Seeing

There's something about siting in a public place with your headphones in, music surrounding you and what seems like the whole world as it walks by you. It's surreal. Real life suddenly becomes a quasi-cinematic experience. In that moment the homework you're working on at the last minute or that boy who never called last week or the test you bombed earlier this week don't matter, the only thing on your mind is soaking up the show Life is playing right in front of your eyes and really Seeing.

In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

So stop every once in a while and look around. This is your life. Don't miss it.

Always,
L.A.

"It is a miracle if you can find true friends, and it is a miracle if you have enough food to eat, and it is a miracle if you get to spend your days and evenings doing whatever it is you like to do, and the holiday season—like all the other seasons—is a good time not only to tell stories of miracles, but to think about the miracles in your own life, and to be grateful for them."
— Lemony Snicket 

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful for my morning coffee flavored with carmel

just the way I like it that helps me get out of bed.

I'm thankful for my very blue-collar parttime job

which has allowed me to meet new people and make them laugh just when they need to.

I'm thankful for my best friend,

the girl who is always one quick text or phone call away when I need someone most.

I'm thankful for the girls in my Bible study,

I love how together we can share in how we're all crazy about Jesus

& just crazy in general.

I'm thankful for little everyday miracles,

like getting to wear shorts outside in November,

and having my roommate finally agree to come to SEEK with me in January.

I'm thankful for prayer, the Word, Mass, grace, & genuine friendships made in Christ.

I'm thankful that I finally feel at home here.

I can't help but thank the Lord for all He's blessed me with.

God is so very good.

Images via: 1, 2, & 3

Lucky

Who am I to deserve the friendships I've been so very blessed with? With the easy nature that comes with each one of my girlfriends as we just sit around enjoying a good movie and each other's company? These are the moments I would love to freeze in time.

To others, tonight wouldn't even be a blimp on the radar, but it is nights like this that have shaped me into the woman I am today, and for that I am eternally grateful.

Always,
L.A.

Rainy days and Audrey

Today it finally decided to rain, after almost an entire month without so much as a sprinkle. Take that drought. God, you know how much I love the rain, keep it coming.

There’s something elegant and romantic about rain. I think that’s part of why I love it. That and it reminds me of the great Audrey Hepburn in her timeless trench coat chasing after Cat in Breakfast at Tiffany's. {Which also happens to be one of my all time favorite films.}

{via}

That’s enough about our beloved Audrey for now though, for if I don’t hurry and settle into my old comfy chair with a book the rain will be gone before I can take any time to enjoy it the way I love to.

Here’s to hoping you’re all having an Audrey-esque day wherever you are, and humming Moon River, no matter what the weather may be.

Always,
L.A.

Girls just want to have fun

This is where I went to eat last night.

 

If you ever pass through South Dakota, yes the Mount Rushmore is amazing, but if you want an ounce of civilization, go to Sioux Falls.  & If you happen to be hungry and feel like navigating a multitude of one-way streets, I hope you venture down town to the Phillips Avenue Diner.

 

 

I. love. this. place.

 

 

And the memories I make with my absolutely wonderful and amazing friends

{who you can see in the picture above} while I’m there.

 

{Side note: Remember my warning about the one way street? Well that comes courtesy of my best friend, Baylee. Yesterday, on her way to the diner she found herself driving down one the wrong way. When we brought it up to her she said she didn’t even realize her mistake until we told her, but now that she thought about it, “I was wondering why I was the only car without a stop light!”
Last night wasn’t the first time it’s happened either. Ha! Love her!}

 

Yep, I love all those girls more than I love the Phillips Avenue Diner’s sweet potato fries.
Now that’s saying something.

 

Always,

L.A.

Strawberries & Hairspray

I just spent my evening chopping strawberries while having a Hairspray dance party with my little sisters.  This is just one of the many reasons I love my family...

I am so blessed.

Always,

L.A.

These are my people

I'm having one of those rare days where I just want to sit in my room, be a hermit, and enjoy some time alone. Or at least I was until my best friends at school dragged me out for a girls night in.

I tried my best to resist. I'm not wearing any make-up, I'm wearing yesterdays hair up in a pony tail, and I'm in sweats. On a typical day, I refuse to do anything more than leave my room to go to the bathroom looking like this, but they asked for it, so they're gonna have to love me just the way I am.

That has got to be one of the best parts about best friends. Don't you think?

They love you even when you feel like you look like complete and absolute shit.

Always,

L.A.

I guess I'll just make a list...

Tonight I've been thinking a lot about how blessed I am to have such amazing friends in my life, but there's so much to say about all of them I'm not even sure where to begin. So in an attempt to say exactly what I'm feeling right now, I figured I'd just make a list:

1. I love late night phone calls from my best friend spent talking about everything and nothing.
Bay and I have been through everything together since second grade, and I honestly have no idea what I would do without her. It's been a big adjustment this year going to schools that are two hours away from each other, but I've yet to go a day without talking to her and I cannot wait until this summer when her house is just a quick ten minute drive away. There is no doubt in my mind that we are sisters even if we don't share the same DNA.

2. I love movie nights with the amazing ladies I've gotten the chance to know this past year.
These girls are seriously amazing. (Ashley, Sadie, and Becca, you all know you are!) I know for a fact I would not have made it through this last year's transition if they weren't there by my side every step of the way. I cannot wait to share many more adventures with them in the years to come.

3. I love that my roommate understands my strange sleeping habits and the fact I can never wake up to my alarm(s).
I am going to be so sad without her next year. What will I do without her by my side plotting to travel the world with me?

4. I love making great friends in the most unexpected places.
I have become really great friends with some really amazing ladies I just happened to sit next to in a class. These unexpected friendships are often the most beautiful.

5. I love that some of my closest friends also happen to be family.
From my sister to my mother to my brother to my cousin, each one of these people played such a huge roll in helping me become who I am today. Thank goodness they'll have to put up with me for many more years to come.

6. I love that each and every one of the people I've briefly mentioned above love me despite my silly, boy-crazy, dorky, loud, interpretative dancing self.

I love you all! You mean the world to me!

Always,
L.A.

From glengarry glen ross.

"What I'm saying, what is our life? It's looking forward or it's looking back. And that's our life. That's it. Where is the moment?"
-from David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.

Wow. Mamet is right on the money. How true is that excerpt? Do we not spend the majority of our lives glorifying and dwelling on the past or dreaming of and worrying about the future? I know I donate a large amounts of my time to these activities on a regular basis. (you can gather as much from reading this silly little blog of mine.)

But then I have nights like tonight. Nights where I spend hours laughing and talking with girls I adore, and hours after that talking about nothing and everything with my lovely roommate. (her name is Kristen by the way.) And it's moments like those I just want to savor.

Always,
L.A.

Rainy days

Beautiful, blissful rainy days like today make me want to lock myself in my room and write all day.  I feel inspiration around me in places that are ordinary enough any other day.  How I long to just get lost in that creativity.

Alas, reality calls. I suppose, at least for now, I must choose to answer.

Always,
L.A.

Sometimes a person just needs to...

...frolic carelessly down the hallway in the dead of the night towards the bathroom in the dorms and celebrate life as it is right then. Because nights spent effortlessly sitting on the futon with your roommate eating dry lucky charms out of the box and watching the random old movie playing on the TV guide channel are beautiful. And dorky. And so me.

Gosh. And just when I was beginning to think I'd lost myself again.