each moment has got a lesson for the day

Life is interesting. Even when it is boring. How is it that so much can change and at the same time stay the same?

I've been doing a lot of just sitting and thinking lately. About life. About myself and what I want from this life. I think this summer will be the perfect time to do some serious soul searching. I have come to know myself better the past few years, months, days, but my mind can be quite a complex thing. I think about and analyze the aspects and goings-on of my life too much. I feel deeply. My natural tendency is to see the hidden meaning behind every word, gesture, blink of the eye; I try to keep that in check. Sometimes I daydream about "what if..." longer than I should.

Anyhow, I am excited for time this summer...to get to know Me a little bit better. (Even though I will definitely be working my tail off at my favorite little Italian restaurant).

This was kind of a random rambling of my thoughts...but sometimes rambling is good.

ps: camping was great. the hike was...an adventure, but it was fun and exciting and strenuous and i got to spend it with some of the greatest people alive. it doesn't get much better than that. also, s'mores never tasted so good :).

Hope.

I hope...
that I feel less sick tomorrow...
that I survive the 13 mile hike...(even if I don't feel less sick)
that it gets warmer here, and that it is warmer when we're camping...


that I can get to sleep tonight....yay for Nyquil.



-LC

Free at last!

I'm DONE!

I NEVER have to go back to my old job. We will call it "fast-food-chain-that-will-not-be-named." Because it is basically the Voldemort of the restaurant industry.

It feels so WONDERFUL!

It was like swallowing a pill, but it is over.

Today was a pretty average Monday. I was kind of in a daze the whole day. I don't think I've gotten enough sleep a single night this year.

That's depressing.

Maybe I should go to bed early tonight....

.....doubt it.


-LC

Things I miss...

Today I was spacing out in the middle of sacrament meeting and I was reminiscing, which was actually pretty entertaining.

Needless to say, it spurred yet another list. Here we go again.

-time to read for fun
-girls' camp
-holding hands
-MSN Messenger, back when it was cool
-platform flip flops, when I thought they were so in style
-cassette tapes
-oh, and WALKMANS
-sleepovers
-worksheets....easy homework from high school
-midnight trips to Sherm's
-one tree hill
-orange food nights
-having a bedtime
-being on a dance team
-high school...?


That's all for now...:)
-LC

Katie, you were right. This is addicting.

Happy thoughts for the day:

sunbathing, sunglasses, and swimsuits

2 hour lunch breaks

curls

DIVINE COMEDY

Ave. 123

Music from my childhood: Third Eye Blind, Barenaked Ladies, Matchbox Twenty, Everclear...etc.

Free candy

Ice cream cones

The beauty of a Saturday to come...

Mo-peds...(shh...don't tell mi padre ;) )

Lucky hands of cards

Good quotes

Friends:)

Dancing for the pure joy that it brings


-LC

Welcome, Spring! We have MISSED you!

I thought about writing a post....


BUT instead,



I decided to go out and enjoy the sunshine...



-LC

lyrics for life

"sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same." -the fray

"music is the reason why I know time still exists." -elisa

"did i make it that easy to walk right in and out of my life?" -a fine frenzy

"you and me...always between the lines." -sara bareilles

"nothing tastes as sweet as what I can't have" -teddy geiger

I have decided to go home for the summer, rather than staying here and going to school and working. It took about two months of sincerely searching for answers, several failed job opportunities, and a bucket or two of sweat and tears trying to solidify my plan to stay. I guess that is my answer, I was going against the grain and it just wasn't working.

I AM excited to go home and spend time with my family, and have a break from school. I feel at peace with the decision, and somewhat relieved. But for the first time in my life, it's harder to go home than it is to leave. Maybe that is because for the first time, somewhere else feels
like home, too.

Reasons to be excited to go home:
-summer in the best state in the country
-hanging out with my mom all summer
-spending time with a certain ten-year-old boy with whom I share an immediate blood line :)
-moolah...$$$ (at a job that I like!)
-ice cream...huge scoop for 75 cents at the local grocery store...:)


It will be hard to leave and know that there is so much I will miss by not being with these people I have grown so used to seeing every day. It's only 4 months though, right?

I hate goodbyes. They are almost always bittersweet. Someone better call me over the summer, that's all I have to say :)

My name is Laura, and I'm a compulsive list-maker.

Current Favorites:

-music: ella fitzgerald
-movie: serendipity
-weather: breezy sunshine
-dance: american rumba
-book: the book thief...i'm almost done, finally!
-color: red
-friend: my mom
-language: french, even though I speak about ten words
-feeling: being barefoot
-spot on campus: spiral staircase in the JFSB
-food: dark chocolate
-line from a song: "you held your breath, and the door for me" --thank you alanis morissette
-quote: "live simply so that others may simply live"--ghandi


-lc

-DiScLaImEr-

1. The first 20 or so posts are completely unrelated to the later ones; they are just random thoughts.

2. I kind of stink at this whole blogging thing.

3. There is a very good chance that it will be another year before I post anything again.

4. I went the whole year without eating meat (as mentioned in a previous post, at the 7 month mark).

That's all.

-LC

I should be sleeping...

So I know that I only ever write on this about twice a year. I guess tonight is just one of those nights. It's 12:42 and I should be in bed, but for some reason I don't want to sleep yet. I will regret this in the morning, I'm sure. Such is the life of a college student.
I don't have anything particularly insightful to say tonight, especially not anything political or "treehugger-ish," except for the fact that I received a package from my mother today with a bar of organic,
fair trade,
spearmint,
dark chocolate....

Heaven. That is how I feel about chocolate.

That was random.

My roommates call me a hippie. I guess I'm okay with that. Regardless of what others think, I am NOT a raving liberal. If anything, I have slightly liberal undertones on a few, select subjects. I do believe that it is possible to be somewhat of a treehugger and still have conservative values.

I recycle and like to buy organic but that doesn't mean I'm pro-choice or against our right to bear arms.

I think I am going to continue re-interpreting what this blog is about. I think it is kind of a jumbled mess of odds and ends, not really about anything in particular. I guess that kind of mirrors my personality; I'm a bit of a "Jane" of all trades. Moderately good at a bunch of different things, but not truly AMAZING at anything.

So I guess that's it for tonight. I'm going to finish some much-procrastinated Spanish homework. Good night.

-LC

They paved paradise to put up a parking lot...

New favorite "Green" song:

Big Yellow Taxi

originally by Joni Mitchell, but I really like the Counting Crows version with Vanessa Carlton.

I'm torn between two favorite lines:

don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you got til it's gone...they paved paradise to put up a parking lot.

and

hey farmer, farmer put away that DDT. I don't mind spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees...please.

Anyway...someday I'm going to write a song as political and green as that. I know I haven't written in a while, but I have new goals for the coming school year (my first year in an apartment, with a kitchen!!):

1). Go to the farmers market as often as I can.
2). EAT healthy...aka..real food...fruit...vegetables...whole grains...homemade stuff:)
3). Continue to be a vegetarian....(going on 7 months!)
4). Eat breakfast!!!!!!!
5). Buy Local, organic and fair trade as much as I can!
6). Go to the International Cinema really often.
7). Become a really good cook.
8). Make my own stuff
9). Be creative and recycle.

I'm excited for this next year...it's going to be a blast.

-LC

Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22nd! Act "greener" than you normally would!

-LC

Places I want to go/visit/live

-Mexico
-ITALY
-France
-Greece
-Australia
-South America (I haven't decided where exactly yet, but I would love to experience Latin American culture firsthand, because I already feel such a connection to the Spanish language and the parts of the culture I am familiar with.)
-Cuba....mainly because of Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights...so maybe not current Cuba...but the Cuba of 40 years ago.
-New York City
-California...I've been there many times, and I believe I inherited a large amount of "California blood" from my mother, a beautiful, "beach-loving" California girl.
-Stars Hollow....somewhere like that.
-Denmark...preferably Copenhagen. My parents visited there and told me that it seemed very economical and efficient.
-India
-South Africa
-Spain...wow Ican't believe I didn't think about that one until now.
-Germany
-Okay, basically everywhere in Europe.

I want to go these places, live there for a time and learn the languages. The Ultimate Goal.

-LC

"It's not worth the calories..."

I remember several times hearing my mother use this phrase in relation to some sugary candy, mediocre macaroni, or the like. This is not saying that my mother or I are overly obsessed with counting calories and dieting. Hardly. But now that I am older I realize there is definite truth to this phrase, some food really isn't worth it. If you are only eating it because it's there, because you are bored, because what you really want isn't available at the moment or takes more preparation, or for any other reason than for the simple enjoyment of that particular food, it really isn't "worth the calories."
For several weeks earlier this fall my best friend and I decided to go without sugar, just for the heck of it. I really feel like this experience refined my tastes and made me realize which sweets are worth it and which I would've eaten for any of the above reasons. For example, store-bought cookies are okay, but my mother's homemade chocolate chip cookies are worth the calories every time.
I don't mean to sound like I only ever indulge in foods that are of the highest quality and taste, I am often guilty of eating something just because it is there or because I am too lazy to make what I really want. I think it's also really hard to only eat what you really want because we live in a society surrounded by food. At almost every gathering, there is bound to be an array of mediocre goodies and sweets determined to sneak into the hands and eventually the mouths of unsuspecting guests. The "I'll just have one" mindset rarely finds success at such events.
Anyway, I guess this has sort of turned into a rant about mediocre cuisine (ironic phrase, I know) and I really didn't mean for it to turn out that way. I might need to go on another no-sugar kick in order to purge my body of high fructose corn syrup and refine my cravings once more. Maybe not...
I'm off to eat dinner...and I will probably have ice cream for dessert...but in lieu of this recent post, maybe I'll only have one scoop:).

