Beginning of summer

Summer has been treating me well the past four days.
It has included: Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo, Coldplay, The Civil Wars, clothes shopping, journal writing, knitting, book shopping (got me a book of John Keats poetry! life = made), Pinterest obsession, outfit making, popcorn, Powerade, Leave it to Beaver, Matt Bomer, sitting at home, good food, coffee, cheese danishes, train whistles, thunderstorms, and clicking fans. If the rest of summer is at least this awesome, I'll have it made.
Summer has some kind of a strange beauty to it. It's almost mysterious, but in a careless sort of way. Summer most definitely doesn't have the mystery that autumn has, but it has sort of a throw-it-to-the-wind feel about it, filled with acoustic guitars and thunder as percussion. It's truly a lovely time when I get to lean back and relax. Or at least until I realize I have Algebra 2 and Chemistry all summer. bluh.
I love the magic summer seems to hold. Staying up until one in the morning listening to the sound of the train and reading a bit of Dickens while hearing the fan click like one from the 50s would. Wearing shorts and doing cartwheels in the backyard. Swinging at a random park. Having lovely weather in the South for once, and wishing the whole summer would stay in the lovely 60s-80s range it has remained in the past few weeks. Seeing the first firefly. Each blast of wind, each crack of thunder, each small chirp of a cricket seems to hold some special, chill magic that only summer has. No other season has that beautiful feel of woods and fields and camping and crickets that summer has. I can't quite describe it, but somehow summer reminds me of those magical, hazy days of childhood that you only see in a 70s, summer-hue tinted view. It's truly beautiful, and it makes me want to lay under a pine tree hear the lap of waves from a lake slap the mud walls.
Although I do have those lovely views of childhood in my mind, memories of swings and sun-dappled pine trees and green grass, I am creating new 70s-hue summer memories in my mind. Memories of running down the street with my best friends, joking about dumping people in the lake, swimming at the pool, reading Dickens books with a cup of tea while rain spits at the window... these things are my new sun-dappled summer memories. Summer is magical. It's innocent. It's carefree and lovely. It's coral shorts and open-lace sweaters. It's Joshua Radin and Coldplay and Allen Levi. It's lemonade and picking tomatoes out of the garden. It's snapping pictures in the hot summer sun. It's eating ice cream on the back porch with my mom or getting an iced chai tea latte at Starbucks with her.
What can I say? It's summer. It's that lovely sun drenched, 70s, rounded corners photograph of a memory that I have in my head. It's perfect.

Graduation - The Times are Changing

This past Saturday was the day of our home school group's graduation. I've been looking forward to this day for weeks now, and I have gotten really excited as the time approached. Graduation brings about a feeling of nostalgia for the past, excitement for the future, and joy about being done with high school forevverrr. (heaven knows some of us get more excited about that than others) Even though I was not graduating this year and didn't experience as much as the people who were, it still instilled that feeling in me a little bit, and I began to ponder the implications of graduating, and my own personal experience of graduation that will occur next year.
This year I am proud to say that my brother graduated as salutatorian of the home school class, and my cousin, Macy, and one of my best friends, Drew, graduated as honor students. I was so excited for them, but at the same time I'm quite sad. My brother and my cousin are going to schools about two hours away from here. Drew will be staying here for another year at a community college, but he's planning on going to a great school about an hour or so away from here the next year. I'm going to be so lonely without these three, because besides a couple of other people, they are my core group of friends and I love them more than anyone in the world. I was excited for them, but at the same time I can't help but feel a bit sad about the thought of them leaving in a couple of months.

However, that being said, I was honestly surprised at my lack of sadness. Yes, I was sad, and I felt a bit nostalgic, but I was amazed that I didn't feel more so. I was honestly expecting to write this post today about how sad it was to see them graduate, how I cried, how I couldn't believe they would be leaving soon, how much I'd miss them, etc. etc. However, I find myself today thinking about something entirely different. Something I wasn't expecting to feel. Something I didn't see coming, until it slowly smacked me in the face (an oxymoron, but trust me, it makes sense): this is coming for me. Now I know that I've written a couple of posts on this recently, but I can't help but write another one. It seems lately that different things will just smack me upside the head and I suddenly realize that certain things will be reality for me soon. In my Father of the Bride post, I referenced how that movie suddenly made me think about leaving, about how soon I'd be leaving to go to college and then leaving my home permanently to get married. Those things are very strange to ponder indeed. But at graduation, things got even more real. Suddenly I realized there were things even closer than leaving for college and getting married. I suddenly realized that literally within a matter of two or three months, I will begin the process that my brother just ended. Spencer began his college searching process last fall, and it didn't end until a couple of months ago. Not only that, he has been working on finishing last minute work for school, studying for last APs and tests, etc. I've just seen him go through the whole process of finishing high school. And mine begins within a matter of about twelve weeks.
In some ways, I felt the premature rumblings of senioritis begin yesterday, as I saw nearly all of my best friends graduating. Suddenly realizing that I, too, was nearly there, made me want to jump ahead a year and be graduating as well. It's so crazy to think that within a year, I'll know where I'm going to college. I might have even graduated by this time next year. All my favorite things from high school will be over: mock trial, prom (and my senior prom at that), the Christmas dance, Chick-fil-a after youth group with my buddies, chorus, Toastmasters, and all the little things that make up my school life. And yet, at that point, I'll be doing little but looking forward to my future: college, majors, classes, new friends, orientation, professors, and all those lovely things. It's so strange... I'm starting to feel a nostalgia for things that haven't even happened yet, and yet I'm so ready for those things to be over with.
I know that senior year will fly by, but somehow all of it seems so far away. When I think about how fast my junior year has gone by, I know that senior year will go by even more quickly. But then when I think about the individual experiences that make up a school year, it seems like it will be so long until it's over. Funny how days and little experiences drag on in life and in your memories, but years fly by like a gale of a thunderstorm.
I can't begin to express how excited I have suddenly become for senior year. I have suddenly realized that it is actually beginning soon, and I suddenly realize that everything Spencer has just done is my life for the next year. Doing last credits. Taking last AP tests. Taking the SAT for the last time. Finalizing college decisions. Applying for scholarships. Waiting in hope of that letter that will say that you're accepted, over even better, that you have a scholarship in wait of you at the college you're dieing to attend. Those things are big deals. Those things will shape my future. And just thinking that those things are awaiting me in a matter of two months makes me want to scream and shout and ponder and think and completely weird out that I'm "old."

Graduation brought an onset of the weirdest emotions possible.
Excitement for things I can't wait for.
Terror of things that might happen.
Anticipation of the things yet to come.
Graduation is an exciting time.
I'm ready for mine now.

Summer Ambitions

That's right, summer. That inexpressibly beautiful time of year when everything seems as if it should be vintage. Lovely 70s-like pictures from the beach, retro Volkswagen vans, Wayfarers, and droll summer light dancing on the ground. Summer is also comprised of good books on rainy days when you read by the lamp light, stormy nights when the power goes out and you only have hurricane lamps and flash lights to see things with. Gardens with beans hanging drowsily from the stems and tomatoes smiling with their beautiful red faces.
Yes, summer is a lovely time. And for me, it's always been a lazy time. A time to relax and prepare for the next school year. However, this year, I have no choice but to be industrious. As much as I would love to spend my afternoons looking at retro pictures from the 60s on Pinterest or watching sweet summer flicks like The Last Song, I have no choice this summer but to spend my time well. And quite honestly, I'm glad. My senior year is approaching and I need to be used to having a strict schedule that I follow daily.
My main goal this summer is to spend my time preparing for what I'm planning on majoring in in college. If my plans stay the same, I will be double majoring in Art History and English and minoring in photography. Because of these plans, I want to make my summer revolve around art, literature, and photography. Although I do have other plans, I'm trying to prepare myself for what lies ahead. I'm trying to build my skills up so that I will be prepared for college when I leave.
So without further adieu, here is a list of things I want to do this summer:

1. Spend one day a week doing four to five hours of school and spend at least three other days out of the week doing one to two hours of school.
The reason I have to do this is I have to complete two more maths before I graduate (or I want to), and I can't do it all in one year. Also, I want to complete chemistry and possibly start on economics this summer so that I can take more dual enrolled classes next year at my local community college.
2. Develop a quiet time each morning.
I will admit, with quite a bit of shame, that I have been quite slack in spending time with God this school year. As many excuses as I could give, they're not good enough, as God should always be first in my life. I know I'll be in college soon, and I'll be solely responsible for my spiritual life. I want to focus on spending time with God this summer. Facebook and Pinterest can wait until later.
3. Spend at least one hour a day doing photography and art.
As I said, I want to focus on my art this summer. I have never been a natural artist - I don't draw well, I can't paint to save my life, and I can't imagine that I'd be terribly talented with pastels or charcoal, or really any other medium for that matter. But I believe I can develop those, and I'd at least like to try to, since I'll have to take at least one or two studio art classes in college and I don't want to humiliate myself. Besides, these are my passions, and I believe God has placed these loves in my heart for a reason.
4. Translate Latin two to four days a week.
I'm taking my last Latin class next year, which will be my fourth year in Latin. And not only will it be Latin, but it will be AP Latin. Yes, I'm taking an AP Latin class and taking the AP test for it. I'm insane. I know. But since I will be doing that, I want to keep the grammar and vocabulary fresh in my mind. In order to keep it all in mind, I will be translating Winnie the Pooh from Latin. Oh yeah. I'm just that freaking awesome.
5. Read at least one or two hours a day. Complete 20-40 books.
I have been terribly slack on my reading this past year, and I miss it. I absolutely adore reading, especially some good 'ol depressing books like Animal Farm, The Great Gatsby, Lord of the Flies, and such lovely books as those. *wink* Okay, so I do enjoy other books. I'm game for anything by Dickens, Austen, Montgomery, Alcott, Lowry, Bronte, Shakespeare, Lewis.... okay, so I'm game for a lot of books. I want to build up a great reading list to submit to any colleges that may want to see one. I'll be putting a list below my goals for this summer of books that I'm considering reading.
6. Learn at least one or two George Winston songs.
So... not many people know this yet, but I quit taking piano lessons. I haven't really enjoyed taking lessons for quite a while now. I don't like it that I have to practice. I'd rather decide when and what I want to play. Even though I quit taking lessons, I want to keep playing at least some, because I do enjoy playing the piano. I'm planning on learning a few songs this summer to add to my repertoire so that if someone begs me to play, I'll have something to play for them.

And those are my main goals for the summer! I have a few more that I may or may not do, depending on how much time I end up having after completing all of those things.

As for books that I want to read this summer, here is a list I have compiled. I may end up reading other books, these are just some ideas that I had:
Life of Pi - Yann Martel
The Christian Mind - Harry Blamires
The Good Earth - Pearl S. Buck
What is Art? - Leo Tolstoy
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
Around the World in Eighty Days - Jules Verne
Walden - Henry David Thoreau
Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Red Pony - John Steinbeck
Freckles - Gene Stratton-Porter
State of the Arts - Gene Edward Veith
The Innocence and Wisdom of Father Brown - G.K. Chesterton
Orthodoxy - G.K. Chesterton
Mansfield Park - Jane Austen
The Purpose of Man - A.W. Tozer
Number the Stars - Lois Lowry
The Story Girl - L.M. Montgomery
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall - Anne Bronte
The Law of Kindness - Mary Beeke
Eight Cousins - Louisa May Alcott
Dracula - Bram Stoker
Messenger - Lois Lowry
Bleak House - Charles Dickens
Miracles - C.S. Lewis
The Scarlet Letter - Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Foundling - Charlotte Bronte
The House of Seven Gables - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway
The Last of the Mohicans - James Cooper
Our Town - Thornton Wilder
The Death of Ivan Ilych - Leo Tolstoy
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
Death of a Salesman - Arthur Miller
Cry, the Beloved Country - Alan Paton
Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
1984 - George Orwell
The Pearl - John Steinbeck
Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Counterfeit Gods - Timothy Keller
Shadow of the Almighty - Elisabeth Elliot
Agnes Grey - Anne Bronte
Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
Les Miserables - Victor Hugo
The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Victor Hugo

Obviously I will not be reading all of these books, but I thought it worth my while to write out a long list anyway. I'm still in the process of finishing a few books before the summer begins, and I have a little less than a week to do so. But we'll see how that goes.

