Photos on the Run // Something Beautiful

I'm lucky to have a friend who lives forty-five minutes away from my house.  And not just a "oh hi, I know you" kind of friend, but a friend that I like enough to visit semi frequently, resulting in semi-frequent semi-long car rides by myself.  I love it, partly because forty-five minutes is the perfect length for a solo, vocals-only mini concert, and partly because part of the drive involves twisty roads with lakes and scenery around them.  I love me some twisty roads with lakes and scenery. 

Last Friday, I was making that drive and was in the middle of a really fantastic rendition of Rascall Flatts's "While You Loved Me" when I drove past something that made me turn the car around.  It's called: the sky was by the lake and it was so, so pretty.  So me and my very low-quality camera phone went to have a look.  

I promise that it was 34084 times more gorgeous in person. Jealous?  

It happened again on Sunday while I was running: I saw pretty things, and I had to stop and take pictures of them.  (The argument could be made that I just wanted an excuse to stop running.  I'll let you be the judge of that.) 

(There are about 30 other variations on the baby leaf / sun pictures, if you're interested.  Angles are so important.)  

As I finished my photo shoot with the leaves, I had deep, blog-worthy thoughts.  Why am I so fixated with pretty things, to the point that I can't resist parking on the side of the road or bringing my camera for a run with me?  I know that I like taking pictures, especially since I have this place to share them, but I think it's more than that.  Isn't searching for beauty kind of an all-humans thing, not just a me thing?  For years and years, cave painters and gardeners and sculptors and fashion designers have passionately worked to hone their skills in order tried to create the best beauty that they could.  In fact, artists are known for being poor; in other words, for giving up a chance to make money and live in a conventionally comfortable way in exchange for the change to create something really beautiful.  I'd even venture to guess that most people, in some way, have that same craving.  Why are we like that? 

Throughout the Bible, God and the things that He does are described in terms of their perfection and quality - their beauty.  Here, take a look. 

Ecclesiastes 3:11 // He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end

Genesis 2:8 // Then God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. He put the Man he had just made in it.God made all kinds of trees grow from the ground, trees beautiful to look at and good to eat. 

Psalm 104:1-3 // Praise the Lord, my soul.  Lord my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind.

Is it possible that our search for beautiful things comes from a longing for God?  Maybe, we stand in awe of a sunset or spend hours redecorating because those things, in a very small way, let us experience a version of what our creator is like.  Maybe, just maybe, he made us that way on purpose, so that we'd be able to connect with him.  

I don't know about you, but I really like the idea that God created me to enjoy beautiful things just so that he could love me by showing me sky reflecting on the water and sun shining on leaves.  I think that's pretty cool. 

http://recklessinyourlove.blogspot.com/2015/04

cheers!

Allie

P.S. There's fun stuff going on here todat for Treat Yo Self Thursday! 

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When It's Over // It's a Fine, Fine Life 3

Today I'm thankful for the times when things come to an end, which isn't the easiest way to be.  It's taken some serious thinking to get here, because the good side of endings is one that my head can understand pretty easily but my heart struggles to feel.  I get the importance of the shifts in the people, places, and circumstances around me, but I still cringe a little when the time comes to give something up. 

I'm thankful for endings because of the space in my life that they leave vacant.  That empty space is uncomfortable at first, and it can feel purposeless, scary.  The truth is that vacancies are invaluable because they're full of potential - where there is nothing now, there can be anything.  When endings take away a part of our lives, we have the chance to put energy and talent and time into something new. Stable lives made up of everlasting habits and people and places don't have room for growing; the uncertainty of an ending does.  

As my mind tries to make the rest of me understand about things coming to conclusion, the part that my heart grasps most readily is the fact that a beginning, necessarily, is preceded by an end.  Nothing new can start without something old stepping aside, and I love beginnings.  That's something that I can get on board with, that I can go all in for and be genuinely excited about.  When things end, I can be pretty sure that I'm right on the edge of something new, and something that could be really, really good. 

This post is a part of It's a Fine, Fine Life, a link-up for sharing the good even if (and especially when) it isn't that easy.  Grab a button and join us every Tuesday! (And for more info, go here.)

