La Bella Vita

It was the rabbit fur earmuffs that muffled the voices of my friends as our conversation softly entered my warm protected ears. It was the knee length hounds-tooth jacket I wore that provided the most warmth while still remaining fashionable and appealing. It was the small silver dangling earrings I borrowed from Mum since it was New Year's Eve. It was the extra pair of fluffy pink socks I wore hidden inside my black boots, in case the night grew colder than expected. It was the extra few minutes I put into curling my blonde, sun-kissed hair as tonight was to be a night to remember. The clock told that it was just after 9pm. The snow was falling at a rapid pace and was showing no mercy to anyone daring to challenge its power. Six inches of cold, white snow blanketed the roads as we pushed on through the somewhat hazardous conditions. The road that in summer showed lines of yellow and white clearly for cars to see, now showed nothing but a sheet of white leaving it up to the consc...

I'm reading Genesis. And it's such a solid book. It might be in my top five as far as books of the Bible go. God is so real in the way He speaks through this book, and his character is deeply revealed.  In Genesis 6, God talks about when the humans of his creation greatly disobey him and consistently turn toward evil. Verse 6 says, "so The Lord was sorry he ever made them. It broke his heart." What? Gods heart breaks too? I mean, obviously, but this verse is so blatant about stating that Gods heart was hurting, aching. And he says it loud and clear. His heart was really broken.  Gods heart is just as fragile as mine. And it makes the aching of my human heart, from the actions of another human, seem so futile. I ache for my own sadness, but I do this to God everyday! I don't always listen when he is speaking right into my ears. I neglect his open and obvious honesty about his love for me. And while a silent tear falls from my cheek as I feel I'm not that specia...

I'm finally starting to slow down. I can't say that I have been rushing around aimlessly my entire life trying to accomplish tasks that seem unreachable. But I do have a natural tendency to want to please everyone, pushing myself aside. I'm done. I took a long walk along the beach with a friend the other day... and he said a quote that I will never forget. 1 + 1 = 1. You're probably thinking this doesn't make sense. And anyone with even the slightest mathematical knowledge could agree to this. But in regards to life, this is the answer. Whether you're flying solo, have a best friend, surrounded by a large family, or you are days away from tying the knot - you must always remain '1.' Often we find ourselves caught up in life and in the mindset that we are only 'half' or what we are meant to be without the other people in our life. We become so dependent on being needed, that we forget to need ourselves. We get lost in the mix of how ...

So every year I create a bucket list... I try to come up with absurd things that I think will never happen, and see how many I actually do. In all honesty, I have completed all but one thing on my bucket lists since I have started doing this... and it feels amazing. Here are a few of the things that I have done that have been on my bucket lists in the past: -visit a castle in England (I went to three!) -visit the Leaning Tower of Pisa -visit the Eiffel Tower (France) -learn to scuba dive -scuba dive at the Great Barrier Reef (QLD, Australia) -ski in Colorado -learn to snowboard -spend a summer driving boats -visit Italy -leave the country every year -run a half marathon -learn to surf (I'm not a pro, but when the odds are in my favor... I can get up!) -visit the Great Ocean Road (Australia) -go Whale Watching -climb Half Dome (Yosemite National Park) -study abroad (Avondale College) -graduate from college -make someone vegan -run from Lighthouse Beach to Lake ...

I write when I need to unpack my mind. I write when it's cloudy in my head and the moisture being contained in the white creamy clouds needs an escape. I write when my mind wants to move forward, but the weight from the heavy clouds keeps the movement minimal. I write when it's time to write. The sweat pours down my face and fuses with my tears before the drops of moisture fall gently from my chin. I don't notice the tears. I don't think the world does either. The salt that is created in both forms of excretion is too similar for me to decipher which is which as they together saturate my entire face. It's been six miles. I'll run six more. My knees shake, my blisters burn and the pavement is uneven as my joints smack it without forgiveness. With every inch I move I push past the pain that resides so deeply inside. But this pain is minimal as I place all my energy into beating this inner ache. Six miles or sixty miles, it's all the same. I have to r...

He sits in his chair, not muttering a word as he looks out of the window, tinted from the years of dirt and grease funneling throughout the front office. His chair squeaks slowly as he leans from side to side, but the sound gets lost and goes unheard amongst the rest of the noise in the shop. The drop of a wrench is loud and dominant, but Grandpa doesn’t turn a cheek. He continues to stare off into a place that only he knows. I ask him what he is thinking about. With the shrug of his shoulders he replies, “nothin’ kid.” Next to him sits Axel. Axel’s head sits as high as the arm of Grandpa’s chair and he too consumes the hours of the day by watching the events from this room. His paws are black from stepping in oil and gas, and his fur has an oily texture to it that leave the hands feeling slimy, almost buttery.   The two of them are posed as almost a hood ornament for the business. Together they have branded their seats and their faces through the ding...