Begin Again (2013)

2013

twenty thirteen

Happy New Years!

aka the best year of our lives.

The year that makes even fairytale characters jealous (:

"This is the first blank page of a 365 page book. Write a good one."

NEW YEAR, NEW LIFE!

"This is a new year. A new beginning. And things will change."

-Taylor Swift

"In our perfect ways.

In the ways we are beautiful.

In the ways we are human.

WE ARE HERE.

Happy New Years.

Lets make it ours."

-Beyonce

"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Oh lovelies, how I've missed you.

My New Years resolution is to be a better blogger. To share more. To inspire inspire inspire. Always.

I have never stopped writing and I won't until my last breath. Because writing is like breathing to me. It's essential to my life. What's the purpose of writing without letting others read it though? I vow to be better.

I know it technically isn't New Years, it's the 14th... still, better late than never.

Lets forget what's gone. 

Appreciate what still remains.

And look forward to what's coming next.

There's a word for what we will make this year annus mirabilis (n.) (phr.) a remarkable or notable year in history, a year of wonders. 

Fresh stars. Thanks to the calender, they happen every year. Just set your watch to January. Our reward for surviving the holiday season is a New Year. Bringing on the great tradition of New Years resolutions. Put the problems of your past behind you and start over. It's hard to resist the chance at a new beginning. A chance to put the problems of last year to bed. To make every single second count. This is our year. This is your year. This is my year. 2013. No one knows how much time they are going to have on this lovely planet we call earth, our home. Tragedies are everywhere. In the blink of an eye, an instant, a breath everything in your world can change... for better or worse. We can change things in the time it takes to say hello to a stranger, to build up the courage and suppress the beating heart and admit how you feel to someone, to say the words that run through you like blood "I love you" to the one you love, to take a chance, to build, to break, to make. We all suffer. Lets resolve to give unconditional kindness to everyone. Lets vow to open up more and not let that ridiculous monster of a feeling called "fear" stand in our way. Take risks and chances. BELIEVE. I challenge everyone to be a little better [A LOT better] especially myself. Drop fears and walls and regrets and everything holding you back from living the life you deserve, the life of your dreams. Let people in. As my good friend Ferris Bueller famously stated: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." Be brave, have heart, and don't take a single moment for granted.

If I want 2013 to be a year that even fairytale characters and Disney movies are jealous of, then I will go out there and never give up on making my dreams come true and saving others along the way. I know there will be hard times, dragons to slay (in the form of trials and hardships), but I'm ready. I do not fear the hardships to come. My fearcely beating heart is fearless. Alive, alive, alive. I'm a princeless princess, but I'm still a princess. I'll be unforgettable. Imprinted in words on this blog, on the pages of my journals, and in your hearts. Maybe this year I'll find my prince. Maybe I'll save a life (or many). Maybe I'll save myself. Maybe my prince will ride in on a white horse to save me. Maybe he'll sweep me off my feet when I least expect it. Maybe he'll make me fall, and together we will fly, he will catch me in his arms and never let go. Maybe it's not time yet. But I know one day my prince will come. One day all of my dreams will come true... so will yours... and we'll live happily ever forever. Whether in 2013 or 2015. I have to believe it. BELIEVE. You believe it too. Always be believing. Belief makes things real, makes them true. Until then... new life, new me, better me, best me :) HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013 [twenty thirteen]

<W3/L (With Love),

C

i heart you lovelies.

"The first of the first,

the promise of being new,

of beginning, now."

-Tyler Knott Gregson

Ezra Fitz=LOVE

Pretty Little Liars is back and that makes my Mondays soooo much better.
The boys of Rosewood are lovely.
I love love love my new roommates. These girls are amazing. I know it's going to be such a fun semester and we will become great friends.
This is going to be short because I am having a girls night with the roomies--Anna, Colette, & Erin.
This year is already going my way.
Apparently there is a "curse" for the #606 girls here... we are to remain SLFL... single ladies for life haha. Every time a girl gets a boyfriend/fling in this apartment it only lasts a few weeks at most. Well I am already unlucky when it comes to the heart, the stars don't walk backwards for me (reference to a poem by e.e. cummings) nor do they line up for romance so this shouldn't be a problem for me.
How is your New Year going lovelies?

TwentyTwelve

2012

"Fresh starts. Thanks to the calendar they happen every year--just set your watch to January. Our reward for surviving the holiday season is a new year. Bringing on the great tradition of New Years resolutions. Put your past behind you and start over. It's hard to resist the chance of a new beginning, a chance to put the problems of last year to bed. Who gets to determine when the old ends and the new begins? It's not a day on a calender, not a birthday, not a new year. It's an event--big or small--something that changes us. Ideally it gives us hope. A new way of living and looking at the world. Letting go of old habits, old memories. What's important is that we never stop believing we can have a new beginning. But it's also important to remember that amid all the crap are a few things really worth holding onto."

-Meredith Grey

"This coming year, I hope you create a story that you love. I hope you make something beautiful and take great risks. I hope you dare yourself to do brave things. I hope you will have a conviction and see it through. I hope you will fall in love--with art or a person or anything. I hope you have the courage to take the weak things and amplify them until your life overflows with only the good stuff. I hope you see the world and meet interesting people but above all, I hope you have an absolutely passionate love affair with life."

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
-Oprah Winfrey

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and it's first chapter is called New Year's Day."

-Edith Lovejoy Pierce

What Charley did on New Years Eve years ago... 

I wrote in my journals on some of these occasions so I looked back and saw what happened.

