brand new

Well 2010, it's been fun. 

You've been full of some crazy memories that I'll treasure forever (or try, to no avail, to forget), but all good things must come to an end. And I'm planning bigger and better things for 2011... okay, not really. I'm actually  ditching a traditional list of resolutions because honestly, it just ends up being a list of things in my back drawer that I never actually accomplish. Instead I want to put these reminders someplace I'll see them often enough to not forget. 

Love people. It's the strongest and simplest way to show you care.
"By this all people will know that you are My disciples, by your love for one another." 
-John 13:35

Growing up is inevitable. So instead of having a Peter Pan complex, I'll mature like a normal human being while staying young at heart. :) 

Do-overs don't happen in real life. This chance might be the only one, so live it up. You only get one life, so make it count. It doesn't mean everything will be perfect, though. Screwing up is the only reminder we get that we're not perfect. Make mistakes, and make them often. Just know what to do with them. 

Nothing worth having comes easily. 

Apathy is a dangerous state of mind. Lack of feeling leads to indifference, which is a thousand times worse than hate. Better to feel something, be it hate or heatbreak, gaiety or apprehension, than to be completely devoid of emotion. 

what am I doing here?

I've been thinking about this blog a lot recently... what am I doing with it, what kind of things are people taking away, but mostly what kind of influence I'm having.
When I first started out, I thought it'd just be something fun for me to do and for my friends to get updates about me through college. It's not like I'm trying to brag about having 80 followers or anything, because that's hardly anything, but it's still crazy that anyone wants to read it. But then I started thinking, here are 80 people who I don't even really know, but are reading things I'm saying. Each of them has their own blog where they further affect other people.

So why is it I say such meaningless stuff on here?

I really do love being a part of "the hipster generation", but we're so selfish. Many people are doing awesome things to help others, but there are so many more who just sit around being cynical and sarcastic on their blogs, twitter, tumblr, whatever -- ranting about fashion faux pas, the joys of cupcakes, who has the snazziest polaroid camera, edgy tattoos, bands no one has heard of... and I'm not trying to separate myself from all that, because I have definitely been the same way about so many things. And there's nothing wrong with any of these things... but why let them take up our lives?
What's it all worth?

...nothing.

There are people dying on the other side of the world from starvation, while we sit here in America becoming vegan because it's the new fad. 20,000 kids died today. And will tomorrow. And the next day.

I've never been a huge fan of Bono, but what he said about our generation was like a slap in the face.

"There is a continent—Africa—being consumed by flames.

I truly believe that when the history books are written, our age will be remembered for three things.

the war on terror, the digital revolution, and what we did—or did not do—to put the fire out in Africa.

History, like God, is watching what we do."

I went to a concert last night where the band members were trying to get a hundred children from Africa sponsored. I sat there for a few minutes thinking of how great it would be to be able to sponsor a kid, but then my selfishness took over. I'm a college student, I thought. the "broke college student" card. Yes, I'm ashamed to say I played it. I hear this so many times every day. But look around at your fellow students - what are they driving? Do they have a nice phone or ipod? What about their clothes? Again, I'm not saying these things are bad. But can we honestly call ourselves a broke college student when we have an iTouch, name brand jeans, and have a car? Even if you don't have any of those things, what about shoes? Most people in third world countries don't even have one pair. I'd be willing to guarantee that every one of us has at least 4 or 5 pairs.

Let's be honest with ourselves - we are NOT BROKE.

I'm not really sure what I'm trying to accomplish with this post. I'm not trying to guilt trip you into feeling like a wealthy, luxurious American who should give up all your possessions and go sponsor a child... well... maybe I am. ;) Last night after the initial thoughts of doubt, I just gave up. I signed up to be a sponsor without thinking it through and overanalyzing like I usually do. I don't know if I'm going to be able to afford to come back to college next semester, but I know I have $35 a month to spare for someone who needs food. And it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I don't know how, but I know I'm never going to struggle to find that money. So I really, really, really would encourage anyone to do this - it's such a simple way to make a difference. [Both world vision and compassion international have sponsorship programs, it takes about 2 minutes to sign up]

But even more than that, if you will, just think a minute about the impact you're making - with your words, with your blog, your facebook, your twitter, whatever. Don't get me wrong, I love posting lovely pictures I've found, quotes I like, about favorite movies and musicians, clothes, things I want, etc. But just think about the influence we can have on the hundreds of friends (followers?) we have that will read what we're saying.

