A Little Note

As you can tell from my #2 New Year's Resolution (Blog once a week)...things are not going so well.

However! We are still only in the first month of this year and anything can happen! I am so looking forward to all the amazing things that are going to happen this year. I just know God is going to shower me with many blessings! So here's to a beautiful year and all of our beautiful dreams. Never give up on your dreams! I know I never will! Longer post next time! Talk to you soon!

Holly

Happy New Year!

It's that day of the year when everyone makes a list of goals to achieve in the upcoming year. I actually like New Years resolutions. It's good to have goals, both short and long. The way I look at it is yes, it would be awesome to achieve everything I list in my resolutions, but even if I only complete a few, that is still a success. So here's to a brand new year. I just know that 2014 is going to be an amazing year. It's going to be my year! I am starting my life, and I am starting it now. 2014, look out! I am coming for you!

1. Fit into a size six dress by New Year’s Eve and WORK IT!

2. Blog at least once a week.

3. Read, read, read. Usually my goal is 100 books which would be amazing, but my more achievable goal would be 75 books which would beat my previous years. In addition I would like 20-30% of the books I read to be on my own-to-be-read bookshelf.

4. Get my first kiss. Yes, you read that correctly. I am 24 years old and still haven’t got my first kiss. Most of the people that read this blog already know this because I am an open book. So whether this means meeting someone and having it go somewhere, or picking a total stranger and making out, I am getting this done before I turn 25. For reals.

5. Start my career. Seriously. It’s time for me to stop making excuses and start really putting myself out there. If this job happened to mean moving to California, I would not be sad about that at all.

6. Get a dog so my soul will stop being broken.

7. Talk to my friends. This seems like a no-brainer, but I’m serious. Growing up, nobody tells you how hard it is to keep friends when you're an adult. Newsflash: it is. How often do I pick up the phone and call a friend just to chat. Let me answer that – never! This is not acceptable. I need to be a better friend and put forth the effort to keep my friends in my life.

8. See my friend Jenna graduate from Grad school. What an achievement! I can’t wait to see it!

9.Visit my friends in Vegas. I need a vacation and someone to quote Spongebob with me.

10. Write letters. Like real ones with a pen instead of a keyboard. One each month.

11. One drink soda once a month. I can pick a special occasion and that will be my time.

12. Pay off a debt. This will be tough, but I want to do as much as I can to make it happen.

13. Save up $2,000+ for something.

14. Save up to buy myself something special – class ring, artwork, language program, etc…

15. Take a class – hip hop, French, painting, etc…

16. Make time each day for daily devotion and prayer.

17. Donate a sizable chunk to charity.

18. Finish reading the Bible.

19. Make time to have some fun – like playing video games, which I love, but rarely play.

20. Create something.

I hope you all achieve all your goals and have an amazing 2014. 

Happy New Year!

Dear No One

Oh. My. Gosh. I have been catching up on Ellens (I am almost through October. Yes, I am THAT behind) and Ellen had a guest musician named Tori Kelly. She played a song that is so beautiful and SO FREAKING ME! Honestly, it's my new theme song. I am in LOVE. I hope you love it too. I think she has a gorgeous voice. Enjoy!

I like being independent
Not so much of an investment
No one to tell me what to do
I like being by myself
Don’t gotta entertain anybody else
No one to answer to

But sometimes, I just want somebody to hold
Someone to give me their jacket when its cold
Got that young love even when we’re old
Yeah sometimes, I want someone to grab my hand
Pick me up, pull me close, be my man
I will love you till the end

So if you’re out there I swear to be good to you
But I’m done lookin’, for my future someone
Cause when the time is right
You’ll be here, but for now
Dear no one, this is your love song

I don’t really like big crowds
I tend to shut people out
I like my space, yeah
But I’d love to have a soul mate
God will give him to me someday
& I know it’ll be worth the wait

So if you’re out there I swear to be good to you
But I’m done lookin’, for my future someone
Cause when the time is right
You’ll be here, but for now
Dear no one, this is your love song

But sometimes, I just want somebody to hold
Someone to give me their jacket when its cold
Got that young love even when we’re old
Yeah sometimes, I want someone to grab my hand
Pick me up, pull me close, be my man
I will love you till the end

So if you’re out there I swear to be good to you
But I’m done lookin’, for my future someone
Cause when the time is right
You’ll be here, but for now
Dear no one, this is your love song

Closed Minds. Closed Hearts.

Need to rant for just a second. Tonight we went and saw Spamalot at the Zigfield Theatre, a small community theatre just down the street. For those of you who don't know what Spamalot is about, let's just say it's not rated PG. There is swearing, sex, and other general bits of hilarious naughtiness. At one point in the second act the group in front of us stood up and walked out. Here is why I am mad.

It wasn't:

The Lady of the Lake's boobs spilling out of her dress,

The guy in his underwear with a D over his penis,

The naughty word spelled out with the shields,

The graphic descriptions from the French taunters,

The cursing,

The sexual innuendos,

The jab at the Jews,

or anything else that made them get up and leave.

