so yesterday.

yesterday was lovely for me.

not only was it sandals and dress weather, but my mom, my sister and myself went out for a little thing i like to call FRO YO!! it was pretty friggin delish.

yum-o.

it was that good.

i love fro yo so much.

can't even express.

on a totally un-related note, i'd like to share my new favorite picture with everyone:

look at that scrunchy face and those freckles.

adorable.

did everyone have a marvelous holiday?

(*NSYNC's debut album. the european cut.

i'm cool like that tonight.)

never be ashamed of who you are.

so, i'm an aspiring writer.

right?

right.

and i love that about myself. i love the thought that someday i'll be a published author and someone somewhere in the universe will read my books and maybe even like them.

that being said, it may be surprising to know that i also struggle with telling people that i am a writer. i'm not sure why, but i'm always reluctant to discussing it in face to face conversations.

i'm scared of what people will think.

i'm afraid they wont like my ideas.

i'm afraid they will think i'll never achieve my dream.

i'm worried they will look down at me and laugh. "you? a writer? ha!" they'll say. and i, hanging my head in shame, will shuffle off quietly.

these are the thoughts that instantly spring to my mind when someone tries talking to me about my writing.

last night at work i was jotting down an outline for a story idea i had. while i was doing so, a co-worker of mine approached me and began asking questions about what i was doing. i was so reluctant to tell him.

it shouldn't be so hard for me to say "i want to be a writer." out loud.

yes. some people may look at me and think "yeah, right. she'll never write anything that sells." but that's not something that should stop me, right?

if writing is something i truly love and plan on doing, there should be nothing that should make me feel ashamed of that fact.

i realized that last night as the co-worker continued to ask me questions and i stumbled through my answers.

i realized that so what if he doesn't like my ideas. i'm not writing books for his personal enjoyment, am i?

so what if people think i'll never do it.

so what.

so what!

the only person that matters in this situation is me.

and i shouldn't be ashamed of wanting to be anything but what my heart desires.

i shouldn't be scared that i'll fail.

because i know i wont.

with that realization in mind, i'm begging all of you to please, never settle for less than what you deserve.

never be afraid to look someone in the eyes and with all the surety in the world express to them your dreams and aspirations.

and never, ever, EVER be ashamed of who you are.

its a beautiful day in our neighborhood.

here's what we're doing today.

what about you?

{yes. these were taken today. on the 28th of january.}

i take pictures of food.

found it.

well, after this post {thanks for the sweet comments!}, i decided i needed to come up with my own cure-all. so i grabbed the rebel (my slr), my model-worthy sister (aka c, cc, cini bird etc.) and lola (the gps system) and jumped in the car for another friday adventure. while this one was no where near as eventful as last week's, it was exactly what i needed for today.

first stop was to find a decent place to do photos around here. we found a pretty good spot for senior pics and such but i wouldn't recommend say, bridals there or anything.

go here to view the rest of her session. {well, the ones i've edited anyway.}

and then, we went to find a fro yo place.

i'm bound and determined to find something here that can temporarily be my spoon me.

{and after drooling over these for so long, i was craving some goooood fro yo!}

that's where yogurtie comes in.

its a whimsical little fro yo place run by an asian family.

best part about it was, it was about 5 minutes away from where c and i shot.

yogurtie ftw!

{don't go to the website. its down.}

{obviously its the place to be.}

{i'm rockin the top knot! inspired by sydney and ashley.}

i've decided to rate each fro yo place on a 5 ♥ scale in comparison to spoon me who, of course, gets 5 ♥.

i take into consideration:

atmosphere (i.e. decor, staff, music, etc.)

flavor (not how many flavors they have, but the actual taste of the fro yo.)

price

variety (different flavors and toppings.)

extra zing (whatever else i feel like giving points for.)

and yogurtie gets ♥ ♥ ♥.

first off, the flavor was great. i prefer my fro yo to be a little thinner and icier than creamy (if i wanted creamy, i'd eat ice cream.) yogurtie had that perfect combo that i love, although it did melt pretty quickly. secondly, there was so much variety! they had over 10 flavors to choose from and even more toppings (but you better believe i stuck to my usual 'original flavor'). plus it was self serve so that was a plus. as for atmosphere, the decor was pretty cute, but the music they were playing was horrible and i prefer to speak to someone who actually speaks english...

they lost points for price. while they only charge $.39 per oz, that adds up quick! for two cartons of yogurt it was over $10.00. that, for me, is a little pricey.

over all, it was pretty delish and fun to try.

but its no spoon me.

all in all, a great friday night.

{oh and they got an extra point for having a random book on one of the tables about a lost beaver.}

{if you want to visit this yogurtie, its on eldorado in mckinney, tx.

look me up, we'll go together!}

its monday, which is awesome.

you know, lately i've been having a really hard time with life. everything going on in my life just kept heaping on top of me and i finally just shut  myself off and decided not to deal with things because in my eyes, not dealing with things was easier than trying to deal with things. i grew so numb inside and my ability to care flew south for the winter.
every now and then i'd have an okay day, or an okay moment, but for the most part things were just bad. this was affecting my holiday spirit (i had none.), relationships with certain people in my family and even some of my friends, and seriously making things just seem horrible.
over the past few days, i've been trying to asses the root of all the struggles in my life, and yesterday, i finally figured it out. (well... i already knew this all along, i was just too selfish and shut-off to realize it.) even though i have little or no control over the things that other people do to me, even though i hate my job and am seriously broke its not even funny anymore, even though people may be doing things that i can't deal with or don't agree with, there is one thing i can control that will alter how all of those things affect me. my attitude.
you see, everyone is struggling with things. i read posts like this where she describes almost exactly how i'm feeling inside and i realize how selfish and petty i'm acting. i'm not the only one with problems. i'm not the only one struggling. i'm not the only one that is sad and depressed and numb. there are hundreds of thousands of people out there with problems just like mine. some are even worse off than i am!
if i would just stop acting so woe-is-me and start having a better attitude about life, i know i'd be happier and even though my problems might not diminish right away, my positive perspective would help me deal with things better and not feel so helpless. my situations might not change, but i will be changed.
i believe that in being more positive and changing my attitude, i'll be more grateful for what i have therefore setting in to motion good things to come. and who doesn't want good things coming their way? i know i do. and so it is with that hope in mind, that beacon of light no matter how small it is, that i move forward in life with a refreshed outlook and a more positive attitude. and my life will be better because of it.
i just know it will.