Halloween 2013

On Halloween this year, I had to work all day. My boss told me I could dress up, so I was trying to figure out a good costume. I was originally going to be Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz, but I had no sparkly red shoes. Without the shoes, that costume wasn't going to fly.

My second choice was Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus, but it turns out dresses as ugly as that are REALLY hard to find.

So, at the very last minute, I raided my closet and came up with this.

edited with PicMonkey

 TA - DA! 

I was Eliza Doolittle! 

source

And, as it turned out, I was the only one who dressed up, but it was still a lot of fun. The only bad part was the shoes I decided to wear were killing me two hours into my eight hour shift. 

And, yes, I chose to dress up as Eliza with the full knowledge that absolutely NO ONE was going to know who I was. But I was actually wrong; one woman knew immediately who I was. That was pretty cool. But among the other guesses I got:

2 people guessed I was Annie.

3 people thought I was Mary Poppins.

1 guy I work with thought I was someone from Fiddler on the Roof.

1 person guessed 'random homeless person'. Thanks.

And 1 person thought I was a hobo.

I find it interesting that the majority of the guesses were characters from a musical. That made me very happy. I was unmistakably from a musical, the only question was which musical.

For those of you (and by this, Steve, yes, I am talking about you) who don't know who Eliza Doolittle is or where she is from, here's my personal favorite song from the musical My Fair Lady, Wouldn't it Be Loverly.

Eliza is one of my top musical heroines for three reasons: 

1. She was played by Audrey Hepburn for the 1964 movie, and by Julie Andrews in the original Broadway production. 

That reason could stand on it's own. I mean, really. Audrey Hepburn and Julie Andrews. Enough said. But I do have two more reasons...

2. Eliza isn't a perfect character by any means. She's weird. She can be downright irritating. But she has a strength inside her that makes me love her. She's willing to work for what she wants, and she knows she has dignity and worth, even if she's just a 'poor flower girl'. When she's been 'made into a lady' by Professor Henry Higgins, she says something so profound.

She sums up the truth, that she may very well have been better off selling flowers in the streets:

"I sold flowers. I didn't sell myself. 

Now you've made a lady of me, I'm not fit to sell anything else," 

This realization helps her choose that she, herself, and the dignity she possesses, are more useful and important to her than being a lady, or being accepted by high society.

3. She loves Henry Higgins even though he's obnoxious, rude, and abrasive. She brings out the best in Higgins. I love that. I love that she doesn't care whether or not being in love is perfect and rosy for her. She just loves. *

My mom told me I should talk in a cockney accent all day, but I didn't think I could pull it off. Maybe another year. When I'm not at work all day.

Well, Happy Halloween 2013!

*I'm not 100% certain that she doesn't end up with Freddy and not Higgins. I found a synopsis of the movie with a note at the end suggesting that in the original play by George Bernard Shaw, she married Freddy. But in the movie, she pretty much dumps him. Either way, it doesn't negate my point. Eliza is capable of loving even the most unlovable of people. 

Come to Me - Goo Goo Dolls

Forgive this band for having a strange name. Please.

I have been a fan of the Goo Goo Dolls pretty much my entire life. This is probably because my mother loved them ever since they were featured in an episode of Sesame Street. Amazing how that works out. 

I heard this song just this morning on my way to work, and I said, "This is a cool song. It sounds like John Rzeznick," (The lead singer of the Goo Goo Dolls)

My mother didn't think so. "Hm. It sounds like him, but I don't think it is,"

"I think its the Goo Goo Dolls,"

She didn't think so. 

Cue DJ at the end of the song, verifying that it was, indeed, the Goo Goo Dolls.

This might be the most beautiful song I've heard by them.

Enjoy : )

You and me, we've both got sins
I don't care about where you've been
Don't be sad and don't explain
This is where we start again

Beneath Your Beautiful - Labrinth feat. Emeli Sandé

This is my current favorite song. I have four versions of it pinned to my Music board on Pinterest. I know all the words. I have read very deep meaning into it that might not have been intended by the song's author.

Sometimes,  I don't feel good enough for myself, so I don't believe I'm good enough for someone else. So I put on masks, and build walls. I hide my imperfections behind my 'beautiful'...until I find someone who insists that they see beneath it.

= 

This song.

You tell all the boys "No"
Makes you feel good, yeah.
I know you're out of my league
But that won't scare me away, oh, no

You've carried on so long,
You couldn't stop if you tried it.
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But I'm gonna try.

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful?
Would you let me see beneath your perfect?
Take it off now, girl, take it off now, girl
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight?

You let all the girls go
Makes you feel good, don't it?
Behind your Broadway show
I heard a boy say, "Please, don't hurt me"

You've carried on so long,
You couldn't stop if you tried it.
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it,
But I'm gonna try.

(Chorus)

I'm gonna climb on top your ivory tower
I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out
We'll be falling, falling but that's OK
'Cause I'll be right here
I just wanna know...

(Chorus)

Bring Me the Night

There isn't an excuse for this level of blog neglect. There just isn't. And unfortunately, the heat index in my area is over 100 degrees, so I'm not exactly full of energy and ideas for amazing blog posts. So I'll stick with something easy and entertaining: song post! 

Two weeks ago, I found this song on Youtube due to the fact that I frequently look at Kurt Hugo Schneider's page because he produces some fantastic music. I love Kina Grannis' voice, so I was delighted to see she is featured in Sam Tsui's newest single, Bring Me the Night. Aside from the fact that it is a beautiful song, it is very relevant to my life. When the person you love most is 1,000 miles away, this kind of thing can be very relatable. 

Measuring days in the spaces between our goodbyes
Learning to wait through the endless parade
Of our same old see-you-next-time's
But when I close my eyes, the miles melt away
Like you're here in my arms at the end of the day

So bring me the night, send out the stars
Cause when I'm dreaming we don't seem so far
Darken the sky, and light up the moon
So that somehow you'll be here with me soon
Bring me the night
Bring me the night
That brings me to you
You

Early Birdie

As miraculous as it may seem, I had never heard this Owl City song before this evening.

-

I'd ask but we don't know
How far these interstates go
Or how deep the city routes go down
In chilly subdepth railways
The weathered concrete stairways
Provide me with the means of getting home
If I ever leave.



_

My Top 5 Music Videos

I love music videos. If I like a song, I immediately wonder if there's a music video. Songs always paint stories in my mind, so I like to see stories paired with songs. As such, I have watched a lot of music videos in my life. I think the first one I ever saw was the Be My Escape video by Reliant K. And shortly thereafter I watched the Hold On video by the Jonas Brothers. No, I was not eased into the music video world gently.

Because I love music videos so much (I seriously want to direct one someday), I decided to post my official TOP 5 music videos out there in this world. These are the videos that I would watch (or have watched) a dozen times at once.

Voila. I realize I've posted two of these music videos before (here and here), but they are indeed in my top 5, so I'm posting them again. I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I do!

#5

Mine, Taylor Swift

I'm not going to lie, there are SEVERAL Taylor Swift music videos I love (any girl who doesn't love the You Belong With Me video is lying to herself), but this one has to be my favorite.  I don't approve of every part of it, particularly how the song talks about an unmarried couple living together. But its a seriously romantic and beautiful video. The story portrayed, the imagery, the setting, and the two little adorable blonde boys put it at #5 on my list.

#4

Just Haven't Met You Yet, Michael Buble

I had never even heard of Michael Buble when my older sister had us load this video on our glacially slow internet connection three years ago. It is the funniest music video I've ever seen. Ever. All the other funny videos try to be as funny as this one. And the song is pretty fabulous, too. I love how everyone starts randomly dancing in the aisles. And the ending is truly ironic. All that puts this video at #4.

#3

Little Balloon, Jenny and Tyler

Yes, I know, I've posted this one before. But I still love it. I found Jenny and Tyler through an internet ad for a Christian music concert, so I decided to check out their website. The Little Balloon video had just been released, so I decided to see what it was like. I was drawn into it immediately. I love how its filmed, and I love how an entire video can follow one little red balloon as the wind carries it to a new destination. #3!

