Chocolate

In my room, I have a "Love Wall."  On my love wall, I have made I love you signs for all of my friends and hung up ones they have made me.  Also, I've added song lyrics that I love and other miscellaneous things that I love.  Chocolate is one of them.  Although, ice cream is probably at the top of the list (as far as sweets are concerned), chocolate is right up there in the ranking.  Tonight, I ate some Hershey's chocolate and soon after, I was in an unusually, really happy/hyper mood.  Therefore, I decided to dedicate a blog post to chocolate and to all the happiness it brings.  Below is the sign I have on my wall.  I think the Bokeh adds a little something :) 

Chocolate is love.

"All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." ~ Charles M. Shulz

"Make a list of important things to do today. At the top of your list, put 'eat chocolate.' Now, you'll get at least one thing done today." ~ Gina Hayes

"Man cannot live on chocolate alone; but woman sure can." ~ Author Unknown

Thank you Hershey for spreading happiness everywhere. :)

I owe you one.

Magic

My beautiful niece finding magic in the world :)

If you can't read the quote you can click on the picture to enlarge it. I had fun editing this one. 

Insert Quote, Picture and Random Ramble

"I'd welcome the chance to meet my Maker and fly into the sun, fly into the sun, fly into the sun..."




Imagine yourself flying into that.

If I could choose one superhero power, I would choose to fly.  Lame, I know.  Of all the amazingly awesome, and useful powers, I would choose flight.  And, you know, any other really cool side powers are welcome. ;)  Now, I just need a flying squirrel to attack me or something.  Ooh! OR in Meet the Robinsons (The new animated one), in the future, everyone uses bubbles as transportation which is also really awesome.  So that is my dream: either to attain flying powers or a floating bubble.

This concludes my random ramble of the day.
(Ha! Try saying "random ramble" 5 times fast) :D

Vulnerability

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."

~ C.S. Lewis

A Broken Heart

"How else but through a broken heart may Lord Christ enter in?"

~ Oscar Wilde

Your will above all else, my purpose remains.  The art of losing myself in bringing You praise.

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades.  Never-ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame. 

My heart and my soul, Lord, I give you control. Consume me from the inside out, Lord.  Let justice and praise become my embrace to love You from the inside out.

From The Inside Out - Hillsong United



Refreshing Music

Hi everyone :)
It's been a while since I've posted and that's makes me sad.  I do believe last time I posted I was ciked about Harry Potter.  Well, let me just tell you what I thought about it.  IF you have read the book, it will not be HALF as good.  It is very anticlimactic and they took out so many AWESOME scenes in the book. So, I was a bit disappointed, but now that I'm forgetting how much I didn't like it, I want to see it again and hopefully it will be better the second time.  Since I'm talking about HP, check out this song: Harry Potter Theme - Incredible Piano Solo by Jarrod Radnich

Last night I went to see Jon Schmidt in concert with my piano teacher, Michelle, and a friend, Carol (who runs the music store).   Oh, I loved it! It was EXACTLY what I needed.  A very nice refreshing experience.  Jon Schmidt is a pianist (in case you haven't figured that out yet).  Here are some of my favorites of his:
Michael Meets Mozart - Jon Schmidt I wanted him to play this one so bad! I love it!!!! Make sure you watch this one instead of just have it playing in the background.
Love Story Meets Viva la Vida - Jon Schmidt  He played this one last night. Amazing! He had to use a soundtrack for all the other instruments though.
Tribute (Rose-Anne's Song) - Jon Schmidt  This one was written for his sister who passed away when he was 19.  She taught him a lot on the piano and he looked up to her a great deal. Last night, he ended the concert with this song, the piano un-miced.  It was incredible.  It starts out sad, but transitions into happiness as if he has been reunited with her. 

Last, but not least, this is a picture that I edited last night.  I'm really loving black backgrounds...

Enjoy the music above... It's so refreshing, relaxing, inspiring and all that good stuff.  Just close your eyes, take a deep breath and let the melody wash over you.  :)

When Bored, BLOG!

Tonight is the magical midnight premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2! I am SO excited!  My friends are coming over to watch Part 1 beforehand.  I'm sad that it is almost over, but I can't wait to see it!  So, right now, as you can tell, I am really bored.  Yesterday during my "really bored" part of the day, I edited a lot of pictures of flowers that I have not posted on here yet.  And now, I am going to share them :) There is one in particular that I cannot wait for you to see! Here goes!

Something about this picture just fascinates me.  I have it saved as "The Living Among The Dead".  I strongly believe that people who are alive in Christ have to mix with the ones who are without Christ (dead).  We can't separate ourselves because if we did then the dead wouldn't know how to become alive. So that's what this picture makes me think about.

I took this one a long time ago.  I wish it was bigger because the detail is extraordinary.  And in case you're wondering what it is, I am happy to inform you that it is merely a weed with morning dew on it. Sometimes it's the "ugly" things that are extremely beautiful. 
"A weed is but an unloved flower." ~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Orange.

Pink (:

POP of color!

Black and white effect.

