30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 7-9

So I am apparently bad at remembering to do these day of, but I figure at least they are getting done.

Day 7: List 10 Songs You are Loving Right Now

• Ed Sheeran Shape of You – Current fav song
• Nelly Furtado featuring Timbaland – Promiscuous – throwback to undergrad days
• B’52s – Love Shack – fav song growing up, even karoake’ed this song in undergrad once
• Usher Yeah! – another throwback to undergrad
• MC Solaar Bling Bling – no idea what he is saying, just love the song and it always cheers me up when I listen to it
• The Raveonettes – Love in a Trash Can – fav song ever of theirs, on my happy mix for a reason
• The Chainsmokers and Coldplay – Something Just Like This – just discovered this one
• Ariana Grande – Focus 
• Flo Rida – My House – this one both me and my 5 yr old love for different reasons
• DNCE – Cake By the Ocean – crank this one every time it comes on the radio
• Aerosmith – Cryin’  – throwback to my youth, loved that song then and now – has kind of become one of my theme songs lately

Day 8: Share Something You Struggle With

Self-Confidence/Self-Love: Truthfully I have struggled with this forever. I had it the first two years of high school, then I moved the middle of high school to a completely different school in a different state and I went from being somewhat cool to the new awkward kid who according to a friend that I got to know better in college “the obsessive loner”. I’ve always been self-conscious about my body ever since I got snubbed because of it in middle school by the person I thought was my best friend (who I was also in love with), and it has been a very love-hate relationship based on the atmosphere around me. And yes, I know I need to love myself before anything but it has taken me a long time to learn that. It got better in undergraduate and very good the first year of graduate school when I finally came into my own. It kind of took a nose dive the first time I got dumped by my ass**** of an ex-boyfriend who I later learned was pretty much using me in undergrad. So I decided to have as much fun as possible when I was in Scotland in grad school, when I got my first sassy short haircut. There were a lot of gorgeous smart guys that year and I had a good time getting to know them, even if not all of us saw eye to eye as well as I would’ve liked. 

When I first met John, I felt on top of the world and on top of my game. Even more so when we got married, had Liam, and for awhile things were amazing. Then I started to lose sight of myself. It wasn’t him and me separately anymore, but us as a couple, and I really lost sight of myself. I am just starting to gain myself back and practice some self-discovery to see who I really am and what I want. I realized in the beginning of the last eight months that I need a lot of work and I’m working through it one day at a time. It’s funny because I know friends and acquaintances have said “What are you talking about? You are so full of confidence I’m jealous sometimes,” and all I can say is that “Yes, I can be an exuberant person, but that doesn’t always equal self-confidence.” I’ve always described myself as an extroverted introvert, meaning I have moments of both depending on mood and what else is going on in my life. 

Day 9: Post some words of wisdom that speak to me

I adore quotes and have been collecting them since I was little. I found this one recently and it really applies to my life right now: 

This one from Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu says it all about God and his views (sorry folks, I believe in a benevolent God not a vengeful one): 

Had to include one from Neil Gaiman, my favorite author. He always has some brilliant quotes as well, including this one: 

And what librarian would I be without a book quote, lol. I love this one from Lyndon B. Johnson that I found recently that I’ve added as my tag line on my personal email: 

 

30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 4-6

These are late because I couldn’t really think of someone for Day four and then was off yesterday and forgot to post, so here’s Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s posts together. Here is the original post so you know what I’m talking about. 

Day 4: Write About Someone Who Inspires You

I honestly can’t think of someone who inspires me, per se, but rather someone I admire. That person is one of my closest friends here in Phoenix, Joanna. She has been through a lot of personal drama, but still manages to be one of the nicest, most generous, hard-working, and selfless people that I know. She believes in social justice and change and is one hell of a macro social worker, even now when her job is in libraries and not in her chosen profession. She does a lot of good work and I hope she will open the hearts and minds of the people she works for at her branch library, as well as the community. 

Day 5: List 5 places you want to visit

I am going to assume they mean five places you’ve not visited yet that you want to, and I’m going to list why. So I know some of them are countries versus individual cities, but they were hard to encapsulate in a single city. 

Graben (street) in Vienna, Austria

• Vienna, Austria – I have technically been here for 2 hrs, but couldn’t stray far from the train station as it was a stop on the way to Prague. The food, culture, opera, and history has always been fascinating, so it seems like a cool place to go to.
• 
• Brandenburg Gate – Berlin, Germany
• Berlin, Germany – I’ve never been much to eastern Germany (I was born in the western US-occupied part), but Berlin is the capital and center of history and art – mostly it’s because of the awesome art museums
• 
• Temple of Hatshepsut, Deir El Bahri, Egypt
• Egypt – I love studying about Egyptian history and art, so naturally I would love to visit the real stuff. 
• 
• Meiji Jengu, Tokyo, Japan
• Japan – Always been fascinated by Japanese food, art, culture, and history and always fascinated with the juxtaposition of ancient and modern culture in the same setting, even more so with all the parks/temples in modern cities
• Knossos recreation – Crete, Greece
• Greece – My parents have been talking for years about how much they loved going there, especially my dad. Again with the food/culture/art/history fascination, but also because I have friends that live there or have family there, so I would at least have a place to stay. 

Day 6: Five Ways to Win My Heart

This is some interesting timing as things in my personal life have recently made me re-evaluate topics like this. 

• Emotional Maturity – By this, I mean the ability to express their feelings and emotions, and can say “I love you” without prompts b/c they mean it not because they feel they have to because I am. 
• Good with Kids – This is kind of a given as I have a five year old son, but I also work with kids, so it’s important.
• Good Sense of Humor – laughter really is the best medicine, esp if I’m having a rough week or things feel out of control
• Educated (at least a Bachelor’s Degree or interested in personal learning on their own) with Ambitions/Goals
• Nerdy/Geek – I am a giant nerd/geek so would be nice to find someone either with similar interests, preferably someone who liked to read, and would be cool nerding out with me (ex. Star Wars, Dragon Age, video gaming, or whatever)