Daily Smash Book: 9.20.13

Listening – Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons

Eating – cherry coke, fries and a chicken wrap.

Wearing – skinny jeans and a striped purple henley

Feeling – content.

Weather - 76 degrees and sunny

Wanting - it to be 8pm

Thinking – meh

Enjoying – Dinner


Mass? – no

Gym – no

Favorite part of today so far – I'm excited for tonight.

Daily Smash Book: 9.19.13

Listening – to I Will Wait (live) by Mumford and Sons


Eating – just ate a mint chocolate chip milkshake and fries

Wearing – black flats, skinny jeans and a purple tee.

Feeling – content.

Weather -60 degrees and clear

Wanting - more milkshake

Thinking – meh

Enjoying – Drop Dead Diva


Mass? – no

Gym – no

Favorite part of today so far – MILKSHAKEEE

"I will learn to love the skies I'm under."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="504"] They just crack me up[/caption]

I have a confession... I'm a poser. I printed out the above lyrics from pinterest to put on my wall, with only the knowledge that they were from a Mumford and Sons song. I didn't know which one because, well... I only knew a few Mumford and Sons songs.

Today, I looked up at the quote, and it gave me hope. I smiled as I realized that the lyrics could fit into one of my favorite Mumford and Sons songs, "Hopeless Wanderer", and sang it in my head. It fit eerily well, so I googled the lyrics and lo and behold, they were from "Hopeless Wanderer". I first heard about the song when my friend Kristen told me about her blog, which is titled "Hopeful Wanderer" (go read it. She's fabulous.) after the song. Later that day, I read that the music video had been announced and that Will Forte, Jason Sudiekis, Ed Helms, and Jason Bateman were all in it. As a fan of all of them, I was giddy with excitement and watched the video and laughed and fell in love.

Then my friend said that she was disappointed in the video. "What?! What is wrong with you?! Are you crazy?! It's the best video ever!!" <--- that was my response. Then she told me why she didn't like it.

The song had struck a chord with her, and the lyrics had truly inspired her. She said that the video was very funny, and that she did really like it, but in a way, it ruined the song and lyrics for her. She told me to listen to the song without watching the video. Today, I finally did. "I will learn to love the skies I'm under". That lyric struck me. What? How do you love the sky? It's... the sky. I thought about it, and I came to this conclusion: The sky changes.



Every day it's a different shade of blue. Some days, it's so beautiful, and makes you so excited to face the day! Some days, it looks kind of scary and dismal, and makes you want to crawl back into your safe, warm bed. Such is life. Some days, your surroundings will be awesome! Grand! Everything going well for you! And then the next... Well, it's so bad that you forget you ever had a good day. The lyrics are saying that we should learn to love life, no matter how awful it seems. Because it changes. No matter what, the sky isn't constant, and neither is life. We can't predict what's going to happen, and sometimes, we'll be prepared for another type of sky. I can't be the only one who's stepped out into the cold rain in shorts and flip flops.

I will learn to love the skies I'm under. I will learn to love my life.

Thank you!

Today, I decided randomly to check my blog stats.



Ever since I posted this article, the views and comments on my blog have been booming. It is truly, truly humbling and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

When I read "6 reasons to NOT send your daughter to college," I was angry. I was sad. I felt hurt. It felt like a personal attack on my sister, my mother, my friends, my cousins, and me. Independent women, many of whom are living devout Catholic lives, who went to school simply for a love of learning. That's why I'm in school. Because I want to know more. I want to learn about the world I live in, about the people who surround me, about my faith and my Church. I'm not here for a career. I'm majoring in English and Theology, neither of those are in the least bit practical.

I believe I am a feminist. I'm against birth control, and abortion, and a lot of other things secular feminists say are "women's rights," but I believe that God made men and women equal. Not the same, but equal in their dignity. Everyone deserves an education, regardless of their gender roles.

Again, thank you, and God bless you.

Daily Smash Book: 9.17.13

Listening – to Timshel by Mumford and Sons

Eating – nothing

Wearing – silver flip flops, skinny jeans, black blouse and my blue Mount hoodie.

