Believing is Seeing

This week's theme seems to be believing in the impossible and miracles. So I figured that I would end the week off with another post about believing, however I am going to start with a quote for this one.

In the movie, "The Santa Claus" Judy the elf tells Scott, "Seeing isn't believing, Believing is seeing." When I was younger I never really understood what that meant. As I've grown up though I always think about it Christmas rolls around. Do we all have to be convinced and see something before we can believe it. Take one of the easiest examples...Santa Claus. We might not see him, but does that mean he isn't real? Yes, I know the secret about Santa Claus, but at the same time who's to say he doesn't really exist.

In the classic 1897 New York Sun article, "Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Clause," Francis P. Church replies to a little girl who asks if there really is a Santa Claus. In the article he says that he does exist and he is as real as love and generosity. Show me the proof, if you believe there is not some kind of magic in this world. You can't prove something like that does not exist.

Which brings me to my next point, you might not be able to see everything, but you can feel it. Helen Keller once said, "The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." Believing in Santa Claus, in God, in love or kindness can't always be seen. We feel it with our heart. Think about it. People are told all the time that God is always with us, but they don't always believe it. But think about what would happen if they started to believe. I know from personal experience there is a sense of comfort and constant love by having God in your life. I might not be able to see him right now, but I can feel it. I know I am loved and I know that he is always looking out for me.

It's the same with Santa. I might never see him, but feeling during the Christmas season, it's magical. For anyone who has felt that magic, I don't know how it is possible to say that you could never picture there being a Santa.

So why do we need proof that something is real before we believe it? When we are kids we are willing to believe in the impossible, in magic, but then why as adults do we push it all away as we grow up? Society seems to tell us, if you aren't a child then seeing is believing. Do we agree with it, maybe yes, maybe no. We don't seem to do anything about though.

Holding on to that magic and believing in something bigger than us keeps us young. If you are able to hold on to that magic and faith that are primarily meant for kids, you have been given a gift. You get the best of both worlds. You the fun of being an adult and yet you get to keep the heart and the excitement of a child. In my eyes that is one of the greatest gifts we can be given.

In about 85 days the Christmas season will begin. This year make it a point to BELIEVE and feel that spirt of Christ and love and even Santa in your. Once you start believing, that is when you will finally begin to see.

Happy Friday Everyone! Have a magical weekend!

The 1980 Miracle

Since I mentioned yesterday that one of my favorite movies of all time is "Miracle" I figured that it is only fair to dedicate a post to it. For those of you who don't know, in the 1980 Winter Olympics the United States Hockey Team won the Gold Metal. The big rival that year was the Soviets. Since 1954, the Soviets had won every world championship or Olympic game. They were the team to beat. 

The U.S. team was made up of ameteur and college players. They weren't professionals, and no one believed that they would get very far. The boys were coached by Herb Brooks, in my opinion one of the most inspirational and best coaches of all time. Brooks made his men work hard. He was determined to get the boys in shape so that they could be conditioned enough to keep up with the Soviet for a full three periods. Furthermore, he made sure that they understood that they were a team. They didn't play for the individual name on the back of the jersey, they played for the name on the front.

When the U.S. was matched up against the Soviets everyone tuned in to watch. It didn't matter if they understood hockey or not. It was the fact that they had something to believe in. America needed that at the time. The game went back and forth and the U.S. ended up coming from behind to win it. Michael Eruzione, who was also the captain, had the game winning goal. One of the most memorable parts of the entire game for fans was when the announcer scream, "Do You Believe In Miracles?!"

I grew up with hockey all around me. My brother started to play hockey when he was 5. I have watched him play now for 16 years. I understand and love the game. The excitement that you feel when you watch a good game is undescribable. Needless to say when we bought the movie Miracle my sister and I made it our movie. I think we have actually watched it so much that we know almost every single line :)

 The nice part about the movie is that every play you see is the actual play from the game. This movie is one of the most accurate sports films that you will see. Every time we watch it, it is like you are watching it for the first time and experiencing all of the games for the first time. You feel the excitement that they felt when they score a goal. You fall in love with the players, and you feel their triumphs and defeats. You understand Brooks's coaching style and why he acted the way he did. This movie is beyond phenominal! If you haven't seen it, I would recommend it!

Below is ending of the movie, it will show you the excitement that you will feel if you get a chance to see it!

Anyone else have movies that never get old? What movies are your absolute favorite?

Happy Hump Day!

