This cookie cutter society

The thirst for drama that runs in the majority of the human race anymore is repulsive. The need to be the bitch at school with the hottest clothes is pathetic. The desire to have more money than the next person is disgusting. Our society has become so fueled on materialistic values and warped around highlighting other’s faults that nobody focuses on their own shortcomings. Nobody focuses on making themselves into the best They can be. Somewhere along the line it became Okay to meet the bare minimum requirements rather than try to succeed over what has been called for. Somewhere along the line it became Okay to criticize someone based on what brand of clothes They wear, how much They weigh, or what car They drive. Society bitches and complains about today’s youth, but I think if everyone took a second to reflect on where ‘today’s youth’ is getting their morals and guidance, they’d find that maybe the problem isn’t within the youth itself, it’s within the environment that has be created for the youth.

When's the last time you were lost?

The last couple days I have spent my time wandering the streets of San Luis looking for places to live. So I guess in a way I've kind of spent my time being lost.. No real destination, just wherever my feet took me is where I went. And honestly, I've never felt more inspired in my life. To just walk, with no destination, no burden of time, no restrictions, nothing, just me and my thoughts. Somehow, the chaos of the busy streets and sidewalk traffic makes everything inside my head slow down. Somehow it puts me at ease. Seeing all the variety this city has to offer is incredible. In two days of wandering the city I've witnessed acts of courage, appreciation, selflessness, pure and sheer innocence, scandal, I watched a man propose to his high school sweetheart. I watched a little girl running to meet the arms of her soldier daddy. I watched a 70 year old man pick a flower for his wife and kiss her on the cheek as he exclaimed his love for her. I watched a boy hit on a girl and turn around not even ten minutes later to lay the same lines on a different girl.. Hahah. I think we should all get lost more often. Whether it be in a new city or your home town, a mountain side or river bank, the ocean or just your local lake, take time for you. Put in your head phones and the fray Pandora channel or just take in the sounds of everything surrounding you. Don't keep track of how long you're gone or when you should go back. Don't think about where you're going, or where you've been. Just go. And while you're gone, take it all in, watch all the little details you wouldn't normally pay attention to. I guarantee you'll be amazed with how good being lost can feel.

Don't fear the reaper

When I was little my grandpa told my parents instead of buying us gifts every year for our birthdays, Christmas, and other 'gift giving' holidays he would just put money in a savings account for my brother and me for college. He said once we turned 18 he would turn over the account for us to have freedom of, trusting we would use it for school. Stupidly, all through high school I banked on this savings account my grandpa had always told us about.. and all through high school I kept in touch with him and filled him in on my ambitions and dreams. My love is in all thins art. So naturally, I wanted to go to art school.. But he found every excuse in existence why art school was an awful idea. Told me if I didn't find something else I wanted to do he wouldn't turn over the account.. I came back to him several weeks later with the idea of going to school for criminal justice and psychology, with the long term goal of being a criminal psychologist. Once again he found ever excuse why this as well was an awful idea. Told me it was dangerous, and I should look into dentistry... (by the way, that's what he does, he a dentist.) Mouths? Not my favorite thing in the world.. dealing with other peoples mouths?? I'm sorry, but that's like dealing with other peoples feet. No thanks. So needless to say I continued my search of what I could possibly want to for the rest of my life, that would live up to his standards and expectations. I'm now 20 and have yet to find something.. and today he found out that just I picked up and moved out of state. Well needless to say, he's incredibly "disappointed". Long story short, well kind of short, as I sat here panicking about what I was going to do about school, I realized that maybe all along this was exactly what I needed.. I have spent six years running at my wits ends trying to find someway that I could please him, and do something that wouldn't completely bore me the rest of my life. That was never going to happen.. we were never going to come to an agreement. I've spent six years trying to please someone, when all along I should've been trying to please myself. In the end I'm the one that has to wake up everyday and go to work. I'll be damned if I'm gonna go to school for four plus years just to wake up everyday and hate my life. I still at this point have absolutely no idea what I'll do with my life, but I can promise you it'll be something I love(:

I've got a terrible itch..

 I took time to lay out by the pool in hopes of maybe getting a little tan. My attempt was entirely unsuccessful. Unfortunately, I'm convinced it is physically impossible for me to ever get a tan.. I will forever be ghostly white. 
Siiggghhhh):

Anyway, the point I was getting at, was while  was laying out I started flipping through old pictures that I've taken. Started thinking about all the opportunities I've been lucky enough to encounter since I started. And just how much I've grown as a photographer. But its been entirely too long since I have taken the time to set up a shoot where I have complete and total artistic freedom. And now that I  living in a town where I know absolutely no one, I've lost the option to just call up someone or post an ad on facebook for a needed model. I have a plethora of ideas for shoots, creative, fun, original shoots and no one to use them with): And with all the different scenery around here, beaches, meadows, woods, anything you could possibly dream of as a photographer the possibilities are truly endless.

As simple of all this all may seem, these are the kind of things that make me miss home. My comfort zone. 

Sometimes you just need to stop and smell the roses

This last month has been beyond stressful. Between moving, living out of a hotel, and worrying about money, I've neglected to appreciate all the wonderful things in my life. I feel too often we focus so much on everything that's wrong in our lives, rather than being thankful for everything that's right. Today was the first time in months that I stopped, took a breath, and realized how many really great things have happened recently, and I've let every single one of them blow right by.

I guess all that I'm trying to say, is live, don't stress, breathe, don't let everything that's great in your life pass you by because a couple things are bad.
The glass is always half full(:

Let's see here..

I'm Mariah. Born and raised in the ever so dusty Nevada, recently relocated to beautiful, beach side San Luis Obispo, CA I love the beach life(:
Anyway, I'm twenty years young, and I've been a complete mess since day one. I like to blame it on the artist in me. (My creative functions just can't flow in an orderly environment.. hahah) Although I don't know how solid of a platform that is. I created this blog in need of an outlet. A way to process my thoughts, share my epiphanies, and just vent. Ever since I was a little girl I've wanted nothing more than to be able to make a difference in someones life. Through a painting I've done, a drawing I've created, a photo I've taken, or through words I've written/said, if I can get just one person to stop and think about an aspect of this life in a way they never have before, even if just for a split second, means I will have changed something or someone. And thats all I wish to do. There's a million and twenty-three things going through my head at any given moment, and sometimes the noise just gets overwhelming. So to all those who will follow this, welcome to the spastic life in which I call my own..