Life has me pumped, ya'll!

What's up guys! How's it going! I'm at Starbucks right now, working on a bunch of things, and I only have about an hour before I have to head off to my next job. But! I really wanted to write a little something. Life just has me so excited right now.

Photo credit: @polly.florence

I don't know how long this feeling will last, but I'm in love with it. Here's what I'm up to:

-I made the choice to apply to grad school last week, so that's what I've been doing. I just have to write my personal statement (which is what I'm doing at Starbucks lol) and then I'll be good! I hope everything works out. 

-A few weeks ago I was sitting in my room thinking about how much I want to visit LA. And then I thought... I CAN. So right then and there I used my saved travel points and booked a round trip flight for the end of April. I found a cheap hostel on Hollywood Blvd, have been outfit planning nonstop, and mapped out my 4 days there. It's cool to be excited about a trip because I haven't really done that for myself since early last year. When I was in college, I would get bus tickets to random places by myself all the time and now I don't do that as much. ALSO! I booked a tattoo appointment with an artist in LA I look up to so much! His name is Vince Espinoza and he's tattooed some of my favorite people. I should hear back about a confirmation soon - I'm beyond stoked.

-You guys. Kids are cute. I've never really vibed with kids (I prefer to work with teenagers - weird, I know) but I've been around kids so much lately and it makes me excited. Not that I want to have kids right now, because I don't, but as much as I thought I wanted to travel the world and live in a million places, I think I'm most excited just to start my career and plant down in one place for a bit. I hadn't even thought about it until recently, but I find myself looking at apartment decor way more than travel essentials. Everyone knew this about me, except for me. Haha! Seeing cute kids everywhere makes me think about what life could look like soon(er than I think! But not that soon ;)

-Besides that, I'm keeping busy. I'm still taking the TEFL course online even though I won't be teaching abroad any time soon. I get to facilitate art therapy sessions every Monday at my internship, I still work retail which is a bummer but it helps me save, I babysit on Monday afternoons, and I also am a substitute teacher about twice a week for schools around my town. I try to just sub for art classes, which is awesome, but it's fun just to chill with the students for the day regardless.

How have you been feeling? Anything in your life have you excited? Are there changes you can make to get that feeling?

Happy Monday!

5 happy things

Life's been a roller coaster lately, so here is a list of 5 things that have made me happy recently!

1. The gym

I know, weird right? I've realized that I actually enjoy the gym. Of course there are times when I don't feel like going, but if I'm there doing things I like, I leave feeling amazing.

2. Substitute teaching

I have like 4 jobs right now, and subbing is one of them. It's been so fun! Last week I was in a high school art class and it was my perfect day because I love working with teenagers and being around art.

3. Oatmeal

I've been so obsessed with oatmeal lately LOL every morning I eat oats cooked with cinnamon and flax seed, and then topped with granola, a banana, almond butter, and more cinnamon. SO GOOD.

4. Slime

Another random one... but I babysit 2 girls every Monday and the younger one loves slime. She's been bugging me to get supplies to make slime for so long, so last week I surprised her with everything and she was stoked! We made slime together and it's been oddly relaxing to play with.

5. Call Me By Your Name

The movie! Sadly I haven't read the book. The movie makes me so happy though - Timothee Chalamet, Italy, art. Love.

Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Beautiful Boy (2018)

Happy 2019! Wow, insane. I'm happy to start a new year. I'm so curious to see where I will go and what I will do in 2019... because I genuinely have no idea.

Ok, so. I want to talk about the movie Beautiful Boy. I wanted to see it as soon as the trailer came out so I searched and searched and could only find small independent theaters that were showing it. FINALLY a small art house in my town was showing it and I bought tickets with no hesitation. It was actually super cool to go to an art house rather than a big theater. There were only about 4 or 5 of us in there, so it was really cozy and nice.

