inspire(d).

{image one & two.}

whew! i finally updated my portfolio/professional site. i still need to tweak a few things, but i'm pretty stoked with the results.  i'm getting pretty antsy with this whole graduating concept- i've got resumes & applications on my mind all the time. when did this all get so real?

also: as well as blog design, i'd love to help you create a portfolio site of your own. just get in touch (aeallen@gmail.com) & we can work on a rad site to represent you!

{Quote of the Week.}

{via: classy-in-the-city.}

"Try new things."

i'm currently enrolled in three, count 'em three, writing courses.  i wouldn't call myself a writer per se, but i am definitely a lover of words. all kinds of words.

though i've often felt more comfortable choosing a font rather than the perfect adverb, i'm trying to embrace my relationship with words, as well as all the power that comes with them.

while i'm off to jot some rough (emphasis on the rough) drafts for my fiction class, i'll certainly continue to reference the list above for gentle reminders. (though they seem so obvious, i forget about the little tricks so often!)

p.s. this ebook is all about creativity, and it's f.r.e.e!

my weekend to-do's...

{via: confetti & cocktails.}

i'll be stuck in most of the weekend, working on assignments for school, but i'll hopefully manage to get out a bit to enjoy time with friends. even though i am swimming in projects & writings, i'm a firm believer in taking time each day to do something for your mind & body. laughing with friends and sipping on a mocha tends to do just the trick. ; ) 

hope your weekend is lovely, friends!

p.s. i'll probably be pinning a few things here & there throughout the weekend. what can i say, it's a great inspiration booster! 

You can. I just know it.

 

{via: julie kostreva.}

Holy macaroni. This week has been a doozy.


I won't go into details because why revisit negativity and even give it a moment of space on this here slice of the interweb.


But here's what I want to do:
I want to direct you to words that have really helped me get through these past few days. If I could, I would have every one of you meet my family, because they are full of wisdom and inspiration. Unfortunately that would be a little tricky. But there are tons of sincerely brilliant people out there who are kind enough to share their bits of advice. I'd love to share these links of gold.


20 Things Life Is Too Short To Tolerate
People who bring you down. – Relationships should help you, not hurt you.  Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded.


12 Steps To Make A Dream A Reality
When you receive negative feedback, remember, it doesn’t matter how many people don’t get it, it matters how many do.


Still, no matter how much progress you make there will always be the people who insist that whatever you’re trying to do is impossible.  Or they may incessantly suggest that the idea or dream as a whole is utterly ridiculous because nobody really cares.
When you come across these people, don’t try to reason with them.  Instead, forget that they exist.  They will only waste your time and energy.


22 Failed Predictions and What To Learn From Them
“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – IBM Chairman 1943


“A rocket will never be able to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.” – New York Times, 1936.


Know What You Want
When you want something, make sure you want something worthwhile.
Because eventually you are going to have to fight for it.


The Holstee Manifesto


Any words you'd like to share? Please, please share in the comments!


Big love to you,
Anna


P.S.
Pearls of Wisdom
Words for your heart
Articles for your heart

A list from the heart.

{via: sean rogers.}

Shaun Usher has a lovely site that features "lists of note." (he also runs the equally sweet site "letters of note.") Needless to say both sites are filled with priceless treasures. Last week he featured a letter from F.S. Fitzgerald to his daughter Scottie (what a darling name!) with a list of thoughts about worries. Here are some of my favorites from the letter. (See the whole letter here.)

Worry about courage 

Worry about efficiency  

Don’t worry about popular opinion 

Don’t worry about the past 

Don’t worry about the future 

Don’t worry about growing up 

Don’t worry about boys 

Don’t worry about disappointments 

Don’t worry about satisfactions 

Things to think about: Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them? Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?  

With dearest love,
Daddy 

here are some other lists i loved:

Woody Guthrie's New Year's Resolutions

A newspaper from 1891's list on 'Eye Flirtation'

and this letter from Audrey Hepburn rules.

{Quote of the Week.}

{via: the glitter guide.}

I'd be stoked to help.

email me:

aeallen@gmail.com

for fabulously priced

custom blog designs.

(banners, buttons, formatting, 
whatever you fancy!)

p.s. how rad are those shoes?

if i wore them i'd most def. 

have to dance to this song the 

whole day they were gracing my feet.

She learned. She laughed.

{via: the ballerina project.} 

“Living Eulogy” by Mary Anne Radmache

She danced. She sang.

