Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!!

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Dearest Devotees,

This is just to wish you all a wonderful Holiday Season, especially since its coming up right now a Happy 2011! I'm taking a quick break from the crazy but wonderful festivities around me to wish you guys a lovely year to come. May this year be so much more than you could ever wish for (in the best way possible).

Love you all and Stay inspired,

A Day in the Life: Happy Birth(Week)!

From: teenangel

Darling Devotees,

From:tumblr

So this past Sunday, Easter Sunday (Happy Easter by the way, lovelies!) I turned 19! Yes Sweethearts, it has been 19 years since I was brought into this beautiful world and made to experience this sometimes fabulous earth. Although the journey has not exactly been smooth sailing , I can honestly say so far it has been a good run. When I was asked, as I usually am every year, if I feel any different than I did 24 hours before, I laughingly said no. However, when I really sat down to think about everything that had happened since my last birthday, I realised that I do feel very differently about many things in my life now and that I am a very different person now. I have realised the following about myself:

• If I can't give my all in a relationship, I shouldn't be in it. People I care about and that I know care about me deserve the time and effort I need to bring the relationship to 100% and not 50%.

• I am a lot stronger than I appear to be. I may groan about whatever life throws at me, it may appear to totally shake my beliefs and destroy my self esteem, but at the end of it all I will come out in one piece. I will survive.

• My heart is not irreparably broken. It is still full of so much love despite all the experiences that have tried to take this love away.

• My dreams are not just talk. I do have the potential to achieve them and the desire and ability to see them through. I learnt this from this blog. I count this among one of my biggest personal achievements of the past year, and many people who know me will agree. I am the sort of person that has big dreams and visions and starts off really strong but soon loses the will to follow through. As a result I have a lot of half-finished projects left behind in the path of my life, but I am so happy to say that this blog is not and will not be one of them. My love for writing and self expression got me started on this blog but what keeps me coming back is the fact that I know you are here my darling devotees. You are the ones who get me through the rough patches when I feel myself begin to stray and the fact I am still motivated to continue blogging really is a testimony to the beautiful people you all are.

• Although I strive for more from my life and desire to be better, I really am beautiful the way I am now. I find this is true for all the people I know. It is all about loving self love. If you love yourself, I find that you can and will be able to love others more.

I let myself look back at all of the past experiences of the last year that have brought me to where I am today and much like my darling Mia Thermopolis from Princess Diaries, I have discovered that I am a lot more closer to the elusive goal of 'self actualisation' than I was last year. I may not have reached it yet and it may still be in the distance, but I am getting there. For now, that is enough.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. Welcome to all my new devotees! You bring sunshine to my day :)

A Day in the Life: Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Photo from : We heart it

Dearest Devotees,

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Darlings!

Since I love the Irish, Northern Ireland and school in Boston, which is home of Irish America I felt is was necessary to spread good tidings and holiday cheer to you all. Also its uber sunny and warm here and has been for 2 days now, so yay for spring!

Anyway...

Last week I did a post on going green and other ways of saving the world, and thanks to this post by A of The Glamourous Grad Student, I've discovered another way to make my blog 'green'.

It's an initiative called 'My Blog is Carbon Neutral' and it was started by the Make it Green programme in Germany to raise awareness about the effects of carbon emissions on the environment. The initiative helps each participating blog to reduce their carbon footprint by planting a tree when they join. The trees are planted in cooperation with Arbor Day Foundation with the Plumas National Forest in Northern California in order to help restore this forest which is of the many national forests that were burned down by wildfires in the past 10 years. Considering how popular blogging is and how many people could possibly join his initiative, I feel that it could make such a difference. So if you are blogger please check out this site, and help spread the word.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. I'm sorry I'm running late on the seeking inspiration post for this week. It has been really chaotic, but I will have it out soon, hopefully sometime tomorrow.

A day in the life: Happy 2010!!!

Photo from: Stuartpilbrow

Dearest Devotees,

IT'S Here!!! It's finally 2010! And I know I said this at Christmas time but I just want to make sure that you all know how much you mean to me. I started this blog to express myself but also to connect with people who shared the same ideas and interests as me. I love hearing what you have to say, and I feel like I'm getting to know all of you better each day. You are all beautiful people, inside and out and I hope that this year brings you more joy and happiness than you could ever wish for! Have a great New Year's Day and a fabulous 2010!!!

