What do you want to be?

One of my newest online friends is Blaire. I love reading her insightful posts. I did a guest post for her a little while back and now she's returning the favour for me. Her post is super interesting, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did!
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Hello readers of Girl plus everything. I am Blaire at A Journey through writing.



Laura wrote a post for my blog about what she wanted to be when she grew up and I thought I would do the same for this post. I think sharing all the dreams of my younger days gives great insight into my life and it show how this girl from Oklahoma moved to California and now lives in Boston.



When I was younger the first thing I wanted to be was a ballerina. Then I went through a phase where I thought I would be a vet. After my parents got divorced my mom filled the house with pets and I loved taking care of them. But then I realized that becoming a vet meant I would not only have to care for little dogs like the ones I had but big dogs that scared me. Also later in life I realized I didn’t have the stomach for anything medical or the mind for science. I think I also wanted to be a train conductor, I watched the show Shining Time Station on PBS and it made the life on the train so glamorous. And that was all in the time of elementary school.



Throughout all this time I loved filling notebooks with little stories. My mom said I liked to write because I had a speech impediment from birth and writing was the best way for me to communicate, though my spelling has never been that great. Well over the years I thought about becoming a professional writer. When my parents and I lived in California I thought about moving to Southern California and becoming a screen writer. But then I thought about going to Southern California for school but then moving to New York, because of course all writers lived in New York. When I told my mom this plan she thought if I wanted to live on the east coast I should just move to the east coast after high school. She told me I didn’t know what was going to happen to me in school, I could meet someone and never make it to the east coast. Since then I was all about the east coast.

The next thing I wanted to be was Donna from the West Wing. I really liked her, she was an assistant to the deputy of chief of staff and while she didn’t make any of the decisions she helped in the decision process. She also knew everything about everything. But eventually I realized that to work in government I had a job based on whether or not the person I worked for got elected and that didn’t seem that practical. Also I actually had no interest in politics. So the next woman I wanted to be was Abigail Chase from the movie National Treasure. In case you have not seen it, she works for the National Archive, and she too knew everything about everything but she was sexy history nerd too. Since then I have been pursuing archiving.



I wanted to make history fun for people, rather it was writing in historical stories or working in an archive. My senior year of high school my mom and I thought about every school from Boston to Virginia. I decided that New York was too big and it seemed too scary to start off my adventure on the east coast. So my mom and I visited Boston and Connecticut. I fell in love with Boston from the beginning. I just felt at home in Boston and after I got my acceptance letter to Suffolk University all I did was talk about Boston, so much so my friends gave me guide books to Boston and my friend knitted me a little scarf for my new life in Boston.

I didn’t know it then but God was really directing me to Boston because I wasn’t following Him but since moving to Boston I have gotten back into the church and back in my relationship with Him. I can’t really explain it but I have been blessed by Him.

Pursuing my dream wise, I chose history as my major and fell into women’s studies as a minor. I am now pursuing my masters degree in both Library Science and History in order to be an archivist. While my dream job is the Library Congress, I think I want to work at smaller archive so I can really know the resources. But the more and more I make plans the more and more I am discovering to leave things in God’s hands.

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Great stuff! I love Donna from West Wing too, she's all kinds of awesome. Who wouldn't want to be Donna when they grow up?! Although I think your current career course is fascinating. Thanks for guest posting for me Blaire!!!!

More words

I just found this the other day and it makes a lot of sense.

Source: explodingdog.tumblr.com via Laura on Pinterest

Guest Post: The Honeymoon Edition!

My dear friend Jenna took time out of her super crazy schedule (she is planning a wedding as well as trying to lead a normal life) to write me a guest post.  And boy am I glad she did!

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Hellllloooo lovely readers of Laura's blog!

Laura and I thought it would be fun if I did a post that was relative to why she asked for guest posts! 

Going on a holiday!! 

But in this case, I wanted to share where I would like to go on my honeymoon, since I am newly engaged! Woo hoo! My wedding is a year away and it is VERY low budget so we will be staying close to home. Which I am 100% okay with because I don't think you have to travel outside of the country to have a fabulous honeymoon. Granted...since I've never had one before this is all based on assumption. 

I live in Jacksonville, FL and we are are lucky to live close (within an hour) to a little city called St. Augustine. Have you heard of it before? 

St. Augustine, FL is the nation's oldest city! That may not SOUND like the most sought after destination for a honeymoon but there is so much charm and history in the small city. Not to mention all of the Bed and Breakfast's in the town are pretty breathtaking all in their own right.

If you're curious about the history of St. Augustine here's a short little summary of how it came to be.  http://www.oldcity.com/history-and-culture.php

And it goes without saying that there will be live music being played somewhere on St. George Street which is THE place to go when you visit. 

I've always wanted to have a little weekend getaway and stay in one of the B&B's (one of the ones that ISN'T haunted...because apparently a lot of them are!) and not have to worry about finding a parking spot close to the center of it all or getting to a little store before it closes. I want to have a whole weekend, be parked in the parking lot of a B&B, and walk wherever our hearts desire. 