Love this picture both ways.

Purplely-blue.

Once again, I am kind of fascinated with dead things.  Sounds weird, I know.  But there are so many beautiful dead things.  Like that dead sunflower, or this shriveled up flower.  It's such a quiet, disguised beauty.

Daddy picked a sunflower, Mom put it in an awesome vase and placed it in a blue tray.  Perfect.

Favorite.

Haha, this was one of my weird photographer moments.  I was at Belks with John, my boyfriend, and made him stand there while I took pictures of this tree outside Belk haha.

Beautiful autumn picture.  Sunlight is perfect. Color is beautiful.

Does anyone know what these are?

Vintage look.

White & Yellow

Dandelion.  I can't remember if I've already showed you this one or not..

Remember that one in particular that I couldn't wait to show you? Well, this is it.  The before and after.  I added the "after" again below so you could see it bigger.

Breath-taking.  I just love everything about it. I want to frame it.

"What a desolate place would be a world without a flower! It would be a face without a smile, a feast without a welcome. Are not flowers the stars of the earth, and are not our stars the flowers of the heaven." ~  A.J. Balfour

"If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?"  ~ G.K. Chesterton

That's all folks! ;)

Kevin Was Right

I would like to start this post by saying that God is good.  I spent the weekend at the beach with my youth group.  We stayed at a place called Myrtle Beach Christian Retreat.  Our first night there, a guy named Kevin went through an orientation with us.  One of the things he said was, "A lot of cool [spiritual] things have happened here."  I think it's safe to say that most of us were in immediate disbelief.  But boy, were we wrong.  The most amazing things happened this weekend and I'm still in awe at how God works.  We got there Friday afternoon and went straight to the beach.  After playing a little bit, we went and checked in to the retreat and hung out till dinner.  Afterwards we had orientation with Kevin and then we went to Broadway on the Beach!  We got ice cream, went on some rides, took lots of pictures, and walked A LOT.  The next day we stayed at the beach most of the day except for a couple of hours at the pool. That night we had communion and a foot washing service.  Ryan, our youth leader, has washed our feet once before and we all bawled, so naturally, as soon as the tub of water came out, tears started pouring.  God was present.  Ryan washed all of our feet and told each of us "If I do not serve you, I do not love you."  I personally have been struggling with submitting to God's Will.  But now, I feel that what God is asking me to do is a way of Him serving me.  He's guiding me so that I will have a better future.  Now that is love.  Ryan gave us a moment to pause and to speak if we wanted to.  I knew God was urging me to say the 3 things that were constantly popping up in my head, but I couldn't gather the courage.  Then Ryan asked if there was anything that was running through our head, over and over again.  At this point I just smiled.  It's like, "Alright, God.  I get it. You want me to say it."  So I did.  "Have Your way in me, Lord.  I am so unworthy.  Thy Will be done." Submitting to God's Will is not easy, but you have to remember that God's plan is better than yours.  His plan will prosper you and not harm you.  Though it's hard, I have a strange peace.  Throughout the rest of the night it was one answered prayer after the next.  My heart was overjoyed.  I couldn't stop saying thank You.  Our youth group set out on this trip for two main reasons.  One, to re-group with one another and God. Two, to have fun.  I am extremely happy to say that these two goals were accomplished.  Although we didn't believe Kevin, he was right:  cool things did happen.

Now it's time for pictures :)

Something I want to do one day.

Everytime I capture an animal or insect, I like to think they are posing for me :)

A friend of mine, Sarah, and I went walking around the retreat center to get some pictures (she also likes photography).  This is a handful of her favorite flowers.

Photography by Sarah.

Photography by Sarah.

Photography by Sarah.

I'm not sure what this is, but it looked cool.

There were a lot of dead jellyfish washed up on shore.

Dead things are pretty fascinating.

Photography by Sarah.  Catepillar bites :)

Flower leaf.

Another flower leaf.

Haha, this lighthouse was at Broadway and I edited it so there was nothing but black all around it.  But it needed something and thats when I spotted fireworks on Picnik.  So I had a little fun with this picture :)

Pretty lights!

"Can ye fathom the ocean, dark and deep, where the mighty waves and the grandeur sweep?" ~ Fanny Crosby

Swirly

I edited this one twice.

This is the original.

The ocean is breath-taking-ly beautiful.

At Broadway.

Sea shells!

Sarah drew this :)

I heart apples. haha

Some random guy made this drip castle.  I'd never heard of a drip castle before so Sarah and I made one.  Our's wasn't as cool as his though.

This is John's sand castle that he worked really hard on :)

Colors!

This one reminds me of a pearl.

A few of the youth went on that huge swing ride.  I thought it made a cool picture.

Awesome tree.

I love how the bark criss-crosses on the tree.

Sky

Feet in sand.  (Toes painted by Sarah haha)

Two things I would like to say.  If you have never danced in the rain wearing a dress or jumped into the ocean fully clothed, do it.  I did both of these this weekend and there's just something magical about it :)

Song of the weekend: I Hope You Dance ~ Lee Ann Womack
"I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean."