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st. vincent

I watched this movie last night:

Fantastic!

In my travels, the most fascinating part of any time spent is always with people. I’ve learned a lot during thousands of conversations with strangers, (more than I ever expect)- mostly that everybody has a story. There’s little to be seen on the surface, always so much more to what makes each of us who and what we are. I think Bill Murray did a brilliant job depicting a more-than-meets-the-eye, guy in this film. Two thumbs up! He shows there’s still plenty of light, love and goodness, even in those we run into, who seem like they just don’t give a shit about anything or anyone.

Inspires you to be a little more patient & understanding about where that person you doubt came from and what they’ve been through, eh?

What’s your story?

#EveryoneHasAStory #BelowTheSurface #StVincent

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don’t forget your condoms

We are going to this event tonight; Art, entertainment, and fabulous people- all to benefit Planned Parenthood:

Don't forget your condoms!

Whoop! Fashion creations made out of condoms by local artists? Awesome.

I’m a huge Planned Parenthood fan.

Years ago, I remember reading a gigantic binder full of thank you letters sent in by girls of all ages when I was in a Planned Parenthood office in Virginia, waiting to have my annual exam. (God those exams are about as fun as never eating chocolate again.) Some of the letters made me smile, some made me cry, mostly they made me thankful that there was a safe place to help girls who had nowhere else to go. When you’re a young woman sitting in a quiet waiting room reading words written by a 15 year old who lived in an abusive home and was always told she’d “get the shit beaten out of her” if she ever came home pregnant, but was fortunate enough to have a place to get birth control pills, or from a 23 year old who was scared out of her mind not knowing how to tell her boyfriend she was pregnant, but was fortunate enough to have somewhere that offered counseling to coach her to have that conversation with a positive result- it makes you stop and think about your own life; That could be me, any of us- and what would I have done if I was in those shoes and had no where to turn? 

Thank you, Planned Parenthood.

I believe that every one, every day has a chance and a choice to change their life. I will always be in major support of any organization that offers chances and choices for those who might not have them otherwise. Hat’s off to Planned Parenthood for all their years of education and advocacy to protect and advance women’s health and rights.

If you are in Charlotte, NC tonight- come join us for a fun night with an awesome mission!

How do you support the organizations you believe in?

#SupportYourCommunity #Choices #CLTEvents

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live, uncut, and unfiltered; warn the children

Can I get a whoop whoop?! Tell-ya-like-it-is, soul-sister in not being afraid to throw eff-bombs when necessary, and Author of You are a Badass, Jen Sincero- linked to Blue Lollipop Road in her blog post yesterday!

Boom chicka BOOM!

Naturally I’m thrilled to potentially have some of her readers eyes here on BLR considering they’re probably total badasses, or soon-to-be total badasses after reading her book, but mostly todays linkage is awesome  because as I have always said (and Jen writes to this point in her book)- when you take a step towards life, the universe responds. (Translation; Do things you love, are good at, and that feel natural to you, because when you do, traction and movement just starts happening. Period.)

I wrote this blog post on January 19th, because I was genuinely pissed off at myself for not posting here regularly like I used to/not working on my book more, for wasting my time working with a ridiculous client over the past 6 months who was not worth my time or energy, and for being apprehensive about generally writing in the tone I most enjoy; my actual own voice! I’ve been skittish about really throwing my eff-bombs and uber opinions around like I used to, since starting the Blue Lollipop Road Memorial Scholarship Fund and BLR Play It Forward in 2012: What if a parent of these girls applying for my scholarship read my blog posts that are often littered with cuss words and over-the-top-sass and thinks I’m crazy? 

As I read Jen’s book it was like she snapped her fingers in my face to wake me up from some kind of filtered trance that I had put myself in when I decided I wanted to launch Play It Forward. The do-gooder in me worried about community members and parents shunning their children away from “Crazy Diane who has that event and scholarship fund.” So I haven’t been living like my awesome badass self as much as I have wanted to, writing freely. (Blasphemy!)

So there I am a few weeks back, reading Jen’s words, getting all fired up thinking Bitch stole my book! I’m the one that get’s on my soap box spewing everything she’s talking about! She took the words out of my mouth! That’s how I usually write! Then I wrote that blog post, giving Jen props because hey- while I’ve been being all sissy and filtering my words, she was taking action actually writing her book, and well- the early bird gets the worm, baby. After writing my post I popped on over to good ol’ Facebook and put the link on Jen’s page with a “Thanks, Jen!” – and didn’t think another thing about it because I was busy focusing on kicking my ass back to myself. Meanwhile, in pops a response from Jen that she was going to share my link in her next blog post (yeah!) and here we are.

I did what was genuine and made me feel good by writing that blog post about Jen’s book, and the universe (Jen in this case) responded with some payback love.

Pretty awesome. That’s how it works!

I decided long, long ago to ride the badass train of living it up after losing 2 of my best friends who all of this Blue Lollipop Road awesomeness is dedicated to. I think I’ve managed to do a great job with that…most of time. As I look back at the past few years, I can see myself falling off that train here and there. Learning big time stuff about your adult self and leaving the younger you behind is no easy task, but now- especially after reading Jen’s book which made me feel like I was looking in a gargantuan mirror of my own words, I’m back to the game plan, laser focus, and reality that was burned into my brain back in 1994; there’s no time to be filtered or afraid. Life is too short for any of that crap. 

Today is February 11, 2015 and this day would have been my friend Maria’s 37th Birthday. Here we are in 6th grade before a big field trip, all badass like we owned the world. We didn’t care about a thing (including how ridiculous our hair or fanny packs looked) other than being happy, and feeling alive like we could conquer the world:

6th grade class trip

We were #1 for sure that day. Talk about dance like nobody’s watching. LOVE. THIS. PHOTO. The two of us were always uncut, unfiltered, and having a blast when we were together. That’s how I fully intend to live the rest of my years, inspired by people like my friend, who I wish more than anything, was here to celebrate with today.

Who inspires you to take your filter off?

#BadassBook #BeYou #Unfiltered

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i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again; ILOVERMONT!

These cutesy articles about various states and kinds of people that live in them always crack me up. This one about my home state of Vermont, is pretty spot on. Numbers 4, 6 ,9, 11, and 14 describe me best/are my favorites. Boy do I miss those grinders from the Bennington Pizza House with that crispy, cold shredded iceberg lettuce that I would never otherwise eat.

Oh my beautiful little Green Mountain State and all the things that come with it! (Except the cold and snow- note my carefully planned visits always revolve around warm weather months.)

VT Border

Organic Rocks

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Green Mountain Farm

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What do you love about your home state?

#ILOVERMONT #GreenMountains #FreshAirKid

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it pisses me off when i read books like this that I could’ve totally written

Could've written this one

Like really chaps my ass.

Good on ya, Jen Sincero! While I’ve been distracting myself  from doing what I really want to do; writing books like this, raising funds for the BLR Memorial Scholarship, planning events, encouraging anyone who is unhappy in whatever they are doing, to call a fuck it and jump ship- and doing speaking engagements about it all, I’ve chosen to spend too much of my Monday-through-Friday-plus time underpaid, for a terribly unorganized, immature, unprofessional client during the past 6 months just to pay my bills. (And let’s face it- this is not the first time I’ve burned myself with I’ll just do this for a little while and work on BLR on the side.) You’ve been flying to best-seller status and beyond (along with plenty others) and I’ve been sprinting on the very gerbil wheel I despise more than anything. (The same one I constantly preach for others to stay off or jump off.) Bullshit! No more.

Thanks for pissing me off, Jen! My buck stops here; I’ve fired that client. I won’t take another one like that- ever, and shit is about to get real up in here. (Holla DMX!) That’s right, you can look for my book on a shelf near you in the next year or two.

Like Mr. Martin Luther King, I have a dream too- and It’s about damn time I put up or shut up about it.

Nothing says motivation like calling yourself out publicly. BOOM!

What chaps your ass enough to finally snap?

#TodayIsTheDay #GetItDone #BLRGoTime

PS~ Thanks to my sister, Erin for sending me this book. She probably sent it because she knew it would piss me off just enough to put me over the edge to where I’ve wanted to be for a very long time. You rock, sister!

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go, be, do, see

Well happy Wednesday to me! This just in, Another Best Day interview posted. Check it out here!

I learned of ABD this summer and think their message is totally awesome. It was founded with a simple idea:

To serve as a consistent reminder to make the most of every day.

Alaska ir Bust

Amen!

I agree with the Another Best Day crew, that we CHOOSE our thoughts, the same way that we choose our clothing. We choose to think positively, or negatively, we choose to think that we are capable of going, being, doing, and seeing anything imaginable, we choose to sit on our asses, or kicking them into high gear. Luck has nothing to do with accomplishing goals. Goals take hard work and making the choice to stick with them no matter what.

Think of the last time you had “the best day ever” and imagine it happening again and again because you wake up each day choosing that it will be. Seems pretty simple, right?

Thanks for working to spread a great message and including me in your awesomeness, Dave & Brett!

How do you pursue Another Best Day?

#ABDLife #Choices #GoBeDoSee

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eat more kale

Yay for this Vermont victory! So proud of my home state and all the amazing farmers who work so hard to grow food there.

Get your Eat More Kale (and other) tees here.

I love anyone who supports local as much as possible. Fresh food, healthy food, best food! As for corporate giants like Chick-Fil-A, who try to shut the little guys up, and are also anti-gay…take that! We DON’T support you. Hate never wins, honesty always will, and love will always rule. Put that between your two chicken sandwich buns and eat it:) 

How do you stand up for what you believe in and speak up to corporate bullies?

#ILOVERMONT #LetLoveRule #SupportLocal

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one of my hero’s

Check out this video that promotes a youth film competition in Vermont. My little brother (who’s actually not so young, but I call him little brother, anyway:) is on the video at 1:37 until about 2:06. It’s a clip from when he spoke on the gay marriage bill at the Vermont State House back in 2009. How proud is this Peacock (thumbs pointed in at myself) to share blood with this good-looking’, hard-working, well-spoken,  guy?

My brother is awesome

Awesome. I haven’t seen this footage (that made a ruckus, the news and a quote in the NY Times by the way) in a long time,  but it just resurfaced last week. I can’t get enough of it, so I had to share again. My most amazing, kind-hearted, sweet, strong brother makes me want to be a better person and never stop fighting for what I believe in.

Thanks for always inspiring me, Brad! I love you.

What do you stand up for?

#SpeakUp #StandProud #LetLoveRule

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calling it like it is

Many years ago, I took the typical “Screw this/it/that!” and started saying; “I’m calling a f*ck it”, instead.

Calling a f*ck it, is that moment when you are so done, so over “it”, tired of something, someone, or ready to just make a move- any kind of move, literally or figuratively. It’s when you either stop dead in your tracks and draw a line, or when you begin sprinting towards something you’ve always wanted to- something brand new. A time when you smack yourself in the face or take a minute to look around and think; what the hell am I doing?! Then can’t stand living one more minute there- so you make a change. (It can also be a fleeting moment of letting yourself go and feeling free, like bum-rushing the dance floor even when you’re sober, to drop it like It’s hot.)

Oh the little things that can make you feel powerful and alive.

The girl in this piece called a f*ck it and changed her work life for good. Amen, sister! I love reading these stories. I wish we were surrounded by more of them. Life is short. We’ve got ONE life. Call a f*ck it and start doing what you want if you are not already.

Try to make otherwise serious, scary looking guys, laugh:

My muscles are bigger than yours

…let strangers kiss you from across the counter:

Stranger Smooch

…or maybe just for one minute remember that no one is the boss of your life. You are in charge! You are capable of making any choice you want. We life in a free country. A FREE country, people! (I know this post is late for Veteran’s Day, but I am sending better late-than-never love to everyone who’s fought and protected so I’m able to live a life of whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want it, in America. Thank you, Veterans.)

How are you going to call a f*ck it today and let your freedom ring?

#LifeIsShortDoWhatYouLove #TodayIsTheDay #LetFreedomRing

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