The Key to a Successful Life

“Happiness comes in many forms — in the company of good friends, in the feeling you get when you make someone else’s dream come true, or in the promise of hope renewed. It’s okay to let yourself be happy because you never know how fleeting that happiness might be.”
-One Tree Hill

So life has been a little rocky lately and I suppose at times that’s just the way it is, between dealing with family issues, boys, and friends it’s easy to get lost in the madness and forget how to just live life. So here I am admitting that life after high school only gets harder, in fact all my friends who have already submerged themselves into their new college lifestyles and expected “fun” party lives have already grown tired of the “fun” of college and miss two places they never thought they’d miss.. 1)High School 2) Our hometown. It’s funny how experiences in our lives make us think so much about the places we’ve been and more importantly the people we were with when we were there.

There are times in my life now,as I have come to realize I could have done so much better with myself. There are so many things I missed out on due to my own decision making. But the truth is I don’t want to regret those missed moments anymore..There were a lot of things I did get to experience and I’m grateful for them all as they have shaped me into the person I am today. And i’m not perfect, I’m far from it. I’m not in college, I’m not employed, I’m living at home and I have rejected quite a few “experiences of a lifetime” in the past few months and still I feel that I have made the right choice because for the most part I am happy, at least I am happy with myself. I am still trying to figure out who I am, what I want my life and at this point who I really want in my life. These are hard choices to make and I realize that everyone has to make them, I’m just a little slower at making decisions sometimes.

But I’m getting better at it. I know now that the first step in my life is to choice who I want to spend my time with because above all else that’s the most important thing despite what my parents believe about this. So here goes: I want a boy who treats me right, who loves the person I am even when I make mistakes, and most importantly a boy who can make me smile. I want a best friend I can share things with and know that person really cares about what I’m saying, I want that person to give me their best advice and most of all I want someone who knows they can trust me to give them the same oportunities. I want a hero to look up to who is not afraid to show themself, a hero who accepts all ways of life, but strives to make them better, a hero who stands in a crowd and admits they’re happy to be different. Most importantly I want to hold these great qualities in myself, for myself and for the people in my life.

Most educated people define the keys of a sucessful life by your status in life. I remember in Sociology class my senior year learning about the different things by which my life would be defined by others; my relationship status, career choice, family, religion and economical status all which would be summed up as my “master status” and although I do agree those things do make up the person I am and what people think of me, I also believe there’s a lot more to it than that. As I said I would like a boy in my life, but I am still an independant person even with a significant other. I want my career to be something I’m going to love, not something that’s “going to make me rich.” I want a family to love and enjoy and as long as I have love in my life and enough money to be financially stable I’ll be happy with whatever comes in my life. How people define the keys of sucess in their lives are up to them, but mine will always be this. The one key to a sucessful life is HAPPINESS.

The Band Perry have recently come out with a new single called, “If I die Young”. Now being a young person who has recently lost a young friend this song has had a big impact on my perspective, not only because of my personal loss, but because of a verse in the lyrics that says:

“A penny for my thoughts, oh no I’ll sell them for a dollar
They’re worth so much more after I’m a gone
And maybe then you’ll hear the words I been
Funny when you’re dead how people start listenin”

Well here’s the thing, I don’t want to be dead for people to start listening to what I have to say. If there’s one thing I do before I die it’s going to be making sure I make a positive impact on people’s lives and make them listen to what I’ve got to tell them. I don’t want to be just another person going through life because I’m just in it. I want to enjoy my life and help others to enjoy their lives too. I don’t want to think of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and play the role of George Bailey (James Stewart), thinking people would be better off without me. I want to know that I’ve made people’s lives change for the better and that because of that I can lead a better life as well.

Although this blog ended up going in a completely different direction than I had intended on going and I still have a great many things still left to say I will leave it at this for the time being, get some sleep and enjoy the greatness that life has in store for me tomorow while I’ll be spending time with great friends and enjoying making new memories.

-Chelsea Sioux.

Just a quick update.

Just realized I haven’t updated my blog in over a month, but honestly not  much has happened since then. After finally getting home from family-hell-vacation I have managed to flood my bedroom floors with all my stuff which has not been removed since the week I got back due to laziness. In addition to this I have enrolled into community collage in a different city and have yet to sell my previously bought apartment in Orlando nor have I found a new one to rent in Gainsville  so it’s been quite stressful. On top of everything else all my friends are in the process of going off to collage and after tommorow they will all have gone which is very sad for me since I am so close to them all and spend most of my time with them. Without them I can really only see loneliness in my future and my crazy brain leading me to too many thoughts about similar subjects. But new ideas have very recently been put into my head widening my options of things I might find myself doing in the future. In the meantime though (meaning the days before starting collage in October) I would really just like to reconnect with previous relationships, have fun, and tie my head around a few ideas to finally have some inspiration back in me. The only other thing I’m excited for and dissapointed for is my 18th birthday next week, as I said all my classmates are gone and my remaining friends have already started school leaving me completely alone on my birthday…and I do mean alone  as all of my family members are out of town or in school as well. So apart from it being turning 18 it basically just sucks. Sorry for being so pessamistic in this blog as I usually leave these things in another blog of mine, but it’s three in the morning and frankly I don’t give a damn.

-Chelsea Sioux.

Monaco Fireworks July 9th

 
          Tonight was a night to remember, that is a night to remember in itself, by myself despite the fact that this night was spent with my family it’s my brain by itself that enjoyed the night. I got dressed up in high heels, leggings, makeup, and all and started the walk toward the Monte Carlo Casino, as we got closer I heard the sound of the fireworks and the reflection bouncing off the windows of the tall buildings. We walks faster and reached the casino when I saw the first explosion burst over the top of the magnificent building, a splash of color in the night sky to light up the night. We watched in awe and watched as the crowds of people exited the front of the casino toward the road to see the fireworks over the harbor, of course we follwed the large crowd to the edge of the sidewalk and looked out onto the harbor. They had set up large speakers blasting out music in which the fireworks corresponded to. In addition to a Michael Jackson song and several others there was a Mama Mia medley with a few of the great Abba songs which was my favorte part of the display with songs such as “Gimme Gimme (A man after midnight)”, “Money Money” and of course “Mama Mia” the only thing that would have made the night better would have been meeting a gorgous french guy who had a vespa ;] unfortunately that part wasn’t in the works. Instead after the display we went for Capachino at the Metropolitan Hotel which in addition to being breath taking inside and out also had breath taking prices as a small cup of capachino was around 18 euros each!!!!

-Chelsea Sioux.

Wolverhampton & Monaco Night One

I’m at my godfather’s now in Wolverhampton, England. After a 5+ hr. train ride from Scotland which was just short of painfully boring. But I’m glad to finally be here. I haven’t seen my godfather’s family in three years and it’s really wonderful to see them all again as they are such a great laugh, honestly I think it’s near impossible to be unhappy around them. With the twins (Millie & Archie), Amy, and their lovely spaniel dog, Bell it’s just such great fun. Went on the train today with Amy and her friend, Emily and went to a ridiculously large and packed shopping center. They’ve got gorgous clothes here so it was lots of fun, despite this I didn’t buy anything because my suitcase is already too full and I’m saving all my money for Paris Boutiques! Wish I was staying here longer though, the weather is gorgous as well as the old brick house that they live in. Millie was willing to let me use her pretty very pink room while I stay for two nights. Went out to dinner to a restrant which I believe was called “The Foaming Mug” where we had a wonderful meal. As everyone was quite tired from the exhaustion of their daily lives everyone went to sleep quite early, but Amy let me borrow some dvds to watch including the Ballet Shoes which was a great british movie to watch :] Now I’ve just written my two postcards to my lovely friends Kaylee and Kevin so hopefully I’ll be able to send those out and enjoy my last day in Wolverhampton before leaving tommorow afternoon on the plane to France to meet up with my parents and my brother. (July 4th)

MONACO Night One

Arrived earlier today into the airport in Nice, had quite a nice flight as the two seats beside me were empty and I was at the front of the airplane (ROW TWO!!) Dad picked me up from the airport and we spent the next hour and a bit lost in the streets of Monoco only upside being able to explore the streets a bit as it is very beautiful here. Finally made it to the apartment dumped our stuff and went out for a meal that isn’t worth mentioning. High heels up and down hills is not a good idea! Walked up through the square where the Monte Carlo Casino and Hotel De Paris is which of course is magic in itself and shows off a piece of Monaco’s pride I think, though I’m sure to find a lot more magic in this city despite high prices on everything! Not a place to go if you want to save money, even postcards are ridiculously priced. But it is nice here, I’m out on the balcony at the moment looking over the city, there’s a beautiful garden below which I really like, even if it’s a bit of a mess. Hoping to have an adventure worth mentioning soon! <3

-Chelsea Sioux.

Day 3, 4, and 5

Day 3
BORING DAY AT THE HOUSE

DAY 4Went to St. Andrews which is basically a city with an extremely old and popular golf course and a popular tourist site. Usually I would enjoy cities like this but in this case the city smelt terrible and was quite dirty and despite the pretty views I felt it to be quite grim and an unejoyable place, though many would disagree this is still my opinion. And aparently Scottish people don’t keep their coca cola’s cold! and it didn’t taste nice either :/ FAIL.

DAY 5
Went into Perth to see the art museum of Ferguson and his lady friend as well as another museum which basically contained a bunch of random things, I really wasn’t very overwelled by either of the museums though I did enjoy looking through some of the fashion designs that were made for theatre costumes and Andy Warhol’s various art pieces at the second museum, unfortunately they did not allow pictures to be taken. We ate in the Marcs & Spencers Cafe for lunch which I wasn’t thrilled about as all the cafes such as this one do not serve fresh food and instead have boxes sandwiches to pick from (<-Not good) After leaving Perth we went to the shops in Dundee (another city) which were quiet nice and sold items for a low price so I got myself a new bikini :]

Scotland Day 2

DAY TWO
           Today we went to another town outside of Perth, about 30 minutes away where there is a large warhouse called “The Scottish Antique & Arts Centre” and basically it’s just that. A bunch of people who have collected and sell anitiques send their antiques to this warehouse where several clerks host and sell it for them. It really was brilliant and some of the antiques were over hundreds of years old, that was mostly the oreintal antiques, but there were many other interesting things too such as ivory silverware, real fur coats (which I didn’t enjoy), and even old postcards, some of which had been used and had messages and addresses on the back of them. The postcards were my favorite things that I saw and in fact I loved them so much that I bought two. (Pictured below) one was made of leather which I thought was very interesting as I have never seen a leather postcard before and although it had never been used it was still very interesting to look at.
The other postcard was written as:
“Dear, M.,
  Just a card to wish you many happy returns on your 21st birthday.
(a word I can’t read)
Best Love, George.” 
(And it had the womans’ address on it.)

It was really fantastic to look at all the different postcards and the messages that had been sent all over. There were even a box of used envelopes that had all sorts of different ink and stamps across them with scribbled names and addresses.

After looking around we went to the cafe next door where I had a cup of English tea and a scone with jam and clotted cream (best cream ever!) It was really good, but the cafes’ atmostphere was pretty crappy. It was really noisy and we sat at the front so everyone coming in passed by us, it was also quite crowded as it was a saturday! But apart from that it was a nice little adventure for the day.

Always,
                                            Chelsea Sioux.

Scotland Day 1

DAY ONE
So due to my bad case of jet lag I didn’t wake up till the afternoon, but still managed to get out. We took a nice drive through the countryside to a little Chocolate shoppe created by a wonderful chocolatier, Iain Burnett located in Grandtully, Perthshire.
It is called “Legends” and along with selling the handcrafted beautiful chocolates, the shoppe also sold stone statues, little handcrafted witches, and other little artsy tidbits that would make wonderful gifts for anyone. After looking around the shoppe we went to the little coffee house inside where I had Iain Burnett’s hot chocolate, which was literally pure chocolate melted down! And a big yummy piece of carrot cake.
I would deffinately suggest popping into this shoppe if you’re ever around this part of Scotland as it was really a wonderful little place surrounded by a small town and beautiful gardens. For more information about the highland chocolatier, Iain Burnett check out their website: www. HighlandChocolatier.com
Along with making small highly decorated chocolate truffles Iain also has made cakes entirely out of chocolate (as seen in the second picture at the top.) and chocolate sculptures (such as the egg below which cost 600 english pounds which is near $1,000 U.S. dollars!!)

                                                                       Always, Chelsea Sioux.

Scotland

   
       (House across  the street, I haven’t taken one of my grandparents house though it looks pretty much the same. )

So for the next two weeks I find myself residing at 79th Druids Park in Murthly, Scotland. This being the neighborhood where my grandparents live, I have been shipped off to stay here for the time being as the rest of my family goes on their own travels. Although I have been suffering ridiculous jet lag I am really enjoying the weather compared to the high 90′s and 100% humidity of my residence in Florida.  

                                      (Pictures of the Garden)
(Train that runs through the garden)

(View from my room)
(sorry the blog entry is a bit out of place, having some troubles with this computer.)

Wakey!Wakey!

          
          So lately I’ve been trying to get into discovering new bands to add to my very long list of different music I like and I came across one inparticular that I am absolutely obsessed and in love with. If you haven’t already guessed the band is called Wakey! Wakey! The funny thing is I actually came across one of their songs a few months ago when it appeared on my favorite show, One Tree Hill. The song was called “War Sweater” and I absolutely loved it, but over time I found new music (as always) and for a time forgot about it…Well recently there’s been a new character on One Tree Hill, his name is Grubbs. And after this character began to show an interest in music for some reason it reminded me of the song I had hear in recent months, so this time I decided to look into it. And low and behold the character Grubbs and the band “Wakey! Wakey!” are one in the same, as Grubbs is the lead vocalist and songwriter for the band.

          Since figuring this out (like two days ago) after hearing my favorite song by them, “Brooklyn” (which if you haven’t heard you absolutely must because it is the most gorgous song I have ever heard.) I have become obsessed and listened to each song like ten times each. The music is different and the lyrics are fantastic in their own way which makes it so great. And then there’s Grubbs…Michael Grubbs that is. I don’t even know where to start with this amazing and talented artist. I got onto the Wakey! Wakey! website and read as much as I could about him and the band and all the wonderful things he had to say about the band, music, and his life in general and it gave me so much respect for him. In his own way he is absolutely gorgous, not to mention his beautiful voice.  I would love love love to hear him play live, because of him Wakey! Wakey! has deffinately made it to the top of bands I must see play live..Unfortunately their tour dates do not cover Florida and I currently don’t have the funds to make it up to Wilmington, N.C. or New York as much as I would love to see them play in either place. But hopefully next time they’re on tour I’ll be able to get the oportunity.

          Their music has opened my eyes to happy days again, even if the days arn’t the best these songs make them better, the lyrics are easy to connect to my life and lets face it that’s always what makes the music great. Michael Grubbs has an amazing talent and I’m so happy that I’ve found Wakey! Wakey! and even more happy that I could share my feelings about this band online and hopefully help someone else discover them for how truely amazing their music is!

Here is the link to listen to “Brooklyn” (I had to post it since it is my favorite song)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R45yoW4wxU

-Chelsea Sioux.

Rest In Peace Jacob Smith

I know I have always said this would be a place for me to write my happiest thoughts, but it has also been a place for me to get my feeling out about things I care about very much…This past weekend my friend Jacob died in a car accident. It has only just set in for me that it really happened I’m still filled with shock and devastated. As writing is my only way of getting out my feelings and there’s so much I never got to say to Jacob, I wrote him a letter and thought I’d post it. I know it’s not like he can see it or anything, but I had to write it.

Jacob Conrad Smith
July 9th, 1991 – March 20th, 2010

Dear Jacob,
I know you problly just thought of me as a total straightedge who was too damn quiet and for the most part you were very right about that. But despite that we were never close I still have a lot of thinks to tell you and a lot of things to thank you for. You made an impact on a lot of lives Jacob Smith, without even realizing it you made one on mine. I remember when I met you sophmore year..I thought you were absolutely nuts, but I was jealous of that. That you could be so amazingly outgoing and make friends so easily and people loved you so much even after first meeting you. I guess you just had that friendly happy appeal.  I have to tell you there’s one memory inparticular of you that I’m sure I will always remember as it was the day my perspective of you changed even more for the better. We were sitting in English class sophmore year (problly halfway through the year) and you wanted to look through my ipod, at this point I knew..or thought I knew what kind of music you liked because you practically sang or pig squealed at any chance you could. So I figured you would hate my music…next thing I know your belting out the words from the Phantom of the Opera, which I swear put me in a state of shock. If I remember correctly I started laughing at you because I couldn’t even believe it. And you informed me of your love to perform and how you love love loved to read all sorts of books and even that you were ridiculously smart despite making yourself out like you never did school work. I was absolutely beyond shocked and it changed everything I had ever thought about you. Jacob Smith I never did tell you any of this…And I wish I had because if I had had the opportunity this is what I would have said. Jacob you are an incredible and shocking person. You are filled with more courage than any man I’ve ever met. You are such a happy person and I love you for filling a room with joy just by walking into it. You are intelligent and since you showed me that I have believed that you problly have more potential for greatness than half the people in our grade including myself. You are an amazing person to all, there’s no wonder why everyone loves you so much. I have to thank you for being so good to my best friend, I know you loved her and took good care of her, but more than that you were a gentleman to her and you’re exactly the kind of guy she needed in her life, for the most part. I wish I had spent more time with you, got to know you better. I mean in the little time I did spend time with you, you never failed to make me laugh or smile even when you made me feel ridiculously akward due to my once quiet personality. So thank you for the time you spent with me and my best friend. I know you in the sky up with the angels causing all sorts of havoc and looking down on all of us. Thank you for gracing us all with the chance of knowing you, you will be eternally missed because of your greatness. We all love you Jacob and we’ll never forget you.

Love,
Chelsea.