tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327Mon, 09 Sep 2024 06:02:07 +0000Wordless WednesdaysPerfect Moment MondaysOtherSt ThomastravelSpainbudgetpetsBarcelonaItalyMilanmoneysavingsBack To SchoolpackingMadridNYCPhotographydreamsWhat would happen if I gave up the "glamorous" world of New York City fashion and took a year off to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life...?? Read on...http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)Blogger67125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-2421304655696189532Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:53:00 +00002012-07-18T07:04:23.299-04:00At some point soon after, I stopped being able to cry.  No more falling apart at the grocery store; I was cool, I was okay.  I was numb and didn't know it, nor did I know it was normal. After a short time had passed, this not crying upset me.  "Something is wrong with me!", I would lament to my mother.  "I want to cry, but I can't."  When I finally broke down and bawledhttp://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/07/cry-me-river.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-5474293864473356012Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:41:00 +00002013-01-05T17:59:03.928-05:003 months to the day.  I didn't plan this.  I guess things have a  way of turning out poetic sometimes. Three months have never felt more like forever.  I'm reminded of a song that goes - "It's comin' round again, The slowly creeping hand, Of time and its command. Soon enough it comes. And settles in its place, Its shadow in my face, Puts pressure in my day: This life, wellhttp://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-truth-too.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-6992836841312961941Wed, 18 Jul 2012 10:24:00 +00002014-04-18T22:35:43.320-04:00I use the word April as if it can buffer me from reality. "Yeah, I never unpacked my moving boxes because of what happened in April." "Oh, it's all fallen to shit since April." "Somethingsomethingsomething.April." It's long been a tactic of mine.  Because avoiding saying the real words makes them not real, and because being vague somehow lessens the pain.  All the while knowing it http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/07/that-time.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-240510383862444310Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:56:00 +00002012-07-18T05:56:33.889-04:00I never knew it was possible to miss someone in this way.  This much.  I don't even know where all this hurt and pain come from.  I didn't think my insides were that deep.http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-truth.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-99344511293496838Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:54:00 +00002012-07-18T05:54:35.313-04:00I swear I just saw your picture smiling at me. No, for real.  It made me smile real big.  Then it creeped me out for a second and I had to look behind me to make sure your ghost wasn't there.  Then I admonished myself for being scared.  Silly me.  I walked into my room and closed the door.http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/07/this-moment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-2589465511905017120Fri, 22 Jun 2012 01:30:00 +00002012-06-22T04:24:30.660-04:00 (On April 18, 2012, we lost my younger brother Delmon Gabriel Aho to a sudden heart attack. Grieving is something I have never done before, not like this, and you are never prepared for death. I always felt blessed to have reached 30 and never have lost someone close to me. Little did I know that within a couple of years, that would all change. Sure, I had been to funerals, and some family http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/06/mourning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-3527830088311850833Mon, 18 Jun 2012 10:03:00 +00002012-06-18T06:03:11.063-04:00No amount of flying will result in new dreams or new realities, No depth of sighs or number a breath taken will bring him back. He stays lonely and watching us, Floating above. Reproachful, Accepting, Forgiving, Above. No words written or words spoken, No chests heaved and hearts broken, No teared eyes or hot face, No love lost or love gained, Will bring him back.http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/06/untitled-ii.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-4142358118778388707Sat, 19 May 2012 07:47:00 +00002012-05-19T04:01:00.911-04:00 I spent, 30 days completely lost In, 100 ways completely fogged Thirty days Dirty, crazed Love me, try My flirty ways That, Lead to being completely mazed, So insane, Completely drained.http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2012/05/untitled.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-2765780399683055863Wed, 31 Aug 2011 05:54:00 +00002012-03-12T03:16:32.715-04:00Back To SchoolbudgetmoneyOnce upon a time, life was easy. Or at least this is what I think now because at the moment, life is hard. I moved to New York City at 23 with a dollar and a dream. OK, I had more than $1 but not by much. What I did have was drive and ambition. I had hunger. And I had optimism. The early years of relentlessly harassing people (in a nice way) so I could get my foot in the fashion industry http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/08/easy-peasy-life-was-breezy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-5967429920805136885Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:51:00 +00002011-07-21T21:14:52.726-04:00Tortola, British Virgin Islands - March 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/07/wordless-wednesdays-and-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-8370274039592589070Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:31:00 +00002011-02-22T07:46:47.282-05:00Perfect Moment MondaysPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Write Mind/Open Heart and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...!This week's Moment is as simple as they come, and I http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/02/perfect-moment-monday-peaceful-mornings.