Faith vs. Fear

Lately life has been stressful-yet anxious for spring break; the quarter is ending and teachers are trying to get in those last grades by piling us with tests/quizzes/projects/etc. and all I can do is come home, do homework, study, and barely have time to do anything else. This is a short blog post full of my favorite inspirational posts, and I wish I could write more but I have to study for a big quiz tomorrow sigh.

I'm really trying hard to follow this quote. It's so hard to keep your faith during a stressful time but I know there are sunny skies behind the storm! It's a Faith VS. Fear challenge over here and I'm definitely rooting for my faith to get me through these next few weeks.

To see more of my favorite quotes, check out my Pinterest board. I'll see you tomorrow!

Love,

Natalie

Ideas vs. Time: 10 Minute Writing Challenge

Lately I've been having the worst case of writer's block. I've been itching to write but nothing ever happens, instead there's me, sitting in front of the Microsoft Word document with nothing written at all. So I came up with a writing challenge to fix this little problem of mine:

10 Minute Writing Challenge

(even if you don't have writer's block and just want to write a short story, try this challenge!)

1. First your need a setting. To find your location search on any social media site (preferably Tumblr because of the tons of beautiful pictures you can find) and search a hash tag like #Europe or #ocean, etc. Pick a random picture and this is your setting.

I randomly chose this one and it looks like the Pacific Northwest so I went with a Seattle setting.

2. Next you need characters. I used this random name generator for my characters (one of them happened to be the name of one my friends!) That made my two main characters Jamie and Jay.

3. After that you need a plot, I used this plot generator and it looks like Jamie and Jay "do not fit into their surroundings and wish to escape".

4. After that set your timer to 10 minutes and start writing- don't stop and think about, and don't even THINK about going back to edit during these 10 minutes. I really got into it and I wrote more but couldn't fit it all into this post.

"Jay and I had been friends since we were five years old, when I picked a fight with him in the kindergarten sandbox at recess. There was no reason I decided to randomly start throwing sand into his little green eyes but that was me, Jamie Meyers, the tomboy who ruled the playground because nobody would stand up against her. The sand was wet too, I mean who puts a sandbox uncovered in Seattle where it rains 105% of the time. Every day. Rain. But I grew up with it so it wasn’t anything unusual.

     Jay was too scared to tattle on me that one kindergarten afternoon on the Redwood Elementary playground, but he didn’t complain either (like the others did). He really never spoke now that I think about it; he wasn’t called the shy kid for nothing. For some remarkable reason I took Jay under my wing and shielded him from everything from the toy stealing first grade girls to the sixth grade bullies who shoved Jay into the locker- the typical stuff every targeted kid went through. I remember the day I found Jay being shoved into the locked by three sixth grade boys.

     “Jay, you’re girlfriend is here to save you,” one taunted and dramatically emphasized every word to make every word sting Jay’s confidence.

     “Is she gunna save you, you little baby.”

     “It must be hard knowing that your girlfriend could beat anyone up,” the potbellied boy said, “And you can’t?”

     By now a congregation of sixth graders had gathered around the lockers to join in on the teasing. All I had to do was signal the crowd to move and they shriveled in fear at the sight of me. After third grade I sort of left the whole playground queen status to Rose Memorse and shrunk into the distance, but nobody forgot the damage I could do when I was angry.

     The potbellied kid was on the floor in about two seconds with a bloody nose. Another three seconds and the group had scattered leaving Jay and I standing next to the lockers watching the mob of kids disappear into the multiple classrooms and bathrooms surrounding the lockers.

     “James you gotta stop that; you know it would be nice if you stopped beating everyone up to protect me. I mean we’re in sixth grade…” Jay rolled his eyes and pulled his backpack off the floor.

     Jay had called me James for as long as I could remember, I never liked the name Jamie- too girly, so Jay changed it to James and it stuck like that.

     “I just saved your sorry butt and that’s how you thank me,” I whisked my hand into the air, “If it weren’t for me you’d still be stuck in that locker. I’ll video tape it next time and make sure it gets around to the whole school. Is that a good idea?” I waved my new flip phone into the air that I had just gotten in September before school had started.

     “Thanks James. It’s not that I don’t appreciate your help…”

     “I get it, I get it. But come on I heard it’s chicken finger day and you know the honey mustard always goes fast. I do not want to be stuck dipping my glorious, warm, golden, fried tenders of goodness in some watered down tomato concoction,” I pulled Jay along by his Save the Sea Creatures keychain and we disappeared down the hallway."

If you want to get more in depth with this writing challenge, I found this blog post really helped with generating wild and crazy adventures for your character to go on.

Enjoy!

Love,

Natalie

Movie Night for a Rainy Day

Hey everyone I'm back! Today I am going to give you some cool tips on a fun movie night with your friends or family when it's too rainy or cold (like it has been here) to do anything fun outdoors.

Picking the Perfect Movies
I myself want to be a director when I get older so I know a good movie when I see one so I am going to list my three favorite movies in each genre true some of them are going to be hard to find but they are AMAZING movies by AMAZING directors.

1. War of the Worlds (Steven Spielberg)- This movie is about the world being over taken and a father trying to get his two distanced children back to their mother. Starring Tom Cruise it's a wonderful story of a father's love for his children. 
   
2. Signs (M. Night Shyamalan)- This is another thriller about aliens, but it is a beautiful interpretation of that everything happens for a reason. Starring Mel Gibson, he works with his children and brother in law to save themselves from the alien attack and build a strong relationship with this children that will last forever.
   
3. I am Legend (Francis Lawrence)- Natalie and I watched this movie a couple of weeks ago and she fell in love with it! I love this movie so much, because it's about a man who has lost everything to a zombie apocalypses but still fights to make things right.
   
4. Letters to Juliet (Gary Winick)- I am not a big time romantic movie person, but I truly love love this movie so much because it isn't your classic love story. It is a story about a young girl (played by Amanda Seyfried) who is helping a women find her lost love. This movie made me smile and laugh- it's a great "feel good" movie.
   
5. Jaws (Steven Spielberg)- This movie is none other than the classic shark story with an amazing ending. I would say more about this movie but I'll let you see it yourself :) I can sum it up with the two words though, MUST SEE!
   

You can NEVER go wrong with a cute Disney movie. If anyone knows me they know I love Disney as much as anything in this world! I would recommend my top Five which is the hardest list I have ever had to make since I love them all equally.

1. Peter Pan- A classic and a great heart warmer.
2. Lion King- This movie is a classic with its amazing music, it's great to sing along with friends!
3. Little Mermaid- Who can go wrong with this feisty red head finding love in another land?
4. Princess and the Frog- The music in this movie is JAZZ so it's fun and energetic!
5. Brave- This is Disney Pixar but I love this touching, heartwarming story and I picture myself as Merida (the main character).

Enjoy your night.

Don't forget your fuzzy blanket, candy, popcorn and best friend! 

Stay Warm,

Daphne Brion

How to Fly

I can truly say that I am awful at Photoshop. I've tried it and I have failed miserably- I either have no complete idea of what I'm doing (even with YouTube videos) or I get distracted by all the different buttons. So when Daphne suggested PicMonkey, I looked it up and realized that it's free and I didn't have to sign up for anything at all. I've used PicMonkey for awhile now and it is very easy to understand as well as easy to edit any photo. I was looking through PicMonkey's blog and found a tutorial on "How to Make Yourself Look Like You're Levitating", which is how I made this picture. I already have had people asking me how I did this picture so here's a tutorial to help you all.

Even with my small amount of editing knowledge, I was easily able to do this!

You Will Need:

A camera (of course)

Tripod or steady hand

Computer

Let's Get Started!

