This is my last day linking up with Life of Love for the final day of the Fifteen Day Challenge! I've absolutely loved getting to know everyone through their blog posts and I hope that each person finds the utmost happiness in their real lives and blogging experiences :) Oscar was supposed to join us, but he apologizes - he's unable to come up with one of the many awesome compliments I've dished his way ;) Hehe, just kidding!

Honestly, this one was probably the toughest of all of the prompts. Maybe it's supposed to be -- for like, a grand finale or something.

I've been blessed with a lot of wonderful people who've been generous and warm in their compliments to me. I've had adults tell me that they look up to me; friends tell me that they envy my [insert here]; and people telling me how proud they are of me. I grew up without a lot of consistent happiness, so all of these things have meant the world to me when they were said to me. It's been a compliment for these amazing people to enter into my life and choose to stay with me, through all of my idiosyncrasies and stubbornness. I love them all and so, it's been really hard to think about the ONE thing that blew my mind.

I kind of thought of two things.

The first, though it's hardly something to just bat an eyelash at, is that Noel had wanted to propose to me; had a ring on preorder and everything. I'll be the first to admit that although there's a sunny side to this egg, I can be quite rotten! Too pushy, too moody, too serious, too anal retentive -- too a lot of things. And for somebody to openly admit and pray to make me their partner for the rest of their life... well, that's pretty damn special to me. Even though we're no longer together, I'll never -not- remember him fondly. I can only hope that whatever we are or aren't supposed to be, God is with us.



The second is when I had a heart to heart with Charlie, my uncle. (He was married to my aunt lateeeee in the game, so it's difficult for me to call him Uncle Charlie usually.) One of the first times I really stayed there and began getting close to the family, it was the end of my eighth grade year. We'd had to write a memoir of sorts for English, and I had gotten my binder back. Charlie read it, wrote me a kind message in it, and proceeded to sit me down while my aunt watched in awe as this not-so-sensitive man poured his heart and destructive childhood and choices out to me. He told me how much reading everything I wrote meant to him - we shared abusive alcoholic parents - and how... not alone he felt after reading my words. It touched me beyond words, and my aunt was just sat near me crying at how open he was. He told me about things from his childhood, about things from the war, about his ambitions and hopes.. It was truly a blessing and amazing to be told that my writing could move a person in this way. This also occurred before his first and second car accidents before he became a very angry, bitter person... so this memory is that much more special.



Definitely amazing compliments.

Linking up with Life of Love for the second to last day of our awesome challenge! In celebration of these last two posts - and happy circumstance - I'm going to give half of the post to my guy, Oscar.

Elise: Although Alice in Wonderland is my favourite movie, I really don't think that I'd want to watch it for my whole life. It's timeless to me, and I love the quirkiness of it - and I seriously cannot get enough of Cheshire Cat's charm - but I just ... no. I think I'm going to have to go with either Mozart and the Whale or Courageous.

Why Mozart? It's such a different kind of love story; maybe I'd go as far to say it's a bit indie. It's the story of Isabelle and Donald, two young adults who have lived very different but very lonely lives. They are both diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of Autism, and they slowly learn how to effectively push each other's buttons and fall in love with their impurities. It's such a beautiful love story. I really don't like romantic movies all that much, but this one gets me every time. Some of the lines are absolutely beautiful. I think it'd just be a nice film to watch because it's so perfect in its brokenness.



Why Courageous? This movie is targeted at men, and more specifically fathers, but it's still a call to all Christians and all of humanity. It is a Christian movie and God is a frequent reference, but Oscar enjoyed it a lot and he's an Atheist. It centers around five men, four of which are a part of the Albany Police Department, and their experiences as policemen. Tragedy hits one of the families, and the movie evolves into a beautiful piece about life after loss, reliance on God, and the courage it takes to lead your family into God's Kingdom. It's beautiful - and there is a lot of action, for those who need something to constantly focus on. It'd be a great reminder of my duty as a Christian and full of life lessons on appreciating the world around us.


Oscar:  First of all I'd like to thank the very beautiful and amazingly kindhearted Ms. Elise for giving me the chance to write on her blog =). I honestly don't know what I would do without this girl in my life, she's made my world so much better and I love her with everything I have. With that said, I hope you guys enjoy my ramblings on something that is very near and dear to my heart: movies. After seeing endless amounts of movies that I've thoroughly enjoyed over the years, this was a bit more difficult than I thought it'd be.  My favorite movie is 2001: A Space Odyssey; it is such a timeless and revolutionary film. The first time I watched it, I was simply blown away by the overall feel of it; there isn't a lot of dialogue and it is quite lengthy, but it's hard not to get lost in the vastness of space as well as the incredible music in the movie.  I just don't think I can do this movie justice by writing about it - it's an everlasting sci-fi masterpiece.  However, if I had to pick one movie to watch for the rest of my life it'd have to be Iron Man.


Since I love talking about movies so much and because Elise also picked another movie, I'll give you guys the second movie that I'd watch for the rest of my life: The Dark Knight. From Christopher Nolan's incredible directing to Heath Ledger's phenomenal interpretation of the Joker character, I just can't say enough good things about this movie.  The Dark Knight set the bar extremely high for superhero movies - it plays more like a crime/action drama than a comic book based film. For me, the heart of this movie lies in Heath Ledger's Joker; he has created a character that will be immortalized like no other. Whenever the Joker is on screen, it just gives you an uneasy feeling because you never know just what he's going to do. There's not many actors who can bring such depth and complexity to what could've been a simple comic book villain. Ledger gave the performance of his life and deserved the best supporting actor Academy Award. It's a shame that a person with so much talent had to die. I've memorized so many lines in this movie that it's ridiculous; if you haven't watched this movie, get out there, rent it and enjoy one of (if not the) best superhero movie ever made.


Can ya'll tell that I'm 'dating' a movie buff? He complicates every assignment I give him. :) Instead of actually explaining why he'd want to watch it, he explains why others should watch it, LOL.

Linking up with Life of Love for day thirteen :) It's all about the favourites today. The prompt originally listed some specifics, but luckily it's been made more vague. Here are a few of my random top picks :)

Linking up with Life of Love for day twelve! I cannot believe there are only three days left.

[Day 12]: What are you most looking forward to in the next six months?

I'm looking forward to going back to school.
I'm looking forward to being one step closer to graduating and to being involved at my university.
I'm looking forward to healing my relationships.
I'm looking forward to getting in shape.
I'm looking forward to being so stressed out that I don't have time to think, only to thrive under the pressure. I'm looking forward to growing in Christ.
I'm looking forward to seeing my brother and mother continue their paths of sobriety and to hopefully (for Joe, at least) to find the Lord.
I'm looking forward to possibly making things official with Oscar if that's in God's plan, and if it isn't, to hold onto him for as long as I can.
I'm looking forward to turning twenty, even though I'msonotlookingforwardtothis.
I'm looking forward to making mistakes, finding small accomplishments to be proud of, and trying out new things.
I'm looking forward to looking forward! Living life for all that it's got to offer me in the next six months of my life; I can only pray that God leads me to great things and opens my eyes and heart to what I need to continue to grow. <3

Linking up at Life of Love for day eleven! Wow, there's only four more days left. I'll be sad about that one.

Oh gosh, this one is so tough. For somebody who has a hard time spewing positive things about herself, I find it difficult to choose one quality that I wouldn't change. I really want to say "what I've been through" as a person, because it's truly molded me into the strong, independent, and caring woman that I am today. Or my inner drive, because my motivation and my fire are absolutely untouchable.

But I'm going to pin the rose on my excitement and love for life (yes, that is one thing and not two... shhh). I can have thunder, lightning, and hail all coming down on my metaphorical parade and still get absolutely bat crazy giddy over a heart shaped potato; seeing a cute icanhazcheezburger photo on my news feed; finding a quarter in the grass; a floating white fuzzy thing that comes off of a plant and soars in the sky; or watching little piggies conquer their fears of the staircase in order to obtain oatmeal (can you tell I have specific incidents in mind? Lol!).