This week seems to just be flying by. I have completely lost track of this entire week. So I figured that I would do a mid-week recap about the past few days (minus mentioning that I worked 2 jobs everyday lol). :)

On Monday, I was excited to go and babysit my little cousins Nicholas and Becca. Nicholas is 5 years old and in Kindergarten. I couldn't believe that when I heard it. Where has the time gone?! And Becca is 2 years old and is a ball of energy. I love hanging out with these guys, they are so much fun and we always have fun.



From Left to Right: Nicholas, Becca, and Treyson



 

We ended up playing X-Men, baseball, watched Scooby-Doo, and just ran around. It's fun getting to play with them because you forget everything that you have to do, and you get to be a kid again. I can't wait to babysit them again in 2 weekends!

Now yesterday was a complete 180 kind of day. My friend Katie and I decided to go an check out a health club (a.k.a. Blast Fitness). I have been looking for a health club because I want to keep my strength up. I was talking to my brother before I got there and he said that I should stick with insanity and not sign up for a club. Initially, I was ready to sign up and excited to do so, however I started wonder if he was right. It would be cheaper if I just bought my own weights and did the same exercises that I would do there at home. Plus we do have insanity at home.

I guess the night part about the club was that I was going to do it with my friend, which would make me liable to go, but the reality is we probably would be going at the different times so that plan was shot. So I've decided I am just going to have to motivate myself and keep myself on track. I have made a calendar and I am determined to stick to it! I'll keep you all posted.

So instead of working out, Katie and I indulged in our favorite dessert...ICE CREAM! We went to Colonial Cafe and let me tell you it was absolutely amazing!

When I got home, I had to give Kevin, my adorable beta fish, a bath and clean my room. However, we did watch Miracle as we did it, which made it go fast. Plus who could pass up such an extraordinary movie!

I hope everyone has had a good week thus far, and are able to get over and survive hump day! Until tomorrow friends! :)

My New Obsession

Okay so it is no secret to my friends and family that I am obsessed with Hallmark...more specifically cards. I absolutely love sending out cards for the holidays, and I don't mean just Christmas. I send out cards for Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, the 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. Plus you can't forget anniversaries and birthdays. Needless to say I seriously need to buy stock in Hallmark. I mean walking into Hallmark is so exciting, I can spend hours there! The main reason that I love sending people cards is that it brightens their days and they have something to look forward to!

I've come across a problem though. Since I won't be in the country for Halloween, I need to buy my cards early, and would really like to fill them out early as well. I've been searching a million sights and trying to find cheap Halloween cards that are cute.

Well as luck would have it, I came across this amazing site...and the word amazing is an understatement. It's called VistaPrint. You are are able to design cards, journals, pens, invitations, stamps, etc. I could seriously play on this site all day. Well I started to design a Halloween card but just for fun because I figured that by the time I got to the checkout it would be a crazy price that I wasn't willing to pay.

With a custom design and writing inside plus envelopes and shipping, I paid about $28! I was able to get 20 cards too. Now I'm sure you are thinking that it isn't a deal, but the reality is that I probably spend about $30 each holiday sending cards to people. To make matters even better, they were customized and a design that I wanted. For that price I was sold. At this point I was sold. VistaPrint is my new it place.

To make things more exciting, they have a ton of free items that you can buy. I got an e-mail last night that gave you the chance to customize notebooks, pens, and journals for free! So I created a calendar and a journal as Christmas gifts for my parents, and I even ordered myself custom cards. The only price that was charged was $4.99 for the picture fee. So for a total of $12 I had two Christmas gifts ordered and customized.

If you have not gone to this site, I guarantee that you will love it, especially if you love to customize gifts or send to card like I do! I hope you all check it out!

Has anyone used this site before? What did you guys think of it? Did you fall in love with it like I did??

Jason and Luke

Happy Friday Everyone! Sorry I've been MIA recently, this week has been crazy. This is a little late but I have to tell you about the Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan concert last Saturday. I went with my sister and her best friend. It was at the Tinley Park Midwest Ampitheatre. We were so excited to be going to this concert. I mean come on two hotties in one place how can you turn it down. Plus this was going to be the concert of the summer. So in true fashion we got ourselves dolled up and hit the road.

Our seats were amazing! We were in a box. Now none of us have ever been to this venue so we didn't know what our seats were going to be like. This was the view from our seats...pretty awesome.

Luke Bryan came out first and man did he look cute! Plus I love his songs so I was excited to hear them live.

While Luke was on the stage, we had some drama in our box because 4 girls came in smashed and were getting in everyone's way. Needless to say they were completely annoying the whole night. We didn't let that stop us from having fun though! Jason Aldean was next and he rocked your socks right off you!