Take a little trip with me and let me show you around!

St. George Street

A road leading to downtown.

And my favorite set of photos...from a gorgeous bed and breakfast!

Seriously?? The photos look like they should be in a travel magazine! 

This is 45 minutes away from me...yes I think I'll be taking my honeymoon close to home.

Honeymoon or not...where would you like to take a little mini-getaway to? 

Thanks for reading!

Jenna

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That looks like such a sweet place!  When I come and visit you in real life Jenna, I think we’ll have to take a roadtrip out that way.  Looks gorgeous!!

Some words

I like this a lot.

Source: iwastesomuchtime.com via Laura on Pinterest

Guest Post: Blu Ray Tuesday

It’s Tuesday and we know what that means… Blu Ray Tuesday!!  My lovely friend Abigail decided she didn’t want us to go without a movie review on Tuesday so here’s one she prepared earlier :)

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Hello everyone! My name is Abigail and I blog over at Abigail and the Great World. Laura and I started following each others blogs nearly a year ago, and I’m so glad we did! I’ve had so much fun reading her posts and becoming her friend. The internet can be really amazing sometimes.

If you read Laura’s blog, you’ll know that almost every week she does a “Blu-Ray Tuesday” film review. Sometimes the films are fantastic, and sometimes they are so bad they become good. So, while she’s off enjoying a beach vacation, I thought I would fill in for her with a review of Walt Disney’s The Three Caballeros—a film which fits into the latter category.

The Three Caballeros (1945) stars Donald Duck, José Carioca, and Panchito Pistoles (for the record, Pistoles is not a word in Spanish). The film starts out as a compilation of vignettes, but half-way through becomes a psychedelic nightmare of Mexico. After an initial short about a penguin sailing to the Galapagos Islands, followed by a strange short featuring a little boy and his flying donkey (which ends with the little boy saying “And I was never heard from again”), the film introduces Panchito. With José Carioca and Donald Duck, Panchito creates the Mexican-style mariachi band “The Three Caballeros.” Combining live-action footage with cel animation (a style associated with the film Mary Poppins), the remainder of the film focuses on Donald’s incredibly “creepy old man”-style attempts to win the affection of famous Mexican singers Carmen Molina and Dora Luz. Somehow, the film goes crazy, and the singers shape-shift into flowers with their faces in the middle. Donald turns entirely pink, starts floating in the air, and attempts to kiss the flower-faces. As he gets close, out of the flower-faces burst Panchito and José Carioca, guns ablaze! The film ends with Donald in a bull-shaped piñata running at matador Panchito before finally concluding with the Three Caballeros singing their theme song together. The film also stars Brazilian singer Aurora Miranda in a strange samba number. Unsurprisingly, Donald also tries to hook up with her.

Recommended?: If you like trippy films, especially trippy Disney films, then definitely yes. Near the end, you may find yourself wondering where the past hour and twenty minutes of your life went, but you will never again lack for an ice-breaking conversation starter. I would suggest making margaritas before watching this one, though.

Thanks for letting me guest post, Laura! Hope you’re having a fantastic holiday!

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Haha, as much as I love Disney, maybe I don’t need to be checking that movie out.  Thanks for the heads up :)

The Plan

You know that saying “God laughs at those who makes plans”?  Well He will be laughing at me with my blogging plans.  I have attempted to schedule some posts while I’m away.  They’re some good ones… and hopefully it all goes to plan because honestly, you know me and I’m more than a little technologically challenged.

But God will not be laughing at me when it comes to my holiday.  I have done zero per cent planning.  I got some great advice from Emily- but apart from that, I don’t know anything else.  I plan on printing out a bunch of things and read them on the plane.  I hope that’s going to work to my advantage…

Either way, see you on the flip side :)

Puppy overload!

Because I have been a little slack in the blogging department AND because everyone loves puppies, I thought I’d go overboard in posting puppy pictures. 

This is from when I babysat my bulldog puppies.  True story- I have never babysat humans but I have babysat puppies.  In these pictures, these little ones are five days old.  Now they are about three weeks old and have their eyes open and are managing to make their way around.  I saw the owner today randomly at the supermarket and she invited me over to have a look at them now, so I must go and do that soon!

Patch at 5 days old vs Patch at one hour old

Proud mama!  She did a great job!

Blu Ray Tuesday # 21

The movie:

The menu: Boy Roomie made fancy dinner because it was Girl Roomie’s birthday!

This movie was a load of codswallop.  The plot was ridiculously hard to understand.  I could only barely understand it because I used to be obsessed with ‘Shakespeare in Love’, will probably always be obsessed with Queen Elizabeth I and have more than a passing interest in Shakespeare himself.  Also (and possibly most damning in my eyes) there were NO attractive men in the entire movie.  The main dude was supposed to be charming and brilliant but was played by the guy who was Hugh Grant’s scruffy roommate in ‘Notting Hill’. I spent most of the movie with my iphone in my hand, trying to google what did and didn’t actually happen and harrumphing over it all.

