spots of time

friends, there are two important things you should know about me:

1) i love romantic poetry.

2) i love william wordsworth.

while in the lake district, visiting dove cottage (a home of wordsworth), i picked up this little anthology of his works. it has become one of my favorite purchases from the uk.

i was flipping through it today and came across this excerpt from the prelude, "spots of time". it is absolutely beautiful. the first eleven lines (all of which you can read in the photo) are my favorite. 

i love what melanie of bookish nature writes about wordsworth and his poetry: "there’s something about wordsworth’s poetry that stirs up your inner world – swirls through the heart of your thoughts and self – and settles everything back down in its rightful place, refreshed and restored."

doughnuts in brighton.

i saw this picture on my tumblr dashboard and i was instantly taken back to brighton. on the pier they have doughnut shops that sell the doughnuts pictured above. while we were on the pier, we picked up a bag of them and - i'll be honest - they tasted like they had been cooked in the same oil used for fish and chips. so not the most delicious donuts ever, but still added to the experience!

anyway, this post was definitely just an excuse for me to talk about brighton.

sugar cookie-ing with j.

this my little friend, j. he's the grandson of my resident director from london. is he not the cutest?! it was more normal to see him in superhero uniforms (or jammies) than in real clothes. this darling little boy never failed to crack me up every time i got to play with him. 

tonight while i was baking sugar cookies i couldn't help but remember the last time i made sugar cookies - halloween morning with j. :) sure do miss him!

p.s. i went out in those sweats to get my halloween costume later that day - sweats out in the city? #whatwasithinking #neveragain #bigmistake #suchattireisnotokay

snowy friday afternoons are for ...

+ clean laundry
+ black and white trail-mix
+ hearing of old an friends' engagement
+ green wellies
+ two pairs of leggings
+ "p.s. i love you" pandora radio station
+ freaking out about last night's office episode
+ "a little princess"
+ this song
+ a bridal shower

picture via weheartit

loving this song. so much. and the acoustic version. and i love that steve is always eating a banana. bottom line? i love steve moakler.

ahhh-ah. ahhh-ah.

when i discovered ben folds ten years ago at tender age of 11, i was totally enamored with him. well today i stumbled upon this live version of "you don't know me" and i became completely enamored with him (and of course, regina spektor as well) all over again. seriously, i love them together. this song is collaborative genius. and it's even better live. also. love the close-ups. their expressions are so great. love love love. ok go watch it!

p.s. the picture quality is awful, i'm sorry, but the sound quality is still good!

movie night with myself.

Tonight was one of those take-some-time-for-yourself-and-relax nights. And I loved it. I took an English lavender bubble bath (yes, I bought it at the store today. Did I need it? Yes. Yes I did.), threw on my favorite extremely soft pink shirt (if I could wear it everyday I would), pulled out my blanket and pillow and put on "Stranger Than Fiction".

I love this movie. 

No really. Love. It was exactly what I needed tonight. Don't you love when you can match movies and things to your mood?

I love Will Ferrell in this movie. His character as Harold Crick is so endearing to me. I love movies with comedians taking on serious roles. Like this one with Will playing the simple, and at times awkward, Harold Crick. Or "Dan In Real Life" with Steve Carell playing the overprotective and unlucky-in-love father. It's cool to see how versatile they can be. 

And I love Emma Thompson in this movie. Her character as the author experiencing writer's block is genius. And Maggie Gyllenhaal is a rockstar.

"I brought you flours."

Anyway, I loved tonight. I think it's good for everyone to take some time to themselves every once in a while. I think it's good for the soul. 

Goodnight, world. :)

Source. 

[stuck in second gear]

hello world. can i tell you about my bad awesome start to a day?

i overslept by six hours. yeah, i don't know. what makes this worse is that i felt like i hadn't slept at all due to some pesky nightmares. (note to self: pouring blue drinks on people that you don't like is not okay and does not make you feel better. even if it was kind of funny. ok really funny.) i had just under an hour to wash my gross beautiful hair, cook a bowl of oatmeal and scramble to finish a take-home test.

i made it to class. 15 minutes late. as i sat there, trying to pay attention, my professor turns to me and says, "are you ready for your presentation, sarah?" you're kidding. this is not happening. "i thought that was tomorrow?" "no it's today." i look around at everyone who is checking their schedules and nodding in agreement. it was one of those classic freak-out moments where i wanted to pinch myself to see if i was actually awake. i was most definitely awake.

