How incredible is that quote? We always think about following a good path in our lives, but why follow a path when you can “blaze your own trail” so to speak. I’ve had more and more moments lately where I think “I wish I could be as successful as them” or “I wish I could do the things that they do.” But what fun is that? Shouldn’t we strive to have people say things like that about us? Don’t we want to create the path, not follow it?

So many people today have embraced that quote without realizing it — Steve Jobs was one of the most incredible innovators of his time; Mother Teresa spent 45 years ministering to the sick, the poor and the dying; Oprah Winfrey (no matter how much I dislike her) created her own unique path over decades; J.K. Rowling wrote a crazy little series of books that made her a household name across the world.

I’m so inspired by people who aren’t afraid to face criticism and the possibility of failure — who embrace what they believe in to tell a story through their own lives — stories that we can look at and say “If they can do their own thing and inspire people, why can’t I create my own path?”

“Insist on yourself; Never imitate… every great man is unique.” – Emerson

Moving on then! So, I’ve been spending the past few days re-watching the Harry Potter movies. It’s kind of crazy when I think about it. I was 11 years old when I read the first book. 11! I remember it very clearly. That was during the time when I was homeschooled (part of 5th grade, all of 6th and part of 7th… don’t judge).

At the time I absolutely hated reading books. I would never make the active choice to read a book. My mom, however, decided to make it a requirement that I do so. She chose Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone which, at the time, was the only book out of the series that had yet been published.

I kicked and screamed and dug my feet in (metaphorically speaking) for several weeks, refusing to read it. I mean, really, that’s a huge book Mom–do you really think I want to read it?

Well, after some time I caved. I drank that book in like it was a triple chocolate milkshake. I remember deciding, after I had finished, that I wanted to write a book. Problem was, I couldn’t think of a good story line that didn’t involve a wizard going to school and learning magic and facing off with a dark wizard. JK Rowling, I was not (and still am not nor will I ever be).

From that point on, I grew up with Harry Potter–though, strangely enough, I grew faster than he did (heh). I was 11 when I started reading — the same age as Harry in the first book. However, I turned 20 the summer that Harry turned 17. Mind warp.

Moving on. I remember my mom would always pre-order the books from Amazon and they would arrive on our doorstep the day the book was released. It was always a fight for who would read it first. So much so, that by the 3rd of 4th book, she started ordering 2 copies. I still got the short end of the deal–Mom and Dan got to read first, since they could read faster, and I got to read after whoever finished first.

Each time I got the book in my hands, that was it for 3-4 days. I would spend all day each day reading it until I finished it. Then, my mom and I would talk about it and be all kinds of giddy because we loved it so much.

So anyhow, the title of this post. 3 days from now, the final film of the series comes out. It’s crazy to think about the fact that after this movie, there won’t be any more Harry Potter movies. At the same time, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since the first film came out. I mean, look how cute they were!!

How freaking cute is Ron? He’s always been my favorite. If he wasn’t a fictional character, I think I’d love him. Who am I kidding, I love him even though he is a fictional character.

And now, they’re all grown up

Her dress is hideous. Not the point, though.

It’s so strange to me — even thought I’m older than them. I feel like I’ve grown up with them! The whole series was a big part of my childhood.

I cannot wait for the movie, though. Sad as it may be that the series is coming to an end, I feel like it almost symbolizes that I’ve grown up. I know that I’m not a kid anymore — I haven’t been in a long time, but a huge part of my childhood is ending. Maybe it’s kind of sad that I feel that way, but I think most people have something like HP intertwined in their childhood (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc.) so you can probably understand.

Anyhow, I’m hoping to see the movie within the next week (can’t do the midnight showing — have to be a grown-up and be at work Friday morning) and then I will likely review it to some extent here. If you’re seeing it as well, I hope you enjoy it as much as I know I will!

That’s all for tonight. I’ll leave you with some of my favorite Potter movie/book quotes:

“Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon…” – Hermione Granger

“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals. ” – Sirius Black

“It is my belief… that the truth is generally preferable to lies. ” – Albus Dumbledore

“Why Spiders? Why couldn’t it be follow the butterflies?” – Ron Weasley

“Lockhart will sign anything if it stands still enough” – Ron Weasley

I decided to go with a somewhat “light-hearted” post today. Things you may not know about me…so here goes:

1. I lived in Orlando, FL for 8 months when I was a little squirt. Dad was temporarily transferred there for work. Apparently there are plenty of fun stories about my family’s time there. My favorite is my brother’s “Mommy, big hairy spider go hop-hop-hop under your seat” revelation. Hello, tarantula! I consider it a blessing that I do not remember this.

