the end of winter quarter

the end of winter quarter means the arrival of spring... and my last quarter in my undergraduate  student career!

let this blog post serve to make a few points... and questions:

• I've grown tired of this blog and all that it holds; it was great and wonderful for college, but when I graduate I will be starting anew, and therefore will probably start a new blog... on a different domain... with a new name. what blog sites do you guys use? any recommendations? 

• come august, I'll be in need of a job. badly. I have my degree in child development (prenatal to age 8), so if anyone knows of any preschool or nannying jobs in the continental USA (specifically the south or southwest!), please let me know. I promise I'm qualified and I'd be so grateful. 

• I finally completed a new years resolution and took yoga classes! and now I'm trying to practice every day. so this is a little bragging point for me, but I am very happy with myself and the energy that I try to hold. 

• I'm back into art! I'm just finishing up a pottery class right now, and I'm taking painting next quarter. it's great. do art. and especially, do art with kids!!!

that's really all! but if you answer any of these questions, I would be so happy. 

thank you, thank you in advance!

giving (material) things up

(does food count as a material thing?)

tomorrow marks the first day of lent.

one year I gave up mcdonald's french fries.
one year I gave up "being mean."
(side note: speaking softly for forty days is REALLY hard (and nearly impossible), but that's a blog post for another, fast-approaching time).

this year I'm giving up starbucks,
because I spend (on average) $10 a day there. it's really easy to eat and drink everything from starbucks when you live in seattle and there's a starbucks on every block. easiest lunch breaks ever!

ah, I love giving things up.
I love giving up old clothes that were expensive but that remind me of young-adult angst.
I love giving up books that collect dust and don't call to me to read them.
I love giving up shoes that don't serve a purpose besides looking nice at the bottom of my closet.
I love giving up boxes of tea I don't drink, blankets that I don't cuddle under, and random sticker books that I received for christmas about ten years ago.

I've been cleaning my life of everything lately.
goodbye to: mugs and bowls that aren't handmade, shopping at stores that sell new clothing, and the "need" to buy another pristine pair of rainboots.

but I don't like giving up things that I have on a daily basis.
icelandic yogurt? keeping it.
mason-jar smoothies - heavy, yet somewhat functional? keeping them.
daily soy chai-tea lattes from starbucks? ...begrudgingly giving them up.

I guess you could say I'm trying to live more simply.
spend less money.
give away more than I consume.

but sometimes this simplicity thing can feel out of hand,
when I look in my closet and realize... oh wait, I actually don't have any clothes to wear to a potential job because I sold or donated them all in my moment of purging.

how do you manage it?
I'm trying to find the balance between having so little and having enough to survive.
do we really need all material things that we consume?

I leave with that open-ended question.

40 Days of Speaking Softly

recently, I read (and laughed along with) this article.
in which a woman takes on the challenge of not being mean for forty days.
she is challenged to "speak softly, medium-soft."

every day, for forty days, you resist the urge to say anything mean.
this includes sarcasm.
this includes making fun of people.
this includes agreeing with people that make fun of people.

as I told Will the other day, "I'm practicing being patient and kind."
(you see, I've always told myself that when you work with kids, you have to be patient and kind.)
but as a human being, shouldn't I be patient and kind whether or not I work with kids?
doesn't everyone deserve patient and kind?

slip-ups are okay.
in fact, in my case, I'm pretty sure they're inevitable.
(last night, having dinner with my parents at the kitchen table, I tried to not say anything mean about anyone for five minutes and ending up sipping lots of wine and nodding and smiling and saying very little at all)

at the end of each day, I'll write down each time I slipped up -- each time I was mean.
and then I'll try again the next day.
with earnest.

we will see how this goes.

2015

start every morning with a simple statement: it's O.K.

when I see it's raining, remind myself that this is what the plants and trees need.

analyze less, accept so much more.

yoga.

therapy.

smiling.

drinking herbal tea instead of drinks that hurt my stomach.

realize that most of the stuff that I worry about never actually happens.
do everything I can to remember that.

"Unconditional love is the outer expression of inner peace." 
-Alaric Hutchinson

barcelona & paris, 2014

(Barcelona, we spent Christmas -- Paris, we spent New Years Eve (my birthday!))

Mm, and now it's back to studying -- two more quarters to take, and then it's graduation!

And now I have tackled you with a plethora of travel photos from the last four months.

and now it will probably go back to emotions, dreams, and life thought ramblings.

thanks for being a part of my travels.

xxo

norway, part seven: the final chapter

ice skating on a real lake (!!!!) 

one final look goodbye to the barnehage

marzipan animal workshop

so much snow.

if you are ever in trondheim, go to this restaurant! some of the best best best food I've gotten in norway.

summed up, what I have learned is to:

"Have the fearless attitude of a hero and the loving heart of a child."

-Soyen Shaku

norway, part six: parents week!

(or as this blog post should probably be called: photos that my mom took that I borrowed from her nice camera)

recharged. refueled. feeling so much love.
“You have within you more love than you could ever understand.” - Rumi