Rock My World

I had a conversation yesterday that rocked my world. Literally. Let me tell you why.

I've heard and been a part of many conversations over the past few years regarding the generational clash of Milledgeville. There are many wonderful people who are from here and their families have been a vital part of this town for numerous years. They love this town and want to preserve its rich history and heritage. Then there is the group of young adults, some from the area but many who come here as college students, fall in love with the quaintness of the town and decide to find work and stay. They too want to preserve the town. The issue here comes from a differing interpretation of what it means to preserve the town. Many of the older, rooted group sees the preservation as keeping things exactly the same. The younger generation sees it as maintaining the architecture and sense of community but building it up by allowing new businesses and the such. 

This is certianly a simplified viewpoint of the situation, but it gives a very general feeling of what's going on. 

With two groups so passionate and willing to give back to the community where is the balance? How do we allow this town, so clearly loved, to continue to grow while maintaining a sense of history? It all starts with support and collaboration. Both parties need to see the other's strengths and be able to support growth. 

This is the conversation I had yesterday with one of our city aldermans. I called her on behalf of a friend who offered to aid her in her campaign for city council elections coming up. I was trying to set up a meeting to begin work on her social media enterprise and she ended up telling me how supportive she was of the younger generation because we are the future of this town. She has stood up for a group of local, young professionals trying keep Milledgeville alive through business collaborations numerous times lately and I believe this is the type of relationship we need to see being fostered. 

The moment I heard the excitement in her voice about working together in support of each other's challenges and goals, my heart was beaming with happiness! This is the beginning of what Milledgeville needs. This is the beginning of seeing this town flourish due to the hard work and love of BOTH generations. 

Technology Smechnology

This be cray! I'm writing a blog post on my phone! Call me behind the times, but I just now downloaded the blogger app on my phone. I don't think I could write every post like this but having the ability to take a picture and directly post it to my blog is beyond delightful. 

So, here's to figuring technology out more and more every day and trying to act like I know what I'm doing sometimes. :) 

Tiny Dreamer

Okay, so maybe I'm still young according to the world's standards and the average lifespan of Americans, but I feel like I've reached a crucial milestone: the dilemma of where to take my career. I'm 24 years old and have a full time job in the field in which I studied in a beautiful and quaint little town. Sounds golden, right? Well, no matter how many times I hear people tell me how awesome my life seems on paper, I can't help but think in the back of my head, something's missing. I wish I could tell you what's next, but I don't always even know myself.

What I do know is that I need something in my life that is for me. Solely for me. I need something to be selfish about. Come on, we all need that something to be rightfully selfish about at times. It's called a hobby, not to be confused with obsession. Well, for me, I want to figure out a way to turn a hobby into work. I'm not the type of person who can do work just to do work and make money. I have to enjoy what I'm doing 100%. Am I a product of generation y? Yes. Does this mean I don't know how to work hard?  Hell no....it just means I'm a free styling, whimsical, free spirited dreamer that wants to enjoy life in every moment.  And I intend to figure out how to balance what I enjoy with a way to make a living.

What's next now? Setting up conversations with executive coaches, executives and just some good ole friends. I like to try and get as many varying thoughts as possible, not for anyone to tell me what I should do but maybe various ways to achieve something different. Brainstorming if you will.  I have ideas of what I'd like to end up doing at some point and potentially in the near future, but shhh...they're a secret. ;)

Life is a boggled mess of wonderfulness, just take the bull by the horns and see what happens. Set goals but not expectations. Let life surprise you and go with it. And when you get to a stump like me, just take some time to figure out what might work for you and start some conversations with people. You never know what someone might know that will be of benefit to you. Keep dreaming loves.

That first post you just have to call 'Untitled'.

Oh, I just sigh as I sit here to begin writing. My thoughts have been all over the place for so long. I'm not even sure I know what my thoughts are on any given situation, idea, circumstance, etc, anymore. My brain and life are so boggled. I simply believe I am incapable of forming full thoughts or sentences in my head anymore. I don't believe my heart even knows how to think these days.

Life has taken so many many turns these past three months that I have come to realize how many paths to life there are and it is completely within our own power to choose which path we tread (or run) down. Even though the circumstances that I have been in here lately, either because of my own choices or those of others, have momentarily caused me to be on certain paths, ultimately I can only own up to my own choice of path. But unfortunately I'm not sure which one that is. I know, for the most part, which events have occurred due to my choice and which have happened based on the actions of others. But everything is so sticky and they seem to just muddle together at the end of the day, and at the beginning and in the middle. How long does it take for something to pass to be able to see things with open eyes and as unbiased as possible? I suppose that's not something that can be statistically measured in any kind of accurate way.

Random

Journal. Best friend. Confidant. Someone or something you share everything with. That something that gives you the emotional and mental release of all your feelings, thoughts, actions and words. It's what gives you some small satisfaction that you aren't, in some small way, keeping it all to yourself. Even if you are writing to yourself, or something greater out there, you aren't keeping it in. Writing is a release. At least, for me it is. It doesn't even matter if anyone sees it or responds. Someday someone will and when that happens my words will touch whomever that may be. I believe all things happen for a reason and that reason is greater than anything in this world can predict.

Life is complicated. Yet so simple. Is it a matter of choice or circumstance? Which way it is for us. Maybe both. I think it's both. But maybe that's too simple of an answer. Nah....it's all a matter of what we make it. Right? Or that's probably just opinion, too. Either way, there are things that are both within and outside of our control. Life happens regardless, and I think that's part of the miracle of life. It happens with or without us.

