britt by britt

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

take a little time to give thanks

One of my best buds ever, Emily, has a beautiful blog called 365 Days of Gratitude where she daily posts about what she's thankful for. It's an awesome idea and something we should all probably focus in on a little more rather than worrying about the negative. Anyway, she's started a new feature where she's having weekly guest posters write about what they are thankful for...and I'm her first! :)

Read my post on her blog here.

Friday, May 27, 2011

i am oh so thankful

For any excuse to have a 3 day weekend!!

I truly think the world would be a better place if we all just worked 4 day weeks and had 3 days off. I mean, doesn't that make perfect sense? Let's even out the playing field a little people and gift ourselves with a little more "living" time. Just a thought (a genius one).

But since I'm not the leader of the free world (yet) or self-employed (writing best-selling novels), I will just take them as they come and oh am I jumping right on this one. Can it please be 3pm on Friday?!

I am nothing if not impatient.

I usually try to make big plans whenever I have a long weekend, but I am so so so stoked to have very little on the agenda this time around. Aside from the inevitability of errands, I plan on taking a yoga class, going for a sunny hike, partaking in a mani/pedi with one of my favorite gals, doing a little shopping, going on a scenic horseback ride along some unfenced hills (help me) and maybe a little pool time if it ever heats up enough. Amidst all of these awesome shenanigans I fully intend to do a little writing and a lot of reading. Ooh, and maybe knock one of those Oscar films off my list too. Overall - perfection.

Hope you all have an amazing Memorial Day weekend and get some much needed (if you're anything like me) R&R!

Thursday, May 5, 2011

where volunteering and my favorite hobbies collide

the two deer I painted in the mural

First thing's first. I have 5 more hours to add to my list of volunteering. Recently, in honor of Earth Day, I was able to participate in an awesome project organized through my company. We went to a local middle school where about half of the volunteers spent time planting trees and gardening and the other half worked on a mural on the school's wall with the help of a local artist. So much fun. Having planted trees for Volunteer Day before, I opted to paint since it's also one of my hobbies.

I will say, I was a little nervous I'd mess up since it was going to be a permanent fixture at this school, but the artist who drew out the general lines of the mural was awesome and gave great tips on the overall look that he had in mind. He drew the entire thing out as a tribute to local plants, animals and water sources in our area and then gave us some photographs as inspiration.

After working on a small section of sky, I was into it and decided to jump in further. I grabbed some paints and decided to tackle the nearby deer in the painting. Not going to lie, I love how they turned out! The artist actually sent me an email recently and told me that the section of mural where my deers are is the teachers' favorite and he said he may contact me in the future to help him out on future mural projects in the area. So awesome!

It was a lot of fun in general, combining some of my favorite things: art, nature and volunteering. Not to mention that it wasn't too shabby getting to spend half of the work day outdoors painting. :)

***

Continuing on with the volunteering trend - last night was The Big Show for my group of Young Storytellers (http://youngstorytellers.com). So so so much fun. It's always such a great experience seeing the kids we work with each week have their scripts come alive on stage by so many talented improv actors. Each script is SO different, which just goes to show that individuality starts early. It's such a nice break from my regular schedule to spend an hour each week with an awesome group of 4th graders. The stuff they come up with is nothing short of inspiring at times.

A cool thing for me was that my mentee from last semester and the one I currently have are best friends. This is just completely by chance since we are paired up at random, but it's pretty adorable. The boy I had last semester came and helped his friend (my mentee now) make his poster advertising his show and hung out with us before the event began. He stayed and cheered his buddy on and it was really cute.

past and present "mentees" working on show posters

Another thing that never ceases to amaze me though is how very, very different boys and girls already are at this age. I mean, these kids are only 10! The boys are writing about action and sports and monsters and wars...while the girls are writing about relationships and animals and school scenarios. Both fun and unique in their own way, but oh so very different. Not to mention that the girls show up on performance day in cute dresses with their hair brushed and the boys come looking like they just rolled around in the dirt. I made my kid wash up in the bathroom before I let him put grubby fingerprints on the freshly typed scripts I'd made. ;)

I oddly am always paired with a boy and since our selection process is randomized, this is just coincidence. I kind of love it though because it often alters how I think about things because I want their story to be their own. If I'm trying to help my kid work through an idea that he has, I definitely prompt him to go with his gut because my initial responses to his ideas are in no way similar to what he eventually comes up with. And that in itself is pretty awesome I think.

Case in point: the setting is a snowy day in LA.
- Brittney thinks this must be a major plot point, I mean, blizzards aren't standard practice around these parts and so that must mean something crazy is about to happen.
- For Justin on the other hand, it is plainly obvious that the snow is just setting and provides food for his main character...a snowplow.

If I had brought my own experiences and knowledge to the table, I would have influenced his story and by doing that, changed what turned out to be a sweet and humorous story. Granted, I will say I helped him add some conflict and solution to his script, but only by asking him questions that led to his eventual decisions as the author.

Anyway, point is, so fun to go out of your comfort zone every now and then.

You'll always be surprised what you can learn when you do.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

even if you have nothing else to give, you can still give your time

A pic I took of one of my kids' scripts.

I've always been very passionate about volunteering. I love helping people of course, but there's something more than that. When you take a couple hours out of your day to do something for someone else, you're completely transported. I don't care what the project is. The feeling is the same.

