cell bouncing around inside it, love it, too.

Take care of yourself. It’s up to you to keep your heart beating and your lungs filling and your legs running long past when you should have found your way to shuffling off this mortal coil and starting fresh.”

-Tyler Knott

*photo credit: http://weheartit.com/entry/11596298

Seven years later and I’m still here. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing. Orlando has definitely been good to me. I have seen myself change and grow to levels I didn’t think was possible. I have found a drive in me I didn’t think I had and I wouldn’t change my time here for anything. But over the past couple months, a few of my friends have moved (and a few more are moving next month), and I’ve found myself upset with them that they were leaving me. Over the past few weeks, I’ve come to realize that I’m actually just upset with MYSELF for not taking a chance on something new and I’m jealous they are brave enough to take the steps necessary to make themselves happier.

I’ve been thinking about moving for a few years now but I always seem to find a reason to stop myself from actually pursuing it further. Maybe it’s because I’m not a very adventurous person or maybe I’m just letting fear win. I really don’t know. I mean, is there ever really a “right” time to just pick up your stuff and go? To say goodbye to what you’ve known for years and start at the very beginning – again?

Strangely enough, I feel like the answer to this is yes. I read Kelly Cutrone’s “If You Have to Cry, Go Outside” book a while ago (pick it up if you haven’t read it yet) and it changed my world. She talks about how everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) has a tribe of people out there that is exactly like you and it’s up to you to find them. If you’re not thriving where you are, it’s up to you to figure out where you do actually thrive and GO THERE.

“Sometimes you need to let go of everything you’re clinging to and start over, whether because you’ve outgrown it or because it’s not working anymore or because it was wrong for you in the first place.”

So, guess what? I’m going to stop being afraid of the unknown and start living my life for ME. Operation “Figure Your Shit Out” is full steam ahead. I’m going to make a list of all the potential moving places for me and take the next year to visit them all.

First stop? Dallas.
Second stop? Seattle.

I have zero idea what will happen from there. All I know is that design and music is what makes me tick and I have to find a place where both of those mediums exist and where I can thrive as an individual. I don’t want to be that person who just accepts their life as is and does nothing more to make it what they truly want. I want more out of life and nobody is going to hand that to me on a silver platter.

“Dreams won’t always take you on a straight path to destiny, but they’re usually related to what your soul wants for you.”

*Photo Credit

I am overwhelmed to say the least. I know that this is most definitely manageable though. It’s really just a matter of allowing myself an adjustment period. I haven’t been to school in 5 years and let’s be serious, working a full-time job, being on the Relay for Life committee, finding time to workout, trying to maintain a small social life, and finishing all the discussions, labs, assignments, and reading for 2 classes is not exactly easy to balance.

In the midst of this crazy and completely draining week, I’ve noticed some changes. Primarily changes in some people’s behaviors. It’s amazing how when you finally do something for yourself, how truly unsupportive your so-called friends really are. In my FIRST week of classes, I was already getting shit from people about not being able to attend events, not being able to stay long at happy hour, etc etc… and it truly surprised me. Here I am, taking a huge leap and doing something that will essentially help me have a better career, and I’m getting push back from the people that I need support from the most.

After a long chat with a close friend tonight, I was reminded of a blog post that I read earlier this week. The post is titled, “Belong to Yourself & You’ll Find Who Else You Belong To!” As much as I loved the entire post, there were 2 parts that really stuck with me that I want to share with you:

“When you’re surrounded by the right people, who believe what you believe and support your dreams, you can thrive.”

and a Will Smith quote:
“You will see how far in life you’ll go with the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with.”

I see very clearly now that not everyone is going to support my decision to go back to school but I realize now more than ever that the people who don’t support me are not the right kind of people that I need to be surrounded with.

If you only take one thing from my rambling rant tonight (which may not even make sense tomorrow), please take this with you:

Surround yourself with people that will lift you up in moments of weakness, doubt, and fear, and then lift you up even higher in moments of happiness, love, and hope. Everyone else is irrelevant to the betterment of YOU.

“Nobody said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it.”

*Blog title lyric credit goes to Passion Pit – Little Secrets
Photo credit: http://weheartit.com/entry/13895105

Nonetheless, I grabbed a few good friends and we were on our way. Key West was beautiful but short-lived and rather touristy. We weren’t docked there for more than just a few hours so we only walked around and did some shopping. If you ever go, you must get Kino’s Sandals… I’m thoroughly enjoying them. =)

Our next stop was Nassau where Courtney & I had booked parasailing. The other girls booked a dolphin swimming excursion so we split for the day. I have to say, my stomach was in knots before we went parasailing. This picture should tell it all:

We were on this tiny boat with about 12 other people (not including the boat driver & the parasail guy) so it was a tight squeeze. Of course everyone on the boat but myself got a harness (what the hell!) and we were soaking wet from the waves by the time we got out to our parasailing spot. Before I knew it, the guy was pointing at Courtney and I and it was our turn!

You sit on this strap at the front of the boat and you basically wait for the wind to pick you up. In the blink of an eye, you’re up 400-450 ft in the sky.

Let me just tell you…it was the most peaceful experience I think I’ve ever had. It’s quiet, so completely beautiful, and oddly very still. Definitely a very fun experience AND I didn’t do too shabby on my landing. =)

For the rest of the time in Nassau, we just walked around (I couldn’t get used to people driving on the wrong side of the road!) and then hit up the beach. The sand was so amazingly soft and the Mango daiquiri wasn’t too bad either. ;) (Picture is at Junkanoo Beach.)

We went to Senior Frogs for dinner where there were plenty of drinks & food, as well as singing and a little shimmy shaking.

Our next stop was CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. It was very beautiful. We started the day with some yoga on the beach but then it rained a little bit so it wasn’t until the early afternoon that we were able to rent some snorkel gear and head out.

Schools of fish kept following me and it was totally creeping me out! Snorkeling was definitely a workout but rather fun. =)

The rest of the afternoon was spent drinking Coco Loco’s (the amazing island drink) and soaking up the sun. I was so completely relaxed it was ridiculous. It’s always so nice just turning off the phone, not bringing the lappy, and totally disconnecting.

Of course we had some fun activities that were on the boat throughout the trip like the belly flop competition (we were just spectators, don’t fret), bingo, trivia, the casino, shows, and a yogurt machine on the pool deck open basically all the time. :X

All in all, had a fantastic cruise. Vacations never feel long enough, but I’m feeling stress free, relaxed, and happy. Can’t ask for much more, right?