So I challenge you to take a hiatus from your usual blogging. Don't post about the newest fashion fad and how cute it is. Don't post about an artsy movie. Don't post about your newest etsy find. Instead post something meaningful. Something lasting. It's up to you what that is. :)

I'm not unfaithful, but I'll stray.

What a terrible blogger I'm turning out to be. I apologize for letting this die, but my life has recently been one big mess of genetics, phyisology, english papers, WWII, and hours and hours of lab.

For lack of enough time, creativity and wit to write a real post, let me just show you what I've been up to since last time.... I promise a real one will be coming soon.

Ballet. :] And vans. yessss. I finally found some!

All this awesome art at the Native American Museum in DC

 

Operation squirrel: this little guy fell out of his nest in a storm outside my dorm. By the time I found him, he had been handled so much that the mother wouldn't take him back. I found him late at night, so the wildlife center was closed... which meant I had an overnight guest. :) I named him Raoul. (rolled R, of course...)

Isn't his tail just the cutest?

Cutting my own bangs. Brave attempt? Worst late-night decision I ever made? It's debatable...

Why yes, I DID draw that epic pocahontas tattoo on myself. ;) I also might be bragging about the headband I made in a later post... (you can only see part of the feather...)

preeeetty much. :]

what do you want to do before you die?

recently I've felt incredibly inspired by the dudes on the buried life. (if you don't know what that is, it's an amazing tv show. on... mtv... I definitely just lost IQ points saying that... but it's a really awesome show, and it always really motivates me.)
I made my own list, but instead of just keeping it as a list in the back of a drawer somewhere where it would lie unforgotten, I'm writing them all on colorful pieces of paper and putting them up on the walls.


23. tell someone I love you

79. do something that frightens me beyond belief, so much that I'm afraid I'll never recover, but the rush will be unbelievable

87. Live out of a suitcase for a month

24. have someone win something for me at a carnival

     90. jump in a public fountain

"dream as if you'll live forever. live as if you'll die today."

summer was painted on our skin and fall was always left in our eyes

today is the first day of the september equinox. :]

I love summer, but it's just not the same.

there's a feel about fall...

the air tastes different.

it tastes of cinnamon and nutmeg, and pumpkin pie

scarves and tights, for the first time since february

apple cider in a mug

watching the leaves change color

orchards filled with the last of the apples, pumpkins, and knobbly gourds of every color

finding the crunchiest leaf to step on

shorter days

yellow leaves so bright they look like lemons

crisper breaths

corn mazes, old crisping husks crunching underneath your feet

orange and brown and red

so many things!

okay, so first off....

I finally made blog buttons! yay! they're sort of dorky, because I'm really bad at this sort of thing... but such as they are, please take one. :]

secondly... I was incredibly bored today, and felt inspired... so I made a skirt! :] I've never really done anything beyond repairs, taking in stuff, and making quilts when I was younger, so I'm rather proud of it. :) I'm not gonna lie though, the belt/sash took FOREVER. The edges of the fabric frayed terribly, so I had to hem the sides. And there wasn't enough fabric to make it one piece, so it's about ten 5-inch strips of fabric sewn end to end.
I'm thinking about adding something to the hem. Maybe ric-rac or eyelet?

I've been in a very hellogoodbye/motion city soundtrack sort of mood recently. Music-wise. And I've been finding more cool music that is of a similar vein. And since you all are so cool, and I just need to share my music finds with someone, I'm sharing with you. :]
Jack's Mannequin (who I had heard of a few years ago, but never really got into. anyway, I just heard a few songs of theirs -his?- and loved them!) I especially love Swim and Dark Blue. I know Dark Blue is the most well known song, and normally I hate using those as my favorite song since usually myself and the majority of population don't agree on music, but in this case we do. It's a good song.
The Academy Is... I found out today that this is good sewing music. ;) Also good cleaning music. really it's just good upbeat music for when you're doing something boring. (like cleaning. not like sewing. sewing is never boring!)
The Rocket Summer. I love them! It made me really happy too that a lot of their songs mention God. Don't know if they're actually Christian though, since I thought I heard a song that had some naughty words... (though that might have been the academy is...) absolute favorites are Walls, So Much Love, Do You Feel, Save, and Roses. (I just love so many!!) Do You Feel is just a really good album. I think I've listened to the whole thing 8 times, and I just found them yesterday.
The Cab. One of THOSE Nights and Take My Hand are good ones to start with.

all of this stuff is a lot more punk rock than I usually listen to, but it's been a while since I've listened to anything besides indie and folk, so maybe I'm just getting back in touch with my nonexistent punk side. ;)