For instance, I volunteer every semester for the Young Storytellers organization (check it out here: http://youngstorytellers.com). For that one hour, every Wednesday that I leave my job and go to an elementary school and work with a child, I don't think of myself or my responsibilities even once. What a gift. It's honestly rejuvenating. The program itself is awesome - I work with my "mentee" for about 7 weeks on a script of his/her choosing, work with the other mentors on teaching the whole group of 10 kids about storytelling and writing in general and then at the end of the program, we bring actors to their school who in turn act out all of the kids' screenplays. It's truly amazing to see their faces at the end when they see their imaginings come to life on the stage. I gain new insight on things just by being surrounded by kids, get to spread the love I have for reading and writing, and simultaneously I help a child realize his/her potential. How amazing is that? I love it and have been with the organization for 2 years now.

Which brings me to accounting for one of the things on my 30 before 30 list - at least 50 hours of volunteer work this year. Even though it's much more than the hours I'm going to allot myself here, I think for this session of YST, I'll say I get 10 hours of service. An hour a week, plus a few hours for "The Big Show" and not to mention the typing and editing of my kid's script at the end.

So for now, I'm 10 hours into my goal. Not too shabby and I have a bunch more projects in the works. Next week begins another so I'll keep you all posted!

In the meantime, get out there and volunteer! No matter what you choose to get involved in, you'll never be sorry you did. And, if you ever need help getting started or need an idea of what to do, feel free to ask me! I love this kind of thing so I'm more than happy to help.

One tip to get started: think of the things you like to do. Do you enjoy gardening or working outside, but live in an apartment and don't have a yard. Be good to yourself then while at the same time helping the environment. There are all sorts of tree-planting organizations out there (I know, I've done it before and it's awesome!) or maybe find a school that needs volunteers to help with their gardens. There are all sorts of projects out there for all kinds of people with all types of interests. Who ever said volunteering had to be all work and no play.

Have fun with it and be kind to your community. :)

Monday, April 11, 2011

and the best picture goes to...

...some pretty strange movies. Ha. I've seen a lot of these, but if I don't remember what it's about, I've decided not to count it. My I have a lot of movies to watch. Good thing I have Netflix!

30 before 30

So yah...this whole blog writing thing isn't going as consecutively as I'd hoped. That being said, I've been doing a lot of "thinking" about writing (ha) and have some big plans. It's just that there is a lot of research involved and organizing to do. But hopefully this post will give me some purpose for stopping by this here blog more frequently while still giving me time to concentrate my efforts on some of the other projects I've already started as well.

Today marks 3 months since I turned 29. So that leaves me 9 months to accomplish what I am about to begin. I like a healthy challenge and I like to set big goals. Dream big friends. What I am about to propose for myself is a nice, long list of things that I want to do before I turn the big 3-0. I just want to look back and know that I made good use of my time. I know I have already, but there is definitely still room for improvement. So here goes...

1. Start taking an exercise class at least once a week
- So far so good on the pilates front
2. Go on at least 2 hikes
- I'm not much of a hiker, but there are a few beautiful spots I'd love to try out! Anyone wanna go? ;)
3. Cook at least 3 different recipes from 3 different cultures...ideas welcome!
4. Work on my writing at least 4 days per month
5. Try at least 5 foods I've never tried before
6. Successfully plant a variety of veggies in my vegetable garden and reap the "fruits" of my labor...
7. Go Vegan for one week
8. Eat at (at least) 10 new places in LA
9. Paint at least 2 paintings
10. Visit at least 10 new cities
11. Try acupuncture as a remedy for my allergies and acid reflux in hopes that I can ditch the pills
12. Learn how to more professionally use my camera in manual mode
13. Study my family's genealogy and learn more about my own personal history
14. Study Farsi and learn a little more than food terms and good manners ;)
15. Send 15 hand-written cards/letters in the good, old-fashioned post
16. Visit some sort of farm (thinking maybe cherries) where I can pick my own fruit off the trees
17. Watch the sun rise...honestly, I don't know the last time I saw one.
18. Leave 10 anonymous "smiles" in 10 library books for future readers to find
19. Give five people one of my favorite books and tell them why I love it and why I hope they will too
20. Read at least 20 books in 2011
21. Refurbish an old piece of furniture and turn it in to something beautiful
22. Take the hundreds of printed recipes I have, organize them and create a cookbook with my favorites
23. Go on a hot air balloon ride
24. Watch every movie that has won the Oscar for Best Picture
25. Find a new way to store and organize all of my books so that they don't succeed in their plan to take over our house.
26. Go horseback riding
27. Redecorate our bedroom
28. Pay off any looming credit debts
29. Go to the movies at a drive-in theater
30. Volunteer at least 50 hours in 2011

I'll document my progress as the year goes on and hopefully I'll be able to get all of the above completed by January 11, 2012!

Monday, February 28, 2011

i know, i know

It's been forever and a day since I last wrote. I have plenty of things stored up, pics to upload, all that jazz, but just haven't gotten around to it. Part of the problem is that I still need to install new software into my home computer and start uploading all of the pics from my new camera. I just haven't done that little step yet, so here are a few iphone photos as of late.

Went home for President's Day weekend and it was rather chilly. That being said, I didn't much mind. At least it felt like winter and had that dry, only-in-the-mountains kind of feel that I like.

Then I came back to LA and it did this on Saturday:

What the 'f'? I was in the valley getting my hair cut (Sherman Oaks to be exact) and it began to pelt hail on my freshly coiffed head as soon as I left the salon. Granted, in my opinion this was better than rain because I didn't get wet, however, these little babies were the size of peas! This is my windshield as I sat in my car enjoying the sound of tiny rock-like ice pebbles smacking my windshield.

All in all, it's been a rather chilly few weeks especially when you're used to Southern California winters.

But hey, at least I'm getting use out of all of my jackets and boots. So let's call that a win.