2. I taught English camp in the Czech Republic in 2005. I traveled with my high school youth group to the CZ for 3 weeks. We started in Prague where I then spent 6 hours on a train to reach Malenovice, a small town where we trained for our English camps. After several days of training we rode on a very fast traveling double decker bus through windy roads into the mountains for 8 days of English camps. After camps we spent 3 days in home stays with camp attendees in the city of Cesky Budejovice. After that, we spent a couple of days in Prague before returning home. It was, without a doubt, the single greatest experience of my life.

Here’s the youth team that went:

And here’s my English class. We taught them how to blow bubbles this day:

3. I just ate my very first Big Mac ever. It was delicious.

4. I am afraid of barges. You know those giant boat-like things that get (ironically) pushed along by tug boats and are used to transport things like coal, etc.? Yup. They scare the crap out of me. I have absolutely no idea why.

5. I have watched the movie Center Stage no less than 20 times. In fact, I could probably quote it word-for-word if that wouldn’t get me smacked by whoever may be watching it with me. Unless that person is my longest friend Amy who would quote it word-for-word right along with me.

6. I took Latin as my foreign language in high school. Hilarious, right? I mean, it’s a dead language. But, hey–it got me out of taking a foreign language in college. Agricola est in villa.

7. I saw Josh Groban in concert in high school. That man is seriously talented. And pretty. Also, it poured rain the entire concert and our seats were literally the first row behind where the pavilion roof ended. When he sang “Remember When it Rained” while it was raining, I knew instantly that I would, in fact, remember when it rained.

8. I have met and been photographed with wrestler Kurt Angle. My brother was on the wrestling team in elementary school and Kurt Angle came to our school for an assembly and my brother was supposed to be photographed with him, but he was sick that day, so they asked me to step in for him (I have NO idea why). Hilarious. And no, I do not have said picture, you’ll just have to take my word for it.

9. I had a huge crush on Lance Bass from N*SYNC back in the day. If only I had known…..

10. I can only tolerate eating Peeps if they’re stale. So yea, a big middle finger flip to the person who decided to re-engineer peeps so that they can’t get stale anymore.

Well, perhaps you learned something new about me today, or perhaps you didn’t. Either way, I hope you enjoyed! I’m really going to make an effort to post more often, but I can’t promise anything — my job keeps me super busy!

Have a great night everyone!

This weekend, my family and I went out to see my brother bear off as he deploys to the middle east. However, that whole deploying thing never actually happened. Well, it wasn’t canceled, just postponed until tomorrow thanks to Snowpocalypse part deux. It was a busy busy weekend complete with seeing relatives I haven’t seen in ages (and sadly missing out on seeing a few), and spending a lot of time with the brother bear’s fiancee and her family. Christmas was an excellent day full of great food, awesome wine, fabulous company and fun presents . Mom got me this thing called the “instyler” which looks like this (except hot pink):

I haven’t actually figured out how to use it yet…but supposedly it’s awesome and I’m going to love it once I do. She also went the practical route and got me this combination SOG knife (what more could a girl want? bahahaha):

Now I can be prepared for any situation… Little bit scary but kinda cool at the same time. Also got some gorgeous shoes from the brother bear and his fiancee (plaid pumps that are just awesome) and another pair from his fiancee’s parents (thanks Mr and Mrs Tremper!), as well as an argyle sweater and some wine! Also briefly got to adore little baby Haylie (Brother bear’s niece-to-be)…how adorable is she? First picture is Christmas morning in her little santa outfit (Mom’s holding her), second is Sunday morning saying bye to Uncle Dan before he deploys:

As Christmas drew to a close, it was time for Snowpocalypse part deux to arrive. New Jersey got hammered (though I will say again, they got maybe half the amount we got in our February 2010 blizzard…I’m just sayin). For all the talk they did about the noreaster, they sure as heck weren’t actually very prepared for it.

