Jan 1, 2014

the clock struck twelve...

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||| photo collage inspired by the lovely miss marcia who you simply MUST visit ||| 
isn't it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back, everything is different. // c. s. lewis
:: highlights :: 
january // i faced disappointments whose defeats i determined
february // the first victorian ball ever attended; the flowers bloomed early while i pleaded for life to begin
march // j & i trampled about the happiest place on earth quoting sherlock from dawn until dusk 
april // life springs alive when grace is in your heart and flowers adorn your hair
may // i fell in love with the sound of a1940's typewriter, and we've been running ever since. 
june // my journal was stuffed with descriptions of dances and sun spills and summertime beginnings
july // my voice was warmed with song and courage and my heart with new friendships
august // my summer adventures continued in orange county where i discovered a year changes things and i came home never to be the same; pieces of my heart are scattered abroad waiting to be found in a city i've never been, in a kindred spirit i have never met, or recovered once more in places shoved in my memories
september // brought exploring the untouched woodlands where rock and lattices of light and water created pieces of art 
october // brought the 1913's alive with a reenactment i won and a very special day i could have never imagined otherwise
november // thankfulness for home and wonder for what will come to be the same time next {this} year; happily ever afters are not given freely rather fought for, fiercely. 
december // i discovered a victorian ball is the best way to be captured by the christmas spirit, braces were quite a nuisance, and home is always where my heart remain. 
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lewis described life within one simple sentence. days slip one after the other. stars march across midnight horizons, and the sun rises as easily as it sets. pages of our lives flip, few dog-eared for later review, and soon we come to significant points in our life when years come to a close and we are forced to look upon what impressions her waves have left for us to collect on the shore. 
there we find nothing is the same. 

twenty-thirteen was a drag, a waiting, a storybook, a wandering, an exploration, a wondering, and now simply a season now snapped shut with no apologies. to be quite honest, twenty-forteen holds so many hopeful prospects, i do not regret 2013's goodbye. there were many nights stifling tears from the ocean i discovered roared inside me, one that i guess has built up over these growing up years. and there was much sadness and confusion, and i realized how very prone i am to running away from my problems and that people leave and i will love them anyways. no matter how hard i try. and that God, in His infinite mercy, loves me anyways, no matter how far i try to run. 
this year is //
for loving if not half as much in return
reaching out to people who need His love and forgiveness 
being kind as every one is fighting a hard battle
being fully alive for Him 
and being brave enough to accept all the blessings in store in 2014. 

happy new year! 
xx

Dec 23, 2013

may your days be merry and bright...

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||| all stills taken with my iPhone and edited with VSCO presets ||| 

my journal's spine is breaking with all i have been jotting and stuffing between her pages // 
>> the days have been cold and snowless {typical california}, but warmed with dances and dinners and the making and wrapping of handmade gifts. it's christmas eve eve, and i still have a staring ever-lengthening list that must be contended with. honestly, i think i spend half as much time befuddled as to how christmas came upon us all so very quickly. 
>> we saw saving mr. banks, and i cried. the end. 
>> friday night was spent dancing upon tip toe, being twirled and swung all about. a victorian christmas ball, though only five days prior to the big day, was the best of ways to experience christmas cheer. i came home with sore legs but dear memories of delightful music and deepening of friendships made it all the more worth it. 
>> stiff/sore legs didn't stop me for swing dancing on sunday evening. any dance in general i can't pass up, and the evening was filled to the brim with swing music, good food, fantastic friends, and deepening my love for swing dancing. another new year's resolution has been added to my list // learn how to swing dance WELL. ;) 
>> my darling friends have been showering me with anglophile/doctor who lovelies. miss JW sent me the cutest doctor who bookmark + tardis necklace; my dearest MP sent me a homemade notebook, while my darling amelia pond navigated a little TARDIS to my doorstep. secretly i think they're all trying to make up for my raggedy man regenerating on Christmas. *sniff, sniff* ;( 

two more days, m'dears! 
may your Christmas be merry and bright, lovely, blessed, and snowy white. ;) 

Merry Christmas, lovelies!!!

xx 

Dec 7, 2013

love is on the way.

I wake up to reality and now it's calling me, to be the kind of hope you're looking for. But I am here, and you're so far away, so there's no more time to waste. No longer waiting, I'm ready to go... // run, charmaine //
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||| a few stills of december daily life ||| 
                                                                                        
i beg of you to love with your whole being & nothing less. 
there is a world outside, love
hardened with cold, cloaked in brokeness, frozen in bitterness, 
shadowed with hopelessness 
and only you hold the power to melt this tundra. 

show kindness. 
there are too many pretty eyes dimmed with tears at night
too many nights haunted with memories of loneliness
and too many hands numbed with indifference
kill this cold with kindness. 

you are broken, but don't let it stop you. 
you're too young to turn a cold shoulder against this world
yes it isn't fair, yes people have silently walked out
and left your heart's pieces on the floor
seasons have left you to starve, 
but
make sure to let life know
it hasn't hardened you
prove that it has strengthened you
& be a relentless message that love is on the way. 

the world is a harsh place, it's chalk full of broken people,
there's not enough room to add to the piles of bad things 
and we must leave it a better place than it was found. 
xx 
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