Crafting

I need creative release, and boy did I release some creativity last night. Hayley, Lauren, and I spent the night at Lauren's house and had craft night with brownies and tea, snuggled up on the couch talking, laughing, and enjoying each other's company. It was simply wonderful.

My latest crafting obsession has been headbands and hairpins, little flowery, fabric headbands and hairpins. Here's a little sample of the results:

My crafty friends! They learned so well.

"Awake My Soul"

With fall comes school, with school comes a schedule, with a schedule comes routine, and with routine comes boredom and lackluster monotony. Life goes something like class, eat, run, study, sleep, repeat and you know what? I'm a little tired of the routine, I'm not a fan of the boredom, I could do with out the lackluster monotony. Mumford and Sons puts it quite eloquently:

"How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes

I struggle to find any truth in your lies

And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know

My weakness I feel I must finally show...

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

Where you invest your love, you invest your life

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die

And where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul

Awake my soul

For you were made to meet your maker"

So i've been paying special attention to where I invest my love, because these years, these years are formative, and important,

and I want my love invested in something worth while, something...good.

So thanks Mumford and Sons, your song is pretty great.

....................

And now for a quick peek at my weekend:

Aztec Invitational

Roomie Harbor Cruise

More Team Time

and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to...Cat and Skyler!

Tag Game

I got tagged by my blogging extraordinaire friend Katie for this fun little chain game, so here goes...

Favorite Flower

Favorite Color Combo

Fav Celeb Couple

Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova

My Theme Song

Glory, Hallelujah (I've Got Nothing) by Annie Bethancourt, check Annie out here

Fav "I had a terrible day" food

Lipstick, lip gloss, or both

Fav Magazines

Fav things about fall

home baked goods

cozy cups of coffee

the cross country trip to Oregon

Just a Little Reminder

I will not die an unlived life.

I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire.

I choose to inhabit my days,

to allow my living to open me,

to make me less afraid, more accessible,

to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing,

a torch,

a promise.

I choose to risk my significance;

to live so that which comes to me as seed goes to the next as blossom

and that which comes to me as blossom, goes on as fruit.

-Dawna Markova

Life is Beautiful

Yes it sounds cliche, but the people and setting and support in my life are truly that; beautiful. The blessings go unnoticed, and the friendships unaccounted for, and this place I call home taken for granted, but it's all so...beautiful and I am so blessed. And don't get me wrong, there is doubt, cynicism, insecurity, darkness, anxiety, but that does not belittle the beauty, "for I am [learning] to be content whatever the circumstances" (Phil 11). I am choosing to "Rejoice in the Lord always" because life is beautiful and it would do me good to remember that every once in a while.

BECAUSE

~There is beauty in bike rides with new friends~

~There is beauty in people gathered together grounded in the same purpose, united in corporate worship~

~There is beauty in the support and love of family, old and new~

~And of course there is beauty in the simple things too, like cute beachy breakfast joints, and burritos, and of course coffee~

SO all this to say, I am learning (emphasis on the learning) to rejoice, see the beautiful, and simply to enjoy the God of the universe and who He is in my life.

"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." ~Psalm 100

If I could...

If I could spend a day in one place, just because, I would either choose farmers market or a cozy coffee shop. There are some things that just draw me to them, and farmer's markets and coffee shops just get me. I adore them. This week was a good week because I tried a new one of each.

The other night I went to Cafe Bassam in downtown San Diego and let me tell you I felt about 10x more sophisticated and trendy the second I walked into that place. It was bustling and high energy even at 9:30 on a Thursday night. I found myself surrounded by slouchy couches, rickety antique tables and chairs, elegant light fixtures, and many spectacled, ridiculously cultured customers reading their books, sipping their tea, and pouring over their newspapers. I scoured the place for a seat for a good 5 minutes, probably looking like the out of place idiot that I was, and finally found an empty couch. The mocha I ordered was divine; so creamy and decadent with whipped cream and cocoa sprinkled on top all served in a perfect little ceramic mug. Don't ask me why, but coffee always tastes better out of a ceramic mug.

And there are farmer's markets, the most amazing of which I attended yesterday on a "roomie date" with Hayley and Lauren. Every Saturday morning in Little Italy there is a mercato full of incredible fresh treats that extend the the length of Date Street which ends in a beautiful view of the San Diego harbor. It was perfect weather and the atmosphere felt so amazingly refreshing. I'm pretty sure that I sampled almost everything that I could get my hands and more. There was one stand with homemade pesto and let me tell you, you haven't lived until you try this stand's sun-dried tomato pesto, it was delicious. Next time we go i'm getting some to go along with my other purchase, homemade pasta. I tried my first fig, ate the biggest organic apple in the world, saw a dog with shoes, and ate my weight in free bread and hummus. Needless to say, i'll be back very soon, perhaps next saturday? Here are some shots from the market:

The Time Has Come

As I wake up this morning I have that feeling in my stomach, the time has come, it's race day, the first one of the season. Now if it was spring this feeling would be much more well received, but it's fall which means one thing, cross country season. I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, to be excited to race, but honestly the whole racing 6 times longer than I usually do does not sound so appealing. But here's to the time that has come, cross country season will officially begin today, at 4, let's gooooo.

How the years have gone:

HIGH SCHOOL

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year

Senior Year

COLLEGE

Freshman Year

Sophomore Year

Junior Year...coming soon.