126. January 26

Sunday drives are wonderful. 

 

"I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing."

~ Agatha Christie

124. January 30

I can't wait to have a job that doesn't involve the use of a cash register.

Currently seeking new employment.

Help?

"Work must reflect the randomness of life, with its incessant, merciless, almost humorous bombardment of highly contrasting emotions and experiences."

~ Greg Allen, as quoted in Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life

123. January 29

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below. 

~ Katharina von Schlegel, "Be Still My Soul," trans. Jane Borthwick

122. January 28

"You're alive, Bod. That means you have infinite potential. You can do anything, make anything, dream anything. If you change the world, the world will change. Potential."

~ Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

121. January 27

"...life yields not the felicity which can satisfy an immortal soul."

~ Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women

120. January 26

"Be realistic: Plan for a miracle"
 ~ Osho

119. January 25

TODAY'S POST: TAKE ONE

HALLMARK GREETING CARD STYLE

"Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you've never been hurt and live like it's heaven on Earth." 

~ Mark Twain

________________________________

TODAY'S POST: TAKE TWO

"You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world." 
~ Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

118. January 24

Sunday afternoon tea party... well more like a Sunday afternoon hot cocoa party.

Lovely, nonetheless.

"I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles." 

~ Audrey Hepburn

117. January 23

This is Mandy. She's in love with a boy named Tyler. In 116 days they are going be married and live happily after. Tonight, Mandy decorated Tyler's room with one balloon for every day until their wedding. In each balloon was a reason for her love for him. Can we get an aww?

As if this wasn't enough romance for the evening, it was followed by a viewing of Cary Grant wooing Deborah Kerr in the gorgeous film, An Affair to Remember. It was simply beautiful.

Thank you, Amy and Mandy, for a most enjoyable evening.

"After all these years, I see that I was mistaken about Eve in the beginning; it is better to live outside the Garden with her than inside it without her."

~ Adam, in Adam's Diary, by Mark Twain

116. January 22

Campus. I openly admit the aesthetic appeal of this campus was one of my chief reasons for attending school here. I think it was a pretty dang good choice.  

 

Every summer a Shakespearean festival is held in the theater you see in the background of this shot. Although I have seen many a play there, I have yet to experience Shakespeare. I suppose I'll have to give it a shot this summer.

"In narration he affects a disproportionate pomp of diction and a wearisome train of circumlocution, and tells the incident imperfectly in many words which might have been more plainly delivered in a few."

~ Samuel Johnson, in speaking of Shakespeare

Finally, a man of brilliance who isn't in love with Shakespeare.

115. January 21

Snow, snow, snow and a weekend more of it to come.

Time to hole up with a good book.

"I think that at every moment in time you change your life--maybe not deliberately--but that something you do will forever alter the course you are on."

~ Marti Leimbach, Dying Young

114. January 20

Almost as delightful as receiving a letter is writing one back.

Dear Friend,

You write a beautiful letter. My response will (most likely) be on it's way to you tomorrow. Be excited.

Me

 

"Life is slippery; here take my hand."

~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.

113. January 19

It has been argued, in a grossly unjust fashion, that quotations are a crutch for the feeble-minded with which to express themselves. I dare say that is a blatant falsehood. It takes a mind of sharp wit to evaluate the worth and appropriate placing of quotations. It is vain to think that perhaps one always possess the ability to say it best on their own. It takes a humble mind to submit to the words of others when one's own words fail. Dismissing the use of wit by others is as ridiculous as dismissing the use of words by others. Quotes, my dear friend, when not used vulgarly or cheaply, are not for the faint of thought.

This lovely book here was given to me some years ago by a good friend of mine, Danae. I doubt she remember the gift as it's been years since it was given. A few years back I took to filling the pages with quotes from books, poems, lyrics, and articles that struck me as particularly brilliant or relatable.This little book is quite the treasure to me.

A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool. 

~ Joseph Roux

112. January 18

I am in love with life. Some days, it seems as though the stresses of life will swallow me whole. But, these moments of stress always pass and then, if lucky, I am granted days like today that remind me how truly fortunate I am to live in the here and now.

"Life will break you. Nobody can protect you from that, and living alone won't either, for solitude will also break you with its yearning. You have to love. You have to feel. It is the reason you are here on earth. You are here to risk your heart. You are here to be swallowed up. And when it happens that you are broken, or betrayed, or left, or hurt, or death brushes near, let yourself sit by an apple tree and listen to the apples falling all around you in heaps, wasting their sweetness. Tell yourself you tasted as many as you could."

~ Louise Erdrich, The Painted Drum

111. January 17

Good day. Really good day.

Let me introduce you to my roommate, Hillary, as she gets dolled up in practice for interviews for physical therapy school.

Yes, Hillary, definitely the pearls.



"Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves."
~ Henri Frederic Amiel

110. January 16

Definition of a good night: French toast sandwiches with Nutella and bananas while watching Paper Heart with roommates.

Here is Amber, our amazing chef, flipping French toast.

 So, I asked my roommate Lori what quote has had the biggest impact on her life. She raised her eyebrows and kind of laughed. Then she gave me this one:

"If you want to be different, then be different."

~ The janitor in an episode of Scrubs

Cool quote. Thanks, Lori.

109. January 15

You know, this project is kind of a funny thing. I'm enjoying it, I'm loving it, and yet sometimes I don't want to bother capturing the moment, I just want to live it. Sometimes, I don't want to always have a camera with me. But, I'm stubborn and even if I have to take lame pictures with my camera phone of the clock in my car, I will complete this project, dang it all.

11:11. Make a wish.

"Still, I have my own unnameable logic, something inside me that demands custody of my decision."

~ Marti Leimbach, Dying Young

108. January 14

Snowy morning walk to class

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said." 

~ A.A. Milne

107. January 13

Let life surprise you.

I know that may sound simple, but it's something I'm constantly relearning.

Be willing to laugh at the past.

Say yes to blind dates.

Celebrate when it rains instead of snows.

Volunteer at the local library.

Try yoga.

"I wanted something to happen, but I wanted it to be...oh, I don't know...I wanted it to be something that was beyond me. Something that just happened, not something that I made happen."

~ E.L. Konigsburg, Silent to the Bone

106. January 12

Grocery shopping...

"Oh she may be wearied / And young girls they do get wearied..."

~ Otis Redding, "Try a Little Tenderness"