Friendly Friday: Feeling like I belong

I was definitely nervous starting my new job.  I’m a relatively shy person (karate brought me out of my shell but I’m still shy around new people) so I didn’t know how it would be interacting with new coworkers and people I’ve never met before.

But this week has showed me how fortunate I am to have found a group of people at a law firm that make me feel like I belong.  I feel included and like they appreciate the work that I’m doing.  They don’t make me feel weird by being so new.  In fact, they recently hired a few attorneys, so a few people there are still getting the hang of everything in the office.  I can even have conversations with them when they come to my desk, like an older woman who came up and asked me about my day/how I was doing and then we talked about traveling, moving and retirement.  I also had an attorney come up and talk about me choosing Duke to win the national championship because he’s also a Duke fan, so it was nice talking to another person who likes Duke (aside from my other friends who like them, too).  It was also just nice talking to these people about things other than work.

I even received a compliment the other night by one of my coworkers who told me I had really pretty skin and it looked awesome under the light in our office.  So that honestly made my day.  I have relatively low self-esteem (something I’m constantly working on so it doesn’t get the best of me) so hearing things like this from people other than those that I’m close to is really nice and it made me feel really confident the rest of the day.

So anyway, basically the people I work with are great and I’m really excited that I get the chance to work with them every day.  Even though the work I do is tedious, they make my days more enjoyable by little snippets of conversations that I have with them randomly throughout the day. 🙂

Friendly Friday: The light at the end of a tunnel

I have some wonderful people in my life.  I’ve always known that, but recent events have really brought this to my attention.

These past couple of weeks have been hard on me, my boyfriend and his family for various reasons, but every time something bad happens, someone steps up and we get some good news.

Out of respect and courtesy to my boyfriend and his family, I won’t get into exact specifics of what is going on, but one of the great things that some friends of the family are doing for us as a present and not as a loan is getting us a storage unit, which is helping lift some weight off of my boyfriend’s shoulders.  We never approached them for help.  They came to us.

He also had the rough responsibility of giving his dog away.  He tried everything in his power to keep her, obviously, but the odds were unfortunately against him and that was the best thing for his dog.  But the people who took her today are amazing.  They’re a laid back married couple with five kids who are looking to move into a big house with a fenced in yard (aka they already looked at 3 houses and are looking at more).  They recently fell into some money somehow and had some extra cash and so it was perfect timing for the dog to fall into their hands.  They’re already taking her on walks and runs (because she’s overweight, to be completely honest) and playing with her and getting her hair cut.  She gets along with the cats they have and with their five kids which is perfect.  And the husband works third shift while the wife works first so someone will always be there and taking care of her.  So it’s honestly an ideal place for her to be in, since she can’t stay in the family.  What’s even better is that they were friendly enough to invite us into their home today to show their kindness and prove that they’re going to take the best care of our family member that they can.  All of that meant the world to my boyfriend, and it was finally something positive to take out of this very negative situation.

Props to them for being the bright light at the end of a dark tunnel.  They were exactly what we needed, and what my boyfriend needed, to make things easier.  And that’s why they’re the subject of my friendly Friday today.

Friendly Friday: The shopping trip

“Give a girl the right shoes and she can conquer the world.”

– Marilyn Monroe

A week ago, when I received my first job offer and I accepted it, I was elated.  I couldn’t believe I would start making money and be working in an office every day with normal hours and even wearing cute business casual clothes every day!

And that’s when I hit a brick wall.  I had no idea what I would wear every day because of my limited closet filled with only semi appropriate attire for a law firm.  I’ve always complained about not having dress clothes (I’m trying to get better with complaining!), but my parents don’t have any extra money to spare and I sure don’t have any money either.  So this was definitely frustrating for me because I didn’t have any idea what to do.

Luckily, my boyfriend got into contact with his mom’s friend.  She often donates old clothes that she doesn’t want/those that don’t fit her to Goodwill, so when my boyfriend told her about my new job, she was happy to pick a few things out from her closet she would’ve given away anyway, just to see if they would fit.  Luckily when I went over earlier this week, they did!  Or most of them, anyway.

I was already excited for my new wardrobe!! But then my friend (and author) Tessa offered to take me to Salvation Army on Wednesday because it’s half off and that’s where she buys all of her clothes.  She also said it would be HER TREAT, because so many people who are in my position don’t have a lot of nice clothes to wear so they need someone to sort of help them a little bit.  She was in this situation when she got her first job, and given a bunch of variables in my life, she figured I would probably need the help, too.  So anything I found that I liked she would be willing to buy for me. Luckily I just kept an open mind and I ended up finding so many things! Dresses, suit jackets, nice blouses, and plenty of pencil skirts, not to mention SIX pairs of shoes!  Now I have a huge variety of things to wear and I have absolutely no idea what I’ll be wearing on my first day at work (which is such a nice thing because I always stuck to the same basic five outfits week after week at my internship just two summers ago).

