Mundane Sundays

Date: Jan 20, 2013
Song of the Day: Live Like a Warrior by Matisyahu
Location: Starbucks


It's another moderately cold sunday here in San Antonio, Texas. Our winters consist of 2-3 weeks of actually cold weather and the rest of the winter months are in my opinion probably the best days spent in texas. I myself am not a hot weather girl but I sure do love these 60's and 70's days.

I have been contemplating a few different topics for this blog here, I am still not sure what direction this will be taking but I am going to do my best to try and have a new topic (or ramble) at least twice a week. There are a few new things that have made my way into my life that will probably be covered a good amount of the time for the next few months so a good introduction for each might be in store.

First off, I am in my Senior year as an Entrepreneurship Major. This semester we will be starting a business and have to make profit by the end of the semester. My life has always been a pretty easy life, yet I know that there are a lot of people out there that have had many struggles and difficulties in their lives. I have always had an interest in Social Enterprises, I want to leave behind a legacy of giving back to the world that has been so good to me so far. This semester I finally get to give back to the community that I am apart of.

This semester a few other ENT students and I are going to be putting together an online Charity Fashion Show!! I am absolutely ecstatic to be able to finally work on a project that will potentially give me a chance to give back more than I have been able to as well as to hopefully make an impact! We are still looking around to see which charity we will be promoting or if we are going to start one ourselves, there are soo many charities that barely give back to the cause that they are promoting. Before you give to a charity, you should research into their finances so that you know how much of their money actually go to the cause. You will be floored by the amount of well known charities keep more money than they give.

I also plan on completely re-vamping this entire blog! I will have a new name, new look, and new design! Most likely I will be getting a new web page address as well, not that there are many people who actually read this but incase there are a few who might click across my page, expect a new much more appealing design for my future post.

Year of the Snake

  

So we just had the new years a few weeks ago, in the gym and fitness industry this is our busiest time of the year since so many want their new years resolution to be "to get into shape"! We will have such a rush for the first 4-5 weeks and than they start dropping off slowly but surely. At the end of 2 or 3 months we would be lucky if we retained 35% of the new years resolutioner's. I decided that these people were not creative enough in picking their resolutions for 2013, everyone wants that Victoria Secret Angel's body but do they really want to completely cut out all carbs and live off veggies, fruit and protein while working out 6 days out of the week? These girls are paid to have good bodies soo that is literally their job to keep in amazing shape or else they are unemployed like a lot of us now a days.

So my resolution was simple. This year I will be a better friend, take more pictures, and not be afraid of taking risk. In general, I wanted to add to the points in my life that I feel are most important to me but could use a little risk. Yes I would LOVE to look like those girls by the end of the year, but will that leave me with a year full of adventures? Will I look back and remember the memories or all the carbs and sweets that I have been missing out on? I want to enrich my life with experiences and moments and that is what I plan to do!

Of all the Chinese symbols, I am the snake. I was always a little disappointed of being the snake and some what jealous of my cousin's symbol as he got to be the awesome dragon and I was the snake, that scary thing you hope you never find by surprise. I was getting my caffeine fix right after the new year and for the first time I saw that Starbucks was carrying "year of the snake" gift cards, I had nooo idea that each year featured a chinese symbol and of all the years for them to feature a symbol, it was my symbol that they featured! So this year, I am going to embrace everything that I might not love about me and whats in my life and it will be my year! It will be the year of the snake!

In summary of all this rambling, I am hoping to use this blog to help document with my new new year resolution, I'm not sure if there will be anyone interested in following the rambling of a 23 year old with no idea where she is going but I feel that the path to fate is half the fun! I will be trying to do lots of DIY, Baking, and traveling this year so hopefully I can learn a lot of new things that I can share with the World Wide Web. And hopefully  by the end of the year I will learn how to write a bit better!

DIY Tilt Shift!

So I found this new way to do a tilt shift with my DSLR camera!! I am absolutely in love with the effect that it has on my pictures. It is such an easy DIY to give such an impact to your pictures, but it does also have a few negatives to the process as well. To get the effect you have to physically take your lens off of the body and hold it at various angles from the body to create the blurred edges. It took me quite awhile before I was able to find the plane that would be in focus while I was experimenting with my first tilt shift pictures! Luckily I have some pretty photogenic dogs so a good picture of her was not hard to do, I was also able to work a little lens flare into the mix as the sun was setting behind her.
As you can see, it increases the amount of the picture that is out of focus really giving my subject the attention in the picture. The negatives of taking your lens off  the camera, this definitely allows for dust to get behind the lens, you should not try this outside on a windy day or if you are at all uncomfortable with creating this accessibility for dust to get into the inside of your camera. If you are in a controlled environment and would like to experiment some more, it is a wonderful new technique that I can not wait to try some more!!

Autumn, Fall, Cold Weather I miss you dearly

We had our first curiously cold cold front this last weekend and it was fantastic! Way too short but hopefully just a teaser for the fall/winter/slightly cooler weather in store for us. Us texan's really only have a few season's between hot, really hot, unbearably hot, and maybe I should put on a light weight jacket not that hot. Nine to ten months out of the year its tank tops and short sleeves but I have been missing my chilly weather and all that it comes with!! My puppy included really appreciate those days below 80 degree weather. We went for a nice run through the woods on one of those perfectly chilly days and did she love it all right! Lovely autumn colors, had to share one of the many pictures I took of her.

