Friday, August 28, 2015

fabulous friday // school and all that jazz (a crazy ramble) !!

(I added two exclamation marks because I am really happy about it.)

At least this week I can set down my proof for why life has been crazy: We started school.

Like, you have no idea how much self control it took to just add a period.

Trust me, it's straining. Ugh, I just can't take it.

WE STARTED SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!

YAY

So, I have a lot of thoughts of school. Coming off summer (or really any random moment in all of time except when I am working on a writing assignment,) those thought are mostly just excited little emojis. (Blogger does not support emojis or I would fill a blog post with them. Probably.) So like this week I didn't get a blog post down (surprise, surprise) so this will be a lot of random stuff. mostly about school. Mostly rambling and ending on not school.

Also tonight is our family game night... We may or may not be watching Casablanca. Again. Like, just like we did last week. ^-^

I know that most teenagers my age are rather down on school. Honestly, I used to be such a bad conversationalist that I would quickly agree with any friend who stated that opinion. I was such a good actress that I convinced them. (which wasn't hard.) As I've gotten older I've really come to terms with being my own person, having my own opinions. I'm not a nerd. Honest to goodness, I'm not. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy learning.

I guess it's that I look forward to it so much that in a way it's hard for me to understand how someone could not enjoy it. I get so excited opening my history book every day.

So maybe I'm quirky, but not a nerd. If you had my history book, you might agree.

Where did we reach the point where it's okay for teenagers to hate school so much?? And what's so bad about it?? Bullying? Boring teachers? Short attention spans? Not enough emotional support? Too much peer pressure?

Probably a little bit of all of those things, but I think that this generation has lost a few valuable things. Like, the respect of adults. Or, the love of learning. Or even, the ability to have any stamina for something we don't want to do. (Myself included.)

I mean, don't look at me, I'm no saint, but it does make me sad that kids are so attached to their phones. I mean, really. Everyone is so connected they lose their connection.

Also, I hate peer pressure. I wish I could say I'm past it, but it's not true. Lately I've been thinking a lot about it, like, dude, why should I care about the look a stranger gives me?? YOU HAVE NO INFLUENCE OVER MY LIFE, I want to scream at them, but really they do. So I'm working on ridding myself of that influence. Not because other people don't matter, because they do, but there's more to life than them... I think it's something we work on all our life.

I guess that thought was sparked by something I saw on pinterest (I'm sure I'm misquoting this,) "I'm confident not because I'm sure they'll like me, but because my identity doesn't depend upon it."

Also I've been thinking about what makes people go on with their lives... like, when you have a set back, a really devastating blow, who or what gets you up in the morning? What gives your life purpose and meaning again? Also, I'm thanking my God every day that he gave me a belief in Him.

One last fun note (that is not at all about school:) Did you know that when you make yourself bigger, you feel more confident? hashtag fun rhett&link fact.



Tell me something you like/d or didn't/don't like about school in the comments. I really want to hear.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

34/52 (part two) - August 22nd // Scout Event

We had a small scout event for the younger girls to complete an older girl's award requirement. I was asked to photograph it. So I did. So now I have like two hundred pictures to sort and edit and send off... Why do I ever say yes to free work?

On the bright side, it is service hours, so yay! (;

On the bright side, we went on a mini-hike and the weather was beautiful. and hey, see these guys (boxed water and strawberry lemonade)? I mean, they're both great. Plus, how cool is that Boxed Water stuff?? Sweet, right??

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

34/52 (part one) - August 21st // planting trees

(I have an Andrew Peterson song in my head...)

Quite the contrary to the title, we have a lot of trees with this disease that we have to cut down...by "we," I mean the neighborhood...Our neighbors alone have over 30 trees to cut down.  We're sad, to say the least...





But I do hope that will encourage people to plant trees to replace these old ones. I mean, I'm no tree hugger, but seriously, trees... You will be missed. )':

Friday, August 21, 2015

fabulous friday // august tradition

We're pretty big on traditions.

Christmas music comes the day after thanksgiving and not before. Beach Boys Sound of Summer is for Memorial day through Labor day. We always sleep outside (in a tent or under the stars,) at least once every summer, glow sticks included. We take all-night Hitchcock Marathons. We go to an (awesome) apple picking farm every fall. We go and cut down a Christmas tree and eat leftover thanksgiving turkey sandwiches on black friday. Tamale's are always in the freezer on New Years...

So, as you can imagine, we have a lot of fun. Birthdays, snow days, summer vacations, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve...We do it all big.

I mean, with eleven people in the family, it's hard to not do it big, isn't it?
Well, so this "August tradition" I have...

I have this book I love... Tuck Everlasting. It's a beautiful book. It's very short, but very sweet.

It takes place in somewhere rural ruralness and is a story about a young girl who stumbles upon a crazy story about living forever & what that brings (living forever and the story.) Sounds dumb? Well, you'd have to read it. Because it's really not.

But what I can say is this is (more or less hands down,) my favorite prologue:

   The first weeks of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first weeks of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color. Often at night there is lightning, but it quivers alone. There is no thunder, no relieving rain. These are strange and breathless days, the dog days, when people are led to do things they are sure to be sorry for after. 
   One day at that time, not so very long ago, three things happened and at first there appeared to be no connection between them.
   At dawn, Mae Tuck set out on her horse for the wood at the edge of the village of Treegap. She was going there, as she did once every ten years, to meet her two sons, Miles and Jesse. 
  At noontime, Winnie Foster, whose family owned the Treegap wood, lost her patience at last and decided to think about running away. 
  And at sunset a stranger appeared at the Fosters' gate. He was looking for someone, but he didn't say who. 
  No connection, you would agree. But things can come together in strange ways. The wood was at the center, the hub of the wheel. All wheels must have a hub. A Ferris wheel has one, as the sun is the hub of the wheeling calendar. Fixed points they are, and best left undisturbed, for without them, nothing holds together. But sometimes people find this out too late. 

It sets the scene for the whole story and, in the end, ties everything together.

So, in those first weeks of August, when we're "at the top of the Ferris wheel," I make a cup of tea and find a quiet spot to listen to Enya, and read Tuck Everlasting.
(because if you're going to read Tuck Everlasting, do yourself a favor and please listen to Enya's A Day Without Rain. Do it for the sake of the book. do it for the sake of the music. do it for me. do it for yourself... even, dare I sing say do it for love?)

Thursday, August 20, 2015

33/52 (part two) - August 15th : August Tradition (more on that later.)




Tuck Everlasting, a cup of tea, and Enya's A Day Without Rain is a must have august tradition... More on that tomorrow.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

33/52 (part one) - August 10th // Road Trippin' (what up!) #2

Sooo, I screwed up a little bit last week & didn't post (all) the pictures I wanted to post. So, here are the pictures from the drive home & a few from August 8th. Oops. Please forgive me for the crazy order.






 let us take a (very) quick moment to pause and note the amazing color my sister has. (*coughcough yes and you should see her eyelashes. man, this girl's got it goin' on.)






Like there were so many people there it was like crazy crazy. Also the waves were so tiny it was like no. I miss the beach. :(

Friday, August 14, 2015

fabulous friday // lately

these past few weeks have been crazy. they don't seem crazy until I try to write down the things we've done and then I wonder how I have time for anything else. especially with my case of procrastinating. But I'll work on that. (...tomorrow.)

1. I miss the beach. so much. we spend a hour or so last saturday at lake michigan and man, it's a cool lake, but it just doesn't cut it. it's just not a beach.

2. my dad just got his thanks-for-working-with-us-ten-years gift. it was a mini-ipad. we didn't know what it was because he wouldn't tell us so we've spend weeks guessing and it was supposed to arrive yesterday, but then we were all gone and my dad was in a meeting and since you have to sign for it, they just left a note and not the package. so we got it today.

3. I have to work today, which means I'm not going with my two older sister's to watch Importance of being Earnest with a friend, but that's actually totally okay with me.

4. I was super grumpy on thursday and I'm sorry to all the people I was rude to, I was really tired and I get really weepy and anti-social when I'm tired. it was because I slept outside two nights in a row and I never do well camping. I sleep for a long time, but I don't get that nice restful sleep. so I was tired. and rude. sorry.

