A Travel Journal

   About two and a half years ago a friend of mine bought me a black travel journal with an Eiffel Tower on it (very fitting for me). I meant to write in it, but of course I haven’t. It is sitting in my bookcase. At first, I wanted to talk about my travels moving to North Carolina and the travels while living to North Carolina, but I felt like I didn’t have much to say even though I have traveled since I have been here. I think I may have missed the whole point to that journal. It was not just about travels that I take, but also the adventures of life.


   Moving to North Carolina was a new adventure for my life. A completely new experience, which I thought I would never have. I never thought I would live in North Carolina. I have learned so much since I have been here. I have learned about culture, about local history, and met people from all over the country and other countries as well. I have had the experience of getting a top notch education through working on my master’s degree in education. I have learned how the schools here are similar and different in many ways from New Hampshire. I would not give up these experiences for anything. I have grown as a person and feel more independent than ever.

   It was a lot of work to relocate, but I would do it again. I love living here, but in some ways I wouldn’t mind moving to another area and experiencing and learning more. I am looking forward to completing my master’s degree and having more time to experience life, travel, and learn more.

Greeting Cards

    I love greeting cards, and I love writing greeting cards.  I have loved designing and writing cards since I was a little kid.  I used to love using construction paper to create homemade cards for family members when I was in elementary school.  Sometimes I really miss creating my own cards.  I have always wanted to publish my own greeting cards or at least write a greeting card and be able to see it in a store someplace.  Someday I am actually going to put aside some time to accomplish that. 

    Hallmark cards are my favorite.  I found this Hallmark website that has some lines from their cards published, and I wanted to share this site and a couple Hallmark card quotes that I really like.  Of course a couple of my favorite are about travel.  Check out the site at http://www.hallmark100years.com/From-Our-Writers

"There is no greater measure of our worth than our capacity to love."


"We travel not to find ourselves in the world, but to remember that we have a world inside of us."


"Life is short. Have a donut."


"Be your own exclamation point!"


"Overnight successes usually only look that way to everyone else."


"Sometimes the words you don’t say are the most important."


"A wise man travels light on the road trip of life. Wisdom is his map… wonder, his fuel… and a good story, his favorite souvenir."

What I Love About Writing

    For years, writing has been an outlet for me—a way to express myself when others weren't around. I grew found of it from very young. Writing was my favorite part of elementary school. I looked forward to writing more than anything else (other than maybe art class). In third grade, I wrote a 36 page long story about the adventures of a cat. I already loved cats by that age as well, but I didn't have any cats until I was moved out of my parents’ house. In fourth grade, I decided I would start to write a book, and I would take paper out to the playground and write instead of hanging out with the kids on the playground. I had a friend who would hang out and talk to me while I wrote. It was the best way to spend recess in my mind. I wasn't very social when I was a child. Something I will get more into in my book. When I got a little older, writing was a way for me to shine when I was struggling in other subjects due to my reading disability.

    Today writing is still an outlet. I can make the rules when I write. I can write about what I want and when I want to write about it. I can write about stuff I would never tell anyone, and stuff I want the world to know about. It is a way for me to be creative and to shed light on important issues, such as the book I am working on about dyslexia and my experiences growing up with a reading disability. Far more people can be reached through writing than through just telling a story or account verbally.

    I hope to find more time to write once my degree is done. For now, it is a few blog posts, a couple of poems here and there, and the little time I have to work on the first draft of my book.