Music of the week.

I discovered this band quite a bit ago, but I'm only finally posting about it now. Props go to Gray for hitting a radio station in the car on the way home that was playing this song, and to Shrimpy for introducing it to me when we got there. I always like it when I find new bands.

This is OneRepublic.

They are not as awesome as tenth ave or Trading Yesterday. Some of their songs are a little bit weird. They have creepy-ish music videos.

But nevertheless, I really like some of their music, and the new style is really refreshing to me. Favorite songs so far are:

Good Life
Marchin' On
Someone to save you
Say (all I need)

This is how I feel right now...

If you can't read what the book says, it's "Chinese." And yes, I have been studying it for the past hour, and yes, this picture is from my book.

In Which I Blog About The Ice Storm

I probably shouldn’t be wasting precious computer battery life.

But I am.

I mean, 6 hour battery life – you can’t blame a girl, right?

Staying up watching movies….piles of blankets, movies with my brothers, candle flames…

I know pretty much every parent in the world (as well as every internet-geek in the world) hates it when the power goes out, but I kind of like it.

Granted, the branches creaking and crashing down around my house every 10 minutes isn’t the most comforting feeling in the world, nor is the fact that I can’t sleep in my own bedroom due to a Very Large Tree just outside my bedroom window.

For those of you who don’t live within a 50 mile radius, allow me to explain:

The snow mentioned in the previous post actually all melted within a day, forcing me to attend school on Tuesday. However, it soon reappeared – much to my thrill and delight, in time for them to cancel school on Wednesday. It did the same thing again on Thursday, where I proceeded to have many sledding adventures with Very Awesome Neighbors.

However, it then froze over, rained, froze over, snowed, and any growing bit of nature is now 20 feet closer to the ground than its natural state due to the heaviness of the aforementioned frozen rain/snow/ice/rain/snow.

The power, sadly, could not hold up against all of the falling bits of nature, and I am now forced to use my battery life and walk around with my cell phone light so that I don’t trip and kill myself.

I’ve gotta say though – nothing is more fun than getting to talk on a phone that has a cord on it. Okay, maybe I’m young and techy but it’s COOL! Also, so is sleeping with lots of blankets, crunching through ice, and watching movies because you really can’t do anything else with the lights all off.

Yep. So of course you won’t read this until the power comes back ON and I have wifi again.

Living without power is kinda fun. I’m sure I’ll be tired of it at some point, but hey – life is an adventure and I might as well live it, right?

Day 2 of the ice storm!

Well. Living without power sure is freezing COLD. Praise the Lord for gas powered water heaters and stoves!

Also for neighbors with power. Who let me dry my hair and charge my laptop at their house. :)

It's kind of fun to wear 10 layers of clothing. Plus warmer outdoor temperatures have manifested themselves today, so it's not so bad.

Everything is melting all over the place now, a gigantic branch fell off our tree, and everything is drip drip dripping, with snow lopping off of all of the trees with a crunch as it hits the ice. It’s like Narnia when spring was coming!

24 hour power outage...it's good to have lights and heat again. But it's also really, really nice to not have it. I know that sounds strange, but it's nice to take a break from the internet and just let my world quietly revolve around my neighborhood. I got to hangout with my neighbor a lot this week, and we don't get to do that often.

To not have electricity makes me really grateful for it, but there's something quietly...peaceful about not having electrical wires radiating their....electricity....all around me. It's not all busy busy.

When all of the electric-things are gone, and all I'm surrounded with is the power of nature, the beauty of a storm, and the cold nipping at my nose, it leaves me in awe of the strength and might of God. I can just sit in quiet wonder of his beauty.

It was a good week.

I just have to say....

Okay, so everyone everywhere who lives within like a 50 mile radius of me has probably posted about the weather in some way.

BUT THAT'S BECAUSE IT'S GLORIOUS!!!!!

I don't care how many adults or grown-up children there are who hate the snow, I will shamelessly continue my love for it. I refuse to let my sheer delight for tiny white flakes die.

I will dance in the snow, even if it means my boots get soaked through....

I will make snow angels and sled and have snowball fights till I'm freezing...

I'm going to build a snowman, I'm going to run up and down hills and delight in it like a child.



Also add to that that there's NO SCHOOL TODAY?! Yes I am happy.

This is why I love tenth avenue north.

ALSO THEY ARE RECORDING A NEW ALBUM...CAN YOU SAY 'EXCITED?! '

My resolution.

This year, I dare to live a life of extravagant happiness.
I will live.
I will give 101%.
I will strive to understand before I am understood.
I will live fully, laugh often, and love always.
I will love my life and the people in it, because that's exactly where God wants me.

I don't think it's possible to live with no regrets. I think there will always be things I regret. I think I will always get to the end of a year and look back and wish I could have done a few things differently. I'm not always going to be fully satisfied with my own attempts at perfection, but that's because I'm not perfect.

To put it the way Jon Acuff does -- "I don't want the best of what [Hannah Dokupil] is capable. That’s small and tiny and insignificant. I want to experience the best of what God is capable. A supernatural God who breathed life into me and set the stars in place and moves with as much mystery and creativity as he did when he wrote a message on the wall for a king or burned a talking bush for a prophet."

I don't want to be satisfied by my own efforts. I want to be satisfied by a God who is greater than I am.

I'm not making new years resolutions this year, because I always fail them. I'm not going to resolve to be anything that I'm not. I'm not going to raise my own expectations so high I can't reach them. I simply am going to be. I'm going to live, and I'm going to learn. When I get to the end of 2012, I'm going to say that this year, I grew.

I love...

practicing guitar till my fingers turn a blueish purple.

organic marshmallows.

jamming to worship songs in my bedroom.

laughing with my bible quiz team till our sides hurt.

reading good books till 1am.

eating blueberries.

having a 6-hour laptop battery life instead of a 2-hour battery life.

singing veggie tales songs off key.

running in the wind.

feeling classy sitting with my laptop while eating porridge, drinking coffee, and studying for quiz.

cinnamon chip bread.

black, pilot brand gel-ink pens.

watching shirley temple.

conversations about God.

long hugs with best friends.

a brand new year.

This new year, tell me,

What is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

(the summer day / Mary Oliver)