Breakfast diaries: Magic

It is the little things in life that makes me extremely happy. For instance, going to bed by 10pm and waking up at 630am knowing that the full nine hours of sleep is in fact not a myth. It is magic. 

Other little things, driving to my friend Jason's house at 650 in the morning because Joe Lieske is in town from Chicago. Joe Lieske is also known for making great coffee among other things. He made me coffee. That too was also, magic. 

Also miniature disco balls at 7 in the morning also cause me to holler rants about it being a party.  That was not magic, that was because it had an on and off switch with pretty colors. There is no photo to describe what I'm talking about. 

Jason mentioned to me he had never seen me so happy in the morning. I also never sleep. There could be a link to the two. 

Other little things, driving at 745am to meet my long lost friend, Lexi, for breakfast at Eat Chow. Scrumptious food and lovely company.I also was talking about a million words per minute because from the previous excursion including coffee with a beyond empty stomach. That too could be considered, magic. I only discovered this around 9am when I called Jayde and he explained to me how fast I was speaking. Although by then, I was on coffee two, three, maybe four. That is not magic. That is just considered an intense caffeine kick. 

All of this was done before 9 am. 

The morning was delightful. 

quick hello's

Just wanted to drop by and say "hello." 

I've been super busy and will be for the next few weeks. So, if you can't find me, you know why.  I can be found in various coffee shops, various planes and hiding under the desk in my office taking catnaps. Places you won't find me: yoga or the beach. I miss all the above. I have enough things to write at the moment to equal my college thesis. That might be an over exaggerated statement but not far off. 






1.milk+honey= the lavender latte is to die for /// 2. this little gem found me by spotting the back of my head /// 3. christine stephens loves me  

>>> no worries though, I have mixes like this to get me through.
and things like this to make me giggle. It's like my childhood and guilty pleasure all mixed into one.

the creative brain

Think about all the things that you do. 

Okay, now think about all the things you wish you did. 

Where do you find joy? 

I have this friend Emily. 

In a nutshell: She is one of my favorites. She is absolutely phenomenal and every time I spend any glimpse of time with her, I feel incredibly lucky. She never complains. She doesn't judge.  She has a servant's heart and loves people. She also is probably one of the funniest and wittiest people too.  I really enjoy spending time with her. 

So here's how it went. 

We met up at one of our catch up spots, the Gypsy Den. We start chatting. 

"Do you still take pictures outside of work?" Emily asks. 

"Not really, I sit at a computer shoot/edit all day. The last thing I want to do is shoot/edit all night too," I say. 

Then we resonate on the topic of creativity. Emily and I both need creativity. 

I hope you can understand what I say by need. It's not something that we like to do. It's something that we need to incorporate into our lives daily to function, to process who we are, to process life and whatever may come. This comes like a light subject but it really comes with a heavy heart. 

Emily makes a schedule for the week allotting herself 30 minutes to do what she wants to do. Blog, Guitar, paint, etc... 

I do the same. I write what creative endeavor I need to do for the day to predestine that it will happen. Which seems completely out of the element of what creativity should be. It should just happen, right? Only in a perfect world. 

But Instead,  Emily and I both do similar things. 99.9% of the time my discipline fails me.  We do whatever we can to turn our brains off. Which is rather hard to do for the both of us. As great as shutting our brain off for a night sounds. A discipline that is important every so often, it is still something that kills creativity. Especially when making it a nightly ritual. 

So here I am wondering if anyone feels the same. How do you motivate yourself to keep the creative juices flowing especially when you just want to shut your brain off? 

coffee, owls and hunger games

A hodgepodge amount of subjects not directly correlating in any way except for the fact that this is my life.

First, let us start with coffee. 

I'm sure you've seen me write about it before and if you know me, you know. I have a love for coffee. Recently, I have started this obnoxious trend and I find that it is becoming worse. I haven't finished a cup of coffee without reheating it for the last 3 months. Now, that I think about it. I am pretty sure it has been longer than 3 months. Sorry, It's part of my "just the other day" syndrome where I think everything was yesterday, including things 2 years ago.  I don't know what's wrong with me. Since, I have started my new job the reheating has gone up. On average, I probably reheat my coffee about 10 times a day and still only make it about half through. I even started questioning if I still like coffee. My roommate Mallory has assured me that work coffee is just not enjoyable and that my love of coffee is still there. I also thing that's her subliminally saying "If you stop liking coffee I disown you as roommate." I like coffee. 

Owls.

I like owls. I don't have an obsession with them or anything but I do like them. I also have an association with owls that probably make me enjoy them more. I always associate owls with my friend Ashley (who by the way is getting married NEXT WEEK!) Mainly because of the old folklore that owls are to be considered wise. Thus, owls and ashley go hand and hand. 

Another thing you should know about Ashley, she pays an incredible amount to detail and makes EVERYTHING look cute. When I get a package from Ashley, I should know to take a picture of the process by now. But I just get so excited that she sends me things that I skip ahead to the end result. And this end result was well worth it. 

 

Once upon a time, I had these really adorably anthropologie salt and pepper shakers. 

Source: Uploaded by user via Samantha on Pinterest

Ash managed to break them, not one, but two in a matter of a couple of weeks. I've since then forgiven her. She always told me she would replace them and at this point and time had just brushed it off my shoulder. But these are way too cute and I am almost glad that she did it, because now I have these and I call them "Ash and Sam." So, it's almost like we are together. 

Alas, the Hunger Games 

Source: google.com via Samantha on Pinterest

You've heard the trend.  You've heard it said. Probably a million times by this point in time but that's okay. A couple of weeks ago , I began a journey known as The Hunger Games and I found myself completely consumed. I couldn't sleep, I couldn't think and all I wanted was to place myself in that world. Now that I have finished the book I began thinking "my life is over." This sounds rather sad I am sure but I loved this book. I think is brilliant, truly. I thought I was crazy for feeling a lot of these feelings but after many discussions, I am finding that a lot of people are feeling the same way. Thank you Suzanne Collins for helping me get my reading for this year underway, you have put me right on track now with my goal of reading at least one book a month.

Introduction: Ashley Wells

all the things I meant to say 

Dedicated to the girl who deserves the world and more. 


She is one of those people. 


Yes, those people. Life changing people that leave marks wherever they go. Great and small. With her great smile and always giggling personality. This is someone you feel privileged to have in your life, feeling so blessed every time she makes an appearance.  


Who is She you may ask? Her name is Ashley Wells. 


I have been able to call this girl friend since I was 18 years old. It's been over 6 years. Crazy. 


I have learned so much from her and her servant heart. She gives herself away at the drop at the hat. She is an old soul, lover of art and the written word. Tea obsessed, the English way. She dares to try new thing and everything seems natural to her but I know she works hard. 


This is the kind of girl who makes a pot of coffee and brings you a lovely cup the minute you wake up without even second guessing. 


Ashley inspires. Encourages. Believes in people and their capacity to be great. She is a God-loving woman who has had her world rocked a time or two embracing it every time. 


She has adventure. 


I recently heard people call her brave. As I was contemplating this, I realized it is true. It seems as if she has no fear. She takes things as they come and continues to live. Relocating for passion. Always moving to bigger and better things. 


This next stage of her life. Marriage.  April 14, 2012. 


Her and James Pierce, a man who I am pretty sure she has loved since the first time she spent time with him. A man who couldn't be more perfect for her. Their long  distance relationship was spent writing letters back and forth and exchanging poetry. She made the big leap when she decided to move to Texas to be near him. Then some time later she said "Yes."


Here we are now, December 2011. Friday her darling sister through her shower and the first thing Ashley Wells was introduce all the girls attending and explaining how she knew everyone. All of us from different times of life, highschool, Vanguard, El Salvador, Oxford, family and future family. To her, all stories are important and need to be told. 


Over the next few hours we spent hours talking about our favorite times and best time and how excited we were. 


This is where I spoke for a while saying absolutely nothing of importance. 


After a couple of hours, we spent some time praying over this lovely lady and her new adventure of life. 


 My dearest Ashley Wells, soon-to-be Ashley Pierce, I couldn't be more excited for you. 


Even though we live so far apart and only get to spend a couple of hours here and there, thank you so much for sharing life with me. 


I feel so blessed. 

esp coffee

My wonderful friend Ashley Wells, she lives three doors down. This girls amazing, in more ways than one; she just got back from oxford and has discovered how to make fantastic coffee. She shares the same passion as I for strong coffee. Since she has been home, she has made me at least one cup a day. To make the situation even better she always texts me right as I am getting out of bed. Today I woke up at 10:17 and she texted me right then asking me if I wanted coffee. She has esp and seems to know when I awake from my slumber. My days are so much better because of it. So, thank you Ashley Wells. You are a saint.





Ch an gi ng schedules. Develop. NEW habits.
I am procrastinating on reading for my eight a.m. class. I am highly unmotivated. But I should get to it soon to get to bed. I'm not used to this whole going to bed early. But I am trying an abundance of sleep now, because I don't feel like it'll be happening in a month. I've also discovered going to the gym early. Which is a very new development as well. I used to go at one in the morning. Now I go between 9 and eleven. Weird.


No more procrastinating. Time to read beginning theory.

One last thing, the lovely Katrina Hagen and I are having so much needed hang out time. I think we are going on a walk. I adore that girl.