Passion for Piano

The piano is one of my best friends. No joke. Maybe a little... Anyways, I have heard people call the piano "the most beautiful instrument on earth". Well, you better believe it because pianos can be played at almost any age and there are so many possibilities that come from a piano. Musical composition possibilities. Oh yeah. I have made some of my own music, but it's not worth mentioning. Everything I play isin the key of C. If for some strage alienistic reason I end up making an album I will name it "Key of C". Sounds lame, but that's exactly what it is.

I listen to piano when I study, when I'm getting ready for bed, when I'm online, when I'm driving... I listen to music almost compulsively and whenever I do it's either cute love songs, country, or piano. Piano is music you can listen to anytime. It's awesome when piano is your favorite music. Youcan listen to it and it gives you double the peace and inspitarion. I also daydream a ton, so a good piano song can make me think for hours. But hey,

"Everything starts as somebody's daydream."            -Larry Niven

My favorite music genre is piano, no doubt about it. I'm not going to say it's the easiest instrument to compose music one, it's just easier than most. Sometimes I get so into piano I compose an entire song 20 minutes, but I usually don't have time to write it down and I end up forgetting it the next day. It's sad, really. But when a song I compose does stick in my mind I remake the song through Noteflight.

It's an amazing website where you can create your own music. The best part about this website is that there are multiple instruments to chose from, and the website play your notes outloud! Even when you first sign up you are given multiple instrument options, you can change the key and time signature, and you can hear how your music sounds as you're composing! It's a dream come true!!! I very much suggest this to you if you are someone who wants to compose their music digitally in the easiest way possible. 

For school I am required to write four small papers and one big research one. For one of my four small ones I wrote a long poem about how piano is so influential and truely is the most beautiful instrument ever created. I bet it's not even formatted correctly! Even though I've never been into writing poetry past Haikus, I thought this poem hit a home run.

Music is Life

Music starts to flow through your fingers,

The way a river flows through a valley,

It does not involve math, or numbers, or reading,

It’s about something else entirely.

When your fingers tap the notes,

Of those angelic keys you know so well.

Your spirit and soul will start to float,

As far as you eyes can tell.

It starts with a chord.

Then an arpeggio, mezzo piano, crescendo.

And soon you’ll tell you’re in another world;

A world of peace where melodies grow.

You’ve developed for so long

And now it’s time to show you can really shine

For when you start to express your heart through song

Beauty and peace will build line by line

Not by note,

Measure by measure,

You will start to find music is your greatest treasure

It sends a message pure

So clear to dazzling

Soon you’ll see that you’ve been lured

Back to that seat again and again

Suddenly your fingers stop

The fluttering they have done all along

The crowd cheers and everyone starts to clap

And you sadden because the song can’t be prolonged.

But you stand and bow

Like you’ve just changed the world

Because you feel something inside

That starts to unfurl.

You open your eyes

And you are sitting at your home

sitting on your piano bench

Where your imagination roams

You know you will play one day

On that stage shining in the spotlight

Because you know you can change the world

When you know that music is your life.

Pretty boss, huh? This is just what piano is! It makes you feel great things that you couldn't feel otherwise. It's truely something amazing.

 

My Sewing Projects

Sewing is the best thing that has ever happened in human history. Sewing is definitely my biggest passion, and I soon want to take clothing construction classes over the summer at the local college so I can actually create all my clothing visions! In the meantime, I'm sticking with patterns.

First of all, I would love to thank Simplicity, McCall's, and Vogue patterns for providing such beautiful patterns for clothing that I can make right at home whenever I please. Also to Joanne's fabric stores for providing nearly all the fabric for my projects. I have so much fun doing these, and the wonderful pattern and fabric makers of these companies are making my dreams come true. Even though I don't know you guys, you're pretty dang awesome.

And, my mom loves sewing as well, so she was and is willing to help me during tough/new steps and translate the instructions for me. I'm working to understand them on my own, but mom has helped me a lot so I don't screw up. She's awesome, so I should thanks her too. Thanks mom!

This is simply going to be a collection of all my projects. I strive towards sewing dresses that have sleeves and skirts that go down to at least my knees. I call them 'fidget-free' dresses. No pulling up or down, just clothes that are easy to wear but are still very stylish and cute. This is merely just a gallery, so I hope you enjoy all my creations, because I sure did, and do!

My Halloween costume and the perfect dress to wear to the Renaissance Fair this summer. Took us 23.5 hours to finish. Whew!  

This dress is SUPER fun to wear. The zippers on the hips tie the whole thing together. And, they're real pockets. Who doesn't love pockets?

Properly named my "Picnic" shirt. Awesome to wear during the summer. I wore it to the 4th of July, and wore it like a champion. 

