magic

Natey-boy

Dear Best Friend,

A year ago, I lived in a box and you tried to pull me out.

A year ago, I turned bright red at your flirtatious jokes.

A year ago, I always insisted I didn't get along with my peers.

A year ago, I was too scared to change my life.

A year ago, it took me forever to make friends with guys.

A year ago, I was a kid.

A year ago, I got the biggest smile when your name popped up on my phone.

A year ago, I had no goals, no purpose, nothing...

And because of you...

Today, I'm forcing myself out of that box.

Today, I flirt with no shame. ;)

Today, I'm making so many new friends my age.

Today, I'm still scared but more willing to change.

Today, I can count my guy friends on more than one hand.

Today, I'm starting to become an adult.

Today, I get the biggest smile on my face when I remember you.

Today, I have huge goals, a purpose, something to work toward.

Thanks Bestie! <3

November 1st

A new beginning

A first page filled

Excitement

Creativity flowing

A love of words

Late nights

Falling in love

Blisters and ink stains on your fingers

Mystery

Romance

Adventure

Heart-break

Comedy

Happy NaNoWriMo

Magic

A few minutes before I run to class...

I am a college student now.

Homework, classes, homework, homework, mid-terms, early mornings, late nights, homework, sporadic meals, stress, new friends, crabby professors, homework, wonderful professors, fun classes, homework, boring classes...oh, and did I mention the homework? :P

And in spite of all this school craziness, I've decided to be even more crazy and participate in NaNoWriMo this November. However, I will only be doing the 50,000 word goal and it will definitely be low on my list of "must-do's". Homework comes first. I have a feeling, I'll only be writing on the weekends.

And just what is my story? Well, here's the book cover:

I do not have a summary as of yet, other than it's about a young woman named Regan who has guy drama. Slight comedy/slight drama...who knows what it'll end up as! :P

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

201. Vacation

202. The best kind of best friend

203. 5 hour conversations

204. Late night phone calls

205. Meeting new friends

206. End of Summer BBQ's

207. Vanilla Sugar Lotion

208. A job

209. School

210. Prayer

211. Laughing

212. Candy Pumpkins

213. New clothes

214. Bright colors

215. Amusing blogs

216. Leaves turning

You've got mail...

The leaves are slowly starting to change, there's a smell in the air, new clothes are in stores, school starts next week...it's almost fall!! And, with fall comes the NEED to watch one of my all-time favorite movies:

You've Got Mail

Don't you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

What will NY152 say today, I wonder. I turn on my computer. I wait impatiently as it connects. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail. I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beating of my own heart. I have mail. From you

For some moments in life there are no words.

Randomness

1. I like my popcorn salty. Extra. salty.

2. I see my stories as movies in my head.

3. I have a bucket list.

4. I adore pancakes.

5. I love stomping in puddles.

6. I dream about whatever I think about before I fall asleep.

"I'm impossible to forget, but I'm hard to remember." - Claire

"You know, there is nothing greater than deciding in your life that things maybe really are black and white! And this guy Ben, who clearly takes you for granted, who serially takes advantage of you, is bad! And what I'm saying is good! See what I mean? You shouldn't be the substitute for anybody." - Drew Baylor

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

179. Paperback books

180. Book shopping

181. Books overflowing on shelves

182. A comforting hug from a friend

183. Giggling like crazy

184. Blue flip-flops

185. Caffiene

186. Talks til 4am

187. "Moonlight" - Steven Sharp Nelson

188. Synesthesia

189. Vacation!

190. Cuddling in Mr. Snuggles on cool nights

191. Corn on the cob - summer food!

192. Questions

193. Answers

194. Old stories

195. Laughing at one's self

196. Knowing someone so well, you finish each other's sentences

197. Interesting books

198. Rain drops

199. Homemade popcorn, extra salty, just the way I like it

200. Smelling like a cookie!

Let there be light...

To create magic...

...just add light.

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

151. Summer

152. Blue nail polish

153. Lazy afternoons

154. Actually reading a book in book form.

155. Audio books passing time

156. Video Chats

157. Secrets

158. Homemade pancakes

159. Comfy t-shirts

160. Tea, tea, tea by the gallon

161. A new room

162. Seeing work accomplished

163. BBQ's without the BBQ

164. Bonfires

165. Blue dangly earrings

166. An "I love you eturnuhty plus eturnuhty."

167. Old stories, old friends

168. New stories, new friends

169. Letter-writing

170. Inky pens

171. Owl City's new album

172. Moments alone

173. Quiet moments with friends that are never awkward

174. "Dollface", "Sweetie pie!", "Sweet thaaang" arguments

175. TAITF *mr.green*

176. Bonding. "We're bonding here, George, aren't we?"

177. Movie quotes. ;)

178. Magic

Summer.

