Goodbye, 2012! {A Final Review}

January 1, 2013 Filed Under: Goals, Quotes Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

new2 Ever since I can remember, I always had a list of resolutions lying around. I love goals, and New Year’s resolutions are like the beginning of all things goal-related. I love them because they are the chance to start something new every year, and they give everyone the opportunity to feel better about themselves. In terms of goals, 2012 was a BIG one for me. I had a lot of resolutions that included many side-project goals, and overall I did really well.

As I ring in the New Year with family & friends and finish planning what I want to do for 2013, I thought it was time to re-cap the resolutions I created exactly 365 days ago.

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1. Complete my 12 Changes project

Not accomplished. I decided to stop working on this project in April because I already had too much going on, and wanted to focus on those other projects instead. I still love this idea and maybe when I’m done school I’ll put more time into making it happen again!

2. Finish my 23 Before 23 goals by July 10th 2012 (the last day of the challenge, of course!)

Accomplished. I knew when I wrote this goal that there were a lot of items on that list that wouldn’t be done, which was my own fault for feeling a little bit too ambitious with not enough time. But the things that didn’t get done made their way onto various other lists to get done at a better time in my life!

3. Finish, as best I can, my 101 Goals in 1,001 Days, which ends on September 28th 2012

Accomplished. This was my favorite one. I wrote about it here and here. I’m so proud with how this challenge turned out- I accomplished almost everything I had set out to do! Everything that didn’t get done (and I still have an interest in working on) was added to my Life List.

4. Decide what to do next once all my lists of goals are completed. Another 101? Another birthday list?

Not Accomplished? I’m not really sure, to be honest. I haven’t created any other lists besides my new year’s goals for 2013 (which I’ll be talking about tomorrow) and I don’t know if there is anything else that I WANT to do just yet. This was a bit of a wishy-washy resolution I think, it wasn’t really accomplished or not…. It’s still on hold until I figure it out, I guess!

5. Read 60 books

Not Accomplished. Actually, FAIL. I’m so sad that I didn’t have more time to read. I fully and 100% plan on fixing this next year. I only read, like, half of this goal. Something like that. What a disappointment!

6. Make an effort to blog more about books and music that I love, rather than just using them to fill up days that I don’t know what else to write

Accomplished. Thanks to the wonderful Jessica, I got to participate in The Book Chat every week for many months (which I plan on doing again in 2013) and I made a point of writing about the things I love such as music, reading, travel, etc. It’s nice to see my blog have a little bit more direction as more time goes, but still have a distinct personal touch to it. At least, I think so!

7. Travel 

Accomplished! When I wrote this goal, I only had plans to visit Florida for 5 days in February. I had no idea if I would be able to go anywhere at all. I was so lucky this year, I visited Florida, Brazil, Europe, and New York City… Not to mention the various other road trips to random towns I took for concerts. I’ve got the travel bug!

8. Complete my 365 picture challenge

Accomplished! You can read about it here. I completed the project sometime in November and it was the most fun thing ever.

9. Take part in the 2012 Young Adult Reading Challenge (thanks again for the link, Miranda!) 

Not accomplished. I didn’t even read 40 books this year, so obviously this didn’t work out. Too bad, I love this challenge idea. Boo :(

10. Make 2012 all about happiness, adventure, taking risks, and accomplishments

Accomplished. Yes, yes, and yes! 2012 was one of my happiest years; it as one where I took chances on myself, I opened my heart up, I learned that sometimes failure DOES lead to bigger and better things, and when things didn’t go my way I picked myself up and tried something new. I really, really loved 2012. And I loved this goal- I thought about it nearly every single day & it 100% affected SO many choices that I made.

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Overall, I accomplished 6.5 of my 10 resolutions for the year. Not bad, considering two of the others included reading & one of them was a conscious choice to let go of. I’m never too disappointed that I don’t complete every single goal on my list- from experience, that’s pretty unlikely to ever happen. I’m just happy that I kept these 10 things at the back of my mind all the time and constantly worked towards them. For the most part, I accomplished everything I truly set out to do. 2012 was definitely a very successful year all around. :)

How did you do with your 2012 resolutions?