but i as i sit here typing this, almost laughing at how this all happened, i begin to remember all the saving graces in between these moments of frustration:

+ it's been beautiful and warm outside today. walking to class, my body was praising the sun for all the vitamin d it was receiving.
+ in class, on the verge of tears, i looked over at the girl sitting to my left who quickly smiled and whispered, "don't worry, everything will work out." thank you, angel-in-disguise. i needed that.
+ despite my lack of awareness (although, in my defense, my [outdated] schedule said my presentation was tomorrow), my professor is letting me present tomorrow. this is even more awesome if you know the number of times he's given me second chances. #waytoomany #ithinkimhisfavorite
+ i got a call from ahlin after class. it was so good to vent to someone about everything under the sun, who understands where i'm coming from, and get some good advice.

i'll admit, it hasn't been my day, my week, or hell, even year thus far. but i've got some pretty awesome people by my side and lots of good surrounding me. so it's my suggestion to anyone else who's having a bad day, week, or year: stop. take a deep breath. look around. notice the small and simple things that make life so wonderful. notice the good people around you who love you. and know that eventually, everything will work out.

all of this reminded me of this classic. enjoy. :)

- sm

besties.

so tonight, ahlin got her facebook back for like .2 seconds. so i decided to grab some of her pictures while i had the chance. and now i'm going to share some of my favorites with you that i feel best represent our friendship.

7/24/09. the day we became besties. yes, we can pin point the exact day. we're cool like that. we were celebrating our self-declared "asia" day.

january 2010. at the ice rink. not iceskating.

february 2010. this picture is classic for several reasons: 1) ahlin and i taking a picture of ourselves. 2) jeff is in the background in the lovesack. [where you could usually find him.] we basically relived this image every day for the next 6 months.

february 2010. bonding over good music and beautiful people.

july 2010. this is one of my favorite pictures. ever. our boys had left us. and so this is how we began to spend our time. in their house. wearing their clothes. pretending to have adventures in the clouds. don't worry, they knew. we are not [totally] creepy. 

july 2010. infra self portraits are always a must.

july 2010. the original caption for this snapshot was, "we be B.A. espesh wit mah new fringe." i think that tells you a lot about us.

august 2010. post ahlin's half-marathon. a great candid shot showing we support each other in our goals.

august 2010. lastly, another favorite. i love this picture for the following reasons: 1) i have my arm around nick. who i had known for [a total of] 24 hours. 2) will looks tiny and feminine in the background. he's not tiny. or feminine. 3) jeff and will are wearing the same shirt. 4) jeff's beard. 5) this would be the first [and last time] we would all be together at one event. 6) i think this picture sums up summer 2010.

thank you ahlin for taking me on a trip down memory lane. i thoroughly enjoyed it. and was pretty much laughing hysterically the whole time.

james.

while we were in england, nikki introduced me to the beautiful, brilliant and british james morrison. this is one of my favorite songs by him and totally my jam right now. love him. :)

carl bloch.

yesterday i took some time and went to the carl bloch exhibit, "the master's hand", at the byu museum of art. i had heard such wonderful things about it from my german teacher and this girl. and let me tell you, it definitely lived up to my expectations. i'm an art history major, so naturally, i love this kind of stuff. but i think carl bloch's work is something that everyone could come to love and find meaning in. 

carl bloch was a nineteenth century danish painter and is known for his beautiful depictions of events from the life of the savior. over his lifetime he was commissioned to do several hundred paintings for various chapels and altar pieces. there's something so powerful about the way he depicts these scenes - even though some of them are heart wrenching, there is a feeling of comfort and hope.

bloch also painted the overlooked, the lonely and the oppressed. i loved the way sigmund müller put it, "to him nothing was foreign because nothing was unimportant to him ... he grasps all of it in sympathetic understanding."

needless to say, bloch's artwork is inspiring. if you live near the area, or are in town (before may 7th, 2011) i highly recommend that you go see it. 

while i absolutely loved the paintings, i think my favorite part might have been the words from bloch at the start of the exhibit:

"god helps me - that's what i think, and then i am calm."

so beautifully and simply put. :)