2006--> I hung out my sister McHale, our friend Brooke, my boyfriend at the time Toby (name changed), and his friend Kyle (name changed). We watched a movie, played hide and go seek in the dark, and then went out to dinner. After that, we came back to my house and watched another movie. I got a New Years Eve kiss from Toby at 12:00 when the ball dropped. 

2007--> Sleepover with McHale & Lexie.

2008--> Dinner & a movie with Sam and his family. 

2009-->?

2010-->New Years Eve party at my dad's house with him, Tasha, the siblings, Sam, and Lacey. We had dinner and sparkling cider, games, and watched the Twilight Zone marathon. I wrote, "Well I have a few New Years goals for this year. Overall, I just want to be better in everything I do. I want to be the best person I can be for everyone. I want to be less shy. I want to be a healthier and happier person. I want to have more confidence in myself. I want 2010 to be absolutely, completely, "irrevocably" amazing."

2011--> Party at my dad's house with him, Angie, the siblings, and myself. We played lots of fun games. We  played Just Dance on the Wii which I won! That's right, I'm an incredibe dancer :) I stated, "I'm so excited for the new year 2011. I'm going to make it a year worth remembering, living life to the fullest! This will be the best year!"

2012--> '"Hello 2012... this is going to be my year, the best year, the year of making each day count." I worked a double shift but didn't mind. After that, Stacey (my coworker/friend) and I met up at the ISU Student Union building for this New Years Eve dance. They had free food, drinks, games, etc. The dance was rather pathetic haha... Hardly anyone was actually dancing. We talked most of the time about everything. Our other coworker Aubrey showed up and hung out with us for a while. We had fun being silly and dancing. At midnight, everyone huddled under this net of balloons on the dance floor and the net was released. We all reached for them, kicked them, threw them, jumped around, danced, shouted, hugged, and cheered for 2012. It was a fun time. 

I, for one, am excited for this new year and 365 days full of possibility, change, chances, wonder, dreams, goals, anything and everything. Lets make it count lovelies!

Until the Last Falling Star

"Stop the habit of wishful thinking and start the habit of thoughtful wishes."

-Mary Martin

"The only remedy for love is to love more."

-Henry David Thoreau 

"When you are scared but you still do it anyway, that's brave."

-Neil Gaiman

"Everyone has something of beauty about them. But loving lets you look, and look, and look again. You notice the back of a hand, the turn of a head, the way of a walk. When you first love, you look blind and you see it all as the glorious, beloved whole, or a beautiful sum of beautiful parts. But when you see the one you love as pieces, as whys, you can love those parts too, and it's a love at once more complicated and more complete."
-Ally Condie, Crossed

"Love changes what is probable and makes unlikely things possible."

-Ally Condie, Crossed

"There are certain people who come into your life, and leave a mark. Their place in your heart is tender, a bruise of longing, a pulse of unfinished business. Just hearing their names pushes and pulls at you in a hundred ways, and when you try to define those hundred ways, describe them even to yourself, words are useless."

-Sara Zarr

Lovelies, 

I have endless random thoughts running wild in my mind so I am going to share a few with you...

Always remember every day means a whole new 24 hours. Every day means anything and everything is possible again. Take those hours and make them count... you never know how many you will get. I know it can be terrifying to step out of your comfort zone and try new things, take chances, but unless you do so, unless you let things change, they will never get better. Meet new people and you could make friends that will last a lifetime, maybe you'll meet the one for you. We all get chances, but our choice is whether to act on them. If you are always saying no then you will never know the possibilities.

Trust me on that.

Mistletoe... haha... here is my rant on that. Okay so it's cute and romantic. I get it. Who doesn't want to be kissed under the mistletoe. There are songs and songs and songs about it. Truthfully though, I think it's a bit pathetic. Why do guys need an excuse, why do they need a plant to tell them to kiss the girl? Man up and be brave. As I said above, take chances. 

Just saying...

With the New Year on it's way, evaluate the current one. Think about what you want out of next year. 2011 wasn't the best year for me, but it was still good. I will make 2012 even better. I've learned more than I could ever explain in 2,011 blog posts. I've grown. That's the important thing. That part of life isn't always fun, but always worth it. It's making me into the girl I am supposed to be, the better me. You just have to be patient. Take more chances next year, set goals, and make life happen for you. Think more about others to and brighten their lives.

Be bold. Be brave. Be heroic. Be fearless. Be inspiring. 

Never forget how amazing you are. 

Your potential is limitless if you let it be.

Tomorrow=Tuesday=Gratituesday

Think of what you are thankful for, of who you are thankful for... let them know. Let Heavenly Father know how grateful you are for all of your countless blessings. 

I am thankful for you.

I am thankful for forgiveness.

I am thankful for love.

I am thankful for opportunity.

I am thankful for music.

I am thankful for the spirit of the Christmas season.

I am thankful for my life.

I am thankful for being able to see.

I am thankful for being able to express myself through words.

I am thankful for a zillion more things... everything basically, because even our trials are blessings.

Be THANKFUL.

Have a happy GratiTuesday lovelies :)

(Music I listened to while writing this entry: "Not The Only One" -Jacob Gann, "The Weight of Us" -Sanders Bohlke, and "Driveway" -Great Northern I am thankful for these talented musicians and the fact that the shared their talent with the world. Thank you!)


And I am grateful to my beautiful, wonderful, stunning little sister McHale! Happy 20th birthday to her. I love you sister.

McHale, our friend Hannah, & I last year