What's your Space Jam?

What's Your Space Jam?
A lesson from kid president:

The world needs you to stop being boring. Boring is easy. Everyone can be boring, but you’re gooder than that.
Life is not a game, people.
And if life is a game, aren’t we all on the same team? I mean, really, right. I’m on your team. Be on my team!
“Two roads diverged in the woods, and I took the one less traveled…and it hurt man! Really bad! Rocks! Thorns! And glass!" Not cool, Robert Frost.
But what if there really are two paths? I wanna be on the one that leads to awesome.
Like that dude from Journey said- “don’t stop believing…unless your dream is stupid. Then you should get a better dream.” I think that’s how it goes.
Get a better dream and then keep going. Keep going and going and going and going.
What if Michael Jordan had quit? Well, he did quit. Actually, he retired…but before that, in high school! What if he had quit when he didn’t make the team? He woulda never made Space Jam. And I love Space Jam.
What will be your Space Jam? What will you create that will make the world awesome?
Nothing if you keep sitting there! This is your time! This is my time! This is our time. We can make everyday better for each other. If we’re all on the same team, let’s start acting like it.
We got work to do. We can cry about it, or we can dance about it.
We were made to be awesome. Create something that will make the world awesome.

bELONg

Today I went back and visited my alma mater, Elon University. It was the epitome of bittersweet.

This campus. This is where I grew up. Physically, I did most of my growing up in Wilmington. But here on this campus, during those 4 years…that’s when I really did my growing. I laughed and cried and learned more in my four years here than in the rest of my years combined. I took some steps forward and I took some steps back. I met some temporary friends and some forever friends and I’ve learned from both. This is where I learned to be more independent. I learned the importance of good work ethic; how to face my fears and anxieties; how to trust in something bigger than myself; how to love harder and deeper; how to grow from the hard times, and how to appreciate the good times. I learned that your friends become your family. You eat together, take naps together, play, fight, laugh, cry, and do absolutely everything and nothing together until you can’t quite remember how you ever lived your life without them in the first place. I learned that I’m capable of far more than I ever imagined. “This is where it all happened for the first time. The heartache and the happiness. All of it. Being here, feels like it was yesterday. I wake up sometimes and I miss it. But this is good. It’s all still right here.”

Carolina Dorm. Where I met some of my best friends in life. 

My BEAUTIFUL alma mater

Long Live Elon

 

Babies and Weddings

I am 23 years old. I have been to 9 weddings in the past 2 years. I’m currently having a scheduling conflict because one of my friends is having her baby here in Charlotte on Friday and another friend is getting married in Elon on Saturday and I have a lunch date with a newly pregnant friend in Greensboro on Monday. I’m also trying to figure out how to plan a bridal shower and bachelorette party for my friend in June, while attending my best friend and my cousins weddings back to back in July.

In case you were wondering what it’s like to grow up, this is it. Babies and weddings ERRYWHERE.

Dear Beauty, 1 year later

 

One year ago tonight, I had the privilege of being in LA for the Team True Beauty 1 year anniversary event. It was an amazing night, and if you'd like to read the details of it, you can check out my post from that night here.
But one of the most memorable moments from the night came from Shantel VanSanten, one of the lovely ambassadors for the cause. She gave a speech that continues to move me every single time I hear it or read it. You can read and view her entire speech here.

Her letter to beauty states:
"Dear beauty, I don’t think we’ve formally met. I’m Shantel Van Santen. I’ve searched to find you for a while now. To find out how you define yourself. There are many others searching for you too. Some of us think you’re found in a number on a scale, or a muscle in our arm, the color of our skin, or our reflection in the mirror. We all struggle because we think you seek a perfect image, and we’ve become obsessed with the search. The idea that others might see us as a reflection of you or call us by your names makes us happy. So we look to the media and we look to mirrors, instead of turning our eyes inward. In the depths of our soul you wait. You wait for our search to end, because that’s where you are found. So we were wrong. Because you’re not an image of something that we can see. You’re a feeling. We define you by how we live our life, the kind of person we choose to be, and what’s in our hearts. Thank you for helping us find you. So that your reflection can be felt in others hearts, that they may know that they possess you too. And we can all unite to define you."

So in honor of the 2 year anniversary of Team True Beauty, and the 1 year anniversary of the event, I decided to write my own letter to beauty, 1 year later:
"Dear beauty, we’ve finally met. I suppose we met a long time ago, but I was never quite satisfied with our relationship. However I've also realized that while I don’t always see you in the mirror, I’ve seen you in the smiles of strangers, in the laughter of children, in the way people love and care for each other, and in the world all around me. I have come to realize that you really are more than a number. You aren’t a clothing size, a waist measurement, a height, or number on a scale. And while I now know this to be true, I can’t pretend that I don’t still struggle. Some days it seems impossible to find you in myself. And those are the days that I depend on my friends and support system the most. Those are the days that I am truly blessed, because I find beauty in relationships. I’ve realized that when you stop defining beauty based on numbers and you begin to define it based on what’s in the world around you and what’s in your heart, you, beauty, are much more prevalent. You are everywhere. Beauty, I am very much different than a year ago. I am older, and at times wiser, I have old friends who have stayed in my life and new friends who provide constant support and encouragement. And yet I am also very much the same. I find myself falling into my old ways of thinking. I find myself still trying to find you in a reflection in the mirror. I find myself weeping and falling apart when I think I’ll never find you in myself. And yet I find hope in the statement that “what you do with your life, how you live it, the things you accomplish, the mountains you climb, the struggles you work through, how you treat one another, the kindness you show, the people you inspire, the love that you give, that’s what defines your heart. And that’s what matters. Not what you look like when you do these things in life.”

