Friday, February 26, 2016

fabulous friday // winter 2016 playlist

Oh, it's time for one of my favorite subjects: Music!

I won't write any poetry this time (though you *can read some HERE, HERE, and HERE.) but I will share my winter playlist:

Fun
Coldplay feat. Tove Lo

Synesthesia
Andrew McMahon

Into the Wild
Take That

Everybody Wants to Rule the World
Tears for Tears

Rule the World
Take That

Song 6
George Ezra

Up&Up
Coldplay

With or Without You
U2

What are your must-haves for your winter playlist?

Thursday, February 25, 2016

Week Seven EXTRAS : Everyone knows it's Windy

Last time we were in kitty hawk (may 2015) we bought a kite. I love kites. I loved watching people on the beach fly them up up up and then we got one! I didn't actually get to fly it on the beach, so I was excited about it this go-round. 

three pro-tips on kite flying : 

1. It's harder than it looks. Don't be fooled.

2. To get it off the ground you have to yank it really hard. With your arms. NOT your feet.

3. Don't yell. It's, well, windy, so you're voice carries that much better so just shut up a little bit.

(that last tip was to the future me who goes to fly a kite.)



top two photos, credit : my brother. bottom two photos, credit : my sister, eliza
and my favorite photo from the whole day:
Only a few more days until the weekend! What do you plan to spend your weekend doing?

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

week seven // there's a patch of old snow in the corner...

I had a wonderful, wonderful week. It finally warmed up, and I'm passed my winter rut... and you know something I realized? I get discouraged & worn out every year. for a few weeks every january and february I feel like extremely uninspired and exhausted. and I pushed though it this year (harder than last year) and this past week I finally saw it pay off... It got a lot warmer, snow melted, I got both my paper and my test finished and by friday too (no school for this girl on saturday!!) and it made me so happy about life.

and you know that feeling about finding out about something that just leaves you with nothing but dread in the bit of your stomach? feeling so crushed and having it totally consuming your mind, and for a little while, your life?

Well, yeah. so my week came crashing down in an afternoon... and then ya know what happened?

My friend showed up at church to bring me birthday present and it made me so happy. (also I got to meet her boyfriend which was great!) and it totally offset the crushing, hopeless, horror I had felt all day. Thanks, babe!

So, guys. Be a good friend. Say something nice to someone today... especially if they look like they've been crying all day!
day one : I have no words for this picture.
day two : playing old maid... with lowly worm cards, I believe. Interesting.
 day three : note the flip-flops. She said, "it's okay!" and ran outside. She has spunk and she's not afraid to show it.
day four : "...the news of a day I'd forgotten -- if I'd ever read it."




day five : the weather had definitely warmed up, but still extremely windy so we headed outside to fly a kite... watch for those pictures because they're coming you way! please also note: in the picture above both the purple sweater and the pink plaid I wore when I was their respective ages. I like them better now than I did then!

What's something that made you feel hopeful this week?

Friday, February 19, 2016

fabulous friday // what I'm up to

This week I was challenged to pick three words that define my photography style and think about them whenever I picked up my camera.

So far I have one. ONE. (thanks brain.)

My solution? I'm going to make a huge, huge list (like 50 words) of nice words that I like that could describe my photography style and then write them all down...

and then I simply narrow it down to three! tah-dah!
Reading : Moves Make the Man by Bruce Brooks (so good!) and Lord Peter Wimsey short stories by Dorthy L Sayers (also so good!)

Watching : hmm, last movie I watched was Paradine Case, but that was like a month ago... I watched an episode of chopped and that was fun... hmm, the other thing is THIS is one of the most exciting things that ever kickstarted. you feel?

also, you should definitely watch that video, because it will make you so happy! (especially mary kate wiles fans... ;))

Listening : Ah, come back next week for my winter playlist. It'll be tons of fun and lots of never-before heard songs.

okay, jk about that last part.

Wearing : oh, heavens, it is definitely time for a fashion post... mm, but anyway. Un-Fancy is back, so what does it matter what *I'm wearing??

Looking Forward To : Well, heavens, lots of things. Like, summer... getting really rich so I can buy a new camera, the weekend when I've finished my science test and experiment

Pinning: lots of art stuff... another post that should be coming in the next few weeks (watch for it)

Loving : oh, guys, if you just lie down and watch the little words appear on the screen it's seriously a ton of fun and makes me feel like I'm using a type-writer...

hmm, that was weird.

What I mean is, I love the sound of a key-board.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

extras - week six // snapshots from life.

My baby sister is loves outside (as shes should - it's a beautiful place!) and when it snowed a few days ago she insisted on putting on her snowsuit over her dress and stomping around in the snow.

Normally, I would have shrunk away from the prospect of taking photos in the half-light of the deck, but I was feeling especially exuberant and so I headed outside to get a few pictures.

To be honest, these are snapshots. These aren't going in my portfolio, but they did happen. and this blog has gotten to be more about life, and less about photography...

So here's some of my life.






