A few good words

"The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache."
-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

"The secret of happiness is not in doing what one likes to do, but in liking what one has to do."
-Richard L. Evans

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
-Mother Theresa

I love that last one. happiness is a choice and some of the happiest people I know, have some of the toughest problems, but they've found a way to see the good through it all.

Relay for Life 2011

Everyone knows someone who is/has been/will be affected by cancer. It's an awful disease that both takes lives and produces survivors.

We can't hide from it. We can't stop fighting to find out more about it and figure out how to beat it.

A few friends and I made a Relay for Life team (our event is this Friday-Saturday) and we're trying raise money for the cause. Here is a website we've set up to make online donations simple and safe for those who want to help!

All of the money raised goes to the American Cancer Society to fight the battle against cancer. This is a great opportunity to remember those who have passed away from cancer, those who have beat it and those who are still fighting!

Even the smallest donations add up, so if you can even spare 5 bucks, we welcome it!

Thank you so much!

El salvador

Hey, remember this little poll?

Turns out the answer is none of the above.

Looks like I'll be working on #1 and #15 from this list this spring for 6 weeks.

I'm excited to get my hands dirty, to push my mental and physical limits, to experience true culture shock, and to learn more from the people I'm working with than I could possibly ever teach them.

It's going to be a real adventure,

and I can't wait.

I'll always be into print

Loving this campaign and the purpose behind it.

Beauty is always better when it's back with good intentions.

photo via adsoftheworld

No one is too small to make a difference

Hey all you blog friends who bumped into my corner of the web. Let me tell you about what has been consuming my life lately. In a gets-me-going-in-the-morning, makes-me-want-to-change-the-world, feeling-like-I-actually-can kind of way. This is the kind of stuff that keeps my blood running and my feet moving even when I'm running on little to no sleep.

Tipping Bucket is an incredible organization that has been able to do so much in the short time they've been up and running. To date, they have restored eyesight to Ugandans, lit up rural African schools that didn't have electricity, and provided support and vocational training to victims of sex-trafficking in Southeast Asia.

Tipping Bucket helps passionately charged people with great ideas but limited resources make those ideas come to life. They do this through many small donations from people with big hearts.

All of this is building up to me telling you that Tipping Bucket is entered into the Pepsi Refresh competition for November. They are in the category to win a $250,000 grant that will help them expand their organization and increase their ability to fund more projects.

This is why I do advertising. This is why I sacrifice time, sleep, energy, and a lot of other things for the BYU Adlab.

Help us help them win!

It's easy:

1) Tell your friends. (Link to this post, to the Tipping Bucket website, blog/tweet/facebook it. Don't be shy, you social media mavens you)

2)VOTE: At www.tippingbucket.org, you can vote 3 times a day. Click the two links on the website and text "104182" to 73774(PEPSI) EACH day in November.**

Thank you in advance! Every vote counts!

*If you’re inspired and would like to join the “street team” helping to make this happen, just send your name and email address to pepsi@tippingbucket.org. That will get you on the list for a daily 2-minute-task email and update on our progress toward seizing this great opportunity!

**If you'd like to receive a reminder text each day throughout November send "22046" to 27138
.

million

New York Department of Education - Million from Sebastian Garn on Vimeo.

This is why I believe in the power of creativity to do good in the world.

This is why I love advertising.

Letters to Strangers

I have always loved sending and receiving mail.

Snail mail.

I love papers and cards and stamps and envelopes and wax seals and everything associated with the handwritten word.

For my creative concepts class assignment I was asked to do something I'd never done before.

So I wrote ten little letters.

And found ten addresses, courtesy of the Provo white pages.

For ten strangers.

I wrote a favorite quote on one side, and on the other, some kind of blurb that came out of my head.

A list.

A rambling of scattered thoughts.

A someday inspirational quote.

And maybe these people will hate what I wrote. Or throw it away without even reading it.

But I hope not. I hope that it's one less thing to vent about that day.

I learned that creativity doesn't have to be elaborate, or perfectly organized, or perfect at all. If you wait for it to be perfect, or to have all the right tools, you will never get anything done.

picture taken by my roommate

manifesto for the school year

"Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing. Use the pain as fuel, as a reminder of your strength."

-August Wilson

There are some things I feel like I've slacked on this summer.

Not that this summer was a failure.

Not at all.

But I feel like I was just so busy and caught up in the many things I was doing (good things, mind you), that I lost a little bit of who I am.

Just a little bit.