You know what it was? You guessed it.

The gay one.

The song where Lancelot figures out that he is gay makes the woman in front of me stand up and usher her four kids out of the show. These "kids" are high school age or older. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS WORLD!? I mean seriously!? I don't understand how these people's minds work. These are the type of people that - whether they mean to or not - encourage bullying, encourage judgement, and encourage hate. The LGBT community and their supporters (me included) often blame closed-mindedness for their behavior. But I think it goes deeper than that. Is it their minds that are closed or is it their hearts?

How can anyone see a human being and think that because they are different from you that makes them less of a person. That makes it okay to taunt, torment, and torture them often leading to suicide? How can anyone look at my friend Payden and see anything but a beautiful and talented performer with a huge heart? How can anyone look at my friend Bryan and see anything but a hardworking individual with the biggest smile and the best hugs? How can anyone look at my friend Ryan and see anything other than an ambitious man who never gives up on his dreams and conquers everything he sets his mind to? How can anyone look at one of the most famous LGBT of all time - Ellen Degeneres - and see anything other than the most giving, big-hearted, beautiful, inspirational, and truly kind person in the whole world? Most importantly, how can anyone look at these individuals as anything other than a human being who deserves respect?

I can't and I won't.

Rant over...

at least for now.

We still have 35 states to go, after all.

In Your Facebook

I have been wanting to write this post for over a month now and just haven't had the energy to sit down and write it down...until now. I'm sure you all recall a certain furlough that happened about a month which caused quite an uproar on The Facebook. Now, don't get me wrong, I love me a little Facebook time and seeing what all my peeps are posting, but occasionally I just get fed up! Don't you!? I mean, seriously, on one of my friends timelines he had six Obama/government bashing posts in one day. I think we get the point.

Now I'm not saying that the furlough didn't suck, because it totally did! And if I had been directly affected by it, I would have felt like complaining too; however, what good would it do me? When you see all these people posting complaint after complaint and whine after whine on Facebook it's enough to make you go crazy. The only thing they are accomplishing by all that complaining is pissing off half of their Facebook friends. I know during the furlough I hid all post from three different people on my feed because I had just had enough.

I think the difference between me and the people who shared all those anti-government posts is that I always try to spin things in a positive way. You know that saying that someone always has it worse than you do? I take that saying very seriously. So yeah, it sucks that a huge portion of our country was out of the job for a few weeks. They probably had to rework their budget and cut out a few things like movies, or eating out at restaurants, or buying a book they've been wanting to read. But even with all the crap things going on in our country and with our government at least our country doesn't look like this:

Granted, the US has its own poverty problems, but the fact of the matter is that our 16% rate of poverty doesn't even come close to the 77% in countries like Haiti. Or the 60%-70% in nearly every country in Africa. Yeah, America's got it's problems, but I still feel pretty blessed to live here.

Don't you hate it when people judge you, or stereotype you, or assume things about you? I know I do. How do you think President Obama feels, or the members of congress feel, about all the hate that has been hurled toward them recently? Believe or not, those people are human, and they have feelings. I try my very best not to judge anyone. Sometimes it's hard, but I try. Every post that someone put on facebook, or shared, or liked is just perpetuating hate. I'm not okay with that. The God I believe in is a God of love and not hate, so I try to live my life loving others instead of hating and judging them. I have no idea why they have made the decisions they have made, but it's not my place to judge them for those decisions. My place is to accept the decisions and try and make the best of them or to get behind a legitimate cause in the hopes of changing those decisions for the better. Complaining won't do any good, so why bother?

Politics aren't the only thing on Facebook that are causing arguments and un-friending to happen. Another one is the R word. That's right - Religion. GASP! Now, I am a religious person. Everyone who knows me already knows this about me. It is something I am very open about, very vocal about, and very serious about. However, I know that not all of my friends on Facebook feel the same way as I do about religion, so I try not to overload them with too many "spiritual posts" because I don't want them to unfriend me. Some may say that that means I am stifling my opinions or hiding who I really am, but I don't see it that way. I am trying to be considerate of my fellow Facebookers by respecting their opinions. I only wish they would do the same for me.

As I said I have a few friends on Facebook who don't believe in religion which is fine with me, but when they start posting anti-religion posts, that really gets to me. Just like with politics I am overwhelmed by the judgement that these people are perpetuating. Particularly because many of these people left their religion because they were feeling judged. Now they are returning the favor. On one of my friend's posts someone commented, "If anyone posts more than two religious posts, I unfriend them." I like to think that my friends would respect me enough to just block me from their news feed rather than unfriending me like a twelve year old would after an argument. 

