laugh.

amongst this noisy confusion of life; keep calm in your soul.

smile a lot, laugh more, and love the most. 

i think we do a pretty good job of that :)

hiatus.

I apologize for my hiatus. 

Things have been awfully busy in my life. 

I have completely invested myself in a few projects

 as well as school, the usual work + fun. 

The first exciting news is that I was officially announced as the newest columnist at DMBNews.net

I was pretty excited when I heard from the boys at DMBNews.net and that they had selected me

My first article went up at the end of last month. 

Interested in reading? Click here.

I'm excited to continue to share my projects 

as I continue to develop myself as both a writer & a photographer. 

xo

This Weekend..

This Saturday was my roommate Devon's birthday! 

Everyone is turning 22 on me, leaving me once again to be the baby. 

That's okay, I'm fine with staying 21 for awhile :)

We ventured to Northeast Minneapolis to a place called Physco Suzi's. 

The atmosphere was so dang cute and 

he food and drinks were amazing. 

It was hawaiian themed and my drink was served in a coconut. 

I had pepperoni and jalapeno pizza for dinner. 

Phenomenal.  

I should probably consider starting a pizza blog by the way I eat that stuff.

:) 

Oddly, we didn't try to match! It was on complete accident.

kiwi's forever.

Kia Ora! 

  To celebrate our one year, Libby, Bean, and I 

gathered together for some wine and good conversation. 

We also made sure and skyped of Kathy who lives in Tennessee. 

It was wonderful to have at least half of the gang back together again for some good times. 

Bean’s Kiwi-Host, Kinga, also sent some TimTams and Chocolate Fish, which are Kiwi snacks.

Oh nomnom. 

It’s also nice to reflect on our time and hilarious moments we shared 

that nobody here would really understand.

 We got out the New Zealand flag and celebrated the inner Kiwi in each of us. 

Project Two.

For my photojournalism class we are learning about different aspects of photography.

 I knew that it was harder than just point and shoot, but geesh, some of this stuff is super tricky. 

I am hanging in there and starting to get the swing of things. 

For our second project we had to go out and find a journalistic portrait. 

If you know me you know my first thoughts were how can I incorporate dance into this.

 So naturally I consulted upon one of my dearest friends, Riley. 

We teach at SMDA together so it was easy to convince him to let me sit in on classes and take photos.

 I got my shots and more!

 Here are a few photos from my shoot that day : ) 

One Year: New Zealand

Today marks one year since I left for the most amazing adventure I have been on.

 It feels like just yesterday that I left, spent almost five months there, returned, 

and yet suddenly here I sit, one year later. 

Where does time go?

Every moment on that trip was truly a lesson and a blessing. 

I often think back to that journey and can't help but smile. 

I could never write or even begin to explain those moments. 

That's okay, somethings I would rather keep special to myself.

Today, I am reminded, along with a lot of my peers who were abroad with me, 

about all of the amazing times we shared. 

In the period of five months we went through struggles, laughs, smiles, 

and once in a lifetime adventures that I will never forget. 

New Zealand and all those people will forever hold a special place in my heart. 

Here are a few of my favorite images from that time. 

Can You Repeat That?

Over the past month or so, I keep getting asked the same odd question. 

“Would you ever get surgery to have your hearing restored?”

I say odd, because for almost 17 years I have been living with hearing loss in my right ear. 

It has progressively gotten worse but hasn’t (yet) reached complete deafness. 

Anyway, in the last seventeen years I don’t recall ever being asked that question 

and it has came up numerous times to me over the last couple months.

I have never really put a lot of thought into it, but I am now. 

If given the chance would I want to restore complete hearing in both of my ears? 

To put it quite simply; I don’t think so, no. 

I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything 

and to be honest I am a little terrified to hear how loud I actually am sometimes.

 Kidding!

 No, sometimes it is a huge pain to have to constantly be thinking 

about what side I need to stand or sit on when I am with other people. 

It gets annoying that people think I am not listening to them 

when I have to have them repeat themselves. 

I know that a lot of people get frustrated with me for it, 

but I think it’s part of being patient with me and me with others.

As a baby I was affected with ear infections, a lot. 

I got my first hearing-aid when I was four and continued to wear it until about sixth or seventh grade. 

When I refused to wear it any longer

 my mother took me to my audiologist to see what else could be done.

 It was then that we found out my discrimination rate had fallen to 0%. 

Meaning that I could no longer discriminate the difference between two words

such as 'cone' and 'comb' other than by using the context.

At that point I was too young for surgery but a hearing aid would no longer help me.

At the time the only thing that I heard in all of that was I no longer had to wear 

the dreadful hearing-aid, no more questions and looks for other kids, 

and no more looking so different from everyone else. 

When you're twelve, fourteen, seventeen, all you really want to do is blend in. 

It took a long time for me to be comfortable with the fact that I cannot hear. 

But now as a young adult I can finally say I'm okay with it. 

I like that it makes me a little different than everyone else. 

I am perfectly happy with the way that I am – hearing wise. 

When people meet me they have no idea that I cannot hear out of the one ear. 

Some people that have known me for a while still do not realize it 

because it’s not something I randomly tell them when we first meet. 

If things continually went downhill and the hearing gets worse over time I would probably consider it,

 but until then we will all just have to put up with the fact

 that I will ask you to repeat what you said, 

say huh?! a lot,

 and constantly need to be on the right side.  

Feb.

It’s February!

 And perhaps the most loved/hated month of them all. 

I am indifferent about the whole thing, except for that it brings back extreme feelings of nostalgia. 

It’s been almost a year since my life did a complete 180 

and changed everything, but more on that later.

Whoever decided that February would be the month of love is beyond me. 

However, like I said I am indifferent of the whole thing. 

When you love someone do you really need a Hallmark Holiday

 to remind you to remind him or her how much you care? I don’t think so.

Love; it’s an interesting topic that in my short 21 years I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t fully understand. 

At the same time I wonder if anyone really understands it.

 We want it, crave it, are afraid of it, run from it, and ultimately need it. 

The one emotion can cause a bunch of other emotions to erupt. 

It drives you crazy, calms your soul, depresses you,

 and makes you feel like the happiest person in the world.

It’s something that for ages has dumbfounded people. 

Questions about it seem never ending as poets, musicians, writers, dancers, everyone, tries to define 

and make sense of this one emotion.

 It’s something I don’t know if I will ever fully understand or comprehend the power of this one thing.

“To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. 

And may very well be the greatest secret in the universe.”

Happy February everyone! 

I promise to try to get out of the rut

and write more this month. 

xo