Dodge Ball & Running & Friends // Weekend Recap

Hey there!  I hope you had a fantastic weekend - you think I'm just saying that, but I mean it sincerely.  Remember when I gave away free stuff that one time? Well, we have a free stuff winner!  Huge congrats to Christy Spurlock of Spurlock Sweet Adventures - I'll be right over to help you spend your Target money.   

If you're not Christy Spurlock, I'm really sorry.  I bet you wish you had $50 to spend at Target.  I know I do - I'm not her, either. 

You may have noticed that my sidebar looks a little different today, and if you didn't, I'm very offended.  Jk.  Consider the "About Me" that's over there right now to be a sneak peek at the new design that I'm working on right now, and don't be surprised if things look a little rough around here for the next few days.  It's a work in progress.

My weekend started out with an intense study session at Panera after school and track practice on Friday.  The AP Psychology exam is in just over a week, so obviously I was all business and spent way too much time taking pictures of our smoothies.  Figures. 

Once some actually studying got done, I headed home for a little Shark Tank watching with my parents and an early bedtime to make sure I was ready for Saturday's track meet!  ( Last week I stayed up until 2 the night before.  Never. Again.)

This week's meet was great because we didn't have to be there until noon, which meant sleeping in and time to relax in the morning.  We spent most of the afternoon braving the wind and relative cold, but the sun was out by the time my brother ran his 3200.  

I will never stop being amazed at the fact that people actually volunteer to run around the track 8 times.  Bravo, all of you. 

After the meet, the younger siblings and I headed home for a quick bite to eat and then to school for a dodge ball tournament.  It's an annual event, but for one reason or another I haven't been able to play until this year.  I was pretty excited about it!  Our team had really cool matching shirts that, fortunately, didn't show how intensely I was sweating.  I had no idea how hard 2 minute dodge ball games could be.  Also evidenced by: my still very sore shoulder.  

We had two wins and two losses, with one of the wins being very close and very satisfying.  So, no, we didn't win and I may have lost a bet because of it, but it was so fun! Worth it. (Hint: If you click here or if you follow me on Twitter, you can see the play of the game, courtesy of yours truly. They laughed at me and I still don't get why.)   

Post dodge ball tourney, I spent the night with some friends.  Late night brownies, Jessa Duggar's wedding, chick flicks, and all the weird stuff that happens when you're up too late - it all happened.  So good!  I told everyone that I was going to visit them every weekend when we're in college and make them have a sleepover with me, and I think they thought I was joking.  That's cute.  

Sunday morning meant waking up early to get home after too few hours of sleep in time for church and work afterwards.  The rest of the day was spent running, doing blog and school work, and eating chocolate.  I'd be a liar if I didn't list that as a major activity.  

What about you?   What fun things did you do this weekend?  

cheers! 

Allie

P.S.  Pssst . . . there's a link up right here tomorrow!  Don't forget to come hang out, and bring your It's a Fine, Fine Life post with you! 

Leting Myself Be Known // If You Read This Email

First things first:  a huge thanks to the people who have helped me to get It's a Fine, Fine Life started (check out their links here.) It's so cool to see this idea becoming real as different bloggers get involved. For the eleventy billionth time:  I'm pretty excited about it.  

In other news, I got mock-elected for "Best Smile" in my senior class, which means that I get to have another picture of myself smiling awkwardly in the yearbook in addition to the one that's always there, year after year.  I find the whole situation ironic because that photo over on the left is a pretty accurate representation of how smiling usually goes to me.  I promise: the vast majority of pictures taken of me look almost exactly like that one.  

That was such a humble brag.  I hate that I did that, but not enough to take if out of this post, so I guess now we know something about me.  I'm a humble bragger.  Actually, I just kind of really wanted an excuse to use that photo on the internet.

In other other news, I've stumbled on some really great internet things lately.  Here you go: the 50 most beautiful quotes in The Great Gatsby + confessions at The Daily Tay (read the comments and thank me later) + beautiful, anonymous emails.  

Especially the emails. 

