having kids .

Okay, now before you get too scared... no, I didn't impregnate anybody (Mom, you can start breathing again now...). However, it just so happens that several articles popped up that I read today (and I know, the topics of these articles are always miles apart from each other, but whatever, don't judge me) dealt with having kids. Originally, I was all about definitely having a family, but lately I haven't been so sure. It's an awful lot of work, and I'm wondering if I could make such a sacrifice without being miserable, not being able to do the things that I want to do in my life. While most say it's the best decision in their life and wouldn't trade it for the world, I'm not sure I would be in the same boat, and I'm sure that there are some parents out there that wonder what life would have been like had they not had kids. Lord knows, I would not want to bring children into a world where I couldn't fully devote myself to them.

fashion statements .

A lot of the articles on AOL news lately have been in regards to award ceremonies like the Oscars, the Grammys, etc. All of those award ceremonies call obviously for ceremonious dress, and also are an opportunity for many designers to get some amazing work out there. Now, I am far from an expert in fashion (and can hardly believe I'm even writing about it...) but there are always such harsh criticisms involving dress and attire of what people wear. The guys' outfits are never really addressed (and rightfully so, because, let's be honest, a dress offers lots of breathing room for creativity, plus girls are usually the highlight as opposed to guys), most likely because they can all just wear a tux and be fine. Though I must say I have actually seen an article bashing pro athletes' dress attire...

taking chances .

I think that I've always sort of had risk embedded into my blood. I like to jump in and go all or nothing on something, and not really half-ass anything. That being said, sometimes that's a good thing and other times it's a bad thing. It really depends on the situation. And yet, even if everything turns out terrible and the shit hits the fan beyond belief, I think I'm always better for the experience.

ash wednesday .

I was trying to think an appropriate and profound way to approach the mood of the day, and couldn't find one. However, while messing around on my laptop, I came across an article about Ash Wednesday on AOL news and ended up following a link to a poem called Ash Wednesday by T.S. Eliot. While I consider myself somewhat of a mediocre writer, I think that he can say it better than I ever could. Don't forget; no meat today and make sure you have something for your Lenten fast! Enjoy the poem:

down the road .

It's always great to think about the future. Life down the road, you know? It's great to review where you've been, and where you're going. It's even great to take a step back and look at the big picture of the present. I had the pleasure of having a good talk with one of my roommates about all of this... and being that he is a few years ahead of me and thus a bit farther down the road of life, it's always interesting to hear about a different perspective on various things, mainly related to occupation, career, and other things of that nature.

Music Monday #55

This week's song is In the Deep Shade by The Frames.

purifying during lent .

This morning at mass the priest talked a little bit about the upcoming season of Lent... I feel like a bad Catholic because, honest to God, I completely forgot about it... I just hadn't realized that it was coming up so fast already, but I suppose that makes sense since Easter is in April. Boy, how the semester is flying! Anyways, the priest simplified Lent to one simple statement: to purify ourselves.

my pledge .

So now that I'm caught up again on blogs, I want to make a pledge. While I must confess I've been slacking, I don't want to do that. It's not that I feel bad when I don't write, but I don't get to experience the daily catharsis that writing brings for me. Not to mention, you all don't get to read about it either, but who knows how important this read is anyways. So I'm going to try really hard to write each day. I may even set a time that I write every night. Maybe the key to not procrastinating and getting behind is simply having a schedule (I know Dad is nodding his head and saying "I told you so!" right now..).

i miss .

I miss being able to do the little things. I miss creating matchbox car villages on the driveway with chalk. I miss getting face lunches from Mom, and learning how to ride a bike. I miss making towns in the sandbox, only to destroy it and build another one. I miss having Family Nights on Fridays, and doing things like going camping.

the frames .

I've pretty much taken the day off today, not really doing all that much work. I'm starting now... after I do some writing of course. The secret may very well be procrastinating on things you need to do with other things you need to do also. That way you're always working... Anyways, I just wanted to talk about a great band by the name of The Frames.

minimalism .

I've come to discover that I really enjoy the concept of minimalism in architecture. I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure I've even written a post about it (or at least mentioned it at some point in a post). But today I found a new definition to fit the mold of minimalism and explain it. This quote is from Massimo Vingelli:

"Minimalism is not a style, it is an attitude, a way of being. It's a fundamental reaction against noise, visual noise, disorder, vulgarity. Minimalism is the pursuit of the essence of things, not the appearance."

Quick shout out to Tuney Potter for posting this in her blog yesterday.

telling you what to do .

There are tons of people out there who run blogs that think that they have the magic secrets of how to market your blog, how to get the most traffic, view, comments, etc. They think that they know everything there is to know and that they can get you thousands of followers. They make rules to abide by and suggest (and by suggest I mean tell you) that you should be doing this or that. What has the blogging world come to?

Music Monday #53

This week's song is Heartbeat by The Fray.

new changes .

It's been over a year since I've touched the layout of this blog, and I think it's time for something new! It's so dark and I just wanna play around with it now that I feel much more adept at changing formats and layouts and whatnot. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do or the exact changes I'm planning on making. But if there are times when the site is down fear not! I am simply messing around with things and trying to make the reader's experience better. I'm also trying to decide whether or not I want to allow (gasp) advertisements on the sidebars. I've always been a fan of keeping the blog completely pure and bullshit-free, but we'll see.

real life .

Recently some buddies and I have been trying to solidify our living situation for the next academic year. Living at the Reserve is easy enough, because I literally just pay my rent and that's about it. There's no bills (with the exception of electric, but Zach takes care of that and we all pay him back) which is so easy. So for next year, we're looking for a house -- like, a house house. Something that will be off campus, but not just in an apartment complex.

random rapid fire .

This is going to be a bunch of random things grouped together for no other reason than the fact that they are completely random. Prepare yourself...

genres .

Genres of music, of clothes, of jobs, of people, of everything. Why must everything be categorized? My mind works this way; and it indeed seems like the most logical way to do things -- I walk around during the day with lists in my mind, and circles of categories and whatnot filling up in various spaces. I was talking tonight with someone about music and they asked me to name a few of my favorite artists. I realized that I had to have them ask me a genre and then I'd name a few artists, and even then, it was extremely difficult.

spending freely .

I've always been taught to be very thrifty with my money; to conserve and save and be prepared for everything. I'm not saying I'd like to be in debt ever, though it seems like the time when I finally pay off the debt of college is forever away, I think that spending is something that you need to just allow yourself to do sometimes.

Celebrity-ism .

There are people that no one knows that soon become national phenomenons. And yet, they are just like everyone else. There are people that open their hearts, because they know of the doors that celebrity endorsement can open. And what's to stop you? Intimidation? Fear? Who knows. I don't mean this to become a complete cliché 'follow your dreams' plug. And this is actually kind of silly.... but man, there are some beautiful female actresses and celebrities out there. People who seem completely genuine, regardless of how much fame they have, or what designer they're wearing, or how much makeup they have on. Now, I obviously can't really say from firsthand experience how these people are... but boy, would I like to!

Music Monday #52

This week's song is Save the World by Swedish House Mafia.

Singles Awareness Day .

As the holiday of Valentine's Day fast approaches, many begin to wallow in the fact that they are still single and will never find the perfect person to spend their life with. It seems to be a constant reminder that if you are single, you still haven't found what you are looking for. Personally, I have no issue with it; if I have a significant somebody, that's great, and if not, I'm not really too concerned. In fact I think all of the TV ads around Christmas and Thanksgiving bother me much more than marketing and advertising for Valentine's Day. Is the hate really warranted? What's so terrible about your current life?

forgotten .

If you're on blogspot, did you ever notice the little bar at the top of the page that has the 'follow' and 'share' also has a 'next blog' button? Ever click it? It randomly sends you to other blogs. I'm not exactly sure how it does that... but it picks out one for you to read. With the number of blogs that are out there, rarely ever do I find one that I really like. When I get sick and frustrated with that, I go onto the blogs that I follow and check out the followers on those to see if there's anyone's that I'd like to follow. See, I'm not just gonna follow someone just to get some exposure for mine -- it's not Twitter (not that I even do that on Twitter either..).

devotional inspiration .

Every once in awhile my daily emailed devotionals smack me in the face with some serious thought-provoking material, and today happened to be just one of those days! While I would love to post the whole thing, this is the part that stuck out and hit me the most:

"Love simply means treating others like you'd want to be treated. Love means putting other's needs before your own. And love means caring about your imperfect family...even when they drive you crazy."

uprising .

What is it with people thinking they can just riot and protest and get away with it all the time? Why is it we think we have a right to just walk all over any sort of legislation to get what we want? What entitlement do we have? Who exactly do we think we are? Maybe it all started back when this country started; this idea of entitlement and right. The fact that there are things that we deserve and that those things should always be ours and if there are new things, all we have to do is protest and we will receive them over time. If violence need to be used, it will be.

so, I know it's late...

I know it's late, and I've been slacking on writing this lately, but wanted to get at least one post out tonight. Last night, I watched The Blind Side again; the true story about Michael Oher and his progression from living in the slums to making millions out there on the football field as an NFL pro. Maybe I was just in a fragile state of mind last night due to the sickness, but I was in tears several times while watching.

so sick .

So this morning when I woke up I was not feeling well. For no reason at all, I felt really nauseous. I had a test today and really wanted to at least get that out of the way... but didn't make it anywhere near. The test was at 330 this afternoon, and I had to go to Redfern (the medical center on campus) around 1030. Turns out there's a stomach bug going around that's not quite the flu, but has similar symptoms. Now I had only felt nauseous a few times this morning, but decided to go in anyways. Good thing I did, because I ended up throwing up while I was there... I can't even the last time I've thrown up, it's been so long. Luckily, it was actually not as bad as I remember it... I'd imagine every time is different though. So at this point, I haven't eaten anything in a little over 24 hours, and I have a headache (I'd imagine from the not eating) but I've been sipping on some water and gatorade at the doc's suggestion.

Music Monday #51

Originally, I was going to do another song today, but decided instead on Your Love by Brandon Heath.

driving .

It's been a real treat getting to have my own car on campus with me this year. One of the best things though is being able to just start or end my day by listening to my own music on the way home or to school. While commuting may be a little bit of a pain what with traffic and loads of gas money (especially since now that South Carolina's ppg is on the rise... sad face) it all is made up for by me being able to jam out on the way there.

catching up .

The past few days, including the weekend, have really zoomed by in a flash. Our first architecture project is due today (Wednesday, even though this post is technically for Saturday) and it's been a true wake-up call to how easy we really had it in Spain. It's not easy to come back from a foreign country where the work load is peanuts and then slip right back into a work-intensive environment.