Finish this sentence..."It never hurts"

I thought in response to my last blog post I would see what good 'ole Google had to say about "It never hurts."

I must have been away from the internet for too long (being an at home mom and all), but it wasn't as funny as I thought it would be. But since I need to be honestly and publish what I found (I guess my ethics class did stick) I will give it to you straight.

It never hurts:
1. ...to help
2. ...to ask
3. ...to keep looking for sunshine
4. ...to hurt sometime

Lame, I know, sorry! But the one that did intrigue me was to keep looking for sunshine. After a little searching I discovered Eeyore said this (it's on the internet so it must be true).

But even more fun I found this blog (or something, what is Tumblr classified as? Told you I've been out of the loop). That really just has fun things posted on it to look on the bright side of life. So if you find you need to waste more time the internet or a little smile I bet you could head on over for some laughs (or watch the first Twilight, that always makes me laugh).

Again sorry there weren't funnier results or better commentary. Maybe because it's after midnight and I'm not really a night person and I tend to ramble and create run on sentences. Also looking at funny GIFs are a good way to waste time...

It never hurts to ask

I really do live by the "no regrets" mantra. Not to be confused with YOLO (Connor I know you have that shirt in your closet, burn it). To me, It's more about being brave when it comes to that moment in your life. We all know those moments, when we have the chance to take action or say something that could have a huge impact.

Today I've been thinking a lot about those decisions thanks to my friend Nat Harward posting a video about one courageous Vanderbilt student. This student, in a crowded room of his peers, asked the amazing Billy Joel if he could accompany him on "New York State of Mind" and the talented Mr. Joel said "okay." And BAM! Six minutes later this student has an amazing experience.

If you watched the clip you also see how amazing of a live performer Billy Joel is, but I digress...

I love that this happened and that we have this wonderful devices call the cell phone to capture these awesome moments. But it's more than this single experience that moves me, it the moxy of this kid. I mean who usually has the gumption to get up and ask anyone of greatness something of this measure? Moving forward Michael Pollack (Vanderbilt student/soon-to-be YouTube sensation) will have the courage to ask for what he wants in life and for lack of a better term grab life by the horns. So my hat is off to you Mr. Pollack, I'm sure you will be success and maybe BFF with Billy Joel.

I've come to many of those points in my life (taking pictures with celebrities count, right?) and what better way to choose your action than look at the possible outcomes. Basically saying "what's worse that could happen?" Sometimes it is as simple as being told no and maybe a little bit of embarrassment. (*Editor's note: a quick escape plan is also needed at times, such as asking a girl from school on a date, save yourself--and the girl in this case-- too much awkwardness by asking her at the end of class instead of the beginning).

I think though even if you don't get the result you would like you will likely have two positive outcomes:

1) You gain respect- Even if someone tells you no or you fail miserably, people know you tried. Maybe no one in that room respects you, but maybe you will have that failure to bring up in a job interview (for some reason they always want to know about your failures) or at the very least your mom will be so proud.

2) You know the answer- whether it was a question to someone else or a question if you could do something, you know. I am such an inquisitive person, that it physically hurts sometimes when I don't know the answer. (*Editor's note: You don't always need an answer and it won't always help. Learning to move on sometimes is a much better solution. Also, sometimes people don't have the answer--I'm referring to specifically getting dumped or fired).

I am thankful everyday that I was born with an analytical and curious mind that has allowed me to live boldly and freely. I have been able to land jobs, internships and even my eternal relationship with my husband because I don't believe in leaving my destiny to the "what ifs" or "if onlys" on my path. So let this Billy Joel moment remind us all to leave our fears behind to enjoy all that life has to give.

Finish this sentence: "I'm going to have..."

So I thought I would do another one of these posts because that was something I wanted to obviously do a bit ago (but again, I am a lazy blogger). So I thought in honor of my baby-to-be I would start the sentence that I was going to have a baby. So here is how Google finished those sentence in reverse order (for suspense of course!):

"I'm going to have..."

4. ...a bf

3. ...a coronary

2. ...to block you

1. ...tacos for dinner

Can I just say wow? I really thought baby would be in there somewhere. But I guess what really takes the cake is number one.

To understand why this is so popular you need to be up on current events and it all has to do with a pesky PR problem for one Mayor Joe Maturo of East Haven, Conn. I don't think the best response for what he was doing for the Latin American community was eating tacos for dinner. This incident did happen back in January, so I am surprised it is still that popular, but there you have it.

*My favorite is "to block you," I think we all think that when we have some relative who posts way too much personal information on Facebook.

I guess since it's New Year's day I should post...

This isn't a resolution or any indication I will blog more, but I wanted to write a little update so when I finally get around to blogging seriously I won't have so much to write.

