Friday, December 11, 2015

New Beginnings

Hello everybody,

I have been doing a lot of thinking. (I know, bad news, right?) I am a freshman in college now, and a lot has been changing in my life. I have been wondering about being more serious in my pursuits as a blogger and making it a bigger part of my life. I have been on Blogger for four years on December 29th, and I think that a change may be in order. I am thinking that eventually, if I can stick to a regular posting schedule, that I will invest in a .com domain. So, I have decided to move this blog over to WordPress!

I am not going to say goodbye, because 1) because I hate goodbyes. 2) It's not like I'm quitting blogging, the content is just going to be somewhere else. 3) I might come back if WordPress proves to be too frustrating. Which, after a couple of hours of trying to add widgets and pictures, is a definite possibility. I'm trying to learn, though. I'm just impatient.

Here's the link to the new blog: https://thegingerintrovert.wordpress.com/

I'll see you there!

Sunday, October 11, 2015

College Life Playlist: Nose to the Grindstone

Hello! Long time, no write!

Since I last wrote, I've completed two college summer courses, moved in to the dorm, and started the fall semester. Lots of changes around these parts!

Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of studying lately. You all know how much I love playlisting, so you better believe I have a playlist for when I'm putting the nose to the grindstone... Or into the books. It depends on the day.

I prefer the music that I play for when I study or work on other things like papers and presentations to be soothing. Anything mellow and preferably not too emotional, because then I get distracted and cry a lot. No one needs that.

1. "Skinny Love" by Bon Iver


2. "Robbers" by The 1975


3. "Morning" by Beck


4. "Between the Bars" by either Elliot Smith or The Civil Wars (or both!)




5. "Paper Doll" by John Mayer


6. "Sigur 4 (Untitled)" by Sigur Ros


7. "Poison and Wine" by The Civil Wars


Click here if you want to go over to my Spotify and give it a listen.

If you don't have the time to make a playlist and want to listen to just one artist, I would recommend anything by Bon Iver, Beck's Morning Phase, and Sigur Ros's (Untitled). They're all great for background music, and of course, perfect for studying.

Lizzie Rose

A shameless plug before I sign off! Hey, it's my blog, right? Anyway, click HERE to check out a collection of stories I wrote and self published. I'd be happy forever.

Thursday, June 18, 2015

LET'S BE REAL

Let's be real for a minute, okay?

I'm not going to classify what this is, because I hate wasting my time on labeling things when there are more important things to be done. Let's just call this "word vomit" or, if you want to get super fancy and intellectual, "stream of consciousness."

Lately, I've been in a funk, and it hits every year. Every summer, I make more goals and resolutions than I do during New Years. I'll exercise every morning. I'll read every day. I'll read  my bible. I'll rededicate and recenter my life. I make all these goals because I'LL HAVE MORE TIME. And I do. And I'll adhere to the goals for a couple of weeks if I'm lucky. But not too long after the summer starts all of these resolutions fall away and I spend hours on end watching Home Improvement or Monk. I fall into a lazy pattern. I wake up late, eat lunch, watch TV. That's it. I fall into a funk of self pity. I tell myself that if I really want to change anything that I'll have to get my butt off of whatever I'm sitting on and make a difference instead of just bitching about it. But I don't.

It's like this every summer, and it's not like this all the time, my activity really fluctuates, but once school starts again I would go back to my regular routine and life would fall back into place. But it's different this year because I graduated earlier this month. Even though I am heading off to college in the fall and I'm taking summer courses at the local community college at the beginning of July, I feel more unsure than I ever have. I don't even know how to explain how I'm feeling... My future seems so unclear for many reasons. I'll bore you with a couple...

1) I've never attended to college before (duh...) and I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to handle living away from home with a crap ton of school work to do.

2) I'm planning to be an English major. I've always planned on majoring in English. I want to be a published novelist. Having planned out my life since I was in middle school and finally arriving at that future that I have planned for so long is unsettling. What if this isn't what I want? What if I never get published, never be fulfilled as a writer? And HOW am I going to find a job and pay the rent and still be happy if I can't do it by writing? What if I never find something I'm both passionate about and that I can pay the bills with?

Help. I don't want to adult.

All of these plans and dreams I'm scared of failing and the imminent future are such a huge weight on my mind lately. They make me shut down and question everything. The laziness kicks in, because if my life is so obsolete then what's the point of doing anything? Then comes the self pity. Etc. etc. It's a vicious cycle.

Lately, during all of this, I've been watching a lot of vlogs. This may not be the best idea. I love watching FleurDeForce, Mimi Ikonn, Travis Clark, and occasionally Jim Chapman and Amelia Liana. I love snooping into people's lives, but a lot of the time (I'll be fair, it's not all the time) the vloggers document the best bits of life, not the crap bits. Even there are the more raw moments where people see tears, more often we're shown pretty Sunday brunches and vacations to places we may never necessarily see. Honestly, I've caught myself getting down on myself because my life wasn't as awesome as these pretty, edited versions of other people's. It's not just vlogs on YouTube, you see it on every other social media platform. Most of the time, people don't post the parts of life that suck. They're more prone to posting the shinier parts. Heck, I'll admit I don't post when I'm upset! No one wants to see that. But if we're still being real, and I like to think that we are, I don't post all that often anyway so...

