rainy day blues

the city was wrapped in a low fog this morning as i left the house at a quarter of eight. now fog is not always my favorite, but on this particular morning i was feeling rather meloncholy(as in pensive, not as in an excess buildup of black bile), so i welcomed the sight that greeted me outside my front door. then the day just got better because it misted/rained. yay. earlier this summer i found an amazingly large ralph lauren umbrella at a garage sale. its one of my favorite things. its brown plaid. and its my therapy for rainy days. so anyway, it was a great morning...but i really should have strolled in the rain. instead i went to prayer at work, which was really good. sometimes i get discouraged and don't feel like it...but its so important to be faithful...and so i go and i am the better for it. i've been learning a lot about obedience this year. the whole "no pain, no gain" philosophy really rings true in Christianity, not just athletic training. Discipline is so vital to my witness for Christ and my spiritual growth.

i stumbled across some great poetic verse today and will post it for inspiration:

we must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn. -Henry David Thoreau

no one can deal with the hearts of men unless he has the sympathy which is given by love. i have often been struck with St. Paul's notion as to the quality and quantity of feeling. if he charges you to be hopeful, it is to be very hopeful. we are not only to be fruitful, but we must abound in fruitfulness. every particular good must be carried to its ideal form...
every quality that goes to manhood, you must have in excess; as the brooks have their treasures, making haste to empty themselves, to give room for that which is coming on behind. you must have enough benevolence not only for yourselves, but for others, to pervade and to fill them. This is what is meant by living a godly life. -Henry Ward Beecher

Lessons on Self-Discovery

yesterday i was talking to my friend who happens to live in the duplex above me, a fantastic arrangement if i do say so myself...and telling her how i really need someone to restrain me at times. i came to this realization after a friend posted a facebook photo of me in which i looked utterly horrible. yes, it happens often. and that is why i need help. maybe even counseling. you see, i think i just got sick of having bad pictures of myself so i started just completely not care and make all sorts of weird faces in front of the camera. this has produced some hilarious laughs on my part, but has also gotten to an extreme point where i have a hard time being normal in front of a camera. my friend has the opposite problem, she can't seem to loosen up in front of people and is ultimately too concerned about what people think. maybe God put us together just to rub off on one another. i sure hope so. in the meantime if you have any brilliant ideas for reformation let me know.

Suprise party

i have recently discovered that i LOVE throwing parties. it's all about the prep work and then
seeing an idea excuted. and of course seeing people enjoy themselves...it makes for a great time.a friend and i threw a surprise party for my sister's 32nd birthday. i cheated and made both cakes from a box to save on time, but we did try out fondant for the first time...and it was AMAZING. seriously. we did two round white cakes and covered them in fondant. then colored the remaining fondant and made stars and wire whimsical decorations for the top of the cake.

guests drank cream soda out of the can with whirly straws and niblled on circus peanuts and m&m's from a lazy susan.

the second cake was covered in regular buttercream icing flavored with cappucino and topped with chocolate shavings. instead of investing a lot of money in cake tins, i just layered some christmas candy tins with waxed paper and baked the cakes in those. the entertainment for the evening was american idol themed karaoke!

headstones

i possess an unusual attraction to old cemeteries. they are so curious. i recently discovered a friend down the street who shared my passion for them and we have made it our perogative to find one this fall and have a photo shoot there. i am already excited and the leaves haven't even begun to turn. Cemeteries are so fascinating, they hold so much history. They are such a great place to think and reflect on life. I would not, however, recommend visiting one after dark. This particular cemetary is down the road from where I live and was the site of a murder just a few years ago. spooky. so i only go to them in full sun. that's my free advice.

Beautiful Love

its so amazing how there is a never ending supply of wonder and knowledge to explore in our world. it is such a gift. today i was amazed by the beauty that i saw around me, and not just in the blue sky and green grass, but in the awesome women that i had the joy of going to lunch with. i kept thinking to myself: how did we all get here, to this place in time, together? there was such an assortment of women, all shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds, iq's, interests. and the one thing that brought us together was the love of Christ. it was sacrificial, it was selfless, and it was truly beautiful.