Wednesday was my nineteenth birthday...and it was effing awesome. i have the best family ever and i thouroughly enjoyed myself ! <3
So my day started out with lunch and a movie with my pops and uncle mark which was uberfun! we ate at the yardhouse and i had the best california roll ever in life and they brought out a souffle and spelled out birthday in cocoa powder and we saw Horrible Bosses which i reallyy liked cause it's got a crazy sense of humour. And it was just a lot of fun cause my daddy and my uncle are hilarious ! My dad took the above picture in an effort to prove to me that i am, in fact cross-eyed. what do you think?
cutest balloon ever? yesh. so i had to give it a hug!
and then there were the cupcakes...
oh my ganache they were good !
&& my mommy took me to go see harry potter which i was ECSTATIC about. And i loved it but it totally made me cry and i feel like my childhood is over !
my mommy also took me to the Beatles LOVE by cirque de soleil show which was gorgeous and magical and bizarre. i loved it. and i decided to wear an outfit miss carol's mom had made for her sometime in the 60's or 70's. : ]
&& then we had $12 hazelnut gelato
it was soo much fun! thank you to everybody who wished me a happy birthday and to everyone who made my day extra special<3
this is quite possibly my favorite picture of myself. EVER.
My birthday is coming up. I'm pretty excited about it. I thought i would make a little wish list in honor of my birthday month. hope you enjoy my frivolity! <3
UNDER $25
She & Him Volume One and Two
Hair accessories that were inspired by Alice in Wonderland
Snow White : Diamond Edition on Blu Ray and DVD
A subscription to seventeen or teen vogue
Tangled on Blu-Ray and DVD
Taylor Swift speak now piano book
a red velvet bundt cake
any jewelry inspired by alice in wonderland
OVER 25
a trip to cali
an awesome camera
getting my hair done
a baby blue or baby pink bike (with a basket)
i would seriously lovee a shopping trip
miss dior cherie perfume
MY DREAM
...is to see harry potter on my birthday in florida and then go to the harry potter park !
AlSO
i would love a giftcard to:
Borders, Forever 21, Amazon
Oh and if i only get one thing, i REALLY hope it's this !!!
this is simply a whimsical wishlist. i don't want any of you to think i'm a greedy snatch. my favorite thing about my birthday is the feeling of celebration in the air and getting to spend time with my family. i love meaningful cards and family dinners. what i get isn't that important. (although i really do hope i get some red velvet cake!)
I would like to start out this post by saying thank you to all of the people who prayed for my little darlings...your prayers really did help them to find a marvelous home! I could never thank you all enough<3
with that said...
There is a middle to this story, just like every other. But i decided since a pictures says a thousand words, i'd let my little duckling pictures tell the longest part of the story better than my words could.
(this is before we took them to their new home)
As lovely and magical as the middle of the story happened to be I knew that my part of the story with them would eventually come to an end. We didn't have the means or permits to keep them. They needed a home. So a wonderful family friend, Ms Carol, who has always been like a grandmother to me helped me to search for the perfect place for my adorable waterbabies to live. The very first place she called, Gilcrease Nature Sanctuary, was the right home for them. We just knew it. The man that she spoke to was very kind and already had a few baby mallards in his care. There was even a pond on the property to release them to when they got old enough !
So i went about saying my goodbyes. I cuddled with each of them a bit and gave the less rowdy ones little kisses. I thanked God for a home for them and for the beautiful oppurtunity i had in being able to be their mommy for a few precious days. When we introduced them to their new home and the other baby mallards, they all piled on top of each other and became friends. Tom, the man Ms. Carol had spoken to, really is very kind and i know they will grow up safe and happy. Even though i will miss the way they stretched out their necks and snuggled up with each other and tilted their heads like puppies and kept rearranging themselves. How happy they were when they could just jump in the water and give each other duck baths, and those adorable little wings that had no idea they would one day fly. And although i will dearly miss the heavenly sound of their happy baby chirps, i know that giving them to someone who could provide them with ample room and a real home was the right thing to do.
Once again, thank you for your prayers and, as always i <3 you !
Once upon a tuesday there was a pool. it's whole life it had been a rather large yet ordinary pool, but on this day it became an extraordinary means for an unlikely event. Atop the pool's glossy surface, a peculiar little family of ducks swam about. Seven little newly hatched ducklings trailed after their doting duckie mother. It was a lovely fuzzy-warm site to behold. But a terrible reality struck this beautiful scene. The hatchlings could not fly and were far too young to get out of the pool on their own. If someone didn't help them out of the pool, they would develop hypothermia or even more tragically, drown. Here is where the pool's story intersects with my own.
My charming prince of a dad decided we needed to save these little hatchlings, so he contructed a ramp for them to depart the pool safely. Mama duck, however, did not understand. She flailed around madly, honking for help. My dad nobly decided saving the ducklings was the most important thing, despite the mother's frantic behaviour. He managed to safely herd the fuzzy darlings out of the pool but by the time the last little duckling had touched land, their mother had flown away. Terrified and shivering from the cold pool and the shock of being alone, the hatchlings hid amongst potted plants in our backyard.
Although we could hear her calling her babies from the neighbor's yard, their mommy did not return that night. At this point it became crucial to warm up the wet ducklings. My stepmom gently picked up the ducklings and put them in a cardboard box we had made up with fluffy towels. We decided the best place to keep the younglings away from our giant dogs was in my room. We filled a shallow bowl with water and prayed they would last through the night. The poor babies stayed huddled in a cozy pile all night, and i checked them every time they made any sound at all to make sure they were ok.
The next day their disgruntled mother was standing at the edge of the pool, as if demanding an explanation for her missing children. We released her ducklings to her but immediately they all ended up in the pool again. My dad contacted as many animal places as we could think of to come help retrieve the mama and her ducklings and release them into a more suitable environment, but none would help.
The ducklings were getting perilously close to the point of needing to be taken out of the water, but there was nothing the mother could do to aid her young. As soon as she realized my dad was going to help the babies out, mama duck flew away again. The second round-up was much more difficult. The ducklings had gotten smarter and swam under the water to evade being caught. But they needed to get warm and it was the only way. One by one my daddy and i collected the beautiful creatures until there was one left. This was the smartie of the duck clan. It was the only duck who walked up the ramp on its own. After a silly chase , we caught up to this last hatchling and administered him to his family box.
The mama has visited a few times since then, but since our pool is too large and oddly shaped to cover, we cannot release them to her. It is a complicated situation and a bittersweet one. Even now they chirp happily while playing in their water dish and it makes me smile. But i know they are not my own. So if you are reading this, pray that God will present a reasonable manner in which to get the babies and their mom together in a more natural environment or if that is not the answer, pray He will grant me the wisdom to safely raise these little mallards.
i realize it may seem pointless at times to pray, because what if the answer isn't immediate? or what if it doesn't make sense? what if it doesn't help? what if He isn't listening? i know He is always listening but i don't always fully understand the answer. i am like a child learning to understand langauge. i pick up on words that make sense to me and hope time will fill the blanks.A prayerful life is in a constant state of picking up pieces of answers to prayers and having faith that with time, the sentences, paragraphs, story will emerge. sometimes i understand even less. like a dog,who only understands the tone of her master's voice or the smile on their face.but even then, the same thing applies.i hold on to it, because i know with time, the smoke will clear and i will understand.
the hardest part of prayer, however is not the understanding. it's the application. one thing i pray about a lot is my future. and i understand that music is a vitally important part of it. i know that i have an incredible amount of free time to learn so much about music, immerse myself in it. but knowing music is what i should be focusing on and spending my time practicing doesn't mean that's what i am doing. because music, for me, is hard. every single note, every line is an uncomfortable battle. i always feel better once i've sat down at the piano and played or worked through another line of sheet music or just made up my own harmony. but getting myself to do it is my own personal hell. before i start listening, or playing, or singing, i always always hate music. i tell myself i am untalented and why do i have to work so much harder than others do? and so most of my time is spent avoiding the very thing i should be focusing on. and it is not an unanswered prayer in the least and it is not God's fault. it is my inability to listen. listening to God's answer, following the advice He so wisely bestows- that, my loves, is the hard part.
And so, that's where i am. somewhere between understanding and listening. i hope that somehow this sheds light on a prayer you have been struggling with and enables you to do what i haven't yet.
i love food. A LOT. i tried a few new things this week that i thought you'd like to know about. andd i finally got to eat something ive been craving for the last 3 months! <3
OCEAN WATER
i go to sonic about twice a week and every single time i get a strawberry limeade. always. but this time, i decided to try something new because my predictable order was boring me. i wanted to try the craziest thing on the menu. it was between ocean water and blue coconut, because apparently in my mind if a drink is blue, it must be crazy. i had no idea what was in ocean water, so we asked. turns out, ocean water IS blue coconut. it just has sprite added. so i went for the sprite-y one because i like sparkling slushies as opposed to boringly normal slushies. p.s. i really liked it<3
S'MORES
i love s'mores. they remind me of campfires and starry nights and guitars and my first love. and i have been craving them for the past three months, but i couldn't justify buying marshmallows and graham crackers and chocolate(oh my!) just to satisfy this craving, so i held off. but then, the grocery stores began mocking me. every one i went to started setting up "s'mores stands" where they put all three ingredients in one convenient place. two weeks of this and i decided i had to have a damn s'more. so i brought the ingredients home and disaster ensued. since i don't have a grill or a campfire, i decided to stick my GIANT marshmallow on a fork and hold it over the stovetop flame. it caught on fire. yet it didn't cook all the way through. and it was a huge giant mess of broken graham crackers and partially burnt, but still not cooked through marshmallow and chocolate that refused to melt. but at least i finally got a frickin s'more!
