Day 16: A picture of someone who inspires you

Ok so again I am back at it..... trying to keep up with this challenge. At this point I have abandoned the everyday blogging, especially because I am mid-thesis writing and extra writing is almost too much for me.

Someone who inspires me....

Me & my momma

My momma. Claudia Ann Collins. She's inspired me in too many ways to count....I hardly know where to start. When I was little she made my life so much fun and exciting because she always had an art project for me to do, a song to sing along to or a place to visit that opened my eyes up to the world. Yearly visits to art museums, arboretums, the franklin institute, wetlands institutes, American girl doll fashion shows, GOLD (aka girls overnight leadership development) and daily runs to the local rec fields and schools for sports- she did it all. My life was so full of activity and excitement and I owe it all to her.  She's such a smart and strong women- graduated college in 3 years and got her master's at UConn, and she definitely set the bar high for me.  In between all of her amazing maternal talents she has overcome heart problems and beaten breast cancer and she even teaches ESL at a local school. Like I said, she's supermom.  Now as I am about to defend my thesis and graduate with my master's it really brings me back to what has fueled my interest in higher ed and a lot of that has come from my mom. It's exciting that as I grow older I see that we have more things in common (seriously, right down to our handwriting) and when I look back at pictures of her when she was 25 we look strikingly alike.  All in all, I am just thankful that she is my mother and she helped me get where I am today. I really don't think I would be where I am today without her.

Day 06: Trading Places

Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day

I wish it was acceptable to be this outrageous.

I had to think about this one for a while. I couldn't think of one person that I would want to be for a day and then it hit me.....I would definitely want to be Nicki Minaj. Some of your are probably cringing and since she is a pretty extreme person you either lover her or hate her I guess, but I love her.


Here are some things I like about Nicki Minaj:
- She raps and she's good at it.
- She loves pink.
- She's party of young money
- She pulls off outrageous pink wigs
- She uses MAC make up and I love MAC makeup
- She says whatever she wants
- She has multiple personalities
- She's a baddd bitch
- She collaborates with weezy and drake
- Her facial expressions are awesome
- Her real name is Onika Tanya Maraj...but it is now Nicki Minaj. It takes balls to change your name.
- She claims she made up Harajuku Barbie, and she explains it as, "I liked Harajuku and I liked barbies so I put them together..."
- Her part in Monster is awesome...she dominates Jay and Kanye


And finally, I thought about being Oprah because she yells things all the time and it's acceptable for some reason (think: how she introduces every item on her favorite things show...) but Nicki does the low-voice, semi-yell 100x's better than Oprah.


There you have it. I want to be NM for a day. 


And for those of you who may have missed it, here is my attempt to be Jenny Minaj (it was a joke, so don't take it too seriously...Gals said I couldn't be Nicki so I tried to prove her wrong...I have a bad habit of always taking her up on her challenges)

another reason to love Nicki

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day #2

So due to scheduling conflicts and my commitment to this 30 day challenge, Alex is helping me out by posting this to my blog. (You're welcome -Alex)

Today’s challenge is to post a picture of my longest friend.

So here it is. This is a picture of my longest friend, Sarah Elena Baby Girl Schneider. Otherwise known as shirt, sassy, supa sexy sistah #1 (who were we in middle school?). But commonly known as Sarah. She’s, without a doubt my longest and bestest friend.

According to me (Sarah claims I told her this when we were little), we actually knew each other before we were born because I told her that was used to call each other from inside our mom’s tummies. But the more believable story is that our mom’s introduced us when we were babies at Towamencin pool which is about ¼ mile in between each of our houses. I was born in November and she was born in May so we we met in the summer or 1987, we probably didn’t say much but it was definitely the beginnings of a beautiful friendship. In the picture above, we are about 3 years old and we are at a playgroup date to Merrymeade Farms with our older siblings.

As we grew, we did some ridiculous things: like try to climb a tree with ropes and get suspended in mid-air, got in a friendship-ending fight in 5th grade over the lip sync and Gary Cole, painted our friend’s entire hand with nail polish and many more things. One of my personal favorite stories is the time that Sarah said she would make me an alcoholic drink and, at the last second chickened out and made me a drink with like orange juice, tobasco sauce and other stuff so it tasted bad…but she still gave it to me, claimed it had alcohol in it and just told me alcohol tasted bad. So I sipped on it, convinced myself I was drunk and sent some messages on AIM that I’m not too proud of (ex: “oh em gee, I’m so drunk (enter guys name), this is crazy…..”. Not only was this embarrassing but I didn’t find out that I wasn’t really drunk till a few years later.

