'Growth' // The Creative Collective

Melyssa from the Nectar Collective has started The Creative Collective. She brainstormed 23 creative activities for bloggers to participate in throughout the year of 2014.  I'm really excited to participate in this collective and actually made my collage almost a week early because I was so eager to start!  The first prompt, for January 15th, is to create a collage of materials in your home which embodies the word you want to focus on in 2014.

For 2014, I have decided upon the word 'growth'.  This word will remind me to grow with change and work on my intellectual growth.  With my freshman year in college fall 2014, change is going to happen and I want to be okay with that.  I think the word growth will remind me that with every change comes an opportunity to better myself too.  Another aspect of growth is intellectual growth.  It takes a lot of effort to sit down and read nonfiction instead of just going to sleep or turning on the computer.  However, I feel more accomplished by finishing a book than a TV series. I hope the word growth will help me remember to further my education outside of school.

My collage is made entirely of college pamphlets.  I have been sent at least a pamphlet a day for the past year and a half which has added up to a large pile of paper.  For some reason I have kept all of these letters but there are no magazines my house! I actually find the use of college pamphlets very fitting as college is what a lot of my growth will be centered around in 2014.  It is also incredibly easy to find inspirational images in a college look-book!  I really like the combination of reading and adventuring in my collage.  I think they're both valid ways of expanding your worldly knowledge which is my main goal this year.

While searching through the mass of leaflets, I found these great quotes in a letter from MIT.  Unfortunately, the did not fit on my collage but I just pinned them up underneath it.  These quotes are great inspiration to begin your dreams.  My favorite has to be "The most effective way to do it, is to do it." which Amelia Earhart said.

I'm really excited about this series of posts for 2014.  Creativity is a great thing to foster and can easily be lost in the day to day.  If you decide to participate in the Creative Collective make sure to visit the master list of days and prompts on Melyssa's blog (link) and comment below with a link to your post!

18 Goals for 18 Years

My adorable 18 year old selfie

Last year, on A Beautiful Mess,  I stumbled across the idea of yearly assigning goals in accordance with age. I quickly formulated 17 goals and now, a year later, I'm back with my new 18 resolutions. I'm really excited and scared for the new challenges I'm going to face and happy to set such reachable yet engaging goals!

1. Develop Better Relations With My Parents

I am moving away Fall 2014 for college and I'm worried that I without seeing my parents everyday, I will not stay in contact with them.  To remedy this, I want to create a better relationship with my parents so they will become people I want to talk to rather than people I have to talk to.

2. Be More Enthusiastic and Supportive Towards My Friends

I have a bad habit of not caring about what my friends are doing. Oh, you're in a play? Good luck with that.... NOT ANYMORE! I will be supportive and encouraging toward my friends.

3. Learn to Cook? Develop a Specialty

With college just around the corner, I don't want to be stuck only being able to make packaged pasta and premade pizza.

4. Utilize a dictionary

Recently my English teacher mentioned that he had a personal dictionary in which he would mark every time he looked up a word. I was intrigued by this mini time-capsule and I want to start my own.  Plus a better vocabulary is never bad.

5. Read more non-fiction and classic literature

I find more fulfillment from these types of books than my usual YA novels or best-sellers so why not read more of them?

6. Throw Shit Away

I want to be able to take everything I want to college and as I'll be flying to school, that will be difficult. I'm hoping that by thinning out my items even more, I can take all I want to college next fall.

7. Do more volunteer work

Right now I volunteer at the public library once a week but I'd love to do more to help my community.

8. Cut down on internet and television

I don't feel good after scrolling though tumblr or watching TV for hours.  I always feel that I lost the opportunity to learn or do something that will lower my stress levels. Ultimately, I want to cut down to maybe 3 TV shows and almost no wasted time on social network.

9. Utilize the Opportunities Presented To Me In College

I will not allow myself to sit in my dorm studying. Grades are important and will always come first but I also want to be involved in volunteer organizations, clubs, and other things presented at my college.  Get off your butt and go to everything!

10. Actively Blog

Looking back through my blog this winter, I discovered that I am really proud of what I've done here.  I'd like to continue and get better at updating so there are no longer weeks of major activity and then weeks of nothing.

11. See More Live Music

Though I have been to many cons with musical performances, I have been to very few concerts.  I'm hoping to rectify this and already have some events lined up!

12. Moisturize

Though the word just reminds me of Cassandra from Doctor Who, I think my skin would benefit from being moisturized.

13. Learn How to Shoot in Manual

I really want to learn how a camera actually works.  Plus I'm excited to get pictures that look the way I want them to look rather than how my camera wants them to look!

14. Stay in Touch

When I moved and left middle school, I lost many of my good friends.  With graduation in 6 months, I don't want the same thing to happen to my high school friends. I want to make a conscious effort to stay in touch.

15. Eat Well and Exercise

I feel so much better when I take the time to eat something besides pasta and head over to the gym.  I need to work it into my normal routine.

16. Buy Less Shit

I hate feeling that I'm a cost to my parents.  I want to find away to cut back on the little things I buy almost weekly.  For example, sandwiches from the local grocery store for lunch.

17.Thrive to be Tidy and Organized

Wow, so many of these are about college.  Anyway, I want to be more on top of my chores and mess.  A nice desk, vacuumed carpet, and clean bedding please!

18. Have A Good Year

With the IB tests and freshman year of college this next year, I'm stressed out just thinking about it.  Therefore, I want my last goal to simply be to have a good time.

The cake my parents got me to celebrate.  Apparently I'm still 8 to them!

A Greener Life

I have finally decided to bring some greenery into my living space.  My mom has plants downstairs but I never understood the appeal.  Then, about a week ago, I decided that I NEEDED a plant in my life and these two fit the bill perfectly.

I bought the pot from Marshalls for $5 and the plants are from my local Ace Hardware for $3 and $4.  Less than 24 hours in and I've already learned some important things.  For example, don't leave a candle burning near the plants.  So, any tips you have for keeping plants alive would be amazingly helpful! Thanks. Oh also, Happy 4th of July!

Upgrading is Compulsory

Painting is harsh.  It doesn't help that there is no light in my room and I could only paint when there was enough daylight, around 10am to 2pm everyday.  To most people, this schedule would be fine, but, as a vampire, I found it taxing.  But I braved the sunshine with bravo and competed this project within a week!

The color change is due to my only source of light after sundown, an orange paper lantern from Ikea.

 As you can see my room was pretty plain before.  Just some plain walls and empty windows. After almost 8 years of white walls, I was itching for a change. The process of painting is definitely messy.  Originally, I didn't have anything covering the floor, but my appalled  mother insisted on the newspaper and it quickly became the bane of my existence  I swear, every time I moved, that paper tore.  However, thanks to that newspaper, I succeeded with no lasting drips on the carpet! Finally, I moved back in...

The colors are soft chinchilla on the walls and a darker blue on the trim and door

... and I am in love with it.  The blues are so calming and the white curtains give it such an airy feeling.  I was worried that the room would be too dark, but it's definitely not.  I also love my cloud of chalkboard paint.  Does it look familiar?  I modeled it after the cover design of The Fault In Our Stars by John Green (One of my favorite books).  Currently, I'm been using the board as a permanent To Do List.  It's still a work in progress, I plan to buy some track lights for above my bed and create a wall clock above the stairs but those projects are in the future and right now I just want to pet the walls and revel in my achievement.