Update 10-13-2011

Oh my gosh! I've neglected my blog yet again. Surprised? Me neither. But I've been insanely preoccupied with going to school, working, mantaining the remnants of my social life, and starting my Etsy shop.

Speaking of which, I'm addicted to buying and selling vintage now more than ever. I decided that I did, indeed, want to run my own shop badly enough to dedicate the time, money, and energy it requires. The whole experience has completely revolutionized my outlook on life and my view of myself.

I'm not 100% confident in myself yet, but I've seen a huge improvement. While setting up my shop and selling for a month or two, I had to learn to trust my gut, pat myself on the back when I'm right, and learn from my mistakes when I'm wrong. And I've made a lot of mistakes (most of them dealing with shipping...ugh!), but for some reason messing up makes me want to try even harder at succeeding the next time.
I've got way too many thoughts about everything that's going on right now (selling online, trying to start a business, changing my major, anticipating my mom's remarriageat the end of this month..the list goes on), but there's only so many hours in a day. Still, I feel like writing about starting a business will hold me accountable to actually doing it. And even if I decide now is not the time (though I'd hate to get to that point), I think it's important I document all of this now so I can go back one day and remember this time in my life.

I'm known to over-analyze things...can't you tell??

I'll stop here for now. Soon, I plan to start a new blog that isn't as scattered as this one about thrifting, vintage, selling online, crafting, life, whatever.. But for now, Ima go get me some food and go to sleep!

So tell me...How are things going for you guys? What's new in your life?

Cheers,

Dani

Hodge Podge: Fish, Tornado, Coupons

Greetings,

I have an exciting announcement. The boyfriend showed me how to fish, and after a couple of minutes I caught my first fish! I'm sorry, that's not terribly exciting, but I was ecstatic because the boyfriend and his dad fish all the time and win competitions and stuff. Now I can say that I fish too. I'm practically a pro. I still won't touch the fish after I catch them, though. Slimy things with beady little eyes make me skittish.
I also caught a branch, but it wasn't as impressive.

Stream of consciousness, GOOO: A tornado rudely slashed through my town last week. Crazy stuff. The last storm (which was about two weeks ago) brought about a tornado that did not touch down, but it did rip through my neighborhood and dump a tree on my house (minor damage, no one was hurt). The more recent storm sent a massive tornado about ten miles from my house, and it leveled a huge part of this town (we could see it from my house. My mom went upstairs to watch it from my brother's window. Best place during a tornado? Not upstairs or by a window). We are in a major college town in Alabama and we received an insane amount of damage, so the media has gone crazy over covering the story. It's kind of annoying, actually. My Facebook exploded with a bunch of statuses about how everyone was volunteering and donating. Just a tip, self-promoting the fact that you volunteered or donated is super irritating. To me, at least. I could just stay off Facebook since it gets on my nerves so badly, right? WRONG. Facebook has wrapped my little attention span around it's finger and won't let go unless I promise it my first born child. I would, but I've already promised it to the oil industry.
Wow. Somebody's got a bunch of built up ill-feelings. I didn't mean for that rant to be so long, and in fact, I have more to say on that subject, but I'll close the lid on the matter.

Have you seen Extreme Couponing? It's my guilty pleasure show, and I'm falling victim to couponing. It requires the perfect amount of detailed obsession and a fine-toothed comb of iron. Most people would cringe at the thought of clipping, sorting, making lists, checking them twice, stockpiling, etc, but I'm just the uptight white girl for the job.

I'm definitely working on not being so uptight. Since I finished school (first year of college down for the count, babyyyy), I have embraced this notion of "nothing to do" and have tried my hand at fun things. It's been quite a long time since I've done nothing but unproductive, yet fun, things.

So, I've taken a look at the blogs of those of you who have so kindly commented, and I'm loving all of these thoughts and poems that are being produced. I've also noticed that many people are new bloggers and, generally, about to start or have recently started college. If you guys have any questions about blogging and/or/but not limited to college, definitely throw them my way. I can't give a supreme answer over all other answers and reveal hidden insights about life, but I can surely give my opinion and share with you how I deal/dealt with things. And, if it's pretty applicable to most people, I just might incorporate it in a blogpost.

Now go and hug yo mamma and tell her happy mamma's day. Or, go hug someon else's mamma and tell them that they are the best someone else's mamma ever.

The "Write or Die" Writers' Resource

Lately, I've found that I can't muster up enough motivation/inspiration to write anything, be it a blog post, poem, short story, essay, ransom note, whatever... The point is, I don't see a point. I always over-edit while I'm writing, and have a habit of talking my self out of writing altogether. A wonderful creative writing teacher/friend told me that when writer's block occurs, just write. "Don't think," she says, "just write." Still, that never seemed to penetrate into my writing habits. My dear readers, I believe I have found a resource that will help with writer's block and procrastination.
Write or Die is one of the most ingenious sites I've ever "stumbled upon," although it seems like an idea so obvious that I wonder why I didn't think of it first. Ohh, yeah.. because I was too busy editing my writing or checking Facebook (I think Mark Zuckerburg is the Hitler of social networking that takes out his competition by promoting procrastination. No one can defeat him when they are milking their cows on Farmville or deleting 46 "What Kind of Kiss Are You?" notifications sent by that chick from high school. But I digress..).
The site in a nutshell: Write or Die allows you to set a minimum time goal,  minimum word goal, consequences mode, and a grace period mode. Once you begin your writing session, you must write non-stop until the time is up, and you must meet your word goal. You may pause in your writing for a certain amount of time depending on your grace period setting, and if you don't complete your writing goal in the time allotted, you suffer a consequence (the severity is dependent upon your consequences setting). Because that probably didn't make a whole lot of sense, you should mosey on over to Write or Die and check it out for yourself.

