Fun in the Sun

I hope everyone had an amazing Memorial Day weekend. If you’re like me, you spent the weekend relaxing, partying, and enjoying the summer weather with people you love. Just in case you happen to log in this weekend to check out my blog, you probably noticed that I didn’t update on Saturday or Sunday. I think that going forward I will try to commit to updating daily Monday through Friday and then take a break from writing on the weekends. I think this will be a healthy balance. After all, everyone can use a little R&R!

This weekend was exceptionally special for me. On Saturday afternoon, I went sailing on New York Harbor aboard the Clipper City, a legitimate replica of a 19th century schooner. It was amazing! The weather was perfect as I enjoyed a glass of wine, watched the sunset and took view of the Manhattan Skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and the Brooklyn Bridge. I definitely would recommend this to anyone; it’s pretty affordable for a 90 minute to two hour cruise and can be super romantic or just a fun thing to try with friends or family. (You can find more info at http://www.manhattanbysail.com/.)

Sunday and today, I spent in Long Island, just being a lazy beach bum. I went to Long Beach on Sunday and Jones Beach today. I love the sound of the ocean, the feeling of sand between my toes, the hot sun tanning my body like a roast chicken! Needless to say, I have sand in my hair, feet that are thoroughly exfoliated, and skin that is golden brown yet burned ever so slightly.

Having grown up in Colorado, going to the beach wasn’t just something I could do every day. It’s a bonus that I hadn’t really anticipated before moving across the country to New York City. But now that I live so close to the ocean, I just can’t get enough of it! Summer has begun, and I plan on spending as many weekends as possible lying out on the beach, soaking up sun in my retro-chic T. Christopher swimwear. (I model for this men’s designer swimwear line; check out their collection at http://www.tchristophernewyork.com/.)

Below I’ve posted pics from my weekend. The blond bombshell is my wildly entertaining friend Lydia (thanks for hosting us at your condo!), the brunette is my adorably charming friend Tracy, and the handsome young man is Brenden- a boy that I really, really like… a lot! Thanks guys for such an amazing Memorial Day weekend!

XOXO

Micah

love...?

“It is likely that we fall in love with people who bring out the part of ourselves we want to see more of.”

I read this today and it really makes sense to me. I want to be in a relationship with someone who pushes me to be a better person; I want them to bring out my best. However, contemplating this statement opens up a can of worms: What part of myself do I want to see more of? Who do I want to be? Without a thorough answer to these questions, how can I possibly choose the right relationship?

Being young and single in New York City and having lots of young single acquaintances, I see people date aimlessly all the time. I too have been guilty of dating just to date. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that there’s anything wrong with meeting new people, having fun, and enjoying your single life. But typically when I consider myself or my single friends (the ones who desire or at least claim to desire a relationship) and our dating lives, I look at it from the perspective that we are “looking” for someone we haven’t met yet. We are on a quest, searching for “Mr. or Ms. Right.” The truth is, we should really be looking and searching within ourselves first.

If you’ve read some of my earlier blogs this week, you read about my “Ready-Fire-Aim” approach to life. It is important to get “Ready” before we “Fire.” If it’s true that I want to fall in love with someone who brings out certain parts of me, then I must first determine what I want to see in myself before I “Fire” and begin dating someone. However, keep in mind that “Aim” comes last. Once you’re ready and know what you want to see in yourself, you have to just go for it. How else are you going to find out if someone is going to bring out the right parts of yourself until you actually go for it and give them a chance? Maybe you do know who you want to be, but then you get too wrapped up trying to figure out all the details of how things are going to work out. My advice is to “Fire” then “Aim.” Give it a chance! Try things out and figure out the details as you go. Just remember to first look within and consider who YOU are and who you want to become.

Xoxo

Micah

"Oh, look who's here!"

A friend of mine has a parent living with Alzheimer’s disease. Individuals with Alzheimer’s suffer from short and long term memory loss; they are often confused and can be at times very irritable. When her mother’s disease was diagnosed, she decided to have her mother move in with her and her family so that she could look after her. This past year, she decided to move her mother to a care home.

Today, my friend was telling me a story about when her mother first moved in with her, during her earlier stages of Alzheimer’s. My friend explained to me that when her mother first moved in with her, she had to take down all of the mirrors in her house because her mother didn’t understand that the reflection was her own. When her mother would look into the mirror she thought that there was another person in the room and she would get very upset and aggressive towards the person in the mirror. But as time went on, her mother slowly became more comfortable with the reflection. Eventually, her mother actually “became friends” with her reflection. My friend told me that sometimes, she would just leave her mother alone in the bathroom so that she could talk to herself in the mirror. One time, when my friend took her mother shopping, they happen to walk by a mirror and her mother exclaimed “Oh, look who’s here!” and pointed to her reflection; she was so excited to see her friend in the mirror that she even asked if she could stay a bit longer at the store to hang out with her reflection.

