white

so last night around 4am, it started to snow here in philly. the snow's pretty much carried on till just an hour or two ago - so maybe a full 20ish hours. it's gotten superthick, and i'll admit, it looks beautiful outside - until you hit the roads, that is (maybe it's because i'm from chicago, but i just don't understand...WHERE ARE THE SNOWPLOWS?? AND SALT???) . anyway, i'm still studying for my last final - stressful thursday is over, though, so i'm just grateful for that.

i ended up just staying up and talking to someone until 5am last night - bad for the both of us, because we both have an accounting final on monday - but the talk was good. we sat in a lounge in the lobby of her dorm. i would say it was probably around 3:45am? actually, i really don't know - but there was always soft music playing in the background, because the security guard just had christmas music playing as she sat at the desk. i don't know why i think this is so cute but all of a sudden she just started singing along to the song - i can't even remember what the song was (seriously...4am = burned out brain) but it was so...cute? simple, but cute.

as the snow continued to fall, it saw me sleep...from 6 am....to 12 pm. gross. anyway, i headed somewhere to study (little did i know how unproductive i would be...) anyway, it was literally like, blizzarding. crazy snow. as i walked in, teh security guard told me, "wipe your feet right there!" at first, for some reason, i thought it was because he didn't want me to get huntsman hall dirty. then he continued, "good, sweetie. i don't want you to slip and fall or anything - be careful walking in!" to which i just...i don't know. greatly appreciate it, i guess.

i feel like some things i write about on this blog are just things that a lot of people just kind of brush by and don't stop to think about. but once you do, you see that not everyone's always going to be that kind, or that considerate. that you can be pleasantly surprised in the littlest of ways. it's less than a week until christmas, and then new year's after that. i should be updating a couple of times between now and then, though.

:) xoxoooooo.

cookies!

finals season is highly, highly, HIGHLY stressful.

also, seeing people who are done super-early makes me super-jealous.
it's been a really rough semester, but also a really encouraging semester in terms of everyone just trying to encourage each other, whether it's randomly dropping a line on gchat/AIM, or...

people who are done baking cookies, then travelling all around campus to deliver them to those of us who are still studying (and close to passing out/giving up/needing sleep).

thank you for being sunshines in our dark, gloomy, depressing, long, tiring, stressful nights of studying.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxo.

have a good night

dear security guard on shift at 3:30 a.m. in huntsman hall,

thank you for, as i walked out into the wee hours of the night, looking at me, smiling, and saying, "have a good night!" in such a friendly manner. you made my night more bearable and a little brighter.

xoxo.

arms

so i went to go see a production of the nutcracker by the pennsylvania ballet today. it was good seeing the nutcracker again - i love the music (mainly second half, though...not gonna lie, i'm not a huge fan of the first half) and the ballerinas (and ballerinos...?) were good. a lot of them were kids, so they were SO cute, especially the little boy that played fritz :)

so there was a family sitting next to me, and at first the little boy was seated next to me. but he kept craning his neck and kind of getting out of his seat. i think his dad realized that whenever he did that, i couldn't see, so he kept telling the boy to sit down. finally, they ended up switching seats with each other...haha.

but what was cutest was when, after the dad ended up sitting next to me, the little girl - who must've only been about 2 or 3 years old - ended up sitting in her dad's lap, and as we all watched the sugar plum fairy's dance (the pink people - i think my favorite in today's production), she moved her arms out and waved them around, imitating the dancer on the stage. it was SO. FREAKING. CUTE. and then when that scene was over, she clapped as hard as her little toddler self could.

CUTE.
xoxoooo.

morning

you know how normally when you get up in the morning - especially for a 9am class, which is mad early because we are college students who don't sleep till 2 - you are so cranky and sleepy and just overall GROGGY?

that's what i was like this morning - half asleep, didn't want to do ANYTHING, was all just tired and groggy. i crankily grabbed my toothbrush, toothpaste, towel and stuff and headed to the bathroom.

so for those of you who don't know, i live in kcech, a mostly freshman dorm, and the nearest bathroom on my floor is co-ed (which can be annoying, but whatever). anyway, as i crankily brushed my teeth and washed my face and stuff, a freshman on my hall, who was also in the bathroom, turned to me and said, "look at my hair." his hair was really funny - it was stuck up in lots of different directions and he looked like a cockatiel. so that made me smile.

