Love

Love --- four letters that are the quintessential basis of life's problems and blessings. The way you experience love can define your life. Those that you love, or love you, shape not only your journey, but who you are every step of the way.

Fear ---four letters that can restrict, change and pollute the way we love. In turn, fear holds us back from bellyaching, heart-bursting, breathe-taking love. Fear keeps us from reaching for a full cup of love, thus shortchanging our lives from what we can learn and who we can become.

Love yourself, Love others, Love the journey

The Question: To Plan or Not to Plan...

Many argue that you should live in the moment, planning your life away can lead to regrets of never enjoy the present. However, enjoying to much of today and never looking, preparing, planning for tomorrow can lead you into some problems. What about retirement? Buying a home? Children? Financial Stability? At some point enjoying today...and ignoring the worries of tomorrow can catch up with you...

There has to be a balance, a balance, that I have neglected to keep up with. It seems to be a reoccurring pattern in my life. I plan for something and then I get caught up in the moment, ultimately redirecting my life onto a different path. Looking back, you could either call me an eclectic individual, a woman on a journey or uncommitted. I don't know which one I am, but I plan on figuring it out and I WILL find a balance.

Thinking about this problem has gotten me no where, so I will simply start with a bucket list ... and go from there. No time line, no 6 step plan, just a list of things to do from now until the day I die...

To Do Before I Die:
1.) Travel to all six continents, which leaves me with South America, Australia and Africa (Antarctica is out of the question)
2.) Raise a child
3.) Work for a more morally conscientious and environmentally sustainable world
4.) Own a home
5.) Obtain my master's degree
6.) Give my loved one's my all
7.) Save money and lots of it

...if only the "How-To" list were that short and simple.

The Meat Market

While my office is simultaneously attempting to raise $150,000, recruit thousands of members and get hundreds of petitions to get America to move "Beyond Oil". The national office has started all directors on a Full Time Recruitment drive.

This means we go out to Universities all across the country and recruit passionate seniors to become leaders with the Fund. So on top of my 60-70 hours of campaign work, I am recruiting Emory University students.

Myself and one of my Assistant Directors, Luke, blitzed the campus professors, students and faculty with announcements that the Fund was hiring and would be on campus for the Career Fair. The Career Fair was today and I felt a little like week-old fish at a meat market.

Luke and I got there an hour early to set up our table with the rest of the recruiters before the students arrived. The competition was intimidating, but an entirely different animal. Across from us was some sort of technology firm, to the left was the IRS and to the right, an empty table.

(Disclaimer: I never attended a career fair at my university and at the end of this day, I realized why that was)

The doors opened and in came the students. We were looking for graduating seniors, but the majority were all sophomores and juniors looking to get a head start and practice networking. 98% of the students were looking for positions with marketing, investment or some sort of corporate firm. The Fund is none of the above.

Three hours later, we spoke with only 14 graduating seniors and tactically avoided all suited students, looking for hippies with dress pants and chucks. Needless to say, we ended the day more exhausted than days that we canvass. It was a day of job shopping...and I felt like the item on the shelf that everyone grabbed just to grab, without a single intent of buying.

Three is the magic number...

Three years ago today I Moises and I made it official. (1/21/2011)

Honestly, I had no idea how it end up when I left Athens

on that Sunday morning. Yet, three years later our relationship has been one of the most rewarding and fulfilling that I have ever had. The kid is my best friend.

It's all in the food

This is an old post that I saved as a draft about 3 weeks ago, however, it is a reoccurring notion that continues to arise. I had to write it down.

____________________________________________________________________

The world is disconnected, in many ways. Let me rephrase that, people are disconnected. Disconnected to what is most important and beneficial for themselves, others and the resources around them. I WILL NOT rant any further, if you know me well enough, you know what I mean.

Yet, I have a simple solution. Simple in it's statement, not in it's execution. I believe that the solution can be found in our food.

Paying attention to, and investing in, a culture that appreciates and exercises the time, effort and beauty that is food will fix so many problems. Food could fix the disconnect of many communities, the disconnect of humans to our own resources and the disconnect of the importance of healthy living.

Food for thought...

Gum Stand Road

A cabin on Gum Stand Road is where I have been for the past three days...in the Tennessee Smokey Mountains, nestled nicely in-between the vacation towns of Gatlinberg and Pigeon Forge. It was some good fun with two of our (Moises and I's) favorite couples from college and Atlanta.

*Went snowboarding and I nearly broke my arse.

*Cooked pasta, parmesan chicken, nutella filled crescents, turkey bacon, perico, biscuits and popcorn. :-D

*Played board games on the Wii, drank yummy beer and relaxed in the hot tub.

*And I beat the entire group in laser tag. ;-P

...Next big event...3 Year Anniversary!

Georgia on my mind

Atlanta is still frozen over...thankfully, there is a bowling alley about half a mile from the apartment. This is an extremely uncommon occurrence in Georgia, an occurrence that I am enjoying. So in the name of Georgia, I would like to talk about the OTHER fun things I have enjoyed during my first 6 months in "HOT"lanta...

---Shooting the Hooch---

I went about 3-4 times. Nothing like floating down a river on a tube with friends, beer and nature to keep away the worries.

---UTK Homecoming---

Some much needed time to with my beloved sorority sisters and friends.

---Cirque Du Soleil---

Fantastic...enough said. :-D

---The Chik-Fil-A Bowl Game---

The only time I will ever wear Garnett and Gold.

That was 2010 in Georgia...Hopefully 2011 has even more memories and adventures in store for me. :-D

It took the south freezing over

It took the south freezing over for 3+ days for me to update my blog. Sorry friends...Where to begin.

The last time I wrote I was talking about finding a job that fought for a better system. I wasn't looking to be just a cog in a system that moves as slow as my blogging hand, but a catalyst for change. Lucky for me...I got that job.

I left NY in May with an acceptance into the University of Georgia

Masters' program for environmental economics for the Fall of 2010 and a summer job campaigning for a better environment in Atlanta neighborhoods.

The job was intense, full of passion and hooked me up with a promotion. I currently am the Canvass (Citizen Outreach) Director for the Fund for the Public Interest in Atlanta, GA. A national non-profit that runs grassroots campaigns for progressive nonprofits. (I deferred my acceptance to UGA to get some much needed work experience, not to mention time to spend some quality time with the love of my life) The job and ego boost are AWESOME, the pay is kinda crippling. Financially, I am not much better off than I was working with Americorps.

I have directed the office for over 6 months now and worked

with over 4 non-profits to win their campaigns for Clean Water, Safer Food, Gay Rights and Moving Beyond Oil. I am proud, learned and TIRED. I have a great understanding of how policy works and what we need to do to make a difference, but I am wondering if I can sustain my sanity, my productivity and my finances living as a life-long activist....

Atlanta is frozen over because of climate change...it sucks to see, but it will hopefully light a "fire" under people when they see the tangible effects of our shortsighted and consumer driven lifestyles. I have had a lot of time, three days to be exact, to sit in my apartment and mull over where my life is going. My life will remain the same, in terms of my ethical actions, democratic involvement and issue advocacy. However, something has to stabilize... my work schedule, my finances, my personal life... this won't be an easy decision.

Let's see if I decide before the ice melts.