"Feast" Your Eyes

There's nothing quite like the feeling of art.

and being artistic.

I love photography, oils, acrylics, calligraphy and so much more.

but ESPECIALLY photography.

this little photo was part of a friendship shoot that I did over Thanksgiving break.

beautiful.

"You don't take a photograph, you make it." 

-Ansel Adams

Two Cats Walk Around The Block...

"We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence."

-Joseph Roux

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand."

-Henri Nouwen

"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend."

-Plautus 

"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."

-Albert Schweitzer

Precious and Sweet

It takes a long time to grow an old friend.

This topic is really personal to me because I have always relied on my friends for support and confidence. But my senior year of high school, I had no close friends. I realized the benefits of having a close friend and partner in crime. Another thing I realized is that time changes you. 

People move on.

Things change.

Love can fade.

Best friends can become sweet memories of the past.

Appreciate the moments!! You never know when they will be swept away from you.

Hold a true friend with both hands. 

And hang on tight.

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."

Stand up 8

"Fall down seven times, stand up eight"

This proverb has stuck with me throughout my entire life. 

What a great example.

Today while I was blog stalking, I came across a cancer patients blog.

A girl my age.

Reading through her posts was like an awakening for my own life. 

I cried and cried while reading and felt almost ridiculous cause I didn't even know this girl.

But I understood her struggles.

No, I don't have cancer.

But I've felt pain.

I've broken bones.

I've lost loved ones.

I've gone through trials.

I haven't wanted to wake up in the morning.

"Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning"

Life is tough.

Life is unsatisfying at times.

Life is complicated.

Life is lonely.

Life is sweet.

Life is full.

Life is a dream.

Life is growth.

Life is forgiveness.

Life is trials.

Life is JOY.

Life is.

Pennies for Plasma

When I was born,
(19 years ago from tomorrow)
There were many complications and my mother almost died.
But because of 4 pints of a blood transfusion from members of my families ward,
She lived.
And I did as well.

Today I had the privilege to save lives.
I donated my plasma.
It was a very rigorous process, but in the end, I felt extremely thankful to my Heavenly Father.
We are SO SO blessed.
How much do we take for granted?

"An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship." -Spanish Proverb

Books change things

Have you ever read a book and realized that your view of the world is suddenly shifted?
Everytime I read the Book of Mormon, I always feel better.
Everytime I read Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens, I realized what I can work on.
Everytime I read Goose Girl, I just feel happy about love and life.

This time, it's called The Alchemist.

"All you have to do is contemplate a simple grain of sane, and you will see in it all the marvels of creation. Listen to your heart. It knows all things, because it came from the Soul of the World, and it will one day return there."

"I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we're living now."

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.” You’ve got to find the treasure, so 

that everything you have learned along the way can make sense."

“When you are in love, things make even more sense, he thought.”

“Courage is the quality most essential to understanding the Language of the World."

My favorite quote from the entire book:

“When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

Everybody should read this book. 

It will change your life.

Camel-Lynn

At this very moment, my family is driving to the airport to drop off my older sister.

Kam-Bam.

It's a weird feeling because I've had it over and over again.

She is moving to Massachusetts and might be gone for a loooong time.

But even after all of the many times that she has left, I still feel sad about it.

Kam cried when she hugged me good-bye.

Wow. I love her.

I remember the summer she was 16.

She worked at a summer-girl-camp and was gone all throughout the week, 

then come home on weekends. 

But this summer (I must of been turning 14) was grandparent summer.

I had been staying with my Grams & Rodge and because of complications, 

didn't come home for about a month.

Anyways.

When I finally got home, my Mom took me to pick up Kam for the weekend.

I'll always remember this moment.

Right when we saw eachother, we burst into tears.

It was the first time we had been apart for so long.

We just hugged and hugged.

She smelled of camp-fire and tacos.

But I still held on to her.

Cherish your families.

We never know how long we have to be together.

"Our most basic instinct is not for survival but for family. 

 Most of us would give our own life for the survival of a family member, 

yet we lead our daily life too often as if we take our family for granted."

Everybody has a laughing place

"Laughter gives us distance.
It allows us to step back from an event,
deal with it and then move on."

