Shoes

I fell in love today








 with a pair of shoes.

I know, I know. Shameful.

But it happened. And it can't be denied. What is, is.

You see, today my mother and I went shopping at TJ Maxx, Ulta, and DSW. Over at good ol' TJ's, I got a mint sweater, a tied tank top sort of thing, and a peplum tank top to wear for a party. And then we went to Ulta so I could get some eos lip balm, mint yet again. And then. And then and then and then. We made our way over to DSW.

I didn't see them at first, the shoes. I gravitated towards the heels and such, tried on a mint pair (can you tell that I like mint?), then went to the sale section. Bah. Nothing was there. But then. Then I perused my way on over towards the boots section. Thank the Lord I did. Sitting on a shelf, there they were. My shoes. Well, booties to be completely accurate.

So I took them off the shelf, you see. And I grabbed a 5 1/2 even though I'm usually a size 6, but the 5 1/2s seemed right. And then I tried them on. Boy oh boy oh boy. Perfection. Love at first sight. But really. I am completely in love with these booties.

I know it's really bad that money bought my happiness today. But secretly, I don't care. I know the money I spent on my soulmate shoes could've gone towards a better cause. But I needed this. I really, really, really needed this bout of happiness today.



Last week was hell week.


Excuse me.

Last week was finals week. I studied so much for so long. I needed a pick-me-up. Enter these shoes. They make me feel stylish and pretty, happy and fun. Weirdly, they make me forget about my stress over school and let me live life. Judge me all you want but these shoes make me feel so good. Everyone should find something that makes them feel like this. It's one of the best feelings in a world. It's embarrassing to say it, but I really am in love with these shoes.

So there you have it. I'm just simply enamored.

"I'M IN LOVE, I'M IN LOVE AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT."

Origins

Tuesday marks the beginning of hell finals week. So I thought a nice, long flow of thoughts would be appropriate for this post as a little stress reliever. No editing. No rewrites. If you don't want to read my random thoughts, then it's all good, it's cool, you can politely leave right now. I promise I won't notice. I don't really care anyways. Just a warning, I don't know what's to come on this post, so be ready for anything.




Which gets me thinking. Okay, buckle up your seat belts kids, we're on the move!

I am so sorry for the cheeseball statement. I will never ever ever (anyone just sing those three words to TaySwift's song? No? Just me..?) do something like that again. Promise. Girl Scouts Honor. Crap I just did it again. I guess y'all are gonna have to deal with me. #sorrynotsorry (I apologize for using a hashtag on here but I told myself no editing this so now I can't take it out... I'm not that weird, promise)

Any who.

Why did I start this blog back in September in the first place? Well, the obvious reason is that I was working on my first article for Central's newsmagazine, the Devil's Advocate (pretty creative name, huh?) and I was given the topic of blogs and how they may be becoming more popular than tried and true FaceSpace. Oh shoot. Or was it MyBook? Nah that doesn't sound right either... Facebook. Yeah. That little thing.

So anyways I was writing this puppy and interviewing some people about their blogs and such and writing some more and then some editing and then I turned in my rough draft. And then I realized. Hey. I think I might like to start a blog of my own. And then I lived happily ever after. In a castle with just me and my computer, writing blog post after blog post without a care in the world.

Okay, that last part didn't exactly happen. Shh. Haven't you ever heard that writers sometimes like to stretch the truth? Yeah? Okay.

I digress.

So I logged onto blogger.com and I made my account. And then I looked out the window and the wind was blowing in the trees and I thought it seems like the wind has something to say every single time it blows. It's like they have their own secrets and we'll never know what they are. Hence the name of my blog, which I should probably type here but I really don't feel like it so I won't because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want. So take that. Ha. And eventually there will be a post about that and secrets and stuff but that takes a lot of thinking and I don't have the mental capacity to do that right now.

But is there a deeper reason for this virtual journal? Yes.

I want to get myself out there. I want to be a writer, a journalist, an editor. Something to do with writing. Just something. Anything.

And I have to start somewhere. I mean, doesn't everyone?

So I guess this is my somewhere. These posts are my origins to my something, my everything, and I couldn't be happier.

In Flew Enza

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.
~Children's Skipping Rhyme, 1918

Sneeze.

Cough.

Ache.

Hurt.

Throb.

Sniffle.

Sick.

I'm sick. Couldn't you tell? My ears hurt, but I don't have an ear infection. My throat hurts, but I don't have strep. My nose is stuffed up, but I don't have a sinus infection. My head is hot, but I don't have a fever. I don't have the flu, but I still feel sick. This bought of sickness is just a normal one; it's routine. Nothing out of the ordinary.