Nothing deters my love and passion for the world around me. The little things excite me more than anything else. I appreciate absolutely everything that I almost feel as if it's a childlike naivety and enjoyment. My heart is so open and big to everyone and everything that God throws my way. All of the joys that many find insignificant fill my heart up with happiness and love.

I think this is an amazing quality I have. I'm impressed that I can still look at the tiny things and feel like I'm watching something huge. I'm grateful that I can stare at something others find quite ugly and absolutely marvel at its wonder and beauty. God blessed me with a portion of His eyes and I'm truly thankful. I've been through so much in my life that I'd never want anyone else to experience, and it's hard to believe how much I can still appreciate. But I do, and I love it. I love life. I'm excited by life.

Linking up with Life of Love for day ten :)

This one feels like a total cop-out for me. Believe me when I tell you... I don't get embarrassed! I really, truly don't. There are moments when I'm like, "Well that was awkward." But nothing really gets under my skin and makes me flush in the face.

Upon reallllllllly thinking about it, I came up with two moments that are potentially two of my more uncomfortable ones:

- When I was younger, I used to sleep over my mom's friend's house a lot because she lived across the street from me. (I actually had to ask my brother and we discussed her name because it's been so long since I've seen her!) Aunt Chris as we called her used to let me sleep over her house a lot and then one day she moved pretty far away. The first day I slept over her new house, I got lost in the backyard. It was huge and all of the yards were connected to one another - and all of the back doors looked the same. I walked into one home but was surprised to find how differently everything looked - and that there was a young man speaking to me. I was SO confused! And frightened. Then I walked to the front door to see Chris's daughters outside and realized that I was in the wrong apartment. A woman came downstairs yelling, asking who I was, so I quickly apologized and ran to the right apartment. Never slept over there again! Can't say it was embarrassing but it definitely made me uncomfortable.



- Recently in Fall 2011 for my second-to-final exam in Psychology, my professor gave the same directions that he did every time. He said that when we were done bringing our exams to the front, we were free to go. Fine. I'm a quick test taker, so I finished my exam, turned it in, and began to head out. He then calls out telling nobody to leave just yet and I stand there - in the middle of the stairway, the first one done, everyone looking at me because I'm the odd ball out. It was really awkward with all of those eyes on me, and really my professor just repeated the same directions again. Another student finished and then he said that we could now leave. Like... what was the point in making me stand there for three minutes awkwardly by myself? Geez.

Linking up at Life of Love for day nine! I read through the remaining prompts for the challenge and gee, they get hard! For me, at least. This one was a doozy. I had to cheat again. But I've had a LOT of crappy days in life so I thought it was appropriate to celebrate four of the most important days I've had! :)  P.S. It was hard not to talk about prom/prom weekend again, haha.

1 - Graduation day. This represented a huge milestone in my life. High school, as I've posted about before, was such an amazing experience for me that this whole day seemed ethereal. It was the last time I stood at my high school as a member of my high school and not an alumni, and the last time I stood next to some of the closest friends I've ever had that I never see now. Everything about this day was so fast paced, so emotional, so heavy, so beautiful - I loved it. I always told myself growing up that this was the moment I was always waiting for, the moment I'd be flying on my own at a college far away from the forces that threatened to hold me - and I succeeded. And in the top 20 of my class. Definitely one of my better moments.



2 - Move-in day at university. It was exciting and frustrating; some things didn't go according to plan, and not everyone in my family was there to see me off like I'd wanted, but I had my dad and (then)boyfriend Noel there and everything was perfect. The goodbyes were tearful, horrible, and wonderful; unpacking my room and then having to shift where I'd put everything (that is another story) was exciting and such an epic expression of self; and the bonding that night between me and one of my roommates Maria, plus alllll of the guys across the hall and getting acquainted with them was so fun. And that was also the day I met my now-guy Oscar, though I never knew he'd have the significance to me that he now does. This day, I was the first in my immediate family to attend university. This was the beginning of an incredible adventure that I cannot WAIT to continue this upcoming semester.



