You and I

You and I sit on the back porch. It is mostly silent except for the squeaking of the old, wicker rocking chairs outside. We haven't said anything in five minutes, but it doesn't really matter. I don't think either of us care. I watch a bird flutter down onto the patio. It chirps, jumps, and flies away. I chuckle. You grin. We continue to sit. I look over at you. You look back. I smile at you. You smile back. And I look away, thinking about how good I have it.
It's the simple life. You chuckle. "What?" "Nothing." I grin. Nothing of any consequence may be said within an hour of us sitting like this, yet I feel like I've had the conversation of a lifetime.
It begins raining, and as we begin to talk, we can barely hear even our own voices over the sound of the roaring of water through the gutters overhead. The smell of April fills my lungs as the rain sends up an earthy smell from the ground. A disgruntled wren flies through the air to the bushes by the picket fence. You and I talk more. And our thoughts turn to a more serious mood as the wind flies through the screen and rushes into the brick wall behind us, finding no place to go. As we talk, I learn to think like you think, because I believe it's a much more interesting state of mind. And maybe we'll go back to sitting in silence, or maybe our conversation will continue for another two hours. I never know.
It's just you and me sitting together. And that's all I really want.

You and I ride down the interstate blasting Relient K or The Avett Brothers. We sit in absolute silence all the way up. The hypnotizing lull of the tires rasping across the black asphalt put me in a quiet state of mind. You and I sit there, occasionally making a comment on something, perhaps even holding a conversation from time to time. 45 minutes of this, and all is right with the world.
We're on the way back. Another 45 minutes of this. This time it's night, and we pass through states of city lights and star lights. We laugh the whole way back. Anberlin, or perhaps Rich Mullins or Simon and Garfunkel (or if we're feeling in an epic mood, the Dark Knight Rises soundtrack) is playing in the background. We talk about life and people and everything that comes to mind until we get home.
Sometimes we might even sit up in my room until three in the morning continuing a conversation that probably no one else would understand. But that's okay. I'd listen to you talk for three hours straight. It's fun to listen to you talk. I learn so much when I listen to you, and I think you teach me more about life than most "wise" people do. I don't want to be anywhere else right now. Because,
it's just you and me talking with each other. And that's all I really want.

You and I sit up until five in the morning. We talk about the most insane things, and laugh about the stupidest things. Know what I like about you? I like the fact that you can make me laugh about stupid things. I like it when people can do that. And when I'm so mad at you that I want to scream, you just sit there and remain calm. Or laugh at me. Either one typically works, and you know when to use which one. We're best friends. You and I both have a sense of wonder about us that few people have. A sense of ridiculousness that few people have. And I like that. I like sitting out in the yard with you with no tent staring at the stars. I like watching the moon set behind the pine trees in your backyard until it has completely disappeared among the evergreens.
We may talk for hours. We may watch our favorite TV shows. We may watch a stupid movie from Disney. Whatever we do, we have fun at it. We ride in your car blasting music with the windows down in the middle of winter. We talk about the most serious of topics, and worry about things that shouldn't be worried about. But we get each other.
It's just you and me being best friends. And that's all I really want.

In Desire of Autumn

I'll admit it, I'm kind of a fall girl.
Although I'm pretty sure most of you know that.

I know I talk a lot about how much I love the sweaters, cicadas (just so long as they're not on my face, head, or within fifty feet of me), leggings and jeans, pumpkins, apple cider, and the like. And it's true, I absolutely adore those things. I love the idea of back to school supplies, carrying around Vera Bradley purses and bags, sitting in the backyard with my camera, and all those lovely things that just come with autumn.
However, there is something that I don't talk about a lot in relation to autumn, and that is music.
To me, each season has a "sound" in music. Spring is a conglomeration of beautiful indie music and the beginning of summer music. Summer music is some good rock music, ranging from Southern rock like Lynyrd Skynyrd to some good "hard" rock (at least in my terms) like Anberlin. Winter music is usually just Christmas music. Incessantly. Constantly. Every second of the day. I listen to a little bit of other stuff, you know, a little bit of Coldplay awesomeness, but really. Christmas music is really all I need during winter.
But as for autumn, it has probably the most distinct sound. It's just the most beautiful of sounds. To me, autumn sounds like The Avett Brothers, Relient K, Paul Colman Trio, Michael Buble, Ella Fitzgerald, Nickel Creek, David Crowder Band, and Dashboard Confessional. It's a mix of light rock, bluegrass, and the good 'ol 40s classics.
I know to most people some of these bands might not sound particularly "fallish," but to me they have particular memories attached to them. I remember finding the song "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional last autumn and absolutely falling in love with it, listening to it incessantly. I remember listening to Michael Buble and Ella Fitzgerald the past two years, and especially last year; that music helped me through so much. I remember blasting The Avett Brothers and Relient K while driving down the interstate with my brother. Paul Colman Trio reminds me of Chicago in the fall. These things are just lovely to me.

Since autumn is coming, I decided to follow the trend of posting playlists from Spotify to my blog. This is an August playlist. You'll definitely hear a mix of summer sounds and autumn sounds. It could go from Anberlin to Ella Fitzgerald in a heartbeat, so be prepared for anything. *wink*



To me these songs bring a roaring end to swimming in the river, eating frozen yogurt, driving down the interstate in the heat of summer, and watching summer flicks at the theater, while heralding in watching White Collar, drinking hot tea, cider, and chai incessantly, sitting outside with blankets and hot, homemade popcorn, and festivals.

So long summer. Welcome autumn.

Summertime Goodness

 And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing on the trees,

just as things grow in fast movies,

I had that familiar conviction that life was

beginning over again with the summer.

-F. Scott Fitzgerald

It's full-fledged summer. In fact, you might almost say that summer is dieing off. I rather wish it would... despite my adoration of river-swimming, sun-bathing, and iced-chai-tea-latte-drinking habits, I can't help but desire my lovely autumn days in October.
However, I have enjoyed this summer a great deal more than past summers. Things have been delightfully laid back. I have enjoyed my Starbucks ice cream, loads of books, swimming, stormy afternoons, and even my schoolwork a great deal. Things have been a lovely shade of sepia with all the heat, but it's quite lovely. I love watching God's artistry throughout the year, and summer is quite beautiful.
I suppose this summer has been more beautiful than past summers, to me, because I have actually engaged myself in doing things that seem summerish. My first act was to go swimming with a few of my buddies and jump off of what seemed like a ridiculously tall tree into a ridiculously terrifying river (of which I have footage, but alas cannot find the cord to my old camera to upload it to my computer). I have gone to the river a couple more times, and honestly I can't say many other things in life make me more happy. Going to a river to swim seems like the epitome of summer activities. Besides, I'm doing it with my favorite people, so why shouldn't I be perfectly, splendidly happy?
I have also spent a great deal of time this summer being productive. In my past summers, I've been completely lazy and spent most of my time on the computer doing unproductive things. But I decided this summer that I would be at least slightly productive some of the time. I have rediscovered my love and adoration of reading. Honestly, the past year I haven't had time or desire to read. After Winston died last summer, I had a hard time taking interest in most things for a long time. When I did, I found myself slapped in the face with the realization that I had to begin studying for APs and the SAT. Really life? But I have begun to read again, and I have decided this is an activity I'm not apt to give up again any time soon.
I've also purposed myself to begin writing a great deal. I have been journaling more than I have in over a year, and have enjoyed it a great deal. I've also begun the rumblings of a story, but we'll see if that ever finishes itself. In any case, I have enjoyed writing a great deal. (and in fact, I would have written more on this blog had my laptop not given up the ghost, causing me to rely nearly solely on an iPad, on which it is nearly impossible to type)
Most of all, I have spent a great deal of time with my family and friends, which is more important to me than anything. Along with river swimming, I've gone to a frozen yogurt place with my mom several times, gotten chai tea lattes from Starbucks nearly every Sunday (and been greeted by the same awesome guy who asks me about Algebra 2 nearly every Sunday), watched fireworks with my friends, spent entire days tramping around in the woods and creek with my boyfriend while discussing deep and intellectual topics, talking about books and fashion with my best friends, talking with my soon-to-be-off-to-college brother until three in the morning, and other such pleasantries. I dearly love doing anything with my friends. And coming to the realization that four of my favorite people are soon to be off to college is indeed a daunting idea, and one that scares me and saddens me a great deal. My brother and cousin will soon be off two hours away doing their college-y things. Thus, watching She's the Man in my cousin's back yard at midnight with just a couple of sleeping bags or cutting up politically correct fruit salad with her is not exactly a strange or rare thing.
As you can see, summer to me means relaxing. It means enjoying God's beauty that He made for His glory to the full extent. It means laughing with my friends and watching my brother's face light up in a ridiculously luminescent way when he talks about The Dark Knight Rises. It means floating in tubes down a river and jumping off fifteen foot high trees into the murky water and mud below. It means pouring over a book while sitting on my bed, listening to the rain slapping and jumping off the leaves outside my window. It means playing on a playground and getting soaked with a hose while jumping on the blazing, colorful apparatus displayed out there. It means taping mustaches to my face with one of my best friends and taking stupid pictures that make us look like female versions of Poirot. It means sitting at my best friends' house with the power out, reading one liners from books in a circle and making everyone crack up.
It means summer.
Summer perfection.