The concert was truly amazing, however, the venue was horrible. Kathleen and I both agreed that we would never go back to this venue because it was the most unorganized place we had ever been to. They had no system for getting people in the door, no system for buying shirts, and definitely no system for parking or getting out of the lot! We both agreed that the only time we would ever go back was if it was an once in a lifetime concert!

Overall, it was a perfect final outing with Kathleen and Laura before they headed off to UIndy!

  

Anyone see any amazing concerts this summer??

Turning a New Leaf

Last night I started to do some thinking about relationships. I've come to the realization that many girls, including myself at times, will fall for the "playboy" or "jerk" because they give us attention or make us feel wanted. But why do we do that? The reality is that at the end of the day we know we are not going to end up with them. They are a fluke, an inbetween stage until we find the guy who treats us well and we shows us that we deserve better.

However, we give up the search to find that good guy because we believe that they don't exist. The other problem is that when we find that good guy they want to just remain friends. So we attempt to settle, thinking that we can change the jerks and shape them into our ideal person. Yet we know that they aren't going to change. So why do we put up with it? Why do we put all our effort into the jerk and blow off the guy we should actually go for?

I won't lie. I am guilty of this. My good friend, Craig, tells me it all the time, and I realize it. But do you think I do anything about...no! I know I should. There have been some guys in my life that I wish I would have taken a chance with, but I was too chicken to do anything. So I ended up going out with guys who had an ulterior motive and who pursued me. What makes it worse is that I'm not stupid, I knew what they want, even though they weren't going to get it.

Well last night, when I was attempting to fall asleep, I started thinking. Why do I put myself through all the crap and "heatache" (if you even want to call it that)? It's not worth it! No playboy jerk is worth wasting my thoughts or time over. I would much rather try and develop the relationship with guys who I actually like and care about. Plus maybe find some courage to do something about it.

We all get tempted with boneheads every once in a while, and they honestly might seem like a good guy at first. The reality is that their true colors shine through quick enough for you kick them to the curb! So I'm done with the idiots. It's not worth my time. I can be using that time to text a good friend and catch up with them, or work on pursuing a guy that I like. From this moment on no jerk, player, idiot is getting my attention. Period!

Anyone else feel like they have been stuck in a rut and need to make a change??

Take Me Out To The Ballgame

So there comes a point during summer that I realize summer is coming to a close and everyone has to go back to school. There is a point where I  realize that I am going to have to say good-bye to my brother as he makes his way back to ISU for the year. Many of you are probably thinking, "Oh that's not too far, you can go down anytime." However, the hard part is John plays varisty hockey, so he is traveling or playing hockey every weekend. On top of that, this year, I am going to have to say good-bye to my little sister. She is off to UIndy, which is farther than ISU. I'm really excited for her, but the selfish part of me wishes that she wasn't going, or at least going that far.

Saying good-bye to my brother the first time he left was extrememly hard. I still remember, he left Kathleen and I a note that he hand wrote the night before. The day we said good-bye was a complete hot mess. I am pretty sure Kathleen and I cried all day. With that being said, I already know I am going to be a hot mess when I have to say good-bye to my sister (which is why the smart side of me took the day off!).

Anyways since summer is coming to a close, we have been having a lot of family time this past week. We went mini-golfing and bowling (which mom dominated everyone at lol), and us kids even got tickets to the White Sox Game (thanks to my dad's friend)!!

We had amazing seats...Section 140, Row 20!

We could see absolutely everything, like the players stretching and getting ready for the game. Plus not to mention it was mascot day their so we got to see Rusty from the Chicago Steel, the place I intern. 

We ate a ton of food, and laughed the entire game. Plus we got to see some pretty amazing fireworks, since there were some homers and the SOX WON! 

But no outing to the Sox game would be complete without some pictures being taken :) Our "second sister" Laura even got to join in on the fun!

I think the best part of the entire day though was that we got to spend it together, without parents...sorry mom and dad lol. We love spending time together and are all super close, so being able to spend one last summer adventure together was a blast!

Thanks for the tickets Mr. Andrew!!

 

Happily Ever Afters

There is nothing like having a happily ever after with the man, or woman, whom you love. It's like a story book ending, a fairy tale, a dream come true. I am fortunate enough, thanks to my dear friend Mary Kay, to work weddings at NCC when she needs help, and see happily ever afters all the time.

