CONCERT SERIES #2: Open Mics.

Hey ya'll. :)

This is me, performing at an open mic a few months ago.

As a lot of you may know from my bio, I volunteer at a diy punk venue. We put on open mics every second and fourth wednesday of the month, and I've worked all of them and played all of them so far. Since I started playing them a lot of really cool things have happened for me with my music, such as being able to meet an amazing community of talented people my age, and to be getting the chance to record my music in June.

A lot of people think open mics are scary, or uncomfortable, or whatever preconceived notion they have. But, I'm here to give ya'll a few tips on first timers, for attendance and performers.
 
TIPS FOR PEOPLE ATTENDING: 

me before leaving for open mic!

1. Be open minded. A lot of open mics have it open to all media, meaning singing, spoken word, art, noise, etc. At the one I performed at last night, there was spoken word that was brilliant. And three guys who had never played together before who just made some noise. It was awesome. But it'll only be awesome if you're open minded about it. If you can't appreciate the fact that somebody has the balls to do something in front of people, then you shouldn't even go.

2. Be a respectful. I mean this in a sense, that you should clap for people and not get up and walk out halfway through their set. (**Unless they have personally offended you, or said something offensive. I'm thankful that the venue I volunteer at has three rules, no booze, no drugs, no jerks. And the no jerks one really means it.**)

TIPS FOR FIRST TIME PERFORMERS:
1. Realize that no matter what you're doing, you're doing it for you
and no one can tell you you're wrong if it's something that personal.

color tattoo in barely branded as a base,
ydk by urban decay all over where I put the base,
a deep matte brown in the crease, and a matte black
in the outer v.

2. Be aware of who your audience is.

3. Let yourself be nervous. People spend so much time trying to make their nerves go away when it's better to just let yourself be nervous and let yourself work through it.


Anyway, I hope this post is helpful to anyone who needs it!

ALSO, I included an eye look because I had somebody ask me on tumblr about what make up I wore, and someone on here commented a few posts back. I'll list the products on my eyes in the caption for anyone wondering. :)

Love, Noralee

FRIDAY FAVORITE #3 (CONCERT SERIES #1)

Hey ya'll. This isn't going to be a traditional "Friday Favorites," but since my Friday was amazing I thought I'd share it with ya'll.

I go to a shit storm amount of shows, being that I also volunteer at a venue, so I thought it'd be kind of cool to do a small mini-series of do's and don'ts about concerts/shows. Yesterday, Friday, I went to a festival, which is completely different than just a venue show. A festival typically has 4 - 6 stages. This one had 5, I believe, though I only frequented 2 of them myself.

My Dad's work gave our family free tickets to the Wildflower Festival, which is near Plano, TX. We decided to go Friday as a Mother's Day present for my Mom because her favorite singer was going to be there: Uncle Kracker.

Some tips I have when you're going to a FESTIVAL are:

1. Depending on where you live, dress accordingly.. like in Texas it was 100+ degrees, so I wore a light circle skirt, with a deep v loose shirt tucked into it, and my jean vest (for extra pockets). I also took one of my lighter crossbody bags. Even though I dressed light it was STILL super hot. So, take the weather into account before you just go onto the fest.

2. Check online for restrictions, such as at this fest you couldn't bring DSLR cameras, or any kind of camera with an attachable lens. You also couldn't bring outside food in, which is a general consensus for all festivals I've been to. And you could only bring up to a liter of water in with your group. They post this stuff for a reason, so be prepared for what you can and cannot bring as best you can.

3. This is probably the best tip, be nice to the people at the gate who take your tickets. Seriously. Be nice to anyone you see in a staff shirt. They're all there dealing with drunk people for probably 3+ days. Don't be a jerk.

4. GET A MAP. Every festival I've ever been to has had at the front people passing out maps, don't just pass it up. Take one! You'll need it! Actually, at a lot of festivals there's a lot of booths and people trying to sell things, but if they hand you something for free, take it. A lot of that stuff comes in handy. At the one last night there was a State Farm booth handing out paper fans... and damn, did I sure need that later.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed this post! I'm going to work on how I want to break up this concert series, but I think I'll do tips for venue shows, bar shows, and house shows. Then maybe some getting ready for shows posts with fotd & ootd.

Love, Noralee

Weight Loss Tips From A Fat Lady.

Hey ya'll. :) If you've been following me awhile then you know that I've been on a journey of weight loss for a few months now. I lost 50 pounds initially, and quit, and just maintained. Then a few months ago I started to dive back into trying to lose more. I quit once college kicked in because I let myself think it was too hard, but for the past couple months I've been back with a vengeance and with some helpful tips that have kept me in the right mind.

1. DO IT FOR YOU. I swear this is cheesy but it's true, and hell, it's true about a lot of things in life when you really think about it. You have to do this for yourself, not for a "summer body," or a significant other, or any other silly reason. It seriously has to be for you, otherwise it will fail, I promise.

2. DO IT THE HEALTHY WAY OR NOT AT ALL. I've had a lot of friends who've gone to the gym with me and started the journey with me, and I've seen a lot of them get out of hand with how obsessive they are with their work out/eating plans. If at any point you think, man, I would be worried about someone if I saw them doing this to themselves, THAT'S A HUGE RED FLAG.

3. This goes hand in hand with the above tip, LISTEN TO YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. I don't mean this in the sense that they're always going to be right about you and what you're up to with your life. But if someone comments on something you're doing that they think might not be quite right, listen to them. This is the toughest one, I know from personal experience, because for a while I was losing weight in a very unhealthy way. And anytime someone commented on it, I became extremely defensive.

4. DRINK A SHIT STORM AMOUNT OF WATER. I think a lot of people don't understand how important water is... it is literally the only beverage you need. If you cut out all the other beverages you drink, and only had water, you'd lose at least 25 pounds in a month. Now, I'm not saying I'm perfect, I still have an occasional drink when I'm out with friends. But, what I'm saying is water should be your primary resource. It really gives off a big difference.

5. FIND A PLAN AND WORK HARD. For me, what's worked well is the fact that my whole family is on board now, even my little sister who doesn't need to lose weight. But, she's on board in a sense that she doesn't constantly ask for junk food when we go out to the grocery store. I'd say if you can't get your family on board, find a friend! And hey, there's no shame in not being able to find a friend either, so try out online message boards for fitness. I personally use myfitnesspal, it kicks ass.

These are pretty simple tips but they're things that took me two times to learn right, so I figured this post might help some people out there. :)

Love, Noralee

6 THINGS COLLEGE HAS TAUGHT ME.

Hey ya'll. (:

On Tuesday I was on a panel for a diversity conference at my campus. The panel had four students on one side, and four professors on the other side. The topic was diversity, but was left open to interpretation of the definition. The keynote speakers emphasized that diversity is ALL differences, and that there are a lot of issues in colleges (and any schooling system) where a lot of professors are understanding this, and students are meeting them there either. I really loved the concept of this, and I loved that I was asked to speak.

Me, Ismail, Undra, & Ayanna.

I took it from the scope of mental health. I came up with six things that for better or worse college has taught me.

Here they are:

1. College has taught me that even though it's wrong, I should put my grades above my mental health.
2. College has taught me that I am nothing more than my test scores. 

3. College has taught me that my participation doesn't matter. 

4. College has taught me that 95% of my professors will never learn my name or want to learn my name.

5. College has taught me that I am only valuable when I'm filling a seat. 

6. College has taught me that if I'm not filling a seat, then I'm just a courtesy failure to attend email.

These are all not good things, but they are all things I've been conditioned to feel like due to the enviroment of my campus. I definitely haven't felt all of these in one semester, by the way. I'm finishing up my second year right now, so I've been there for four semesters in total. These are all things I've noticed build up over time. And I'm glad I finally had a platform to address them. A lot of students came up to me and totally agreed with everything I said, a lot agreed with part of it, some didn't agree. It all depends on what you're taking and who you take it with, I guess.

The ways I've overcome a lot of these feelings go back to how I let myself feel and how I let comments from professors make me feel. Honestly, I'm lucky because I don't live on campus, so I don't have to dwell in it. I get to go home and let myself chill out. I know not everyone is privy to this.