Anyway: Beautiful Boy. What an amazing movie. I won't tell you much about it, other than it's essentially a film about drug addiction and how it effects the person dealing with it as well as everyone around him. I posted the trailer below. It stars Timothee Chalamet and Steve Carell who both did a stunning job.  It's based on the books Tweak by Nic Sheff and Beautiful Boy by David Sheff.

As you know, I did an internship with teenagers that were struggling with drug and alcohol addiction and it really changed my life. I learned that that is the population I want to work with and while I watched this movie, all I could think about was how excited I am to work with this population.

I really can't put into words how much I enjoyed this movie and how much I want to watch it again. They did a great job portraying drug addiction and I hope more people see Beautiful Boy to educate themselves. Too often, people see addiction as a senseless act by people who don't care about themselves or anyone else and that's not how it is - this film shows that.

Actually - it's being release on Amazon Prime TOMORROW! Go grab your tea, cookies, and tissues and watch it!

New pieces

I've added some things to my Etsy shop, Art Speaks! I'm really into making these yarn wall hangings and I can customize it to the size and colors you would like as well. Reach out to me with any questions and please share this with your friends! :)

Yarn wall hanging - $10

Mixed media canvas - $12

Yarn wall hanging - $12

Happy Wednesday!

Where's the day go?

I haven't really sat down to blog in a while... or journal or make art for fun or do a lot of things that make me feel good and are productive. You all feel like there aren't enough hours in the day either, right? I know some people that can read a whole book in a day, be caught up in all the latest shows, have a full time job, and go out with friends - and I'm like how?!

Anyway, I wanted to say that. Here are some things I've come across on Tumblr that I've really liked that have nothing to do with that thought I just shared:













Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Read this!

A friend recently tagged me on a photo that had this caption because she knows I forget these words a lot, so I thought I'd pass it along to you as well:

"Here’s why I tell you: Even if you’re not married, you may be feeling like your life needs to operate according to a certain expected timeline. Maybe Great Aunt Beatrice asks you E V E R Y Thanksgiving if you’ve met a nice guy yet. Or maybe your step dad is always asking when you’re going to give up the dream and get a real job. Or maybe it’s something else. ⁣⁣⁣

Can I just remind you there are treasures in this season — even if your season totally doesn’t measure up to yours or society’s timeline? I want you to get this through your noggin (even if Great Aunt Bea hasn’t quite embraced it): this season is enough for you. ⁣⁣⁣

The sun comes up every day to shine on your pretty little face and light up your life and there’s purpose and beauty and joy NOW. The past is over and the future isn’t guaranteed. What if you just decided right now, today, that today is enough—and that even if it’s totally imperfect it’s still really stinking beautiful and designed intentionally and specially for YOU right here, now. ⁣⁣⁣

Don’t miss this sister. Live for today. It’s all we’ve got."

-Jordan Lee Dooley, on Instagram

Currently

First of all, sorry I do these so often - I feel like they're the easiest way to update you on my life! I'll keep the answers for each of these short this time though.

Loving: FALL! You already know that. I just got a part time job at TJ Maxx to help me save more and if they schedule me to work Halloween night I will throw a tantrum.

Watching: The Great British Baking Show on Netflix - I binged the last 3 seasons in like 1 week HAH. It's given me some great ideas for baking though. Also did you guys watch Shane Dawson's series The Mind of Jake Paul? I'm without words, it was SO good. Do you know what? I've always been a Jake Pauler and I was always a little embarrassed by it, but you go watch the series and tell me you're not a Jake Pauler!

Reading: I'm re-reading The Art of Happiness by Dr. Howard Cutler and The Dalai Lama - It's a book that got me through my sophomore year of college and it just reminds me what to focus on in life.

Listening:

SAD! by XXXTENTACION

2009 by Mac Miller

Happiness by Rex Orange County (SO GOOD)

Uproar by Lil Wayne

Sunflower - Allie X (synth reprise from Sierra Burgess is a Loser)
...and, honestly, a lot more songs.

