A lovely Day

Today has been quite lovely. I am now oficially living with my best friend Tawni. We spent the day shopping, and sitting on the couch under blankets watching the rain outside our window. I hope you had a lovely day as well!

What the heck???

WHAT???

Are these kids amazing or is it just me!?

Stuck On My Own Kind of Band aid Brand

Do you remember being a little kid and wanting to put a band aid on EVERY little boo boo?

Somewhere in our heads we made a connection with band aids, that they would heal any wound.

I have always found music to be like a band aid to my soul. I never went through the band aid stage because I loved to show off my scabs and bruises. But, I constantly found myself trying to heal my hearts pain with music.

By the time I was about two, I developed an OCD with having music on while I fell asleep. Somewhere in the music of Les Miserables, Lion King, and even Cat Stevens, I was able to feel a peace about life. With-out that feeling of peace, my mind would wander and it would take me hours to fall asleep. To this day if I find myself with a lot of stress or anxiety I have trouble falling asleep, until I turn on music.

What a beautiful piece of heaven God has provided us with.

"I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music." -Billy Joel

picture: Clayton Austin

Live your life with faith

Last night I learned to have faith. I learned to make my life an adventure, and to take chances.

Too often in life we settle for the "safe". But who wants to die knowing they never accomplished a lot, and nearly wasted their life simply because of fear. We need to put ourselves out there more, talk to strangers and make friends, travel the world, make a difference in the lives of those around us. Don't sell yourself short simply because you're afraid of getting hurt or rejected.

The most important thing I learned was to have faith in love. We may grow up in life falling in love and finding that love to fade, or falling in love with someone, and their love for you fades. These heartbreaks are hard, but we learn so much from them, we learn how to make the next better. For too long in my life I blocked people away from getting too close to me, because I was afraid of getting hurt. I told myself I didn't really need anybody in my life. I lied to myself for years, until I discovered that nobody truly wants to live a solitary life. I regret those lost years of being able to share love and learn lessons. There are so many different forms of love, and I can't wait until I find someone who I know without a doubt will love me unconditionally.

Thank you Tim Burton for a beautiful and brilliant movie!

photos from Google

Movie:Big Fish

Honoring our gifts

I recently found this quote and began to think about how too often I compare myself to others.

When I begin to feel discouraged with myself, it's usually because I am looking at what someone has, that I don't.

Why do humans do that? I hate that I do that!

Each of us has our own gifts and talents in life that God has blessed us with. We need to spend more time thanking Him for those, rather than comparing what we don't have to those around us.

Yes, life can often be difficult. But, I am a very blessed girl. Let's all try a little bit harder to honor the gifts we have, because, life is good.

Hailey Josephine

Everybody needs one

Today was just one of those days. We all have them, those days when it seems like even the butterflies are out to hurt you! And the culminating moment of horror was when my voice began to sing notes outside of the key to a song I have known my whole life. Not in the shower, may I add, yes, at an audition. Not to mention I sounded as if I had been smoking since the age of three because my body finally decided to get sick after many months of good health.

FLASHBACK…I am 12 years old, standing on the stage at the state pageant finals, humming. Yes, I said humming… I had completely spaced on the words, and stood there humming for the entire middle section of "Part of Your World."

So today, as I exit the audition room I began telling myself, "what am I doing? Am I honestly majoring in this? Is it too late to switch to family science? …man I suck at life!" But, after a talk with my mom, and some sugar I began to feel…well…at least not suicidal!

I continued through-out the day wallowing in self pity. Until my sweet friend Sydney sent a text telling me to read a post on her blog.

Reading it made me forget everything bad that had happened today, and as I read the post with my mom she turned to me and said, "Everybody needs a Syd in their life."

I couldn't agree with that more. Sydney always knows what to say when I am feeling sad, or angry. And there is nobody that can make me laugh like that girl!!! My goodness does she have a sense of humor. The older I get, the more I learn to appreciate the importance of good friends. Although she lives in Salt Lake, her friendship has stayed loyal, and has grown immensely. Everybody needs a friend they can completely be themselves around and know that at the end of the day they will still love you, even your faults. Through my hours of late night talks, movie nights, laying on the tramp harmonizing to hymns, balloon incident in the go-cart, and antique shopping I have truly discovered what friendship is.

This beautiful, creative, talented girl is so full of life and love! Her presence always brightens my days.

She is truly a gift from God.

Escape

Everyone has their own ways of dealing with life and the hard things that blindside us on a regular basis. It may not be healthiest way to deal with pain and stress, but I enjoy escaping. I find ways to escape into another world through beautifully written stories, and I forget that my heart is acheing.
Someday I want a library full of books ranging from novels, biographies, and how to books.
I am grateful for great writers who have provided me with cheap therapy.
Reading is SO GOOD for the soul!

picture from Anthropologie

Looking at NOW!!!

Do you ever find yourself looking back on small decisions you made in your life and wonder what would have happened if you had chosen the other?

Lately I have found myself reminiscing on my life and the small decisions I have made that I have led me to where I am today. Many times in life I have definitely made the worse of the two, but for some reason I don't regret that. Through those wrong decisions I have learned so much and have ended up where I am today. And can I just say… I am loving where I am today!!!??? Life is not perfect, of course, and the crappy things that happen help me see the good. But, life really is so amazing!

A friend recently taught me to not worry about the future and what's going to happen, but to love the moments I am living in right now. Of course we hear this our whole lives, but for me I have ALWAYS thought about the future. Well when this person said it, I really listened, thought about it, and tried to apply it to my life. Because of this, the past few weeks have been not nearly as stressful.

So listen to me for one second,

Lets live in the NOW, and decide to love the NOW. Because before you know it, you're going to be old and almost dead and wonder where you life went as you wished moments and days away. And because I am contradicting myself I will say this (and somewhat not truly mean it) I am no longer counting down the days till summer, because I am grateful for my education and the things I am learning…

Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.  ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

Photo by Sam Coldy

Little Letters

Dear high school,

I would never go back. But, I slightly miss you and your dances.

Dear ballet,

Thank you for keeping me in shape this semester!

Dear David Archuleta,

You sang beautifully on Idol tonight. I honestly didn't think you could get any better. However, you proved me wrong.

Dear Sunshine,

Thank you for coming out at the end of the day. It felt glorious to lie on the grass under your rays.

Dear pomegranate Chap Stick,

I hate that I am addicted to you, but I am pretty sure I love you more than anything right now.

Dear American Heritage,

Your boringness and giving hailey headacheness is soon to be over with. This makes me happier than a pig in mud.

Dear cold mornings,

GO AWAY!!!

Dear Facebook,

You are a large waste of time!

Dear Pandora,

I hate that I run out of my 40 hour maximum listening before the end of the month…..but, I still loveth you!

Dear paints,

I wish you would find your way back into my life…pronto

 

Love,

Hailey Josephine