Remembering Alayna

Alayna Velez was a beautiful, kind, silly, 16 year old girl that lost her life too soon. She was a cheerleader, a student, a sister, a daughter and so much more. Even though she is gone, her soul and her spirit will linger forever. I didn’t know her that well, but the few times I met her, she always had a smile on her face and love in her heart. She will always be remembered. Alayna, I’m sad that you’re gone, but happy that you are in a better place reunited with your dad. Rest peacefully and high pretty angel. 

Two days ago one of my friend’s sister and her mother got in a terrible car accident, resulting in multiple injuries for her mom and her sister, Alayna Velez’s tragic passing. Alayna was the youngest sister to three beautiful girls and their handsome brother. She was such a sweet girl and will always be positively remembered by everyone who knew her. She was only 16 with such a full life ahead of her, but what everyone needs to focus on is the life that she did get to live. Her life was filled with an abundance of love, a caring family, awesome friends and many memories.

I know that those of you who are reading this don’t know Alayna or her family, but I’m still going to ask for your help. Below is the link to a GoFundMe that will benefit the Velez family. So far their mother has undergone at least two surgeries with another one tomorrow. She is a single mother, due to the loss of her husband, and has provided for her five children their whole lives. She is one of the most caring, generous, positive, hardworking woman and she has been through so much.

http://www.gofundme.com/8726744c

The money donated is going to be going towards funeral arrangements as well as some of the hospital bills that will be piling up. I’m not usually one to ask for money, but this is something that I really care about and believe in. This family deserves to have one less thing to worry about during their time of mourning and grief. Also, please everyone say a prayer for the Velez family! They could really use some right now.

Also, one last message to everyone who is reading this – always live your life to the fullest and be thankful for every moment you spend on this earth.

To my Shan, I have always admired you. You don’t know this, but you’re the one friend that I actually look up to and aspire to be like. Even though we don’t talk everyday, I know that you will always be there for me no matter what and that’s what makes our friendship so strong. You always give me the best advice and help me to see and understand things in a different way. If anyone can get through this it’s you. Love you always, xoxo Lauren

A Philly Gal

(me cheesin’ by a statue after breaking my “Rocky Stairs virginity”)

So, last semester I transferred to Philadelphia University. I was super excited about being in the city, but the one thing that sucked was the weather. Transferring in the spring semester sounds nice, until you realize that you’re getting to school in the peak of winter and the weather won’t be too “springy” until the last month or so of the semester. Needless to say, the cold winter months kept me in.

Towards the end of the semester, when the weather started to get nicer  I started to venture down to Kelley Drive, the PMA and South Street. I instantly fell in love with the city and all of the unique things it had to offer.

Yesterday I visited my friend in the city of brotherly love for restaurant week. This was my first restaurant week experience (but most definitely) not my last!!! We went to Spasso, an Italian Restaurant on Front St. Ugh, the food was delicious. That night we went to bed full to say the least (my one friend’s dress literally ripped while we were there) (Mag, if you’re reading this I’m sorry, I had to share hehe. Also, it was not the food that caused the tear. It was the poor quality of the dress xoxo).

ANYWAY, today when we woke up I really wanted to get my day started right, and work off the millions of calories that we ate the night before, so I suggested running the Rocky Stairs at the PMA. This was my first time running the stairs, even though I have been wanting to do it for so long! It was a really fulfilling workout, even though we only made it up and down three times, lol. We walked, with the break of an occasional jog, through the city and got lunch at Whole Foods (this was also my first Whole Foods experience and it really intrigued / confused me). The grand total of the ground we covered today was 7.6 miles. Wanna know the best part? It didn’t even feel like we were working out because it was ENJOYABLE. I’ve been feeling awesome all day because of it.

The moral of this post is that this year I’m going to get out there and really explore the city, and not just the obvious parts either. I’m really going to look in the nooks and crannies of the city to find out what it’s all about.

Today I

A rant about change / branching out

I am the type of person who has a love / hate relationship with change. I love meeting new people and having new experiences, but I have a hard time excepting that the old times are changing and eventually won’t exist anymore.

After graduating high school, I was excited for a new adventure, but I still always think that high school was such a “normal” time in my life. I think that I literally thought that my life would never change from how it was then. I had good friends and a boyfriend, was relatively popular and very involved. Two years after graduating, I am so happy and thankful that my life has changed. It’s not because I regret anything and it definitely isn’t because I necessarily dislike or would change any part of my high school life. It’s because I realize now how narrow minded I was.

I am never one to judge anyone off of first meeting them. Okay, who am I kidding? Everyone judges people at first, but I wouldn’t let my immediate judgement influence my opinion on them, and would always give people a chance. But, still, when you go to a small Catholic School your whole life, theres only so many personalities you can have. Even so, I was the type of person who could befriend anyone, and genuinely liked all different types of people.

Once I graduated, I became a lot more exposed to different things and people around me (obviously). But recently, I have really been trying to get out of my comfort zone. A bunch of my coworkers, are people that I never would have imagined hanging out with a few years ago. They’re just very different from me, but working with them and starting to hang out with them outside of work, I am realizing that we need to hang out with people who are different from us, and do things that are outside of our comfort zone in order to grow as our individual selves.

Tonight, I went out on a limb and went to see two bands play at a vegan restaurant with a few of my co workers. This was completely and totally out of my comfort zone, but I went and ended up really liking it! By venturing outside of my usual circle, I met some really cool people, listened to really cool music, and developed deeper relationships with some friends.

So when I think about my life and how it’s changing and evolving, I’m happy. Things may not be the same as they were in high school – people have changes, friendships have fizzled out – and that is scary, but there is a bright side. The bright side is that I know who I have and who I don’t. I have a wider variety of people in my life who care about me and who I can consider friends and that’s all that matters.

(((Thanks for reading my little rant…honestly I’m not even sure it makes sense, but it has been forever since I have blogged, and I missed it so figured why not get back into the swing of things by ranting on right? )))

XOXO