Looking forward to: Right now my plan is to leave to teach English abroad next Summer. I have to wait because my best friend asked me to be her maid of honor and her wedding is next Summer haha! I'm a little stressed about saving enough money but I'm really excited. I've been thinking about the feeling I had before I interned abroad junior year and I'm getting that same feeling now. It's nice to have something to look forward to again, rather than just working a 9-5 while I'm so young.

Thinking about: Going along with that ^ I'm just kind of in a rut right now. I find myself with a lack of motivation and I feel like it's because all I'm doing right now is working part time. I miss the days in college when I was crazy busy and had the longest days. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy down time, but I really love constantly having things to do and I don't have that now and haven't had that for months. I kind of feel like I've wasted my time and I feel like living at home is part of the problem... but I'm trying to save money so this is the best option. Going from living in Boston to living in the middle of nowhere has been a struggle and I'm oddly missing college.

What's currently going on with you?

Post idea came from Sometimes Sweet and the photo is from my Tumblr.

Fall

Wow, I just love Fall. I love everything about it. The leaves, the temperature, the activities, the movies, the baking, the colors. I could go on and on.

What's your favorite season?

All photos from Autumn Leaves, Winter Breeze

Stupid videos

In my currently post that I wrote a few weeks ago, I said how I've been watching YouTube videos recently. It's weird for me! I used to watch them here and there, but I didn't really realize how many good stuff was on YouTube.

I thought in this post I'd show you some of the "stupid humor" videos I've been loving lately. Honestly, that's my favorite kind of humor. I'll admit that sometimes I do feel like I'm losing brain cells when I watch them though. Especially because they're 10-20 minutes long!

Corey Scherer - Fam 5 picking up girls

Jake Paul - Mini Jerika's first date

(I used to hate Jake Paul, but now I don't mind him. Sue me!)

Jake Webber - Party in Sam's room

Dolan Twins - Doing things for the first time

Emma Chamberlain - How to have fun on Valentine's Day for single people

Do you watch a lot of "stupid" videos? Share them with me!

In the next YouTube post I do, I'll show you actual quality videos/channels ;)

PS HAPPY OCTOBER! If you know me, you know it's my favorite month. Yay!

My tattoos

I only have 3 tattoos, but a little while ago I did a post about my piercings and I thought I'd do something similar. I can't stop thinking about getting another more, but I need to save money. I know what I want my future tattoos to be, but I don't want them done by a random artist that's near me. I want to really plan out a place and get them done by artists I really look up to, even if that means waiting longer and traveling a bit for them.

The first tattoo I got was when I was 18 right before I left for college. I saw these words on Tumblr one random day and just had an overwhelming feeling that I needed them on my wrist, so a few days later I went with a friend, tweaked the font a bit, and got it done.

The second one I got is actually kind of a funny story. I was on Spring break in Mykonos, Greece while studying abroad and the island was dead since it was the off season. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time ATVing around the island and laying on the empty beaches. But one day we were really running out of ideas, so we passed a tattoo shop and my friend dared me to get one to pass the time, so I was like you know what? Okay. We got lunch so I could think of what I wanted, and and hour later we went inside. It was really nice because the artists were bored as well, so we hung out with them, got to know them, and they were really helpful when it came to picking a style for the tattoo. They wouldn't even accept a tip, no matter how hard I tried. They said a tip would be to return to Greece one day, which I fully intend on doing! I got this just because I thought it would be a simple homage to my study abroad experience.

Finally, my last and biggest one I got on a trip to Toronto. This is a long story, but I'll try to condense it. Basically, there's a tattoo shop up there that I've always wanted to go to called Chronic Ink and I went in to make an appointment for this Summer. It was all set, but as we were about to head out they stopped me and said they had a last minute cancellation for one of their really popular artists who does the style I was looking for and I could either get it done today by him or wait until July for someone else. Impulsively I chose to get it done that day, but he had to use one of his flash pieces instead of drawing me a custom one. It all happened so fast and I wasn't able to drive my friend to the airport like I was originally planning to, so that was a bummer. But I love the tattoo and it was really cool to get it done by a really well known artist up there! His name is Sebastian Camargo and he just opened his bookings back up, so check him out if you're looking to get something done! Right after I got it done, I had to drive 7 hours back to PA in a snow storm and the whole shop was really accommodating for me. Even if you don't go to Sebastian, definitely check out the shop, it's full of really awesome people.

