This is part of the What I Wish I Knew series on Your Super Awesome Life. BIG thanks to the always adorable Ashley (who I’ve definitely hugged at least twice already this weekend, since she’s at BiSC as well!) for hosting!

I’m not one of those people who hated high school. In fact, I rather enjoyed it. Over a happy hour last month, I had a conversation with a friend of mine that I’ve known since high school about this very thing, and we admitted that our high school days were some of our best. In the middle of recounting baseball games, late night driving around, and other memories, we noted that — if given the chance — we’d both go back and re-live high school.

I offered one caveat: I’d like to go back and relive high school with the sense of self I’m finally learning to develop and understand. If I’d had any inclination that the things that I thought made me weird then are the things that make me unique and interesting now, I feel like I could’ve owned that school. If I’d celebrated my color, my love of neon and glitter and weird, and the even new layers I’ve uncovered in just the past year, I wonder what course my twenties would’ve taken and if I’d have listened a little closer to that inner voice in my teens.

The biggest difference in this sense of self-awareness between 18 Year-Old Doni and 29 Year-Old Doni is simple: Intention.

My high school journal looked much, much different than the journal I keep now. My high school journal was filled with stories and secrets, first loves found and first loves lost. My journal now is still filled with stories and secrets and my grown-up versions of the love stories I’ve lived in my twenties.

My high school journal had a date and time on the top of each page and sounded like I was writing a letter to someone else, someone outside of me. My today journal is a mess of doodles and colored pens, dates and locations or circumstances scribbled somewhere on the page instead of dates and times.

Location is more important to me these days than it was back then, and I have entries labeled “home,” “after yoga,” “inspired by a conversation,” and “at 30,000 feet somewhere over South Dakota.”

In high school, I did things because I thought I was supposed to. I worked, I studied, I didn’t drink (until the very, very last part of my senior year and even then — just barely). I got into the few colleges I applied to, and opted for one close to home because I wanted the comfort of close friends and a short drive back.

Considering I ended up changing schools twice and enrolling in three different colleges, I might’ve saved some time (and money!) had I know what I wanted to do with my life before I started my freshman year. I ended up with a degree in Psychology with a minor in Advertising because I liked the subjects, not because I had any real intentions of practicing or becoming a counselor. I did work in advertising for a few years and I’m still in marketing (and love it), but sometimes… I look back and wonder how much I really chose it.

My point is this: while I still often have zero idea “what I want to do with my life,” I’m committed to discovering it by learning how to hear and listen that little voice inside. The one I heard whisper in high school about things like wanderlust and career, sexuality and love, style and expression. The one I’m finally learning to recognize as my own, which is tough sometimes considering the amount of information I (we) take in on a daily basis. Listening to that inner voice helps determine your values which then become your intentions which then become Your Actual Life.

Learning to pick out your own voice from all of the other messages you’re getting all of the time… it’s work. But it’s work worth doing.

No, YOU’RE looking at tacky lady cards in a Vegas hotel room and pretending to call them and being completely shut down because they know you’re faking it. Because I certainly had nothing to do with that.

See also: Today, I head to Las Vegas for the fourth annual Bloggers in Sin City. Hold my calls.

Photo credit for this amazing moment captured in May 2009 during BiSC 1.0 goes to the lovely and talented Drea. 

On Friday, I had an appointment to get my platinum roots touched up and I had the idea that I might like to add some color. After discussing it with my stylist, we opted for bright purple ombre color, and I am completely in love with it.

[bracelet: SaySay Boutique; star ring: Portland Saturday Market; blue opal: Boulder, CO]

Special thanks to April sponsors and affiliates for supporting this site! Want to promote your blog or business on doniree.com in May? Get more information about advertising on doniree.com.

Super Duper Fantastic | Suki

San Francisco native. #s geek and master of Excel by day. Travel, food, web and social media obsessed the rest of the time. Currently fills her weekends and PTO with activities in San Francisco and beyond, learning to cook and to bake, sipping wine and craft brews [not usually at once], eating the world and documenting travels and other adventures.

[Super Duper Fantastic] has over five years of archives, but I have been blogging in some form or another for quite some time. What began as a way to stay in touch with a few friends became something bigger – a way to connect with individuals and companies all over the world.