This hurts more than the political posts because these are directed at me whether they mean them to be or not. They are. Some of the things I see are hard to stomach and even though those people don't believe in God, I do. And believe it or not, I don't pray for the world to believe in God, I just pray that the world would find it's own humanity and stop the madness that is happening all around us. I will probably post a more in depth post about religion and my views on it in the future, but for now, I want to leave you with one thought.

"The only thing we have to HATE is HATE itself."

Hello. I Am Alive.

Since my last posting I have been on Vacation, baking for a bake sale, working, seeing Odyssey Dance's Thriller, making posters, attending Disciple class, working, playing bells, reading for Monday Night Book Club, working, reading all six Gallagher Girls books, working, celebrating brother's birthdays, dieting, working, going to the gym, watching the Biggest Loser, watching CSI, watching Ellen, and working.

So...I've kind of been a little busy.

BUT I'M BACK!

I have a post that will be coming out soon that has been rattling around in my brain for about a month now and I am very excited to get it out of my brain and in front of all of you.

STAY TUNED!!!

Also check out the new music and art featured now!

And now please enjoy these cat memes to hold you over until my next post:

An Outpouring of Life

I want to apologize for ignoring this blog. Recently I have had a whole lot of life poured all over me and it kind of got in the way of blogging. I want to take this time and explain what has been happening in my life recently.

1. First things first. Since mid-July I have been trying to get a job with Disney. It started off with me sending my resume to the head of Technical Services at Disneyland. He called me back and told me to wait until the fall when the job posting would appear on the Disney Careers website. I checked the site every day. When September came it was about five times a day. Finally on September 13th the job appeared. I sent in the application. The next morning I took a web-based interview and after that I immediately had to set up an in-person interview at Disneyland. Mom and I drove to Las Vegas on the 21st, drove to Anaheim on the 22nd, had my first interview with casting on the 23rd, had my second interview with the head of Technical Services on the 24th, then hopped in the car and made the twelve hour trip home that same day. Never. Again. I was so tired on/after that drive.

I was told that I would hear one way or another whether I got the job by the end of the week. Friday came and went. Saturday came and went. So did Sunday and Monday. Yesterday I finally decided to get some answers and called the casting center and Jerry (head of Technical Services). I got voice mails. Luckily Jerry is pretty good about getting back to you quickly and he called me shortly after I left the voice mail. I didn't get the job, but he encouraged me to keep in contact with him and they have my information on file for the next round of hiring in December. I wouldn't have to fill out another application and I wouldn't have to come back for another interview. Jerry told me to keep him up to date on any changes to my resume. I am going to send him an email today to thank him for the opportunity and to see what I can do in the meantime to beef up my resume and give me a better chance the next round.

When I heard the news these were my initial reactions:

So I am through all those emotions and now I am moving forward. Yeah, it sucks, but it's actually kind of a relief too. Had I gotten the job I would have had to be in California by the end of the month for training. That's extremely fast and I didn't know if I could get me and all my stuff moved and a place to live and a car (more on that coming up) in time. I think Disneyland is still in God's plan for me, it's just his plan for me a little later. Now I can be home for one more Thanksgiving, one more Christmas, one more TSO concert, and one more lots of things. And until the next round of hiring starts you can be sure that I'm going to do everything in my power to make me the top applicant. As my dear friend Jenna reminded me recently that whether or not I got the job I am "mother f****** Holly Pierce!" She's right and I plan to show the world that I do not give up because of one bump in the road!

2. The next reason life has been crazy lately was because the transmission finally died on my car. Mako was a great car and I loved her. I was sad to see her go, with all my bumper stickers for a measly $450, but at least it was something. AND she's going to go to a 16 year old girl for her birthday all fixed up and shined up and I hope she'll lover her as much as I did! This also meant that I had to take out a loan which I swore I would never do after taking Dave Ramsey. Luckily my parents didn't have to co-sign because I have really good credit. I have been spending all of my free time scouring KSL and autotrader and finally found something to go and test drive. It's a 2006 Chevy Malibu and it's black and in amazing condition. I signed for it last night. The dealer has some things he needs to fix and get checked on it and then it's mine and I have plenty of bumper stickers to replace the ones I lost. :)

Saying Goodbye

Saying Hello

3. We are leaving for California and Disneyland AGAIN on Friday, but this time it's for vacation. YAY!!! So needed. I get to see lots of my favorite people like Laney and Ryan and Pluto! It's going to be so much fun, but I am not looking forward to that drive again! Plus with everything going on I haven't had much of a chance to get ready for the trip. Oh well, I've got two more days right?

4. Finally I have been working extra hours to make up for the time I will be missing next week. I realized that I kind of don't mind it. I think since I didn't get the job at DL I'm going to talk to my new boss (3 managers all rotated stores this week) about possibly becoming full time. My old boss is trying to get me a raise because of my amazing related sales (36% last month! Holla!) and if I got full time too I would be in a lot better shape financially. We'll see what happens! 

Happy October everyone and I have a few other blogs floating around in my brain I just have to find the time to sit down and get them out of my brain and onto the internet! Stick around!