Allison, who always finds the coolest internet things for me to obsess over, did it again with If You Find This Email.  It's a website that publishes the letters that were never sent - to old friends grown apart or between people who have never met.  It all started with hundreds of emails, begging to be read.  Behind those, people needing desperately to be heard.  There are long, crazy stories and short lines of really great words, and I fell in love instantly.  As I scrolled down the page, through months of emails, I couldn't help but be amazed at the sheer number of people who had so much to say and only this place to say it.   

People need to be known.  It's almost ironic that, for all the constant connection and instant updates of right now, we're still missing that.  For all that's known about us, so little is known about what's in us.  We crave being real, raw understanding and honest connection.  

And connecting is a two-way street, and vulnerability is essential.  I can think of nothing more terrifying.  Oh, I want to be known, and known well, and I want to avoid the inevitable risk of all that.  I want to only give of myself when it's safe and shrink back when fear tells me that I'm taking it too far.   I don't know if it works that way. 

Safety jeopardizes relationships.  Who would have thought?  By erring on the side of caution when it comes to vulnerability, we gamble our chance of being not just heard, but understood.  I'm thinking that if I'm going to bother knowing people at all, it might be worth the risk to really know them.  And, yeah, to let them know me, as hard as that is. //

Allie

P.S.  More blog things at Treasure Tromp, right here! 

I'm Happy Because I Read Pretty Books // It's a Fine, Fine Life 2

Hey, there!  I'm hoping you had a lovely weekend and spent it partying or on a lake or going on long walks or something equally worthwhile.  The majority of my Saturday (thanks for asking) was spent being sunburnt and windblown and occasionally running at a track meet, which is how lots of spring Saturdays are spent and suits me just fine.  (Oh hey, alliteration.)  That was followed by a mad dash straight from the finish line of my one and only race to work, which may have included a wrong turn and twenty a few miles in the wrong direction.  That is the last time I try to make money and track meet in the same Saturday.  

Other than that, evenings been laid back and given me some quiet hours to sit on the couch and soak up some new reading material, and I couldn't be happier about that.  Actually, the only thing that's making me happier about the insides of these books is their outsides.  And I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but I mean look at them!  Look at those coordinating color schemes.

They're so perfect together and something tells me that if the books I'm reading match, I have to be doing something right in life.  Not just anyone can pull that off. 

Did I mention that the words inside are so good, too? Let's talk about those. 

Maybe you've heard of Hannah Brencher? She writes here and in her memoir, but she was first known for writing love letters to all of New York City, in a way that is entirely not creepy.  

The book paints a panorama picture of Hannah's move away from her identity and into big, unknown New York City, and deals with giving things up and hoping for things that seem to big and so many things that a lot of people fight with in some way.  It's an incredibly real, inspiring story, of course.  But what's pulling me in more and more is the way it's told - girlfriend can put words together in such a beautiful way.  Here, you try. 

"I thought this would only be a story to show those children of mine how much human hands do matter.  Within a world that is always talking too loudly about what it means to "matter," I wanted this entire story to tell them the truth of it: that they will matter when the sun is up and when it is down.  When there is sunburn on their shoulders or when their shoes no longer fit.  Or their luggage never arrives.  Or they come back from Paris with a ramshackle heart and one less body beside them.  I wanted this story to convince them that they matter, always, and that the point has never been to know it but just to accept it." 

 I mean, seriously.  I could read it forever just to appreciate how good it sounds.  Keep writing, Hannah!

On the other end of the literature spectrum (but, happily, very close by as far as colors go): Top Dog by Po Bronson & Ashley Merryman.  According to the back cover, it's somewhat of a staple among successful, suit wearing types - found  "in briefcases of Wall Street traders and Madison Avenue madmen" and "being debated in the halls of academia."  (Also: in my hands as I sit beside the pool with my eyes squinted barely not shut, preparing for a busy day of more lounging and maybe some beach volleyball.)  Basically, this book is everywhere where big and important things are happening. 