Here’s a few pictures of what we drove through on the way from Bridgewater, NJ to McGuire AFB in Wrightstown. The first picture is interstate 287 just south of Plainfield, NJ (this was around 6:45am Monday). The second is the New Jersey Turnpike (shortly after 7am) and the third is just to give you a picture of what the insane wind did to the snow:

We were getting 50+ mph wind gusts that would blow the snow everywhere…it was like driving through a dust storm. It was insanity. And frightening. Those three pictures were taken on day 2 of Snowpocalypse (Monday). Here’s a couple of pictures from day one when we tried to drive to NY to visit my Grandma (we didn’t make it far before we had to turn around) and the cars outside the hotel by 9pm:

Shout out to the Hampton Inn in Somerset NJ for cleaning our car off for us in the morning–that was a big help in us making it onto the road by 6:15am to head to McGuire. Too bad we drove all the way down there and got there early just so that brother bear’s sergeant could call and tell him that deployment was postponed. So, he’s still waiting to head out, but should be leaving tomorrow.

Anyway, I won’t go into any more detail but it was an eventful and exhausting weekend but a great weekend overall. Can’t wait to see my brother bear home again! Please keep him in your prayers as he serves over in the Middle East for 4 months. His fiancee will be counting the minutes til he returns while she plans the wedding (with lots of help from me and the momster, definitely).

I hope everyone had an excellent holiday and that New Year’s treats you well, too!

I have officially started a new job as an Account Executive at a local advertising agency. I am so excited about the job–I really think that I’m going to love it! It’s going to be a lot of hard work but also a ton of amazing experience. I can’t wait to jump into the big stuff!

Secondly, I’m currently down 9lbs on my diet! Weight Watchers even yelled at me for losing too much weight too quickly (ha). I wouldn’t call 9 lbs in a month and a half “too quickly” but whatever. My goal is 20lbs by Christmas and I think it’s definitely attainable as long as I stick to it! We’ll see how I do on my gym visits now that I’m back to working full time and I can’t go in the middle of the afternoon when no one is there…sigh.

Finally, some less happy news. Brother bear is about 95% sure that he will be deploying next month. Tentative fly-out date is the beginning of December and he’s already scheduled for various kinds of training training. Mom’s not doing so great about the whole sitch, but I keep trying to remind her that, being in the US Airforce, he should only be deployed for 4-6 months (as opposed to the 1 year + that most other branches require). I’m kind of resigned the idea because I knew it would happen eventually, but I’m sure I’ll feel a bit differently once he’s actually getting ready to deploy. He’ll be deploying to a country that I’ve never even heard of that he won’t allow me to post on here. While he’ll be on base, not in combat situations, there’s still obviously plenty of danger while he’s there so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers (as well as my mom, his girlfriend and the rest of my family).

That’s all for today, hope you all have a wonderful week!

Recently, it has become exceedingly clear to me that–somewhere along the line–our country’s schools have let grammar fall by the wayside. Perhaps that’s been helped along by the ever-expanding and evolving world of social media and the prevalence of “text speak.” Regardless, character limitations and general laziness are not acceptable excuses for poor grammar, especially if you consider yourself to be a writer or a business professional. For instance, if you start an email to me with “Hope your doing well today,” not only will I cringe, but I will also have a really difficult time taking you seriously. Sorry!

Just as important as the grammar itself: please, for the love of all things holy, PROOFREAD! That’s another thing that the age of  technology has bludgeoned out of the 21st century human brain. We think that “spell check” is a sufficient form of proofreading. Guess what: it’s not! A simple spell check isn’t going to catch the fact that you typed “form” instead of “from,” which may result in you appearing to be less intelligent than you actually are.

Below are some of the most commonly seen errors:

(1) Their vs. there vs. they’re. Their shows ownership (i.e. their Audi R8 is the most amazing car I’ve ever seen). There, when used as an adverb, refers to a place (i.e. she went there) or in a particular matter (i.e. she was correct there). It can also be used as a noun (i.e. I’ll show you how it’s done, but you’re on your own from there), an adjective (i.e. ask the girl standing over there), or an interjection (i.e. There! I got it!). They’re is a contraction of the words “they” and “are.” So, “they’re going to the mall today” should never be confused with “there going to the mall today” or “their going to the mall today.”

