artistic endeavors: john keats.

i love john keats.

i mean, some of his poetry is downright morbid. but still.

there are some great quotes to focus on.

like this one. le sigh.

♥

watercolor? my. goodness.

in november i got on a watercolor kick. isn't that fun--the next few canvas posts shall be watercolor.
there's just something about it.

ah, little sisters... :)

now, at 10:30pm...
random news: if you've never seen your older brother say in a british accent "lol" or start singing random words he's reading at the moment plus a bunch of other nonsense, .... [good thing he never reads my blog. heh;]
you've never lived until now.
well, part of it is because the past two weeks he's had several days in a row of waking up at 4....and who, besides whose who commute or are farmers, wake up at such an ungodly hour?
if that's you, consider me giving you a sitting-down ovation, because my legs feel like jello from 2 miles of fast walking last night, and another 1 1/2 tonight.

if you'd like to click on this and check out the photography blog i put together today... :)
my sister, anna, and i decided to offer family photography sessions for a sweet little deal at the family conference we host at a nearby retreat center every year. which is coming up next weekend, holy cow.
random facts number 2 and 3: i totally slept in today, but tomorrow i plan to make that right.
for the moment, i'm addicted to baby carrots. i know a few people who can't stand baby carrots, i have no idea why, but when you're thirsty and a bit hungry at the same time, nothing is better than a huge mug of h20 and a baggie of baby carrots at your side at 10:44pm.
heh.
what can i say?

today i played the piano for the first time in a long time.
and i remembered most of the basics of reading music. (yay!!!!!)
years ago, when i was around 5-14ish, we were super blessed to have mom teaching me and the other siblings piano. when we were super little, she taught a couple older kids/friends piano, too.
either you got it and slightly liked it, or you hated it.
and basically, i'm the only one who got it. and i really enjoyed it today. but sitting down to touch those ivory-colored keys (i don't think they're real, haha) at age 20 is a far cry from being 12 and having someone prodding you, reminding you to finish up at least a half an hour of practice.
sigh.
:)
i didn't take many pictures today. rather, i realized i have grown used to the taste of starbucks super-dark-and-smoky french roast; i played fail us not on my acoustic guitar about 4 times; created the photography blog and watermarked tons of pictures... it goes on.

not to wax to-do-list on you all (as if i haven't before;)...but tomorrow?
i get to do a chapter of a liz curtis higgs' women's bible study, clean the kitchen all day, clean the house, and make stuffed shells for dinner. a normal pan: ricotta and cheese, and a not-so-normal kind: chicken, spinach and cheese.

and this is the latest color. red-brown, lighter than before.
next month i might be back to more natural color... something closer to this:

and....
press pause on my blog music, and press play on this. i forgot how much i adore this song.

goodnight, i've got a full day ahead.

living, breathing

Living for myself is not the point of life.
I don't think it ever has been.
Therefore, I try not to live it just for me. That would suck, because at the end of the day and at the end of life, it would not be what I need, and I think...I think it's more character-building to do and live and choose things that are not always "the best" for ourselves... in the way that we deny some of those things that we want so badly right now, but really do not need. And I'm not talking about those gorgeous shoes you saw the other day, if you're one of those people. ;)
Do I have regrets of not choosing things I would've liked more? Maybe. Sure.
But life would be much harder in those areas if I had... if you know what I mean. [I guess maybe some of you can tell by now that I'm not talking about material things, but rather more human-related issues and times...]
What I just wrote; it's one of those things that either clicks or it doesn't (can ya holler?;))
Enjoy life; ha, we just watched Bright Star, and John Keats wrote his best poetry when he was in love with Fanny Brawne, before he died at 25 from TB.
Enjoy life, by all means. But do we think of honoring anyone but ourselves? That's the question, and what we'll be remembered for, beyond the good memories of what some may have of us...


Well, with seafood manicotti and tiramisu tonight for dinner, and hopefully an energetic staying-up-late unlike last night (wow, sleeping by 2am? holy cow. good record, let me tell you.), because tomorrow they leave.
I almost cried earlier when Jen called Caleb by his full name, and reminded him of his responsibility of cleaning the kitchen/washing the dishes today. PJ told me to stop it, because otherwise we'd all end up a mess.
But anyways, on a happier note, we went uptown to the coffeeshop and took a ton of picture, a couple of which I'll share someday... ;)


Good evening, peoples. I'll come back with more poetic, eloquent realistic drabble later. (hahahahah)