Tuesday, February 16, 2016

week six // the importance of an outline

It's that time again and I'm working on an outline for my decade paper (the sixties this go-round,) and it seems a lot less clear-cut than the last decade paper I wrote. But one thing I did learn last time was the importance of the outline. 

Like, I'm not kidding. This paper, that they expect you to write in an afternoon, took me a week... and all-in-all the solution was quite simple: start with an outline.

That said, this paper will still, probably, take me all week. But I've got it under control this way -- no late nights. no frustration. no dread.

Just write the darn outline.

Even more important than the outline is something even more simple than the outline, and that is the thesis.

Which got me thinking... how important is it, for life, to write our outlines? So many people around me have no outlines for their lives and their world comes tumbling down... or they've build their outline on a faulty thesis. What's your life built on? If everything comes crashing down, what do you hold onto?

And what if that, too, was taken from you?

But there is one thing that moths cannot eat, rust cannot destroy, and thieves cannot break in and steal... Like the little kid's song, be a wise man and build your house on the rock. Build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ.
day one: I think I'll start a series with my glasses because whenever I feel uncreative, my glasses always seem to make an appearance.
day two: We have quite the collection going.
day three: my sister asked for music during nap, so while I studied I turned on Amazon music (she asked for John Denver and that sidetracked to Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney and then U2 and then where I always end up... Andrew McMahon.) and the light was so nice after she fell asleep I took a few pictures of the music because I feel like we can always use more of it in our lives.


day four: "Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; 'For YAH, the LORD, is my strength and song, He also has become my salvation.' "

day five: we can dance, we can dance...

Now, go watch this interesting TED talk on The Danger Of A Single Story (something I talked briefly about here.) 

Friday, February 12, 2016

fabulous friday .. hmm look what I found.

Who doesn't love a collection of someone else's random internet surfing? ...or sometimes not so random.

So. One of the most important things that happened this week (in my favorite blogging universe, at least...) was

*drum roll

Caroline from Un-Fancy is BACK! Woohoo! *throws beautiful confetti

I have no words.

okay, a few.

like, GUYS I'M SO HAPPY I WANT TO GET MY WARDROBE BACK TOGETHER!!

and, oh man alive it's been like a year wow I'm ready for spring

Oooh look at all this good style.

also, what a wonderful world. I love clothes. *sighs deeply

I can't seem to get enough of the "Better Book Titles" series:

To Kill A Mockingbird
Great Gatsby
Jane Eyre
another Jane Eyre
Little Women
Pride & Prejudice

the other thing I cannot seem to get enough of is simply this... TED talks.

Here's a favorite on body language and using it to our advantage.

oh! one more thing! zero-gravity music video by okgo. WHAT will they think up next?!??

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

week five // last minute panic

Oh, my. I'm late again. as always.
Calvin understands me so well, it's amazing. This is so me all over, over and over and over, it's just perfect. Talk about understanding the soul! ha.
 day one : we live on music. the louder, the better.
 day two : I love sharp branches. I just do.
 day three : school is a lot more enjoyable with someone else and a cup of tea.
 day four : my younger brother's first webkinz which he got in 2009 (or maybe 2010?) We had such a good time on there...
day five : We have some great light from the kitchen window and it makes me so so happy... Also, her eye lashes are so amazing they make me happy. and slightly envious, haha!

Friday, February 5, 2016

fabulous friday // b&w


I know I've said it before, but I am a big big fan of black and white. I love the stark contrast and the way you can hide blown-out pictures. I love how it takes away that extra (slightly) distracting factor of the color. It can turn a boring photo into something magical.

But color's good too.

Your thoughts?



Tuesday, February 2, 2016

week four // Is it spring yet?

We had some beautiful weather at the end of the week and it got me all nostalgic and excited for spring. and then I would snap back into reality to remember that we still have months to go. ah, life.

But during those nostalgic moments I started to put together a (totally awesome) playlist for 2015. I was thinking I would work my way through the months on spotify so I started making a rough draft breaking down song lists into months... That process has taken me all over: from rooting through old piles of papers and flipping through notebooks, to reading through old posts on here trying to figure out just which month a song should belong to. There's a lot I'd forgotten about the year.

and while it's been tons of fun and I cannot wait to sit down and listen to the old playlist through and relive my year just one more time, I think I'll start early this year and just make one master lists of songs I love + what they remind me of. I'm also breaking down songs I listen to into seasons so I just add songs to "Winter 2016" right now and then just "hit play" when I'm feeling bored...

Okay, I'm done talking about music. let's get down to the week...
Monday // looking out

Tuesday // The light is beautiful by the time she falls asleep every afternoon and I took advantage of that. (note the water bottle on the floor. It's her prized possession.)

Wednesday // talk about beautiful light... I mean, I can't even.
Thursday // anxiously awaiting that last follower to tip me over to 900... Spoiler: I didn't get it. Not til the friday... then I got five. ah, life. A watched pot never boils, as the saying goes. (is that how the saying goes?? It's something like that.)

Friday // the start of an unbelievably warm weekend. We always get one or two of these totally crazy-warm days in January and February, but heck we were almost in the seventies! 

and it was wonderful.

How do you organize your music + playlists?