First off...that pic ^^ was taken by my three-year-old sister. She takes a pretty good photo!! I'm training her to be just like me. ;)

I bought Owl City's latest album today. And can I just say...how utterly and completely in love I am with it?

It is a total summer album. Over-flows with color! Greens, blues, and yellows! Gorgeousness!

I had coffee today. Raspberry and caramel iced coffee. Heavenly.

I got a surprise package in the mail. Squee.

I got to video chat with my bestie.

It's summer!!

Wishes...

"Used a wish yesterday, spending a wish today...I save wishes for my future." - Anonymous

Magic...

Once in awhile,
Right in the middle of an ordinary life,
Love gives us a fairy tale.
~ by Anonymous ~

"The best kind of magic is in the little details of life."
~Anonymous~

"A fairytale...a bit of magic...is not just fairies, princesses...but it can be a kind of fairy dust."
~A.S.~

Cuppa Tea

A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards. ~A.A. Milne

Summer Luv

Driving down a road.

Blue skies.

Sunshine.

Car windows rolled down.

'50s music.

Iced coffee.

It makes me want to take a road trip.

My Freeze Ray

What is it I love about photography?

I love the:
Brightness!
Crisp, clean, bright colors!
Capturing the personality of people.

That funny scrunched up face my friend makes when I tell her to give me "some attitude".
The crinkles around the eyes when my friend laughs at what I say.
The funny, cheesy grin she makes when she gets tired of smiling nicely for an hour and a half.
The one eye screwed shut when she gets a face full of sunshine.
The hand that flies up to stop the hair from being blown into her face.
The head thrown back in laughter when the wind totally ruins the picture.
The silly things that I can get her to do just for the camera.

The very purpose of capturing a moment and being able to freeze it time. It's like my own personal Freeze Ray.

With MY freeze ray, I capture the beauty I see in this world. It's the way I get my artistic side out. I may not be painting the colors, or creating any of the beauty. I'm just freezing it so others can see and share "that" moment.


With my freeze ray I will stop. the. world.

A World of Color

When people begin to talk about their own quirks, they usually list things such as:

biting their fingernails
tapping their fingers
humming under their breath
needing to recount things
touching each pole as they walk along
straightening everything on their desk

All those annoying, little habits that make us who we are...I'm sure I have many of those odd quirks (okay, so I know I do...), but the one I'm going to talk about today, is something that most people never experience and can't even understand sometimes.

I was recently told that my "quirk" has a name:
synesthesia

And what is it exactly? Well. To put it simply, for me, everything is a color. Every single thing has a color or shade...books, music, movies, people, seasons, months, days, numbers, scents...everything!


For example: in my head, when I hear the name of one of my best friends, "HannahBeth", I immediately see a silvery-purplish color.
Or, when I hear the month, June, I think of a rosy, deep-pink color.
The movie, "Little Women" is a mixture of silvery-white and velvety-red.
The book, "Enemy Brothers" is a navy-blue and gray.
The song, "Tennessee" by Hans Zimmer is a deep, summer-green and golden color.


I think because I view the world in such a way explains why I just so happen to love bright and vivid colors. I love brightly-color and vivid pictures! To me, they just stick out, and the majority of the time, when something that I consider nice or pleasant enters my mind, the colors I view for it are bright and vivid.

Most people think I am odd for the way I think, and for some, they just can't wrap their head around how it works. To be honest, I don't even know how it works myself. It's just something that's there. And from my point of view, I don't know how people live without experiencing this! What is their world like??? What is a world like without viewing it through colors?? Where's the excitement of playing a new piece on the piano if you can't close your eyes and see the colors? Where's the true contentment of enjoying summer, if you can just lie on the grass and close eyes and see the colors that associated with the scents?? I think viewing the world this way is why I am so passionate about photography...I love capturing those colors.


This is my world...over-flowing with color.

In Christ Alone

Smile

I feel particularly happy today. :D Why? Because all of my five senses are telling me it's just about summer.

I feel the deliciousness warmth of the high temps, and the rough feeling of GREEN grass under my feet.


I smell the delicious scent of mowed grass, someone barbecuing in the neighborhood, and lilies of the valley.


I taste the cool, smooth, exciting taste of iced coffee with shots of blueberry and caramel.


I see the sunshine shining through the trees and shining down on my little sister's head, giving her a halo.


I hear the music of the funnest and one of my favoritest songs, "Smile" by Uncle Kracker.

"You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed, sing like a bird, dizzy in my head, spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night, you make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe, shine like gold, buzz like a bee, just the thought of you can drive me wild, you make me smiiiiiiile..."

I asked for peace today...

I am sitting in my soon-to-be new room. The walls are still bright pink with splotches of white where it still needs to be sanded.

The window is open as wide as it can possibly go and the shade all the way up. It's sunset, and everything is all goldeny and green right outside my window.

There is a snickers bar lying on the floor beside me, one bite taken from it.
On the other side of me is The Pioneer Woman by Ree Drummond, open to page 169.

There is an ear bud allowing Ludovico Einaudi's Nefali play quietly in my right ear, while the annoying little birds tweet in my left ear from the open window.

Everything else is fairly quiet. And very peaceful. And it just makes me happy, because this morning at work, in the midst of one of the craziest & busiest work days I've had in a long time, I prayed:

God, today more than anything, I want peace right now.

And in spite of the craziness of work.
In spite of how exhausted I feel, how much my head aches, and how much I dislike the muggy weather we've been having...I feel comforted by this peacefulness.

I asked God for peace today. And I got it.

*heart*

But I trust in you, O LORD;
I say, "You are my God."
My times are in your hand;
rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
Make your face shine on your servant;
save me in your steadfast love!

-Psalm 31:14-16

This morning started out wrong...and continued to go wrong. Feeling completely zombified and completely exhausted, I dragged myself to work and eventually came home to tackle the long list of chores I had to accomplish. The cloudy, muggy weather didn't help any...it's been this way all week long, and I've been craving the sunshine.

As the day progressed, the more tired I began to feel. And the more grumpy and down I became.

I started to dwell on that unhappiness...until I stumbled across that passage on another blog. And, I kid you not...just as I read that, the sun came out. :)

God's shining His face on me. (Corny, I know...)

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

134. Quiet afternoons

135. Long conversations with friends

136. Listening to rain on the roof while in bed

137. "Hellojello" "Hellocello" :D

138. A new story idea

139. Moving true stories

140. "The Reading Promise" - Magical book

141. Strawberry and banana smoothie

142. Dangly earrings from a friend

143. Wrapping up birthday gifts

144. Blue ribbons

145. Old photo albums

146. Coffee with caramel

147. Gooey, chewy, yummy, homemade brownies

148. Playing Bananagrams

149. "Tennessee" by Hans Zimmer

150. Green grass

1000 Gifts

I guess I didn't actually hit the "Publish Post" button on Monday. Darn. Oh, well, better late than never!

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

116. Iced tea

117. A sister married

118. A new brother

119. Dancing as much as I want

120. Bunny ears

121. Sunshine, blue skies, and warm temps

122. Green grass and green buds on trees

123. Wine that actually tastes good ;)

124. Pretty dresses

125. Blue nail polish

126. An "I know, I understand," from a friend

127. Sleeping in

128. Picnics with friends

129. Bubbles

130. Inside jokes

131. Sharing grins with friends

132. Walking down an aisle before my sister

133. Hayley Westenra's music

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

98. April Showers that will hopefully bring May flowers

99. Passover

100. New spring dresses

101. Getting my hair trimmed (you wouldn't believe how big a difference it makes...my hair actually likes me!)

102. New converses

103. Finding a hairstyle

104. Pulling through and actually writing a speech

105. Blueberry pie

106. Strawberry lollipops

107. Cupcakes

108. New friends

109. Text messages that make me smile

110. Phone call from my bestie <3

111. Excitement!

112. Hershey Kisses

113. Real kisses from Juji

114. Blue eyeshadow xD

115. Laughing with my older sis

Do you feel cold and lost in desperation

You build up all the failures all you've known

Remember all the sadness and frustration

And let it go, let it go

Aren't we adorable?

Samdomness

I don't know what it is with people lately, but they've been calling me "chick". And it's annoying.

Beyond annoying. Grrr.

Okay. It's time for Samdomness (Random + Sam = Samdomness...yeah, so I th

ought it was clever.):

- I am wearing converses and LOVIN em. (No, I did not name them, though it wouldn't be such a bad idea!)

- Gabby & Gator. You have. to. read. it. I swear it's just about the funniest kid's book I've read in ages. It's def. made my list of favs. It's an AMAZING read aloud...especially since it takes place in Louisiana...thus all those southern accents. ;)

Can't you just hear:

"Isn't that dangerous and inhumane?"

