rear view mirror

I had half of this written before I decided this thing needed to be short and sweet.

I was at lunch today with a friend talking about the post I was going to put up; I was overcome with the amount of things that can happen in a year. This year I had friends die, a nephew born, traveled to Africa, completed two more semesters of college, started a blog (clearly that's not very important, but I needed to throw that in), went 5 months without being able to hug my best friend, 2 break-ups, 3 set-ups, weird dates, even weirder parties, LOTS of friend got married/engaged... I mean I could continue, but I'll stop.  These things all played some kind of role in my growth as a person, but more importantly, most of these events helped me grow as a Christian.

My theme this year was forgiveness. I know we think about forgiveness when we wrong someone and we want to make sure they don't hate us, but what an honor it is to forgive others. I've been hurt this year, to the point of tears, and those people that hurt me, I went on a journey to forgiveness. My heart never really wanted to make peace of anything, I wanted revenge. But, by the grace of God, I remembered/keep being reminded of how much I've been forgiven by my Savior. It's been a trying year. I've made huge mistakes, and because I have my hope in Christ I've seen how emotional and spiritual scars can be made beautiful, no matter how painful and ugly they were originally.

So this post is short, but don't be fooled, my year was jam packed with a plethora of things that I'll remember for the rest of my life. As for those mistakes that left scars, if I hadn't made them, I might have forgotten the sweet joy of being forgiven by the Creator, my Savior, my King. It's been a beautiful year, every year in Christ is beautiful; it's one more year closer to being home.

Christmas in pictures

Pill bottle filled with Jelly Belly's and a fake prescription for Mom.*

All the stocking hung in a row...*

proof that i need a better camera*

this is where the magic happened (FOOOOOOD)*

Virg found the pickle!!

georgie's first christmas

he's just so cute!

first present, he owned that thing. he knew exactly what he was supposed to do.

Christmas night and jo and bruce's. the whole dining room was filled with his gifts from that day

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaa

* - Christmas eve

Christmas hodge podge

Remember, as a child, when you would get out of school and come home for Christmas break and have ALLLL the time in the world to reek havoc and then make your mom say things that you only thought people that were destined for doom would say? Yeah, I long for those days.

So far this break has consisted of late nights, because I have to get in time with my friends that have come from college, and early mornings, because I have to earn the money to pay for those late nights. Don't get me wrong, I love being a college student/young adult and playing around with the fam and with my friends, but I do wish I could actually have a "break". So far I have slept in twice, I use the term "sleep-in" loosely. Sleeping-in has been me jumping out of bed to rush around at 9. Better than 6 or 7 like it has been though. (Oh those rabbit trails... get me every time) Anyway, I thought this was supposed to be the MOST wonderful time of the year? So far, all I've seen as an adult, or really since I've been shopping for my huge family on my own, it's super stressful, and then when Christmas day comes, there's like 2 minutes, if you're lucky, of, "OMIGOSHILOVEIT!", and then your present is old news and they move on to the next one. You know what? I'm happy with 2 minutes. I just like to make people smile and go, "You put time into this present for me? (insert teary-eyed smile here) Oh honey, thank you so much!". Okay, so maybe that's only what my mom does, but still 2 minutes? I'm welcoming you with open arms this year! I'ma love all of your 120 seconds and then relish in them for a solid 5. Merry Christmas.

So speaking of  "(teary-eyes) time?!", this year I made pillows for my friends. I love pillows, esp small ones that I can snuggle up with. I don't really sleep on a pillow in my bed, I kind of shove it aside when I'm sleeping, but that's due to the fact that my bed is AWESOME. Regardless, I also love Scrabble, so I got my arts and crafts on and made these:

BAM. Scrabble pillows!

Yeah. I love them. That isn't the finished product, but you get the idea. Some of my friends have double names--ugh, you people-- and so I've made them front and back with one letter on each side. That's right I'm dedicated. And since I'm way behind on posting, I seriously had more time when I was studying for finals than I do now, ruh-dic-a-lus, that was my bit for Wonderful Wednesday and then some musings. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas! I'll share with you what I got and how much I love my family and spending time with those crazies when tomorrow is all said and done.

apple of my eye

For those of you who do not know my most treasured of friends, you're seriously missing out.

