guest blogger- Kylee- MAKE IT HAPPEN

This gal is up to some awesome stuff-- making good use of the knowledge she's taken with her on her path of singlehood! You Go Girl!


In 2006 I decided I needed a change so I joined AmeriCorps and moved to Boston. That year, my motto became: Make it Happen! This mindset has transformed my life. I don't think I'm unique in this endeavor.

In a day and age where people are paralyzed by fear, where they are not only losing their jobs but their confidence, and where people are losing hope I choose to tell a different story!

I want to collect personal essays/stories from people that have MADE things happen in their lives. This includes dreams they made come true, goals they've accomplished, trips they've taken, people they've met, and so much more.

Please send me your "Make it Happen" story!

Your personal story/essay needs to be around 2 pages (1000 words), clear, concise, and how it is you made it happen! Send your story to me: kyleeshields@gmail.com. w/a very brief bio of yourself.

I will be putting together a collection of these inspiring stories to hopefully publish in a book.

FOLLOW THE LINK TO FIND OUT MORE INFO ABOUT THIS GROUP ON FACEBOOK!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=101911645010&ref=ts

FREE-TIME DO's

This is the first of many posts about the volunteer work that is out there.

Today's post is brought to you by:

BIG BROTHERS, BIG SISTERS



I chose to start with this program because I have personal experience with this organization.

In the winter of 2000, I became a BIG SISTER! I was assigned a 13 year old girl who came from a very poverty-stricken, single parent home. For as fun and rewarding as this experience was, it was also challenging in ways i never expected it to be and I learned a lot about myself in this year of knowing my LITTLE SISTER. But most importantly, she taught me to never take for granted the many blessings I have been given on this earth.


I highly recommend this program for anyone looking to get involved in the lives of the children in your community that may or may not have awesome support at home.

Big Brothers/Big Sisters offers 2 different ways you can volunteer:

1: Community-Based Mentoring- you will spend as little as 1 hour per week with your "little" doing anything from going on a walk to singing together at a retirement center, to making cookies.

2: School-Based Mentoring- you will meet with your "little" at a school or rec. center and not only help them with homework, but spend time getting to know each other as well.

For more information click on the link provided above or if you are in the Utah area call:

(801) 313- 0303

DON'T WAIT-- BE A BRACE-FACE!

PERSONAL STORY TIME!

When I was in high school, I, much like a lot of you, had braces. In the fall of my Senior Year, they were taken off! About 3 years later, my retainer broke, taking me back to the orthodontist. It was then that he noticed that my bite had shifted and recommended that I go back into braces for another 2 years.

{okay you're not allowed to make fun of my reaction}

"But I'm 21, what if I get married within those two years," I thought, "I don't want braces in my pictures!!"

{HEY! I told you not to laugh!}

So, off I went, as stubborn as can be, and chose not to get those braces. Fast forward 2 years, I was now working for a company that had awesome benefits and so I skipped on over to the dentist who recommended that I go and see my orthodontist.

Once again, Mr. Fix-My-Mouth recommended those darned braces. "Probably for 2 years," he said with urgency. "If you don't do this soon, some of your back molars are going to shift and it's going to take a lot longer than 2 years to fix them. Oh and by the way, you are NOT a candidate for Invisi-Line."

Despite his warning, I the nerd 20-something thought, once again:

"But I'm 23! I could get married at any time AND I'm doing film and television now, and I don't want braces to get in the way!"

So the braces didn't happen. And would you believe me if I told you, that almost 9 YEARS has passed since that first visit to the orthodontist, I still didn't get the braces, my bite is now worse than ever, the back molars have shifted markedly AND, would you believe it... I'm still not married!! GO FIGURE!! If I had gone straight into braces when the orthodontist had told me to... I would have been out of braces 7 years ago! Oh my gosh, I hang my head in shame!!

Okay, so now to the moral of the story:

Sometimes I think we, as single women, get afraid to go and do or become because, "What if I could get married?" If anything this braces story has taught me, it's that sitting around waiting didn't accomplish ANY of my hopes and desires... it didn't cause me to get married and it most certainly did not fix my bite!

Is there something that you've been wanting to do for a long time and never did because you were afraid it would get in the way of other hopes and desires?

A friend of mine from Boston, who recently got engaged, met her man AFTER she had felt prompted to move to a new state. He moved in, just as she was moving out and they didn't even meet until a party they were both at, in Utah!

She later commented "I guess it goes to show you, that it doesn't matter, where you move or when, when the right guy is supposed to be in your life, it will happen."

So here's your kick in the pants for today:

GO AND DO! DON'T WAIT! YOU WON'T REGRET IT!

Oh and by the way, when I get back from Italy, I'm getting braces!