#internetfamous

I'm not sure what it is about my personality, but when I enjoy something I immediately attempt to recreate that something.

Here's what I mean - back in the day, I liked reading blogs so I thought to myself "Hey, I can be successful at that" and started a blog. Obviously, that didn't pan out. But it happens ALL the time! I listened to a few podcasts and decided I wanted to do podcasts (RIP the unheard Series Regulars Podcast). I see multiple instagrams are a thing and I start 3. THREE. I also have several twitter parody accounts floating around out there somewhere.

So the question is, when did simply enjoying things become not enough?

Thinking about that, the answer is always. I've always been like this. I'm an arrogant son of a bitch when it all comes down to it. I've always been quick to pick things up and therefore I think that applies to literally everything ever.

Sadly, when I'm met with resistance or difficulty, I give up. Or boredom. Boredom kills all hobbies. How do you push past boredom and discover true passions? Especially when you're operating under the illusion that EVERYTHING IS YOUR PASSION.

Maybe it stems from my childhood desire to be ~famous~ or at the very least be well known. But statistically speaking, how often does that actually happen? And how often does it happen to someone who starts a blog with the intention of "making it"? Hardly ever, if at all.

Luckily, I'm no longer operating under a false sense of grandeur when it comes to this blog. I post pretty much never and I'm at the point where I'm talking to my non-existant "audience" as though you're my internal monologue. I literally just called this post a 'brain dump'. So, that's a thing.

I'm not going to be #internetfamous. I'm not even going to be #friendgroupfamous. And that's okay. You probably won't be either - and that's also totally fine! Stop working to please the people that aren't paying attention to you and work on building something you can be proud of. Like a really good instagram theme....wait no. Not that.

White Noise

I don't like silence.

You might be thinking, "Cool - me neither." But no, no, you're not understanding me. I abhor silence.

If John and I are driving across the state to visit our families and he's had a long day and wants to just chill out on his phone, I get upset. Because I want to TALK. Constantly. About anything. About nothing. It drives him crazy sometimes and I understand that he appreciates being able to relax so I'll play the alphabet game on my own while I drive. (You know the one - where you see a letter in a sign and say "A" - "Lansing" "B" - "Burger King").

When I was in high school, I won 2 superlative awards and was allowed to pick which one I wanted to represent me for all time. One was Class Clown and the other was Most Talkative. Not wanting to be known forever as the girl who couldn't shut up, I chose to represent my class as a clown.

If you read my report cards from grade school you will see that my teachers loved me. I was smart, I worked hard but I never stopped talking.

I once got detention for spelling words out-loud from the crowd during a spelling bee.

Sometimes, when I'm anxious about silence I run through the American Sign Language alphabet with my hands. Partially because it feels like talking and partially because I'm hoping someone will ask me what I'm doing so I can speak.

Now that you have a clearer picture in your head about how crazy I am about silence let me tell you why this is important - I work from home. I have no coworkers and very limited conversations with my colleagues. Sometimes, they even meet without me and have conversations that I could contribute to and with my vast talking abilities.

So I watch youtube videos while I work, and rewatch tv shows on my lunch break, and as soon as John gets home I resume never shutting up. At very high volumes because I haven't spoken outloud enough during the day.

And this thought has been eating at me lately. Like maybe I talk too much. Or maybe I have too many thoughts that I need to express and not enough outlets to do so. And then I remembered that I have a blog. So I can write here as though I'm having a conversation with a friend. Or maybe it's more like that sign language thing and I'm talking to myself. Either way, I think I'll try to use it more. But I'll expect less.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Bridesmaids Bundles

Oh, hello there blog!

I didn't forget about you! I just got intimidated by my long hiatus and was too scared to come back. Go figure! Fear rules us all!

But anyway, I was scrolling through photos on my phone and remembered that I'd taken pictures of a wedding project that I wanted to share on the blog and then forgot to do so! Looking back, they're not great in progress photos, but the finished product is seriously too cute not to share.

When John and I got engaged (back in October) I knew I wanted to ask my friends to be involved in a cute and crafty way that incorporated our personalities and friendships.

Cue - bridesmaids care packages.

Ingredients:
     1 Movie of your choosing - I chose Bridesmaids. Duh.
     1 DIY beautiful flask
     1 Super cute card from Rifle Paper Company

Now, that flask. That was the main catalyst for the whole thing. My ladies appreciate booze and beauty and I appreciate my ladies. So I went on Amazon and bought a few flasks and some colorful oil cloth. Oil cloth is basically the fabric that is waterproof - they make tablecloths out of it.

Once everything arrived, I measured out a piece of paper around the flask as a template and cut strips of the cloth. Then I used a spray tack to glue the fabric to the metal flask and let them sit over night. It was a truly easy DIY and the end products were just so pretty!

From there I just wrote little notes and bundled everything up. Now it's months later and I have the best bridesmaids ever and a wedding a few months away.  It's so crazy and exciting!

I'll try to post more soon. I've missed this little outlet!

xoxo

Amanda

I gotta check my map!

It's time for the annual sharing of the costumes! This year, I went as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery service. But, the fun twist is that my 2.5 year old niece ALSO went as Kiki.

DUELING KIKIS!

Thankfully, I didn't have to actually stand near her or I would have felt really uncute. Because let's face it, she's adorable.

I'm on the right, in case you couldn't tell.

The positive of going as a Studio Ghibli character is that you're adorable. The negative is that people don't get your costume.

Whatever, though. I get to just wear this dress like a normal outfit now, so that's great!

What'd you guys dress up as?

xoxo

Amanda

Happy Halloween!

Just a short post today to wish you a Happy Halloween!

And to share my all time favorite YouTube video which also happens to be a Halloween video. Just open it in a new tab and click play whenever you need to smile today.

Have a 'spoopy' day!

Amanda