"the minute i heard my first love story
i started looking for you, not knowing
how blind that was.

lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
they're in each other all along."

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"we weep God's rain.
we laugh God's lightning."

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"listen to the presences inside poems,
let them take you where they will.

follow those private hints,
and never leave the premises"

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-rumi, selected poems

seven days, four states, one spring break

it's that time of year, and spring break has sprung again. that is, it sprang last week and has now wilted away, leaving behind only memories, photographs, and a good amount of home work that i neglected on my many days off. last year, i literally stayed in my pajamas 99% of the time and embraced every moment of rest and relaxation that seven days without school provided. however, this year, i nixed the r & r and spent my break state-hopping and adventure-having on the east coast. we (varying combinations of alanna, jared, nikki, claudia, and myself) ate cupcakes in georgetown; road-tripped to new york, where we frolicked through the city streets and took in a goose-bump-giving production of phantom of the opera; made a pit stop in philidelphia to eat some cheesestake and put on our best rocky impressions; consumed large amounts of country cuisine at cracker barrel (in virginia and new jersey); explored the smithsonians and beheld the monuments in washington d.c.; and had an all around wonderful time experiencing new places and reexperiencing old ones.

d.c. cupcakes in georgetown

smithsonian the monument & me
philidelphia: the windy city. ...oh wait, that's chicago? are you sure?

rocky!conquering the rocky steps
30 rock-yum!

poison & wine [the civil wars]

this song is just too beautiful not to share.

happy birthday dr. seuss

"today you are you, that is truer than true. there is no one alive who is youer than you." -dr. seuss

(shell silverstein and dr. seuss? this bookshelf has my heart)

if he were still around, theodor seuss geisel would turn 104 today. i wish rather badly that the man were still here, to fill more pages with silly scribblings and imaginative stories and rhymes. nevertheless, he's left behind some wonderful work and some thoughtful thoughts, and i love them all quite a lot. so thanks, dr. seuss & happy birthday.

remember the days?

remember the days i used to blog? let me be the first to admit that i not only failed my new year's resolution of being a better blogger, but that i've been a worse blogger in the past couple months than i've ever been before. it's no coincidence that the posts stopped the first week of the spring semester. upper division classes and a dedication to graduating summa cum laude have pushed blogging down on the priority list, among other things.

but don't worry, my other commitments will not keep me from blogging entirely. i have a week off of school starting saturday, and will be flying to the wonderful world of washington...dc that is. i'll be spending time with the dearest alanna moine, nikki lalague, and claudia iglesias whilst exploring the nation's capitol. i'm hoping that at some point over the break i'll be able to catch up on all the things i've been wanting to share with you, as well as blog about the trip itself. so, here's to hoping for some down time, some blog time. in the mean time, here's a few posts sitting in my "drafts" pile, just waiting to be published, to be part of this heart to hardt:

+TAG: a new transfer student program at plnu
+slow-cooking sundays: my crock-pot and me
+journey: my new home church!

l-o-v-e

i am in love with a wonderful man. and i adore the fact that there is a day to celebrate him, and us, and our love.

i also happen to be in love with my friends and my family and all those people who i might not kiss on the mouth but still hold close to my heart. so, don't feel left out. this day is for you, too.

most of all, though, this day (like any other day) is about our god; he's the one who made love possible in the first place. and i for one am so grateful that he did.

"we love because he first loved us" -1 john 4:19

happy valentine's day. i hope that your day is filled with loving others and feeling loved. and maybe some chocolate and flowers and cards, too.

“justice at its best is love correcting all that stands against love.”–Martin Luther King Jr.

silence

10. which is worse, being in a
place that is too loud, or too quiet?

i am all about silence. all. about. it. in my opinion, there is no such thing as too quiet. in fact, it's difficult for me to function when i'm surrounded by noise. things like reading and writing, and sleeping and thinking become impossible for me unless it's utterly silent. the more quiet, the better. too loud, on the other hand? there are plenty of things that are too loud. the screaming, shouting, grunting boys that play football outside my window, for example. or the drummer who lives on the other side of my wall and likes to host band practice at my expense. apartment complexes in general--too loud. don't get me wrong, i love where i live. but i also love silence.

i am not affianced

9. how long was it from 'the first date' until the proposal of marriage? how long until the wedding?

this questionnaire seems to be under the impression that i am engaged. i hate to break it to you, survey, but the diamonds and white gold on my left hand is a purity ring, not an engagement ring. and though i've been dating the same guy for four and a half years, he remains to be merely my boyfriend and not my fiance. i could see why you might be confused, though, and so i'll let it slide. but i expect you to remember from now on that i am not affianced.

ready or not

it's that time again. winter break is over as classes begin at 8:30 tomorrow morning. one thing i've found is that the start of spring semester never has the same romantic air to it as that of the fall semester. it very well may be because we've already just spent four months with our noses in books, and the thought of doing it some more so soon seems daunting rather than rousing. three weeks away from school, papers, and tests is not enough time to come to miss it. over summer, when those weeks become months, we begin to forget the headaches and stresses of school, and find ourselves ready and excited to fill our brains with new curricula by the end of it. there's also something about september that just makes a person feel scholarly. whether it be the changing air and leaves that we associate with freshly sharpened pencils and new notebooks, the back-to-school sales that help ease us in the the academic mind set, or what have you. january doesn't just doesn't help build the same anticipation. it leaves us missing the holiday season more than the classroom. at least, that's how i feel. with all that said, i may not feel ready to go back to class, or wake up at 7am, or write papers and take tests. but i am ready to learn more, grow more, and take in all this semester has to offer. ready or not, spring semester, here i come.