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?