Genetics

I've recently fallen in love with nonfiction books. I used to find them extremely dull but now I find them really mentally stimulating. Plus, I've had really bad luck finding good fiction books lately, so I was looking for a change. So I went to the library a few days ago and picked up a book on genetics. I don't know much about it, other than what I learned about in my tenth grade biology class, but I felt like it would be a really interesting topic to learn about. But while I was reading it, I started to think about the traits that I inherited from my parents, the physical and the personality traits. And I thought it'd be fun to dissect myself and see what I got from each parent.

Senior pictures! 

      DAD:

• Eyebrows
• Nose 
• Competitive drive
• Attention to detail
• Love of sports
• All-or-nothing attitude
• Temper
• Addiction to chicken wings
• Curly hair

Last day of senior year, out with my friends!

      MOM:

• Hair color
• Sensitivity
• Rule follower
• Love of reading 
• Introversion
• Love of school
• Lips
• Strong work ethic
• Protectiveness 

Honeymooning at Disney World!

I'm pretty evenly split among my parents as you can see, even though my personality is way more complicated than that. I always thought that I was more like my mom but I see now that's not the case. 

If you guys have any book recommendations, I'd really like to know about them! Leave them in a comment below and I'll be sure to check them out! 

Happy Sunday! 

-Chelsea 

What I've Learned This Week: Week 2

Hi, everyone! Happy Friday! I hope that you have all had a wonderful week! I also hope that you learned a lot! I know that I did!



I LEARNED THAT...

1. ... being the bigger person is difficult but it's worth it.

2. ... life is full of ups and downs but if you focus on the downs, it keeps you from enjoying the good.

3. ... living dairy-free isn't going to stop me from enjoying my food or my life to the fullest.

4. ... in life, you're forced to do things that you don't want to do but doing it with a smile makes it a little easier.

5. ... no matter what, family really is the most important thing in life.

I had a really enlightening week and I feel a lot better after coming to these realizations. If you'd like to write a "What I Learned This Week" post, feel free to link up or comment your thoughts below! If I feel diligent enough, I might turn this into a series! We'll see!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-Chelsea 

Mom's Birthday

Happy birthday to my WONDERFUL mother, Michele! I love you, Mom! I hope that your day is as amazing as you are... and that you like the presents that I got you!

  I couldn't have asked for a better mother! Happy birthday! 

What I've Learned This Week

Well, it's Friday! Finally, right? Ever since my husband left with the army, the weeks have seemed to drag on longer than they did before. But I'm really trying to keep my promise to myself, to live a more positive lifestyle. Some days are harder than others but nonetheless, I find some way to see the silver lining.

In the spirit of being positive, I thought to myself, "Don't we learn something new everyday? That's positive." So I thought that it'd be a good idea if I shared what I learned this week with the world.

I LEARNED THAT...

1.  ...if you put yourself out there, it might be hard at first but the rewards are amazing.

2. ...sometimes in life you're forced to do things that you don't want to do but you can make it better with a more positive attitude.

3. ...I put more pressure on myself than I ever need to but my family will always be there to remind me that everything is going to be fine and it's okay not to be perfect.

4. ...although I am different from most people, I'm not different from everyone. There are people out there like me, I just have to look harder for them.

5. ... gifts from the heart truly are the best kinds.


That sums up my week pretty well. I've had a lot of eye-opening conversations this weekend and I've met some people that I really feel have changed my life for the better. It's been another hard week but has still been an amazing one! I hope that you all can say the same!

Feel free to comment below about what you've learned this week! I hope that you all have amazing weekends!

Happy Friday!

Chelsea

Broken Relationships

As long as I'm being nostalgic, I'll post an old football photo of me. :)

Today my family and I were looking through old photos and I came across a photo of me with an old friend. Of course, I felt nostalgia right away. I loved how happy I looked with them and I instantly yearned for that time when we actually spoke to each other, when we were inseparable.

Needless to say, we had a falling out and I regret that. We've tried to mend the broken bonds of our past friendship but have come to realize that no matter what we do, we just can't seem to get past all of the hurt. The fact that I don't speak to this person anymore really breaks my heart because they were such a huge part of my life. But I have learned that it doesn't do me any good to dwell on things that aren't meant to be. Simply put, we were part of the other person's life for as long as we were meant to be and we moved on. However sad that may be, I am truly blessed to have the memories that I have with this person. I never regretted our friendship for a minute and I never will.

This person is obviously not the only one that I've lost contact with. When I made the decision to go to a magnet school, I didn't see my other childhood friends as often either. It caused us all to drift apart and I don't talk to most of them, unfortunately. We have tried to meet up and go out too but our schedules normally conflict too much. Eventually, we came to realize that it's easier to just be Facebook friends.

The realization of just how many friends that I've lost contact with hit me really hard today. Don't get me wrong, I do have other friends, I just miss my old ones. I feel like they are different people now and I missed out on an important part in all of their lives, their journey from being pre-teens to adults. This was expected to happen but when I was going through it, I thought that I'd be different; I thought that I'd be the one that didn't let distance and time away get in the way of my friendships but it happened. I guess some things just aren't meant to be and people always find a way to move on. That's life, right?

I wouldn't trade my life or my friends for anything but I do want my friends to know just how much I miss them and even though we don't speak much anymore, I still care about them. I always will but I do live to embrace the new people and new experiences in my life. But it's still nice to look at those old pictures and remember the good times.

Sorry, guys. I try not to be too mushy but I just couldn't help it today.

Happy Tuesday!

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My Second Blog

Learn to Love It!

I do actually enjoy the concept of going to school. I love learning about the world around me, feeling smart and being well-rounded. However, when you go to college, for some reason, you are forced to take classes that have nothing to do with your major. For me, it always felt like a huge waste of my time and money because when I didn't enjoy the subjects that I was forced to take, it just took the wind out of my sails, you know? This pretty much sums up how I've been feeling about being forced to take anthropology.

However, a few years ago, I met someone that has had a very strong influence in my life. He was able to change my negativity about those classes with a simple phrase, "Learn to love it." It was so simple, yet so powerful.

Basically, it meant that if you dwell on things that you can't change and keep a negative attitude about them, you would end up making yourself more miserable than you already were. So by finding some way to make whatever you were doing better, it enabled you to be happier, which ends up having profound effects on your life.

Now I won't disclose this person's name, so let's just call him C.B. (He'll understand what that means :)) C.B. is someone that is always there when my family needs him, day or night and always has the best advice, no matter what the situation is. C.B. is definitely someone that I consider a mentor, a friend and a gift in my family's life. So when he gives me advice, I take it.

Normally, I'm really good about making sure that I keep a positive outlook on life, including the things that I cannot change. However, with my husband being away and going to a new school, it's been more difficult. But yesterday, my friend was complaining about one of her classes and I said, "Learn to love it" right away. I didn't even have time to think before I spoke; I simply reacted.

It really put things into perspective for me. I remembered that C.B. had given me that advice all those years ago and that he had never steered me wrong before. So this weekend, I'm going to be doing tons of studying for my upcoming anthropology test on Tuesday but now, I've got it in my head that instead of it being an inconvenience or a waste of my time, it's an adventure. It's a chance to learn something new and better my life and mind. So thank you, C.B. Even though it's been a while since I've seen you, you still make a difference in my daily life and I can never thank you enough for that.

My Wish List!

I am an extremely frugal person. The idea of spending money literally makes my skin crawl. But even though I like saving money, it means that I can't do much because I'm cheap. It means no shopping, no movies, no going out to dinner, etc. So, basically, it means that I don't do very much for myself and I've recently decided that that's not good enough for me. I realized that it's okay to spoil myself every once in a while because, not to be corny, you only live once.

So here is a sneak-peek into my wish list! I'm not necessarily buying all of this stuff right away but I hope to be getting them some time in the near future!

I am generally a pretty simple person and I don't need a lot, so this list won't be very extensive! I just put my top 3!

1. A charm bracelet- I love the idea of owning one but I don't want to fill it with charms of things like I like. I want to fill it with things that I've done! Ex: I would put on a guitar charm if I learned how to play the guitar. Every time that I did/learned something new, I'd get a new charm for it! I feel like it would motivate me to do more so that I'd fill up the bracelet!


2. Peter Pan snowglobe- I love Peter Pan, as you all probably know from reading my profile description, and I love snowglobes! Unfortunately, the Disney snowglobes are really expensive, so it'll have to wait a little bit!


3. A video camera- I would LOVE to learn how to vlog and it's not something that you can really learn to do from an iPhone camera. So I need a video camera. Also, I think that it's really important to document the important times in your life and what better way to do it?

Hello, Stranger

To protect the girl in my story's privacy, I will not be including her name. Enjoy the story anyway. :)



Last Thursday I was sitting alone at a table outside of my school's food court when a girl that I'd never met came up to me. She looked at me and said, "May I sit down?" I said, "Of course" and was immediately delighted. Things like this don't normally happen to me.

I am naturally a shy person and meeting people is really hard and uncomfortable for me. However, even though she had expressed that she wanted to sit by me, I immediately became anxious. I wasn't sure if she just wanted a space to sit or if she actually wanted to converse. Then I was pressed with the question of whether or not I should initiate some small talk because I didn't want it to be awkward and yet, I didn't want to annoy her. I over-think things a lot and this is a perfect example, I think.

Imagine my relief when she immediately starts up a conversation and we end up talking for about an hour. After that, we both had to go to class and once again, I was pleasantly surprised when she asked me if I'd like to meet again for lunch on Tuesday, which is today.

I was really looking forward to meeting her again today but was nervous that she would either forget about it or that she was just being polite last week. There I went, over-thinking again. So when she showed up today, all bubbly and happy, I knew that I had to start giving people more credit and be a little more comfortable with other people.

She seems to have a bit more of an extroverted personality than I do, which is fine because it helps bring me out of my shell a little bit and I'm really grateful. When I met my best friends from high school, I sat down with them randomly at lunch, too and they ended up being some of the best friends of my life. It's just so ironic that it ended up happening to me and this time, I was much more afraid. I remember being petrified in high school when I met my friends but I did it and ended up being so thankful that I did, just as I am thankful that this girl did it for me. I look forward to continuing our lunch dates together as the semester progresses and continues.

If you have any life experiences that make you happy or that you'd like to share, comment below! Also, feel free to check out my other social media profiles!

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