So Long 2012!

Sorry if you thought I was dead, and I know you all find this hard to believe but I have a life outside of my blog...

Anyways my Diamonds I hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

So many people are talking about their favorite moments of 2012, and I figured I would join the band wagon and post a few of my favorite moments of the past year.

First of all my favorite personal moment by far was getting my Anderson Cooper birthday card! It's kind of sad in a way because I will never have a moment as great as that!

My favorite national moment is when Maine and Maryland legalized same-sex marriage! And by the way the first male couple to be wed in Maine got married over the weekend! Woohoo!

Now on to my favorite international story, when Malala Yousefzai was attacked on her bus because of what she wrote in her blog about a women's educational rights. Now it may seem strange that I picked that as a favorite moment, but I did because her voice in her blog must have been so strong that someone honestly felt threatened by her. She is honestly my hero, and the fact that she survived the gunshots was also astounding.

Even over all of those things something I really valued about this year is this blog. I am so lucky to have people like you who read it and talk to me about it! I love hearing all of your feed back! You are all amazing and made my year one of the best!

So my Diamonds, please try and look back on this year as a good one. I know a lot of recent tragedies may have you thinking otherwise, but I think it's important to look at the positive side of things. Being happy isn't a bad thing.

Have a happy 2013 my Diamonds!

A Smile a Day

Well Diamonds I would like to begin this post with a big thank you! I am just about to reach 2,000 readers and it makes me so proud to know that my Diamonds care this much!

By the way, I am hoping all of you who survived the apocalypse we just had. However I hope you still are living out your dreams like there is no tomorrow.

Today I would like to talk about the power of giving a simple compliment to someone.

Maybe some of you are here because you saw the compliment someone gave me about this blog, so welcome, but I just want to make the point that compliments can change someone's day completely.

For example when I went on my Facebook page today I saw a compliment someone gave me about my blog. Had you asked me "Hey Phoebe, how was your day today?" I would have probably said, "good I guess, I went to the super market" which as you all know four gallons of water and a bag of dried cranberries isn't really that eventful.

If someone were to ask me that question now I would probably say something along the lines of "today may just be one of the best days ever!"

That my seem like a lot just because often anonymous compliment via Internet but honestly it really made me happy. Think of it this way: some one took the time out of their day to focus their energy on you, and how you make their life special.

That may seem, too, like I made it a big deal but that's how I feel about it. And it's true.

If I ever see someone who looks the slightest bit unhappy I like to compliment on their shoes or something. It may not make that big of a difference to how their day is actually going, but it makes them smile. My goal is to make one person smile everyday. It's what I like to live by.

So, Diamonds, go out into the world today and make someone smile. Go spread Your diamond perfection.

Twenty Seconds

Oh, my sweet little Diamonds...

I'm sure you are all pretty sick from hearing "OH MY GAD THE WORLD IS GOING TO END!"

Trust me. I am with you on that. I'm just as sick of hearing it all the time.

However, lets just pretend the world actually is going to end tonight. Let's pretend the Mayans actually calculated leap year, and we are all about to live out our last few hours.

What would you do?

I would probably say all of the things I never got a chance to.

I have a friend, and as a precaution in case the world does actually end, he went to spend this week in India, he always wanted to visit there, and he couldn't think of a better time than now!

I would do that, if I had the money and time.

But I want you to really think, what would you do? What would you tell people? In our last moments who matters the most?

My family matters the most to me. I would spend my last few hours with them, after the few phone calls I would make.

Now I would like to throw in a quote here, a quote which I live by, "If you knew you wouldn't fail at anything today, what would you do? Now, go out and do it."

I do recognize that I am practically paraphrasing a Matt Damon movie by saying this, but if you give yourself just one moment of insane bravery and courage, you won't fail.

If I could tell you one thing I have learned in this past year, especially in these last few months I would tell you that when you are given an opportunity, take it. If it sounds crazy, it will be but trust me you will thank yourself for it later!

Now, go tell all of those people everything you wish you had said, go dance in the rain, sing in public, and give yourself 20 seconds of courage.

But it's Just a Little Lie?

I hate making decisions that will possibly hurt someone. Which is why I have become the queen of excuses. Or I think I have...

Anyways. Sometimes there are things you want to tell people, but in a way it might hurt somebody.

For example I had made plans with a certain friend of mine this weekend, and I had every intention of keeping that promise. I wanted to go help her take pictures for her instagram account (@chasing_creativity), but I got a text message at around 7 am.

I don't want to go into detail about that text, because I could write a whole other post about that.

That text message lead to an important day of events, so by the time I had gotten out of my house I had forgotten all about the plans. It wasn't until about three hours later I looked at my phone and realized she texted me.

My stomach immediately dropped and I felt awful. I panicked and told her I had slept in really late.

Sweetie, if you are reading this, I feel terrible, I'll make it up to you I promise sweetie.

My point of this all is, a little white lie may seem like the perfect quick fix, but telling a lie is like planting a seed. And honey, at one point you may find yourself in a garden full of lies. Thankfully, I haven't ever been there.

Please don't play they "I've never lied before" card. Because that is a lie in it's self.

I believe that almost every girl has at one point made up a boy. Not exactly a boyfriend, but we may have invented a boy, one that found us perfectly attractive.

