camp.

heaven on earth.

green IS gold

Thanks Adrian. Your serious expression (and serious beard) make me even more determined to take environmentalism seriously.
(Also thanks to www.gofugyourself.com for the photo and the hilarity)

total eclipse of the moon

My dad and I stood on my parents' deck and watched it for a while. I felt about seven years old again. My absolute adoration for astronomy (hey check out that alliteration!) has been dormant for a while but I feel it stirring again lately. I can't wait for a warm evening when I can lay back and just drink in the stars, all their stories, let my eyes adjust to all of those small lights in the vast, infinite darkness of space. We saw Orion, Cassiopeia, Taurus, Ursa Major...too many neighborhood lights to see much more.

los angeles

i remember thinking
that you'd never leave
praying in your bedroom
before i fell asleep
i still feel the moment
when you came alive
like a poem about springtime
nothing to hide

all of these homes
are lined up so straight
but here on the inside,
it's not that way

i gave you my life and more
from sadness to sunshine,
i'm yours, i'm your lost happiness
up in your los angeles sky

lately i've been thinking
that you'll never know
if you don't mark the way back
the further you go
lately i've been feeling
like i'm the bright star
that fell behind the mountain of feeling you are

-denison witmer

Biola, abundant sunshine, old friends, new friends, lots of laughter, cheeseburgers, lying in the grass, dance party, adventures, talking about film, late nights, happiness, more cheeseburgers, great conversation.

So yeah. It was a pretty great weekend.

valentine

Do not be silent with your love. Tell them.

Proverbs 16:24
"Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones."

my love for jim (and guitars)

Okay, so when listing my celebrity crushes a few posts down I can't believe I forgot about this guy:

















Thanks to J. Spiro's blog I did a little digging on my boy JK and came up with these photos. Below is John on stage with Death Cab's Ben Gibbard:

















Oh man. Looks like so much fun. I just want to be friends with everyone! It's like that dream I had once upon a time. I'm sure many of you have heard me talk about it. Me, Matt Damon, and George Clooney hanging out late at night, playing cards, drinking beer, and laughing like crazy. Those guys are so FUNNY in my head. Now every time I see one of them on screen my brain seriously thinks we're friends. I had a similar reaction to Ethan Hawke that one time. Then he totally made me fumble by having the same reaction to ME. Like "oh hey, don't I know you?" Weird. Twilight Zone.

Okay, I also have to share this cute picture I have of Travis' Dougie Payne (married to the so talented Scottish actress Kelly McDonald):

What can I say? I'm probably stating the obvious here, but I think I have a thing for guys with guitars.

And what ties this all together? On the day that Jim & Pam find the manuscript of Michael Scott's screenplay "Threat Level: Midnight" and they have a dinner of grilled cheese on the office rooftop, and then Jim walks her to his car and shares a song on his iPod, it's Travis. Of course. And that's right when I fell head over heels in love with Jim & Pam.

weekend (backwards)

last night:

Lars and the Real Girl














SO GOOD. A very unusual premise that tells a heartbreaking story of grief, love, and hope. "Winter doesn't end 'til Easter." Come, Spring!! Ryan Gosling is quietly, intimately, amazing.


saturday:

Breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe and Barney's etc. with Paula. Did you know that Barack Obama shops at Barney's? It's true; at least for suits. The guy's got style! Then on to Logan's 1st Birthday party; yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting (my favorite) and board games. Super fun. Then Mono in VCF at the Triple Door:
















I love watching Kim play her part of dangerous, sexy, frontwoman vixen. The dessert and wine was great too; I love the Triple Door! Afterwards Jamie and I watched Big Fish which I hadn't seen in a while. It's so fantastical and real at the same time. Why do we know so little of who our parents really are, the people they were before we existed?


friday night:

LOST redux.
















Four new characters (including a British cultural anthropologist named C.S. Lewis, a twitchy, nervous physicist, and a creepy ghostbuster)? A working helicopter? Sayid to the rescue? I LOVE THIS SHOW.

tuesday

Well, the anticipated conclusion of the WAFF and our date with the brothers Wilson was foiled. But that did not stop Serrah and I from, in the words of her friend Kaylin, "turning the night around."