This is getting to be a rather long post for something that was supposed to be short. Also looking over it I'm noticing that I am addicted to parentheses, ellipses, smileys, and the words also and anyway... oops! am I the only one who just seems to use certain words all the time? It's not even like they're favorite words (like chicanery, loquacious, and sonorous). they just seem to attach themselves to me and they're all I can write when typing. but speaking of favorite words, what are yours? I'm looking for some new ones. ;)

lastly, I have a question for you guys. recently I've been seeing a lot of blogging pet peeve posts, which are both picky but still hilarious in my opinion. {I probably think they're so picky because a lot of the ones people mention are things that I do all the time! like adding extra letters to words... I do that so much... and improper capitalization... so guilty... I just feel lazy sometimes, and like the way lower case letters look better. more.. casual, I guess.} ANYWAY... one of the peeves I've been seeing a lot that everyone seems to agree with is... automatically playing music on the blog. I was amazed by how many people were of a similar mind, until I realized how terribly frustrating it is when you open 3 or 4 blogs at a time, and hear music... but can't find where it's coming from, so you go back and forth from blog to blog, scrolling up and down looking for the source of the mystery music. Even worse is when multiple songs play at once, resulting in some extremely strange noises that can no longer be called music. I was reading that that can discourage a lot of people from visiting your blog.
BUT... I also really like music! And I like having it on here, because I like sharing some of my favorite songs with people. What would be really awesome is if I could find a manually-starting player, so that way the lovers of silence could peruse my blog without distracting background noise, and the ones who like the music could just hit play and be happy. (if anyone knows of one of those, please let me know! :))

So what's the consensus, y'all? Is the music annoying? Should I take it off? change it to only songs without lyrics? if you love it, let me know. if you hate it, let me know. be harsh. I'm not sensitive. ;)

we could be wallflower friends

love these drawings found on .bipolar's flickr.

cool stuff.
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I finished Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and loved it. It was filled with such wonderful quotes, and was just amazing. I loved the raw emotion in it. I don't truly consider a book to be a success unless it makes me laugh, cry, go "what??" and turn back a few pages to try to figure out what just happened, and mark things out of it to remember. extremely loud and incredibly close = all of the above.
when I returned it to the library, I left a secret inside it. I looked it back up on the library website, and someone has it checked out. so my secret is now in someone's hands, waiting to be discovered. :] what's crazy is, what if it's someone I know? what if it's someone who is reading this right now? what if they leave a secret note in the book for me? or they put their own secret in it, for the next person to read, and starts a chain of secret-sharing? I'm going to leave one in every book I check out now.

"If you take a book with you on a journey,...an odd thing happens: The book begins collecting your memories. And forever after you have only to open that book to be back where you first read it. It will all come into your mind with the very first words: the sights you saw in that place, what it smelled like, the ice cream you ate while you were reading it...yes, books are like flypaper--memories cling to the printed page better than anything else."

-Cornelia Caroline Funke

weekend recap [simple pleasures]

this weekend was full of

friends & the fam

birds

these ones were so cute. they kept making little noises to each other, and they'd fly together, come back together. I like to think that they were in love. =]

this one had lasers for eyes. serious.

at the zoo.

long walks in the battlefield behind my friend's house

my friend's new puppy that I am quite seriously thinking about stealing in the middle of the night...

crazy painted nails.

I never paint my nails. I don't know what came over me.

my inner 6-year old, perhaps? ;)

(also note the tie dyed shirt I made, which is my new favorite :] )

hand-holding
don't get so excited... it's just my little sis. ;)

picking flowers
I'm adamant about picking my own flowers for my wedding bouquet. Preferably queen anne's lace and other wildflowers. :]

"be the change you wish to see in the world."

yes, bequeath is a real word.

I was born in the wrong century.
technology annoys me. (we should all write letters)
I've been told I speak much too properly for this time period. (personally I think it's just because I know how to enunciate and I say my t's in words like mountain and Latin, unlike the vast majority of the American public)
I know what the words frivolity, cravat, pelisse, alacrity, felicity, and genteel mean, and how to use them.
I've spent all day wearing full historic garb - petticoats, bloomers, corset, bonnet and all - and thought it was surprisingly comfortable.
I love waving around a handkerchief.
I think men should still kiss hands and bow when introduced. (okay not really... but it's an intriguing idea, is it not?)
I fall in love with nearly every period movie I see. I'd blog about all of them (and maybe I will eventually), but so I don't overwhelm you with hundreds, no, thousands of pictures, we'll just stick with the regency period for today...

:)

ahh, visual love.
So who's got the time machine?