Inspiration from Anne of Green Gables

Tomorrow is always fresh with no mistakes in it.

It's not what the world holds for you, its what you bring to it.

Movies I want to see: )

I love this time of year because there are so many good movies coming out and with the cold weather it is nice to escape to the movie theater: )

New Moon!!

I'm so excited for New Moon to come out, only a week left: ) Right now I am reading the third book in the series called Eclipse and am really enjoying it. Stephanie Meyers just draws me in with the way she writes I guess you could say I'm just a little obsessed: )

See's Candy: )

more to write here: )

Life since my last post....

"if we discovered that we only had 5 minutes left to say all that we wanted to say, every telephone booth would be occupied by people calling other people to stammer that they loved them"
-Christopher Morley

Graduation 2009

Here are a few photos from graduation. It was a cool, cloudy day and luckily we made it through without any rain. The ceremony was about 2 hours long and there were 1032 graduates and I ended up being almost at the very end. After graduation my family took me to eat at Best little Roadhouse in Salem.

Me and Dr. Khe' my favorite professor

Graduated: )
Mom and Dad
The Family
Me and Phil
Aunt Janine, Me and Bethany
Me and Gramma
Uncle Rod, Me and Aunt Danette

Some of the statistics about the graduating class:

• 81 percent of the graduates will receive a bachelor's degree; 19 percent will receive a master’s
• 36 percent of the students are men, 64 percent are women
• The youngest graduate is 19, the oldest student receiving a bachelor’s is 64-years-old, the oldest student receiving a master’s is 62-years-old
• 32 of 36 Oregon counties are represented
• 11 states are represented in the graduating class: Washington, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Montana, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Wyoming
• 9 countries are represented: China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Canada, England, Germany, Mexico, Norway, Taiwan
• 24.6 is the average age for students graduating with a bachelor’s degree; 32.5 is the average age for students graduating with a master’s

Graduation Present to Me: )

People who know me very well know that I am a very cheap person when it comes to buying things for myself. I really hate to spend a lot of money, I am much more content when I find things on the clearance rack. So for graduation I decided to go a little wild and buy something that I have been wanting for a while now...a Coach purse. Now this is not just any Coach purse it is the perfect purse for me, because it is called the "Leah" purse. I know, know this is why it is perfect and was made for me: ) I saw it around Christmas time in the Coach store and I fell in love with it, but once I saw the price tag I knew I would just have to dream about it. Well I had almost forgotten about ever owning it when a couple weeks before school ended Phil and I made a trip to the beach for the day and we decided to go to the outlet mall and into the Coach store and what do I see on sale? MY PURSE!!! So I give in and buy it as a graduation gift for myself for working so hard. I am so happy that I bought it, it is the perfect purse for me: )

Introducing the LEAH purse:

Thoughts

Summer fun to blog about: )

San Francisco Trip

George Strait Concert

Family Road trip

Coming soon: )

Lady Antebellum Concert

Camping

State Fair

New Movies that look good: )

Trying this to see if it will work...

I'm going to try using this search engine to see how it works, supposedly if you use this then you earn points towards rewards. There are no catches to using it or not so I will let you know how it works out or if its just a hoax...

Guitar Hero!

My family got Guitar Hero for Christmas and since then it has been really fun to play with Phil when he comes over...it's actually more of a competition over who's best on what day:) Some days I can beat Phil, but sadly those days are rare because he is an old time nintendo fan and is really good at the whole hand eye coordination thing: ) Here are some pictures of us playing last night;)

Baby Grace: )

My friend Amanda and her husband had their baby girl early this week on Monday morning: ) She is so cute and I have a few pictures to post of her.....I need to edit them and then I will post them this weekend.

St. Paul Rodeo (1st of July)

It's been a tradition for about 5 years now that on the fourth of July my family (and Phil) go to the St. Paul Rodeo, this year we decided to go early and make it the 1st of July. It made it a lot nicer because there weren't as many people and it wasn't so hot on wednesday as it was supposed to be on saturday. It also freed up the fourth of July to do something different. Phil and I ended up going to Pacific City with his mom and Bruce and we had a lot of fun just relaxing and spending time at the beach. Here are some pictures of our time at the Rodeo: )

Quote

A photograph never grows old. You and I change, people change all through the months and years, but a photograph always remains the same. How nice to look at a photograph of mother or father taken many years ago. You see them as you remember them. But as people live on, they change completely. That is why I think a photograph can be kind. ~Albert Einstein

A sonnet

As I was cleaning out my room today I came across a sonnet that I had written in high school and I thought I would post it: )

A Sonnet of Love

a Sitting all by myself I hope and dream

b I think of my love so handsome and true

a His eyes so bright like clean windows that gleam

b Never a day comes that we would be blue

c For now and for always will our love be

d As long as the sun will rise and will set

c Never a fight or trial will remove

d Each day will be great since the day we met.

e While we dance in the moonlight we will share

f All the memories and remember when's.

e As we waltz through life remember I care.

f For you are my sunshine above all kin's

g No love can compare to our love, my dear

g I long for the day we will meet, it's near.