Anyway, thank you so much Tessa for buying me clothes from the Salvation Army so now I have a great work wardrobe to start off with and that I can keep until I save up some money and have the ability to buy my own work clothes!  I’m definitely thankful that I have people like her and my boyfriend’s mom’s friend who are so selfless and are willing to help a poor college student find perfect clothes for work. 🙂

Making creative strides

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.”

– Elder Uchtdorf

The Return of the King

Not only does this subtitle happen to be a title of one of my favorite films, but it’s also conveniently my last name.  I’m basically royalty (except not even in the slightest).

Anyway…hello, readers!  My name is Emily!  After a long hiatus from writing, I figured it’s finally time to jump back on the saddle and that explains why I’m currently writing this post to all of you.

Now you’re probably wondering the following questions:

1. Why are you blogging?
2. What are you going to blog about?
3. How often are you planning on blogging?
4. Why do you like writing?
5. How did you come up with your blog name?
6. Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself?

Let’s jump right in so I can happily answer all of those questions for you!

1. Why are you blogging?

Whenever I was a young girl, my sister and oldest brother both showed me completely made up stories they had created on a whim.  They inspired me to get in touch with my own creative side and I soon began creating stories about love, loss, and the hardships people face in every day life.  This passion has never gone away, though it has dulled.  Lately (quite honestly this feeling- or lack there of- has been around since I graduated high school in 2010), I’ve been feeling less inspired and less creative, so much so that one of my best friends bought me books not only on journalistic writing (a reminder to never give up on my dreams) but also on writing prompts to help my brain focus on my passion again.  This blog, though it’s mainly personal and it will most likely have a large variety of topics of things that I want to talk about, will help me get back in touch with my creative side and, in turn, help me grow as a writer.  I’m not doing this in order to gain a large following.  I’m doing this to find myself, to work on my writing, to become a better person, and to do the thing I love the most every single day of my life.  Life is too short to not be doing what you love.

2. What are you going to blog about?

Believe it or not, my tagline for my blog answers this question.  It reads as follows:

A Personal Blog with an Agenda

Lately, I’ve been inspired to create a blog that talks about my life.  Many people probably don’t care about my life, and I can’t blame you since I’m a complete stranger.  But my hope is that through this journey, you’ll be able to either somewhat relate or laugh about at least one of my posts.

The “agenda” portion for my blog comes from me deciding to structure this blog with specific topics each day in order to keep me focused and on top of my writing.  It’s a sort of challenge- week after week, I’ll have the same “prompt,” if you will, but I’ll need to change up my writing to make it more interesting or even keep coming up with topics for each thing.  I’m hoping this will get the creative juices flowing.  The agenda is as follows:

1. Sunday: Sunday News/Special Sunday
   • This is my journalistic bone jumping out.  I’ll cover top news from the previous week that I find intriguing (to be completely honest, it may just be celebrity news or it could be world news, depending on how I’m feeling).  Or it could be news for that upcoming week, or news in my life!  I’m also allowing leeway on this day, which is why it’s also called “Special Sunday.”  Now Special Sunday means that I could either interview someone on a specific topic, or I could write about whatever I want to that doesn’t fall under any of the categories below.  In other words, it could be a “free write” day, if that’s what I choose to do with it.
2. Monday: Monday Lit Circle
   • This day will probably be one of my favorites, naturally.  I absolutely love reading.  I love it almost as much as writing.  But like writing, I haven’t done very much reading as of late.  My hope is that this day encourages me to read more often.  I will either cover a novel in whole that I have read recently, talk about one of my favorite novels in general, or cover a chapter per week of a book I’m currently reading and asking you (Yes, you!) for feedback on the chapter or book.  In other words, I would love for you to join along in the literary circle (basically a book club) or put your two cents in on something I’ve said.  I encourage feedback.
3. Tuesday: Thankful Tuesday
   • There have been many times in my life where I’ve taken something in my life for granted and I’ve only realized when it was too late.  On Tuesdays, I hope to write about something in my life that I’m thankful for.  Being thankful isn’t just for Thanksgiving; it’s a full-time job.  I have a lot to be thankful for and I would love to recognize them more often by sharing those things with you every Tuesday.
4. Wednesday: Writing Prompt Wednesday
   • This goes back to the awesome prompts book one of my best friends gave to me when I was feeling down. I have a thousand different prompts to choose from, so each Wednesday will be a completely different topic.  I’m super excited for this day because this is a day when I’ll get to be completely creative by making new characters and new worlds.
5. Thursday: Throwback Thursday
   • On this day, I’m going to share a memory from my past with you.  It may be a good memory or a bad memory, but hopefully something in what I say to you will click with you and you’ll realize you can relate to my life just as I can relate to so many other people.  Sometimes it’s nice knowing that people around the world go through the same things you do, and suddenly you don’t feel entirely alone.  I would love feedback on these days saying how you relate to my memory or maybe how you can’t but you would like to share a memory from your past.
6. Friday: Friendly Friday
   • Now friendly Fridays could involve many different things.  It could be me writing about a memory I have about one of my friends (nothing personal on their behalf! I wouldn’t put them in that situation where everyone on the internet knows their business without their consent), a situation I happened to be in with one during the previous week (or anytime in my life, really), boasting about something great one of my friends did, or maybe about a time when I was super friendly toward a stranger/saw someone be friendly to a stranger.  It could even be about advice I’ve given a stranger/a friend or about advice that I’ve received.
7. Saturday: Storytelling Saturday
   • Finally, the last day is all about storytelling.  Yes, I’ve told many stories throughout the week already, BUT this day is different.  My hope (and if I fail at this or even slack off in the slightest, I give anyone reading this full permission to yell at me to get me to work harder) is to write a chapter of a continuous story each day until I finish it.  Yes, you read that right.  A chapter of a unique story that I created completely on my own without the help of those 1,000 prompts.  I’m doing this because my ultimate goal when I was younger was to become an author of a story and I’ve never given up on this dream.  I think by doing a chapter each week and posting it on Saturday for all of you to read, not only will I gain valuable and constructive criticism, but I’ll be one step closer to reaching my dream of being a published author.

**As a side note, there may be days where I post more than once with a random topic if I feel like it.

3. How often are you planning on blogging?

Every. Single. Day.

4. Why do you like writing?

I’ve included this question because many people I know absolutely loathe writing and I honestly have no idea how!  I love writing because sometimes I have a hard time saying what I feel.  I think I can write down my feelings a lot easier than saying them.  Sometimes I just can’t find the right words except for when I’m writing.  I also like having the ability when writing short stories to have complete control over the characters and what happens to them.  I guess I like this because I only have so much control over my own life, and it makes me feel better knowing what will happen in my characters’ lives because I don’t know what will happen in mine.

5. How did you come up with your blog name?

The Harry Potter series introduced me into the magical world of reading.  That series was my childhood and I’m forever grateful for reading it because it has made me who I am today.  That being said, the word “pensieve” comes from Harry Potter.

“I use the Pensieve. One simply siphons the excess thoughts from one’s mind, pours them into the basin, and examines them at one’s leisure. It becomes easier to spot patterns and links, you understand, when they are in this form.”

– Albus Dumbledore

This blog is a way to pour all of my thoughts, ideas, and feelings I have on my past, my present and my future, and on any other things that I end up writing about.  And through this pensieve I hope to better understand myself and my writing style.

6. Can you tell me a little bit more about yourself?

Absolutely!  I’m a twenty-two year old recent graduate from a small liberal arts school with a communications degree and a German minor.  I haven’t had the best job in the last seven months since I’ve graduated but I recently accepted a new position at a great company and I’m looking forward to my future there and where that will lead me in the years to come.  That job I accepted isn’t what I want to be doing, but I know it’s just a small stepping stone until I get there.

I’m also an animal lover!  I rescued my beloved pitbull Balboa from the humane society nearly two years ago and he’s the biggest sweetheart I know.  For any of you pitbull haters out there, how can you hate this face?

He loves laying in bed with me.  And here I am cuddling with him on Christmas:

Anyway, I’m also a proud sister of Alpha Xi Delta and I support Greek life.  I’m currently in a relationship with the best guy I’ve ever known for almost two years.  In my spare time you can usually catch me watching Criminal Minds, listening to music, or running.  I love traveling, and the most notable places I’ve been to are San Francisco, London, Oxford, Windsor, and Germany.  Right now my life is pretty great and I really can’t complain.

Sorry for the obnoxious length of this first post, but hey I told you I love writing!

Until tomorrow, readers!

 

P.S.- One last note: Please feel free to comment on any of this. Tell me about your day, what you like writing about, where you’ve traveled to, what your degree is in, what your favorite show is to watch on netflix, your thought on pitbulls, the reason behind your blog name, your favorite book or book series, or your thought on Greek life!  I would love to hear your thoughts.