I don’t have any personal problems with the filmmakers suggesting Shakespeare didn’t write his plays.  I love a good conspiracy theory.  It’s just that this movie was so convoluted, so blatantly trying to be the cleverest person in the room.  I was probably more offended with the idea that Elizabeth (the ‘virgin’ Queen) was off having illegitimate children left right and centre!  Affairs, yes.  Children, no.

The only bright spark was William Shakespeare himself who the movie portrayed as an opportunistic illiterate drunk who easily steals every scene he was in.  The actor played his lines as if he were in a comedy… I wish I could have seen *that* movie.  Oh and props also go to the two actresses who played Elizabeth I.  I love a good Elizabeth and this movie had two!

Recommended?: No.  It is two hours and ten minutes.  Just… no.  Unless you are Abigail who I think might get a kick out of it :)

Guest post!

Today I am guest posting over at Blaire’s blog, A Journey Through Writing.  It is my first ever guest post so please come over and say hi.  Oh and answer the question ‘What did you want to be when you grew up?’.

In other news, I am going away on a holiday soon!  March 19th to be exact.  And I would love for my blog to take a holiday too and as a change is as good as a holiday (that’s the saying, right?)- I’d love for some guest posts for my own blog that I can post for when I’m away.  I know this is a busy time for a lot of people but I will personally come and bug you if you don’t agree to write me a guest post.  So there!

Blu Ray Tuesday #20

The movie:

The menu: McDonald’s

I wanted to like this movie so bad.  Cowboys!  Aliens! James Bond! Indiana Jones! I can’t quite work out what was wrong with it.  My final thoughts are that I think they got a bit bogged down with trying to ensure that this was not your typical summer blockbuster.  The writers wanted to make sure that everyone was a three dimensional character.  EVERYBODY and their mother had a backstory.  No joke, even the dog had a backstory.  When you watch a movie called ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, nobody’s watching for the insightful commentary on the human condition.  They wanna watch explosions and dudes on horses.

My other complaint about the movie was the sound. I know this makes me sound like an old woman but it was SO loud!! Every explosion was earth shattering so we had to turn it down but then because the movie was also a Western, when the characters were talking, everybody mumbled and we had to turn it up. Resulting in all of us nearly wetting our pants, when we had the TV turned up loud to try and hear what everyone was saying and then there would be a surprise explosion.

Luckily I quite like Daniel Craig.  I think he’s a good actor, effortlessly cool and easy on the eyes.  Also, they put him in a pair of chaps which once Girl Roomie pointed out to me, I could not take my eyes off them. 

And special shout out to the special effects team because they did an awesome job on everything.  I thought the aliens were really well done.  Menacing and very realistic.

Recommended? All in all, the movie’s alright but it’s pretty long and I think that adds another nail to its coffin.  If you wanna see a good mix of the Western and sci-f genre, I’d recommend you watch ‘Firefly’ instead. 

February Photo A Day Challenge (con.) Pt 2!

February is over and I’m still posting this challenge.  I’ll just do a giant picture post and then I’ll be finished!  Whilst I did enjoy taking photos and what not, I’m having a break over March.  April though?  I’ll be back!!

Day 22: A fave photo of you

This was actually Day 21, oops.  I never posted it because I couldn’t be bothered to look through old pictures.  I love this picture of me and “King Henry VIII” at Hampton Court in England.  I love the Tudors (both the historical personages and the TV show!) and I absolutely died of over exposure to awesomeness when I rounded a corner in the palace and was faced with King Henry himself.  I totally pushed some nice American old ladies out of the way to score this photo.  In true Henry fashion, he totally flirted with me and I giggled.  I also have a feeling that I curtseyed to him!

Also, random fact-  The guy in the background was supposed to be Thomas Cromwell (advisor to Henry) and who I am distantly related to.

Day 23: Your shoes

Literally falling apart!  I went to buy new ones but they didn’t have my size!

Day 24: Inside your bathroom cabinet

I tried to use a cool filter to make it seem more interesting.

Day 25: Green

Old picture but I love how this filter makes only her green eyes visible.  And bonus points for the green skirt hanging over my chair!

Day 26: Night

I was going to take a picture of the night sky and literally have a black square, but I forgot.  So just picture it in your minds.

Day 27: Something you ate

This was an epic fail quiche that I made.  And to add insult to injury, only two days later Girl Roomie made the best, most beautiful quiche in the world!  I couldn’t even be mad because her quiche tasted SO good!!

Day 28: Money

Australian money.  So bright and colourful!!  I love how they are different colours so you can easily spot the note you need in your wallet. 

Day 29: Something you are listening to

I love me some podcasts!  And this is my new favourite.  And there are tons of old episodes for me to download.  If you like This American Life, you will definitely like this.