What I've been up to...

1. I found this beautiful picture online and so while it has nothing what so ever to do with this post I just thought I would place it here to show the beauty that God is.

 

 

2. Can you guess what Ive been doing?

 

If you guessed tie dying then you're correct!!! Oh gosh its so much fun and the results are absolutley phenominal!

 

3.I just graduated high school a couple of weeks ago and so ive been going through my stuff trying to get rid of old papers. I have also been trying to delelte old assigments/essays but as Ive gone through some of them Ive realized that some are work rereading and even possibly worth sharing. I hope I dont bore you guys to death with them but I think some are actually alright:)

 

And I shall say t'was lovely

It’s Saturday afternoon and I walk into my backyard, excited but yet a little hesitant to fulfill my final obligation for English. Not knowing what to expect and what “nature” will come my way I plop myself down on the gritty pavement and set up camp between my stucco tan house and the tree that is touching( okay… almost touching) the blue clouded sky. With my smoothie in my left hand and my pen and paper in the other I’m ready to begin my sightseeing adventure, but first a sip of my smoothie, pink speckled with purple and red seeds. My tongue slides over a piece of fruit, pineapple; it’s always the pineapple….                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Ahh refreshed I’m ready to work again. I notice the winds blowing at my back and a bug flits by me. I am but a tiny bit annoyed. Okay so not the point of this assignment, I’m supposed to be enjoying nature silly goose! I look again and this time I see the earth in its simplest of forms. The wind blows through the grass and while it seems relatively still, upon further inspection I see individual pieces of grass swaying in the breeze. Are ants affected by wind? If so there’s probably a little ant, holding on for dear life on a weed stalk, just wishing to go home to his mother. Lost in a world other then my own, I am startled when my auburn, fuzzy golden retriever dog, Bailey, nudges me. This is her subtle plea for love and attention and all I can think is don’t we all need a little bit more love, don’t we all. My hair falls across my back in a braid still wet from my shower earlier in the morning. I take another sip of my smoothie, I’m running low. Not many bugs swarm around me, that’s good because I can’t handle insects. The bees that used to inhabit my neighbor’s lawn have been relocated. I’m happy they weren’t killed although they are definitely not my friends. Why is it that the bees get to see foreign lands, yet I’m stuck in my backyard? Who knows though, maybe they are jealous of me, getting a warm home to stay in where nobody can kick me out of.  The sun beats at my back and I know that being the fair skinned, blond haired girl I am, I’m sure to get sunburned. I wish I was like the lizard who can hide in the crevices of the walls or the birds who can hid away in the tree out of sight from the light of day. The birds above my head chirp but I can’t place from what part of the tree the singing comes from. It appears that the tree itself is chirping, hopping to tell anyone that will listen the story if has to share. If only we would all take a moment to just sit and hear, nature will be sure to tell its tale, filled with humor, drama, a little fable (every story needs some fluff), and of course hardship . Nature has a way of bringing a smile to the saddened and a good cry to those who need to open up. It’s Saturday afternoon and slowly, hesitantly I walk out of my backyard.
 

Where the Best Secrets Lie

Here is an essay I wrote for english about nature. I hope you like it!

I’ve heard before that nature is a place without people, but really who can define nature? Nature is what surrounds us and for myself Sunday afternoon at graduation party, filled with streamers and people, lots of people, I found myself in nature.  My cousins are 5 and 3, and so for them, adventure can be found anywhere and everywhere. We watched a lion run through the forest of the laundry room and touched the tusks of an elephant seated upon the couch. The rug jumped out at us and became lush greenery ready to be laid upon; a place to sit and dream about what lies beyond. For us reality was just a figment of our imagination and what really mattered was what we could create beyond our own existence.

As night closed in on us we made our way up through the stairs but really we were trekking through the rough terrain of the mountains. I held my 3 year old cousin in my arms because “up” is the only place he desires to be at the moment. I felt as though I was in the Sound of Music but this reference was lost upon the unknowing heads of the youngsters. They had so much to learn. I knew that this was my chance to instill in them the fact that life does not have to be boring and although it won’t be a cake walk either, they need to live life to the fullest. Yes I know they are but 3 and 5, they need to know that their imagination should be at work throughout the day...If only everyone had the mind and soul of a child.

We continued on our journey, reaching the peak of the mountain and walked strait, past the hallways, past the bedrooms, slid open the screen and we made our way to the balcony (which was really the overhanging of a cave). We looked down in the wildness that was the backyard and saw what we had accomplished. We had made it past all of the people and dreamed up our own Narnia. A nature of our own. And as the people talked and deserts where sampled, we danced because that’s what our heart desired. On Sunday at around 6:57, I was nature and nature was me.

NOTW

For those of you who don't know what NOTW stands for, its Not Of This World. Basically it's a Christian apparel brand that has many items ranging from T-shirts to jewelry to stickers. Every notw.com purchase is used to impact a life through Christian ministries. Well  today I'm going to give you the opportunity to check out their website and even save while doing so!

