Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Special announcement!

Merry Christmas everybody!!!

I've got a big announcement to make!

For Christmas this year I got a new camera with HD video... I've been wanting to start vlogging for a long time now, but never had a decent camera to do it with... But now I do, so I am going to start focusing on vlogging!

I love blogging, but recently it's been extremely difficult to express my feelings with mere words... I'm not saying I'm never going to blog again, but I am most likely going to be posting a good deal less.

I haven't yet set up my channel, but when I do you'll be the first to know!

I'm also planning on creating a new blog (That is if my youtube channel is fairly successful), and gradually transitioning to posting on there as apposed to this little blog.

I hope the rest of your day is filled with sunshine and jingle bells! ;)

XOXOXO

Elysse


Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Thirty days.

Hello, you!

As usual I haven't written in a while, but I'm writing now so lets forget about that and talk about what's been happening lately..Because it's incredible.

Remember when I posted a little while ago about "accepting myself"?
When I said that I despised being so shy, and that I didn't understand where I was supposed to be?

Wanna guess what happened?

Well...I don't know why...or how...but once again, God set everything straight!

I'm not going to go into detail about what happened since this isn't the main topic of this post, but long story short, last weekend I was put in a situation that completely changed my attitude.
It inspired me, motivated me, and taught me that I'm not as "weird" and alone as I used to think I was!

I cannot express how amazed I am at this revelation... I feel like the train track of my life has been switched over, and my train is now carrying me towards my destiny... A destiny which is greater than I could ever imagine.

Anyways, on to the main topic!

A while ago I discovered TED talks, and since then I have become just a little but obsessed with them. ;)

I'm watching one now as a matter of fact!

One of my favorite talks of all time is "Try Something New For 30 Days." by Matt Cutts.

In this talk he explains how life changing it could be to try doing things you've always wanted to do for a period of thirty days... Though, you probably could have guessed that by the title.

The coolest thing about what he's saying, is that it's the absolute truth!

You CAN write a book in thirty days! You CAN make big changes, in just thirty days!

The problem with most people is that we're too lazy to get up and TRY... Maybe there's a hint of fear of the change that could come out of trying.

Before I say anything else, take a look at the video of which I speak!





Did ya watch it? What do you think? Cool right?

Monday was my Birthday, and the first thing I thought about when I woke up that morning was how I've been on the earth for another 365 days... And how my life has changed in those days.

Then I decided that the best way to do great things, is to start now... So I'm starting now.. That is, first thing tomorrow, because I'm dead tired at the moment. ;)

What am I challenging myself to do for thirty days?

1. Study Korean for at least an hour a day.
2. Study the bible an hour more^
3. Draw one thing every day.
4. Learn how to read music.


That's pretty much it!

Now it's your turn! What will you challenge yourself to do for the next thirty days?

XOXOXO

Elysse
 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Hey you!... You're lovely(:

Hello you!

I just wanted to take a few minutes to tell you some things that you may not already know... Even though you should!

I want to start by saying, you are incredibly beautiful!
Every single thing about you is stunning!
Your smile, which shows the world that you are stronger than your struggles... The one that makes strangers stop and say "Wow!"... The one that is hopelessly contagious... Yep, you have an amazing smile! 
Your eyes, that twinkle like stars in the clear autumn sky.. Their warmth welcomes people from clear across the room to come take a better look.. They're incredible!

So you don't like your nose... Maybe you think you're a little to "curvy", or that your skin is too flawed...
Don't even worry about those things, because I guarantee that they're a lot more noticeable to you than anyone else! People are always to critical about themselves. Step away from the mirror a bit and examine yourself as a whole person... A whole beautiful, talented, amazing person!
Do you know that someone out there loves you for all the things you hate about yourself?
It's true! 
I do!(:

Second... Your personality and uniqueness..
Where do I even start here?
It would take me forever to list all the wonderful things that make your personality... Well, yours!
Maybe you can talk to anybody as if you've known them for years... That's beautiful.
On the other hand maybe you're shy... That's just as beautiful!
Go getter, procrastinator, Inspirer, wallflower... Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Sometimes we don't appreciate ourselves enough... 
We wish we were more outgoing, or more peppy.
When really, out personalities shine just as much as those who have those attributes!


Let's not forget your special abilities!
Maybe you're an artist, such as myself.
Or maybe you're super smart!
Can you dance? Sing? Learn? Memorize? 
Do you love babysitting, writing, fashion, etc?
I'm 100% positive that if I were to meet you I would be thoroughly impressed with all your talents!