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#102 On… Posting Every Day

November 24, 2011 Filed Under: 101 in 1,001, Blogs & Blogging, Everyday Stories, Goals, Inspiration, Post a Day 2011, Quotes, Things To Remember Tagged With: , , , ,

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This month, I vowed to participate in NaBloPoMo because I knew I wouldn’t have time for NaNoWriMo, which I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. It went pretty well for two weeks, although by the end of the second week it was getting really difficult to make enough time to blog. In theory, blogging every day is awesome. But realistically? It’s unrealistic.

Last January, I started to participate in the WordPress ‘Post A Day’ Challenge. It was the 102nd goal to go on my 101 in 1,001 list, and in the last 10 months, I have posted nearly every single day. There are some months where I missed a few days here and there, but in the 4 years I’ve blogged here, I more than DOUBLED my posts this year alone. That is kind of amazing. 

Before starting to post (almost) every day, I didn’t really understand the blog world. I blogged as an outlet for my every day life- I’ve simply always loved to write and keep track of time somehow. In the last year or two, this little place of mine has developed into something I never would have imagined. My writing interested people; people who started to follow my blog, people I’d like to say are like real friends to me now.

I took the last two days off blogging because I simply did not have the time, inspiration, or energy to write. I know that the point of posting every day is to force my brain into writing overdrive, but there are some days where that is just counter-productive. Also? I had a lot of homework to do. I really wanted to get back into writing every day with NaBloPoMo, but as I think about it now I realize that with school, work, and the little bit of social life I can muster… It’s just not always possible. Sometimes I’m too busy living life to write about it. 

The mix of NaBloPoMo and Post A Day 2011 have taught me many things about blogging.

First, it is only by writing regularly that you will become better at it.

Second, there is no point in feeling guilty about taking a day (or two, or three) off blogging. As much as I would love to take an hour a day to come up with something to write about, it’s just NOT always possible. I won’t always have that kind of time.

Third, although I love this little place of mine, priorities always come first. I often made blogging a priority in my life before doing other things, and I realize that’s not right. I have a lot of other things that are very important to do, and by posting every day I would lose sight of that at times.

Fourth, it’s quality, not quantity. I discovered that there were some days I would write just to WRITE. Anything, everything. Sometimes it’s nice to just write whatever comes to mind- I love writing rambling-ish posts- but more often than not they were fillers on days that I was feeling completely uninspired. Those should be blog-rest days

Fifth, posting on weekends is a tricky situation. I love to write for myself, don’t get me wrong, but readers don’t come around so much on Saturdays and Sundays. As fun as it is to write, it’s also fun  to get feedback on your work. It would be more ideal to use my free weekend time to SCHEDULE posts, rather than to publish them right then and there. That way I can be more sure that I’ll have quality writing and it will get some of the attention it (hopefully) deserves!

I still have just over a month to try and post as many days as possible, but I wanted to take a minute to reflect on the journey that it’s been to try and accomplish this goal. It’s been a hit and a miss; NaBloPoMo definitely hasn’t worked out as well as I would have liked, but Post A Day 2011 has been such an amazing experience for me. I think I’ve become an entirely new writer because of it and I already consider that goal accomplished, even though there won’t be 365 posts in 2011. 

I still have an infinite amount of lessons to learn about blogging, writing and prioritizing. I hate *giving up* on goals, so admitting defeat on NaBloPoMo (among other things this month) is not easy for me, but I don’t regret it one bit. I’ve loved getting to know myself by pushing to find inspiration in every day life. I can’t wait to use all of the things I learned in a new year of blogging in 2012. I have great things in mind, and I can’t wait to hopefully continue to grow as a blogger here!

What has blogging taught you as a writer?

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Live Inspired.

May 9, 2011 Filed Under: Post a Day 2011, Quotes, Random Ramblings, Reading/Books Tagged With: , , , , ,

“Thomas Edison’s last words were ‘It’s very beautiful over there’. I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

It’s quite rare for me to fall in love with an author enough to read every single thing they’ve EVER written & then some. I know I’ve mentioned John Green a couple times in the past, but today felt like a John Green blog post day for several reasons:

a) three of his books are getting incredible promotion and recognition at my work these past couple weeks, and today I happened to be the one organizing his section and it made me want to re-read all his books. I just read all of them within the last few months.

b) two of my friends are reading/just finished reading ‘Paper Towns’ and it made me want to read it again.

c) something else made me think of John Green today and for the life of me I can’t remember what. But I was like ‘I need to blog about him today’ because of it. Anyway.

The quote that I put at the top of this post is from ‘Looking for Alaska’ and it may be one of my favorite quotes out there. That’s the thing about him, there are basically like 83203 amazing lines in his books, and I need to find a way to write them all down.

That being said, the point of this post (besides forcing anyone reading it to go out right NOW and buy his novels) is to talk about the really awesome stuff that he does, other than writing.

3 years ago, John and his brother Hank started this youtube channel called ‘vlogbrothers’ where they started making each other videos about very random things. Today, their videos inspire thousands of people around the world to raise money for charities and give back to their communities. Not only that, but they’ve actually CREATED a community of people called ‘nerdfighters’, and they really are just as cool as they sound.

I think it’s really awesome that people find ways to give back the way these two brothers do. Not to mention they are impossibly hilarious. Whenever I’m feeling sad or have an hour to spare, I just browse their youtube archives and I’m immediately cheered up.

This post is feeling a bit rambling-ish but I was just feeling inspired to share a little bit more about an author who’s not only truly fantastic at what he does, but has found ways to stay connected to his fans in a way that I’ve never seen before.

So, check out his books. www.johngreenbooks.com

Also, John Green, you need to come do a nice book tour in Canada. I know you said you never would, but I’m going to hold out hope.

Sincerely, me.

vlogbrothers motto? Don’t Forget to be Awesome!

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Just Believe.

January 19, 2011 Filed Under: Everyday Stories, Post a Day 2011, Quotes Tagged With: ,

[I haven't really been using WordPress' blog prompts for the Post a Day Challenge I'm taking part in, but I really loved the one they wrote for Day 17 (AKA today) and wanted to make sure I used it! If you're unfamiliar with the challenge, you can check out their blog over here.]

Day 17: Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Why or why not?

Everybody has their own system of beliefs, whether it be Christianity, another religion, or even just fate. Although my mother was raised a practicing Catholic, I wasn’t whatsoever. I grew up around many different religions in their various forms. I’ve been to a Catholic church and an Orthodox church. I’ve taken part in their different rituals as well as Greek Orthodox and Lebanese Orthodox traditions, & I’ve never been the type of person to be close minded about any similar type of thing.

However as I grew older, I slowly stopped doing all these things. Not only that, I just found other things to believe in. I’ve had many friends who are practicing Catholics who have tried to remind me why God does in fact exist to them, however  no one has every truly been able to convince me of anything. I’ll tell you exactly why; I will not base my entire belief system on a person that I have never met. I say that with the most open-mindedness because I’m sure someone out there could convince me otherwise, but I’m just not there yet.

ANYWAY, what I’m trying to lead up to with all this Religion talk, is that I’m a huge believer in fate. More specifically, I strongly believe that everything happens for a reason. It may just be one of the top 3 beliefs in my life that has never wavered. I do believe in coincidences, higher powers, things that cannot be explained.

Like I said, everyone needs to believe in something. For me, I like to believe that when something goes wrong (or right) it’s because it was written that way. Marilyn Monroe once said the following: “I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go. Things go wrong, so that you can appreciate when they’re right. You believe lies so that you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”

I don’t think there is any other quote that I have ever heard that has encompassed the way I feel in life, ever.

What about you? What do you believe?

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What words do you live life by?

January 10, 2011 Filed Under: Pictures, Post a Day 2011, Quotes Tagged With:

I’ve always been a huge fan of inspiring quotes & I recently came across this one and just had to share. It definitely makes it on my list of words I live by. Actually, I’m beginning to wonder if Einstein wrote this one just for me!

Another fun quote-picture I came across on someone’s blog recently was this one:

I love this whole wall of inspiration type of thing. And I love ALL of these quotes. Do you have any favorites?

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Today.

November 28, 2010 Filed Under: Pictures, Quotes, Random Ramblings

I came across this picture while looking for something on Google & loved it.

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Some Wise Words…?

April 5, 2010 Filed Under: my crazy obsession with TV, My Many Husbands, Quotes, Random Ramblings

“Okay. OKAY. Okay. Here’s my speech. This is the big speech from Noel. You musn’t leave this school. Why? Here’s why. Because this is a life struggle. This is fate. This is a challenge. If you turn away from this now, you will and I PROMISE YOU THIS, be confronted by the same issue in 5 years from now. Or even 10. Alright? You’ll be the fancy doctor. With the fancy practice. You’ll be married and you’ll have like 4 phone lines in your home… and then BOOM. It’ll grip you like a… breezing cold air. You know, what the hell is my LIFE? And you’ll be able to trace it back to this instant. This VERY moment When that GEEK RA gave you these 4 words of advice: Stay in New York or perish. Wait, fi- no six words.” – Noel Crane (Felicity, 1998)

I’m currently watching the first episode from this show… and I forgot how much I loved it. Okay, so maybe when I was 8 years old I only watched it because me and Keri Russell kind of had the same hair. But now I’m enjoying the drama and the hilariousness of it all. I’ll admit it. I have a serious problem when it comes to TV shows.

On a completely other note: TOMORROW is my FIRST DAY OFF from work in longer then I remember. Like, REAL day off. Sleep in. Do what I want for a few hours. ALSO? I leave for a few days with two of my best friends.

Best-next-few-days EVER! See you all on Thursday!

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Quotes from St.Alban’s

January 20, 2010 Filed Under: Quotes, Reminiscing

On a MUCH happier note, I completely forgot to share the quotes that I managed to write down from my trip to St.Alban’s/Burlington/Vermont last week. What with my quotebook in the works I felt I needed to put them somewhere… so here we go:

*driving to Mel C.’s cottage, following the GPS*

GPS: turn left
*there’s only snowy fields on our left*
Us 3: Thanks, Tom-Tom…

*driving to lunch on the first day in the middle of nowhere*
Tania: since WHEN is a mall in a MOUNTAIN?!

Tania: I have to urinate….

Tania: what happens in Vermont stays in Vermont

*Tania puts 94.7 on and its playing classical music*
Mel C.: I thought you were supposed to get BETTER reception around here, not lose it completely….

*sitting in the kids section at Barnes and Noble, just chilling*

Mel P: its funny how we always end up here….
Mel C: its cuz it’s home!

*Tania stuffing the most massive burger of life in her mouth* guys… I’m gonna go up a waist size tonight!

*Mel C. talking about how she had a pager til last year*
Mel C.: I just call the number and say hi you paged?! Except when my friends would prank me with the wrong numbers…

Mel C.: You know doctors and drug addicts use pagers and make a lot of money, so don’t diss!
Mel P.: did you just use doctor and drug addict in the same sentence? Because doctors don’t need to run to the nearest phone booth,call the hospital and say hello,you paged!?

Mel C. to Tania: I now know you in ways I neverr wanted to….

*playing clue, Mel C. with her game face on*

Tania: no more mini eggs for you!!
Mel C.: apparently I don’t move when I sleep… I recharge like a dead log. Or a cell phone.

*Tania hands Mel C. her wallet to put in her purse* meeeeel… Can you put this in your wallet…..

*Tania taking another wrong turn* Tania: Tania Zervos is aaalll about u-turns!!

Mel C.: We could be a mastercard commercial! “Melissa, 200 dollars, tania 300 dollars, Mel C. 400 dollars… A trip to burlington: priceless!”

Tania: I think 70 percent of the time, the only reason I get out of bed is cuz I have to pee so bad!

*bipolar snowstorm*
Mel P.: it kinda looks like the clouds are trying to hold it in
Mel C.: yeah, sorta like we had to do on this trip…

<3

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Quotes

January 4, 2010 Filed Under: Quotes

So one of my 101 goals in the next 1,001 days (view post below) is to create a quote book. I have NO idea how well that’s going to work because, let’s face it, there’s way too much that I want to see in it. BUT I’m going to start by posting some of my most memorable quotes here when I get the chance so I can refer back to when the time comes to put this whole thing together.

