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

Reform-ation

 Welcome Change. Shouldn't we all?

You, fellow readers, will please need to forgive me for not being completely on top of my bloggin'. I know... I'm very sorry.

However, let's get things started! My church celebrates Reformation Sunday instead of Halloween. We're Presbyterian, so we love to celebrate anything that has to do with the Reformation. And in celebration of this wonderful day that brought about the 95 theses, we had Dr. Harry Reeder, from Briarwood Pres, come down and speak. Oh my goodness. Next to Tim Keller, I have never been so aware of my need for the Gospel after a sermon. He had 5 points that he discussed and my favorite, because it seemed to have more application to my life at the time, was one of the last ones which he threw out a question that stumped me.

"So now that I have received grace, does that mean I can sin how I please because I know I'll have remission for my sin?" 

Ugh... You got me. Bad.
I sat there, I'm sure, with my mouth agape for a solid 45 seconds. Did he say that because he knew what I was struggling with? HOW DOES HE KNOOOW?! I didn't have a huge epiphany or anything, I was gently reminded that my Savior has me where I am for a reason. He puts me through trials because He knows I need them to grow more in Him and see how desperate I am in need of a Savior. What a precious God  I have!! He also threw out a line that it took me a few seconds to get because I know less about cars than I do about engineering, which I know engineering involves numbers... yeah, so not much. He was telling a story about how his dad got him his first car. It was a '65 Ford truck. It was a car he would have done almost anything for. There was just one glitch, it was hot pink. He kept telling his dad there was no way he could go school in that car... like ever. His dad lifted up the hood and Dr. Reeder said "Oh, Daddy. Hot pink it is!" Apparently the engine was souped up and way ahead of it's time (I don't even kind of care about that stuff, but he had a point). He said, "What if someone could lift up your "hood", what would they see?" For me, I'm too embarrassed to say what they would see. They wouldn't see a lover of Christ, but a self seeking girl, wanting to know she had control over her future.

However, before all of this happened, I got a call from my mom who told me that there was a lady that suffered from Alzheimer's and she needed me to sit with her. (side note: I used to work with Alzheimer's patients for a year and a half through my mom who owns a company that works with elderly people) Anyway, I went up to the front of the church, sat down next to this precious woman who, had no idea who I was, was as sweet as she could be. We started to sing hymns and I have never heard anyone sing with such gusto at the age this woman was. She probably didn't even know the last word she sang. In fact, I saw that she forgot that we were singing and it took a few seconds before she realized she was supposed to sing too. I couldn't help but think about my future and what I wanted. If my memory is taken from me, I hope that I still hold on to the hope that I know I have in Christ.

Wonderful Wednesday

I saw this and felt like this summed up my life right now. It also reminds me of 3 precious friends. My small group girls, Jenna and Christine, who light up my life with their wonderful humor and are always a beaming light of beauty. Then the girl that gives me the most wonderful encouragement and was a huge influence in leading me to the Lord, Mel Grace. I love these girls more than words can really express. They bring me laughter, happiness, and a desire to seek the Lord in all aspects of my life. I couldn't ask for more. Free Willy and JoJo forever!