That is my beautiful friend and sister, Melanie. Precious Mel has been gone and it has been a LOOOONG 4 months, well 20 weeks to be exact. She has been serving our King in Senegal, Africa, and while my selfish self was dreading her leaving, I can't help but be so proud to be her friend. Mel has the most generous and sweetest heart. I mentioned in a previous post how she was so influential in leading me to the Lord. And I'm sure that my story is like so many other. Unlike me, Mel has a gentle spirit that perpetually encourages and loves people, genuinely. She has probably the most impacting ministry just because she loves. She does very little that has to do with herself, her heart in focused on loving the Lord.

Mel and I have so many stories that are hilarious, insane, weird, and wonderful. She's been my best friend for about 5 years now, and part of that time we were in the throws of ECS. No mercy there. High school was ridiculous, and not for the reason that high school was ridiculous for most of you people, ours was... well just see for yourself.

this was a typical school day

all those plays

projects

 Which that is actually kind of funny because we made projects and our school building looked like the projects for about... oh forever. Seriously, our school didn't get an actual building until the end of our junior year. For the years before that, we were trailer trash.
 

ell, me, and mel

  I love this picture. We were the 3 craziest girls in the school, which with being crazy comes the added bonus of retarded stories; those range from normalish to completely absurd. I have more memories at that age, or from those years, that involve us than I have with my family at the same time. Mmm, best friends. :) Adoration is the best way I can describe how I feel about Mel. I absolutely adore her.


Mel, there are a million people that are busting to see you. I'm so honored that I get to be one of them.

SOTD: Stephen Gordon - Good Decisions

This is one of my all time favorites in the realm of little known singers. He's got the voice of Michael Buble and looks of Chris Martin. It's a great combination.
I love his album "I Have Seen Your Shining Spirit". Check that one and his newest one, "VA", out on itunes.

 Listen. Love.

TSO: A Pyromaniac's Paradise

As you may remember, I told you I was going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra. And I did. And what a day! It starts off by me going to a Christmas party the night before and over exhausting myself. Typical Clara. I woke up in a bit of a panic wondering if I would make to the meeting place, the Morrison house, on time... or before I started to get, "Claraaaa... where the heck are you?!?!", texts. (side note: punctuality? Not my thing.) Well, I didn't. I was running late, of course and got a, "Did you know we're meeting at my house?", text, which, yes, I did. But I made it --only like 5 or 10 minutes late. Win for me!! Got on the road. The crew consisted of Scott, Allie, Virginia (baby sister), Abby (Scott's baby sister), Daniel and Charles (Daniel's baby brother). Almost the whole way up to the 'ham we listened to Jessica Simpson's new Christmas album, you know, to put us in the right spirit. I think Scott got close to running the car off the road.

our car, minus abby. thanks clara's huge head

the girls after the show

 Fortunately, we lived! We got to the BJCC and I made it to the entrance (remember how I'm exhausted?). Poor Scott had to wait on a new character in the story, Mitchell. Good glory, that boy. By 3, when the show was scheduled to start, Mitchell had yet to arrive. Bless it. Anyway, my part of the story: So I get in, find my seat, and I am aaaaall alone. That's right kids, Clara purchased her ticket separate from everyone else. I got lucky enough to sit next to old ladies who, if they had been given the opportunity, would have thrown their bras on stage, TSO followers. Now for you people reading this at home and don't know what the TSO followers are like, they are the dungeons and dragon people. They will forever live in the 80s and have no problem spilling beer on your coat, maybe that was an isolated incident... regardless, they're very entertaining people.

So there I am, alone, waiting for this thing to happen. The lights go off... the stage is lit up in flames, yes, flames, and I'm mildly terrified. OH and I forgot, The seating is like obnoxiously vertical. If I had leaned forward too much, I would have fallen to my death. Maybe not, but throw in my fear of heights and vertigo issues and you have a small panic attack. Back to the show. There were lights and flames and long hair being flipped and people running the WHOLE TIME. It was physically exhausting to watch. And when I say light show and flames... well, if I was an illegal drug kind of person, I'm guessing acid would have made the experience all the more amazing. The show was narrated by this huge black man who sounded just like Barry White. Win #1. People started coming out of the ceiling on these crazy contraptions rocking out on their fiddles and guitars. Win #2. Holy crap, they had a flame thrower. (Clara freak out = 9 billion times more than is necessary) Taking back win #2. They also had these giant mechanical stages that went out over the audience. That was actually pretty cool. Win #2 reinstated. Okay, so the hair. The whole band must be on speed or something because they have an absurd amount of energy and they flip their long, flowing locks around that I'm surprised they don't all have whiplash. It hurt me just watching them. Every single one of them had hair longer than me. It was hard for me not to have hair envy. Win #3, only because their hair was so shiny and beautiful. Anyway, the first part of the show, the narrated part, almost/did put me to sleep. All that music was like a lullaby to my already sleep deprived head.

see! perfect ambiance for falling asleep

So I made it through the first part, which I thought was the only part until they kept teasing me with all this, "Like the show? How about a few more songs?" ... "How was that? Here are some Band members... More SONGS!!" ... "more songs?" ... "Hope you enjoyed it... here are some more songs for the road!" ... "Can we sneak in some more?" By the time that was all said and done, I had almost gotten up to leave 4 times. About 3 hours later, they finally released us.

fire...

lasers...

and hair flippage... OH MY!

Now this is where the real fun begins. Mitchell, who was mentioned earlier, is the most scatter-brained child E.V.E.R. Bless him. Child lives in Birmingham, yet has NO idea where he is and how he's going to get us to his house. Over hearing Scott's conversations with him brought almost all of us to tears. We pulled over on the side of the road TWICE and once he pulled up next to us to tell us a story... ON AN ON RAMP!! I don't know how we didn't die. After a ridiculous amount of phone calls, fits of laughter, and angry yells of starvation, we FINALLY got to his house; I was so hungry that Taco Bell looked like fine dining to me. We hit the mother load. His mom was a prettier and more talented version, and less of a crook, of Martha Stewart. Now it could have been because my stomach was eating itself, but that dinner... WHEW! I felt like a queen. She made these delicious chicken fingers breaded in pretzels, almonds, and herbs with her home made ranch sauce and home made cheese fries, which was followed by a chocolate and caramel trifle. Hi cardiac arrest, I'm Clara. Watched the Heisman and left 10 pounds heavier. Ended the evening by watching The Office with the Morrison famjam, found my way home through the rain and threw myself into bed. Wonderful day.

artful clothiers

This is purely for gazing and wondering how someone can be so creative and make clothing so beautiful. So what if you can't wear it! It's soooo pretty! I enjoy being a girl.

i lusted... did you?

felt tip markers. genius!

This guy took felt tip markers and made pockets for them to fit into and they bleed the colors spots onto the fabric. He now lets people choose their own colors and make their own patterns. Funky, funky!

noddin my head like "yeah"

if you play romeo, i'll be juliet

i'm also partial to cinderella

Is it weird that I had to catch my breath on a few of these pieces?

Wonderful Wednesday

This is one thing that is making my day wonderful; a day with Mr. George. His mom is having me take pictures of him today for his 6 mo, even though he is now 7 mo and 4 days, who's counting though! Anyway, this little nugget of happiness is crawling, shaking his head, waving, and laughing up a storm. He makes me want to have children of my own some day. I love this big bundle of happiness. 

I got to spend some time with Hobson today. That was, as always, a wonderful treat! Sweet Hobson is moving away from me (booooo), so we had our little goodbyes. He is a lover of comedy and wonderful music. We got to relive TV show moments, share about our future plans, and muse over lyrics that make your heart either stop beating because they're beautiful or because they're so disgustingly terrible that the only thing left to do is die. Hobson, you are wonderful and precious. I'm really going to miss you.

SOTD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead (Acoustic)

I really like the original version, but because I was raised to love acoustic everything, this one stole my heart.

Listen. Love.

SOTD: Trans Si

I'm going to see these guys Saturday and I've been looking up videos of them for the last week. I'm soooo pumped! Enjoy this, and if you can still get tickets, try and do it. It's going to be ahhhmazing.

For later in life...

yep. that's it.

