Happy Mother's Day!

Havin' fun. :D This is from years and years ago. We were visiting a lake. :]

My mom is the best. Plain and simple!

Super Saturday!

I have this knack for knowing I have a lot of homework and procrastinating nonetheless.

So yesterday, when I should have been working on my research assignment, my lines, or countless other things. But I was trimming my bangs and putting on bright red lipstick. Yes.

Last night, Ethan, Michelle, and I saw "Songs for a New World," and it was super. Andrew, Ethan's brother, was great! Somewhere along the road, E was informed that he was cast in another friend's directing scene! I'm proud of him. :] Then he and I chowed. I drove home. I should have done homework, but I slept.

And now I should be doing homework. But I'm blogging. So that's my cue to exit. Farewell!

ps: I promise posts with more... content soon. It seems I have trouble balancing between frivolous entries and entries that are too ponderous.

A good week with a great ending.

    

So happy to report that this week went smoothly! My preliminary performances on Monday for some scenes I've worked on for my directin' friends went well (and Ethan looks smashing dressed a la early 1900s!). Also realized that in one of those scenes I am a nun; in another I am a minister's daughter. Coincidence? ha! Anyway. Received a lot of good news grade-wise. On Wednesday I had a nice impromptu breakfast with Kandace, who is not only wise but pretty much the sweetest. :]

Ethan sporting a smashing pair of sunglasses that might belong to yours truly.

Yesterday, when I wasn't busy having a blast with Boyfriend, I endured two rehearsals plus a run-through and performance. Last night Ethan and I performed with a few other amazing kids in our friend Katrina's "Many Names" project. Everyone did superbly well - though of course I have a sort of soft spot for my beau, who I think did faaabulously well. Anyway, congratulations to Katrina for pulling it all off! :]

And also thanks so much to Best Friend Michelle, who showed up to watch us! Afterward, E, Mich, and I headed back to Ethan's room to catch up and laugh. A lot. A LOT. We went to Chili's, I ate badly, and then we all went to our respective homes. I'm reuniting with Mich tonight to watch "Songs for a New World" at my university. Ethan's brother is playing Man 1! Excited.

This next month, I think, is going to fly by. There's so much to do but I think I'm going to enjoy all of it! Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and also marks Best Friend Audrey's return to the west coast. And Best Friend Jinelle returns sometime mid-week. I haven't seen either of those girls in ages and I cannot wait to reunite with them!

ps: did anyone else notice how many Best Friends I mentioned? I guess I'm lucky.

Nothing like kids to boost your self-esteem...

Today, as a gaggle of kindergarten girls fought for my attention (and to hold my hand), Leslie announced "See, Grace, everyone loves you because you look so beautiful!"

This coming from the same six-year old who, with her perfect curls and brown doe eyes, began calling me "Mommy" last week. I said, "Silly, I can't be your mother. I'm only nineteen." Her little mouth dropped, "You're still a girl? I thought you were thirty!" I laughed and she continued, "I'm going to call you Mommy because you're my best friend and I love you."

swoon.

Thursday Word: Isaiah 45:8.

"You heavens above, rain down righteousness; let the clouds shower it down. Let the earth open wide, let salvation spring up, let righteousness grow with it; I, the Lord, have created it." Isaiah 45:8.

via my flickr.

My parents...

Have been married for twenty-six years today. :] I'm allowed to gush about them, yes?

I snapped this when we pulled over en route to my grandma's house sometime in 2006. ;]

Although when they're together my Momma and Daddy sometimes act like two overgrown children, they're hilarious, sweet, and caring overgrown children. They really are the best parents ever! They're perfectly suited and I'm so happy for them. :]

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

Can't wait for some free time. :D

via my flickr.
I'm seriously pining for a weekend sans plans so that I can just spend a day in the kitchen. I've recently been crushing on this beautiful Kitchenaid mixer (in Boysenberry?), and I'm so hoping to get my hands on one soon. :] Cupcakes. Brownies. Cookies. Everything!

I also can't wait to get behind the camera again...

BRING IT ON, SUMMER. :D Only five weeks to go!

Crystal clear.

When I heard that one of my classes required a two-hour block of 'volunteer' work each week, I was less than enthused. It seemed unnecessary. It seemed, almost, unfair. But now... I'm so, so thankful for the time I spend at an after-school child care center each Thursday.

Crystal was among the quieter girls I met the first day I attended my pacement. But when she shyly asked me if I would play with her, my heart melted. I watched her as she hung on the monkeybars. She suddenly remarked that her parents are separated. She told me that when they married, they kissed each other - on the cheek, she said, because "kissing on the lips is so gross!"

