Hello From the long silent Blog

Thought I would give this another shot. I am not in a magical place or a beautiful foreign land to captivate readers this time. No, I am in the hot desert of Arizona and living with my parents. I wouldn't have guessed this is where I'd end up at this point in my life. But who can really guess that? I am somewhat apathetic towards everything right now so I thought I should do something creative to stimulate my soul.... As it says in Phillipians 4:8,

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."

Here is a list of things that I find lovely:

- Violin Music

- Purring Cats

- Warm Cinnamon Buns

- Naps in Hammocks

- Pink Peonies

 Somehow writing a list like that always makes me feel better.
 

“Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless until we find our rest in thee.” (Augustine, Confessions)

Summer Ending

Summer is ending?
What did you say?
I cannot stomach it-
No, please don't away...
So much reading to do
And days left to play
And what about art?
The studio in disarray!
I need to get busy
In the end it will pay
When my art show opens
And the work's on display!

Summer Reading List (and probably will take a year or more to complete)

Arbitrarily flung together and open to suggestions:

The Black Tulip by Alexandre Dumas

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

Black by Ted Dekker

How to Get a Date Worth Keeping by Henry Cloud

On Beauty and Being Just by Elaine Scarry

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Girl of the Sea of Cortez by Peter Benchley

Papillon by Henri Charriere

The Kite Runner (OR) 1000 Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

C. S. Lewis Signiture Classics

I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson

All But My Life by Gerda Klein

Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland

The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man OR Ulysses by James Joyce

Alicia by Alicia Appleman-Jurman

Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Nineteen Eighty-four by George Orwell

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Dracula by Bram Stoker

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

The Brothers Karamozov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Elephants on Acid and other bizarre experiments by Alex Boese

The Museum of Hoaxes by Alex Boese

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

The Darkangel Trilogy by Meredith Ann Pierce

The German Woman by Paul Griner

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky

What I thought I knew by Alice Eve Cohen

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

The Peep Diaries by Hal Niedzviecki

Plan Bee by Susan Brackney

Essential Pleasures by Robert Pinsky

The Day of the Triffids OR The Chrysalids OR Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

Summer is in session

I'm officially beginning my last summer vacation ever.
Although, it isn't going to be that much of a vacation because I'm working full time and taking a three unit class to prepare for my senior art exhibition. So, that translates into lots of days spent reading, sketching, painting, sculpting, and working before I head out to the beach! :)
Will post my summer reading list soon! And maybe some art photos!

A new start

YES!!!!!!!

I've decided to give this blogging thing another shot. So, as my second semester (out of a total of three) of senior year is finishing, I decided- it is TIME! College is quickly ending. I will soon be a bird thrust from my comfortable academic nest out into the whirlwinds of harsh wide world! Will I make it???

I graduate in December and I want to be able to look back and remember some of my journey.

Thank you all for being such wonderful friends and influences for me. I've invited you to read because you are special and contribute to my life!

If you have any suggestions about topics for me to consider, let me know! :)

Unfortunately, I no longer wander the streets of Paris or Venice.... instead, I am back in the good ol' USA. Sometimes I feel as nothing will ever be as exciting as it once was again. I can admit to one thing: my view on the world has been altered considerably. I thank God for the opportunities I've had to travel and explore in different countries. And now, I'm ready to explore on smaller levels: in my city, in my circle of friends, by books and journey of discovery of myself! I suppose for now, that will have to suffice.

Spring cleaning in December

Coming home from a GRAND EUROPEAN adventure gives one lots to think about and lots of energy.

Thus, I've decided to go through all of my earthly possessions today. Sort, sift, toss, keep! Lots of things are useless except as keys to old, forgotten memories! I'm hesitant to throw out the key and lose my treasure! But really, how much do I need my old spelling lists, calendars, sketches, animals, notes, cds, pictures? When I don't look at them, I don't even know they exist. Perhaps I've placed too much value in stuff! Time to reassess.