DIY Fourth of July Shorts & July News

4th of July is Thursday and in honor of celebrating the birth of our country I decided to decorate some shorts!! This is pretty simple so I will give you the steps !!

1. Grab a pair of old jeans or go to a thrift store and a find a pair to chop up!

2. Cut the jeans to your desired length

3. Get a flag from the dollar store

4. Trace with a pen, onto the flag how you want the flag to end up on the shorts!

5. use fabric or hot glue to seal the flag down

6. roll the bottom of the shorts to your desired length & wahlaaaaaah you have your 4th of July shorts ! 

I am so grateful to be able to celebrate with my friends this year. The past few years I have had work or school so I am ready for some independence day festives, but I also want to take the time leading up to the 4th to remember what the fourth of July is all about.  It is about our country gaining it's independence, as well as being able to stay independent.  This year, government budgets that support shooting fireworks to celebrate, over certain military bases have been cut & some of our soldiers will not be seeing fireworks at their base this year.  Camp Lejeune Marine Corps base & Fort Bragg Army base are included in this.  Even though fireworks are just for fun, they symbolize a huge part of our history, here in America.  I will be thinking of these men on the Fourth & thank them for all that they do. 

to read more check out this link : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/july-4-fireworks_n_3527981.html?utm_hp_ref=fourth-of-july

Believing & Cape Town

This morning I was able to watch President Obama's speech that he made at The University of Cape Town in Cape Town South Africa. As South Africa stands together for their beloved President, Nelson Mandela...who represents courage on many fronts, President Obama was able to make many great points about how each of us can implement change.  It was an eye-opening speech, since as working people we must do very ordinary things on a day to day basis and it can be hard to understand how we can create change that will help the world.  The President spoke of a speech he had made in college, saying how at that time he didn't understand how he was meant to make important changes, but after the speech he understood that simply just speaking out was the change that was necessary. 

"And that was the belief that I could be part of something bigger than myself; that my own salvation was bound up with those of others"

I love that this was said because so many of us bite our tongues to come forward in speak in fear that someone won't agree, or nobody will listen.  I think part of the point that was made today was that as long as your speaking for what you BELIEVE in you are making a difference and the right person may hear what you say and join forces with you.

I grew up basically an only child, since my sister is 9.  I had a lot of room too imagine and be on my own.  This has transfered into how I am today.  I am always coming up with new ideas on my own...sometimes ideas that seem way bigger than me, but I always write them down because one day the opportunity may arise when the idea can be implemented and change something.

The most important thing when reaching for any goal is to believe that it can happen.  See it, feel it, and it will come when the time is right. 

 

Gratitude

I am a HUGE believer in gratitude.  I have noticed immense changes in my life when I am grateful for the little things that I do have, rather than think about the things that I don't have.  In a book I read recently, I ran across Newton's law of motion.  The law is, "Every action always has an opposite and equal reaction," meaning that if we count the blessings we have we will only bring more, vice versa.  

Sometimes it can be difficult to have gratitude if nothing seems to be going right.  How are we supposed to be happy in situations where we may have lost a dog, or a loved one, or ended a relationship? That is tough part about gratitude, but if you ever have experienced one of those situations you might know that the longer you dwell on the bad the worse it gets.  The only thing left to do is pick up and move on and be happy for what you have.  

Starting on Your own

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joan-fallon/entrepreneurship-lessons_b_3459334.html

-A great article about how to get thick skin and lessons learned

In many situations it takes a few falls to end up on the top.  This is something I constantly have to remind myself in any work, or competitive setting.  In the past, I have been a sensitive person, but I have realized that any situation that does not work out in your favor the first time is only a lesson for the second time.  Any time you are able to take something from a situation, whether it be good or bad that is a prize.

Your Elusive Creative Genius-Elizabeth Gilbert- Eating, Preying, Loving...& my thoughts

One of my favorite books that has inspired me so much is Eat,Prey,Love written by Elizabeth Gilbert who paints a picture of her journey through 3 different, foreign countries and to find herself. The idea of Your Elusive Creative genius paves way for all of us to find our own creativity however that may be. For Gilbert, packing up and leaving the life she knew to find the life she needed was a result of using that inner genius. For you it may be somthing else, but what I find so liberating about this idea is that each of us are unique and we should be able to let out our own genius however we need.