5. I love ice water.

6. I have like a gift I'm making for my employer as a thank you gift, but I haven't really started on it yet. oops.

7. I wish I were better at picking out perfect gifts. but I'm just not. I never know what to get people. Tips, anyone?

8. so like we're not breakfast people, but I really want to start getting up earlier, so I'm going to try to start making breakfasts, but seriously do you guys have any idea of how hard it is to cook for 11 people? it takes so much food. like, so much. Probably it would be more if we had teenage guys, so I guess I should be thankful.

9. my mom got this beautiful tea (it's just earl gray but omw the packaging is amazing) and I'm so excited to try it. I think when I get off work I'll curl up with a cup and around the world in eighty days (which I'm trying to read before school starts...can you believe it's my first time??)

10. we have books everywhere. not just on our four bookshelves in the basement, but also in the storage room (in boxes and shelves,) also a book shelf in my mom and dad's room, a book shelf in my younger sisters' room, 50+ books sitting on my sister's desk (kid you not) a basket of books in the living room (series of unfortunate events -- gah so good,) a bookshelf in our room and a nightstand crammed with books. and hey guess what, I have like mental library dictionary/map so I can find you like just about any book we own.

11. since we've always had minimal stuff I've grown up knowing exactly where everything (including clothes) are from. which is a little crazy, I guess, but it had never occurred to me that other people didn't. It was just kinda one of those things I went through my life thinking was normal and now I find it's not... it's weird to me to find out other people don't know.

Thursday, August 13, 2015

32/52 (part two) - August 8th // Road Trippin' (what up!)

Sooo, we went to MI last weekend (Saturday - Monday,) for a sister church's annual (except for last year) Mid-Summer Lord's Day. It was a good and bad and happy and sad trip, but overall I found the drive (okay, the music) one of the best parts. But then, I guess I almost always do, so that's nothing really new.






Tuesday, August 11, 2015

32/52 (part one) - August 6th // Nap Time

She is the cutest thing. Especially at nap time. She was totally reading to her doll, Madilyn. It's too cute. The lighting was horrible, but whatever.


Friday, August 7, 2015

fabulous friday // wedding photos

  Well guess what!! Today's kind of exciting because I get to share some photos with you from that wedding I second-photographered. Very professional, I know.

  I thought about writing a post about it, but everything sounded so negative I decided against, but I will say up front: While it was not an unpleasant experience (it was pretty great, in fact,) I really feel like wedding photography is not for me. And that's okay. I mean, there are tons and tons of wedding photographers out there and it's a tough job, so why go into something that I know I'm not enjoying completely and taking someone else's place? I can definitely point you to some wedding photographers that I like, but really, it's not my cup of tea. It's mostly the editing, but there were definitely some things I found frustrating about the whole experience, that wouldn't change wedding to wedding. So thank you, Liz, for giving me the best experience possible, I enjoyed working with you (and for you!) I'm so glad I got the opportunity to try it and be a part of that!!
 Also, the other exciting thing is that I am like less than 100 pictures away from being done!! This is probably my favorite point when editing a big batch of photos. I enjoy the editing (really I do,) but it makes me so stressed at night, lying awake, thinking about it, with like a billion photos hanging over my head (by conservative estimation.) But at the end, it's just fun and I don't have to worry because I'm like at the end, ya know?
 Anyway, all that's left to do is download them onto the flash drive and send them off!! and now I'm kind of excited. I felt really down at first, looking at the pictures, but as I went through and edited them I got more and more excited about them. Like, I don't want to depend on my editing skills at all, but really I was so so much happier with them once I'd touched them up a bit.


Happy weekend!! I'm taking a trip up to Michigan over the weekend, so I need to go starting packing!

Thursday, August 6, 2015

31/52 (part two) - August 1st // I'd like to make myself believe...

so last week we went outside and ran all over the yard where the fireflies are thickest. I've delayed taking pictures of fireflies because it's so dang dark by the time they finally make an appearance. But I was pretty inspired by Abbey's post, so I gave it a go. Man, though, low lighting is hard!

Fireflies | First Days Of Summer






Most of the real firefly catching consisted of this:
 Or this. (it's a bat. they were swoopy and scary to me, but okay)
 Or this cutey...
 she was like chill with them until they flew and then she'd freak. adorable, isn't it? xD

 Also we found a blue jay feather so how cool is that?? (: