Randoms from Arizona

It's been a while since I've lived in Arizona. I used to really think it was the only place I belonged. I had such a hard time leaving it. Arizona is the only place I've lived where I really felt comfortable and could be myself. I really thought I'd always go back, but at this point in time I highly doubt I will. It is time to move on and I know that even if I do go back things will be different. I won't have the same friends that I used to hang out with every day, I won't have the same situations. It would be completely different and I don't really want that to change. I want to know AZ as the place that I know it and I want it to stay the way that I loved it.

I moved there in the summer of 2007. What a HOT summer it was! But I LOVED IT! I quickly made friends and was a member on a young adults activity counsel for my church. Not everything I experienced while I was there was perfect, but when I look back on it, I really had everything. I've lived a few other places, but nothing compares. Might be a little cheesy, but I just thought of Sinead O'Conner's song, "Nothing Compares to You." haha what a statement... Here's a link to the video if you don't know what I'm talking about Nothing Compares To You

I'm truly grateful for EVERY person I met while I was there, good or bad. They created irreplaceable memories that I wouldn't trade for the world.

This is totally dedicated to Arizona and the friends I made while I was there. Nothing compares...

First day pretty much in AZ... we build a rocket onto a toy car :)

Charles kind of creeped me out before I knew him.. then I got to know him and it was fine lol

We put my friends hair on top of his head.. looks super real LOVE IT

Went shooting with people I didn't even know... like really I kind of knew one person.

Institute Academy Awards Night. Classic.. The first one we had ever and it's annual now I believe.. We started it :)

 Stuffy old men :) Just kidding - the guy on the left pretty much changed my life.

I don't even remember who this girl is, but a group of us went down to Mexico to help fix up an orphanage. I thought I had more pictures, but most of them are blurry for some reason.

Camel Back Mountain - First time I actually went to the top with the institute counsel.

Nothing better than fire... all the time :)

Every time I look at this picture I LAUGH! The dog was super hyperactive and it kept being super crazy. Perfect moment for an awkward picture


Snowflake, AZ

Can't you tell we love the fire? We made Sobe bombs.. a lot of them. Too bad they made their bottles plastic - can't do it anymore.

Yeah I totally took that picture

Cinco De Mustache :) All the guys grew mustache's for it and we celebrated

Camping somewhere - I don't even remember where this is, I just know it's a cabin

We played games in the cabin... I do believe we did some kind of service activity this weekend as well, but I don't remember :)

We lived at what was named the "Sugar Shack." We threw parties and it was pretty intense. This was a black and white party before everyone showed up of course. The place was completely packed at some point during the night.. parties in AZ get crazy.

Have no idea where this is, but they had so many dogs!!! I was totally in heaven

Havasupai - Tiff came down from Utah to come. This place is awesome.. but I don't like jumping off things that could lead me to die. So, I just did the hiking and exploring part

See - this is definitely not my idea of fun, but I do like taking the picture of people plummeting to their death.
However, no one died, so that's good. It's super cool! I love going.

We made bombs and blew up fruit and bottles and things- I won't tell you what kind though.... Don't want anyone to get into trouble.

Halloween in AZ lasts for literally a month. You go to so many parties like every weekend.. the entire month almost. Super cool. This was at our party before we it started.

Can't remember how that happened, but it hurt like crazy

We got kicked out of our "Sugar Shack" house because our landlord didn't pay the bills. So, we snuck back in because our keys still worked..

Playing Mexican Train... That night was actually super fun :)

Finger painting....

Renaissance Festival

 Halloween Again!!!!

   

Love that place.......

Everything you shouldn't do

I was reading some links people have posted on Facebook recently and there are SO MANY articles and blogs of what we should or shouldn't be doing.
Granted, these things are funny at times, but some of them are just plain stupid and rude.

For example:
20 Things Men Over 30 Should Never Wear
5 Things Fat People Shouldn't Wear
7 Reasons You Shouldn't Wear Makeup
50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do

These are just a FEW examples of the things I have seen lately. At first I just let it pass by; another article, another blog, another opinion. The last one I read which is, "20 Things Men Over 30 Should Never Wear" made me kind of mad actually. Some people are actually reading these things and thinking it's real. Others who are the victims of these writings are feeling awful about themselves. Talk about cyber bullying in a very indirect way, but that is what it is! You shouldn't be dressing like Johnny Depp? Seriously? He's like the coolest dude ever.
You shouldn't wear makeup? BAHAHA! As most of you know, that is what I do for a living. I didn't used to care about makeup and I ACTUALLY MADE FUN OF PEOPLE FOR WEARING IT BEFORE. Yup, I was THAT person. All the reasons they used are totally flawed if you are actually using good products. It is so silly that others feel they need to tell you what you can and cannot do.
You may think that articles of things that you should do are okay as well. "50 Things EVERYONE Should Know How To Do" is horrible. I agree those things would be nice to know and great for everyone to have as skills. But it's implying that they are just things everyone should know how to do. If you don't know how, then you're way behind everyone else. That is definitely a self esteem dropper.
What I don't understand is why we have to keep judging everyone on what they do or don't wear, or what they know how to do or not. It seems so silly to me.
What we really should be focusing on is people as individuals. Maybe there could be more blogs about helping people find talents for themselves or finding things that they are interested in actually doing and building those into strengths. More people could write about what looks good on people and their body shapes and sizes instead of telling people they are fat and "not in trend" with a certain person's opinion. I'm not going to lie, I LOVE Johnny Depp. And anything he wears is fine with me because he's so talented and he's his own person. He is confident enough in himself to do what he wants. What about spreading more articles on how to build confidence?
Why do the negative things in life have to be the things that are shared the most? Yes, there are some things that people do or wear that shouldn't happen, but it is not our place to judge them for it and make fun of them. All people are so special. Everyone has good traits and everyone has bad traits. Does it really make us feel better to point out others faults? Actually, I think temporarily it might because it makes our brain focus on someone else instead of the things we don't like about ourselves. This is all so flawed.
Let's see more uplifting things. I know there are a lot out there. What if we stopped posting all the negative stuff? What would happen? What would people be reading and how would it really affect their day?

New Orleans Trip

 This is going to be a picture blog because how better can I possibly describe things!??! I got to take a bath in this!! I've seen them before on TV and pictures, but seriously.. I got to do it myself. One weird thing - when you start draining it out, IT'S LOUD!! Just saying...

The best thing in New Orleans is the FOOD. Seriously.. SO GOOD.
This is a MUFFALETTA.. I can't describe the taste of this sandwich. It is simply tasty.

Cafe Du Monde - Evidently the yummiest place to get a beignet. It's a famous place :) 

 These powdered sugar covered things are beignet's. So, there ya go! We had them two different places.

 There is always live music every where you go. But this band had a dog that would just sit there and they put sunglasses on him. SUPER CUTE!
The puppy must have been very well trained or drugged.. I didn't know and I didn't ask.

 Jackson's Square and a voodoo shop. Interesting eh?
Not supposed to take pictures inside so I snapped this.. I was kind of weary about it, but I just had to.. : /

 Now, here's to the really fun stuff. Mary Kay feeds us so well! This cheesecake was absolutely to DIE FOR. All of it really.. even the greens :) It was really the dressing we had to put on it, but all in all.. such a good meal! FOR FREE :) Love my job.






We were treated to a HUGE Mardi Gras party and unfortunately didn't take a ton of pictures, but there was a live band as we were walking in and another one inside. They brought tons of people on stage intermittently to do stuff. And food stations were everywhere (of course).

This is a memorial of Katrina. Someone asked if the house was real. I won't mention who :)

 Sweet car on the side of the road.. who wouldn't take a picture?

 This is a Po-Boy sandwich.. also very yummy. A little spicy, but it was good!




We also had some fried alligator. It's actually pretty good. I was surprised. It taste like chicken but a little more chewy and a lot more moist.

Notice that they actually call New Orleans N'awlins. I thought that was funny. I mean some of them talk like that but I didn't actually think they would spell it like that too. Nola and I laughed. Oh and Nola is another name for New Orleans. So, this restaurant is called NOLA cookery :)

Limited to False Beliefs

I am assuming everyone has at some point in their life had someone say something negative to them. I am assuming at some point we have said something negative to ourselves. Some people think ill of themselves without any outside explanation. Beautiful people who don't understand what everyone else sees. Incredibly charismatic men and women who can't see beyond their own insecurities. With that being said, I learned something this past week that makes so much sense I don't know how it could be any clearer.

I was listening to a CD by an amazing National Sales Director with Mary Kay. She was explaining how our mind works from some research she has done and books she has read. (For consideration of the blog I am not going to go into detail about that) Something I have understood lately is that your mind believes what you tell it. It is something that I believe and something that I am working on with my own "self talk." However, I didn't quite understand how this worked or why until now.

Your conscious mind is your logic and reason. But your subconscious mind contains the programs that control the functions of our body. It takes information from our conscious mind and turns it into action! The perception we have of ourselves might be limited due to the false beliefs that we or others have put there throughout our lives. Phrases like, "You're too shy to do that," "That kid is faster than you," "You're not smart enough for Harvard," "You're weird," "You are such a nerd." They may not appear to be THAT bad, but your subconscious mind remembers them FOREVER and puts it into action. It will go on following the input that is there. It does not know the difference between true and false. It does not take a joke, it takes you at your word.

Research has found that 77% of the programs in our mind are wrong. Would you fly in a plane with 77%, 50% or even 25% of the programs being wrong? NO WAY! But we walk around in our bodies every single day. How can we cure these false beliefs? How can we become the person we were really intended to become?

We need to surround ourselves with positive influences. We need to stop telling ourselves negative things. But the real way to fix all of the broken beliefs is to replace them with who we would like to be. Hang pictures in your house of the kind of home you would like to have, the kind of family life you would love, the kind of trips you would like to take, the kindness you would like to instill on others, the kind of money you would like to have, and even the spirituality you would like to have. Make a dream book with pictures all of these things. It takes just 21 days of looking at it every morning and every night to convince your subconscious that it will happen. You will forget about the book after a while, but if you do the 21 days and you surround yourself with positive influences and create a way to make it happen then 2 or 3 years down the road 90% of what was in that book will have happened. It has happened over and over again in my business. People creating dreams for themselves, changing their thought process, and their dreams come true.

We are NOT the people that we think we are. We are so much more! We can create anything we would like to in our lives. We CAN influence our future and we can change ourselves and our lives for the better. I am going to make a dream book. I am going to look at it every night and every morning for 21 days straight. And I will write a blog post in two or three years and let you know how much of it all has happened. It has happened before for me. With my goals I wrote down, I forgot about them and a year later all of them came true except one, which I am still working on. :) Suffice it to say, I will become the person I want to be and I will create the life I want to have. I am so excited for this new adventure. Who's with me?