I was nominated... My first Liebster Award Nomination!!!

Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU to the oh so resourceful, you’ve got beauty questions…she has answers… RENEE OF Beauty School ScArlet!!!!!!! I hopped on Google+ the other day and there was my Liebster Award nomination from Renee (CONGRATUALTIONS TO YOU), extremely honored to be in the mix with 10 other inspiring and full of HELPFUL tips bloggers.

A Liebster Award is an award given via the Internet from another blogger to recognize and/or discover new bloggers. It also allows readers to get to know the blogger from a different point of view by the blogger answering 11 informal random questions presented by the blogger who nominated the nominee. In return, the nominee pays it forward by nominating 11 bloggers for the award.

Get to know me a little more through my answers to Renee’s questions:

1.   Who, what or where does your blogging inspiration come from? My journey and life lessons, if its on my blog…I’ve lived it, learned it or continuing to learn it…I don’t want there to be take-backs to what I tell about my journey, I want to be an open book… So I focus on the story I tell being the life I live or am working to see it in my reality!

2.   What is the best advice you have ever received? When I was preparing for my first ever business meeting, someone told me to know who I am and stick to it.

3.   What motivates you? Life, all its mysteries and wonders, and wanting to have something that I created to leave behind or pass on like a baton.

4.   What is your favorite TV Show or movie? I’m so flaky when it comes to TV shows, I’m currently going through old shows like Freaks & Greeks, Wonderfalls, Boston Public, Harry’s Law and deciding why they didn’t have long life like The Office… so I’ll discuss my favorite movie. Coming to America because for whatever reason…I have watched this movie the most in my life and always like it is the first time I ever saw it, it just never gets old to me. So I’ll give credit where credit is due!

5.    What book would you recommend others to read? Their journal/diary…

6.   What is your dream job? Shoe designer!!!!!!!!!! It’s my biggest dream but I’ve noticed along the way that before I get there…there are smaller dreams that need to be completed first! But I sketch at least once a month…watching this video below just reminded me how beautiful my dream still is to me.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=8BebkVAOvlg

7.   What is your favorite food? Sweet Potato Yams by my mom because I’m picky about what I eat…I make all the “Girl YOU Crazy” faces if I don’t like it. So to be specific and cut out any other questions about anybody else’s food…I don’t like everybody’s’ yams just my mothers, it goes well with her Mac and Cheese… yes, please!

8.   What is guilty pleasure? Ooooo I’m embarrassed but I watch Love and Hip Hop ATL… I apologize phahahahahahaaaaa but there is this one vlogger who has the BEST commentary on the show…it just makes me giggle non-stop!!!!!

Then… Nutella…if there was a meeting…I would go!!!

9.   What is the story behind your blog name? Perspective decides how we see things. And negative words and phrases have the possibility to cloud our perspective. It was a moment of recognizing that “Girl YOU Crazy” can easily enter our thoughts because it’s said with a little laughter but the thing is…it can sometimes linger negatively… So…I flipped the meaning of something playful that can discourage, keeping it playful but using the phrase as fuel to accomplish/complete/finish and live your dream with great expectation & a smile. 

10. What is your favorite drink of choice? Water… that sounds so boring but I had to stop drinking the sweets although Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha and me like to get together like old friends every now and then!

11.   If money were no object, where would be the first place you would travel to? Turks and Caicos, my bags could be packed in minutes!!! … I like to travel to warm weather and be around different accents…and get more use out of my passport so…

Well… now you know a little more about me!!!

Now in paying it forward…I looked up many different rules for choosing your list of 11…so I did a combination… if you would like to pass your nomination to someone else, please let me know, and I will update my list! Thanks…and here is my list of 11:

I enjoy your journeys for different reasons!!

1. For Women to Women

2. Illy Who

3. Kerri Waller

4. Live Laugh Love Post

5. Manicured & Marvelous

6. Mariah Thompson Blog

7. Ms. AmericanPie

8. Nailmattic

9. The Preppy Polka Dot

10. This Girl & The World

11. Reasons To Dress

And here are the questions I would like for you to answer (yes…I know…they are random…):

1.   When people first heard you entered the blogging game…what did they say?

2.   Tell me a movie you watched that no one would believe you learned something valuable from?

3.   What’s your favorite quote?

4.   What makes you LOL, Phahahs, Haaaaa or Hehe?

5.    Fill-in-the-blank… If you could spread ______________ on everything…life would be _______________.

6.   What’s your dream vacation… and who would you invite (even if you don’t know them…)?

7.   What advice would you give to someone considering giving up on their dream/passion?

8.   What’s your favorite magazine (online or print) or book? And would you ever turn your blog into one??

9.   Who or what inspires you the most?

10.  If your favorite color was a love song…what would be the title?

11.  20 years from now…What is one thing you want the older you to know/remember?

