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!!!!

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!!

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 :)

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!

Introducing the very first guest blogger!!!

Well, as you know (because I talk about it every single chance I get!), school has gotten crazy in the final stretch. I still want to post things to my blog but I usually spend way too long writing stuff up, so I decided to get someone else to do it for me! Jenna was lovely enough to agree to write a guest post for me. Gentri hooked us up and we’ve quickly become BFFs with so much in common! I love the internet for introducing me to such great people- including Jenna. She’s such a sweetheart, just as animal crazy as me and I love her posts, especially Tranquillity Wednesdays!

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Hey everyone! I’m so glad that the lovely Miss Laura asked me to guest post on her blog while she tries to tackle her crazy class/work schedule!

So an intro is probably in order seeing as you have no idea whose post you are reading right now!

My name is Jenna and I live in the far off universe of Jacksonville, Florida. I blog over at SewSavoirFaire Creations about a hodge podge of things that mostly focus on animals, crafts, every day inspirations, and just a day in the life of a somewhat crazy cat lady!

So stop on by and say hi, I love to meet new people, at least online :p

I was trying to brainstorm what to share with all of Laura’s fabulous readers and because Laura and I share a love for famous boys, I thought I would jump on the cute celebrity boy train, and share with you MY celeb crushes! At least the ones on “the list” this week.

Now in no particular order of severity of crush-level here are the boys!

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The bad boy vampire in The Vampire Diaries, all the Lost fans out there will recognize him from the beginning of the show. I however, prefer him as Damon, in the vampy show that is definitely one of my favorite shows!

Next up on deck -

Cam Gigandet, Twilight Fans may know him as James from the first movie, or possibly Burlesque where he played Christina Aguilera's uber cute love interest. No matter where you recognize him from...yum!

Step up to the plate Charlie Day! If you are an Always Sunny in Philadelphia fan you know this man OR from Horrible Bosses.

He is so so funny which in turn makes him crush-worthy. Plus...he is just too cute!

Numero Four -

Adam Levine, lead singer for Maroon 5, he has something about him that just screams confident and the man makes good music! Hello...Moves Like Jagger! (I'm dancing right now because now the song is in my head...great!)

Last but certainly not least -

Oh Jim...I mean John. He has it all. He's adorable, he's hilarious, he's smart...hey and he's tall. Woo hoo!

Oh well a celeb crush list isn't complete without the girl celeb crush! Since Laura and I agreed to share Zooey Deschanel, I thought I would go with my runner up celeb girlfriend.

Ta Da! Mandy Moore!

She is so effortlessly gorgeous, she's got a killer smile, and she's a really smart girl!

And let's not forget...she starred along side John Krasinski in License to Wed.

That's it! That's my Crush List...as of today anyway...there are a lot of movies coming out soon with very cute boys that will probably be taking someone's place before too long!

Who's on your Crush List? Is there anyone that just never loses their spot on your list?

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you stop by and say hello!

Jenna

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Thanks Jenna… for introducing me to more celebrity guys to crush on!