just random.

this is just so very lovely to me right now....

this is just fluffy....

this just makes me giggle a wee bit....

the end.

(no pun intended)

today's thought

(my great grandfather and me in california.)

“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability.”

-madeleine la engle

indeed! i am learning this....

sunday outlet

hahaha! i love these wee lil people! it's just like an ant's world. (which i have wondered often what it would be like being that small....and you know you have too! do not lie.)

(go to: little-people.blogspot.com)

cheryl maeder is a fine art photographer who now lives in palm beach, florida. i love these impressionistic photos!

(her website: www.maederphotography.com)

and let just me say, this is my idea of camping! (if you would consider this camping;) but i'm gonna go ahead and say it definitely is!)

(simetra-junkaholic.blogspot.com/2010/08/wedding-accomodation)

cheers!

here's to life!

here's to the unexpected!

here's to the uncertainty!

here's to its gloomy days!

here's to its adventure!

here's to its joy!

here's to its serenity!

here's to its fulness!

here's to its shaken times!

here's to its times of knowing!

here's to the excitement it brings!

here's to life!

let it be, Father.......amen.

corner table

it is typical fall/winter day today in Nashville, Tennessee.....gray, cold, windy. half of earth's landscape is covered in colored leaves while the other half is barren. i am sitting at a local cafe. this is a newer cafe in town and it is busy with conversations, school work, and the sound of espresso machines. i have been in here before but it hasn't been until now that i have seen the cafe's tables entertaining so many guests!

i see a few people i know and a friend of mine joins me to work. why do i get inspired to write on days like this? and why do i have to be in my own world, at the corner table, drowning out the sounds by the music playing through my earphones, and occasionally looking up and starring at this home made for people and caffeine? it's funny to me how that works and how my brain works like that! but it is true. i am inspired by people. i am inspired by coffee shops surrounded by windows and behind them looking in, the colors and scenes of nature.

i really like how everyone is bundled up today.....scarves, hats, coats. i can already smell the warmth of the thanksgiving turkey coming out of the oven and the evergreen tree lit up by white lights in the living room. i cannot remember the last time i was this excited for winter like this! but i will not think about it too much or i will remember why that is;)

i think i could write my thoughts out like this all day but maybe i'll slow down and save some of them for a later time. although, i don't think i could ever run out of them.......so..........

i will be back soon but until then....

bundle up and don't forget to watch the fall leaves change color because it is happening way too fast!!

(a luscious fall tree in my lovely little neighborhood!)

50 degrees

happy thursday!

it's cooler out which makes me think of thanksgiving which then makes me think of Christmas.

i would like some yummy eggnog right now......

the other day i was exploring blogs and i found these beautiful photos. i forgot to write down the photographer's name and i cannot find it! whenever i do find his/her name, i will let you know.

but aren't these photos gorgeous?!

goooood morning!

how would you like waking up in this bed?! it reminds me of the princess and the pea.

i found this photo and the designer, Evan Haslegrave, in one of my favorite blogs this morning. evan and his brother are designers in brooklyn and were featured in the new york home design section online. pretty neat stuff!

what is at hand

today's thought:

take life as it comes.

we can only fully embrace what is at hand.

letting go

my mom is getting surgery this tuesday.

here is another circumstance for me to realize how i am not in control.

i am thankful for friends who hold me while i cry in their arms as they pray.

i am thankful that nothing goes unnoticed by our Creator.

He sees. He hears. He is heals.

embrace it

embrace every season you walk in. whether it's

dark,

exciting,

quiet,

loud,

lonely,

or full.

there is something to be acquired in each of them.

life would be boring without it's highs and lows.

without them life would not be lived.

without them life would be dead.

nahum

"the Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm."

-nahum 1:3

partly planned, mostly unknown

it's monday.

i'm excited to see what this week will bring. there are many times i would love to know the future but life would not be as exciting and spontaneous if i did know. i am learning to get use to that fact.....

so here's to a new week partly planned and mostly unknown!;)

p.s. i would love to be wherever that photo was taken!! amaaaaazing

this week

i have been spending the last few days with this wee one......

she makes me laugh! today in the car i was singing quietly to a song and she asked if i was singing? i said yes, and she quickly replied, "well, i can't hear you. sing louder!" so, of course i did. i cannot sing but she didn't care one bit! we'll see how long that will last;)

anyway, i have had a fun time hanging with this sassy two year old.

i have definitely learned a thing or two about freedom because of her.....

ecclesiastes

ecclesiastes 8-11

“No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it……

The race is not for the swift or the battle for the strong, nor does food come to the wise or wealth to the brilliant or favor for the learned; but time and chance happen to them all……

The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of the ruler of fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.....

Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all of these things, God will bring you judgment. So then, banish anxiety from your heart and cast off the troubles of your body, for youth and vigor are meaningless….”

thought of the day

thought of the day:

i am entirely grateful for friends.

i've been sitting here at crema for the last four hours or so. my plan was to get some things accomplished but instead what was actually accomplished was what was really needed.....writing, reading, talking, and laughing A LOT, and doing all of this with my beautiful friend, emily barbee. we are also amped up on coffee which makes it all that much better.

it is really times like these, where breathing is easy, that life's stresses seem so very far away or at least very minute compared to the fullness of the happiness shared and experienced with a dear friend.

"I beg you to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer." -Rainer Maria Rilke

fall

who is excited about fall?!

there has been a few days here in nashville this last week that has allowed me to taste fall weather. i think i was beginning to think a day without sweating was nearly impossible!

i moved to nashville almost exactly 10 years ago this next month. i remember the smell of the crisp air and the fiery colors striking my pupils.

i am ready to open the windows of my house during perfect sunny weather days and to close them at night and pretend the candles that sit in my fireplace is a fire. i am ready for sweaters and boots. i am ready to hear the sound of leaves crunching under my feet.

i do not want to rush these summer days that are still hanging around but i will gladly welcome fall's return.....you know, whenever it's ready:)

someday

one of my reoccurring thoughts......

yes, i would like an elephant someday......

"climbing high mountains"

"So faith looks up and sails on, by God's great sun, not seeing one shoreline or earthly lighthouse or path upon the way. Often it steps seem to lead into utter uncertainty, and even darkness and disaster; but He opens the way, and often makes such midnight hours the very gates of day. Let us go forth this day, not knowing, but trusting."

"Lord, I'm climbing high mountains trying to get home..."

-Sam Amidon

my elephant

my mom gave me a card for my last birthday with this photo on it. she said the elephant reminded her of the dreams i have and in time will come forth. i believe this, and in the journey of seeing dreams unravel before me, i am learning how to live, to wait, and to love and enjoy the life and the incredible blessings that come in full every day. i do not always see these gifts each day, but in moments like this, where i can write and think, i look at yesterday and see the beauty that inhabited it.

i would love to be able to see this beauty in every moment.

trust

"when is the time to trust?

is it when all is calm,

when waves the victor's palm,

and life is one glad psalm

of joy and praise?

nay! but the time to trust

is when the waves beat high,

when the storm clouds fill the sky,

and prayer is one long cry,

o help and save!

when is the time to trust?

is it when friends are true?

is it when comforts woo,

and in all we say and do

we meet but praise?

nay! but the time to trust

is when we stand alone,

and summer birds have flown,

and every prop is gone,

all else but God.

when is the time to trust?

is it some future day,

when you have tried your way,

and learned to trust and pray

by bitter woe?

nay! but the time to trust,

is in moment's need,

poor, broken, bruised reed!

poor, troubled soul, make speed

to trust thy God.

when is the time to trust?

is it when hopes beat high,

when sunshine gilds the sky,

and joy and ecstasy

fill all the heart?

nay! but the time to trust

is when our joy is fled,

when sorrow bows the head,

and all is cold and dead,

all else but God."

-unknown

4th of july!

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

It's a relaxing one for me:) I am here in paradise haven, aka Rosemary Beach....my home away from home. I love this place. There is nothing like it. I am here with my pops. We are having a sweet time together. I adore my father. I am so very blessed and also know all too well how rare my relationship with him is. And me realizing this, I pray I never take it for granted.

Tonight we are cooking artichokes which we both have never cooked before. We will see how they turn out;)

Right now I am sitting at the cafe that lives directly under my family's loft. Yes, coffee is very convenient. It was bright and sunny all day and not as hot as July at the beach usually is. Right now the sky is turning a dark gray.....an evening storm would be very nice. I feel the wind that might very well be from this storm on my back right now.

I should go start the dinner cooking....

Have a wonderful freedom day everybody! Be a kid and get excited about watching the colorful fireworks!:)

content

content.

i want to write about you but how can one explain the simplicity.....the beauty of you? how can one describe the shear greatness of even the sound of this word? how can one explain this act of experiencing you and how this act is really no act at all but a moment in time...a heart smiling wide just because it can. you are not to be taken advantage of, for you are only but a gift. you are a gift in a world full of many possibilities, things to do and people to see and great heights to be reached. the funny thing is, you can only be cherished when all of these things are not held onto tightly, for they are apart of life but not life itself.

content.

you are the breath breathed throughout life......

"....but the natural heartstrings haven't been snapped, and the adamic flint hasn't been ground to powder, and the bosom has not throbbed with the lonely, surging sighs of gethsemane; and not having the real death marks of Calvary, there cannot be that soft, sweet, gentle, floating, victorious, overflowing, triumphant life that flows like a spring morning from an empty tomb."

-g.d.w

good morning

a long saturday morning.......

i woke up this morning, took a shower and got right back into my pajamas. i watered the garden, threw clothes into the washer, and made myself some coffee. i have been reading, blogging, and chatting with one of my lovely roommates. we are finding out we share the same romance with blogs.

i am listening to the brazilian music of stan getz and will say, unlike most AM's, this partly cloudy saturday morning has been rather picturesque.......

life shared

i must say how i am thankful for friends who are patient enough to listen to words vomit from my mouth. the most wonderful thing about vomiting to friends is that you are not alone to clean up the mess. not only do you clean up the mess together, the "listener" also does a little spilling themselves. this is what makes a friendship so beautiful. the vulnerability, the honesty, the bouncing back and forth with each other......you are not alone in your heartache. you are not alone in your excitement. you are not alone in the processing of life.

it takes two people to create life and it takes life to be shared.

cracked door

sometimes life is like this photo.

i took this in memphis at the peabody hotel. this is the hotel where ducks just chill and walk around in the lobby.

what i could see when i peaked thru the cracks of this door is what looked like a beautiful ballroom. i really wanted to just open the dang doors and experience the fullness of it's glory but the doors being locked pretty much hindered me from doing so. i was just happy that the crack was big enough to see the waxed floor, the glistening chandelier that hung in the middle of the room, and the arched window in the very back that allowed sunlight to stream thru.

these were glimpses. glimpses of the beauty in this room. life here on earth is exactly like this. would you agree? we experience beauty in many different ways, different times, and share the beauty that inhabits our souls with different people.

to me, beauty is the sky in all it's seasons. to me, beauty is the purple orchid, the red rose. to me, beauty is the visible but then beauty is also what we do not always see right then and there. beauty is the excitement of a new relationship forming. beauty is in the unconditional love for someone. beauty is in the simplicity of holding that someone's hand for the first time. beauty is holding that someone's hand you have lived with for years, been thru it all, and still find comfort and love in this simple act and maybe even get the same feelings as if it were for the first time. beauty is seeing my once angry and bitter grandfather turn to his family in the hospital room and smile a smile that speak to all of us more than words could ever speak...a smile that tells us he is in the presence of our heavenly Father....a smile that tells us how he has been forgiven and is asking for ours as well. beauty are longings fulfilled. beauty is in the sound of our pain and our joys.

beauty are the glimpses we see thru the cracked door of life here on earth......

travel

buildings of new york

traveling is a love of mine.

i love the smell of airports. i love sitting in section B105 waiting for my flight from nashville to fill in the blank come in. watching people, their styles and their corks, walk by and wonder about their life and where they're headed is incredibly mind filling. being high up in the air, gazing out the tiny plastic window, and smiling because of the beauty that stares straight back at me is one of my most favorite moments in the world.

the journey is apart of the destination when i fly. i forget that in life so often and for some reason i never forget it when i travel.

eye candy!!

i will thank my friend for introducing me to this time sucker /slash/ AMAZING blog. the beauty that you see on this page all came from: http://elsechelsea.typepad.com/frolic/.......have fun lookin!