In this calming nature that has come over me and revitalized my vision; I have come to recognize opportunity. Generally a mellow spirit. I find lately, things rarely ruffle my feathers, anymore. I.E.
My mom tells me Dad is sorry for cutting me off, something I hadn’t minded at all. I didn’t take it personally and actually thought the discussion as a whole was great.
I drop my phone in the snow and I have to go back and retrieve it. I don’t care about the phone (things are replaceable) or the fact that I’m going to be late for work.
I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason and things that may seem shitty are actually blessing or opportunities if you view them as such or are open to them. Dropping my phone was an opportunity to take the original 2 Continue reading
Motivation Monday with Brittany: As this is my last post of the year I wanted to make sure that it was just right, and conversations and happenings the past few days have really helped mold this post into a whole piece. An easy route would be to talk about resolutions and goal settings, but that’s not really where I find myself. Don’t get me wrong I have things I want for the next year, but I have a different approach. I have ideas of travel and this is the year I will reach 15% (notice I didn’t say try or give a date. It will happen at some points, an affirmation that I already feel), but I can’t solely focus on this. We feel like when we reach these goals and aspirations then we’ll be happy or something life-changing will happen when we do. The truth is we are going to be the same person unless we change our thoughts. Why can’t I be happy and healthy today? If I tell myself this, then who’s to say otherwise? I find that it shouldn’t just be a year thing. We shouldn’t just wait to the beginning of a new year to decide to work on ourselves, but a daily thing. In talking with my father yesterday, this really became prevalent. This year I am not going to eat sugar. Each day he’ll wake up and tell himself this. If he does eat sugar then he’ll wake up the next day and tell himself: today I will not eat sugar. What happened yesterday and what may happen or what we wish will happen tomorrow is really irrelevant, when all we have is today. This leads to last week. A wonderful family, The Brentlinger’s lost their matriarch figure. In addition to this we have learned that 
Reflecting this week and thinking of the approaching Holidays with all their traditions and bringing together of friends and family; I couldn’t help but ponder about what is important to me this time of year. Events as the week unfolded, however, revealed to me that time and the little in between moments are better than the grand gestures or the presents. We spend small fortunes and stress over presents detailed in our lengthy list of wish list. The newest gadgets and toys. We overwhelm our children with IPods, cell phones, computers, gaming system, etc. Once we’re older we buying them the newest trends in clothing and then eventually household goods. We flock to malls and retail stores looking for steals so that we can save the most, feeling like we’ve come out on top. In my quest the last year to dematerialize myself and focus less on the things in my life, but to concentrate on the people I realize these things are irrelevant in the scheme of my happiness the last year. The clothes will go out of style and later on we’ll have one of those what in the hell was I 
Yet another spectacular person, I am winding down on my birthday posts with the wonderful Miss Elizabeth Curly. I mentioned in Chelsey’s that in evaluating my friendships, that each one has its own treasure and that I find myself in different ways in each. If me and Chelsey like the same things, me and Elizabeth definitely think alike. Almost on a scary realm, we are known for saying things at the same time, even when we’re talking about something completely different, we’ve stopped and yelled the same time (she knows what I’m talking about). We have similar upbringings, from larger Catholic families and married parents. I’ve never met someone who is so effortless for me to talk too (remember I prefer listening to talking). I remember spending hours with her on the phone when we first moved away to college and we’ll ideally stroll along the mall (because we both don’t want to be the decision maker of what to do, plus its Terre Haute- a little low on happening activities) now catching up on each others lives and what’s new. Although I sometimes am a bit far-fetched for her (Oh Brittany), she goes along with my crazy and even when we discuss topics beyond our scope of reasoning (like feelings of where life is going or what we feel we’re supposed to do once we’ve graduated or how it is to be cool with everyone yet not really close to anyone= basically growing up and trying to figure things out). Yet even though we don’t necessarily know how to explain ourselves, we have this 
Today’s post will be short and sweet. I’d like to give a little shot out to my girl Kayla on her 24th birthday. Although I don’t know Kayla as well as some of my other friends, she is just as important. First introduced by the star of yesterday’s post, Miss Chelsey Catherine, she is bubbly and energetic. If I had to use one word for Kayla, it would be Happy. She is constantly smiling and effervescent, with a compliment on hand. I love when we go dancing and it seems like every song is her favorite. Her face lights up in recognition, “I love this song,” all the while seeming to attract the creepier of characters. On many adventures she was my fellow-blonde hair companion (although I change my hair too much for this to be consistent). I love it, she calls me her Lady Gaga friends, but I have witnessed the development of her style and heel collection as well. Although I don’t see her often, we still have great memories together. From Walks, to 
