Michelle ma belle

Today was my sister Michelle's 22nd birthday.

If you know this girl, you know she is one in a million.

I love her way more than I can ever describe.

I have looked up to her ever since I was a little girl...

And I still do today.

She is so beautiful, inside and out.

And I hope that one day I can be half the person she is.

   

Happy birthday Shelly!

♥ 








P.S. I love you like the song! 

He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven

Had I the heaven's embroidered cloths,

Enwrought with golden and silver light,

The blue and the dim and the dark cloths

Of night and light and the half-light,

I would spread the cloths under your feet:

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;

Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.

- William Butler Yeats, 1899

♥

Saving lives, one pint at a time...

I walk to and from school every day and, every once in a while,

I notice a huge American Red Cross truck parked on campus. I know exactly

what this truck is for -- I was in ASB in high school and we had tonssss of blood drives.

I was really excited when I turned 18 during my senior year because I could finally donate,

(also because I got out of class all day and got to hang out and eat free snacks hehehe)

but ever since then, all I have ever done is walk right by the truck.

I always feel guilty because I know how valuable blood is (for the potential

receivers as well as scientists who use it for research), but I always tell myself that

I will donate next time. Or next time. Or next time...

So today, I finally did it. Today, I accomplished goal

#098: Donate blood.

I made this a goal for my Day Zero Project because

I think it is really selfish to hold onto blood that is useless to me,

especially when it can be so helpful to somebody else.

Did you know that one pint of blood can save three lives?

AND THEN. When I was talking to my roommates about it after,

they informed me that my blood type, O+, is the universal blood type. Meaning...

anybody can receive my blood. Meaning, I have been sitting around for two years

on my derrière while people all over the world are in need of a blood transfusion! FROM ME!

Well, ladies and gentlemen, this realization nearly brought me to tears.

So I promise I will donate as often as I can. I really will.

Plus, you can choose what color bandage you wear!

I chose pink. Obvi.

(me!)

GO DONATE, YOU INGRATES.

♥

UPDATE: Turns out O+ isn't the universal blood type! O- is!

But O+ can still donate to all of the positive blood types and

is actually the most common blood type for Americans. So get goin' peeps!

Taking Care of Business

I know what you are thinking...

"Gee, Marcella's Day Zero Project is great and all,

but have you noticed that she has not even attempted

one goal in her 'BEIN' RESPONSIBLE' category?"

Well guess what?

I am proud to say that I have now accomplished two!

First and foremost, I have accomplished goal

#092: Get an internship.

I didn't want to say anything yet because I was not exactly sure

how it was going to work out, but today was my

first day as an intern for Events of Santa Barbara,

a Santa Barbara event planning company

(if you know me well, you know that this

is a job I have wanted for a long LONG time).

This company plans all sorts of events, including: non-profit

fundraisers and events; corporate seminars, holiday parties, and retreats;

and all the fun stuff like anniversaries, birthdays, and weddings!

So needless to say, YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

I am now one step closer to being just like J-Lo! Hehe :P

The other goal I have accomplished is

#097: Ace a test.

I know it doesn't seem like a very daunting task,

but for a serial A-/B+ student like me, it is. I am not saying

that I never get A's -- I do, but they're usually on papers or presentations,

never exams. Last quarter, however, I worked really hard and it definitely paid off.

(My final grades were A-, A-, A-, A)

In addition to receiving solid A's on my papers and presentations,

I also did really well on my exams. For COMM 150, Group Communication,

I actually got an A on my final exam! Oh yeah, and just last week I just got an A

on a midterm for COMM 162, Communication and Peace.

Yay for being smart sometimes!

So HAH! I have been responsible!

And you thought I was just moseying around Santa Barbara,

drinking wine and baking cookies all day...

I have a couple other responsible things planned

for the not-too-distant-future so stay tuned!

♥

Dear Marcella

Speaking of class assignments...

One day in 10th grade, my pre-calculus/trigonometry

teacher instructed everybody in the class to write a letter to our

future selves. She collected our finished letters and promised to mail

them to us in five years. Much to my surprise, she actually did.

First of all, I promise I am NOT going to start blogging about every

school assignment that I thought was cool... so quit yer whinin' (HannahB).

I just thought it was relevant to share this because one of the

items on my Day Zero Project list is to

#052: Write a letter to my future self.

Reading the letter that my 15-year old self wrote

inspired me to complete this goal. I am setting up an email to

be sent to myself in exactly five years with my new letter

attached. Here are the two letters:

♥ ♥ ♥

15-Year Old Marcella to 20-Year Old Marcella (unedited):

February 1, 2005: first period

Well this is a pretty cool thing for a teacher to do. Ms. Solis, my trig/precal teacher, has just assigned the class to write a letter to ourselves which she will mail to us in 5 years. So, I am now 15 and 10 days. Which means when I get this back, I should be 20 years old.

That number used to seem so far off but now I know just how close it is. I mean, 15 used to sound really old to me. Actually, it still does! 15 just seems like the age of the classic teenager. You know, the one you see on tv shows and in movies. She's mature and loves spending money and hates school and hates her parents and has a perfect boyfriend and is running for prom queen. It's sort of ridiculous, really. When I was really young, I seriously thought I would be like that. Everybody says that life is not like tv, but you see this so much that you think, "they have to get these ideas from somewhere". Well now I am officially 15 and I am proud to say that I now know you can't predict your life or compare it to others'. Everybody is different, had different families, environments, rules and expectations. Two people can never be exactly alike. So when we set standards for ourselves, the only thing we should look at is who we are. Then it is up to our determination to see how far we can push our goals.

