Date Night: Shreveport Downtown

About a week ago Keith and I decided to a little date night reminiscent of our first date. We went downtown to a little restaurant/bar called The Blind Tiger, walked around Downtown Shreveport, and went on the Shreve Town Ghost Walk. 

The Blind Tiger was a surprisingly pleasant meal out, even as a vegetarian. I ended up simply getting a baked potato and some fried pickles. There was also the option to get "Quorn Po'boy." Quorn is a meat substitute which would have been fried for the Po'boy. Next time, I'll definitely try that, but I wasn't feeling very adventurous this time. I find that having that one vegetarian option on the menu made my meal out a much less stressful experience, despite not actually getting that option. The Blind Tiger definitely one of my more favorite date night restaurants now. Also, that drink is called a "Fuzzy Tiger" and it's not too bad, just very strong.

We ended our night with a nice little ghost walk. While I enjoyed the walk, I was a little disappointed. The stories told  were much more centered around the history of Shreveport than actual stories that are theorized to have caused hauntings. There was actually very little talk of hauntings in general. Those ghost stories that were told were very ill-explained. More or less, this was a history walk that told of some reports of activity with not much background/reasoning and told stories that could have caused hauntings without actual reports of activity. I did really enjoy the walk, it just was not what I expected.

It was such an amazing date. Somehow, ghost walk dates are kind of our thing.

What's your favorite date night idea?

Mantra Monday: It is Enough.

Mantra(n.) : a sound, word, or phrase that is repeated by someone who is praying or meditation : a word or phrase that is repeated often or that expresses someone's basic beliefs

 Recently I've been thinking about all the things I need to get done and want to do and should do. For this week, I feel I should remind myself that whatever it is I am able to do is enough. If I only write 20,000 words this month, that is enough. If I only go to the gym for 30 minutes before I'm too tired to continue, that is enough. As long as I've truly, honestly tried, it is enough. I am enough.

What is your Mantra this week?

A New Direction: Rae Goes Away

My name is Raelynn and it has been over 1 year since I've last blogged.

A YEAR! Can you believe it?! Last I was here, I was a Sophomore English major on track to study abroad in Ireland, go into the Peace Corps, and head off to grad school for Linguistics. My how a year changes things. Here are some major points:

• I'm now a Sociology Major, with a focus on Social Work and a minor in Nonprofit Administration.
• While I still hope to go abroad, I'm looking more into internships in global aid.
• Peace Corps is not out of the question, but it seems a little impractical by the time I'll finally finish my undergrad. I have 6 semesters left...
• I hope to go to Grad School for Counseling. I still love linguistics and study it independently, my heart really lies in helping others however I can. I'd love to work the "messy" cases most people don't want to know exist. I want to help the rape victims, the violence victims, those with mental illnesses, and, should I have the opportunity, genocide survivors, political refugees, and the like.
• I'm still writing. I'm beginning my second book next month and another in November. I've not yet approached any agents though, I want to flesh out the entire world to present, not just one novel.
• I have a new boyfriend. See here: Hiatus: Wii Unboxing! "(aka This is Keith)
• AND CHECK IT! NEW BLOG NAME!! LIFEDUCKS = RAE GOES AWAY! (I call that fair warning I will most likely disappear again.)

I guess those are the things that were before and now are changing, but a lot of entirely new things are happening too! Here, have another bulleted list:

• I'M MOVING OUT! As soon as Keith can find a job and we save the money we'll be getting our own place! I'm crazy excited about that, so be prepared for weird posts about moving and decor.
• I'm interning with a local nonprofit called PEP! (The Pet Education Project!).
• Keith and I are opening a nonprofit... in the future. That sounds a little weird and sketchy but it's happening and I will undoubtably say something about it eventually.

So, if you were wondering, life's good. I'm really wanting to get back into blogging and vlogging and everything I really enjoyed doing online. With school and work and interning and life it'll be hard, but I really do love it so hopefully some of you lovely readers will stick around?

That being said, since my life has changed so much my blogging will, inevitably, as well. If you didn't notice, last year, in general, my blogging was less about books I'd read and more just about books in general. I simply don't have the time to read like I used to. And what I do read I don't think anyone will be interested in. So, I think the biggest change to my blogging content will be the lessening of book talk. I still love to read and to buy books for those far off times when I will have time to read, but books take up far less of my life than they once did. Instead, I'll be posting more about my life and things I think about and do. Expect travel pieces, expect rants, expect introspection, expect DIYs and [failed] DIYs, expect recipes, expect anything. 

Basically, what I'm trying to say is I'm really going to try to dedicate myself to blogging again and that this isn't "Lifeducks" as you knew it (or didn't know it). Rae Goes Away is a just another lifestyle blog about random things in the life of a random girl somewhere in the world doing random things like someone cares. I hope you'll stick around.