Tainted Lens

I have an inspiration of the day for you. It is the beautiful song I Love You Because from the musical, I Love You Because. Super creative, right?

So clearly this is a love song. But you can apply it to any relationship or friendship. Love people because of their flaws, not despite them. This system does have it's flaws and you in no means want to be blind to someone's rougher spots, but realize that you have rough spots too. I'm slowly trying to learn this lesson. That's the way to live!

Two days ago, I heard from a speaker through an honors program I am enrolled in. He came up wearing a nice suit and an African hat and started speaking in a very heavy African accent. I got a little antsy and started checking the clock. He then asked where all of us were from, and after asked us where we thought he was from. People threw out ideas like Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, and such. He would laugh and say "No. But bery bery close." Finally we gave up and asked for him to tell us. He took off his hat and in a very clear American voice said, "I'm from Brooklyn." He went on telling us that on average, you make 11 judgments about someone in 7 seconds. You factor in things like attract-ability, intelligence, social status, the works. What he just proved to us though was a first impression on someone can be completely wrong, and you won't really know unless you give someone the chance to prove who they are. 

Last year in an amazing English class I took, our teacher took us to a website that scientifically measured our bias towards different religions, races, social status, genders, everything! I think it was through Harvard. They would assign one group positive words and another group negative words. They would then show you pictures of various people or words that fit into the group you were testing on. Depending on how fast you would click good or bad, and whether you clicked the right corresponding word, they would judge how biased you were towards that certain group. It was so interesting to find out how subconsciously biased everyone is to lifestyles that don't match their own! 

I have a challenge. Take someone you don't like or don't know yet. It could be a roomate, a sibling you can't get along with, or that crazy girl in your chem class that just won't shut up. Don't judge them, just chill out and try to find out their back story as to why they act the way they do. See what they see, and make an effort for them to see what you see. Only then will you be able to appreciate the world for it's true beauty. 

Finally, if you love acoustic music, go to this site. I'm obsessed. :D

BEAUTIFUL MUSIC HERE.

An Ode to Life

Today is my first day of college.

WHAT. THE. HECK.

This girls name is Beth. This is us as freshman. Now were going to college together. AHH! Time flies.

I seriously feel like I could be a little freshman walking into high school for the first time again and do four more years of high school. I would get sick of the unrealistic melodramatic high school atmosphere half way through October if that really were to happen, but on the other hand, that unrealistic melodramatic high school atmosphere did me good for four years. I decided that instead of focusing on one thing that inspired me tonight, I would relate a couple of the little things I learned in high school that has changed me. It is my personal ode to life.

#1. Spontaneity is the way to go. First of all, if you are bored and need something dumb to do, go right HERE! The website is a creative date site that I stumbled upon, but almost everything would make for a good laugh with friends. Or a hot date. Take your pick.

One of the best dates EVER. :)

Sculpture Garden loveliness.

#2. Trust your friends. If they haven't done anything to hurt you, why are you holding back?! You never know how close you can become with a person until you have started to confide your deepest, darkest secrets with them. In my life, I have three people that I know I can trust unconditionally. I tell them everything and I've realized I'm a better person for it. If you limit yourself to yourself, you will never be able to walk on paths that you didn't imagine.
And, if you have been hurt by people, learn from it and move on. It's not fair to judge all the rest of the people in your life off of one person who screwed up.

Best friends a girl could ever have. (Both pictures.) :D

#3. Laugh out loud. And no, I'm not referring to the preteen LOL that worms itself into every text message sent. Laugh at yourself and the dumb quirks that make you unique to the world. Laugh with your friends, and appreciate the happy moments in life. It will be those moments that pull you through the hard times.

#4. Give yourself change. Listen to a new song, wear something you never would have otherwise, eat a mango, do ballet, play frisbee with yourself, just do something different!! :D

#5. Do something for someone else EVERY DAY. It will make you realize how small your life problems are in the grand scheme of the world. Honestly, bad hair days do not compare with starving children in Africa. And you always feel better about yourself when you've made a difference in someone's day.

Volunteering for Special Olympics!