Well kids, no more suspenseful waiting for the wedding dress I'll have if/when I get married in the winter. This is everything I want in a dress. My mom wouldn't even be kind of surprised by this. She actually expects me to run off and get married to the next guy I meet (this will NOT be happening... I meet a bunch of weirdos on a regular basis).  Anyway, here I am. There it is. Told you I was unconventional.

Wonderful Wednesday

It's that time of week again; It's a WONDERFUL Wednesday!

This Wednesday I bring you: charcoal.

I used to charcoal all the time, and for some reason that I can't recall, I stopped. However, I've been inspired to start back again! (hooray!!) I'll show you my finished product, and probably photograph along the way to show you progress. Since I'm posting this, I have to complete this task. Or I could delete this whole blog, go into hiding, and then never finish my project... but that's much too much work. So I'LL DO IT! In the mean time, here are some drawings that I found that I hope you'll appreciate as much as I do.

preciousness

This reminds me of my sister who, before she got sick, was the most talented ballerina. And when I was subjected to this art, which is something I still kind of hate, I always dreamed this is the way we'd look if we made to the realm of big tutus.
etsy: MyraPaintBallet  shop

"the halls of my mind"

I wish I was that good with the shading... maybe I'll get there if I start working hard enough. Anyway, the title of this is the caption above, and the artist said it's a self portrait of what she feels like are the shadows of her mind, where everything is stored, lost, and forgotten. For all my twitter friends, #win (side note: out of these 3 pictures, this is the only one that is completely charcoal)
etsy: AmiCreatz shop

L.O.V.E.

1) I WISH I could do watercolors well.
2) Does that dress come in my size?
I love this so much, but I think it speaks for itself.
etsy: laurenspaintpalette shop

SOTD: Clarafication

This is my friend Hobson. He is a master at the piano and he wrote my blog ITS OWN SONG! She feels like the prettiest blog at the ball! <-- That actually sounds disgusting.

Listen. Love. Comment.

I'm totally serious. If you love it, let him know. It would make his day.

Headin down the Atlanta Highway

I don't know why, but the strangest things always happen to me at the Atlanta Highway Starbucks. I'm not complaining by ANY means, they typically make good stories for later/right now, but still, weird.

First incident:
It was a random night and my friend Erin and I were hanging out there, finally playing catchup with our lives. We'd been there for about an hour before a man comes up to the table, looks at me, lays down a piece of paper, and says "You need to be bold and message this guy tonight." Oh do I? Really? How about I be bold and smack you in your face? He was too nice though, and he had on wonderful glasses, I couldn't bear hurting them. So I looked this "guy" up on my phone and he had one of those "fat guy" pictures. You know, the ones where the guy is way off in the distance trying to hide the fact that he's a fatty or that he has pock marks all over his face and looks like a piece of pepperoni pizza. I kind of disregarded it for the rest of the night until I got home. And HELLOOO! He looked like John Mayer, before drugs and the Olsen twins. Nice work new barrista friend, Michael. Story for the grandkids.

Second incident:
So today, I was there minding my own business/facebook stalking, when I had a friend go, "hey Clara! Are you busy?". Of course I'm busy!! I have to see what John did last night and if he posted pictures. And Jane got a new boyfriend, so if I'm not checking up on him, how many of her 1,153 friends will?! Well naturally I said, "Mmm, not really. What chu want guh?!". She says, "Make a new friend! This is Ross,". Oh my, look at you! You're adorable! And now I'm intrigued. "Hey new friend Ross, I'm Clara."  New friend Ross was looking for a church. Once I found out NFR was Methodist (insert face of impending doom here), I suggested some other churches for him. We are now facebook friends and hopefully he'll be joining me at my friend Brian's new church (it's hip and cool, 2Cities. Check it out.). Yay NFR!!!

So thank you Atlanta Highway Starbucks! You are giving me new, really cute, friends all the time. I think I'll continue to help keep you in business.

Musing

M.O.

Sometimes... I don't know how to really start this without sounding like a lunatic... ugh, JUMPING IN!
Sometimes I become too aware of my life. What I've done, what I haven't done, what I want to do, and what will forever be a dream.
The last month or so has been a whirlwind of, "Huh?! Who is this girl?!?!". Still trying to figure that out, but at least I'm trying. I guess I've seen that I have very little faith/trust (whatevs) left in men, sorry boys. Not girls, girls are good friends, and that only took a solid 3 or 4 years to get to a place where I genuinely love my guh fraans, probably because they challenge me ALL the time.

Anyway, men. So you know how you hit a certain age and the, "When are you getting married, honey?" question is asked every 5 seconds? Innocent question, but recently I've wanted to scream, "NEVERRR!!". Fortunately, for the questioners, most of these are asked while I'm at church, so I must refrain the yelling spree I'd like to go on. This whole southern atmosphere of graduate high school-go to college-get engaged before college ends-get married right after college-make sure you have a solid-ish job-and start pumping out babies thing is not my style. I'm unconventional as it is, so demanding that I meet up to some standard because "that's what mommy and daddy did", ugh, please stop it. It's not going to happen. (watch, just because I said that, it's totally going to happen... blah.)

Back to my lack of man faith; I wish society wouldn't demand women to grow up before men. I know they don't do this intentionally, but it's here, it's happening. Parents: fix that junk. I would like to meet a guy my age that doesn't remind me of the kids I babysit (sorry for that last jab, but maybe it'll hit home?) (yeahhh, sorry for that one too).

I am overwhelmed with my life, where it's going/where it's not going. I'm going to say it has a lot to do with that southern mentality. It's instilled in my head, it's the next step.
It's going to kill me.

Single? Yerp. Happily single? Yeeeeerp. Still battling the same things you always have been when it comes to relationship desires? yeah.
Vicious, man.

It is time. Time to make a change. Look out people.

*Etsy: cutpasteprint shop

(*side note: when I write in the moment, my writing just flies all over the place. Structure isn't really my thing... sorry for the late warning)

Wonderful Wednesday

"A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting."

Henry David Thoreau

Boys, boys everywhere!

This post was to be for yesterday. Today will do though...

I have some of the funniest friends ever. They're witty, incredibly sarcastic, intelligent, and a wee bit ridiculous. These are my boys. I wish I had a picture of all of them to make this process easier, but I'll suffer and make this post crazy long and pictured out!

josh

This is Josh. I posted something earlier about him because I was showing off his rad art skillz. Josh, affectionately referred to as Chino/Cheen, is one of the funniest people I know. He is always super happy, and perpetually wants to have fun. I have so many memories with Josh and weird late night adventures that have resulted in, "What just happened?!". He can make a joke out of anything and doesn't know a stranger. Recently, I've had the GREAT privilege of being his arm candy at events that he gets to go to for free (boy's got connections). I love him and you should too.

chris

The next funny boy on my list is Chris, aka Kratzer. He is a tech junkie who is a lover of video games and pop culture jokes/references. Chris is one of my most favorite people because I see making him laugh as a challenge. Also, making him upset, but not really upset, is hilarious. He has the greatest reactions to every situation and is always making me laugh (I've got a thing for funny people). He also has a great website that I already linked you to, so hit that junk up! *deep v-er

Travieeeee

This, ladies, is Travie. He is super precious, funny, and adorable. Travie is sadly off in Auburn, living the dream/breaking bones. Travis, Kratzer and I have some of the funniest memories together. He's kind of like my daredevil friend. "You haven't done this? LET'S DOO IT!" Not all of our memories are like that, but the ones that I remember best involve something ridiculous going on... a Cheen is typically in there somewhere. Trav is an AMAZING drummer and a lover of the fit. He's just a doll. *deep v-er

Pizzle

This is JP. Where to start... well JP plays a plethora of instruments. He jams on the bass, the guitar (acoustic or electric), the mandolin, and sometimes a ukulele. He travels to India a lot and loves almost everything obscure. He likes to be unpredictable... I'm not sure how that's working out for him, considering I can't guess his next move (wink wink). Fun fact: we both used to love having long hair. PTL he shaved his off, thus displaying his unpredictable behavior. He loves history and he loves to correct grammar. Also, he loves a practical joke. He's very good at pulling them off too. Beware.