Summertime Journaling

I love writing at any time of the year. Different seasons put me in different moods to write in different styles. Summer always puts me in a laid-back kind of feel, and my journaling strongly reflects that. As I was sitting up late one night a few days ago, I wrote this:

"It's 1:17 in the morning, and life is a virtual popsicle. Except filled with the most lovely feeling the heart can't describe. I'm sitting here listening to my favorite Alison Krauss songs, and it brings me back to being a little kid. It reminds me of riding in the back of Dad's black truck down a country road, or of driving through the Smokies at dusk. It brings me back to my five year old days. It makes me feel young. And sometimes it feels good to feel like a little kid again. Being reminded of being young makes me feel trusting. It makes me feel safe. It makes me feel like that country girl whose mind didn't wander very far past the oak tree in the back yard. The feeling I get is one I can't quite capture in words found in Webster's. It's an earthy, real feeling. It's beautiful, almost mysterious, in a very simple, understandable way. It makes my heart go crazy, while making my mind so peaceful that I feel like a mist hanging over pines in the mountains. I want so badly to capture this feeling in a song, but I can't write a song. I want to write poetry, a story, something. But not all things are intended for words."

I love summer.
I love watching fireworks while listening to Anberlin.
I love reading books on a stormy afternoon.
I love swimming at the river with my friends on a Saturday.
I love eating watermelon and strawberries.
I love going to coffee shops and frozen yogurt places with my mom.
I love eating green beans picked an hour beforehand from the garden.
But mostly I just love writing about how much I love these things in my journal.
Summertime is good.

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.

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} 

DIY Glitter Pumps - BEDA #1

So for my first day of BEDA I'm writing really late. *oops*
However, I am writing, and I've been busy a lot of the day preparing for this post.
I've seen this idea all over the internet: making your own shoes. Obviously you have to have the actual shoe first, but if you find an ugly, old shoe, you can revamp it into something really amazing.
For the past several months, I've been wanting gold glitter pumps. They're adorable and would have gone with my last dress and they'll go with my prom dress this year. Unfortunately, the only ones that I could find that weren't 5 inches tall were these from DSW.
Unfortunately, those were $40, and I didn't feel like buying a pair of shoes for that much money. So I decided to go with the next best thing (or the best thing, depending on how you look at it): making my own. Like I said, I've seen multiple tutorials for making glitter flats, pumps, etc. So today I decided to make my own glitter pumps.
Yesterday I went to Goodwill in an attempt to find some summer clothes, and also in a final attempt to find some cheap pumps which I could fix up for prom. Prom is less than two weeks away for me, so I kind of needed to decide what shoes I was wearing. And heaven forbid I wear my awful silver shoes that don't fit. I went searching through the shoe department at Goodwill, and what did I find but these gems:

 Yes, I realize that old, black pumps are not exactly the coolest things ever, but they were perfect for me. The heels weren't too high and they actually fit, which were my only two qualifications. They are a little bit pointy toed, which looks more business, but I dressed them up quite a bit as you'll see.

For these shoes, I only used four things:
1. Glitter (gold, of course)
2. Modge Podge
3. A foam brush
4. A bowl to hold the contents

I already had the Modge Podge, but if I recall correctly it's only about $4.50 or so. The glitter was around $2.50, I already had the foam brush and bowl, and the shoes, if I recall, were only $4.99 or so. So with the new contents that I had to buy, I only spent about $7.50. If you went and bought all of these at once, you might spend $10 or $12 on them.

Once I had all of my "ingredients," I mixed the glitter and Modge Podge into the bowl like so:

and began painting. (I would recommend using a lot more Modge Podge and glitter, but this was my first mixing of the two, so I wasn't quite sure how much to use)

When you first paint it on, it looks a little like this:

My first coat looked something like this:

After letting it dry for about 15 or 20 minutes (I wasn't that patient...), go on to your next coat.

