words to live by.

"Be grateful to have been given one more day, let alone one more year. Remember to dance in your night gown, sing in the shower, ride a bike, fly a kite, and take an occasional "wind bath" in your bare skin. Give those you love big kisses, huge hugs, and the words "I love you" often and always. Nurture your body rather than starve yourself with fad dieting. On your birthday, call your mom and dad and thank them for all they have done for you. Remember you are not guaranteed tomorrow and that today is as good as it gets. Thank god for everything, everyday, every moment."

"you can't start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one"

Everyone makes mistakes in life, I know I have. At least for me, it can be difficult moving past these mistakes and accepting them as lessons. One of my best friends loves the quote, "the minute you stop making mistakes is the minute you stop learning". I think it is so true. Mistakes and bad experiences are always difficult, but they only make us stronger and more able to deal with life's future obstacles that come our way. In order to live our most fulfilling lives, we must own up to our past and stop having shame for things we may want to take back and re-do. Take a breath, accept what's happened, and move on. 

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pip pip cheerio.

Last week, my family went to London. It was amazing to explore the city and all the history that was there. By the end of the trip, though, I was ready to get home and escape the 24/7 family time we had. With my dad constantly asking questions because he'd forget where we were or what we were doing and just being obnoxious at times, I tended to get very frustrated and get into a bad mood. I don't blame myself for getting annoyed because anyone would have, but I realized I need to work on trying to look on the bright side more instead of just letting my frustrations get the best of me. Don't get me wrong, I still had a great time and took in everything there was to see, but I could've definitely let some things go throughout the trip. In life, we can't go back in time and re-do memories, so we should all try to make sure our memories our special and appreciated enough the first time.

"sometimes you just need to distance yourself from people. If they care, they'll notice. If they don't, you know where you stand."

With friends, I've realized that no matter what you tell yourself to expect from them and how much you value them, it still becomes extremely frustrating and disappointing when you feel as though you give more than you get. I'm the kind of friend where no matter how little I expect from them, I'm still going to go out of my way to be a good friend to them when they need it and I'm going to treat them how I would want them to treat me. It comes to a point, though, where you have to give yourself the respect you deserve and stop letting people take advantage of you. This doesn't mean to stop being friends with those people, but like for me, I need to take a second and evaluate my friendships and realize where I need to draw the line of giving myself to certain people. That way, you don't feel like you're being taken for granted and you can let yourself appreciate those people more.

happy new years!

Happy new year everyone! I hope you've all had a nice, relaxing holiday- you deserve it. I love the feeling of starting a new year. It's filled with the thrilling thought that anything could happen. Think about yourself last year at this time and think of everything that's happened to you, good or bad, that you would've never dreamed of. No matter how critical people can be about resolutions never actually happening, I think everyone should start the year motivated to improve themselves and inspired with the feeling of starting over and making the year whatever you want it to be.