then, when i was finished washing my face and brushing my teeth and all that jazz, and we were both about to leave the bathroom, he got to the door first and pulled it and held it open for me. i don't know...i mean, i guess that's just something nice to do in general, but at 8:30am in the morning, it definitely would not have occurred to me to open the door for someone else - i would've just rushed out and pushed the door at most. it was such a nice gesture so early in the morning :)

xoxo!

kindness

today, my friend and i just got off septa and had literally walked maybe two steps on the street when we heard a sound and turned to see that a lady had tripped on the curb going from crossing the road onto the sidewalk, and she just fell an dropped all her stuff.

it was really cool cause two people immediately just dropped their stuff and stopped to help her. so that in itself was nice. but let's go on a blast from the past...today's whole incident really reminded me of this:

7/23/2007

"i had a piano lesson tonight, but on the way there i saw something that was really touching. as we stopped at a red light that was about to turn green, a woman hurried across, her bike alongside her. she wasn't young or middle aged, even; maybe late fifties or sixties. i turned to talk to my mom but right at that second she gasped. i whipped my head around and the lady was on the ground, the bike practically on top of her: she must have tripped or something. as i gaped i saw the guy in the car a lane over from us also with his jaw dropped in a gasp; he quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and started to open his door to get out of the car. by then, however, the lady had gotten up and brushed herself off, and quickly finished crossing the street. the guy, still staring after her, closed his door, and traffic resumed. as we pulled into the left turn, i felt so fuzzy inside that there were people like him out there in the world. just out of the kindness of his heart, he was ready to go and help an older lady who had just fallen; someone who he didn't know. others watched and gasped, of course, and felt sympathetic, yet only one acted. i don't know who he was; probably never will: but it's one of those things where a complete stranger you'll probably never see again in your life impact you in such a big way."

cool right?
xoxo!

instrument

wow it's been forEVER since i've written.
it's not that i forgot about this blog,
nor is it that nothing bright has happened...

anyway, i flew in today, back from home (SAD). i happened to sit next to a very nice stewardess (but she wasn't working, she was sitting on the flight). i was trying to transport my guitar, guillermo, and i put him in the overhead compartment.

but people kept trying to jam their suitcases into guillermo's neck (even though there was OBVIOUSLY something there). i looked worriedly, but i didn't really say anything.

then, as the number of people dwindled down, the stewardess next to me looked at me and said, "do you want to switch your instrument with my stuff?" i looked at her for a second, confused. "that is an instrument, right?" she asked. i nodded, then realized what she meant. so she and i both went out into the small aisle of the plane, and she took out all her luggage (she had two or three pieces - albeit small, but still) - and waietd for me as i carefully took out guillermo and traded spots with hers.

ISN'T THAT NICE???

xoxo!

chivalry

today was not as beautiful as yesterday or monday, but still relatively beautiful nonetheless. i sat on a rock for a while and watched the river...it was beautiful until the clouds covered the sunlight, and it was still beautiful but i liked the sunlight.

anyway, as i was coming back, i sad a middle-aged slash elderly couple. the man walked over to the door on the lady's side, opened it, and made sure she got in and comfortable. it was sooo cute.

i smiled as i walked by. :)

hehe

so i'm gonna be in huntsman for a relatively long time tonight. because i knew this, i decided to go to wawa and went to go get food. i got a pretzel, a salad and a banana (an odd combination...but anyway.)

i was pretty hungry so i was eating my pretzel as i was walking back. as i was getting swiped back into huntsman by the security guard, he looked at me and said "where mine at." i giggled (cause everything makes me giggle) and said "oopsies!! sorry!!" haha.

there are people out there who treat their jobs as menial tasks, things they really don't want to be doing, and this attitude shows on their faces. but then there are people like tonight's security guard who, just by one simple sentence consisting of three little words, can put a smile on someone's face.

the world is beautiful sometimes :)

sleep

apologies for my absence!

this is kind of cheating, since this is just gonna be about something that happened that just REALLY brightened my day, so excuse me for being self-centered :(

childcare sunday is always fun because the kids are so freaking adorable, but this sunday was a little different. one of the little boys (he just turned two years old) likes worship time (which i think is absolutely ADORABLE) and he likes clapping and he will say (or babble/mumble): "i wanna go sing." SO cute.

