Swing outs, sweat, and tears.

I tried out for one of the best swing dance teams in the state last night. Which sounds cool and exciting in theory, but in reality I think the actual feeling can be summed up in a few words. Terrifying. Nerve-wracking. Intimidating. WTH am I doing here? I have aspirations to be a great dancer….

The serendipity in ill-timed fire alarms

Serendipity: the art of finding the usual, or pleasantly unexpected by chance or sagacity- Horace Walpole THAT is the quote that sits inside the side of my teacup. An arguably cliche word with definition and quote to inspire the reader as they sip from the cup. I would like to think that things like that wouldn’t…

Going back to the gym (AKA feeling like a rhino who wants to be a majestic athletic unicorn)

It took 16 days into the new year, but I went to the gym to workout! Granted, there was a lot of nervous pacing around my bedroom saying to myself, my boyfriend, and my friends: “I can’t do this! Everyone is going to already be fit! There’s going to be tons of new year resolutioners…

Dreams for 2018: The Unwritten Year of Possibilities

Photo taken in Salzburg, Austria by Cat Gessner (Website: http://www.catgessner.com/ ) I always get this feeling of anxious excitement when January 1st comes around. It’s like the movie Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (i know, cheesy reference but stay with me) when Old Father Time steps down from his duties for Happy the baby New Year to…

Live your life deliberately.

Special thanks to one that called me Bright Eyes for inspiring this post. Sometimes, life has a funny way of working out in weird, mysterious, and helpful ways. Today, I came across an old message that was dated two years ago from today. As odd as it sounds, it was exactly what I needed to…

A Sense of Self in a Fluid Movement

“I have the right to be angry and to express that anger to hold it as my motivation to fight, just as I have the right to love and to express my love of the world, to hold it as my motivation to fight, because while a historical being, I live history as a time…

The joy of being a flightless bird

Recently, I have been listening to the song Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine on repeat. I will admit, I am not entirely sure of the song’s exact meaning. But, I would like to think that it’s something along the lines of what another WordPress blogger, theswellsavvygirl, thought: “… [It’s] trying to find the…

Swivels and Smiles: My life as a swing dancer

It all started with a boy from marching band asking me out on a date. A date to go to the first meeting of the swing dance club that was at our university since we had both expressed interest how we had always wanted to learn how to swing dance during marching band practice earlier…

Welcome to the Academy: A reflection

Welcome to the Academy, sweetheart. 21 days of mind enriching discussions, conversations, and reading material that will change your perspective and broaden your horizons on life. But, what they didn’t tell you are all the wonderful life lessons that you learn as you go. Man, what a beautiful teacher life is. 70 students from all…

Pure bliss of a dancing wind

I want to capture this moment and let it stay crystal clear in my mind forever A little wooden desk that juts out from the wall with two chairs sitting behind it. Two bookshelves cradled it in this nook as each shelf is filled to maximum capacity with books. From anything and everything you need…

“THIS. Is the life I want”mentality

You know this, and I know this, so let’s just get it out in the open right now: Sometimes, life can suck. Absolutely, 100% “man… this is just awful” kind of feeling. Now your ideas and my ideas are probably similar and slightly different just for the simple fact of differences in our live perspectives,…

On Three, Jump.

This is the first piece I wrote and decided to publicly share with others…and I am grateful to say that in the end, something good came out of it. The original publication can be found here: https://journal2020.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2016-v-iv-aaaa.pdf On the island of Inis Mor, I can feel the cold rock under my bare feet as I stand on…