April 27
Quote of the Day

An optimist is the human personification of spring. 
Susan J. Bisonette


Ahhhh. Let's go spring! LET'S GO!

April 26
Quote of the Day

Doubt is not a pleasant condition
but certainty is absurd.
Voltaire


That's perfect for right now.
Thank you me from a year ago.
Now to paper writing and externship decisions.

Yes yes yes, I realize I have failed at maintaining a steady blogging pace yet again.
But here we go, three days worth of quotes:
















Quote of April 23rd


Life is just a mirror, and what you see out there, you must first see inside you. 
Wally "Famous" Amos

Like possibilities! I feel like as long as there are possibilities that I can see, all's not lost. Go on, dreamers, go on towards your dreams! :) ----> Bustling, yet perfectly quiet coffee/flower/designshop/bookstore a few blocks from the beach here we come!

April 24
Quote of the Day


In the right light, 
at the right time, 
everything is extraordinary.
Aaron Rose
















Today I woke up and climbed up to the roof to water my plants. Many of them suffering, some working hard to grow and defeat the soil and the spring winds, but all of them beautiful! Its amazing how much enjoyment a few pots and bags of soil with the potential of growth and greenery can bring me. So anyway, where I was going with this was that when I stepped outside from the top of our staircase....Amazing light! The sun was so glorious, the breezy warmth perfection on my skin, and the refreshing air so all-encompassing that my whole day was lit up. Even the somewhat pathetic look of my work-in-progress garden was amazing bathing in this perfect light and sun-love. <3

April 25
Quote of the Day


[Spring is] when life's alive in everything. 
Christina Rossetti

What a perfect quote for another beautiful day that began with plant watering. Or it would be, if I weren't feeling all but alive. I overslept and woke up drowsy, stuffy, and headachy. I was upset because of the hours of work time I had missed, and I was annoyed that I woke up so annoyed. And the to-do list was weighing on my head with its pounding words.
The night brought with it some brighter and lighter things, though, and life's fighting back tougher than ever! How can I stay gloomy and blah when I hear such good news! :)

April 22

Quote of the Day

Although the world is full of suffering, 

it is also full of the overcoming of it.

Helen Keller

Not only do I like this quote because it's really what I'm hoping I'll be able to actualize for many many individuals suffering with mental illness and the pains of imprisonment, but it's also telling me that not only is the world full of stress and painful finals and papers, but also the meeting of deadlines, the completion of degrees, and the overcoming of the "I can't".

Also, it makes me think of this news article I just read about 16-year old Misaki Murakami's football, which was lost in the tsunami in Japan, being found in Alaska. Yey, for happy reunions and rebuilding lives after disasters - even if its in such tiny victories and successes. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/22/soccer-ball-japan-tsunami-alaska-shores_n_1444140.html 

Seems I'm developing a trend of posting every other day.
So here we go.

Quote of April 20th.

Let's make better mistakes tomorrow. 
Unknown


Let's. That's all. 


April 21
Quote of the Day

After all is said and done, 
a lot more will be said than done. 
Unknown. 


So let's not make the mistake of not DOING things tomorrow.
As I've planned on it being a Sunday of schoolwork and research, this would be wonderful.
Not for the soul, but for the stressed student mind.

Quote of the Day
April 19


In the right way told inside is where the fight lay.
Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr.


Let's do this!
35 days til the end of the semester.

Quote of April 18.

We learned more from a 3-minute record than we ever learned in school.

Bruce Springsteen "No Surrender"

I must say that this is a point that has struck me more than once. Definitely more than once. 

Not necessarily in the philosophical way mr. Springsteen might mean it, that that's where we get words of wisdom and influences for our lives instead of soaking up academics, but in a simple why-is-it-so-much-easier-to-remember-Leo's-five-last-movies-and-Brangelina's-children's-names-than-psychotherapy-methods-or-spss-?-?-!-? way. 

On April 18th I didn't sit down and post, because this is exactly what I was struggling with. SPSS was getting the better of me, and all I could resort to was the world of a specific Seattle hospital. Deadlines were getting closer and closer, and I was struggling with getting things done. 

Of course, a lot of it is inspiration, and not me not knowing how to do things, but the problem remains. Even with a relatively ambitious mind and a decent passion for learning and school and getting to where I want to be career-wise, why is the pull of entertainment and, well, everything else, so strong, and the readability of textbooks so sleep-inducing?

April 17

Quote of the Day.

You don't have to be old to be wise.

Judas Priest

And with this thought I take off to writing my data analysis term paper.

Well, with THIS thought:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO199kGfmlg

:)

Back to blogging.

I've had a blessed week off and away from the City and stress. Well, at least from the City. Somehow stress manages to follow you even across state borders and into vacation days. Regardless of stressing over deadlines ahead and life decisions behind, I took time off, enjoyed the fresh air, light green nature, and warmth of Michigan. On one of my runs I even ran into a deer and a rabbit! :) Despite loving life in a huge, busy, always awake metropolis, I am definitely a self-identified nature-lover. Most of all, though, I rested by being with my love. Sleeping together, waking up together, cooking together, doing groceries together. It's all so simple and all so beautiful. Can't wait for us to have our shared everydays back! <3

But now to the skipped quotes:

Quotes of the Week

April 11th - 16th.

It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one's thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.

Isabel Colegate

...This, of course, unless you're writing your thoughts down in a blog. With readers.

Science is organized knowledge.

Wisdom is organized life.

Immanuel Kant

What we play is life.

Louis Armstrong

Living is easy with your eyes closed.

The Beatles: "Strawberry Fields"

Isn't the way life is depicted in these three quotes pretty neat?

A perfect mix of play and reason can make life glorious, even with eyes wide open.

Nobody loves no one.

Chris Isaak: "Wicked Games"

There are memories all over the place.

The Scorpions: "Still Loving You"

Memories make today count.

Here's to a little less stressful week because of the memories of the passed week.

*going to my happy place*

April 10

Quote of the Day

You can have it all,

you just can't have it all at once.

Oprah Winfrey

And, relating it to yesterday's quote, you can't recognize having it all if your eyes are set on a far away point.

April 9

Quote of the Day

O that a man might know. The end of this day's business

ere it come!

William Shakespeare

...But it sufficeth that the day will end. And then the end is known.

I think the last few lines are crucial.

So often I desperately want to see into the future, even if just a few hours, a few days ahead, to know if what I'm doing now will be worth it. To see if what's stressing me out now will pay out. To see if what I'm unsure about has a clear answer.

But would looking into the future completely stop me from living in the moment?

I have a feeling I would have problems concentrating on the here and now, enjoying today and those around me, and being happy with current life. I struggle with this constant forward-gazing as is, how much more would I push through and take on if it were clearly taking me to a wanted goal? And would it be worth it?

April 6.-8.

Quotes of Easter

Sometimes beauty blinds us in our search for the truth.

House

All life is an experiment.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The unexamined life is not worth living.

Socrates

The first quote makes me think about religious experience, and the role that being "moved" or "touched" plays in feeling you've found the "truth." I've come to think - or feel - that I must be closer to whatever truth exists when I feel normal, calm, and comfortable. Of course getting emotional and feeling loved and filled with love can be a beautiful experience, but that should not be the sole marker that tells me "this is it." I'm not really sure where I'm going with all this, and I feel like I'm rambling on, but that's the gist of the above quote for me.

As for the two below it...They make me want to travel. They make me want to try things, and they make me feel less worried about making mistakes, about maybe taking a few detours on the way. Perhaps its not as bad that I didn't go straight to college after high school, didn't continue straight to my master, do not have the perfect job right now, and am still searching for whatever spot makes me feel most myself and most comfortable in life. While I'm working on life, I'm experimenting, I'm trying, I'm learning. All this is life, and all that makes me that much richer.

How much more will I know of who I am, where I am, what I want and love, and who I want to surround myself with after taking all the side roads and back alleys, rather than having stuck to the straight main road? More, I hope. :)

April 5

Quote of the Day

There are more pleasant things to do than beat up people.

Muhammad Ali

Like LOVING people.

or Gardening :)

Speaking of which...my peony and clematis bushes are making huge progress!

Granted, the reality doesn't yet quite meet the pictures, but I'm patient.

And I've got some ready-bought blooms, too :)

April 4

Quote of the Day

I like us together.

It would be like your soul on my shoulders.

Eliel Cruz

This quote makes me feel giddy.

It makes me step into a Sunday morning,

with a cool breeze coming from the open windows into a light-filled linen-smelling bedroom.

Us awake in the bed, with a cool white sheet - no comforter - against our skin where we're not touching each other.

My head against your back feeling your breathing.

Silence.

And then Zero7 playing in the distance. Maybe the cafe downstairs is playing it.

I don't quite understand it, but it makes me smile outside and in.

Image from: http://simplynaturaldecor.blogspot.com

April 3

Quote of the Day

If you live to be a hundred,

I want to live to be a hundred minus one day

so I never have to live without you.

A.A. Milne

I know this may be stupid of me, but I don't appreciate the selfishness in this beautiful statement. By wishing me - her, him, your love, whoever - to die after you, you are wishing them the day without your love. Without you. Of course, assuming you share this beautiful thing.

Over thinking, but that's the way I roll.

April 2

Quote of the Day

How absurd and delicious is it to be in love

with somebody younger than yourself.

Everybody should try it.

Barbara Pym

Today's words of wisdom were handpicked a year ago by my ever so humble and perfectly younger boyfriend. :)

Clearly, Ms. Pym knew a good thing when she saw it!

April 1

Quote of the Day

Passion makes the world go round,

Love just makes it a safer place.

Ice T.