Part One: Favorite quotes from my trip to Cuba, March 2009

Who I went with: Jenia, Agnes, James, Katlynne, Alex, Rob, Kate

Jenia: Agnes, can you give me the blanket from the fridge?

Kate: Drinking is like a highway. 70km/h you’re feeling it, 100 km/h you’re happy, 110km/h you’re doing good, 150km/h you’re plastered and 170km/h you’re puking!

Alex to Kate: Hey, hey, slutty person

Jenia (admiring her tan): I’m one tan away from changing races!

Melissa: I’d like a sex on the beach
Bartender: Right now? *winks*

Alex: Last time someone tickled me, they got kicked in the face…
Gang: JAMES!
James: … it really hurt!

Kate discussing Alex coming to find everyone: “You know him, he runs from everywhere to everywhere…”

Alex: I’m insulted that you’re insulted by my insult!

Melissa: Anyone have Kleenex?
Alex: Check Jenia’s bra

Rob: “Guys there’s a party going on in my pants!!!”
Agnes: “My RSVP is No…”

Jenia:”*taking the first shower* MELISSA! I’m christening the shower!”
Mel:”What? Christian?!”
Jenia:”Noo christen the shower”
Mel:”Why is christian in the shower?”

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May 12, 2009 Filed Under: Concerts, Friends, Girls' Nights, Music = Love, Quotes

I can’t believe that I’ve been so busy I haven’t had the chance to update since the weekend. I guess it’s not such a bad thing because I’ve been having an amazing last couple of days. Here’s what’s been going on.

Thursday & Friday after the Ottawa show I worked. I thought my shift on Thursday at Chapters would be terrible because I was in such a good mood from the show… But it ended up being really fun. I got to do some cash and it was nice to get back into work. Friday I worked another shift in the smoothie shop, and as it has become usual, Jenia hung around on the freezer and kept me company. The days can get pretty long working there because there are so few customers at the moment.

On Saturday Jenn, Jenia, Lisa, Laura and I had a well deserved girls’ night which ended up being a DAHFA success as well! We all went to Clyde’s for 8pm to see The Hot Streak play. Things were weird for the show and they only ended up going on stage at 1am. In between we met Steve & his creepy friend, drunk Andy & Elliot… and of course we got to spend some time with the THS guys. We always have a really good time with them- but I have to say I REALLY had an amazing night with the girls. I don’t know what’s going to happen when Jenn leaves, 1/5 of us is going to be gone and dahfa just won’t be the same for the summer without her.<3

Some moments worth mentioning…
“My pants are SO soft. Touch them. Touch my pants“

“Your teeth are so white…”
“Are you a dental hygienist or something? Do you have a teeth fetish?…Wanna lick ‘em?!”

“Jenia your hair smells so good… HAHA watch what you write on Facebook. It shows up on my minifeed…”

“What does your shirt say Melissa?!”

“We match!”
“We could be a threesome. You, me and my bass!”

“Does MY hair smell good?!”
*smells* “It smells like cats” “Why don’t you write me wall posts like that?!”

Then yesterday (Monday) The New Cities played a half hour set at MusiquePlus downtown. It was my first time at M+ and it was a really cool experience. It was interesting because everyone who showed up went just for the guys. I’ve seen them play shows where less than 10 people show up- and now there was over 30 who all fought for their attention. It was both amazing and impressive to see. It’s weird having to wait to say hi to them, it’s just never been like that before. Every time though it makes me so happy for them. They deserve this success & I know it’s not even getting to their heads. They’re just as surprised as anyone else that people are coming to see them. And I truly hope they never lose that quality because it makes them one in a million.

I’m REALLY excited for tomorrow though. It’s the TNC Montreal show date and I’m interviewing the opening band, The Februarys. Then we get to attend a 5-7pm showcase/party… and then the actual show at 8pm with everyone else. I have every intention of being front row again. It’s the best way to watch these guys play!

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