Some Kind of Wonderful.

Hi sweet friends. 

As you can probably tell, I haven't posted in quite a long time. Due to a season of personal and spiritual upheaval, I've decided to leave this little blog in the past. My heart is tired, but my life is new. 

I am really excited about my new blog, though. You can find me over here, the author of 'One Great Adventure.' It's a baby blog and is exceedingly new, but please come take a peek and leave a note so that I know you've been there - I would love to follow you all back. 

It's hard to leave this place behind - because I love it. The memories are poignant and bittersweet, sometimes I wish I could just jump into the photographs and say something different, do something different. But I can't, and life just keeps moving right along, with me struggling to keep up. Moving forward, moving on with life is something I don't do well, and quite possibly will never do well. It's always been a part of being 'me.' 

This story is over, but there are many, many more to tell. An ending is necessary and good, wonderful, sweet and broken. Life is full of experiences that keep us moving on, leaving things behind, and drawing us closer to God. Not only that, but He promises to be there every step of the way. 

I rest on that hope.

four on friday.

{those last couple minutes before an interview}



it has been such a busy week. full of interviews, SNOW, moving into my little nashville apartment, and my best friend just flew in from LA. busy, crazy, but oh so good. here are a few moments from my week, and i hope you have a lovely weekend!

ps: check this out! i'm so excited...

{a snowy drive to work}

{necklace twisted around your wrist = last minute chunky bracelet}

 

{mid-week coffee date with mom+little brother}





oh, hey nashville.

soo...on this one saturday, i journeyed into downtown nashville with my camera and a jacket that was not warm enough for the cold. i looked like a nerd because i was by myself, but i got coffee and took pictures and went to a bookstore and saw Abraham Lincoln's signature.

it was a very successful day.

 {tennessee capitol park}

 {oh hey, nashville. how about you just stand there and look gorgeous? thanks.}

{a picture that's increasingly horizontal.}

sunday afternoons.

my sweet little camera has been packed up for much, much too long. I miss getting to snap pictures all the time, looking like a total tourist in my own town {except sometimes real tourists think i'm a professional and ask me to take their photos...and i giggle a little bit ;) } after being cooped up sick all weekend and falling in LOVE with the mid-afternoon light, i decided to snap a couple of nerdy shots.

because sometimes it's fun to get all, 'pretend' artsy.
here's my little love affair with light, courtesy of your favorite amateur photographer.
one day, i hope to REALLY know how to take good pictures in it ;)

 {my mama made this chair all pretty...so talented!}

 {light + light}

{i just love light on the floor.}

 {this playset is just dying for it to be summer}

{lonely little winter hammock}

four on friday.

{pearls+pink+lace}

it's that time again...when i get to show you instagram pictures about how amazingly cool my food and hair and pens and clothes are. it's the best app ever, seriously. if you don't have it you should. so here are a couple pictures from my week, and tiny captions to go with. enjoy your weekend, everyone! 

{planning my first chapbook}

{fell in love with this woman's tattoo. i want it. now.}

{when i'm home alone i take artsy pictures of my legs. obviously.}

welcome to the new {nashville} life.

hey all.

i've been gone for awhile, like usual. because life is crazy and you have just got to hear what is going on in it. please don't get stressed out. if you get stressed out, then i will get even MORE stressed out, and no one likes a stressed out blogger. it makes for boring posts like this one.

before i spiral off into 'my life,' i would like to go off on a bunny trail and direct your attention to that picture up there. my best friend took it when i was in africa and laughing in the rainforest. seriously, that's a rainforest. i got drenched. right now i am not even close to a rain forest, but it is raining quite a lot outside and i've ducked into starbucks for a bit. {i hate driving in the rain. hate it.}

i should stop procrastinating. sooo....the reason i have been really bad at posting is because 'revenge' came on hulu. and i got two more jobs which brings my job total to four {don't get stressed. please}. and..i got in a car accident and the guy didn't have insurance and won't return my calls. i'm moving into my own little apartment on friday. my cell phone bill has tripled. and i'm driving my parent's suburban for the time being, so my gas bill has ALSO tripled {thank god for cheap tennessee gas}.

i'm sure after that little tirade you will understand the reason for that laughing picture. i kinda need it. as you know, posting is always haphazard on this little piece of internet that i call mine. if you miss me, check out my instagram, which i promise is fun, and SOON i will be putting up a facebook fan page for my little blog. i know, i know. let's add another stressor to the pot. fun.

as for now, i will sign off as your writer, independent contractor, admin assistant, grad student, legal assistant, and finally, your barista. because naturally i have to be able to provide myself with free coffee...and i like talking to people when they have to talk to me.

oh, nashville. you grow me in so many {extremely painful} ways. thanks for that.

oh, valentines day.

do you ever find yourself 'looking back' on valentines day? do you wonder about all the romantic dinners/cards of the past, and wonder why in the world it's not happening this year? or maybe why your husband/boyfriend isn't pulling out the big candy hearts or candles any longer.?

yeah, i know. been there, done that.

i've had a couple or really, really good dates on valentines day, and then a couple {semi-depressing} years where the only gift i got was a miniature box of See's on my dinner plate. from my parents. that's a little bit embarrassing, you know? just don't tell my mom.