I'll probably read it again when I'm done.  There's a lot of information packed into the pages, most of which I could apply to the things I do in some way.  Lots of new ideas in fewer lines, which makes it both impossible to read quickly and hugely interesting.  It's all about competitions and the people who comprise them: men vs. women, those who crack under pressure vs. those who rise to the occasion, disharmonious teams vs. a group of best friends.  I'm learning so many things that I wish I'd known before, along with a bunch of names of enzymes and things (be prepared for lots of biology-related words!)  It's worth it.  It's given me a lot to think about and has challenged a lot of pretty widely-accepted ideas (yay, free speech and open discussion!)  I'd recommend this one, too. 

It's a fine, fine life for me because I get to read two really good (matching) books!  Why's your life good?  Link up and let me hear it!

An InLinkz Link-up

A Friend To // 5 Kinds of People You Need in Your Life

Hey, everyone!  Big news: Nina's blogiversary giveaway is still going on here, which means that you have the chance to win a $50 Target gift card (yes, please), a DIY coffee mug, and some delicious coffee to help the new mug feel useful.  I'll wait while you go take advantage of that, because Target and caffeine. Go ahead. 

In other news, those of you who haven't been around until very, very recently won't know that a brand-shiny-new link-up started here last Tuesday.  That happened. (The idea behind it + how to participate here.)  And it was great - several blog friends wrote posts, and it was so rewarding to see how writing about the good of life affected each of them.  I'm looking forward to where this project will go in the future.  

Before I hit publish on my very first link-up Tuesday morning, I was honestly scared that I'd be the only one participating.  Which would have been fine, I guess, if a little disheartening.  I'd sent e-mails out to many bloggers that I know, inviting them to participate, but, true to form, I'd sent them less than 48 hours before the actual link-up.  Oh.  Thank God for friends, you guys.  Some of the lovely people I've met through this little blog were right there with me, helping to make my idea come alive on short notice.  I so appreciate the ones who are there, no matter how little notice you give them.  It's good to have people like that.  

It's good to have all kinds of people, actually.  I love the people I'm surrounded by because of the way that they each a have a unique influence on me.  One friend can't handle all that I need in a friend, so they all share in shaping me and supporting me equally and well.  As I become more convinced of the indispensability of all of my people, I become convinced that there are some people that everyone needs. 

// A friend to laugh at you

You know, that friend who thinks that every single thing you do is funny.  Who laughs ridiculously hard while everyone else is groaning.  Who never lets an attempt at humor go unrecognized.

// A friend to do whatever with

Sometimes, people have weird ideas.  That's where all the genius technology things we have come from, probably.  Even if you're weird ideas aren't getting you anywhere, you need someone willing to help you make them happen, no questions asked.  

// A friend who knows

I'm bad at having this friend, because I don't like to tell people things.  As someone who deprived myself of this person for a very long time, I can vouch for the fact that it's vitally important to have a person who knows next to everything about you. Everything, from your opinion on the important stuff to how you like your ice cream sundae.  Because sometimes emotions happen and judgement gets skewed, and you need someone to tell you how you feel and hold you accountable.  Also, it's good to have someone who can anticipate when things bother you or elate you and listen or celebrate accordingly. 

// A friend who's better

The one that you love, but are secretly a liiiittle jealous of.  They show you how to be good at something and provide the inspiration to get there, wherever "there" is - faster, kinder, happier.  

// A friend who grounds you

I truly value the people in my life who tell it like it is, every time.  Some of the best advice I've received has come out of their mouths.  They have strong character and are unwavering in their actions and beliefs, even when they're alone.  In a world that often chooses the tolerate-everything path of least resistance, friends who stand firm are rare and beautiful. 

And that, everyone, is how I indirectly say all the sappy things that I secretly want to as I'm thinking about leaving for college and saying goodbye to getting regular face time with some of the best people I know.  I get nostalgic so easily it's ridiculous. 

I want to know  . . .

 -What kind of friend do you think everyone needs?  

Cheers!

Allie

I Can't Actually Juggle // GIVEAWAY



A few weeks ago, Holly from Summer Sky Designs nominated me for the Liebster Award.  (Thanks, Holly!) Actually, it's been exactly a month.  I'm finally getting around to sharing with you who I fangirl over, how I feel about dark chocolate, and exactly how afraid you should be if we're in a car together.

