Tag: blogging

If I stay by Gayle Forman

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Summary: 
Mia is a seventeen year old girl living in Oregon with her mother, father and little brother. She is very talented cello player. Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, also shares a strong passion in music. He is in a band that is gaining popularity and has started touring. Ultimately, with Adam’s band going on tour and Mia possibly attending Julliard for college, there relationship slowly starts to fizzle out due to the tension of knowing their paths will be going in different directions and different parts of the country. Mia has a lot of choices to make regarding her relationship with Adam and where to attend college. Should she follow her musical dreams or follow her heart? The biggest choice she has to make comes following the aftermath of a catastrophic car accident involving her family. Mia is the only member of her family to survive and she finds herself in a coma. While suspended between life and death Mia faces a choice that will decide her future.

Opinion:
I’ve seen the movie a couple of times and had no idea it came from a book so I was pretty excited to read it. There are specific scenes of the movie that make me shed a tear no matter how many times I’ve watched it. The book is no different when it comes to those same moments pulling at my heart strings. My heart always aches at the thought of Mia’s situation. The storyline is immensely devasting but I love it! It really makes you think about how every choice in life changes things. I won’t spoil the ending incase you haven’t seen the movie or read the book yet. But I have always wondered what the aftermath of Mia’s decision is. How it changes things and affects everyone else. I found out that there is a sequel to this book titled “Where she went” so I’ll be on the hunt for it!

25, A Quarter of a Century!

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This past Saturday I turned 25, one of those milestone birthdays. I’m still trying to process how I feel about it; I mean I am a quarter of a century now! There may have been a slight midlife crisis. I decided to do kind things on the week leading up to my birthday.  I…

1.       Picked up trash. I live across from a school and now that it’s summer I’ve noticed a big increase in the amount of trash that is left on the field and court. I play tennis and often take the dog(s) and my niece over to the field and courts to run around and it’s not a pretty sight with all the trash. I took gloves and a trash bag and picked up as much as I could.

2.       I brought in chocolate chip cookies (store bought) to work! It was Thursday and I thought having nice treats helps push through the day!

3.       I left flowers at the cemetery.  This might sound morbid and it wasn’t my original idea but it turned out to be a memory I’ll remember forever. I got a dozen white roses and placed a single rose on different tombstones throughout the cemetery. My husband’s biological father was laid to rest in this specific cemetery, so we walked around until we found his spot. It was my husband’s first time visiting and we realized that his dad’s birthday was just the day before. It was over all an endearing moment.

4.       Donate food to the women’s shelter. I went through my pantry and picked out all the canned goods that would be expiring in the next few weeks. I also went to my local grocery store and bought a few items, such as cereal, pastas, and more canned goods.

5.       Donate different items to the Children’s Hospital. I spent the morning of my birthday dropping off coloring books and crayons. I had never been to the Children’s Hospital but got to see a little of all the great things that they do there to help children. There was an artist at the lobby who was playing guitar and singing. I also got to see children talking live at the Ryan Seacrest studio. I did have plans to donate blood as well (it would have been my first time) but unfortunately my iron levels were too low.

In the past, my birthdays were always big. Big as in, growing up I always had a party… clowns and puppeteers were included! As a teen and young adult, I always celebrated with a lot of friends – sometimes ALL week long. This year, I really wanted to keep it simple. I spent the evening at home having dinner and cake with my family – followed by opening presents! Afterwards, I went out for a few drinks with my husband at a new restaurant that opened a few minutes away from my house. I can’t wait to see what being twenty-five brings me, but it’s still weird to think I am closer to thirty than ever before.

One Year Anniversary

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We recently celebrated our one year anniversary of being married! I can’t believe how quickly this first year went and how much we have accomplished during it. Our wedding day was super hectic, but I’ll save those details for later. We did a little traveling throughout the year; we spent a long weekend in NYC, went to Jamaica for our honeymoon, and visited Orlando, again. Our love for traveling and exploring is something we enjoy doing and we already have a few trips booked for the near future. We spent a lot of our year in the kitchen learning new recipes and trying to focus on healthier “clean eating options.” We spent every afternoon taking our dog, Diggy, on walks around the neighborhood. We have changed the setup of our place several times. We have spent countless hours binge watching Netflix or meeting up with new and old friends for happy hour. Mike went through his first year of teaching, we’ve started a few side jobs and we’ve picked up a lot of hobbies throughout the year. I am forever grateful for the adventures, memories, and accomplishments we have gone through in just one year, but I am most thankful for the growth that we have gone through as individuals and as a couple. We are on each other’s teams, always and no matter what – whether its cheering each other on or guiding each other in the right direction. We’ve set goals for our future and are working together to attain them. We made it a point to love each other in one another’s love language, and it has made us better and stronger. Mike, you survived the first year of marriage and there is no one else I’d rather eat year-old cake with, than you!

 

Traditionally the first year is paper. I framed the music sheet to our songs which are The Way you Look Tonight by Frank Sinatra and Classic by MTKO. I continued being crafty by making Mike a shirt that read “I survived my 1st year of Marriage,” and also gifted him a roll of toilet paper mainly because I thought it would be funny but also because the I can easily go through a whole roll in one day which really annoys Mike.

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Mike was equally crafty, I was super surprised! He got me the Beauty and the Beast coloring book that I had been eyeing, a handwritten love letter to accompany the card he got me, and two diy frames. One frame pin points where he lived, where I lived, and Disney (where our love story truly started), all into a heart shaped map. The other frame has our special dates!

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Side note** If you plan on freezing your top tier wedding cake, make sure to follow the directions given by your bakery or research methods to ensure that your cake will taste fresh a whole year later. The top picture is our cake a year later and on the bottom is what it was the day of our wedding. It held up decently for it being in the freezer for a year!

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Why I Started This Blog

Published on by raquelrickey1 Comment

Why am I starting this? Thats a pretty big questions and I could take at least an hour answering it. This is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. A space where I can gather my thoughts, memories, and pictures. I’ve always loved documenting my life. I think it stems for my love of photography. Growing up, my mom was always taking pictures or videos of our lives. She passed that on to me. I started taking pictures when I was about 8, with disposable cameras. I wish disposable cameras would make a come back. I got my first “real” camera when I was about 10, a Polaroid! Shortly after that, I got my first film camera. Through the years I have gone through several, and I mean SEVERAL cameras, usually upgrading along the way, but I still LOVE the vintage and film best. I was also that kid that kept a dairy. At one point, I even shared an on going “friendship dairy” with a small group of girls, we would pass a journal amongst each other… it was quiet special. I’ve lost all the journals through out the years. When Xenga (before myspace) was a “thing,” I was always blogging after school, so I think its time I pick it back up.

Other than my love of documenting, my grandparents are a big reason for this. Both passed away too soon. I deeply cherish the memories I have with them but I desperately wish I would have asked about their childhood, and life over all more. Having this digital space not only lets me look back on my own memories but will also be available to anyone who one day may wonder about me. My life has changed so much in the last few years. From graduating college, working at Disney, getting married, getting a real adult job, and turning 25 soon…. I want to make sure I remember it all.