It's a Profoundly Loved Blog Party!

A little earlier this year my good friend Seanna from the blog Seanna Approved tapped me to take part in a fun blogging Q&A called The Profoundly Loved Blog Party.

As with most of these kinds of posts the premise is as simple as can be. There's a series of questions which one answers and then they nominate a handful of folks to respond to the same queries themselves.

On this lovely first weekend of April, a mere day away from Easter Sunday, I thought that now would be a great time to spend a little while delving into this group of get-to-know-me-even-better questions before heading out to lap up up the prospect of a sunny springtime day and all the joy it’s bound to house.

It's 'Profoundly Loved Blog Party' Time!

1. Tell me about something you love and why?
Learning. I absolutely, passionately adore learning about just about anything and everything I possibly can. I've been this way my whole life and love perpetually lapping up knowledge anywhere and everywhere I go. Doing so brings me joy, helps me in every area of my life, and ensures that I've always got a stack of books a mile high waiting to be read.





2. What is one thing you do that makes you feel like "I could do this forever"?

Sharing my life with my wonderful husband.




3. What do you love about yourself?

The older I get, the more entries land on this list, which I think is a great thing because we should all love as much about ourselves as possible. Some of the things that really jump out at me are my passion for the past, my caring spirit, that writing and creating bring me tremendous joy, my unending love of reading, the fact that I've always had a lot of common sense, that I feel a profound connection with nature and the animal kingdom, my ability to make a million and one recipes from memory, that I'm (humbly) a great wife and daughter, that I'm an incredibly hard worker, that I'm extremely opened minded, and that I can almost always find the silver lining in even the bleakest of situations.




4. What advice would you give to someone who doesn’t believe he/she is beautiful?

This one cuts to the core and makes me draw in a long, heavy breath, exhaling it slowly and proceeding as though walking on eggshells with my reply, because this is something (as discussed in posts such as this one) that I've seriously battled with my whole life.

Honestly, my gut reaction is to say that I don't know. That if I did know, I could repeat it often enough to myself and have an easier time believing in my own (physical) beauty. That said, coming from a place of immense understanding, I would tell that person that external beauty is profoundly overrated and yet at the same time, that they are likely a thousand times lovelier looking than they've ever been kind enough on themselves to see. That a good heart, honest soul, and caring spirit trump "looks" any day of the week and that there is, without a doubt, someone out there who will think they're the most beautiful person on earth because they view them though the lenses of love.




5. What is the best piece of advice you've ever received about confidence?

Objectively, I wouldn't say that I've been given a lot of advice in this arena throughout my life. A good deal of what I have heard though has come from my wise husband and certainly one thing he's said to me numerous times is to remember that chances are people are not thinking about you in a negative, judgmental, or unkind light nearly as often as you might believe they they are, let alone that you think about yourself in the same way. Therefore, don't waste your time and happiness worrying that they might be!




6. If you were your own daughter/son, what important things would you tell yourself/them?

Interestingly for me, this ties somewhat into question #4. I would tell my child (err, myself), first and foremost that I loved them unconditionally. They I always will always have their back and would believe, at face value, anything they told me. That I would defend them with my life and fight to the death to ensure they they were as safe and healthy as possible in any setting. That if they needed dental work done, as I always did growing up (but which my parents weren't able to provide me with) and still do to this day, I would literally sell everything I owned (to raise money) and work five jobs, if that's what it took, so that my child never had to live with the disfigurement and self-confidence crushing embarrassment that comes from having a mouth full of teeth you're perpetually ashamed of, even though you (they) didn't do anything to cause that situation to happen. And I would tell them, often, that they were beautiful/handsome, unique, valuable, talented, creative, worthy of respect always, capable of amazing things, and that, last but not least, I would support them and their life choices no matter what (so long as they didn't harm themselves or others).






7. A verse, poem, sonnet, ancient-old proverb that inspires you to love yourself and others?

This classic poem entitled "Dreams" by Langston Hughes was one of the first pieces of poetry I remember learning by heart as a child. It has stayed with - and at times even guided - me through life ever since.

{To learn more about a specific image, please click on it to be taken to its respective source.}

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There are so many fantastic bloggers out there that I'd be delighted to have take part in this blog party posting game, so if you aren't named specifically here, please don't feel excluded. You have my blessing to tag yourself and answer these seven thought provoking questions as well, anytime you'd like. If you play along, be sure to come back here after you've posted your answers to leave a comment letting me know that you've done so, as I would love to read your seven replies, too.

I'm nominating the following seven awesome ladies to take part in the Profoundly loved blog party:

Brittany from Va-Voom Vintage

Candice from Vintage Current

Daffny from A Vintage Nerd

Esther from Dolly Creates

Marija from Purple Pinky Honey

Michelle from Delightful Handiwork

Porcelina from Porcelina's World

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So often I find that with these kinds of blog tag/blog Q&A posts, I'm nominated - which I sincerely appreciate - but it usually takes me several months until I get the opportunity to answer them. I didn't want to wait anywhere near that long this time around, as I really do like it when my fellow bloggers and online friends tag me to play along with these kinds of fun posts.

It's been less than two months since Seanna did so, and while that might not break any blogging land speed records, so to speak, it's still pretty quick in my books. Who knows, perhaps the next time someone kindly tags me for a game like this, I'll post my answers that same month. (Knowing myself and my blogging schedule as I do, though it will likely be more like half a year, but hey, stranger things have happened! :))

How many of these 99 things have you done?

As both an avid blogger and a scrapbooker, I'm always on the prowl for topics or lists that can serve as jumping off points for posts and paper crafting projects alike. When, this past May, I first encountered the 99 Things game on the stellar beauty blog Art Evolve, I knew at once that I'd be bookmarking it to try my own hand at in the near future.

As I embark on the first few days of my 28th year of life, now seems like an ideal time to go through this list and see just how many of these ninety-nine activities and events I've experienced so far.

If you're not familiar with this fun blogging chain game, all you have to do is go through the list below and highlight any of the following things that you've done in bold, leaving those that you haven't (yet) experienced as they are (notes in italics are my own, you may want to remove them if you try your hand at this list). It's quick, enjoyable, and thought provoking all in the same go.

{99 Things}

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain (a very tiny one!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightening storm
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (I've seen a Mennonite one though)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (I adore drive-in movie theaters, as discussed last year in this post)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Girl Guide cookies)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been a passenger on a motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Kissed a stranger at midnight on New Year’s Eve
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life 90.
Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Got a tattoo
94. Had a baby 95.
Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

{I've done #22 precisely once in my lifetime, and that was only because the car that my friend and I were driving in ran out of gas at about 11pm and we needed a lift to the nearest filling station - this being in days before everyone had a cell phone. There was, I assure, you no suggestive skirt hiking up in evolved, and I hope that I never have to hitch a ride again, though am glad in a way that I got experience it once during my youth. 1941 photo of actresses Joan Blondell and Carole Landis via Keen Delage on Flickr.}

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To say that this list is a mixed bag would be a massive understatement. Amongst its entries one finds incredibly profound events and experiences nestled right next to the seemingly mundane or every day. Few, if any, of us will ever do or experience all of these things, and that's totally okay. The point, I believe, of this exercise is not to strive to check off as many things as you can, but rather to reflect on those that you have done, while looking ahead to others that you may wish to experience in your lifetime (for example, I'd love to Visit Hawaii, France and Russia, publish a book, and have my portrait painted).

It's not a bucket list per se, because you did not create it yourself, but it can certainly help add an entry or two (or more) to the database of things you'd love to try your hand at during the course of your lifetime.
I was surprised in a way to see how many I'd done (both ordinary and spectacular), as well as some seemingly commonplace things (like sing karaoke) that I've not yet tried my hand at. I think that it would be wonderful to revisit this list again, perhaps ever ten or so years to see which items you can now highlight, and which others remain as dreams and goals for the years that lie ahead.

For those who may be wondering about entry #89 ("saved someone's life"), when I was 13 years old I was present as two men were were moving a bulky refrigerator down a flight of stairs. One was in the back and one was in the front of the fridge, as they neared the bottom of the steps I noticed that the fridge was slipping off of the dolly and that the man in the front couldn't possibly hold it up on his own.

In a flash I jumped in and somehow (I was not a freakishly strong child by any means), spurred on by the strength that comes from the adrenaline rush of a stressful situation, managed to hold the fridge up on my own while the fellow just barely escaped out of the way before being crushed. I cannot say for certain that I saved his life, but I know for sure that I was able to spare him from being extremely injured by the weight of a clunky old fridge toppling down on him. I've never shared this experience with anyone before, and I certainly don't view what I did as a heroic, just fortunate that I happened to be there at the right moment to prevent someone from being seriously injured or worse.

We've all done thousands of things, big and small, run-of-the-mill and utterly unforgettable over the years, how many of the 99 listed above have you experienced in your time and which do you hope to accomplish in the future?