Blog | Twitter | Suki is also a contributor at Art of Backpacking.

Small and Charming | Natasha

My name is Natasha and while I’m great with hellos, I’m no good at goodbyes. I’m a 20-something Liberal Arts student, Twitter fanatic and wannabe Jill of most trades who really just writes a lot. I don’t know how to drive, I barely know how to ride a bike and walking is pretty challenging too, but I think I’ve got a handle on that. My blog is about generally trying to live my life while in some very weird circumstances (with the more than occasional Chris Evans mention).

Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Life List Item #85 – Attend La Escuela del Sol

La Escuela del Sol (The School of the Sun!) is a school in Costa Rica offering Spanish, yoga, scuba, surfing, and fire-dancing classes. Yes, fire dancing. Apparently, that’s a thing.

I first learned of La Escuela del Sol a few years ago while poking around on Facebook. The ad for the website popped up and I was intrigued by the invitation to “Learn Spanish and Yoga in a tropical paradise.” This was right around the time I initially decided I’d like to pursue yoga teacher training someday (that someday was a year later). I decided right then that someday I’d take yoga and Spanish classes on the beach in Costa Rica. Life List Item #85 was listed.

Fast-forward to sometime last year. Chris tells me he found a surf school in Costa Rica and that he’d one day like to go there and learn to surf.

Then, I won two round-trip tickets to anywhere in the world.

Nomadic Matt ran a contest last fall, and out of thousands who entered, I was one of the three winners. Chris and I spent months deliberating where to go as we dealt with blackout dates and fluctuating air miles redemption rules (since the prizes were covered by gifted airline miles), and I had many, many conversations with Matt about what our options were (good thing we’re friends!). Finally, Chris and I decided that choosing Costa Rica would enable us both to make these dreams a reality.

The flights are booked, y’all. We’re going to Costa Rica in August.

And while we may or may not attend La Escuela del Sol, there are a whole lotta schools down there that offer various combinations of Spanish, yoga, and surfing, so we’ll find the one(s) that’s right for us and go from there. Since we’ve planned a two-week trip, one of those weeks will be dedicated to this glorious education, and the second week will be a completely unplugged, sun-soaking, beach-traipsing, zip-lining vacation.

Because while I travel plenty, I always work while I travel. Chris and I haven’t had a legit vacation in the two years we’ve been dating. Yes, we’ve traveled plenty and have taken some weekend trips here and there, but if we’re gone for longer than a weekend, we ALWAYS bring work. Not this time.

Life List Item #85 (slightly revised, since it may not be THAT school but it will be A school) — is in progress.

Whoa.

You’ve been thinking about a theme upgrade for awhile, haven’t you? You know it’s time for a blog refresh, but maybe you just don’t have the time or budget for the big deal, full-scale thing right now. If you’re ready for a refresh, a spring cleaning of sorts, a facelift, Wanderlust Media + Little Leaf Designs – WanderLeaf! – have you covered.

Wanderlust Media has teamed up with Little Leaf Designs to bring bloggers a quick and easy blog refresh, just in time for Summer!

Why Thesis Theme for WordPress?

Thesis is used by over 46,000 people for airtight SEO, incredible design flexibility, and lightning-fast load times. You can get more information about Thesis here.

There are a limited number of spots available for this promotion since this price reflects such a massive savings on our regular rates, so sign up quickly!

What You Get - Wanderleaf Blog Refresh {$149}

Design from Little Leaf

• Custom Header: typography and/or photography-based; three concepts, two rounds of revisions, no illustrations or stock photography

Thesis Theme for WordPress license, installation and customization from Wanderlust Media

• Thesis license (full price: $87) + installation
• Custom header installation
• Basic theme customizations including: number of columns (2-3), up to three rotating photos in multimedia box or custom code box (see example below: photo + bio), standard sidebar widgets (bio, archives, categories, search, and any existing widget codes you’re already using such as blog badges and social media icons).

• Thesis resource list (designers, developers, documentation, etc.)
• Suggested next steps to get the most out of Thesis.

Total Package Value is $238, but we’re offering this to just 20 bloggers for $149!