Go to NOTW.com

To get $5 off any order of $35 or more use the coupon code: WINTER2014
*coupon code expires 7/19/2014

For a 10% off coupon go to NOTW.com/482423

Also for a limited time for the first 5 people who leave a comment on any other post I've put up and who leave a comment on this post saying you would like to win I'll send you a NOTW sticker free! This sticker can go on your car, on a folder or any where else you can think up!

* I am in no way affiliated with NOTW website or brand just trying to save you guys some money and give you a great website to buy Christian apparel

Discount on Makeup!

So I know that nobody is reading my blog(yet!) but I still wanted to say the deal I found today while going around the mall! So apparently Victoria Secret is discontinuing their makeup brand( apparently it wasn't profitable enough) and so they are discounting all of it. About two weeks ago it was at 30% off but today I went and it's 50% off. Upon further thrifting investigation one of the workers said it should be up to 75% off by the end of this week or the start of next week. So if you get a chance go check out their make up selection. Oh also all the bras and clothes are on sale along side it!

* I am in no way endorsing Victoria Secret I am just keeping you up to date on the latest deals I have found! Keep checking in to stay up to date on my sales adventures:)

P.S. Im am just now realizing the irony in the subject manner as yesterday I wrote a blog about beauty being on the inside as the thing that matters and now I'm telling you to go get make up! I dont believe make up is bad in the least ( except for all the chemicals put into it. Ewk!) as long as its used in moderation.

Beauty (re)defined

Our whole lives, we have grown up with adult’s description of beauty as “it’s what’s on the inside that counts.” In elementary school, we were told that everyone was to be included, especially on Valentine’s Day. Like most classrooms across the country, the rule was, if you were going to give a card to one person, then you have to give everyone else a card as well but the truth was that if you were pretty your "mailbox" would be overflowing with goodies. Entering into middle school this same message was implemented into our minds as well, with signs that read “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But somewhere along the way, this idea that beauty was past the surface, was dropped. For most girls (and guys), the idealized image of beauty is to look like the model, Gisele Bündchen or soccer superstar, David Beckham. Drastic measures are taken to obtain this idealized image of beauty. Eye brows are waxed, faces re-sculpted, breast enhanced, and extreme dieting measures taken. But what if beauty truly is “what’s on the inside that counts?”

Once the superficiality of looks and images are cast aside, beauty becomes something much more capturing and intimate. Ask any man truly in love with his wife what makes her most beautiful and I doubt he would say her looks. Actress Amanda Peet, puts it well “Beauty is only skin deep. If you go after someone just because she's beautiful but don't have anything to talk about, it's going to get boring fast.” Beauty is the mother who hasn’t slept in weeks but still gets up in the middle of the night to check on her sleeping baby. Beauty is the flower that grows through the weeds, or even the weeds themselves, that have suffered much and still manage to grow. Beauty is the stars in the sky, which manage to shine bright, even on the darkest nights. Beauty is the giggle of a baby. Beauty is you.

In a society where so much focus is place on beauty, it’s dangerous to break away from the norm.   Putting focus on looks isn’t bad but the real danger comes when outer beauty is placed on a much higher pedestal. True beauty is more than a size two jeans or having the clearest skin. Beauty is generosity and good will to neighbors. Beauty is a smile. Beauty is dancing in the rain. Beauty is not caring whose watching. Beauty is confidence. Beauty is you.

Sometimes true beauty is hard to come by. It’s not easy to discover what true beauty is because, often the definition of it is so obscure. Conformity and fitting in is most important to the superficial idea of beauty, but true beauty is much more. True beauty is the willingness to take a stand for something, it’s the ability to laugh and be real. True beauty can’t be confined to a set of standards in which a few select people decide what’s beautiful and what’s not. Beauty isn’t pain. It doesn’t require lipstick. It doesn’t need to be bought. Beauty only needs to be brought out into the open. Beauty from the inside isn’t a norm in society. Walls have to be torn down. People need to see that beauty is more than being voted sexiest man or women alive. Those who go against the norms of society have always been thought to weird or strange but who know, maybe once and for all, it truly will be “what’s on the inside that counts.”

 

Check out http://www.operationbeautiful.com/ to see more beauty focused on the inside!

 

 

Okay so I went to a fancy dinner fundraiser  tonight. It was at a beautiful golf club so I decided to go ahead and take some pictures. Check them out!:)

 Ahhhhhhhh they totally were raffling off a hamburger phone from the movie "Juno"!!! I didn't win though and now I'm just a little bit sad:(

Glass Bottle Ideas!

So I have a ton of these glass bottles ( they were free from a recycling company and I used them for a class project) now I'm trying to figure out how to decorate them. Any ideas?

Here's some that we used for our class project!

And Then There Was Night

Here's the post I promised! It's about my love of night, so I hope you like it. It was an essay we did for class and the subject was "This I Believe". So basically you had write about something you believed in. The subjects ranged widely in our class such as belief in music, religion, sports, ect. Everyone honestly did such a great job and there were a couple of tear jerkers. Leave comments and tell me what you believe in! 