I realized by about this coat it was going to take forever if I actually painted on every coat. What I started doing is painting the Modge Podge/glitter mix onto the shoe, and then I would pour glitter all over the shoe. That way it got fully covered. You have to be willing to get a little messy. Some spots, especially with these pumps, were hard to get a good coat on, so I would have to use my finger to apply the glue and the paint.

Continue painting your shoe until you fell like you have enough coats. If I remember correctly I used about four coats, but depending on the shoe and how much glitter you use in each coat, you may need more or less coats.

So the finished product looks a little something like this:

I'm just a little bit proud. :]
So now I can brag to all my friends at prom that I made my own shoes. 'Cause I'm just that good.

I didn't use a finishing glaze, which I have seen recommended on a lot of these DIY glitter shoes, and it would probably be a wise idea since I'm shedding glitter everywhere I go when I walk in these. But if you don't mind spreading happiness, feel free to not use it.

So that is how to make your own glitter pumps! Let's see how many girls at prom think I bought them for $60.

The Little Things

Life is a medley of beautiful little things, I have determined.
Sure, there are the big moments. But I've determined the little moments are the best. Walks with your best friends. Looking through wedding magazines in the only corner of the bookstore that isn't completely infiltrated with people. Taking pictures of dandelions in the back yard. Buying a Snow Patrol CD. Writing honest entries in your journal. Reading a book about art. Pondering the weirdest questions. Watching leaves come out. Dreaming your biggest dreams before you fall asleep.
I've found that spring seems to be one of the best times for the little things. Everything seems to intricately simple in the spring. The flowers and leaves appear in a matter of three days, turning the world from a gray graveyard of trees to a whimsical Dr. Seuss land of green grass and brightly colored flowers. Lead gray skies turn to a bright blue dotted with white polka dot clouds. Things are new and simple.

Each season seems to have a different flavor. Autumn is deep and mysterious, provoking philosophical thoughts of the most profound nature, winter is delicious, warm, and cold, bringing everyone together and providing people with just enough gloomy days to hopefully finish a Tolstoy book, and summer has a completely different air of carelessness and leisure, with striking, vintage pictures of beaches coming to mind as you drink an iced chai tea latte on your back porch. However, spring has a particular personality as well. Spring seems to have an air of absolute innocence and purity, promising novelty and newness, and giving off a vibe of the deepest peace you'll ever experience as you sit on blanket on the side of your yard feeling a soft breeze kiss your hair and watching the first fireflies of the year pop out in the woods behind your house.
Because of this deep sensation of innocence and naivety, suddenly the whole world seems new. It's like a child experiencing something for the first time - it's so exciting and fresh and isn't old and worn out like winter seems at the end of the season. Suddenly little things seem more appealing. Creativity abounds with the growth of the trees and sunshine seems to create imagination from nothing.

I love this deep-rooted sense of beauty that is found in spring. It reminds me of my wonderful Creator. I love that God is so creative. When I look out my car window humming the lyrics of Chasing Cars through my head, my attention is suddenly captured by the beautiful leaves on the trees and the green grass and old railroad tracks overgrown with weeds, I suddenly can't help but smile a lopsided grin and thank God for creating something more beautiful than anyone could have ever imagined. Suddenly my mind is carried off to wonder what such a beautiful world would look like if it were perfect. Imagination fails me.
Soon spring will be over and a summer filled with acoustic guitar music, playgrounds, bubbles, and good books will abound. But in the meantime, I'll sit and enjoy this lovely world of green goodness and watch my hope light up with the fleeting lights of the fireflies.

Shall we dance from opposite sides of the universe?

And if I could fly I'd fly to the heavens and meet you there

But this gravity keeps holding me down

Is it true You sang with the angels when earth was made?

And now I sing along with Your song while the music plays

And the harmony is building

Cause the chorus can't be too far away

-Wonder {chris rice}

Yeah, well I didn't die...

So no, I really didn't die or fall off the face of the earth.
I honestly have an excuse y'all... no, I'm serious. Lots of them. Don't believe me? Fine. Here's why:

• State mock trial competition (we're talking 10 hours a week of work y'all)
• Piano evaluations
• Latin word studies, Latin homework, Latin quizzes, National Latin Exam....
• AP Government quizzes, papers, books, and text
• Reading wedding magazines (okay, so yeah, I don't know if that counts)
• Used book sale
• Writing papers for composition
• Catching up on math & psychology
• SAT prep
• Photography
• Pinterest (yes, that is a legitimate excuse, and you know it)
• Hunger Games (!!!!!!!)
• Chilling out with my buddies
• Laughing hysterically at stupid jokes. "I'm so bright, my mother calls me son." I'm sorry... sorry... I'll stop.
• Dirty dishes. More dirty dishes. Laundry. Dirty dishes. Oops. I ate again. More dirty dishes...
• And so on....

