this movie was poetry

I have never seen a film that was sheer poetry.
Of course it was only appropriate that this one was about Keats,
My favorite romantic poet.

If you are looking for a thriller - this is not for you.
But if you are looking for the most wonderful
Juxtaposition of images, words and emotion -
I have never seen a film quite like this.
It was like synaesthesia.

Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors--
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever--or else swoon to death

Thanks Kev-friend.
Best date of my life.

this book changed my life

"The problem is always being the children's mommy or the minister's wife and never being myself."

"It is an awakening to know that I'm not an oddity and can stop being ashamed of wanting something more."

"And finally there is the problem that has no name, a vague, undefined 'wish for something more' than washing dishes, ironing, punishing and praising the children."

"We don't like to be asked what we want to do. None of us know. None of us even like to think about it. The ones who are going to be married right away are the lucky ones. They don't have to think about it."

"I think women had to suffer this crisis of identity, which began a hundred years ago, and have to suffer it still today, simply to become fully human."

This book made me realize that,
Things happen differently for everyone,
And it is okay to have dreams for a family and a career,
And education can save you.

Any person, male or female would benefit from reading this.

question

does anyone else understand the recent blog/bridal shower/wedding fad etc. of mustaches?
i think it is so strange.
and i wish i had something more to say but i just wondered if anyone else thinks it is the weirdest fad ever
?
evidence:
here
here
here
here
here
etc.

running away from home.

If I knew where home was, I would run away from it.
But my home is misplaced.
Utah.
Connecticut.
Hawaii.

But if I knew, I would leave.
I would pack a sandwich,
Bring my favorite book,
Say goodbye to Italian forever,
And throw my cell phone away.

Then I would find a meadow,
In a place far far away,
Where the sun makes ribbons through the leaves,
And my skin becomes as warm as my soul.

There I would lay very still,
So still in that summer grass
Until my heart beats melt into the sun
And I am born again.

this week

p.s. busy bee lauren is doing a shabby apple giveaway!
go here to enter.

Haiku

I will let you in,
To these four chambers of hope
Because you see me.

photo via

Patriotic

President's Day rocks.
Sleeping in.
Homemade biscuits for breakfast.
Bachelor tonight.
Cuddling on the couch.
Catching up on reading.

I am feeling so patriotic.

p.s. Kansas Couture is having a Shabby Apple giveaway!
Go here to enter.
Or here to Cjane's giveaway.

Day 9

I suppose,
Love in all of its many forms is beautiful.

I do not pretend to be the expert on love,
Because I don't believe that love is something you fall into.
I believe it is something you learn to do.

It doesn't fix you.
It won't solve your problems.
It won't make a sad person happy,
Or an insecure person secure.

But what it does?

It teaches you to trust.
It enables you to forget yourself.
It motivates you to continue.
(at least the real kind).

Thanks for experiencing this countdown with me.

Happy Valentines Day Friends.

Day 8

I love people.
I love my old Italian professor and his Southern accent.
I love the twins I used to baby-sit and their tiny beds.
I love the friends I have made through blogging.
I love the people who were nice to me in Hawaii.
I love my third grade teacher who cried reading Where the Red Fern Grows.
I love my sisters because they know why.
I love my rockstar Senior Seminar professor because she inspires me.
I love my little sister who just had a birthday.
I love the friends I've told secrets with since we were 10.
I love the friends I have met at college.
I love the boys I've dated in the past who broke my heart because
I love Kev-friend the best and never would have found him otherwise.
I love my soul sisters.
I love my Mom and Dad because they loved me first.

I love a lot of people.
Who do you love?

Day 7

All I really want,
Is to love like this:

"Our Union is like this:
You feel cold, so I reach for a blanket to cover our shivering feet.

A hunger comes into your body,
so I run to my garden
and start digging potatoes.

You asked for a few words of guidance and comfort,
and I quickly kneel by your side
offering you a whole book as a gift.

You ache with loneliness one night
so much you weep,
and I say here is a rope,
tie it around me,
I will be your companion for life.
- Hafiz

Day 6

Today, I have to reflect on the way love changes you.

