Move. Learn. Eat.

Can I have this guy's life? That is all.

Coffee & Writing

Englander's First Crack Coffee from William Hereford on Vimeo.

coffee + writing. only two of my favorite things.

Video: Xoxo by Papier Mache

I'm in awe of this Australian children magazine titled Papier Mache. So much fun inspiration, and could this ballet dance photo shoot be any prettier? The photos, above, and the video, below, are stunning. The video especially makes me smile. The outfits, the set, the colors, the hair. I want to wear glitter ballet flats and dance around to silly music in an old house. ♥

Papier Mache - XOXO from papier mache magazine on Vimeo.

Oh, how He loves us

Vimeos worth watching.

Winter Illusion - A Short Film from Joe Simon Films on Vimeo.

Snow absolutely fascinates me. The fact that God crafted a snowflake with such perfect detail, each one so small, delicate and unique. I think we're like snowflakes.

A Shorter Absence Than Expected

Will Return In One Week

I'm on a blog break & will return by Wednesday, December 15th. Possibly sooner. We'll see. Meanwhile enjoy this video by Charlie McDonnell {see after the "read more" jump}. I heart him. Hope you're all doing wonderful. ★

transparent project chile 2010

Transparent Project Chile 2010 from Chaim Diesto on Vimeo.

Please take the time to watch this video about my recent trip to Chile. I love my Team Transparent family and everyone in this video. Note: If you couldn't tell, I'm the one in the beginning with the white shawl/scarf wrapped around my neck, sleeping on the bus. I'm also at about 0:38 at Venice Beach, and can be seen a few other times throughout the video. This wonderful video was created by Chaim, the leader of the LA team. & I'm told he's going to be making a few more about the trip. So stay tuned because I'm sure this won't be the last time you hear me write about Chile. I miss it every day. Enjoy.

charlie mcdonnell

"Dancing like Justin Bieber ohhh... Cause we've got Bieber fever ohhh yeah." This 13-second song has been in my head for the past two days. In fact, it seems like every 13 seconds I burst out into song, scaring both my parents and my dog. Well maybe not quite, but I do receive concerned stares whenever I try to mimic the dance moves featured in the above video. I can't help it. It's catchy. And I even tried to make it my ringtone. I failed miserably, just so you know.

Now before you start thinking I'm some crazy Bieber fan that contributes to "Justin Bieber" as a trending topic on Twitter {side note: Can someone explain to me why this boy trends every day?}, l want to clarify that I do not have some crazy obsession with Mr. Bieber. Instead I am obsessed with the charming Charlie McDonnell. I'd seen a video of his a few months back on A Natalie Moment, but didn't realize how truly rad Charlie is until Natalie's most recent blogpost. {Thank you, Natalie!}

For those who don't know, Charlie is a quirky teen and video-blogger from England. Known as charlieissocoollike, he is the second most subscribed YouTuber in the United Kingdom. He's also in a band called Chameleon Circuit that plays songs about Doctor Who. He's colored himself purple. He loves his mum. He plays the ukulele. And in short, he's like... cool. ★

my western weekend adventures

{1. Superstition Mountains 2. Jerrica & I 3. Dad at Tortilla Flat 4. Dollar bills on the walls of the restaurant at Tortilla Flat; we decorated our own as well 5. Church at Old Tucson 6. Goldfield Ghost Town with booths serving chili 7. Old Tucson 8. Gwen & I eating ice cream on the train 9. Sitting at the (fake) train station at Old Tucson where the original 3:10 to Yuma was filmed 10. Dad & I at Goldfield ghost town 11. Jerrica with cactus 12. Worker at Old Tucson; sweet man 13. Old Tucson stunt show 14. Me aka Horse Thief 15. A Titanic moment with Gwen at Old Tucson}

{More Pictures}

This past weekend was an adventure. Jerrica arrived from Nashville and Friday was spent antique shopping and hunting for records. Money was spent on Louie Armstrong, Peter Pan and Grease; sheet music was purchased from the downtown music store; and we had dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in six years.

Friday was a day of endless chili, dollars bills and drops of rain. The desert was a beautiful shade of green and the clouds floated below the mountain tops. Jerrica, the parents and I traveled to Tortilla Flat. Population: six. After taking our picture with a toilet seat (see above), we had lunch at a restaurant with walls covered in dollar bills. We traveled to Goldfield Ghost Town, where we purchased a $1 foam cup and went around to dozens of booths serving chili. A charity chili festival? We were in luck. The day ended with pie at Village Inn after seeing Shutter Island with Gwen.

On Sunday Gwen, Jerrica & I took a two-hour road trip to Old Tucson. We walked the dusty streets, where many westerns were filmed back in the day. The same streets where my childhood hero (and favorite actor of all time), John Wayne, once stood. Sadly much of the original sets were burnt down in the 1990s. Today other western-themed buildings stand in their place. Still neat. We saw a gun show, stunt show, short comedy, a short John Wayne film and can-can dancers. We took a "haunted" gold mine tour, rode the train and acted like outlaws throughout the day. Gwenie wore her Little Mermaid backpack; I wore my Jonas backpack. We were 10 again. Once we were home, we watched Rio Bravo, starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Walter Brennan and Ricky Nelson. And I've been listening to the above song ever since.★

the beauty of people

I discovered Fifty People, One Question about a year ago and fell in love. It is a beautiful film project that was created by Benjamin Reece of Deltree and Nathan Heleine of Crush + Lovely in 2008. Every time I watch these videos I have the desire to travel and capture the beauty of people on film. I honestly can't imagine a more exciting career.

The series inspired me to do my own little video while traveling abroad in London. It was my first attempt at videography and while the lighting is awful, and the sound terrible (not to mention, I was without a tripod), I was quite pleased for it being my first video. Although, I hate the random text my professors recommended me adding for a better grade on the assignment, since it was difficult to hear at some parts. I couldn't get it to look just the way I wanted. I walked around St. James Park near Buckingham Palace, asking random strangers one question: Who or what is God? Simple. & also a suitable question, since our assignment was to report on religion and conflict. Here is my video:


I also recommend checking out one of my new favorite projects, Pictory, which is "a showcase for people around the world to document their lives and cultures." Please do take the time to watch one or two of the videos. I promise, promise you won't regret it. ★

TWITTER LINKS: Nathan Heleine | Benjamin Reece | Pictory | 50P1Q | Crush + Lovely | Deltree

a candle in the wind

“That’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” -Great Gatsby

Things to accomplish this Christmas season:

• making dozens of caramel turtle cookies
• third annual Christmastime sleepover
• sleeping in to the wee hours of the afternoon (occasionally)
• holiday flick marathon: the holiday, just friends, a christmas story, mean girls, the grinch (cartoon version)
• going to the movies: princess & the frog, sherlock holmes, brothers
• late night starbucks run
• blogging, lots and lots
• 2010 new year's celebration with bottles of apple cider
• diving into a favorite book, including eloise
• endless cups of coffee
• driving around to see all the twinkle lights
• making playlists
• music video with friends
• all-nighters
• long drives at night, blasting music and singing loudly (and horribly)
• making people laugh
• searching for things to inspire
• my usual tradition of having the o.c. season one marathon, for i can not imagine celebrating "chrismukkah" without seth cohen
• finding a place for my framed magnet board to display pretty, pretty, pretty things
• sledding
• getting over my cold (i write this as i sneeze)
• keeping my room neat and tidy
• smiling, living, growing and creating

Dear John

Longing to see this movie.

Savannah: You don't scare me, John.

John: Well you scare me.

♥

Don't worry, be happy

The leaves have begun to fall. And for a short while it was starting to cool down. But it's back in the 90s here in Phoenix, so we haven't fully managed to hit the official fall season. How I wish it would hurry up and get here. I want that autumn smell to hit me when I walk out the door in the morning. I want to feel like I need a hot cup of coffee. All in time I suppose. Well the past few days I have found myself happier than I've been in a while. Which is quite surprising, since a certain someone brought me down on Friday. But thankfully, I got over it. Here's a few things that have made me happy over the past few days:

• Saturday I experienced my first hockey game. I had no idea what to expect. I came prepared with hoodie, scarf and gloves. But alas, I only needed my jacket. The game was full of hardcore fights, which I discovered are best watched while bundling up in a hoodie while struggling to wave a pom-pom in the air. I had a great view of the ice from the suite. And since I just so happened to work at the event, the tickets were free. It was the night opener and I, along with the other members of what is known as Street Team, handed out t-shirts to people as they made their way into the arena since it was a 'white-out' game. The night ended with thirty minutes of handing out flyers to guests after the game ended. Easy work, I must say. & I got paid. Free tickets and a paycheck? Pretty nice way to spend a Saturday, I must say.

• Miraculous test scores are wonderful. Especially when you think that you'll be lucky to pull off a B minus on a midterm. So when I made my way up to the front of my World Politics to collect my blue books, I wasn't expecting much. In fact, I was dreading opening the first page to see my score. So I was surprised when the TA told me, "great job," as he handed me my exam. I was even more shocked to discover that I received 100 percent on my midterm. Go me! Then later in the day I was told by my PR professor that I was the only one in the class who received an A on our news releases. Not a bad Monday.

• Discovering journals on sale at Anthropologie, which just so happens to have the neatest journals on planet Earth.

• Realizing that there are only two more days until the Honor Society concert with Gwenie. I'm ready to get 'Full Moon Crazy.'

• Dancing like no one is watching. Note that this is proof I can not dance. And it is also proof that I no longer care:

p.s. ireland, i love you

Why must this movie make me miss Ireland terribly so? They really do have Gerard Butler-like men. And one's who play guitar. I spotted one in a pub window one afternoon while we were walking around Dublin. Sigh. I want to go back to Ireland. Soon.

Who or what is God?

I honestly can't believe I didn't post this sooner. But better late than never. Over the summer I did a video project for class credit. I went to St. James Park and interviewed strangers from all over the world. The people in the video are the one's who made the cut. The audio? Horrible. Where? St. James Park in London, right next to Buckingham Palace. Beautiful. I'm happy with the way it turned out. It was my first video, so it's far, far, far from perfect. The idea was inspired by 50 people: 1 question. The question was chosen because the purpose of the class was to report on religion. Well, what do you think?

makes you think. doesn't it?

What do you think it means?

moon river.

Gossip Girl & Breakfast at Tiffany's

♥

typing up a title now...

I love you anyway, Twitter. ♥

No Rain

'Tradition' for me to listen to this song while it's raining, although I have no idea why. But I ♥ this song: Come Clean. And I was also reminded of the video above. Cohen & Atwood. So funny.

Free hugs

I love it.