Friday, May 4, 2012

Happy Birthday Audrey!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUDREY HEPBURN!
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Audrey Hepburn is by my favorite actress and my favorite movie of mine is
Roman Holiday.
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I love the movie so much that when I went to Rome, I tried to find the exact seat she sat on at the Spanish steps so I could say I sat in the same place as Audrey Hepburn. 
This is me on the steps.
Here are some of my other favorite movies/photos of Audrey Hepburn.

Sabrina
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Audrey and Humphrey Bogart 
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A great classicly Audrey outfit
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My Fair Lady
Song: Loverly
I always thought it was a shame that they didn't allow it to be Audrey's voice
In sixth grade I was in choir and I thought I could do this as a solo
so I learned every word to this song.

I love this ball gown
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Charade
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Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn were great together. 
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A great ending scene:

Funny Face
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Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn
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Since she was a trained ballerina I thought it was great how much dancing she got to do in this movie. 

Now my favorite co-star of hers:
Peter O'Toole 
How to Steal a Million 
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She is so beautiful
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This film is full of comedy and 1 liners
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But Audrey Hepburn was much more than a great actress and a great beauty. 
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I know Audrey Hepburn lived in Holland during WWII. Trained to be a ballerina but she was too tall to be a prima ballerina and never trained to be an actress. Later on went to be Good Will Ambassador for UNICEF.
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Writing this post and finding these pictures and clips reminds me just how beautiful she was inside and out. She only made 27 films but she probably the most known actress in the world. 
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I could not finish this post with out this clip from Breakfast at Tiffany's

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Trying to find a place


This song lately has really spoken to me. 

Hello Lovely Readers,


I had a post all set for today but I rescheduled it for Monday so I could write this more honest post. 

I feel like I haven't really written anything. I feel like I have made a lot of list and posted a lot of pictures. So this post is kind of random combination of the things I have been going through.

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Remain in me, and I will remain in you.
-John 15:4

My relationship with God has faded away, I am sad to say. I am still a believer but for the last few months I months I have not made it a priority in my life. I could justify myself by saying that I have been really bus as I try to finish school but I don't know how true that is. Mostly because this fading away I feel started back in March. But this blog post is not so much focused on my fading. It  is more about the impact on my life.

On Sunday I was sitting in church leaning up against the wall not paying attention to the sermon but instead thinking about the curriculum for children's church. I was on my phone looking up the passage and some how got to John 15 and I read John 15:4. I have probably read it a hundred times and could recite it as an over used verse. But since Sunday I have realized hoe true it is for me. 

Lately, I have felt like something is missing in my life. I feel like a lot of my fiends lives are changing, they are graduating school, getting in relationships, having babies, or other things. And I feel kind of stuck. I think of things I want in my life or want to do in my life and how I can't get them. At least not now, and maybe not until I finish school (2 more years). And sometimes this stuck feeling overwhelms me. It makes me sad when I feel how my life is missing something. 

But is my life really missing something?
No!!! If I was listening to God I would know I was exactly where I was suppose to be. The school, the program, I am in has been a dream of mine. Since I was in high school. God has blessed me in pursuing this dream. He has long protected me.

Once I went on a retreat in Gloucester, at a friend's house on the ocean. During a quiet time I found a place sitting on the rocks. I couldn't focus on my reading so I found myself staring at the rocks below me. When the tide was coming in it looked like one rock was "protecting" the rock behind it from the crashing waves. Then the longer I sat there I saw the tide go out and I saw what was the second rock holding up the first rock. Since then I have seen the symbolism of God in these rocks. He is the first and second rock both protecting me from the hard waves and holding me up.
On that trip I found these rocks and 
since then I have had these rocks on my dresser to remind me.

But as I admitted my walk with God has been on the wean, so the little voice inside of me has come in and told me, my life is missing something. I am seeking people around me get the "things" I want and to be honest I am jealous. It doesn't help that emotionally I have felt like I have been a yo-yo.

Going back to the verse "remain in me and I will remain in you." I have seen this in my life. The more I remain in God the little voice that tells me I am constantly wrong goes away and it speaks softer than a whisper. When I remain in God I hear a voice that tells me I may not have everything I want but I am all right. 

Right now though I can't hear God speaking to me. I have often wished God would tell me what to do like the movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" but he has never spoken to me that way. Most of the time it is just a feeling, or things my friends and family say that lead me on my way. Since I haven't been really seeking God out I haven't had that feeling or God's whisper. And I miss it. 
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Last time I read the bible I was reading 2 kings.* It seems to be a long list of kings with names I don't now how to pronounce and really no stories or life lessons I can relate to. I need a book to read. I have list of book I want to read but I am not for sure what I should read. Any suggestions.

*- I wrote this in my school notebook but I have not wanted to post it till I was done with school. Yesterday and today I have taken time to read my bible. Yesterday I read John 15 and 16 to get more content around the verse. Today I went back to Ephesus, it is like my comfort blanket, I go back to it whenever I don't know where to go. Today I read Eph. 1:11- "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will." I know at the heart of it I know God is working out everything to His will and though it may not be exactly what I want it is what is suppose to be happening. 

I need to stay more constant with God, which is hard, but it is always rewarding. 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Summer plans

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Hello lovely readers,

I am happy to say I am done with my semester in school. Now I have a month and a half off before Summer School starts. My dad has already asked me what I am doing with my time off.

1. The most practical answer work more hours at my job aka earn more money.

2. Read more fun more fun books. I am currently reading Catching Fire but I have a few other books I want to get through.

3. Write more. Rather it be this blog or my story The Sister of Pine Haven.  I have a few blog post in draft that I am working on and hope to get them published soon. 

4. Some family is visiting. My dad and step-mom are coming in May and my mom is coming in June before summer school starts. 

My dad and step mom:
From my college graduation 
My mom and I:
At the Biltmore Estate
5. My birthday party- I love celebrating my birthday, I love planning my birthday. I am in the works of arranging a party where my friends will hopefully donate money for my trip to Honduras.
(Yep I still need to raise funds so please let me know if you are interested).

6. Hang out with friends. 
Some of my friends
thanks... Mikhail Glabets Photography


7. Lastly I have to report for Jury duty. 

So those are my plans for my month and a half off. 

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Getting me through Finals

I am happy to announce I am done with this semester.
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Though other semesters have been rough I feel like this semester I have spent more time in the library working on papers. I have grown accustom to spending almost the whole day in the library, learning the different schedules of when it was busy versus when it was quiet and finding it conquest when I left the library around 11PM.

While finals were tiring I have learned a few things to get me through this time.
1. My 5 PM coffee was great... though now I have to wean off it (this will be hard).

2. Learning to deal with distraction. While I work better at the library it is still hard to stay focused all the time. But it is good sometimes to be distracted. Here is a video from "Easy A."

3. Get out of the library. Back in February my friend invited me to two concerts and if I had taken a look at my schedule I would have seen that these concerts were in the middle of finals time and probably would have turned them down. But because I didn't do this I had preset times that I couldn't be in the library. 

4. Find something that is calming. I love kids, I work in my church nursery and last Sunday I went in even when I wasn't on the schedule. This little boy was very tired and kept leaning on me and pushing on my belly with his head so finally I gave in and laid down with him. I didn't actually fall asleep but my friend took a picture of me as if I was sleeping. Eventually I had to wake the boy up but after that he was very clingy and it was wonderful for me to feel so wanted. 


5. Keep telling yourself "it will get done," every semester I get stressed and I think I will never get this done I have to tell myself it will be done even if some nights I don't sleep that well. 

For all my friends going through finals, this song is for you...

Song: Be Calm
By: Fun.