"Lose an EYE to a bald EAGLE is inhumane!!!!"

ROFL. I just about die reading it. ::sigh:: Yeah, it's awesome.

You'll literally gasp at the end too. I LOVE that...when a book can make me literally gasp out loud. Takes brilliance to do that.

Yesterday at work, Gabe and I hung out for a while...we played with the Alphabet puzzle:

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

88. A funky looking ring that I got for free!

89. Graphic tshirts that make people laugh.

90. Thomas Newman's "The Letter That Never Came" putting me to sleep

91. Teasing a friend

92. Singing "Great green globs of greasy, grimy gopher guts..." with Juji

93. Making fish faces with two little sisters

94. Converses

95. Strawberry flavored lollipops

96. Iced coffee

97. High temps that show that spring IS here

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

74. Being busy

75. Daydreams of the future

76. Sugar in my tea

77. Baby smiles

78. Watching my favorite tv show with my mom

79. Drawing on tattoos with sparkly markers with a bestie

80. Opening up and sharing with a friend

81. Laughing and talking about anything with two like-sisters.

82. Creating something beautiful

83. Cupcakes with lemon fillings

84. Making new friends

85. Loving old friends

86. Laughing, laughing, laughing

87. Celebrating

Back in the '70s...

So, today, at the supper table, my brother was drinking some Coca Cola and offered me a sip. I took a sip and handed it back to him, when my older sister suddenly made a comment:

Older sis: Ya know, with your hair like that and wearing the purple plaid shirt and drinking the coke, you could be a '70s ad!

Me: O_O THANKS A LOT!

Brother: That was a compliment.

Older sis: The '70s look is back!

Brother: All you need is some sunglasses on top of your head.

Older sis: And a lil more poof in your hair on the top. And a dark tan.

So there ya go, peeps. Embracin' the '70s, am I!

(Fyi, I really wasn't trying to go a '70s look! This was me feeling lazy and just slipping on a headband and the first clean shirt I could find this morning! :P Ah, well...there are worse things I could look like...like the '80s! :P)

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

67. Being called a "lil ray of sunshine".

68. Praying with a friend

69. Playing on a newly-tuned piano

70. Audio books

71. A surprise package from dear, dear friends

72. A walk with three lil sisters and one lil cousin

73. To-do lists

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

60. Mr. Snuggles. My favorite blanket. He's just that comfy.

61. Getting to do photography at work. I love it!

62. Crackin up at work with my brother.

63. Gorgeous weather! Sunshine! And spending time outside!

64. Soaking up the sun with a friend.

65. Being brought to my senses.

66. Being productive.

30??? Day Photo Challenge: Day 31

Day 31 - Another picture of yourself with ten more facts

Wait, I thought this was a 30 day challenge??? And ten more facts?? *sigh* Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine.

1. I love sitting in the sun with a good friend, talking or not talking...whatever we feel like.

2. I'm a bit of a neat freak...I can stand messes, I just happen to like things neat rather than messy.

3. I looooove milkshakes. :D

4. I have written three full-length novels and am working on the 4th...and 5th.

5. I have typed up to 118 WPM. Yup. Wicked cool.

6. My fav. book of the Bible at the moment is II Corinthians. Goooooood stuff.

7. Is looking forward to goin to school.

8. Loves, loves, loves, loves, loves photo shoots.

9. I can do three different yoyo tricks. Oh, first of all...I can yoyo! *nod*

10. Was tempted to go howl at the moon last night. Yup. Fact.

Day 30 - A picture of someone you miss

I cannot wait for this summer!

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 30

Day 29 - A picture that can always make you smile

My goofy siblings...WITH my newest sis! :D

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 28

Day 28 - A picture of something you're afraid of

This guy.

Okay, so seriously, not...but I couldn't find a picture of something I'm scared of, so...this'll have to do. You have to admit, he IS a little weird looking.

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 27

Day 27 - A picture of yourself and a family member

My dad and I...

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 26

Day 26 - A picture of something that means a lot to you

Friendship...

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 25

Day 25 - A picture of your day

Work at this awesome place!

1000 Gifts

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2006/11/gift-list-thousand-things/

53. Melting snow. Means spring is coming. *heart*

54. Oreos...one of the best cookies ever.

55. Reading old journals.

56. Kiddos...funny lil peeps that they are.

57. An "I *heart* Batman" t-shirt.

58. Successful shopping trip AND an iced mocha latte

59. Calvin & Hobbes comics

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 24

Day 24 - A picture of something you drank

Tea. Cup cup cup of of of tea tea tea...cuppatea.