The Prettiest Picture

I don't know what inspired me to write this. It may have been my dream, or a commercial I was watching, or the girl I met yesterday at a volunteer clinic, or something my grandma told me over spring break, but I’ll get to that later. I know this sounds lame, but I was just thinking about life. It made me kind of sad too. I was thinking about how sometimes people don’t feel perfect and that makes me sad.

I feel like there are so many things in this world that can easily make you feel bad about yourself. For instance, doctors. I know they are supposed to help you and all, but I feel like sometimes they just do the opposite. My doctors have told me things like; “You have back problems”, “Your feet are flat and you’re going to need to fix that”, “You’re underweight”, “Your height to weight ratio is wrong”, “You have a pigmentation problem”, “Your teeth aren’t perfect”. Normally this doesn’t bother me, but when I think about it, it’s these types of things that make you feel bad about yourself. And these things mixed with T.V commercials about “If you don’t have the newest product you suck” kinda thing, and magazines with crazy thin and computer enhanced models. And this is just the external beauty stuff!

There are so many mental imperfections too. School seems like its all about competition and grades now. Grades and testing seem to say everything about you. We’re always looking to the future and planning ahead. If we look too far, we miss what is happening now, and if we worry too much about what’s happening now, then we miss the simple pleasures, and then life passes by in the blink of an eye.

We spend so much time trying to be perfect. Can’t we just be ourselves? Isn’t that good enough for the rest of the world? Shouldn’t that be good enough? I mean, if someone breaks your heart, do we cry because we couldn’t change ourselves to be what they wanted us to be, or do we move on because they just weren’t meant for you.

I guess I’m kind of ranting, but it makes me sad to think that this is happening. People don’t feel perfect because of society. I guess one of the only ways to help this is to build your confidence, and the confidence of others. So, to that girl I met the other day… you have a wonderful personality and I am really glad that I was able to meet you. Please, keep being your beautiful self!

When I visited my grandma, I went into her room and was looking at all of her pictures all over her walls. I told her, “Grandma, these are so pretty!” She looked at them and thought for a minute and then said, “They are pretty aren’t they? But do you want to see the prettiest picture?” I nodded. She held up a mirror to me and said, “That is the prettiest picture.”

So, to my grandma… thank you for making me realize that I am perfect just the way I am. And to everyone else… you really are the prettiest picture:)

Debutante Ball

So Over break I went to this ball, and every time I tell someone that, they ask me all about it. So I'm dedicating this post to explaining what it was and putting up pictures for the people who haven't seen them already on facebook.

To start the night, Cecylia (my cousin) got official pictures taken with her family. After that, we all went to dinner and took our own pictures:)

Left to Right: Me, Christine (front), Cecylia, Pat, and Cheyanne.

Apparently a few of them decided to make some funny faces.... Pat thought it was funny... I didn't really notice.

But then my Aunt Tina said something funny and we all just started laughing :D

After pictures and dinner, we went to the ball. To be honest, I don't even really know how to explain why they had the ball. All I know is that it's like that thing in the movie, "She's the Man"and my cousin was a Debutante like Amanda Bynes:) You can see all the other debutantes and the Kings of Mardi Gras in the background.

They announced her name and she walked down the aisle with her dad as they spoke about all the cool stuff she's done. Kinda like announcing a resume.

After that, all the Debutantes danced with their Dad and their escort. So cute:)

After all of that was done, the party really started. The parents stayed in the main room and had an auction and older songs (songs they liked). The kids were allowed into another room where there was a DJ and sparkling champagne and snacks. We danced the rest of the night!

This was "Dynamite" if you can't tell. "I throw my hands up in the air sometimes..."

It was a really great night and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to go:)

The Dentist

So guess what I got to do the day before my Birthday!?!? (If you don’t know, you can just look at the title…)

I strongly dislike hate the dentist. And these are 10 reasons why…

1)   They always find something wrong. Like you either have a cavity, or a bad wisdom tooth, or, if they can’t find anything wrong, the default is that you’re not flossing enough. Seriously… who actually flosses every night?

2)   They blow up every little problem into something massive.

Dentist: “You have a cavity that needs to be filled”

You: “Okay. What happens if I don’t fill it?”

Dentist: “Oh, it’s not a big deal if you do. But if you don’t, the tooth might rot away, make you blind, give you brain cancer, and turn you into a massive serial killer… but like I said… no biggie.”

3)   Part way through the exam, they get up and leave to do something else. They tell you they’ll be right back, but it always takes them like an hour, and you’re left just sitting there with drool coming out of your mouth. When I was little, I had to go get a crown put on a tooth, so they put me on some sort of pain med thing. I don’t know what it was, but it made me a little loopy. And then, they left me alone for a little while to check on another patient. Bad idea. I felt like I was alone forever. I started to think that they had forgotten about me (the pain meds making me loopy) so I got up out of the chair and walked into the hallway to try to find a dentist. Of course the dentists that saw me walking away freaked out, so they came running after me and led me back to my little dental chair. They didn’t leave me alone after that.

4)   The X-Rays. You know how they always have to put that little heavy grey bib on you? I don’t really get the point of that. Like I know it’s so you don’t have to expose your body to excess radiation, but your head is still exposed. Soooo, my shoulders won’t get cancer, but my brain will… awesome.

5)   The fluoride. It. Tastes. HORRIBLE. Bubble gum flavor…. Yeah right. More like moldy candy flavor.

6)   You can never brush the right way. Apparently there’s this new way to brush… I don’t even know.

7)   All that natural stuff your body does like the gag reflex, and saliva glands. Those things make the appointment annoying.