3 - The day I was saved. It was an incredible experience and I don't have the words to describe it. Just - WOW. God is amazing and came to me at the perfect moment. Or rather, I came to Him at the perfect moment.

4 - The first time I kissed Noel. And the first time I kissed Oscar. Is that absolutely HORRIBLE to have them in the same sentence? LOL. The first time Noel and I kissed was magical. That's the only way I can explain it; it felt real, it felt warm, it felt forever, there were butterflies beating madly against my breast. It unraveled an amazing two year relationship and it was the first kiss with somebody that I wanted to experience again and again. The first time Oscar and I kissed didn't happen under the circumstances I wished it would have, but it was still nice. Much odder, because we didn't have a natural sync like Noel and I had, but I was giddy all the same. Oscar and I had had a walk earlier in the day and I just felt -so- close to him and it was wonderful.

Linking up at Life of Love for day eight :) This one was a bit challenging for me to do, as it's hard for me to compliment myself. But I tried to give myself at least 5 for the good column!

The Good
- I'm self-motivated. I don't need a huge push or a lot of praise to get myself going and to get something done. I get inspired really easily and it definitely helps me with school work. I love challenges.
- I excel at English studies, whether I like to admit it or not. I'm usually quite negative about my work at first but after a while I can see the strength in my writing.
- I'm a really good listener and effective communicator. Everyone - friends and enemies alike - come to me for advice and when they need somebody to talk to. I love that I can be this person for others, and it serves a guilty pleasure of mine because I love learning about people! People usually tell me that I have a way with words and that makes me really happy.
- I think quickly on my feet. I'm incredibly resourceful and can usually come up with a plan BCDE if plan A isn't going accordingly; I can also usually figure things out quickly.
- My diet! I love that I'm a vegan. I feel great about my health, my morals, and that I'm not participating in the inhumane slaughtering of thousandsmillions of animals.
- I have a photographic memory. It comes in handy all of the time and I daily bless the Lord that he gave me such a gift for memory.
- I generally always go out of my way to make others happy. Whether it's praying with them, writing them a card, taking them to lunch - whatever, I'll do it.

The Bad
- I have a lot of pride. Oscar and I fight a lot because neither of us will budge with our opinions. I have zero problem admitting I'm wrong and apologizing... but sometimes my pride tells me that I shouldn't have to do either of those things first.
- I cannot take a compliment in real life. I hate when people call me pretty and beautiful and intelligent, etc - it's not that I hate everything about myself, I just don't know how to accept the nice words and believe them.
- I get incredibly offended by racist, sexist, etc jokes. I just don't find them necessary or funny... actually, I don't find hardly ANYTHING funny ever - I have such a dry sense of humour.
- I'm honest. Brutally, sometimes.

The Ugly
- I hold grudges. A lot. I know it's poisonous for the soul, but I can't help it. I remember everything and daily I struggle to let go of the things that I keep hoarded inside.
- I have quite the temper when I'm provoked. And the fact that I'm Italian just does not help.

Back on a computer, woo! Linking up with Life of Love for day seven :)

[Day 7]: Recommend a book for us to read. Why is it important/special to you?

I'm absolutely convinced that everyone - and more specifically, every woman - needs to read this book by Cokie Roberts. I thought about this prompt for a bit and thought about giving one of my favourite fiction pieces, but considering this is one of the only historical novels I ever enjoyed, I figured it was important.

So often in history, we hear about our Founding Fathers. That's wonderful and fine and dandy - they're important to American history, and I'll be the first to admit that I'm way too obsessed with George Washington. But we never really get the other side of the marbles! The woman who broke their butts just as much as the men (but perhaps in different ways) to keep life functioning in the United States at the brink of the Revolutionary War and the years that followed. Martha Washington and Abigail Adams are total BAs.