This I believe “the darker the night, the brighter the stars, the deeper the grief, the closer to God.” I am a true lover of the night and of the elegance it possesses. I have heard the saying time and time again that “nothing good ever happens at 2 a.m.” and I realize this to be true in many situations but not all. Nights are unique in the fact that people are able to put their masks away and let their guards down. Some of my best conversations have happened because of the stillness that the night provides. When I’m on the cusp between sleeping and willing myself to stay awake, is when I feel most alive. I believe that in the night the façade that I tend to put up vanishes away. Some of my favorite conversations have happened in the night. I remember the time I stayed up till 5 in the morning with my best friend Sarrah and we just talked about anything and everything. I honestly can’t recall what was said but frankly that doesn’t matter, because the moment is forever stamped in my mind. Even since then, the night has brought our friendship closer together as we discussed the troubles of the world and the people who cause them and because of this Sarrah knows that I have her back and I know that she has mine.

The night has provided me with the biggest escape. Most nights, especially in the summer time, I can be found outside lying under the twinkling stars feeling the crisp cool air hit my skin while the gentle breeze flows. In these moments I truly feel at peace and I know that despite the absurdity that is this world, even if only for a fleeting moment, everything is the way it should be. It is in the dark of night that I feel connected to the Creator. For me, when I am connected with the beauty that is nature, away from the creations of man this is when I feel closest to God in the presence of His master piece.

Besides the personal side of night and the beauty that it provide, I have always felt that there is something adventurous about the night. As Robin Mckinley so aptly said “Everything was an adventure at night, when you were where you shouldn’t be, even if it was somewhere you could go perfectly well in daylight, and it was then only ordinary.” I can’t even count the many adventures that I’ve had that have been exemplified by the night. Nights spent walking on the beach with only the moons reflection on the water to guide me. The outings to get frozen yogurt right before the store closes. Nights spent watching baseball games, playing corn hole, night fishing, or driving up to the foothills with my brother to sit and watch lunar eclipses.

I believe that nights are good, that they are reviving, and that even the darkness can be revealing. I believe in new experiences and friendships that grow in the night. I know that most nights I find myself thinking “How did it get late so soon” as I watch the moon rise slowly in the sky.

365 Days of Love Notes, Week 23

So this is a blog post that follows that of Story of a Rose Blog. Basically it’s an attempt to see the blessings and the joys around us in our everyday adventure we call life!

Find more Love Notes at Story of a Rose

~Saturday May 31st~

Beach Days!!!Got to head down to the beach with the fam and also with my bff. Literally a great start to my week at the beach!

 

~Sunday June 1st~

Got to go to a magnificent church! It had glass windows all around with fresh air coming through so it made you feel as though mass was being said outside! Oh and the children’s choir sang and they blew my socks off (not literally because I wasn’t wearing socks! Hello I’m at the beach!).

~Monday June 2nd~

Midnight walks on the beach!!!!! If there is ever a point you doubt that God exist just take a walk on the beach at night. Everywhere you look there is beauty to be found! The stars are just soooo much brighter in nature than they are in the city. Oh and by the way I wrote an essay about the night so I’ll be sure to post that soon!

~Tuesday June 3rd~

Today was spent thrift store shopping! So much fun, especially down by the beach. Honestly the people are so rich down there they don't know how to spend their money. I saw the ugliest sweater down there that somebody spent $1,300! Did I mention it was ugly, like butt ugly! Oh but I did get to pairs of lucky brand jeans! They were 7 dollars each but the store was doing a promotion with a 25% off coupon so I paid $10.50 all together!

~Wednesday June 4th~

Early morning sunrise.....uggg! I totally agree with one of the Duggar girls (From 19 Kids and Counting) who said "if God wanted us to see the sun rise, He would of made it rise later!)

~Thursday June 5th~

Went through some funky stores today looking for brooches, pins, buttons, patches, ect. to had to my hip new bag I just got!

 

~Friday June 6th~

Beach day with baby. Not my baby...Hey I’m only 17! My nephew was the hottest stud on the beach that day and no I’m not bias. Look at the picture; I’m sure you will agree!

 

~Saturday June 7th~

I rode a mechanical bull today! What did I say; I told you I love adventures! It was for my friend’s graduations party and I had such a blast. Oh and we also got to sit in her incredibly handsome VW Bus whose name is Winston:)

 

 Find more Love Notes at Story of a Rose

Blog Post: Take One

Well hello there! Come here often? Well you should! So to start off let me say that this is my first ever blog post! Literally I have started so many blogs over the years but I could never get over the dreaded first post. Honestly it’s like how do you start? Well I’m getting over the awkward phase and I’m just heading straight in to the blogging world. I’m sort of a scramble of sorts. I’m always up for adventure, I love crafting, finding clearance deals (seriously I could tell you how much I paid for everything in my closet and its ridiculously cheap), and I love crayons! They are so much fun and they make me smile. What’s more fun than crayons? The only answer to that is TIE DYE!!!! Seriously I love tie dye. It’s just so much fun. It’s like crayons times ten. It’s just too much for one little skipper to handle. Any who I’ll be sure to start in on my next post asap!
                                          Till I fly to the moon,
                                           Elizabeth
P.S. I was going to do this in color but gosh how horribly mean would that be to you! So for now we keep it black and white.