My Valentine's Day dance dress. (Blush) The pattern originally had no sleeves, so I created my own. Yup, those are some pretty nifty improv. sleeves is you ask me. Too adorable to handle.

I made the skirt, and I just happened to have a shirt that matched it perfectly (unintentionally). This skirt is feminine because of the ruffles, and spicy because of it's color. The best skirt to spin in EVER!

I call this my 'Cinderella' dress. It is the first one I have ever made, and it turned out great! This is the best dress to spin in. Light, spinny, beautiful... sign me up.

And this is my pride and joy! My homecoming 2014 dress!! I'm so proud of it!

Daily Quote!

Who doesn't love a daily quote to start the day off right? In fact, I love them so much I might just post one daily! Quotes can truly be very motivational and can have a huge influence on us, so I feel that they are important. I have found these quotes from multiple resources, but I mainly use Brinyquote. So here's lucky quote number 1:

Daily Quote #1 June 3rd, 2013 -

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."
                                                                                            - David Brinkley

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Daily Quote #2 June 4th, 2013

"Happiness is a direction, not a place."           -Sydney J Harris

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Daily Quote #3 June 5th, 2013

"The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up."
                                                                          - Paul Valery

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Daily Quote #4 June 6th, 2013

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."
                                                                          - Bill Cosby

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Daily Quote #5 June 7th, 2013

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."                              -Bruce Lee

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Daily Quote #6 June 8th, 2013

"Don't find fault, find a remedy."                      - Henry Ford

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Daily Quote #7 June 9th, 2013

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without action."
                                                                           - Banjamin Disraeli

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Daily Quote #8 June 10th, 2013

"There is on way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."                                                        - Epictetus

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Daily Quote #9 June 11th, 2013

"It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere."
                                                                            -Anges Repplier

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Daily Quote #10 June 12th, 2013

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."
                                                                             - Margaret Mead

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Daily Quote #11 June 13th, 2013

"Expect problems and eat them for breakfast"     - Alfred A. Montapert

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Daily Quote #12 June 14th, 2013

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
                                                                             - Maya Angelou

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Daily Quote #13 June 15th, 2013

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world."
                                                                             - Mahatma Gandhi

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Daily Quote #14 June 16th, 2013

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."                                                          - Thomas A. Edison

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Daily Quote #15 June 17th, 2013

"It is not how much we have, but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."
                                                                             - Charles Spurgeon

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Daily Quote #16 June 18th, 2013

"Knowledge is of no value unless you put it into practice."
                                                                             - Anton Chekhov

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Daily Quote #17 June 19th, 2013

"If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail."
                                                                             - Abraham Maslow

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Daily Quote #18 June 20th, 2013

"Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you."
                                                                              - Aldous Huxley

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Daily Quote #19 June 21st, 2013

"Honesty is the best policy."                                 - Benjamin Franklin

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Daily Quote #20 June 22nd, 2013

"By three methods we can learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitaion, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."
                                                                               - Cunfucius

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Daily Quote #21 June 23rd, 2013

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye."
                                                                               - H. Jackson Brown Jr.

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Daily Quote #22 June 24th, 2013

"Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines."
                                                                               - Robert H. Schuller

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Daily Quote #23 June 25th, 2013

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
                                                                               - Thomas Paine

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Daily Quote #24 June 26th, 2013

"You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."
                                                                               - Henry Ford

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Daily Quote #25 June 27th, 2013

(One of my favorites!!)

" A smile is a curve that sets everything straight."
                                                                              - Phyllis Diller

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Daily Quote #26 June 28th, 2013

"To be a good loser is to learn how to win."
                                                                              - Carl Sandburg

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I believe in smiles. Smiles I tell you! They're the best and you cannot, I repeat, CANNOT live without a smile. Please enjoy these quotes which should leave a smile on your face! :)


Daily Quote #27 June 29th, 2013

"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do."
                                                                               - Mother Teresa

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Daily Quote #28 June 30th, 2013

"I have found that a smile and a stick will carry you through all right, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is the smile that does the trick."
                                                                                - Robert Powell

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Daily Quote #29 July 1st, 2013

"A smile is the light in your window that tells others that there is a caring, sharing person inside."
                                                                                - Denis Waitly

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Daily Quote #30 July 2nd, 2013

"As a child my family's menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it."
                                                                                - Buddy Hackett
(Story of my life.)
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Daily Quote #31 July 3rd, 2013

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts."
                                                                                - Winston Churchill

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Daily Quote #32 July 4th, 2013

"My dream is of a place and a time where America will once again be seen as the last best hope of earth."                                                                      - Abraham Lincoln

Happy 4th of July to everyone! And I would love to thank all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to protect the best country on earth, and who have made our America home such a wonderful and safe place. I love you all, and too all the troops, we all love you too.

