Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

I'm really excited to see this movie when it comes out in theaters soon. The first one was really good and I liked all the books by Ann Brashares too.

The Dark Knight.

I went to see the Dark Knight (the new batman movie) on Friday night with Phil and my family. It was a really good movie, it was dark and kind of scary at times but excellently acted. Heath Ledger and Christian Bale did a wonderful job. They were both lost within their characters and both deserve oscars for their performances.

sigthseeing in Salem..

My mom had some friends that came to visit from Colorado, so we took them to see the sights of Salem. We walked up the steps to see the gold man at the capital, rode on the carousel, had chocolate at See's candy and went to the Salem Center.

Thoughts about life...

As I watched a movie the other night, there was a scene in it that caught my attention and made me think. It was a conversation between two men facing the end of their lives and discussing what their lives meant. The idea that struck my attention was this:

The ancient Egyptians asked people who were facing the end of their lives two questions:

Have you found joy in your life?

Has your life brought joy to others?

So many times all we think about in life is what we want personally and what makes us happy, but if we instead focused on trying to make others' happy we could intern be happy and achieve both goals. For me I have found joy in showing compassion and love to others by volunteering at a care home. Yes, it is a college class for me but I picked my job that I volunteer for and it has become more than a class. As I have begun to form relationships with the people there it has become a kind of joy for me to bring joy to them by spending my time there. 

Just a thought, try to find a way to give joy to someone today. You never know what even a smile can do to someone's day.

~Leah

Best Of Show: )

This year Phil entered pictures into the Marion county fair. He had some really awesome pictures! The picture below got Best of Show for Marion county! I'm so proud of him, and the picture is beautiful!

A Good Song

I keep hearing this song on the radio and I really liked it so I looked up the lyrics are they are really good, so here they are: )

"You Find Out Who Your Friends Are": Tracy Lawernce

Run your car off the side of the road
Get stuck in a ditch way out in the middle of nowhere
Or get yourself in a bind lose the shirt off your back
Need a floor, need a couch, need a bus fare

This is where the rubber meets the road
This is where the cream is gonna rise
This is what you really didn't know
This is where the truth don't lie

{Chorus}
You find out who your friends are
Somebody's gonna drop everything
Run out and crank up their car
Hit the gas, get there fast
Never stop to think 'what's in it for me?' or 'it's way too far'
They just show on up with their big old heart
You find out who your friends are

Everybody wants to slap your back
wants to shake your hand
when you're up on top of that mountain
But let one of those rocks give way then you slide back down look up 
and see who's around then

This ain't where the road comes to an end
This ain't where the bandwagon stops
This is just one of those times when
A lot of folks jump off

{Chorus}

When the water's high
When the weather's not so fair
When the well runs dry
Who's gonna be there?

The puppy and me: )

Craig Morgan!

So last night Phil and I went to the Linn county fair after school to look at the pictures I entered and go see Craig Morgan in concert! It was fun to walk around the fair and look at all the stuff. There was an animal area where people had rescued animals and there were all kinds of snakes, lizards and spiders too. My favorite thing was a baby Kangeroo it was so cute! There was also a Lemur which was pretty crazy jumping around its cage. The Craig Morgan concert was really good. It's always nice when you go to a concert and the singer actually sounds like the cd you have bought before hand. For those of you who might not know who he is, he sings songs like International Harvester, That's What I Love About Sunday's, and I've Got You. He has a nice country voice and it was fun to see him live. Thanks for going with me Phil: ) I like you: )

Those are some pictures that Phil took for me at the concert (I'm too short...)

Anne-isms...

Call me a hopeless romantic, but I love watching and reading the Anne of Green Gables series. Each time I watch the movie I get excited when Gilbert and Anne finally get together. Through Anne I have learned a few things such as; a girl needs a bosom friend, a kindred spirit, a true friend that will be there for you no matter what. Another thing I learned from her is that its ok to be hopelessly romantic and to be yourself. I also know that it is possible to find your true love: ) Someday I would love to go to Prince Edward Island and see the beauty that Anne took in and day dreamed about in these books. Her beloved Island.

You also have probably noticed by now I also like quotes. To me they are little pieces of wisdom that you can use in your everyday life. In fact that can be my quote: )

Here are some of my favorite Anne- Girl quotes: )

"All life lessons are not learned at college. Life teaches them everywhere" 

"Next to trying and winning the best thing is trying and failing" 

"Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"

"Marilla, isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it yet?"

"And people laugh at me because I use big words. But if you have big ideas you have to use big words to express them, haven't you?"

Friends...

Here are some of my favorite quotes on Friends...