When I was in the sixth grade I made up a boyfriend, simply because I did not want a certain boy following me around all the time, so I made up a boyfriend whom I meat at a wedding, and he lived in Maine. I honestly thought I had a pretty good background story and everything.

I remember talking to my friend Maria about him, and some kid next to me brought up about Maria meeting a boy too. I was excited to listen about this boy, but she flat out admitted that she made up that boy. However she turned to me and said, "But I'm like actually really happy for you and you meeting that boy!"

I just remember thinking "How Ironic is this?" I almost laughed. But of course I couldn't dot that.

Eventually I told everyone that the boy from Maine was a lie, besides there are not cute boys in Maine. I'm surprised no one pointed that out (Sorry for all my Maine friends!).

Point is, if you tell a lie try to clean ti up as soon as possible, or else you begin to live in a lie. Living in a lie will make you lose yourself, and you're clearly perfect. You're a Diamond!

Fact vs. Fiction: Do you Research.

I had a post drafted all about how our fears change from when we are little to when we are older. In it I briefly mention that while I was in the second grade I had the biggest fear of a man with a gun. In my draft I wrote about how silly I was to worry about that. But I wasn't and as you are probably, thinking I know I was an idiot for saying something like that.

There probably isn't a person in this world who hasn't heard about the shooting in New Town CT. When I first heard about it I was with my friends walking to Chipotle. One of my friends simply said "did you hear about the shooting in CT?" I hadn't but my other friend had so she simply said "yeah"

Do you want to know why I didn't say anything after that? Why I didn't question what this shooting was about? It's because in the back of my mind I literally thought "Oh it's just another shooting" I regret ever thinking that.

Mass shootings cannot become this social norm for our society.

There were twenty children between the ages of six and seven that died yesterday. My godchild Jackson is close to that age, and if this had ever happened to him I would have probably died.

Now I can go on and on about how devastated I was when I heard the news, or about how this is going to make me rethink our gun laws in America, but I won't.

Today I want to talk to you about the truth.

This story is the most upsetting thing I have heard of in years, maybe even ever, so my question is why are so many people making up other stories to go along with it?

Why did someone write a fake letter that a girl name Ellie supposedly wrote to her father while the gunman was in her classroom? Why was there a viral picture on twitter saying that there were 34 dead, and that the Red Cross would donate money to the families?

Newsflash: The gunman would have not given the children enough time to write letters to their parents. And if you spent anytime watching the news you would know that 27 total people had died, not 34. Also how is the Red Cross suppose to know how many times that photo was shared?

Please do your research before you spread some stupid post. Some people in this world really only want to get famous and have attention, so they will make up crap like this just for likes on a photo, or maybe a hundred new followers.

It sickens mean if you use the death of 20 children to get publicity. You can go straight to Hell.

So on Monday I want all of us to wear Green and White (Which are the schools colors, I did my research) in memory of those heroic teachers that passed and for those innocent faces of little children that did not make it.

There are ways we can help those people, The Red Cross is actually helping, they are setting up therapy stations, and giving food and water to the first responders.  There are many ways you can help if you just choose to do your research.

And if anything on the Internet ever seems questionable, please just don't share it. You can go the extra mile like me and just report it.

What are Your Hopes and Dreams?

If you know me well than you know that my biggest fear is that when I grow up I will be unhappy.

I always worry that I will end up behind a desk or staying at home everyday watching a bunch of children.

There's nothing wrong with being a stay at home mom, I just know for a fact it's not for me.

I know I have made a post before about how what ever made you happiest as a child probably still makes you just as happy.

But I have an even easier way to figure out what you want to do, so please fill on the banks to these two statements:

"If I could do anything for the rest of my life I would ____"

" I am happiest when I am ___"

Now I know it may seem very silly and probably very obvious but it's just so true.

If I could keep this blog up for the rest of my life I would. I would write to my Diamonds every single day and remind you of all the things you can do.

My dream, as unrealistic as it is, is that one day Seventeen.com would discover my blog and invite me as an intern to spend the summer with them in New York.

I know the reality of that us slim, but if there's one thing I want my diamonds to keep doing its dreaming. I don't ever want you to lose hope.

I've learned that hope is always right around the corner, no matter how far it may seem, it's really just right out of  your reach.

What if the Roles Were Reveresed?

On my way to school today I had a funny thought:

What if the rolls of a boy and girl were reversed?

What if girls were the ones who performed grand, romantic acts?

And what if boys were the ones who spent hours in front of a mirror everyday?

Now after thinking this I had the image of every boy in the world laughing and shaking their heads at me, but as a feminist it is something to consider.

Why is it girls can't go to extreme measure, like throwing pebbles at a window, without seeming like a stalker?

Why was it when Carrie Bradshaw showed up at Aden's doorstep it was strange? But when he shows up to hers they run up stairs and have sex?

I think this is because women would do it so much better than men.

That or when men try to perform these acts, we don't reward them enough.

Now I'm not saying you should pat them on the head and hand them a bone. I'm saying a "Thank you" wouldn't hurt!

Maybe most men just don't do these types of things and they hate Hollywood and Disney for leading us to these expectations about them!

However I personally think we, as women, could probably make the first move, and plan a special date for the boy or get him a nice gift.

Then the ball is in his hands and he has to get us something really nice.