I realize this entire post has been scattered around and written without much grammatical attention.. That's because I have to use all my focus to find the right words to explain how amazing you are!... 
I still wasn't able to do that by the way. ;)

Wherever you are, wherever you've been... YOU are an incredible, special, talented human being!
You were put here to sparkle, and you have a purpose!
You are loved by so many people, even some you don't realize!

Did you feel that?
It was the gigantic hug I've just sent directly to your location!
Perhaps now you should spread that love, no?

Have a perfect night/day!

Hugs, hugs, and more hugs!!!

Elysse<3 



Sunday, November 4, 2012

OOTD November 4th



I've come to the realization that I'm not very good at this blogging thing. 
Once again, I've been MIA for a few weeks... Sorry for that!
Here's an OOTD to make up for being a bad blogger!
P.S. Yes, I really do need to clean my mirror! Ha ha ha!


Today I layered my favorite lace tank (brand unknown) over a plane white cami (VS).
Over that I wore my favorite cold weather sweater (Kohls), a scarf (Brand unknown), and my favoritest necklace of owl time-Oops, I mean ALL time... How could I have made that mistake?

Oh, also.. I wore pants too. Dark wash jeggings from Kohls to be exact!


Favorite vintage necklace that was given to me by my Grandmother! I almost literally wear it with everything!


 I topped this outfit off with my favorite scent ever, Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger! 

As far as shoes go, I wore a pair of black knee high boots with this outfit. I don't have a picture of those. (:

So the articles of clothing that have graced my body this lovely autumn day! 

Hope your day has been incredible!!!! <3

Hugs!

XOXOXO

Elysse 


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Happy Tears......


Happy tears... 






As human beings, we tend to be emotional. 
There are many types of emotions.... Sadness, anger, frustration...
Many times emotions can lead to tears.
We find it so easy to cry tears of sorrow, but what about tears of happiness?
What about tears of joy, liberation, appreciation....?

Last week I had an eye opening experience... 
For the first time in years, I found myself sobbing... Not sad tears, but happy tears. 

Before I tell you exactly what lead to those tears that night, I'll tell you about a time when sad tears were a very frequent visitor in my life...

Now I'm not going to go too much into details about this, because there's a whole other post telling this story (You can read that by clicking here , but I'll tell you enough so that you can hopefully understand a bit of what I went through...

From the time I was born, until a few years ago, I went to the same warm country church... The kind of church where people genuinely care about you, and aren't afraid to let you know... As a homeschooler, that church was pretty much my everything... My best friend was there, my Grandparents were there, everything was there... 
One day we left because there weren't a lot of kids at that church to make friends with... 

We started going to a huge, fancy church, with hundreds of attendees.
I liked it at first, but with the years, I realized how prejudiced most of the people were... 
I developed a fear of people. All people. I felt alone. I had no friends, I had grown apart from my family, and most importantly, I grew apart from God.
I felt like I was completely alone.
Nothing was right back then, and I felt like nothing would ever be. 
I didn't know what the reason was for me to wake up each day... 
Everything was falling apart. 

That lasted for about three years... Eventually, my family realized that this church wasn't going us any good... More the opposite. 

We started visiting other churches, but none of them felt right... None of them felt like home, and I knew they never would. 

We decided to try out original church again... Thank God!
The second I walked through those doors, I was welcomed back by the familiar sights, sounds, and smells of my childhood.... It felt like home.... It was home. 

That was the end of that, but last year, up to around Summer break this year, I went through another tunnel... 
This one was explainable. To this day I don't really know what to say about it... 
I was depressed again. I was mad at the world. My attitude was dreadful.
I hated my life.

I didn't want to accept the way things were. I didn't think about other people... 

I don't know how to explain... It was bad... That's all I can say.

Over summer break I had a chance to reevaluate my life, and boy did I!
I don't know what happened... It was like a switch had been flipped on in my heart! 
I was happy for the first time in about three years.

And happier and happier I got over the months...

Last month I was able to stop caring about what other people think about me, and let me tell you, it feels incredible. I don't know how I did this, I just suddenly forgot all the reasons I put other people on such a pedestal... 

Three weeks ago I started nurturing my relationship with my Lord... Whom I hadn't been close to for the longest time... 
Of all the changes that have happened this year, this change is the most unbelievable.... 

I have already developed such a passion for him, and getting as close to him as I possibly can... 

I have lost the ability to worry. I mean that. It's gone. Poof. 