Our home school graduation is on Saturday, and my brother, cousin, and one of my best friends are graduating! Can't believe it. I'll most likely be doing a post on that sometime next week, though you may not be able to expect it until sometime after Tuesday, as I have an AP to prep for. After that, it will be summer time, and you will most likely expect more from me.

Hope you all have lovely evenings! Cheerio!

City Places and High-Rise Spaces

I'll admit it wholeheartedly and without shame: I'm a city girl.

Despite my country girl tendencies to want to constantly have dirt under my finger nails from gardening, enjoying growing my own food, loving walking through fields and forests, loving hiking through miles of mountains, and wanting to live in a cottage in the middle of a pine forest, I have far more city tendencies than country tendencies.

I live in a lovely city, however it isn't the kind of city that I so much prefer. I love big cities. Flashing lights and skyscrapers, eclectic people groups and styles, museums and history on every corner; indeed, cities are my favorite and always will be.

I don't get to go to real big cities very often; perhaps two to four times a year. But I will spring at any chance I can possibly get to see the city skyline of some lovely place like Chicago. In April, I got the chance to go to a big city. The big city of the South: Atlanta. I go to Atlanta relatively frequently, but its almost never just to hang out and have fun. However, this time it was. My cousin, Macy, is a senior in high school this year and she wanted to have a senior trip. The destination: Atlanta.

Macy discovered a month or so ago that The Fox Theatre would soon be presenting Les Miserables, so she bought tickets for four, and we planned a trip up to Atlanta.

We arrived in Atlanta late in the afternoon on a day in late April, and went up to our hotel, which was right across the street from the Fox. Macy and I, admittedly, are not exactly used to acting upscale, high class, and rich. Trying to pull it off when walking in and seeing this was difficult:

As neat as I suppose it would be to be truly swanky, I don't think it would be nearly as much fun. When you're rich and often exposed to fancy architecture and cool big city adventures, I suppose things like this wouldn't take your breath away as much. You wouldn't take as much pleasure in it. So although I may want to act swanky, I don't think I ever would want to be that way.

We walked into the hotel, dressed up for our night at the Fox. I always greatly appreciate going into places like this, because I get to see those truly big city people. Somehow I think I've always had a fantasy about being the wife of a big-business, big-city guy and being that woman who walks around in her business skirt and black pumps in fancy hotels. And in this kind of hotel, you see those kinds of women. I've always loved how neat and professional they look, and imagined that I myself might be that schnazzy one day.

These nice, lovely men carried our bags upstairs for us (so nice to not have to drag my hundred pound bag stuffed with half of my belongings up 14 floors), and we got to look around our hotel room a bit before heading out to dinner.

{this was just the living room. we also had a kitchen, bathroom, and two bedrooms!}

After examining our room, we went downstairs to go find a restaurant. Once outside, we walked in a big circle only to come back around to the front of our hotel, when we saw an Italian restaurant diagonally across from our hotel, and decided to head in there since we had almost no time to eat before the show. Once we got in, we had to wait for a while, but once we got our seat, everything was super quick. Our waiter was a nice young man who was very professional and quick to make sure we got our meal and got out the door before the show started. I ordered the best salad I've ever had in my life. Most restaurants? Hello cheap iceberg salad. This restaurant? I got the fanciest salad made entirely of arugula with this awesome lemon dressing on top with cheese and some other fancy toppings. It was delish, and I have to admit, I felt pretty schmancy eating an arugula salad. 

After we finished eating, we walked up half a block at the most to the Fox theatre, and sat down probably 20 seconds after the show had started - we barely made it in time. It was absolutely excellent! Despite the fact that we were sitting in nearly the back of the theatre, it was a wonderful show. The singers were incredibly talented and the props and movement were wonderful. Eponine was definitely my favorite, tho  Jean Valjean can hardly be ignored. Everyone was absolutely wonderful!

However, after a three hour long show, I was quite ready to be headed back to the hotel, which thankfully was right across the street. We headed upstairs and Macy and I got some pictures outside on our three inch wide balcony that we could barely fit on.

The next morning Macy and I had planned on going up to the roof top pool and swimming for a while, but we had gotten to bed so late after the show we just slept late. After we got up we headed downstairs to a restaurant they have in the hotel, whose fruit, I might add, was delicious but ridiculously overpriced. Despite their overpriced fruit, everything was amazing; I had the most delicious french toast I've ever had in my life, and I even tried a raspberry for the first time. (and yes, I hated it. seriously, who eats those things?)