"Before they were married, I was not here," she said, her feet on the ground. "I did not come out of my mommy’s tummy yet. So I was floating." As if she sensed my confusion, she looked up at me with her big, light brown eyes. “I was floating in the sky, because I was an angel.”

It was the sincerety in her voice that got me. Since then Crystal has run to me whenever I arrive, calling out my name. She showers me with welcoming hugs and grabs me by the hand to lead me around. She doesn't like to share me with others and spends a lot of our time together asking me questions in her little, soft voice. She always compliments my outfit and asks me if she can try on my jewelry - and is always quick to thank me when I let her. She's right - she was an angel, and I think she still is. :]

The point is this: I really love kids... To the point that... Well, I don't want to say to the point that I want to be a teacher. I don't. That's Ethan's thing (and he'll be great at it!!). But I always want children to be in my life - and I'm talking about before I have my own. Maybe children's ministry... I don't know. They are such a blessing. Throughout the Books of Matthew and Luke there is mention of welcoming the kingdom of God like a child. It is a call to recapture that naive childhood wonder and a child's inability - and aversion to - acknowledge differences - between possible and impossible; myth and truth... Maybe I'm getting too deep here.

I just have this perpetual 'itch' - and, at the same time, this air of confusion - to always do something more with my life. There's so much I want to accomplish - so much I even want to try - that I'm sometimes overwhelmed by my ambitions. I think this is a common occurrence. I guess I'm just praying for some sort of guidance in some direction. As much as I love a challenge, I'll be spreading myself all sorts of thin if I don't narrow it down soon.

And as much as I know this... I still want to try it all. I feel like that's the conclusion I always reach. :]

Same old, same old.

I can make friends. Often, however, I feel less than equipped when it comes to maintaining those friendships. I know my friends have their own lives to live, but it hurts to reach out to someone and get little to nothing in return. It feels like this keeps happening: just as it's been resolved with one friend, it happens with another. It's... ironic. And sad.

I haven't always had the best luck with best friends. I hope she won't mind me sharing this, but I recently had a pretty difficult 'situation' with one of my best friends. It's hard to swallow when someone who told you she would always be there for you disappears from your life and denies your attempts to become involved in her life again. There are always reasons for this - I know  -but it doesn't make it sting any less. This person is someone who I feel adds an irreplaceable element to my life, and I hope that she feels similarly, and it sucked to realize that, while I was stuck missing her, she was going on living without me. I confronted her - a couple of times before anything shifted, before I even saw an ounce of recognition of the situation. She told me she understood where I was coming from - that she realized she'd been selfish. She told me that she saw that people took advantage of me... that people manipulated me, took more than they gave... I don't know if that's true or not. But the point is, she said that she had vowed to never be that kind of friend to me. And she fell through. Because life happens. So I forgave her. I always will forgive her. Plus, I realize that I was not entirely blameless. There's plenty of things each of us could have done differently.

I don't know why I allow myself to be subject to debilitating friendships... Although some people may not recognize it, I really do try to keep the peace with everyone. If I could be everyone's friend, I would. I guess I've just learned that allowing people to take advantage of our friendship doesn't always keep them around.

I don't know if I'll keep this entry up simply because I sound like such a whiney baby. I know that I have some great people in my life. I have some friends and family who are always, always there to pick me up when I'm down and I'm more than willing to act the same way for them. And I'm so lucky - so thankful for that.

I don't know the point of this post, other than I really miss the conversation of a person who has suddenly been absent from my life. And I don't know what else to do about it. The end.

I made it out alive.

Homework, meetings, an essay, two midterms, and seven rehearsals later... Success. The busiest week of my college career (all seven months of it) is over. And I'm still breathing.

The next couple of weeks aren't going to be easy, either... But I'm hoping the worst of the academic storm is over.

Things to be excited about: I'm so excited for the performances I'm going to have next week! A couple of scenes and a little show... Also, I have been waiting for the right opportunity to announce my good news: if I goes according to plan, on the weekend of May 17th, I will be shooting engagement photos for a couple from my University. I was referred to them by a fellow photographer friend from school. I am so excited! So excited to exercise my creativity muscles. So excited that I have used the word 'excited' an excessive amount of times.

Anyway, just updating for the sake of updating. Back to catching up on homework!

You ask "Why?" I say, "Why not?" via my flickr.

ps: There is a very special day coming up week after next... :]