so he and i went to the doors as the worship band was playing. but then a friend noticed that he seemed to be getting sleepy - he seemed tired and his eyes droopy.

so...i cradled him and watched as his eyes kept fluttering, and he fell asleep peacefully.

i've NEVER had anyone fall asleep in my arms before, let alone someone soo freaking adorable. the beauty and serenity and pureness of the way a child falls asleep in your arms...is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

xoxo,
ss

can i have a rag

so i'm like half asleep...therefore i will keep this short.

soup kitchen tuesday again. today, someone came in late, and so we served him food separately from everyone. he ate at the table, finished and came over to the counter where we were standing.

"can i have a rag, please?" he asked.

we wondered why he wanted a rag...most people asked for aluminum foil so they could wrap up extra food and save it for later.

"i need to wipe the table," he said.

once we understood his intent...wow. i was amazed. i mean, maybe to some of us it's common sense to want to wipe the table after a meal, and maybe some of us are thinking, "well, he should, because he came late" or "well, he should, because the people at the soup kitchen are doing him a favor by feeding him anyway."

but the fact of the matter was, 99% of the people who go to soup kitchens go, listen to the prayer, eat, and then leave. granted, it's not their job at all to clean - that's what WE'RE there for, right? but it was just so nice that this man asked...

i don't know why. it just seemed so nice.
god bless...

xoxo,
smiley sunshine

sportsmanship

i hate competition, but at the same time, there's something about sports that just makes it so appealing and exciting. any sport.

flag football tournament today up in mercer county, new jersey. six teams of girls, ages ranging from college students to young adults (some of them were even moms!). competition got intense, yeah, and everyone wanted to win.

but i saw some cool things there.

like a little kid dressed in a finding nemo costume.
like a frog prince mascot for the team that had moms on it.
like girls playing their hearts out, regardless of the score or the likelihood of wins.
like coaches being patient with refs who didn't always make appropriate calls.
like players who kept asking, "are you okay?" if they knocked someone over.
like the continuous emphasis on fellowship at the tournament, not competition.
like a certain team wearing yellow who wished the opposite team good luck with smiles and handshakes before the game.
like two teams coming to circle up on one of the teams' sides, all so they could include an injured player in their circle of prayer before and after the game.
like teammates supporting each other through good plays and bad(this sounds so corny, but it is SO true).

i guess maybe sometimes i love sports and competitions :)

xoxo,
smiley sunshine

when they have "nothing"

this has happened to me so many times now that i can't even keep track.

it'll be an ugly day, or i'll be having an angry day, and there will be some stupid volunteer gig that i signed up for that i won't want to go to anymore, but since i signed up for it i HAVE to go, and so i go.

and then after i go, i always come out so happy and blessed. every single time this happens, i just think: "the people who you think you're going to go and help are always the ones who end up blessing you."

there's a soup kitchen at a lutheran church on 37th and chestnut that is there every tuesday. it's cool because they'll have bible study first, then dinner for everyone, then worship. bible study and worship are for whoever wants to go and stuff, and in all three times i've gone so far, there's always been people there listening to bible study.

today was pretty similar to most days, except for two things:

one, after the normal announcements guy, frank, was finished with his announcements, another man came and started talking. it sounded like he was usually there but had been gone for a while for some reason. anyway, he ended with, "thank you! i love you guys so much." and it sounded so sincere, and it was just SO cute. ahhhh. so so so cute.

two, a different pastor than usual prayed over the group today - a church came to prepare/serve the food, so the pastor from there (rather than the pastor of the host church, like normally) prayed. anyway, as he prayed over everyone, the "AMEN!"s and "YES!"s that could be heard were so frequent and so loud and enthusiastic and meaningful.

it's so amazing to see how people who go to soup kitchens - people who don't have the means to get their own food, people who have to beg sometimes, people who are going through just hard times in their lives - it's so amazing to see how these people are often the ones most enthusiastic in their prayers and in counting their blessings. it always opens my eyes to how little i have to complain about and to how much i have to be thankful for.

so to the people who were at the soup kitchen today:
THANK YOU!!!!

xoxo,
smiley sunshine

yum

disclaimer: this is not a deep, meaningful entry about someone who did something super nice or something that really touched my life.

but, this is just a blog to write about little things that people do that have brightened my day, and this is really all too fitting.

so on wharton spike, which is the main homepage for everything wharton, there's a marketplace. normally, people will post up apartment subletting information or furniture sales and stuff like that - just people trying to sell and buy stuff from other people in wharton.

today, however, there was this:

"Found Cheesecake in Computer Lab."