Dinner at Julia's in Wallingford, dessert at Trophy Cupcakes (the BEST), and game night back at the house with a few friends.

Ahhh, I love having neighbors such as these.

boys du jour

Just for pure silliness...


Adrian...


Adam...


Luke.

Sometimes, happiness is a little celebrity crush. Who's yours?

Oh, YES.

Best Actor

I didn't get to watch this last night but wish I had.

thoughts on a january monday

all the world is snow.
a canvas for anything:
even bravery.

Last night I was with some friends at a cozy listening party downtown, enjoying and giving feedback on the songs of a musician preparing to formulate his first album. I greatly admire those that translate their passion into their work and are unafraid to invite the world to look at, hold, judge their artistry put into tangible form. I am burdened often with the fear of the judgement. More than the scorn of strangers, I cringe at the thought of the disappointment of friends.

I was talking to my boss this morning about Karen's Memorial on Saturday, about the things we heard people say and do in these two days following. Things like "I want people to speak of me like that when I am gone." Things like "She was a modern-day hero of the faith." One couple even visited our church yesterday morning after having not been able to fit into the service because of the crowd, and knowing Karen only a little, feeling they could honor her by attending her church the following morning. So her love of Christ lives on although she is no longer with us, and we see evidence now that her life was meaningful, that she was a flame burning bright in a dark world. She is gone but the flame is not, and we must carry it on.

How does all of this come together? This is life. This is the time we've been given. Right now, right here, for a certain number of days. And how will we choose to spend it? These are the questions that haunt me and have haunted me for years, that I analyze over and over again and worry that I am not doing all I could, that I am not who I could be, that heaven forbid I am wasting time. Where is the balance between seizing every good opportunity and not being so busy and anxious as to cancel out the good with my superficiality; spreading myself too thin?

Clare said with hope a few weeks ago that "8 is the number of new beginnings." In 2008 I am longing for triumph, victory, newness, incredible joy. I want to be finished with despair, insecurity, overwhelming desire for the things of earth, selfishness, and shallowness. For too long I have been a little seed buried deep in the cold ground. It is time to reach up, to seek the sun, and bloom.

i've never loved the telephone

...so much as I have lately.

+

=

(this is what I got when I Googled "happiness." It really cracked me up.)

Oscar Noms Out

All in all, not surprising.

Blogs are buzzing about the snubs this year: Into the Wild (no Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Catherine Keener, or Eddie Vedder), Christian Bale (3:10 to Yuma or Rescue Dawn), Jennifer Garner (Juno), Ben Affleck (Gone Baby Gone). Here, here. Not to say that many nominees aren't deserving, and I haven't seen about half of the Best Picture films yet.

Congratulations to Hal Holbrook (Supporting Actor, Into the Wild), Casey Affleck (Supporting Actor, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Ellen Page (Actress, Juno), Julian Schnabel (Director, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), "Falling Slowly" (Original Song, Once).

I do have to say that both No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood look incredible and affecting and I'm sure I'll end up seeing Michael Clayton before too much more time goes by. Is it really mean of me to say I was glad that Keira Knightley is not on the list for her performance in Atonement?

Anyone else have thoughts on snubs or praise due?

weekend

Some pure small joys from this past weekend:
Alternating looking out the window at the pouring rain...

...and a warm, comforting fire from inside the LBC chapel.
A long walk through the woods wearing yellow rain boots.
Spending under $1 at the Good Cheer Thrift Shop in Langley and walking away with a fascinating Travel + Leisure and a new book.
Organic, homemade creamy mushroom soup (my favorite comfort food) from Useless Bay Coffee Co.
New organic Calendula (my birth-month flower) lip balm.
Sunday evening spent in the company of the luminous Sarah Russell, as well as a bevy of wonderful, very dear, old great friends and feeling fifteen again.