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. I'm starting my year off with an Artist Retreat, to gather inspiration for the art-intensive year in front of me (see: my New Year's Resolutions here). I will give you more info tomorrow and I invite you all to join me. Until then, ciao.

Seeking Inspiration: Get up and Go

Dearest Devotees,

It's over - or at least it will soon be - and thankfully, I'm not alone in believing that this year has gone by too quickly. That is not to say I won't be glad to see it leave. Life is all about moving forward, after all, and although I have learnt a lot this year from my experiences, I'm glad to have a clean slate. That's why my song of the week is Go sung by Boys Like Girls. It's all about turning a new leaf and learning from your past. It has even inspired me to make a list of all the lessons life taught me this year, and to acknowledge them so that I can be grateful for them and not make any of the same mistakes again. So without further ado, here's my list:

• Never settle for anything less than what I deserve: I mean I've already got high standards for myself. If I get anything below a B+ in subjects I'm generally not good in like the sciences, and anything less than an A in subjects I am good in like literature, and other arty subjects, I practically berate myself. But, when it comes to guys, for whatever reason, I allow my standards to fall. I dated someone that I knew wasn't who I should be with, and stayed with them just because it was comfortable. You know it's bad when someone who doesn't even know your boyfriend tells you (through the aid of tarrot cards, no less), that you need to raise your standards where men are concerned. Needless to say it ended badly (reminiscent of stalker-ex boyfriend movies) and I can now honestly say I've never appreciated being single so much before. It was very scary but at least I've learnt from this experience.
  


• Give myself a break: I really am my own harshest critic and after having several people (including one of my oldest friends and several of my academic advisors when I told them how I wanted to complete 2 degrees and a minor in 3 years) tell me that I really do push myself too hard, I decided that its ok to give myself a break every once in awhile. Also, that I should learn to adapt my personal standards to every different situation.
  


• Become more accepting of myself: To some this may sound like the last point but its really not. You see, after having breathing difficulties and being disagnosed with asthma, I was told that I show a lot of the symptoms associated with adult ADHD (attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder). ADHD occurs because a difference in the chemicals and the positioning of neurons and neurochemicals in the brain.

Common symptoms include: carelessness and lack of attention to detail,
continually starting new tasks before finishing old ones,poor organisational skills, inability to focus, or prioritise, lateness to activities, continually losing, or misplacing, things,forgetfulness, inability to complete tasks or stick with tasks, and sometimes depression as a result of the condition. Its not a disease but a developmental disorder and apparently I've probably had it since I was a little kid, but was diagnosed since in girls its usually shows in their quiet and dreamy demeanor instead of the more disruptive forms. I'm getting officially tested soon but either way, I've decided I'm just going to learn to work with it and be more accepting of things that I just can't do.

• Do more of the things I like and not what I think I should do: I almost became a double major in journalism just because I thought it would look good. I was so convinced that it was the right thing to do, that it took me several days of career testing and interest evaluating for me to realise that I want to be my own boss and I just can't do that in traditional print journalism. I still love media literacy and writing though, so I'm a film studies minor instead of an journalism double major.

So goodbye 2009. Thanks for the memories.

But before I end this unusually long post (I'm sorry. I got a little carried away), here are some of the links that inspired me this week:

• Get up and Go...to the café: Ah, the café. The stereotypical artist haven, where those seeking inspiration go to observe life in a cosy, warm and friendly environment. This article by Café Fashionista has moved me to rediscover the magic of my neighbourhood café.



• Maybe its just me, but I think using Kool-aid as clothing dye is pretty fascinating. This is one of the DIY projects I want to try out as soon as possible.



• Need somewhere cute to keep your supplies? The monkeybasket blog has just the thing.

(Photos from: Teerish on flickr and Stuckincustoms)

This place reminds me of Northern Ireland , my favorite place in the world.

Love you all and Stay inspired,

P.S. So let me know what you think. Did the year go by too fast? What did you learn from your past experiences this year? Did you learn anything new about yourself this year and if so, what? Feel free to let me know in the comments below.

A Day in the Life: Merry Christmas!!!!

Dearest Devotees,

This is just to wish you a Merry Christmas my darlings! Thank you so much for following my blog and I hope that you have a fabulous day. I'll be back with a regular post tomorrow, ciao!
XOXO
Aury