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Random Thoughts of the Day:

• David Archuleta – I haven’t even liked American Idol this season but when this kid sings, it melts my heart. He’s the only person I can say that I’ve ever voted for just because I want everyone to have the opportunity to hear his beautiful voice. I usually just watch the show because of Simon’s cruel, but accurate judgment of the other contestants. But when I’m home, I always watch something else until it’s David’s turn – he’s just fabulous. I just want to shrink him and put him into my iPod.
• Almay eyeshadow combination sets are one of the best things ever invented. Especially for girls like me who have no real make-up sense – the set gives you three colors and explains how to put them on so you don’t look like a complete idiot. I have every set. And I’m in love.
• Vegas was amazing - took a helicopter tour over the Strip and the Grand Canyon. I think that if audiology doesn’t work out for me, I could become a helicopter pilot. It seems so easy (I’m sure its not obviously..) but I think I could do it and imagine all the places you could go with your free time! I would probably fly my helicopter everywhere – even to the grocery store. Anyone wanna take up flying with me?
• My own stupidity: So today I got an email from one of my professors asking students to volunteer to moderate speaker sessions at our conference in Charlotte next week. Now let’s talk about how smart I am…
  
  I emailed her back giving her the three options I would like to volunteer for, assuming (yes..ASSuming) that she would choose one for me. But no, she chose all 3! So now I am stuck doing all three and I couldn’t even ask her to not to do all of them because she already emailed the speakers with my information. Blahh..
  
  
  
  Enough for the night – hope you enjoyed wasting time reading my ramblings :)

2 days until...

Things I've Learned To Appreciate...

Here's a list of some things I've had a new appreciation for lately...

1) thank you notes
- sometimes it just takes one person to say a genuine thank you to brighten my whole day. It works the other way too - saying thank you isn't hard and can mean so much

2) red lights
- without them, I wouldn't have time to send text messages or eat cereal in the morning on the way to work

3) time
- time waits for no one, and it's really got a headstart on me. but I've been trying to make the best of my days by appreciating my life and all that I've had the opportunity to do

4) John Mayer lyrics
- seriously, try listening sometime

5) my health
- one of my best friends is fighting cancer...again. the girl cannot catch a break yet still has the best attitude of anyone i've ever met. I don't know how she does it - and I admire her more than she will ever know

6) reality tv
- yep, I know. How can someone appreciate reality tv? Well, I do. It's the one thing lately that can keep my mind occupied longer than 5 minutes and sometimes its nice to realize that maybe you're not really as crazy as you think

7) Barnes & Noble
- sometimes walking into B&N makes me feel like I'm entering a different world - a utopian society if you will: adults and children of all ages and races coexisting peacefully. the last time i went there was just to take a break from life and i realized that almost everyone else there was doing the same thing. while i was there reading, i took notice of almost everyone around me. and then i noticed that i wasn't the only one scouting the crowd. maybe we all need a barnes and noble therapy session now and again. maybe no one really goes there to read at all - but just to feel a bit more human

And thanks to a website Amy sent me, I have found this beautiful quote to share today:
"You have friends and family that love you. Learn how to be thankful.Think of all the things you have to be happy about. Relax, calm down, take things slower. No one has everything, and everyone has something of sorrow intermingled with gladness of life. The trick is to make the laughter outweigh the tears. We cannot change the past, but we can enjoy today, and look to the future. But if we are prepared to take credit for the past and accept that everything that happened in our life, good and bad, has made us the person we are - the battle is half won."

Karma is our judge

"If more people believed in the law of karma, we would never need a police force or peace treaties. But without an inner conviction that nobody can escape the consequences of their actions, even if we employ many types of external means in order to enforce the law, we will never be able to build a peaceful society. Modern societies use very sophisticated equipment to monitor and identify criminals. But the more complicated and fascinating our equipment is, the more sophisticated and determined the criminals become. If human society is to improve, it is not enough to enforce external laws. We need to have recourse to our inner judge."
-the Dalai Lama

Purple Cows...