But, I have a few small tips to help yourself when college gets too heavy:

1. If you're not failing your class, you haven't missed a million days, and you wake up not feeling it - MAKE THE DECISION NOT TO GO. And don't make it mean something, don't make it mean that you're a terrible student. You need personal days, everyone does.

2. Give yourself either time to chill out during the day, or maybe a whole day to chill it out if you have the kind of schedule that can do that.

3. Do not alienate yourself from your friends. Those are the people you definitely need and the good times you definitely need when you're dealing with course load stress.

4. When you pick your schedule ALWAYS PICK SOMETHING YOU THINK YOU'LL ENJOY. Seriously. If you pick 4 classes that are needed and going to be hard, it's going to be seriously difficult for you to make yourself get up and want to go to school. I always find myself something I know will be fun or easy, like creative writing or an extra lit class (I'm an English major, by da way guize).

I hope ya'll find this interesting and helpful!

Love, Noralee

5 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOUR FINALS OR MAJOR TEST.

Hey ya'll!

In Texas finals week is the first week of May, so that's approaching pretty quickly for me, and honestly the first few times (I'm a sophomore in college) I always freak out and forget how to live my life for that whole week. But, I have five, I guess I'd call them... tips, for easing this dreadful week, (or just a major test!)

1. ACTUALLY FUCKING STUDY.  - Seriously. Study. If you don't complete this step, then don't even bother reading the rest of this. Honestly, if you're in college and reading this.. and you DON'T study, then I have literally no idea why you're even PAYING to go to school. Or worse, wasting your parents money or the states money - which could be benefiting someone else, by the way. If ya'll would like tips for studying, I could make that post maybe by the end of this week or the beginning of next week!
   
2. DON'T MISS CLASS. - This can be a hard one to live by, but honestly it is beneficial to be in class. HOWEVER, I will say, that college is stressful and don't get caught up in thinking that the whole world is going to fucking end just because you miss a few days of class. It's not going to, I pinky promise. There are going to be those days where nothing is working out right, and nothing feels good, and getting out of bed is hard to even consider, so, don't. Take a mental health day, there is seriously no shame in that. I can easily say, I missed a total of 6 days this semester, and I don't regret any of them. 
   
   
3. TAKE NOTES. - This might seem like a no-brainer to a lot of you but I'm including it due to the amount of people I helped out this year who just never took notes. I pass out maps at my school and in general help with welcoming freshman, and this year I took a class that is generally something a lot of freshman take - HIST 1301. When I was a freshman I took the sophomore one because it sounded more interesting and I am a rebel :p Anyhow, I noticed day one, everyone had a laptop which is either a good or bad sign. Meaning, good because it's obvious these people give a fuck, or bad as in, they're going to social media their life away for over an hour. Sadly, it was the latter. SERIOUSLY, TAKE NOTES. DO NOT BE THE ASSHOLE WHO SENDS OUT THE MASS EMAIL BEFORE A TEST ASKING FOR OTHER PEOPLE'S NOTES. THAT PERSON SUCKS. I DON'T WANT YOU TO SUCK TOO!
   
   
4. START STUDYING EARLY! - This is a mistake made by a lot of people. I've made this mistake a million fucking times. Y'know, that one mistake where you watch a lot of netflix for a month then cry the night before the test because you haven't studied once? Yeah, that one. Most professors have exams posted in the syllabus, if they don't, fucking ask, there's no shame in wanting to know up front what and when you're being tested. I'd say if it's a subject you're excelling in easily, start studying the week before. If it's a subject that you're sucking in, a few weeks before is a good call. Like for example, I have a Bio exam in two weeks, and I started studying over a week ago.
   
   
5. AND THE LAST ONE: SLEEP. - This also seems to be something that the internet has glorified. I always see countless posts on Tumblr and Facebook of people lol'ing about how they have "insomnia." NOT SLEEPING IS NOT COOL, OKAY? Even if you're typically a night owl, before your exam, I want you to set a time you want to be in bed by and 

Okay, good luck ya'll! Comment with anything else you'd like to add!

Love, Noralee