Merry Christmas

i know its long, but so impressive!!!!


BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.


(thats what she said?)

its cold out. wear a coat!

December 21 marks the first day of winter. So I would like to know why when I woke up this morning, on December 8, the temperature on the ever so accurate weather.com read "27 degrees".  I have been holding off getting my winter coat out until it was officially winter but this is getting ridiculous. I'm cold. I had to do it. This morning I went in my basement and found my winter coat.  It's AMAZING how much warmer I was in a winter coat....and my red and white mittens of course.

I do love this time of year because of the season (see below post) but also to see the kind of bundling people come up with! It's amazing to see the kind of lengths people will go to to stay warm..its always funny to watch a grown person waddling due to excessive layers.

For now, I leave you with the best video I have seen in a while. Mainly because it reminds me of when my friends and I go out to Plough and Stars...two of the people are literally doing the same move that I thought Sarah Pisano created...how wrong was i?!

hello, december.

December first. It means it is officially Christmas season. And I get to officially begin my advent calendar. My favorite.  I love this season. I love the weather and how festive everyone feels and how people gather for holiday parties and exchange gifts and food and spend time together. People sing and dance and spike the egg nog. Really, whats not to love scrooge?  Just to show my cheer, I'll show you a picture of my Dad and I in front of a 21 foot Christmas tree made of oreos....whats not to love about this holiday?!

Tonight I cannot get these lyrics out of my head....awake my soul by Mumford & Sons...I think everyones soul needs to be awaken. This is a joyous time. A King is born.

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
Awake my soul, awake my soul

pray.

My very wise sister, Anne, sent this quote to me last week.  We have been discussing prayer at length in my church and bible study so I thought it would be fitting to share it with everyone else too..

 "God rules the world in constant consultation with those who pray, God determinations are wrought in dialogue with those who call for help, God is free to rule unbounded by the humanly inferred laws of finite nature and free to rule in spontaneous dialogue with us. Prayer, thus is unfathomable Powerful, yet it also places an enormous obligation upon us to pray constantly for the needs of the world. Also remember there is no way to put God to the test, and that's exactly what you are doing when you design a study to see if God's answers prayers. In terms of free will, I believe God gives us free will to choose salvation or not, God does know the outcomes however he does not allow Godself to intervene for the sake of free will. God is omnipotent and all powerful. So in actuality Christianity is not a contradiction but rather an invitation to the Kingdom of God after death, and prayer is how request God to react in this sinful world. Amen!"

-Goetz, Christian Century

Teach me how to dougie

In the past, I have been known to inmitate two things well. A snail named Fred and a man named Carlton. Believe it or not, I can actually do "the carlton". Today I saw this video and it reminded me how much I 1. love the fresh prince show, 2. how much I love new dance crazes...they are so ridiculous and 3. how much this song gets stuck in my head ALL THE TIME.

Kiss from a Rose

The year is 1995. The movie Batman Forever is released and the song "Kiss from a Rose" is re released and topped the charts for a whopping seven days. Everytime that song came on VH1 or MTV back in the days of music videos, my siblings and I would dance around and sing at the top of our lungs while dramatically acting like Batman and Robin fighting evil and winning the girl.

I was 10. I listened to the song on repeat and I sang the words I thought Seal was singing. And I sang them with authority and confidence. I had no idea what he was talking about though. Kiss from a rose on a grave? What? I decided this was due to the fact that I was 10 and didn't know much of anything.

I was driving home from Lebanon on Sunday morning trying to find something on the radio to keep me from drifting off to sleep behind the wheel when Kiss from a Rose started playing on a random Central PA radio station. I of course blasted Seal and sang at the top of my lungs...picture it. I stopped midway through the song and thought...okay, this came out 15 years ago, I am now 25 and I still don't get why Seal is talking about Kissing roses on graves.