Yet another birthday (although just as important), I find it more challenging each time to fully express my thoughts or feelings for these stupendous individuals that have graced my life. Trying to define a relationship or love is like having to explain a joke. It takes away from the magic and purity of what is. Regardless, I am going to attempt to express how much Chelsey means to me, even though these few words and pictures can not come close to doing justice for what’s really in my heart and my thoughts. Although Chelsey is my ‘newest’ friend, our relationship has had the most profound affect on me and my life would be exponentially different if she hadn’t been there the last three years (not nearly as fun, for one). I should have known that I met a truly amazing person, when the first night I met her I threw up in her car, and we are still friends (and I was excited in searching through pictures to find a picture of our first meeting that I had never seen before but I can tell by the dreaded cursed shirt I was wearing, that I threw up every time I wore it. We often remember much of our 21st years by what we were wearing). Two weeks after I met her, I was invited to her birthday celebration with her family at the Copper Bar and by the pictures you would think we had been friends for a long time. This was definitely one of most epic nights and was a turning point in all of our lives I think. Part of what I love about Chelsey is that she let’s people in. I had hardly known her and made an ass of myself the first time we met, yet she still accepted 
Failure, what if failure did not exist? This has been on mind ever since I read a blog by Dr. Dyer and after typing for my father where the word kept reappearing (I love my father dearly, but we differ sometimes on viewpoints, which is ok because it’s not about being right or wrong). I find that failure is another one of those fears and memes that we have, that tightly keep us pinned and struggling, so that we are never able to truly live. It’s not our faults, we are conditioned from childhood, always aiming for that ordinary rather than extraordinary. The dream; everyone knows the dream. To go to school, get a stable job, make money, marry, get that house with the white-picket fence, have children and raise them ‘better’ than we were (but still passing our memes down to them regardless of 
This has been on my mind even before my spiritual journey, but new events and conversations had shed new light on it. It’s amazing how Dr. Dyer always seems to have a message for me when I need it or when something is on my mind: “Love is a gift to the world. I fill myself with love, and I send that love out into the world. How others treat me is their path; how I react is mine, ” and “See the light in others, and treat them as if that is all you see.” Then today I’m considering writing this post finally and this pops up on my newsfeed, “Make conscious decision to look for what is right and pleasing in others. Create a new habit of complimenting those around you. Turn judgements into blessings.” Wow, Dr. Dyer is right on! Back to where these thoughts resurfaced from. I was driving my dear friend Cam home (a couple of times actually, similar conversation almost, keep in mind he’s a tid-bit wasted so we’ll cut him some slack). Cam is a wonderful guy; he truly cares about others and is always giving a compliment, wanting others to know how important they. He tries to live in nonjudgement and build people up for being themselves (did I mention me and Cam are a lot alike? It’s really kind of scary like I’m looking at a male 
How to even begin this one, how to put in words (rather attempt too) such a force in my life. There are too many feelings, memories, pictures and crazy-ass stories to try to remember and explain to others. I began this with Shadow and now I will push onward to my dear friend Tabitha Nicole Wood. She would do anything for me (or any of our other friends). Besides my mom, she is my biggest cheerleader, even though I admit I do test her and she tries sometimes to rangle me in, but ultimately she accepts me just the way I am. She’s always encouraging to me and protective (sorry to any men that have just talked to me and met the wall with your face, no one will ever be good enough for me in Tabby’s eyes, which really messes up my game sometimes). She’s given me so much, not only material things (like a roof over my head and a couch to crash on, that she so famously claims and which the amazing Doug Wood finds so amusing), but she has given me time, love, honesty, etc. We have this unbelievably honest 
Motivation Monday with Brittany: Alright so I just got back from an extended weekend in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; how do you go about compositing such an experience into a singular post that is not all over the place? It does seem like a daunting task but I am up for the challenge. I don’t need to give a play-by-play of what I did or what happened, but lets highlight the lessons learned. Let’s begin with why? Why go to Vancouver? Why only for a couple of days? These were commonly asked questions and the truth is that I have no answers. I find that we are always seeking definitive answers in life (girls want to know is he my boyfriend or is he not, people want an exact reason why I don’t like to drink any longer). Have you ever gotten an impulse to do something. To take a certain class, to take a class, to go to a concert, to dance, to take off somewhere, to speak out? We often think and talk about doing things in life, but soon talk ourselves out of it. That idea is ludicrous, we are too ‘busy’, later on in life we’ll do them. I’ll travel when I’m retired, or I’ll have a family once my career takes off. We’ve become a nation of human doers and not of human beings. That’s what happened to me, I had it stuck in my 
