The Quote

Many years ago, my sister sent this quote to me in a card and it has really stuck with me ever since. I now have the card framed and it sits in my living room today. Last night I walked by it and stood for a moment to read it again. It still has the same profound effect over me today that it did so many years ago when I first read it. I think that I try with all my heart to live just as the quote says. I really do live as if this is all there is. Do you?

Musical Update

I decided to kill two birds with one stone with this post. I want to talk a little bit about my new job that I started way back in the beginning of August AND tell you about some new awesome music I've discovered because of this job.

Yep, I FINALLY got a job in the music industry!!!! YAY!! Cue the streamers, balloons, parade and thunderous applause! Haha! :)

I work part-time at a company in Malibu (I know, I'm fancy!) called All Access Music Group. It's a radio music company that helps major and independent labels get their artists songs on the radio. My boss, for example, spends the majority of his day calling and getting called by pop station DJs all over the US. They discuss the songs we are currently promoting and what the DJs think about the songs and how often they are playing them and/or when they'll start playing them. My job is to input the number of plays those songs are getting each week and then to edit the comments made by those DJs. All of this information then gets sent to the labels. I also serve as my boss's assistant so I answer and screen his calls and basically make sure that he is taken care of throughout the day.

Along with this music job, I'm also still nannying quite a bit for one small 2 year old boy and my photo shoot business is up and running. I'll write a longer post about that soon. I hope. Needless to say, I keep very busy!

And now for the new music that I was talking about earlier.... For those of you that are new to my blog, from time to time, for fun, I like to mention a few new songs that I've recently gotten into. At this new job, I'm constantly in-front of the latest pop songs so fortunately and unfortunately (HAHA) I'm pretty well-versed in that genre.

A lot of these are great work out songs which I'm always on the lookout for. Enjoy! And please let me know what you think about them.

1. "Tonight is the Night" - Outasight
2. "Crash Your Party" - Karmin
3. "I'm a Goner" - Matt & Kim & Souljaboy
4. "We Found Love" - Rihanna
5. "Domino" - Jessie J
6. "Not Over You" - Gavin DeGraw
7. "It Will Rain" - Bruno Mars
8. "Blackout" - Breathe Carolina
9. "What the Water Gave Me" - Florence + The Machine
10. The entire Drive soundtrack

At 27....

Yes, I'm back again and this time, I'm re-joining Mama Kats Writers Workshop! Woo hoo! These are fun and I have honestly missed doing them every Thursday. This week's writing assignment: Prompt 1.) Last week we wrote about what we have never done… this week write a list of 22 things you HAVE done. (inspired by Sellabit Mom)

First I'll start with my list of 22 things I HAVE DONE:

I'm 27 years old and I have:
1. Run two Half-Marathons and 1 Full Marathon.
2. Been on a safari in Kenya.
3. Walked 60 miles in three days TWICE for Breast Cancer!
4. Discovered a new career calling.
5. Received countless bouquets of flowers from loving friends and family.
6. Tried speed dating and online dating.
7. Got hooked onto Bikram Yoga and Spinning Classes.
8. Swam in the Great Barrier Reef.
9. I have loved and lost.
10. I've attended 6 fabulous bachelorette parties.
11. Enjoyed countless weekend trips with friends.
12. Traveled to Germany, France and Hawaii all in the same year.
13. Visited several hospitals all over the US with Pin-Ups For Vets and handed out calendars to VETS.
14. Sung at a wedding! (My sister's and it was during the reception)
15. Endured two detoxes/cleanses and I will be doing another one next week.
16. Had brown, blond, black and red hair.
17. Ridden on a camel, an ostrich and an elephant.
18. Been on Oprah's Favorite Things show so I have been on TV too. : )
19. Chopped just about all of my hair off.
20. Gotten two tattoos and 8 piercings.
21. Regretted decisions but ultimately learned from them.
22. Lived in 6 different countries and 2 states.

Now for the things I HAVEN'T DONE!

At 27, I've yet to
1. Have my own professional photo shoot.
2. Go skiing or snowboarding.
3. Endure a cross-country road trip.
4. Be a bridesmaid.
5. Ever have mono. Whew!
6. Meet John Mayer or Beyonce. :(
7. Been on a cruise.
8. Break any bones.
9. Hold a real gun.
10. Call 911.
11. See a shooting star.
12. I've never liked tomatoes, mustard or coffee.
13. Bake bread from scratch.
14. I never had detention in school.
15. I've never wanted to be famous.
16. I've never not missed someone.
17. Ride a motorcycle.
18. Pick up a hitchhiker.
19. Taste caviar.
20. Go skydiving.
21. I've never been married or had a baby... yet.
22. I never thought that I would have a blog!

I'm Back....

It's been awhile, I know. I just haven't been in the mood lately to write consistently.

But I did warn you a long time ago that I wasn't going to blog as often anymore. I wasn't going to post again until something interesting or rather exciting happened in my life. Well, honestly, I would never call myself boring and potentially cool things commonly happen to me a few times a week but sitting down to write about them and publicize them almost makes them seem less important, less valuable to me. Does that make sense? Do other bloggers go through this too?

So instead of even attempting to catch you up on all the awesome things I've been doing, I decided to use photobucket (Thanks Tonya for all your help) to create a collage of some of my favorite pictures over the past few months.

Enjoy!

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Days On The Calendar

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy and haven't been inspired to write. Hopefully, that will change soon. But today I had to write something.

Four years ago today a water heater took my parents' lives.

Correction, the poisonous gas emitted from a water heater took them from my sister, a grandson they never got to meet, other family and friends and me.

It's exhausting to think that I will have to face this day, the anniversary of their deaths with these emotions every year for the rest of my life. There is no escape.

October is on the calendar every year. It's right there between September and November.

I miss my mom and dad every day and wish I could hear their voices, feel their hugs and simply be with them all the time, but today hurts more than all the other days on the calendar. October 15th forces me to relive that actual life-changing day. October 15th magnifies my emotions and the fact that my parents are gone. Four years ago and one day, they were still here but four years from now, they'll still be gone. They'll be gone. Perhaps, I'm still struggling with wrapping my head around that fact.

I always spend October 15th with my sister and we do something together, just the two of us. I can't imagine spending the day any other way than remembering and reflecting. And yes, feeling tremendously sad.

I know that I'll always feel this way, but in time, with a little hope, I will find peace.