Feeling – restless

Weather -64 degrees and sunny

Wanting - my packages to arrive

Thinking – meh

Enjoying – Mumford and Sons 

Mass? – no

Gym – no

Favorite part of today so far - pumpkin spice latte

Drop Dead Diva touched me in a way that TV isn't really supposed to.

The other night, I randomly decided to watch a new show on Netflix. Drop Dead Diva had been recommended for me for a while, so I decided to give it a try, pretty convinced I'd watch one episode and move on.

I was wrong. I've been watching it everyday since that night, amazed at how funny, heartwarming, and relatable it is. For those who don't know, it's about an aspiring model, Deb, who dies in an accident, and while in "limbo" hits the "return button", and comes back to life in the body of a plus sized lawyer. Deb always looked down on plus sized women, and thought of them as beneath her, but after becoming one herself, she realizes just how untrue that is. She realizes how awful it feels to be looked at as someone simply overweight, and how people think you're lazy, and just not trying hard enough.

I've been overweight my whole life, and I've gotten my fair share of cruel remarks about it. I've been asked if I'm pregnant, told no one will ever want to be friends with or date me, and called a beached whale. I have to sit on the edge of the row of desks in class, because it's such a hassle for me to try to squeeze in between the seats. Sometimes, my belly doesn't even fit in the desk. I've heard people attempt to stifle their giggles as I try to squeeze myself in places. They usually fail, and I try not to cry in front of them.

Last year, I gained a good amount of weight because of stress right before I went to college. Soon after that, I stopped getting my period and didn't get it for a year. I didn't think much of it until the end of last semester. My period was always so regular, and then all of the sudden, it wasn't. I was afraid to go to the doctor, because I didn't want to be told it was because I was fat, or that something was wrong with me, so I joined a gym and began working out every day.

I lost 15 pounds and gained a good amount of muscle over the summer, and I'm so proud of how far I've come. I fit in my clothes better, I have more self-esteem, energy, and endurance. This month, my period came back. I don't think I've ever been that happy about my monthly visitor.

Drop Dead Diva is an amazing social commentary. It shows how much there is to someone, whether they're skinny, overweight, black, white, whatever, and how easy it is for someone to just look at the surface. You never know what someone's going through.

Hakuna Matata...

