highlights of the weekend

no, these aren't in order. they're just numbered. because I like lists.

1. making the perfect cupcakes.
yes, I know, I know. I feel like such a hipster wannabe blogging about cupcakes.. argh. :smacks forehead: just pretend it didn't happen, okay? I'm just too proud of them not to brag. you didn't see this here...
I made lemon-blackberry and chocolate almond. soooo yummy. (if I do say so myself.) plus the lemon icing turned out the perfect shade of yellow. I can see why the hipsters are so obsessed. I mean, one half of me is saying, come on, they're just pretty, iced muffins... while the other half protests loudly. they're just so much fun to make. next time I'm using ALL of the different cake decorating tips for the frosting...

2. my adorable nephew.
this is the new favorite game. taking all the stuffed animals off my bed (yes... those are... all mine... *cough*), arranging them on the floor, and then, taking turns with each, lying on top of them. what a cutie.

3. making a list of 100 things to do before I die.

4. finding two cute dresses at the thrift store for $10 (score)

5. Hem
love
love
love this band. do yourself a favor and go listen to half acre.

6. editing this picture.

album I'm listening to:

Rabbit Songs by Hem. of course.

quoting:

"forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet, and the wind longs to play in your hair."

other blog

So for the past year or so, I've noticed that my little siblings are quite hilarious. I'd always quote them on facebook, twitter and such. But I really want to save all of them, (I'm sure they'll just love to see them in their teenage years... haha) so I'm starting this blog. :]

Happiness

the lovely Carlotta started this idea, and I love it!


happiness is...

yellow flowers.

happiness is...

this quote.

happiness is...

finding something you thought you had lost.

(for me it was this science book, under my bed.

yes, I am a geek.)

happiness is...

finally having a chat with that person you kept waiting to hear from first. :]

happiness is...

writing a long letter up in my treehouse.

happiness is...

an act of kindness from a random stranger.

girl in a tree

spent the day out in the treehouse, making friendship bracelets and reading this wonderful book.

it makes me want to start hitchhiking all over the US, and move out west... oh wait! I already wanted to do those things! guess I was just made for the beat life. 

My view... 

BOOOOOOK. I love it. It's so pretty too. I love the color on the back and the photograph on the front (which looks like dreamy Gregory Peck.) can't wait to finish, there are so many others on my shelf... Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is next. 

There were these random construction dudes in the yard next door that kept giving me funny looks. 

What? don't you guys take pictures of yourself reading in your tree house all the time? 

I want queen anne's lace in my hair and bouquet when I get married.

Song I'm listening to: 

Use Somebody (a cover by my very dear friend Bri :] ) 

Quoting: 

"boldness be my friend." -Shakespeare

colors

inspiration. 

I am the red in the rose, the flowers on the blankets of your bedroom floor

I am the gray in the ghost that hides with your clothes behind your bedroom door

I am the green in the grass that bends back from underneath your feet

I am the blue in your back alley view where the horizon and the rooftops meet

I am the black in the book, the letters on the pages that you memorize

I am the orange in the overcast of color that you visualize

I am the white in the walls that soak up all the sound when you cannot sleep

I am the peach in the starfish on the beach that wished the harbor wasn't quite so deep

If you cut me I suppose I would bleed the colors of the evening sky

You can go anywhere you wish, and I'll be there, wherever you are.

Feel like crying.

"I want to be skinny. I want to be bones. I want to be beautiful.

I want to be loved. I want to be held.

I don't want to be alone anymore."

I read that today on someone's blog.

Our society is so freaking messed up. I'm not saying men don't have problems, but society seems to be especially hard on girls. It's so wrong, and nothing makes me more upset than the fact that the media and fashion industry have such an impact.

There isn't a magic weight that will make your life instantaneously wonderful.

Skinny girls are just as unhappy.

Happiness isn't determined by weight, size, shape, color.

I just wish everyone could see that.

title of this post says I feel like crying. in reality, I feel more like screaming this out to the world, and fighting. Fighting the media and forcing them to start putting plus size models on their covers, instead of girls who are just bones. Getting rid of diet foods and diet pills and anorexia. suing those brands, designers, and companies who have ruined the lives of millions of girls. making girls see that they don't have to be the unrealistic, fantasy size of supermodels to have a happy life.

you are beautiful, whoever you are, reading this.

Be happy with who you are. There are way too many wonderful things in life to waste your life away stressing, worrying, and obsessing about what you look like.

you make me wanna measure stars in the backyard with a calculator and a ruler.

"I would liken you

to a night without stars

were it not for your eyes.

I would liken you

to a sleep without dreams

were it not for your songs." 

-Langston Hughes

money is overrated, anyway

so it's becoming doubtful whether I'll be going back to school this fall... :[ I really hate that, but my only alternative is finding some way to pay $3000 in the next month. God knows I can't borrow it from my parents, and taking out any more loans frankly scares me, with as much debt as I'm already in. So either $3000 will miraculously make its way into my pocket in the next few weeks, or I'll be taking the semester (year?) off to work and volunteer at the wildlife center. It really wouldn't be the end of the world, since I started college a year ahead anyway, so I'd be the age of a normal sophomore if I wait until next year, I just hate the idea of taking a whole YEAR off. I could at least transfer to JMU, the public school about half an hour away from where I go now which would be about a quarter of the cost, but it's so huge, and I really love the atmosphere of my school. This whole situation just sucks. 

on a more optimistic note... 

I woke up this morning to find my color me happy package out in the mail and a headband I got on discount from aimee's etsy, in addition to a lovely letter from mariella. 

then I had a stop at the library where I found all these lovely books. 

so I think I have a book problem. Once I pick up one, it looks so lonely I have to get another.... and then they just start multiplying. It's rather strange, really. 

I can't wait to read them all. I've heard wonderful things about Jonathan Safran Foen's book, and from what I saw flipping through it it looks amazing. :]