There is nothing like the excitement of a wedding day. You see the bride excited, and decked out in her gorgeous dress. Her hair is all pinned and ready to go. In other words she looks like a princess. She is ready for one of the most magical days of her life. She might even feel like Kate Middleton, marrying her prince. I sure hope I feel like that ;). Then their is the groom, who is excited to see his bride. He is decked out in a tux and looks very hansome. He has found dream girl, the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with. The bride and groom are in their own little world surrounded by people they love and care about.

After having a horrible night yesterday, I was glad that I got to come and work these weddings. The first wedding was absolutely gorgeous, and I won't even lie, it was the first time that I actually had tears in my eyes, while working one of these. My job is to make sure everything is in order (somewhat like a wedding planner), and help the bride upstairs. The first bride's colors were puple...my favorite color...and green. It was just breath taking. 

As I was walking up the stairs with the bride, she turned to me and with a huge smile and said, "I'm getting married today!" She was excited like a little girl planning her dream fairy tale wedding. All I could reply was, "Yes you are!" I love seeing a bride so excited and so in love. It truly makes you remember that even with all the bad stuff that can go on in a marriage, you can still find your prince charming and have your fairy tale become life. 

My parents have been married for 25 years. They are still head over heels in love. I  mean look at them, this was last year walking through Disney. I think it is so cute that they still hold hands and everything. They are truly meant for each other and each other's best friend.

I won't lie, I am definitely a romantic at heart. Do I believe in dreams come true or happily ever afters? HECK YA! Why shouldn't it be magical when you meet your true love? Why shouldn't you have a dream wedding and feel like a princess? Why shouldn't you feel like you've found your prince? It's one of the most magical experiences that you will have, and to finally find a man who is perfect in every way, is something we all hope for...or at least I do! :)   Below is one of my favorite songs by Carrie Underwood...listen to it. It might even change your mind!

So what do you guys think? Do you believe in happily ever afters? Or a fairy tale wedding?

Full Day Interview?!

So I have another interview tomorrow for a sports marketing firm that I looked into. The job is sales marketing and to be quite honest I don't know if that is a job I even want to do. Needless to say, the company gave me another interview, but it is a FULL day!

My first thought was "Oh Crap! I don't want to spend the entire day there, especially when I don't even think I am going to take the job!" I ended up asking people for advice and it ended up being tied. Some thought I shouldn't waste my time and others said I should just do it and get the practice. It makes sense that everyone has to have practice interviews, but do they need to be a full day?! However, do I seriously want to waste my day, when I could be at my part-time job making money?

To make matters even harder, of course my mother and sister don't understand. I get that your parents "know best," but at the same time only you know what is best for you, and how you feel. Let's face it, it's not like I don't want to get a job, I just know what I want to do and this company, I don't believe, has it. Is it that hard for a parent to listen to their child. There are points that we just want to say "STOP TALKING! Can you at least TRY to understand where I am coming from!" But no they just keep on talking. I understand that parents just want the best for their kids, and I get we sometimes have to listen to things we don't want to hear. But parents maybe your advice would be better if you first understand how you kid feels.

When did interviews start going from an hour or two, to a full day? Am I crazy or do others think that a full day interview is over the top? Or do you feel like your parents, friends, people in general aren't fully listening and understanding you before they start giving you advice and press their views into your mind??  

Welcome!

So this is my first time having a blog. I figured I would try it out to see if I like it. So welcome!! I'm Marie. I just finished a double masters from North Central College, and now I'm supposed to grow up and find a big girl job. Well no one said that would be easy. The reality is that I already found my dream job...it's working in sports. However, getting into the sports field is extremely hard. It's not about how good you are, it's about who you know.

On top of that I volunteer a lot of my time to my church. I just found out that I am going to be chair of one of our committees, the Parish Life Commission (a.k.a The PLC). I am super excited, because I think I can come up with a lot of great ideas and make a change within our church.

But with the constant running around, imagine how hard it is to have a social life! Add to that a love life that needs some serious work and you have me in a nutshell. LOL. I do the best I can though. I have a great group of friends who are always there for me. Plus I have the best family I could ask for who often keep me on my toes.

One exciting adventure that I do have, which I am looking forward to is my trip to Australia! I will taking off to Australia on October 19th and won't return till November 12th. This trip was my gift to myself for going to school 6 years straight and completing a double masters. I'm going with my godmother, which will be a blast, and I'm going to visit family down there. More on that trip to come!

I can't really give you a subject right that will be covered, it's pretty much going to be about my life and the places it takes me (here and abroad) ! I hope you'll enjoy my magical adventure that I like to call life. Who knows maybe you'll be inspired!

Have a magical day everyone!!