This is the description that followed:

"OK, sounds weird but I found a box of gourmet mail-order cheesecake in the Forum Level Computer Lab.

Following the instructions on the package, it is being preserved in my freezer. If you believe this is your lost cheesecake, let me know."

wow. all i can say is - whoever found this cheesecake is one honest person. and i must say that this is by far my favorite post that i have ever seen on wharton spike's marketplace.

so to whomever lost their cheesecake - shame on you. HOW COULD YOU TREAT SUCH AN AMAZING PIECE OF FOOD LIKE THAT???

xoxo,
smiley sunshine

hay ride

dear little boy on a hay ride today in chinatown,

i don't know how old you are, and i don't know your name, or where you live, or anything about you (in fact, if i did...that would be kind of creepy. haha).

but i just wanted to let you know...little boy in a white striped shirt. you seriously were a sunshine in everyone's day whom you passed by. because no matter what they were going through today, seeing you with your smile so big and your wave so enthusiastic...it was enough to brighten anyone's day.

thank youuu little boy. you were adorable and i hope i see you again sometime, even though that would be slightly creepy also haha. but thank you being you :)

xoxo,
smiley sunshine

"hi"

i hate to be skewed and keep writing about my friends, but seeing as how this is only my second entry...i hope that's okay.

i really honestly am not a huge fan of times when you stand in a huge group of people and people randomly go talk to each other and make small talk and stuff...(unless there's music, cause then you can dance, but the situations i'm talking about don't really involve dancing or music. haha).

anyway, i was standing there with a friend, semi-listening/semi-starting to join in whatever conversation she was having with someone else. girl with a gray scarf, black jacket, hair up in a half ponytail, pearl earrings...(guess who? haha). so their conversation more or less ended, and she turned to me, and we kind of started to talk.

but then she interrupted me, looked past my shoulder. "we should go talk to X," she said. i turned around and saw the person she was talking about. he wasn't talking to anybody at the moment, and i knew he was relatively new. so she started to walk over to him and proceeded to make conversation.

it seems like the simplest gesture, and i still don't really know this guy that well, so i don't know if he felt really glad that someone had come up to him and started a conversation. and like, yeah, i don't know if he felt awkward or if he was just waiting for someone. but the mere fact that there's people who will see someone standing there alone, and will take the initiative to go introduce themselves and try to make that person comfortable....

so many blessings this day/week, and this was only one of the ones i saw/experienced.
people say the world's damaged and corrupt, but it's the little things that really do make a difference.

xoxo,
smiley sunshineee

bowling

i slipped and fell today. not in the rain. and not in the dining hall like last year, either. but because i took one step too many when i went bowling with the fg, and next thing i knew, the slick lane made me fall on my butt.

it was hilarious, to say the least. i'm smiling just thinking about it. but you know what else makes me smile? or rather, who else?

well, this girl with a green sweater. she takes genuine pleasure at the simplest things, and it makes the world that much brighter. as i watched her bowl, and she got a spare, she raised her arms up in victory - did a little dance, even. and even when she didn't get a spare, and the ball veered sideways, she tried to use her arms to motion the ball to go the other way (against all the scientific logic that she knows...haha).

adorable. need more people like her in the world -

xoxo,

smiley sunshine

first post.

so as i was telling s., this is my new project for the year. last year, it was all about the candid pictures.

but this year, i figured i need to write more, anyway. so this is gonna be a gossip girl-esque blog, except of course i won't gossip about anyone...TOO much :)

just kidding. it won't really be gossip - i want this blog to bring smiles to peoples' faces. i will be writing about people i know, of course, but this is a public blog, and it's all going to be nice things - hopefully something nice at least once a week about some person, maybe more than one person.

i'm excited. some of the people i write about, you'll know. some of the other people, you won't know. but who cares? maybe one day, you'll meet them, and you'll know: "YOU'RE the one smiley sunshine was talking about!"

so really, you should think of this as a way to get famous - in a good way.

xoxo,

smiley sunshine