I am now able to have complete faith that he has everything in my life figured out... Everything. So how could I worry? His plan is perfect.

After saying all that, this is the reason I found myself bawling last week...

For the first time in months I picked up my nearly empty diary... 
My heart was filled with so much joy, it all began to pour out in the form of neat cursive letters.... 
Then, I found myself writing this:

"I don't know what to say to explain how I feel right now... I am completely overwhelmed with happiness."

In the middle of that word, it hit me. 

Happiness....

I am happy.

Truly, genuinely, HAPPY.

That's when the tears started... Before I knew it I found myself on my knees, thanking God for letting me go through everything that I went through... Because without it, I wouldn't be the happy person that I am now!


Everything that happened hasn't just made me a happier person... It's helped me realize so many dreams that I was too blind to see before! 

One thing that I didn't mention before was that when I was going through the second hard time, I had my heart set on doing something that I wasn't meant to do. I cried over it, I tried to force it on God... It made me miserable. 

I describe it to people as being locked in a dark room, with just a flashlight to help me find my way.. I kept that flashlight aimed on one thing, that there was no possible way to get to.

Once I stopped trying to make things happen that weren't meant to happen, God opened my eyes to so much!

That thing I wanted to do was become a ballet dancer... 

Although I may not be a very good ballet dancer, and I will never be good enough to go pro... I realized that I don't have to be in a company to dance... I can still love it without being the worlds best dancer!

So maybe I can't do a perfect jete... I can learn dances from music videos in no time, and choreograph new ones! 

After I found my way out of the tunnel I was in, I discovered talents and hobbies that I never would have imagined I would get into!

There are so many things I want to do now, that I don't know when I'm going to have time to do them all!

I understand 100% now that I wasn't born to dance... I was born to inspire people!

I was born to be an artist, and to use my art to make people smile!

Another thing that hit me recently... 

Before I thought about it, I thought that everyone probably has gone through things like I did by the time they  were my age.... But after talking to several people, I realize that that's not the case... 

Then it struck me....

MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER.

The more I think about it, the more sense it makes!

Making people smile is one of my greatest passions... I live to inspire people, and to share the joy that inhabits me with them! 

Nothing makes me feel better then knowing that I've helped somebody through a hard day.... Nothing... Not even when I finish my best drawing... Though I admit that does come close sometimes!

God gave me a story, and I love to share it! 

It makes so much sense to me!

But even if that's not the profession God picked for me, I will continue to share my story, and inspire people to the best of my ability!



So basically, the point of this post was to say that sometimes, our scars end up the most beautiful, valuable things we have!

Keep the faith, and if you don't already see them.... One day you'll find all the reasons to cry happy tears, instead of sad tears!

XOXOXOXO

Elysse<3












Thursday, October 11, 2012

Things I'm excited for!

Originally I was going to write this last night... Except I didn't exactly know that this was what I would end up writing about, so here it is now!(:

I'm an easily excitable person... I keep it well hidden though so lots of times people think I just don't care about anything... Which is obviously not true!

Here I will share with you some of the bigger things I am excited for.... cause if I told you all the little things, this post would never end.

Here's a list of some of the things I have to be excited for so far, as much in chronological order as I can manage... 

1. Movie under the stars tomorrow night with youth group!
Ok so it's not going to look like that.... If it did, I would never leave... Ever.

2. Running my first 5k next week!

This is a big deal to me since I haven't been running for long... Can't wait!

3. Going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra next month!
One of my favorite groups ever... Also, that guy ^ Is super awesome. Just saying. 

4. Thanksgiving.
One of my favorite holidays! I love getting together with family and celebrating everything God has blessed us with!... I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy the pumpkin pie too :p

5.My Birthday!
Dec 3.... What else is there to say?

6. The start of winter.
I love winter... Like, a lot!

7. Christmas!
Favorite holiday... Ever!

8. New Years Eve
I look forward to this mostly because I will be breaking my 3-year non-soda drinking streak.... After this night, there shall be no more pop for me...Until the next NYE that is!

9. 2013 Dance Recital! <3

From here out I don't know precisely when these things are going to happen.... Just so you know..(:

10. The glorious day when will be good enough to dance en pointe...<3


11. First full marathon.

12. finally speaking fluent Korean...(:

13. The day my hair is finally this long.... so i can get this haircut!

14. My senior trip to Seoul!


15. When I find my soul mate..<3








So yeah, those are some of the things I have been really excited about lately.... Yay!

If you were to make a list like this, what would be at the top?

Later gator! 

XOXOXO

Elysse<3