How many tattoos do you have? Were any of them impulsive? Do you regret any?

Have a lovely Wednesday!

Wes Anderson

Photos from here.

Noah Centineo

**

Okay I know I just posted about Noah Centineo in my Link Love post, but I found these pictures and I had to share them. This boy is literally too good to be true - have you seen the videos about him? He's perfect! Such a great actor too.

It's funny because the YouTuber I really love, Emma Chamberlain, gets her pictures taken all the time by Bryant and he's also the one that took these photos. It all comes full circle! Also shoutout to Emma. She just started making videos for fun last year and now she's living in LA hanging out with boys like this ^

Link Love

Via

I'm one of those people that dreams of Fall all year round... I mean look at these pictures and tell me you're not excited.

Speaking of Fall, I love big, oversized sweaters like this one.

Have you heard of Emma Chamberlain? She's a YouTuber and SO funny. Watch this video of hers.

I made these scones the other day and they were really good!

Look how cute this bedroom is!

My tattoo artist, Sebastian Camargo, finished this back piece on one of his clients a few weeks ago and I'm swooning.

Also, have you watched the movie Everything, Everything? Oh MAN it's so good. I should have read the book first, but the movie was 10/10.

This quote has been on my mind.

I'm sure you've all heard/seen Noah Centineo by now. Swooooon!

Speaking of Emma Chamberlain, I've been making her coffee recipe and I highly recommend it. Yum!

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

9.11

via

**

17 years.

Rabbit in the meadow

**

These photos by Emily at The Silence Crept Over Me are so delicate and beautiful. She takes most of these in Western Massachusetts, which has a special place in my heart. All of her photography is stunning - check out more of her stuff and support her!

Mac Miller

I hate that I'm posting about another death. Can you believe Mac Miller died? I was obsessed with him in high school and my love grew ever since. He was so talented and his music was getting more mature as the years went on.

I learned so much about drug addiction during my senior internship. It's such a disease. I'm so sick of people saying "these kids should learn" or "their life was so good, why would they ruin it with drugs?" I encourage all of you to watch 6 Balloons on Netflix - it portrays addiction really well and can really teach people something.

PA as well of the rest of the world misses you, Mac!

"Live forever then you never feel the need to die

This is a letter, open it to set you free

Remember love and remember me

Dear people on Earth after I die

What's the weather like?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

And I ain't perfect but I try

Hey, I wonder if I'll maybe get a second life

This time imma get it right"

1 Threw 8

Goals

**

Mood, amiright?

Dreaming

**

I found this photo on the Tumblr Grace Upon Grace and I love it so much. Doesn't it just make you feel good? I want to have a dinner party just like this.

How are you all doing on this Thursday? It's the first day off I've had in a while and it feels so good to get things done that I haven't had time to do.

Zombie Boy

I just heard about Rick Genest's death and I'm so sad about it. When he was young, he had a brain tumor and was told he would have to get surgery that would disfigure him for life. Later, he found out that he could get a laser procedure done and he was one of only 2 people in North America to survive that procedure.

He died yesterday by suicide, which devastates me. 

He loved when people stared at him and he said he accomplished his goal of becoming a "freak." I've always been so inspired by his creativity and spirit. In my past tattoo posts, I talk about him a lot and he definitely influenced to be more myself.

Altar of the Fatherland

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I've probably posted this picture before, but it's one that I took of the Altare della Patria in Rome, Italy. It's my favorite building and I would say this is my favorite photo that I took! It's the background on my computer right now, and I thought I would share it here too.

How are you doing today? This week my friend is going on vacation, so I'm subbing as nanny for her and get to hang out with the kids she usually watches. Yay, money! I forgot what it looked like for a bit there.