Not only does Cokie highlight all of the important women in our nation, but she also gives us a more sensual image of the men. She includes lines from letters of John Adams, George Washington, etc. and it truly does give you a new perspective on the men. This novel paints pictures of all of the historical figures and I think it's worth reading, for sure. It's definitely empowering for females to read about how our gender partially dominated the life and broke from the domestic sphere. It also shows how much women were a part of the political process.

Please forgive the look of this post! My computer is down so I'm blogging from my iPhone. Let me tell you - not easy!! I'll fix this later. Linking up with Sar at lovelovelovesar.blogspot.com for another day of the challenge!

There is so much I could say to this! I can cheat and write a few things, right? Right!

1 - I want to finish and publish my own novel. I know it sounds so cliche, but it's something I've wanted for a loooooong time. I have a terrible time completing anything after an accident a few years ago where my computer crashe and I lost 300 typed pages of a story. Traumatic ! Lol. So now I'm really yearning to get this done before I'm 25. I just need to finish ideas.

2 - Visit Croatia. I still have relatives over there that I've never been able to meet. I can't go yet obviously because I don't have the finances, and also because they speak no English.

3 - Go scuba diving. Weird? Haha. I just think it'd be awesome. Or swim with dolphins. Again, no money or opportunity. But I hope that I can do this one day. I've had friends who've done it and absolutely loved it.

4 - Get my doctorate in Social Psychology. Still have many years in school to go!!

Linking up again! This was a really tough one. I'm so bad at these things.

Definitely George and Martha Washington. They are my favourite historical figures and I'd love to hear all their accounts of the Revolutionary War and receieve their input on the vast differences of today's culture.



Aside from that, I'd really love to meet with my mom's two best friends Tommy and Alex, as well as my great grandmother (Mommom). I would want to talk to Tommy about Heaven and tell him that I finally understand the glory, mercy, and love of God. I would want to tell him how big his children are now and how proud he should be of them. And Alex, I really just want to hit him and say, "I TOLD YOU SO, YOU JERK." Alex died of lung and throat cancer from smoking cigarettes; he'd always promise me to stop and I would break his cigarettes, getting in trouble from my mother every time. But I also want to hug him and tell him how much he is missed. And my grandmother... I just want to see if she's proud of me, for getting my family through everything with my mother's addiction, for raising myself, for finally getting to college and living out my dreams of being at a NY university. And I want to see if she's okay, out of pain, if she's with her daughter again. Ask her to watch over my mother as she treks through nearly a year of sobriety.

All people that are gone, of course, but I think it'd be quite an interesting dinner.

Happy 4th of July everyone. Please take the time to honor and pray for all of the current, retired, and past soldiers who are fighting, did fight, and gave up their lives fighting for our freedom and our rights. I'm linking up again for the Fifteen Day Challenge over at Life of Love. I'll have another post later this evening!

Unfortunately this is the sad side of blogging for me - but please, no "omg I'm so sorry, poor you"s :). I didn't have a very lovely childhood - my mom was quite the angry alcoholic. But I do have one or two pretty nice memories with family members.

For one, my immediately family plus a family friend or two would always watch Sunday Night Football. We would sit around in the main family room on our oversized couch with the large TV in the corner. My dad would sit on arm of the couch in his Eagles jersey eating a buffalo chicken wing conversing with his then-best friend Rich or Larry, depending of who had joined us; my brother would be in his pajamas sitting next to my mom's best friends Tom or Alex, who unfortunately have both died way before their times; my mother (ironically) would be on the floor in her Cowboys jersey with a Bud Light next to her; and I would be sat on the floor with my mother, munching on pistachio peanuts. Those were the nights we as kids were able to stay up with the adults. Those were the nights before my mom's alcoholism absolutely tore everything apart. Those nights are very high in my memory because they represent such a great peace that was my childhood, before the icky parts, haha!