#2

Youtopia, Armin Van Buurin Feat. Adam Young

Again, yes, I've posted this one before. Forgive me. I love this video for a lot of reasons. I admit, one of those reasons is because Adam Young is in it. But I love the mystery of it. I love how its set in flashbacks and memories evoked by a place. Having lived four states away from my best friend since I was 10, I can relate to the sense of wanting to turn around and see a person standing there who is, in reality, very far away. Its just a beautiful video full of color and emotion. So here it is, back on my blog once again at #2.

#1

Her Diamonds, Rob Thomas

Here it is. My number one, all time favorite music video. I have loved Rob Thomas ever since I heard the song Little Wonders. I saw this video on Youtube one day and it intrigued me, but I didn't watch it at first because I had never heard the song before. When I did, it blew me away. It is absolutely incredible. The song has an eerie but hopeful sound to it. I love the use of light, how it slowly floods into the room as the sun rises. The imagery goes with the words like magic. And the special effects are just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. I mean, come on, there is a girl ENCASED IN ICE. 

Overall, I know its kind of a dark and metaphorical video (the song was written by Thomas for his wife who was suffering from an auto-immune disease), but I can't get over it. Its full of a passion and intensity that inspire me, and for the past year or so, it has held the honored place in my heart as my #1 music video.

There you have it. I hope your summer is going as well as mine!

Life Is Beautiful

I don't think my life has ever been quite this beautiful, and I can't wait to see where it goes. 

These are things that make us feel alive
These are the times that make us realize

Life is beautiful.

Seven Reasons I'm Afraid to Go Outside

I'm a little bit of a Blimey Cow fan, and I infected my younger siblings. My brother Joseph will come up to me every Monday and say, "Have you watched the new Blimey Cow video yet? Can we watch it now? Can we watch it in your room?" 

As unfortunate as it is to say, this particular video that came out a few weeks ago is a fairly accurate summary of my feelings towards nature. 

I LOVE being outside...but on my own terms. The weather has to be perfect, the bugs have to be few or nonexistent, wildlife needs to be where it can be observed and not encountered, and I prefer never to sit on the bare ground if I can help it because someone once told me a few too many horror stories about wood ticks. 

That being said, this video is also hilarious, and since my brain was turned to much by five small children for the second morning in a row (#hashtag#VBS#crewleaderproblems #theworstpartaboutbeingachristian), I'll save my witty satire for another post.

Have yourself a Wonderful Wednesday!

Anthem Lights: Best of 2012 Pop Mashup

I discovered Anthem Lights on Youtube this week while I was writing a history paper (haha), and I think this is the most incredible thing I have ever heard. Hope you enjoy it. (And yes, Darling, I know Call Me Maybe is in it. Listen to it anyway.)

Never Gone Cover, Melina B.

Once again, Melina has done an amazing cover of an amazing song! This one is for a Youtube contest, so I offered to shamelessly promote her. I had never heard the song Never Gone by Colton Dixon before (which is a shame because it's amazing!), so I looked it up after I listened to Melina's version.

I actually like her's better! I still love Colton Dixon's original, but her acoustic cover was so impressive, beautiful and passionate to me. So give her a listen and pray for her; she will be serving with NET Ministries starting in August, and she's trying to get into the Christian music industry someday.

God bless you Melina, and good luck! : )

Poison and Wine, The Civil Wars

I just found this song yesterday in a video I was watching on Youtube, and I was perplexed by it, even though I immediately loved it. The music is gorgeous, and I already appreciated the The Civil Wars' epic harmonies from when they were featured in Taylor Swift's song, Safe and Sound. The verses are really beautiful. What confused me was the refrain: Oh I don't love you but I always will.

Trying to find some answers as to what The Civil Wars meant by this line, I Googled it, and found a really interesting article interviewing the two members of the band, John Paul White and Joy Williams:

When you performed in NYC last summer you were promoting the Poison and Wine EP, which came out in late 2009.  The title track is so powerful and speaks of relationships in such an honest way.  You are both married to other people, yet you write with so much chemistry. Do you find writing with someone who isn’t your significant other to be somewhat therapeutic?

