[overlooking Oxford: All Souls College, Radcliffe Camera, St. Mary's of the Virgin, Christ Church Cathedral]

Considering taking 3 lit classes next quarter. Am I crazy? Yes and I love it!

source

Total nerd moment - I'm about to read my first article from Gilbert & Gubar's "Madwoman in the Attic." To me, this is momentous!

Really missing all of these lovely ladies and our incredible times together!

[from left to right: Amanda, Maia, me, Kristina, Stephanie, Elizabeth, and Cathleen]

[Cathleen, bending down... she's really a foot taller than me =]

[one of the happiest moments of my life]

[Emily and Cathleen... we love our red-heads!]

[Kristina and I at Vaults and Gardens Cafe--favorite!]

[Stephanie Downing at Downing Street, London]

[Amanda Bennett at Bennet Street, Bath]

[221 B, Baker Street =]

[from Merton College quad, overlooking Christ Church Meadow]

[Last night together with such good friends]

I am so dependant on the Lord right now, and that's a beautiful thing.
I'm in the middle of working on an annotated bibliography for William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. This was, honestly, the hardest book I've ever read. It was beyond confusing. But I've found that makes reading criticism more interesting. So I have to read and analyze at least 10 pieces of criticism for the bibliography (I've read 8).
As soon as I'm done with that, I get to dive into a paper on Frankenstein and Wuthering Heights. I'm actually looking forward to that one. I just don't have a lot of time to invest in it. But it should still be really interesting.
The really good news is that there is a light at the end of this tunnel: Jane Eyre. I read it for the first time last Christmas and I cannot wait to fall in love with it again (this time for a class). And my professor is the coolest--he is actually the editor for the Norton Critical edition for both Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Yes... in lit-nerd terms, that means he is amazing!
In the midst of all of this, I've kind of gotten sick. It's been getting worse over the last few days, but today it really hit =/ This isn't very good news, but, hopefully it won't affect school or work too much.
Just one more thing to trust the Lord with right now.

Via Ashley

:)

At home by myself tonight with some good music, favorite candle and a long assignment for English Honors. Only wishing for some chai...
Gotta <3 fall =)

Featured Artist:

Gungor

[Ghosts Upon the Earth]

I've been in love with this album for a while now; but the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate its intricacies--poetical, musical, and otherwise.

From Let there be Light on-wards, it is such a treat. I think artists are always attempting to create holistic and cohesive albums--ones where you can't just listen to one song or put it all on shuffle because the flow is too precious to divide up. This goal is becoming increasingly harder in the age of iTunes, but Gungor really achieved it on this album.

A few lyrical delights:

"All praises to the One who made it all

who made it all

All praises to the One who made it all

and finds it beautiful

...Fearfully and wonderfully and beautifully made"

- Crags and Clay

"Where it comes flowers grow

Lions sleep, gravestones roll

Where death dies all things come alive..."

- When Death Dies

"When you first regarded me

Your eyes filled me with grace

Thereby again my eyes

Merited to adore you

Vous etes mon coure

You are my heart."

- Vous Etes Mon Coure

[yes, the chorus is in French,

yes, its a duet

and yes, its Michael and Lisa Gungor]

*   *   *   *   *

You should really look into this album (also available on grooveshark) and you can read more about the inspiration and musical achievements on Gungor's Blog.

Trabant. Divine "creamy chai." Jazz favorites. 45th & University Way. New favorite. Monday smiles.

Coriolanus (2011)
Directed by Ralph Fiennes
Starring:
Ralph Fiennes
Gerard Butler
Vanessa Redgrave
Jessica Chastain [a new favorite of mine]

Gotta love creative Shakespeare adaptations =)

The lovely Jessica Brown-Findlay [Sybil Crawley, Downton Abbey]

Let the weekend festivities commence! =)

As I walk around campus, I have to keep reminding myself, "You are not going to run into of your friends from Oxford. They're all far away. So stop looking" =(

First off, I just have to say that my sister's know me well. Today I received emails from both of them containing the same link to the same blog on a scarf tying tutorial. Gotta love sisters (and scarves!).

Thanks so much to them... and here's a shout out to their blogs The Bakers and Beyond the Mountains =)

They are both such incredible women and I'm so, SO grateful to both of them!

[ps... these are all really old pictures, but I love you both even more now then I did then =]

Also... it, being monday, I thought I'd share this amazing little piece of inspiration. Enjoy:

Ok... I have a headache from laughing so hard this evening. So grateful for my family!

Side note: thus far, English honors has been going better than expected. The first novel we've been reading is gripping and its making rethink my stance on contemporary literature, at least a little bit.

"My hopes will never tread the halls of fear..." - Aeschylus

About to step into my first English Honors course... so nervous! New adventure.

Oxford, you've stolen my heart.

"The spirit of the elder days found a dwelling here, and we delighted to trace its footsteps."

- Mary Shelley, on Oxford

officially home sick... :(

but it'll be a great day to read, catch up on sleep, and maybe even paint my fingernails =)

The Lord keeps bringing me back here. This is the entry gate to the Magdalen deer park - yes, for hundreds of years, Magdalen College has boasted a deer park. [You can also glimpse Magdalen Tower between the trees on the right side of the picture... I just noticed that haha...] 
It's part of the Addison walk loop. I took this picture the first of many times that I took that walk. And here was this girl sitting on a bench reading. What a beautiful moment!
To me, this means peace. And Jesus often brings me back to this beautiful, precious place to sit peacefully on that bench with Him.

While making small talk with a customer I just helped, I found out that she's selling her car because she's moving to England to go to grad school. Oh wow! So many mixed emotions.

On the one hand, I wish I could move back to England tomorrow. But, I can hardly stand the idea of being away from home for more than a year! My heart is so in both places. Oh, why do Seattle and Oxford have to be 6,000 miles away from each other?

Employee-appreciation BBQ at work today. Ha. Very funny.