What I am thankful for this Thanksgiving.

This year as I spent time with my family, laughed at the stories and enjoyed an amazing meal, I also reflected on what I am thankful for. Sometimes life gets hard and it's easy to forget about the good things we have. I will admit that I expect too much from people at times and have a hard time accepting the ones I love for who they are. But this afternoon I looked around me and I couldn't help but feeling both proud, and lucky, to have the family that I have been blessed with. Also, I realized that it's okay for us to be different and that I don't need to understand everything about everyone. My family is full of people with amazing hearts, who will do anything for anyone, and truly care about each other. We may live in different parts of the world, have different personalities and live different lifestyles, but when push comes to shove we love each other something fierce and stick by one another.

I am thankful for having a family that truly cares. We might be a little loud (myself included), some are stubborn (once again, including myself), and we can let life get the better of us at times. I go years at a time not seeing my parents, months at a time not seeing my sister, and even months at a time not seeing cousins who are a drive away. But one thing is for sure - no matter what, my family is, and always will be, "there" for each other. They are who I am thankful for.

What to write about?

Wanting to become a writer means there is one thing I need to do over and over again. That thing is - just to write. I need to get to the point where I write every day; but what do I write about? Interesting things don't happen to me every day, especially after moving back to Massachusetts. And while there are a lot of activities that I am interested in, they don't seem like worth-while topics that people will want to spend time reading. Yet - I must write every day. It is imperative to my success towards a future as a work-from-home writer/traveler. So what is something that will be interesting enough for me to spend the time putting into words? How I see helicopter parents every day and how frustrating it is? Why do people go out in public wearing pajamas, looking like their homeless?

Should I do research and write about a topic like the state of the economy? Are job rates getting better? Would people be interested in reading about coastal conservation issues? Is the state of the Florida Everglades improving - ecosystem-wise?

I need feedback. I need people to tell me what they want to read. Help me work on practicing my skills!

Shit, I turn 29 in 3 weeks!!

The last couple weeks have been rough. Honestly, I've been freaking out... and over what? Right, the fact that I am nearing my 29th birthday. I am not kidding you! I have been obsessing about the fact that I am closer to 30. Now, most guys I know won't understand, but I know that my fellow ladies will! Turning 30 is a huge deal, made even bigger by the fact that I am single, don't own a house, and am still working on my career. My parent's were married with children by 24, and here I am - nearly 29 - and I can't even keep a dog because my life is such an unpredictable rollercoaster! 

But today I thought about it, and I realized that I am exactly where I should be, doing what I should be doing. Not only that, but I am damn proud of all I have experienced and accomplished over the last 29 years. I entered 20 years old as a quiet, naive, innocent girl who spent 80% of her free time (time outside of school and work) with her family, someone who didn't know how to pay a bill and hated driving on the highway, and became an independant woman who is well traveled, educated, can take care of herself and takes 100% responsibility for her life. These last 9 years have been insane! I experienced college, fell in love, went to graduate school, had my heart broken, lived on my own, traveled to 5 countries in either 3 or 4 continents (I forget if Belize belongs to North or South America), have had my life fall to pieces around me, and learned to pick those pieces up and make my life better. I saw a miracle in my cousin surviving an extreme case of pancreatic cancer. I swam with sharks and even did a night dive in Australia. I have driven on the opposite side of the road on the opposite side of the car. I have also driven along practically the entire east coast of the USA. I went to hear the Dalai Lama speak, met Alyssa Milano, saw Johnny Depp in concert, got tattoos, partied on a yaht, went skinny dipping in the Atlantic, held a baby sea turtle, and have been mere feet near manatees and alligators out in nature. I learned about different cultures and have tried some exotic food (if you consider kangaroo and emu exotic). Sure, there are people who have seen and done more, I know a few myself. But I think I have had a packed, fun, insane decade full of some pretty cool things. So of course I don't own a house. No, I'm not married or even in a relationship. I've had other things going on, occupying my time, and shaping me into the person I am today. 

So 29...I am ready for you! And you better believe that this final year in my 20's will be one worthy of wrapping up the previous 9.

Transcending from Hell and into Heaven

For the past couple weeks I’ve been rereading books about positivity, the law of attraction, and achieving perpetual happiness. It’s not that I’m a miserable, or even depressed, person who needs self-help books. I’m simply a human being who recognizes her faults and wants to become the best person possible for me. No one is perfect, nor are we supposed to be, but many of our thoughts and beliefs are limiting, binding, even paralyzing. Then when we fail, succumb to temptation, make assumptions, or do anything else that is – well, simply put, human - we punish ourselves and allow the opinions of others to crush us further. It’s a self-destructive slippery slope that people find themselves on from time to time. I know I have been the victim of feeling miserable for my less-than-perfect qualities, and I’m over it. It does not feel good and it is not constructive. We all have the right to be who we are and say what we feel and do what we want – as long as we don’t harm anyone else.

Each person is different – we think differently, act differently, and have different opinions. The way one person reacts to a situation is dependant upon their life circumstances and obstacles leading up to it. In order to transcend hell and enter heaven people need to realize this and stop assuming that they know why other people respond and react the way they do. 