Instead of waking up these days, and thinking "I'm hungry."
I think, "I wonder if Kevin is awake."
(Shortly followed by, "I'm hungry.")

When I shop online now, I always look at the boys section.
I buy two cookies at Subway instead of one.
I smile when I see couples who are happy,
Because I know how they feel.

I can't help but bring him into every conversation,
And brag about how he is studying Neuroscience,
Or is awesome at basketball,
Or made me laugh so hard I choked on my water at dinner.

And when I pray at night,
I pray for Kevin and myself.
But mostly for the two of us as a team.
Collectively.

And so I guess you could say that love has made me less selfish.
And more myself.
Because being selfish,
Was never really me to begin with.

Day 5

"Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us.
Charity is expecting the best of each other."
- Marvin J. Ashton

This kind of love is the hardest.
But it is also the most important.
I'm still trying to infuse it into my life.
Every.
Single.
Day.

Day 4

"Talent isn't genius, and no amount of energy can make it so.
I want to be great, or nothing."
- Louisa May Alcott


Some things we fall in love with are not always good.
But I think I fell in love with something that is potentially good,
And potentially harmful.

I fell in love with ambition.
I fell in love with being better.
Sometimes though, it is not only better for myself,
But better than others.

It's a love that I love and hate.
But one I am still working on perfecting.
Because love is like that.
It needs perfecting sometimes.

(p.s. Q's Daydream Vintage is doing a Shabby Apple giveaway here.)
(And to read Siovhan's views on love, go here.)

Day 3

Loving things that are alive is always harder than loving things that are not,
Because when you love something alive,
There is a chance that it might not love you back.
And maybe, will even reject your love.

Some people fall in love many times,
But some of us only manage to do it once.

I fell in love with the idea of love before I ever really fell in love.
And it seemed right at the time,
But the right kind of love,
Will make you feel whole.
Yourself.

So I suppose those nights sitting by my desk,
listening to music,
Studying physiology together,
Crying tears too often,
Was not really love.
But just my first recognition that love is what I wanted in my future.
And that recognition didn't count then,
But it does now.

Does that make sense?
I fell in love with love,
Without falling in love.

Day 2

I think I fell in love with secrets.
This may seem strange, but I think secrets,
The right kind,
Are tantalizing.

I am not talking about the bad kind of secrets.
I am talking about the secrets that you only share with yourself.

Like talking to yourself in a British accent when you are alone,
Or pretending you have 20 seconds to choose the boy you will marry in your 3rd grade class.
(Am I the only one who did that?)
Or saving $10 a month to buy that anthropologie skirt you've been craving.

I think having secrets with yourself helps you love yourself.
And loving yourself, is the most important step to loving someone else.

To read more of my secrets, go here. and here.

Day 1

I suppose I fell in love with books first.

I grew up without a television,

My only friends were my sisters and my parents,

Because the girls my age only spoke Japanese,

And their parents only let them play with nice Japanese girls.

So I fell in love with reading.

The characters were always my friends.

Karen Brewer, Ramona Quimby, and Kate Bjorkman,

Taught me about how to survive childhood and adolescence.

Liesel, Adah, and Daniel caused me to sob into my pillow,

So I didn't wake any one in my house up.

Since the first book I can remember,

I have read thousands of books. 

Some are longer, funnier, or sadder than others.

But they never let me down.

In a way, I think I loved them first because they loved me back.

And that's the beauty of books.

Isn't it?

What was your first love?

(Other thoughts on reading here, here, here)

Countdown

In honor of Valentines, I want to issue a countdown.
Too often we commemorate romantic love,
Believing that when we achieve that, somehow things are perfect,
That the things we cared about before, are dissolved into this ideal individual,
That somehow they make up for all of those things we loved before.

But I believe that real love,
Only accentuates what you already love.
Really, someone loves you,
Because of the things you love.
Because of the person you have made yourself.

These next 14 days before Valentines, I would like to explore love in all of its many forms.

Will you join me?
I would love that.