I was recently having a conversation with Henry and he explained to me this wonderful concept of the purple cow. The story is as follows:

Two men are driving down the road and for hours and hours they see no animals. Finally, the passenger sees a cow and points it out by saying "Look! A cow!!". The driver is all excited and it inspires him to drive further. A few more miles down the road they see another cow. Still exciting! But not as exciting as the first one. After the second cow, they continue to see cows every few miles and then every mile and then they just start passing fields of cows. Eventually, the cows aren't exciting anymore.

A few hours later, the men are still driving. All of a sudden, the passenger says "Loook!! A PURPLE cow!". The driver is so excited because it's a new colored cow and who ever really sees a purple cow! The old cows are completely forgotten and this new purple cow has taken over his mind and made him so excited.
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Ok...so I know this story is a little silly. But I think it has some very important life lessons. ALWAYS LOOK FOR THE PURPLE COW! Whether it's in relationships, careers, or just life in general. You can't be a regular cow forever...eventually you lose your flair. Those people who are successful in life are those who are always looking for that purple cow. That "cow" that will make people think about something differently or inspire them to do great things.

Thought I'd share - and keep your eyes open for that purple cow :)

Jodie's Wedding Weekend!

I spent this past weekend in Orlando with some of my DPhiE sisters for the wedding of Miss Jodie Okun. Cammie (Cameisha May) and I drove up together and made it just in time for the welcome reception on Friday night. I'm pretty sure our favorite part of the trip was changing into our dresses in the Disney parking lot. Kind of inappropriate, but we didn't miss the reception! The welcome reception was the the Disney Beach Club in Ariel's Grotto. The food was amazinggg and Jodie looked so beautiful! She had what I refer to as her "pre-wedding" dress, which was this gorgeous white beaded gown. It was so nice to see how happy her and Steve were and it made me so thankful I got to go up there and celebrate her wedding weekend with her!

Friday night we hit up Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney. We started off at this cool little Irish bar and ended up at Mannequins dance club (which was kind of lame, but we made it fun!) The whole wedding group hung out at the Irish place and then the bride and groom split at midnight so they wouldn't see each other until the next day. Here's the last picture I have of them before they got hitched!

Saturday, Cammie and I spent the day with JP (Cam's boy toy). He moved up there a few weeks ago and I haven't seen him in ages so it was great catching up with him. Then we went back to get ready for the wedding, met up with Vanessa and went to the wedding!

The wedding was at Disney's Wedding Pavilion (you know, my dream wedding destination). It was perfect weather and such an amazing ceremony. Some of it was in Hebrew so it was a bit hard to follow but a beautiful ceremony nonetheless. Jodie looked BEAUTIFUL and so happy! And watching Steve's face as she walked down the aisle just made me so happy for the two of them. Afterwards, we waited outside for the bride and groom. From my understanding, we had to wait because after a Jewish wedding, the bride and groom spend some special alone time together, which is called "Yichud" in Hebrew. I think that's a really sweet tradition and I'm not sure what the history is behind it but I bet it's nice after such a crazy day/week/year, to just relax and enjoy the company of the person you'll be spending every day with for the rest of your life.

After waiting for a bit, they came out of the wedding pavilion and into the row of wedding go-ers who were all blowing bubbles and popping confetti! Our little group (mostly Glenn), tried to start the wave but we weren't that successful. After the bride and groom got into their car, we all boarded buses and headed to Epcot for the cocktail hour and wedding reception.

Right as we arrived at Epcot and were walking to the cocktail hour area, the fireworks started going off over the lake at Epcot. It was perfect timing and just made the night even that more special. We had our own special area for the cocktail part, so we ate and drank and watched fireworks :)

The actual reception was inside of the American Adventure lobby at Epcot. I've been in there millions of times but seeing the lobby all done up for the reception was just awesome. My table (Table 11) was the best. I'm a little biased of course, but it was a bunch of sorority girls and firefighters so of course we had a good time and I met some wonderful people!

I haven't been to many weddings, but all in all, the wedding weekend was just amazing! Jodie and Steve are both perfect for each other and it's nice to see two people who are so in love. I'm so thankful they invited me to be part of their celebration (or mitzvah!) and I wish them a long, happy, healthy, fulfilling life! Mazel-Tov!!