Sarah has been there for me through the ups and downs of life (she was even there for the first time I farted in front of a boyfriend….and after the fart I promptly left while everyone was laughing and drove home because I was so embarrassed hahaha) and I am so excited about all the things to come! We’ve been friends for over 20 years and now she is engaged!!! Woo hoo! Now Scott is stuck with me forever.

I could actually go on forever about how great my best friend is but I will stop at this. Sarah blew out the candles on my 3rd birthday cake and I hope she gets to blow out many many more to come!!! Love you best friend!!!

30 Day Blog Challenge

This morning my bestie Alexandra brought something to my attention: A 30-Day Blog Challenge.

My yoga studio had a 100 day yoga challenge starting on January 1st...but since that is obviously a no-go, I've decided this is a much more manageable challenge. The Challenge looks like this:

Goal: to post a different photo every day, based on instructions from a list (see list below).
Day 01 - A picture of yourself with ten facts
Day 02 - A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest
Day 03 - A picture of the cast from your favorite show
Day 04 - A picture of your night
Day 05 - A picture of your favorite memory
Day 06 - A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day
Day 07 - A picture of your most treasured item
Day 08 - A picture that makes you laugh
Day 09 - A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most
Day 10 - A picture of the person you do the most ****** up things with
Day 11 - A picture of something you hate
Day 12 - A picture of something you love
Day 13 - A picture of your favorite band or artist
Day 14 - A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without
Day 15 - A picture of something you want to do before you die
Day 16 - A picture of someone who inspires you
Day 17 - A picture of something that has made a huge impact on your life recently
Day 18 - A picture of your biggest insecurity
Day 19 - A picture and a letter
Day 20 - A picture of somewhere you'd love to travel
Day 21 - A picture of something you wish you could forget
Day 22 - A picture of something you wish you were better at
Day 23 - A picture of your favorite book
Day 24 - A picture of something you wish you could change
Day 25 - A picture of your day
Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you
Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member
Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of
Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile
Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

And now onward to the challenge!!!!!!

So here is a picture of me....

10 Facts

No 1. This picture is me in front of the White House celebrating being a 2011 Natty Champ. While I was there I met Obama and shook his hand.

No 2. I am convinced that I have ADD and that I am a serious procrastinator (hence why I am blogging instead of doing my real work), but I also am very productive and have managed grad school, my lax company, being a student athlete and having a life. So my self-diagnosis can't be too accurate I guess.

No 3. Ramiro Ray Vela III is the love of my life, the best part of my days and the one person I know will always be there. I love him.

No 4. Lolita Pantalones Baby Gals Amazing Grace Collins-Vela is my dog and she comes in a close second behind Rambo. She got her name from all my college friends that thought I should name her after them and her last name is hyphenated because I wanted Ram to 'adopt' her. She will be celebrating her 2nd birthday on March 5.

No 5. My favorite flowers are calla lilies, dahlias and peonies. Even though I don't like flowers, I really do (but I still dislike roses...way over priced and they die in a day), but I probably would get pretty amped up over an herb garden or a mint plant to make mojitos.

No 6. I am writing my master's thesis on black female athletes and their hair. Ask me about it if you wanna know because I can go on for days.

No 7. My favorite food is macaroni and cheese. It is the one thing I could never give up.

No 8. I own a lax company, Step Up Lacrosse, with Becky Clipp and it is probably the most enjoyable job I have ever had. I get to work with all my best friends, travel different places and I find coaching young players to be one of the most rewarding things there is.

No 9. I'm a great swimmer but my biggest fear is drowning. I had to leave the theater when I went to see Titanic and the movie pretty much ruined any chance of me ever going on a cruise.

No 10. My best friend of my entire life is Sarah Schneider and she is engaged to Scott Barnes! I am so happy for them and I am currently in the works of thinking up a new nickname for us (we used to be Schnollins)....so maybe now we will be Bollins? Barnollins? Carnes? Colnes? Who knows!

That is all for today.