1// What do you fangirl over?

I'm not much of a fangirl-er, because usually I like to act like I'm too cool and don't care that much (even if I'm borderline obsessed).  But the closest I probably ever come is with The Office, my first ever Netflix-binge experience and favorite show, ever.  Also, Zac Efron.  Always Zac Efron.

2 // Three weird, random facts about you?

     -I'm trying really hard to learn how to juggle. This face would be a lot cooler if I already knew how.

     - I really like to be the one to pour the cereal from the original box into the bins we keep it in after we buy it.  If anyone else does it, I get pretty disappointed.  I know, I don't get it either.

     - I came very, very close to not passing my road test.  I promise I'm a safe driver, but that happened.

3 // What are you most proud of?

My mom.  That's a who, but she's a hard worker and I respect her a lot for it.

4 // What would be your dream place to live?

THIS IS SO HARD because I like exploring and would love to live all over the place, but I think I could probably be pretty happy for a long time somewhere by the water, preferably the ocean.

5 // Favorite dessert?

I think I've probably come across three desserts that I didn't like in my entire life.  But if it involves dark chocolate, I'm usually pretty happy. 

6 //What are you doing at this moment besides writing this post?

Being in study hall at school and pretending I have nothing else to get done - oops!

7 // Do you have any pets?

Yep!  I have a dog named Eddie who's adorable and a cat named Si who I'm not friends with. She's mean to me.

8 // What superpower do you want?

Flight. It's kind of a classic.

9 // If you could meet anyone (past, present, or future; fictional or real), who would you want to meet?

Malcolm Gladwell.  He writes for the New Yorker and has a few book out, and he has met some of the most interesting people! I'd love to know what that's like. 

10 // Fruits or veggies?

Fruit! Pineapple. Mmmm.

11 // What do you want your legacy to be? In other words, what do you want people to remember you by/for?

I'd like them to remember that I was different, which I guess is what everybody wants.  So, that's going well.  That I influenced people around me for the better and did hard things and got the most out of life that I possibly could.

Also . . . for giving away free stuff!  It's Nina's 3 year blogiversary today, and she and I and a couple of her blog friends are giving away fun things to celebrate!  If you win, you'll receive:

-a $50 Target gift card

-a DIY mug design of your choice

-fresh Appalachian Morning coffee from Nina's favorite and local coffee shop



the grand adventures of me || the new wifestyle || emily finta || endliss bliss || reckless

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck, and have a great Wednesday!

Allie

It's a Fine, Fine Life 1 // Countdowns

And then spring break was over, and school started again with the countdown to graduation.  After a week of being away from real life and almost completely forgetting that big things are happening soon, it's all coming back and it's kind of overwhelming and exciting.  48 days until freshman orientation at Grand Valley.  56 days until leaving to begin training at the camp I'll work at this summer.  63 days until graduation.  

This is the first time that I've done this: laid out the days and counted them and really thought about the way that life's going to be changing so soon.  It scares me, and I am so thankful for that. 

Life is good always because it holds opportunities to do things that are so worth it that they're terrifying.  We get to try things that aren't easy and have the potential to turn out a total mess, to screw them up or blow them out of the water and keep going.  I like that that's an option that I have. 

Life is good right now because it's not giving me opportunities to do new things - it's encouraging it.  Doing things that aren't exactly comfortable is the norm at this stage, when things are changing constantly and easily.  I'm thankful for it.  I'd like to take full advantage of right now.  //

Today's the first day of the "It's a Fine, Fine Life" link up.  Add your post about why life's good, and keep coming back every Tuesday for more!  I can't wait to share this with you!

Cheers!

Allie

Super Important PSAs // As in Snapchat and Link-ups

Disclaimer: the following post is going to be kind of advertisey BUT the good news is that the stuff it's being advertisey about is probably exciting and cool and stuff that you can participate on, so read on and try not to be too annoyed by my 4838 mentions of allie.reckless.

I have an immensely important announcement today.  For me, it's kind of life changing. 

Reckless got a Snapchat! (It's allie.reckless.) I am so excited about it.  See?

