arbitrary

get mah creativity flowin'

check out my newly added "designs" link at the top of the page!

dinner last night.

So last night my wonderful Mom cooked us an AMAZING dinner which I took pictures of so I could boast about how great her cooking is. 

Here she is with Lindy!

And my awesome Dad took care of the grilling! 

We had

HOMEMADE SALSA

 CORN ON THE COB

JUICY WATERMELON

 CHEESY SQUASH CASSEROLE

SPINACH SALAD

TWICE BAKED POTATOES

  

GRILLED FILETS

AND FRESH BLUEBERRY & BLACKBERRY CRISP WITH BUTTER PECAN ICE CREAM

HUNGRY YET?

futuristically.

Tonight was one of those nights where I started thinking about the future and started getting all worked up about it for absolutely no reason.

It's officially the first night of summer! My mind should be blank or thinking about stupid TV shows or the fact that I'm craving a cookout milkshake or some garlic knots.

But instead I'm thinking about the future. Pshhhh, the future? Whatttt?

I'm going to be starting my internship when I get back to Charlotte and I guess thoughts about that kind of triggered it. I really want to do well during my internship and continue to do well once I get back to school. I want to make really good grades and try to keep up relationships and school work while also having a job.

In my family, I wouldn't be considered a worrier. I have my sisters and my Dad to do that for me. But for some reason tonight I just started thinking about friends and jobs and money and careers and love and everything that is to come!

The future is scary because it's so unknown - the only thing you know is what you want.

If you didn't know what you wanted the future wouldn't be a big deal because anything that happened would be fine. No expectations, just appreciation for the outcome you're given.

For me though I have lots of expectations about the future. I want to graduate with a solid GPA, live at home for a few months and build up some money at my first "real job". Then I'll find an apartment, move away from home and keep working until I have enough to move to a big city like New York or Boston. But what If I don't get a job when I graduate? What if I'm stuck working at Bath and Body Works until I'm 26?

And it's not even the big things like finding a husband or a job that make the future scary.

I've been thinking about living situations - making the most of my circumstances even if they're not what I would've chosen.

Trying to keep my friendships strong even if it takes a lot of random texts, phone calls and money spent on gas driving to see each other.

Mark my words - I WILL MAKE IT BIG. Seriously, it's going to happen.

Anyway, I don't really know where this post is going. I just thought I'd rant about the future. I wish I could just glimpse into it. Not to see what happens but just to see how happy I am on a scale of one to ten. But I guess if I was a 2 or something then that'd be really depressing.

Anyway that's it for now! Maybe I'll dream of the future.

goodnight world!

(if I have typing errors it's cause I wrote this really fast - my bad)

intro to a story I'll probably never finish.

She licked the envelope quickly, trying hard not to taste the papery glue that would bind the two sides together. Folding the triangle down with precision she lined the edges and smoothed out the creases.

He would get it in a week or two, she guessed, and by then the fall winds would have swept through her front yard, bringing the colors of autumn with them.

She stood up from her chair and walked into her dining room. The mahogany table caught the glow of the 6’oclock sunshine and dust danced in its gleams. The table had been made by her Dad, a small town carpenter who had left her at the age of three. It'd been untouched since then and no matter how hard she pushed the thought away, his suitcase seemed to be a permanent fixture near her front door, though she knew it was just an image cast from the memories of him leaving.

She gathered her thoughts, tucked them neatly in the place where she never liked to go and made her way down their photo lined hallway back to her bedroom. She flopped down on her bed face first and buried her head in down feather pillows.

When she imagined summer in Vail she’d expected more excitement. She’d imagined days of bike rides and ice cream, afternoon matinees and trips to the pool where the charcoal mountains rose up on either side. She didn’t know why she had these expectations, but she had them unaware that they wouldn’t be met.

When her expectations came crashing down and turned to cool puffs of vapor rising up off the asphalt, she never thought she'd feel so lonely. And it wasn’t even a feeling really, it was a sickness that seeped into her pours and pulled down the edges of her smile.

In late April, Cody has said that they needed to end things. He handed her back the mixed CDs she’d made him and the picture of him giving her a piggyback ride through town. After grabbing back his basketball sweatshirt and his stack of horror movies, he was gone. He had said he needed space, some fresh air, but she couldn’t imagine air fresher than the Rockies that surrounded them.

She pushed herself up on her palms and turned over, looking up at the ceiling fan that rhythmically cast geometric shadows on her wall. She felt as if her room buzzed with anticipation, like it knew it’d be vacant in a matter of hours.

Well If she was going to leave, she’d have to start somewhere.

guess what!?

My page design got featured in Charlotte Style Magazine's Most Stylish Issue 2011!

I'm really excited! The process of creating this page design was different from what I was used to in lit mag because it didn't involve the same type of creativity but I had fun doing it!


I'm slowly building up a portfolio that will hopefully lead to a bright future in the magazine industry!


My name is on page 5 and then the layout is on page 46 titled Designers Style!


click here to see it!

a new book

It's a precise process, this spotting on the shelf. I have unfolded myself out of my plush striped chair to wind myself through the labyrinth of Barnes and Noble. The shelves were vibrantly lined, candy colored stripes on brown wooden shelves. 


I stroll through the new comers, and walk past the best sellers, their gold stickers boasting their achievement. I tiptoe through horror, roam threw sci-fi and make my way to my favorite section, fiction.


It's not the title that draws me in, but the cover. I run my finger along the binding of 10 then 14 then 20 until I find the perfect one.


I flip through the pages and find the writing style to fit my taste and then decide to read the back, the true test to a match made in heaven.


The plot is perfect,
the characters well named 
and it's the perfect mixture of excitement and romance to draw me in.


I grab it off the shelf, return to the comfy chair that awaits me and sink back in. I hold the book in my hands. The pages are new, no Starbucks coffee has stained them yet. They haven't yet found the days of beach trips and sand or been dog-eared during unwelcome distractions. 


I grip the new adventure, one half in each hand. I flip open the first page and feel the binding slacken, allowing me to embark on this new journey.


Another story, another voyage, another book for my shelf. 

I just finished reading the hunger games and it was SOOO GOOOD! If you like Harry Potter, Twilight or Sci-Fi stuff, you'll love it. It's also got romance in it too which is never a bad thing.

I'm gonna go buy the sequel to it today! And it's a trilogy which means I have another one to read when the 2nd one is finished! Woo hoo!

Oh new books, how I love you.