Appreciating Your Losses, Gains, and Everything You Have

There has been so much stuff going on lately, not only in my life, but in the world period! First and foremost, it's been a CRAZY last week; beyond crazy!! Through all this craziness, though, it made me appreciate everything I have in my life at this very moment, but before I get into that, I'd like to congratulate the Rancics on their baby boy! I'm a huge fan of their show and I'm thrilled for them because they deserve this happiness and more!!

On August 23rd, our lives were forever changed; on that day I lost my maternal uncle. His death was very unexpected and came as a shock to our entire family. I'll never forget that phone call, what I was doing when I got the phone call, or how fast I raced out of the house to be by my Grams' side. At the time I had no idea my uncle had passed away, I honestly thought it was going to be a call about my Gramps, but when I found out the real reason, I was completely heartbroken. I've been experiencing the loss of close family members for the past 3 years, and those were completely different than this one. Those family members had been sick for some time, not that I was expecting death, but I had some time to prepare myself for what might've happened, so when death is completely unexpected it takes some time to recover from something like that. Throughout this experience I've learned two things; the first thing, it is pure heck trying to organize a funeral during hurricane season, especially down in the South. The second thing I've learned is that my Grams is one of the STRONGEST women I know; a lot of people underestimate her. But you have to be a very strong woman to bury two of your children within a year of each other. Most people think that children are supposed to bury their parents, but that's not always the case; so please, appreciate and love your loved ones while their still here. Give them their flowers before it's too late!

Well, the time has come...this Thursday I'll be back to school. I'm definitely having mixed feelings about starting school again. I've been out of school for summer break since May, so it'll definitely be challenging to fall back into the routine of notes, homework, quizzes, and school projects, but I know as long as I work (not too) hard and I'm dedicated, I can't go wrong!!

Goodbye Freedom :(

In just 18 days I'll be forced to give up my freedom; that's right, I'll be starting school in 18 days!! Just as soon as I was starting to enjoy my break, I have to give it up. With starting school comes certain responsibilities; for example, both blogs will probably be slightly abandoned due to homework, class notes, and all the not so fun stuff that comes with school! Also, I'm pretty sure my reading list will be longer and my writing will probably suffer severely, but I'm going to try my hardest to NOT let that happen. Even if it's only a sentence, I vow to not neglect my personal writing. If I want to be a serious author, I cannot let little things like school, exams, and homework stand in the way of my success!!

Goodbye July and Hello August

I can't believe it's August already..where did the time go?  It seems like July was just here yesterday!!  I'm kind of excited for Fall, which is a huge deal for me because the only season I'm ever excited for is Winter, but anything would be better than this heat we've been getting down here.  Summer is supposed to be fun and spent outside doing fun things, not being stuck inside sitting in front of the A/C and still not being able to cool down enough!  I've absolutely had it with this heat!  The only downfall of Summer leaving and Fall coming is Fall semester will be right around the corner!  As always, I'm semi-ready to get started back (I'm just ready to be done with this so I can graduate already), but I'm not looking forward to my blogs being abandoned, my writing being neglected (despite the fact that it's my major), and my TBR list growing larger than it already is...hopefully, I'll be able to balance everything without stressing!  In other news, I've been watching the Olympics, and although I've been really enjoying the volleyball games (I secretly wish I could be out there playing on someone's volleyball team), I'm even more excited for the Winter Olympics.  What can I say, I'm a Winter kind of girl.  There was a perk to the Summer Olympics though...I laid eyes on my future husband last night!  Everyone meet Oscar Pistorius!!

Catch Up Time!!

Christmas in July...do you celebrate it or just treat it like a regular month?  Oddly enough, Christmas in July is something I enjoy celebrating; lots of people find me weird because of that, but surely I'm not the only one, and if I am, then maybe I am weird!  I don't go as far as to putting up a Christmas tree in my house (because that would probably make me seem more psycho than weird), but I do blast my Christmas playlist and sing along to songs like "Silent Night", "This Christmas", and "Do You Hear What I Hear".  Listening to Christmas carols in the middle of the year is actually relaxing.  Now if I could just do something about this heat, I'd be all set.  If you don't celebrate Christmas in July, I highly recommend it; it's good for your youth!!


There is definitely a such thing as being overly confident, and it's called cockiness.  Just like the picture says, "confidence is attractive, cockiness isn't."  One of my biggest pet peeves is learning about a cocky person.  I love reviewing books and connecting with the authors who have written these amazing novels.  Awhile back, Jodi Picoult stated in an article that people shouldn't self-publish.  A few weeks ago I read an article where a woman called the genre, Chick-Lit, stupid and said it was a sexist term.  Throughout her interview she just seemed really cocky and overly confident which was a huge turn-off for me.  Authors who are that cocky and say things like that steers me in the wrong way; I'd much rather read a self-published novel by a down to earth author than an overly confident author whose book has been published by a major publishing company.  Authors have fans and their fans look up to them; the last thing any author should want to do is say something so discouraging in an interview.

Father's Day

My father, my sisters, and me

My father, sister, nephew, and mother

Happy Father's Day to all of the wonderful fathers out there and also to the single mothers who are taking the role of fathers.  For 21 years, I have had an amazing role model as my father.  He's the best man I know and I couldn't ask for a better dad.  He's my hero and I love him to death!!