Growing Up

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Staying creative: Poetry Exercises

One thing that's always been really important to me is staying creative! My favorite way to exercise my creativity is through writing poetry. Sometimes I go through periods of writers block where I don't feel inspired by anything, and when that happens I've found some exercises that help get me through it.

Exercise Number 1: Blackout Poetry

Most of you have probably already seen some of these on the internet. Blackout poetry is taking a page of a book and picking out words from it to turn into a poem, once you have those words you black the rest of the page out.

This is one of the first ones I did, I took a page from The Great Gatsby. Some people blackout the actual book pages but I don't (and I don't really recommend it). I pick a page and then I make a copy of it, so that way I'm not damaging the book.

Exercise Number 2: Collage Poetry

This exercise is especially good if you have a lot of old magazines laying around! I like to flip through one and cut out a bunch of random words, then I lay them out and try to make a poem out of them!

I like these two exercises a lot because instead of forming your thoughts into words (which can sometimes be hard for a scatterbrained person like me) you're taking these words that are already laid out in front of you and turning them into a thought.

Exercise Number 3: Code Poetry

This is a little bit harder but still really fun! I first saw one of these poems on tumblr. These are harder for me to explain, but you basically take your code phrase and then make a word out of each letter in the phrase.

"They all fall no one stays" was my code phrase in this one. These really make you think, plus it's like you're TALKING IN CODE. SO COOL.

I'm no expert at writing poetry, but I do really enjoy it and so I thought I would share these tips with you for the next time you're feeling like you need a little inspiration!

XO,
Elizabeth <3

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Favorites

Here are some of the things I've been loving lately!

The Lizzie Bennett Diaries

I've been really into web series lately, and this is one of my favorites! If you are a fan of Pride and Prejudice, you will LOVE TheLBD! I've actually never read the book (I plan on hopefully reading it soon) but I really love the movie (Keira Knightley version). I think this series is such a cool idea, and I get so excited whenever I see they've posted a new video. They're up to 20 episodes now, you should check all of them out!

Revlon Lip Butters

All of the beauty gurus I watch on youtube were raving about these, so I had to try them! These are sort of like a mix between lipstick and lip balm. I love them! These are the colors I have right now, and I really like all of them. My two favorites are probably "red velvet" and "peach parfait" though. "Red velvet" is a really really beautiful red, and "peach parfait" is a more natural, shimmery color.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

(right where it belongs, with the bestsellers!)

This book, ya'll. THIS BOOK. It's definitely one of my favorites. A lot of people are probably tired of me gushing about it, but I JUST LOVED IT SO MUCH. You will laugh and you will cry while reading this. I read it in JANUARY and I'm still talking about it. I really want to read it again soon, because it was so great and I miss the characters (I get too attached to fictional characters). Seriously, you should read it. I also want to add that the author, John Green, is probably my favorite author. Anything by him is great and totally worth checking out if you're looking to add to your summer reading list!

Topographe

This is a tumblr by a girl named Anna Peters. She takes beautiful pictures and writes some AMAZING poetry that makes me feel so inspired. Clicking on the poem above will take you to her tumblr, you should really check her out!

"YOLO"

I love sarcastically using this acronym (I'm so mature).

I think that's it for now.
Two blog posts in one week?! Total record for me.

XO,
Elizabeth <3

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Update

It's been awhile since I last updated this blog! To be honest I thought I was done with blogspot, or if I did start blogging on this site again I was planning on doing it with a different blog name. But I started looking through all of my old posts on here and I got really sentimental. I started this blog when I was 17! I've recorded some pretty sweet memories on here, so I decided I'd keep this blog and try to update it even if it's only every few months.

So without any further ado, here's what's happened in my life since my last post!

At the end of November I got a job (finally)! I got laid off from my previous job last march, and was basically convinced that I was going to have to settle for a job that I was going to absolutely hate. I applied at the bank where my best friend worked but I was sure I wasn't going to get the job. Then lo and behold, they called and I got it! I love it there. My coworkers are what make it so great! They are the best and I am so thankful for them!

In January, I celebrated my second vegeversary! Two years with no meat (actually now it's 2 and a half since it's June)! I can't remember what I did on that day. I know I blogged about it briefly on my tumblr but I'm too lazy to go back and find that post. Here is the celebratory picture from that day though!

Then there's school! I am finally finished with community college! I now have an associates degree in psychology and even though that's really not that big of an accomplishment I'm still kinda excited about it. Don't ask me what I'm doing next semester, because I HAVE NO IDEA. I mean I have a few options, but I'm awful at making decisions. Especially big ones like this. I am sure I will figure it out eventually!

A couple of weeks ago I turned 21! I went to the Memphis Zoo for my birthday with Tyler and Torey and we had a great time! I hadn't been to the zoo in so long. I basically spent the whole time gushing about how cute all the animals were, even the tigers and bears that I'm sure would have had me for lunch in like 2.5 seconds if they got the chance. I loved all of the animals there (well, except the snakes) but I think my favorites were the chimps, the sea lions, and of course all of the cats.

After the zoo we ate at a really cool place called J. Alexander's. I'm pretty sure I had the best veggie burger ever there. It seemed very jazz themed too, with the music and paintings and dim lighting, and I felt like I was in an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Like I was pretty sure Jay Gatsby was going to come walking out at any moment. We ended the day at the mall where I went to Forever 21, which has recently become one of my favorite stores! They have so much cute stuff, and I was glad to try some stuff on so I'd have a good idea what size to get when I order online. I ended up coming home with two dresses and two shirts that I love!

Other fun things I did for my birthday: I went out to eat with my parents the Saturday before. We were gonna go see a movie too, but nothing we wanted to see was out. We decided to wait and see the new Madea movie together when it comes out at the end of this month. So I'm really looking forward to that!
A couple of weeks before my birthday, Morgan made cupcakes to celebrate mine and Staci's birthdays (her bday is may 7th, mine is the 31st)! They were delicious and ADORABLE.

I think the blog has been sufficiently updated (plus I'm starting to ramble).
Hopefully I'll get better at keeping up with this, I like having this blog to look back on like a little scrapbook!

XO,
Elizabeth <3

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

“Isn’t it odd how much fatter a book gets when you’ve read it several times? As if something were left between the pages every time you read it. Feelings, thoughts, sounds, smells, and then, when you look at the book again many years later, you find yourself there, too, a slightly younger self, slightly different, as if the book had preserved you like a pressed flower, both strange and familiar.”