somewhat coherent thoughts.

I love Thanksgiving. I complain about it and whine, but I really do love it. This year was low-key and relaxed, followed by a low-key and relaxed Black Friday. Followed by a long day at work, followed by a busy and productive today. Emphasis on the busy and productive. I'm a little proud of myself. We went to the library after church today and I refrained from reading any of my new books. Then, I emailed my world civ prof and convinced her that it was a good idea to use one of the Vlogbrothers videos in our presentation on the French Revolution tomorrow. #ftw 

Also. December may include an epic roadtrip. It's all very maybe at the moment (I just asked my parents tonight), and we have to convince various parents, figure out driving & gas, ect. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's a yes. ;)


I'm in this weird inbetween stage in blogging. I want to write, but I have nothing to say. Don't expect anything for the next week- I have the SAT on Saturday and I need to study every chance I have. Once that's over, though, I'll try to push through and get back to a regular blogging schedule.


That's life lately.


(blog! fix yourself! why must you do that weird spacing thing where it looks like I fell asleep on the return key?)

big and little things. (grateful: part two.)

via.

I used to keep a list of things that I was thankful for. Every night, I'd write down eight or twelve things, huge, important things (like God and my family) and little details like a new scarf. I'm not sure when or why I stopped writing them down, but books like this one and things like Thanksgiving remind me.

I'm super thankful for Thanksgiving break. I have tentative plans with my sisters to go see Hugo at some point during break. We all loved the book, and the movie looks magical.

I'm thankful for my church. We've been going there since we moved to Indiana, four and a half years ago. It's grown a lot since then, and it's been so fun to see it grow and change.

Best friends. Wow, I'm so, so thankful for them. Whether it's a picture of the Beatles texted to me, or tickle fights on the couch (sorry we were so noisy, Mom), they make everything better.

I'm incredibly thankful for Mom and Dad. I feel sad for you because you've (likely) never met them, and my parents are wonderful. I'm not even joking (or saying this because I know that they'll read it), they're some of the most amazing people I know. (The rest of my family goes on this list as well, fyi.)

I'm thankful for: the Beatles, skype dates with Bleah, Florence + the Machine's song Shake it Out, John Green's upcoming book, quiz days at econ class, the way my purse always smells like gum, days where the sky is really grey, the way my Toms fit perfectly after wearing them all summer long, and that one bookstore in Paris.

grateful: part one.

One week until Thanksgiving- time for the yearly thankful list. It's no secret that Thanksgiving isn't my favorite holiday (too many potatoes) but I love setting aside time to reflect on the things in my life that I'm thankful for. 

So. 

I'm thankful for new favorite ways to drink coffee. The Jumping Bean at Taylor (possibly my favorite coffee shop ever) serves a delicious dirty chai. Vanilla chai + a shot of espresso= amazing. 

I'm thankful for Wednesday nights. I look forward to it all week long, counting down the days. My youth group is brilliant. I'm beyond thankful for Taco Bell afterwards. It fills my weekly laugh quota, and then some. 

I'm thankful for sites like harperteen.com and our online library, providing me with books whenever I have internet. (If you're looking for a Hunger Games like dystopia, Divergent should still be available on harperteen.) 

I'm thankful for my job. It's so nice having a way to make money. Besides that, I've made some amazing friends there, and I love working there. I spent five or ten minutes today talking to my table 5 about Holland- people who take an interest in my life make me thankful. 

No list would be complete without Hannah, Carlotta, Libby, Abbey, and Kendall. I've gotten close to these lovely ladies recently, and their friendship is a huge blessing. 

I'm thankful for books. I just bought Markus Zusak's first three books, and I'm working my way through the first one. It's no Book Thief, but it'll do. (Did you know he's writing a new book? It's not scheduled to be out until September, and I'm so excited. I'll have to figure out a way to get an ARC. ;)) I'm at 139 individual books this year, not counting the ones that I've read two or three or four times. Reading is my favorite. 

I'm thankful for Taylor. Being on campus & making friends (Hi, Anna & Jess!) is so fun. Photoshop class, saying hi to my professor from last semester, recognizing people from classes, coffee from the Jumping Bean...the list of things I love about it goes on and on. 

I'm thankful for Europe, France, and my summer in general. The last two summers have been a little bit mind-blowing. It's weird looking back on them, because so much happened. I know that a lot of you have been reading this since before I was in Jordan, so you've read a little bit about both summers, but it's not the same as being there. It's still a little crazy to me that I was actually able to go. 

Part two will coming soon. 

listening to: shake it out// florence + the machine

crazy nostalgia {guest post by Libby}

November is a good month for nostalgia; rainy days and cups of tea and dreams of warmth make a good recipe for looking back. I love pulling out old photo albums and seeing myself and my brother as babies, my parents on their wedding day, even my grandparents on trips when they were just parents. I like the way you couldn't quite see their faces and how my grandad composed cheap film photos with such care and the fact that they've been kept safe under vellum for thirty-odd years now.

Even my memories, however few there may be, are jolted by photos and things my parents or brother say or write. The mention of squirrels takes me back to Montreal, when I bake a photo of myself aged five decorating biscuits comes into my head, certain family jokes remind me of times in my life. 

Maybe this is why I blog and take pictures; a journal of words and photos which I can use to track the everyday moments and the fleeting times. Perhaps when I am older, I will have children of my own or nieces and nephews, and they will ask "Libby, what were you like when you were fourteen?" And I could, because I'm trying to print photos as well as store them online, show them every mundane photo of whatever I'd baked, and my cup of hot chocolate, and the scenes from the car window. Most of them will be unedited, but they will have probably faded slightly, gone speckled, or got scratched.

This feeling of wanting to capture moments is why I take pictures and fill journals. To remember, on rainy November days in twenty or thirty years time, who I was and what I did.

Do you ever feel crazily nostalgic?
xx
Libby

john green is jealous of me.

(dad and i, waiting for john.) 

I've been clicking back to this page for nearly a week, trying to find a way to formulate my thoughts and excitement into a cohesive blog post. I'm not sure that will happen, but I'll give it my best shot and attempt to capture a little bit of Tuesday.

I drove up to Indy with my parents on Tuesday. My mom had a flight to catch, and I wanted to attend John Green's event at Butler University. My dad and I arrived at Clowes with a little less than an hour and a half before John took the stage. We drove around the neighborhood, grabbed some food, and wandered back to Clowes, an hour before it was scheduled to start. Fourth row seats gave us a great view of the stage, and, ultimately, John.

There's no way that I have enough patience to write out, in detail, (or you enough patience to read it all) everything that happened that night, so I'll just go for the highlights. (However, if you would like it nicely summed up, here you go.)

It was a bit surreal when John walked out on the stage. Besides writing books, he and his brother run a youtube channel that's developed into an online community. Because of this, I've heard John talk many times, and I know what he looks like. I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it was so weird when he sounded the same in real life as he does on youtube.

After John talked and read from the first chapter of his upcoming book, The Fault in Our Stars, he opened up the mikes for questions. I jumped up, second in line at the right mike. The girl in front of me, Katrina, asked for a high-five from John, which he gave her. He answered another question, and then, ahhh: John Green was looking at me, and making eye contact with me. One of the characters in TFIOS, named Isaac, has eye cancer. I asked John if he intentionally named the character with eye cancer a name that sounds like eye sick. (Isaac = eye sick.) He laughed, (yes, I made John Green laugh) and explained that he named Isaac after the biblical Isaac, who became blind later in life. Gus was sitting directly behind us, and he managed to film a little bit of my question.

I slipped out of the auditorium a minute or two early so we wouldn't have to wait in such a long line to get my copy of Paper Towns signed. Last week, my friend Chris wrote on my facebook telling me that he was a huge fan of John Green. There was no way that I could have the opportunity to get him a signature and not do it (plus, it gave me more time to talk to John!). :) I fished through my purse and found a boarding pass from my trip to France. After John signed my book, I slid the boarding pass over to him.

"This one's for my friend Chris. He lives in South Africa."
"Wow, South Africa!"
"Yeah, we met in the Middle East a few summers ago."
"You're quite the world traveler. I'm jealous."

It was the highlight of my life.

Best wishes,
katie