Ciao tutti! Hey y'all! I decided to get this blog up and going again, finally. Partly because the BYU ISP is having a blog contest for those currently participating in study programs abroad, and there is a prize. But mostly because I need to. And I've known I needed to for a long time. I just tend to put things off sometimes. And with this I just didn't even know where to begin, so I didn't. But I have a lot of thoughts A lot of thoughts with little capacity to translate those thoughts into spoken words, or in this case, written. I used to be good at it when I was frequently posting on my blog and writing several papers for school. So this blog will be, once again as it once was, an attempt to better express myself and my many jumbled thoughts that are up there in my brain into words. For my own good and probably for that of others in my life. I just KNOW you all want to know what I am thinking all the time.
To start I want to go back a ways and explain, once again, the title of this blog: "Live Living." The end of my sophomore year of college, I was enrolled in an American Art class to fulfill a requirement for my major, Art History and Curatorial Studies. Our professor, one of my favorites, Professor James Swensen, assigned us the book "The Art Spirit" by Robert Henri. Robert Henri was an influential artist and teacher in the early 1900s, based in the northeast. I absolutely loved this book, and it was full of great insights into the mind and techniques of an artist. But not only that, I found it quite inspiring for my life, one who has no artistic skill whatsoever (unless we're talking about choreographing a hip hop routine... then we'll talk). One of the quotes that stood out to me most was that of (now I'm quoting this from memory, so it might not be exact. I don't have the book with me at the moment) "The reason that most artists live to such a great age is because they live living, rather than live dying." Got it? LIVE LIVING! I kept running that through my mind, and eventually I decided to make it a new life motto, title my blog after it, and share it with the world (or at least those in my small BYU, Utah world...). Ever since I was little I've loved the quote by Thoreau (I think) that said "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined." I remember it was on a magnet that was stuck to the moniter comm. unit in our laundry room growing up. And I still carry it with me on trips on an embroidered pillowcase made by my mother as a gift before I set off on an 8 week study abroad in Europe Spring of 2010, followed by my 19 month mission to Italy, and again here on an international internship in Siena.
Life should never be wasted. Not even a second. We all have dreams, goals, things we want to accomplish, and there is no reason not to accomplish them. I honestly and sincerely believe that if we live our lives right and WORK, all of our dreams we have for this lifetime can and will come true, even if a lifetime is what it takes for it to finally happen.
As a 24 year old BYU senior graduating in April with a degree of Art History returned missionary having seen 15+ countries aunt of 9 (almost 10) and being surrounded by a myriad of wonderful people that I have met and loved all throughout, it is safe to say that many of my dreams have been accomplished. But I ain't done dreamin' yet.
So hold tight and bear with me as I am recommitting and as I continue to document and record my attempts to make all my dreams come true, whether they are actually accomplished, or only temporarily postponed.
I LIVE LIVING.