Kind of a long post, but I needed to tell myself that high school wasn't a waste of time and I learned valuable things there. And looky here, I did!!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

I have officially left for college. Which is a nerve racking experience I tell you!! When you are in the middle of a big life transition and you start internally freaking out, I suggest you:

• Have a good best friend you can call on hand when you start breaking down.
• Force yourself to learn a new hairstyle as it will give your life change that you can control and yet make you feel twice as confident. 
• Go on myyellowsandbox.blogspot.com. It is one of the cutest things I have ever seen and her hairstyles are brilliant (see above post.) :)
• Force yourself to memorize a needlessly long and complicated song. I suggest We Didn't Start the Fire or Love Like Woe. Either will take all of your extra brain power and distract it on a dumb and pointless task. Which surprisingly helps. 
• Pass something of your bucket list.

Great transition Anne Katherine! Today I just happened to pass something off my bucket list. I found the end of a rainbow. And not only did I find one end of the rainbow, I found both ends. I think it was God's way of saying, "Hey. Stop freaking out. Beautiful things aren't just found in your little Andover, Minnesota. So decide to live a little and open your eyes to all the possibilities your new life will bring you." 

The end of a rainbow is surprisingly beautiful. Whenever I imagined it, I pictured a pot o' gold with leprechauns bonding over it. Instead, you find the mixture of two completely different elements, meeting together in the middle to compromise their differences through a rainbow. It truly inspired me. 

So I decided to start listening to God. I'm looking for the beauty everywhere from now on, and I suggest you do the same.

Life is full of God's creative beauties, it's just up to you whether you will be creative enough to recognize them when you see them. Good luck :)

Cinemagraphy = Muggle Hope

I have an obsession with anything belonging in the world of Harry Potter. I love the movies, quote the books and spend too much time wondering what happened to my letter from Hogwarts when I turned 11. It's fantastic. So when I ran into the concept of cinemegraphs today, I freaked out. It's a mix between a movie and a photo. Not quite real life, but it looks like the people in the photo could pop out and start chatting with me any second. Basically... magical photographs. Now if only I could get one to guard the entrance into my bedroom I would be set! I found a couple of websites with some really good examples of this and just wanted to share them with you as they are my inspiration of the day,

Magical Photo Set #1

Magical Photo Set #2

I know some of the photo's overlap, but at least you kind of know what I'm talking about now. :) I know that in most of the pictures, only one subject was moving and not the whole photo, but think about how much this could grow! It made me excited for what exactly the world is going to bring in the next couple of decades. If you could invent anything, what would it be?

And just in case any of you doubted Harry Potter's excellence...

I think that pretty much sums it up.

Peace out, and may the force be with you.

Spirited Away

Anne Katherine's Mood Flow Chart:

Anne Katherine can't sleep because she is too busy thinking and her mind refuses to shut down. -->

Anne Katherine doesn't get enough sleep and becomes sleep deprived. -->

Anne Katherine gets crabby. -->

Solution to crabbiness: Inspiration #8. 

My medicine for this said crabbiness isn't the usual coffee, chocolate, flirting or sleep. Well... sometimes it's sleep. But most often it's a good, familiar book that will spirit me away into a different world for a few hours so I can forget about dumb things like paying for college, what to do on bad hair days, and how to persuade my mom to buy me more shoes. (I have a tough life. I know.)

Last night I was particularly crabby so I took out one of my favorite, most favorite, MOST FAVORITE books; The Hunger Games. If you haven't read it, please stop reading this post right now, go check it out from your public library and go read it. If you have some good excuse as to why you stop everything in your life to go to the library, well, I found the first two chapters of it online so you can get hooked without going anywhere. 
Just Click Right Here!
So this book rocks my world. The other book I always read when I need a good pick me up is Anne of the Island. Way different than the intense survivor feeling of the Hunger Games, but it holds its own with its sweet and happy tone. Also, Anne may be one of the most lovable characters ever created.
The nice things about books is they take your mind places you would never dream about otherwise. It unlocks whole worlds, scores of people and hundreds of new ideas. It forces you to think about the decisions people make, and the consequences that happen from them. 
I think Cornelia Funke described it best in her book Inkheart when she said, "If you take a book with you on a journey,... an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it...yes, books are like flypaper--memories cling to the printed page better than anything else." 
Words of wisdom from the Funke herself.
Next time you get crabby at your life, I suggest reading instead of taking your anger out on the people in your life. However, if you see me reading I strongly suggest you don't interrupt me. Otherwise this will happen. 

You've been warned...

Love,

Anne with an E.

And When You Dream, Dream Big

So this post is going to need a little bit of background information before I dive in. As you all know, I went on a camping trip last week. It was an amazing experience and I got to know some awesome people I didn't really know before. There is something about camping and being in nature away from the gajillion distractions in the world that encourage bonding and personal reflection. I'm being so vague though! Let me give you details. :)
On Friday, there was a service project planned for all of us girls to participate in. It was the usual service project; make tie blankets for a homeless shelter. Quick, easy and requires lots of people. We split up in a couple of groups and made cards and blankets while the other group played games outside. It was an enjoyable experience but not initially memorable.
However, this time I got to see the effects of our little act of service. I volunteered with my lovely friend Berlynn to help our leader take the blankets over to the shelter we were donating the blankets to. I didn't know this previously, but the shelter was designed for women and their children that had been involved in abusive relationships. When I walked into the shelter, there were two beautiful brown eyed children that followed the three of us. Their eyes really got to me. They looked so knowing for being so young. I couldn't imagine my little brothers the same age as them having the same look of sadness and wisdom in place of their usual cheery and mischievous looks.
Anyways, we handed the blankets off and our leader asked if we could tour the shelter. As I walked around the facility, I realized what an amazing cause this was. The people that worked here were making a huge difference in the lives of women who truly had been given the short stick in life. I then realized really there was no better purpose in life then to serve others around us. I mean we hear that so often that it just becomes a catch phrase; "Treat others the way you want to be treated," or "Serving others serves God," but who really stops to think about what that means? I didn't!
So I decided that I have a new Inspiration #7. I'm as of right now going to be majoring in business, and I want to use that degree to open a shelter for women who are abused, depressed or have eating disorders. I have very close friends who at some point suffered with all of these things and they all need a safe refuge where they can retreat from the world. Moreover, I want to share my passion of music with them and help that shape their lives. People who are sad and lonely need something small that they feel like is improving in their life. What better thing to improve then musical ability? It's so easy to track progress and music touches the soul unlike any other thing.
Obviously there are ten million things I need to work out. Money, time, balancing a family, all of that will need to fall into place. Anyways, leave comments if you have any ideas on how to make this dream a reality or on what your dream is. Love all of you, and may you all find something to keep you inspired.
Also, if you feel alone, know that Jesus Christ has felt everything. EVER. You are never alone.

Anne Katherine

Title of this post credited to one of my favorite songs, Dream Big. Listen Here :)

Sometimes You Just Need to Wear Neon

So I know this girl. Her name is Angie Roushar and has been one of my dearest friends for as long as I can remember. She is one of those people that anchor you to the world when everything else is storming around you. Angie is one of those girls where you feel like you can talk and laugh for a lifetime without getting bored. She also puts up with all of my increasingly dumb jokes.

Exhibit A:
AK: Hey Angie! Want to hear a joke?
Angie: Uh... Sure.
AK: Whats green and has wheels?
Angie: A tractor? *Insert appropriate loving eye roll here.*
AK: NO!! Grass. I lied about the wheels.

See what I mean? Anyone who puts up with that deserves a medal. Anyways, she will get a post exclusively dedicated to her soon. But for the mean time, she gave me an incredible present.

Inspiration #6. Neon sweatshirts.

BRIGHT YELLOW neon sweatshirts.

I love it. And it inspires me because you truly can't wear it without being super happy. Once I tried crying in it and I had to take it off because I couldn't take myself seriously with it on. I LOVE IT. It is going with me to college so I have something to remind me to be happy when I feel horribly alone. (Hopefully that won't happen though.)

Just for the record, this is my favorite picture of Angie and I. 

And this is me wearing my neon sweatshirt. YAY!!

So here is my advice on this lovely Monday morning. If you are feeling a little down in the dumps for some reason or another, go put on something bright. And if you don't have anything then I suggest you go to Goodwill. :)

Stay happy!

P.S. If you are bored and have a dumb sense of humor, go look up Kid History on YouTube. My friend told me to watch it at camp this week and there are some pretty entertaining moments in it! It's stories from two friends growing up now told by (I think) their kids. LOVE IT. 

If you want to watch it, click HERE. :)