Before you tell me that blogs aren't supposed to snap (like I did to myself the first several times this idea crosses my mind) let's talk about it.

I love pictures, and so Instagram is naturally my favorite social media invention.  I've been posting pictures a little differently on my Instagram account lately - I'm being a little more artsy, and that's fun for me.  However, I realize that my account has become less personal because of that.  One of my favorite things about being able to follow bloggers on Instagram is that it lets me see a little bit of what their daily life is like.  I want to do fun, artsy things on Instagram, but I don't want to lose the personal connection it gives me to you all!  Enter Snapchat (allie.reckless).  It's like Instagram's lower-maintenance cousin.  I can post pictures really easily while I'm doing things, which makes it more personal than Instagram and a lot easier.  Instagram for trying to be artsy and cool, Snapchat at allie.reckless for having friends. 

"But wait!" you say.  "If I follow your account, allie.reckless, you can send me eleventy billion ugly selfies whenever you want, right?"  The answer to that is, yes, yes I can.  But I won't.  I don't want you to see an astronomical number of variations of my triple chin face any more than you want to see them.  In fact, I won't send you anything at all, ever.  I'll just update my story so that you can ignore or look at my pictures at your discretion. 

Speaking of PSAs and new things starting, how about that link up on Tuesday? The "It's A Fine, Fine Life" link up is happening, here, every Tuesday.  It's a chance for you to share what's great about life with a bunch of other bloggers doing the same thing.  The topic's intentionally vague to allow you plenty of creative freedom. Just link back to your host (that's me!) and make sure to show your fellow link-uppers some love! 

Okay, that's probably enough excitement for today, right?  Go back to your sleeping in or your exremely busy day (Saturdays always seem to go one of those ways or the other, don't they?)  Enjoy, and I'lI see you next week!

Cheers!

Allie

Five for Friday // Favorite Things of the Week

Hi, everyone.  Hi.  I hope you've had a great week!  Mine's been spent spring breaking in Texas, doing everything from acquiring a really awesome tan line by the pool to learning how to clean shrimp and spending several hours in the car driving semi-aimlessly around the hill country in search of a really big field of blue bonnets.  (I'm still not sure this place actually exists, although I'd like to believe it's out there somewhere.)  Adventure has been had.  Also, I'm re-watching The Office, which I think is almost as good of a life decision as watching it in the first place.  

In the spirit of enjoying this week of no school and extra sunshine, some of my favorite things:

// Decaf Vanilla Mocha Lattes.  That exists, and I've been drinking them every day.  Jealous? We're living at my grandparents' house this week, and they have lots of fancy coffee things that we don't have, so I've been taking this opportunity to channel the inner barista that I never knew I had.  It's been really fun and the highlight of my mornings.  So, yes, I've been feeling very grown up while drinking my decaf coffee with hot chocolate mix and steamed milk and 4+ pumps of vanilla syrup.  

// Sitting in a hammock.  More grandparent house perks.  I think that when I'm a real adult who drinks actual caffeinated coffee in the morning, I'm going to have a hammock instead of a bed.  Because that is the kind of decision an adult gets to make.  

// Time with Jesus.  Sometimes, I forget that taking a few minutes to spend time with God every day is really, really important.  Well, guess what?  It's really, really important.  As in, key-to-living-a-fulfilling-life important, and essential-to-being-remotely-okay-towards-other-people important.  

// Being a flower photographer.  When you go south of Michigan, there are actually things growing everywhere and it's so beautiful and foreign to me after 5 months of winter that I have to take pictures of all of them.  

// Eating all the ice cream. Our family has an unspoken tradition of eating as much ice cream as possible while on vacation.  (Apparently, almost anything can be justified by the words, "It's tradition.")  When we're traveling, there is absolutely no wrong situation, time of day, or price point for ice cream.  If it's there, we're eating it.  It's one of the things I love about my family.  

I'd love to hear some of your favorite things this week!  What have you been up to?

Cheers!

Allie

Let's Get This Started // Link-Up Announcement

Remember a really long time ago, like, two Tuesdays ago, when I claimed that my post had something to do with a link-up, then went on to not mention a link-up for the duration of the post until I got to the end and threw in a very cryptic "Keep an eye out for this" along with this picture?

No? Well, that happened.  

Anyway, today's the day that I stop keeping you in suspense and explain what that was all about.  Starting next Tuesday and ending no time in the forseeable future, I'm going be hosting the weekly, "It's a Fine, Fine Life" link up.  The name's from a song that I like by a band I like, for King & Country's "Fine, Fine Life," weirdly enough.  The point is to talk about what we've been liking about life lately, because sometimes you just really need that.  Here's the details. 

1. The link-up will open around 5 AM eastern time every Tuesday morning, except for the rare occasion that I don't get my post scheduled ahead of time.  

2. Life sucks sometimes, and it's definitely very okay and, (I believe) necessary to blog about that stuff.  However, this link-up's a place to talk about why we like life, so please only add a link to your post if that's what it's related to!

3. The link-up will be open all week, so you can add your post anytime!

4. When you add your post, please take the time to read a couple of the other posts that you'll find there.  Some link ups have specific rules for whose post you have to read or how many or how to comment.  I'm not going to do that, because I want you to read what you like and comment on what you actually connect to.  So, however you do it, just show your fellow bloggers some love!  The whole point of this is to meet other bloggers, and that works a lot better if we interact with each other and stuff. 

5. Add the button to your post or just link back to me in another way - I'll give out the HTML sometime in the next week. 

More stuff about what to write:

The guidelines are pretty loose.  Your post can be about a specific cool thing you did / thought / saw / ate recently, a list of favorites, a quote, pictures - as long as it fits the criteria of celebrating the fact that life is usually a pretty good thing, it'll work!

I look forward to starting this link-up so much! I'll see you here next Tuesday!

Allie

Ice Cream for Breakfast // How to Have a Very Productive Day

Sometimes, you learn how to do a thing by doing the exact opposite of the thing.  You get it so, so completely wrong that there's no way you can not get it right the next time.  Obviously that method of figuring stuff out doesn't apply to everything - if it did, I would be some kind of really well-dressed math genius by now, and I'm not.  Wearing every color of the rainbow at once and my persisting inability to find x (or even to know whether that's what I'm supposed to be finding) has gotten me nowhere so far.  Don't get too sorry for me, though - I think that I may have finally messed up in a way that's going to be useful in the future.  As in, I had a million things to do last Monday and I successfully completed exactly zero of them.  (In my defense, I was technically home sick from school, although I felt totally normal.)  It was probably my least productive day to date and as a result, I now know all the "Dont's" to having a day in which you accomplish things.  

DON'T // Eat ice cream for breakfast.  I rationalized that decision by telling myself that it would help cure my sore throat (what?).  The only result I saw was a major crash about two hours later.  

DON'T // Start a new show on Netflix.  Especially if you get emotionally involved with them as quickly and intensely as I do.  I made the mistake of watching an episode of New Girl, and then I couldn't stop until the two main characters that I could totally tell were going to start dating actually did.  

DON'T // Shove your responsibilities in a corner, literally or figuratively, and try to forget about them.  If there's stuff that needs to be done for the next day, suck it up and do it.  Don't be like me and accidentally / on purpose forget your backpack in the car all weekend.  We live in a cruel, unjust world in which people expect you to handle responsibilities even when you're dying of unforseen illness. 

DON'T // Just change into a different pair of pajamas.  I mean, a new pair of pajamas beats wearing the old pair again, but it's just so hard to do things when you're wearing clothes that ate meant for sleeping.  

DON'T // Let them leave you all alone.  Because when you're alone in the house, no one knows that literally all you've done all day is watch New Girl.  Make your dad stay home and sarcastically comment to you about the "quality entertainment" you've chosen, or your little brother so someone else monopolizes the TV.  Just don't be alone.  

DON'T // Create an Etsy account.  Definitely make sure any form of online payment is not within reach.  

There ya have it.  Go forth and have a very, very, very productive Monday!  I've got to go finish packing for the trip we're leaving on in two hours, at 7:30 in the morning.  So, that happened.  Next how (not) to: procrastinating.  

Allie