marilyn.

Here's a common question with no real, concrete answer - "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

This question has been bothering me since I was about 13 years old when I was at a Bat Mitzvah for a friend and they were trying to explain it in their sermon. It has been seven years, and I'm still trying to figure out how to explain why this happens. Is this fate? We're going along and everything is ticky-boo and then bam, it feels like the whole world dropped on your head.

I'm trying to spread the love and support those who have had this. It's so freaking unfair. Some days, I just look up at the sky - rain, snow or shine and question everything. There are so many amazing people I know that have had the worst of worst, and it's just criminal to even fathom.

I have written and spoken about it a lot, and not trying to say that I think of myself highly as a good person, (I have my major flaws!) but after I hurt my knee almost two years ago, I thought life was over. Dance is my passion, and I really thought I was going to make it as a professional performer after high school. Between a huge knee brace (pink of course), countless hours of psychotherapy and mind-numbing exercises, I saw that dream on the ground smashed into a million little pieces.

But things turn out okay.

Marilyn Monroe once said, "Things fall apart so better things can fall together." It takes time. It's a process and we're all on our ways to figuring out how to fix the situations and things that have broken in for us, or perhaps aid someone else.
Stand tall, keep your chin up and don't forget how much sparkle you bring into the world. Everyday is a gift.

You can dance, you can wear fabulous clothes, and you can love. Love is beautiful, hold that close to your heart, and no matter what happens, things will work out in the end because of how much you care and support others when they're down - and that gift is always returned.

saturdays.

grow.

ON A YOUTH WHO DIED OF EXCESSIVE FRUIT PIE.

Currants have checked the current of my blood,

And berries brought me to be buried here;

Pears have pared off my body's hardihood,

And plums and plumbers spare not one so spare:

Fain would I feign my fall; so fair a fare

Lessens not fate, but 'tis a lesson good:

Gilt will not long hide guilt; such thin-washed ware

Wears quickly, and its rude touch soon is rued.

Grave on my grave some sentence grave and terse,

That lies not, as it lies upon my clay;

But in a gentle strain of unstrained verse,

Prays all to pity a poor patty's prey;

Rehearses I was fruit-full to my hearse,

Tells that my days are told, and soon I'm toll'd away!

- from Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1852)

steps.

marked.

"The memory be green." - William Shakespeare, Hamlet (Act I, scene ii).

champs.

Canadians Tessa Virtue and Chris Moir won gold in Olympic ice dancing last night. They skated and danced like Romeo and Juliet, just lovely. Go Canada, so proud.

whack.

It's that time of year again - I've changed my hair and am obsessed with the style of these lovely ladies.

perspective.

Moving and using the Internet and other methods of communication show how green the grass really looks two thousand miles away from home. Home is warm, it's safe, and there are some lovely people here that I will have for the rest of my life. Coming back to where I came from shows a new outlook on the world and life - how people live, their families, friends, work, hobbies, attitudes, everything. The farther I get away from living in Kelowna full-time to visiting, I have seen how bonds have grown, changed, faded, and strengthened more than I could have possibly dreamed.

Only a few more weeks left of school, a midterm, papers and work until I'm back where I belong in the sunshine. I'm so thankful for what I have on either side of the country, and can't wait to plunge into the next chapter of life that my friends and I are on our way to (as I have discovered this week!)

If you're on reading week, enjoy the last few hours and freedom and back to the books on Monday. Sigh, always better to have had and lost than never at all.

"To me, fair friend, you never can be old, for as you were when first your eye I eyed, such seems your beauty still." - William Shakespeare

moving.

Four girls, one car, sunshine, many pit stops and a mini road-trip = one the happiest days ever.

forever.

Happy Valentine's Day! Off to celebrate with two wonderful valentines at home :)

BC.

I know, I know, but this isn't going to be one of those "I believe/Go Canada Go/whatever" love rants about the Olympics. I'll put this out there, I'm from BC, I'm Canadian, and I'm proud of these games. Now please, just humour me for a moment.

I realize that Vancouver has taken measures to get the homeless off the streets and is spending a huge amount of money and resources on the Olympics for about 12 years. We want to win a gold medal on Canadian soil, and as a result, money into athlete development programs has surged, when it could have gone towards education, etc.

HOWEVER. Isn't the greatest form of education outside of the classroom?

Obviously, the Olympics don't equal math class, but I think there's something greater to take from this.

Watching the last leg of the torch relay throughout Vancouver and Opening Ceremonies on the plane home to Kelowna, I had to struggle not to cry. I've grown up as an American, and moving to BC really showed me who I want to be, and person I have become. Here, I have been presented and tested with so many challenges and opportunities that I could never have had before.

One of them is acceptance. Finally, I've accepted that I'm different. I have strong feelings for the United States, as it will always be my home, and Canada, for it is my homeland. Having my American friends see my Canadian culture is so powerful.

For those of you who critiqued the Opening Ceremonies, I think it also needs to be said that we are not China with that kind of manpower, and it is not our culture. I think that the ceremonies really brought BC culture and Canada together. It's like Thumper said in Bambi, "If you can't say nothing nice, don't say nothing at all". It hurts those who have loved and dreamed about these games for years.

Finally, (I know this is long-winded, but thank you for reading to here if you made it!) these games are about being one. The world is one. One brother is in India, one brother is in Slovakia. For the first time in my life, I finally understand what it means to have the world come together, and be so proud. Literally, my love is stretched around the world at this moment, in four different time zones, but the pride is still there.

So the next time you want to critique how bad the Opening Ceremonies are to me, please don't. Just don't. Think of those Canadians away from home, their families, in Afghanistan, and more. This is so special. Please, let it be.

Go Canada.

mcqueen.

RIP Alexander McQueen (shown with Sarah Jessica Parker).

flying.

Today is one of the slowest and fastest days I have experienced so far. I'm leaving tomorrow to go home for reading week - haven't been back in Kelowna since August 2009, so I'm really excited to see my friends, puppies and be in British Columbia during the Olympics.

However, I have a midterm tomorrow, packing to do, am terrified about turning determining my journalistic career at Ryerson for the next two years, etc., so today is speeding by as I watch the clock to make sure that I'm not late for work as well.

But, time is crawling at a snail's pace, for I know in less than 24 hours I'll be at the airport, anxious to get on that plane.

This year really showed me so much about people and how I want things to be. So far, I've met people that I can't imagine my life without, and am so happy to be going back to the people I have been without and need in life. I know that so many say that technology is killing us (I will admit it, sometimes keeping up with emails, texting, Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, and the list goes on...) it's beautiful how the invention of a telephone is still so vital to how one lives today. Thinking about it, it's amazing that you can hear someones voice so clearly mile and perhaps oceans and countries away. That's just magic. Wow.

I'm an optimist. The sun is out, everything will be okay no matter what people do and others say - good and/or bad. Someone who really cares is at the other end of a phone line. I'm really lucky, as they're only one work shift, one midterm and a plane ride away.

uno.

aujourd'hui.

"Pick the day. Enjoy it to the hilt. The day as it comes. People as they come, the past, I think, has helped me appreciate the present -and I don't want to spoil any of it by fretting about the future."- Audrey Hepburn.