My First Post

First off, let me introduce myself and thank you TRULY for reading this. I know there are plenty of blogs out there, so the fact that you came to read this makes me feel wonderful. My name is Courtney and I live in the Chicago area. I have a bichon-poo named Britney who's 10 and she's my little princess. I will definitely post pictures at some point. I've newly become a Vegetarian and love experimenting with food. I'm huge into music and movies. In fact, I work at a movie company in the Social Media department.

I believe that life is a journey and here I am in my journey. I woke up this morning deciding I wanted to make a blog. Maybe it comes naturally for some people, but not so much for me. I've had a lot of bad things happen to me in my life, so I've always been the person that's extremely self-consumed and worried about my own problems that I never felt the need to actually reach out and do something helpful for the universe.

Then on Valentine's Day at 2'o clock in the morning, I had a deep thought. I tweeted something to the nature of "I wonder if I died today, if I would be proud of what i've accomplished or mourn over what i haven't." (140 characters or less, of course.) It really got me thinking about what mark I’ve made on the world or lack thereof. It reminded me of a quote I read once that's really stuck with me: "If I have done any deed worthy of remembrance, that deed will be my monument. If not, no monument can preserve my memory." -Agesilaus II

For once in my life, I'm happy with where I am. Sure, there are things I want, regrets I carry, but all in all I'm very satisfied with where I am. I have a job that I absolutely adore--borderline OBSESSED with, friends that make me smile, a brand new iPhone that makes me think I'm the coolest person alive. Oh, and a husband that thinks I'm the world. You know there are always things to complain about but I've decided that positivity seems to pay off.

So here I am, cyber-world. I decided I want to help my friends or strangers that feel not-as fabulous in their lives. Maybe it's through a bad breakup or through money trouble or simply hating your job--believe me, i've had many of those and we can swap stories or watch Office Space and recount how frightenly accurate it is. It's been a long journey for me to feel this-dare I say-normal. I'm talking a ten-year downward slope of pain, guilt and lots of tears. it wasn't until i met my husband that i decided this is a life worth living.

Let me know what's troubling you and what you'd like to see featured on my blog. This is all new to me, so I'm gladly up for some help! My blog will include tips on how to get the career you want, networking, recipes, how to feel fabulous, and maybe even some giveaways!

Oh, and you're probably wondering about the title. I fumbled with some titles for awhile but couldn't come up with anything creative. My friend came up with SORE THUMB. She said I needed to be unique and distinctive and I think it's great. Have you heard the saying: "You're unique and so is everyone else?" Any one out there that's recently had a job interview knows what I'm trying to say. You have so much life experience, job experience, school, etc but for some reason, it wasn't enough to get the job--or maybe it WAS enough, if you portrayed yourself as completely different from the other candidates. All I do in life, I want to stick out as a sore thumb. I want to be a light in a world that can be dark and I want to make a difference.

My new cyber-friends, I will leave you with an old Nike ad:

"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough, they'll say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES."