When Christmas Comes

...Everything is dressed up.

...presents are wrapped in shiny or ornate packaging.

...a tree is picked (or brought up from the basement, as in our case).

...ornaments are hung.

...our cat is happy.

...and we celebrate Christ's birth!

I hope you all had a very blessed Christmas, and are looking forward to the new year!

There once was a girl...

...who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good, she was very, very good.

But when she was bad...

She was horrid.

Over the Ice

A couple days ago I snagged this gorgeous picture of a sunset over the frozen lake at Cedarville. I was walking across the bridge to the music building (where I practically live), and the lighting was just perfect, the snow drifted in just the right way... how could I not take a picture?

The Varying Shades of Leaves

I always seem to be a little late with these seasonal pictures... ;)

Remember when leaves were like this?

But then they started to turn like this:

I think Fall is officially my favorite season. I love the beauty of each season, but fall somehow trumps them all.

I mean, how can you not resist this:



Just too beautiful.

The Taste of Fall

Carlotta over at pastor's girl's ponderings is having a photography challenge, and I thought I'd enter. :) The theme is food... and I found just the perfect picture.

This is a pie I made last year for my brother's birthday - the first pie I've tried the lattice top with. I think there's something about apple pie that just exudes fall. The sweet-tart apples, savory cinnamon, crunchy crust... mmm mmm.

Hungry yet? ;)

Last Bits of Summer

Okay, a little apologising is in order. I wrote my last blog post from my home right before leaving to college...  and that was about two months ago.

I've been taking pictures left and right here at college, but for some reason I haven't been able to upload them. I'd had this post ready to go since the second week of September, but no matter what I tried I wasn't able to upload the pictures to blogger. Finally I have figured a way out... so now you will be hearing from me again! :D

Well, autumn is here officially, but I've always been one for reminiscing. So here are some little last bits of summer I'd like to share with you.

Rose of sharon:

Yet even in the joy and vibrancy of summer, a little nonstalgia dwells:

I will be posting many more pictures of college life and color soon, so stay posted! :)

I Love Loving People

You know what?

I love loving people. Going out of the box... out of the blue... and letting them know just how much they are loved.

Complimenting them, saying the sweet things you think but feel too shy to say. Being genuine - smiling - telling them just how special they are.

Being willing to be vulnerable and let them hear what you really think and feel. Let them see who you really are deep inside.

Loving people is scary, because you can't get close until you're willing to peel back the layers. But the end result is truly beautiful.

A true friendship is like two cups, constantly pouring into each other. If only one did it, that cup would soon be dry. But when they both pour their love, laughter and lives into each other, encouraging each other and lifting each other up to God, the picture of their lives becomes truly beautiful.

I love loving people.

New Things

There's been a lot of changes around here recently. Notice anything different about the blog? Yep, that's right, the makeover is complete!I think Olive Tree did a great job - I love the color scheme especially. :) It matches perfectly with the pictures in the header (which is pretty awesome, don't you think?)

Another new thing is that I finally got my camera! Obviously, from the second I opened it, it was picture-taking time. I ran the battery out in the first two days because I was just so excited to have a camera in my hands again!

Here are a few pictures (don't worry, I'll have more up soon!):

Of course, the first picture I took was a self-portrait. ;)

See the reflection of the camera?

Trying out macro

I'll be experimenting with the new watermark... so bear with me! :D

Also, I've added a subscribe link on the bottom - both for subscribing through email, and for subscribing through a reader. If you're a casual looker, or a facebook stalker (lol), I would love if you subscribed! 

So, what do you think of all this "newness"? ;)

Exciting News!

Remember my last post in which I entered Olive Tree's photography contest? Well guess what? I won!

The prize I chose is a blog makeover, which I am extremely excited about. :D Since my main blog already had a makeover recently, I chose to do a makeover for this blog - complete with a scrolling picture header, new watermark for photos, and everything! Needless to say, I'm extremely excited!

Another awesome thing that happened recently is that I bought a camera (yes, I know, FINALLY)! I've been researching for a long time and I finally found one which seems to be all I want within my price range. It's a Canon SD1300IS (12 mp, 4x optical zoom) and I'm pretty excited about it. I got it online so I won't receive it for a few days yet. I can't wait! :D

Like the pictures in this post? They're some of the last remaining pictures I wanted to post from my old camera. I'm getting a new one just in time! :D

This is What Inspires Me

Olive Tree is having a photography contest with the theme of inspiration. Here are my two entries:

This picture inspires me because it reminds me of God's care for us. The care with which my brother is holding the little bird, the trust in the bird's eye... this is a perfect example of God's care for me. I know I need not fear, since my life is held secure in God's hands. He's always got me, even when I want to struggle and try to fly on my own. I just have to trust Him.

I love this picture. It reminds me of the verse from Hebrews "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

This is my inspiration. As long as I fix my eyes on Jesus, I am inspired beyond belief. Even if all the rest of my life is painted in shades of gray, fixing my eyes on Jesus gives everything new life and color.

Sunlight and Water

It has been sticky, sweaty, boiling hot this summer, so every chance we get, we go to the lake!

cooling our feet in the water

 


The lake has a big tower at the end of the dock for people to jump off. There's three levels... and the third level is even higher than a high dive. I've only gone off 1st and 2nd, but my brothers jump off 3rd all the time. :)

I was a bit disappointed not to get him jumping - but the awesomeness of the splash made up for it. :)

On our last outing we also saw a family of swans!

Daddy checking the place out

Mommy coming with the babies

One big, happy family

I just can't get over how pretty the sunlight is on the water.

Ah, such peace. :)

i heart faces - teens

Well, this will be my first time doing i heart faces, but hey, I always love trying something new!


The theme for this week is Teens, so the photo must have been shot by a teen (which I still qualify as). Boy, was it hard to decide what photo to post! But I finally picked out this one:

Like our silly faces? I actually took this like a typical "myspace picture" (i.e. holding the camera out and looking up at it). It turned out surprisingly well!


Also - I changed the look of this blog! What do you think? Anything you think I should change? ;)