Tattoo Documentary Preview

So, we finished up the Tattoo Documentary, but it didn't go as planned. Between my husband and myself we had over a dozen people scheduled to come and interview for the film, and pretty much no one showed up for their appointment.

That was very annoying, but we got to the time limit required for the project. My hope is to take it and continue to add more interviews to it until we get a feature length project completed. :)

I'm Making a 'Lil Film

Just thought I would share that I am working with my husband on a class project to make a mini-documentary on tattoo culture. I'm super excited to help work on it!



I have a little background in film. It was my major in college, but not what I got to graduate in. I had finished all of my classes for the major, but then the university decided to stop counting some of my transfer credits (after already accepting them!) for foreign language, which would have forced me to spend another two years to rebuild those courses (and, just in case you're wondering, the university refused to work with me at all to graduate!). I always consider myself as having graduated in film, but technically that's not accurate. I ended up transferring to another school to graduate in a generalized program, even though I have 60+ credits just in film.

More About Alumnae Initiation

As I mentioned in a previous video, Alumnae Initiation in the Greek Life world is a an open possibility for many people. If you never joined a greek group in college, this is an opportunity to become a part of the alumnae end of things. You won't really have anything to do with the college groups, but greek leadership organizations are excellent alumnae groups to work with as a post-collegiate, and they are a fantastic system of support, activities, and philanthropy.

You do not have to be from a particular college to join most alumnae chapters. To become an alumnae initiate, there will be guidelines and requirements, but you are usually also able to select where you wish to initiate at. So, if you went to college in Montana and now live in Florida, you don't need to worry that you have to go to your alma mater to accomplish anything. Each greek organization has different rules though, so check with the one you are interested in for their most current set of requirements (and be prepared that some will not accept alumnae initiates at all).

For some more details on Alumnae Initiation in the Nation Panhellenic Conference, please refer to the site http://alumnaeinitiate.110mb.com/ to get an overall feel of what may be available to you.

And, if you are like me and HATE Greek Chat, because the users are unjustifiably vicious and turn people away from wanting to go greek, there is an alternative available to you. Greek Friends, http://greekfriends.freeforums.org/, is a great forum with lots of Alumnae Initiates who will answer your questions and not just say derogatory things and/or tell you to do a search to find the answer yourself. While Greek Chat is full of negativity, that is just a very small, selective, narrow minded group of people that in way represents the real sentiment towards Alumnae Initiates.

Network Marketing Stress!

My goodness, I am having a frustrating time with my direct sells business right now!

First, I get into it with my upline because I feel like she's ignoring problems and over saturating this area for her own personal benefit (which is mostly what my video is about).

Then today, I found out that my commission is going to be short $100 from last month when I sold roughly the same amount! It is maddening right now. I think moving hurt my business in May, but I'm not seeing how getting almost identical sales despite of the move somehow ended up with me being shorted by so much.

I tell you I am just so frustrated and struggling right now I could just scream! I don't want to say that I'm going to throw in the towel, but gesh, this is actually one of the few things where it's alright to say that I'm in it for the money. :-/

Foster Care Adoption - Rejection

It has been just shy of a month since we got to speak to the girl we were wanting to get matched with on the phone. I know for a fact that we were the only home she spoke to, and that she was very excited about us, but we've never heard back and are at a point where we assume that we are no longer being considered. Rejection hurts, and not knowing for sure is very difficult to process and makes it even more difficult to move forward with our search for a match.

I suppose it is a painful reality that rejection works both ways. Even though we started out by setting up ground rules for what children we would and wouldn't consider, I never thought I would be picky in the adoption process. However, the now that we're at this stage, it seems like we go over every child with a fine tooth comb to decide if we're right for them, and if they're right for us. I get filled with these horrified thoughts of my kids being hurt or molested by a child that we chose to bring into the home, and that has brought a great sense of gravity to every profile we look at. Where do you decide that you don't want to chance certain things instead of jumping in and hoping for the best?

While we have no expectations of finding a "perfect" child, we do want to find a match with someone that my husband and I are both really confident about. Unfortunately, we've recently rejected a profile that could have been a potential match, because we felt that the special needs were too severe for what we could handle. It makes me feel terrible to look at someone wanting a family so badly and say "no," but I feel like it's more important for us to be realistic about what we can and cannot handle rather than bring a child into our home only to confirm that it won't work and uproot them again. All the same, I do find some comfort in knowing that the child has had no idea that we looked at his information and passed, and I hope he finds the right home for him.

You can't force things or make them fit, it has to be right or you can very easily set yourself up for major problems.

Going Greek

I know there are a lot of negative stereotypes out there about Sororities and Fraternities, but a lot of those are just myths and things blown way out of proportion. Perhaps, long, long ago, a lot of hazing did exist within some groups, but that is really far from the truth in sororities as they exist today. The world changed and most of the Greek lettered organizations adapted. Hazing is illegal and wrong, period, and the Greek world of today is a plethora of positive experiences and life long connections that you shouldn't miss out on. The goal these days are to build people up to be strong leaders that know how to work and manage a team.

I am such a proud sorority girl, and my sisters have done a lot for me, so I hope this might help one or two people seriously considering going Greek in college.

If you are outside of your college years, there are still options available to you! The alumnae end of things is a lot larger than the collegiate, and it can be a perfect group to become involved in. I'll do another vlog on that topic later on, but you can check out this website in the mean time! :) http://alumnaeinitiate.110mb.com/

"From the outside you can't understand it, from the inside you can't explain it" - unknown

If You Don't Fit In

I have to say I am feeling frustrated today. I had volunteered to do an adoption blog for no payment, but was rejected after a three month wait to hear back from Adoptive Families. I hate when people won't even give you suggestions or corrections that would get you approved, but instead just throw you away (especially when it's something you're offering to do for free!).

I'd already figured out that they didn't want me to blog for them based on the fact that I was only supposed to wait 30 days to hear a response and it took them from January 19th until today to say no thank you.

While I hate rejection, I am somewhat relieved, because I don't think I could keep up with it, this vlog/blog, and everything else. I don't think I could do a blog that just dealt with one topic because I am such a multi-dimensional person. Take for instance my most poplar vlog by far - the ribbon making tutorials - that's something I would have never made if I pin holed myself into just doing one topic, because I don't craft enough these days to come up with enough ideas to blog consistently like that.

Part of my reasons for starting this blog was because I have such a difficult time fitting myself inside of a mold. I have a few things I'm very good at, or knowledgeable about, and a lot of other things that I have a few things to say, am dabbling in, or have some thoughts about. Being all over the place is part of what I consider my gift and curse in life; to go out and enjoy learning and finding new challenges. Some things stick with me for life, other things I learn and move on, but I never feel like I have any one direction to go in, which can make it hard to find a successful career in life.

The tag line I came up with for this blog is "weird, random, wonderful" which is what my life is. So, friends, as many great people have learned throughout time, if you can't fit into the mold you want, that's alright, you don't have to compare yourself to anyone else. I can't be the best Martha Stewart, Angelina Jolie, Aeon Flux (I know that's not a real person, but she does kick butt all the same), or anyone else, because I am already rocking at being me, and for all my flaws and faults, I like myself.

So keep your eyes peeled for some future vlogs that have nothing to do with one another, such as:
how to spread your business with Facebook,
dealing with constant moves and kids,
learning extreme couponing (which I'm trying out right now!),
why you should go Greek during or after college,
and loving you for you.

If you don't fit in, just break the mold :)