I just thought this story was kind of interesting. I think we have all had times when we don’t like the person we see in the mirror; or maybe we look in the mirror and we don’t even recognize ourselves. You can take my interpretation literally or metaphorically. This story really made me think and it has inspired me. I’ve decided that from now on, each morning when I wake up and walk to the bathroom and look in the mirror, I’m going to think: “Oh, look who’s here!” I’m going to be happy and excited to see the person that’s looking back at me from the other side. What a great way to start off the day!

Xoxo

Micah

P.S. I can only imagine the great amount of psychological, physical, and economic stress that comes to anyone who decides to take care of their sick parent. To my friend (whose identity I’ll keep anonymous): your ongoing compassion and complete selflessness is truly inspirational.

Cattle Call

“The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.”

-Jim Rohn

“There’s only two types of people in the world- the one’s who entertain and the ones who observe.”

-Britney Spears

"Practice as if you are the worst; perform as if you are the best"

-Unknown

Tonight I’m merely a watcher, a spectator, an observer. Tonight I’m going to watch Cattle Call at Therapy lounge in NYC. It’s my favorite Wednesday night spot. Every Wednesday, any person with a talent (or who thinks they have talent!) has the option to go up on stage, perform and compete for a chance to win a cash prize. People sing, dance, perform stunts, etc. Some are breathtakingly incredible… while some are laughably dreadful! I’ve probably been to Cattle Call on a Wednesday night at least 10 times since I moved to the city and I keep going back. Perhaps my favorite thing about New York City is the broad variety of people that coexist on one small island. Cattle Call is a miscellaneous sampling of New York’s finest, nastiest, and most peculiar. The best part of the show is the absolutely stunning, artistically brilliant hostess- Peppermint! She may only be 98% woman, but she’s 120% fabulous! Plus, they have good food and great cocktails. Soooooo, if you ever find yourself in New York City with nothing to do on a Wednesday night, I definitely recommend you go to Therapy lounge to see the wonderful Peppermint as she hosts Cattle Call. Break a leg gurrrrrl!

Xoxo

Micah

Live Like You're Dying

Hey yall! So today I read this article entitled "Live Like You're Dying" by Chuck Palahniuk (the author of Fight Club). If you're familiar with any of his writings, I'm sure you know he's pretty twisted. But basically the whole article was about what one might do if they knew they only had a week to live. You would probably clean up your life, tie up any lose ends and connect with all the people in your life- maybe tell them something that you've been holding in. You would let go of any bitterness, forgive others and forgive yourself. His point is that if you could live like this everyday how much better your life would be. I love this concept, and I just love the title of the article itself: "Live Like You're Dying." So, I decided to think of 10 things that make my life worth living for. Below, in no particular order, are the first 10 things that came to mind:

1. Of course, my wonderful friends and family.
2. Steak & Eggs. It's my favorite meal, and what can I say, I'm really hungry right now...
3. Lady Gaga. I can't wait to hear her next song, watch her next video, or see her next crazy outfit!
4. Sweaty, passionate, steamy, hott SEX! I'm sure I can expect some of this at least at some point in my future. But who am I kidding? Even marginally good sex would be worth living for!
5. Sparkling Jade- my favorite cocktail= Champagne + St Germain + Lime.
6. Dancing like a fool. I love to shake what my momma gave me, drop it like it's hot, werk it and dance like no one is watching.
7. All of the exciting new places I haven't been to yet- I really want to visit Spain, Italy, and Israel... just to name a few.
8. Dolce & Gabanna. What can I say? I love clothes and I love to shop!
9. Progress. It's so exciting what the future holds. To think that there might be a cure for AIDS or marriage equality for same sex couples in my lifetime is reason enough to keep pushing on.
10. Eclipse. I'm SO excited for the next movie in the Twilight Saga!!! And I ♥ Robert Pattinson!

I could keep going on and on! I have so much to be grateful for and so many things to live for. I think everyone should begin each day by taking some time just to think about all the things they are grateful for in their life. Everyone has something to live for!

Xoxo

Micah

Just Ask!

Wow. It’s only my second blog and already I have readers! Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to read my first blog and thank you for all the encouragement! In the past 24 hours, I’ve had several friends and family members reach out to me to let me know that they read my blog. So now, it appears that I’m going to be held accountable. I’ve started a new voyage and now it’s time to follow through!

“Ready-Fire-Aim.”

I mentioned yesterday that the “Ready-Fire-Aim” approach is the approach I’m taking for my blog: First, I got “Ready.” I did some research about blogging, and what makes a successful blog. I considered what I want to write about and what my goals were for my blog. Then I decided to “Fire.” I just went for it and started writing. Throughout the next few months I’ll work on figuring out my “Aim” and figure out what’s working, what’s not, and adjust my blog accordingly.