She took. She gave.

She loved. She created.

She dissented. She enlivened.

She saw. She grew. She sweated.

She changed.

She learned. She laughed.

She shed her skin.

She bled on the pages of her days.

She walked through walls.

She lived with intention.

via: julie911 

pup love.

cause i missed these pups heaps

& getting bigs hugs from them upon

my return made my heart melt

into a puddle on the floor.

and this song is currently 

on repeat around 

these parts.

p.s. these photos of pooches make me laugh everytime.

we don't want to know all the answers.

{via: flickr.}

things you need in order to stay happy//thought catalog.

You need someone in your life who excites you, makes you nervous, and forces you to question what you think you already know. These usually come in the form of a crush or a relationship. A relationship is obviously ideal but a crush can tide you over like a nice appetizer. We spend so much of our time feeling jaded and set in our ideas, and that’s clearly not a fun way to exist. We pretend it is but deep down it feels a little miserable because we don’t want to know all the answers. We want someone who’s challenging, who we can’t figure out, and can tell us that we’re full of crap. We need someone to get us off the internet and remind us that real life is much more fun. And it’s okay to be unsure and nervous because that just means we’re alive again.

It will be worth it.

i keep repeating this to myself over and over.

{via: here.}

coming home from germany to finish my degree: (though my heart aches with missing it so much)

it will be worth it.

not settling for a comfortable relationship & instead waiting for love:

it will be worth it.

saving money instead of buying the adorable striped sweater i've been coveting:

it will be worth it.

saying no to some things now, to wait for what i really, truly want:

it will be worth it.

this crazy, befuddled, teary-eyed time of confusion:

(though sometimes i get a bit disheveled with it all, i do truly believe)

it will be worth it.

{Quote of the Week.}

{via: tumblr.}

“It’s much easier to not know things sometimes. Things change and friends leave. And life doesn’t stop for anybody. I wanted to laugh. Or maybe get mad. Or maybe shrug at how strange everybody was, especially me. I think the idea is that every person has to live for his or her own life and than make the choice to share it with other people. You can’t just sit their and put everybody’s lives ahead of yours and think that counts as love. You just can’t. You have to do things. I’m going to do what I want to do. I’m going to be who I really am. And I’m going to figure out what that is. And we could all sit around and wonder and feel bad about each other and blame a lot of people for what they did or didn’t do or what they didn’t know. I don’t know. I guess there could always be someone to blame. It’s just different. Maybe it’s good to put things in perspective, but sometimes, I think that the only perspective is to really be there. Because it’s okay to feel things. I was really there. And that was enough to make me feel infinite. I feel infinite." -Stephen Chbosky

This is what I would do if I weren't afraid.

try stand up comedy

write into publications

ask for help more

buy a ticket to europe for the day after graduation

tell them exactly what i want to be when i grow up, when people ask

take a ballet class

tell him the truth about the way i feel

tell you that i'm writing a book show you pages of my book

cry when i need to cry, get angry when i'm angry, be honest & show what i'm truly feeling

the more scared we are of a work or calling, 
the more sure we can be that we have to do it. 
-the war of art

On blogging & being vulnerable.

{via: flickr.}

when i began writing this blog, i was nervous. and i'd be lying if i didn't say i get a bit apprehensive before each time i click "publish." especially seeing as how i write about things i don't necessarily share in "real life." you see, in real life every since i was little, making people laugh has been my thing.

i wasn't good at math or piano so i made jokes about it. i couldn't do a cartwheel in front of my class? then i would make sure when i had to it would be the worst cartwheel known to mankind. making people laugh meant more to me than making people say "oh, wow! she can really____." and you see, when it came to personal feelings, i liked to keep things light. i once managed to break up a major ten year old cat fight at a slumber party with my own rendition of bette midler's wind beneath my wings. i'd much rather fake a smile than get down to the nitty gritty mishaps of life.

the problem with this tactic? when you pretend like your always happy and goofy, people believe you. they don't know if something hurt your feelings if you just laugh it off. and it's not their fault, i can't expect them to know the difference.

but that's the thing. this blog, it's given me a place to write about the things that are hard for me to come out and say. but i'm extremely timid when asked in real life about my blog or when my friends read it. one friend once told me how different i am from my blog. "why aren't you more funny on it?" he asked. i believe at that point i made a joke and avoided answering the question. because i don't know. i'm still working out the kinks.