Also, when negative things happen, it is possible to see the bright side. Looking back at some of the saddest times of my life I can now see how everything panned out for the best. I would not be the independent and strong person that I am today if it was not for my obstacles.  Terrible things that happen can be used as reminders to have faith. Just because we don’t understand why something is happening a certain way doesn’t mean that a lesson can’t be learned. We choose to be negative, and therefore we can also choose to be positive. Heaven can be found on Earth. We can choose to be happy and to see every obstacle as an opportunity for growth, love, and beauty. We can also take something sad or overwhelming and use it to help others.

The way I see it – being happy is simple. Thinking positively, being who you are, and not allowing the actions of others affect you are key ways to achieve it. When we allow negativity and drama affect us, we are creating hell in our minds. That is how hell exists on Earth – because it can exist in us. Therefore, changing the way we think and act will allow us to create heaven in our minds. And if each of us can create heaven in our minds, we can in turn create heaven on Earth. I don’t know about you, but I like the sound of that!

My Fictional Role Models

19th century stories with strong-willed independent leading women always motivate me and after finishing a book or movie I feel ready to take on the world.

Think Pride and Prejudice or Little Women - I admire the strength and individuality of the women in these stories. They accept the cards dealt by life and play with passion and integrity.  Of course these are fictional characters, but they were based on people whom the writers, like Austen and Alcott, knew. Sometimes they were based of off the writers themselves. These characters vary from middle to lower-middle class, and in the mid to late 1800’s, in both England and the America’s, there were plenty of stresses for women of all walks of life. In patriarchal societies it was difficult to make lives for themselves and the state of their livelihood either depended on inheriting from a wealthy family member or marrying “well”.

Today, we have fewer restrictions and more ways to be successful. Women do not need to marry for security. Charities exist to help the poor. Yet many of us do not have the passion or strength to go after what we want. Many of us accept less than perfect relationships. We are scared to move up in the work place. We have dreams and goals, but make excuses for why they are unattainable. Why is it that with more vectors for success and happiness, we also have more excuses? Why do we cry and complain when a man doesn’t show us affection? Elizabeth Bennett laughed when Mr. Darcy called her plain and pointed out that he ‘wouldn’t give notice to women who were slighted by other men’. She walked away and joked about it with her best friend, Charlotte. Today, if the same situation happened, lots of us would walk to our best friends and either start bitching or start making fun of the guy too. Are there many of us who would hold our heads high with the integrity that this fictional character did? When Jo March was dissatisfied with her life, when she was miserable for rejecting Laury, she moved to Boston and got her mind wrapped around something new. And in this day in age, where travel has never been easier, lots of people are petrified because it’s new and different.

I want to be more like these fictional characters. I want to be a modern day Elizabeth Bennett or Jo March. I want to be as stubborn and motivated as Anne Shirley, fight for what I believe in but also know when it is right to fight or to walk away (well, maybe she isn’t a good example of walking away). These women didn’t pout when a guy didn’t come their way, and they didn’t give up when life got hard. They were confident and kept walking forward, with heads held high.

They might be fictional, but they definitely exhibit characteristics we can all learn to adopt. I know I’m working on becoming more like my fictional role models.

Getting back to it!

I'm back and ready to write! 


Talk about life doing a 180 degree turn! I went from job searching and wondering where to go next to working two jobs and knowing exactly what I want out of life. And I want to get back into writing. It won't be easy, but practice makes perfect, right? So here I am, keyboard under my fingers, typing away about anything I can wrap my words around. 


The conservation website will soon be under construction and I am excited about that. One of my jobs has me in maritime mecca, so that will help to find things to add. But the library and online databases will soon become my new best friends. 


I am also going to start a new blog with a friend and coworker. We plan on critiquing the local restaurants in our area and may call the blog "Two skinny girls eat the south coast". Any thoughts about our title? 


There are also a couple novel ideas in the works - one being a biographical piece on my cousin who fought and survived pancreatic, stomach, and intestinal cancer. 


All these projects on top of working 50-60 hours a week will definitely keep me a busy girl! Wish me luck! And don't forget to follow me on this path I'm on!

One thing after the other -- in a good way!

So much has happened in the last two weeks. To recap - 1 week in beautiful Algarve Portugal surrounded by gorgeous beaches, hott bodies, lots of dancing, and delicious food; followed by a week in historical Lisbon and more siteseeing in the cities around Lisbon. Meeting new people, networking, and making friends have been as easy as breathing. I have never had so much fun and thought so much about my future all at the same time before... It was seriously go-go-go! Now I'm back in Figueira with my family and it seems like someone lifted an emergency break on the fast paced life I was experiencing for a while there. The figurative whiplash is taking it's form as constant naps and a neverending blank stare. But no worries, now it's time for updating my resume, writing cover letters, translating them to Portuguese, and sending them out! Thanks to amazing friends I already have a long list of places to send resumes. Every day I feel more and more like I made the right decision by coming here!

My next post will be concerning ideas on how to improve my blog... but before I start writing, does anyone have any ideas that may help me out? I am a woman on a mission... a mission for success!