(2) To vs. too vs. two. To, in its most common form, is a preposition (i.e. “I am going to the bank.”) There are many different kinds of prepositions for which “to” can be used, but getting into those would likely take far more time than you are willing to spend reading. Too is an adverb and can either mean “in addition” (i.e. I went to the University of Pittsburgh, too) or it can refer to an excessive extent of something (i.e. there is too much water in the bath tub). Finally, two is a number. You didn’t buy “to” pencils, you bought “two.”

(3) Your vs. You’re. Your shows possession/ownership (i.e. “Your shoes are very dirty” – the shoes are owned by you). You’re is a contraction of “you” and “are” and should never be confused with “your.” Your not going to the gym, you’re going to the gym. Big difference! This is something that Word’s autocorrect function should automatically fix for you, but don’t allow that to feed into the laziness! This still leaves text messages, twitter and facebook posts, etc. in which you can easily make these mistakes because you won’t see the green squiggly line that denotes incorrect grammar.

(4) Less vs. fewer. Fewer is always used before a plural noun or verb (i.e. fewer words). Less is used to modify singular mass nouns (i.e. less money). I have less money than you, but there are fewer people with more money than you . See the difference? So, every time I hear that ad in which they say “less commercials,” I have to wonder who proofread and approved the script.

(5) Its vs. it’s. Its is another pronoun which shows possession of something (i.e. the dog lost its bone). It’s is a contraction of “it” and “is.” My mom–always a nurse first–says to think of it as “getting rid of the itis” (itis refers to a state of inflammation, in case you’re not medical-term savvy, and is something you don’t usually want). So, we “get rid of the itis” by putting an apostrophe between “it” and “is.”

(6) The semi-colon. This, my friends, is one of the most irksome grammar goofs for me to encounter. A semi-colon should not be used as an alternative for a comma. The rule of the semi-colon is this: the semi-colon divides two independent clauses; each clause must be able to stand alone as its own sentence should the semi-colon be removed (notice the appropriate use of a semi-colon in the rule description?). Now, these two independent clauses must be related to one another. If they’re not, a period will suffice as a divider between the two independent thoughts (i.e. “It’s cold outside; Kelly bought new shoes” follows the rule of the semi-colon regarding independent clauses, but it does not follow the rule that the two independent thoughts be related. Therefore, a period should replace the semi-colon).

(7) “To be”: This is a big one for Pittsburghers (as well as some Ohio-ans and midwesterners). The car doesn’t need washed. The car needs to be washed. Please don’t leave out the helping verb. The only time that it’s ok to leave out the “to be” is when “needs” is followed by a noun (i.e. This needs fixing).

(8) Anyway vs. anyways. Anyways is not a word. Period. It’s always “anyway.” “Anyways” is a colloquial butchering of the adverb “anyway.” Always remember to drop the “s” in this instance.

(9) Could care less vs. couldn’t care less. It is always, always, always “couldn’t care less.” If you could care less, why don’t you?

(10) Good vs. well.  You can do well, but you can never do good. So, the next time someone asks the question “how did you do on that test?” you will reply with “I did well” not “I did good.”

Whether you’re a writer, an engineer, a nurse, a designer, a receptionist, or a human being, grammar is ALWAYS important. If you communicate at all, grammar is important (and really, you can’t not communicate). So, whether your communication is written or verbal, keep these tips in mind–they’re important in any setting!

There have been a few changes going on in my life over the past couple of weeks, some good, some not as much, but changes none the less. I have been out of work for the past few weeks, so have been spending a lot of my time reading and going to the gym, as well as hanging out with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. So, while being out of work is not the happiest of circumstances, it has allowed me to do a little bit of soul-searching and friendship restoration.

One realization that I came to over the last few weeks is that I am not happy with my health and appearance, but that I’m not going to just sit around and mope about it, I’m going to change it. My goal is to, within the next 6-8 months, get myself back to my high school graduation weight, which will hopefully help with my back problems. While I’ve spent the last 4 months going to the gym 3-5 times a week, I haven’t seen a lot of results, likely because I still haven’t been eating well. So, two weeks ago I made the decision to join Weight Watchers online–a decision that I had been toying with in my mind for a couple of months. I finally decided, “what do I have to lose?” and came up with the answer of nothing (well, aside from the $17 a month it costs…but that’s manageable).

