Just some of the many :o)

Rome









Paris











Switzerland

...and it was amazing!!!!

hillarious and very true ;)

Cameras and I are usually not that great of a team. I have had cameras in the course of my life, many being disposable because of the one major fact that I tend to drop things...
I leave for Europe in about two weeks and I thought I might try to learn to use our family camera. So far its been going pretty well, I mean I haven't dropped anything yet and I am getting the hang of using it.
still far from being photographer material though...oh so very far :)



...and of course along the way of my learning my little siblings have to play models for me.

I love my little sister!

Therese and I got a tad bit bored today so we decided to play with the camera :)


...then she tried to eat my orchids which are still alive by some miracle.

Can brownies get any better??

They obviously can when you add peanut butter and chocolate ganache.

Peanut butter brownies. Those really the only words that you need:)

I got the recipe off of smittenkitchen.com which is one of the best cooking blogs I have read so far :)

Ironical.

How very true :)

Do you ever run across one of those pictures that makes you realize it took some of the nerd inside to make you laugh as hard as you did? It happens to me everyday ;)

Beautiful.

The mind has a beautiful way of allowing a person to see all the things that interest her but still leave a wanting for the perfect thing that fulfills her. As time has gone by my aspirations have changed and dreams that I once had turned into fleeting desires. I have aspired to be many things in my life, to pursue many careers, but there is now only one that I desire. For the first time in my life there is no lingering question nor doubt in my mind about my choice. My aspiration to be an obstetrician paved the way for my ultimate goal to be a midwife.
The healing that you practice in the science of medicine with compassion is a human experience beyond the boundaries of every culture and society. An obstetrician is an amazing field and helps women with their pregnancy and birth, especially those with complications. I knew that much and I left it at that. I thought that if I was an obstetrician I would be able to help women who had complicated pregnancies. I would be the doctor to give the mother and child a better chance for survival if anything went wrong. I would be the one to save everything. As I looked more upon the field of obstetrics I realized that it was not what I wanted, I still had a lingering feeling for something more. I am not to be the one that takes the credit for the birth, it is the mother and I am only to be an aid.
An obstetrician is an amazing medical field, do not get me wrong, but it is not something that I want for my life. An OB is the person who is turned to when births become drastic or complicated. I realize that research does a great deal to the mind and a person, which seems like common sense but in reality, I have only just realized this. Although an obstetrician specializes in challenging births with complications, there is never really any time to have a family or to see the patient and her family grow. I have had the aspiration to be an obstetrician but there was always a wanting and a question that could not be ignored. I realized I want something more than a career, I want a fulfilling life that I wake up to everyday thanking God for all that he has bestowed upon me.
A midwife is my answer and I am not only content but confident and striving towards the goal of becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM).

The coffee aroma fills the air as the grey cloud has been lifted from its mounted post atop my head. I have sadly spent two hours on something that was only supposed to take about ten minutes. I take blogging seriously and am a perfectionist. I see colors not as they are but as they should be. It took a very patient friend and loads of coffee to finally reformat and perfect my blog.All I can say is thank you.

Funny Math Teacher :o)

The countdown begins! I have 13 weeks and 4 days, better said as 3 months 1 week, until my trip :o)

Sonnet 239

I recently read this sonnet by Michelangelo and I think it's beautiful.

"My lady, how comes it about-what all can see
from long experience-that rough mountain stone
carved to a living form, survives its own
creator, who'll end in ashes in a urn?
Cause lesser than its effect, from which we learn
how nature is less than art, as well I know
whose many a lively statue proves it so,
which time and the tomb exempt grant amnesty.
Mine then, the power to give us, you and me,
a long survival in-choose it-stone or color,
faces just like our own exact and true.
Though we're dead a thousand years, still men can
see how beautiful you were; I, how much duller,
and yet how far from a fool in loving you."

I can't help it...I love cooking :o)

This artwork comes with a story

About a year ago I was in art class and we had the opportunity to enter into a pro life contest. All Catholic and other schools that had arts were elligable to join.The challenge was to create something that we thought would be moving. The original artwork that I drew roughly had the same idea as this, but I decided to do a second one which got judged by the art class. My second piece and seven others were sent off to be put into the contest.
A few weeks went by and I found out that I had been put in the top ten. I later found out that I didn't place, but I have no regrets. I enjoyed that I entered and had a chance to do something. I then set my hopes on getting the piece back. I asked my art teacher and my parents if they knew anyway in which I could have retrieved it. After they had tried all that they could I reluctantly stopped and attempted to recreate the artwork.
Months went by and every draft that I drew never seemed to look like the original and never had the same meaning. Throughout the whole course of months unto a year I told my best friend about my attempts and then my recreating phase for the art piece. He never saw the second one, only the first.
Around this past Christmas every time the conversation veered towards art he would just smile in an awkward manner or laugh in that "Yes sure, but lets change subject" manner. If you knew him you would understand that it's completely out of the ordinary and exceedingly odd of him. During the family Christmas Eve dinner I suspiciosness about his awkward mannerisms ended. Long story short, he somehow in one way or another got my art piece back to me for my Christmas into New Years present.
Thanks to a dear best friend and my art teacher who said she had nothing to do with it,I now have my art
piece back in my hands.

Farenheit 451

One book that I think is exemplary of writing with a theme conveyed through the characters is “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury. Ray Bradbury wrote his tale in the 1950s, and even then he was able to grasp the problems that not many others saw coming.
The superficial society which Ray Bradbury created in his fictional story seems as though it is indeed a reality. He touched on the most controversial issues and presented them from the mind of the main character, Guy Montag.
Guy was a firefighter and firefighters burned books. He was unknowingly part of the governments elaborate scheme that suppressed knowledge and made everyone think and act the same way so as not to create tension or controversy of personal ideas. This only resulted in the ignorance of the society as a whole. Bradbury allowed Guy to see the books and their knowledge which he had been destroying, and that planted the mustard seed of Guy’s spiritual rebirth. Guy realized that the society was thriving on an excess of stimulation and therefore creating an utterly empty society. Those within this society, including Guy’s wife Mildred, regularly attempted suicide and were unhappy. Bradbury used Mildred as character who portrayed the fall of society as a whole. Mildred represented the emptiness of the culture which stemmed from the abortions, the “fake” war, the virtual family, and the constant throng of media “junk” thrown in their faces; all of which led to suicides, ignorance, murders and recklessness.
Bradbury also presented characters who thought for themselves and did not comply with the ignorance of society. One such character was a professor which Guy met named Faber. Together Guy and Faber wanted to deplete the ignorance of the firefighters and therefore of society as a whole by planting reprinted books within the firefighters homes.
Ray Bradbury presented and amazing bridge between the truth and freedom of Christianity’s teachings verses the utter slavery of the modern superficial society. After Montag’s realization of the society’s weakness and ignorance he created an utter contempt for society. Faber acted as the mediator and showed Montag that he must have compassion and not loathe them because Montag used to be just the same. In the end Montag not so much flees the society as he was driven out. The city is ultimately burned. Through the burning of the city the mustard seed sprouted into the bush and there came Montag’s spiritual resurrection. All that was burned with the city was gone and he started anew. Montag realized that he must not only hold the knowledge that had been given to him through books,but also pass it on correctly. The intellectuals which he encountered on the railroad tracks memorized books so that they may be passed on. Guy was given the book of Ecclesiastes tomemorize. The book of Ecclesiastes shows the vanity of wisdom, knowledge and pleasure when used in the unnatural ways. It shows the vanity of knowledge and the virtuous pursuit of truth and wisdom within the truth. Bradbury had Guy memorize this specific part of the bible at the end not only to show that Guy must spread knowledge; but to show the truth inknowledge and the virtues you may gain in obtaining and pursuing that truth.
Bradbury showed the characters not just as men and women aimlessly following the government’s teachings within the corrupted society, but the morals which they represent and act upon are personified through these characters. Mildred represented the society’s emptiness as a whole and therefore represented the spiritual deadness of the modern society. The Christian themes and meanings were not directly stated into words. They were brought about by the actions of the characters and the symbolism woven into major events of the story. Ray Bradbury did not just write a story for fun that was intended to be read carelessly. He wrote a story that paralleled our modern society and showed virtuous people that wereable to rise from the ashes of the corrupted society in order to spread not just knowledge but the wisdom of the truth. It is the truth which depletes the ignorance in society and allows those who read the words of the philosophers and of God to obtain the ultimate wisdom that will enable them to be closer to God.

A Nerdy Goodbye to 2009

Another year has passed and I'm left pondering on all that I have done and accomplished.As I look back on the 2009 time space I cannot find a better nerdy way to say all that has happened than on a Scrabble board :o)

I ♥ art !