JUST BREATHE!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSx_TFKi4Ek

 

I first heard the song “Breathe” by Anna Nalick while watching the Grey’s Anatomy episode where Meredith Grey is holding an undetonated bomb steady in someones chest cavity. Naturally, I downloaded the song, learned the words, and mentally played it anytime I’m holding or carrying anything fragile. After hearing it a few million times, I finally decided to really listen to the words. My conclusion? PANIC. This song is panic inducing. I mean, let me break down some of the lyrics for you:

“Life’s like an hourglass glued to the table. No one can find the rewind button, girl.” OH.MY.GOSH. I haven’t felt this much anxiety from a song since “100 Years” by Five for Fighting. I get the mental image of Princess Jasmine getting drowned in the hourglass in Aladdin. STOP IT! I just want to listen to music. I’m not trying to think deeply about my mortality and time on this earth. And DUH the song is called “Breathe” because she knew when she wrote it that it was gonna make people like me anxious, so she had to write in a reminder to keep breathing. But then I think, maybe Ms. Nalick was ahead of her time. Maybe this is just an early version of YOLO. “Hey guys, time’s running out in your life’s hourglass. You better YOLO it up!”

You win, Anna Nalick. You win. When I calm down, stop hyperventilating, and crawl out of fetal position I will go live it up. But never fear, because in the back of my mind I will now always be thinking about my lifes hourglass dripping away as my time here on earth quickly runs out.

I think I need a therapist now.



*source*

 

Les Mis was Les Great!

So, I saw Les Miserables. And I was going to write a wonderfully poetic movie review…but I think those use words like “harrowingly” and I don’t even really know what that means. So I’m still gonna write a review. But it probs won’t be very poetic or wonderful. Just honest.

The cinematography was to die for. Hahahahahaah. JK! I don’t know what cinematography is, although it probably was pretty great in this movie. But the scenery and lighting was for real amazing. The music was a whole other level. I’m sure you’ve heard that the actors did all of their singing live, meaning not prerecorded. This allowed the actors to really get into the moment and sing with emotion. The results were amazing and beautiful and haunting and perfect. I especially loved that the vocals weren’t “pretty”. Yes, everyone had amazing voices, but they weren’t afraid to let the emotion overtake the beauty of the song, and that’s honestly what made it so raw and great.
Anne Hathaway. Marry me. Her voice was raw and pure and gorgeously full of emotion. Her storyline was my favorite and her acting was “to die for” (which is a pun, cause she dies. Duh!) Although her 25 pound weight loss was definitely not healthy, I can appreciate that she committed fully to the role. And I even more appreciate that she refuses to discuss how she lost the weight, stating “I get nervous talking about it because I find that I don’t want to be seen as glamorizing it, and there’s a lot of talk, a lot of pressure, especially among young girls, to lose weight, and what I did was, I didn’t do it to get hot, like, I did it to look like I was dying …”. She is perfect. Everything she is in is amazing. I mean, Love & Other Drugs, Rachel Getting Married, Devil Wears Prada, Becoming Jane, Brokeback Mountain. It doesn’t get much better.
Next is Hugh Jackman. Um, hello, where did he come from? I mean, I know he’s famous but since I don’t care at all about X Men, I never knew who he was. And now I do and I’ll never ever ever forget. Ever. He can sing. He can act. And he can have my babies, please.
Amanda Seyfried was great as Cosette! Usually I don’t love her roles, because she almost always comes off as a ditzy blonde. But I was really impressed to see her do something more serious. I hope she does more like this. And also, I want to know the highest note she can hit, because she kind of sounds like a canary, in a good way.
Samantha Barks is a newbie and plays Eponine. I couldn’t really focus on her acting or her singing because I was too busy staring at her lack of waist. She’s not a particularly skinny girl, but her waist is probably a size -2.
The little Cosette and the little boy, Gavroche, were amazing and gorgeous and talented and I want them to date in real life, which is weird because they’re like 9.
And last but not least, Russell Crowe’s character was a doucher, and I don’t really care about Eddie Redmayne at all.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this movie and want to see it 20 more times, at least.
I also want to have a beautiful singing voice, save all of the poor prostitutes, and adopt the little revolution boy.

This is this little girls first movie. And now she's the face of Les Mis. She is the definition of winning.

OMG OMG OMG. Little Cosette and little Gavroche together.

She cries, I cry.

Excuse me miss, where's your waist?

Hugh Jackman with a child. dead.

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

Do you remember me? I sat upon your knee. I wrote to you with childhood fantasies. Well, I'm all grown up now and still need help somehow. I'm not a child, but my heart still can dream.So here's my lifelong wish, my grown up christmas list. Not for myself but for a world in need.
-No more lives torn apart
-That wars would never start
-And time would heal all hearts
-And everyone would have a friend
-And right would always win
-And love would never end

As children we believed the grandest sight to see was something lovely wrapped beneath our tree. But heaven only knows
that packages and bows can never heal a hurting human soul.
This is my grown up christmas list. This is my only life long wish. This is my grown up christmas list.

Love,
Brooke (age 23)

My first Christmas

just hanging out with Santa

Christmas morning was so magical and unwrapping gifts was the best!

celebrating with Emily

Christmas dance recital

dancing with Dad on Christmas morning

look at all those presents!

Christmas with Iza was one of my favorites!

Christmas 2012