Hakuna Matata

The Lion King

6 Reasons to NOT Send Your Son to College

A rebuttal to this post and inspired by this post

1. He will attract the wrong type of women.  Ah, college. The home of parties and frat boys. There are so many lazy men in our society, that it's likely if you send your son to college, he will become a partying frat boy, lazy. Thus, he will attract the wrong type of women. Tsk tsk. He should just stay home and meet a nice girl at his job (Walmart and/or McDonald's) or church, and they can get married and make lots of babies and he will provide with his income. 
2. He will be in a near occasion of sin.  Boys will be boys... right? He'll be tempted to, instead of going to mass on Sunday, stay in his dorm with friends, maybe being corrupted by some sorority girls, maybe underage drinking, Just think of the environment that college-age students live in.  You have a heavy concentration of young people all living together without the supervision of parents at the most sexually charged state of life they will experience.  How can one expect that anyone would be able to avoid these temptations, even on a Catholic college campus much less a secular one?  So if it is unnecessary for one to be in a near occasion of sin, is it prudent to willingly put oneself there?  This is no small matter we’re dealing with here.  Is a degree worth the loss of your son's purity, dignity, and soul?  I don't think so
3. He will not learn to be a father or husband .  Nothing that is taught in a college curriculum is geared toward how to be a good father, husband, or even how to correctly treat a woman. He doesn't learn about what he was c r e a t e d to do, so why even bother? He will instead learn things like, "work before wife and children" and "money is power". You don't want your son to be like that, do you?
4. The cost of a degree is becoming more difficult to recoup.  Like anything that is subsidized by the government, the cost of a college degree is inflated.  That being the case, it can often be difficult or impossible to get an adequate payoff for the investment.  The most common example of that scenario is the job of a school teacher.  More commonly now we’re seeing situations where not only is the income not enough to support a family, but many are strapped with student loan debt.  Add to that the possibility of not even being able to get a job with the degree and you have economic disaster for a family before they even get started. 
5. You don’t have to prove anything to the world.  Often the reason for a man going to college is the pressure of the society around him, including his parents.  The man who graduates from high school along with his parents gets the endless barrage of questions of “Where are you going to college?”  The society is so fixated with the idea that a paycheck makes a man, so parents and sons often beam with pride in what university he will attend. So parents and their daughters often beam with pride in announcing what university she will attend.  Astonishingly even homeschool parents fall into this folly.  Often homeschooling parents feel they have to prove that they have done a good job in educating their children and are validated by them going to college.  But the confounding thing is that they went through all this effort to raise and educate their sons themselves but don’t give their sons the opportunity to do the same by locking him into a career. What if he wants to help homeschool his children, but instead feels trapped by the career that is pushed upon him
6. It could be a near occasion of sin for the parents.  In our culture many parents feel an unnecessary obligation to pay for the children's college tuition.  Of course to aid in that there are a host of financial advisers who can set up college investment savings programs for which the government will grant tax favors.  So parents may avoid having more children with contraception, sterilization, or illicit use of NFP to bear this cost.  To assume that all of our children will need a college degree is quite a stretch, particularly for men who will likely be fathers and can make just enough to get by at Walmart.
7. He will regret it.  When he has children, and misses baseball games, first communions, dance recitals, and other special things because he is at his job, he will wish he didn't go to college so he didn't have to work this job. When his wife tells him that he should take time to be a father. When his kids have no desire to talk to him anymore. When he walks his daughter down the aisle and wonders where the time went, and realizes that he could have spent so much more time with her if he had just not went to college
8. It could interfere with a religious vocation.  According to Corey Huber, President of the Mater Ecclesiae Fund for Vocations, Catholic seminaries and religious orders do not accept candidates who have substantial unpaid debt. He states the average college loan debt today is a staggering $27,029 which takes most graduates a decade or more to pay off.  

 

Oh, and if you were wondering, for many of the reasons, I simply changed "girl" to "guy" and "she" to "he". I also fixed some horrific grammar issues. 

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Daily Smash Book - 9.10.13

Listening – to Andy's Birthday from Toy Story

Eating – cookies

Wearing – black flats, jeans, and my "Keep Calm and Mount Up" shirt. Also my St. Christopher Alex & Ani.

Feeling – tired.

Weather - 79 degrees and clear

Wanting - nothing.

Thinking – about what I need to do.

Enjoying – playing candy crush


Mass? – no

Gym – no

Favorite part of today so far – First Bible Study!

"May you trust ...

"May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be."
-St. Therese of Lisieux

Daily Smash Book - 9.9.13

Listening – to the buzzing of the A/C.

Eating – hummus and pretzels

Wearing – skinny jeans, black flats, and my Mount SEEK shirt.

Feeling – hungry...

Weather - 68 degrees and cloudy

Wanting - to be done with classes.

Thinking – I need to step up my game.

Enjoying – meh.


Mass? – no

Gym – after classes with Gianna

Favorite part of today so far – getting a package with stuff from Rome and London from my Texan bestie <3

Daily Smash Book - 9.8.13

Listening – to Poor Unfortunate Souls from The Little Mermaid

Eating – nothing

Wearing – jean shorts and my 'Treat Yo Self' shirt

Feeling – determined

Weather - 81 degrees and mostly cloudy

Wanting - to watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tangled

Thinking – that I need to finish my Philosophy essay.

Enjoying – that my music is spot on

Mass? – no

Gym – no

Favorite part of today so far – Eating brunch with Bridget and co.

Be A Best Friend. Tell the Truth and Overuse 'I love you'.

-Zac Brown Band

World Day of Fasting and Prayer for Syria

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="240"] How do you say 'no' to that face?[/caption]

Today, Pope Francis asked the Catholics of the world to spend the day fasting and praying for peace in Syria.