But sometimes people take the “Fire-Fire-Fire” approach to life…

Today, I’ve been thinking a lot about one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in the past few months. My message/advice for today is to JUST ASK! “Just Ask” is an easy yet important tool to achieving goals that I think people often fail to consider. It is a crucial part of the “Ready” phase of the “Ready-Fire-Aim” method. If you forget to get “Ready” and just start to “Fire” you may end up lost and off course. Or you may end up working much too hard for far too little.

Let me explain. I’m a very goal oriented person. Often times, I decide that I want something and I get so excited about the goal and want it so badly that I just go for it and take action right away. But how do I know what actions to take? Here’s a personal example from my life: for quite some time now, I’ve been practically obsessed with my body and my physical fitness. I would continually set goals for how I want to look, how much I want to weigh, how big I want my biceps to be, etc. But then, I would just go to the gym and try to figure it all out on my own. I think a lot of people are like me. Maybe they know what they want, and they’re ready to take action to get it; but they forget to take time to research and ask questions to figure out the best way to achieve their goal.

Pretty much no matter what your goal is, there is someone out there who has already achieved it. There are many successful personal trainers and fitness experts who have written books, articles, made videos, etc. that have great advice to offer. All I had to do was ask! I was potentially wasting time working hard when I could have been working smart instead. All you have to do is find someone who has already accomplished what you want to accomplish and ask them how they did it! This advice can be applied to so many areas of your life: school, work, relationships, etc. It’s been my goal to be a retail buyer for quite some time, but do you know that it took me three years of working in retail before I ever took the time to really sit down with a buyer and ask them how they got their position or what factors enabled them to get their job!

I don’t know why people don’t “just ask” more often. It seems obvious now, and yet I still have to remind myself to do it. Maybe we forget to ask because we think the answers ought to be obvious. Maybe we don’t ask because of our pride, or ignorance, or maybe we sometimes feel like we don’t deserve to ask. But all of these reasons are completely ridiculous. If you’re interested in getting in shape, or getting a better job, or having a successful relationship; a great place to start is by asking someone who already has those things, how they got them. Of course, there are sometimes many different paths to achieving the same thing. What worked for one person, may not work for you. But it very well could, and you have absolutely nothing to lose by asking! So my challenge to you, reader, is that the next time you have a goal you want to achieve, start by asking others what’s worked for them.

Xoxo

Micah

My First Blog!!!

Hi, welcome to my first blog! My name is Micah Martel; I’m 23 years old and I live in New York City on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I work in corporate retail as a merchandise buyer, buying men’s accessories for a major department store. I’m also an agency represented runway/print model. And now, I’m a blogger too.

I love my life! At this very moment, I have everything I could ever want. I have wonderful friends and family, a great job, a great apartment; I’m healthy and I’m happy. Of course, each day, I want and expect something more. Each day, I consider what else I want out of life and I take the necessary actions to get it. I think I should take a moment to explain the title of my blog: “When Good Things Happen to Pretty People.” It may sound a bit alarming at first; perhaps it sounds shallow or vapid. But let me clarify that I believe that anyone can be pretty, and I believe that everyone can achieve great things in their life. I believe that every person has the choice and the ability to achieve or obtain anything they want. Life doesn’t just happen to me. I choose to love my life. I choose to be successful and attractive. And you can too! Please don’t misunderstand me. I certainly don’t claim to know all the answers and I know that I’m far from perfect. But I can honestly say that I have an amazing life, and I’m the only person responsible for getting what I want.

I’m so grateful for everything that I have, and I want people to know that it’s not because I just happen to have good luck. The reason my life is so amazing is really quite simple: I focus on what I want in my life, and then I take action to get it. I hope that by blogging and sharing my personal thoughts and experiences, I can help others to take initiative to get the things they want, so that they too can love their lives as much as I do. I also think that by sharing my knowledge and helping others, I too can continue to learn and grow to be happier and more successful.

I’ve decided to take the “Ready-Fire-Aim” approach for writing this blog. Rather than over-plan or over-analyze the exact direction I want to take with my writing, I’ve decided to just go for it. Don’t worry, I’m not just writing aimlessly, I know that my goal is to get as many readers as possible and to share my knowledge and experiences to help and inspire people to get what they want in life. But I’m open-minded and flexible, and willing to shift directions as necessary in order to make this blog a success. That being said, I really want anyone who takes an interest and reads my blog to tell me what they think. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome and encouraged. After all, I’m not just writing for myself; I’m writing for YOU, the reader! It’s my goal to write a new entry every day. So if I’ve sparked your interest, please come back tomorrow and the next day to read on, and find out more about what I’ve done, what I’m doing and what you can do to get everything you want out of life.

Xoxo

Micah