La-ti-da, and a happy new schmear

Blah blah blah, happy new year, blah blah blah, *cliche and heartwarming holiday statement*, blah blah blah...
HAPPY NEW YEAR! My New Year's Resolution [even though I hate them, because, who I am kidding, the only resolution I've kept is to eat more!] in the year of our Lord 2012 is to survive the apocalypse. No but really, I think those Mayans were on crack-cocaine or SOMETHING because the only person calling this world to an end is Jesus. So here's to well wishes and hoping we all see December 23, 2012, y'all!

Alright. Enough with the New Year's sarcasm. I really am excited for this coming change. There will be lots of stress, but thankfully three completed semesters of college has prepared me for the oncoming fourth. So in honor of the newest season of life, I have taken on my own challenge to snag a picture for every day this year. There will be 366 [LEAP YEAR BABY] photos headed this way as I try to capture the essence of...well, of life. My happy, rather sappy, cliche little life.

So. January 1.
*I'm cheating and posting two photos. Pardon the overwhelming excitement. 

Went fishing *insert whistling* with a gaggle of friends before the New Year to celebrate togetherness and fabulous Texas weather. One of my friends hung my hammock across the dock and shimmied over the line to climb in. If only he had fallen in... despite my rather impatient personality, I immensely enjoyed the calm and the ripples. It was so nice to find a rock and plop down. Quite the way to end 2011, with friends all around and the promise of a squirming fish chomping on the chopped liver chilling on my hook. Simply, simply marvelous.

An adult's playground

Alright. I don't know who created this gem, but to whom it may concern: you are a genius. If only every little kid understood this concept. I know that reading isn't for everyone, but there is a book for everyone. This makes me want to teach 1st grade so that I can watch children's minds spin as they grasp the beauty of text and margins and underlining and big font books.

On My Mind

Instead of doing homework, I've been losing myself in text and annotated margins of my own free will.

I recently read The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. And man, did it throw me for a loop. My blessed, book-loving, soulmate of a friend Madi gave it to me from her book collection. Let me tell you - there is nothing better than book borrowing. Especially when that book has little notes tucked in the cracks and the pages are bent because the owner stayed up late one night, reading that page over and over again and circling that one word that stands out like darkness in New York City. It feels so good to read something that has been read and loved by somebody else. Magical.

Anways, in the book, the main character Charlie talks about feeling infinite when he listens to songs and falls in love. And that word infinite has been resounding in my head for quite some time now. Because, really, we all have those infinite moments. Like spending time in bookstores, or driving at midnight in the beloved highschool crap car, listening to slow music and letting the breeze crawl through your hair. Or even eating macaroni&cheese.

So when these moments creep along beside me, I grapple for them. There is nothing better.

Also. I've been obsessed with many things lately. These are just a few.
[most are from tumblr, so I'm not sure of their sources]

Nothing Better

...than doing your homework by candlelight.
Taking it back 11th century style, y'all.

Realization.

BOOM.
Just like that. A loud sound vibrates through my being.
I have a hobby.
My family is all very unique and talented. Dad is annoyingly brilliant, Mom is gifted with designing and picking out color schemes in a room, brother can play the guitar and piano by ear (not to mention kill every sport he plays) and sister can dance crazy well.
So all my life I've wondered what my gift was, what pastime would wile away the hours.
And then I saw this nugget on Tumblr:

How did I not realize this sooner? Writing, reading...those are completely legitimate hobbies.
When I was younger, I tried everything - collecting receipts, photography, the 50 states quarter collection...you name it, I probably considered it at one low point in my life.
*whew*. Rest assured self, you have a pastime. And a pleasant one at that.
Over and out.

A Little Shoppin'

Nothing like antique shopping to get the weekend off and roaring. Downtown does a fun festival called First Friday that we love to attend. String lights are broken out, food is grilled and malts are whisked out of the soda shop like clockwork. It's the only taste of culture we seem to have around these parts.

P.S. - obsessed with the "An Education" soundtrack. I really enjoyed the movie, and I'm wondering why it took me so long to discover the same goes for the soundtrack...

Craftin' Up A Storm

It's like therapy. I was gonna say free therapy, but, alas, it's not. I still had to pay. But what I didn't have to cash out the moolah for was sitting on my floor, watching Pride and Prejudice and having great conversations with splendid friends. Other things I did consisted of Hobby Lobby runs,

[nervously] checking my bank account constantly, reading Shakespeare, decorating journals, staring at Mason jars,

 and more Mason jars with books and my meager Paris fund,

partaking in Sonic Happy Hour,

trying to be artsy and painting,

and scouring StumbleUpon. Suffice to say, it's been a fabulously slow weekend.
The roomie wasn't here this weekend. I missed her. But I also enjoyed solo dance parties to the Dirty Dancing soundtrack and singing without caring whose eardrums would burst. Oh, and sleeping in an oversized flannel shirt and curling up in bed to some late night poetry. Mmmm. The good life.