Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had/is having a truly wonderful Christmas!

I'm about to over-dose on some mrs schubert's rolls!

(Photo from design crush)

I Want To Move Here

For Serious.

("Here" is Iceland, picture via google)

Christmas Lights

Here's another Christmas video. Enjoy!

-emily

Christmas Countdown!

On of the best concerts I've ever been to was a Ten out of Tenn Christmas concert.

I'm so super jealous of Butterfly Boucher's voice and this song is one of my Christmas favorites.

Enjoy!

P.S. I'm not really sure what's on Katie Herzig's head.

P.P.S Doesn't it seem like these guys would be fun to hang out with?

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Or twenty-six letters.

picture via things organized neatly.

Excuses, excuses.

I know you guys must get tired of hearing why we never post anymore, I don't blame you, I would be too.

But here I am with another apology and...wait for it... an excuse.

School has consumed my life.

That's my excuse. And it really has, I promise, (in fact I should be doing math homework at the very moment).

It's lame, I know, but I do see a light at the end of this tunnel/semester...and I couldn't be more excited about that.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture.

enjoy:

Goodnight Moon.


(picture found via Cup of Jo)

Bats!

We've never been much for Halloween, but I thought this picture was pretty awesome.

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

picture from design crush (i think).

It's Officially Official!

I'm going to Nicaragua!

That's right people, This December (after this wonderful semester ends *note the sarcasm*),  I'm getting on a plane and going to Central America!

Now for details.

My good friend Kelly and her fiance Evan have spent a lot (as in seasons) of time in Nicaragua doing mission work. They are going back for a few weeks, at the end of the year and asked me to join them.

I am super excited and pretty nervous at the same time, I've never really been outside the U.S., so this will be a totally new experience.

Which is good, new experiences are what shape us, if we never tried new things, everything would be boring, it's still a little scary though.

But I'm mostly super excited!

Birthday Wishes!

Happy Birthday(s) to my lovely sisters!

They celebrated their 16th and 19th birthdays this month.

I can't believe Abby is old enough to drive and Emily is fast approaching legit adulthood....this makes me feel super old.

I am super blessed to have these two in my life.

Happy Birthday ladies!!

Puppies!

I'm puppysitting for this little lady (and her two sisters) this week. It is soooo much fun! 

My dog is a grumpy old man-dog, I love him, but he's not too fun to play with.

But these doggies are super energetic and love to snuggle! 

Sigh, puppy love is a beautiful thing.

Did you know?

In less than one week Emily and I will be here!

One of my best buds/traveling companion/tennis partner, Rebecca, moved to Palo Alto to go to grad school this fall.

And next week we're going to visit her!

I am superly-super excited!

I've been missing Rebecca like crazy and I'm pretty much in love with the bay area.

I really love traveling, so I've been extremely grateful for the opportunities I have (and continue to have) to visit other parts of the world. This year has been especially adventure filled (as far as travels go), which is totally cool by me. I just hope this trend continues. By the time I graduate, I'll be a regular world wanderer!

(Picture taken on my trip to Sf in march)

Love Deferred

I love how dense and rich poetry is. 

I love that it can make you feel and think.

I love how it can turn even the most horrific subject, into something hauntingly beautiful. 

I just love it. 

One of my poems is on teen ink's website. You should check it out. Really.

Do you have any favorite poems/poets? 

-emily 

I'm falling for Autumn

(photos via design crush) 

"Autumn, the year's last, loveliest smile." 

-William Cullen Bryant 

It feels like Fall is officially here! 

I enjoy all the seasons, but fall is definitely my favorite. 

Colder weather, boots, cardigans, pumpkin everything, soups and hot drinks, my birthday, and Thanksgiving are some of the things I love most about this season.

Today is Wednesday, meaning the school week is half over, huzzah! For the rest of the week I'm planning on studying, cleaning my room for my G-ma's return, making more pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (recipe found here), going to Amelie's with some lovely friends, trying out a few new recipes, and doing lots of pilates. 

Also, I found my long lost camera charger, so hopefully I'll have some new pictures up soon! 

- emily

Ninjabread Men

How incredibly cool are these?

I'm sooo ready for the cooler weather and holiday baking.

ninjabread men can be found here.

but i found them via cousin chris' fb, so a shout out to him.

Musical Mondays

The actual music video to this song creeps me out, so I'm posting the following video instead. I discovered Florence & The Machines last month and I'm already lusting over her voice. In a non weird way. Enjoy! 


Hopefully after tomorrow I'll be able to actually post something worthwhile. 


Happy Monday! 

I Can't Stop...

Listening to this song!

Alas! I can't find it on itunes, so I've just been listening to it on youtube over and over again.

Hope you enjoy!


Post. Script. This song was brought to our attention by our cousin Sarah. She is my musical soulmate.

Introducing...

Jackson Daniel!

My friend Megan and her husband Jason welcomed little Jackson into the world last Tuesday.

I got to meet him over the weekend, and I'm head over heels in l-o-v-e!

He is so tiny (less than five pounds!) and peaceful.

I can't wait to spend more time with him.

 And buy him some awesome baby hats!

My wish

Ughhh

Occasionally I am revert to my pessimistic frame of mind. Okay, to be honest, most of the time. Right now I'm exhausted. Physically, emotionally, mentally. School is a great opportunity, but I hate it right now. I'm praying for a change, but I'm discouraged. In addition, my best friend lives six hours away from me. And did I mention I'm socially handicapped? Just kidding, but seriously. 

I'll probably bounce back once my english paper outline is finished, my math test is taken, math homework is fin, and theater quiz is completed. But at present, I need some new springs. 

Through it all I can still trust in my savior. I've failed him so many times this week, (and it's barely Wednesday) another reason I'm debbie downer today, but I know he loves me. I just need to give this all to him. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

"From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I." -Psalm 61:2 

I held it in the hope my heart could change

This song is one of my current favorites. Also, Butterfly Boucher is my hero. Her hair, voice, and guitar skills amaze me. Check her out if you haven't already. 

I hope everyone had a great weekend! 

- emily

I am ready for fall.

Yesterday I saw that Panera is now serving Pumpkin Spice Lattes and so is Starbucks. And I want one... but then I step out into the blazing heat that Charlotte is STILL experiencing (note the slight bitterness) and I suddenly am craving a Strawberry Lemonade instead.

Come on fall weather, grace us with your long awaited presence! This is not cool (literally)!

Here's a picture I attempted to picnik. It even has fall colors. And mustaches (which don't really have anything to do with fall).

 - Abigail

Hello

I haven't dropped off the face of the Earth.

I've just been buried under a deep, deep pile of homework.

Don't despair though, 

I shall be back!

Hopefully soon.

Loves,

~Katie

(Photo from swissmiss)

The cooling twilight

photo from weheartit.com

"So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight ." 

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

I read The Great Gatsby over the summer and while it was interesting, it was throughly depressing. Poor Gatsby (not in the monetary sense). Currently though, I'm reading Their Eyes Were Watching God and then I want to check out Everything Is Illuminated. Have you read any good books lately? 

-emily

My life in picture form

Tonight is going to be a late night. 

-emily

Mane and Tail

I want long hair. I'm resisting the urge to cut it and taking vitamins until i achieve the hair of my dreams which looks something like this: 

Grow baby, grow. 

- Emily 

Waves

This song is so pretty! Enjoy.

- emily

Dear...

Life,
Slow down, you are killing me.

Donald Miller,
Thank you for writing "Blue Like Jazz", I've been reading it slowly because I don't want the book to end.

Body,
Please lose 15 pounds, pronto.

Dad,
Thank you for being so patient while explaining football to me.

Football,
I'm ready for you this year!

Lo Mein,
I would marry you is you were a person.

Restaurant Patrons,
Teach your children to keep their food on the plate.