I still dress up.

Today is Easter Sunday 2012. I spent it sleeping in and then helping my love finish up lunch for his family. We always have a large meal every holiday and birthday around here. When I was getting myself ready and trying to decide what to wear I was going through my closet asking myself, "what spring colors do I have?". Even though I didn't spend the morning going to church or even getting out of the house I still wanted to wear something Springy and look nice for the day. Today I chose a full-length Kelly green and purple printed strapless dress. I think it's quite fitting for the day!

One of my favorite memories of Easter wasn't waking up to see what the Easter Bunny had left in our baskets we so carefully placed at our 'designated' spots at the kitchen table or going to church to see people I probably hadn't seen in a while or the good food after. It was getting to pick out a new Easter dress every year. That sounds so shallow and earthly but as a little girl that was probably my favorite part. I can remember the majority of my Easter dresses to this day from the fluffy floral dresses with white gloves and hats as a toddler to the peachy below-the-knee gown with a short white sweater over top from a place called Peaches 'N Cream to the black and pink skirt ensemble I put together my freshman year of high school. Don't ask why I wore black on Easter. For some reason it became a trend for a couple of years to wear black with an accented Spring color. I don't think it was a hit looking back.

It's the little traditions that I love looking back and reminiscing about. I'm always enjoying hearing about traditions. They're part of what make you, well, you. But as I get older I realize what I enjoy most about holidays is the socializing with family and friends. I love any reason to get together with a large group of people, eat and be merry. I can't wait until I have a family of my own that I can plan social events with and invite people over to host holiday meals and parties. Ah...the future is so beautiful.

Well my darlings, I'm going to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day in the sun reading "An Altar in the World" by Barbara Brown Taylor. This day is a perfect example of how she tells us to find spiritual meaning and God in the beauty of what is around us.

Goddbye my darlings!

What's with the New Girl?

New girl number 1:

I was sixteen years old before I was ever the new girl. I never moved a day in my life (my parents still live in the house they built together when they got married nearly 30 years ago) and never transferred schools. My first experience being put into the awkward tension of not knowing the people around you was when my family decided to change churches. For me, this was a huge deal. I had been raised attending a small Christian church in Fairburn, Georgia on a regular basis. It was a second home to me and I probably spent just as much time there as I ever did my own home. And since it was so small and we were so active I knew everyone and I mean everyone. I felt like we ran the place....just kidding, but really, I had no fears of ever feeling out of place doing something. Then there's the church we switched our membership to, which was a much larger, semi-contemporary Baptist church in Palmetto, Georgia. Once we announced our last week in Fairburn I remember being very afraid in my head of being the new girl at Palmetto. This was going to be a new experience for me which I was unsure of whether it would agree with me or not. Well, as it turns out it wasn't so bad. Part of the reason we moved to Palmetto was because of all the people we already knew there from school and being involved with the church's preschool many years prior. It was an enormously easy transition. I love it there.

New girl number 2:

The second time I was a new girl doesn't really count because I was in a situation where everyone around me was new: my freshmen year of college. I was one of only two of my close friends to move away for school and that aspect seemed quite unsettling on my last night before moving to Milledgeville. However, as I'll discuss in a later blog attending Georgia College (& State University) was by far the best decision I've ever made!

New girl number 3/4/5/6:

I'm going to include the next three times I was new all in one because they are all due to the same cause: work. Number 3 is when I worked as a camp counselor the summer after my freshman year of college at a small camp where most people had been going there for years. But, I think the small, at home, family feeling is probably what made it easier to fit in. It was great. :) Number 4 was when I started working on campus my sophomore year in the International Center. I was in an office full of adults with higher education (mostly anyway). It was intimidating at times, however that was a wonderful experience I will never forget. Number 5 was when I started my first restaurant job the summer after my sophomore year. Oh Applebee's. There are too many stories to tell here so all I will say is that for the past 3 years I have been exposed to things I never would have seen/heard/experienced had I not taken that job. Many good things have come from that job (my love for one) and many bad memories have come from that job. But all-in-all it was a learning and humbling experience that really let me explore many aspects of my inner self that I was afraid to let out. It made me more comfortable to be me....for the most part. Enough of that...number 6. This is where I'm at now. Just this past week I started a new job. It's another waitressing job but at a restaurant where I only know one person. It's a small, local bar and grill type of place with college girls serving. I'm still in training but it seems to being going very well so far. The reason I decided to write about being the new girl is because of this: training to serve in this restaurant is unlike other restaurants I know of....first you start in the kitchen cooking for a week so you learn the menu before you get in front of customers and blank. Smart really. But I have yet to get to know the girls I'll be working with on the floor. I see them come in and out of the kitchen and most of them don't ask many questions of me. Some assume I'll be working in the kitchen. But I see them sometimes look at me and I can't help what wonder what they are thinking. I am the newest girl and I'm sure the ones that have been there forever are wondering what I'll be like. I can only hope that we will get along and they will like me once we are officially coworkers. We shall see.

So, there is no grand story here of some horrible new girl experience, sorry to disappoint guys. But I just think it's interesting how some people react to being a new girl. It's happened very few times for me and most were easy transitions, I know some people have horror stories (God forbid I ever have to deal with that!).

That's all for today,

Later darlings.