Hello Again

Merry Christmas!
I hope everyone's holiday was fantastic! I had a great day. I woke up at about 8:30, finished knitting my sister's scarf, wrapped it and went downstairs.
After waking up my father, my sister and I went downstairs to open our stockings and presents. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of gifts I received, due to the fact that I told my parents I truly did not want anything (I've been saving up for a Mac Book.)
In all, we finished opening our presents and drove down to my grandparent's house. We hung out, ate snacks, read an article on my great-grandfather's grocery store, and ate a delicious dinner. I know it sounds cliche, but I really love this time of year solely because I get to see my family. We have Christmas parties at my mother's dad and stepmother's house and her mother and stepfather's house. Christmas day, we open presents, eat a delicious egg dish, and then visit my dad's parents. It is wonderful.
After the joy of Christmas, I can only count down the hours until New Year's (my favorite holiday) because all of my cousin's from my dad's side come up to my grandparent's house. We all shop, lunch, dine, catch up on all that we've missed from each other (since we only see each other during this time and maybe once over the summer.) It is a wonderful, happy time and I never ever want it to end

x

A few weeks ago, I learned, from an article in the New York Times, of a website designed for young writers. I immediately typed www.figment.com into my browser and signed up.
Posting in the forums and reading the stories has given me back my inspiration and motivation to write. It was two years ago this vacation that I started my first novel, and have since finished the story line, but have yet to edit and improve it. I still haven't even looked at it since this vacation started, but have started two other stories since starting my membership.
I have published on my page a short story I wrote, and a few poems that I had originally posted on here a year or so ago, but other than the short story, I have not published anything of much significance. I hope that by the end of this vacation I will have let myself publish on the internet something that I have let no other eyes read before. Because, after all, this is the year of taking chances. I have gone out of my comfort zone many times already since starting school, and I can't keep myself back now!

If you would like to read any of my writings, follow me here

I will end this post with a few songs that I have found inspiration in and have found myself putting on repeat:


I love how it starts off slow, and then does the same song again, but more faster. Plus, the lyrics are amazing.


I think I'm just really into the slower songs right now...


Tragic but adorable.


Shun me for listening to Disney music, but I'm actually in love with this song...


I could honestly listen to this song over and over again. It's like an acid trip for your ears.


I will always love The Kooks.


I usually don't listen to rap, but...
1. I love the slow tempo of this.
2. As much as I dislike Kanye, his rap makes me smile everytime I hear this song
3. Cudi is so precious in this video.


This song semi inspired my story line. Plus, every favorites playlist I have has atleast one song by The Kooks.


I hope your holidays are festive fantastic!
-H

Renaissance

So, last night I was reading some of my old posts, looking back on my year. I smiled as I remembered the good times and sighed at the not so good times. All in all, I noticed how much I've neglected my blog. With over a year of posting and over 100 posts, I have changed a lot. And so have my posts. Though, I noticed that as this year progressed, my posts became shorter and more boring. I began to take away the actual substance of my posts and simply post pictures with random little thoughts, or no thoughts at all. I realized that I had forgotten why I started my blog in the first place- to have a place to express my feeling to anyone who would listen, and to hopefully inspire people like other blogs have inspired me.
In addition, I have recently noticed that my entire Bloglovin' feed consists of pictures. My thoughts were further proven when I decided to download Picasa and realized that I have over 13,000 pictures saved onto my laptop. Not only is that awful for my harddrive, but my obsession with pictures and neglect of words caused my blog to become a screen, rather than a person. With my increase in reading blogs with simply pictures, my own blog morphed into the thousands of others that just reblog every new outfit trend and editorial. I forgot about my personality.
The way I've been treating my blog can also be paralleled to my current state of living. As I've gotten older, I've had a lot more responsibilities. Since getting my first job in April, my childhood has been quickly swirling down the drain. With my entrance into my junior year of high school, I have seemed to lose sense of who I actually am. Granted, many amazing things that I will hold with me for the rest of my life will stay with me, but I have seemed to lose those good things in all the stress of my life. All the pressure.
I started this blog to vent about my life and to share my thoughts. As my responsibilities grew, my creativity shrank. As the school work was piled on, my stories became pushed to the side. I always feel like I have to do things to please other people: my teachers, my coach, my parents, my friends, and I lose myself.
As I looked through my posts from the year, I noticed the loss of myself. The posts became shorter with less words, and my personality dwindled. There was no substance, nothing to separate me from the rest. I was just there, barely hanging on, with nothing to hold me back from falling over the edge.
That is why I believe I need to have a blog Renaissance. I will not create a new blog to start over, because I don't want to start over. I want to grow. I want to remember how I used to be, how the words rolled out of my brain into my fingers and onto a keyboard or a sheet of paper. I want to change, but I don't want to forget. I can not forget because if I forget how I feel, I will forget how to save myself from slipping off the edge.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Time for a new bundled up wardrobe

p.s. I have lost the credits for these photos so if any one of them are yours, or you know who it belongs to, tell me and I'll give credit where credits due:)