I got sick at THE perfect time (if you didn't catch my drift, that was sarcasm). As much as the whole student population at Central wants to deny it, school comes back tomorrow morning, bright and early at 8 am. Yay. Yesterday I had my whole day scheduled out from hour-to-hour on what to study when, as finals are in a little more than a week, and I have that lovely assignment of free-hand drawing the map of Europe that makes it debut tomorrow precisely at about 2:10 pm in room 284.

But do you want to know what I did yesterday instead?

I laid in my bed under a mountain of blankets/no blankets at times because I was hot and cold off and on and shamelessly watched two-too-many episodes of one of my favorites Gossip Girl on Netflix. Needless to say I finished Season 5 without any difficulties. I also probably finished a couple bags of Ricola Honey Lemon Cough Drops all by myself and painstakingly choked down some vile doses of Robitussin while I was at it.

I should be ashamed at myself because I really didn't study yesterday, which is quite an alarming thought. I have so much to do! I have to study for Trig and French and Chem and English and AP Euro and go ham on practicing this map.

But now that I think of it, this sick-bought came at a really great time.

Before yesterday, I was stressing over my map way too much; I was stressing over finals way too much already; I was stressing over school way too much. But lying in bed yesterday, taking a two-hour nap gave me a chance to take a breath and relax before I go back to the zoo, I mean school, tomorrow morning. I got my 'calm before the storm'.

It's like a little birdie named Enza flew in and sat on my shoulder and told me to take a break. A much, much needed break. After I rested a lot yesterday and ate a baked potato, I felt a lot better. I was finally able to focus on my map. And look at the results:

Little Birdie Enza did me a huge favor.

Lights

Yesterday, like we always do, my family and I went to Chicago for NYE. We've been doing this ever since I can remember and we stay at different hotels each year such as the Sheraton, Embassy Suites, the Intercontinental, and this year, the Fairmont. I've never done anything else for New Year's. I've never gone to any parties with my friends; I always spend this holiday with the fam. 

Our little one day trip this year including lunch at Flat Top Grill, shopping at Northbridge, cupcakes (vegan and gluten free chocolate peanut butter, might I add) from Swirlz Cupcakes, freezing half to death, Zoo Lights and the Lincoln Park Zoo, dinner at Heaven on Seven, seeing the movie Guilt Trip with Barbara Streisand, chilling at the hotel watching Gossip Girl, and finally watching the fireworks once the clock rang in the new year. 

I had fun this year because I brought my lovely new Canon Rebel T3 camera along. I got to playing around with the manual (M) setting while we were at Zoo Lights and during the fireworks, and well, this picture to the right happened. Well, let me rephrase that. A lot of pictures like the ones you see on the left happened, but I edited them down to my favorites and then made a collage out of them. Good thing, too, because I've had my camera for a week and I've already taken almost 2,000 pictures.... 

Moving on. 

Looking at these pictures here makes me feel happy because I took a picture (okay, picturessssss) that goes beyond just clicking the button on the camera (aka the shutter button). They're "artsy", if you must. I do have to give credit to my sister and my friends and my photo teacher for teaching me how to take pictures like this, though. 

Anywhoo. My point. 

These pictures go beyond everyday. They define me as a photographer. I care about the art of photography. (Okay, that sounded really cheesy and dumb. Don't judge me, I'm normal, I promise.) I care about my pictures and I'm happy when they turn out well. These pictures of the lights just make me want to take more and more pictures. I'm sure all my Facebook friends will love me for adding a billion new pictures every week, but I don't really care! Photography makes me happy, and I'm gonna do stuff that makes me feel good. Simple enough, really. 

So sorry. My actual point: 

With the new year (woohoo 2013!) starting today, I'm sure you all have made your New Year's Resolutions and goals and whatnot. Much like my pictures of the lights, you have to 'choose' a resolution that defines you, that makes you into a better person, one that you can actually achieve. Something that will eventually make you happy. What's the point in setting a goal for yourself that you know won't do or making yourself do something that you don't like? Don't try to become someone else. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you're thinking of how to better yourself during 2013, don't try to shape yourself into someone who you're not. Sure, you can aspire to lose that weight, to eat healthier, to do better in school. But don't wish too much or too big, or you'll change who you are. Be true to you! 

As for me, this year I don't really have a so-called 'resolution'. For now, I'll just stick with the lights.