Quotes of the Day: Common Sense

“Common sense is as rare as genius, - is the basis of genius”
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The three great essentials to achieve anything worth while are, first, hard work; second, stick-to-itiveness; third, common sense.”
--Thomas Alva Edison

“Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has”
--Rene Descartes

“Common sense is the knack of seeing things as they are, and doing things as they ought to be done.”
--C. E. Stowe

“Common sense is very uncommon.”
--Horace Greeley


*This has been a week where I notice the lack of common sense and effort people put in to getting things done. Some people would rather ask someone else how to do something that look it up themselves. I do believe my patience is waning this week.

How to Love

Believe it or not, I have kind of a thing for Lil' Wayne. He used to freak me the funk out in music videos and interviews but then I watched him with Barbara Walters one time and decided he is a pretty brilliant person.

His newest song, "How to Love," is one of my favorite jams.

Yes, I just used the terminology of the youngins, "jam."

.....

Oh,
See I just want you to know
That you deserve the best
You’re beautiful
You’re beautiful
Yeah

And I want you to know, you’re far from the usual
Far from the usual

You see you had a lot of crooks try to steal your heart
Never really had luck, couldn’t ever figure out
How to love
How to love

See you had a lot of moments that didn’t last forever
Now you in this corner tryna put it together
How to love
How to love

 .....

I saw Demi Lovato (Disney fame, apparently) do a cover version but I love how she took ownership of the song as if she were singing from the girl's perspective instead. 

 

Get More: Demi Lovato, Demi Lovato Music Videos, Live Performances

For Your Information.

This is the most expensive bottle of eye drops known to man. Or, known to this woman, at least.
A bout of allergy-related pink eye turned into a big ol' crazy expensive ordeal.

I am definitely getting judged for not having insurance AND I was getting the weird eyes in the specialist's office since I was a good 30 years younger than every person in there. 30 years. I was scurred....

A picture of the bottle for proof:

Bastard. 

A Theme.

Although I have been trying to "up" my clothes and dress when going to work every day, I am noticing a whole lot of black going on. I mean, it is like A+B+C=Outfit and B (and sometimes C) are black.

Case in point:

Button-up shirt (Old Navy), white tank & Mossimo denim trousers (Target)

I do believe this is all Target. I have a clear addiction. Bag also clearance item from Target.

Top from Target, flats from Ross (Florida) and skirt from online sale. 

Okay, maybe it isn't black so much as I just keep wearing the same essential pieces over again. I do love those pants, top and skirt though! Might as well wear it until I have to wear five layers just to walk to work each day (ie. fall-winter-spring in Michigan).

Here are my black but hot shoes:

I love them.

Now how do I go from where I am now to this:

West Elm, It's Love

Have you heard of West Elm? Thanks to Pinterest, I am now a fully fledged obsesser of all things West Elm. I never thought of my tastes as high class but I may have just boosted myself out of the low maintenance category.

I dream about climbing into bed with sheets of....

Yellow & White:

Or Grey Paisley:

Perhaps a Wise Owl Lamp to read by:

And some awesome vases to adorn my shelves:

Thank you, Pinterest, for expanding my shopping vocabulary.

Exploring Avenues

The other day, I decided to investigate some options to make myself a baby mama. I'm getting older. My eggs are getting older. I'm assessing my options, one being that of artificial insemination.

Of course I immediately felt like "Look Who's Talking" and "The Back-Up Plan." Brilliant.

So I found a great place in New York City that looked pretty legit and they even had profiles of donors. I really wanted to see how much everything cost but looking at the potential donors was also kind of interesting. There was Irish American, African American, English, Spanish, etc. I found a few that seemed like decent options.

Then I thought "huh, this guy is single and seems pretty interesting" and then I think....

damn, I probably should at least attempt to date before I give up all together.

Quote.

SOURCE

For a reason.

I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason.
The bad things.
The good things.
They all get you to where you are now.
I can only hope that where you are now is where you are your happiest.

My last relationship, as turbulent and heartbreaking as it was, was for a reason. It showed me that I have the ability to truly love, unconditionally, and that I can bring a lot to someone else's life.

My need financially to drive to Michigan rather than flying or any other sort of transportation showed me just how strong I am. I never thing about that fact that I drove over 3,000 miles, alone, and saw some of the most amazing views of this country.

I never thought I would be in graduate school let alone in the state of Michigan or with people that I have grown to love so much. There is a reason that I am here, with these people, in this program, at this time.

There is a reason that I was randomly told about the NODA internship opportunities and decided to use that program to look for internships before searching for other avenues. It was fate that my first internship interview was royally awkward and that my second interview was great.

It was fate that intervened when I was feeling jaded and discouraged in my current job and found an internship that gave me a renewed sense of motivation, direction, and self-esteem. It was fate that I worked with people that inspired me, made me laugh, and made me feel like I belonged.

It is fate, hard work, and self-confidence that has gotten me to where I am for this semester: teaching, internship working with a special group of students, and maintaining my job as an advisor which I have a new enthusiasm about.

Sometimes I look at my life, look at the past 12 years that were challenging, and at times, impossible, and wonder how the hell I got to this place that I am now.

I can finally say that I am proud of myself.

Quote.

"Your chances of success in any undertaking can always be measured by your belief in yourself." - Robert Collier

Quote.

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious." - Albert Einstein

It's September. How Did That Happen?

I currently have a wonderful view of some police activity so I am sure this will be interesting.

It has been weeks since I have updated and I apologize for that immensely.
Things have been...normal.
Things will be...hectic.

Reasons for the delay in updates:

• Hard drive crashing.
• Going from internship to regular full-time job to three jobs equaling a little more than one full-time position.
• Trying to schedule social activities for my friends, my grad school student association and myself.
• I have cable television and I long for days where I don't have to be attached to a computer. 

Future reasons for delays will be:

• See second bullet from the top. 
• See fourth bullet from the top.
• The two classes that I am also enrolled in this term. If I could attach the syllabi, I would. However, I am currently in slight denial that I need to worry about those right now. 

I hope to make some regular updates; at the very least some pictures of my day-to-day. I have so much going on this year but it will be absolutely amazing, I know that much. As long as I get no more wrinkles, no more pink eye, no more food poisoning, and still manage to have a smile on my face at the end of the week. 

And this to sleep in every night. Thank goodness for a bed.