March 7, 2012

*And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. - Nietzsche

* There will always be many reasons to stay, but if you do, you will never know what could have happened if you had left.

*A smooth sea, never made a skilled sailor.

*Our lives are defined by opportunities, even the ones we miss. - F. Scott Fitzgerald

*Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's a thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around in it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us, there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know. -Lauren Oliver, Before I Fall

*Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.

*When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be done.  - Hemingway

* "We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are."  - Calvin & Hobbes

* You can't live a positive life with a negative mind.

* She looks at you like you put the stars in the sky.

*Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.  -Oscar Wilde

*Be weird. Be random. Be who you are. Because you never know who would love the person you hide.

* You can't fall if you don't climb. But there's no joy in spending your whole life on the ground.

*Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past. It's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you. Grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you.

*Dear Lord, please put your arm around my shoulder, and your hand over my mouth.

* Hanna's Top Five Tips for Channeling Southern Charm -- 1. Entertain as much as possible. There is never too small a cause for celebration. 2. Treat everyone as a dear friend. Chances are their mother has tea with your boyfriends very opinionated aunt. 3. Expect a gentleman to open your door, order your drink, hail your cab, and pull out your chair. 4. Use your fine china on weekdays, even if it can't go in the dishwasher. 5. Be a gracious and lively guest. Hostess gifts, genuine conversation, and thank you notes are a must.

* You cannot always wait for the perfect time, sometimes you must dare to jump.

* At the beach, life is different. Time doesn't move hour to hour but mood to moment. We live by the currents, play by the tides, and follow the sun.

*Never be afraid to fall apart because it is an opportunity to rebuild yourself the way you wish you had been all along.  - Rae Smith

* Enjoy every single moment. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the inspiring, the not-so-glamorous moments. And thank God through it all.  - Meghan Matt

* Gone are the days when girls used to cook like their mothers. Now they drink like their fathers.

* Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you.

* She's quick and curious and playful and strong. She is a voracious and a fantastic dancer. She saves old scrapbooks and loses her umbrella. Her emails pile up but she never forgets to call her grandmother. She has seven dollars change at the bottom of her handbag.   -Kate Spade

* I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you are not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.   - F. Scott Fitzgerald

* Just because I laugh alot doesn't mean my life is easy. Just because I have a smile on my face everyday doesn't mean that somethings not bothering me. It's just that I choose to move on with the negatives in my life and keep my head up instead of dwelling on the past.

*

Ten Things I Want to Tell Teenage Girls

I found this on someones facebook and I loved it! It comes from http://kateelizabethconner.com/ten-things-i-want-to-tell-teenage-girls/  . Awesome article, just gonna post it on here, visit this girls blog!

1. If you choose to to wear shirts that show off your boobs, you will attract boys. To be more specific, you will attract the kind of boys that like to look down girls’ shirts.  If you want to date a guy who likes to look at other girls’ boobs and chase skirts, then great job; keep it up.  If you don’t want to date a guy who ogles at the breasts of other women, then maybe you should stop offering your own breasts up for the ogling.  All attention is not equal.  You think you want attention, but you don’t.  You want respect.  All attention is not equal.

2. Don’t go to the tanning bed.  You’ll thank me when you go to your high school reunion and you look like you’ve been airbrushed and then photoshopped compared to the tanning bed train wrecks formerly known as classmates – well, at least next to the ones that haven’t died from skin cancer.

3.  When you talk about your friends “anonymously” on Facebook, we  know exactly who you’re talking about.  People are smarter than you think they are.  Stop posting passive-aggressive statuses about the myriad of ways your friends disappoint you.

4. Newsflash: the number of times you say “I hate drama” is a pretty good indicator of how much you love drama.  Non-dramatic people don’t feel the need to discuss all the drama they didn’t start and aren’t involved in.

5.  “Follow your heart” is probably the worst advice ever. 

6. Never let a man make you feel weak or inferior because you are an emotional being.  Emotion is good; it is nothing to be ashamed of.  Emotion makes us better – so long as it remains in it’s proper place: subject to truth and reason.

7.  Smoking is not cool.

8.  Stop saying things like, “I don’t care what anyone thinks about me.”  First of all, that’s not true.  And second of all, if it is true, you need a perspective shift.  Your reputation matters – greatly.  You should care what people think of you.

9. Don’t play coy or stupid or helpless to get attention.  Don’t pretend something is too heavy so that a boy will carry it for you.  Don’t play dumb to stroke someone’s ego.  Don’t bat your eyelashes in exchange for attention and expect to be taken seriously, ever.  You can’t have it both ways.  Either you show the world that you have a brain and passions and skills, or you don’t.  There are no damsels in distress managing corporations, running countries, or managing households.  The minute you start batting eyelashes, eyelashes is all you’ve got.

10.  You are beautiful.  You are enough.  The world we live in is twisted and broken and for your entire life you will be subjected to all kinds of lies that tell you that you are not enough.  You are not thin enough.  You are not tan enough.  You are not smooth, soft, shiny, firm, tight, fit, silky, blonde, hairless enough.  Your teeth are not white enough.  Your legs are not long enough.  Your clothes are not stylish enough.  You are not educated enough.  You don’t have enough experience.  You are not creative enough.

There is a beauty industry, a fashion industry, a television industry, (and most unfortunately) a pornography industry: and all of these have unique ways of communicating to bright young women: you are not beautiful, sexy, smart or valuable enough.

You must have the clarity and common sense to know that none of that is true. None of it.

You were created for a purpose, exactly so.  You have innate value.  You are loved more than you could ever comprehend; it is mind-boggling how much you are adored.  There has never been, and there will never be another you.  Therefore, you have unique thoughts to offer the world.  They are only yours, and we all lose out if you are too fearful to share them.

You are beautiful.  You are valuable.  You are enough.

February 27, 2012

*Enjoy the little things.

*I'm going to make everything around me beautiful - that will be my life. -Elise de Wolfe

*There is no "wrong" in life. Nothing is a mistake, everything is an experience. -Mona Scott Young

*A well-tailored suit is to women, what lingerie is to men.

*Yeah I'm hurting, but on goes the mascara and lipgloss. that's right. i'll be the prettiest damn wreck you've ever seen

*Your past is just a story. And once you realize this it has no power over you. - Chuck Palahniuk

*The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company, a church.. a home. The remarkable thing is that we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have; and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitude. -Charles R. Swindoll

*She left pieces of her life behind her everywhere she went. It's easier to feel the sunlight without them, she said.

*All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them. -Walt Disney

*I vow to help you love life, to always hold you with tenderness and to have the patience that love demands, to speak when words are needed and to share the silence when they are not and to live within the warmth of your heart and always call it home. - The Vow

*Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.

*I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, "If this isn't nice, I don't know what is." -Kurt Vonnegut

*You have to be willing to get happy about nothing. -Andy Warhol

*And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was greater than the risk it took to bloom.

*Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts. -Charles Dickens

*The greatest relationships are the ones you NEVER expected to be in. The ones that swept you off your feet and challenged every view you've ever had .

*Even in the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.

*I am still determined to be cheerful and to be happy in whatever situation I may be, for I have also learnt from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions and not upon our circumstances. -Martha Washington.

*There's a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't cause I thought I'd be happy alone. It was because if I thought I loved someone and then it fell apart, I might not make it. It's easier to be alone, because what if you learn that you need love and you don't have it? What if you like it and lean on it? What if you shape your life around it and then it falls apart? Can you even survive that kind of pain? Losing love is like organ damage. It's like dying. The only difference is death ends. This? It could go on forever. -Grey's Anatomy

*Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn't it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, wanders into your stupid life.. You give them a piece of you. They didn't ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn't your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so a simple phrase like 'maybe we should just be friends' turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love. -Neil Gaiman

February 7, 2012

* Sometimes all you have to do is forget what you feel, and remember what you deserve.

* Confidence, not cockiness. Knowing who you are is confidence. Cockiness is knowing who you are and pushing it down everyone's throat. -Mila Kunis

* If you're always racing to the next moment what happens to the one you're in? Enjoy the ride.

* Don't choose the one who is beautiful to the world. But rather, choose the one who makes your world beautiful.

*I often wonder if more girls were willing to be ladies, more guys would feel challenged to be gentleman.

*Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.

*Dont let yesterday use up too much of today. -Will Rogers

*The world bursts at the seams with people ready to tell you you're not good enough. On occasion some may be correct. But do not do their work for them. Seek any jobs; ask anyone out; pursue any goal. Don't take it personally when they say "no"- they may not be smart enough to say "yes". -Keith Olbermann

*A good laugh and a long sleep are the two best cures for anything. -Irish Proverb

*Be confident. Too many days are wasted comparing ourselves to others and wishing to be something we aren't. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses, and it is only when you accept everything you are - and aren't - that you will truly succeed.

* If you are twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel- as far and as widely as possible. Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them- wherever you go. -Anthony Bourdain

*My mom is a neverending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words, but I always remember the tune. -Graycie Harmon.

*Never take someone's feelings for granted because you never know how much courage that they took to show it to you.

* She's the girl that has a few best friends & doesn't need anyone, the girl that laughs hardest at her own jokes. The girl that expects way too much. Doesn't care what anyone thinks, and is nice to everyone. She's the girl that will hang up on you, then call you right back and say sorry. The kinda girl that will put all her trust in you until you give her a reason not to. She's the girl who will never leave your side when you need her, the girl who will go out of her way to cheer you up. She's the girl who never sleeps without her teddy bear by her side, she's the girl who says she isn't ticklish, but really is. She's the girl who will not give up on you if she really believes in you. She believes in loving somebody forever.

*Forgiveness does not always lead to a healed relationship. Some people are not capable of love, and it might be wise to let them go along with your anger. Just wish them well and take care of yourself.

*Be gracious beyond the call of duty. Give back more than you get and more comes back to you. Walk in the shoes of love, be a mighty warrior for love. Protect and defend your right to love. Use your powers for good. In this increasingly cynical world, love is a surprising revolutionary act! -Nancy

*Show class, have pride, and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself. -Paul Bryant

*If you allow people to make more withdrawls than deposits in your life, you will be out of balance and in the negative! Know when to close the account. -Christie Williams

*A good deed brightens a dark world.

*More girls need to start searching for guys who have goals and ambitions & crave success, because 10 years from now "swag" isn't going to pay your bills.

*Before you diagnose yourself with depression or low self-esteem, make sure you are not, in fact, just surrounded by assholes.

*The best thing to hold onto in life is each other. -Audrey Hepburn

*God's plan for your life far exceeds the circumstances of your today. -Loui Giglio

*Be strong when you are weak, Brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.

*I don't know what my future holds, but I do know who holds my future. -Tim Tebow.

*Don't let yesterday use up too much of today.

January 13, 2012

Words of Advice

1. Take your bananas apart when you get home from the grocery store. If you keep them connected at the stem they ripen faster.

2. Store your open chunks of cheese in aluminum foil. It will stay fresh much longer and not mold.

3. Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

4. To really make scrambled eggs or omlets rich, add a couple of spoonfuls of sour cream, cream cheese, or heavy cream and then beat them up.

5. Add garlic immediately to a recipe if you want a light taste of garlic, at the end of the recipe if you want a stronger taste of garlic.

6. Leftover snickers bars from Halloween make a delicious dessert. Simply chop them up with the food chopper. Peel, core and slice a few apples. Place them in a baking dish and sprinkle the chopped candy bars over the apples. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Serve alone or eat with vanilla ice cream.

7. Easy deviled eggs: put cooked egg yolks in a zip lock bag. Smash til they are all broken up. Add remainder of ingredients, reseal, keep mashing it up, mixing it thoroughly, cut the tip off the baggy, squeeze mitxture into egg.

8. Reheating refridgerated bread: To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refridgerated, place them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.

9. Newspaper weeds away: Put your plants in the ground, work nutrients in your soil. Then wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go, cover with mulch, and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

10. Broken glass: use a wet cotton ball or q-tip to pick up the small shards of glass you can't see easily.

11. Flexible vacuum: To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

12. Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip to eliminate static cling. It works, you will not have a clingy dress or skirt. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose.

13. Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but do not dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

14. Re-opening envelopes: If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope inside the freezer for an hour or two.

15. Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs, its cheaper than shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth.

16. Goodbye fruit flies: Take a small glass, fill it 1/2' with apple cider vinegar and 2 drops of dish washing liquid, mix well. The flies will be drawn to the cup, and gone forever.

17. Get rid of ants: Put small piles of cornmeals where you see ants. They eat it, take it home, and digest it so it kills them. May take a week or so but you dont have to worry about pets and small children being harmed.

January 12, 2012

I found these little gift ideas!

Lip Balm Basic
Natural Needs: 2 teaspoons petroleum jelly, 1/8 teaspoon honey, 1/8 teaspoon vegetable shortening

Step 1: Measure out all ingredients into a microwaveable bowl. Mix them together.
2: Microwave at high power for 20 seconds. Stir, then repeat until fully melted.
3: Spoon mixture into your small lidded pot.
4: Freeze for 15 minutes, or until solid.

