cutting it close

1. packed for college.
2. baked chocolate almond biscotti.
3. watched 6th harry potter.

pretty baller day, if I may say so myself. anyway, this is gonna be close! I wanted to talk really quickly about magic. it may seem silly, but I have always believed in magic! maybe the influence of Fantasia or too many fantasy books growing up, but magic is something I see in life everyday. okay, not everyday, but a fair amount of them. and magic is not always fantastical or mystifying or impossible to understand; sometimes it's just...life. this is a pre-post for my topic tomorrow night. I try to avoid planning topics, but this is a special scenario. so look for tomorrow's post about...magic and the lack thereof in life...

good friends=good times

1. unpacked and uploaded pics of the nyc trip. it was so fun and a perfect way to start out 2010! again, referring to my first post, I have a lot of hope and excitement for this new year (and decade). my 20th year on this planet is all set to be promising.
2. had lunch with one of my besties. good food (why does my life revolve around food? see previous post), good friends, cold weather!
3. had dinner with the family and watched star trek for the second time. chris pine is who I pine for (get the corny joke?). it made me want to go back and watch all the old star trek episodes. maybe in all my free time (that doesn't exist, but maybe my alternate reality self has free time and can watch them for me?).

as the title may suggest, as well as my second groovy thing that happened today, tonight's post is about friendship. connections with other people, be it through friendship, marriage, business, random meetings, etc., have propagated human existence. isn't it weird to think about all the people in the past who met and talked and engaged in some way to make up each individual on this planet? but that is a bit too broad of a scope for this post (note to self: write about history later).
I am an independent person, but friends are people I cannot live without. some friends, I have had since before elementary school started or day one (or two) of kindergarten. one friend in particular, I was close with from kindergarten up until midway through high school. we eventually drifted apart, which was hard for me. while we are still friends, it's nothing like we used to have. another friend, the day two friend, and I have been close since then. while we don't talk every day or spend a lot of time together, I still consider him to be a best friend. it's one of those relationships in which stuff just...works. it's hard to explain, but I think he understands, if no one else does. and college, oh boy, I met some of my bffl (you know who you are). and even leading up to college, I became close with two people who I wasn't uberclose with before college, but I now consider to be some of my best friends. another friend I only actually started to talk to in high school, and through some random turns of events, we became best friends. he is my rock and I know he will be a friend for life. so while friends may leave life and drift away, new ones always enter. no friendship can be replaced, and old ones will always hold places in the heart, but new friends open ample doors for new memories and new good times. and I wish I could post a picture of all my friends, but that is impossible, so a random internet picture will have to suffice.

getting tired

1. traveled back from NYC today and made it safely! it was a long day. 
2. going back to school on sunday...I just unpacked and now I have to pack it all back up again. that sounds terrible. I hate packing. I just wish I could tell someone what to pack and they would do it for me and make everything fit.
3. snowed again today, calling for more tomorrow-saturday. where was all this snow my senior year of high school? all these kids are so darn lucky. 

tonight, sleep is an appropriate topic. I love sleep. sometimes, when I'm really tired, I'll look at my bed and just start to daydream about sleep. naps are the best thing now, if time allows me to take one. I usually get enough sleep, but it seems like I'm way busier in college than I ever was in high school. sleep is restorative and has powers beyond a lot of things in this world. I also love to dream. my dreams are most always in color and hi-def. one time, I had a dream in spanish--that was pretty cool. overall, there is nothing I love more at the end of a long day (like today) than sleeping for a good nine or ten hours. on that note, a picture, and then sleep in my home bed (not a hotel one)!

too late

1. central park today! I'm very excited. 
2. there is just too much to type in these sections when one is in nyc...
3. still no red shoes. darn.
   

briefly, I want to talk about beauty. beauty seems like such a confusing topic. the media says this, your mom says that, your boy/girlfriend says blah, your friend says bleh. it's just, like, what is beautiful? this question has plagued all societies for centuries. I am one to think that humans have inherent vanity and are trying to look good at all times, especially for the opposite sex. but beauty is just...different for each person. and not only personal beauty, but beauty in nature, art, etc. is all different. again, I apologize for the late post; I feel awful for falling off the wagon only six days into it...