Have fun and thanks so much Beauty School ScArlet!!!

-Lauren Alicia…Miss GYC Girl…YOU Know the Rest!

How Creative Would YOU Be…?

Come on down and welcome to HOW-CREATIVE-WOULD-YOU-BE-? *Key Music…

In this post (or maybe even a C H A L L E N G E…)…I’m asking that YOU limit your outside resources, as in whatever is not in your house/building…do not use.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how easy it is to limit our abilities when we think we are without certain resources…

causing us to possibly unnecessarily outsource.

In my thoughts, I had to realize that I when I do this…I put a cap on who I am, how I’m designed and what my design is prepared to fulfill, and as a result…I personally use it as an excuse to procrastinate…so I wait and wait and make more plans to wait!!!

…Girl, it was time to put an end to that crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we know we’re worthy…YOU/Me/We need to walk in our worth!!! HELLO!!!

So if you can relate… this is for YOU!

Here is the CHALLENGE, below is a list for you to put to use:

How Creative Would You Be If YOU…

1.    Read all the books in your house that you just had to buy/borrow/read?

2.    Got your cookbooks dirty instead of dusty? :-)

3.   Learned and used all the programs downloaded on your computer?

4.    Try it yourself…before commissioning someone?

5.    Made yourself wear everything in your closet?

How Creative Would You Be If…

6.    Every outfit you wore outside expressed an opportunity of (YOUR) worth and more?

How Creative Would You Be If YOU…

7.    Took a camera and captured whatever/everything you see (inside and out)?

8.    Looked in the mirror and decided to see more than a reflection?

9.    Visualized what you dreamed of becoming or owning, then went to visit it and/or made the blueprint for it?

10.   Looked up at the sky and wondered?

11.   Decided to fix, re-create or give new perspective to what is broken?

12.   Really took time to think about the story that you live?

13.  Thought about why the person you admire or the person whom gets on your nerves the most has a special place in your thoughts?

How Creative Would You Be If…

14.  Without hesitation… you knew where your biggest inspiration resided and the depths of the places your inspiration takes you? And how to stir it up every time you need/want it?

How Creative Would You Be If YOU…

15. Wrote down and thought about everything you ever wanted to be and WHY, starting from your first childhood memory?

16.  Immediately gave plans to the things you refuse to throw away? ... Putting aside “some day I’ll use it for something,” and give it some REAL GENUINE PLANS for this current month…

17.  Decided with action that TODAY is the day that I begin what I always wanted to start and imagined it being amazing when it is completed?

18. Realized that shoestrings are not just for shoes, cameras are not just for capturing memories, belts are not only for pants, olive oil isn’t just for cooking, stories aren’t just for telling? How creative would you be if you gave the things you use an opportunity to be useful for something else?

19.  How creative would you be if someone noticed the depths of your capabilities that you have yet to see? Would you ignore them or take time to explore in yourself what they see?

20.   Owned Your Lemons?

21.  Allowed this month’s Question for Thought to help you think of the NEXT BIG THING?

Well…How Creative Would YOU Be? How Creative Can YOU Be?

Oh…I apologize if this wasn’t as exciting as the lady in the GIF made it seem but…

When I was typing the scenarios, I thought about making up some extravagant, over-the-top, crazy courageous type tasks…then, I remembered…there is nothing like being in a scenario you already live called, YOUR LIFE!

What task(s) are you facing today? Add it to the “How creative would YOU be…” list and put your design to the test.

I am!!

My point for all of that is… Know your design…IT IS, YOU ARE A GREAT RESOURCE!!!

Think about all of the “AMAZING” YOU/Me/WE are already equipped/designed/capable to create before we even leave our mind, swipe our card, call someone up…ETC…YOU get the picture!

Last Thing…

Do you watch Extreme Cheapskates??? I know I’ve mentioned it a couple times on social media…ASIDE from some of their eating and bathing habits… There is something WE can all learn about being cheap… that money isn’t our greatest resource…WE ARE!!!

Mmmhmm!!!

Our creativity lies in what we are willing to create (with what we have).  

How creative would/can YOU be?

Defeating the Crazy with Courage…

Lauren Alicia

P.S. this process can be a struggle but We Are designed to come out on top…that’s a promise!

Happy Monday!!

I write what I speak.

 

GYC Girl Speaks…Quote & Commentary Week

“The story you speak into your own life will shed light onto the path you take.”-The Present & Future (In deep GYC Thought)

In preparation for next month’s webisodes…I decided to write a post that cuts straight to the chase...even the title doesn’t waste time!

