You have everything you need if you just believe!

Guys...  I have a confession to make.  I love Christmas.  I mean, it's kind of an obvious confession, but whatevs.  It's always been my favorite holiday.  Not because of the presents, although that is a very nice plus, but because of how cheerful it is.  Joy just fills the air at Christmas time.  I have warm fuzzies from Thanksgiving to New Year's because everyone's happier and nicer.  

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is Christmas music.  I start jamming out to holiday tunes about a week before Thanksgiving, and very rarely do I get tired of it.  It's the one time of year that I'm not a little odd for repeatedly listening to Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Frank Sinatra, who are without a doubt my favorite singers of all time.  

I'm also mad about Christmas movies.  Even the absolutely horrid Hallmark, Lifetime, and ABCFamily original ones.  Because almost every Christmas movie, whether Blockbuster hit or made-for-tv, has the same message of love and cheer.  My favorite Christmas movie is Miracle on 34th Street, the one with Mara Wilson, not the old one.  Every time I watch this movie, I instantly wish that I could go back to being 5 years old when there wasn't a doubt in my mind that Santa was real.  This film makes me want to believe all over again.

And really that's what I truly love the most about the holiday season.  Belief.  The Christmas season gives me more hope in humanity.  I believe that there are good people out there more around the holidays because you see more of them.  Belief is everything.  And Christmas just reiterates that for me.

So here is a trailer that will hopefully make you believe too!

Also the part where he signs with the deaf girl is just too sweet!  Gets me every time...

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." - Carl Sagan

Audwin Pierre McGee is probably one of the coolest guys I've ever had the pleasure of hearing speak.  This man has done so many grand things in his life from being an artist to guiding safaris.  His main point during his lecture was to look at the dreams you had as a child to figure out where you genuinely want to go in life.  One piece of advice he gave that really connected with me was to look at what books made an impression on you as a child.

Here's where I turn into a complete literary nerd.  I love books.  I've loved books since I was born.  My parents read to me all the time, and once I started reading myself, I couldn't stop.  As a child, I read so many fabulous books that I can't even remember them all.  Honestly, it's only fitting that I share my name with one of my favorite movie characters, Kathleen Kelly from You've Got Mail, who states, "When you read a book as a child, it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your life does."

I fully believe this.  As a child, I read such books as Nancy Drew, Betsy-Tacy, The Witch Family, and the Little House series.  Those are just a few of my favorites, but they have shaped the person I've become.  From Nancy Drew, I gained curiosity and an urge to help others.  From Betsy-Tacy, I learned the need for friendship how imperative it is to nurture those friendships.  The Witch Family taught me to have an imagination and be the best me I can be.  The Little House books taught me the importance of family.

Even now, I'll go back and reread these books.  One of the proudest moments of my life was introducing a young girl to the world of Nancy Drew.  These books empowered me as a child.  They taught me to go after my dreams.  They made me use my imagination.  They taught me how important it is to have imagination in this world.  And truth be told, I'm tempted to be a children's librarian just so I can give children the same comfort these wonderful works of art gave me.

Adventure is out there!

If you know me at all, you know that I love anything dealing with Disney.  Except maybe Star Wars.  But that's a different story.  I love Disney movies.  I love Walt Disney World.  I love the princesses.  I love the original characters.  I love what Disney Channel used to be.  And I especially love Pixar.

One of my favorite Disney-Pixar films is UP.  I love everything about it.  I love that they were able to have me in tears within the first ten minutes of the movie.  I love the humor.  I love the sentimentality of it.  But most of all, I love it's premise:  Adventure is out there!

When I was younger, my passion was being on a stage.  I thought that this would last for the rest of my life, and it still might, but it's not my biggest passion anymore.  At this point, the passion at the forefront of my mind is adventure.   I want to go everywhere, see every monument, do every crazy once-in-a-lifetime thing.

And this is why this week's lecture really hit home.  Study Abroad is something that I've been wanting to do since I was in middle school.  My entire life, all I've ever really wanted to do is travel, travel, travel, and studying abroad is a chance to do just that.  There isn't a doubt in my mind that at some point within the next four years I'll be on a plane to Europe, exploding with excitement.

  

Window Creations

I spent a few hours of my day on Tuesday painting HSO's preview day window.  Though it was bitingly cold outside, I had a blast.  I hadn't done something through a creative outlet such as that in several months, and it felt so good to focus on colors and lines and shapes for awhile rather than letters and writing.

"Bellow vociferously Panthera leo" is basically the nerdy way of saying "Roar lions!"  While I was painting this, I couldn't help but think about our speaker from last week.  Libbey Jordan works in tourism, therefore she knows advertising.  Her driving point throughout her lecture was to avoid false advertising at all costs.  While Abbie and I were hard at work on this masterpiece, I kept thinking how completely perfect this window painting describes HSO.  It's spirited, just as most of the members are.  It's creative, as all of the members are.  It's clever, as all members hope to be.  It is a perfect representation of Honors Student Organization.  I couldn't be happier with it.