get a load of this sculpture.

snagged this photograph from a trip made by some of my mother's friends.

taken at the emp museum in seattle.

i need to see this in person.

just.

so.

stinkin'.

cooooooooool.

beautiful

simply gorgeous.

{via tumblr}

summer weekend.

i'm away for a little while this weekend,

so i'm leaving you with a few things that made me grin this week . . .

an illustration of why i take so long to get ready each morning

just click play.

~~~

i heart sofia coppola.

~~~

enviable vintage.

~~~

yes, please and thank you.

~~~

going to catalyst again in october with my pulse peeps.

hurray!

{via tumblr}

empty

as of today,

i don't have a plan.

i got a pretty big "no" on something for which i was confident for a "yes."

the funny thing is that

i'm not even sad about it

{and i seriously thought i would be}.

instead, i'm at peace.

i know things are going to be okay,

even though i can't see where my life is taking me.

this summer has already been full of unexpectedness

and i've realized

{especially after today's "no"}

that i truly am empty of my own plans.

i guess it's because sometimes

"empty"

doesn't mean

"vacant."

sometimes "empty" simply is just

"waiting to be filled."

~~~

this was part of my quiet time yesterday . . .

how perfectly appropriate:

"delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you

the desires of your heart.

commit your way to the Lord;

trust in Him and He will do this:

He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,

the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

be still before the Lord and wait

patiently

for Him . . ."

psalm 37:3-7

{via tumblr}

yes, please.

sometimes a girl just wants to dress up.

i'm going to a wedding in vermont this weekend

with my closest college buddy, richard

{he is the best man}.

i wish i could be his hot date by wearing this cute little ensemble.

alas,

this is not the case.

i will, however, be wearing my fave

almost-rodarte dress.

probably will throw some kind of college friend reunion

into the mix while i'm gone

friday through saturday evening.

back for church by sunday morning . . .

we've got big plans!

{via anthro}

liquid jelly beans. you didn't think it was possible, did you?

this weekend i worked at the

concord multicultural festival

and was introduced

to my new favorite beverage:

jarritos mexican sodas.

let me first tell you:

i am not a soda drinker.

i have a sincere aversion to high fructose corn syrup

{i don't care what those silly paid-by-corn-growers-of-american commercials

say about moderation . . . }.

but these things are made with cane sugar

and are disgustingly sweet;

absolutely wonderful on a hot summer night.

they're packaged in pretty glass bottles

{which always make drinks taste better for some reason}

and come in some really neat, colorful flavors.

my try for the evening was guava.

i was parched

and it was divine.

i kind of want to order a bunch,

just to happily display in my fridge.

{via}

may i pul-leaaaase live here????

on monday mornings,

usually the only thing i can think of is

b.e.d.

the images of this attic bedroom

are not making it one

bit

easier.

i know most adults dream of their first home

including a humongo master bedroom

with en suite bathroom

{which i, lucky me, have in my apartment right now}.

but i willing agree to "settle"

for a super cool attic bedroom

like this one.

i just love the fluffy bed,

stunning chandelier and,

more specifically,

the built-in bookcase. {via design sponge}

i just found this.

and i liked it.

goodbye, weekend; it was a great one.

i'll miss you.

"to infinity and beyond!"

oh boy.

i just quoted buzz lightyear,

didn't i?

i am about to post a blog

based on my thoughts after watching a pixar film.

consider yourselves warned.

{not that there is anything wrong with pixar films.}

~~~

so,

last night i saw toy story 3,

right?

wrong.

i saw an animated film that tackled one of the key life issues

that has plagued me since childhood.

change.

i've always resisted change.

why would i want to change things when i'm already happy?

do i want to leave behind what i already know?

trying new things is unknown and scary.

i often feel foolish, anxious and wary of charting new territory.

but quite simply,

i don't grow from being stagnant.

i can't learn without new and fresh ideas introduced to my life.

what is even worse is that when i don't stretch myself,

i trick my self into thinking that i don't need God.

or at least as much.

it may sound ridiculously cheesy,

but during the times in my life when God has nudged me outside of my comfort zone,

i have grown so much closer to Him.

when everything around me seems unstable and unfamiliar,

He is what grounds me and gives me solace.

{that doesn't mean that i'm not still a silly wreck during the process, but that is

another blog post all together.}

"the Lord is my rock,

my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my stronghold."

psalm 18:2

~~~

fyi:

toy story 3

was adorable and laugh-out-loud funny.

i think i annoyed the entire theather with my giggly outbursts . . . whoops!

"f.a.o. my schwartz!"

i mean, c'mon . . .

that's just ridiculous and awesome.

what makes you cry?

i recently read an excerpt from a robert frost poem

that i'm quite fond of,

"the road not taken."

i think my affinity for frost started

back in 4th grade when my class did a unit on new hampshire

and we learned about the famous poet from our home state.

we made really adorable accordion books to illustrate

"stopping by woods on a snowy evening."

i really grew to love frost, though, after

years of singing his poetry to lovely arrangements written by randall thompson

{yup, yours truly was a choir geek and a ridiculous one at that . . . and can we just remark at how sick

the piano accompaniment is to 'a girl's garden'?? i mean, really.}

in the early years of my music education.

as i grew up,

the group i sang with moved on to different pieces that really moved me

as a young person.

this one in particular . . .

i replayed this about 8 times this afternoon

and it made me sob every time.

people read my blog just because they want to learn how to dress like emily haines.

or so reports my analytics account.

i guess i've posted about this a few times before?

because really,

she is ridiculously cool.

i wish i could rock a guitar like this.

not to mention, every girl dies to wear sparkles.

which is why this dress

{found via piperlime}

is just awesome.

seriously,

it's just sick.

sadly,

i am not a rockstar and will never be . . .

{except for when i'm singing in my bathroom in front of the mirror

instead of brushing my hair}

so i probably don't have too many places to wear it.

bestest and i went to see metric

{this very show, in fact, and it was insanely fun}

last november . . .

geez,

i love this band.

the one with the apothecary table

i paid a visit to my grammie yesterday after work

{she had some books to donate to my church's book drive for invisible children}

and on my way home,

i caught a glimpse of a glorious antique shop . . .

grammie lives by nh's antique alley

which makes for near car accidents if one is very

distracted by such lovely roadside sites.

anyway,

since i didn't have time to stop and peruse,

i was left to stalk anthro

for all things beautiful-but-not-really-antiques.

i feel kind of like rachel in

the one with the apothecary table.

ughhh,

that mustard yellow phone is particularly enticing. good grief.

it's fortunate i have amazing willpower, no space and am lacking thousands of extra dollars to to purchase tons of new furniture.

otherwise, there would be anthropologie mayhem.

audible squeal

i went browsing through an old memory stick

yesterday and found this cute little image

stored away in my

"random photographs that i like"

folder.

i don't know which is cuter:

the sweet innocence of hand-holding

or this little girl's outfit

which i would copy in an instant?

this little dude is quite the romeo too,

with his bright red chucks . . .

{via ihonestlycan'trememberandclearlydidn'tbothertowriteitdown}

happy sunday!

i fell in love with this photograph

this morning.

that's all.

{via tumblr}

gaga & chemistry is a bad romance

i really didn't like chemistry in high school

{i was more a language arts/music geek}.

my chemistry teacher

was a tiny, 5-foot former nun who was old enough

to be my grandmother.

she always wore sweater vests and orthopedic shoes

and only let us use one paper towel to dry our hands after washing them.

she was sweet a pie and ultra reserved,

but had a tendency to overwhelm herself with the demands of grading, college recommendations

and other school activities.

occasionally, she would have an absolute

freak out

at the class

{sometimes a dry erase marker was thrown across the room}.

now,

if this had come from any of my other teachers,

i would have been worried.

but when my 5-foot former nun chemistry teacher

flipped her lid,

it was so funny that we would sit in the back of the class,

laughing so hard that we cried.

~~~

back to gaga: i'm not a huge fan of the fame monster either

{though probably more than i was a fan of chemistry}.

but this little chart may have

helped this high school choir geek memorize

the periodic table of elements

faaaaaaar more quickly.

fyi:

despite my lack of seriousness,

my grades were still pretty darn good.

and i know what i said about

not really liking gaga . . .

she's just a little too much pop for me.

but thiiiiiis cover is pretty great.

and the bassist looks just like

my dad did back in the day . . .

no lie.

{via tumblr}

this is not me, but it could be.

because now my hair is purple.

well,

kinda purple.

and i love it.

eventually i'll get around to snapping some photos.

just not now.

{via tumblr}

oh, to grow up in a house like this!

it would have been very special indeeeeeeed.

which step would have been

your favorite?

mine would have been

"number the stars" . . .

it is still one of my faves to this very day.

i would like to have a house with an

identical staircase . . .

perhaps it will lead to

my chalkboard wall?

{via tumblr}

this book is taking me forever . . .

it's challenging.

but totally worth it.

this passage kicked my butt for a whole week:

"psalm 115:3 reveals,

"our God is in heave; he does whatever pleases him"

yet we keep on questioning Him:

"why did You make me with this body instead of that one?"

"why are so many people dying of starvation?"

. . .

the answer to each of these questions is simply this:

because He's God.

He has more of a right to ask us why so many people are starving."

right then and there is when i put down the book

and straight up cried.

for close to 30 minutes.

okay, maybe 25. but seriously, right?

i am this person so many times. i love statements like that . . .

so simple,

like you should have known it

already.

classic light bulb goes on moment.

reading this book is tough,

but is definitely inspiring

more reverent and honest quiet time with God.

it's a lot like

falling in love.

oh goody.

i complain too much.

and if that isn't reminder enough . . .

"therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

and walk in love,

as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,

a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

ephesians 5:1

makes me more than grateful.

{via invisible children}

swagger wagon

i'm not a parent yet . . .

a few more steps yet to go before that stage in life.

but i feel like this will say it all . . .

hysterical.

i.think.i.may.have.a.problem.

i might be slightly obsessed with baking.

again.

i tend to go through these stages . . .

for a while, i'd been okay without cake or cupcakes.

but now, oh, it's back with a vengeance.

{a baked a fab little strawberry lemonade cake for pulse last sunday . . .

i blame it on my church peeps.}

i've been commissioned to bake my brother's

25th birthday cake this week.

i'm thinking a double-layer s'more cake

{complete with graham cracker crust and marshmallow butter cream}.

something tells me that the family is going to need

help finishing it . . .

and probably a new gym membership.

~~~

in other news,

i'm thinking of begging my stylist to take my hair

from fire engine red to white blond.

thoughts???

{via tumblr}

wonder wall

i rarely blog about decor.

which means the following post reflects an intense need.

behold . . .

i want a chalkboard wall in the

WORST

way.

i am a doodler by nature . . .

through school and all during college,

i filled my note pages full of flowers, swirls and geometric shapes

{then had to recopy my notes later because i got annoyed at how messy the pages looked}.

i fight the urge to draw during church sermons

and i may have snuck in a penned swirly here or there

during my conference last week.

so wouldn't it be grand to doodle

all over the house?????

so which room is best? living room? kitchen? bedroom? bathroom???? {think about it . . . everyone admits, embarrassed or not, that some of the best thinking is done in the bathroom. imagine having a notepad to write it all down. on the wall.} {aren't you craving a stack of books like this under your table too?} i especially love the walls adorned with yellow, pink and blue chalk. alas, i don't own my apartment, so my chalkboard wall will have to wait a while . . . but the first chance i get, oh goody.

{via rhonna designs, calfinder & rambles with reese }

home sweet home.

home from miami!

i am so glad to be home from my little trip.

the conference was fantastic . . .

i learned a lot

and

my workshop on thursday morning

was a success!

my pretty hotel room view . . .

yes, the camera lens fogged every time

i went outside.

as it turns out,

memorial day weekend lands on

"urban beach week"

for south beach.

needless to say,

i was completely out of place while roaming

the streets in search of a bite during the evenings

{i consider myself to be somewhat diverse in musical taste,

but i readily admit that the only rap i've ever really

enjoyed is J5 and these guys . . .

not to mention that my

version of partying includes cupcakes and one glass of champagne.}

until i found a little french bakery.

then my ballet flats and i

were right at home.

now that i'm back in nh,

life couldn't be better.

looking forward to spending some quality time with brother

{who is home from england and i'm oh-so-overjoyed to see him}

and friends.

the weather is beautiful

and i'm a happy girl.

happy weekend,

everyone!