8)   That little toothbrush thing they use to clean your teeth. To be honest, I don’t even know if it’s a toothbrush. But it makes this grinding sound when they put it on your teeth and after they’re done, it makes your teeth feel like they have sand on them. I really don’t like the feeling of sand on my teeth.

9)   I don’t understand why dentists always have to ask you questions while they have their hands in your mouth. I don’t think they even know what your answer is. They just ask a question like “Where do you go to school?” and respond by saying something like, “Oh, wow! That’s good!” So I could answer with something like, “My dog died in the fire that burned down my house” and they would still have the same response because they can’t actually understand your answer anyway since their hands are in your mouth.

10) My dentist always tells me I need braces and headgear. Like every time I go in. I’m in college… there is no way I am gonna wear headgear or braces. Plus, she doesn’t even tell me I need braces. She tells my Dad. This is how the conversation goes…

Dentist (talking to me): Bite down. Hmmmmm… okay.  (goes to get my Dad) (talking to my dad) She needs braces and headgear.

Dad: uhhhhhh…. Okay….

Me (in my head): I’m sitting right here… so, I can hear you.

You know what I did after my appointment? I got a 7-11 Slurpee… full of sugary soda. Take that dentist!

Learning To Dance In The Rain!

As you may have noticed, I’ve changed my Blog’s title. I think dancing in the rain is great, especially if it’s warm outside. I’m not really a fan of dancing in the sleeting, icy rain. That’s not as fun. It’s actually kinda miserable. But dancing in the rain is like looking at the positives of life… and hey, that’s my new motto!

Looking at the positives in life can be as simple as enjoying the small things you see everyday. A few weeks ago, the weather was really nice. (Now it’s back to being cold. I don’t like it when the weather plays mind games like this. It was raining a few days ago too.) But I started to notice a trend in people’s behaviors while the weather was still warm. They seemed happier and seeing people happy makes me happy. I also witnessed a few secret dances, which made me smile. Haha… I’ll explain.

On one of the first days it was warm outside, I went to get a late night dinner with some friends. We went to one of the main dining halls and we stayed and talked till we were some of the last people in the dining hall. As we were just kind of sitting and relaxing, Taylor Swift’s “Today Was A Fairytale” came on the speakers. It was a really great song for the moment and we were all sitting there enjoying it when we noticed someone across the hall. She was a dining hall worker who was cleaning the tables at the end of the hall. What made me smile was that she was dancing and singing to the song, unaware that we had seen her. She was using her spray cleaner bottle as a microphone and her washrag as… well… I don’t even know. She was just kind of waving it around her as she danced. She clearly didn’t know that we had seen her, but that’s what made it so good. It was just really happy to see someone like her having a wonderful time in her own little world. It was cute.

A few days later, I witnessed another secret dance. I have 8am classes everyday and usually when I leave my dorm, there’s only one or two other people leaving for class too. Most of the time when I leave, there’s one particular guy I notice leaving from a different section of Fred (Fred is the shortened name of my dorm, Frederickson). I always notice him because he wears these giant, bright blue headphones when he walks to class. This particular nice morning, he was dancing. He didn’t see me since I was behind him, so I guess he thought he was alone. But I saw you giant, bright blue headphone kid:) He was doing his own little made up dance jig. His moves consisted of doing a little hopping foot thing, bobbing his head from side to side, and moving his arms around in the motion of a train’s wheels. I don’t know about you, but I usually don’t feel like dancing at 8 in the morning, but again, I think the nice weather has made everyone a little happier.

Over winter break, I was actually caught doing my own secret dance. I was driving home from dropping my brother off at practice and I was blasting Cascada’s “One More Night” (If you haven’t heard that song, you should go listen to it…. It’s a really good dance song because it has a good beat. Well actually, I feel like anything Cascada does has a good beat so yeah) Anyway, I was jamming out to the song and I guess when I got to a stoplight and two people saw me. Normally, I would be really embarrassed, but the two people proceeded to have a dance-off with me while we waited at the red light. It was fun…. And I’m pretty sure I won:)

There’s so many other little things that make me happy too. I guess since I went on a run today and my endorphins were flowin’, I was able to think of them a lot easier. A few little things that make me happy include:

1)    Getting compliments. I got one a few weeks ago from a woman. She complimented me on the workout I had done.

2)    When people hold the door for me.

3)    When people smile, or say “thank you” when I hold the door for them. Or if they just smile just because they are nice.

4)    Music with the ukulele in it. Like “Hey, Soul Sister”, “I’m Yours”, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, and “Rhythm of Love”. (Doesn’t that make you happy too? I mean who doesn’t like at least one of those songs? I’m telling you… it’s because of the ukulele. It’s a really awesome instrument. I’m trying to learn how to play, but I seem to be failing a little… well, actually a lot)

5)    Anything on that list of things I like in one of my previous blog entries.

6)    Randomly, I really like when it’s warm outside and it’s raining. Like spring rain. It’s so fresh!

When I was little, I loved playing in the rain. For fun, my brothers and I used to do rain runs. We would stand in our garage while it rained outside, and then we’d find an object outside like a tree, car, or mailbox, and we would run as fast as we could to the object and back. And that’s about all the game consisted of. I don’t really understand why we thought it was so fun. Actually, I remember getting kinda angry with my youngest brother David because he would cheat. Since he was so little and couldn’t run as fast as Matt and I, he would always turn around and run back before he even got close to touching the object. Such a little cheater….

But I still think being out in the rain is really fun. Someday I want to dance in the rain with my Prince Charming;) I feel like it would be so magical! I picture it something like this…

But until then, I’ll just be dancing in the rain on my own having the time of my life! After all, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning to dance in the rain!”