Hey Girl, You should text me ;)

We have all met new people in unexpected situations, or was left a little note from someone that you exchanges a few glances with. That secret admirer who finally got the courage to speak up and approach you. One of my favorite things to ask couple's who are getting married at my resort is, "How did y'all meet?" I love hearing how two complete strangers can unexpectedly meet or how one of them had the courage to start a conversation. I can't wait to have a story of my own, I have no idea how or when that will be but it will be my favorite story to tell over and over. What I do know is that it will not start with a text.

Call me old fashioned if you will, but what happened to "Can I call you?" at the end of a conversation with someone that has sparked your interest? How did it get replaced with "Can I text you later?" The moment after the first interaction where you are filled with such mixed emotions between excitement and nerves and anticipation for that next contact is as scary as it is exciting, but for that next interaction to be a simple text message? What a let down! I want to hear a voice, to hear him be as nervous as I am, to hear the excitement caused by the first meeting! Anyone can have a little bit of chemistry through text messages, but for someone to have the courage to call and talk for those few minutes, thats a man move in my opinion.

I have only had a few secret admirer notes left for me, today was one of them. I found this note on my car as I was leaving the post office this morning. I give him full credit for giving it a shot, but "txt me" is not the same as "Call Me", this shows me that he will probably try to get to know me through a constant conversation through out the day of small question's about "me", those basic question's that you would ask a complete stranger on the subway to make the time pass, and at the end of the day possibly see about "hanging out sometime". This is a boy move, not a man move. The text should come much later in first getting to know someone. The call creates anticipation for the date, makes your mind wonder what type of person is behind the attraction created initially, makes you nervous and excited at the same time. The call is what a grand gesture of courage and respect to whom it's directed. Men call, boys text.

TGIF

Son's of Anarchy has been quite the addiction for me ever since it came on netflix. Especially watching Opie's hair and beard continue to grow!! Ryan Hurst is all sort's of sexy with this new lumberjack look of manliness!! He sure has changed since playing the QB in Remember the Titans. Too bad they just killed him off, not really sure if I care about watching the rest of the season anymore!!

Alright..So it's the weekend officially! I work everyday but I am going to fit in at least one crafty project each weekend. This weekend I have aims on this little project...
I'm thinking that this will be a great backdrop when ever my friends and I get a little bored during the week!! Hopefully we will get some great pictures to go with it.

Time for work!

Why I'm Searching for my Talent

As I continue this blog I will keep referring to my search to find my Talent, by using Talent I am not simply referring to just something that I am good at. I am good at a lot in my life. I pick thing's up very easily, I have not had to give an exceptional amount of effort for anything in my life because thing's tend to come easy for me. By talent, I am referring to a passion or greatness that I can share. Something that will inspire and motivate me to go beyond just being good at something.
      I had just finished spending the last 2 weeks working at Camp Longhorn in Burnet, Tx. It has always been my escape to work there during the summer and was ultimately tired and ready to be home by the end of it. I was in the period of my life where I had just moved into a new apartment, I received my first promotion to a management position while also continuing to work retail for Whole Earth and continuing to pursue my education with summer courses as well as making time to work at Camp Longhorn. It was all work and no play for me for the past 6 month's. But I felt like this was what we are meant to do to grow and become the adult's that we are meant for. It was a sunday, I had received a call from one of my three current jobs and they had scheduled me during my requested time off. I was filled with panic and a slight bit of frustration but we worked it out for me to go in later that night so that I was able to finish at camp, drive home, shower, and head straight there. I left camp feeling good and proud of myself for being so busy with work. I got back to my house and got ready and left with a good 10 mins to spare with all my camp gear in my car since I did not have the time to unpack. Driving down the same highway I had been driving since I was 16, the same city I have lived in my entire life, I noticed that I was missing a key on my key chain to the gym that I was promoted to and immediately panicked. I just got the new job and already lost the key, and than I was going to have to pay for all the lock's to be redone! But than I remembered that the key was in my dresser at my new apartment. Next thing I know I am upside down, there is broken glass everywhere, I hear people screaming at me, no clue what had just happened, I had my head down for 3 maybe 5 seconds and my whole world had been thrown through a roller coaster. I found out later that the lane had been moved over due to construction and I had crashed into a sand barrel going 70 or 75 mph which caused my car to roll and be struck by the car behind me. I walked away with barely a scratch and a few bruises.
      At the hospital, the nurse simply asked me "So what's your talent?" I was confused why she would ask that. She said, "for you to live through that, you must have a Talent that God want's you to share. So what's your talent?" I had no answer for her, I couldn't imagine anything that I could consider a talent to share. I had spent the last 6 months working 2 or more jobs at a time for money. I had no adventures, rarely saw my family and friends because I thought I was doing what we are all suppose to do to grow up. If I had died that day, I would have left behind the memory of someone who was never around because money was more important. That was the start of new life.
     So now I am looking for my talent. What I can give and share with other's. I look for new friends and memories, new experiences, new values and hope. Money is good and necessary but money is not my life nor will I let it be that again.