The video for Happy by Leona Lewis was filmed in Cuba, and she looks absolutely beautiful. Why can’t I look (or sing) like that…

I gotta find my place
I wanna hear my sound
don’t care about other pain in front of me
cause I’m just trying to be happy

Daylight by Matt and Kim is kind of awesome. It’s catchy and peppy, and now my phone ringtone.

Everyone on facebook agrees, This too shall pass by OK Go is even more awesome with this video. Enjoy!

This week my friend Kim and I learned that a fellow Longhorn died. While we didn’t know him, he had taken over the role that we once held in the environmental group we were involved in during our time at the university.  There’s a wave of sadness for a lost of a young life, and then there’s a this tiny guilt for being alive but mostly wondering of am I living life to the fullest?

I’ve been talking with another good friend, who keeps emphasizing the power of now. While I haven’t read the book, it has me thinking about how I should enjoy all the experiences around me. To wonder and to ask questions. To open to the positive but not waste breath on the petty. Because you don’t know when you’ll get to experience something again nor will you be happy if you aren’t at peace with yourself.

Luckily since I’ve moved to New York, I’ve forced myself to adopt that kind of mentality because I knew if I didn’t do it now, I never would make it in this city. I’m creating new routines, rebuilding myself to a different lifestyle and making new friends. Slowly, but surely, I’m also restructuring my broken insides. Yes, after so long I admit even now the pieces aren’t all put together, but with each person I am able to open myself to, I’m learning more about who I am and shaping myself to the better person I will be.

To live life to the fullest doesn’t mean changing who I am. It means to not settle for less, to not limit my possibilities. I am ready for anything now.

Why are we scaredy cats? What makes us not say what we want to say? What makes us never share how we feel? Why haven’t we gone to the places we want to visit? Why aren’t we doing what we want to do? When did we sacrifice this luxury of choice?

What do I do where all my time vanishes, and nothing is accomplished…