The other is with my great grandmother who passed nearly eleven years ago. I called her Mommom and we would always sit up in her room and eat chocolate ice cream while watching Jeopardy or Wheel Of Fortune. Sometimes I'd lay with her while she did word searches and pet my hair softly with her hand before fervently circling a word she had found. To this day, I am a BOSS at word searches. We have an extra credit assignment for math one year to do about 20 of those bad boys and I had so many people asking me for help, lol!

Happy day everyone ♥

Linking up at Life of Love for day three of the Fifteen Day Challenge :)

I don't usually get attached to clothing - it's mostly jewelry that captures me. But when I really think about it, any of my t-shirts from my high school - from Prom, Teen PEP, Mr. Highland, Student Council, Transition, etc - mean a whole helluva lot to me. I don't have many photos of those, though, so I decided to go with something that I'll never, ever, ever throw away.


(The second one was after we spent a good five hours dancing, so excuse how awful we both look.)

My prom dress. I know it sounds cliche but if you really get to know me, you'll understand how much I don't care about formal events. How I was forced to go to my eighth grade dance and forced to go to homecoming my junior year; how, as his girlfriend, I told Noel to go to junior prom with somebody else; how I hate getting all dolled up because it just isn't me.

But my prom dress symbolizes a huge chapter in my life that I will always hold onto. High school was amazing experience for me. I met wonderful people, was introduced to lasting friendships with teachers, became the determined leader that I am, fell in love for the first time, became a Christian, etc. Everything about high school is embedded so deeply into my heart. My prom dress reminds me of the best night and week of my life that I spent with Noel. Although we are no longer dating, I know he is my soul mate - at least, one of them, as I believe God gives us multiple soul mates for different purposes - and everything about prom and prom weekend made that clearer.

/endsentimentality.

Several people that I'm following are participating in this Link-Up, so I figured - why not? Fifteen Day Challenge but I'm a tad late, so here are days 1 and 2 in one post! (wow, I'm posting so much today! I feel good.)

• I secretly envy the women on "Extreme Couponing." I wish I could be as thrifty as they are! I love coupons. I'm so cheap.

• I pretty much refuse to eat with what I call "big spoons" (tablespoons and larger). I only eat with "little spoons" (teaspoons) and I honestly freak out when people use up my spoons. OCD much.
• I was named after "A Letter to Elise" by the Cure. My friend learned it on guitar and sang it for my birthday... about five months after my birthday had passed.
• I used to suffer from really bad social anxiety as a child. I couldn't talk to anyone without getting nervous, especially employees at stores, so now I'm overly determined to find things on my own before I ask for help. Luckily, my anxiety levels are low nowadays.
• The university I am attending was my safety school. I was accepted into a few universities, but
  besides the many perks that came with the school itself, one of the reasons I ended up at UA was because I couldn't decide on any of the other offers.
  
                                   
• I wear the same jewelry pretty much every day. I only wear things that people have given to me aka hold sentimental value. I've bought myself a bracelet or two here and there over the years but nothing holds.
• Everyone I know says that I talk too fast. I always reply with "No, you just listen too slow," but at this stage in my life I'm beginning to wonder.
• I'm editing my friend Gabbie's book. It's fantasy so it's hard for me to get into, as that is one of the few genres I refuse to read, but I enjoy working with her.

• I'm insanely attracted to left-handed individuals. I have no idea why. I'm abidextrous myself depending on the surface, what I'm doing, et cetera. (Feel free to ask about that, I get called weird often!)
• I think I want "Hundred More Years" by Francesca Battistelli to be the song that I dance with my father to at my wedding. Oh, but I don't think I'll get married.
• I kind've live in flip-flops. It has not served me well, I'm afraid - a year of obsessive exercising in them and generally walking around in them for always has given me flat feet.
• I hatehatehatehatehatehatehate the font Comic Sans MS, or whatever it is. I think it looks so tacky and one of my friends purposely uses it when she talks to in emails.
  
  
 





• I am frequently complimented on the neatness of my handwriting.
• Lyrically, my favourite song is "In My Life" by The Beatles.
• I mostly Italian. Runner up is Croatian, followed by small percentages of French and German.