November 14.

Quote of the Day.

Mexico City is like ... the human brain: a simmering, complex, ever-changing storehouse of history, art, fashion and food.
Rebecca Finkel for Metro New York

image from: http://www.museyon.com/blog/2009/04/01/film-and-reality-mexico-city-mexico/

With a pitch like that, who wouldn't want to take the next flight out??
I'm so ready for the next trip out to...wherever.

November 13.

Quote of the Day.

This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever; in its place is something that you have left behind....Let it be something good.
Anonymous

November 10 + 11 + 12.

Is it failure that I can't seem to keep up with daily posts? 
It's all quite relative, because, after all, I'm still up and running..or should I say posting...and I'm almost done with the year. A month and a half, and the little voice within might quiet down some. 

Regardless, 
Quotes of the Day. 

10.
And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom. 
Anais Nin















11. 
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage. 
Anais Nin

12.
To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. 
Alan Cohen

The two pictures in this post are not the most recent, but every time I see them, I smile. It's not because I look sooo great in them, or they necessarily fit these quotes the best, but because they're moments when I a) fulfilled a dream or b) followed my instinct and forgot about what might be "appropriate." And good times followed. 

November 9.

Quote of the Day

A true friendship ought never to conceal what it thinks. 
St. Jerome

I am extremely blessed to have this type of friendships. Not one, but several, including my relationship with my sisters. It took a while in my teenage years for some of my friends to get used to my matter-of-factness and (perhaps overly) honest sarcasm, but those who stuck around have not only learned to appreciate it after learning that it is not meant to be judgmental, hurtful or condescending, but have also begun responding with similar arsenal. So, if you ask me, we're in a good place now.
Now the above, while it may seem to make me seem like I didn't budge from my approach, does not mean there wasn't compromise and growth on my part. I've definitely had to learn to hold my tongue in certain situations, and I've come to understand that that doesn't mean that "you're asking me to change who I am!!"
So after years, with my two best friends it's been over a decade now, I feel what makes our relationship "true" and amazing and strong, is not only that it's honest and open, but also that it's comfortable. Unlike with so many others, we don't have to worry if one of us hasn't gotten around to keeping in touch for weeks or if we continue to seriously disagree on a topic that's extremely important to both of us. Such is life, and it's the differences - alongside the similarities - in us that are the attraction and glue.

To my loves,
MUAH!

Saw this amazing shot of love and laughter on a photography page online a while ago, but I can't remember for the life of me where I found it. Regardless, rights are not mine to give, and all glory to the artist behind the camera as well as the smiling faces in front of it. 

November 8.

Quote of the Day.

Life is too short to work so hard. 
Vivien Leigh

Choosing this quote definitely stemmed from midterms season anxiety.
I can tell you  now, and I could've just as well told you a year ago today, that every year, every month, and especially every midterms and finals week I flip-flop between two ideologies. One believes in this quote 110 percent, wants to follow my heart at a moment's notice, and tells me nothing's THAT serious that it's worth restless nights, premature graying, and stress over pages left to read. Life will figure itself out, it says. Only do what you feel in your heart as right, it goes on.
But the other keeps pushing through obstacles, over mountains, one gray hair at a time, with sometimes more, sometimes less enthusiasm, and the peak to be reached over one more stretch ahead.

If I knew which route is the one to take, I wouldn't be straining my soul with all this fence-dancing.

November 7.

Quote of the Day

Before you can conquer your chosen mountain, you must roam the valleys. 
me?

I'm not a huge believer in the whole notion of hitting rock bottom meaning that there's only one way and that is up, nor for that matter in that feeling down makes feeling good much more worthwhile, but I do think that surviving the down lows and fighting for that goal makes a difference. When something isn't as simple as one, two, three, you must really put some thought into it. By the end, you must have really decided that this means something to you and is worth the hard work.
This, specifically, is what makes your mountain your mountain. It's the hard work that you're ready to, and must, put in that makes your journey the one that you know you need to be on.

November 4 + +

Quote of the Day

Close your eyes and open your mind.
from: http://ffffound.com/image/e411301d4c89c5781e5db52bbfec9e1005244783

Sometimes you have to close your eyes to see what is possible, to look beyond the barriers, and to empower yourself.
True story.

November 5.

Writing is just half the knowledge. 
Prophet Muhammed

Humans. I wonder if all that really separates us from animals is the ability to perceive things beyond the facts and figures?

November 6.

For this day, I don't have a quote from last year.
Fitting, as all that's necessary to be said to sum up is:

from: http://bakatit.wordpress.com/

Here's to a successful second term, President Obama!

November 3.

Quote of the Day.

God is the friend of silence...

We need silence to be able to touch souls. 

Mother Theresa

November 2.

Quote of the Day.

Live the life you've imagined. 
Thoreau

Giving up is hard to do, but sometimes changing directions, finally following the dream that's been trying to realize itself for ages, allowing yourself to be happy with an aspect of life, requires letting go. Often times it requires taking a step back, to be able to gain perspective and momentum for a leap forward.
It's not easy figuring out whether a seemingly giant sacrifice will be worth it. It's even harder to let go of a dream you've followed, and are now coming to realize may not be the way to go..


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AEoUa0Hlso

November 1.

Quote of the Day.

Slow down,
calm down, 
don't worry, 
don't hurry, 
trust the process.
Alexandra Stoddard

First of the month, and I'm in need of a fresh start. Re-charged batteries and re-born inspiration. Reading this quote - sectioned like this - helps me do exactly what it says. Slow down. It helps me step back, take a breath, and allow myself a moment off.
A lot of times procrastinators, such as myself, get caught up in this vicious circle. I put off work to the last minute, because "I work best under pressure." That may be true, but what's also true is that putting off work doesn't equal putting off the stress. Rather, the stress seems to snowball on me as I'm going down the hill of - whatever - the semester, the nearing deadline..and I don't respond well to stress. Stressed out, I push work even further into the future, trying to grip onto these created moments of "freedom"...until even more worry, anxiety, and panic settle atop my chest.
Lately I've been really trying to push myself to create a different process of working. "Trust the process," I tell myself, and while my other half keeps fighting it, wanting to stick to the norm of cutting it as close as possible , I push to produce something a little earlier than "necessary." Perhaps I'll try to dedicate this month to victories - even tiny ones - in this arena.

And things will turn out just fine.