Now if you know me, you know I am notorious for making up words to songs and singing them confidently (please see Ellen DeGeneres's stand-up: Here and Now for the funniest reference to this ever...and while you're at it, just watch the whole thing because its the best http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ellen+degeneres+here+and+now&aq=f). Well today I was thinking about that song and I thought, I'm going to look up the lyrics for the first time ever. And to my surprise I have been singing them wrong for the last 15 years!!!  Now I get it...

Baby, I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the gray.
Ooh, the more I get of you,
The stranger it feels, yeah.
And now that your rose is in bloom.
A light hits the gloom on the gray.
There is so much a man can tell you,
So much he can say.
You remain, my power, my pleasure, my pain, baby


....oh wait. nope, still confused.

its your love that helps me get by

I know this is a week late, but I was just thinking about how this time last year I was so blessed to be in one of my best friend's weddings..Here's the awesome video of Haley and Jason's awesome block party wedding. Love you harmons happy one year!!


Jason & Haley from Michael Schwartz on Vimeo.

the belly button song

AHH THANK YOU ANDREA SWATSKI for sharing this with me!
If you have known me for longer than 5 months you have probably heard me sing "the" belly button song....
"me take care of me belly button" I will sing it for you if you ask, its my favorite song ever. But for now I need you all to watch the veggie tales version of a different belly button song.

The bright side to working in a cave

When you are grumpy, there is always the option to look on the bright side. When you are annoyed, you can always look on the bright side. When you are frustrated by your current employment, you can always look on the bright side. The problem remains...finding the brightside.

Today I found the brightside to working in a window-less office.  Let me preface this by stating I love being outside, whether its raining or sunny, hot or snowing I prefer being outside (give or take some days when all I want to do is cuddle up and watch a movie - but who doesn't have those days??).  So when I walked in to my office for the first time, the first thing I noticed was the extreme lack of windows. Not only was I inside, I was highly aware of how "inside" in I was. There are days when I come in and do not see the sun until 4:30 when I leave.  When I work from 1:30-10pm it's worse because when I come to work its bright and sunny and when I leave its dark! I don't know if it raining, sunny, cloudy or snowing. I know nothing of the outside world other than what weather.com tells me, and we all know how accurate weather.com is. And Lord knows I'll never listen to accuweather again (storm of the century cancels vermont ski trip 2010 when there was absolutely no storm at all).

Today I found my brightside.

I emailed my friend Michele this morning and said "good morning, is it a good morning so far?" and her response was "Eh, morning could be better if it were a bit 'cheerier' looking outside :/ How am I supposed to work when it's the perfect weather to have stayed in bed all day??!" I read this e-mail and checked my work e-mail and received this from the librarian, bold letters and all:
A TORNADO WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 600 PM EDT TUESDAY EVENING

FOR NEW JERSEY AND EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA.

This is when it hit me. The weather has no effect on my productivity at work! I have NO idea whats going on outside! So when its beautiful and sunny, I don't want to go outside. When it's gloomy and raining with the chance of a tornado, I don't want to get into bed. I am quite content, sitting here in my office working with students.

I found the brightside to my windowless room full of pictures of my friends and families and picasso and gustav klimt paintings. And also when the end of the world comes, I won't have time to panic.

Can Will Smith adopt me?

One of my favorite actors of all time is Will Smith. He and his wife, Jada, have managed to create the coolest kids on earth. If I could choose, I'd want him to be my dad so that I could be as cool as these kids...

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/crush/jaden-and-willow-smiths-red-carpet-style/397

his son can karate kick my butt and his NINE year old daughter just came out with her first hit single! what?!

Tara and Joseph are ENGAGED!

I was so happy and excited and thrilled to be part of these two getting engaged. Joseph did an amazing job including the community that has helped keep them accountable and seeking God before themselves these past couple years.  He did an amazing job rapping as well. And a big thanks to Honey's for letting us invade for 10 minutes!! Such a great, memorable evening.

I want this video to be the next youtube phenomenon.  Let's get these two on Oprah.

Psalm 32

Read this before work. Re read it while at work. Praying it to get through my crazy day.

1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
2 Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.
Selah
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD "—and you forgave the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly pray to you while you may be found; surely when the mighty waters rise, they will not reach him.
7 You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
10 Many are the woes of the wicked, but the LORD's unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!

Boys who can shave

Esther sent me this article to read this morning.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/mark_driscoll/2010/08/the_world_is_filled_with_boys_who_can_shave.html

It is in a response to an article I actually read last week here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/magazine/22Adulthood-t.html?_r=1

Brut honesty. I like it. And the guys can't even get mad saying the author just hates men, he is a man. He is a Godly man. Thoughts??

Wednesday night.

Tonight was interesting. 

The "plan" was to go to the last "nights in the park" for Liberti  

And then Sarah T,

 

and I were going to go to my new house and put up blackout curtains so that I could sleep past 6am. I told Sarah this would probably only take up 20 minutes of her time. This was at around 8:30p.  However, we had no idea what we were in for. I think both of our personalities are impulsive do-er type personalities.  We just do. But what we do not do is....we do not take time to measure or get ladders or get packs of 12 nails (I bought the 10 pack, we needed 12 nails). Instead, we go headstrong into what we think will be a victorious task.  When we succeed at things, we succeed BIG and when we jump in and things don't work out...we fail, badly. Tonight was one of those nights. two hours and two bowls of ice cream later we ended up with a curtain too short, and two curtains that (I kid you not) are TACKED up to the corners. Tacked with thumb tacks tacked...this task took up approximately 2 minutes, could have saved us so much time.

After this, we decided it was probably a good time to actually start talking and praying like we had planned....I asked if it was okay if I started working on the new earring/necklace rack I got on etsy! I was so excited. Little did she know that she would be sucked into helping me with that as well...we did not think this through either. We put on all the earrings as we sat and talked and Sarah looked at me and said, you know, we needed to put this up on the wall before we put the earrings on. This may not seem like a big deal to you, but you must know how many earrings I have....please see below...

Needless to say Sarah did not leave until after midnight. Thanks Sarah :)

As we talked and prayed in between losing our minds and banging our heads against the walls. We discussed our bible study from last night about Eternity and Heaven. This topic has been frequenting my mind because of recently finishing "the shack"  This book totally rocked my world and put a new perspective on my thoughts and challenged my old thoughts and gave me new thoughts to mull over and really think about. There was one part at the end that the Holy Spirit tells the main character, Mack.

"...if anything matters then everything matters. Because you are important, everything you do is important. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, my purposes are accomplished and nothing will ever be the same again."

I am not normally into cheesy, corny, cliche? Maybe it was because this was at the end after I had spent an emotional night finishing the book and investing in the characters (the characters being God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit). It made me want to ask God questions! But more than that it made me appreciate understanding how the Trinity works in my life and how important it is in everything that I do, everything I do matters because the Kingdom is now and not yet.

So you think you can dance?

When you spend more than half your life dancing....you just can't shake it out of your system. In fact, more often than not, I am dancing. So I am spending my sick day in bed watching so you think you can dance in between naps.

The two posts below are my two FAVORITE. Beautiful breathtaking contemporary duets.  If I could perform again, I would do these two dances.

Robert & Kathryn.mp4

Kent & Loren - Collide

Your Available Balance: $2.12

Ahh the pleasures and joys of being an adult.

Milas day dreams

The most creative idea ever.......

http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/

Here are some of my favorites....

Saw this on the news this morning...

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7603566

Makes my heart hurt for those men who thought they were getting their lives together.

they say...

They say old habits die hard...and in my ripe old age of 24, I am beginning to think whoever said that was on to something.  As sinful, stupid humans we will never be perfect, we will never always make the right choice 100% of the time, and we will always be learning and growing from our mistakes, hopefully leaning towards maturity and growth (this comes easier to some than for others). But is is easy to read the words "humans are sinful and not perfect" and think, I deserve grace from others, no one is perfect.  But today I realized how much I expect grace from others for my shortcomings but will be quick to notice a flaw in you.  During lunch today, a friend and I talked about how the things that bother you most about other people are most likely what you hate about yourself.  So I began to rack my brain to think about who annoys me and why.  This is not a fun exercise.  And while I think it is good and necessary to evaluate the speck in others/plank in your own eye philosophy, be prepared for being disappointed in yourself.  I know I was.

Thank God for grace, literally.

blessings

I haven't written on this for a while...mostly because I have been busy graduating and getting a j-o-b.
But I was inspired by Haley's blog because it is just so beautiful. Full of life, pictures, and accounts of blessings in her life.  I realized that I need to count my blessings way more than  I do because I get caught up in the little things and sometimes it really weighs me down.  I forget how blessed I am and how much JOY I have and should be passing around!! I am so thankful for my amazing friends, who when they see the obvious look of distress or torment on my face, they ask me whats wrong. Not just an obligatory "whats wrong" but a compassionate "i care about you and your life and the things that twist your heart and make your stomach turn, its those things that I care about because they are you and I care about you". I have those kind of friends. I have that kind of community. i have the kind of community that says hey I want you to live better, not because i'm judging you or i want our community too look better and more inviting, but because they care about me and know i can live a life that doesn't cause myself so much pain and anguish tomorrow when I'm not thinking about my actions today.  I have that kind of community.
You may be jealous or covet my friends and my community, but don't be. Just come hang out with me and I promise you will leave feeling the same way. Showered with love and compassionate mercy and grace.

I re-read a prayer tonight by ted loder...one of the sections really pierced me...

"expose my shame where it shivers
crouched behind the curtains of propriety
until i can laugh at last
through my common frailties and failures
laugh my way toward becoming whole"

I'll type up the whole prayer eventually...its really beautiful. but for now sit on that. think about it and count your blessings.

Kidney swap...

"Barbara" is my aunt! So awesome


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everyone settle down

Cold Tangerines

Reading a book called Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist. It's about celebrating your life and appreciating today and learning from your mistakes.
I love everything about it so far, including the fact that the name on the outside of her book is printed in all lower case letters...this may seem insignificant to some, but makes me feel connected to her because i really like lower case letters.

I am so inspired to write a book of my own after reading hers.  However, she is full of wit and great stories with "learning" always coming at the end. One day I'll write.............

Just got on weather dot com to check the ol weather for memorial day and saw this...

Air Quality Alert for Philadelphia, PA

Issued by The National Weather Service Philadelphia, PA 3:13 pm EDT, Sun., May. 30, 2010

... AIR QUALITY ALERT IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 10 PM EDT MONDAY...

THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION HAS DECLARED AN AIR QUALITY ACTION DAY FOR THE REGION... IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM TO 10 PM EDT MONDAY.

AN AIR QUALITY ACTION DAY MEANS THAT AIR QUALITY WITHIN THE REGION MAY APPROACH OR EXCEED UNHEALTHY STANDARDS. 

i'm sorry...should i be concerned for my life while breathing tomorrow?

They're so famous

Here I am with ol Joshy before he was famous.

and one day this famous one will admit she loves me.

But until then I guess I'll just be stuck in the middle of their love...

I don't wanna grow up

This past weekend I got away.
I went camping with some FABULOUS ladies to my favorite state park (Cape henlopen). I told all the girls way too much and talked basically the whole time about my previous memories and experiences and they put up with me and my rambling the whole weekend.  There is just something about revisiting your past, especially your childhood, that makes you happy. When I was leaving class tonight, I parked my car by an extremely large amount of honey suckles...this was a scent and a view that I associate, yet again, with my childhood.
I had a great childhood and things were so much simpler then. I could be loud and obnoxious and people thought it was cute (and just a phase I would grow out of..ha ha).  I never had to worry about food, because my Mom took care of it for me. I didn't have to pay bills or read the news to figure out how things would effect me.
But as I grow up I am learning to appreciate things like being independent and taking weekends away with my girlfriends. I get to eat the food I want and make decisions about where I want to live and what time I want to go to sleep. I loved my childhood, but I'm learning to appreciate my adulthood too. 
Here are some highlights from the weekend of wonderful. Love, Emily, Izzy, Natalie, Diana, Tessa, and Maggie

Sometimes tragic life events happen to your friends that help put your own life into perspective.

I had a really bittersweet weekend with some pretty quality friends that made me realize just that. I am taking the night to count my blessings and think through the stressors in my life and letting go of the ones that really just don't matter.

I'm listening to Ryan Adams on repeat.

I am finding solace in being alone and the silence between the songs.

I am trusting and taking comfort that I am not in control.  There is a gravity to this that I do not think that we, as "young people", think about. We are not immortal. We are not invincible.

Soliders go Gaga

I want to be these guys friends....


See story here (although there is not much of a story)

I am hiding from some beast
But the beast was always here
Watching without eyes
Because the beast is just my fear
That I am just nothing
Now its just what I've become
What am I waiting for
Its already done

Believe - The Bravery

Tik Tok

Anyone who really knows me know that when this song comes on at any party or on the radio I am in a good mood and singing every word...very, very loudly. So when Pauline showed me this video...I had to post it on here to let other people join in on the awesomeness of the song...and who doesn't love the simpsons???

Donald Miller Isn't

I am obsessed with Donald Miller...and I'm not quite sure who these guys are but they are pretty funny too.



www.donaldmillerisnt.com

take me out to the ballgame...

Allison Auclair is my favorite classmate :) Look how she distracts me during class

"I start wondering what it must be like to live in the shadow of a mountain. All of Houston lives in the shadow of downtown. Downtown is how we orient ourselves. It stands as our compass, a mountain of glass and mirrors. It strikes me as I think about it, how beautiful we find massive structures, either man-made or organic. I wonder if we find them amazing because they make us feel small and insignificant, because they humble us. And I remember feeling that way back in Colorado, that I was not the center of the cosmos, that there were greater things, larger things, massive structures, forged in the muscle of earth and time, pressing up into the heavens as if to say the story is not about you, but for you, as if to remind us we are not gods."
Through Painted Deserts

God make me a bird

I found this video on Katie Fet's wall with love from Anders and I just had to post it. I just love birds...I recently decided this design I want for my third tattoo and it involves a bird, once again. I really don't think you can go wrong with birds....
Here is the video involving my favorite animal and the freedom and beauty they represent

Hammock - Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.

In other news...Jenny and David are now husband and wife. They wedding was beautiful and the trip up to Champion was great and refreshing.  Bob Davis officiated the wedding and his advice to the newly weds was simply 4 words: Prayer/Communication/Scripture/Council

And the most exciting news of all......the PRAXIS is OVER and i PASSED!!! Maybe not with flying colors...but I don't really care...
One more month of these classes and two online courses left until I am a certified school counselor....

HAPPY EASTER ya'll...heres my fam at Easter dinner...you can't tell but literally, we are all wearing pink...

i love this holiday and everything it represents...........
............Life.Beauty.Freedom.Truth.

music and lyrics

Lyrics make me emotional. Not always in a bad way but in a way I can't explain. Music and lyrics remind of certain times in my life, certain locations and people and it makes me really happy and sometimes really desperately sad.

I also think lyrics express things words simply cannot convey. Its beautiful. Music has gotten me through some of the hardest times in my life.  I think people sing about things they can't talk about and I think in a small way, that's why if you ask just about anyone who cannot hold a tune, if there is one thing they want to change about themselves, it would be that they wish they could sing..This is why we like singers like David Bazan, because he sings about being confused. He sings about wanting answers, its like he is singing our hearts tune.

On another note, music makes us so happy. My roommate, Joanna, always talks about this Bruce Springstein song: Waiting on a sunny day. Every time it comes on she starts dancing, she always says "this song makes me SO happy" no matter what mood she may have been in before.  This is also true for the JACK ladies and the Party in the USA song as well as Tik Tok. Both dumb songs, but have the ability to make us forget everything else going on around us...

This weekend two of my friends, Sarah Thompson and Stephen Dahmer (aka Brown Bird, Blonde Bird),

sang a song by someone...I'm not sure who sings it for real. But listening to their voices and hearing the words pierced my heart so much that I cannot get the words out of my head...here are the words

There's this part of me that could just walk away
and I'm not sure that I never will
Cuz' no man is an arrow
Straight and true to the mark
We've all got these wandering feet
and a darkness in our hearts

to echo this sentiment even more BB/BB sang another song by Pedro the Lion called The fleecing and the lyrics were:
But I can't say it like I sing it.
And I can't sing it like I think it.
And I can't think it like I feel it.
And I don't feel a thing.
Oh no - I don't feel a thing.

All of these thoughts were magnified by the fact that I saw David Bazan a week ago, ironically, he played in a church.  The words he sang are so honest. I think part of me can relate to him and to his struggle and doubt.  I think in some small way we all can. This is why I cannot stand cheesy worship music. It doesn't feel real. And my God could not feel anymore real to me. He is so close and so real, the silly cheesy worship music that is sometimes produced seems like an insult.

I just love music and everything it conveys.

handsome man club

click watch and laugh. i love jimmy kimmel


http://www.hulu.com/watch/133041/jimmy-kimmel-live-handsome-mens-club

Today I hate grad school. And I am aware of how much I complained about it...all day long. While it was 60 degrees and sunny out, I sat and wrote paper, worked on projects, and read a silly book. come on june 23....

(all following posts will probably read this way until June 23, if you do not want to continue to read how much I loathe grad school, please join me again on June 23 when I will no longer need to vent about it.)

Colorado this weekend. :)

to tattoo or not to tattoo

So I want a third tattoo....really badly. Thoughts? Opinions? Where should I get it? I already know what I want but I am just not sold on placement and if I should even really do it or not.....Here is a picture of my second one ..sorry if anyone is grossed out by feet...and I don't have a picture of my first, but its on my back.

The adventures of Hairolyn

This post is dedicated strictly to Tom Gorman...who gave me the nickname "Hairolyn"
He did this because I like to change my hair....a lot. I like to have options. Cut, color, style, up, down, curly, straight, long, short.....It is really like a disease. And I can't stop. Because of my most recent cut, I realized I REALLY do have a problem.....And so, I want you to join me in the adventures of hairolyn over of the past year......
Well this is a little before this year...but this is where it all started.

Up, Natural color

Down, curly, no bangs. natural color

 

Down, curly, bangs
 

Pigtails
 

Long, straight, curling ironed
 

Natural color, long, curly, bangs
 

 Black, straight, shoulder length
 

Black, curly, bangs
 

Black, straight, side bangs
 

Black, straight, curling ironed
 

Long, highlighted, straight, no bangs
 

Long, Straight, curling ironed, blonde highlights, side bangs
 

Up, blonde highlights, excited
 

Long, curly, blonde highlights, side bangs
 

pin up
 

BLONDE! up
 

blonde, front bangs
 

Red, front bangs, straight, long
 

Reddish, bangs, fancy hair
 

fake hair
 

Miley Cyrus hair
 

Hiking hair

 

Short, red, bangs, curly
 

Camping, unshowered for days hair
 

Holiday hair, shoulder length, bangs, curly
 

Shoulder length, brown hair, straight
 

Long, curly, highlights, straight bangs
 

Straight, blondish
 

Short, dark hair, curly
 

AND my latest hair cut......so so so short..this picture doesnt really do it justice.
 

So now....after experiencing a year in the life of Carolyn's hair.....which is your favorite look?