I have yet to try it out, but I plan to sometime in the next few minutes. If you try it too, post your goal, time, consequences, grace period, and how well you did!

Peace, Love, & Hugs,

DB

PS. I'm still working on cleaning up this site. I want to add some pages to take away some of the clutter from the main page. If you have any other suggestions on how to improve stuff around here, lemme know.

Hey, Your Shoe's Untied.. Made ya Look!

I accidentally tricked myself into spilling my guts about some stuff. But I spilled my guts to myself, and now I'm kinda glad I did. How do you accidentally spill your guts to yourself? It's simple, really if you, like myself, bury your most painful memories and feelings and "grin and bear" life as it comes to you.
I started a new blog entry and convinced myself that I was going to be honest with the world and lay it all on the coffee table for everyone to see. Thing is, as I got about half way through it, I realized that being honest with people doesn't necessarily indicate revealing secrets. Sure, I've got some crazy, Lifetime movie material stowed away in my past, but that's then, this is now.
Although I'm not posting that draft, I can honestly tell you getting it all out in a more tangible form than just my thoughts helps to alleviate some of the pressure of hoarding those thoughts and feelings. However, maybe one day I'll share snippets about my struggles with an anxiety disorder, but I like the thought of being able to choose who I share that with. If you ever want to talk about anxiety, depression, or anything of the sort, do not hesitate to message me about it. It's easier to share with someone who's been there.
Switching gears, there's this game I stumbled upon tonight, and it's wayy addicting. Check out the Wikipedia Game. Let me know how you do :]

Peace, Love, and Hugs,

DB

It's been far too long since I've posted anything on here. I've just been letting life in 2010 slip by without commentary, which is not to say that 2010 would be lacking any substance without my two cents. I'm just disappointed that I've approached writing as a chore lately and not as an opportunity to share myself with others. If there's one thing that my newest favorite TV series, Bones, has taught me, it's that you (usually) have to open up to others and show your humility and vulnerability before you will be confided in. Bones has also taught me that there is a certain ilk of bugs that eats away the flesh of burn victims so that forensic pathologists can identify the victim's bones. I'll be sure to share stories in which the latter information is relevant and useful.

Back to purpose for writing: By nature, I tend to take a stance of complacency on the issue of making my voice heard. I think, "With the insanely large number of blogs, opinion/advice columns..etc, why would I put my thoughts out there when the fact that at least one other individual has the same opinion as me is nearly guaranteed?" But I'm revolutionizing my thinking. My goal is not to change the world or to have people pining for my every opinion; by putting my thoughts out there I hope to a) find my voice, b) learn to live and commentate life on the rogue side, and c) to induce an "Ah-ha!" moment for at least one reader.

And now for something...completely different.

Tell me, how much do you love Justin Bieber? Do you love him this much? (It's okay, sweetie, listening to Justin's music makes me cry, too...for different reasons.)

For the past two months I have been searching for the perfect pair of shoes for work. While on the job, I am on my feet for all but twenty minutes, if that, so the perfect shoes have to be comfortable (arch support, no chaffing) and stylish (just because I'm in a hardware store doesn't mean I can't look cute). Tired of tennis shoes, which are miserable to wear on a hot summer's day, I searched for something less bulky for the coming Alabama heat. I drank the Koolaid (oh yeahhh) and bought a pair of Tom's shoes; they are so much fun to walk in! We'll see if they hold up. And in case you don't know about Tom's shoes, I implore you to check out these eco-friendly shoes that correlate to a great cause that donates shoes to children in need. One for one, baby :]

Yes, I just rambled about shoes.

And that is all for now.

DB

Post-Easter Update

Hi ya guys,

I spent the past week in the north visiting my extended family for Easter, and I am happy to report that no punches were thrown, no one was left at a gas station, and my boyfriend still wants to date me even after meeting the rest of my big, fat, Italian family.

My aunt told me before the trip that she was going to give the boyfriend and me “the sex talk” (because we haven’t heard that one 50 billion times, #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement). Instead, we volunteered to take her kids mini-golfing and to watch them for a few hours, and I can honestly say our little play date had a better effect than any talk. We both agree we won’t be having kids for quite some time.

Dropped quote:
Little cousin, Aiden: "What's your name?"
Me: "You know my name. I've told you a billion times. I'm DANI. Or DANIELLE. Remember? I took you mini-golfing this afternoon."
Aiden: "Then...where is your blue shirt??"
Me: "I changed it"
Aiden: "Was it dirty?"
Me: "Um, yeah.. I had to put on a new shirt."
Aiden: "DID YOU POOP ON IT?!"

I mean, why else would you change your shirt, right??

For the entire 13+ hour drive up and back, my brother learned Japanese with Rosetta Stone on his lap top. He had a microphone so that he could practice the pronunciations too. My boyfriend says that to speaking Japanese sounds a lot like passing a kidney stone or being punched in the stomach. He also says that when people with thick southern accents talk all he hears is banjos.

The day before we left, my mom had surgery on her hand for carpal tunnel (so that she didn’t have to use up vacation days later for it). My mom can’t quite control what she says without being drugged, so imagine, if you will, my mother on pain killers. It’s 5:00 in the morning, and my mom is singing and making “jokes” until we convinced her to go back to sleep.


So, that’s my spiel about the trip. I’ll try to write more posts in the near future, but I’ll warn you, the ideas for posts I’ve got floating in my head are somewhat geared toward chicks (since I have significantly more authority in the female department). I am indubitably open to ideas from the guys. I need article ideas from the males about articles that are gender-neutral or that you would like to see written from the female perspective.

Much obliged,

Dani