I'm going to be honest, cause honesty is the best policy.
Life has been hard lately.
Everyday takes effort for me.
What I'm lacking = Ambition.
My entire life has felt like a desire to do what God wants me to do.
But it seems like God wants ME to decide what I want.
And here is the problem.
I want to get an education.
I want to go on a mission.
I want to get married in the temple.
I want to raise a family.

Now is the problem..... $$
My heart seems to be braking. I want to go to school SO BAD.
And yet, I wasn't planning on SVU to bankrupt me.
I wasn't planning on going anywhere BUT SVU.
I wasn't planning on being a failure in life.
;laksjdfka;jsdklfjkasdjfkmanl;dkfiuwioeprioasdfasdfa

But this isn't supposed to be a depressing post.
Life is good.
Life is sweet.
"An optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh."
I've been trying to forget my problems, and so I laugh.
Here is the good news people:
In the past two days, I haven't laughed as hard as I did, for more than a year.
Laughter can create happiness and I am happy.
Confused, a tad worried, and ambition-less.
But happy.
Thank-you Moo-Mo & Netty.

Psych-o

The hit T.V. show .. Psych

aka my new obsession!

A friend of mine let me borrow their entire 3rd season.. sooo that's what I've been doing.

psych.

PSyCH

pyscho.

Try it out,

it's the bestest.

"I want some pancakes. 

Who wants pancakes? 

Whipped butter, maple syrup - what?!"

I love to see the temple

A safe haven

A place of peace

Calmness

God's home

When you go to the temple, everything in life seems easier to handle.

"We can find knowledge, understanding, and joy when we attend the temple."

Wanna go toilet papering with me?

Have you seen KID HISTORY???

Soooo a long story short; Small children are telling a story and adults are acting it out.

It's way funny.

BUT..The funniest part.. is all the perfect quotes.

There are many funny lines 

and you can't help but to repeat them.

ALL THE TIME.

And wanna know something awesome... is Julian Smith.

and Nacho Libre

and Megamind

and She's the Man.

I love all of them.

So if you ever feel like you are bored to death and need something to do

Watch those movies and learn some quotes!! woot woot

P.S. I put all these cute pictures up of me and everyone cause...well there isn't really a reason. But i'm grateful for great friends. Gracias.

Eye of the Beholder

"A picture is a poem without words"

I've been realizing something.. 

What you see is a reflection on who you are.

Have you ever thought of it like that?

I sure haven't.

But our past experiences, memories, dreams, events and situations all lead us to 

be us.

This picture ^ I love.

Photography.. I love.

It's weird to describe it.

But everything I see, I want to capture, but I want to do it justice.

Have you ever seen a BEAUTIFUL sunset, but when you take a picture of it..

It stinks?

You gotta do the picture justice. 

"All art is but imitation of nature."

I believe that photography is art.

But an imitation for sure of all the wondrous things out there.

My favorite things to take pictures of is.... PEOPLE.

They are always changing and certain moments can only be captured once. 

I keep doing really random posts, but I feel random.

unplanned.

irregular

casual

kind of... driftless.

But that's okay.

Right?

Senioritis

Dear World,

Guess What?!?!?!?

I'm a senior.

and graduation is cooommminnngg....

May 25th is my last day of high school.

These are some of my favorite senior pictures.

I suggest that everyone should get professional pictures taken of themselves.

At least once in their lifetime. 

"Only Socrates knew, after a lifetime of unceasing labor, that he was ignorant. Now every high-school student knows that. How did it become so easy?"

-Allan Bloom

I don't have much to say about these.

Just that I like love ADORE them.

Ashley, YOU ARE AMAZING.

Gracias for the pictures!! woot woot 

The above picture is my favorite.

I love photgraphy. 

I definitely have Senioritis.

uggh.

To the end...

“I have missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occassions I have been entrusted to take the game winning shot and missed. And I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why…. I succeed.” 

– Michael Jordan

Experience...The Human

Sometimes it feels good to just be quiet
to listen to the wind.
to let the trees talk to you.
wishing you were an angel.
you don't feel sad.
just quiet.
quiet is good.

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.

-Buddha

You gotta walk before you can dance!

i'm thinking they invented Prom just for the benefit of the girls

We get to dress up like princesses, dance the night away and go to sleep smiling

this year i was able to go to my SENIOR PROM.

i wasn't planning on it, but now that i've gone and been back...i'm glad i went!

I went with a friend of a friend, Caleb aka KK

He was a perfect gentleman and I loved every minute of the night

except for the part where we were confessing our true humor and sadly.. mine is morbidity!

sad, i know. BUT just SO funny!

He just wouldn't let that one gooooooo.

so for the rest of the night, i accused him of trying to kill me.

Right when the jazz band ended a song he leaned over to tell me:

"believe me, if i had been trying to kill you, i would of done it by now!"

while everything was silent.

it was probably the best moment all night!

AlSO..the other great part was.. CALEB knows how to dance!

We Cha'cha-ed, we salsa-ed, waltzed, polka and more! 

I dont have any pictures with Caleb, we took some at the dance but it wasn't really important to me

my family has been there for me with all my UPS and DOWNS.. 

and it meant more to take pictures with them. 

My mom even helped me with my dress and getting ready.

The night was good and i'm glad i went.

but i'm also super glad it's over, so that i can concentrate on graduation! 

woot woot

Here are some great quotes that were exactly how I felt.

"When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor.

 It's to enjoy each step along the way."

Isn't that beautiful!

Well I hope you all had a fabulous weekend!

I know i did.

Is NEWNESS a word?

I found this amazing henna dye that does wonders!

It's a Light Mountain Natural Light Brown.

And this is what it did:

You may think that it just looks wet (which is what everyone thought.)

But alas,it is just dyed.

I've only had it for one day but so far, so good.

This is my newness for the week.

along with getting another "best friend"

named Adam.

He is an answer to my prayers and a perfect friend.

"We must move from asking God to take care of the things that are breaking our hearts,

 to praying about the things that are breaking His heart."

Culture.

I've been thinking a lot about the past and the future. 

I keep trying to stay in the present, but it's difficult.

School doesn't even feel like an option and I've stayed home for the past two days.

But I have been... cultured.

Wednesday I went to the Art Museum 

I sat on a bench and wondered how people can be intrigued by modern art.

That wondering didn't last long for I was suddenly drawn into the most amazing painting.

It spoke to me, it was me.

Thursday (today) I went to the Provo Temple.

It is magnificent.

On the way home, I stopped at the cemetery and thought about things.

Mostly the future and the past.

I wondered about the people buried there and what their lives had been like.

I thought about where I would like to be buried, or if I want my ashes thrown into the sea.

I feel good though even if this post may seem melancholy.

Just thinking a lot can bring things into perspective. 

Can open a window of thoughts you can fly with.

It's freeing in a sense.

"A human life is a story told by God" - Hans Christian Anderson

Today is the Day

Here they are.
The moment you have all been waiting for... My New Year's Resolutions!!!
#1 Be honest - Telling my feelings or at least acknowledging them, standing up for what I believe in and telling the truth
#2 Attend the temple at least once a month. -Probably Thursday mornings.. 5:30am
#3 Read more books - Knowledge is power
#4 Trust in God - This includes taking each day one at at time.

Here are some .. sayings and quotes that have been inspiring me lately... my Top10

1. "We don’t have to be perfect today. We don’t have to be better than someone else. All we have to do is to be the very best we can." -Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin
2. The fruit of silence is prayer
   the fruit of prayer is faith
   the fruit of faith is love
   the fruit of love is service
   the fruit of service is peace. -Mother Teresa
3. "For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone." -Audrey Hepburn
4. "Always be a first rate version of yourself, instead of a second rate version of someone else." -Judy Garland
   
5. If who I am is what I have and what I have is lost, who am I?
6. Today I will experience JOY
7. "Your success and happiness lies in you. Resolve to keep happy, and your joy and you shall form an invincible host against difficulties." -Helen Keller
8. "None of us are secure except we keep the commandments of our Heavenly Father. The pathway of righteousness is the highway of happiness. There is no other way to happiness." -George Albert Smith
9. "My Savior loves, My Savior lives
   My Savior's always there for me
   My God: He was, my God; He is
   My God is always gonna be" -Aaron Shust "My Savior My God"
10. God loves me not because of what I do, but because of who I am.