John Paul: When we come into a writing session it’s a bit like therapy.  We can talk about things, and because we are married to other people we have a lot of the same things going on in our lives with relationships- the good, bad and ugly.  If we were in a relationship there would be certain things that would be forbidden for us to write and talk about.  There are things that we can say [to each other] that sometimes you may reserve because you don’t know how it will be taken and you don’t want to let the cat out of the bag about how you really feel.  We can say to each other, “Alright what would you scream into someone’s face if you knew they would never hear it?”

Joy: That’s Poison and Wine.

John Paul: It’s all those little things you would love to say but you really don’t want to be heard.  We do that with a lot of our songs.  Some are completely inspired by events in movies or art that we’ve seen, or books we’ve read, but some of it we pull from our own personal lives.  We just keep to ourselves which is which. source

I thought that was some really cool insight, and helped me to understand the song a little better.

I can't say whether or not there is some hidden meaning behind this song, but at face value, I find it be very convicting. It paints a really heartfelt portrait of how as a human being, I do not treat the people who should mean the most to me as well as they deserve. I recognize that sometimes I say and do things that hurt people I love. Sometimes I choose not to love them. But I always will. 

Into the Woods

The Gist:

On February 16th I went to see my favorite musical in the entire world: Into the Woods! I saw Into the Woods Jr. several years ago, which is only the first half of the musical, and last year I rediscovered it and watched the entire thing online. That was when I learned that half my favorite characters die in the second act (ironic, right?). I own the London Cast Recording soundtrack and listen to it regularly. I know most of the songs by heart and go around the house singing them.
When I heard the theater group in my dad's hometown was putting it on, I came very close to freaking out and asked off work to make sure that I could go.

The Performance:

It was amazing. Even more so than any other performance of Into the Woods, I'd venture to say, because this particular acting group takes no shortcuts and demands performance quality like nobody else. It was also cool that one of the girl's I know played the role I would want if I were ever to be in it: Jack's mother, from Jack and the Beanstalk! She's a no-nonsense lady who overreacts to a lot of things, and in the second act she gets to die dramatically. Fabulous.

Why I Love It:

I love this musical for a lot of reasons. The first and foremost reason is probably because it is based on all my favorite fairy tales. Other reasons include: The music is fantastic, the characters are lovable, the plot is creative and unexpected, it makes you laugh, it makes you cry, and it teaches you many valuable lessons, including: "Wishes come true, not free."

Favorite Characters:

I have a lot of favorite characters from this musical: Rapunzel (of course), the Baker and his Wife, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack, Cinderella, and The Mysterious Old Man (yep, that's his name).

Why I Don't Love It:

Of course, there are also elements to it I don't like. The Baker's Wife insists that "The ends justify the means." Three of the characters are unfaithful to their spouses in the second act. Parts of it suggest that there is no such thing as absolute truth and everyone must decide what is right or wrong for themselves, which I disagree with.

But without these elements, the musical might seem idealistic and difficult to relate to. The characters are profoundly flawed; they are dishonest, cowardly, selfish, manipulative, unfaithful, and vengeful. But they are also kind, generous, loyal, brave, adventurous and passionate. They choose to be both good and bad, and suffer the consequences of their choices.

Favorite Parts:

Act I:
I love the entire first act. It is just perfectly precious in every way. But to name a favorite scene...probably when to Baker steals Little Red Riding Hood's cloak and she screams until he gives it back. So funny. I also love the Witch...she's pretty fabulous and has some great one-liners.
The song Giants in the Sky is probably my favorite in Act I, and I also love I Know Things Now.

Act II:
After a giant storms through the kingdom and destroys everything, the Baker and his Wife are trying to get Little Red Riding Hood safely home. She says, "Mother said never to stray from the path!" The Baker replies, "The path has strayed from you,"
There is one line in which the witch (the villain) grows angry with the remaining characters and tells them, "You're so nice! You're not good, you're not  bad, you're just NICE!" I like this line because I feel like it applies to me and makes me want to be better. Sometimes I'm not good or even bad, I'm just nice. And as Little Red Riding Hood says, "Nice is different than good!" 
After that, the two songs No More and No One Is Alone are just so achingly beautiful. The ending is really bittersweet, but I'm always left with a sense that the characters who survived have learned from all the terrible things that happened and will do better from then on.