There are those people that I put on pedestals. I won't make a list, they're a mixture of Hollywood and YouTube famous people, family members and friends. Even people that I don't know and follow on Instagram and the like. I hope I'm not the only one who does this, and I don't think that I am. They live in my brain like statues of perfection. They've never experienced hardship. They live in graceful sunshine worlds that are untouched by imperfections and hardship. I know this isn't reality, I know everyone struggles with their own sets of baggage. We're all human, after all! But I still compare myself to them. That cruel voice in my head holds my figure up to theirs and points out all the niggling differences. Skinnier. Healthier. Wealthier. Whatever.

Calm down.

Or at least that's what I tell myself when I realize that I'm doing this. I've got a pretty good life going when I'm not completely shutting down and screwing it up. I just need to get this through my head and remember it for the next time I feel like crap about myself.

Sometimes I just need to drive and listen to music. Or read a book. Maybe then I can trick myself into doing something productive. Like writing this post!

If anyone is reading this, thank you for listening (reading...)

Lizzie Rose

Also, before I sign off, here's a shameless plug for a collection of stories I wrote and self published. Here's the link if you're interested...

http://www.lulu.com/shop/lizzie-rose/monsters-under-the-bed-and-a-collection-of-short-stories/paperback/product-22191604.html


Saturday, March 14, 2015

Weekend Playist: Strange Magic

I've been really into listening to 70s music lately. Disco, rock, whatever. Anything 70s! Here are some of my favorites...

1. "Barracuda" Heart, 1977


2. "Strange Magic" Electric Light Orchestra,


3. "September" Earth, Wind and Fire, 1971



4. 'Cherry Bomb" The Runaways, 1976



5. "The Wild One" Suzi Quatro, 1974


6. "Doctor's Orders" Carol Douglas, 1974


7. "Waterloo" ABBA, 1974


8. "Evil Woman" Electric Light Orchestra, 1975


9. "Black Magic Woman" Santana, 1970


10. "Rhiannon" Fleetwood Mac, 1975


Sorry if I got a year or two wrong! Blame Google.

Lizzie Rose

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Classic Rock Bands that I've Been Loving Lately/Forever

Here are some bands that I've been loving. Some of them I've discovered more recently, but others I've loved for forever. Here's a list of fifteen of them and a song or two from them that I love.

1. The Beatles Favorite song: "Here Comes The Sun"
(Picture: https://timeentertainment.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/beatles-02.jpg )

2. The Monkees Favorite song: "Valleri"
(Picture: http://popculturetonight.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/monkees-1966-group-shot-apimages.jpg )

3. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Favorite song: "Crimson and Clover"
(Picture: http://www.tunecharts.com/bandpic/bands_Joan-Jett-&-The-Blackhearts_90.jpg )

4. The Runaways Favorite song: "I Love Playin' With Fire" 
(Picture: https://media2.wnyc.org/i/620/372/c/80/1/Runaways_live_japan_edit.jpg )

Heart Favorite Song: "Magic Man"
(Picture: http://www.legacyrecordings.com/media/cache/05/ff/05ff71d6c4c8a88eec941c166c513fbc.jpg )

5. Blondie "Heart of Glass" and "Sunday Girl"
(Picture: http://www.nevermindthebuspass.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/2exm0ev11.jpg )

6. ABBA Favorite song: "Waterloo" and (obviously) "Dancing Queen"
(Picture: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/64/1d/56/641d568bda9447549a631a70b4e185f1.jpg)

7. Fleetwood Mac Favorite Song: "Rhiannon"
(Picture: http://cdn.pastemagazine.com/www/blogs/lists/2014/05/29/fleetwood-mac.jpg?635604247673676914 )

8. The Carpenters Favorite song: "Rainy Days and Mondays"
(Picture: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/carpenters-sitemap-main.jpg )

9. The Ronettes Favorite song: "Be My Baby"
(Picture: http://www.ramanujanramanujan.com/PhotoAlbum46/fullsize/The+Ronettes(4).jpg )

10. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Favorite song: "American Girl"
(Picture: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Tom_Petty_and_the_Heartbreakers_1977.jpg )

11. David Bowie Favorite song: "Heroes"
(Picture: http://nocountryfornewnashville.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/david-bowie-001.jpeg )

13. The Steve Miller Band Favorite song: "Jungle Love"
(Picture: http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2012/08/SteveMillerBand.gif )

14. Dexys Midnight Runners Favorite song: "The Celtic Soul Brothers (More, Please, Thank You)"
(Picture: http://lifeisnoise.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Dexys+Midnight+Runners+dexys_midnight_runners_2.jpg )

15. Electric Light Orchestra Favorite song: "Strange Magic"
(Picture: http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2012/12/elo-Hulton-Archive-getty.jpg )

Picture Development Day!

 My photos finally came back from CVS! It only took FOREVER (I'm not kidding, it took 3 weeks because they had to send them out to get them developed) but it's worth it! This is the very roll of film I have ever taken on an older film SLR that my dad gave to me. I wanted to post some of the pictures to share, so I hope you enjoy!















I loved driving around the country side near where I live and taking pictures of things, like the railroad tracks and the marshy pond next to those tracks. I have already used 2 more rolls after this one and I am on my fourth right now, so more of these posts to come!

Also, in case you were wondering, the camera is a Canon Rebel 2000 and I used was Fujifilm X-Tra 400 film.

Lizzie Rose

Sunday, March 1, 2015

New Bloglovin!

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13749445/?claim=k957ay9e4k6">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>