Auld Lang Syne

I must confess that it’s been far too long since I posted, but I had to find clarity and balance through solitude, which I felt was best kept to myself.  Sometimes it is most beneficial to unplug, stop writing, and really seek direction and a healthy perspective in order to write anything worth a damn.  I can honestly say that I am well-armed to accomplish many of the things that I have set out to conquer previously.  I even managed to cross off a few during my hibernation from writing.

Since my last post, I have landed a new job that I love, moved into my own apartment (I’ve always had roommates), enrolled for and taken writing courses, healed the worst heartbreak of my life thus far, became an ordained minister, became a member at the local spiritual center, and spent a week in Las Vegas that was full of wonderful moments.  All of those things, aside from moving into my own place and mending a broken heart, were on my list that I created a few years ago, so I was pretty proud of myself for picking myself up and ending the year like a champ in spite of how the year began. In a few months, I will turn 29, and kick off the last year of my twenties, which will force me to use my time wisely in order to achieve what I have set out to do.

I kicked off 2014 with a dear friend and a driven clear head.  I have battled with my biggest fear (failure) with my writing for many years, and apparently that is a very commom fear among writers.  The end of a year always makes us review our setbacks and strengths in order to prepare for a new beginning, and the hope for an even better future.  I’ve got spectacular hopes for my 29th year in this life and I look forward to sharing them.  Happy New Year to you!

In love,

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Full Potential

When I created this blog, it was the aftermath of  a core-shaking epiphany that resulted in my questioning of everything about my daily life.  It was honestly terrifying. It was a moment of brutal truth and clarity when I realized that I have somehow wandered from my path in life. That path does not include where I currently stand…utterlly lost.

What happened to my dreams, ambitions, and hobbies that once made me who I am? I no longer run insane distances, spend hours drawing and writing while listening to music, or feel that I am closer to complete happiness in my career.  That one is a biggie…as I don’t think I am any closer to becoming an author than I was a year ago.

It’s time to put up or shut up, and I can feel it in my bones…every fiber.

Here are 5 signs that you’re ready to reach your full potential:

1. You feel it in your gut.

Deep down, you feel that something is missing. This may feel like a lightness or a weight, or a pull toward something that you can’t quite describe yet. It feels like a sense of anticipation that won’t be met unless you take action.

2. You daydream about what’s possible.

You frequently find yourself in your head, picturing details of a future that makes you feel so excited. You are aware that your current life does not match up with this vision, and part of you really loves the daydreaming—because it feels like that vision is the way things were meant to be.

3. Inspiring stories move you.

When you read or hear stories of people that are doing unusual or amazing things, you feel a pang of excitement and motivation. That part of you that is “ready” resonates with tales of others that were ready and moved to the next level. This feeling can range from sheer thrill to jealousy, but it’s triggered by stories of people doing things that you know you could do, but haven’t—yet.

4. You can’t shake the nagging voice.

No matter how much you try to focus on your work, or be grateful for your current circumstances, you keep sensing this little nag that says “This isn’t enough, this isn’t right, keep looking, keep going, I know it’s out there.” And when you sense this nag, you can tell it’s onto something.

5. You know it’s time.

At your core—underneath everybody’s expectations, all your obligations, your conversations—underneath all that, at your very, very core—you just know.

30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know By Age 30

Glamour magazine published this list titled “30 Things Every Woman Should Have and Should Know by the Time She’s 30.” , written by Pamela Redmond Satran.  Because this list is so awesome, I am posting it on my site for your enjoyment with the link included below. 

By 30, you should have:

1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you’ve come.
2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.
3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.
4. A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you’re not ashamed to be seen carrying.
5. A youth you’re content to move beyond.
6. A past juicy enough that you’re looking forward to retelling it in your old age.
7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.
8. An e-mail address, a voice mailbox and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you.
9. A résumé that is not even the slightest bit padded.
10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.
11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra.
12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.
13. The belief that you deserve it.
14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don’t get better after 30.
15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better.

By 30, you should know:

1. How to fall in love without losing yourself.
2. How you feel about having kids.
3. How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.
4. When to try harder and when to walk away.
5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn’t like to happen next.
6. The names of: the secretary of state, your great-grandmother and the best tailor in town.
7. How to live alone, even if you don’t like to.
8. How to take control of your own birthday.
9. That you can’t change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents.
10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it’s over.
11. What you would and wouldn’t do for money or love.
12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long.
13. Who you can trust, who you can’t and why you shouldn’t take it personally.
14. Not to apologize for something that isn’t your fault.
15. Why they say life begins at 30.

    Read More http://www.glamour.com/magazine/2007/02/things-women-should-have-and-know-by-30#ixzz1tos4ABE0

Book List

1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
8. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
9. Animal Farm by George Orwell
10. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
11. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
12. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
13. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
14. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
15. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
16. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
17. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
18. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
19. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
20. Ulysses by James Joyce
21. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
22. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
23. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
24. Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
25. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
26. East of Eden by John Steinbeck
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
28. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
29. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
30. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
31. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
32. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
33. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
34. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
35. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
36. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
37. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
38. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
40. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
41. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
42. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
43. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
44. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
45. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
46. The Stranger by Albert Camus
47. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
48. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
49. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
50. Watership Down by Richard Adams
51. His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
52. The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
53. On the Road by Jack Kerouac
54. Dracula by Bram Stoker
55. The Stand by Stephen King
56. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown
57. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
58. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
59. Dune by Frank Herbert
60. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
61. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
62. Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
63. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
64. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
65. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
66. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
67. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
68. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
69. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
70. Middlemarch by George Eliot
71. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
72. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
73. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
74. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
75. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
76. Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner
77. The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky
78. Persuasion by Jane Austen
79. Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
80. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
81. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
82. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
83. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
84. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
85. The Trial by Franz Kafka
86. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
87. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
88. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
89. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
90. Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery
91. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
92. Emma by Jane Austen
93. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
94. Siddharta by Hermann Hesse
95. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
96. Atonement by Ian McEwan
97. Beloved by Toni Morrison
98. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
99. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
100. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

 

New tradition

I have decided that my new tradition to establish will occur yearly on my birthday, obviously beginning next year.  The tradition that I am tentatively establishing (since it hasn’t been made official) is to write down the names of cities I’d like to go to for a few days that I have never been, proceed to draw one from a jar or my trusty Texas Rangers cap, and purchase a ticket and hop on a plane to said destination for a long weekend every year.  Boom.

 

Road Trip

I am deeply craving a road trip through NM, AZ, NV to CA and back. I want to see the Grand Canyon as well as stay a night in Vegas and knock out several of my list items all in one swoop. I’m thinking that some saving is in order for this one!

Pride & Prejudice

I have commenced the reading of the first novel on my list, which is the timeless classic Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen.  I purchased the book a while back at my local Barnes & Noble and completely fell in love with the leather-bound book (picture to follow). 

It amazes and saddens me to read such eloquent grammar and inadvertently compare it along the way to modern vocabulary, or lack thereof.  It shames me to think that we seemingly only use one fourth of the English language in our day to day communications. 

Anyway, so far I am loving the book.  Cheers!