I was proud to participate, and was glad that my school (on which the National Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes is on the campus of) was hosting events.

First, they had mass and adoration at the seminary. I decided not to attend mass, but did adore Christ with a chapel full of fellow students, seminarians, priests, and faculty.

After that, we processed up the mountain to the grotto, where, in front of the Eucharist, we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, begging Jesus to have mercy on us, and the whole world.

Then we went to the grotto altar, where we prayed the Rosary and finished with Mass. It was beautiful to see how many were aware of what is going on in current events and how many care about and love our brothers and sisters in Syria.

Still, there weren't many students there, which was a bit disheartening. But nonetheless, a lovely experience

Daily Smash Book - 9.7.13

Listening – to Blackbird (Piano Cover)

Eating – cheese fries and root beer.

Wearing – black exercise pants, and Emmaus 7 shirt (He Never lets Go! :) )

Feeling – content

Weather - 62 degrees and fair

Wanting - to have a movie night

Thinking – that I have to stop overthinking things.

Enjoying – My rootbeer, yo.


Mass? – Yes.

Gym – Yes

Favorite part of today so far – The day of prayer and fasting activities at school. So beautiful. I'll post about it later.

I'm Glad

My life.

Sometimes I wonder if I'll ever find that perfect little place I belong at school.

I have no doubt that I'm supposed to be at the Mount. God has given me signs upon signs upon signs... but sometimes it's hard to be here.

I see groups of people always together, always hanging out. I used to have that, but then I screwed up. Or maybe I didn't. But things changed. I changed.

Last spring was a mess, I was sobbing in bed on a daily basis. I would have bet on my soul that nobody cared.

This year is better, but it's still tough. I mean, it's still the beginning, so things can change, and I think they will. But right now it's tough. There's never enough room for me to be able to do things with my friends, or I'm just not invited.

They don't have to spend every waking moment with me. Hell, I hate doing that. But sometimes it'd be nice to be included instead of feeling like you're intruding on something.

I'm praying that I'll find my niche, I know God will show it to me, and that I'll find it. I just sometimes wish that His timing was more like my own.

When I was in adoration  last night, I was praying for certain things I wanted. A few weeks ago, God revealed to me that it was not time for me to really seriously discern my vocation, because He wanted me to focus on my life in the present, and aim for heaven in my every day actions in the now.

This bothered me, because I want to know my calling right. now. I told God this, and He told me that He'd let me know when it was time.

So, I've been praying that He would help me focus on what I am called to do now. Last night, this prayer was in my head.

I don't know my path, but You do. You're walking it with me, holding my hand, guiding me.

You are behind me, reminding me not to look back.

You are at the end of the path, reminding me to aim for greatness.

The path becomes crooked and goes uphill sometimes, support me and encourage me.

The path will hit a fork in the road. Don't let go of my hand, lead me down the one that reaches heaven.

People will join me on my journey, people meant to be there. They may help me to my final destination, or they may hurt me, and try to convince me to take another path. No matter what, they are meant to journey with me.

Our paths may cross for a short while, or a long time. I may not like having them there, or may cry as we go our separate ways.

If all of my companions leave and I feel despair and unable to see in the dark, shine Your light, so that I may be able to see that you are still behind, ahead and next to me.

Set the pace. Don't let me walk any slower or faster than I am supposed to, for I may get hurt.

If I feel the weight of my cross on my back, encourage me, because in suffering we find grace. You are on the cross.

Daily Smash Book: 9.6.13

Listening – to Only Prettier (Piano color)


Eating – drinking ice water with lemon and cucumber

Wearing – blue striped Henley with a ribbed blue tank under it, skinny jeans, and nude flats.

Feeling – peaceful

Weather - 78 degrees and sunny

Wanting - to feel more determined

Thinking – that I'm ridiculously blessed :)

Enjoying – Life


Mass? – nope

Gym – Not yet, going soon.

Favorite part of today so far – watching Hannah Montana...