Setting Sail

Hey all, or probably just my Mom who reads this and asked me to write again. I am writing this from the business center at my hotel in Jacksonville, FL so it will be rather short.

One of the most important parts of my last month in college is time with my girlfriends. To start this last month off right 14 of us have decided to spend our last spring break (because you obviously don’t get those in the real world) on a cruise. We will be leaving today from Jacksonville, FL then sailing for six days, stopping in Key West and Nassau, Bahamas along the way. The group of girls is amazing. All fun. No drama. And, lots of enthusiasm to make this the best spring break we’ve had thus far. I am so excited to get away from my Mizzou e-mail, which will undoubtedly be the home of 100+ e-mails when I get home, considering my capstone project is in full force.

After the cruise Mom has bought me a ticket to fly to Little Rock and spend Easter with my Little Rock family. It will be good to go home and see everyone, especially Mom since lots has changed since I’ve been home last. And, it will be nice to have Nanny and Bobbob drive me back to Columbia, stopping to see Jeff and his family in St. Louis for dinner.

All I can say is I am thankful. I am thankful for the friends I have to enjoy for the next month, and hopefully a long time after. And, I’m thankful for my family who supports me through this final, extremely hectic, month of college.

So, keep our group in your prayers as we leave today and watch for a fun update full of beautiful pictures when I get back.

...And again

Not sure if I'm really following blogging etiquette, but here's my second post for the day.

If you know anything about me you know how much I love music. From the second I wake up to the hours I spend at the J-School, I constantly have Pandora playing in the background. I'm not sure if my roommates really appreciate this at 8:30 in the morning, but, it is my weakness. My most recent love is my Ingrid Michaelson station. I have absolutely fallen in love with every single song that has come on, as can be seen through my credit card's abundant iTunes purchases lately. My newest song, and motivation for the next month, came through this station tonight as I was contemplating what to title my new blog. The song is “Brand New Day” by Joshua Radin.

In the words of Joshua:

“It’s a brand new day
The sun is shinning
It’s a brand new day
For the first time
In such a long long time
I know
I’ll be ok.”

Like many songs before it, I will most certainly play this on repeat for the next few weeks or so. But, this is the perfect time for such obsession. This song is going to uplift me in knowing that graduation is not sad, scary or something to dread, it's something that brings a “brand new day” and something that I should be happy about. While I will miss the Mizzou bubble, I know that my life has only begun and the only way to say it is “I'll be ok.” So, as I stay up late studying for my Hinduism midterm exam (something I will not miss doing when I enter the big people world), I know that life is good and it's only getting better.

Here we go...

Okay, so I've never written a blog before. I normally look at other people's blogs and wonder, how do they have enough to write about? How do they find something almost every single day that will actually be of importance to other people? Then, today, I realized, they don't. Well, not technically. Most people write blogs to keep in touch with family members living far away, or even to just put pen to paper (or in this case fingers to keyboard) and get out their thoughts and feelings.

After talking to my Mom who is keeping one of the most amazing blogs I have ever read, I decided that a blog would be a great thing for a person like me. It will be a place for me to get out my thoughts and feelings on my journey through my last month in college and my move to St. Louis and into the "real world." (Where have I been the past 22 years of my life? The fake world?) And, it will be a place for friends and family to see what I am up to and get an update with out the dreaded every few week catch up call. Also, as a student of Journalism a blog seems only natural.

So, here it is. My blog. Read it if you want. Don't if you don't want to. I hope what you find here will be interesting, and if not, don't judge. I'm new to this. I promise I will get better.

When deciding to write a blog I think the hardest part is deciding on a name. So, where did the name "Being More Myself" come from? A great quote by May Lamberton Becker says that:

"We grow neither better nor worse as we get old, but more like ourselves."

I think that this quote pretty much sums up the past four years of my college experience. I haven't really grown into a better person, but i've definitely grown into myself. I've learned what is important to me, the things that I can do without and the people that I love.

Now, as I embark on my final month in college I can honestly say that I am graduating truly knowing who I am. I am going into a career I cannot wait to learn about and moving to a place I have come to love.

Well, I guess this post is long enough. Hope you enjoyed it, and if not, again, sorry. I'll work on it. Check back for my updates on this exciting journey.