So surely you catch my drift. I'm terribly sorry I've been an awful blogger lately, but I feel like despite the fact that APs and the SAT are coming up soon along with prom and papers and translating Cicero (blaahhh), my life is actually slowing down. SO. I will try to not be a horrible blogger, and I might even be really stupid and do the Blog Everyday in April... and maybe even try the Vlog Everday in April, if I'm really stupid. But we'll see.

Just so I don't leave you with one of those ridiculous posts where the awful blogger makes excuses of why she hasn't blogged (cough cough), I will leave you with five good things.

Good thing #1 - Poetry
Read this poem. Currently my favorite poem.

Good thing #2 - Music


Currently one of my favorite songs. Not a huge fan of Boyce Avenue, but this one is gorgeous and has so many good memories attached to it. <3 :]

Good thing #3 - Funnies


This literally never stops being funny... some people. Wow.

Good thing #4 - Smart things

I promise I'm not a nerd. But really. This is so cool.


Good thing #5 - Photography

I love this place. <3


So. I'm done here. I'll try to do more posts soon. I got a Pinterest and I feel like I have enough pins now that I can actually do a post on it. So, I'll try to be doing that soon if that sounds interesting to anyone.

Love, happiness, flowers, and all that dandy stuff.

-Madison

Merry Christmas here's to many more

It's almost Christmas day.
As I sit on my bed with my Christmas, knee-toe socks, listening to my favorite Relient K Christmas songs, I can barely believe it's almost here. It feels like the season just began. And now it's almost over.
I've spent the past few days doing typical Christmasy things. Thursday was my baking fest: two batches of cookies, a batch of fudge, and two pecan pies. Three hours in the kitchen. It's not very often that I have the time or inclination to bake for three (or maybe it was four...) hours, but it just seemed like a classic Christmas thing to do. And oh how I do love baking. It fills the air with a scents of Christmas. (aha. Look at what I did there. Isn't that funny? No? Okay...)
Christmas presents galore today. My cousins, my brother, and I all went out mid afternoon today to do last minute Christmas shopping. Shops bursting at the seams with lots of folks and people smiling more than usual. Boots and hats and sweaters if you felt like being Christmasy even though it was in the 60s or 70s. It's so lovely to see everyone with Christmas in their hearts.
Despite the fact that I'm 16, Christmas holds a certain magic to it. I've almost always been one of those starry eyed, head-in-the-clouds kind of girls - reading the whole Anne of Green Gables series didn't help matters much. And so when something that's generally known as magical comes around, I'm all the more starry eyed, head-in-the-clouds. If you had been looking out the window of one of the houses in my neighborhood today, you might have spotted me skipping down the street gleefully looking at the pretty clouds and bright blue skies listening to Christmas Lights on my iPod. Every Christmas, and this year particularly, certain songs, smells, sights remind me of being a little kid. It's so beautiful.
I love how there is one time in the year that everyone wants to spend it doing traditional things, and spend it remembering, loving, cherishing those dear old memories of long ago (or not so long ago). Everyone becomes a child around Christmas. Everyone comes together, and there's a sense of love and that wintry color of blue in the air.

Every day during the Christmas season, I'm more than likely to get the chills thinking about a perfect Christmas scene. I smile as I open my windows in the morning and look at the chilly morning outside, frost on the ground, blue light making its way through the clouds covering any and all sky. If no one is looking, I might twirl around the kitchen for a full minute while humming I Hate Christmas Parties. I still go in the dining room where our Christmas tree is to count presents. I'll sit on my bed drinking chai or hot chocolate staring complacently out into the wintry clouds listening to I Celebrate the Day. And I may or may not dance around my room lip-syncing to All I Want for Christmas is You if I'm in not such a cozy-sweaters-and-chai mood.

Yes, indeed, I believe something fills me around Christmas that no other time of year can do. Oh yes, I'm a generally very happy person. But at Christmas I find a little bit more secret kind of joy. It's not the kind that everyone can see. It's a deep feeling of absolute bliss. A feeling of winter and blue skies and snow and white lights. A simple kind of peace. Peace.... candles flickering. Knitting fingerless gloves and leg warmers. Blankets and good books. Fires. It's that simplicity and complete contentedness that makes my heart so thrilled. And although if you were to look at me at such a moment of contentedness, you might only see a slight smile, as Anne of Green Gables would say, "I'm thrilled to the very depths of my soul."

I don't know if everyone enjoy Christmas in such a childish way as I do, but I believe that most people enjoy some sort of light feeling around the heart at this time of year. Amid all the stress of present wrapping and Christmas cookie baking, I think most people find some time to sit down and appreciate some sort of James Taylor easiness in their soul. (and if they don't, they must have an absolutely rotten month) It's so good to be around people who all feel that kind of joy.
One thing that has changed since when I was kid was that all I ever used to think about were the presents. Sure, I liked looking at lights and watching Christmas movies, but it all led up to the day that you actually opened presents. Now I couldn't care less about the presents. I just love the general mood. The beauty and wonder of the smiling heart. I care about the love that is spread. And I care about the childlike wonder that people are more likely to feel around Christmastime. It's a beautiful thing.

Another beautiful thing is the story about a teenage girl, a carpenter, and a baby born in a stable and placed in an animal trough. The story that continues to a cross. The story that tells of a loving Savior. One that would allow us to receive grace and redemption. The Christmas story gives us the promise stated in Ephesians 2:4-7, "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." We have received this grace because of that lovely story that Linus tells in A Charlie Brown Christmas. Tidings of great joy. On earth peace and good will toward men.

Fragile finger sent to heal us

Tender brow prepared for thorn

Tiny heart whose blood will save us

Unto us is born

Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around You

Breathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God

Welcome to our world 

Merry Christmas!
Here's to many more


{and I'm off to enjoy the typical Christmas Eve traditions - crab soup, opening one present, and watching a delightful Christmas classic... most likely It's a Wonderful Life or How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Oh how I love them both. Who doesn't love Dr. Seuss and Jimmy Stewart?}

Blessing Deeper Than We Know

Christmas.
Oh it's been so lovely this year.
Of course, when is Christmas not lovely?
But despite the fact that it has been lovely, I've been reminded of things that are even more lovely. And those are the most important things I've learned this year.

I've learned this year that most things that we make out to be so very important really mean nothing at all and the things that we tend to treat with least respect and value are the things that we need to value the most. We take so many things for granted.  Sometimes I think sometimes it takes loss to realize just how important some things are. That occurred to me this year. And it was jolted into me just how much I need to value things I had been neglecting.
I think a lot of times when we grow up, we begin to devalue the more important things.  And we tend to devalue those things because we've been taught and told and had it hammered into us that material things are more important. And perhaps we've heard the cliched, sappy statements about family and friends too many times. And perhaps the world begins to tell us as we become older that looks, money, possessions, popularity, and other completely worthless objects are the things that we need to value most. This year I've begun to learn that those things are pointless. They hold no lasting value. Sure, feeling popular is nice. Having the latest gadget, fine. Being rich, no problems there. Being gorgeous, that's all good. But when we begin to build our lives around if we're popular enough, if we look rich enough, if we're attractive enough, that's when things become ridiculous. We need to go back and remember those perhaps overly sappy, cheesy statements about friends and family. About making a difference. About loving others. Maybe those cliched statements aren't so far off.

The most valuable lesson I've learned this year is to treasure true friendship.

The value of a truly trustworthy friend.

Having people who you can chill out with. 

Sit around and listen to Weird Al songs with.

People who you can be a little crazy with. 

Who will love you anyway

And join in with your insanity

People who you know love you.

And will not matter what.

Who will listen to you, and who you'll listen to.

Who will

hug you.

Tell you it's alright.

The kinds of people who you can cry on their shoulder

and they can cry on yours.

Who you can laugh with.

Who you'll share your deepest thoughts with

and be frank with.

People who you

trust

care about

love.

Those people are the biggest blessings you'll receive in your life. You can't take them for granted. And you can't thank God enough for giving them to you. These people make you laugh, help you through hard times, challenge you to be a better person, and make your life more beautiful than you could ever ask for.

"The blessing it is to have a friend to whom one can speak fearlessly on any subject; with whom one's deepest as well as one's most foolish thoughts come out simply and safely. Oh, the comfort - the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person - having neither to weight thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together; certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
-Dinah Craik