24.

You're raising these twenty four voices
With twenty four hearts
With all of my symphonies
In twenty four parts
But I want to be one today
Centered and true

Wait + Hope - 1000

Welcome to 1,000.

Yes, this is my 1,000th post!!

I wrote a bit on this blog's journey recently here.

But this space has been a gift to me and I hope, in one way or another, it's been a gift to you too.

But just to be sure it has - I'm hosting a giveaway!!

The winner will receive a framed print of my favorite Obvious State poster:

[via]

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty."

- John Keats

To win this gorgeous poster and simultaneously help celebrate 1000 posts on my blog,

you can earn entries 4 possible ways:

- Leave a comment below, sharing one of your favorite posts

- Re-gram my insta and tag me @iwaitandhope with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

- Share this post on facebook with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

- Tweet this post tag me @iwaitandhope with the hashtag #waitandhope1000

The drawing for the print will be next Friday, 5/2.  Good luck!

Spring has sprung!

Hello :)

I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend - I know my family did!!

My brother and I visited Bethany's Good Friday service.  I've also begun to read the Catholic daily mass readings - and they're incredible!

Saturday was just the right combination of relax / get stuff done / spontaneous have-people-over time.

And then Easter Sunday with the fam was, of course, amazing.

We celebrated as only the Surfaces do, with both tofurkey and ham (and you better believe I had slices of both) all 11 rambunctious family members.  There was an Easter egg hunt for the little people, afternoon naps (my favorite), and lots of laughter.  We even scheduled our first, full family vacation in over 5 years!  But more than anything, it was just one of those days that filled my heart to the brim.

Here are a few fun moments from the day:

[On of her favorite things is to quote Frozen: "Hhhhhhmmm... Chooocolate!"]

[Long and blonde, short & brunette... but definitely sisters!]

[We seriously did not coordinate.  We just showed up to church and laughed.]

[Giggles!  This one comes courtesy of Melissa]

[candid moments of family fun. and Uncle Jo does his velociraptor impression]

By way of comparison... here are a few of us last year. 

What a difference a year can make!

Also, I may be obsessed with coral :)

So there's a snap-shot of my Easter.  I hope you had a good one :)

Also, be sure to check back in tomorrow for a special surprise as "Wait + Hope" hits a pretty big milestone!!

 

h a i (r) e v o l u t i o n

5 years of hair... 

 It's been a tale of bangs and buns, pinned up-dos and now pixies.

"Life is too short to have boring hair." 

- Kayla Roberts

Con'ing it up: Emerald City Comic Con

A week ago Sunday I got to go to Seattle's biggest Con and it was loads of fun!

Because of Karen Gillan's appearance (Doctor Who's Amelia Pond) and

because my recently chopped hair could mimic his little flick,

I decided to cosplay as Matt Smith's 11th Doctor:

[elevensies]

[Lots of textures]

Being a Con veteran, I decided to simplify my approach and chose 3 panels to attend, giving myself plenty of time to be in line and enjoy things.

The first was a panel with Patrick Rothfuss, author of Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear.
I loved the first two of his trilogy - the best world building of any contemporary author I've read.

[I love you, Harry, but Kvothe's got a point here.]

[Rothfuss - sorry, his eyes were closed]

While we didn't get any news about the final installment of the King-Killer Chronicles,
He did announce 2 new novellas before the year's out, each focused on particularly interesting side-characters.
But aside from the news, I really appreciated hearing some of the thought process behind his writing and was so grateful I got to go.


Now, it wouldn't be a con without cosplay and I rounded up a few of my favorites.

If I could bestow a laurel to the best cosplayer, this girl (and her family) would have won it:

[god of mischief...eating a pb&j]

Her dad homemade all the armor pieces - including the staff that actually lit up!
Her grandmother sowed everything else together, and this girl carried it all SO well!
Bravo to Team Loki!

[Watch out Hiddleston!]

I was also impressed by these homemade Disney-princess coslpayers:

[Ariel & Snow White]

And a few other miscellaneous ones:

[10 & a weeping angel, Belle, and Indy]

Panel #2 for the day was called "From Page to Screen" and focused on adaptation - a favorite subject of mine :)
The panel featured an author, a screenplay writer, and a concept artist.
The concept artist had done a lot of word-image art that I found fascinating - including working on [my latest obsession] Once Upon a Time.
This whole topic is so fascinating... but more to come on that later.


I then met up with friends for the last panel of the day: Karen Gillan!

[Megan as Amy Pond from "Flesh & Stone,"
Kayla being her amazing Whovian self,
Me going all "bow ties are cool,"
Ash as Amy Pond from "The Impossible Astronaut"]

For those of you who aren't familiar, Karen Gillan is a young Scottish Actress
who rose to prominence playing the main companion on Doctor Who for 2 1/2 seasons.
As Amelia (Amy) Pond, she and co-stars Matt Smith (the 11th Doctor) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams) had some incredible chemistry as friends and companions.
They share, well, let's just say an extra special bond with the Doctor.

She was wonderfully genuine and no matter how many times she got asked the same question, she always had a unique response.  And she flew through questions like a pro.
Bravo, Miss Karen!  Bow ties are cool and so are you :)

Comic con was a joy - being around really passionate, nerdy people just refreshes me.
I saw some truly fantastic cosplay, heard from talented artists, and made some new friends.
All in all, a day very well spent!

* * * * * * * * *

"made some new friends."
Code for: one very special friend!!