Here are a few things that happened in 2011:

1. Kyle got an internship at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory in May. He loves it and is doing very well there.
2. We found out in Sept that we were expecting a baby and found out it was a baby girl on Dec. 20. We are very excited and she is due to arrive on May 3.
3. In August we adopted the cutest dog on the planet named Charlie (well we named him Charlie), he is a mix between a long and short haired dachshund. We don't know his actual birthday, so we are saying he is two years old today :).
4. We've actually lived in a place for a full year now, very nice to not have to move.
5. We went to Cancun, Mexico, for Thanksgiving as a last big vacation before children join our family.

As you can see we have been very busy but mostly blessed this past year. 2012 is going to bring a lot of changes to our lives, but we are excited for the upcoming adventure.

I will try to blog more, but again no promises!

Finish this sentence..."How to make"

I've decided that with my newly expressed love for Google I would have a little fun with a reoccuring post (not sure how often) of "Finish this sentence" Basically I will start to type a phrase into Google's instant search and write down the top things...pretty simple and pretty darn hilarious!
And of course what fun is writing them down in order, they will instead be a countdown!

4. How to make a toga
3. " paper snowflakes
2. " pumpkin seeds
1. How to make Jello Shots!

So obivously I added the exclamation point, but isn't that funny, so there are thousands of people out there looking on Google how to make jello shots. Glad that Google was even there to help finish there sentence :)

Can I just SAY....I love the internet!

GOOGLE is amazing! So here I am just typing into my favorite search engine, Google (of course) that is what Edward uses *gush*) how to make my blog cute and yada yada and am like what is special in this day according to Google who has this nifty little picture




And I would like to think that my Humanities 101 class (thank you crazy Dr. Burns) has taught me at least to appreciate the more famous artists but looking at this picture I am just stumped as to who they might be alluding to. So of course I click on it and it is....Paul Cézanne! He is a French Impressionist artist that lead to an important art movement in the 19th century and that lead to something else artistically important.

So obviously art appreciation isn't my point, though I must point out that my knowledge of art is better than those who don't know Jackson Pollock (if you don't know any modern artist you should at the very least know who he is so you sound educated) but I find it just amazing that I was probably going to finish my night out watching Dr. Who (brilliant British television) and looking up tips on beautifying my blog and this little nugget of information literally falls on my lap in the form of electronic/internet digitalness.

What a glorious world we are living in that I can learn something new everyday of the year and not really have to pay anything for it and honestly not be looking for it but it finds me. I honestly feel so blessed to be born into a world that allows me to turn on a laptop and find information about Paul Cezanne and whoever else I feel like stalking or whoever feels like stalking me :)

First Entry and flying babies

Wow, I can't believe it has taken me this long to get on the blogging bandwagon. I guess I never really thought I needed one, but felt blog envy and so decided to start my own. If my blog looks ridiculous sometimes it's because I'm just trying out new things. I honestly never thought making my blog cute was going to be something hard, but then again I thought online classes were going to be easy.

But those are almost done so...maybe there is hope after all!


So the biggest thing on my mind today was child safety on airplanes. I know this may sound weird since I don't have children, but I do ride on planes and therefore have an opinion. As I was embarking on my long journey from Salt Lake City to Lewiston via Delta Connections I noticed a woman with a small child (probably 1 1/2 years old) sitting in a section that had to move her little boy onto her lap because she had only purchased one ticket because her child was "young enough" to sit on her lap for the entire flight. Luckily there were enough open seats that this woman could move and have two seats.

But this incident got me thinking about what would happen if a seat was not available for her child? If the child sat on her lap then it would not have a seat belt (which i don't think he was ever in) to protect him nor if something happened and we were to lose pressure, the child would not have one of those ceiling masks. To me it just didn't make sense.

It seems all of the laws we have in this country aim to protect our children, such as seat belt laws in automobiles before everyone had to buckle up it was just children. I mean what if the mother was holding her child and she was hit in the head and became unconscious? The baby would surely be thrown around, assuming the mother had been able to hold on to their child while remaining consciousness. Once I couldn't get on a plane that had a broken seat belt when I was 12, why would having a baby not in a seat belt any different?

Therefore I propose that airplanes should have to make it mandatory that one seat to every person (babies are people and usually more liked than most people, another reason they should be better protected). I understand that airlines are trying to win business in whatever way they can, and people are used to going to amusement parks and sporting events for free with children under a certain age. But in the airline business they are transporting things and people, and the child is still being transporting. I mean why do I have to pay to take a dog? I could probably have a dog sit on my lap the whole flight, have it be more content and be way less annoying.

I am going to see what I can do on this issue because though I had never thought about it before, it is so obvious now that I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing I could have tried to protect the babies of America.