this year is one of the 'wane' years. and i'm not going to go on and on, saying how you should just 'love yourself' and 'forget the day.' no, i'll say it. being alone on valentines day sucks. it's not fun, and it's frustrating to remember how much i looked forward to it when my mind was clouded with puppy love, then compare it to the now. i'm not sad about that pink and red riddled day in february. even though i'm single, i actually quite like it. why?

because i love love.

it's my absolute FAVORITE to see couples holding hands and all the harried men and women running in and out of the post office with red envelopes. i love seeing the silly valentines day cards in the stores, and the kids pondering what candy to give to their 'special someone' in the grocery store aisles. february just feels bright and happy, even though it is in the middle of the winter. it's the month of love, no matter what kind of love you're feeling. whether you're single (read my post on singleness here), married, or dating, it's a special day.

so. instead of being all mopey and crazy about tomorrow, i thought i would show you a couple pictures of those wonderful people in my life. the ones that make me smile, let me cry on their shoulders and laugh until my face gets much too red. these are the people that i am celebrating on that day of love...what about you?

{little siblings}

{my sweet college roommate}

{my obviously still madly in love parents}

{best friend}

okay, everyone. take a deep breath and go listen to some jackie wilson...oh, yeah. and enjoy this pretty awesome day of love. you can find that warm, fuzzy feeling anywhere, you just have to look <3 

thirty-second dance party.

{excuse the subtitles ;) }

i'm not sure if any of you readers out there are grey's anatomy regulars, but i definitely am. and these two best friends? make me very, very happy. i'm a HUGE fan of dancing when i'm stressed or upset, even though i'm usually alone. or in the car. especially on hollywood boulevard where no one cares and the druggies on the street bob their heads and start dancing, too. it embarrasses my best friend to no end, but hey. life. 

there was definitely one time in africa when i was really homesick...and i danced to reba mcentire for about ten minutes in the bathroom. by the end i was sweating, smiling, and laughing. isn't it funny, how something so simple can make a day just that much better? 

and, it seems like i'm not alone with my 'thirty-second dance party' obsession.. you can catch a few of my favorite 'dancing' moments here, here, and here, plus check out this ultra-cute proposal just because it's flippin' adorable. and it's a proposal, i mean. how can it get any better than that?

back in high school, i apparently felt the same way. this picture? was taken when one of my best friends and i dressed up in "80's" attire and filmed an exceedingly embarrassing 'dance party' video to the music of pat benatar and the 'grease' soundtrack.' we thought we were pretty cool. and, i mean, obviously we were. just check out our converse knock-offs! ;)

happy monday, everyone! hope you have a week full of '30 second' dance parties :)

four on friday.

{on the tippy-top of the world}

congratulations, everyone. you've made it to the end of the week... *big sigh*. i'm oh so glad it's here. 

{the road to the oscars begins now}

{hope you aren't scared of heights...}

{can i just live at seattle grace? i'm waay to excited about the MerDer baby...}

rookie photographers.

you know from this post, that i'm no photographer. i'm just not. but that doesn't mean that i don't want to take pretty pictures, and my crazy best friend has been an absolutely amazing model. she's posed on pier 39, random places in san francisco, all over hollywood, in random coffee shops and pretty much with every bit of food she's put in her mouth for the last year.

with all the pictures i take of her, sometimes, i forget that she is taking pictures, too. i always love taking a peek at my photos after the fact, just to see the crafty/quirky photos that she has taken. here are a few that make me smile.

she's so cool.

waiting game.

do you ever feel that you are playing a constant waiting game? does life seem to inch along, just an annoying little road block? that's...kind of where i am right now. it feels a bit like i'm stuck in the mud, confused and worried about where i might end up. i have a dream, but the means to get there are kind of on hold for a bit. sometimes, it's as if all the big things become huge and bulky, they block my view and keep me from enjoying the tiny things, the beautiful little things that i never would have experienced otherwise.

like snow.

i've never driven in the snow before, and i've now done it two, let me hear it, TWO days in a row. yeah. i'm proud. at first i was frustrated and annoyed. um, hello? i just moved from los angeles where it rains, like, twice every never and snows even less. the icy, abominable weather made it so i couldn't even open my door, much less separate my windshield wipers from the frosty glass. it took a couple minutes and cold water, after which i got my frosty fingers and bad attitude on the road.

not a good combo. i promise.

as taylor swift tried to calm me down (thanks, girl), i watched as the snow fell from the car in front of me. it was...neat. and different. it didn't just fall to the ground, but swam in swift curlicues, fluttering just a breath above the road. like little fairy wings, a bit of natural glitter. i don't want to sound silly or cliche, but it was a bit magical. as the sun broke over the rattling, empty trees, it lit up the frost and made the whole world sparkle.

 it took a little bit of God's creation, a small piece of wintery beauty, to make me smile. life wouldn't be an adventure if we got to the finish line quickly,right? it's in the magic of a moment, the sweetness of those unexpected twists and turns, that make it worth living.

sweet baby faces.

this is kind of a "bleh" blogpost. well...not really. but there's just a lot of pictures that i just have to show someone before i burst! baby faces? bay area baby faces? honestly, you know you can't resist.

a couple of months ago (thanksgiving), i had the chance to meet up with my aunt and uncle who make their home in alameda, california. in case you don't know where that is, it's an itty-bitty island in the san francisco bay, right over here. they have two darling little ones, lydia and baby georgie, and they're expecting another one any minute now. i. can't. wait.

 

 

{how cute is this?!? crossing his hands behind his back? come on.} 

(which christmas tree do i want? hm, hm, hmm...)