This week, I wanted to focus and actually connect the Question for Thought with the Post!!!!!

Say What????? I know…I rarely do that…like ever…never!

Talking about the Question for Thought… “What is the quote(s) of your life?” relates to the movement, vibe, joy and peace that you find in a moment of stillness, when or probably after all craziness breaks loose... or you’re in need of confirmation/evidence/approval/verification (all of that) for your present situation…these “quotes” or whatever term you would like to use, bring you back to your reality that says,

“I am worthy, deserving and enough…and NO ONE has the right to tell me anything different.”

So for this post,

I decided to focus on and create GYC’s own quotes and “Crazy…all over the place” commentary (on some) for the sake/reason/purpose of going deeper. The quotes were birthed in and from real situations, conversations, and observation.

In creating, I began to think about the “things” I am allowed (and I use that lightly) to say and speak into other’s lives and where they allow it to take them…

Even if that’s nowhere or “Girl/Lauren YOU Crazy”!

Then, I thought about the “things” other’s say to me…and I to myself, and where it takes me…*Hints the quote at the top*

And the story of the GYC Quotes unfolds…

“I’ve learned that if I want it, I have to fight for it because persistence can’t be ignored.”

“So I dream to escape and uncover my new reality…”

“If you don’t want to hear about my struggle, then I’ll never tell you about my success…you’ll just have to wait until you can Google it.”

GYC Commentary

We’ve all had those moments whether it was big or little, simple or extravagant… that someone wanted to know how we got “such and such,” why were we able to go to ____________(fill-in-the-blank)…or how did you do that??? While some genuinely want to know the story to encourage themselves on their own journey…you’ll find that others don’t care and just want to know the end result…and if it can possibly benefit them.

Our story is rich, no matter where we started, and any success we have… came from building/climbing/reaching/believing beyond what was in front of us… So if you do NOT want to hear or be a part of the journey/process/struggle... but partake of the success...

Well other than that being foolishness...it is irresponsible and a false representation of our persistent life. “If you want the cake…you have to know how it’s made baby…or is it sausage!?”

I learned this the real life experience way, not only in being annoyed by people wanting to know why and how I have what I have…but learning that it takes knowing the whole story to build and last.

“WE all have a platform and what we do with it is our responsibility, pay attention to the impact because the ‘chit chat’ about another’s only diminishes our own.”

“You might see me getting up…but you will never see me down.”

GYC Commentary

You’ve heard this quote said and written many ways about “falling down and getting back up” but there is a moment when it is unknown as to HOW to get back up…and this quote emphasizes/highlights…throws muscle milk at it to add to the "can do" attitude of that moment!

It is our declaration (in a GYC rant) that “Yea I may have failed, messed up, made a complete fool of myself but I’m not going to lay there like I have no hope... just because I’ve fallen does not mean I cannot and am not getting up.”

“Understand your vision and make way for its obstacles.”

“I’ve recognized the difference from my own experience…that quitting and discontinuing carry their own story.”

GYC Commentary

Quitting is giving up and discontinuing is stopping/putting an end to something you should not have began or definitely should not continue. I realized the difference, time and time again as I entertain and attempt certain things that I SHOULD and SHOULD NOT do…and that is all I’m going to say about that.

“Love where your journey is taking you or get up and go in another direction.”

“I don’t feel the need to hold on to unprofitable things just to have something.”

Think on that…

“Passion will always set you apart from those that have become routine as an art.”

GYC Commentary/Personal Story

My Senior Thesis class involved building and presenting a project that we wanted to pursue/make/implement/produce in our real lives after college... whether this was a week later or a few years from now… Overall, we were building a business and presenting it in a way that was self-explanatory.

That’s right…turn in a business plan and have a visual that does all the talking…if you needed to talk about your business for other’s to understand…you’re presentation was not successful…your work needs to speak for itself and work as a stand alone.

Although many of us never did that before…it was one of the best lessons in business presentation that I’ve learned…and one of the main reasons I create with passion because it speaks louder than words.

“Let the difference be passion as it will continue to speak after you leave the room…passion speaks louder than words.”

In all of this and moving forward, I’ve learned that passion is an innate/”birth given” (if that makes sense) fuel that allows whatever anyone is talking about to be intriguing and inspiring…no matter what the actual “thing” is or looks like…it will not and does not go unnoticed.

“I may not like what you do but I can appreciate the passion that breathes when you talk about it.”

So when it is all said…and done…

“My pen and paper allows me to create and escape to the life I build towards.”

I write what I speak.