"she is a beautiful girl"

1. I shopped 'til I dropped. literally. we shopped all day up and down 5th avenue--it was great. but then we were both exhausted and took a nap before an amazing dinner (see below).
2. still on the search for the perfect red, rounded toe, preferably leather pumps. come on new york, don't let me down.
3. dinner at Arno was...bella e delizioso. zuppa, gnocchi alla pesto, sauvignon blanc, e cappuccino. words cannot describe how much I love italian food (again, see below).

to me, food has always been a pleasure unmatched by other things. I. love. food. as mentioned above, we went to an amazing italian restaurant. everyone was treated like a regular and the waiters were charmed by our manners and humor. the table next to us of older men walked in a saw me and the oldest man said "she is a beautiful girl--you all know I love beautiful women." politely, I said grazie, and continued my meal. this is just a glimpse into all the reasons I love italian food. it's complicated, though. I feel so fortunate that I am able to enjoy food. I attempt to practice mindful eating. that means enjoying every bite--how it smells, feels, tastes, looks, etc. enjoying food slowly makes me more appreciative of the blessings of really good food. to put it simply, I love food. end of story.

empire state of mind

1. arrived in NYC!!!!
2. bought gloves and a scarf because it is COLD.
3. had an amazing dinner at a family-owned italian restaurant--vino, zuppa de pesce, cozze, cappucino, etc. 

 I figured that an apropos topic for today is travel. there could be nothing in this world I love more to do than travel. the world is so big and so different--obvious statements, I know, but it's so true. how someone could not want to travel everywhere and experience everything is beyond me. I've been lucky enough to go to Italy, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, France, Spain, and Hawaii. picking a favorite is impossible. I love each country, each city, each town for multiple reasons, but they all make me happy (to say the very least). and there are so many other places I want to visit, I can't name them all. anyway, not much time tonight--so much to do! but travel is...incredible and does more to broaden horizons than anything else...so on that note, a travel picture from Italy will follow!

just one of those days

1. as my title suggests, today was just one of those days. it was slow. not much happened. lazy sunday..."lazy sunday/wake up in the late afternoon..." the song "lazy sunday" by the lonely island always makes me laugh.
2. but really, I did nothing today other than continue packing, break up a bird fight (weird, I know), and watch some telly and read some magazines. 

today I want to write a brief statement about characteristics. I have always been an independent person--my own woman, I guess you could say. flaws and faults I have aplenty, the most important being my stubbornness. ask anyone, I am hard-headed, stubborn as a mule, and bullish in my fierceness. while I have long accepted this facet of my personality, I also accept it was both a merit and a fault. stubbornness means that I have principles and stick by them; it also means I am not easily talked into things that I don't see as good (generic vocab choice). and while I appreciate my stubborn nature, I know that it can be frustrating and that I can be inflexible and hard to deal with. on the note of double-sided characteristics, I bring up my empathetic quality. I understand feelings of others, especially those in pain or trouble, and most would say that this is a merit. having lived with it for some time now, I see it as a double-edged sword. I love that I am compassionate and empathetic, but it only makes me thin-skinned and vulnerable and hard to distance myself from others. why is this a bad thing? well, it isn't always; but it definitely can be detrimental. use your imagination to see all the ways this characteristic could screw me in life. overall, I think it's hard to paint a person into good and evil, virtuous and malicious. we all have characteristics that can work for or against us. what is most important is accepting that people cannot be one or the other--by nature we are all a shade of gray (not literally, of course, I see myself as a different color on each day--that's another post). it may be hard to see the value of the tenacity that a suicide bomber has, or see the detrimental effect that taking too much care of other people can have; but having this vision and insight is crucial to understanding people for who they really are--not just judging by one facet or another of his/her personality.

I almost forgot! my very first item for my goals list (since it is a sunday). it was hard to just...think of something I wanted to accomplish. but after some thought, I have decided that a goal of mine is to return to hawaii. it was a beautiful and shaping place for me, and a return trip is mandatory!

silver inches

1. i helped my mother create a "myface" account. in other words, a facebook. goodness, what have i done? it was fun helping her find old friends and show her how to fill out all the information. i am not friends with her though...that's just too much information and a little bit too weird for me!
2. the princess bride is a classic. i love this movie and quote it often. i also found out today that it's a real book, just like the grandpa says, so maybe i'll check it out sometime. i'm sure the book is better than the  movie, although the movie is excellent. 
3. since i leave for NYC on monday, i decided to start packing today. i picked out all my outfits and made packing list, so uber nerdy, i know. but packing for trips is always really fun; now the unpacking is the terrible part. and i hope the airport isn't terrible since the most recent foiled terrorist plot...

so you may be wondering about my post's title. "silver inches" is one of my favorite songs by Enya. it is short, but always puts me in a good mood. i'm not sure why, either. but i like the concept of silver inches...which brings me to my mini-topic of snow. SNOW!!! how i love it. the white blanket that makes the world mysterious and beautiful and pure. the song reminds me of snow falling, and the inches (hopefully) that add up to make a silvery wonderland. it snowed on new year's eve and today. i find it appropriate that it snowed and made the world a new place on new year's eve. it's almost like even the weather was starting over. how snow makes me feel is a complex thing. the transformation that snow can bring is inspiring to me as i start out on this new year's mission. while snow is not always a welcome or delicate affair (a particular reference to a red roof inn comes to mind), the powerful influence that weather has is something that always astounds me. too much, too little, just enough...so that brings me to my daily picture. did i mention there will be a daily picture? anyway, there will be. yesterday was fireworks and today is...

snow!

the beginning?

happy new year! today is the [beautiful] day. this is the beginning of...what? this blog is my new year's resolution. i have decided to document my main thoughts each day as a way of keeping tabs on my life. i have decided to record 3 events/details/happenings/changes/etc. for each day and then blog about whatever mini-topic i decide upon for the day. i am also allowing some flexibility--who needs more rigidity, right? some days will be boring [although still beautiful] and i don't have to record 3 things when 1 or 2 really sum up all that i did that day. also, while the title of this blog implies that i will be writing about cheerful and happy and sunshine mini-topics, that will not be the case. days are not always beautiful, and yet they have an inherent beauty simply for being another day. catch-22? is that what that kind of thing is called? oxymoron, maybe? paradox? anyway, life is paradoxical, so i'm learning to go with it. finally, every sunday i will post one goal i have for my life. while this may sound bucket list-y, writing down goals is important for realization. the goal can be whatever i want it to be, but it needs to be real. maybe i can actually reach some of these goals, eh?
another brief entry note before non-intro part of this post. the inspiration for this blog title is a U2 song. while i flip-flopped among"what a wonderful world," "beautiful day," "la vie en rose," "bright sunshiny day," and others, i decided on the U2 song because a) i love U2 b) their concerts are amazing c) the lyrics are the most meaningful and related. so the last part of the title was decided. the apostrophe has been replaced with an asterisk because a) i love the stars b) i am a star c) it's more exciting than an apostrophe. so, this is my nerdy introduction to my blog.

1. new year's eve was well spent. i had a great time with all my friends and it only improved after an entire bottle of champagne! ha. i have a good feeling about this year. better than i did last year, and i loved 2009. so, high hopes have resulted! 
2. last night was a blue moon! this was the first blue moon on new year's eve since 1990 (a significant year). a blue moon, btw, is when a full moon occurs twice in a lunar month. i think that the blue moon was a good omen. so again, high hopes for 2010.
3. christmas decorations and tree were taken down today. i love christmas so much and it made me sad to see it go. and also that it took, like, 6 hours. let's hope that christmas 2010 is just as great as christmas 2009 was.

after writing my 3 today-oriented things, it seems as if hope is an appropriate mini-topic for new year's day. isn't that what resolutions are? hopes for the coming year. i hope i can swear less, i hope i can tone up, i hope i can dominate in school, i hope for world peace. it seems as if the new year allows people to safely voice their insecurities and vulnerabilities in an acceptable manner. i mean, "everyone is doing it," right? resolutions are hopes, generally, for self-improvement. so i guess a resolution of mine (aside from this blog) is to realize what needs work throughout the year and attempt to fix it. i hope that i can be happy with myself and my life led during these 365 days. broad? lofty? maybe. but still worth attempting. so again, here's to hoping and a happy new year! let's get to blogging, shall we?

--C