the old year // the new year

Amsterdam, April 2014

This year has definitely been my most eventful.  I'm pleased to report this year has been my happiest yet, and let me tell you the "cliche" advice I finally took to get there.

1. Push your limits.
This year I traveled to seven different countries.  As a proud homebody, I would have never guessed that I would live in one of the biggest, most vibrant cities in the world for almost four months and absolutely fall in love with it.  I would have never guessed that after this busy London lifestyle that I would choose to spend the next month traveling around England, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Greece (France is the seventh country, by the way--I spent an unforgettable spring break/birthday week in Nice and Paris).  I'm continually surprising myself with my more adventurous side, and I love that.

2. Don't be afraid to ask for help.
It's one of the hardest things a person can do, but they'll be stronger for it.  Yep, stronger.  Asking for help doesn't make you weak--it makes you smart, courageous, and willing to learn from others.  I've learned so much about myself this year from the help of friends, family, and strangers.  I'm eternally grateful for all of them.

3. Say yes to opportunities.
Being in another country helped me with this.  I learned to embrace uncertainty instead of always playing it safe.  I said "Yes" more than "No" for the first time in my life.  And it was awesome.  As an introvert, I forced myself to do things more than I usually would.  The great thing about this is that after a while, it wasn't forcing myself-- it was 100% by choice.

4. Forgive yourself.
I make mistakes.  A lot. We all do.  All you can really do is cry and mope for a bit, and then pick yourself up again and keep going.  It's hard and sometimes embarrassing, but that's growing up for ya.

5. It's okay to not know what you're doing.
I keep trying to convince myself this.  I'm only 21, I repeat.  I'm only 21.  I have time to discover my purpose.  I have time to pursue my dreams.

Which leads me to my goals for this year!

1. Become a better cook.

2. Plan a cross-country road trip.

3. Save money.  Really.

4. Chase my dreams in a real way.

5. Stay focused on my goals.  Cut out some of the lazy in my life.


2015, LET'S GO!

four goals for 2014

It's 2014!  Erin and I rang in the new year right with lots of good conversation and a Gossip Girl marathon.  I'm a lucky girl to have such a lovely best friend like her.  This morning we had a tea party brunch with her sister.  This year will be the YEAR OF TEA, I can feel it.  England, here I come.  

New beginnings keep me refreshed, so I'm all about the concept of making resolutions for the new year.  Every year it seems like I take a different approach, which I suppose makes sense, because every year I'm looking to change something different.  I guess that's a good thing.

The four simple goals I made for 2013 were more like life-long goals.  (Be happy, healthy, brave, confident.)  Because to be honest, most of these things I will probably be struggling with my entire life.  They take effort and time and a whole lot of patience and forgiveness.  Each year I hope to improve on these four goals in some way.

I will be the first to admit that 2013 was one of my harder years.  Okay, let's get real here--it was definitely my hardest.  I hope my 20's are a little easier on me than they have been so far.  I've always known that life gets harder, but also more rewarding.  Now I know this personally, because despite the obstacles, I have learned more about myself, my relationships, and my dreams for the future--much more than if everything had been peachy keen.  Becoming an adult is hard, guys.  Major kudos to my mom who somehow managed to raise me while she was still this young.  I know I certainly couldn't do it!  Nope, not even close.

So this year, I am going to keep those four former goals in mind and set four achievable goals for 2014.  Goals I can look back on and say, "YES, I did that." or "Hah, NO, I did not do that."

1)  Remember to take my vitamins.

2)  Read one non-school related book a month.

3)  Create a crafty travel journal to document my European adventures.

4)  Have FUN.

(x)

Here's to a marvelous year!  Love all of you lots.  xoxo Kaylie

four simple goals

(x)  

This year I wanted to keep my resolution list simple and took a cue from A Beautiful Mess.  Here are my four simple goals for 2013.  

1)  Be happy.   Enjoy each moment without over thinking it.  Stop worrying and obsessing constantly.  Amy wisely said on her blog, "The only thing I can truly control are my actions, and not the outcome of my actions."  I love this, and need to remember this as I try to find my inner peace.  I want to keep a feelings journal to fully understand the things that make me happy and unhappy.

2)  Be healthy.  Explore nature more.  Do yoga (Ted and I are taking a class at school).  Stop complaining about the excessive stairs back up to my dorm (I live on a hill, guys) and frequent walks back and forth from my room to the theatre building.  Eat only foods that make me feel good (and yes, sometimes a cupcake makes you feel awesome).  I want to intentionally do something active at least twice a week and eat something green every meal.

3)  Be brave.  I'm finally realizing that I'm an introvert, which makes it hard to make friends because I tend to keep to myself in social situations.  I want to also stop feeling bad about not wanting to constantly be with other people.  However, I want to make an effort to go out of my comfort zone at least once a month.  

4)  Be confident.  Be less critical of myself.  Be proud of things I do and make.  Know where I am going figuratively (in the future) and literally (directions are not my strong point--even when I know where I am going, I question myself and get myself lost).  Stop doubting myself and my talents.  I want to share more creative outlets on my blog such as crafts, outfits, and designs.

I'm so excited for 2013! I hope you have a safe and wonderful New Years Eve.  ♥

resolution recap

This year I made a resolution list that had big and small goals.  See it here. 

1)  Learn the harmonica  Still waiting on this one.  I always lack motivation in the musical department unfortunately. 

2)  Go camping  Not quite.  But I did do a little hiking and went on  an outdoors trip through school.  Baby steps.  I'm trying!

3)  Apply for a semester abroad  Yes!!!!  I am in the process of applying for the Spring 2014 London trip.

4)  Learn to knit (and not forget)  I did this!  I've even knitted gifts for multiple people already!

5)  Find a summer internship  I worked for a local costumer this summer, which was a great experience.

6)  Attend a concert  I saw Andrew Bird at the Keller with Ted and The Killers with Ted and Rebecca.  Both were awesome, but seeing The Killers was a dream come true!  They were my first band love, afterall.

7)  Learn how to budget $$  I actually really took this one to heart and am now making a huge effort to stay on top of my finances.  Mint helps with this.

8)  Make a short film  NOPE.

9)  Collaborate with friends on a project  Although this is not exactly what I had in mind when I wrote this resolution, I have to say that Rachel's upcoming wedding falls into this category.  I've had so much fun helping her with invitations, engagement photos, crafting, and planning.  If I could be a wedding planner, I'd be pretty okay with that.

10)  Take a class about something I know nothing about  This applies to almost all of my classes, to be honest.  Even when I go into a class thinking I have some kind of grasp on the content, I quickly realize how much I don't know...

11)  Design and make a dress pattern  I haven't done this, but I did do sewing/designing over the summer and designed for my first production at school this fall.

12) Discover a new passion or obsession  Did I find a new passion or obsession this year?  I'm not quite sure.  

Well, that's how my year panned out with resolutions!  Can't wait to make new ones for 2012--I am such a sucker for new beginnings.  

to do list

(slow like honey)

two thousand and twelve

On New Years Eve, Rachel, Dahlya, Erin, and I drove to California to stay at Ted's house.

After we settled in, Ted drove us to LA to check out Whimsic Alley.  It.  Was.  MAGICAL.

Why yes, they DID have a Great Hall.  Be right back, gonna go book every party I ever have here.

To celebrate the New Year, we had a dance party in the fog (and probably made Ted think we are lunatics), ate delicious homemade latkes that Ted made, watched the ball drop, and then set off fireworks in front of his house.  It was lovely!

To kick off the new year right, we spent the first day of the year at happiest place on earth--Disneyland!  

Everything was decked out for Christmas.  Yay!

Yep, I got soaked on Splash mountain.

 

It's A Small World was beautiful, sparkling, and inspiring!  I loved it.  Good fortune even allowed us to be in line just in time to have the perfect view of the parade going on right next to it.

As if that wasn't enough, we crossed the bridge to the front of the castle just in time to see a light show on it.  Sparkles and more sparkles!  So lovely.

After getting soup bread bowls and doing another round of Indiana Jones, we saw the firework show and Fantasmic, which was FANTASTICMAGICALAWESOME.  It made all of us incredibly happy.

