#pamelasperiproject launches this sunday!

Psst. Did you know there was a new social media platform in town? Even though the last thing I needed was a new social media distraction to sponge up all my spare time and get me off track, Periscope is actually really something special. It’s a live video broadcasting platform — and because it’s owned by Twitter, it’s already widely available to many of us. The amazing thing about the livestreaming is that people participating in your broadcast are able to directly comment in realtime. What a great way to develop a relationship with all…

red tent revival returns 17-21 may

Today I heard a woman named Kristin Sweeting Morelli say something that rocked my world. “Shame can only live in darkness.” She said it in the context of people — of women in particular — keeping to themselves the things they were most ashamed of about themselves and their experiences, whether they were at fault or not. Shame doesn’t belong only to the miscreants, the cheaters, the liars, the politicians. Everyone carries shame about something in their lives, and in our world today, women feel shame surrounding so much. Shame for being fat. For being old. For being educated. For…

what reinvention means to me (i.e., refueling my purpose)

Confession: I started writing this post today originally with a completely different intention. I’m familiar with the practice of letting my words carry me somewhere I never thought I’d go in the moment — welcome to writing and the art of conversation — so I surrendered to it. I promise this post has a point, so please be patient and let it unfold. After my junior year in Florence, I decided to change my major to Italian (that way, the culture classes I’d taken wouldn’t have been for nothing — this was an attempt to speed my degree along…

coming up for air — a return to what matters

*crickets* *crickets* I’ve taken a seemingly infinite hiatus. This has been a problem — not only for you, my cherished readers, but mostly, and ironically, for me. I mean, have I seriously not posted a thing since 2013?! Wow. The truth is, I’ve been going through a heavy period of transition. As cliché and overhyped as “I’m finding myself” may sound, it’s honestly been what I’ve been doing. It’s still too early to go into much detail — kind of like touching too much after having just applied nail polish — but I recently parted ways with…

[repost] 13 things mentally strong people don’t do

Howdy, everyone! My personal trainer posted this Lifehack.org article to Facebook today, and I wanted to share. 🙂 Mentally strong people have healthy habits. They manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in ways that set them up for success in life. Check out these things that mentally strong people don’t do so that you too can become more mentally strong. 1. They Don’t Waste Time Feeling Sorry for Themselves Mentally strong people don’t sit around feeling sorry about their circumstances or how others have treated them. Instead, they take responsibility for their role in life and…

wealth week is now wealth month

I’ve decided to extend Wealth Week into Wealth Month — how convenient that we’ve just begun a fresh new month! Coincidentally, November is my birth month, and I definitely feel my financial story looking up! (Overwhelmingly, November is also NaNoWriMo — National Novel Writing Month — so I’ve got tons to write these days.) I’ve taken a few days off from writing because I’ve begun customer service training at a portrait photography studio. This should take place on weekends during the day (Fridays and Saturdays), with the exception of this week as my boss is shooting a wedding…