changed

So, I changed my blog background again :)
this time i REALLY love it.
it's so fresh and lovely.
what do you think?
i liked that other background...
but it was too something.
i got tired of it pretty quick.
so, anyway....that's pretty much
all i wanted to say. :)
oh, and i wanted to say
THANK YOU
for reading even if you
don't follow
or comment
or even really like it
thanks for reading. :)

countdown to christmas photography style (i did it!)

we had a wonderful Christmas eve with friends that we've known for (almost) longer than i can remember and with our church family at our first ever Christmas eve service! After everyone left and we'd eaten all the dessert we could handle it was quiet. here is a picture:

the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

 

and this Christmas day was simply marvelous. We spent it with my grandparents just like every year-it even flurried this morning! I think that counts for a white Christmas. :)

proof of the snow...not the most glamorous picture, but it was the only quick way to capture it. :)

I guess that's my picture for today. I don't really have one that is exactly right to post. it was just kind of a hang out in pjs, play the wii, enjoy company and yummy food kind of day. I hope you had a fabulous Christmas (or respective holiday :) and have a fabulous new year. :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

(pictures to come later :)

countdown to christmas photography style

December 23, 2011

presents-another instagram!

It's fun when you get this...

“phone call” a drabble of 100 words. (12.22.11)

“Hi, this is Sara”

nervous heart beat-i hate talking on the phone.

“Hi Sara, I'm a student at Framingham Sate University. Have you received a letter from us yet?”

at least she doesn't want me to ask the questions...could it be??

“No, not unless it came today”

heart beat accelerates, mind races

“Then let me be the first to tell you that you have been accepted to Framingham. You will be a commuter majoring in Elementary Education, does that sound right?”

mind races, voice is quivering. palms begin to sweat.

“Yes, thank you so much.”

and this mail:

YAY!

countdown to christmas photography style

more pictures!

sparklesss

mocha in a red mug

truffle making

poinsettia

pretty bow on the pointsettia

my mom's advent/countdown thingy (i can't remember what it's called :)

A Christmas Carol

countdown to christmas photography style....

Here are some more pictures....I don't think I have enough to catch up, but I promise I'll post more before Christmas day. :)

winter sky

my buttons. not exactly christmas, but hey, it's festive :)

my mom made these: chocolate and caramel covered pretzels. YUM.

little ornament my friend gave me. i can't even say how much i LOVE it. too cute.

ornament i like this one (but i'm gonna be hones, i took this last year. i tried to take a similar one this year but it was all blurry

other ornament, this one looks like a bubble during the day

i love this...

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awq90APEVgw&feature=player_embedded

(it's video and they're "shooting" each other-using cameras instead of guns :)

countdown to christmas photography style

some more pictures for the countdown:

my daily calendar...

tree decorating

star on the top

YUM

um this is a little wrong...the lilac plant is budding in december

on of my favorite ornaments

frost

countdown to christmas photography style

one more picture...i tried downloading more the other day but for some reason my computer wouldn't recognize my latest download...so anyway here is a picture i took on my dad's ipad. it's an instagram. i love it. :)

countdown to christmas photography style

this december i am going to try to take a picture everyday (or at least one for every day) that has something to do with christmas-lights, decorations, family, church, festivities, etc-and post it here. now, i can promise you now that i will not be posting every day-that's fact. but i will try to have a picture for everyday. :) so without further ado, here is my first.

today is my daddy's birthday....not exactly christmasy but it's festive. :)

roses are......pink!

this little rose was part of a larger bouquet but unfortunately he broke and thus got his own little vase. i think it's rather cute.
i received the bouquet from the music class i helped with (for kids ages 6-10, part of our home school co-op) after their little performance. i am biased but i think it might just have been one of the cutest things ever. so cute i might just spell it with a "q"
they were quute. so adorably quute.
...on another note-i am proud to say that i shot all of these in manual. :)

hAPpY tHaNKsGiViNg!!!!!

it's.......

11.11.11!!!!!!!

RAIN

It grows, bleeds, dies

it shines-

forever depth glimmering

bright lights reflecting, blinding,

going on forever.

The light signals “go”-

growing reaching surging

down into the

darkness

down into

uncertainty:

hope,

then the

harsh lights puncture the uncertain

surface-red blood glistening

down down down

.stop.

only relieved for a moment

by

a splash rippling the

surface of

uncertainty

and then there is death

yellow yellow yellow

reflections

thoughts

life

gone

down into that

uncertain road

one second

the difference between flying and falling
waking and sleeping
darkness and light
happy and sad
hungry and full
warm and cold
hatred and forgiveness
moving and stopping
blankness and words
color and emptyness
in and out
open and closed
life and death

Our God

"Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strenght,
and charges into the fray.
It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, 'Aha!'
It catches the scent of battle from afar,
the shout of commanders and battle cry."
Job 39:19-25

Doesn't God have an amazing way with words? Not only is the bible full of truth and glory, it is a masterful piece of literature. Not only did he CREATE this amazing animal, his description of it is magnificent. Stunning.

school

this is my life right now. (taken on my mac photo booth)

my life is basically, school, sleep, eat, school, class, school, another class, school, more classes, babysit, school, yet another class, school, relax, church, school, repeat.
so, i'm busy, and overwhelmed at times (ap lit. is no walk in the park-although i do enjoy it :), but honestly i wouldn't trade my life for anything. i have an amazing family, crazy good friends, a warm house, plenty of food, the ability to learn, and most importantly a savior who loves me so much he died for me. what more could i possibly ask for? yeah, maybe i wouldn't choose to spend all my time doing school and yeah, maybe i don't always get along with my sister, but really, really i have everything i could ever want.
His grace is sufficient for me.