November 16, 2004

The Climb

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming but
There's a voice inside my head sayin, 
You'll never reach it, 
Every step I'm taking, 
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle, 
Sometimes you going to have to lose, 
Ain't about how fast I get there, 
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing, 
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes they knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
The pain I'm knowing
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I, 
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on, 

Beginning of the end...

Only Thirteen Days till graduation. Its coming down to the wire on my college career and although I am excited to graduate I am also a little nervous. There are a couple big reasons why I am nervous, the first being change. I am not a big fan of change and graduating will bring one of the biggest changes of my life so far. I have been in school for nearly sixteen years of my life and graduating will pretty much mean the end of an era for that. I do want to get my masters degree, but that is probably a little ways down the line. So not going to school everyday is going to be a big change for me. Another thing I am nervous about is finding a job. I have never had to find a job that needed to last more than a couple months or something that was more than part time. Now I need to find a job that is not only long term, but also that has the right wage, health benefits, and that I will be able to live on. Also I hope to find a job that I actually like: )

Other changes are also on the horizon like having to leave my job at Focal Point and having to move home out of the dorms. There is a lot going on right now and a lot of decisions to be made, but for now I will need to put all my focus on finishing my last term here at Western strong. My class load has been pretty difficult this term taking two upper division Psychology classes ( Forensic and Cognitive), Dr. Khe's upper division geography class ( Urban planning), and an Excel class at the Dallas Chemeketa. Working has also brought its challenges and has forced me to manage my time which is a good thing. Although I am nervous I know that with hard work I can make it through: ) I know that the future holds a lot of potential and that this degree will be worth the hard work that it took to make it through in four years.

In times like these I think about the movie Hope Floats and the quote that is at the end of the movie and it makes me smile.

"Beginnings are scary. Endings are usually sad, but its what's in the middle that counts. So, when you find yourself at the beginning, just give hope a chance to float up. And it will."

I Just need to have HOPE: )

Movie, movie, movies

In the past couple weeks I have been able to go and see three movies which is a lot for me. The first movie was Ghosts of Girlfriends past, which was pretty good. I went with Phil and his mom and her friend Bruce. The second was Night at the Museum Battle at the Smithsonian with my family, which was good, Amy Adams did a great job playing Amelia Erhardt! The Last movie was on Friday which was 17 Again, we went for Katie's Birthday. I have to say that the last movie was my favorite movie. It was a really funny movie and I was impressed with Zac Efron's acting abilities, seriously the High school musical movies do not show his true talent! 

I hope to be able to go see the Proposal with Sandra Bullock here in a couple weeks. I really like her as an actress: ) Other then that I'm sure there are other good movies coming out this summer to see as well, maybe I'll get to go see some more: ) 

Beach trip last week: )

Mother's Day

I heard this song by Taylor Swift and I thought it was a really special song about mothers. It really touched me. I love my mom: ) here is the link if you want to hear it: )

I'm five years old and it's getting cold
I've got my big coat on
I hear your laugh and look up smiling at you
I run and run
Past the pumpkin patch and the tractor rides
Look now the sky is gold
I hug your legs and fall asleep on the way home

I don't know why all the trees change in the fall
I know you're not scared of anything at all
Don't know if Snow White's house is near or far away
But I know I had the best day with you today

I'm thirteen now and don't know how my friends could be so mean
I come home crying and you hold me tight and grab the keys
And we drive and drive until we found a town far enough away
And we talk and window shop till I forget their names

I don't know who I'm gonna talk to now at school
But I know I'm laughing on the car ride home with you
Don't know how long it's gonna take to feel ok
But I know I had the best day with you today

i have an excellent father
His strength is makking me stronger
God smiles on my little brother
Inside and out he's better than I am

I grew up in a pretty house and i had space to run 
And I had the best days with you

There is a video i found from back when i was three
You set up a paint set in the kitchen and you're talking to me
It's the age of princesses and pirate ships and the seven dwarfs
Daddy's smart and you're the prettiest lady in the whole wide world

Now i know why all the trees change in the fall
I know you were on my side even when I was wrong
And I love you for giving me your eyes
Staying back and watching me shine and I didn't know if you knew
So I'm taking this chance to say that i had the best day with you today

moments in time

This past weekend I was able to take pictures of my best friend from middle school and her family. It was a really special experience for me because not only is she pregnant with her second child, but she is also getting ready for her husband to deploy and I was able to capture some of their last moments together before they say goodbye for a year. I am so happy with how the pictures turned out and Phil did an amazing job with his photoshop skills. I'm happy that I had this opportunity to capture their love for one another and their family. If you want to check out other photos from the session or some of our other work here is the link: ) 

If you like what you see send me an email and I can set you up with a session: )

A true photograph need not be explained, nor can it be contained in words~ Ansel Adams