*In all the reciepes except the berry gloss, you add the extra ingredients BEFORE microwaving.

Berry: After step two, add 1/4 teaspoon berry-flavored drink crystals. Then, add 1-2 drops of water and mix. Keep stirring until the mixture thickens. Then, follow steps 3 and 4.

Lipstick recycles: After step one, mix in some shavings of old lipstick before you microwave the mixture.

Chocolate: Add 5 chocolate chips to the mixture before you put it in the microwave. Don't add more than 5, though, or you'll look like you just ate a melted chocolate bar.

Vanilla: Mix honey with 1/8 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add, petroleum jelly and shortening. Follow steps two, three, and four.

Mask Parade:
Needs: 1/2 ripe avocado

Step one: With an adult's help, cute and open the avocado, remove the pit, and scoop out 1/2 if the meat. Mash until there are no clumps.

Step two: Massage mixture into your face and neck. Leave on for 15 minutes, then gently rinse off.

Egg & Lemon Face Mask:
Needs: 1 egg white, 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Step one: Use a fork to beat the egg white a until light and fluffy.
Step two: Gently stir and fold in the lemon juice.
Step three: Soak cotton ball in the mixture, and apply to you face. It may make you face feel weird and tight.
Step four: Leave mask on for ten minutes. Then splash warm water on your face to rinse.

Egg & Honey Face Mask:
Natural Needs: 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 tablespoon plain yogurt, 1 egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon almond oil

Step one: Mix all ingredients together in a bowl.
Step two: Use your fingers to massage mixture into your face and neck.
Step three: Leave mask on for 15 minutes, then gently rinse off with water.

Oatmeal Facial Exfoliator:
Needs: 2 heaping teaspoons oat flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, 1 teaspoon honey, 1/2 teaspoon water

Step one: Combine oat flour (or ground oatmeal), baking soda, and honey. Mix well.
Step two: Add water. Mix to make a paste. If you need to add little more water, that's okay! You want it to feel like mud.
Step three: Apply to your face with your fingers. Rub gently. Leave it on for 15 minutes, then rinse and gently pat dry.

Bath-Bomb Basic:
Natural Needs: 3 tablespoons baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1 packet (10g) citric acid, Small bowl of water for sprinkling.

Step one: Measure baking soda, cornstarch, and citric acid into your bowl. Mix with stir spoon.
Step two: Flick water onto the mixture a few times.
Step three: Mix in the water with your hands. It should feel dry but still stick together. Take a handful of the mixture and squeeze your hand into a fist.
Step four: Fill a mold of overflowing. Then pack it down once.
Step five: Leave mixture in mold for 20 minutes. Carefully take out bath-bomb. Let it dry overnight.
Step six: Place bath-bomb into this kit's pillow box gift container so your guests have a take-home present.

Chocolate heaven: Add 1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder.
Minty Me: Add 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract to make it smell fresh. Add 3 drops of green or red food coloring to make it look minty.
Kool-Aid Pool: Add 1/2 teaspoon Kool-Aid or other drink crystals
Nuts about Bath-Bombs: Add 1/8 teaspoon almond extract. Add 3 drops of brown or orange food coloring to go with the nutty almond smell. Or use blue, red, or green to throw people off the scent.

January 10, 2012

21 Suggestions for Success

1. Marry the right person. This one decision will determine 90% of your happiness or misery.
2. Work at something you enjoy and that's worthy of your time and talent.
3. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.
4. Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
5. Be forgiving of yourself and others.
6. Be generous.
7. Have a grateful heart.
8. Persistance, persistance, persistance.
9. Discipline yourself to save money on even the most modest salary.
10. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.
11. Commit yourself to constant improvement.
12. Commit yourself to quality.
13. Understand that happiness is not based on possessions, power, prestige, but on relationships with people you love and respect.
14. Be loyal.
15. Be honest.
16. Be a self-starter.
17. Be decisive even if it means you'll sometimes be wrong.
18. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility for every area of your life.
19. Be bold and courageous. When you look back on your life, you'll regret the things you didn't do more than the ones you did.
20. Take good care of those you love.
21. Don't do anything that wouldn't make your mom proud.

-H. Jackson Brown Jr.