@suth

Sutherland is my bike riding buddy. He is way smart at everything technological. He has a multitude of websites and is amazingly talented. He also is a mad skateboarder. I don't understand skateboarding, but when he shows me his injuries, it certainly turns me off from ever trying it. He's silly and he got me to think about how I eat pizza. Tomatino's is our home base for eateries. This past summer, I spent many a morns with him riding bikes through Old Cloverdale and swimming in his pool. OH! He's also an amazing photographer. We used to have FFF, Friday Foto Fanatics, with Jenna... then we got lazy and Suth deleted his facebook account. All that to say, Sutherland is wonderful and crazy talented.

Foodaholic

that plate contains happiness

So it's Thanksgiving week: THE GREATEST WEEK OF MY LIFE! I love food, I love family, and I love friends. Those 3 Fs will keep me happy for the rest of my life.
Thanksgiving already started for me this week/past weekend. My friends and I have a "super exclusive" friend group (not really, but it makes us feel important), and since we're all over the place this week, we jumped on that wagon and said "NOM NOM NOM... oh yeah, THANKFULNESS!"

fooooooooooood

We all pitched in and brought a nice little lay out of calories. Okay, pause--I'm going to be super sentimental. I was so happy we did this because, in my little head, I can see us doing this all the time until all of us move away, and even then I have hope that we'll still do something like this every year. I adore my friends. All of them, even when they're weird and in bad moods, I always remember how much fun we have, especially at gatherings like this, and it makes me so happy. I kinda covered 2 Fs just then, but I have more to come--and we're back!
Upon entering any Thanksgiving gathering, I imagine this is what Disney World would feel like for me--yeah, my parents deprived me of that joy. I see a table (Fig. 2) that is covered in wondrousness--word?--and I feel like it's Christmas morning. However, when I say "Christmas morning", the only thing I get way super excited about is the breakfast table. I don't know how I'm not 8 billion pounds right now.
Anyway, I love the side dishes at Thanksgiving. The meat is good, but the side dishes are where it's at. My favorite is favorites are: sweet potato casserole, stuffing, cranberry stuff my aunt makes, cornbread salad, deviled eggs, green bean casserole... I really could just keep going, but I should probably stop since I'm making myself hungry. I wasn't kidding when I said I love food.

Wonderful Wednesday

i wish i was four

If I ever get the pleasure of having a child, I hope I have one that is a super girlie girl. I want to dress her up in adorable, frilly things. My mom never got this opportunity with me because I was always in the mud, playing with sticks, and boys. I hit girlie land too late for mom to thoroughly enjoy it (sorry mom). I'm going to start putting tulle and glitter in her face so I don't miss my opportunity. I mean look at that bow and tutu! Oh, I hope, I hope!

i'm happy to settle for this

If my daughter has that precious bow, I want one for myself. We are going to have the best decorated hair in the state (whatever state that is).

Notable Quotes

I love quotes. More so recently. I don't know why I get into the things I do, but there is something about a quote, verse in a song/line from a movie/line from book/something someone says/nothing is off limits, that makes my imagination run and leap into the land of what if's. I've been collecting them every time I hear one that makes my heart pitter-patter. I pull out my handy dandy journal and jot them down. Then, if I'm lucky enough to have time, I muse on them. So... here I go:

"Like the crooked hem on your favorite childhood dress/ and the holes in my jeans from years of carelessness" / "Let's cut down the red tape and gather up the pieces from our youth/ because there's nothing we can't fix with some scissors and glue." 

I could keep going on that one. That's Sleeping At Last's "Next to me". Words of sweetness that I can barely get over. The whole song is wonderfully folksy and his voice makes me so happy. So do the harmonies. Gah! So good! And onto the next:

"It is through Christ's death that God's love becomes all the the more wondrous"

PA, my pastor, says things that always put me in awe. How true is that statement above? Would we have been able to fully experienced God's love and mercy if we hadn't been given Christ's death? Wondrous.

"I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love me."

I love a sappy love story. I also ADORE Julia Roberts. Almost everything she does is 2 thumbs up worthy ( I would say everything, but I don't know everything she's done, and if she's been sketchy, I don't want to condone that).

"Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all."

Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorite novels. I've read it at least 5 times. Every time I read it, I find something else I love about it. The humor, the sarcasm, the love story, the initial McDreamy that turns out to be a douche bag that everyone eventually hates, and the initial douche bag that everyone falls in love with. Who couldn't love that?! And Elizabeth, though jaded, much like me, hit the nail on the head. Think about your friends. The "not always there people", mainly the guys because that's what the quote is taking about... I'm not guy hating, promise, how funny are they? For girls, they're safe. They aren't really a threat because they have so many factors working against them, which I think was the point Eliza was trying to make. Fortunately, she was wrong.