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Daily Quote #33 July 5th, 2013

"Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you'll start having positive results."
                                                                                 - Willie Nelson

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Daily Quote #34 July 6th, 2013

"Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will."
                                                                                 - Zig Ziglar

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Daily Quote #35 July 7th, 2013

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."
                                                                                - Mother Teresa

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Daily Quote #36 July 8th, 2013

"Faith is taking the first step when you don't see the whole staircase."
                                                                                - Martin Luther King, Jr.          

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Daily Quote #37 July 9th, 2013

"I think that anybody that smiles automatically looks better."
                                                                                - Diane Lane

I couldn't agree more! We are basically the same person.      
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Daily Quote #38 July 10th, 2013

"A lot of times people look at the negative side of what they feel they can't do. I always look on the positive side of ehat I can do."                              
                                                                                 - Chuck Norris

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Daily Quote # 39 July 11th, 2013

"When you are enthusiastic about what you do, you feel this positive energy. It's very simple."
                                                                                 - Paulo Coelho          

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My Mission Statement

It seems as though every successful business has a mission statement. It might be kind of silly, but if we wanted to be successful wouldn't a mission statement help us through the times we think we can't do it. Well, think about it: there are some very successful businesses out there who have superb mission statements, and why can't we sound superb too? Here are a few awesome ones...

(All the fallowing mission statements are provided by www.missionstatements.com.)
             
1. Ford Motor Company - "We are a global family with a proud heritage passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world."

2. Microsoft - "At Microsoft, we work to help people and business throughout the world realize their full potential. This is our mission. Everything we do reflects this mission and the values that make it possible."

3. NIKE Inc - " To Bring Inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. "

And many, many others, but these are more of my personal favorites. The ones that were simple, short, yet sent a powerful message about what they were all about and what their company's goal is.

When I was in early morning seminary, my teacher gave us a lesson on what our mission statements should be. It truly is a deep thing to think about. You start to think, "What is my purpose in life?" Or maybe, "How could I possibly change the world?" To start, we all have a purpose. No matter how great or small, we are all influential. You may be a working mother or father trying to get by, but think about how all your hard work is going to pay off and how much others will recognize your unstoppable determination.

You may be a student, like me, in school who has trouble with either grades, students, etc. Grades are degrading. I'm serious! If you have an A, you are praised by fellow students and their teachers. But if you were like me and don't make the honor roll every year, you or others will make you feel like you are incompetent or not smart because you are not that shining gold student who's perfect in every way. By that point (when I was still in public school) I was feeling pretty crummy about myself, and felt that no one payed attention to me because of my low grades and shyness. Which was true, but I'll save you the sob story. Anyway, I felt that no one really cared. In public school, if you don't fit the standard, you are rejected. At least, that was my case. But when I decided to be homeschooled my freshman year of high school, I started realizing that public school was stressing me out so much that I wasn't paying attention to my emotional or social growth, only my academic. Later that year, I had discovered a passion for baking pastries and other treats, sewing, crocheting, and other crafts which I still do to this day.

Now all of these things were fun for a while until I didn't have enough money for the yarn I wanted and I had gained a jean size from eating too many pecan bars. But I still loved doing them whenever I could, so I decided to give a plate to the boy I liked from my church. He was genuinely surprised, and from that day on It became a new high for me. About once or twice a month I would go on "Pecan Bar Runs," and it was so amazing to see everyone's smiling faces. We soon started having sign classes for a deaf boy in our ward, so I baked treats every Friday for when the classes were over. I started saving up some money from the weekly paper route I did (passed down to me from my brothers) and bought some yarn. I eventually ended up with a bunch of colors, and I knew I could never use these all on myself. So, I started making animal hats for the young women in my ward. They soon figured out how time consuming they were, so I have been taking a break from them. It was always so amazing to watch them open their gift and find a soft animal hat that was beyond adorable.

Finally, it hit me. After all the things that I have done in life, the things that I remember most are times when I made others feel happy. I now know what my mission statement is:

"To spread as many smiles as possible."

Its simple, it says it, and it reflects everything I have done. For those who don't like to read and scrolled down to the bottom, let me say real quick that the quicker you find our own personal mission statements, the happier you will be. There is a quote I love about happiness that I had just recently wrote in my quote book:

"There is no happiness except in the realization that we have accomplished something."  -Henry Ford

I guess this quote doesn't really relate entirely, but I sure was happier when I had discovered how to be happy while influencing others around me to be better as well. You may not know it, but people are watching you, so you have to be an example. (I also learned that in seminary.) Be your best, and people will give you their best back. When you recognize your full potential and grow confident in your abilities, you will influence others more that you realize...