So what are my goals? Well I graduate when I'm 17 so in college I will be 18, 19, 20, and 21. So the Marcella that is reading this now is a junior in college. If the 15 year old Marcella could choose any college, it would be Yale. But let's be realistic now. I suppose I may be at any 4 year university. Preferably in California. Jobs? Well currently (2005) my sisters and I have started a business where we dress as Disney princesses and entertain at parties. I hope that lasts a long time, but I wouldn't want that to be my real job. I hope to be working close to Journalism. Where is the Seventeen magazine headquarters, anyway? Sigh. Probably somewhere in New York. But I wouldn't last there. My ♥ belongs in California.

I love where I live and I don't want to move. I want to stay at GHS. Well, I did. If I could choose I would go to a private school. Because I love the uniforms. haha I know, what a freak. But I think they're cute. But I don't think we'll move anytime soon, because we're doing construction. My mom says we should have a pool by summer. YES! I just gotta cross my fingers.

Well, 20 year old Marcella, I hope life has come to be great. It may not be what you expected, but, really, what is?I will try my best to make good decisions that will make you happy. Its kinda crazy to think that what i do and the choices i make now have all affected you and made you what you are today. I just hope its something you can be proud of.

♥ always, the 15 year old you.

20-Year Old Marcella to 25-Year Old Marcella:

April 8, 2010

Dear 25-year old Marcella,

If you are alive, that means the world didn't come to an end in December 2012. That is nice to know. Moving on, YOU ARE OLD! No seriously. 25???? People have families at age 25! People have careers! Lady Gaga is only 24!

It is really hard for me to guess where life has taken you. The years between age 20 and age 25 are some intense transition years. It is currently Spring Quarter 2010 at UCSB. My plans for the future include: one more quarter at UCSB, study in Chile for one semester (six months), return home, and receive my Bachelor of Arts degree in the mail. Annnd that is as far as my eye can see. What is life after college? Who will I still be friends with? How will my family be? Who will be in my life and who will not be? As you can see, the 20-year old you was very uncertain about the future. And if I know you at all, you hate uncertainty. So please have pity on her.

In terms of a career, I have two major pipe dreams. The first is a career in event planning and the second is a career in the film industry, preferably in production. Oh, and there is that teeny little fantasy that includes me opening up a little bakery in Pasadena but let us put that one aside for now (haha I love how different from each other these are!). Wherever you are now, I am sure you have worked your butt off to get there and I just wanted you to know that I am very proud of you. You are not a quitter and I am going to venture to say that that is one of your best qualities.

May 2010-April 2015 are five years that you have lived and I have not. I am sure you have experienced many struggles, triumphs, laughs, tears, huge decisions, crazy nights, and wonderful surprises. I really, truly, hope you are happy wherever you are, and that you still have many hopes and dreams for your future. Even though you are 25 and suuuper old, you still have so much life ahead of you. If life is hard right now, just remember how much you have been through. Remember how strong you are and remember how great, loving, and supportive all of the people in your life are. If you reeeally wanted, you could drop everything right now. Drop out of grad school, quit your job, move to India. It is not too late to start all over. All I want is for you to be happy.

And if life right now is good, make it better! Don't ever settle. Keep dreaming, keep exploring, and keep enjoying all of the treasures that life has to offer you. Oh and keep baking please. It makes you happy.

Love, 20-year old Marcella ♥

Finding Peace

I just finished a pretty cool assignment

(my first of the quarter, actually) for COMM 162,

Communication and Peace. The class is quickly becoming

one of the best ones I have taken at UCSB. My assignment was

to write a 2-page explanation (in bullet form!) of my definition of peace.

Pretty awesome, right?

I don't know if you know this, but I am kind of a hippie.

I get lost in thought very easily and tonight I am pretty sure I put way

more thought and energy into this assignment than my professor wanted.

At the end, we were supposed to provide examples from real life of

something we believe communicates peace. I thought I should share one of mine.

When I was younger, before I even knew that UCSB existed,

my family and I used to take day trips to Santa Barbara. We would go for Mother's day or even

just a beautiful sunny day in the spring or summer. We would walk around State St.,

shop, eat, enjoy Santa Barbara's natural and architectural beauty, and then drive home.

There was one time that we went for Mother's day

that I remember in particular. I was probably 13 or 14 years old

(Actually I think my dad commented, "I think there's a college around here...

Maybe you can go Cella?" Me: "Yeah rightttt!" Hehe. Silly girl).

Our wanderings in Santa Barbara that day are blurry now,

but something I will never forget is the drive home.

♥ ♥ ♥

My dad drove and my mom sat in the back, with us niglets

(Dad's word, not mine!). This is a rarity in my family so us girls

jumped on the opportunity to annoy our mother in every possible way;

chatting her ear off, lying all over her, and the like.

I remember vividly a specific moment that occurred somewhere during

the two-hour duration of the drive. Our drowsiness finally set in and

everyone was silent, the radio hardly audible. The pacific ocean shone

brightly out the window as we hurtled down the 101 and I was resting

my head against my mom's cool shoulder, to the right.

Suddenly, as I weaved in and out of sleep, my eyes filled with tears.

I did not want anyone to notice so I quickly blinked them away,

but I could not blink away the feeling that was radiating inside of me.

I felt so enveloped by the intensity of this feeling that it scared me.

...I can only describe it as pure happiness. It was such a beautiful day

and I knew right then that I was living such a beautiful life.

I felt so much love for my family and so loved in return.

I felt peace.

♥ ♥ ♥

I remember wishing at that moment that I could pause the world

and stay there forever. But we never get what we wish, do we?

Life goes on and we can only wait until that

moment of peace flashes by and consumes us again.

And that is what peace means to me :)