I realized something...

As I was revamping the look of my blog (like it?) I reread my post on beauty and realized I have an answer to my question (i kinda already knew the answer when I wrote it the first time..but now it's more fully developed :). I realized my question was a matter of aesthetics (spelled correctly on first try-what now?), which asks the question "Does beauty inhere in the art itself, or is beauty supplied by the eye of the beholder?" (Philosophy and Education, Knight) The answer (from a biblical Christian worldview) is this: Beauty is in the eye of THE beholder. In other words, God. He is the standard for beauty. He is beauty and he created everything beautiful. Yes, we have our preferences; but ultimately it is God who is the standard.
And you know what else is super cool? We are created in the image of God. "God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them...God saw all that he had made, and it was very good..." (Gen. 27&31a NIV) We reflect God (although our reflection is like the foggiest mirror or the murkiest pond, the most distant shadow and faintest remembrance), we create and imagine, love and hope, and are attracted to beauty and we are beautiful because HE IS.
"One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the
LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD 
and to seek him in his temple."
(Psalm 27:4 NIV, emphasis mine)

i'm sorry my bloggy...

i've sort of forgotten about you.
i'm getting busy again
school.
i'll come and visit when i can,
but i'm afraid it won't be very
often. sorry.

What is Beauty?

Is it a summer sunrise over the ocean? or a soft winter snowfall? or a bride on her wedding day? is it little children blissfully running barefoot through a sprinkler? or morning dew on the grass? Is it a person or an object, a time or a place? What IS beauty? All these things are BEAUTIFUL, but they themselves aren't BEAUTY. Calling things such as sunsets and snowflakes beautiful must mean that there is a higher standard of beauty-but what is it? What is the standard? What is Beauty?

i feel like i should post something

i'm sorry i have not been posting much.
i am busy doing last minute thing before school starts again.
blech.
school.

i wish summer would never end.

bouquet (7.25.11)

I think that

maybe

you should

put some ferns in

your

bunches of flowers

I would if we

had some

we do in the

woods

but they usually

have

spores all over them

which makes them

uglyuglyugly

with the little yellow

pokey spots

all over the nicely

green

leaves.

(i can still write!!! i'm gonna have to write something about youth camp [that's the camp i just got back from] soon...)

arguably the most delicious thing in the world...

ok, so while we were camping we made fried dough, that was great, but then we got all creative and decided to make a type of fried s'more. We put some Hershey chocolate and marshmallow inside (calzone style) and fried it all up. The result? culinary heaven. Warm crispy dough surrounding rich melty chocolate and hot gooey marshmallow. be still my beating heart. Here's a picture so you can visualize:

see?? i bet you're drooling right now.

The Teacher-a drabble of 100 words.

The room was solitary, only one person occupied its quiet but she knew that in just a mere month it would be filled with company- messy, neat, loud, shy, short, tall, thin, pudgy, rambunctious, difficult, and beautiful children. She puttered around, adjusting a bulletin board that held the name of each child written on a bright autumn-colored leaf, straightening a desk and dreaming about her first first grade class. Hearing footsteps coming toward the door of her classroom, she turned around and watched as a young girl, tightly holding her mother's hand approached and then timidly knocked on the door.

you are fabulous

some more sunrise: the background info and a fisherman

this is my sister-she is the one who paddled us out into the middle of the lake so we could better see the sun rise and so i could take pictures. thanks

and this is a lone fisherman who we past just after the sun had risen

into the mist: a search for the dawn

(i know, i know, it's a little cliche...oh, well)this morning my sister and i woke up at 5 (AM) to watch the sunrise over the lake at the campground we're staying at.
it was worth it:

"My heart is steadfast, O God;

I will sing and make music with all my soul...

Awake, harp and lyre!

I will awaken the dawn.

I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations;

I will sing of you among the peoples.

For great is your love, higher than the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,

and let your glory be over all the earth."

 Psalm 108

we've been enjoying camping...

beautiful sunsets...

over the lake

pringles! a traditional camping snack

(this is a tree-purposefully out of focus. the circles of light are called bokeh)

blueberries

trees

and kayaking on the lake

beauty defined

it rained the other day
and then the sun came out again.
my mom's garden in all its after-storm beauty
beckoned me.
i listened.

i love getting up close
to the flowers
and taking pictures of their
intricate beauty.