but here's the other thing: it's so much easier to open up about things on here, to people i've never met, but who support me beyond words. it's made me reach out. it's made me open up. and it's made me extremely vulnerable. it's really helped me express who i really am. it's been a beautiful experience.

i once had a friend tell me that if a boy has a crush on me, and then sees my blog, it will scare him off.
that really bothered me, so much so that i almost took down my blog.

but then my sister told me something i would have probably never thought of:

if he doesn't respect your blogging and writing, you wouldn't want to date him. 

needless to say, it blew my twenty year old mind.

she was right. (as most big sisters always happen to be.)

when it comes to my own vulnerability, i'd say blogging about such things as my hopes for someday, a rough break up or two, and the big decisions i've had to make lately, i'm putting myself out there on a limb.

and for that, i'm pretty proud.

but, to add another cliche to this rambling of words, blogging, my friends, is just the tip of this iceberg of vulnerability.

and 2012? it's the year of taking more chances, making more changes, and opening up your heart to more love, and possibly more heartbreak.

but i'd rather take a chance, try something new, take a risk to love and be loved-- because the happiness that comes from even trying trumps any stumble along this crazy path.

{Quote of the Week.}

{via: lulie wallace.}

Words that brought me to tears and a word that is changing the way I think about life.

A few weeks ago, on my train ride to the airport in Frankfurt, I stumbled upon this talk on my Ted iPhone app. It was the only talk that had been downloaded & I have no idea how that happened. Technicalities aside, it was what I needed to hear, when I needed to hear it. It left me hiding tears at three in the morning, as the train raced its way through Hannover. I was in a cubby surrounded by four strangers trying to sleep, and there I was in tears. It was one of those moments where something changes, energy in the air shifts and all at once you are entirely different than the person you were seconds before. Maybe it was the talk, maybe the shift was imminent, or maybe claustrophobia and exhaustion finally made its presence known. I'm not sure, but I know that in those precious minutes, as I watched with my head against the window, something in me changed.

This was the talk I heard.

This is the word I am embracing whole-heartedly in 2012. 

and this week, before my hectic university life starts up again, i'd love to share some thoughts on the subject. 

xoxo-

Where I left my heart.

{stamps of where i left my heart, on the map of germany above my bed.}

"But Anna, you'll be in my herz for immer." - the little one
  translation: you'll be in my heart forever.
that's what the little one, the one i've watched grow since my arrival last may, told me on our way home from kindergarten the day before i left for home. (well, my home in kansas. i can truly say that eckernförde is now a home to me, and i have a family there.)

i decided to come back to kansas after my seven months in germany because i knew i needed to finish my degree as soon as possible. i have one semester left, plus one summer course to go before i am done. finished. fertig. i initially planned on only staying in germany for the summer, but ultimately stayed longer for various reasons. mostly because i fell in love with my host family. i adore them. loved being apart of their banter and felt like their big sister. i loved my city. i loved my friends. but it was time to come home and finish what i started four years ago.

so after a heart to heart with many dear friends and family, i decided to pack up and move back to kansas to knock this degree out of the park.

but, as my dear friend whispered to me, as we hugged goodbye in the middle of the street of kiel, tears rolling down our cheeks:

translated:

"This isn't goodbye, Anna. I know you will be back. You belong here."

and that's what i think, too. i know i'll be back to that lovely side of the pond as soon as possible. because jobs are all over the world, and just so happens that my friends & family are, too.

but first, friends, i gotta finish this little project of a degree i started-- as much as my heart aches for the ones i had to leave.


Do you ever miss him? 
Every day. Every minute. 
Every minute, she says. 
Yes, it’s that way, isn’t it?

to the year of twenty twelve.

{december 2011.}

to fresh baked bread gracing our table

to making people laugh so hard you think they might actually pee their pants

to jumping and skipping and everything else that makes walking fancy

to beers and football with the people you admire

to phone calls and skyping with those who are far, but helped shape you in unbelievable ways

to apologies and forgiveness when just

but never apologizing for who you are, or what you feel

to new alter egos that help you get stuff done*

to tv marathons and yoga pants being used for everything except yoga

to running, maybe just a few minutes every now and then, but running nonetheless

to blogging and tweeting and everything that makes you happy and sharing it all with the ones you love

to finishing what you started, to planning ahead, to saving your pennies for the next big adventure that just so happens to be right.around.the corner.

but above all

to love.

*broadway barbara 

{Quote of the Week.}

-ali edwards.