-LC

ps: still not eating meat....pushing two months...does that mean I should identify myself as a vegetarian?

music will change the world

current favorites:

-gravity, sara bareilles
-wasted, cartel
-lighted up, gabriel mann
-eres mi religion, mana
-someone to watch over me, when ella fitzgerald sings it
-mack the knife, louis armstrong
-sing to you, table for one/caleb blood
-things i'll never say, avril lavigne...story of my life
-congratulations, blue october

music is powerful...it touches emotions that the spoken word cannot...it is both a refuge and a celebration.

Temporary Vegetarian...

So...one of the goals that I mentioned in a previous post was to be a vegetarian for a week. Well, I did it! I've actually been a "vegetarian" (I don't feel comfortable saying that I'm a vegetarian yet because I don't know how long it will last) for almost 3 weeks. It's honestly not as hard as I thought it would be. Considering I rarely eat meat for Breakfast or Lunch and cafeteria meat never really piques my appetite, it's been fairly easy. I think the biggest challenge is finding other things that fill me up, and learning to like salad. I guess the salad part isn't a requirement to be a vegetarian, but I figured I should like vegetables...since it's kind of in the name. Anyway, I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up. So far, so good. I doubt that I'll never eat meat again (especially when I get home and am around my moms venison tacos, or my grandmother's pork roast), but I like the fact that I can handle it. Anyway....just some thoughts. I felt like posting something.

word of advice: do something to change your world, and do it now.
~LC

ps: I can't wait for next year when I'm no longer without a kitchen. I would love to fill my apartment kitchen next year with organic food and local produce. And be able to cook and not rely on mass-produced cafeteria food. Hooray for getting out of the dorms!

Must run in the family...

So if there are more than 2 people that actually read this blog....check out my mom's "Eat Local" blog. It's another issue that is incredibly important.

http://flavorsoftheumpqua.blogspot.com/

Check it out!

-LC

What a waste....

So since I've been at school...this semester and the past semester...I've been trying to recycle as much as I can. Mainly, bottles and paper. But there are, of course, items that don't fit in either of those categories. I've realized two things: 1) that I can find a second or third use for a lot of things and 2) that I used to waste SO much.

I think since I've been in this mindset, that I look at things I used to throw away and see potential to make them into something else. Seriously the three R's are not just good for the Earth, but they're beneficial to a college student's budget. I don't waste money on buying new things because I've remade my old stuff into what I need. I realize this isn't going to work for everything, but still. Lack of cash breeds CREATIVITY and ORIGINALITY. Gotta love it.

Well...that's all for now...pretty simple...but just the thoughts of a wants-to-save-the-earth-and-likes-making-her-own-stuff chick:).

-LC

The above pictures are not my own creations...but I thought they were cool:)....if you can't tell..it's pop cans:) and candy wrappers

Random thoughts...

Things I want to try:
1. Not buying anything new (except food) for a week.
2. Going several days/a week with as little power as possible...aka indoor plumbing is a given, but no blow-drying, that sort of thing.
3. Someday...only buying fair trade.
4. Being a vegetarian for a week.
5. Reusing/Recycling as much as I possibly can.

Well if I think of more I will post them later. Time to go. :)

-LC

Just for fun.... www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator

It's been a while...

Hello anyone who might come across this, or has been checking it even though I haven't posted in years...Welcome.


On a whim, I decided to start this up again, at least for the time being, but I want it to be more than just another journal.

I want this to be some sort of impetus for change, something to make me actually get my bum in gear and start doing all of the things I feel so passionately about. There are so many places I want to go, things I want to do, and people that I want to help. I want to travel everywhere and feed, clothe and teach people, and I want to be able to talk to them in their own language.

I feel so blessed to be born into the circumstances I was. Simply the fact that I'm typing this on a computer, with internet proves that point.

I don't know yet how I'm going to organize this project, or even if anyone will read it, but it's a start in the right direction...I hope.

So for anyone who reads this or cares, it's kind of fun actually....I wish they had it in other languages...

www.freerice.com

It's time to change the world, one grain of rice at a time...

Other websites:
www.oxfamamerica.com
www.freethechildren.com
www.leaderstoday.com
www.metowe.com