How This Works

1. Reserve your spot today.
2. We’ll contact you in the next few [business] days to discuss timing and next steps.
3. You’ll work with Ashley on the header design and me (Doniree) on the layout and theme installation.
4. Voila! Blog Refresh for a fraction of the price!

Who is WanderLeaf?

Ashley lives in Ohio, owns her own design and photography company, Little Leaf,  and strives to live a life of simplicity and happiness with her adorable son and awesome husband. She shares amazing vegetarian recipes, tips on frugal and green living, and heartfelt tales of motherhood on her blog, Our Little Apartment.

Doniree is a freelance social media consultant and Fairy Blogmother to other personal and lifestyle bloggers. She loves yoga, wine, and travel, runs on coffee and red wine, takes a lot of pictures (mostly of food), writes a food blog, pole dances, and harbors not-so-secret crushes on tulle, tall socks, and anything that sparkles.

Are you in?

Terms and Conditions

Once payment is processed, your project will be scheduled in the order of payment is received. Offer is for current, self-hosted WordPress users. If you’re not yet on self-hosted WordPress.org, and you want to be, please contact me about Whiskey Cloud Web Hosting + Web Services. Thesis Theme customization includes standard widgets as included above and any custom code you can provide. If it’s not in the WordPress plug-in directory and/or you don’t already have it, it’s not included. No refunds or exchanges. An attribution will go in the footer for the header and the Thesis theme. Header cannot be used anywhere else. Please contact Doniree with questions.

If you’ve got more than one blog you’d like us to tackle, just change the quantity field on the PayPal page, and your total will update. If we’re sold out, you’ll be directed to a sign-up sheet to be notified of future promotions.

Isn’t it strange the things we find ourselves apologizing for? I saw similar posts to this one on Amy’s and Lindsey’s blogs recently and decided to make my own list of things that I’m just not sorry for.

Sorry, I’m not Sorry but:

I can’t get enough of One Direction’s “What Makes You Beautiful.”

I saw them on SNL and was completely, totally, snooze-fest bored, but then the more I hear them on the radio, the more I find myself cranking up the volume and dancing my heart out. My high school, Backstreet Boys-loving self just re-connected with the glory that is boy bands. I hate the lyrics (honestly), but I love the groove.

While we’re talking about music, I’m also not sorry that…

I am into exactly all of the other songs that everyone else is into right now.

Gotye’s “Someone I Used to Know,” Of Monsters and Men’s “Little Talks,” and OMG I’m SO not sorry about Fun.’s “We Are Young,” because I think every single year (summer) should have an “anthem” song and I’m pretty sure this is 2012′s. Also, because Miranda and I had a crazy, martini-inspired karaoke kitchen night and sang it at least four times…, well, now it reminds me of my sister and I really, really love that.

Speaking of my sister (and her baby girl), I’m so not sorry that…

I’m totally enjoying having an excuse to make goofy faces and talk in silly voices.

A lot. Because I’ve been hanging around my she’ll-be-one-in-three-days niece and when she’s around, I can’t help but be completely ridiculous. Because she’s still small enough to fit into cabinets! And she makes cute faces! And! AH!

Oh, hey family. I’m sorry I’m not sorry, but…

I’d rather sit on the deck at my parents’ house or my sister’s house with a glass of wine and hours of conversation, than oh, well, just about anything else.

I’m also not the least bit sorry for:

• removing the Twitter apps from my phone
• loving the Draw Something app
• for thinking that David Beckham, Scott Speedman, and Justin Timberlake are all way (way) hotter than Ryan Gosling
• walking instead of running these last few days while my shin splints heal (owie)
• my unabashed love of things that shine and sparkle
• the fact that Girl Talk is my go-to music choice for all of the following situations: I’m working and I need to get pumped up, I’m working out and I need to get pumped up, it’s game night and we all need to get pumped up. Barney’s “Get Psyched Mix” might be all Bon Jovi all the time, but mine? Girl Talk, All Day. (Want to see a cool video about Barney getting psyched? Oh, it exists. You’re welcome.)

What should you just stop apologizing for already?

Cherry Blossom Trees | Tom McCall Waterfront Park | Portland, OR

Oh, you like? Get this print here.