Alas, we were pretty exhausted at this point.  Since Ted was still going on rides with his two friends, I left Rachel, Dahlya, and Erin in the little museum near the entrance to go meet him to get his house key.  As I set off on my way down Main Street, the most wonderful thing happened.  I was in the process of putting on Ted's cardigan (which he had lent to Rachel earlier) and talking to him on the phone when I heard someone say, "Mickey!" I turned around and Mickey was RIGHT THERE, going in for a hug.  Surprised and flustered, I hugged him back and he gave me a kiss on the cheek.  I yelled, I LOVE YOU MICKEY as he turned to run away and promptly disappear behind a door.  I exclaimed, MICKEY JUST KISSED ME!  HE JUST KISSED ME! into the phone which I had forgotten about.  My year is already made. 

Happy New Year, everyone!  It's going to be our best yet!

Los Angeles on Dwellable

12 before '13

(pinterest)

Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. Ghandi

I am going to focus on trying to embody this mantra.  As a perpetual dreamer, I constantly have ideas, plans, ambitions, and goals that I want to accomplish.  Some are big, some are small, some are serious, but most are silly and fun.  I think this is fantastic, but it's also a bit overwhelming having so many dreams that I may or may not be able to bring to life.  What I need is some focus with these little ideas and aspirations.  One of my favorite bloggers (A Beautiful Mess--I'm obsessed with this girl) makes lists of things she wants to accomplish before her next birthday.  I thought I would bring my own spin to the list.  Instead of 18 goals before age 19, I am going to make a list of 12 goals before year 2013:

1. Learn the harmonica
2. Go camping
3. Apply for a semester abroad
4. Learn to knit (and not forget)
5. Find a summer internship 
6. Attend a concert
7. Learn how to budget $$
8. Make a short film
9. Collaborate with friends on a project
10. Take a class about something I know nothing about
11. Design and make a dress pattern
12. Discover a new passion or obsession

resolutions of years past

(pinterest)

I'm already thinking about New Years, which is one of my favorite things ever, because who doesn't like fresh beginnings and a reason to wear sequins?


Instead of making a list of resolutions this year, I'm going to try another tactic.  I am going to look back on how successful my past resolutions have been (oh the beauty of blogging) and decide what kind of goal-setting is right for me.  Feel free to disregard this post altogether; this is one of those times where blogging is acting as a middle man to my own self-awareness!


Resolutions for 2009:  Probably because I was new to blogging and all around more profound as a pretentious middle schooler, I kept my resolutions simple.  

• overcome my fear of dancing in public Proud of this one.
• keep stress at a minimum  Although I can't say with certainty that I rid myself of stress in 2009, I did gradually move toward to where I am now--an unusually minimal-stress person.  This is something that at the same time is an awesome thing and a slightly unnerving thing.  But mostly awesome.
• focus on each moment just as it appears Still working on this.  Who isn't, except, like...Buddha?

Resolutions for 2010:  I focused on what kind of person I want to be.  Which I think is great, because that's what resolutions should be about--improving and building someone you can be proud of.

• I want to be the kind of person who is self-sufficent.  I will boycott buying clothes this year and sew up my own.  (See the product of this resolution here.)  Although I'm obviously not completely self-sufficent, after working on this resolution I have become much more aware about the things I buy and the possibility of bypassing things that I could easily make.
• I want to be the kind of person that is charitable, all year around.  I will grow my hair out long to donate toLocks of Love and continue to try to contribute more to my community.  I can always be more charitable, but although I did not donate my hair to LoL in 2010, I did this year!  
• I want to be the kind of person who takes each moment as it happens, and lets it go as it passes. I will try not to dwell in the past, however sweet it was--it only takes up space that should be full of the present.  Only Buddha, man.  Only Buddha.  I'm trying though.  I promise.
• And as always, I hope to simplify, simplify, simplify.  Always striving to do this, but often take a couple of steps back before going forward!  
• Also:  No more multitasking!  All I can say is that I've gotten better.

Resolutions for 2011:  This year I had a lot of small resolutions, most of them repeating previous goals, but also including a very important one that I feel that I have made a very big improvement.  "Think positively (Avoid thinking in negatives and phrases like "I wish" or "I hope."  Example: "This year is going to rock!" instead of "I hope this year rocks!")"  It seemed a bit silly at the time, but as I look back at that, I have realized how much this has improved my outlook and increased my already pretty consistent optimism.  As for my three main resolutions, to sum them up:

• LIVE.
• EAT.
• CREATE.

