Roller Coaster of Life

Hello readers! I have taken a bit of an absence from my blog (pretty obvious things have been very quiet on this end) and I apologize for neglecting my blog! Writing on here is one of my favorite things to do and I had to take a little leave of absence as my life got…

How to Be Awesome

It’s finally time to announce what I’m doing for the summer (and rest of the year, seven months total): I was accepted into the Disney College Program Fall Advantage. This has been a dream of mine since I was 9 years old. I decided after finding out that Imagaineering is a career (you’re an engineer…

Life is so Precious

One year ago today I almost died. From a mistake that led to a dangerous situation I put myself in. It was an experience I’d like to forget but I don’t allow myself to forget for one good reason that I remind myself every day: Life is so precious. I wasn’t planning on putting myself…

J’apprend a Français

Bonjour mon lecteurs! (Hello my readers!) About a month ago, I decided it was time for me to begin learning how to fluently speak French. I already know some basics as my grandmother is French and I’ve heard her speak it my whole life and I have cousins I visited when I was fifteen and…

Gratitude Leads To…

Today I woke up. I am healthy, I had Cheerios to eat for breakfast, I had heat from the cold. I woke up a little before my alarm went off allowing me a couple extra minutes this morning. The sun is out today and that makes me joyful; I’m not a fan of cloudy days…

Make Yourself Useful

This past December I bought a ukulele. Mostly because I’ve always wanted one but also because my hands are a little too small to play certain guitar chords (I’m looking at you B chords). My point is that I went ahead and spent around $30 to teach myself a new skill. I taught myself guitar,…

Live Life Fully

For the last five days I was in California. Yes, for the second week of spring semester in college I left school and spent the week across the country, literally on the opposite side. Why not? I’ve never been to California before, it seemed exciting and scary and new and just the perfect kind of…

The Main Event

The pageant finally happened and I have so much to share about it I don’t know if I can fit it all into one post. First of all, this past weekend was one of the most incredible of my entire life. I got to make friends with some of the most incredible women I’ve ever…

Fear Won’t Win

9 more days. Competition will begin on January 12th and last until the final crowning on the 14th. 9 more days left until I participate in what might be the scariest thing I’ve ever done. Now I’ve done scary things before. I’m an actress and every time I go to an audition it’s terrifying but…

Comparison Gets You Nowhere

Why would you ever wish for the life of someone else when your own is so unique? One of the most difficult aspects of this pageant to me is how incredible all of the contestants are. I look at all these women around me and feel so out of place. I’m just me, I don’t…

Don’t Forget Why You Started

This weekend I got my first taste of how this pageant is going to go, and man did I learn a lot. Most of the weekend was about production information, dance routines, and walking patterns. While this information is crucial to my performance in the pageant, I think the most important lesson came from the…

Don’t Ignore What Matters

“In the midst of a busy life, don’t forget to live” – Marty Rubin In my last post I mentioned that pageant orientation is this weekend. For me, finals are also fast approaching and I have many papers to write as well as exams to study for. I’m also trying to go to the gym…

Confront Your Fears

This Saturday, I’m off to pageant orientation. I’ll be meeting all the contestants, and the current Miss New York USA. I’ll be learning the dance routine for the opening number. And I’ll realize very quickly just how terrifying this whole experience will be. It’s scary but that’s one of the reasons it’s so fun. Feel…

Discover What’s Inside You

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.” – Kurt Vonnegut  Do you know why I began writing this blog? Yes, it’s a…

Be A (Good) Leader

Leadership is defined as “the action of leading a group of people or organization”. This is a very straight-forward definition, but there is so much more to being a leading than just simply leading. Being a leader in the first place is a feat in itself. How does one become a leader? I’ve met a…

Why Do You Want to Be Miss New York?

“As Miss Universe, you have to be confident in who you are as an individual. A Miss Universe is a woman that has overcome many fears and by that, she is able to help other women overcome their fears. She is a woman that nothing is ever too much to ask for.” – Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters,…

Bravery Is So Much Fun

“Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.” – Carrie Fisher Hello, my name is Matalin and I’m in Gryffindor House from Harry Potter. For my readers who have no idea what that means, it…