Paperman

This made me happy :)

Happy Thanksgiving to any fellow Canadians out there!

Random Links & Stuff (v.3)

So summer is over again and last week I started my 4th year of university...  It is crazy to think that in just 8 short months I am going to be graduating and this chapter of my life will be over! 

The whole process of university has been such a time of personal change for me but at the same time I do really feel like the same little Emily who walked into that big lecture hall 3 years ago...  I am excited to see what this year and the rest of the future bring... I'm sure it will be a wild ride!

In the meantime... Here are a few things that I have been enjoying recently:

These spaces are beautiful.

If you are a Lord of the Rings fan then you need to read this.  Some concerns about Sauron's battle plan.

Ok so I'm may be a bit of a wimp but I can't help but feel sorry for the poor ants...  Super cool though!  But, would you want it in your house?

I have been working on figuring out what my personal style actually looks like lately...  Right now it is looking a lot like this:

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Not that different from what I usually wear, but I have found that having a visual of something that I like and know looks good on me really helps for those days that I feel like I don't have anything to wear!  If you are interested in seeing more of my inspirations you can check out my style board here.

 Are you right-brained or left-brained?  This 30 second quiz will help you find out!  Unsurprisingly, I am an almost exact 50/50 split :)

What would you add to this list of things to teach your daughter?  What would a list of your son look like?

This is such a cute project!  It also looks like it would be pretty fast which is my favourite kind of project!

And finally, 41 pictures for when life sucks.

Have a great week everyone!

questions

How much is personal expression and how much is facade?

How much of what we are, and do, and see, and wear, and how we do our hair, and where we send our kids to school, and who we choose to be our friends is really us?

How much of it is planted in out heads by the media, and the 'world views' that are constantly being streamed in to our heads?

And, even ignoring that, how much of it is our innate desire to 'fit in', to 'blend' with the people around us?  To not stand out as 'different'?

When I choose what I am going to wear in the morning how much of what I like is really my subconscious analyzing the world around me and telling me what will make me look the most like everyone else?  Is this concept of individuality really real or is it just something that we have come up with to make ourselves feel better and unique?

How much of how I react to the people around me and how I act in my everyday life is really me and how much of it is how I have been shaped by my environment?

How is anyone really a person without their environment to shape them?

How often do we inadvertently hurt the people around us just because we don't understand their environment and way of thinking?

How often do we deliberately hurt people just because we don't understand their environment and way of thinking?

Why?

Why is it so important?

How much of that desire is just everything around us telling us to be the same, to not stand out?  Do we have that desire because we know that to stand out will cause us pain?  Or does standing out cause us pain because we have been told that it will?

Will this ever really change? Or will the only change be what we identify as different?

Life lately/Winter

So I just realized that I never did a wrap up post for Guatemala.  You know,  the post that goes: "I got home safe, now here is a beautiful wrap up of the whole month".  Well here I am so obviously I got home safe :)  And, maybe sometime in the future I will find the time and energy to do a full recap (probably not :) ), but in the meantime I will just say that the whole experience was wonderful and that the last week was full of laughter and tears and went by much too fast.

Currently I am surviving  my third year of university (which is doing its utmost to kill me slowly) and trying to figure out who I am and what I want to do for the rest of my life (light stuff).  But right now I'm on reading week so all of that is on hold :)

I have also started crocheting and knitting as much as I possibly can, lighting a billion and one candles every night, and drinking more tea than is humanly possible (except that it obviously is) all of which is really helping with the stress :)


So, here is a little bit of my life lately:

My 22nd birthday was yesterday which means that now this song can be the soundtrack of my life (except maybe not :) )

Forever Amber is my favourite blog to read any time.  She always makes me laugh and I looove how she dresses :)  Meg Fee is another of my favourite bloggers..  Her words are so beautiful.

I recently discovered 8 Tracks which is an awesome music sharing type place that I love :)
(If you're interested, here is the playlist that I am listening to while I write this).

Also, this because space is cool :)

And, here are 27 picture to restore your faith in humanity (and maybe make you cry), and here are 29 people to crush that hope (but maybe make you laugh).

I am really wanting to travel right now...  nowhere in particular.. just everywhere!  So I occasionally do searches that go something like "student travel" travelling on a student budget" or "working vacation".  So far all the options those bring up still require money to get where I'm going so it looks like I will be staying home this summer...  Oh well, a girl can dream :)  

I am definitely going to try to make these sometime soon!

Annnd, I have started some choreography again so I have been watching a bunch of dance stuff and this improv is just gorgeous.

ALSO, (sorry got a little excited there :) ), also, this is the 150th post on this blog!!  I feel like that is a pretty big accomplishment!

Finally, it has been pretty cold here this winter and this is what I have been looking like when I catch the bus in the morning :)

Have a great week everyone!!

Random Links & Stuff (v.2)

Sorry I've been gone for so long!
But, I'm back now with  some more randomness from around the web :)

This totally cracked me up!  Right up there for 'important things to know' ;) 

My dad sent me this link the other day: How to Remember Literally Everything

Could you live in a house like this?  I think it looks like fun but I'm not sure if it would actually work for me :)

What does your coffee order say about you?

I really liked this post about being a twentysomething....

This post from a astronaut living on the space station right now (!!!) is pretty much totally cool :)

This is super cute... The last one is totally my favourite :)

Some cool ideas for if/when you have oodles of money/a really handy significant other: http://www.boredpanda.com/amazing-home-interior-design-ideas/  (Numbers 17 and 24 are totally my favourites :))

Inspirational penguin.  Need I say more?

And, finally, it may be a Bailey's commercial but I love the idea :)  (plus, if you're interested here's the making of)

Aaannnd, a cool picture of some boats/cute houses/awesome sky from my trip to Holland last summer :)

Broken

I believe that as we are all broken in some way or another and that it is only by the grace of God that we are saved.

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I think as Christians we have a tendency to forget that we are all equal in our brokenness.  I read a post a while ago by Annie over at what she saw that really takes this idea home for me.  She is talking about how we see other peoples sins (brokenness) as worse than our own and then judge them for it.  Crazy right? You can check it out here if you are interested.

But that is not what I really want to talk about today.  I want to talk about the fact that we as Christians also have the saddest tendency to go the other way, to swing to the other extreme.  We get so focused on our own brokenness that we forget that the people around us are broken too!

What I mean by that is that we get so caught up in wanting to fix ourselves and 'oh I need prayer for this', and 'oh God help me',  that we forget to really open our eyes and see the people around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ that need that help or that prayer too!  I am not saying that they need it more than we do by any means; but we are supposed to be a body, and a body is in trouble when each part just decides that it is going to do its own thing!

I was having a conversation with my mom about something different the other day and she said something that really stuck with me:  She said that we all spend too much time on just looking out for ourselves and that if everyone just looked out for everyone else, we would have more people helping us way better than we could ever help ourselves.

And that does not just apply to Christians, it applies to everyone that you meet in your day.  We as humans need to care about people other than ourselves.

In our culture it is so easy to just focus on yourself and your own problems and forget to look around you.  It doesn't even require that much effort,  just a smile or a 'how are you' that you really mean.

And the thing is that yes we are all broken.  But just because something is broken doesn't mean it isn't beautiful.  And, in helping someone else you might just find that you take that part of you that is broken and turn it into something better than it was before.

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Red Shirt

If you have ever watched any Star Trek then you know that the unnamed crew member in the red shirt is always the one who dies.  

And I have realized lately that I am afraid of being the red shirt.  I am not saying that I think that I am going to die on an alien planet somewhere.  I am saying that when things get tough or when something is going on I don't want to be the poor sap who doesn't have a clue and ends up getting shot or blown up or something within the first five seconds.  I want to be Captain Kirk, or Spock, or Dr. Mccoy.  Because they always know what is going on and they always come out on top.  

But, the truth is that it is easier to be the red shirt (up until you die).  If you are the red shirt then you don't need to make any hard decisions or face choices that could effect a lot of people,  you just follow orders and trundle along in your own little world doing your own little thing and you don't really need to do all that much thinking.  

And maybe that is what I am afraid of.  That I will take the easy way out.  But the problem with that is that in the end the red shirt is always the one that dies.

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So I guess the lesson here is not to wear red.....

Or I could go deep with it and say that I am going to do my best to make my life mean something and not take the easy way out.

Whatever works for you.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Random Links & Stuff (v.1)

Sorry that I went AWOL for a bit... Life caught up with me and I just didn't have the time or energy for blogging :P   Buuut, hopefully I am back now :)  I do say hopefully though because school is starting back up again this weekend so we will see how that goes... I am going to aim for once a week :) 

So, anyway, here are some of my favourite links from around the web: 

This is insanely cool and slightly addicting.  (if you hang in for a bit you get different colours :))

These colourized photos are a teensy bit mind blowing.

This post on marriage is great.

This guy is my daily wind down.

Although I had my doubts after Selena Gomez released 'Come and Get It' (not that it wasn't catchy, it just made me a bit uncomfortable :P ), I really like this one so we might be ok again :)

And, this short made me laugh.

And, finally, this random picture of a canal in Amsterdam.

Happy almosttheweekend everyone!

Orange

So excited to be doing The Nail Files link up again!  A little surprised that it is now hosted by Jennie (look what happens when you leave for 5 weeks!), but I am excited to see where she takes it :)

So I am taking a day off today and actually had some time to do something a bit more interesting than one solid colour :)  So, I did a ombreish drippy thing with a couple of oranges I had sitting around.   I know it is still not that crazy but I really like it :) 

(I took these pictures right after I finished so it is not the cleanest (sorry :P) but I was too excited to wait :))

Also, I have started posting on bookworm again.  I will be doing a twice monthly roundup of what I have been reading and a short review of each book/series.  If you are interested in reading the first one just click here.


Now back to watching Dirty Dancing!

Have a great weekend everyone :)

30 Day Snap | Day 26

No picture for today, but I uploaded my first video to Youtube last night so I thought I would share that with you :)  I hope that you like it!

To find out what the 30 Day Snap is all about go here :)

Hellloooo!

So, I thought that today would be a good day to share some cool links from around the interwebs :)

22 amazing places.  Mind Blowing :)

 Some super cool art.

So excited to go see this movie next week! (I know it came out yesterday but we always wait for the crowds to die down a bit :))

Collage Fashion does a great Hautelinks post once a week :)

I really want to try this on my nails soon!

As you may or may not know I am going to be doing some traveling this summer and herpackinglist.com is my latest and greatest favourite packing tips website....  I really like that it is geared specifically to women :)

Although they are out of my price range I do occasionally love to look at the  United Nude shoes... These are my favourites.

This video of kids trying odd foods for the first time is so cute!

I desperately want to make some soft pretzels this summer!  Maybe using this recipe from A Beautiful Mess?

And finally, I think that this may be my summer song :)


Have a great weekend everyone!

Life lately

Now that school is finally over I have been able to do more stuff that I just didn't have time for while school was going on like, take more pictures... So, this is what my life has been looking like: 

(I meant to get this post out a while ago so these pictures are a few weeks old, but I am just going to go with it :))

DIY bracelet... my attempt at a tutorial coming soon :)

lots of yummy healthy food...

 flowers!

 sitting in the sun...

studying for exams... (old obv :))


Hope you are having a great weekend!

not a necklace post

So, I am still disgustingly sick and I do not really feel like wearing a necklace today much less taking pictures of myself.... So instead I going to leave you with some of the awesome Youtubers that I have been watching for the past few days :)

 This is Jack from JacksGap.  I find him and his brother Finn amusing....  Although they are sometimes a bit rude so watch out :)

This is the Daily Mix... It is random and amusing :)

Beauty with Sprinkle of Glitter, Fleur De Force, and Zoella :)

And, that is it for now :)  I also just realized that they are all British...  There you go :)

Real Beauty - Dove

So, I know that this is an advertising campaign and I hear the people out there who are saying that this feels a bit contrived, or that Dove is really Unilever who is also Axe and that that is a problem, and I am not saying that is not true. 

But.  This is a powerful thing and nothing anyone can say will change that, and the reason it was made will not change that.  I think that this is a real wake up call to women.  If we are harder on ourselves than our worst critics will ever be, how will we able to stand up to those critics when they try to slam us down?  And how can we make a voice for ourselves when we need it if deep down inside we believe the lie that we are not worth it because we are not beautiful enough?  Because that is really what it boils down to. 

chocolate

Sometimes when you are having one of those days (or one of those moments) you just need to have some chocolate.  Because let's face it, chocolate doesn't make things better but sometimes it sure does help.

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Perfect is boring

Why is being perfect such a goal in our society?  Even the people or things that are held up as our unattainable mark of perfection are so far from perfect.  So why pretend that they are?

I guess that what I am trying to say is that I hate it that the media says we all need to look the same all the time and they keep switching around what that sameness is... it is so confusing if you try to keep up with it and just so arbitrary.  What is it?  Some person in an office somewhere says that this is 'the next big thing' and all of a sudden it is?  Or are there a few people who are influential enough to pull everyone else with their whims and ideas?  And why do we follow?  Because we all do to some degree or another.  We are all shaped by this intangible,  unachievable idea of beauty.   It shapes how we look at everyone around us and what we choose to wear in the morning, it shapes the music we listen to and how we spend our money.  And that is a scary thought.

This is something that I have really been struggling with for the last year... What is beauty?  Why does something need to be perfect to be beautiful?  I think that often the thing that makes something so beautiful is its imperfections because those 'imperfections' make it different...  Beauty to me is not something that is plastic and always the same, beauty is alive and always changing, it can something that you stumble upon unexpectedly or something that you see everyday across the table. But, it is different for everyone.  And that is why it is so powerful.

1. It hurts to love someone and not be loved in return.

But what is more painful is to love someone and never

find the courage to let that person know how you feel.

2. A sad thing in life is when you meet someone who

means a lot to you, only to find out in the end that it was

never meant to be and you just have to let go.

3. The best kind of friend is the kind you can sit on a

porch swing with, never say a word, and then walk away

feeling like it was the best conversation you've ever had.

4. It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose

it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been

missing until it arrives.

5. It takes only a minute to get a crush on someone, an

hour to like someone, and a day to love someone-but it

takes a lifetime to forget someone.

6. Don't go for looks, they can deceive. Don't go for wealth,

even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you

smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day

seem bright.

7. Dream what you want to dream, go where you want to go,

be what you want to be. Because you have only one life and

one chance to do all the things you want to do.

8. Always put yourself in the other's shoes. If you feel that it

hurts you, it probably hurts the person too.

9. A careless word may kindle strife. A cruel word may wreck

a life. A timely word may level stress. But a loving word may

heal and bless.

10. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best

of everything they just make the most of everything that comes

along their way.

11. Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss, ends with

a tear. When you were born, you were crying and everyone

around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die,

you're the one smiling and everyone around you is crying.

- UNKNOWN

love

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I found this picture the other day and it really made me think...  In the Bible it says to love your neighbor as yourself but so often that is not the case.  The atrocities that happen everyday, the things that humans do to other humans in the name of this cause or that or simply because they are different.  Where is the love there?  Where is the love when a husband beats his wife and children?  Where is it when kids at school are bullied and ostracized?   Where is it when one country declares war on another and the young people of both nations go out to kill each other?  Where is it when a child is sold into prostitution and slavery?  How can we be the people that do these things and at the same time people who will gently rock a child to sleep or tenderly hug a grandmother?   How can the same hand that is raised in anger one moment reach out in a caress the next?  How can any of this be?
I believe that I serve a God of love.  That He created us and that He loves each and every one of us so much more than we could ever imagine.  You might expect me to say now 'How can such  a loving God exist in a world with so much hate?'  Or,  'How can a God of love let the hate happen?' But that is not my question.  I want to know how such a God can keep loving us when every time we hurt another we are hurting Him.  How much must it hurt to know that your children are tearing each other apart?  That these people that you made and love hate each other that much?  That is my question.

I went to a retreat when I was about 13 and the speaker there said that love is not a feeling it is a choice.  You may have an initial attraction but the thing that we call love, that will get you through however many years by that persons side is a choice... A choice to say 'I love you even though you just crashed my car, I love you even though you have things about you that I don't like'.  The speaker was talking about romantic love, but I think that the idea encompasses every kind of love...  I think that it really is a choice that we have to make, to love the people around us, because it is easier to hate than to love, and it is easier by far to just be indifferent.

Boots

Are these boots not some of the most beautiful things you have ever seen!  Well obviously I think that they are :)  Head over to ModCloth to see more of the Fact and Confection boots.

Hi :)

Hey everyone :)  So it looks like my 'short hiatus' turned into a long one... 
My appointment with the surgeon went well (He is going to try to fix me!) and I have a tentative surgery date for October.  
We ended up staying in the Toronto area for the whole week getting some other stuff figured out which meant that by the time we got home I had four days to get all the final stuff together for my first year of university. (eep!) 
Needless to say I have been pretty focused on that ever since, and while I have tried to do a post or two since then my brain has just been too tired. But, I am going to try to get a post out at least once a week from now on (no promises though!).... 
I know that there are bloggers who can juggle the full time job/school thing and blog like every day, and I think that is absolutely amazing, but that is just so not me right now ;) 

In other news, I managed in all that in between time to get completely addicted to Dr. Who and Roswell...find some pants that fit over my brace...and do crazy amounts of studying :)

So, anyway, I hope you stick around through this journey of mine,  while it may be a bit intermittent it is sure to be amazing :)