These are three things that I strive to nourish daily, sometimes successfully, sometimes not.  C'est le vie!  Although I think that moving to Portland has been pretty successful in nourishing my appetite for life, food, and creativity, while at the same time increasing it, if that makes any sense.  Just know:  It's a good thing.

As for 2012.  Stay tuned.

welcome 2011

You are already fantastic.  I am so happy I got to spend New Years with my friends--I love them so much.  I am so excited for all of us!  2011 is a momentous year.  

This year, I have a LOT of resolutions, big and small.

LIVE.  This is the second half of my SENIOR YEAR we're talking about.  I'm going to be doing that thing where I GRADUATE.  Then I am going to do that little thing called MOVING OUT and GOING TO COLLEGE.  I will be living in a new city (Portland) with new people and new experiences.  This is no time not to strike up conversation with some random person or try something new.  No excuses.  It's time to live live live LIVE.  And please, don't be shy.


EAT.  I baked more than I have ever baked in my life in 2010; now it's time to get better at cooking too!  I am the biggest foodie, so I also can't wait to discover all the restaurants and food carts in Portland. As hard as it is (I love food so much!) I do hope to become less carnivorous.  This will become a lot easier when I move out, but for now I will live more strictly by my "only eat meat when it's for dinner" meaning I never order meat when I am out to eat.  This is pretty easy to follow most of the time, but sometimes a burger is just necessary and sushi is my ultimate weakness (I can't give that one up).  I will try harder though, because I really do feel like I eat better when I do.


CREATE.  I did pretty well not buying clothes during 2010 (although after Black Friday I will admit I broke down a bit--hence the $5 black sequin pencil skirt I mentioned the other day--it seemed necessary for New Years...), so I will continue to honor this resolution to an extent.  After all, I do need to stock up on cold weather clothes!  I do find great pleasure in being self-reliant, so I will continue to only buy clothing I couldn't possibly make on my own (yet).


A few more:

• Get 8 hours of sleep every night
• Don't compare myself to others
• Only check Facebook/email/tumblr/blog once a day (no, really!)
• Watch more movies, read more books, see more concerts, visit more places, make more friends
• Be helpful, charitable, and kind
• Study more (this won't be a problem if I get into Reed...)
• Simplify
• Avoid multi-tasking too much (Be like Audrey: "When she reads, she reads; when she fits, she fits; when she talks clothes, she talks clothes, when she sits under a drier, she simply dries."
• Think positively (Avoid thinking in negatives and phrases like "I wish" or "I hope."  Example: "This year is going to rock!" instead of "I hope this year rocks!")
• Be awesome
• Be the person I want to be

The year is already sweet--I am currently blogging on the couch with Izzy beside me and I put on Marie Antoinette while I do laundry.  Life is good.  

a new year

New Years is such a nice holiday--what could possibly be more encouraging than a bright new year?  I am constantly trying to be a better person and ultimately the person I want to be, and New Years brings this pursuit into full focus.

"Life isn't about finding yourself; life is about creating yourself." -George Bernard Shaw

This is a quote to literally live by.  Too many people I think, waste time trying to figure out who they are, instead of simply striving to be who they want to be.

I want to be the kind of person who is self-sufficent.  I will boycott buying clothes this year and sew up my own.

I want to be the kind of person that is charitable, all year around.  I will grow my hair out long to donate to Locks of Love and continue to try to contribute more to my community. 

I want to be the kind of person who takes each moment as it happens, and lets it go as it passes. I will try not to dwell in the past, however sweet it was--it only takes up space that should be full of the present.

And as always, I hope to simplify, simplify, simplify.

How 'bout you?

tell me, when did pepsi get so cool?

the new year

I plan to... overcome my fear of dancing in public, keep stress at a minimum, and focus on each moment just as it appears. I want to live an overall more simple life, without the overpopulation of premature thoughts and actions. (It's taking me a lot of willpower not to begin preparing for Valentine's Day, let me tell you!)