Stars in New York

Today after I got out of my Frontiers of Science seminar at (8...at night), I looked up at the sky and saw a couple of stars. I immediately thought of my first night in Colombia, that night I was okay with tripping everywhere because I just wanted to look up at the sky. I don't know if I've ever seen that many stars:) I think I'm finally getting back into the groove of things. Whoo. I realized today that I need to break up with sleep, we no longer have a healthy relationship. :) Weekend's so close, I hope adventures lie ahead. Preferably to Brooklyn for thrift shopping/trading and pie! This was btw a tease for the Colombia post, it's coming really soon! Love you all.

Funk!

I need this to be my reminder everyday! Being in a funk is no good. I was just talking to Tanea and Diane about my blah attitude lately. I don't know what's wrong but apparantly I'm not hiding it. :/ When I was home for winter break my mom asked me if i was okay because I always look sad. Ouch. Hmm.

Feed the 500!

As part of InterVarsity's Winter Retreat, we were asked to participate in Feed the 500, or a smaller version. Feed the 500 is basically a day dedicated to putting together 500 lunches for people who need them. Essentially, you're supposed to grab a lunch for someone you meet in the city who may or may not be homeless and one for yourself. The first time I heard this part of it I got really excited because we'd be doing much more than handing someone a lunch and then running off. It had more humanity in it, for me. So once you've found someone, you're supposed to have your lunch with them and have fruitful conversation! Last time, we did this, I was able to have such an awesome experience! I think after the day, I was very grateful for the day. This time, I was placed in a larger group but it was all good because we also got to bond while on our adventure. If I could share something with you, it would be that we are all people and whether or not you're a Believer or not, God loves us all so much, more than we can begin to understand. I was able to meet a man today on 168th Street. I wasn't able to understand his name when he told it to me TWICE, haha, but we still had a good conversation. He only spoke Spanish, so that allowed me to step up. I asked him if it was okay for me to pray for him and he agreed. During our conversation, he told me that he was struggling, luchando, so I just pray for people who may find themselves on the streets for whatever reason: to be warm literally, but also to be warm with God's love in their hearts. Someone said something really great to me today, it was about Haiti and how our action to aid Haiti is so limited because we're far away, but we're here in New York and we can help people HERE. That touched me.

But anyways, I thought I'd share. I'm still processing, procrastinating writing about Colombia. I'll get to it! Um, but I think I still have the "Back to the Semester Blues," so hopefully those go away.

peace and love!

HEY!

So, I definitely need to work on being more consistent with my new blog! I went to Colombia and was so busy! But I can't wait to tell you about it. In the meanwhile, here's a picture of how beautiful Bogota was. All my love! Blog soonsoonsoon!

Lovely Saturday Night

I am so fascinated by this movie I just watched, Man on Wire!

Here's the trailer so you can grasp my fascination:



So, after coming home from spending time with the Coochies(kind of Kiyan's going away time), I wanted to watch a movie and decided on Man on Wire. I'll just say that it was an hour and a half of anxiety and fear! In a good way. It was amazing to see a man's dream come true. It was also very inspiring. The best thing about it might have been that I got to watch it with my little sister who I just had to show how high the Twin Towers actually were. Thank you Google. It made the bitter cold night very worth it<3.

Quote from the movie:
Phillipe Petit: (aka Small Phillipe:) )
"To me, it's really so simple, that life should be lived on the edge. You have to exercise rebellion. To refuse to tape yourself to the rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge. Then you will live your life on the tightrope."

Please watch Man on Wire! Oh! and I now have bangs! I'm excited.

2009- You were so good to me

Today was the first day of 2010 and it was a beautiful day, or is with 9 minutes to spare. I didn't really do much since I woke up at 1, roughly. I did have an awesome video chat with Kiyan and Sara though, which included a Lady Gaga dance party. Need I say more? I also got to see a lot of awesome stuff on blogs. It seems like everyday my dream of becoming an interior designer is affirmed. I of course imagine myself doing this as a hobby. Anywhom, as I was blogging today, I saw a lot of lists of things that make people happy. So I want to do one based on all the things that made me happy this year:

1. In early January, I was still celebrating my early admittance to Columbia University.




2. In March, YTI reunion happened and it was beautiful to be with Nathaniel, Margaret, and Sophie once again. We had a lovely little hotel room all to ourselves and were reunited with lovely friends from YTI. We also went to The Flying Biscuit Cafe, which I vow to return to as soon as I'm back in Atlanta. Oh Cabbagetown <3



3. April was the month of Paris. After months of intense fundraising, Paris finally happened. I'm still trying to process everything that happened but I am thankful for that beautiful week because it's where the Coochies fell in love and started their friendship...Who would have thought? Paris does something to you.



4. That week, I did lose someone very special to me. Elsa Matos, i love you and miss you incredibly. It was an unfortunate loss and my mind often wanders to that time you told me about your diagnosis, you were eating Chinese food with your daughters in your classroom, and when they stepped out. You told me. I started crying and you firmly told me to stop and that I should pray. <3 I hope you're looking down on me.


5. Senior year activities took over and I got to witness some awesome things: the completion of the yearbook (my baby), my best friend receive an award for improving the best in high school (how awesome), fall in front of my senior class while dancing to "Best I Eva' Had" with Kiyan, and graduate. I soon saw my closest friends off to college and secretly took mental snaps of each of them, trying to grasp on to our pre-collegeness. I graduated and donated 1o inches of my hair to Locks of Love!



6. I started my summer program at Columbia and made fabulous friends with the most awesome students of Columbia Class of 2013, let's be honest:)
-I explored the city.
-Walked the Brooklyn Bridge (I was very scared).
-Realized I had made the right decision of attending Columbia University.
-Played dress up with Tanea and Lindsey with our $5 finds from Urban Outfitters!
-Saw "In The Heights"
...and more awesome things I can't remember.


7. Saw Kiyan off to Stanford in September, cried for a good couple of days. Love you.
8. STARTED MY SEMESTER AT COLUMBIA!
9. Went to my first college class,my first lecture, my first frat party(it's definitely a first lol), danced a lot, decorated my room like it was my home. It's my 116 square inches of HOME.
10. Attended the Equality March in Washington D.C. for something I believe in with all my heart, and met up with Sabre and Sara among all those thousands of people. SO surreal.



11. Stayed up late with Diane, at least 4 times. Once, until 8 in the morning where I saw the sun rise over Columbia. Beautiful and grueling at the same time.
12. Had a dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel at Central Park West and entered the nicest, most-expensive place probably forever. Thank you, scholarship.
13. Discovered Williamsburg, Brooklyn with Tanea.
14. Returned to Williamsburg to see John Mayer in concert...for free! <3



15. Saw Hair...for free and got to thank Gavin Creel for allowing me to attend the Equality March...for free. ( I love Free) This definitely included dancing on a Broadway stage :D
16. Got to hang out with awesome people on campus,who I get to call my friends. How lucky.
17. Overall, I learned so much, inside and outside of the classroom. Life was so good.

I'm so looking forward to everything that's to come. I finally watched Amelie, the other day, and this quick quote stayed with me: "I dream of better days ahead."

I love you, for reading this long post.