Day 19: November 14, 2010.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHIORI!!  Today marks the 20th birthday of one of my closest friends!  So thankful to be able to call myself her friend!

For any of you who know me well enough, you know that I do not enjoy studying whatsoever.  Mainly because I just don't know how to study effectively (any good study skills or habits I may have developed in middle school and early high school were gone by graduation day and I can't seem to find them anywhere!), though my shift in priorities over the recent years along with simple laziness and apathy toward the subject matter have all played serious roles as well in the buildup of this annoyance I have toward academics.  Also, since somehow A's and B's are still somehow pulled off most of the time--I'd DEFINITELY being lying if I made you think otherwise (Haha!)--I just find that especially these days I'm too lazy to stress out too much!

Anyway, that being said, I'm happy to say that this has been me for the past three hours...

...and I've got to just keep truckin' along until my 6 P.M. rehearsal.  Way too much dance history, not enough brain capacity to retain all this information, but I'm so happy to report that today's serious study session hasn't been nearly as bad as my other (infrequent) ones have been thus far this semester!  By audibly singing my way through the afternoon with my music on and telling myself that while yes, it's a ton of information, but yes, I know that I DO know it better than I may believe has kept me confident, calm and happy!  I'm feeling that tomorrow when I go in to take this test I'll be pretty ready to go.  Either way, I can go into tomorrow knowing that I honestly put in my best effort and did all that I could to know everything about the material as I possibly could.  Thanks to my terrible study habits, that's not something I feel too frequently.  This will be a very nice change of pace :)

Today, academic productivity makes me happy :)

Day 18: November 13, 2010.

I think it's so interesting how people have such different eating habits!  Today's example, for instance, is how one eats a cupcake (or muffin or something of the like).  I eat mine bottom to top, saving the best part for last like so:

People think it's weird, but hey..Aren't we all?! 

Cupcakes and quirky, individual character traits make me happy :)

Day 17: November 12, 2010.

My high school friend Sammie is here in the city today!  This beautiful young lady is a budding actress, preparing herself to take on the the crazy lifestyle of a professional in the industry.  In the spring she'll be coming up here for an awesome acting program (honestly, I can't relay too much information about it..I apologize!), but this is really exciting because this means she'll be moving up here to pursue this dream of hers!  Go Sammie! :)

Anyway, I'm about to go meet her across the street in Union Square and we're going to go grab dinner and coffee/tea before heading over to the dance building to watch the last night of the third student showing, and I think I have the perfect place to go to catch up!  There's this little cafe right across the street from the dance building called Cafe Mocha (you may have seen or heard me reference it before), and so far, it's my favorite little cafe/tea bar/coffee shop in this part of town!  I really love all coffee shops, though.  Preferably the independent ones (as opposed to big chains), but I won't hate on any of them!  Something about them calms me, even when it's in the middle of their "rush hour" and it's jam packed with people and filled wall to wall, ceiling to floor with conversation.  I like to go to them to do homework, indulge in free wi-fi, read...sometimes I just like to sit by a window, especially here in New York, and just watch things.  See life.  It's pretty awesome.
Coffee shops are also my favorite places to go to talk with people!  In my opinion, the atmosphere is perfect for casual conversation (or even work-related conversation!  Study party, anyone?!  Haha!), and the combination of the environment, the people, the friendships, and the tasty treats, I just don't think one could really go wrong :)

On this Friday evening, tea(/coffee), friendship, and low-key ambiance makes me happy :)

Day 16: November 11, 2010.

First off, to all the men and women who have served, do serve, or will serve this country, I can't say "Thank you" enough to express the gratitude and appreciation I have in my heart!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Happy Veterans Day :)

I love sweatpants.  The baggier the better.  And I love, love, love not wearing makeup!  Haha!  (I put some on yesterday before I went to get lunch with my grandparents and instantly remembered why I don't wear it on a day-to-day basis anymore!  Ha!)

Comfort makes me so happy :)

Day 15: November 10, 2010.

I'm so thankful for the warmness of others.  It's only about 9:15 in the morning and already I'm feeling quite frazzled and it really didn't help that I had to dry a load of laundry twice last night and when I went down to pick it up just now it was STILL soaking wet.  In stressful times like this, especially running on not nearly enough sleep, it's the things like that that are just enough to get me overly frustrated and worked up.
On my way to and from the laundry room, though, I was lucky enough to cross paths with one of the custodial workers here in my dorm building.  I've seen her once before but really appreciated her words and smiles this morning.  She greeted me the same way as the first time with a big "Good morning, beautiful flower!  My flower!  You are so beautiful!" with a real smile on her face and joy in her heart.  I responded and as I neared the entryway to the laundry room she concluded with a "Have a wonderful day, my beautiful flower.  God bless you!"  A boy came down the hallway behind me in our direction and I heard her greet him similarly, saying "Good morning, handsome!"  She gave me one last well-wish and blessing as I passed her once more on my way back to the elevator.  That one greeting was just what I needed to hear on this morning...The trueness in her tone was a contagious happiness that she was so willing to pass on to each of us who walked by, myself included.  I couldn't be more thankful to have received such a gift to carry throughout my day!

Also, we don't have dance classes this morning because of advisor meetings for spring registration!  (I can't believe we're already getting ready for spring semester?!)  What a nice break!

AND, to top it all off, I get to see my wonderful, amazing, beautiful, fantastic Nana and Pop-pop for lunch today!!

I love, love, love my grandparents and was really worried I wasn't going to get to see them during their visit here this week!  (They just came for a little vacation for a few days.)  So happy it worked out that I'll be able to share some time with them!

Today, people who give lovingly, mornings of rest, and grandparents make me happy :):)

Day 14: November 9, 2010.

I know it's not good to wish days away.  To be so focused on the future and what is going to happen rather than enjoying the moment we have right now.  Don't get me wrong, I am fully enjoying everything about this day and this week, but sometimes no matter how much you enjoy what you're doing and the place in which you're doing it, the stress can amount to just enough to make you ready for the next phase.

That's where I find myself today, so I'm noticing that I'm finding myself finding so much happiness in incentives, reason to accomplish each task at hand now.  Each of these incentives is seeming to revolve around family, too, which makes me even more excited when I remember that once I push through these difficult times I'll have the opportunity to breathe and find joy with those who I love most!

Here's the calendar of events that is what's keeping me going today:

Tomorrow-Lunch with Nana and Pop-pop! (They're visiting from home and I was so worried I wasn't going to be able to see them this week with all that's going on!)
Next weekend (11/20 through Tues. 11/23)-Mom, Dad and Morgan will be in town!
Thursday the 25th-THANKSGIVING!!!!! :) (SO much family time that day!!!)
Thursday, December 16th-Home for Winter Break!

Keeping this in mind has been able to help me put the tail end of this crazy semester from a newer perspective--a perspective where it looks broken up enough to not seem like one big, daunting expanse of never-ending time, and by allowing me to remember that family time isn't as few and far between as is easy to think sometimes!

Today, thoughts of family makes me happy :)

Day 13: November 8, 2010.

I've got to make this one short and sweet tonight.  You're reading the words of a very sleepy, sleepy girl with way too much work to get done.  So I'm just going to say this:

Monday. Has. Been. Conquered.


Accomplishing feats such as this make me HAPPY :)