YESSSSS!

(This actually supposed to read : "In vain I have struggled, it will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you ardently I admire and love you.")  This is where my love for Darcy EXPLODED! I grew up watching the movies, so I was prepared for the ending and all the main plot twists when I read the book, but holy freaking crap. Reading those words... ugh. Powerful. I also love Old English. I wish people still spoke like that. Ardently? Vain? You must allow me?! Politicians could learn a thing or two from P & P. I could keep quoting that book for the rest of this post, but, ughhhh, I'll refrain.

i don't know you but i want you/ all the more for that words fall through me/ and always fool me and i can't react

Every time I hear The Swell Season sing this, it makes me ponder about my past. When I heard this song today though, the lines made me think about people I've just recently met. I'm a very visual person and when I see someone really attractive, words do become a stumbling block and I sound kind of like a fool. Then once my retardedness flows, there's no way I can retract my comments and I can't figure out how I am to react to what I said to remedy the situation. Ironically enough, guys with wonderful vocabulary and sentence structure give me goose bumps which does not bode well for my inability to speak, AND he's become even more attractive because he's rockin awesome grammar and I sound like more of a fool. Typical. However, on a deeper note, I think about how much I long to say words of affirmation to people I love. Then, when I come up empty handed, I feel like the vocabulary I've built up over the past 2 decades has all been in vain. That person has somehow gotten me to the point to being so enraptured that words literally fail me. There is nothing more wonderful or terrifying.

When the rain is blowing in your face and the whole world is on your case/ i could offer you a warm embrace to make you feel my love

Adele. She blows me away. For any of you people saying, "Clara. This is a Garth Brooks song. How DARE you quote a country song," chill. I love Adele's version. Her voice is so pure and gentle. Let me get in to saying why I love this line: I love hugs more than anything. I know when I'm having the worst of worst days, a "warm embrace" can literally do miracles. The first part makes me think of those little "I'll always be there for you" things that your mom might say. Probably why I like this one so much, because I could hear my mom saying something like this to me if I was upset.

like quotes

I have more quotes to come. Don't be surprised if most of them are from P & P. I'm re-re-re-re-re-re-reading it.

Porgie

i see you baby, gettin that sass

Clearly this post is long over due. This past May, May 4th to be exact, I became an aunt to the one and only George Thompson. I swiftly became a fervent lover of my nephew. He is the most precious baby that has ever come into my life. I'm slightly concerned for my children one day because I don't know how I could ever love a child more than I love him.

look at that face! he's going to fit in well

I'M SUUPER GEORGE!!

 He is so funny, and right now he's just gotten some little chompers in. All body parts beware. He LOOOVES to chew on everything. He'll grab your knee and chomp down and it makes grown women cry, like all the time. He's got the greatest laugh and the most precious cry. Some babies scream, and he can do that, but his cry is more like a coo. Like, "Cooo, Mommy? Come get me? Cooo, Aunties? I want your loves. Coooo". I literally cannot wait for him to start talking, because I know, if he's anything like his Mom, he is going to be the most hilarious child ever. He's also going to be the most beautiful, but I am slightly biased.

Wonderful Wednesday

i decided that tomorrow i will watch the sun rise

This painting was featured, and I forgot to see who it was by... my bad, at the denied and underexposed art show. My favorite part of the painting, besides how crazy obscure the whole matting is, is the quote above the cup of, what I've decided, rose tea.

"I decided that tomorrow I will watch the sun rise. I will set my clock for 4:21 am because 2+1=3 and 4x3=12 and twelve divided by either number equals the other... it's always good to wake up feeling balanced. "

I love it. I know planning my morning, especially at 4:21 am, around math will NEVER happen, but it's still cute to think about.

My friend was featured there too. One Joshua Chino Pittman created the coolest 3D heart and arrow, like a modern day Cupid. He's a silly guy that has a love for pasta and all things carb-y. And clearly, he's talented.

I hope the heart isn't a form of symbolism for him