Music makes me smile

Today it was Music.

It's amazing how it affects us. It can make us smile, make us cry or make us laugh.

My favorite songs are the ones that can make me smile no matter what mood I'm in.

My dad's music always makes me smile.

A Hopeless Wind - Clint Maki

"Some people live on the sidewalk, some people live in the park. Some people never sleep 'cause they got nothing to eat so they wander around in the dark. Some people live on the riverbank in corrugated cardboard shacks."

It's funny how a song about something so depressing can make me so happy. I think it's just that I love my dad's singing and all the good memories I have of sitting around campfires listening to him play.

"A hopeless wind keeps a blowing in these times, the whole damn country feels the breeze"

Music isn't always just about the lyrics. It's about the tone and the memories that come with that song. Some songs remind me of breakups, some songs remind me of home, some songs remind me of vacation, and some songs remind me of being alone.

'You make me smile'

Today was a great day. I don't even know why, but I couldn't stop smiling. It might have been the fact that I talked my family into coming to visit me. Or, maybe it was finally registering for my first 10k. It could have even been talking to that old friend for a few short minutes after a month of not speaking to each other.

I know the weather was definitely a part of it; sunny days always make me happy. 

I'm not saying today was perfect because it wasn't. But, I was happy, and at the end of the day that's all that really matters. Take time to enjoy all the silly things like blasting your stereo and dancing in your car, laughing at your ridiculous sub-heads about aliens or wasting time playing bits over and over again just to hear the funny quotes.


I had this song stuck in my head all day, so I had to share the video. :)

Oh how I've missed you

Sometimes life gets a little too busy and all the silly little things that I love to do get thrown to the side and almost forgotten. Sometimes I wish I had a few extra hours in the day, so I could do all those silly little things like writing this blog, going for a walk with my roomies, taking photos or just listening to music and dancing.

Yesterday, I had the chance to go to the Johnny Holm Band show on campus with a few of my friends. It was so much fun to just be able to de-stress for a few hours singing and dancing to the music. I loved it! I was also able to take some great photos, which is always a plus!

No matter how stressful and busy life gets, don't forget to set aside a little time for all the silly little things that make you smile. :)

Just smile

After pulling an all-nighter to get some homework done before the weekend, I struggled to make it through my busy day. But all a long the way silly little things were making me smile. 

It was helping Kaia learn how to tie her shoes. She got so frustrated and almost gave up several times, but she finally got it in the end.

It was getting to Atomic Coffee early for my meeting with the publisher of Ilovefargo.com and looking around like an idiot because I didn't know what he looked like. It was recognizing him when he walked in the door and having a good conversation and professional connection with him.

It was grabbing the Advocate and seeing my story on the front page.

Make it right by the end of the night.

Somedays my mood is up and down and I'm a bit hormonal. I'm human. It's alright to be crabby every once in awhile. It's okay to freak out a bit, as long as you make it right at the end of the day. Obviously, today was one of these days for me. I had some really great moments and some not so great moments. I don't know what it was that made me crabby, but I don't think it really matters. Sometimes I just have emotional days and I just have to get through them the best I can.

You might be on a one way, but you can always turn down a different road.

At the end of the night, I think I made everything alright. I know I can't take back what I did and I can't go back and redo the day without the crabbiness, but I can look to tomorrow (well, today...since it is already 4 a.m.) and make it better.

Time means nothing, but timing is everything.

But! Just because I had an up and down day doesn't mean I forgot about the little things that made me smile. Today it was interviewing Professor Oscar Flores about the honors program and his new role as Interim Director. He was so passionate about the program - making it better and getting more students involved. It's always fun to interview people that are passionate about what they do.

Walk while you still have time or risk getting hurt.

It was skipping through every song on my iPod to get to one of my dad's songs (my iPod is old and broken and the menu button doesn't work so I can't actually choose a song from the list).

It was getting a simple 'thank you' text from my boss for cleaning the house.

Look at things from a different perspective...you never know what you might discover.

It was finally figuring out a time to meet with the publisher for my internship.

It was going to Walmart and Cashwise by myself at 2:30 a.m. because I really want to have pancakes for breakfast in the morning and wouldn't have had any to make.

Capture the glow of the night.

It was seeing my story come together. :)

[The photographs are from this Sunday night when a friend and I went downtown to take some photographs]

Be the Energizer Bunny

I got three hours of sleep last night and woke up at 6:30 this morning. I went to campus early and started my busy day. I felt like the energizer bunny running from here to there with plenty of energy and excitement. It (the lack of sleep) didn't hit me until I got to work and I was just sitting on the couch watching tv. But after work I had the chance to hang out with some friends and just talk and be silly. 

Today, so many silly little things and some not so silly, not so little things made me smile (and laugh.) It was the friendly campus squirrels running from tree to tree. It was briefly visiting a friend at work. It was simply the fact that it's Thursday and I didn't have a night class for the first time this week. It was interviewing the guys at the Veteran's Resource Center, even though my brain was very scattered and I probably seemed very unorganized. It was running mile repeats and sweating like crazy. It was walking to Dairy Queen with a friend and having a strange man try to ask us something, we couldn't understand what he was trying to say. It was taking random photographs just because I felt like it. It was finally getting an email back from ILoveFargo.com about the internship - they offered me the job!