ARTICHOKE i tried artichoke for the first time in my life last night. it was really really simple to make and meaty and pretty tasty and im pretty sure it's a good vegetable to introduce kids to because it is so much dang fun to eat!!
so those are my foods this week. i hope you enjoyed that. i <3 you!
todayyy, i am going to talk about color. i am not a professional or anything like that, but i have researched the CRAP out of this subject because since i am trying to be more modest with my clothing, the most important part of my outfits is going to be how complementary the colors are to my skin tone. i went to a lot of websites and to be honest, i am not 100% sure of the results, but i have enjoyed experimenting. The most accurate,in my opinion, self-analysis i found deemed me a soft summer flowing in to a soft autumn. anyway. here are some of the colors that should look best on me.
BUTTERMILK
BABY PINK
SOFT PEACH
LIGHT CORAL
CORAL
WATERMELON
PERIWINKLE
BLUE TEAL
TURQUOISE
MINT
EMERALD
GRAY
aren't these colors yummy?! i think so. as always, i <3 you!
btw, just in case you want to find out your own colors for fun, here are a couple of the websites i used! thechicfashionista.com(my favorite one), carolthompsonbeautysecrets.com, style-makeover-hq.com it was a combination of these that really helped me see the perfect colors. if you do look up your colors i would love to see them! <3
Ello. Sooo today i am going to talk about my hair. not voltaire. i apologize if this has confused you. moving on. this is hair inspiration that i am actually going to post in a series since there are sooo many pictures to share with you! So here we go:
COLOR
i have been wanting to dye my hair a lot, but my hair is really damaged and i hate going to salons cause it takes like twelve people to successfully tame it. Regardless. these are the colors i would absolutely love to dye it:
OMBRE
this is a color trend i really love which involves the hair being dark at the root and gradually lightening to blonde at the bottom
all images via weheartit.com (obviously i'm partial to blonde/grey/green)
WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF MUSIC VIDEOS, IF YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO WATCH THEM, COME BACK LATER.
well now that ive gotten that dramatic warning out of the way, these are the songs/videos that have been running through my head for the past month.
The Story Of Us
First up, the celebrity who appears on my blog more than anyone else: Taylor Swift. I actually follow her on twitter so i knew the MOMENT this new video came out. Yeah, i realize i need to calm down, but if you watch this, you will understand why i love her so frickin much. This song is the story of my life. <3
HOME by Ok Sweetheart
the next song is from a band i recently came across. they are sooo lovely. i just absolutely adore this kind of music. the name of the band is OK Sweetheart. You will fall in love with her voice and the words and her outfits and the cupcakes and her adorable dancing . <3
Papa Don't Preach
Now the first time I heard this next song, it was actually kelly osbourne's cover of it and i loved it. i actually had no idea "papa don't preach" is a madonna song. And in searching for the video, i came across dianna agron's version for glee. I like it and it's short. I'm not really sure why she is singing this song to three little boys, because i don't actually watch glee. Regardless of who sings it and what's going on in the video, i love this song and honestly CANNOT get it out of my head(:
Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered
the namesake of this video is actually in a movie a watched a couple of days ago called pal joey. it stars frank sinatra, rita hayworth, and kim novak. i love the clothes and this song is very fairytale like.it's performed by rita hayworth with vocals by jo ann greer, it's really lovely and will probably get stuck in your head. plus who doesn't love songs from old movies?!
Prisoners by Regina Spektor
this is the new song i am learning on piano. it is really fun, kind of silly and very different but man i love it. Regina Spektor sure can write songs. And perform em too(; if you can't understand the words, you should definitely look them up because they are REALLY good. <3
MOANIN
Now i was terribly skeptical about american idol this year because the people i loveee get voted off too early and such. which is exactly what happened this year. But thanks to youtube and twitter and better media, i can watch all the performances from my favorites again and again. it just so happens that my favorites sing incredibly well together and did more than one duet with one another. I love this performance so much its ridiculous. Ahhh.I quite honestly believe this is one of the best performances in history. Without further ado, Haley Reinhart & Casey Abrams performing moanin together. <3
So that is alll of them. i truly hope you enjoyed. and even if you don't have a giant block of time to just sit down and watch all of these, i hope you eventually come back and watch them because they are all pretty amazing. as always i <3 you! thank you soo much for reading!
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