We sat outside for a bit and then we went up to the rooftop pool. It was quite lovely: there was a pool in the lower part, and then you could walk up a few stairs for a spectacular view of midtown Atlanta. We were quite close to the tallest building in Atlanta which excited me profusely. I do love skyscrapers quite a lot. Macy and I proceeded to take several pictures up there as well:

After our adventures up on the rooftop (and as Macy and I will both attest, there were indeed some adventures ;), we went back down to our room to pack up and head out. I must say I'll miss that hotel more than almost any hotel I've had the pleasure of staying in. Especially considering the fact that one of my favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald, had stayed in it once. I do love old, swanky hotels.

After heading out of the hotel, we proceeded over to The World of Coke, where we tried a ridiculous amount of flavors of Coke products from around the world, most of which, I must add, were absolutely repulsive. I think I'll stick with my every day bottle of Coke.

We grabbed lunch (and got to watch a bunch of people learning how to ride a segway.... and as Macy so astutely put it, they looked like rolly pollies) and then went to Dillards to shop a bit. I found a really cute dress in the junior's dress department which I got for eighteen bucks. My thrifty mother has taught me well. I know a deal when I see one, and getting a dance dress for eighteen bucks is most *definitely* a deal.

After our outing at Dillards, we decided it was about time to head back. But before we did, we stopped at a Midtown Starbucks (um. can we say dream work place?) to grab a snack and some coffee. I got my usual iced chai tea latte, and my mom and I split our usual old fashioned doughnut. We sat outside and snagged a few more pictures before heading out:

 {I think at this point I was catching on to the whole swanky thing.

Don't you think?

really?

No?

okay...}

After our adventure to Starbucks and getting wind blown into our face, coffee, and food, we headed back out. We had had a lovely time, and I'm not sorry to admit that I pined away for at least fifteen minutes about wanting to live in a high rise apartment.

In fact, I determined after leaving that once I finish college, I'm going to live in a high rise apartment in Atlanta, get a cat and name it Cashmere, work in a Starbucks, and go to art museums all the time. Good? Good.

As strange as I might sound when I refer to Atlanta and any big city, it really can be explained. I lived the majority of my life in two ugly little towns. However, when I was seven or eight, a love for big cities and travel entered my brain, and ever since it has grown. Going to Chicago when I was eight didn't help anything. I remember that vacation as the best one I ever had. From a young age my love for travel has grown, and my love for travel includes big cities. 

Big cities have some kind of a hold on me. Like I said previously, although I do have some country girl tendencies, the big city has some sort of grasp on me. I can't explain what it is exactly. I've always loved different cultures, ideas, and fashion, so I know that that is part of it. But there seems some kind of mystery of a big city: how everything and everyone fits together in some ridiculous yet artful conglomeration. How history, art, culture, ideas, businesses, celebrities, average Joes, music, and life somehow mix into this great place where skyscrapers abound and there is never a moment when there isn't some movement of life. 

I suppose that is part of why I love a big city so much. Everything and everyone is always on the move. It's in a constant state of change. And although I don't like some change, I do love other kinds. The kinds you see in cities. New ideas, new faces, new opportunities springing up on every corner of the sidewalk. Inspiration galore. It's a lovely place for an aspiring writer, photographer, and art historian to be. 

A big city, to me, is a piece of art in and of itself. Art tends to revolve around a story, history, an idea, a person. A big city revolves around all of those things and then some. It's abounding with all of them, and coming up with new ones every day.

Big cities are lovely places. They will always have a hold on me. They will always catch my eye. They will always make me want to hold on to them a little bit longer, explore them a little bit more, and watch the movement pass by. Those movements pass every moment and if you don't catch them at that exact second, they'll be gone forever. Oh the moments of a big city: they're entrancing and beautiful. Elegant and mysterious. And if no one else misses them, I will. I'll wish I had seen them before they passed. I'll wish I had been there before they were gone. But I'll imagine them. Wish for them. And perhaps one day, I'll create some of those little moments that make up a big city. 

Every city is a living body.
{st. augustine}