1.         Go to PicMonkey and upload the picture of you on your object (we'll call this Picture A). Go to the "Overlays" tab which is the butterfly icon. Click on "Your Own" and upload the plain picture that you are not in (Picture B). Align Picture B with Picture A. Take a picture of you on some sort of stool/chair/box/or if you're me, a garage fan from the 1990's. Also, take a picture of just the plain background without moving your position. You want your pictures to align correctly (if theydo not you can still "fly" it will just take longer).
2.         You will see a little box that comes up that lets you change the transparency of Picture B, set the transparency (it is called Fade) to about halfway so you can see both pictures. Click on the "eraser tab" and erase everything except the object used to support you.

3.           Now change the transparency to 0% and the stool will "disappear" leaving you levitating in the air.

4.             Click the botton at the top to merge Picture A and Picture B so they won't move. 

It looks like this!

Next, you will need to make a shadow under you to create the illusion that you are actually "flying".

1. Go back to the Overlay Tab. Then click the tab that says "Geometric" and select a rectangle.
2. Open the drop down box that says Blend Modes and use the option "Overlay".  
3.           Set the rectangle's transparency to around 75%. Then use the eraser to shape the rectangle into a shadow looking figure.
4. After this you can edit your picture however you feel like. 

We're all done! Wasn't that easy?

Feel free to send me some of your pictures of tell me how it went in the comments, have fun "flying"!

Love,

Natalie

(Special thanks to the PicMonkey bloggers for teaching me this awesome levitating tutorial)

Head In the Clouds

We all have those crazy dreams, the ones we never get over or the ones we wish were real. Lately I've been dreaming a lot and daydreaming more than ever, which fuels my drive to do something interesting or explore somewhere new. 34 days ago I started my blog and over 1000 blog views later I'm here. Today somebody mentioned a thought that was very interesting to me and made me stop in my tracks and have a light bulb moment. In 34 days I get to go on the trip of a lifetime to Italy with all my best friends as a school trip; it is a trip that I hope everyone can experience with their friends- the excitement leading up to it is too much for me to handle. This thought got me thinking.

34 days ago I started my blog.

In 34 days I'm leaving Charleston, SC and traveling to Italy. 

WHAT?!

I'm stuck in the middle right now and let me tell you, if you told me one year ago I'd be going over the Atlantic Ocean with my school I would have looked at you like you were crazy. It's amazing what dreams come true and how you accomplish so many problems to achieve them. Anyways, I decided to do a 'dream list' blog or basically tell my hopes and dreams for my future as well as a list of dreams that have come true and why they are so incredibly important to me.

Dreams That I Hope Will Happen:

1. I will get to pursue whatever makes me happy. This means a great deal to me, I've considered certain professions that make good money but when it all comes down to it, I just want to be happy. I want to come home everyday and be excited about the next day, and the day after that. I'm so blessed to live in a place where the sky is the limit and I can do whatever I want and be whoever I want to be.

2. Find that lifelong friend. I am almost positive I have already found a few of these friends, but I hope that these friends will stick around until we grow old. They mean so much to me and all of them mean the world to me.

3. Become a successful blogger. I am very new at blogging and the whole idea of practically talking to the Internet one post at a time. I admire several bloggers for their ingenuity and brilliance as they tell all about their lives and don't worry about what others think. I hope to be this daring and adventurous someday so that others talk about me as I speak of them. I will never be as great a them but I know if I try I can get close enough :)

Dreams That Have Come True

1. Travel out of the country. I am the type of person that if you stick me on a plane/train/boat/car/bus/etc, I will look forward to the adventure waiting before me. I live in a blessed country but I want to travel outside the walls to explore other customs and traditions. I first traveled out of the country when I was very young and my family went to the Bahamas where the people spend their lives on the water and their souls on the people around them. At age 10 I got to go to Paris with my dad and see that pictures don't capture the feelings and emotions when you see the Eiffel Tower for the first time down a French alley. This past summer I went to Grand Turk and Jamaica and saw that the people may not live in luxury but they enjoy everything around. In Jamaica we met a man who spent his life playing Bob Marley music on the streets (which is not a stable job) but looked like every morning he woke up and was excited to share his talent with the world. And finally, of course, I get to travel to Italy with my school and there are no words to explain the feeling.

So I pretty much still look the same...

2. Pursue Music. I go to an arts school for people who love the arts and there are too many ways to describe how much I absolutely LOVE my school!

3. Express Myself. I love expressing myself through singing, piano and photography. I can be whoever I feel like that day and I've learning not to worry about what others say but to be a unique individual who can express themselves by whatever means.

Keep dreaming my friends and I wish for everyone to have their own dreams come true in whatever ways they can.

Love,

Natalie

A Fresh Start to the Day

We all know as much as we try to wake up early and get things done without being late, this fantasy rarely happens. In elementary school, I'd wake up 15 minutes before I had to be at school, throw on some clothes, eat, brush my teeth, and I'd be out the door right on time. But now there's the fact that my body thinks waking up early is a mean joke I'm playing on it. Add that plus cramming in some last minute homework, putting on makeup to hide the "fun" puberty acne, etc... and that leads me to running out the door with one shoe on and my hair already falling out of a ponytail. Yea. However there IS a solution to this madness that I'm sure most teenagers endure. I was having a really hard time waking up early to get things done, so here are some ways to get you awake and prepared so you aren't late.

Don't worry, even Disney princesses act like all of us in the mornings. :)

Get Everything Ready the Night Before

I started doing this and you wouldn't believe how much extra time I had on my hands. I'd jump out of bed, throw on preplanned clothes and grabbing my already packed lunch and backpack. The hardest part is remembering to do this, so I suggest setting an alarm the night before to remind yourself to get your stuff together. This tip has saved me SO much time and is the key to staying on time in the mornings.

Put Your Alarm Clock Across the Room

It is incredibly easy to smack the alarm clock within seconds of it going off. To break this habit, set your alarm clock across the room so when you wake up to hit the clock, you physically have to get out of bed to stop it. I find this really helps me because once I get out of bed I feel much more awake. 

Take a Morning Shower

I know some people just have to take their showers at night (That's me!) or they feel nasty going to sleep, but I found that waking up and jumping into a warm shower wakes me up in a snap. I had a choice to make though, feel clean and fresh before bed or feel awake and fresh in the morning. To solve this problem, the night before I throw my hair into a bun and jump into the shower for 2 minutes max just to lather some body wash on and rinse it off. I get out of the shower clean and then the next morning I wash my hair and blow dry it. (My hair blow dries extremely fast, if yours doesn't dry this fast then wash your hair at night instead)

Turn on that Light!

When I wake up in the morning I reach for the lamp and turn it on. Yikes... but it actually works! I cover my eyes so I don't go blind the first thing in the morning, but quickly afterwards my eyes don't mind the bright light anymore. This tip is something that may feel awful the first thing in the morning but it really helps me get going.

Play Some Upbeat Songs

Once you get out of bed, plug in your head phones (so you don't bother your fellow sleepers at home) and jam out to your favorite songs. I prefer "Happy" by Pharrell Williams or my playlist of French pop music to get me going. This sort of music brightens my mornings and helps me feel in a positive mood. 

Hopefully these tips work as well as they do for me, remember to get some sleep if possible and getting up early will be easier. 

Love,

Natalie

Sunday Funday

Daphne and I went to the beach today to enjoy the sunny weather, we made a "Little Red Riding Hood" short film, took pictures, got stuck in pluff mud, ate Publix fried chicken and little things of Ben & Jerry's ice-creams. It was an amazing day with warm spring weather that made me never want to return to the cold weather again! 

This week I plan on having new tutorials, DIY's, and more fun blog post so stay tuned, I apologize for the lack of posts this weekend but my schedule was completely full and I didn't have my trusty laptop at hand :( However, stay tuned for some neat posts this week and I'll see you all then.

Doesn't everyone love it here?

The video above is the little short film we made. It's half trailer/half short film (does that make any sense or am I just confusing people?)

Love,

Natalie