new mantra.

:)
vanessa

finals week :|

me either, leo.

me either.

pray for me.

:S
vanessa

"never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful, for beauty is God's handwriting..."

i stumbled upon this poem a couple month's ago while wasting my life away on tumblr.
immediately after reading it, i wrote it out in it's entirety in my quote book.
it's sort of become a personal credo of mine and thought i'd share it you:

happy wednesday :)

vanessa

words of widsom - thelma (79 years young)

i had a lot of fun putting together this blog post.
so much so that while sitting at my desk today i thought to myself, "i wonder how some of the residents would answer these questions?"
nb: i work at a nursing home and love chatting with our residents because, as cliché as it sounds, they are so full of wisdom. 

one of my favorite life lessons came from my home girl, gail - the sassiest 67 year old i've ever met:
"don't be poor.
it's not easy being poor, trust me.
make sure you work hard so you have a little money.
and marry a man with a trade, will ya? 
a plumber or carpenter...not some deadbeat."

hoping to get more gems like this, i decided to pick the brain of another one of my favorite residents, thelma.

the following is a transcript of our conversation:
who is the person who influenced your life the most?
my mother - she brought me into the world and was a great mother.

do you have a lost love?
my first husband died before our first son was born. i'll always love and miss him.

is there anything you regret not having asked your parents? 
no, but i miss spending time with them. i even miss running their errands - my mother lived with me before she passed and i would do everything for her. i miss that.

what was the happiest moment of your life?
when i got married. i was 18 years old.

what are you most proud of?
my grandchildren.

what is the most important lessons you've learned in life?
everyday is a new day, so don't worry too much about things.

did you receive an allowance as a child?
yes, 50 cents a week.

would you spend it all at once or save it?
save it - you should always save for a rainy day.

what was your childhood dream?
i always wanted to be a momma and have children.

if you could give young people any advice, what would it be?
i would tell them to stay on the right way - to not do anything bad.

how would you like to be remembered? 
hopefully they'll say good things about me. oh God, i hope they don't say anything bad.

i wish i could include a photo of my dear thelma but for legal reasons, i'm not allowed to do so.
something about privacy...

hope you're all having a great monday!

:)
vanessa

ps. quick weekend roundup - i took my my three surrogate children to the royal ontario museum on sunday.
after getting trapped in the santa claus parade and begging a police officer to let us across, we finally got into the ROM.
the children seemed to really enjoy themselves - they learned about endangered animals, went into the bat cave and got to see and dig up dinosaur fossils.

grainy bootleg front camera group shot

all in all, it was a great afternoon but can i just say that being a quasi-mother of 3 ain't easy.

hug your mothers people...
:)

"yesterday you said tomorrow..."

unless those things are illegal, then don't do it!

hope you're all having a great weekend!

:)

vanessa

real talk.

i saw this and it made me laugh.
so, i thought i'd share...

this describes me to a t - if i do either one of these things for you, know that you're loved...or at least liked.

can anyone else relate?

hope you're all having a great weekend.

back to studying i go *lesigh.

:)

now you're just somebody that i used to know...

when i first started this blog, i told you all how i was so obsessed with quotes.
i posted one "quote of the day" and then never mentioned the topic again.
until today...

this quote/saying always makes me laugh as it's hilariously true.

when i sit back and think about the people i swore i could/would never live without, i shake my head in shame.

retrospect is everything, man.

hope y'all are having are happy wednesday!

:)
vanessa

if you're happy and you know it...

disclaimer: i apologize for any spelling/grammatical errors that may appear on this post.
i'm running on two hours sleep as i may or may not have spent the night hanging out with guillermo del toro...

as mentioned in my 'welcome' blog post, i have an unhealthy obsession with quotes.
to me, quotes often echo what we know and or hope in our hearts to be true.
for this reason, my phone, laptop desktop, ipod, desk at work, planner (etc.) are inundated with quotes.
this particular quote is currently pinned on my bulletin board at work:

is this not the most useful flowchart you've ever seen?

what are some of your favorite quotes?

i'm always looking for new ones to add to my quote book.

*yes, i have a quote book - don't judge.

:)

ps. can we just take a moment and...

nwts = greatness.