A friend is one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. ~Douglas Pagels

True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable ~ Dave Tyson Gentry

Friends are those rare people who ask how you are and then wait for the answer ~Unkown

A true friend reaches for your hand and touches your heart ~ Unknown

A good friend is a connection to life- a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world. ~Lois Wyse

What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies~ Aristotle

In my friend, I find a second self. ~ Isabel Norton

Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive. ~ Anais Nin

A friend accepts us as we are yet helps us to be what we should. ~ Unknown

A friend can tell you things you don't want to tell yourself. ~ Frances Ward Weller

Friendship is a sheltering tree ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~ Elisabeth Foley

A real friend: )

I have always had a hard time making good friends, especially with girls. As I have gotten older it has only gotten harder to find girls who truly just want to hang out and get to know you without a hidden agenda. This last year has been especially hard because I have lost some friends because of jealousy and because all they wanted to do was use me instead of being a friend. Going to Western I thought that it would be easy to make friends, but it hasn't. I'm not all that outgoing and I'm not that usual prissy girl or a tom boy...and I'm not interested in acting like someone I'm not in order to make friends. Through it all I am so thankful for my boyfriend Phil. He has stuck by me in this time of mourning and searching for new quality friends I guess you could call them. He has helped me to realize that I can be me and be happy with or without friends and he is there to support me either way. The best thing that I can say that has happened since I have had this new mind set to be myself and being friendly and open is meeting my friend Karen. She has really been there for me unlike any other girl friend that I have ever had. She doesn't have a hidden agenda she just wants to be friends with me. I am so very thankful for her because now I can have someone to talk to who is understanding and we can do fun girl things. One example of this is on Saturday we planned a girls day with me and her and another girl Amanda. It was so much fun to just eat dinner, shop a little bit and go to a movie. Thank you Karen: ) I am so glad that you are my friend: ) I'm excited for many more girl's trips: ) It's hard in this period of life to keep the old friends, like the high school friends because we are so far apart. It's nice to have a friend just down the hallway to hang out with and be silly with. 

Also if your reading this Phil I am so thankful for your friendship as well, you are always there for me no matter how crazy my thoughts you are. Thank you for being not only my boyfriend but my best friend. Thank you for going to places with me that I want to go even if you aren't thrilled you still go: )  (like the craig morgan concert, yay!)  I love planning fun days and dreaming with you. I like you: )

~Leah

mmm music: )

Music is something that is in my everyday life and I really enjoy. It's amazing to me how you can be in a store, listening to the radio, or in a restaurant and a song comes on and it can take you back in time to a specific moment in time and remind of of people who may or may not be in your life anymore. Some examples of this for more is the song "King of the Road" always makes me think of my Grandpa Blake who died a few years back, he always thought he was the King of the road in his big pick up truck. Many songs remind me of my boyfriend Phil in different times in our relationship some examples are "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, or "Would you go with me" by Josh Turner, or "Moon River", or "The Eye of the Tiger". There are so so many songs that remind me of him. When I hear the song the James Taylor song "You've Got a Friend" I think of my brother. The list just goes on and depending on what I'm listening there are lots of memories that can run through my mind while driving or just doing the daily tasks of life.

Going along with the music theme of this blog...I have heard a lot of people talking about Pandora the online personalized radio. I had never tried it until today and now I know why everyone is talking about it! It is so cool! All you have to do is type in a favorite artist or song and Pandora makes a personalized radio station for you with similar songs and artists. It's fun not knowing which song will come up next. The quality is so clear and it's nice to work on my homework without having to make my own playlist or be annoyed with the radio. Yay for Pandora Radio: )

Music is the poetry of the air~Richter

Music is the medicine of the mind~ John A. Logan

So little time, so much to do...

Hey everyone: )

It's been a while since I've wrote anything on here....I have been so busy with school and stuff that I haven't had a lot of time to be on here. So I'll update you on the life and times of Leah a little bit. Well I decided to take some summer classes to lighten up my load for next year...but it really has put a damper on my idea of summer. Oh well I'll thank myself next year when I'm done! I am taking four classes two online, one volunteer, and one in class. I am taking a geography class called International Trade and Transportation, which is hard but I'm learning a lot in. Also I am taking an online history class, a Psychology class at Chemeketa, and I am volunteering at a Care Home in Salem for my Sociology class. Busy, Busy I know! Also I am working two days a week at my Church as a secretary and that seems to be pretty easy, which is good. With all this planned stuff it has made it hard to think or do much of anything else. I am glad that I had the week in between classes to have fun and relax a little bit. Soon it will be easier my WOU classes are only six weeks and my Chemeketa ones are only eight so I'll still have a summer and time to find another job in between. Other than that not much has been going on, I would have to say that so far my highlight of summer has been going to the Oregon Gardens with my family and Phil for the 3rd of July. It was so nice to walk around the gardens, taking pictures and spending quality time with Phil. A lot of times it seems that all we get to do is worry about school and that really bogs us down, but it was really relaxing to spend that time with him. It was nice to just be us:) Also we got to watch an awesome display of fireworks there that lasted almost an hour! I love fireworks: ) they are so pretty and unique. The next day the 4th we went to the St. Paul Rodeo and that was fun too. We got to load up on our "carney food" as Phil calls it: ) Well I think that's about all the exciting parts (and unexciting...school) 

~Leah