Old-Fashioned

Call me old-fashioned, but sometimes I wish life was like an old movie...

I could zip along a street in Rome like Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.

Even princesses need a holiday sometimes. 

I could sing in the rain without getting weird looks.

Well, maybe if it's after 1:30 in the morning. 

I could go sailing for an afternoon with Humphrey Bogart.

"No, father. The moon is reaching for me."

I could go on crazy adventures with a leopard named Baby and a dog named George. 

Oh, and Cary Grant, of course. 

I could look ever-so-elegant while solving a murder. 

Spying on the neighbors seems somewhat enjoyable. 

And last, but not least... I could twirl in a dress, dancing like Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen.

Because we all know the best things happen while you're dancing.

 I've always tried my best to emulate the class of these on-screen ladies because they respected themselves, yet knew how to have fun in life.There's just something about these old movies that speaks of a lost magic, a time and place long ago, and I've been in love with them for as long as I can remember.

So. Now you all know what I daydream about.

Everybody Got Their Something (yeah)

Allow me a brief trip down memory lane.

 I promise we won't linger that long. Flashback to the good old days of Mrs. Foreman's class. Throughout the day, as we were doing our sixth-grade thang, our curly-haired, crazy (I mean it in a sweet, endearing way) teacher would play "transition songs," moving us along from task to task. "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield *RELEASE YOUR INHIBITIONS! Feel the rain on your skin! No one else can feel it for you! Only you can let it in!*  blasted as we removed our Language arts books from our desks, and the "Proud" song inspired us whenever we wrote in our "Pride Journals" (Oh man... the Pride Journal is another post for another day. *WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TODAY TO MAKE YOU FEEL PROOOOUUUUD???*) Needless to say, after listening to these songs day after day, roughly 180 times, I know all the lyrics by heart. By far the best one was "Everybody Got Their Something" by Nikka Costa. I still remember hearing this song, strutting to get my math book, and feeling oh-so-very cool. 

Flash forward to the high school version of Hope strutting (well, not really) out of Mr. Jenkin's AP Calculus class and feeling oh-so-very cool (sorta.) I was quickly overwhelmed by a multitude of sophomores coming from the Driver's Ed. class across the hall and immediately took note of a tall, bespectacled boy speaking animatedly to his pal. It became apparent that he was speaking about a video game, though I still have yet to figure out what any of it meant (The gaming scene is definitely not Hope's cup of tea...erm... hot chocolate.) For some reason this image stuck with me throughout the day, and I found myself wondering what was so significant about this random sophomore's conversation. Then it hit me. The sparkle in that kid's eye. When he spoke of "leveling up" and "ghosting," he was talking about his passion.

There's no way the human race could survive without passion! (Just kidding, we'd probably get along fine. Quality of life would take a notable turn for the worst though.) We all need something to put that sparkle in our eyes, whether it's professional table tennis or playing the tuba or even gaming! In other words....

EVERYBODY GOT THEIR SOMETHING! 

Cue music. 
Feel free to dance... I won't judge. No promises for any one else in the vicinity though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuNboeWH0zc

Time

I realized the other day that I have an obsession. No, it's not One Direction or that Flappy Birds game or slacklining or chocolate.....

As odd as it may sound, I am obsessed with

     Time. 

Calendars and countdowns are my thing. As the month draws to a close, I always find myself excited to erase and start a new month on my whiteboard. I find satisfaction in turning to a new day on my "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" calendar, and one of my favorite things is making a paper chain or setting a countdown on my phone to a special day or an event. My friends probably get annoyed because I'm constantly announcing, "43 days to this!" or "102 days to that!"

Currently I have three countdowns going...

If you can't read it, there's:

 117 days to the last day of school 

46 days to Spring

26 days to my school's production of Fiddler on the Roof

Pretty exciting, huh?

Now some may think that I might be wanting to rush through life or must not be enjoying present circumstances to be constantly looking ahead; however, let me tell you of a paradox I've recently discovered.

My time keeping helps me realize how truly precious each moment is while reminding me that the best is yet to come. 

Life is to be lived to the fullest because even in those moments you're watching the clock, desperately wanting the seconds to pass, you can still find beauty. If we believe that good things are in store, it allows us to have a positive outlook on the present and the future, and we become happier people. Gordon B. Hinckley said it best when he stated, "Life is to be enjoyed, not endured."

Life is grand. Life is hard. Life is SO worth it.