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-252514003032134782Wed, 16 Feb 2011 04:20:00 +00002011-02-16T00:04:43.423-05:00Perfect Moment MondaysPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Write Mind/Open Heart and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...!Moment #1: By the time I got home last night, I was http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/02/perfect-moment-monday-moments.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-5783879537108024347Fri, 28 Jan 2011 02:55:00 +00002011-01-27T22:08:22.958-05:00Wordless WednesdaysYale University; New Haven, CT - Nov 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/01/wordless-wednesday-nature-naked.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-1857697668419565553Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:10:00 +00002011-01-21T23:53:14.696-05:00OtherI could have been born anywhere, as anyone. I didn't have to be me. I could be living in an African village, playing in trash-strewn dirt streets, knowing little of the world outside of my immediate surroundings. I could have been born in Syria and never stepped foot in America, and I wouldn't have been part of a family known as mughtareebeen* every time I was introduced to someone new. I http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-could-have.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-9069497919841024814Wed, 29 Dec 2010 08:59:00 +00002010-12-29T04:06:14.868-05:00Perfect Moment MondaysPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Write Mind/Open Heart and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...! I wasn't going to come home for Christmas this yearhttp://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-moment-monday-ill-be-home-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-935889016190603105Wed, 22 Dec 2010 03:19:00 +00002010-12-22T01:24:33.762-05:00Perfect Moment MondaysPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Write Mind/Open Heart and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...! As I walked out of the pharmacy, the word ISLAND inhttp://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/12/perfect-moment-monday-island-dreams.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-7581498170662655793Sat, 04 Dec 2010 02:59:00 +00002011-08-31T05:12:02.836-04:00Bad things happen when a person takes on way more than they can reasonably handle, and this is what has recently happened with me. In September I started 2 credit courses at FIT, started a weekly training regimen to get little miss Ciela in line, and started working again. I was also trying to research schools for a Masters program and stressing about where I should move. Add that to everyday http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/12/crash-burn.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-6833464263795305974Thu, 25 Nov 2010 05:41:00 +00002010-11-25T01:07:52.125-05:00Wordless WednesdaysNY, NY - Oct 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/11/wordless-wednesday-woman.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-340234821774485210Wed, 24 Nov 2010 06:50:00 +00002010-11-25T01:19:19.570-05:00Perfect Moment MondaysPhotographyPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Weebles Wobblog and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...! The first week of September I had my first photography http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/10/perfect-moment-monday-learning.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-5598965888906507583Sun, 21 Nov 2010 05:56:00 +00002010-11-21T02:59:45.158-05:00OtherI walked into the house and glanced at my laptop sitting on the kitchen table. My camera was connected and I could see what had been uploaded. I leaned in to read the dialog box that had popped up on the screen. "Noooooooooo!!" I shouted. "What happened!" my mom exclaimed from inside. My mom always thinks something disastrous has happened. Then again, I had just let out a blood-curdling http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/11/raw-shit-happens.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-4362669603546827976Fri, 22 Oct 2010 06:32:00 +00002010-10-24T02:43:17.838-04:00Wordless WednesdaysNY, NY - Oct 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/10/wordless-wednesday-strength.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-8260309291624248259Thu, 14 Oct 2010 03:45:00 +00002010-10-14T02:56:41.543-04:00Wordless WednesdaysNY, NY - Oct 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/10/wordless-wednesday-portraits.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-1402024265203323036Fri, 08 Oct 2010 05:34:00 +00002010-10-08T01:46:48.490-04:00Wordless WednesdaysGovernor's Island, NY - Sept 2010http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/10/wordless-wednesday-obscured.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-3416528223022522747Wed, 06 Oct 2010 00:48:00 +00002010-10-05T21:41:49.716-04:00Perfect Moment MondaysPerfect Moment Monday is sponsored by Weebles Wobblog and is described as "...noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. Perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between." I think it's a great way to make us all more mindful of the good things that happen to us. There's always at least one perfect moment...!This week's PMM is going to be breif because I have to workhttp://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/10/perfect-moment-monday-some-kind-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7586574021176242327.post-7752303951082634228Thu, 30 Sep 2010 02:43:00 +00002010-09-30T23:01:23.288-04:00Wordless WednesdaysEl Rastro; Madrid, Spain - Oct 2009http://readlivingthislife.blogspot.com/2010/09/wordless-wednesday-perspectiva.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Ziggy)2