In the heart of a good book, sometimes you feel...

"Now and then, I lie awake thinking I might like to have someone courting me. But it would have to be someone who is a square shooter and who has a train load of courage. And it would have to be someone who doesn't have to talk down to folks to feel good, or to tell a person they are worthless if they just made a mistake. And he'd have to be not too thin. Why, I remember hugging Ernest was like wrapping your arms around a fence post, and I love Ernest, but I want a man who can hold me down in a wind. Maybe he'd have to be pretty stubborn. I don't have any use for a man that isn't stubborn. Likely a stubborn fellow will stay with you through thick and thin and a spineless one will take off, or let his heart wander."

-Sarah Prine
These Is My Words

i think she had it about right.

and I hope you smile often

A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people that your heart is at home 

-Author Unknown 

at lunch parties before the war

"There has fallen a splendid tear

From the passion-flower at the gate.

She is coming, my dove, my dear;

She is coming, my life, my fate;

The red rose cries, "She is near, she is near";

And the white rose weeps, "She is late";

The larkspur listens, "I hear, I hear";

And the lily whispers, "I wait."

"My heart is like a singing bird

Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;

My heart is like an apple tree

Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit;

My heart is like a rainbow shell

That paddles in a halsyon sea;

My heart is gladder than all these

Because my love is come to me."

-Virginia Woolf

"A Room of One's Own"

pick-me-ups

Sometimes when I have bad days
[because, hello, they just happen...] 
I whip these out and remember that
even though some people aren't always wonderful,
and even though sometimes I'm dumb,
I know some real keepers.

"oh, she beautiful!" [insert heavy chinese accent here]
"Yeah, I sure think so" [good response homeboy, #winning]

"miss you
your such a champ you practically redefine the word"

"you are the most substantial human being i know
and you are the real deal"

"Oh I see, kind of like the way you're an enormously high powered super-magnet for precious boys because you yourself are ultimately the most precious person on the face of the earth"
 
"maybe we won't end up as old maids after all, because I'm pretty certain we are more than just decently attractive... ;)"

Bad days can end good.
Just make them

Taylor

Jesus: The Perfect Leader

"Each of us has more opportunities to do good and to be good than we ever use. These

opportunities lie all around us. Whatever the size of our present circle of effective influence, if we were to improve our performance even a little bit, that circle would be enlarged. There are many individuals waiting to be touched and loved if we care enough to improve in our performance.

We must remember that those mortals we meet in parking lots, offices, elevators, and elsewhere

are that portion of mankind God has given us to love and to serve. It will do us little good to speak of the general brotherhood of mankind if we cannot regard those who are all around us as our brothers and sisters. If our sample of humanity seems unglamorous or so very small, we need to remember the parable Jesus gave us in which he reminded us that greatness is not always a

matter of size or scale, but of the quality of one’s life. If we do well with our talents and with the

opportunities around us, this will not go unnoticed by God. And to those who do well with the

opportunities given them, even more will be given!"

President Spencer W. Kimball

Be present

"Gratitude looks to the past and love to the present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead" -C.S. Lewis

If I had a cute husband to take pictures of my outfits lately, I would. 

I've been pretty bold. And I'm kind of liking it. 

Too bad everyone I see during the day is over 45. 

Or Katy, whom I love. 

But she's a girl. 

and a newlywed.

Somehow it just doesn't seem to count as much.

Anyways, I saw this on pinterest this week.

Thought it was hilarious. 

Because it is. 

I think that describes my life lately. 

Wasting outfits on insignificant days. 

Just minus the fear part. I'm letting it happen.

Although daddy has thrown out a few compliments.

So maybe not completely wasted outfits. I mean you can't have daddy thinking you're a slob, right? 

He even suggested I wear one of my outfits to what he deems a very important upcoming event in my life.

That's a story for another time.....

but trust me, that means it was pretty decent.

On another note, I think I'm addicted to thrifting. 

That's not the worst thing that could happen, right?

but really.

help?

why we continue to love stargazing...

"We know that God is everywhere; but certainly we feel His presence most when His works are on the grandest scale spread before us: and it is in the unclouded night-sky, where His worlds wheel their silent course, that we read clearest His infinitude, His omnipotence, His omnipresence."

-Jane Eyre

"That I longed for a power of vision which might overpass that limit; which might reach the busy world, towns, regions full of life I had heard of but never seen: that then I desired more of practical experience than I possessed; more of intercourse with my kind, of acquaintance with variety of character, than was here within my reach. I valued what was good in Mrs. Fairfax, and what was good in Adele; but I believed in the existence of other and more vivid kinds of goodness, and what I believed in I wished to behold. 

Who blames me? Many no doubt; and I shall be called discontented. I could not help it: the restlessness was in my nature; it agitated me to pain sometimes. Then my sole relief was to walk the corridor of the third story, backwards and forwards, safe in the silence and solitude of the spot, and allow my mind's eye to dwell on whatever bright vision rose before it- and certainly they were many and glowing; to let my heart be heaved by the exultant movement which, while swelled in it trouble, expanded it with life; and best of all, to open my inward ear to a tale that was never-ended- a tale my imagination created, and narrated continuously; quickened with all of incident, life, fire, feeling, that I desired and had not in my actual existence. 

It is in vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquility: they must have action and they will make it if they cannot find it. Millions are condemned to a stiller doom than mine, and millions are in silent revolt against their lot." 

-Jane, of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Tidbits for today

I just read a little book called the Gospel According to Coco Chanel...

here are just a few quotes from said book.

"In our modern collective hysteria over celebrity-and the superpower we believe it confers- we completely forget that every single day every one of us still has to get up in the morning, get dressed, brush our teeth, and slay our particular dragons."

"Self-invention is an act of the imagination, the ongoing writing of an enormous never-ending novel in which you are the protagonist....It requires rugged determination...It means doing whatever it takes"

"Elegance is refusal"

Happy Sunday everyone :)

Some Favorite Things...

[current favorite shoes...]

Right now I cannot get enough of these.
They're like slippers, but socially acceptable.
So what if you happen to fit in while being extremely comfortable?
I feel fine about it.

[current favorite outfit...]

(a.) old man sweater. literally. found in the men's section at DI.
(b.) Slippers-I'm into comfort....see above...
(c.) $7 jeans- cheap because of a tear at the bottom
[due to my height I have to roll them anyways. it never shows.]
4. $5 belt from Brooke for Christmas.
I realized as I assembled it all how random my wardrobe really is.
Theme of my closet? Don't give up, there's always hidden treasures out there.
p.s. sorry about the awkward body positioning... it's a little....well, awkward.
But do understand, I needed you to get the full effect.

[current favorite quote/talk....]

"With any major decision there are cautions and considerations to make, but once there has been illumination, beware the temptation to retreat from a good thing. If it was right when you prayed about it and trusted it and lived for it, it is right now. Don’t give up when the pressure mounts. Certainly don’t give in to that being who is bent on the destruction of your happiness. Face your doubts. Master your fears. “Cast not away therefore your confidence.” Stay the course and see the beauty of life unfold for you."

this is where that quote came from. 

the whole thing is wonderful, i recommend it highly.