live up to your expectations,
not down to your doubts.

daily affirmation.

i know that 99% of you have probably already seen this video,
but i just watched it today and decided that this little routine is something i'd like to start doing every morning before i head to work. dancing on the bathroom counter and all.

so cute.

retrospect.

hindsight (at least in my case)

seems to always be 20/20 vision.

i keep learning that.

what love means to me today.

"Think the best of each other,
especially of those you say you love.
Assume the good and doubt the bad."
- Elder Holland, "How Do I Love Thee?"

I heard this yesterday in one of my classes,
and that phrase kept repeating itself over and over
and over again:
"Think the best of each other,
especially of those you say you love."

Unfortunately, I do not always follow this wise advice;
and lately, it feels like I have become especially imperfect.
So after class, I inwardly promised
myself to do something about it,
And honestly,
within 24 hours I've already noticed a miraculous difference.


Doesn't love just make you feel really, really good inside?
It just seems to always make everything alright again.

photo via

Someday.

Someday, I'm going to be brave,
And I will walk up to you and say,

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is..."
Someday, I really will.

Someday, I'm going to say what I mean,

Instead of what I think they want to hear.
Someday, I promise I will.

Someday, I'm going to do what I love.

Someday, I'm going to know what that is.

One day,
I'm going to stop using the word: "Someday."

little-long-drives.

sometimes, i like to take what i call "little-long-drives." it's the kind of drive that makes you feel like your destination will find itself for you.

i usually take these "little-long-drives" when i feel a bit quiet. or maybe just a little bit lonely. many say the remedy to loneliness is by surrounding yourself with people, but that usually doesn't work for me. when i feel lonely, i think: i'd rather really be lonely. perhaps loneliness makes itself less present when others aren't reminding you that its there in the first place.

and that's when i find myself on these drives... i think about a lot of things, and selfishly, i think a lot about me. i think: maybe this is why we are always taught to love ourselves, so that when i'm by myself, i can become more of a friend than a stranger.

i like who i am, and sometimes, i am lucky enough to love who that person is too.

but then other times, i second guess this confidence. i'm vulnerable and emotional. my feelings still get hurt, even when i like to pretend that they don't. my guard still goes up when someone i know has let me down. i've hurt people who i love, and yet i still have a hard time admitting when i'm wrong...

but then... somewhere in the middle of that messy pile of thoughts, i am reminded of who i have become in only 20 years of life. i'm even a little bit proud to be me and better yet - to be friends with me. i'm proud to be a part (even if it's only a small part) of things and of people who are great. and i'm happy to even be here for the ride.

and that's usually when...during that little-long-drive to the middle of nowehere... i figure out where i'd like to turn next.

(photo via)

My Parents Were The Bomb.Com

i have started to realize one thing:
my parents are becoming my friends.

not all days of course.

sometimes they still like to tell me what to do or that i need to eat better because i have zero nutritional intake - but a lot of days....
actually,
most days

my parents have become more like my friends.

instead of sitting down to talk about curfew,
boys that should remain entirely off limits,
or grades that aren't completely perfect -
they've started to talk to me about themselves,
and not just so i could walk away with a lesson learned --
but just so i could know more about who they were;
what they were like aside from "my mom" or "my dad"
but as people, as individuals, and at one point, as kids.

and just a few days ago, i just found this totally great website called:
My Parents Were Awesome

i wish i had an awesome picture of my parents somewhere around,
but unfortunately i don't.
this website has hundreds of fun pictures like these though,
so
GO
LOOK

and maybe show a picture or two to your own parents.
they might have a few just like them too.

Waiting for Life to Start.

Waiting for Life to start?

"Well Kels," I can hear my dad say in his formal 'this-is-where-my-wisdom-can-be-taken-advantage-of' sort of way,

"It's already begun."

I read this thought a long time ago, and was reminded of it just the other day as I caught myself saying things like:

"Once school starts, then..."

or.

"Once I finally fall in love, then..."

or.

"Once I finish my degree, then..."

And it wasn't all that long ago when I was saying things like,

"Once I graduate high school, then..."

(I have)

or.

"Once I live on my own, then..."

(I do)

or.

"Once I go to college, then..."

(I'm here)

And look! Nothing miraculously has ever changed overnight, just because I've started a new chapter in my life.

If you can relate in any way (and even if you can't), READ ON.

The Life of a Day – Tom Hennen

"Like people or dogs, each day is unique and has its own personality quirks which can easily be seen if you look closely. But there are so few days as compared to people, not to mention dogs, that it would be surprising if a day were not a hundred times more interesting than most people. But usually they just pass, mostly unnoticed, unless they are wildly nice, like autumn ones full of red maple trees and hazy sunlight...

For some reason we like to see days pass, even though most of us claim we don’t want to reach our last one for a long time. We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, no, this isn’t one I’ve been looking for, and wait in a bored sort of way for the next, when, we are convinced, our lives will start for real..."

Like my dad would say, "It's already begun."

I guess I need to be brave enough to realize that Life isn't waiting,

So why should I?

i should think twice before i speak.

(i liked this picture, but don't understand why it says: thnik?
it's probably really clever,
but today i'm just not clever enough to get it.)

anyway, speaking of john mayer - he sings a song that i can truly relate to at the moment.
"my stupid mouth, has got me in trouble, i said too much again."
it seems like out of all the lessons i've learned, i will indefinitely be learning that one over, and over, and over again.
i've said this before, but i blame the lack of keeping my mouth closed to the fact that i was a great debater in high school, and when there was a point to be made,i made it.
and here i go again.
anyway.
point is:
i really, really need to start putting my common sense to use,
and think twice before i speak.

and probably before i blog too.