Discussion:

On our drive home, my dad and I had a long discussion about the musical, particularly the moral aspects of it. We agreed that if there hadn't been things in it that were wrong, we wouldn't understand how good some of the elements of it are, or be able to discuss so much about it.

Bottom Line: 

This is and will probably always be my favorite musical, and it was a total treat to see it performed live by some of my favorite actors and actresses!

Satisfied by God

I hope all of you are having a good, holy, and relatively happy Ash Wednesday! Fasting can be painful, but I'm pretty sure dying on the Cross was INFINITELY more painful for Jesus than anything we're going through right now. I am giving up my Tumblr for Lent, so I will definitely stop neglecting this blog and flood it with posts, I promise : )

Anyway, today I have come to a realization that God has a perfect plan. I have been aware of this for a long time, and I talk/think/pray about it a great deal. However, TODAY, through an e-mail from a friend, I came to the fullest awareness I have ever experienced of the fact that GOD HAS A PLAN, that is living and active in my life. 

\

You remember Melina, my dear sweet wonderful friend who I met last month? She mentioned me and my blogs in her latest video (this is the sweetest thing ever, Melina, thank you!). I have been keeping in touch with her via e-mail, and she has been so kind as to pray for me as I wait patiently for God's will for me this year to be revealed. She asked me how this discernment was going, and I told her that so far I have come to be at peace WITH waiting on God, but I have also deeply discerned my call to marriage in a way that was unexpected and beautiful.

In response, with the theme of waiting, Melina told me about this amazing reflection that is attributed  to St. Anthony of Padua:

“Everyone longs to give themselves completely to someone, to have a deep soul relationship with another, To be loved thoroughly and exclusively.

But to a Christian, God says, “No, not until you are satisfied, Full and content with being loved by me alone, with giving yourself totally and unreservedly to me. With having an intensely personal and unique relationship with me alone.

Discovering that only in me is your satisfaction to be found, Will you be capable of the perfect human relationship, That I have planned for you. You will never be united to another until you are united with me. Exclusive of anyone or anything else. Exclusive of any other desires or longings. I want you to stop planning, to stop wishing, and allow me to give you The most thrilling plan existing… one you cannot imagine. I want you to have the best. Please allow me to bring it to you.

You just keep watching me, expecting the greatest things. Keep experiencing the satisfaction that I am. Keep listening and learning the things that I tell you. Just wait, that’s all. Don’t be anxious, don’t worry. Don’t look around at things others have gotten or that I have given them. Don’t look around at the things you think you want, Just keep looking off and away up to me,  Or you’ll miss what I want to show you, And then, when you’re ready, I’ll surprise you with a love Far more wonderful than you could dream of.

You see, until you are ready, and until the one I have for you is ready, I am working even at this moment. To have both of you ready at the same time. Until you are both satisfied exclusively with me.”

-St. Anthony de Padua

source

I think I've heard about this reflection before, but it wasn't until Melina told me about it that I looked it up and read it. 

This has convicted me to the core.  The root of this conviction is the partial realization of the PLAN that God has for me. Three years ago, I went to my first NET retreat. It was an all-girls retreat, and I remember in my small group, we started talking about boys. Trust me, at a girls retreat, boys are discussed in depth. One of the girls told a story about how when we deeply desire to find the person we're called to marry, we have to fall in love with GOD before we can fall in love with a man. 

I think it's safe to say that I fell in love with God on that retreat. I was swept up in His goodness, faithfulness, mercy, and love. Through that retreat, I came to a point in my faith where it was MY OWN. It no longer mattered whether or not my parents stayed Catholic and made me go to Church and pray. I was going to pursue God FOR MYSELF, because I had tasted what He had for me, and I WANTED Him.

Today, it has been three years after that retreat where I heard this idea for the first time, that before we can find the person we're made to love, we need to find God and fall in love with Him. I have since  made the best friends I've ever had, deepened my relationship with God step by step, and actually applied for NET. Everything is connected somehow. And now, when I have truly, deeply, insanely discerned my call to marriage, I have my dear Melina, who sent me to these beautiful words from St. Anthony. 

I have had a beautiful and crazy year so far, and its only February. I am praying and praying about what my future holds, and I keep finding I have only been satisfied by God Himself. Yes, I'm called to marriage, but I can't find and love my future spouse until we are BOTH satisfied by God. 

God alone satisfies our every human desire. This post is ridiculously long, but if you stuck it out this far, I pray that you will let God satisfy you, no matter what He is calling you to. 

Have an awesome Lent! 

Paperman

I love this beyond all words. The music. The animation. The love story. 

Perfect in every way. 

Enjoy : )

Any Other Way - Tenth Avenue North

It's not enough

it's not enough

just to say that we're okay.

I need your hurt

I need your pain;

IT'S NOT LOVE 

ANY OTHER WAY.

I do this too often. I post something and say one or all of the following:

1. OH MY GOSH THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER!!

2. This is absolutely beautiful.

3. This is amazing. LOVE IT WITH ME!!!!

So I am trying to avoid ALL of them and be unique this time, because I owe this blog a decent post. It's been too long. Here goes:

A while ago, I saw the refrain to this song written on a girl's avatar on an online Catholic girls forum I'm part of. I remember she was going through an EXTREMELY rough time in her life, and she took a lot of comfort from this song. 

Just this week, I was thinking about those words, I need your hurt, I need your pain, its not love any other way. I have only recently really started to LOVE other people, and that line resonated in my heart. I, too, have been going through a rough time, because I feel lost and alone and I just don't know where God is taking me anymore. 

So I looked up the song using the magical tool that is Google, and gave it a listen. I was blown away by how accurate the lyrics are. We hear a billion songs a day about what love is and what it looks like, and this was a completely new and 100% TRUE message. 

I'm at a place where I can see very clearly how blessed I am, and how beautiful my life is. Still, my heart is aching for things that aren't realized yet, and I feel broken. And I have this terrible tendency to keep that from God. I just weather the storm and thank God when it's over, but I don't GIVE it to Him. 

This song has helped me realize that if I really want to let God love me, I need to give Him my hurt and my pain. It's not love any other way.

My wonderful weekend

This past weekend I interviewed with NET Ministries, because I feel that God is calling me to serve His Kingdom by ministering to youth who are in need of His love.

This weekend was absolutely fantastic. There were moments of great pain where the Devil tried to steal my peace in God's plan for me, but my Blessed Mother came to my rescue and her prayers helped me to trust again. I had so much fun, I grew closer to Christ, and I made some unbelievably awesome friends who I hope to keep for years, no matter who gets accepted this year.

One of my new friends, a magnificent young lady named Melina, I have actually been able to keep in touch with right away via e-mail, and I learned that she is a singer-songwriter slowly trying to work her way into the Christian music industry. Her videos are fantastic, and I wanted to share with all of you the one video that is my favorite so far. Please watch her videos and like them if you have a Youtube account (I do not)! She's trying to get 500 views this year, and she has a really beautiful voice :)

Melina is such a beautiful witness to God's unfailing love. I am honored to call her my friend. We're really different; she's confident and accomplished, I'm kind of goofy and procrastinating. But we share a common desire for Christ and His will above anything else. No one can take our Lord from us, no matter how we suffer or struggle in this life.

Please keep Melina, myself, and about 55 other young men and women who applied for NET this past weekend. We all desire to serve God in this way, and it is a journey that will take faith and strength, accepted or not.

In other news, my younger sister got back from Rome the Friday I was gone at my NET interview, and she bought me a gorgeous scarf and a big pile of Italian candy (I LOVE YOU MEG!!). I am starting my second semester of senior year. And that's about it!

God bless, and take care!

2012 and 2013

I am willing to go out on a limb and say that this has been the best year of my life so far.

So much has happened, I've grown so much, seen so much, and learned so much, its just incredible. 

source

Last year on this day I was in Rome, Italy. This time around, my younger sister will be going in January!


So I started off this year in another country. My trip to Rome was the scariest, bravest, hardest, and most exciting thing I've ever done. I went because God asked me to, and I don't know exactly how it changed me, but it did. I got to see the body of St. Clare of Assisi, whom I am named after, I got to see Pope Benedict XVI from about five feet away, and I discovered the most magical substance on the face of the earth...Strawberry Gelato!

A lot of other amazing things happened this year, and terrible, hard things, too.

I moved twice in the past two years, met someone mildly famous who I admire, cut my hair too short three times in a row, went to the funeral of a wonderful friend, saw my first friend for an afternoon, spent a week with my best friend and his family, continued to work at a grocery store, applied for Catholic ministry work, procrastinated and slacked off in my studies, said goodbye to a lot of friends going to college, bought a laptop named Quincy, thought I had my wallet stolen, attended an amazing art class, made Pascal from the movie Tangled out of wire, wrote a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, went to a Britt Nicole concert, saw no movies in the theater, ate my weight in egg roles, rediscovered my favorite musical, caught up with my extended family, read a bunch of stunning books....and basically fell more in love with God.

I am looking forward to 2013. I have an interview in January with a United States based missionary organization, and if I get excepted, I'll spend nine months serving the Church by sharing my faith with young people. I will probably find a new job since mine is starting to cost me due to gas money, and I might actually get a driver's license. Maybe.
I will graduate sometime in the spring, and while I have no plans for going to college yet, I recently took my ACT and will find out my scores soon. My options are open.

I have no idea what God has in store for me, but I'm excited. He has a perfect plan, and He has never, ever let me down. I am secure in Christ, and I will continue to try and serve Him above all things, and become a saint.

As I usually do at the end of each year, I like to pick a favorite song or a song that really sums up how I feel about this year and next year. This is extremely difficult for me as I run on music and its been a whole 365 days of awesome songs. But, like I said, I went to a Britt Nicole concert this past fall, and it was really inspiring for me. Britt Nicole is an amazing young woman who has given God her all, and at her concert she said something kind of awesome. She said that no matter how big our dreams are, God's dreams for us are bigger. That is definitely true for my life; I have no idea where I'm going, I'm dreaming too small. But I will follow God wherever His dreams for me will go.

Basically, Britt Nicole is awesome, and I hope I can see her perform live again someday.

So, my song this year is from her. Enjoy, God Bless you, and Happy New Year 2013!

~Merry Christmas 2012~

I haven't been posting much, but I've been a little busy and a lot blessed. 

Yesterday I had to work, but I was able to go home early enough to go to Christmas Eve Mass with my family. It was so beautiful and I was so overflowing with joy. My sister told me, "You were absolutely giddy in Mass yesterday!" Father gave an awesome homily about the humility of St. Joseph. 

This morning, I was saying, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" And my little sister asked, "So, how old is Jesus now?"

I actually tried to give her an answer, being the crazy woman that I am...

"Um...let me see...roughly 2,036 years? I think?"

I don't think I'm right, I was only making a rough guesstimate of how many years it had been since God was born as a baby. No big deal.

It's been a good Christmas. I received a lot of wonderful gifts (including mini peanut butter cups!), and everyone liked their presents from me. My older sister even liked the neon pink hippo Pillow Pet I got her! Success!

Here is my favorite Christmas song of this year; Come and Worship, performed by Bebo Norman. I love this song because it captures all the power that came with God humbling Himself and becoming man. 

More than anything this Christmas, I am blown away by love. This has probably been the best year of my life. I wanted to share that with you by saying Merry Christmas and God bless you all!

Piano Guys

A little something that I absolutely had to share with you...

This is legitimately the coolest group of musicians ever. My family just discovered them on Youtube this week. The Piano Guys take popular songs and cover them, mostly using just the cello and piano. That right there is enough to get ME excited.

This mashup of Love Story (Taylor Swift) and Viva La Vida (Coldplay) is one of my favorites...unfortunately, I can't buy it because the Piano Guys haven't gotten permission from Coldplay to sell a song with Viva la Vida in it. This is most depressing. But I can listen to it on Youtube all I want!

Its amazing how much more beautiful music becomes when you take the words out and just play it as magnificently as you possibly can. It doesn't hurt that I've been in love with the cello since I was six years old, either.

I don't even know what else to say to try and convince you how incredible this music is. It just is. It's awesome.

Enjoy :)

Feminine Genius

Stand up for your liberty, girls, because people are putting words in our mouths and using us as an excuse to make things against our religion MANDATORY. Don’t you ever believe that when a law is passed, everything is over. If we speak out, they will have no choice but to listen.