In my first week, I lost 4lbs. And you know what? It’s not as difficult of a program to follow as I imagined it would be. What’s great about it is that I can still eat the foods that I like, I’m just learning portion control. Weight Watchers also has a lot of rather tasty prepared foods and other snacks (including a whole host of frozen delicious treats!). I haven’t quite gotten a handle on eating out and maintaining my points allowance, but I’m sure I’ll improve with time. It’s easier with some restaurants than others. For instance, Panera is very easy to calculate points values and many of their selections are fairly healthy, but Red Robin is nearly impossible to eat at without using up my entire points allowance on one meal! I’m going to try to document my progress through my blog as much as I can, I hope my readers don’t mind!

Another goal of mine, along with my health improvement plan, is an improvement in spirit as well. I generally tend to be a happy person, and I try to be optimistic. However, in the past few months, I’ve noticed myself getting down on myself inside of my head. I’ve decided that I need to break outside of that and focus on all of the many positive things in my life and let those take center stage in my mind. I have been blessed with an amazing family, wonderful friends and numerous other things and it’s time I learn to embrace the good rather than dwelling on the bad–turning over a new leaf, so to speak. I’ll try to document my progress on that front as well over the next few months.

On to my next topic! This past weekend, my parents and I visited my brother in the great state of New Jersey. While we were there, we had the privilege of attending my brother’s girlfriend’s mom’s (that’s a mouthful) surprise 50th birthday party. It was a really great time meeting new people and spending time with Dan’s girlfriend’s family. The party was at Holly’s brother’s beautiful home and was really quite fun. Not to mention her brother’s absolutely precious baby–one of the smiliest babies I’ve ever seen in my life! Here’s a few pictures from the weekend for your (hopefully) enjoyment:

The best part about NJ? Dunkin’ Donuts on practically every corner!

This is the first time I’ve ever seen my brother hold a baby–he was a natural!:

And here’s Dan and Holly with the precious baby Hailey, although sadly her cute little face is hidden:

The big gifts of the day were new fish for Holly’s mom. Her mom has a giant aquarium at the house with some of the most beautiful fish I’ve seen before. So, many of the children, as well as her husband, bought her 4 new fish for her collection. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get pictures of all of the new ones since they were swimming around frantically adapting to their new home. But here’s a few pictures of ones that weren’t so camera shy:

Well, that about does it for today, I hope you enjoyed the photos and that you’ll enjoy following me as I blog my progress on general life improvement (that sounds a little dramatic, huh?).

Goodnight, dear readers!

Take note of the unreal creepy screensaver that the broken half of the screen is forever frozen on (I think it’s Jane Austen…but I’m not positive). This picture shows the kindle powered off. The bottom left portion of the screen still works, but it’s a bit hard to read a book when I can only see portions of the left side of the page…

This brings me to my frustration. Now, I have been known to be an unparalleled klutz on occasion:

Exhibit A:

My poor, helpless macbook. New years day, 2009. Sucker pretty much grew wings and flew off my lap and landed on the floor…and became some really pretty artwork. $500 later, she was good as new and my bank account was weeping.

All of that being said, I am frustrated for this reason: The Kindle Drop Test. As per this test, it is supposed to be accurate that a Kindle, dropped from a height of 30 inches, will not break.  While the current state of my Kindle seems to refute this, generally drop test could be accurate. Unfortunately, the cover that I had on my Kindle has been known to crack Kindle screens on occasion. I’m wondering if the combination of the tumble and that particular cover is what resulted in my poor destroyed screen. These covers have been known to injure Kindle screens because of these little hooks:

These little buggers physically hook into little nooks in the side of the Kindle and are nearly impossible to secure in the first place. Anyhow, I guess the moral of the story is this: firstly, don’t drop your Kindle from great heights, and secondly, do not purchase this cover for your Kindle, just to be on the safe side.

Also keep in mind that Amazon apparently does not repair broken Kindle screens. I had to purchase an entirely new Kindle device, which is scheduled to arrive sometime next week–keeping my fingers crossed that it actually shows up on time (the first one took 5 weeks to arrive).

Here’s to hoping that the little black cloud that seems to be following me around moves along soon… time for me to be positive!

Have a great weekend, folks!