Sincerely,
Katie

Musical Mondays

So. My last post was very melodramatic. Sorry peeps. To brighten the mood, here's a super sweet video. It's been around in blog world, but I thought I'd share it here.


a shot in the dark from Nathan Pickett on Vimeo.

Hope you're having a great Monday!

- Emily

Saturday Sadness

I feel like such a failure.

I make things much more difficult than they have to be.

I am pessimistic.

I have trouble with relationships.

I'm scared.

I sometimes think I'm incapable of love.

I disappoint people.

I disappoint myself.

I know things will get better and I'll be content. I just need to vent. That is all.

- emily

Friday, I love you.

                                       

1. These photos of Kate and I make me laugh! 

2. I love having only one class on Friday

3. Peanut butter toast with chocolate chips is delicious. 

4. This video is adorable!

5. I need a job, or a rich sponsor.

Have a great weekend! 

- Emily 

This Morning...

I woke up to this...

on my chest.

Seventeen pounds of flab and fur sitting on top of you makes breathing a just a little bit difficult.

I will be sleeping with my door closed tonight.

~Katie

Thankful List

(photo from weheartit.com)

So, school has officially started. I'm a freshman in college. That looks strange on paper, but I'm getting used to it (kind of). With all the stress that comes with a new phase in life, it's easy to focus on the negative. I have a tendency to be pessimistic, but I'm trying to break that. Life is good and I've been blessed! To help keep things in perspective, I'm going to try and write down some the good in life more often. So here goes!

I'm thankful for:

1. Financial aid! Praise God!
2. Interesting classes
3. Finding new music
4. My sister helping me find my way around campus (thanks Katie)
5. Supportive parents
6. Iced chai tea lattes

I just hope this optimistic mood won't fade away once my homework starts getting more difficult ...

-Emily

Musical Mondays

Here's a song I can't stop listening to as of late:

Hope you all had a great Monday!

Photo of the Day

(Emily and I on our way to the first school event of the year.)

It has officially begun! 

(School that is.)

And I'm already exhausted...

The Dream is the Truth

"Now, women forget all those things they don't want to remember, and remember everything they don't want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly." 

- Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

photo from weheartit.com

So.. uh.

i sorta started my own blog.... not in a mean spiteful way. I'm not going to share the url just yet. and hopefully i'll still be blogging on here. pardon me for my lack of posting this summer. i'm aware i haven't posted hardly at all. oh well.

today is my first key club meeting as president. man am i nervous. happy thoughts. if you could say a little prayer (or a big prayer) that'd be great.


happy friday!

I'm playing around with the blog layout, so bear with me 'til I figure it out.

Night at The Evening Muse

All three of us are very much in love with The Civil Wars, (not the epic clash between the north and south, the vocal stylings of Joy Williams and John Paul White). Last night we were lucky enough to be in the front row of their concert with Madi Diaz.

It was spectacular! They sang beautifully and were very personable (at one point we had a conversation with Joy Williams about shoes). I'm super psyched about their new stuff and ridiculously jealous of their talent.

If you haven't listened to The Civil Wars or Madi Diaz I am telling you right now, you are missing out. So go listen to them!

(Doesn't this cover of "You Are My Sunshine" just make you want to cry? In a good way of course)

~Katie

Aweshum houses!

I was looking at Black Eiffel's blog and found these amazing homes! 

stone home

 hilly habitat

Aren't they spectacular?!  I think I would prefer living in the hill house, but that might be influenced by my love for hobbits. Which would you like to call home?

- Emily

photos taken from http://blackeiffel.blogspot.com/

Musical Monday

I hope everyone's weekend was great! Ours consisted of finishing VBS at our church, getting ready for school to start, cleaning, church, Pinkberry and Panera with some friends, etc. It was nice and relaxing.

School starts a week from today. Scary. I'm excited but a little nervous. Hopefully everything will be fine and dandy!

Anywho, enjoy the song and have a happy Monday!

-Emily

House and goldfishes

I was watching a House marathon last night on oxygen, because I think House is about the awesome-est thing on television.

And it dawned on me, after watching about my third episode of House, that oxygen must be the channel lonely single people watch. I came to this conclusion after seeing multiple commercials for about four different online dating sites.

"Ha Ha" I thought "I am so glad I'm not one of said lonely single people who sit in front of the TV all day".

Then it dawned on me that I am single, I am sitting alone in my living room eating goldfish, and I have sat in front of the TV for a pretty long time watching the oxygen channel.

Which is why I'm not at all sad school is starting soon.

~Katie


(please don't feel like I am dissing any person who watches oxygen or has used an online dating site, I'm simply sharing my semi-humorous thoughts from pretty late at night)

Happy Birthday little blog!

We (my sisters and I) were on our way home from a very frustrating trip to Wendy's when we realized out little bloglet is one-year-old. Sniff... I'm so very proud.

I'm not really sure what I hoped to accomplish with this blog or where I thought it would be in a year.
But here we are, and I must say I enjoy sharing my thoughts via the blog (and I thank you for listening to them).

So here's to another year (raise my glass of sparkling cider)!

~Katie

(I found this photo on my friend ashley lauren's facebook)

Hello everyone! I'm back!

I took a break from the blog because I didn't feel like I had much to say, and because things have been crazy busy this summer.

I still don't feel like I have much to say, but I'm going to persevere!

For now here are some photos of my recent road trip...enjoy.

You may be able to tell that we went to Washington DC and New York, but we also visited Philadelphia  and Baltimore.

It was pretty shweet, I came back feeling very much like a seasoned traveler.

~Katie

Musical Mondays

Two Weeks - Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

The official video for this song kind of creeps me out so I chose the above video instead. If you like this song, I recommend their song Cheerleader.  Hope you enjoy! Happy Monday!

-Emily

you're only a day away

Today I'm in the process of making a decision. A hard decision. It may seem silly and trivial to some, but to me it's important. Oh growing up, how I loathe you sometimes.

But, tomorrow shall be grand and everything will get better with time. Tomorrow I'm going to cook, stay off the internet, clean, play tennis, read, and think.

Here's to tomorrow!

- Emily

Huzzah to being back

Well, I'm back. I've stayed away from the blog for quite some time, but I'm going to give it another go.

For starters, here's a summery picture:

It's quite blurry, but I like it and it reminds me of our wonderful vacation to Bald Head Island :). 

Now on to movie recommendations. If you haven't seen inception yet, go do yourself a favor and watch it. It's fantastico! Another recommendation is the BBC series North and South based on Elizabeth Gaskell's novel. 

I know this has been random, but isn't life? This summer has been so strange, but good nevertheless. I graduated from high school, went to visit my best friend in South Carolina, went to Bald Head Island with my family, my friend Taylor came for a visit, went to Summer Fire (camp), had my friends Ben and Lily come and stay with us, went to our churches assembly and now am getting ready for VBS. I feel like I'm on the verge of change, which is true since I start college in twenty days (eek). But it's more than just a transition. For so long, I've dreamed of what I would do with my life and now I'm not so sure of anything. I just want to be happy, but I'm unsure how to get there. Hopefully I'll make sense of everything. 

I hope you all are having a lovely summer! See you around! 

-Emily 

Chuck

Usually every summer I get hooked on a tv show and watch all the previous seasons in rapid succession.

Last year it was Heroes.

This year it's Chuck.

I finished the first season in about two days and am now searching for the second.

(Our blockbuster just closed, and I'm not really sure what to do, other than buy it.) 

(I had a dream about finding a store who rented it last night.)

But I will prevail and find the second season, hopefully soon, and continue the Chuck saga.

(image from google)

~Katie


Note: HAHA! I found the whole 2nd and 3rd season online! Thank you tv-dome!

Golfcarts

Our vacation was amazing!

It was super low key and relaxing, and flew by WAY too fast.

One of my favorite things about Bald Head Island is that they don't allow cars in the island.

The only way to get around the island is on golfcarts, which adds to the slower, lazier, vacation-y feel.

(plus its really good for the environment, cause the carts run on electricity.)

All-in-all, I am very much a fan of golfcart transportation.

~Katie

Island in the Sun!

Tomorrow our whole family is going to the beach! We'll be accompanied by my aunt Ster, uncle Dwayne and cousin Sarah!

I'm pretty ecstatic! (I'm pretty sure everyone where I work is REALLY sick of me talking about this trip.) We, took a trip to the beach with said family a few years ago, and it was hi-larious!

I have very high hopes for this trip!

(Photo from last trip, taken by my cousin Sarah)

~Katie

Pride & Prejudice

I don't think I could marry a man who didn't love Pride and Prejudice.

I'm pretty sure that seriously reduces the number of prospective mates.

Oh well, some things can't be compromised.

~Katie

I would love...

This dress.

That's all.

(www.anthropologie.com, I wear a size 10 in case you're feeling generous)

~Katie

Summer Reading

I usually don't get to do much reading (outside of textbooks) during the school year.

But now that the summer has come, I've become a hardcore bookworm.

So far I've finished: The Lacuna and Persuasion, and I'm working on The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. They have all been great so far, but I have to admit I'm partial to Persuasion, probably due to the deep love for Jane Austen my parents instilled in all of us as children.

~Katie

Memorial Day

I did pretty much nothing yesterday, which was pretty much wonderful.

It rained most of the day, which created a soothing background for a lazy day.

Our lives stay busy, so it's nice to have a sabbath, a day of rest, every once in a while.

~Katie

(I can't remember where I found this picture, thank you to whomever it came from)

Twnety-One

I turned 21 on Thursday.

So, in celebration of me I'm posing a list of my favorite things.

My favorite song (at the moment):




My Favorite picture of myself:

(I love the cat's expression)

annnnd

My favorite TV show:






~Katie

Wes Anderson-esque

Yesterday we went to visit our friend who had knee surgery, and on the way we listened to Noah and the Whale. Ever since I heard about them, I have loved their music, but I forgot just how awesome they really are. Check out their music video, it reminds me of Wes Anderson's style of directing movies, I sort of like them a whole lot. P.S. I'm filling in for Em's usual Musical Monday.

- Abigail

Smiling

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."

- Dr. Seuss 

I wish I felt more like smiling. 

That is all. 

- emily

Musical Monday

This video quality isn't the greatest, but the song is superb!

Today, my parents and Katie went to Ohio for a funeral, so Abby and  I have been chilling and working on finishing up school. It's been a relaxing Monday for us which was nice compared to our busy weekend. 

Over the weekend my best friend Aubrey came up to visit. We shopped, ate at Nothing But Noodles, went to our friends concert, car danced, watched one of my favorite movies, taught the preschoolers at my church, ate delicious chinese cuisine, and went back to the mall to get Katie's birthday present! It was so much fun!

 I hope you all had a great weekend as well! Happy Monday. 

- Emily

What Cannot Be Found, by Copeland.

Isn't this so beautiful? I've been listening to it all week, but I wish it was just a wee bit longer. I love this: "I found your life in grey and white, and never thought I'd color it." I wish Copeland wasn't breaking up.  :(

-Abigail

Musical Mondays

Philip Glass

Since I've put off most of my Music Appreciation work until now, I've been listening to composers all day which has been quite nice. Today I found a composition by Philip Glass and I love it! Here's a brief bio: Philip Glass is an American composer who's composed music for his own musical group, as well as operas, musical theater works, eight symphonies, eight concertos, solo works, string quartets and film scores. He's considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Also, random trivia, he has lived in American, France, India and Nova Scotia. His pieces are repetitive and I really enjoy them. You'll have to see for yourself though, or rather listen for yourself. 

-Emily 

I'm not sure where I found this picture, but I think it's lovely. I wish I could escape to those woods and sleep for a month or so. Life is draining me as of late, but I'm sure it will get better.  Have a great weekend! 

- Emily