Life of MALA: Panic Mode

Ready for warm weather, 13 days left!

It has arrived. Panic has set in. I've somehow squeezed in some time to update my blog and have decided that writing helps me. It has a therapeutic quality. I also love writing lists. I love to write lists of all of the things I need to do before I leave (IN THIRTEEN DAYS) and move to a new home, to a new life. Specifically, I need to unpack my life from NYC. I need to finish editing my last two fall weddings. I need to think of something to get my dad for Christmas. I need to actually pack for St. John. The list goes on. It's so fun to make lists. I like to make lists and then misplace them. I used to have the same issue when I was younger. I would spend so much time make an amazing birthday card for someone in my family and then hide it somewhere downstairs so they wouldn't see it in my room. Then it would be time to give cards and presents and I would be running around the house in a panic looking for it. I can't tell you how many cards I lost.

Losing things is terrible. You know what else is terrible? Getting hit with a paintball. Over Thanksgiving weekend a bunch of my friends and I decided it would be "really fun" to go play paintball. We split the teams up by town. That was our first error since the majority of men were from the other town. We got our butts kicked. I remember thinking when it all started, I just don't want to get hit in my right eye. The eye I use to look through the camera lens, the eye that is my only source of income. Naturally I get shot in that eye in the first five minutes. Obviously you are wearing a mask, but still. It is terrifying. It is also extremely scary when the other team is ten times better than yours, and you suddenly realize what a huge baby you are as you hide behind things the whole time covering your head. It's not a great game for the ego, or if you bruise easily.

Last week's activities were a little less dangerous. I got to go see some of the coolest men in the world, The Piano Guys. My mother's younger sister, and my godmother, had introduced me to these absolutely amazing and talented men a few months ago. Since then I have watched almost all of their music videos. I put them on repeat while I sit in my house chugging coffee and editing. I have attached a video here of one of my favorites. These guys are seriously cool, and you should absolutely check them out. Right this second. Press play.

You should also check out this one. They actually used a helicopter to get the piano on top of a cliff in Utah. They are just as awesome when you see them in concert too. My aunt brought me to see them last Wednesday night and it was an amazing experience. I felt like a little kid with her as we sat at the edge of the seat listening to them and clapping along. Feeling like a little kid is my favorite thing to do.

This morning when I woke up I definitely felt like a little kid. I looked outside and it was snowing. A lot. I so vividly remembered when I was young and this would happen. I would jump out of bed and run downstairs to ask my mom if it was a snow day. Seventy-five percent of the time it would not be. My excitement would deflate around the room like an untied balloon. Nothing beat a snow day, especially in high school.

After taking the dog today for a quick walk and returning half frozen, I began to zone out from my work and started only focusing on how much I hate the cold. I opened my email and had a new message from my coworker from NYC. Included in the email she attached her fortune cookie from last night.

"Now and then it's good to pause in our pursuit of happiness and just be happy."

Since entering panic mode as I near the end of my stay in Orient, NY, I seemed to have lost track of that. I focus only on moving and starting over. Then I read this fortune. I realized, the cold isn't actually that bad. It's this same cold weather that used to give me those snow days I loved so much. So for the rest of the day, I will be embracing the snow. I have made some hot cocoa and put on a big wool sweater and some nice background music for my editing.

Thanks for the reminder, cookie.

Embracing the cold, and the holiday: