"Chasin' That Neon Rainbow"

Hi friends!
Today was pretty awesome.
During my Creative Writing class we got to be apart of a sort of meet-and-greet conference. An author by the name of Jon Reiner visited my school today and spoke about his new book, called The Man Who Couldn't Eat. It's actually a memoir about a time in his life (recently) where he literally could not eat a single thing for months due to an illness. Can you imagine that? It's frightening!
He read us a couple excerpts from the book and it was really interesting to hear his sense of humor come out in the pages that also documented this unimaginable experience. Amazingly, Mr. Reiner appears to be super well today, and definitely full of wit. Side note: he is a 1984 alumni of Fairleigh Dickinson University -- my school! So that was really neat to meet someone that once sat in possibly the same classrooms I have, that pursued the same major as I am, and is living out his dream. Like many creative people wanting to share their work, he faced many rejections through the years, BUT after being dealt a sour card (the Crohn's disease) he turned that experience into a captivating text he could share with the world, and it all finally brought him where he wanted to be: a published author who has made a great name for himself. At 49 and celebrating the success of his first published book, he gave us these words in closing, "as cliche as it sounds, follow your dreams; work hard at it and never give up." Cliche or not, I love the people that say this. They know better than anyone. :)
Here's a quote from his blog, in reference to his book, that I quite enjoy:
"There are a few essential things that make us human. Take away sex and you fill a man with desire. Take away breath and a man suffocates. Take away food and things start to get serious."
I didn't have money in my backpack today to pick up his book after the discussion, but I really want to! I love memoirs, and his is surely going to be like nothing I've ever read. And obviously, that's a good thing.
On the way home I was stuck in brutal traffic, because for whatever reason I-80 was down to one lane...this is total bad news bears. One lane is a sick joke to play on people in the New Jersey/NYC area. I knew I could either let this wear my patience thin (I am known to have little or none as it is, if you can believe that), or I could do what I try and make myself remember to do: stop and enjoy the ride. So I switched my iPod over from The Strokes (LOVE them) to Alan Jackson. I immediately began to bob my head and sing songs from when I was growing up. Then a song that I've heard a thousand times, "Chasin' That Neon Rainbow", made me cry so unexpectedly while singing along! Lol It's a total upbeat and happy song about chasing his dreams of becoming a singer, and of course achieving that goal. The tears came out of nowhere, but I was just overcome with this feeling of inspiration and happiness for anyone that faithfully follows their dreams long enough to see them come true. Between Jon Reiner's talk and Alan Jackson's song, I think I was just on an inspirational roller coaster of emotions today! :) But then again, most days I can't even look at a tree without feeling something magical.


I love feeling inspired, and I hope more often than not we can all find inspiration in people, places, pictures, or even the air we breathe.

This picture/quote is fitting. I stole it from my wonderful friend, Jamie's, facebook page. She's an AMAZING photographer with a beautiful, healthy soul. *I linked her blogspot if you want to check it out. You will find so many refreshing words and pictures there!* Jamie is someone who inspires me, 100%, in different aspects.
I'll end this blog with none other than, "what I wore today": lace on top, fun and flirty on the bottom!
I love love love this dress and I'm actually making myself proud that I'm getting in the habit of wearing some of my many dresses more than once. I know, that's a bit snobbish, but it's the truth. I have a major shopping addiction and it results in the non-multiple wearing of pieces. But I have been on a somewhat shopping dry spell as of lately. So that's good...for Mikey.

Outfit deets; Dress, hair clip - Ruche; Jacket - Tulle via ModCloth; Tights - ModCloth; Flats - Target 

Thanks for reading! I'm going to do some homework and watch American Horror Story. I really hope it picks up a bit. The concept of this show is super awesome and pretty original for a weekly tv series, but we (Mikey, our neighbors and I) just think it could use a bit more oomph...more horror! Lol

Goodnight, dolls.

Hugs,

Roni