I’d like to Thank the Academy

pinkroses & redwine has been nominated for the Liebster Award! Thank you David, author of the 20somethings in 2013 blog, for the nomination!  Back in February, I wrote a profile for the 20somethings in 2013 blog about my career aspirations and goals you can see my profile on his site, check it out!

To accept the nomination, I need to answer 11 questions that David posed of his nominees, nominate 11 other blogs, and ask them to answer 11 questions. Below are my answers and my nominations:

1. What qualities matter most to you in a job?

Passion for the work, a team dynamic, autonomy in my position, and having something new to do everyday.

2. What is your dream job?

If I could do it all over again, I would go to culinary school to become a pastry chef and own my own coffee house/bakery. The coffee/bakery shop would be modeled to look like a French patisserie and have local bands to entertain guests. I would use local farms and everything would be organic (NO High Fructose Corn Syrup ).

3. Who are your role models?

To know me, is to know that I love people who have a story. My role models are people who have overcome adversity or to quote Oprah, had an “aha” moment. They are: My Mother, Arianna Huffington, Bethanny Frankel, Oprah, Iyanla Vanzant, Jamie Fox, and a few executives at my office ( NM, MB, JS, SA).

4. What inspires you?

People who are passionate about life, helping others, a beautifully decorated space, stories of people overcoming obstacles, the perfect summer day.

5. What is your favorite quote?

I have many, so I’m bending the rules and putting down three of them.

“I did then what I knew how to do, but when I knew better, I did better” – Maya Angelou

“Enlightenment is the unlearning of a system based on fear” – Marianne Williamson

“The real you is more interesting than the fake somebody else” – Lauryn Hill

6. If you could travel ten years back in time, what advice would you give yourself?

Being that I would be 14 years old… I’d sa,  don’t try to “fit it” it’s not worth your time. Don’t stress out about relationships, you’ll find “the one”, don’t stress too much about time management, it will be a work in progress throughout your life.

7. What special or unusual skills do you have?

I have a photographic memory (one of my many superpowers 🙂 ).

8. What is your greatest achievement?

It may seem lame, but starting this blog was a huge part of me growing into the woman I am today. pinkroses & redwine gave me the outlet to express my passions outside of my career.

9. What is the most unexpected fact you’ve learned from your job search?

You’re major doesn’t matter as much as I thought.

10. What are your best qualities?

I’m extremely outgoing, extremely organized and like to plan out things in advance, my ability to ask for HELP when I need it!

11. Who would you want to play you in a movie about your life?

Kerry Washington (DUH!)

Here are my Nominations:

Nominations:

1. Reflections of a Single Girl
2.  Renaissance Stan
3. Cheeky Social Media
4. 20- Something Angst
5. 20’s Inc.
6. THE ZEN PROJECT
7. What’s the Tea
8. Life At Twenty Something
9. Get Fit or Die Trying
10. Exhilarated Living
11.  The Virtual Virtuoso

Here are my questions:

1. Why did you start your blog?

2. What has been your biggest life lesson thus far?

3. Red or White? (WINE of course)

4. What is your favorite quote?

5. Where is your dream vacation spot?

6. What has been your biggest lesson in love?

7. Name three things you could not live without.

8. What has been your proudest moment thus far?

9. What is the #1 thing on your bucket list?

10. What is the “fun fact” you usually use during ice breakers?

11. If you could have your ideal life in 5 years what would it look like?

You Can Only Control the Controllables

I am a control freak, this I know.  If there is anything I know about myself, it’s that if it can be planned, put into an Excel spreadsheet, checked off, or crossed out, I am all over it. For those of you who are the “fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants” kind of people, I either sound like an alien from another planet or your best friend. My ability to juggle tons of details is perfect for my line of work, but murderous in all other aspects of my life, like the weather, my love life, friendships, and the general day- to-day functions of being a human being.

This past Sunday, I watched an episode of Super Soul Sunday on OWN featuring DeVonn Franklin a film executive, pastor, author, motivational speaker, and husband to Meaghan Good. Throughout the episode he used an analogy that related life to a movie project. He spoke in a spiritual sense about God being the director and us being there to co-create our lives. He went on to talk about conflict being the key to building character and growing on-screen and off.  Like any good movie, the ability of actors to accept conflict and push themselves to further to new heights, is the key to developing the storyline (and makes for great ratings!).

He went on to say that we needed to know what the vision of our lives was, and gain clarity about our purpose. Without doing so, we would be unclear of our next steps and goals.

Whether you are a religious, spiritual, or an atheist, the message can still be received.  What I got out of it, was that we can not control everything in our lives, so the less we stress about everything being “perfect” the more we can concentrate on development and growth. The more we persevere through hardships, struggles, and against eating that delicious chocolate fudge brownie, the more we grow as people (I am trying to give up sweet treats!).

Being a twenty-something is hard purely for the fact that I have no idea who I am yet. I have no idea what it really feels like to hit rock bottom, nor do I want to. I have no idea how far I will go or how long it will take me to get there.  But I will say that it feels damn great to know that I can’t fuck this up because I cannot control everything else around me. All I can control is myself, and in some way that’s empowering. I have to have faith in myself that I can create my vision, my inspiration, and my development, the rest is up to the universe.

Here’s a link to a clip from the episode: Super Soul Sunday- DeVon Franklin