I slacked off a little bit in some things that are important to me.

Just a little bit.

This is not me ragging on myself or moping about the past.

This is just me recommitting to a life I love.

A life that is full of passion and character and a few blue recycling bins.

A life of living the principle that less is more.

And that books and music and writing and good quality entertainment are not a waste of time.

That these books mean so much more when I'm not half-asleep.

That playing is just as important to my health as working.

And that learning is a privilege, not a burden.

So I'm going to unpack the boxes in my room, and figure out what to keep, what to get rid of and what to put away until I decide how important it is to me.

And recommit to loving the life God gave me. And remembering what is important.

image from this fabulous girl

the beautiful world

"If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and in eluding the implacable grandeur of this life."

-Albert Camus

This day I pledge to stop taking the beauty of this life for granted.
To enjoy the hot and the cold
To ride rough tides and relax in smooth waters
To climb hills and fall into valleys
To appreciate haves and learn from the have nots

This day I pledge to fall in love every day with a new aspect of this existence
And to give thanks
Because love is only alive when it's recreated every day


This day I pledge to bask in the grace and the goodness of God
And to renew that childlike wonder
And to give love to all
Even those who don't seem to deserve it
Especially those who don't seem to deserve it

Because this life is what I make of it, so I'll make it wonderful.

image via vi.sualize.us

let's get out there and add some beauty to the world

"Love makes us instinctively reach out to God and other people."

-Jeffrey R. Holland

I loved spending the whole weekend listening to some wonderful words and feeling inspired to do good.

Life is good. And peace can be found, even when it seems like it has forgotten about us.

Happy belated Easter to you all!

photo via deviantart

Thirsty

This is why I love advertising.

I know the people who created this brilliant idea.

They are masters. And I look up to them.

It's called the Tap Duel.

You challenge your friends to see who is more willing to pay up.

And you help thirsty children along the way.

And you can beat your friends, and even throw down a little good-hearted charitable trash talk if you want.

The best part is the children always win. {Even if you lose.}* Because it's about them anyway, right?

To find out more about the UNICEF Tap Project, go here.

*But you're not really a loser because you're still donating.

This is joy to me:

"Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world...always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God."

Ether 12:4

I do hope for a better world.

I believe in a better world, but I also believe in this world.

I believe in people.

People who infect the world with smiles and laughter. Who see the beauty through the bad news. Who love unconditionally and who never give up. Who are brave enough to believe in their dreams. Who have convictions and don't stray from them.

There is a lot more we could be doing. But that's the beauty of it: we can do something to make this world a little brighter and a little better.

And we are so blessed.

"Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom."

-Marcel Proust

image via deviant art

She's fine, most of the time

These are tough times.
Let's try and pull things together, together.

"Breathe, just breathe, take the world off your shoulders, and put it on me."



I think this is utterly beautiful. Especially the lyrics.
To find out more, visit: www.breathe4jobs.com

you are what what you eat eats.

~Some Random Thoughts from my Wednesday~

I really want to see this film. And this one, too.

I just spent 30 minutes learning about chocolate. here and here. thank you, wikipedia.

I think Bob Dylan is genius.

I want to be more creative with the three Rs.

I wish I could afford to only shop at farmers markets, independent businesses, and fair trade establishments.

I might go veg again.

Some of my favorite foreign films are in french, not spanish, (the language I've studied).

I tasted world-class cheese today. seriously. they have awards to prove it. Here.

And I tasted chocolate-covered BACON. Here.

I really wouldn't mind living in Oregon the rest of my life.

I love hanging out with my mom.

I miss the MOA cafe.

I am not very good at taking naps. especially in cars.

I was told on Monday that I'm flat-footed. By a doctor. Don't know how I feel about that.

I need a bigger memory card for my camera.

I have had the sudden urge to abandon my laptop for a typewriter.

I really need to eat more vegetables.

I can't wait to pick some Bing Cherries. Pit them. Dry them. And take them back to school.

I'm thinking up a good excuse to drive out to Lighthouse Center in Umpqua.

I really like grocery shopping. Especially at cute little *overpriced* stores.

Should I take HEPE 105 over the summer??

Should I compete open in the fall????

Should I buy a bike next year??

Now that I solved the scheduling problem....i'm stressing about ballroom auditions...:-O

really stressing.

and wishing there was more I could do...

That's all, for now.

photo via deviantart

toms not bombs

I really want this T-shirt.

And some tye-dye TOMS.

Really bad.