I have a new favorite joy: flower shopping.

In fact, I think I'm going to take up gardening. Today is my mom's birthday and the only thing she asked for was flowers to plant in her front garden beds. Every year she buys the same flowers, and they're cute, but I reeeally wanted to experiment with other things. Now, I hardly knew anything (still don't know much) about flowers and gardening. So I headed off to a local nursery. A really nice older lady helped educate me on a bunch of different types of flowers. But the best part was picking out the variety of flowers. I bought 9 plants in 5 varieties. My favorite was a stunning corally-orange geranium!!

It was such a blast. Plus I get to go back and buy more flowers today! Hopefully planting them goes well. I have the spacing planned out and I think it will be gogeous.

I'm just praying that she likes them since they aren't what she would normally pick out. But I'm hoping she's willing to try these.

I told my younger sister that we should pool our money together and make up a pot of flowers.

PS... she LOVED them!!!

Check out some of my favorite flowers =)

If you've followed my blog for a while, you will know that I love corally pink peonies!

I just can't fathom how one flower can contain all those petals. The Lord gave me some revelation regarding this particular flower which you can read about here.

My mom has a peony bush. The color is more of a light pink, but they're still gorgeous. The stems are growing rapidly and a month from now we should start to enjoy the first bloom =)

I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm very drawn to coral :)

This is the geranium I was talking about earlier. Isn't the color captivating??

Ok... I think I have new 2nd favorite flower (peonies always being the first :)

This is a white non-stop begonia. I love it! I bought one of these for my mom too. I think it looks very rose like.

Oh and finally, these are juliet-orange diascias. I bought one of these as well. What I hadn't noticed, because ours haven't bloomed yet, is that they petals are actually asymetrical. What a lovely effect!

Ok... just a few faves. As gardening is my current obsession, you may see more on this in the near future. Oh, and I'll try to put up a picture of what my mom's flower beds look like once we've planted everything =)

Today was a great way to begin a new year. I slept in a bit. Mom and I went out to Starbucks for breakfast. I had to work from 10-7 at the dealership, but its ok--I wore my tutu skirt =) I told one friend, "I may be 21, but I'll never be too old to play dress up..."

For lunch, I treated myself to a burger from "The Slip" (pretty much favorite burger :) and I was able to briefly see my sister and nephew. The rest of the day was slow enough for me to keep up with the birthday wishes.

Once I got home, I opened presents--I got everything I asked for on my short but very practical list. We watched the King's Speech - ah! love all over again. Now its off to bed. Tomorrow I have breakfast with a dear friend before working at my personal assistant job.

Not a bad birthday at all. 21 should be an exciting year =)

tomorrow =)

today is the end of so many things,

but tomorrow is all about the future

I hate goodbyes

*tears...

I am stoked for Holy Week!!

Miss Marcy just shared and I am so excited to go deeper this week.

I know that He has so many good things planned.

He's pulling me deeper and closer and that is going to be so exciting.

I saw Tangled for the first time this week and I loved it! It was so very, very beautiful.

"And at last I see the light

And it's like the fog has lifted

And at last I see the light

And it's like the sky is new

And it's warm and real and bright

And the world has somehow shifted

All at once everything looks different

Now that I see you"

- I see the light

Follow the link and watch the music video. It literally brings tears to my eyes!

Oh! And major Oxford update... When I got home tonight, I had a letter waiting for me on my bed from my grandparents. Lets just say that I have not genuinely gasped that loud in a very long time. The Lord is SO faithful. I still need a place to stay, but I don't have to worry any more about finances. He has it all under control. He is so so sooo good!

Happy Holy Week!

Can this be my room.... please?!?

Don't get me wrong, I love my family and my roommates...

But one of my favorite things is coming home to a completely empty house... like I did this afternoon.

Now its time to put on my sweats and curl up on my bed with a book, my chai, and good music.

ps... update on oxford: I bought my tickets this morning. Jesus loves me: I get to fly virgin atlantic =) seriously, virgin is my favorite airline.

I'm also this much closer to having a place to live.

Oh and did I mention that my mom is coming to visit me while I'm there?

We are scheming up a weekend get-a-way. Any guesses where?

Can you say, "je suis tres tres enthusiaste!" ;)

Today was incredible! God gives the best gifts, and today those gifts took the form of glorious weather and some of the bestest friends.

The sunshine today was divine.

I started the day with a new cd I that I burned for my car and one of my favorite drives, from my home in Kirkland to the U-district.

Once I got there, my first order of business was to visit the quad. It was my first visit since they had bloomed--and they were stunning.

I had to take care of some business, but then it was off to Cafe Solstice for a date with my friend Helen. And straight from there I went to have lunch with another dear friend, Julia.

Before leaving, I had to linger a little longer in the quad, which by this time was crowded, but just as beautiful.

The drive back was relaxing--barefoot, windows down, and sun roof open :) I even caught a glimpse of Mt. Rainier. Praise Him!

I had a little time to kill, so I stopped off in downtown kirkland to visit my favorite dock. I was able to reflect on just how grateful I am that the Lord had me take this quarter off. He knows what I need.

From there, after a quick "costume change," it was off to the park to have a lovely date with these two:

Today was his first time ever visiting a park, and it happened to be the park that Melissa and I grew up going to: the choo-choo train park =)

He absolutely loved the swings

He's getting so big! And so handsome :)

Love this little guy so much...

Rounded off the day with a girl night at Melissa's house.

Such a beautiful day and a wonderful harbinger of many more to come =)

iamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoingiamgoing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I'm just praying that I can find a family to rent from in Oxford. I'm utilizing all my current connections and just praying that I can find something within a week.

I'll keep you all posted on the process, but for now, it is official: I am going!!!!!

Craft Day =)

I'm not usually one for making things, but I'm planning my sister's baby shower, so it's kind of a necessity. Anyway... I think they're turned out great!

These are just a sneak peek. I'll post pictures of the decor after the shower.

But I think these are just coming along splendidly :)

The Selfish Giant

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.
It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds sat on the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen to them. "How happy we are here!" they cried to each other.
One day the Giant came back. He had been to visit his friend the Cornish ogre, and had stayed with him for seven years. After the seven years were over he had said all that he had to say, for his conversation was limited, and he determined to return to his own castle. When he arrived he saw the children playing in the garden.
"What are you doing here?" he cried in a very gruff voice, and the children ran away.
"My own garden is my own garden," said the Giant; "any one can understand that, and I will allow nobody to play in it but myself." So he built a high wall all round it, and put up a notice-board.

TRESPASSERS
WILL BE
PROSECUTED

He was a very selfish Giant.
The poor children had now nowhere to play. They tried to play on the road, but the road was very dusty and full of hard stones, and they did not like it. They used to wander round the high wall when their lessons were over, and talk about the beautiful garden inside. "How happy we were there," they said to each other.
Then the Spring came, and all over the country there were little blossoms and little birds. Only in the garden of the Selfish Giant it was still winter. The birds did not care to sing in it as there were no children, and the trees forgot to blossom. Once a beautiful flower put its head out from the grass, but when it saw the notice-board it was so sorry for the children that it slipped back into the ground again, and went off to sleep. The only people who were pleased were the Snow and the Frost. "Spring has forgotten this garden," they cried, "so we will live here all the year round." The Snow covered up the grass with her great white cloak, and the Frost painted all the trees silver. Then they invited the North Wind to stay with them, and he came. He was wrapped in furs, and he roared all day about the garden, and blew the chimney-pots down. "This is a delightful spot," he said, "we must ask the Hail on a visit." So the Hail came. Every day for three hours he rattled on the roof of the castle till he broke most of the slates, and then he ran round and round the garden as fast as he could go. He was dressed in grey, and his breath was like ice.
"I cannot understand why the Spring is so late in coming," said the Selfish Giant, as he sat at the window and looked out at his cold white garden; "I hope there will be a change in the weather."
But the Spring never came, nor the Summer. The Autumn gave golden fruit to every garden, but to the Giant's garden she gave none. "He is too selfish," she said. So it was always Winter there, and the North Wind, and the Hail, and the Frost, and the Snow danced about through the trees.
One morning the Giant was lying awake in bed when he heard some lovely music. It sounded so sweet to his ears that he thought it must be the King's musicians passing by. It was really only a little linnet singing outside his window, but it was so long since he had heard a bird sing in his garden that it seemed to him to be the most beautiful music in the world. Then the Hail stopped dancing over his head, and the North Wind ceased roaring, and a delicious perfume came to him through the open casement. "I believe the Spring has come at last," said the Giant; and he jumped out of bed and looked out.
What did he see?
He saw a most wonderful sight. Through a little hole in the wall the children had crept in, and they were sitting in the branches of the trees. In every tree that he could see there was a little child. And the trees were so glad to have the children back again that they had covered themselves with blossoms, and were waving their arms gently above the children's heads. The birds were flying about and twittering with delight, and the flowers were looking up through the green grass and laughing. It was a lovely scene, only in one corner it was still winter. It was the farthest corner of the garden, and in it was standing a little boy. He was so small that he could not reach up to the branches of the tree, and he was wandering all round it, crying bitterly. The poor tree was still quite covered with frost and snow, and the North Wind was blowing and roaring above it. "Climb up! little boy," said the Tree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the boy was too tiny.
And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. "How selfish I have been!" he said; "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for ever and ever." He was really very sorry for what he had done.
So he crept downstairs and opened the front door quite softly, and went out into the garden. But when the children saw him they were so frightened that they all ran away, and the garden became winter again. Only the little boy did not run, for his eyes were so full of tears that he did not see the Giant coming. And the Giant stole up behind him and took him gently in his hand, and put him up into the tree. And the tree broke at once into blossom, and the birds came and sang on it, and the little boy stretched out his two arms and flung them round the Giant's neck, and kissed him. And the other children, when they saw that the Giant was not wicked any longer, came running back, and with them came the Spring. "It is your garden now, little children," said the Giant, and he took a great axe and knocked down the wall. And when the people were going to market at twelve o'clock they found the Giant playing with the children in the most beautiful garden they had ever seen.
All day long they played, and in the evening they came to the Giant to bid him good-bye.
"But where is your little companion?" he said: "the boy I put into the tree." The Giant loved him the best because he had kissed him.
"We don't know," answered the children; "he has gone away."
"You must tell him to be sure and come here to-morrow," said the Giant. But the children said that they did not know where he lived, and had never seen him before; and the Giant felt very sad.
Every afternoon, when school was over, the children came and played with the Giant. But the little boy whom the Giant loved was never seen again. The Giant was very kind to all the children, yet he longed for his first little friend, and often spoke of him. "How I would like to see him!" he used to say.
Years went over, and the Giant grew very old and feeble. He could not play about any more, so he sat in a huge armchair, and watched the children at their games, and admired his garden. "I have many beautiful flowers," he said; "but the children are the most beautiful flowers of all."
One winter morning he looked out of his window as he was dressing. He did not hate the Winter now, for he knew that it was merely the Spring asleep, and that the flowers were resting.
Suddenly he rubbed his eyes in wonder, and looked and looked. It certainly was a marvellous sight. In the farthest corner of the garden was a tree quite covered with lovely white blossoms. Its branches were all golden, and silver fruit hung down from them, and underneath it stood the little boy he had loved.
Downstairs ran the Giant in great joy, and out into the garden. He hastened across the grass, and came near to the child. And when he came quite close his face grew red with anger, and he said, "Who hath dared to wound thee?" For on the palms of the child's hands were the prints of two nails, and the prints of two nails were on the little feet.
"Who hath dared to wound thee?" cried the Giant; "tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him."
"Nay!" answered the child; "but these are the wounds of Love."
"Who art thou?" said the Giant, and a strange awe fell on him, and he knelt before the little child.
And the child smiled on the Giant, and said to him, "You let me play once in your garden, to-day you shall come with me to my garden, which is Paradise."
And when the children ran in that afternoon, they found the Giant lying dead under the tree, all covered with white blossoms.

THE END.

By Oscar Wilde

In a hilarious and intriguing discussion over breakfast, Josiah and I were talking about comedy and tragedy, hamartia, hubris, catharsis, Aristotle, and other such topics sparked by the book I'm currently in: Reading between the Lines by Gene Edward Veith. As we were discussing and debating different points of Classical Tragedy, Josiah cut to the quick:

"Well, I'm just saying, I would never have my main character gouge out his eyes*."

Yes, we were discussing Oedipus Rex at that point... but I just hope someone else can find this as randomly funny as I do.

thinking...

Oxford

Today...........

:)

I was accepted to the St. Peter's College Oxford study abroad program.

oh wow!!

This would be "school" for 6 weeks this summer.

I can hardly believe it!

I think this part looks so regency I love it!

Isn't beautiful???

I would be studying Jane Austen--each of her works--and travelling to Bath and Chawton to see where she lived.

I have read those works before, but I cannot wait to study them academically.

St. Peter's is a Welsh college, located in the center of Oxford--not too far from Christ Church or Magdalen College. It was founded in 1929, though its buildings are much older.

One of its more famous alums is actor/English major, Hugh Dancy :)

This is the college's chapel, one of the many sights I hope to become familiar with.

I never used to like gothic architecture, but UW has got me over that [mostly].

Oh my! It still hasn't sunk in. It's too incredible.

Well, the only barrier now between Oxford and myself is my finances.

I need to raise several thousand dollars in just 6 weeks. I'm trusting the Lord and praying hard.

But I am so so so excited about the opportunity! I am very blessed.